Henry Orenstein, inventor of the hole card camera that revolutionized television broadcasts of poker and revived it as a casino game, has died at 98.
Orenstein invented the hole card camera in 1995, and introduced it to the public in 1999 when the U.K.’s Late Night Poker show became the first to use it. The following poker broadcasts in the U.S. revolutionized the game, and made players like Chris Moneymaker famous.
A Polish holocaust survivor who spent time in a Nazi concentration camp, Orenstein became an accomplished poker player after arriving in the U.S. in 1942. He also state a toy company and invented the Transformers action toys.
In 1995, Orenstein reached the World Series of Poker Main Event final table and took eighth place for $51,900. The following year, he won his first and only bracelet, a $130,000 score in $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud. In 2014, he reached the $10,000 Seven Card Stud final table and was eliminated in eighth place for $31,419.
Orenstein was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008.
