Alright, I'm just trying to do this from memory, so you guys'll have to help me out.

There was no live audio or video coverage of any kind before 2005. Correct?

In 2005 CardPlayer has a live audio stream. I remember listening to it for much of the day, in fact. As far as I know (and please tell me if I'm wrong because I'd love to have it), this stream was never archived and made available for download by CardPlayer or anyone else.

In both 2006 and 2007 I remember some kind of low-quality live video stream, but I don't remember who was doing it. It was NOT CardPlayer. I'm thinking, ESPN? I remember Phil Gordon and somebody else calling the action. I fear that these streams weren't captured by anyone and that they are now lost (which would be a shame).

In 2008 and 2009 I expressly AVOIDED such streams so I don't know if there was one. Was there?

And then of course there's this year's ESPN3 stream, which was awesome, and which I'm working on capturing with stream ripping software, because this really needs to survive beyond the 30 days that ESPN3 keeps it in their archive.

Let me know if any of my info is wrong.

2009 I listened to an audio feed no video feed (that I could find).

FYI this years stream is online and downloadable as an edited version already.

in 2009 PKR had an audio stream with numerous big pros commentating and the video stream only showed the players' seats and their chip counts

I think the dude from TheMaven did the main commentating

ESPN showed the final table live on PPV in both 2006 and 2007. No hole card cams, Phil Gordon announced with someone else, I think Ali Nejad? Was like $25 to buy.

I believe the full live streams are already uploaded to *************

YES, I remember now! It WAS a PPV thing, and somebody had an illegal re-stream going on their website both years. Thank you, that was driving me crazy. Well, I'm sure somebody somewhere recorded/saved these. Whether or not they'll make them available to the poker community is another question, but it's likely that they're out there at least.

Thanks for the tip about *************.

This one's kind of funny:
http://broadband.espn.go.com/ppv/poker

Hello, three years guys? I think you can take this page down now...

Where?

There were live streaming audio feeds before 2003. I'm not sure how many years, maybe even 1999, Noel Furlong and a tough FT.
Someone from rgp will have more facts, I'm sure it wasn't just an acid flashback. PH was there, talking about PH. But we couldn't see him, so it was better.

There are torrents, and the stream mentioned already at *************, but forum rules prohibit being more specific about where to download.

I believe CP did archive the audio from the 2005 commentary for a while afterwards. Was in eight segments or something, and if I remember they made the segments avail. for a week or two at a time that summer or early fall (I think).

There was a live internet PPV in the Moneymaker year, I recall watching it and posting about it in a 2+2 thread and that we were all excited about what would happen to poker if he won. Also some live audio streams in years prior to that.

There was an attempt to do thiat the 1978 final tale, but with the state of technology being what it was, needless tosay it was a total failure.

I was re-watching the 2006 Jamie Gold final table live stream the other night. Phil Gordon, Ali Nejad, and a revolving third person did the commentary. Still available on pokertube.

Well, nothing happened to poker because he won! The boom was underway regardless.

It's a huge misconception to credit Moneymaker with singlehandedly launching the poker boom, and totally unfair to the two guys who actually deserve the bulk of the credit - Steven Lipscomb and Matt Maranz.

The boom had been building since Rounders, and it really exploded when the WPT premiered, months before the Main Event aired.

The success of the 2003 WSOP broadcast was much more a result of the brand-new revamped format (Maranz' brainchild) than it was the winner. Everything would have gone about the same way if the winner had been Farha, or Ivey. The train was off and running well before Moneymaker had the bracelet.

I have no problem with the guy, but he gets so much totally undeserved credit!

cool

I can't find this on the site.

EDIT: Ah, not PokerTube but YouTube! How did I not check there initially?