Cameras Circle and Fly at WSOP

Everybody knows how much the production value of World Series of Poker broadcasts has gone up in correlation with the popularity of poker, but people have to be here to believe how complicated the whole production circus is.

Here's a little postcard on how it looks. Flying through the air are two crane cameras for all those cool aerial shots and table zooms. The operators have to expertly maneuver around an aluminum grid frame that hangs from the ceiling.

Lights - the blue ones that shine into the audience - and two big-screen televisions hang off the grid. The lights do their thing for the most part, but yesterday one of them clipped a large plasma television and sent it crashing to the floor.

Forever circling the table are two carts that carry a man and a camera. They are always focused on the players and are pushed silently around the table by a guy who is always half-crouching so as not to obstruct the view of the audience.

It's the same kind of setup that's used on movie sets. All the action is choreographed through headsets and walkie-talkies, and the cameras move as if they're connected to each other by wires.

Microphones are everywhere, but the players sit so far away from the crowd that observers can hardly hear what they're saying, so we'll have to wait until broadcast to hear most of the banter.

Outside in the parking lot, an ESPN satellite truck broadcasts everything around the world via its pay-per-view package and a whole lot of technology and teamwork.

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