Arlie Shaban
Toronto native Arlie Shaban is Ontario’s representative on PokerStars Team Pro and a local poker icon.
By his late 20s, a degree in Business Communications and a stint as a contestant on Big Brother Canada had not brought Arlie the fame, riches or satisfaction he sought.
On June 9, 2017, he quit his day job as a car salesman and decided to become a full-time online poker player. The very next day – his first as a pro – he won the US$7.50 Deepstack on PokerStars, and hasn’t looked back since.
Arlie’s development as a poker player has taken place in a uniquely public arena. Just a few months after turning pro, he started a Twitch channel to stream himself playing his regular tournament schedule. He enjoyed it, so streamed again the next day. And the next. Eventually, Arlie ran up a streak of streaming for 125 consecutive days – a total of 1,000 hours.
Arlie is an online tournament specialist, with some occasional live tourneys thrown in here and there. With him being so dedicated to building his channel, spreading the word about the game he loves, and of course putting in the hours to play and study, Arlie doesn’t have a lot of free time for hobbies. But as a busy streamer, he takes it all in his stride.
Arlie’s poker ambitions are to keep improving, move up in stakes and eventually to play more live tournaments. Since the launch of PokerStars Ontario, Shaban has recorded enviable success, winning five titles in the inaugural ONCOOP (Ontario Championship of Online Poker) series and battling it out with the best in the province.
Arlie Shaban plays online poker exclusively at PokerStars, where he plays under the username ‘Prince Pablo’.