Online poker’s recent rankings shakeup has given every operator a renewed vigor. The latest brand to try and advance its position with an enhanced presence on Twitch is 888Poker.
Announced on July 1, the new roster of streaming stars will help rejuvenate 888Poker’s presence on Twitch and other social media channels. The five streamers all come from different backgrounds and, like those drafted by Paddy Power Poker, they’re mainly small-stakes players.
888Poker reinvests in Twitch content
888Poker launched its own Twitch channel in April 2021. However, after a relatively quiet few months, the marketing team has decided to “reopen” it with the help of the Stream Team.
The five members of 888Poker’s Stream Team will create a steady stream of daily content. In addition to showing poker “every day, all day long,” the revamped Twitch channel will feature special events, freerolls, competitions, and more. There will also be a new interactive element to the channel, courtesy of the streamers. Their job will be to promote 888Poker, engage with the community, and educate viewers.
Meet the stream team
Nick Eastwood aka eastyyy22
Englishman Eastwood has been playing for 12 years and mainly focuses on small to mid-stakes 6-max cash games. He started broadcasting his exploits in 2020 and, today, streams instructional content on Discord.
Ricardo Mateus aka Mat3usPT
Mateus has been a recreational player since 2006 but, over the last three years, he’s built up an online following in his native Portugal. Like Eastwood, he combines live content with study sessions and strategy breakdowns.
David Gibson aka New_Dave
Gibson is from London and, initially, started streaming as part of a competition. Although he didn’t win, he decided to keep broadcasting his journey from micro-stakes up the ranks.
Josh Manley aka JoshManleyPoker
Manley is another Brit who’s been around the game for more than a decade. He honed his skills at the play money tables before transitioning to real-money games where he makes a decent side income.
Adam Tocholke aka Eklo
Rounding out 888Poker’s Stream Team is Canada’s Tocholke. Unlike his peers, Tocholke is a relative novice when it comes to poker. However, he’s a pro when it comes to streaming.
As a musician, he’s been streaming on Twitch and Spotify since 2014. With 50 million streams on Spotify alone, he recently got into poker and will be using his platform to bring something different to 888Poker’s channel.
The fight for poker supremacy is taking place on Twitch
The market for streaming is hot right now. Paddy Power Poker launched its own Twitch team in late June, giving itself another way to broaden its player base. 888Poker will be looking to do the same. It’s currently ranked eighth in online poker’s global traffic rankings, just behind the Winning Poker Network and iPoker.
Given that GGPoker recently took PokerStars’ top spot, the industry is in a state of flux. With anyone seemingly able to advance their position, Twitch has become the new battleground and, with five new soldiers, 888Poker has entered the fight.
