Online poker brand PokerStars announced on Wednesday that it has sealed a new sponsorship deal with professional eSports organization Team Liquid, under the terms of which several Team Liquid pros will be asked to introduce and showcase the game of poker on their Twitch channels, which are known to be particularly popular.
Team Liquid members will also have to show to brand new audiences the similarities between eSports and poker, as well as the competitive elements and the challenges the two types of games share. As part of the partnership, they will also take part in different PokerStars-sponsored poker events, with the first such event being EPT Season 13 Barcelona, slated to take place in August 2016. Testing new online poker products and competing in popular online tournaments will also be part of their responsibilities as sponsored partners of the popular online poker platform.
Finland’s Janne ‘Savjz’ Mikkonen as well as Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch from Germany and Jeffrey ‘Sjow’ Brusi from Sweden, with the three of them being experts in StarCraft and Hearthstone, will be among the first Team Liquid members to stream poker-related content on their Twitch channels. Here it is important to note that the aforementioned three players as well as many other that are to join the initiative also have considerable poker experience.
For instance, ‘Savjz’ said that he is no stranger to the popular card game and that he used to play quite a lot. With PokerStars being a highly reliable and respected online poker provider, the player said that he is really excited to be sponsored by the brand.
‘Sjow’ also confirmed his participation in the initiative, saying that he is really happy to be streaming poker-related content under the popular poker room’s flag. He, too, admitted that he had played quite a lot in the past and that will now be showing his viewers how an old player relearns the game he described as a “very interesting and complex one.”
‘TLO’ likened poker to StarCraft, saying that the two are “games of incomplete information with incredibly high skill ceilings.”
Team Liquid members will be joined by Team PokerStars Pros and Team PokerStars Pro Online members, with professional Hearthstone player Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew, and Lex Veldhuis being only few of those. Daniel Negreanu, who has been topping the all-time live tournament earnings list for quite some time now with live tournament winnings of more than $32 million, will also join the initiative aimed at the further promotion and popularization of the game of poker.
