'Reckful' Running It Up

The ties between the poker and eSports communities can be traced back well before Black Friday. Many former professional gamers have seen their fair share of success on the tournament circuit and recently, there have been some big name poker players trying their hand in a variety of other games.

The game of choice for most poker players is a free-to-play online collectible card video game that has amassed over 50 million players since it’s early 2014 launch. Daniel Negreanu has been posting about Hearthstone for the last 18 months and his PokerStars Team Pro counterpart, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier streams a handful of eSports on Twitch, including Hearthstone.

What happens when the shoe is on the other foot though, when eSport players take their shot at the poker table? This week, Reckful, who is one of the world’s most popular Hearthstone streamers hit the virtual felt and has been making a killing in Pot Limit Omaha. He tweeted yesterday that he won $8,000 on Monday and $16,000 today, while posting an interesting hand history from a $10/20 PLO session.

started playing online poker with $2000 yesterday

i won $8k yesterday and $16k today – at $26k now PogChamp

here’s a pretty crazy hand pic.twitter.com/tIIGVb7nLH

— DJ Reckful (@ByronBernstein) January 18, 2017

PLO promotor Joe Ingram loved the action, and strategy Reckful discussed while running back the replay of the hand, but this isn’t the first time Reckful has gotten his gamble on. Reckful has made a handful of forays into the gambling world before, including some crazy swings in both internet roulette and blackjack.

Reckful has yet to make the jump to the live arena but 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe McKeehen, who is an avid Reckful stream follower and fan, has been seen rocking some Reckful swag at the tables over the last year. If Reckful can keep this run good, and judging by his tweets so far today he has, maybe we’ll see him competing against McKeehen and his other poker playing fans sooner, rather than later.