For those of you who do not watch CNN 24 hours a day, Steve Lipscomb, the president of WPT Enterprises was on CNN's The Money Gang. While the interview itself was kind of boring, he introduces the concept of a poker Christmas.

And sitting here, one of the things we`re pretty excited about is that it`s going to be a poker Christmas, thanks to all of the television exposure that we`ve given poker. And we have a number of things that are out in the marketplace right now. We`ve got these amazing chips going on are unlike any poker set you`ve ever seen before. They`re in Sam`s Club and are going as quickly as any hot item you`ve ever seen. And this little baby actually took the place of "Spider-Man" as far as jack specific promoting it simply because it was doing so well, they pushed "Spider-Man" aside and the two products that they`re promoting this year now, this Christmas season, are going to be us and the "Star Wars" brand. Not bad.

The sad thing is that its true. Step aside Spiderman, little Timmy is going to get a $150 set of poker chips so he can gamble away his allowance.

At any rate, the popularity of poker is great for those who have been with the activity since before it was televised. Ain't nothing better than those crazy kids who just love pushing their newly bought chip stacks into the pot.

The extended entry includes the entire interview.

Investors appear to be going all in since WPT Enterprises IPOed on August 10th. It`s shares are up nearly 62 percent since then. The company produces the "World Poker Tour" television program which airs on the Travel Channel.

For more on what`s behind the company`s success, we bring in Steve Lipscomb. He is the president of WPT Enterprises. He joins us from Los Angeles.

Steve, good to have you with us.

STEVE LIPSCOMB, PRESIDENT, WPT ENTERPRISES: Good day, Pat.

KIERNAN: Quite a performance as far as the stock investors obviously finding some value in this company and really getting caught up in what has captured the imagination of the nation. This has come out of nowhere the past few years, as you know. What makes it a business that people want to invest in?

LIPSCOMB: Look, I tell you, it`s a pretty easy formula, if you ask me. And that is, if you had had a chance to invest in the early stages of the NBA or the NFL, you`d be doing pretty well today. Pretty much for the first time in the history of televised sports entertainment you had a chance to invest in the naissant stages of an emerging legitimate sports league. And I think that captures the imagination of the investing public.

KIERNAN: And what exactly do you own here? Because some of these tournaments existed prior to your involvement, right?

LIPSCOMB: Basically, we rolled them up into this thing called the "World Poker Tour," established 10-year exclusive relationships really with the best in class casinos out there that were doing poker and rolled it up into this thing call the "World Poker Tour" that now runs year-round, we`ll have $70 million in prize money and gives people a chance to touch the one great sport now that they can come play in.

KIERNAN: All right, you answered one of my questions as far as the length of the relationship on the side of the tournaments. The other side is the distribution. You`ve had a good partnership with the Travel Channel. Is that distribution locked up for some period of time to ensure investors that you`re going to be able to continue to put this program on the air?

LIPSCOMB: The great thing about our relationship and partnership with the Travel Channel is that we are their biggest thing. I mean, if you look at the great cable success stories out there, they include "South Park" for Comedy Central. We`re the tent pole for the Travel Channel. So they will want to keep us around as long as they possibly can and our relationship to date has been such that that`s a great thing for us and for our investors.

KIERNAN: Where do you go from here? Is the growth international? Is there perhaps a move to network television that works out for you?

LIPSCOMB: Look, I`ve got to tell you, we just launched something called the "Professional Poker Tour." And what the PPT is, is one of the next new steps for us. So we have a league that anyone can come play in. Now we have just taken again the first big step in creating a professional league. So you have to establish your credentials to get in and that will go on the Travel Channel or somewhere else. We`re negotiating with a number of networks. And then we`re going to be in 30 to 40 countries next year with the "World Poker Tour" television show. So all of those markets, we have the possibility of taking our brand and monetizing it across really the entire globe now. So where we were when we launched the IPO this summer has really come to a whole new place today. So we think the future is extremely bright.

KIERNAN: I want to come back again to this idea of what`s proprietary. And you`ve got the long-term contracts as far as the distribution and with the tournaments themselves. What about the players? Would they be free to go to a competitor?

LIPSCOMB: Really trying to make poker players exclusive would be like trying to herd cats. The great thing about these sports that the "World Poker Tour" has established that you can watch every Wednesday night on the Travel Channel at 9:00 in primetime. The great thing about this sport is, it`s not really restricted to players and that allows for events - we just did an event that had 89 players in it two years ago, now its got 674 with a prize pool of $7 million. So really what the great thing about poker is anybody can play and we manage to have a whole new set of stories show up to every final table.

KIERNAN: Steve, it`s certainly an interesting competition to watch. The camera work, of course, the first time we saw that sort of broadcast with the embedded cameras, you really get a sense for the game. What is it that has really captured the imagination of Americans who may have played poker but never thought of it this way?

LIPSCOMB: Look, you know, this is the great American card game. And we`ve been playing it for hundreds of years in this country. And, really, from the firehouse to the halls of the Supreme Court, people play regular games of poker. The great thing is now, finally, the "World Poker Tour" found a way to translate it into great TV. So you feel like you`re sitting in the chair making a million dollar decision on every hand. Now, that`s just the best kind of reality television you can get.

And sitting here, one of the things we`re pretty excited about is that it`s going to be a poker Christmas, thanks to all of the television exposure that we`ve given poker. And we have a number of things that are out in the marketplace right now. We`ve got these amazing chips going on are unlike any poker set you`ve ever seen before. They`re in Sam`s Club and are going as quickly as any hot item you`ve ever seen. And this little baby actually took the place of "Spider-Man" as far as jack specific promoting it simply because it was doing so well, they pushed "Spider-Man" aside and the two products that they`re promoting this year now, this Christmas season, are going to be us and the "Star Wars" brand. Not bad.

KIERNAN: Steve, good to have you with us today. Thank you.

LIPSCOMB: It`s a pleasure. Thank you, Pat.

KIERNAN: Steve Lipscomb with the "World Poker Tour," the president of WPT Enterprises.