PokerNews.com Named Exclusive Live Update Provider for WSOP

[Sponger.]

I've never been to a big tourney.

How do they get chip counts? Do they just walk around asking people? What if people don't want to be included in the counts? I'm kind of curious how the whole live poker reporting stuff works.

[tict0ctoe]

Pokernews seems to have got the Pokerpages off-casts, in as much as Calistri and Lavalli. Pokerpages has provided the world with series updates for many years prior to the inception of other outlets.

It will be a shame to stop an outlet like Pokerpages continuing the coverage, they always provided such a raw coverage which worked well.

Maybe the giant that is Mikey Paule will body slam Caldwell and things might change.

;-)

[jshronk]

[ QUOTE ]
I've never been to a big tourney.

How do they get chip counts? Do they just walk around asking people? What if people don't want to be included in the counts? I'm kind of curious how the whole live poker reporting stuff works.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes the players see you there and tell you. Sometimes they come by the booth, but I would say 98% of the time, the chip-counter stands near the table and physically counts them by eye.

[BJ Nemeth]

During play, most chip counts are done the way Shronk describes -- the reporter stands near the table, and does their best to count the chips by sight.

Sometimes, it's easy, and the player has neatly ordered stacks of 20. But then there are the tall towers of chips (50+) belonging to Howard Lederer. Or Carlos Mortensen's architectural masterpieces. Or Sammy Farha's dirty stacks. One time at Foxwoods, Young Phan spread his chips out in a loose pile, leaving them scattered and mixed, to have some fun with us tournament reporters.

Occasionally, a player will notice you there and help you out by telling you their estimated chip count. In my experience, those counts tend to be high. However, if a player has just won a big pot and is still stacking their chips, their guesstimate is usually too low.

If you're really lucky, you'll come upon players who are counting down their stacks for themselves. They might share this number, or, if you're stealthy like I attempt to be, you can just watch from the side and count along with them.

There are other times when chip counts are much more accurate. Personally, anytime I am reporting a tournament and it has reached fewer than three tables, I use the 15-minute breaks to do a thorough count of every stack at every table. Keep in mind, that I never, *ever* touch a player's chips. (As a reporter, I'm not allowed to.) But I get down at table level and count them very carefully. 100% accurate? Probably not. But damn close.

The official end-of-day chip counts are provided by the tournament staff. Sometimes they have a floorperson or dealer double-check the player's counts on the chip bags, and sometimes they don't. Obviously, there is less accuracy in having a single person (especially the players themselves) count chips, especially at the end of a long day when they're eager to go home.

During breaks in the action at a televised final table, whenever possible, I count alongside the tournament staff. (The tournament staff *is* allowed to touch the chips, and they verify that the stacks have 20 chips each. They need accurate counts for the telecast.) It always helps to have a second set of eyes, and I like to verify information for myself.

In the future, we look forward to RFID chips, and accurate, computer-generated chip counts of the entire field throughout the tournament. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for that day to come.

That's probably more information than you ever cared to know about the chip counts you find alongside live updates. But there you go.

[bigeasy59]

shronk you guys need a mobile site so we can pull up chip counts up on our phones something like the new cardplayer mobile

[tict0ctoe]

BJNemeth: What's your views on the RFID angle? Surely if a host uses RFID technology in its chips and also invests in back-office technologies, they would be able to provide chip counts/live updates themselves with no need to out-source the job.

Granted you would still need some physical bodies present but more of a skelton crew as much automation could be done, in turn, there must be some long-term dollar savings??

Personally, I think RFID is the way to go as it has many plus points, not least, an almost guarantee that we won't have extra chips thrown into play like last year.

Really interested in your and shronk's views on RFID in chips as it could change the face of tournament reporting which is what you guys do.

You got to be the best poker photographer out there, with Ms Calistri running a close second! Nice work. ;-)

tict0ctoe

[Ludanto]

I am happy that pokernews.com will report for this years WSOP. Since the tournament video clips started on the pokernews.com live reporting page PN is my favourite poker coverage website. You guys are doing a great job. Thank you.