Last month, Phil Hellmuth and MrBeast clashed in multiple heads-up poker showdowns. Hellmuth documented his heads-up losses to Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson at the Aria Resort & Casino on the night of August 20th. That wasn’t the only heads-up battle between Donaldson and Hellmuth, however, as Hellmuth posted videos the following week of himself and MrBeast playing heads-up poker at a dining room table. MrBeast has moved on to new competition this month in some high-stakes matchups against a pair of popular Twitch streamers in Ludwig Ahgren and Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White.
Ludwig became one of the most popular streamers on Twitch earlier this year when he streamed for 31 days straight in an event that earned him over one million new followers and over $1.4 million in revenue. On Sunday, August 12, Ludwig and MrBeast each put up $25,000 in a best-of-three heads-up poker match that was streamed live on Twitch. The stream peaked at 40,442 viewers and averaged 33,408 viewers during its near three-hour run time.
MrBeast moved all-in on a bluff with 9❤️8♣ on an A♦️ Q❤️ 2♦️ 7❤️ board on the very first hand of the heads-up tournament, and was called by Ludwig’s pocket eights. Ludwig took the early lead in the best-of-three series, but MrBeast went on to win the next two games to win the $50,000. The stream continued with a double-or-nothing bet, getting Ludwig back to even. A $25,000 flip put Donaldson back in the win column.
Two nights later, MrBeast and “MoistCr1TiKaL” each put up $50,000 for a heads-up bout on White’s Twitch channel. The two-hour stream peaked at 25,510 viewers on Twitch and averaged 20,591 viewers. White won the best-of-three match 2-0, sealing the first win with pocket aces over pocket sevens and the second win with top pair after calling a MrBeast bluff shove on the flop.
MrBeast’s interest in poker is great for the game
The popularity of MrBeast can not be overstated. Donaldson’s primary YouTube channel has over 69.5 million subscribers and over 12.5 billion video views. Ludwig and MoistCr1TiKaL both have extremely popular Twitch streams with right around three million followers each. Both saw their viewership nearly double from their previous 90-day average when MrBeast was featured on their streams in these heads-up poker games.
Ludwig’s video replay of the event has received over 495,000 views. White’s video replay has received over 245,000 views. That is a whole lot of exposure for the game of poker in an arena that would never have featured high-stakes heads-up poker without MrBeast taking an interest in the game.
MrBeast is one of the biggest internet celebrities in the world, especially among young viewers. If Jimmy Donaldson continues to play poker with any regularity, he will continue to expose the game to hundreds of thousands of viewers who may not have otherwise come across it. This exposure could become even larger if MrBeast were to tie his newfound interest in poker in with his current passion for charity work.
The majority of MrBeast’s YouTube videos include contestants vying for prizes or Donaldson and his friends taking part in some type of charitable event. Imagine how many new poker fans and players might be born out of a MrBeast Charity Poker Tournament with a YouTube video that receives tens of millions of views?
The potential here is massive. No matter how poker fans feel about MrBeast the YouTuber, they should all be rooting for MrBeast the poker player.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter - Phil_Hellmuth
