Poker Journalism, Reporting and Interviews – Is it for You?

Friday, April 9, 2010

Poker Journalism, Reporting and Interviews – Is it for You?

As mentioned in my blog post “Your Poker Career”, there are many different career bases in the poker industry besides the obvious; being a player. One of these bases is the journalism side. For those of you who know me, journalism has been a big part of my poker career.

Without journalists poker wouldn’t be as big as it is today! For the record, the job of a journo is NOT an easy one either! Players think it is a marathon to sit and play poker for 12 hours, indeed they are correct. Let’s think of the marathon the journalists run though! Oh my! For that entire 12 hours, the journalists are also using both their mind and body.

I covered two tournaments at Star City Casino once, with the aid of an assistant / photographer only. We had both poker tournaments running at once and although the players were exhausted I was almost dead! Chip counting, all in reports, knock out reports, photography. In reality I and my assistant indeed ran a marathon. I wish I had a step counter on that day! I think I walked around 20kms – probably more!

Remember that there are post tourney reports to do so the tournament doesnt end for a journalist with the last person standing. There are also things such as interviews to take care of!

If you broadcast on radio or TV alike myself you also have that to arrange. Giving results and run downs via voice recording is not as easy as it sounds. It can be very stressful and let's face it; remembering it all off the top of your head can be more then difficult. Some journalists prefer to do this and this only while others avoid this type of work at all costs.

Anyway, journalism is another area in the poker world that people can step into. Remember there are many areas of journalism, from the basic chip counting positions to the live broadcasting and publication writing. Regardless of your schooling level, if you know poker, are good at English and maths – you can fit into the poker journalism base somewhere.

There are some great venues, parties and functions that journalists get to attend which is the bright side of the job, on the other hand - partying is kept to a minimum if you are working and reporting the function.

If you are interested in a position in poker journalism of any kind check around the big online news sites to see what’s happening from time to time, they sometimes need chip counters (as an example) for tourneys which may be in your area and this is one way for you to get a foot in the door!