Partypoker Announces "Cards Up" Coverage as it Broadens Live Streaming for WPT World Online Championships Partypoker Announces "Cards Up" Coverage as it Broadens Live Streaming for WPT World Online Championships
Key Takeaways
  • Partnership to provide “an experience as close as possible to watching a live series.”
  • As summer online tournament series get underway across the industry operators are investing into live commentary and Twitch.
  • Site will broadcast full “cards up” coverage on a slight delay.

Partypoker has announced it will be working with ShareHand, their existing production partner of live poker tours, including the partypoker MILLIONS, to bring the live poker experience to online live streams during the WPT World Online Championships (WOC).

The partnership with ShareHand will “provide an experience as close as possible to watching a live series, while ensuring the core elements of online poker are not impacted,” partypoker stated in a press release.

As massive online tournament series get underway across the industry, operators are investing into live commentary and Twitch coverage to recreate some of the magic associated with televised live poker.

Live streams of WOC, which kicks off today on partypoker and guarantees $100 million across the seven-week-long series, will be available on partypoker’s Twitch channel, their website and social media, including YouTube and Facebook.

All 12 WOC championship final tables will be live-streamed with “cards up” on a short delay, meaning that viewers can see all hole cards at the table—a core component of live poker coverage.

Partypoker is also planning to stream side event coverage on their Twitch channel four times a week.

Similarly, PokerStars announced they would be showing cards-up on all their live streams last week for their $50 million-guaranteed Stadium Series. It is the first time ever PokerStars has implemented such a feature on a live stream for an online event.

It is not exactly clear what coverage GGPoker will have of WSOP bracelet events, though it plans extensive Twitch live-streaming. And the operator has utilized cards up coverage for previous live-streamed events, so it seems likely it will do so this time around as well.