The two will square off in a $20,000 heads-up freezeout match
Barstool Sports is turning up the heat on its poker coverage with a new high-stakes clash between its founder, Dave Portnoy, and longtime content creator Eric “Barstool Nate” Nathan. The two will square off in a $20,000 heads-up freezeout match, with blinds staying fixed until one player scoops all the chips.
18 Barstool Sports employees.
1 Poker Tournament.
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The showdown pits Portnoy, who has little to no live poker record, against Nathan, the brand’s resident poker voice and host of the Cracking Aces podcast. Nathan has earned $63,495 in live tournament winnings, highlighted by a deep run in the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he finished 717th. He joked about the uneven playing field in terms of net worth, telling PokerNews, “He’s worth like $10 billion and I’m worth like $20k.”
While Nathan may bring more table experience, Portnoy is no stranger to betting big on bold ideas. The match is part of Barstool’s broader push into poker content, fueled by its partnership with DraftKings. The upcoming King of the Felt livestream, sponsored by DraftKings, will showcase several Barstool personalities, including Dan “Big Cat” Katz, Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger, and former poker pro Ben “Mintzy” Mintz, who has over $642,000 in live tournament cashes.
The production team is also adding credibility by bringing in PokerGO veterans Brent Hanks and Jeff Platt to handle commentary. Nathan sees this as the start of something bigger for the brand: “If we get a lot of viewers, hopefully this is just the beginning of poker content 2.0 at Barstool.”
The timing lines up with Barstool’s renewed independence under Portnoy, who repurchased the company in 2023 after selling it to Penn Entertainment in stages for more than $500 million. With DraftKings onboard as a sponsor and poker gaining traction again among online audiences, the Portnoy-Nathan heads-up battle could be a launching point for Barstool’s next chapter in gambling entertainment.
