SVG Sit-Down: World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska on World Championship in Vegas and the Evolution of Live Poker Coverage The action will be live-streamed 12 hours a day for two weeks By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Monday, December 4, 2023 - 2:53 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
This month's World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas will provide a marathon of live-streaming content for poker fans across the globe. On Dec. 7, WPT and its streaming-production partner ShareHand will kick off 14 days of live coverage from Vegas with each day running as long as 12 hours.
World Poker Tour's Adam Pliska: This is when we get to prove that we are serious about growing this franchise so it keeps getting better every year.
Live-streamed content will appear on both the World Poker Tour YouTube and Twitch channels, in addition to plenty of live and postproduced content on WPT's growing list of linear, smart-TV, and streaming partners. WPT developed a comprehensive live-stream schedule to bring global viewers as much unique content as possible during the entire WPT World Championship festival. Coverage will include no shortage of cash-game and final-table streams, including the crowning of the ultimate winner of the $40 million guaranteed World Championship.
SVG sat down with World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska to discuss how this firehose of live-streaming content is being produced at the Wynn, the evolution of the WPT since its founding in 2002, how the consumption of live poker has changed over the years, and his key goals over the coming weeks in Vegas.
How has WPT evolved since its founding in 2002?
If you go back to when World Poker Tour started 20 years ago, it was an anomaly to get poker on TV at all. [WPT founder] Steve Lipscomb went knocking on the door of many networks, insisting that it would work in primetime, but almost everyone said no - partly because they didn't think the ratings were there and partly because it was almost scandalous to see poker on TV back then. When Travel Channel took the bet and was willing to put two hours on-air, that was a huge shift.
Very quickly, it captured the imagination of the sports world, and it blew up massively. Online sites who put their name around the World Poker Tour saw their audience grow tenfold, and suddenly Travel Channel saw its advertising revenue skyrocket.
However, whenever anything is successful, the industry is going to copy that model, so [the market] got flooded for a while. At one point, we had something like 20 competitors online or on network television. There was a lot of dilution there, and not everybody was dedicated to the same level of production quality that we were. But we continued to create quality poker, and, as a result, we survived while a lot of others did not. Eventually, poker evolved from a phenomenon to an actual sport that had its own fanbase, culture, and following.
And how have you seen poker shift from a linear-TV model to more streaming consumption in recent years?
Before COVID, linear television was our main consumption model. We went from Travel Channel to Fox Sports Net, which eventually became Bally Sports, which was very fitting for poker. When COVID happened, the entire industry saw this massive break with people cutting the cord and going online. We embraced that, and now World Poker Tour is on 91 [platforms], and the online networks are growing at a rapid pace to the point where they are now larger than our linear distribution. [The WPT World Championship] is a great example of how streaming gives us the flexibility and distribution to bring content to more fans than ever before.
How has the way that poker is covered and produced changed over the years?
Poker [programming] has evolved a lot. Twenty years ago, everyone was focused on high-stakes games, where people were playing for massive amounts of money. You can certainly still see that high-stakes excitement, but, in addition to that, we are providing constant real-time coverage on YouTube and Twitch. Streaming is terrific because, whether you're a professional or an amateur player, you want all the data available to you. You don't want to get just the highlights; you don't want just an hour-long show that has been cut down. You want everything. And we've seen that based on the audience growth [for streaming].
What are some key highlights that poker fans should keep an eye out for over the next couple of weeks?
You're going to see some of the most exciting poker in the world at every level. You'll see some of the biggest stars in the game, but you'll also see unknowns since [a player's success] early on can help propel them into playing in the big event later [in the tournament].
In terms of streaming, we will have a large offering from all of the major events: the World Championship, Prime Championship, Ladies Championship, and our Big One for One Drop [$1 million buy-in tournament] - plus plenty of high-stakes cash games and some special celebrity events.
But, obviously, as we head towards the last few days [of the event], the WPT World Championship [Dec. 16-21] is going to dominate our coverage. With $40 million guaranteed, we will have live streaming from Day 2 all the way through Day 6, culminating in the televised finale on Dec. 21, when a champion will be crowned.
Can you provide details on WPT's presence onsite at the Wynn, and how the live-streaming coverage will be produced?
We've grown quite a lot over the years, so our television production and distribution are now overseen in-house. In terms of the live-streaming [production], we partner with a group called ShareHand, who has done a phenomenal job providing professional, beautiful coverage. They work with us throughout the year and do a great job.
Our productio
North America Stories
27/03/2026
Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Sage Alerting Systems (SAS), in cooperation wit...
27/03/2026
Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway Brian and Dayna Lee BM '13 met and fell in love at Berklee, and now their production companys first Broadway debut i...
26/03/2026
Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...
26/03/2026
SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...
26/03/2026
LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100).
The C-Ban...
26/03/2026
The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...
26/03/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...
26/03/2026
Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...
26/03/2026
FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...
26/03/2026
CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...
26/03/2026
Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...
26/03/2026
Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...
26/03/2026
DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...
26/03/2026
Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...
26/03/2026
Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...
26/03/2026
By Matt Klein
Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...
26/03/2026
Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
New graphical configuration tool and...
26/03/2026
Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...
26/03/2026
2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 25, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio used on 27 of this year's no...
26/03/2026
Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Sho...
26/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbrea...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
Have a Wish Worth Dying For? Netflix's First Korean YA Hor...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
The Truthers, Starring Jose Coronado and St phanie Magnin, Pre...
26/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
26/03/2026
That gaming backlog won't clear itself - GeForce NOW is here to help. Stream the latest titles straight from the cloud across a variety of devices.
This we...
25/03/2026
Live match directors Sarah Cheadle (Sky Sports), Rob Levi (TNT Sports), and Andrew Swift (BBC Sport) sit down with the Premier League's Rachel Nightingale t...
25/03/2026
The senior from Upstate New York is manning the mic while also interning for the athletic department's sports-information team
In the live-sports-video ind...
25/03/2026
Synamedia has announced ContentArmor Edge Watermarking, a server-side solution t...
25/03/2026
SES has announced meoSphere, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030. The first phase will pair SES-developed software-defin...
25/03/2026
TVU Networks is working with Reuters on a phased migration from satellite to a c...
25/03/2026
Nielsen has announced three senior appointments. Seth Ladetsky has been named Head of Global Sports. Trevor Fellows will lead Nielsen's advertiser and agenc...
25/03/2026
Anoki and Amagi have launched In-Scene Ads powered by Anoki ContextIQ across Amagi's portfolio of in-content ad formats for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (...
25/03/2026
Arkona Technologies will announce a series of enhancements to its BLADE//runner platform at NAB 2026 (Booth C.1808). The updates focus on usability and workflow...
25/03/2026
Daktronics has installed two tower displays and a video wall in the Lexus Club at Petco Park in San Diego ahead of the 2026 season.
Continuing to improve the ...
25/03/2026
MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is celebrating its 50th anniversary as NAB Show 2026 approaches. The company was founded in 1976 by Vincent Jachetta, an N...
25/03/2026
IPC, a provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 de...
25/03/2026
Live production categories were led by NBC, FOX, and ESPN's NFL coverage...
25/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Spectrum have announced a multiyear distribution agreemen...
25/03/2026
(L-R) Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher attend The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre ...
25/03/2026
L3Harris Technologies and RFTEQ Pty Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to ...
SVG Sit-Down: World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska on World Championship in Vegas and the Evolution of Live Poker Coverage The action will be live-streamed 12 hours a day for two weeks By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
