A discussion erupted on Reddit this weekend about the highly increasing viewers on the Twitch Poker Channel – Gripsed. Reddit user ‘kholejoe’ questioned certain activates of the viewers of the channel which indicates they are not human but bots. Going further, Jamie staples, one of the most popular poker streamers and now a PokerStars pro posted a detailed investigation of the same on TwoPlusTwo.
kholejoe writes on Reddit:
Here’s the thing, I play/watch immerse myself in a lot of poker. I’ve watched most every twitch poker streamer, and none of them are such a fucking used car salesman as said villain, boggles the brain.
Wherein lies the problem is that he viewbots. No other twitch poker player would ever think of viewbotting. There are some good streamers that deserve recognition, instead this guy Gripsed pays a fee and gets to the top.
Not the worst part however, he answers bot questions he came up with prior. For instance, a viewer who is following no one come in and says “hey gripsed, i been watching your great videos on youtube and im happy to find you here.” So I @ directed a message to that “viewer” surprise surprise, no response.
I am a man that prides himself on intelligence, and never letting anyone on this planet insult mine.
He’s cool with twitch staff poker guy Rumcakes, so prolly the reason its overlooked, but you guys should check it out, fucking mind numbing. 1.7k viewers the other day and no one speaking. I started whispering people and saying “what the fuck is this, how could ya’ll be so dumb?”
Just my 2 cents………..
kahntrutahn a TwoPlusTwo member posted another noteworthy point:
The “viewer to chatter ratio” which is abnormally high. i.e. there appears to a very large number of viewers, but very few actually speaking. It doesn’t seem to follow the norm in other popular Twitch poker streams like that of JCarver or Tonka or Staples.
Jamie Staples posted an analysis on TwoPlusTwo yesterday. He says:
I have suspected a viewbot on Gripsed since he got back on to twitch after the Bahamas. This is the absolute worst thing a streamer can do to a community. Being listed 2-4th behind Somerville, Myself and/or Tonka when 15/20 other streamers have been busting their ass every week for months is so unfair and brutal. I know the work that goes into getting a viewership.
Both my roomates Kevin Martin and Matt Staples are putting in 80+ hour work weeks every week to try and keep growing and make streaming a viable career for them. This is not just on camera time, but off camera time as well.
Read the full Reddit thread here.
Read the analysis of Jamie Staples here.