It is confirmed that from 2009 to 2012 the National Heads-Up Poker Championship (NHUPC) will be held in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

This announcement was made by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the television network that organizes the poker championship.

This news comes as no surprise because for the last three years the NHUPC has been held at Caesar’s Palace. However this news signifies that both parties have been happy with the event and instead of negotiating on a year to year basis they want to give the arrangement some sort of permanency so that they can focus on the event itself.

These were the sentiments expressed by Jon Miller, the executive vice president of NBC Sports when he announced the deal. A quote from his press release reads:

“Caesars Palace is world famous for their poker room, so there is no better place in Las Vegas for us to hold the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. In the past three years, our affiliation with Caesars Palace has helped produce great participants, great on-site attendance, and strong television viewership. We’re looking forward to more of the same over the next four years.”

Television viewership is the key element. Poker has gained immense popularity as a television spectator sport. The NHUPC has become one of the leading poker championships. No sooner the 2008 event was completed revised guidelines for entries to the 2009 event were announced, promising to get together the very best of poker players in the world. NHUPC is not the only poker show by NBC. Its Poker After Dark is immensely popular as well. The clout of television on poker can be judged by the fact that the schedule of a championship of the stature of WSOP was severely restructured to make is more television friendly.

Sky TV is one of the channels trying to expand is presence in the poker space. Its interactive live tournaments are televised daily. Now it is coming up with two new shows. Stacked Up will be a weekly show that will have three players demonstrating the art of cash game play in live action. The innovative feature of this game is that the winner will be the player who increases his bankroll by the highest percentage. The show will have expert comments by Tony ‘Tikay’ Kendall and Norman Pace. The second show, Sky Poker Unlimited, will be a tour of the poker action at Sky Poker’s online poker room.

Television poker came on to its own in 1997 with the introduction of the hole cam, which allowed the viewers to see the hidden cards held by the players. Thereafter the presentation has increased greatly with analysis from experts presented in graphical format and the show being anchored by glamorous models. In fact the models are often more in the news that the players.

This deal between NBC and Caesars Palace is a win-win situation for both. Caesars Palace is owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, the largest gaming company in the world. Harrah’s is associated with WSOP, but to have a championship like NHUPC permanently in its poker room is something else.