The Current State of Live Reporting in Poker

For many years now the poker industry has given me an opportunity to showcase my talents all over the world in a very niche job that you cannot study anywhere. Live reporting in poker has been taken for granted ever since it has become popular throughout the last decade and I was fortunate enough to somehow fall into this unique rabbit hole and earn my living from it.

Many of the veterans have since left and moved on to bigger ventures or taken a corporate job in the industry that pays better with fewer work hours and by far less stress. Some stalwarts are still active and roam the tournament floors but the fresh influx of new reporters is moderate. Many of those who take a shot soon realise how demanding, chaotic and stressful the environment is and drop out after a couple of events.

The others that stick around often have a hard time to earn a living as many live poker tours, operators and casinos don‘t seem to necessarily wanting to spend money on this particular service. While the expenses are a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, the exposure gained from live updates is not always valued as much by those in charge who make the final decisions. This may perhaps also be due to the fact that readily available live reporters in poker are hard to come by these days.

Work days can range anywhere from a few hours for final tables to grueling shifts of up to 18 hours during which the day passes by at an incredibly slow speed. This is obviously a challenge not only for poker players but also reporters because the room for mistakes is rather slim. While inaccuracies can be fixed in the writing, they have irrevocable consequences at the tables itself with potentially life-changing paydays on the line.

To be able to provide accurate updates on a consistent basis, you have to be dedicated to the tasks at hand and always put in maximum effort no matter what the circumstances are. The WiFi might be cutting out, there is no tracking system for players, and your computer randomly launches an update out of the blue. All of that doesn’t really sound sexy at first glance but it‘s a very honest way to make a living even though it comes with a lot of naturally imposed stress.

Mistakes will happen and the only way of ensuring as many details as possible is to minimise the time spent on processing and publishing the information. The efforts are appreciated by most players but it kind of feels that there will be a time when such a service is no longer required.

Let’s take the Triton Super High Roller Series for example, which operates with probably the largest budget of any live poker series in the scene right now. The overall production is top notch and they have gone as far as hiring operators with tablets who key in all the hand information even if the event is not streamed. This is obviously just possible on such a rather small scale and cannot be expected anywhere else.

Several tracking solutions are out there especially in Europe to help with live reporting but they are mainly used by tournament staff to ensure a smooth and reliable environment. The threshold of people required to get this particular job done is very low but if something goes awry, the back-tracking to fix the situation becomes a pain in the ass.

In the grand scheme of things, it kind of feels that live streaming has become more prevalent in the thinking process not just for online but also live poker operators. Little does it matter how certain players earned their spot on the final table when all eyes are on the conclusion of the tournament via YouTube, Facebook or other streaming platforms. If any media coordinator is around to write some daily feature stories or recaps, that already seems enough on paper.

Considering how low the expenses for dedicated live reporters are, this comes somewhat of a surprise. Making sure that travel and accommodation is paid for along with a reasonable day rate is a mere blip on the radar and should be easily justifiable after all. Because the higher the exposure for any kind of poker event, the better and there is always the chance to cut a deal that also includes feature articles or mentioning future stops.

With one decade under my belt in this particular job by now, I have seen many live reporters come and go. Most of the experienced veterans have moved onto different jobs within the industry or vanished entirely to earn more money and experience a more balanced environment, because the stress that comes with the required tasks burns you out rather quickly. Recruiting new reporters takes time, as does the necessary training because this isn’t a job one can easily learn at the university.

The most promising talents stick around for a while to make a living before they move onto bigger and better things. That ship has certainly sailed for me and let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of things I am really good at anyways. Fortunately, the fire is still burning and I aim to improve on my photography, translation, language and feature writing skills along the road.

Whether or not that will be worth a thing when the time comes to move on remains to be seen. I have been exposed to corporate side of the poker industry numerous times and prefer to be the one right behind the cameras and outside of the spotlight who quietly gets the job done. An office job has never really been of interest to me because that appears rather dull and limits the option to travel and explore different places.

There are still some places I would like to cross off my personal poker bucket list such as South America and different places in Africa as well as Asia. Especially the latter is following suit with the poker boom world wide after the global pandemic has all but subsided. Japan and China are the two countries that come to mind the most, India and Australia are other likely candidates for exponential growth.

If poker live reporting in the current traditional way is still around in a few years remains to be seen. It can have an incredibly vital task of shining a bright light on standout performances, integrity and advertising the industry. Likewise, the associated journalism should also report on the negative side without focusing on click bait and drama at all costs.

Unfortunately, sensationalism usually attracts the most attention not only in poker but all aspects of life in general. That’s something that will never go away and it’s up to everybody to decide for themselves how much consideration that is really worth.

I, for one, have made my decision long time ago — it cost me plenty of money and work opportunities throughout the years but that’s okay. It’s only money after all but I can sleep well at night.