The synergy between eSports and professional poker seems to be getting more obvious than ever. The decision by the WSOP to give eSports a huge presence at the 2018 games just goes to show that more and more people now believe that the connection is making sense. The Rio Hotel and Casino which is based in Vegas has been the home of the WSOP since the year 2005 and they have decided to go ahead with a centrepiece around the schedule for poker as well. The UMG eSports stage was then unveiled and this gave poker players the chance to step up and take part in some of the most famous games out there. The games included Fortnite as well as FIFA and even Hearthstone. Right now it would seem that the WSOP is an institution. To unveil this information shows how dedicated they are to eSports in general.

Embracing eSports

When you look at sites such as GGPoker, you will soon see that they started bridging the gap between poker and eSports some time ago. They started hosting live and virtual tournaments for people and this is done in a very similar way to the popular gaming site Twitch. People then started to see that the two were very similar and this has helped to bring them together in more ways than one. Elsewhere in Vegas, which is still one of the biggest poker hubs around, it would seem that eSports is now being embraced hugely.

The Luxor, which is at the southern end of the strip, is capable of staging  huge eSports tournaments. You also have Poker Central. They are due to make their broadcasting area available for those who want to stream eSports events. The mental attributes that you need to have in order to play both poker and eSports are indeed very similar. Some of the finest poker players in the world are now migrating onto the card.  Starcraft has captured the imagination that Asia has and now the game has been scrapped so that people can work on games such as Overwatch 2.

ElkY

ElkY who is a professional poker player has taken the time to try and get involved with other eSports games. He has chosen to sign a deal with the Team Liquid division so that he can partake in the Hearthstone tournaments. This is very similar to the game of poker when you think about it because nobody knows what cards their opponents have. Hearthstone is a sporting game that has been able to enchant poker greats such as Daniel Negreanu as well. He had to go up against ElkY in a game that was hosted in 2015. This game was hosted in California.

A Big Transition

Many professionals have been able to make the transition from eSports to the game of poker very easy to do. Their ability to analyse and then process data before making quick decisions has helped them to branch out into a whole new industry. When it comes to unlocking secrets and strategies, it would seem that there are not many minds out there like James Mackenzie. He has been confirmed as being part of the team Pokerstars. They have a background in games such as Runescape and even Hearthstone, meaning that he has the ability to create strategies that are able to utilise the newest forms of gaming online. This is fantastic to say the least and it just goes to show how things have transitioned. Some might even say that poker is now an eSport in itself.