PokerWire Dims Their Live Reporting Duties

Filed in archive Poker News on August 27, 2007

The name Pokerwire to many online poker addicts meant getting up-to-date chip counts and live commentary from World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker events. Their radio show provided a little spark to people who had to follow from the rail behind computer monitors instead of a velvet rope. The past tense wording is pointing towards Pokerwire going dark on their live radio show and full time staff due to the new "exclusive" media deal between WPT and Cardplayer.com that restricts all other media from posting these live updates and chip counts.

Much like the WSOP restrictions Cardplayer forced upon other outlets during the 2006 WSOP, they are doing the same with the new WPT media rules for all of their tournaments. Pokernews/Bluff had the rights for the this year's WSOP but allowed other outlets to provide similar coverage with respect to getting the information out to the poker community so they could enjoy the excitement at the Rio just as much as those tiptoeing over the top of Phil Hellmuth.

For the farewell address, hop on the link to Pokerwire's page for the sad end to a great team of poker reporters and pioneers of live chip count poker tourney reporting:

As many of you know, both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have both signed exclusive deals with competing magazines for media coverage. With these new deals in place, media outlets like PokerWire.com are no longer allowed to post live updates or chip counts. The WPT exclusive took us by surprise; over the last six months we had put together a team of reporters that was second to none in the industry.

There were many complaints by the media about limited access during the WSOP-but the WSOP restrictions seem almost lax compared to the press release about the WPT's new arrangement. The wording in the press release stated "Floor Access via escorted PR escort ONLY" in fifteen-minute increments and that "there will no longer be designated areas for media with tables, chairs, internet access and power."