The Twitch streamer and mid stakes mtt grinder Jaime Staples, has this week recived a contract as part of the poker stars family. This has evoked mixed feelings within people i have personally spoken to in the poker community, Is he is deserving of such a position??

I personally think that he comes across on his twitch stream, as a good guy, intelligent, personable, maybe at times deluded, but what pro gambler is'nt?
He is very proficient at this twitch streaming malarkey, also he has a good voice for radio.

Jaime has been very vague as to what the contract is, and what sort of financial recompense he will be reviving for his duties , as this is obviously a private affair. I can only guess that 100 per cent rake back would be a good place to start.

congrats on the big 109 win today Jaime. And hope you can grow along with poker stars this great game that we all love.

so the site is rigged for pros

No point in arguing whether he does or does not deserve it. A sponsorship deal with a site is not some prize you get after accomplishing X,Y and Z.
Poker streams are growing on Twitch, he is one of the larger ones. It makes sense for them to make sure he promotes their brand as there is a potentially large influx of new players coming from Twitch.

He seems to be kinda eccentric though, hiring his own brother as his personal assistant because "streaming takes too much time" and other questionable/odd things.

Wish the dude all the luck though.

So much this, it's a business decision by Stars, not a 'best at poker' gold cup.

Thought he does seem to be pretty decent at the pokers thus far.

As for hiring his brother, I don't think that's eccentric.seems like a sensible move when you are going to be streaming, essentially professionally, for ten or more straight hours. Plus, it keeps the money in the family, rather than relying on pizzas and other **** as sustenance.

I think it`s awesome considering he has put a lot of time and dedication into being consistant in his grinding / streaming / entertaining(talking through hands / interacting with chat) and that pokerstars made a great choice sponsoring him (especially considering how much his stream has grown as well as how much twitch poker viewer numbers keep going up )

Becoming a 'Friend of PokerStars online' is not based solely on your skill/winnings but as others say it's a advertising business deal #RafaelNadal.

Jaime did say he is not yet eligible to become a full team online member yet Stars have told him he needs to achieve Supernova VIP status to be considered for this. Anyone who has been watching the stream knows this is going to be very tough on Jaime to achieve solely playing mid stakes MTTs with the added commitment of a highly demanding stream 12+ hours per day 5 days a week for the rest of the year. I personally believe he will burn out before achieving this with everything he is going to have on the side regarding streaming, he barely made platinum star for the first time last month.

The term personal assistant for his 18 year old brother just seems a bit of fun, he pays his brother for waking him up out of bed, diet Pepsi runs, cooking him food and helping with the technical side of streaming, when grinding/streaming for 12+ hours a day this seems highly +Ev.

Meet the PA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4qonTRUGTU

Congratz to him, well deserved!. Twitch is the future, snotty sponsored pros who generate nothing more than discomfort around the table are (hopefully) history. I wonder how many PS Pros will bring in more new players than him the next year (excluding Jason Sommerville and Dnegs). Wise move by Pokerstars for sure.

Wow, im not into this twitch malarky but they seem like a couple of decent and nice guys. Best of luck to them!

Congrats Jaime on the deal and on binking the BIG 109 for the 2nd time in a month!!!

Are you telling me he is streaming 12+ hours a day!!, and what the hell is he streaming!?.

I have absolutely no interest in twitch and/or having a account there, so that is why i am asking.[for people that are going to say look for yourself]

What kind of life in gods name can this guy have?, is he a hermit?, does he not come outside?, if he streams 12+ hours a day and has 7/8 hours of sleep what is left?, 2 days off?, hell i hope they pay him big money, unbelievable!!!.

He is streaming himself playing poker, at relatively (relative to the bulk of viewers) high limits, and he interacts with the audience in near real time. Streams last as long as the last tournament running dictates.

It's not a new phenomenon but is new to poker.

It's pretty addictive viewing and can be consuming as a consumer never mind the streamer.

Congrats!!

Basically describes most online grinders

Lol bizarre rant... If you take into account time saved travelling everyday this is pretty much normal working hours for most people and yes he has two days off.

