Liquid has had a long standing relationship with Poker. In fact, one of our original community sites, Liquid Poker, was dedicated to the card game! It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally ready to solidify that bond. PokerStars is now an official sponsor of Liquid, and some of our players will begin streaming poker between their regular programming.
First, we have Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen. He’s been playing card games for as long as he can remember, and it’s only natural that his expertise extends to Poker—a game he's been playing for ages. Savjz frequently shares his deep understanding of Hearthstone through articles on TeamLiquidPro, and he is bound to have more than a few interesting insights about Poker. Streaming Poker is just the next step in his mission of card game excellency.
Joining him is Jeffrey "SjoW" Brusi, one of the most old school players around. It's not surprising that he's had a hand in Poker for a while now. He’s made a habit of making memorable moments wherever he goes—who will ever forget his upset of Life in SC2 or his Xfinity Hearthstone Invitational title—and he is bound to make a few good ones in Poker. He'll be joining Savjz at a few EPT's this year, so follow the lovable Swede as he tackles Poker as a new sidequest.
Finally, we have Dario "TLO" Wünsch. No one knows risk and reward more than him, after all, he has spent years playing ZvZ. Going hatch first is essentially laying your cards on the table, and his creativity might just translate into unconventional Poker. While he might not call with pocket 3s, we’re bound to see more than a few interesting plays from the bearded wonder.
Make sure to tune in as they huff, puff and bluff their way to success. You might even see a few more of our players stream a little bit with our new sponsor.
Finally, don’t forget to watch out for our players at live events and spot that new badge on our jerseys.
I am proud to announce our new sponsorship with PokerStars. For those who aren't familiar with my background: when I was still running www.teamliquid.net as a hobby, what actually allowed me to commit so much time to my passion was that I was a professional poker player. Being able to dictate my own hours and schedule gave me the flexibility and time to look after what I cared about so much during those years. As a professional poker player my sole focus was always on online cash games, and in particular I played on PokerStars. Their software and support has always been the best in the business, and that is what propelled them to the forefront of the industry.
This isn't the first time that we've tried to work with PokerStars, actually. It was back in 2012 when we had our first conversations about working together in esports, but our initial approach came a little too early. However, I'm glad we are finally able to introduce this poker giant to the world of esports through Team Liquid.
I'm confident that my close ties with poker will allow us to provide the right value and conceive engaging projects that will create a lasting and worthwhile relationship for years to come. Not only are we doing a regular sponsorship, some of our players will be playing poker on their streams, learning from some of the best. ElkY, RaSZi, nanonoko (and maybe even Negreanu) will be showing some of our players the ropes, and you can watch and learn along with them. In particular, SjoW and Savjz will put their card game skills to the test as they sign up to play several EPT's this year. We'll make sure to bring you exciting video coverage so that you can follow them as they experience the ups and downs of a professional poker player.
On May 19 2016 01:16 movac wrote: What? you got Elky on your team and he's not gonna be part of the poker division?
Technically we haven't (yet?) created a poker division. These guys will be playing/streaming, but they are not professionals. Something to think about though
On May 19 2016 01:27 Bongy wrote: Will you have any promotions in partnership with them? I wouldn't mind depositing a bit if it benefits Liquid
Yes actually you can already do so through psta.rs/Liquid. We'll be promoting this going forward. Thanks for all the support. It definitely benefits us as it will help show the value of esports and Liquid.
While this is awesome I don't get how this doesn't violate WCS rules. Gambling related sponsors is one of the listed things not allowed for WCS players.
I assume that there's something I'm missing but I'm just confused. Awesome news none the less
On May 19 2016 01:27 Bongy wrote: Will you have any promotions in partnership with them? I wouldn't mind depositing a bit if it benefits Liquid
Yes actually you can already do so through psta.rs/Liquid. We'll be promoting this going forward. Thanks for all the support. It definitely benefits us as it will help show the value of esports and Liquid.
Unfortunately this is for first time deposits, I already have an active account. If you get a promotion for existing players I will definitely deposit with Liquid's code
On May 19 2016 01:27 Bongy wrote: Will you have any promotions in partnership with them? I wouldn't mind depositing a bit if it benefits Liquid
Yes actually you can already do so through psta.rs/Liquid. We'll be promoting this going forward. Thanks for all the support. It definitely benefits us as it will help show the value of esports and Liquid.
