The Do’s and Don’ts of Live Reporting at Poker Tournaments
I have already published a piece on the process of live reporting in 2020 to outline what tasks and traits are expected to get the job done. But since I have been asked to provide general guidelines from scratch to someone a few days ago, it gave me some food for thought.
After all those years on the live poker circuit, how would I advise a fresh live event reporter (often referred to as “blogger”) about the approach of the unusual task at hand? And am I actually qualified for this when considering that I have stepped over the imaginary line many times? Well, let’s give this a try, shall we?
With live events on a hiatus in most European countries, large festivals currently only take place in selected Asian countries, some US states, and South America. Australia has also endured strict lockdown rules to reduce the new cases during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to zero.
Let’s have a look at some of the basic rules.
The general approach for a live event reporter at poker tournaments is the “fly on the wall”. You are not part of the tournament and should not get involved in the action. For what it is worth, I have broken this rule many times to a certain degree.
If you notice a mistake such as the pot being awarded to the wrong player and nobody else spotted it, that may be unfortunate but mistakes happen everywhere. It is not your job to jump to the table and point fingers, as the players and staff need to pay attention after all. If there is something unusual or out of the ordinary, let the floor staff know and they will take care of it.
While you are in the tournament area, where exactly should you stand?
Some players tend to look at their cards with more than just a peek and might expose them to the rail. There are even players who get through with a bluff and then show it to the poker media behind them. Keep your poker face on and don’t give away anything.
If a player wants to show the cards just to me, I always decline and insist that they’d have to show them to everyone. “Show one, show all,” is a valid poker rule applied in most casinos. It’d be the same if they only showed the cards to their immediate neighbor.
To avoid this trap, the best spot to stand as poker media is between the dealer and the first or last seat. Right behind the dealer is not a good idea as they may expect a push to the next table. Another good spot is right the opposite of the dealer on the other side and between those two seats in the middle.
I usually like a towering position in the middle of a tournament section that easily gives me a 360-degree angle. Turn to the left or right and see if anything interesting happens that might be a pivotal hand in the event. If not, pace back and forth to check out other tables and make a mental note of what very active players look like.
By doing that, you might stumble over many “friends” that you may have already met during other poker tournaments, be it as a participant or spectator. A friend nod and quick chat is fine but don’t get lost in the moment for a long period if your task is proper live reporting with regular updates.
I don’t know any of the players. What should I do to solve that?
Especially during my early years on the live poker scene, I barely knew any of the players. That changes over time and a memory for faces and names is the key to build a mental database. But there are also other easy ways to find out the names of players and more.
If you are being sent to a location that you have never visited before, go there earlier on the night before your first shift or the start of the first day. You will need to figure out the internet connection anyways and can introduce yourself to the staff. While doing that, the jovial chat can always lead to more information such as known regulars at the venue or how their own procedures are.
Do they have a tracking system that will tell you the names of the players? Ask the floor and floor women because they have a fixed procedure on how to run tournaments. Perhaps the players all receive a copy of their tournament tickets with the name of it and a friendly request to the staff may have them ask the players to leave those on the tables.
That makes the work a bit easier already, doesn’t it? You don’t have to ask them for their name, which you may not pronounce correctly, or wait for the end of the hand to have them write it down in their ancient hieroglyphic handwriting.
You can obviously scratch that idea when you enter one of the big rooms during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and instantly get lost in a sea of tables and random players you have never seen in your entire life before. Those are the most tricky events for a beginner, as you don’t know where to start. In these situations, I can highly recommend comfortable running shoes to pace back and forth between the seemingly endless rows.
Always Think in Advance or You Will Fall Behind Eventually
Whenever I cover live poker tournaments, I always think at least two steps in advance. Find out the basic schedule for the day, check the chipset and their values, perhaps use that for a little friendly chat with the dealers who wait for the first players to arrive. Is there any chance to get an improvised office near the tournament area or is the media desk around the corner and you cannot see anything?
How long will they play for the day and do you have enough food and drinks to keep your energy level at ease? Especially during the first few live event coverages, this routine may not be established yet. In a nutshell, you want to be prepared for as many scenarios as possible and keep the distractions to a minimum.
