Poker content creators contend with a new kind of challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Vloggers focusing on content centered around live poker work in a much different world since the pandemic arrived, with the live poker economy still severely restricted in many areas of the world.
Strazynski posed the question of how the widespread restrictions on live poker affected content creators, and how the four panelists defined success in the content production realm.
“To me, the biggest measure of success for poker content is when people who don’t play poker can watch it and enjoy it,” Cordeiro said.
Among her most inspiring content creators, Cordeiro named her fiancé Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, as well as fellow panelist Owen. She also complimented Daniel Negreanu on his brand of poker content.
“He’s so smart and it works so well,” Cordeiro said of Negreanu. “People who can’t see what he’s doing is at least partially a character, if not totally a character; they don’t understand his method.”
Owen revealed that both he and live poker vlogger Andrew Neeme (who often appear in each other’s vlogs) have used the COVID-19 era as a much-needed break from extensive traveling.
“Andrew and I, we were going to two or three different states pretty much a month, and that got kind of grueling,” Owen said. “So it was good to take a little bit of a break from that. We probably both needed it in order to keep our sanity and energy going forward with the vlogging.”
Herring’s Polk-Negreanu documentary idea
Herring, a longtime PokerNews presenter and 2018 GPI Poker Journalist of the Year award winner, revealed a recent idea that didn’t come to fruition but would have almost certainly made the list of most enthralling content of 2020-21.
Herring wanted to produce a show that took a behind-the-scenes look at the Doug Polk vs. Daniel Negreanu heads-up challenge. That match itself produced some of the most-watched poker content of the past year, but the on-table play was all we got to see.
“I wanted to go to Doug’s house, and go to Daniel’s house… to spend a couple days just showcasing what it was like to live and breathe this challenge,” Herring said. “What it looks like when they’re in there with their teams.”
Staples, one of the game’s most prolific Twitch streamers, was the only one of the four panelists with a content brand focused almost exclusively around online play. His idea for dream poker content, however, would include streaming live poker on a delay.
“We’ve seen a lot of live poker from a top-down view,” Staples said. “But we haven’t seen a live stream of someone playing (live) poker, in a good way.
“I tried it once at Reno, and then it was outlawed because Nevada Gaming Commission had issues, they were freaking out basically.”
The latest episode of The Orbit clocks in at around 45 minutes, and you can check out the full discussion on the Cardplayer Lifestyle YouTube channel.
Featured image source: YouTube
