partypoker continues to expand into the live streaming space after agreeing to become the primary sponsor of the high stakes poker and Esports entity, No-Limit Gaming.
When Rob Yong told me that he was putting together a Twitch stream team, and had approached the best, he wasn’t exaggerating. From the emancipation of PokerStars’ streamers to some of the most undervalued and underrated stars in poker’s Milky Way, Yong means business.
Check this out.
partypoker has dribbled squid ink onto a piece of parchment that sees them become the primary sponsor of No-Limit Gaming (NLG). NLG is the brainchild of the high stakes poker pro, Stefan Schillhabel, who sat down with his friends Fedor Holz and Stefan Sontheimer to provide the stamp of validation, and the work began.
The Germans are known for their precision and proficiency.
Poker is no different.
Check this out.
The #NLG Team House is always action packed! From match days & coaching sessions to bootcamps that maintain our peak performance, we're always striving to be the best we can be.
As always our experience is upgraded by our amazing partners @RuntimeGG, techbold & #ZOWIEbyBenQ pic.twitter.com/1Q3AocMVQ3
— No Limit Gaming (@no_limit_gg) February 13, 2019
There are two aspects to NLG, and I’m unsure if partypoker has a piece of both. The first is a poker arm, where some of the most talented players in the game compete online while streaming live. Charles Retmuller over at HighStakesDB did the math and worked out that the No Limit Gaming team have cashed for more than $100m playing live tournaments.
I would say that NLG’s poker streamers are worth watching.
Then you have the Esports arm, with NLG in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) business with a team of Austrian crack shots, throat cutters, and grenade launchers.
One suspects the deal was an easier one to forge with Fedor Holz being a wolf in both packs. Josip Simunic also represents both brands. Interestingly, moving forward, one aspect of the deal is for NLG members to be prominent in partypoker’s live events.
I use the word ‘interesting’ as NLG streamers Ana Marquez represents 888Poker, and Kenney Hallaert is the Tournament Director with Unibet. Maybe, this is a non-issue. Hallaert is in Rio competing in the MILLIONS South America where he has cashed in the first two events.
It’s the second move like this that partypoker has made in the past month. The first trick was to sign Bill Perkins and his Thirst Lounge into a deal (Perkins has ten prominent streamers on his bankroll). Since the Thirst Lounge announcement, the hires keep coming with former PokerStars employees Jaime Staples and Jeff Gross joining the team, with a promise of 30+ before the hammer hits the gavel.
