Poker fans who take in a lot of poker content have most likely seen Jeff Platt in a number of roles. Platt works as a play-by-play announcer and a sideline reporter for poker tournaments covered by PokerGo. He also co-hosts PokerGo’s No Gamble No Future show alongside Brent Hanks, and the PokerNews Podcast with Chad Holloway. Poker fans haven’t seen Platt broadcast from a hot tub yet, but that’s about to change.
Platt began covering feature tables leading up to the final table on Twitch during the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Series. Early deep runs in the series by Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu (coupled with pandemic-created boredom) helped make Platt’s Twitch stream an overnight success.
The stream returned in 2021 and is sponsored by PokerNews as the official lead-in to their final table coverage of the 2021 WSOP Online Series. So how did a professional poker broadcaster like Jeff Platt get roped into doing a hot tub stream?
Understanding Twitch and the hot tub stream meta
Twitch originally started as a video-game-streaming platform in 2011. Streaming games other than video games (such as poker and chess) grew in popularity as time went on. So did “Just Chatting” streams that didn’t feature any gaming at all. Nowadays, Twitch supports all types of live-streaming as opposed to just gaming.
One issue that Twitch has had to deal with as non-gaming streams have become more popular is the growth of mature content. Twitch does prohibit nudity and “overtly sexual content” on its platform, but that hasn’t stopped streamers from pushing the limits on what is and isn’t acceptable.
As a workaround for Twitch’s rules, some streamers began live-streaming from a pool or hot tub so they had some justification for wearing outfits like swimsuits. This started a trend that Twitch eventually had to address.
In an effort to clean up the “Just Chatting” section and to keep it advertiser friendly, Twitch created a streaming category called “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” specifically for scantily-clad streamers.
Jeff Platt commits to a hot tub stream for charity
The creation of the hot tub category on Twitch gave birth to a meme. It has become common on Twitch for viewers to jokingly ask streamers when they will be participating in a hot tub stream.
On July 9, Platt at first insisted that he would never do a hot tub stream under any circumstances, but after members of his chat brought up doing it for charity, the broadcaster became more open to the idea. He and the viewers in his chat negotiated the conditions.
Platt’s viewers would have the opportunity to select one poker player per night while the tournament still had multiple tables open. If that player went on to win the WSOP bracelet event being covered, Platt agreed to arrange a hot tub stream for charity.
It appeared as though Platt might make it out of the series without having to live-stream from a hot tub, when the chat’s selection Corey Paggeot lost a 6-to-1 heads-up chip-lead to finish runner up in Saturday’s $400 Monster Stack Event #24. But just one night later, Platt’s viewers selected David Peters as their pick in the $7777 Lucky 7’s High Roller event. Peters won the event to earn himself $283,940, and Jeff Platt a trip to the Jacuzzi.
Featured Image Credit: Flickr - World Poker Tour
