Poker’s newest boom may well be the diverse multimedia content its players produce. Televised poker doesn’t simply mean tuning into your favorite players in a high stakes cash game on ESPN or old reruns of classic WSOP Main Events anymore.
In an age where content is king, live-streamed cash games, YouTube feature videos, and social media shorts dictate millions of poker fans’ attention.
One man who is a professional in each of those three areas is Corey Eyring. A YouTube sensation with 170,000 subscribers and up to 500,000 views per viral video, Corey has been making content in the poker space for five years.
In that time, he’s appeared on Hustler Casino Live, put some of his fans into the action, and won hundreds of thousands in some huge cash games.
As we discovered when speaking with Corey, the games are just beginning.
A Moment of Inspiration
In December of 2021, Corey headed online and saw that Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau had uploaded a video revealing how much money he earned that year, not from poker, but exclusively from Adsense, the free advertising program on Google that gives content creators, among others, the chance to monetize their online content.
The number was $180,000, which shocked me, says Corey. That was slightly more than I had earned my entire life. Fast forward four months, and I’m playing $1/3 at a local home game. Across the table, my friend Justin Carey joked that I should start a poker vlog. In that moment, something clicked. If Rampage could do it, so could I.
Corey filmed the rest of his session on his iPhone, then went home and stayed up until sunrise editing it together. He created his YouTube channel that day, and the rest is history.
My initial aim was to surpass 100,000 subscribers. You can go look at the fourth video on my YouTube channel. I was playing $2/5 and booked the biggest loss of my life to date (~$1,500). I sat on a curb in the parking lot. In despair, I reminded myself that I was building towards something.
As Corey sat on the sidewalk, he started to think about exactly what those dreams would be made of, crystallizing the idea into a genuine vision.
One day, these swings will feel small; I’ll be playing $25/50 for five figures with 100,000 subscribers. At the time, it was impossible to see, but I believed it was possible. Through the fog, I envisioned myself on the other side.
Corey may have had a lot of work ahead of him, but he had a plan and could always visualize what he calls ‘the bigger picture.’
My goal was to make it since Day 1. I think belief in yourself is imperative to success. You need to see what no one else can way before it becomes a reality.
Sharpening the Tools
Like many others, this reporter is a fan of legendary YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. ‘Mr. Beast’. While Donaldson has played poker, he focuses on strong narrative short-to-middle form content; Corey’s eye is on poker, with the narrative part of his process. His ability to capture the enthusiasm and quest element in his videos’ narratives is excellent, and he describes it to me as hard work to match the fun.
It’s a grueling process; a true love-hate, Corey smiles. Obviously, I love the end product, and I love finding the story. But at the same time, there comes a point in every project where you look up from your timeline and realize you’ve invested 75 hours, made 3,000 cuts, and haven’t left your house in a week.
As Corey details, holding back on the desire to click ‘render’ takes discipline and a true devotion to making those constant incremental improvements to the video that he hopes thrills fans. That’s when the process can lean towards hate rather than love, but Corey understands how necessary it is.
I have sharpened my skills over the years and want to get infinitely better at telling stories and making videos. One day, I hope to create a compelling daily vlog like Casey Neistat; he’s my biggest source of inspiration.
Balancing Playing Poker with Content Creation
In many ways, balancing time at the poker felt with content creation, which, as we’ve learned, is a time-consuming labor, is the biggest battle Corey faces. There’s not only a planning mission for when to play, but also when to produce, edit, and put content out. Corey is clear about where his priorities lie for now.
I would say I’m primarily a content creator, not a professional poker player. I make a lot of money playing poker, but it’s not my primary source of income by design. Playing poker for a sole source of income is extremely stressful!
Corey is kind enough to break down some of the finances from his work in pure numbers.
I made $35,000 playing poker in January 2026, but that only accounts for half my income. That’s an insane thing to say, and I still haven’t wrapped my head around the numbers, but I have learned not to rely on variance,” he says.
My approach has shifted from gambling with everything and relying on that as a primary source of income to now gambling with a smaller percentage of my monthly income for poker buy-ins.
While Corey doesn’t touch ‘a majority of my income’, he views poker as a separate entity. Corey puts 35% of his income towards his poker bankroll.
