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Poker Central has signed a new partnership with Amazon-owned and eSports-focused platform Twitch. The company’s intentions are not difficult to divine. Poker Central will try to reach out to a young audience with plenty of disposable income. A move that seems to be gaining traction across the world of poker, with the latest addition of the Esports Arena Las Vegas as a hotbed for poker action.

Poker competitions hew closer to what professional video gaming offer. They are extremely flexible events at are easy to watch live, unlike the rather entrenched traditional sports for which you have to cough up a hefty bit of money.

Content Up for Grabs, But Difficulties Persist

Poker has had the good fortune to shape up as a game that is open and liberal to fans who want to witness high-level plays without being charged anything extra for it. However, the liberal push may have hit a minor pothole on the road to progress.

The costs that hosts incur are rather weighed them down. Without reliable and sustainable streamer revenue, broadcasting games live have been rather challenging and a drag on the purse.

Things began changing in 2017 when Poker Central, ESPN and World Series of Poker (WSOP) inked a partnership over WSOP footage. The companies agreed to make WSOP features available to everyone interested and provide with detailed video story of the whole of the WSOP Main Event.

The footage would then be directed to WSOP pie on PokerGO, an on-demand platform for videos, available for $10 monthly or $8 a month if you subscribe for a year.

The New Kids on the Block

Poker Central is now moving on a series of partnerships. The addition of Twitch will cover 30 tournaments throughout the digital nether and possibly permeate the domain of eSports enthusiasts.

The move is definitely in stark contrast with what we have been accustomed to. Most prestigious poker events required some form of fee to be watched, and that was a sort of the accepted norm. The decision to break the mold and stream content en masse has definitely been a drastic change from the established order of things. It may however work.

Now that the partnership has been announced, a subscription to PokerGO may seem rather obsolete. However, in order to scoop out the best action and footage, and it will certainly be worth it to pay the fee. Meanwhile, Twitch will air its first event on 2 June, featuring the final table of the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better event.

Converting the Masses

While Poker Central has made no outright claims about targeting millennials and video games enthusiasts, the move seems to be just about that. Gamers are inclined to dabble in various competitive games that take more intellectual prowess than athletic ability. Understanding the game and grasping its complexity is what makes them interested. Poker may stand as a great unexplored opportunity for eSports buffs to plunge into the game. And so is Poker Central hoping to add more revenue streams.