Benjamin Spragg is one of the best-known personalities in British poker. He also happens to be one of the most popular – and frequent – live streamers on the Twitch platform, showcasing his online poker tournament journey to fans and poker newbies alike.
Spragg completed his university degree in 2012 but opted to play poker full-time since leaving full-time education. Spraggy admitted he was attracted to the game of poker by playing with friends in a garage and watching hilarious YouTube clips of poker players blowing up after bad beats.
Considering he got into the game somewhat half-heartedly, Spraggy’s certainly gone on to make a serious career out of this classic card game. As recently as September, he was taking down large-scale events in Brighton, namely the UKIPT Brighton for a first prize with £69,120. This was his biggest live poker win to date.
If you’re not familiar with Spraggy, who has become a pop culture icon among the poker and live streaming scene, we’ve put together some fun facts to help you get to know him better.
161,000+ follow Spraggy’s streams on Twitch
Spraggy is now one of the most watched poker streamers within the Twitch community. It took him a long time to cultivate, but his base of followers has now grown to well over 160,000. In fact, his community has grown to such an extent that he now has his own clothing merchandise to sell as he continues to build his personal brand.
If you’re wondering why poker pros live stream their games and risk opponents catching a glimpse of their cards, Spraggy’s streams are all on a five-minute delay to circumvent this issue.
Spragg is 385th on the English All-Time Money List
Spragg is nowhere near the top of the English All-Time Money List, but that’s because it only takes into consideration live poker earnings which now equate to $389,407 for the Englishman. By contrast, Spragg’s online poker earnings significantly dwarf his live winnings, which are comfortably in the millions. This is quite the achievement when you consider he started with a single $100 deposit during his time at college and grinded it up in the cash tables to upwards of $140,000.
Spragg’s not a materialistic guy
In a recent interview with a British tabloid newspaper, Spragg admitted he is anything but a materialistic person, despite his poker wealth. He revealed his friends regularly berate him for wearing the same pair of trainers for three years “unless there is a hole in them”. Spragg said his sole treat to himself was the Aston Martin he now drives.
Spragg used to multi-table 24 games on live stream but has cut that down to six
Spragg is part of the generation of online poker players that initially focused on volume. That meant playing up to 24 cash games simultaneously. Spragg would stream his sessions of playing 24 tables at a time but has since trimmed this down to six tables, acknowledging the “brain power” required to live stream, communicate with viewers and still play his A-game poker.
Spragg has won a brace of World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles
In the last couple of years, Spragg has landed two WCOOP titles on the PokerStars platform, of which he’s an ambassador. In 2020, Spragg won a No Limit Hold’em WCOOP event and in September 2021, Spragg took down a progressive knockout tournament, which was live streamed to his followers. During the latter event, Spragg overcame a field of 343 players to win. This amounted to a first prize of almost $68,000. This was broken down by $37,484 from bounties and $30,484 for finishing first.
Spragg was heads-up in the final table against an amateur chess streamer and professional poker player ‘Wildace_hun’ and won the deciding hand with two-pair to his opponent’s pair of kings.
Spragg has come a long way from studying journalism, film and media at university to cracking the biggest online and live poker games and conquering the differences between winning and losing. His unassuming persona belies his poker talents and he’s sure to remain on the biggest stage for many years to come.