I’m still aggressive in my approach, and this could easily wipe out my poker bankroll – all the money I allocate in a given month – but at least this way, if that happens, I am still super comfortable.
It still stings a shit-ton, but when it happens, I am not financially ruined. I can step back for a few weeks and let money from other sources replenish my ‘poker roll’ then try again next month.
The Philosophy of Growth
Poker may be a solo mindsport but when I ask Corey about those he looks up to in the poker industry, one name stands out above others.
There is one player to whom I owe everything. His name is Justin Carey. He took me under his wing early on in my career. Without him, I don’t know how I would have developed. His mentorship turned me from a winning $1/3 player to a $5/10 crusher. His expertise is the sole reason why I’m comfortable at the table.
I ask Corey how he has become comfortable at the poker felt in high stakes cash games streamed live around the world. That’s a pressure that took many years for Corey to deal with. Like in many facets of poker, this acclimatization was gradual.
Feeling comfortable at the felt is a generic question, because there are levels to this game, he describes. In baseball, a high school star player would be extremely comfortable batting against high school kids. If you throw him in the box against a college pitcher, he will probably be a bit more nervous. Against an MLB pitcher, really nervous.
The same philosophy with poker. I was comfortable at $1/2 very early in my career, but would still tremble before buying in for $1,000. In late 2024, I was extremely nervous playing at The Lodge. It takes time to develop tolerance at every level. Through public repetition and consistent practice in private, confidence grows.
Part of having the confidence himself has come from Corey learning from others he respects. Two of those players are Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen, two co-owners of the Lodge Card Club in Round Rock, Texas.
Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen are both pioneers in poker. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting them both, and credit them for paving the way for me and many others in this industry.
As Casey Neistat would say, ‘storytelling is king.’ Camera equipment, color grading, everything else is secondary. How you tell the story is the emotional heartbeat – it gives your project life.
Corey believes he has a lot of room to grow in this part of his work and admits that he refuses to accept praise for the way he tells stories at present and is candid as to why.
I feel quite amateurish at this stage in my career. I want to hit 10,000,000 subscribers on YouTube and develop a global reputation as ‘the guy who made it playing poker.’ Right now, I’m still so early on in that vision. I’m trying to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in this industry, and it’s a daunting feat.
Dealing with Criticism in the Content Space
Corey has gone from playing $1/$3 to making tens of thousands of dollars per month blending content and poker. Some still mock that achievement or react negatively, but as he tells us, being online and in the public eye, that’s part of the package.
This quote from Chris Williamson encapsulates what it’s like to be a poker vlogger:
Before you win, everyone will ask why you’re working so hard. And after you win, everyone will remind you how lucky you got. People see the big buy-ins and travel, but they never see the thousands of hours you spend behind a screen trying to perfect a sequence.
When I ask Corey to go into what a typical live stream session might look like from start to finish, the answer shocks me when it comes.
I’ll play on The Lodge livestream from 2-7 pm. People think my day is over, but really it’s just beginning, says Corey. I’ll go back to my hotel and edit until 4-6 am to finish the video I filmed that day. Then I’ll wake up at 1 pm and do it all over again. My whole life is poker and content. I love it.
When Corey says he loves it, it doesn’t just mean the surface area of playing on camera and being a one-man post-production crew. He loves work – and in this case, poker and vlogging at the expense of both sleep and vices.
I have never been able to enjoy rest. I don’t do anything else; I don’t party, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t enjoy spectating sports games. I just want to work. I need to learn how to vlog daily. I have been ‘failing’ for four years, but success is embedded in failure.
You hear the saying, ‘to succeed faster, double your rate of failure,’ and it’s true. To perform at the highest level across multiple domains, you need to be obsessed. You can’t fuck around. There are only so many hours in a day, and if something is worth as much as you say it is, why would you want to do anything else?
Dealing with Trolls
Social media and, to an extent, life itself have become binary bombing grounds for emotional dumping. Poker fans, like any slice of society, tend to contribute opinions that are unfiltered in 2026. Wearing the banner of ‘free speech’ or promising not to change for others has, to some extent, replaced tact and kindness. Fortunately, Corey has found a way to rise above online critique.
