Television has proven particularly useful with certain gambling games, such as Poker and Blackjack. The evolution of gambling games into sporting events is taking place. In fact, the associations are so obvious that there are even whole teams developed to compete in the hottest international tournaments.

Tournaments

In recent years, cable network television has come into its own in the gambling world. Networks like ESPN, Game Show Network and the Travel Channel are notorious for televising key events like the World Series of Poker, World Series of Blackjack and the World Poker Tour tournaments. As an outgrowth of such advertisement, a whole new empire of gambling business has been created, especially that of competitive poker and blackjack.

The Monte Carlo Millions tournament is now an annual Monte Carlo poker event. The tournament is known as the most exclusive poker tournament in the world. Tournament advertisements boast that there are only eighty seats available and those go to the poker players who have proven their prowess by taking significant winnings at the key lead in tournaments, such as the World Poker Tour Championships and World Series of Poker.

The Poker Stars World Cup of Poker tournament promotes national team poker playing. Teams of four from all over the world compete in elimination poker tournaments. These smaller elimination matches lead up to a final competition played in London.

Teams

Poker and Blackjack have become the newest team sports. The now famous Hendon Mob is a British foursome of professional poker players. The Mob, as they are commonly referred to, reportedly make regular habits of descending en masse on the most illustrious tournaments around the world, consistently taking the big prizes and qualifying for seats in the most popular tournaments.

The Hyland Team, infamous during the 1970s and 1980s, was formed of a group of expert Blackjack card counters. The theory behind the team was that when they descended on a casino floor and collectively plied their skills at Blackjack, they could then win thousands of dollars. Casinos became skilled at spotting the regulars and have since continued to argue the fairness of card counting.

The team theme is so “in” that many casinos now advertise their own version of team challenge tournaments. Maybe the next big wave in gambling will be Spring Training for poker and blackjack teams.