PokerStars announced a new partnership with the Raise Your Edge training site on Thursday. The news comes after the company added German poker pro and Raise Your Edge founder Benjamin “Bencb” Rolle as a poker ambassadors last year.
The signing aligned with changes and additions to the company’s poker training program. That included the transition of the former PokerStars School to the PokerStars Learn program.
“I am excited to utilize both of our brands to build the game of poker,” Rolle said in a news release. “Wherever you are in the poker journey, I believe we have created something that can provide value to all players and look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.
”And for those who have decided to learn more of the game’s concepts, they are going to benefit greatly from this partnership.”
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Transitioning poker training at PokerStars
As part of the agreement, PokerStars and Raise Your Edge combine to provide current and new players with exclusive content. Players will find live training and courses to improve their poker skills and strategy.
Raise Your Edge will “support the community in improving their game,” Stars notes. The companies will produce weekly videos with topics ranging from mindset to basic strategies for all PokerStars games. New free courses will also focus on:
- Multi-table tournaments
- Cash games
- Sit & Go’s
- Live poker
Raise Your Edge was founded in 2016 and has assisted more than 100,000 players around the world. The companies will utilize the PokerStars Discord, allowing students to ask strategy-related questions directly.
Rolle has a deep history of online poker success. He won the SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) main event in 2014 for $250,000.
In 2016, Rolle took down a WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) Super High Roller title for $1.2 million. From 2013-15 he was among the top 10 players at the Sit & Go tables, according to SharkScope. He took the top spot in those rankings in 2015.
Along with serving as a coach and ambassador, streaming on his Twitch channel is also part of his role with Stars. He also regularly offers poker advice on Twitter as well.
It's crazy how much time people spend studying different bet sizings on the flop.
Weak hand -> 25%-33% pot
Good hand -> 50% pot
Strong hand -> 75% pot
… and mix in some traps with monster hands by using small sizes.
Now go and study the important spots!— bencb (@bencb789) January 31, 2022
A growing trend in strategy and coaching from online poker sites
Bringing more players into the game is obviously a major goal for online poker operators. Keeping those players winning at least to some degree also gives operators the chance to keep these new customers.
Poker training and education has become a bigger part of that equation for poker sites in recent years. Those players who find some success, rather than losing continually, remain happier and have more fun at the tables.
Stars also recently introduced the Level Up With Lex training feature. These videos make use of artificial intelligence with PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis offering players strategy advice as a virtual coach.
Level Up is geared toward Sit & Go play for now. The concept naturally gears tips based on a player’s own style of play.
Most major operators also offer some form of training to varying degrees. Partypoker offers the MyGame Whiz, a training tool offering advice and reporting a player’s strengths and weaknesses. GGPoker offers its own Online Poker School for players of all levels.
PokerStars Learn is now hoping to grow its training options with Raise Your Edge. Beginning on Wednesday, players at the company’s international, United Kingdom, Brazilian, German, Russian, Spanish (Latin American), and Italian sites will find three new training videos.
Several courses are available for players of all levels and learners can learn at their own pace.
PokerStars announces SCOOP dates
In other PokerStars news, the site also announced the dates for this year’s SCOOP. The series has become one of the biggest online poker festivals in the world.
This year’s festivities are set to begin on May 8 and run through June 1. The 2021 SCOOP featured more than 1.7 million entries across 102 low, medium, and high buy-in events.
SCOOP paid out almost $140 million to players last year, easily topping the $100 million. That total helped the series top $1 billion in payouts since its inception.