Planning
Most people asking this have been handed a number with no structure behind it. Here is the structure.
The shape of it
On a purpose-built poker television show, labour is usually more than half the budget and equipment is a distant second. Together they routinely account for four fifths of the total. Everything else — cards, chips, freight, insurance, catering — competes for the remaining fifth.
That one fact should govern how a budget is attacked. Negotiating hard on a camera package or a card order feels productive and moves almost nothing. The levers that matter are how many people are on site and how many days they are there.
The multiplier nobody expects
A single broadcast day is normally rigged, teched and rehearsed, shot, and struck. Four days on site — and every one of them is the whole crew. This is why a schedule is a budget document: removing one day removes every person standing on it.
It is also why “can we shoot two final tables instead of one?” is a far better question than “can we shave the camera package?” The second show day costs a fraction of the first, because the set is already standing and the crew is already there.
Where the money goes
Crew. Director, technical director, audio, camera operators, replay, graphics, engineering and production management, plus dealers and talent support. The specialist poker roles are a small part of the headcount and a large part of whether the show works.
The stage. A built set is frequently the largest non-labour item, and it carries labour of its own — rigging, lighting, load-in. Using an existing room instead is the largest single saving available on most shows.
Cameras, audio and the control room. Whether you bring a flypack or hire a facility changes this line far more than the equipment list does.
RFID and graphics. The cards are a consumable and a small number. The real cost is the reader system, the integration, the testing, and the delay and security chain that keeps hole cards off the live feed. Invisible in a budget, decisive on show day.
Travel and accommodation. Routinely underestimated and violently sensitive to the calendar. A show landing in the same week as a major city-wide event can pay several times the normal room rate for the same crew.
Questions we get asked
A single-day televised final table with a custom set, multi-camera coverage, RFID card tracking and live graphics generally runs into the high six figures. A streamed table using an existing room and a smaller crew can be an order of magnitude less. The variables that move the number most are crew count, days on site, and whether a set is built.
Labour, consistently. On a purpose-built show it commonly runs above half the total, with equipment a distant second. Reducing equipment spend rarely changes the outcome; reducing crew days does.
A show is normally rigged, teched, shot and struck. Each of those is a day, and each day is the whole crew. Removing a day removes every person standing on it, which makes schedule design a budget decision rather than a logistics one.
The cards themselves are a consumable and a small line. The cost sits in the reader system, the integration and the testing, and in the delay and security chain that keeps hole cards off the live feed.
Tell us what you are trying to make and we will tell you honestly what it takes.
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