The Beauty and Beast of Reporting From a Live Poker Festival in the Caribbean
I spent the past two weeks on Sint Maarten, also known as “friendly island,” a paradise in the Caribbean with an extraordinary beach and airport combination that has become a major tourist attraction. With temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius and sunshine for most of the duration, I somehow return without any major tan because the main reason of the trip was for work.
After a hiatus of more than two years, the World Series of Poker Circuit returned to the island and I was there to deliver the live reporting. A one-man wrecking crew so to speak, with long working hours, late finishing times and little sleep. I knew all of this in advance and made the choice because it gave me the opportunity to stay humble and go back to the roots where I started in live reporting.
Smaller stops like this one typically don’t attract a ton of well-known stars of the live poker circuit. Instead, the fields are filled with recreational poker enthusiasts and some pros that combine the trip with a vacation to stock up on Vitamin Sea. Prior to the festival I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of participation as the island had been riddled by a tropical storm and the global pandemic.
When the first event kicked off and there was a queue of more than 50 people waiting to get a seat, it was a sign of the things to come throughout the 13 WSOP Circuit rings. And after the first work day, I already knew that the only pool time coming up for me would be the walks past both of them to grab something from the all-inclusive buffet. Likewise, the visits to the beach were limited to two morning runs and to snap pictures and videos of the incoming and departing planes on Maho Beach.
All that was secondary to providing as thorough a coverage as possible for all of the ring events with some of them overlapping. Many of the usual suspects could be found at the tables, be it returning visitors from previous stops or local card sharks from Sint Maarten and other nearby islands. What certainly stood out was the large number of new first-time participants from North America, and they made up more than a third of the fields.
Getting to know them and keeping track throughout the events very much reminded me of the times when I first started doing live reporting and barely knew anybody. For new reporters that learning curve can be quite frustrating and overwhelming especially in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker. During smaller stops, it is much easier to handle such an influx of new faces and the experience from many years observing the live poker scene helped a lot to seemingly make it appear flawless (which is wasn’t).
Several American Circuit players remarked that they are not used to this kind of detailed reporting on home soil, where they would often have to wait for a few days to even get the results. The field sizes in the WSOPC stops there are also significantly bigger and there is often just one media coordinator in place who is not supposed to do in depth live reporting. That’s more my kind of expertise and I have made a living from it since 2014.
My style of reporting doesn’t really change on these smaller festivals either as I take the very same approach I would use for high-stakes competitions, the EPT or the WSOP, for example. Being hired for coverage to me personally means to provide as many details and hands as correctly as possible. There is one major difference between the large and small stops though, which directly correlates to the caliber of participants.
During live poker events, pros use the live coverage as source of information and soak up all details for examination while recreational players are excited and happy to be mentioned in an update. They tend to share it with family and friends, especially if they run deep. And they love to engage in conversations away from the tables, which I try to do as often as possible to gather feedback about what can be improved upon.
Of course this could be way off and only reflects my personal impression based on numerous thousands of encounters all over the world. The way I see it, live event reporters are ambassadors to the game of poker and play a role in growing the game. I would hope that many on the operational side of the industry embrace this responsibility and make sure recreational players are having a good time even if they are not exceptionally successful.
This is even more apparent during such smaller stops where the atmosphere at the tables is more jovial. You won’t face five online pros with hoodies, sunglasses and headphones on that stare you down after facing an open raise from middle position. People want to have fun and see it more of a vacation while also playing some cards.
One such example of a very outgoing person that I would like to specifically mention is Michael Lech. A one-time WSOP bracelet winner who has won eight WSOP circuit rings can be a very fierce competitor at the table but always sees the fun side of it as well. He actively engages with his opponents all over the world and his words of advice according to the WSOP profile are “Everybody needs a little fiesta in their life”.
Lech had three final tables during the stop at the Casino Royale on Sint Maarten but his next WSOP Circuit ring escaped for now. There was, however, another standout performer from the US who headed to the friendly island for the first time and that was La Sengphet. She only played in six tournaments in which she reached five final tables, earning her sixth gold ring and finishing in third place in the $1,700 Main Event.
In domestic circuit stops in the US, it would be impossible to tell such a success story without going the extra mile and shifting through thousands of entries. Knowing my approach to live reporting in general, I would probably still try, though, because it is important to spread such aspiring performances for everybody to see. The players deserve this kind of highlight, after all they are the reason why I have a job and can earn a living through something that I enjoy.
It can be a very stressful job especially when you put so much pressure on yourself to always try the utmost and certainly leads to burnout at some point. However, I don’t think I will change my approach anymore because that’s how I earned my reputation. You either do it or don’t, there is no point in trying.