Bluff Saves the Life of Poker Hole Camera Inventor

Henry Orenstein, the man who developed and patented the camera that enables television viewers to see poker players' hole cards has had many achievements under his belt.

For one, he was recently inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of members Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison.

But not so many people know the rough road that led to the present life of this 82 year-old Verona, N.J. millionaire. Recognized by members of the poker world as perhaps the father of televised poker, Orenstein had known the importance of bluffing much earlier than poker, when lives had literally depended on it.

Polish-born Orenstein was once a prisoner of a Nazi concentration camp along with his brothers. His entire family was victim of the Nazi cruelty, with his mother, father and two siblings killed. Orenstein himself was held in a succession of five concentration camps.

The reason he survived along with most of the 50 prisoners can be attributed to the group's 'bluff', inspired by a similar move used by German scientists who had been similarly trying to avoid recruitment in the army.

The war had been going bad for Germany, and the scientist bluffed that they were working on a secret military plan and are in need of Jewish math geniuses. The Nazi overlords bit the bait and Orenstein, along with other 'geniuses' including his brothers, signed up as mathematicians.

"The scientists would bring us ordinary grocery receipts and we would do nonsense arithmetic - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division - all day long, " Orenstein recalled. "We were playing for time, " he added, as discovery of the ruse would mean certain death. The bluff was never called, and most of the 'math geniuses' survived that horrible time in history.

Now Orenstein can proudly say he has led a life well lived. True genius has sprouted from the once bluffing man. He invented the Transformers action figures, turning space-age vehicles into superheroes; a racecar that runs without batteries; and dolls that had lifelike characteristics.

And, of course, he has contributed significantly to bringing the game of poker into the mainstream by inventing the camera concept of revealing poker players' cards on TV.

"I was once at the Bellagio waiting for a [poker] table to open and David Sklansky came up to me, " Orenstein said. David Sklansky is a famous author on poker theory and play. "...And he said, 'Henry, this has all happened because of you.'"

Orenstein, in memory of the horrific years he has spent in the camp watching fellow prisoners struggling for every day to live, has put things in perspective for him for the rest of his life. Aside from the inventing things that made him a wealthy man, Orenstein has also been recognized for being a philanthropist who donates generously to programs that benefit the elderly.

"The great lesson that I learned in the concentration camps was about humanity, " Orenstein said, "and that has served me well."

August 24, 2006
William Atkins