... Bruno's checking out the flop now ... If he's suited, he might go all-in, but he's short-stacked, so if he doesn't have the cards, he'll toss them in ... And he does! Bruno's out, which leaves Ivey against Williamson head-to-head. Here comes the river card ... and it's the queen of diamonds!
This year, for the first time in the tournament's 37-year history, poker enthusiasts can tune in to live radio coverage of the World Series of Poker. Sirius subscribers have access to 10 hours of daily programming throughout the 43-day run of the WSOP at the Rio, June 26-August 10, including recaps of the day's action, player interviews, audience call-in segments and play-by-play broadcasts from the final table of most events.
That's right, play-by-play poker action without visuals. There's a reason why Bluff Media co-president Eddy Kleid says, "Nobody's ever tried this before."
Poker's popularity has exploded over the past decade thanks in part to televised events on cable outlets such as ESPN and Bravo. But television has the advantage of airing the action via tape delay, allowing fans to get a peek at each player's cards with the "hole cam." (For the poker newbie in the audience, in the popular varieties of seven-card stud that are played at these tournaments, each player is dealt two cards that remain face-down—in the "hole" or "pocket." Then the whole table shares the final five cards—"the community"—which are dealt face-up.)
Bluff's broadcasters have to call the action without knowing what each player is holding, which seems like a significant hurdle, but Kleid thinks his team has turned it into an advantage.
"On radio, at least, poker is much more exciting without the hole cards, because you don't know what will happen next," Kleid says. "It's a real climax when the winner flips his cards at the end."
Sound like a bit of PR to you? Keep in mind that before the advent of the hole cam less then a decade ago, televised coverage of past tournaments (you can still catch reruns on ESPN Classic) worked with the same disadvantage—it's just that nobody knew it was a disadvantage at the time.
"People aren't used to not having the pocket cam, so they think they won't like it," says Gary Wise, a self-described poker historian who's part of Bluff's 14-person broadcasting staff. But during a recent call-in segment hosted by Wise, caller "John in California" said that although he was initially skeptical, he finds it "oddly compelling" to listen to the blind play-by-play.
A key part of clearing that hurdle is the work of veteran sports broadcaster Howard David, who was brought on board as the voice of the WSOP on Sirius. David's career has spanned the range of conventional sports—he's been at the mic for six Super Bowls, covered multiple World Series games and was the voice of three NBA teams—but what made David an even more attractive candidate was his experience broadcasting nontraditional radio sports such as golf, soccer and the Winter Olympics.
Despite having little poker background, David says he's quickly adapted his style to suit the game and is quick to rely on the knowledge of the professional players who join him in the booth to provide color commentary.
"I'm taking my own play-by-play flavor and adapting it to poker," David says. "Basically, I'll describe the flop, the turn and the river, then engage the analysts to break down what happened."
Clearly he's conversant in the game's unique lingo, but he's aware that while most of his listeners are poker enthusiasts, part of his job is to educate his audience, as well. "When it comes to the obvious terms, I don't want to be overly descriptive," David says. "I don't want to insult aficionados of the game. I have to walk that fine line. But when the experts use a term like ‘nuts' or ‘come over the top,' something that only a real player would understand, I'll chime in and say, ‘Meaning ... ?' And then they'll explain that term."
So far, Bluff has been enthused by the response from both advertisers and audience. Each day's programming is sponsored—many by online poker sites—and those sponsorships sold out quickly. "We're not making a lot of money on this, if any," says Kleid, but he notes that Bluff has an option to cover the event next year, and they'll likely exercise that right.
As for the audience response, Kleid says that when announcers give out the toll-free phone number for call-in segments, their 12 phone lines fill quickly. Still in its infancy, the show has listeners including "a lot of long-haul truckers," but that demographic is expected to become more diverse as Sirius makes further inroads with the general population.
And maybe—just maybe—50 years from now, you'll regale your grandchildren with stories of hearing Howard David's famous WSOP Main Event call: "Helmuth wins the bracelet! Helmuth wins the bracelet! Helmuth wins the bracelet!"