One of the most popular poker streamers, players and content creators in the world today is Benjamin Spragg – or “Spraggy” as he is colloquially known. Most fans of poker will recognize that name if they follow the game at all, but what is Spraggy’s net worth and who is he, really?
Well, that’s what we’ll get into as we break down his poker game and answer the question “is he good at poker?”, as well as evaluating his net worth.
Who is Spraggy?
“Spraggy” is the well known nickname for Ben Spragg, who hails from Stroud, England and has become one of the biggest names in the poker streaming world. Spraggy’s journey with poker started shortly after he graduated from university with a degree related to film, journalism and television.
Spraggy always had a passion for poker while studying and would balance playing with study. But after graduation he flung himself fully into poker.
Spraggy began to stream his online poker exploits on Twitch, a lesser-known format of media at the time, in the mid 2010s. He would steadily build a loyal audience due to his entertaining play and engagement with fans while playing.
His impressive rise in popularity caught the attention of PokerStars who officially signed him as an ambassador in 2017, where he has stayed ever since.
In his personal life, Spraggy is married to American poker player and well-known content creator Marle Cordeiro (now Spragg). The two of them tied the knot in 2021 much to the enjoyment of the fans of each of them.
Spraggy is known for having a humorous style of streaming and is generally well liked by many in the poker community, his fans and peers alike. He has had no controversies to speak of in his career.
Spraggy’s Poker Record
Ben Spragg is an online first player. Spraggy’s poker earnings are substantial as he has accumulated over $3 million in his career playing only on PokerStars, which is just one site out of many who offer the best online poker tournaments.
Spraggy has had numerous big scores and big wins in massive online events. His crown jewel score was for $70,633 in July 2020 in the PokerStars stadium series.
Even though he is most known for his online play, Spraggy has become a regular on the PokerStars EPT tour in recent years, traveling and playing in the most popular events in Europe.
The biggest win in his live poker career was when he won the £1,100 UKIPT Brighton tournament for an amount equivalent to $86,258, which means that despite being an online player first and foremost, his live poker high score is actually greater than his highest online score.
Overall though, his online winnings swamp his total live earnings of just over $562,000.
Spraggy Example Hand
Spraggy has often been on the live streaming tables as well thanks to his audience being willing to watch him play some live poker. In one of these situations, Spraggy was playing in the PokerStars original series “Mystery Cash Challenge” in a cash game with mystery bounty tournament elements against five other well known PokerStars ambassadors.
In this particular hand against legendary UK player Barny Boatman, Spraggy discusses his thought process.
- Spraggy had Q♣️8♣️ in the cutoff and three-bet because Boatman had been raising often and light.
- The flop was 4♦️4♠️9♠️, completely whiffing Spraggy but he continued his aggression by betting €425 into a pot of just over €1,100. Boatman called.
- The turn was the 8♠️ and as Spraggy notes, “this is where things get interesting”. Boatman led for €875 out of the flow of the hand, Spraggy called not sensing that Boatman had any spades.
- The river brought the A♣️. Boatman did not play down and bet €2,500. Spraggy was not a believer and made the hero call with a simple pair of eights. But he saw the bad news as Boatman tabled the As10s nut flush to take a pretty chunky pot away from Spraggy on this occasion.
Spraggy’s Poker Strategy
When assessing how Spraggy plays, it is important to evaluate the spots he takes when he is on stream.
Spraggy poker is primarily tournament poker and his main aim is winning poker tournaments as he enjoys taking a shot in large field events on PokerStars, not afraid to mix it up in high buy-in events but also not too arrogant for smaller buy-in tournaments as well.
There are several videos that Spraggy has made where he goes in depth about certain hands he has played and evaluates his own play.
He is known for being a talkative streamer to begin with while playing, often talking through all of his hands, so going back after the fact and assessing them more shows how thorough of a poker thinker he is. He very clearly understands poker hands probability and odds.
In one of these strategy videos in his own words Spraggy says “I’m a notorious station, I’m a big big station”.
That quote refers to his propensity to call players down and make hero calls in tough spots. This shows that he is a player who does not allow many bluffs to get by him but also may give away a little more than what is ideal in spots where a fold would be a better option.
That very thing was on display in the aforementioned hand against Boatman.
Is Spraggy Good at Poker?
The real question on everyone’s mind relates to Spraggy’s true skill level. Is Spraggy good at poker? Based on the evidence presented above about his strategy and his extensive online and live poker winnings, it is safe to say he is a very adept player and therefore good at the game of poker.
Of course measuring exactly how good he is and how he compares to other players, is very subjective, just like the evaluation of is Corey Eyring is good at poker.
It would take an enormous amount of time to evaluate every hand Spraggy has played online and judge if he played the hands well. But again that would also require a level of subjectivity and judgement.
For his level of streaming and audience, he would definitely be considered a good player especially based on how well he can explain his thought process.
These evaluations are always subjective on some elevel
What is Spraggy’s Net Worth?
The net worth of Ben Spragg has never been revealed explicitly as it is not something his discusses much. But based on a few factors we can take a guess at a ballpark number at Spraggy’s net worth.
Spraggy has almost 100k YouTube subscribers and 170k subscribers on Twitch. According to most sources, those type of numbers generate upwards of about $5,000 per month each, which would give Spraggy about $120,000 yearly from his poker streaming alone.
He also has the lucrative PokerStars sponsorship and is now a veteran eight-year member of the team which likely boosts his sponsorship value thanks to his experience.
Also Spraggy’s poker earnings, live and online, must be considered and with his sponsorship. Importantly, the cost of buy-ins and losses is less than would be for a player without a sponsorship.
All of this considered, it is estimated that Spraggy’s makes about $500,000-$700,000 annually and since he has been doing this for eight years (assuming lower numbers in his early years) that would put his net worth in the $2-4 million range.
Conclusion
Ben “Spraggy” Spragg is a very well respected player in the poker world. Spraggy poker is popular among many Twitch and YouTube poker fans. He is overall a good representative for PokerStars.
His ability to be engaging and entertaining while honing his game on streams makes him a good player to follow for entertainment and learning.
The well-liked English player should have many more years of poker fun ahead as he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.