Nice! It makes me so fricking happy to see Team Liquid become the giant it is today. When I started on this website 6 years ago, it seemed like the most tight-nit and well moderated community I have ever experienced. Today it has maintained that image while expanding to multiple e-sports titles. Team liquid is arguably one of the best things to ever happen to e-sports. Glad to say I stumbled across it one day
Wow Poker Stars really been advertising hardcore lately. Jumping into live bet market adding the likes of Ronaldo (fat)Ronaldo Neymar many many more celebrities to its network, that's on top of having poker pros like Negraenu already on the books for life. Very big sponsorship, well done Team Liquid! Also thanks Poker Stars for joining ESPORTS :D
You should know, that Amaya after buying PS is slowly killing online poker, increasing rake(in some games, like HUNL, it's unbeatable now); reducing rakeback all across the site and removing it completely in highstakes cash games, covering it with "poker ecology" bull. Remember Full Tilt? Gone.
I'm not sure I'd say advertising online gambling is something to be proud of.
Most TL users are probably right in PokerStars targeted demographic and won't have a problem staying reasonable, but I've got to worry there might be someone getting addicted and losing his everything, after seeing TLO having some harmless fun.
Congrats on the big sponsor, still remember ehm from the TSL sponsorships!
Ethically I'm wondering how TL can have a gambling sponsor for what is basically a young teen oriented e-sport, won't this land the team in legal trouble eventually? (I know all of us old fucks play the games, but these games are made with 12year olds in mind).
Well, it was about time tbh. I'm not surprised that they finally stepped up and decided to sponsor you. You deserved it. There are so many similarities between poker / high risk/high reward ratio / heathstone and esports. You even said it yourself naz.
On May 19 2016 05:26 Xyik wrote: will stream sniping be a problem here? seems like theres a lot of risk.
Poker streams usually are on a 5 minute delay and players typically have far less time to act (except rarely during tournament play). You do give up information on how you might play certain hands though.
Did anyone notice how the writer likes the phrase "bound to" while describing players? =) Other than that: Congrats on the new sponsor! Maybe with that money you can start paying people like Ver to write more of his exciting articles??
On May 19 2016 08:44 Dunmer wrote: Will Elky be streaming poker? Seems like his card games skills would translate well into poker
Elky streams poker all the time, I mean he's only won $11m in live poker...
Won and cashed are completely different things. Most of the guys you see having "won X millions" have profited a small fraction of that. When they count "tournament earnings" they never subtract the cost of the buyins.
On May 19 2016 08:44 Dunmer wrote: Will Elky be streaming poker? Seems like his card games skills would translate well into poker
Elky streams poker all the time, I mean he's only won $11m in live poker...
Won and cashed are completely different things. Most of the guys you see having "won X millions" have profited a small fraction of that. When they count "tournament earnings" they never subtract the cost of the buyins.
His largest tournament buy in was 30k from what I can see on Hendon and his 2mill cash was a 10k buy in tournament, admittedly these are only the tournaments he has cashed in but point stands that his earning are in the millions by some margin.
On May 19 2016 08:44 Dunmer wrote: Will Elky be streaming poker? Seems like his card games skills would translate well into poker
Elky streams poker all the time, I mean he's only won $11m in live poker...
Won and cashed are completely different things. Most of the guys you see having "won X millions" have profited a small fraction of that. When they count "tournament earnings" they never subtract the cost of the buyins.
His largest tournament buy in was 30k from what I can see on Hendon and his 2mill cash was a 10k buy in tournament, admittedly these are only the tournaments he has cashed in but point stands that his earning are in the millions by some margin.
Generally it is really hard to know/estimate what someone has won from this type of public info. It happens plenty that someone gets a buyin for a tournament from someone else and only keeps 10% of the winnings. The cash-games these players will play outside of tournaments will also contribute significantly to winnings/losses. Basically the public tournament winnings are always something to look at with some caution at least.
On May 19 2016 08:44 Dunmer wrote: Will Elky be streaming poker? Seems like his card games skills would translate well into poker
Elky streams poker all the time, I mean he's only won $11m in live poker...
Won and cashed are completely different things. Most of the guys you see having "won X millions" have profited a small fraction of that. When they count "tournament earnings" they never subtract the cost of the buyins.
His largest tournament buy in was 30k from what I can see on Hendon and his 2mill cash was a 10k buy in tournament, admittedly these are only the tournaments he has cashed in but point stands that his earning are in the millions by some margin.
Generally it is really hard to know/estimate what someone has won from this type of public info. It happens plenty that someone gets a buyin for a tournament from someone else and only keeps 10% of the winnings. The cash-games these players will play outside of tournaments will also contribute significantly to winnings/losses. Basically the public tournament winnings are always something to look at with some caution at least.
