It’s always big news when two huge brands in the poker world come together, such as the 2024 deal which brought the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand under the ownership of GGPoker, uniting arguably the biggest names in live and online poker.
And now comes the news that NSUS Group – the company at the helm of the WSOP and GGPoker – has acquired an unconfirmed stake in High Stakes Poker Productions (HSPP), producers of the popular live streamed cash game show, Hustler Casino Live (HCL).
“I just think that the limits are endless for what we can do,” shares Ryan Feldman, co-owner of HSPP, in an exclusive interview with PokerOrg’s Craig Tapscott. “It’s going to give us a chance to be more of a global company, to do more things in the live streaming space, to create some very cool partnerships, some business deals that they’re going to help facilitate, and bring some players in that we otherwise wouldn’t necessarily be able to get.”
One such player that will bring excitement to fans of live poker is arguably the most famous one in the world: recent PGT winner and GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu.
“You rarely see me playing high-stakes poker on streams anymore,” said Negreanu upon the announcement of the deal, “but this is going to get me out of retirement and returning to the felt, playing on the most epic cash game stream poker has ever seen.”
Watch the video above now for more exclusive comments from HSPP’s Ryan Feldman.
Nick Vertucci’s exit paves way for NSUS
The stake acquired by the NSUS Group is that of former co-owner Nick Vertucci, who stepped back from day-to-day operations last October in the wake of accusations of sexual harrassment and inappropriate behavior. Feldman filled us in on how the deal came about.
“When this all played out and it was announced that Nick would be stepping away, and people realized that he was probably going to be selling his equity in the company, a lot of people instantly reached out to Nick and to me and expressed interest.
“Ultimately, Nick was able to come up with a deal with the best suitor. And it was also the best for our company and for myself as well. I was very happy to hear that this company is the company that was going to be buying his shares once it all played out. And I think it’s just the perfect marriage and I couldn’t be more excited about what this means for the future of High Stakes Poker Productions.”
‘Negreanu is an ambassador, he’s more likely to come play’
While HCL is already one of the runaway leaders in the field of live streamed poker games, a partnership with the world’s foremost poker brand should result in an improved product for those watching along.
Adding a fresh list of big names taking part in the high stakes games is undoubtedly high on the wish list for fans of the show, and with the pulling power of GGPoker and the WSOP, that’s something that’s surely likely to happen.
Feldman is no stranger to appearing on the HCL stream himself.
For viewers, this access to a greater roster of players – presumably including Negreanu and other GGPoker-sponsored pros – is likely to be one of the main reasons to get excited about this deal.
Aside from Negreanu, the online giant has ambassadorial relationships with big names from the live scene such as Ren Lin and Fedor Holz, as well as the likes of chess streamer Alexandra Botez, online players like Kevin Martin and Hristivoje ‘AllinPav’ Pavlovic, and influencers like Greg ‘Goes All In’ Liow.
But while Feldman the poker player is no doubt looking forward to the new names expected to appear on screen, and in his games, Feldman the businessman sees the appeal of more than ‘just’ marquee names.
“Having this partnership will certainly help with getting some players in here… But I don’t think that that is, by any stretch, the biggest impact that this partnership is going to have. Certainly, Daniel Negreanu is an ambassador, he’s more likely to come play. There’s other people from around the world, whether it be poker players or celebrities, that this company is aligned with that we’ll be able to hopefully get.
“But I think it’s way more than that,” adds Feldman, “It’s the business things, it’s the long-term ideas, the vision of what we could do.
“This is a company that owns the World Series of Poker, right? So think about what kind of ideas and things that we could do in the live streaming cash game space around World Series of Poker events.”
‘The ESPN of poker’
With the WSOP 2025 schedule released and players looking forward to the summer, our thoughts naturally turn to what implications, if any, this new partnership has for the biggest live poker tournament series in the world.
The 2025 WSOP will be the first to be held under the new ownership of NSUS Group, leading to much speculation over what changes we might expect to see at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos come the summer. But when the schedule was announced last month it felt very much like business-as-usual in terms of the events on the slate and the planned player experience. And Feldman doesn’t see the HCL/NSUS deal shaking things up in the short term, either.
“To be honest, there’s nothing planned right now as far as this World Series of Poker… We had to wait until everything played out to make sure that this happened before we actually started planning for the future.
“So no, I don’t think there’s anything this summer, specific as of now, that we have planned. But I think that there’s gonna be some big things in the future revolving around that.”
The Paris Ballroom cash game area of the WSOP.
So while Feldman’s plans for HSPP and Hustler Live Casino may not be in place at the 2025 WSOP, don’t discount potential new ideas to bring more entertainment options to viewers at home when it comes to the summer’s action in Las Vegas.
With so many big names in town at the same time, it would be a huge draw to see more elite names in action, playing high-level poker for huge amounts, streamed from the cash game areas of the WSOP poker rooms.
But with the investment and partnership of such a global, iconic brand, Feldman’s vision for HSPP stretches far beyond the WSOP. And with his background working for sports network ESPN, he has an obvious model in mind for the new, bigger business.
“I want High Stakes Poker Productions to become a network… we want to be able to have 24/7 poker content on our channel where, when people think ‘where do I go for poker content?’, it’s the first place they think of.
“So that’s one of the visions, to become kind of like an ESPN of poker… I would like to see us be streaming at other places around the country, around the world, different events. And that takes a while to get to that, but that’s kind of the vision is to become that go-to company.
“Just like Starbucks is for coffee, that’s what we want to be for live streamed cash games.”
Watch the video above now to watch our full, exclusive interview with Ryan Feldman.
Images courtesy of PokerGO/Hustler Casino Live/PGT/Haley Hintze.