The World Poker Tour has been making headlines in recent days. Last week, word broke that the tournament series had inked a new television agreement with Fox Sports Net, greatly increasing its visibility throughout the North American airwaves. On the same day that the new relationship with Fox Sports Net was forged, the WPT held the final table of the Bellagio Cup, the first tournament that will air on the new network for Season VII. This week, the PocketFives Podcast welcomes a veteran of the World Poker Tour and a woman who is just getting her feet wet as the WPT’s new Live Updates Hostess. Mike Sexton and Amanda blondechick20 Leatherman join the show and field your questions.

Mike Sexton has been the voice of the World Poker Tour ever since the show began airing on The Travel Channel in 2002. Ending each show with his signature “May all your cards be live and your pots be monster,” Sexton was the television voice that many poker players learned the game from. He commented on the origins of the WPT: “In 2002, we put on the first PartyPoker Million. [WPT Founder] Steve Lipscomb called me and said he had the funding to film the Million and put it on The Travel Channel. Later that summer, we were at a poker tournament in Costa Rica. He brought up the idea of putting together a tournament for the poker world and then putting it on television, but didn’t have a partner. The first name that came to mind to me was Lyle Berman, who had been trying to buy the rights to WSOP television since way back in the early 1990s. We met with Lyle Berman and that’s how they formed their partnership.”

Sexton signed on to be the WPT’s lead commentator after Lipscomb heard Sexton broadcast the Tournament of Champions in 2001. The rest, as they say, is history. Airing on The Travel Channel for the first five seasons, the WPT headed to GSN for Season VI. The Network for Games unexpectedly decided not to air Season VII last month, prompting the World Poker Tour to search for a new partner. Sexton candidly reveals his thoughts when he heard that the WPT would be leaving GSN: “I was happy about it because I didn’t think that GSN was the right partner. I was continually bombarded with people asking me how to get GSN. They didn’t have the money to market the show properly. It didn’t grow like it did when it was on The Travel Channel. I think that Fox Sports Net is the perfect fit and that the WPT is going to shine.”

One of the challenges in broadcasting poker is the vastly different skill levels of those watching the action unfold on television. For Sexton, a World Series of Poker bracelet winner, calling the action alongside fellow commentator Vince Van Patten means walking the line between reaching out to the masses and providing educational poker commentary for professionals: “Every season, we’ve graduated our commentary in terms of poker knowledge. Before the show started during the fist two seasons of the WPT, we explained how to play Texas Hold’em. When you watch football, they assume the audience knows the rules. We’re getting to be like that.” Sexton also discusses the late Stu Ungar and discusses several memorable hands from his tenure on the WPT.

Amanda blondechick20 Leatherman recently joined the World Poker Tour as its Live Updates Hostess. You can find her videos all over the WPT’s website, interviewing players and describing the action from the world’s highest buy-in tournaments. She comments on how she wound up in her new role: “In Reno, Steve Lipscomb approached me about joining the WPT. We talked a lot and it just happened. I’m doing the same things that I’ve done with other sites I’ve worked with. The transition for me was easy because I have a personal relationship with a lot of players. You can expect a personal video blog each week from home as well as written blogs.”

Leatherman, a long-time PocketFiver, is well-known in both the live and online poker worlds. Her laid-back personality is what has separated her style of reporting from others that you’ll find around the world of poker today. She describes what has helped make many PocketFivers, and other online poker stars, successful in the live poker world: “So many of these online guys are great all-around players. They are really aggressive. They’ve played for so long online and have seen so many more hands than live players have. They have more experience and they’re well-versed in all of the different styles of poker.”

So catch two of the top personalities at the World Poker Tour, Mike Sexton and Amanda Leatherman, this week on the WPT-themed PocketFives Podcast. Make sure to catch all of the action from the entire season of the World Poker Tour on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for online poker players in the biggest live tournaments and the premier WPT coverage.