The Top Poker Streamers in North America (Part II)

Matt Staples (Canada)

We reviewed Matt’s brother Jaime last time, but Matt Staples is an accomplished poker streamer himself. He got his start with a measly $20 deposit and hit the poker streets hard, streaming on Twitch along with his brother Jaime, and Kevin Martin in a “stream house” in Montreal. From there, Matt’s bankroll has grown to well over $350k today, and his 111,000 followers on Twitch have seen it all as he is primarily an online player.

He has dabbled into the live game on occasion, but Matt’s at home in front of the computer grinding away at multiple tournaments at once. His twitch streams are supplemented by regular videos posted to his YouTube channel, and if you listen to him walk through his thought process, and keep his cool when he takes a bad beat, you’ll understand why he & his brother continue to rep the Orange Diamond of partypoker today as members of their Pro Online team.

Doug Polk (US)

One of the most well known poker players and advocates today, Doug Polk has amassed a following most streamers dream of. His Upswing Poker training site, along with countless appearances on live poker streams have made Doug a household name, and with his alignment to ClubWPT Gold, fans get to watch Doug play poker online – and on Twitch. Although he’s not a regular streamer like Matt is, his videos tend to amass tens of thousands of views quickly when he does decide to go live. 

While he’s more known for playing live, Doug’s association with ClubWPT Gold may prove valuable to growing that brand online, as well as for Doug to extend his reach and entertain many new fans to his game by allowing us play along as he plays in massive matches like an $800k heads-up match he recently played. Being a name before going online instantly draws a crowd, and more and more people are showing up to his streams.

Apestyles (US)

Jon Van Fleet, also known as “Apestyles” is a former ACR Team Pro, current online poker pro and coach and has used his success playing massive tournaments and building a bankroll through his association with ACR into a prominent stand alone channel on Twitch. 

Jon tends to only stream on the weekends when the biggest tournaments are held, but getting to watch someone as skilled and knowledgeable as Jon play in these huge tournaments and consistently running deep in them – will always be enjoyable poker to watch. Getting to listen to Jon run through his thoughts out loud is invaluable, and his 51,000 followers would all agree. 

While he’s not officially with ACR anymore, you will see a lot of America’s Cardroom featured on Jon’s stream as he constantly is battling the world’s best – including those in the US – in some of the biggest buy-in tournaments every week.

Jeff Gross (US)

The Poker Flow Show himself makes our list but in a different way. Jeff Gross used to be one of partypoker’s longer standing ambassadors, battling the world on partypoker and representing the brand when it came to many of the bigger live tournaments, but Jeff’s focus in poker has transitioned away from playing the game to commenting on the game. 

The Poker Flow Show Podcast was a staple of Jeff’s poker empire up until a year ago, but the podcast has morphed into just The Flow Show now, with sightings every month or so. 

Where Jeff continues to thrive though is on YouTube, where his new alignment with GGPoker has allowed him to take the seat in the commentary box, discussing some of the biggest tournaments on GG Poker including the recent WSOP Online series. He boasts over 136k subscribers there and has posted almost 700 videos to date – with more poker action to come.

Michael Loncar (US)

One of the more prominent streamers in the ACR family is Michael Loncar. After all, when you get a regular poker tournament named after you, you know you’ve made it!

Michael has been with the ACR family for many years but Loncar’s rise in the poker world came in the Sit N Go world: he’s played over 160k single table tournaments and was one of, if not the, most profitable sit n’go poker player online in the world. Black Friday transitioned him to a live poker player, but eventually made his way back to the ACR streets where he streams multiple days, every week. 

His 19k followers get to watch his action on Twitch, and he often interacts with them by hosting a regular home game which he plays in called Lit With Loncar – this always draws a crowd!

In the final installment, we’ll focus on more North American streamers that are worth checking out if you haven’t done so already, as well as profiling some of the bigger names in Europe!