PokerStars and Run It Up Present Interactive Twitch Poker Game, Chat Plays Poker

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Sep 25, 2019 3 min read

Part of the fun of watching poker streams derives from the ability to speculate about what players will do, and of course criticize actions players take, with no risk or money on the line yourself. But what if you could actually influence action - tell a given player in a game what you think they should do?

Raise, fold, ship it! Now, the choice is yours. Only you won't be able to see everyone's hole cards like you usually can from home during delayed live streams.

PokerStars and Jason Somerville's Run It Up Studios have teamed up to offer a new interactive form of Twitch poker where viewers can actually influence action by voting on poker moves given a specific hand and scenario. 'Chat Plays Poker' is the first of its kind, and the first running will take place on Thursday, Sept. 26, according to the PokerStars Blog.

Growing the Game

It's no surprise to see the "Godfather of Twitch poker" at the forefront of an innovative poker experiment, ever a proponent of keeping the game fresh and fun for newcomers and poker veterans alike.

When Somerville partnered with PokerStars to open the Las Vegas-based Run It Up Studios, which you can read more about in this PokerNews article, Somerville said of the venture, "My ultimate goal is to build Twitch poker and to grow the game of poker."

A live-streamed poker game where Twitch viewers of any poker ability can influence the action and be guided all along by Somerville himself appears to be the latest in those efforts to build Twitch poker and grow the game.

Added to the draw, viewers will get to face off against opponents that include poker icon and PokerStars Team Pro Chris Moneymaker, popular poker announcer and comedian Joe Stapleton and Run It Up crew member Jesse Fullen.

Get Involved

If you're interested in participating or just watching the experiment play out, all you need is a free Twitch account. The action kicks off at 3 p.m. EST/8 p.m. BST at the PokerStars Twitch channel, where Somerville will provide a quick demonstration. Play will get underway with blinds at 1/1 and players 100 big blinds deep, and the game is expected to last a couple hours, according to the PokerStars Blog.

To get involved, click "vote on the action" in the top left of the screen and click "enable" when prompted. Then you're in. When the action gets to you, options for bet/raise, check or fold will appear and you can choose your preferred action. Based on the viewer response, Somerville will follow through with the chips.

And the rest is up to the cards. See the tweet below for a sneak peek at how it works.

_{The Stars Group owns a majority shareholding in iBus Media.}

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