Being down at the Rio for the WSOP always feels a bit like a high-school reunion. You see friends and colleagues that you haven’t seen since the previous WSOP, you swap old stories, and catch up with the people that have become a lot like family since you see them more often during the summer.

This year however, one topic seems to dominate every conversation; twitter. What began over two years ago in 2007, but is really building up steam is the concept of 140-character updates.

“Tweeting” has changed the whole dynamic of following the fanfare down at the WSOP. Now, instead of just following the live updates on WorldSeriesofPoker.com, you can get the play by play from some of the players themselves in real time by viewing their “tweets”. Daniel Negreanu (@REALKidPoker), Phil Hellmuth (@Phil_Hellmuth), Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly), Gavin Smith (@oleGSmith), Jean-Robert Bellande (@BrokeLivingJRB), Bill Edler (@BEdler), David Williams (@dwpoker), Evelyn Ng (@EvyBabee) and Paul Wasicka (@Kwickfish) are just some of the Poker Royalty clients I have found on twitter so far and I am sure more will follow suit. In addition, Poker Royalty (@Poker_Royalty) and Jeffrey Pollack (@JeffreyPollack) have “tweets” covering the world of poker from another perspective.

The most interesting development from the business side of poker, for me, has been to see how poker related companies have used twitter and other social media platforms to market their brand to new audiences. Poker Road (@PokerRoad), RawVegas.tv (@RawVegasTV), and BluffMagazine.com (@bluffmagazine) have done a great job of using twitter to connect poker players to their fans by incorporating multiple player “tweets” onto one organized page.. Online poker site Bodog has written twitter updates into current and future sponsorship contracts. Expekt.com, new sponsor of Scotty Nguyen, has included social media platforms twitter and Facebook into leveraging their overall sponsorship strategy. Poker related businesses are doing an excellent job of keeping a pulse on the social media market to promote their brands.

In my opinion, the twitter craze is great for poker because it is one of the few sports where players can actually tweet updates while in the heat of battle. Can you imagine Kobe Bryant tweeting updates during a timeout in the NBA Finals? Poker has always prided itself on being a “sport” where fans can actually interact with its professionals, and this real-time updating will ultimately bring more excitement to the game of poker.

Poker Royalty client Daniel Negreanu recently wrote a blog that sums up this idea best; “Let’s all remember what’s most important: those new people who get into poker… those fans who watch poker on television… those corporations who see poker’s popularity and are willing to take a chance on investing in the game… let’s not forget that poker is supposed to be FUN!”

PokerRoyalty.com