Lately on twitch there has been a lot of action broadcasted with big cashgames and high stakes tournaments.
Here's my take on who is the best to watch entertainment and value-wise.
Doug Polk
Not much to say here, this guy is monster. When the only person that will sit him at 100/200 heads up nl holdem is Ben Sulsky, it's obvious that this guy is a crusher. Things to note about Doug, he likes to cover his holecards when he plays very highstakes, so for casual viewers the value of watching is massively reduced. Another thing about Doug is that he doesn't explain his though processes a lot, this is also not great for casual viewers as they can't really understand why he does things a lot of the time. On the plus side when Doug does explain thought processes or discusses strategy, the value of the information is priceless, you just need to be a keen observer.
Stream schedule:
time: late morning- evening, american west coast timezone
frequency: a little scattered and generally streams in bursts
Jason Somerville
Jason is the poster-child of pokerstars on twitch. With regular audiences of 8k+ viewers this guy is the most popular poker streamer on twitch. Jason has a great personality and really tries to promote the fun side of poker with less of a focus on trying to make money. He always tries to explain his thought processes behind all the moves and plays. Jason's main games are the no limit holden tournaments of which he is always playing at almost the top buyin stakes. If you are new to poker and want to find someone who's fun to watch but can teach you a hell of a lot then this is your guy.
Stream schedule:
time: lunch time-late, american west coast timezone
frequency: lengthy bursts with long breaks in between
Tonkaaaap
Tonka is a high stakes tournament poker wizard.
Stream schedule:
time: afternoon- late EST
frequency: tuesday-sunday
Adrian Fenixx
Adrian is by far my most favourite streamer but also one of the most inconsistent. When he does stream though, the stars align and he always creates something special. Adrian plays midstakes cash games where he specialises in no limit holdem but is also quite decent at pot limit omaha. Expect to learn a lot from watching him, poker players of all calibres can learn something.
Stream schedule:
time: scattered ( he lives in brazil but has a weird sleep schedule ), expect streams at any time of the day
frequency: scattered
a small highlight: https://clips.twitch.tv/adrianfenixx/AliveDugongWTRuck
Lex Veldhuis
Lex's twitch poker career is an interesting one. He mostly plays small to medium ($5- $200) buyin tournaments which is interesting due to his high stakes poker past. When Lex first started playing poker on twitch he was only playing $1-$20 dollar tournaments, so he seems to be slowly working his way up the stakes. I expect him to eventually move up higher and higher until he hits his skill limit or reaches the very high stakes. There is a very fun vibe to the stream and Lex has a great viewer interaction even with a lot of viewers chatting to him. His stream definitely caters towards the casual player. Expect a lot of terminator and borat impressions.
Stream schedule:
time: Noon - 6pm CEST
frequency: Monday-Friday
As you can see the poker streets on twitch are pretty stacked with lots of expert players who are also quite entertaining. There plenty of other good poker players on twitch but these five are my favourites. I hope people could find value in this summary and enjoy the world of twitch poker.
image sources:
https://www.pokernews.com/poker-players/doug-polk/
https://twitter.com/jasonsomerville
http://www.pokerlistings.com/twitch-poker-spotlight-watch-tonkaaaap-win-everything
https://twitter.com/adrianfenixx
https://twitter.com/RaSZi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor