In the summer of 2006 the Travel Channel began airing the first season of the PPT (Professional Poker Tour).  The PPT was a tournament circuit with almost all participants being professional poker players.  Being invitation only, PPT players could qualify by meeting certain standards such as:  winning a WPT event, finishing in the top six of the WSOP main event, being ranked in the top 10 of the Card Player Magazine player of the year list, or being selected by an advisory committee.  There were also similar ways to qualify, but all were merit based.  Each tournament had a $500,000 prize pool with no entry fee to its players and only the top six places were paid.

 

A unique feature of watching the PPT is that a featured table was chosen for every episode and every hand was shown from that table.  They were able to do this by having four or five two hour episodes to cover each tournament.  This is unlike most poker tournaments you see on TV where just the final table is shown in one episode.  Watching the PPT enabled a viewer to see a tournament from virtually start to finish.  You could see how professional played through all levels of the tournament.  They started with deep stacks and a slow structure to give a lot of play.  It was a much better learning tool for viewers who were interested in seeing more than just a final table.  Then after one year the PPT went off the air and was not picked up for a second season.

The PPT was one of the best, if not the best poker shows to watch on television.  Maybe it lacked the huge pots and all-ins that are common on some other shows, but only the uneducated poker players would rather watch that instead of professionals making winning plays throughout a tournament.  These players were chosen to play in the PPT because they are better tournament players then the vast majority of everybody else.  Seeing what made them such great professionals is what made the Professional Poker Tour so great to watch.