Strategy card games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone have seen plenty of poker players come through their ranks, converting their skills in those games to the green felt. But Pokémon, while universally popular, is a rarer game to develop poker players.
One, however, just added to his growing poker lore in Montreal, as the 36-year-old former regional Pokémon champion Sebastian Crema made a run to the WSOPC Playground Main Event final table and crossed the seven-figure mark in career tournament earnings. We spoke to him about his unique background in the game and how it has translated into his poker success.
“I was one of those guys who liked Pokémon right away when it came out and started collecting the cards when I was a kid. And then the problem was, as I got older in elementary school, my friends stopped thinking it was cool, and I still was into it.
So, I started looking around for ways to play the game, and I eventually connected with some American guys online who were kind of top-level players at the time when I was a kid. I started to learn the game and practice the game online, and started getting pretty good."
Evolving from Pokémon to poker
Not unlike online poker players who travel to play the biggest tournament series available, Crema experienced his own version of that at a young age, travelling from his home in Vancouver to play at the highest level.
"There was no Pokémon in Vancouver at the time when I started out, so I got my parents to drive me to Seattle and Oregon for all these tournaments and stuff like that. I did pretty well in my first year playing. I ended up coming in fourth place in the World Championships in the 11 to 14 age category, which was really cool. So, I got to travel around a little bit that year and won a little bit of scholarship money and prizes playing, which was awesome, and I just kind of eventually became hooked.”
The Pokémon champ’s evolution into his final form as a champion poker player began in his teens when he and his friends would play for “a few bucks unofficially,” but Crema says he was the regular home game host, as well.
“I was always a guy who had tournaments at my house and things like that. People would come over and play, I'd host games, and then throughout my life, I sort of had poker always in there at various levels of seriousness throughout. When I was studying for my undergrad degree, I was playing casually online, some in the casinos, and I actually went back to law school, and I started, funnily enough, taking poker more seriously during that time. That's when I started studying the game, watching videos, and playing a little bit more.”
Sebastian Crema fast facts (poker):
- 170 career live tournament cashes
- $739,703 in live tournament earnings since 2019
- Largest win was 2019 $1,100 WPT Venetian for $37,971
- 2026 Playground 5th place finish for $104,160 was his largest-ever cash
Catching the poker bug
Like many others before him and since, it was an initial trip to Las Vegas that first truly captured his interest in becoming a poker player.
“In my final year of law school, my buddies convinced me to come to Vegas for the first time. I did very well in some tournaments. We were just down there for a weekend. I really had no idea what I was doing. But I did well enough that I was kind of hooked. That summer in 2019, I stayed down there in Vegas for the most part. I did pretty decent in the World Series, and ever since then, I’ve been hooked. It’s still sort of always been in and out of my life in terms of how much I play and whatever, but ever since that point, I've been a little bit more into it and understand the game a little bit better now.”
Those 2019 trips included a win for $37,971 in an $1,100 WPT Venetian event, followed by three WSOP cashes, including a $25,934 score for a 13th-place finish in the $400 Colossus. Years later, Crema maintains that his Pokémon training has always been relevant to developing poker success.
“Definitely, yeah, a direct translation. For sure, the endurance. In terms of mental endurance, that's something that I consider a strength of mine just because I've been doing this for so long."
Sebastian Crema fast facts (Pokémon):
- Former #1-ranked Pokémon player in Canada
- 2004 World Championship semi-finalist
- 2016 Oregon Regional champion
- Favorite Pokemon: Gastly
- Most overrated Pokémon: Pikachu
A new high score
Crema has now parlayed those Pokémon-trained poker skills into his largest-ever score of $145,000 CAD at Playground, adding to his now over $1M CAD in career tournament earnings. It’s a sizeable step up from what he says are typically $10,000-$25,000 paydays for winning a senior division (age 15+) Pokémon tournament. Still, it’s good money for high school and college-aged players, which also come with some valuable bonus prizes in the form of exclusive cards that are only available at certain tournaments.
And while he hasn’t played competitively on the regular since 2011, Crema is still involved in that very lucrative area of buying, selling, and trading Pokémon cards. Collectible cards are a field in which many poker players and celebrities are involved, notably sports card lover and high-stakes player Jared Bleznick, and YouTube personality-turned professional wrestler, Logan Paul. Paul recently sold the most valuable Pokémon card in existence for $16.492M after buying it in 2021 for $5.725M.
As for playing the game, Crema says he’d love to see more poker players giving Pokémon a look.
“I'd say that's a great idea, no matter what your age is. I love it. I wish I had more time to be at a higher competitive level of Pokémon, compared to how I was back in the day. These days, the game still involves a very high amount of skill, but the variance, I would say, is a little bit higher in part due to the fields being so much larger. Back in the day, the game was a little bit more slow-paced, a little bit more like maybe chess, where you could sort of plan out and control the game. It’s still very skill-based and a lot of fun. I recommend it for people of all ages, kids, and adults.”
Next up for Crema after some time at home in Vancouver is the 2026 World Series of Poker, where he’ll be looking to catch 'em all (cards that is) and turn his Playground score into his biggest WSOP yet.
“I'm usually down there for a decent chunk of the series. But yeah, it's a nice little boost here and gives me a little bit to work with, and anytime you get a big score like this, you can consider entering into higher-level events and things like that. I'll just keep what's been working for me. I just feel very blessed to make it to this point in this tournament.
Images courtesy of Playground & Logan Paul.