How do I deal with people who assume it’s easy or dismiss your effort? I don’t. I’ve learned that you should be so busy working that you don’t have time to pay attention to what people think. I have a limited mental bandwidth, and any energy spent on something that isn’t progressing my goals, or worse, pulling me in the opposite direction, is a waste.
If there are two types of people, those who live for the life they create and those who prioritize legacy, I might have started thinking Corey was in the former camp. I’m maybe altering my opinion on that.
We’re all going to die. Do the thing or don’t. I want to realize my potential while I can. Operate above. If someone’s talking shit, eventually you’re going to elevate to a level where you can’t hear or see them.
I’m human, so there are times I’ve deviated from this strategy, but it wasn’t productive. Just keep climbing. Many might think that’s silly, or even impossible. But I think I’m on video 4, playing $2/5, sitting in my parking lot. One day, I’ll be playing $25/50, even $50/100.
Merking the Most of Life
Corey is a partner in crime with Abby Merk, an outstanding content creator in her own right, and his loyal partner in life and poker.
Abby is my best friend. She celebrates my wins as if they were her own, and consoles me through every loss. Whether I have the best or worst day of my life, she’s always there. She’s the person I count on most; I go to her for advice, guidance, comfort, praise, whatever – she’s my rock. I love her. She breathes life and confidence into me.
Abby has become an incredibly important part of Corey’s rise, being by his side throughout, and we didn’t know the level that support was at until now.
Abby has never doubted me, and she believes in me when no one else does. Abby has, in many ways, single-handedly turned my life around. We crossed paths when I was $30,000 in debt. I was in the early stages of losing 65 pounds due to an autoimmune disorder and had recently herniated a disc and torn my labrum.
When Corey was at his lowest, he and Abby were stronger than ever.
I was in the worst physical, mental, and financial state of my life. I was doing the wrong things, going down the wrong path… I was in hell. Her presence and guidance caused a complete 180. I stopped making reckless decisions, I stopped spending money, I pursued more business opportunities, and prioritized my health and well-being.
She reoriented my life in a much brighter direction. A year and a half later, the fruit of these decisions is merely beginning to bear. I’m really excited for the next chapter of my life, and I know Abby will be right there with me.
Big Plans for a Big Future
Before Corey’s ‘Gamble my Net Worth’ series, he used to upload standard poker vlogs, featuring strategic hand breakdowns with no personal narrative. Those videos never amassed more than 10,000 views, and it wasn’t until he started telling his own story, getting personal about his journey, that he started to experience success.
I got several comments bashing my new style, saying they only watched for hand histories. The same sector still exists, only larger. It’s frustrating, but I’ve had to learn to accept that I’m never going to make everyone happy. At certain points, I’ve tried to appease the masses, and that led to personal resentment, boredom, and discontent.
In the past six months, Corey believes that he has started to grow into himself, and his work reflects that growth.
I think I’ll continue to mature, but I’d like to share all of these insights with people my age because I think this is the interesting stuff. My videos are bigger than poker. Poker is merely the vehicle to express my life through a lens. The better I get at that, the more successful I’ll be.
Whenever Corey posts a video that hits the ‘emotional center’ of fulfilling a fellow player’s dreams, his views go through the roof. One recent video featured him putting a player, Kayla, into the action at The Lodge to the tune of $10,000. She turned this into a winning session… and it wasn’t only the fans that loved to see it.
I’m extremely happy for Kayla – it made my whole week that she was able to win as much as she did, Corey beams. I want to provide more opportunities like this for viewers. I’d like to create a structure for viewers to grow as players, too. That’s a huge project, though. I haven’t started that yet.
As content demands and viewership grow, Corey has big plans, with a trip to the WSOP Europe festival in Prague coming up this Spring. He’s also moving to Texas, the birthplace of poker legends such as Doyle ‘Texas Dolly’ Brunson and the place to be for modern greats like Doug Polk, a co-owner along with Neeme and Owen at The Lodge. Until Prague, Corey will be focusing on his YouTube channel and playing exclusive live streams at The Lodge and on Hustler Casino Live.
The future is now, and no one is poker is living in the moment quite so presently as the enigmatic and energetic Corey Eyring.