I'm aware of the staking scene but if I had cashed as prominently and consistently as Elky I would be putting stock in my ability and fronting the majority of the cash for my entry. I mean even with a paltry 10% across all his cashings he's sat on $1.2m not including his $1.8m in online poker cashes. I mean Jason Mercier who is known for doing some staking has said on interview that the standard staking arrangement is around 50/50 after the makeup from the tournament buy in. So I would estimate Elky to be roughly around $6-9m depending on how much he's been staked that's also including the times not listed where he's bought in and lost.
Anyway congratulations on this deal Naz really is fantastic and will encourage some people to use the Liquid20 code.
TLO plays poker? Disappointing. Poker is a game that feeds off of stupid and irresponsible people to fund a small group of good players. A lot of suffering is caused by poker.
On May 20 2016 05:05 11cc wrote: TLO plays poker? Disappointing. Poker is a game that feeds off of stupid and irresponsible people to fund a small group of good players. A lot of suffering is caused by poker.
From what I've seen I would say that 99% of all the money in poker is from middle class people having a bit of a flutter with some pocket notes, I would say at most only 1% of the money in poker is generated from people who have gambling issues even then I doubt it's that high. Pokerstars also permanently shut down any account who's owner has a gambling problem.
I'd argue that poker has the lowest problem gamblers out of all gambling. it's essentially an entertainment industry where recreational players pay just for that - entertainment!
Even though it's true that the owners of Pokerstars kinda don't do the best for the players right now and are facing multiple charges by Canadian trading authority it's still the biggest sponsor TL could get.
I like this sponsor. LiquidPoker's been sitting pretty in the top right corner of the navigation bar for ages and Liquid has a long history with poker, glad to see it pay dividends in terms of recognition back.
Like others have said most TL users are in the right demographic to gamble responsibly anyway.
I've played 10s of thousands of poker hands, but never really connected TL with the game. Probably time I start coming here for two of my interests instead of just one :D
On May 20 2016 05:05 11cc wrote: TLO plays poker? Disappointing. Poker is a game that feeds off of stupid and irresponsible people to fund a small group of good players. A lot of suffering is caused by poker.
From what I've seen I would say that 99% of all the money in poker is from middle class people having a bit of a flutter with some pocket notes, I would say at most only 1% of the money in poker is generated from people who have gambling issues even then I doubt it's that high. Pokerstars also permanently shut down any account who's owner has a gambling problem.
I have read about cases where minors got access to parent's credit cards and spent thousands to never see that money again. I don't know how many such cases exist, and I doubt pokerstars would publish such data.
On May 20 2016 05:05 11cc wrote: TLO plays poker? Disappointing. Poker is a game that feeds off of stupid and irresponsible people to fund a small group of good players. A lot of suffering is caused by poker.
From what I've seen I would say that 99% of all the money in poker is from middle class people having a bit of a flutter with some pocket notes, I would say at most only 1% of the money in poker is generated from people who have gambling issues even then I doubt it's that high. Pokerstars also permanently shut down any account who's owner has a gambling problem.
I have read about cases where minors got access to parent's credit cards and spent thousands to never see that money again. I don't know how many such cases exist, and I doubt pokerstars would publish such data.
Whose fault is that? Are Pokerstars supposed to do DNA tests to make sure you are the owner of the card. That's saying it's Pokerstars fault that someone stole your card and used it to play.
Besides, do you really think the poker economy is fulled by kids stealing their parent's credit cards.
Extremely disappointed with this decision given that every single thing that Stars has done since Amaya took over has been negative towards the players, be it huge cutbacks to player rewards, steadily declining customer service from the best in the game to a joke, failure to properly investigate bot rings that have taken millions of dollars out of the game, pushing games primarily of luck like spin and go's and newly incorporating casino games/sports betting into the client at the expense of poker, where they fail to recognise that most games are unbeatable due to rake, being the only site that still caters to mass-tabling players... if I ever go back to playing online Stars would be at the bottom of the list.
As someone who has more ties to the professional poker world than esports world but loves both, this is just a fantastic move for all parties - poker is a skill game that people who crush starcraft (and other esports) should mostly excel at with the right training/coaching and with it getting big on twitch recently it's natural that the're targeting the esports market especially since there's a lot of overlap between people who like esports and poker. Stars has had it's problems (and the new owners continue to make poor decisions) but they're still the biggest online poker site and it hopefully leads to good things for both poker and esports.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/shiroiusagi/tlpro/articles/2016/0518_victor.jpg)
