Blazing Trail for Streamers - Interview with Luiz Torres, Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador

One of the first poker streamers from Brazil, Luiz Torres, now a Natural8 ambassador shares his experience of how he went from being a teacher to one of the core pro members of poker fraternity.

By Donna Amo

Brazilian poker player and winner of the Best Male Streamer in 2020 Mundo Poker Awards, Luiz Torres is a trailblazer in the online poker scene. Most well-known by his monikers’ Luizftorres’ and ‘Poker Raiz,’ Torres was one of the first poker streamers from Brazil. His unique content and engaging style catapulted him into a wellknown figure in online poker. While he had to overcome many social stigmas that come with becoming a poker pro, Torres has not let anything hold him down and eventually partnered with Natural8, one of Asia’s largest poker networks, in 2013. In our interview with Torres, he dived into his experience with the Natural8 platform and his journey as a Twitch streamer.

At the beginning of my career, I worked as a teacher but dedicated my spare time to poker. Little by little, I was regularly winning at poker. Eventually, I made the decision to dedicate myself only to the game. My quality of life and earnings improved significantly, which helped me better my family structure.

In 2013, I changed from being a sit-and-go professional to being a tournament player. I was increasing my profit in tournaments little by little. Sometime later, I opened my Twitch account and became a Natural8 partner. Since the first day of this partnership, I enjoyed playing on the site and even encouraged other people to play. I already saw great potential in Natural8; that’s why it became the powerhouse today here in Brazil and Asia. Along with this partnership, I also grew as a streamer. I managed to develop several promotions, sweepstakes, and freerolls for my audience, which made my Twitch channel grow a lot.

It’s been two years since I’ve been working as a streamer. I’ve been a poker pro for many years and have always enjoyed watching poker streams on Twitch streams while playing, but I didn’t find a Brazilian streamer to follow. Other people who knew my personality encour-

aged me to to become a streamer. I bought my webcam, and and with courage, I started my channel, even though I did not have an audience to start with. In the first week, I had an average of 5 viewers, then poker players got to know me little by little, and my Twitch channel grew to where I am today.

Twitch offers us the space to broadcast, so people get to know the work little by little. Before I was a streamer, practically nobody in poker knew me. Today here in Brazil almost all poker players know who I am. Furthermore, Twitch is now an essential tool for new players to get to know the game and improve it by watching professionals.

Have a quality layout and equipment! You have to be very authentic and confident and interact a lot with the audience. Still, you shouldn’t get shaken by negative comments. Of course, you have to constantly be streaming, so people don’t forget about you.

I really like the buy and sell action from players, and the final table betting. The different types of emotes that we can send at the table are also really cool, and I also really enjoy using the snapcam.

It’s crucial because we spend most of the day playing, so the platform has to be perfect for people to feel good while they’re playing.

They always compare me to famous people, for example, the Uruguayan football player Luis Suárez. They love to see when I get nervous about the game on Twitch.

• One thing you can’t live with out.

• Most expensive gaming gear you own

• One Natural8 tournament you want to ship

• A hidden talent no one knows

• One poker pro you adore.