YouTube Cracks Down On Poker Videos

In the very same evening, three big poker YouTubers had videos taken down from the platform for the sin of promoting a poker site.  

YouTube has been great for poker, creating a space where players can share their experiences with the game like never before. But that harmonious relationship has taken a turn for the worse as poker YouTubers logged in to find that some of their videos have been taken down and, in at least one case, their channels have received a strike. 

Jaime Staples, Andrew Neeme and Elias Gutierrez (AKA SinKarma) took to Twitter within an hour of each other to express that YouTube now treats poker with “the same rules as roulette.” 

While Andrew Neeme and Jaime Staples apparently just got their videos taken down, Elias received a strike on his channel for his video “My Japanese girlfriend and why I am a poker player” which he described as “the most family-friendly video I’ve done in my life.”

The first strike on a channel removes its ability to upload videos, live streams, stories, or create custom thumbnails or community posts for one week. The strike remains on the channel for 90 days.

You can read the email YouTube sent to Elias on the Tweet embedded below.

More on this story as it develops.