Friday, 29th March 2024 12:20
Home / Interviews / GJReggie and Pyefacepoker on their whirlwind year and Platinum Pass presents in Prague

Whatever is waiting under the Christmas trees back home for Georgina “GJReggie” James and Mason “Pyefacepoker” Pye, it’s unlikely to leave them quite as stunned as the presents they were both gifted yesterday at EPT Prague.

Whilst busy in the commentary booth alongside James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton, Hartigan announced that both of the PokerStars Twitch streamers would be receiving their very own Platinum Passes, meaning they’ll now be playing the €22,500 buy-in PokerStars Players Championship in August 2020.

As the two streamers now begin to contemplate playing in the biggest tournament of their lives, they’ve also got the pressing matter of their Dare to Stream promotion, in which they’ll also be giving away two Platinum Passes to two new up-and-coming streamers.

We sat down for a chat with GJReggie and Pyeface under the Hilton Prague lobby Christmas tree to go over their reactions, and how they plan to prepare.


PokerStars Blog: Hey guys, talk me through those first few moments after James Hartigan told you you’d be getting your own Platinum Passes.

Mason “Pyefacepoker” Pye: I usually never stop talking, so the fact that I was speechless shows how insane it was. Nick [Coole, PokerStars Videographer] came into the commentary booth and said he was just filming some footage for a montage.

Georgina “GJReggie” James: We were both like, oh that makes sense. We didn’t clock on at all. Then when Hartigan was talking about there being four Platinum Passes, we didn’t get it. He’s so professional, but he was looking right at me and I didn’t know what to do.

Pye: I’d just woke up really and it didn’t click at all. I thought he’d made a mistake. But it all clicked after he said it, obviously!

James: It was surreal. Weird. The thing is when you’re live on air you’re very aware that everyone can hear you. It’s quite nerve-wracking doing commentary on an EPT, so trying to regain your composure afterward and talk about a poker hand is hard.

Pye: It still hasn’t sunk in, but especially when you’re on air to thousands of people, you’re not expecting it to happen.

James: Afterwards Pye had to ask if I was alright because I didn’t move for like ten minutes.

Pye: Yeah, she wasn’t moving, she was just sitting there.

GJReggie and Pyefacepoker: Christmas came early

PokerStars Blog: Life has changed a lot for both of you in 2019. How do you look back on it as the year comes to a close?

James: It’s been a complete whirlwind, and everything keeps getting more insane as the year has gone on.

Pye: For sure, this time last year we were told the news that we hadn’t won Platinum Passes in Jason Somerville’s competition. We carried on streaming, got signed by PokerStars in May, we’ve been doing commentary at Lex Live and the Moneymaker Tour, now we’re doing the EPT, and we received our Platinum Passes yesterday. You just don’t know when it’s going to stop. It’s been a surreal year.

PokerStars Blog: You’ll be giving away two Platinum Passes in the Dare to Stream promotion. Where are things with that?

James: We’ll be giving away our Passes in a couple of days. We felt the pressure of giving them away because it’s such a huge prize and it’s literally just the two of us judging the competition. We want to do a good job and make sure we pick the right people.

Pye: We’ve both been in Prague all week so we have a lot of videos to catch up on. We’ll be announcing the winners on Monday 23rd. Hopefully, we can all run deep in the PSPC together, that would be awesome.

PokerStars Blog: How has your first trip to Prague been so far?

James: We’ve both been out a few times. We went to the Christmas markets, and yesterday we went up to the Castle to see the views, it’s amazing. I’ve never been to Prague before, it’s so pretty.

Pye: It’s really nice yeah, and the food and drink are so cheap. It’s great.

PokerStars Blog: Looking ahead to the PSPC, how do you both plan to prepare for such a huge buy-in?

James: I’m not really sure, to be honest. I want to play more live because I don’t really play live generally. I had a really great time playing at Lex Live and I told myself then I wanted to play more. Maybe I’ll get some coaching from some of the other team pros. I need some practice for sure.

Pye: I’m a mixed game player, No Limit Hold’em is probably my weakest game, so I’m going to have to take it a lot more seriously. I’ve got time to get some study in. I don’t play much live poker either because mixed games aren’t popular live. It’s going to be a tough few months, but getting better is a necessity. It’s a €22,500 buy-in, so I’ll be putting in the effort for sure.

PokerStars Blog: Who do you definitely not want to see at your PSPC table? And on the other side, who would you like to see?

Pye: Here at the EPT you just see so many crushers, the likes of Steve O’Dwyer and Stephen Chidwick, they’re just absolute crushers. I wouldn’t want to see them. As for who I would like to see, any Platinum Pass winner or someone from the Twitch community.

James: I feel the same. There are going to be so many people who are so good at the game in the PSPC, so I can’t pick just one. But hopefully, I have a chatty table, whether it’s made up of pros or Platinum Pass winners.

You can follow GJReggie and Pyefacepoker on Twitch, as well as on the Pokerstars Twitch channel.


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