High Stakes Poker Streams Are Better Than Ever Right Now Thanks To Some Incredible New Characters That Are Taking The Poker World By Storm
Greetings. I hope this blog finds you well. Poker, while niche, is also one of those American past times that everyone plays. If you and your buds didn't grow up at the kitchen table dealing a game of Texas Hold Em, I feel sorry for you. It was the best. Nobody was good, your mom made snacks for the boys, and at the end of the night maybe you'd go home with an extra 5 bucks in your pocket. Those days, after Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event, is commonly referred to as "the poker boom". When everyone played poker, everyone put money into online poker, and poker players became household names. Who didn't watch Ivey, Durrr, Gus, and the boys play on High Stakes Poker or Poker After Dark at midnight?
Then came the death of online poker, which in turn led to the death or those great television games, which in turn led to people finding new interests besides poker.
And then, the pandemic happened.
With everyone locked inside their houses, a poker resurgence began. I got so, so many DMs or Tweets asking how people can play online poker, either for money or with friends. And while the options in the USA are still dire for legalized, real money games online (it's only legal in NJ, NV, DE, MI, and PA), there are apps and some shady unregulated sites out there if you look hard enough.
From there, once casinos reopened and live tournaments came back, a new poker boom began emerging. Record field sizes at the WSOP, in Florida, overseas, and everywhere in between. People are absolutely CLAMORING to play poker and it's beautiful!
One other thing that helped, however, is the emergence of amazing poker streamer and vloggers. Both individual streamers who play online with their cards showing on Twitch, vloggers like Brad Owen and Rampunts who set up a camera at live cash tables and vlog their sessions on YouTube, have opened the poker world to a whole new generation of viewer. No longer do you have to wait til midnight to watch your favorite poker players on TV, they are online 24x7 with extraordinary content.
Which brings me to the origin of this blog, the streamed games. There have been streamed games like Live At The Bike, Poker Night In America, and a few others for years, but nothing as good as the newest one, Hustler Live.
The Hustler game is combining the two things that make for great poker television- huge stakes and huge personalities. They aren't relying on "name pros"- they are bringing in guys and gals with big money and big personalities who want to gamble it up. And it's working.
Guys like Mikki, Eric Perrson, Wes, and the man at the top of the blog Alan Keating are ushering in a new generation of poker players. They are proving you don't have to be Phil Ivey, or Phil Hellmuth, or any of those old names in order to make a splash. In fact, this Hustler game went head to head directly with a streamed Hellmuth game and blew it out of the god damn water. 2,000 people were watching Hellmuth's game while at the same time 15,000 were watching the Hustler game that didn't have a "big name pro" at the table.
If you are into big money poker, catch a Hustler stream soon. I promise you'll be hooked.
And don't forget to subscribe to our podcast too!
PS: ICYMI from last week. Amazing.