Have been watching the stream for a few hours most days, its very relaxing and the guy is really likeable, and never says a bad word about anyone and is obviously skilled at MTT's. Congrats on the 20k score last night Jamie and GL in the future.

/longtimelurker

He does what he want to do, he is successful at it and as he can bring PS immediate promotion he got a sponsorship deal. How can you possible hate on that?

I have been interested in poker long enough that I remember the "golden days" when the people you looked up to was the ones making the most money, living the most awesome lifestyles, balling the hardest, etc. These days all people want to see nerds out nitting each other (not directed at Staples specifically).

That didn't take long.

After watching him win the $109 last night on the same day he was sponsored I wondered if anyone would make a connection to the site being rigged to favor him now and make the sponsorship worthwhile. In online poker with all the scandals that have taken place (which Dutch Boyd broke down in his stream last night) and the money that was invested to buy PokerStars you would be foolish to insist on any position beyond "anything is possible," so I understand the healthy cynicism -- I just didn't think it would present itself that fast in a "congratulations thread."

He def should have it. I think he deserves it as well. He has a personality that wanna be poker players will relate with and be able to be drawn in to to play pker at least on a for fun basis. I actually recommended him to PS a month ago but received a cut/paste response.

Congrats Jamie

Not sure how anyone can hate on him. Grinding and doing twitch all day can't be easy. The PA thing makes sense considering he can't take an hour lunch break or doesn't want to eat food while on stream. Not only did he win the big109 but he also got a 12th and 7th in two other turbos.

I've watched his stream the most out of all of them and while he is a little too pc for me, I I still find it interesting to watch.

Also, he seems like a bankroll nit and was only planning on playing a couple wsop events this year. I wonder if the PS sponsorship is going to change that.

He's boring, bad and from what I hear, bought his twitch viewership.
http://www.streamboosters.com/

Looks like that turned out to be a good investment. Although I doubt PS are giving him much.

Haha Ive only been on his twitch a few times. It's actually quite entertaining.

He answered a similar question to yours. He said something like because Twitch is a new and exciting medium for poker he wants to have a consistent presence for it. He doesn't want to slip out of the lime light so he grinds a lot of hours.

Fair play to him. It's clearly working. I guess he will eventually calm down on the work, but probably not for a while yet.

From what you hear, with such a concrete source as that no one can doubt what you say.

Wish this wasn't true

Good for him. Deffo a luck box though from what I've seen. His 19k win he made so many mistakes but sucked out hard. Other than that hes no different to any grinder. He gots alot of viewers and receives financial gain from this already, id on't think him being pokerstars pro is going to benefit the poker economy at all, it will benefit him only. Does he get some ridiculous rake back deal? ugh, jealous.

Well i am sorry if it comes over as hating, and i assure you i was not my intention at all, it just blows my mind that somebody can play on-line poker for 12+ hours a day for 5 days a week, so my choice of words may have been a bit strong, because off that.

I myself play live poker for more then 25 years[for fun, not too make a living] and i am a winning player, and i love poker, and i played on occasions more then 36 hours sessions and have no problems with that[other then needing sleep] but i can't play 2 hours of on-line poker with-out getting bored to death so to say, no matter the stakes[believe me i tried and payed for it lol], but hey that is my experience, and that is why i am so surprised that he can do that, and i know there are more people doing comparable things, but hey spending about 20 hours a day for 5 days a week on sitting behind a computer screen and sleeping, i can't comprehend doing that, i would feel i would be wasting my life, seeing there are so much other fun things i do in that time, since i have retired of working on the age of 45 after selling my business about 2 years ago.

And i have too admit that i have spend more time a day working then 12 hours years ago, and i did love the work i did[no bigger rush then the one of a good deal i say, but i got a offer i could not refuse, and i can always make deals right?] and since i don't know nothing about this man he could feel the same about his on-line poker, but feeling about on-line poker like i feel about it, it seems about one of the worst things to do for me spending my day, but hey like i said everybody got his things, but that is why i reacted the way i did, in the heat[and the blowing of my mind lol] of the moment after i read it, so i am sorry if anyone thought i was hating, i had no intention what so ever of doing that.