At the end of a tournament day when the players bag up, the staff may collect them swiftly and you don’t have a chance to have a look. Most of the time, there will be chip count sheets and you can ask to have a look through them. Snap a picture and type them manually, because the staff may need a while to send you the information.
How do I write down a poker hand and then share it?
There is no perfect way to make notes about poker hands and I often get confused by my handwriting when I scribble the details in a hurry before the board is mucked. Find your own abbreviations for positions, bet sizes, and player names, then write all the actions in order.
It is perfectly fine to summarize some actions such as a check, bet and raise — this could be a check-raise and provides the same information. But do not assume any action from previous streets if you didn’t witness them, always just portray the information that you have actually seen with your own eyes. Anything else is a cardinal’s sin and some players actually follow the updates to know the difference.
There will also often be players who tell you the action as they noticed your late arrival. Don’t take this information for granted and label this part of the story as information relayed by the players. More often than not, some players slightly alter details to make themselves look better.
Now that you grabbed the action on every street and have a solid and interesting hand, you walk back to your media desk and start writing. Wait, didn’t you forget something? Ah damn, how many chips did they actually have? The walk of shame back to the tables in order to get that crucial information can be somewhat frustrating.
During ongoing poker hands, I tend to mentally check the stack sizes of all involved players already. Sometimes I even write down on my notes how many chips they had behind. If the pot sizes and the bets are known, you can do the math without staring at the wall of chips or wait until the player is done stacking.
Make sure to write all the action in order as if happened. In case there is any interesting observation such as player reactions or chats, mention them if they are relevant to the story. More color is always better and makes for entertaining reading. Don’t judge the player's actions / how they played the hand and portray everything from a neutral and fair perspective.
Also, do not include yourself in the coverage as you are not taking part in the tournament. You can describe the reactions on the rail but as a live reporter, you are not part of what is happening. If possible, try not to show emotions whatsoever that might give away unintended tells to other players.
And if you arrive very late to the action, even the smartphone or the iPad may be a valid tool to snap a picture of the board to get the most crucial information — the final outcome of the hand. Don’t delay the natural process of the tournament and demand the cards to be flipped over. Experienced dealers will see the live reporter, perhaps even briefly flash over previously exposed cards and then carry on with their duties.
Your smartphone is also not there to check random social media messages and stare at the screen for football scores right in the middle of the tournament area while the action is ongoing. Do you want to snap a picture of the tournament area or a brief video to enhance the coverage? That’s perfectly fine. But other than that, use it as a last resort to gather vital details for your work and leave the rest for the breaks.
Experience and Dedication is the Key to Success
Throughout one tournament, it essentially is just a matter of rinse and repeat to get the job done. The more events you cover, the more players, staff, and dealers you will get to know. And they will also remember you as well, so make sure to act like Switzerland, Ireland, or Costa Rica. Use the policy of armed neutrality in global affairs and Pura Vida.
To a certain degree, you have to be willing to put your own needs on the back burner and focus entirely on the coverage. You can still sip on a coffee during the regular breaks and should reduce the time of inactivity to a minimum. Unless there is a live stream for the final table that you can rewind, the only way to get the information you need is to follow the action from nearby.
Find the most effective way to gather the details, publish them and maybe keep an eye on the tournament area just in case someone is jumping out of their seats in disgust after a nasty bad beat or cooler. Most of these hands take a while to sort out and perhaps, you can make it in time to figure out what happened.
Everything else entirely depends on your ability to adjust to the specific circumstances and what you make out of them. Obviously, there are also some more secrets that I cannot reveal but they aren’t really relevant to the basic tasks. I do need to maintain a certain edge, after all, to still get hired for plenty of tournaments and earn a living.
May the flop, turn and river be with you, and don’t forget to count those chips. Make it a habit to always count chips and survey as many tables as you can handle from the corner of your eyes. If you can do that, you have all the foundations needed for solid coverage. The highlight posts can wait for later on when the final few tables are reached.
P.S. Always have a backup pen just in case. Because they tend to stop working when you follow a really interesting and pivotal hand.