partypoker announces creation of “Team Online”

Team to be made up of poker industry’s top streamers

partypoker has announced the creation of its “Team Online”, set to comprise a collection of some of the world’s most high-profile online poker content creators and streamers.

The first player to join Team Online is Canada’s Matt Staples, who has built a sizeable community following across his Twitch and other social media accounts in recent years.

Matt Staples is a 22-year-old online professional poker player born and raised in Alberta, Canada.

Matt started playing poker when he was 18 years old at the lowest possible stakes, gradually building a bankroll that now enables him to regularly play mid-high stakes tournaments full-time on Twitch.

More than 52,000 Twitch followers

Matt started streaming for fun over three years ago and quickly saw his channel grow to a point where he decided to pursue his passion of content creation full time. His Twitch channel now boasts over 3 million views and 52,000 followers, growing all the time.

Travel has formed a major part of Matt’s career. The Canadian visited over 14 countries while taking part in a $150,000 weight loss/gain bet alongside his brother, Jaime. The bet challenged the brothers to both arrive at the same weight within the span of a year, which required Matt to ‘bulk up’ in the gym and eat ‘everything in sight’ to gain the necessary 53 pounds in weight, while Jaime did the opposite.

The bet was ultimately achieved after the pair both weighed in at 85.4kg to claim the $150,000 payout from Bill Perkins, out of a $3,000 stake.

Matt is extremely committed to establishing himself as a ‘solid’ high stakes player and growing his Twitch poker community, and will be working hard on achieving these goals.

The creation of Team Online forms part of a wider company strategy earmarked for the following weeks and months with the focus on curating and distributing engaging streaming content across partypoker’s main Twitch channel. Just recently the site announced a partnership with “The Thirst Lounge”, a Twitch streaming channel launched in 2016 by high stakes player, Bill Perkins, that encourages viewers to “live their best life.”

Plans also include a new partypoker high stakes cash game that will see some of the biggest names in poker invited to trade blows on the site’s virtual cash game tables, streamed live.

In addition, various current members of Team partypoker including Fedor Holz, Patrick Leonard and Ludovic Geilich will alternate in hosting partypoker Twitch streaming sessions to complement the site’s streaming strategy, focusing on a range of poker topics.

More new faces announced this week

Over the coming days partypoker will be unveiling new additions to Team Online on the partypoker blog and via its official social media channels.

Staples said: “I am incredibly excited to be entering into a sponsorship with partypoker.

“Becoming a sponsored pro is something I’ve aspired to for a while now, and I couldn’t be happier about the partnership. There’s nothing I like more than streaming tournaments on Twitch and I’m pumped to have the opportunity to showcase and help grow partypoker and their Twitch community.”

partypoker managing director, Tom Waters said: “We have been a bit behind the curve when it comes to streaming, but we are hoping to make up for lost time by compiling an elite team that will be able to stream entertaining and engaging content 24/7.

“We are delighted to have Matt join the team and will be able to announce some more exciting additions to Team Online in the coming days.”

Matt Staples’ Twitch account can be found at Mattstaples.tv, while he can be followed on Twitter

Click here to visit partypoker’s official Twitch channel.