PokerStars Now Sponsoring eSports Organisation Team Liquid

The world’s of poker and eSports just moved a bit closer after PokerStars and Team Liquid announced a new sponsorship agreement. Part of the deal will see Team Liquid’s most talented gamers showcasing their online poker skills via twitter in between hosting their regular programming, as well as competing at some of PokerStars’ most popular online tournaments.
The partership’s goal is to demonstrate to a whole new audience the shared skills and challenges that exist between poker and esports, and to that end some members of Team Liquid will also be taking part in a number of PokerStars-sponsored live tournaments throughout the year, including the hugely successful European Poker Tour in Barcelona which this year will take place from August 16th to 28th. Following the announcement, Team Liquid owner Victor Goossens, a one time poker pro herself, said:
“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.”
The Team Liquid streamers that will initially partake in the poker-eSports crossover is Finnish Hearthstone pro Janne ‘Savjz’ Mikkonen, Swedish StarCraft expert Jeffrey ‘Sjow’ Brusi, and German StarCraft champion Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch. Interestingly, both ‘Sjow’ and ‘Savjz’ have apparently played quite a lot of poker in the past, while ‘TLO’ is considered a poker novice.
During their live streams, the three Team Liquid pros will also be visited from time to time by some of Team PokerStars’ top professionals, including Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Lex Veldhuis, Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew, and Daniel Negreanu, who will then give them valuable strategic advice and guidance during their games. Commenting on the exciting development, Veldhuis explained:
“When I became a professional poker player I never let go of my passion for gaming. I’m an avid eSports fan, participating in Team Liquid forums and following the StarCraft and Dota 2 scenes closely. The sponsorship deal is an awesome way to show online gamers how closely related poker is and how they can apply deep-level thinking and strategy to another hugely popular game.”