‘Big Brother Canada’ Contestant Arlie Shaban Livestreams Online Poker Games for 125 Consecutive Days, 1k Total Hours

March 14th, 2018 | by Brian Corlisse

In November, Arlie Shaban of “Big Brother Canada” fame began chasing his goal of livestreaming 1,000 total hours of online poker over 125 consecutive days. The journey has ended as a success.

Former reality TV star Arlie Shaban hit a milestone, livestreaming online poker games for 125 consecutive days, totaling 1,000 hours of play. (Image: pokernews.com)

Shaban, a Canadian reality TV personality who was voted out of the house on the seventh week during “Big Brother Canada’s” Season 2, was previously an unknown to the poker community. Now, thanks to his recently conquered quest, he’s getting his 15 minutes of poker fame.

He made the decision to take a run at this impressive milestone in June but didn’t start his streaming until November 6, 2017.

“Starting up my first @TwitchPoker stream in 1.5 hrs,” he posted on Twitter shortly before his first session in November.

Shaban was set to embark on a journey that lasted 125 days, averaging eight hours per day of poker on livestream.

“I always knew I was going to give streaming a shot,” he told PokerNews. “I started obsessing over twitch and I decided that if I was going to be a streamer I wasn’t going to half ass it.”

No Guinness World Record

Initially, Shaban had planned to stream for eight hours per day for 50 days. He went so far as to inquire with the Guinness Book of World Records to find out if his streak would set a world record and get listed in the book, but his application was denied.

But the rejection didn’t get in his way of making a name for himself around the poker world. After reaching 500 hours of livestreaming, he decided to go even further. More than a month and 300 hours of poker later, he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.

“One thousand hours in 125 days adds up to a perfect eight hours per day,” he said. “I really enjoy numbers and statistics, and when I saw all the stats align like that I just set the goal and went after it.”

Shaban’s game of choice was the new “Power Up” game on PokerStars which puts a futuristic twist on Texas hold’em, a gimmicky game that PokerStars hopes will attract the millennial gamer demographic.

He claims to have won $10,000 in profits during the challenge.

Conditioned for the Long Haul

Playing and streaming eight hours of poker daily for 125 consecutive days will take a toll on anyone. To ensure he was physically and emotionally prepared to complete his journey, Shaban properly conditioned his body and mind.

“First 40 days gym 3-4 times per week, cleanest eating imaginable
Day 40-80 gym 1-2 times per week, started allowing bread/pasta/cheese etc
Day 80-100 pretty much done w gym, unleashed the food ordering kraken
Day 100-125 do anything to survive
Drank 600+ bottles of water,” he posted on Twitter.

Shaban knew this challenge wouldn’t be easy on his body and mind. He drank water, exercised, and ate healthy during much of 125-day quest.