Show #142 – Piotr Skrzyp of Sportsflare on the Knup Sports Show

Piotr Skrzyp of Sportsflare joins the show to talk about his role as an esports trader & where Sportsflare is heading.

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Ryan Knuppel:

Hey. What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to the Knup Sports Show. I’m your host, Ryan Knuppel, here with you once again. Man, we are moving through these episodes. I believe we’re on episode 142, or something crazy like that, of this show. We are super excited to be back. And today, we have another guest. We always bring you great guests from the industry. Today, we have another one. I’m going to introduce him in just a second. But first, hopefully, everybody’s doing well. Hopefully, everybody’s enjoying this crazy sports betting industry, especially here in the United States as we start seeing things develop and grow, and we’re seeing deals being done, and lots of things happening. So, hopefully, you’re enjoying that.

Ryan Knuppel:

We have several shows lined up over the next few weeks. So, please, tune into us on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you can find us. We go live with all of our shows. We keep it raw. We keep it live. If you have any questions, if you’re watching the show and you have questions for our guest, or for myself, or anyone, please don’t hesitate to ask in any chat. We will see all of the chats. They come into one central area. I can see them. I’ll put them up on the screen and we can actually interact with the guests a little bit that way. So I really enjoy that. And I hope that’s something that you guys will think about doing, especially if you have questions for our guests as we get going.

Ryan Knuppel:

All right. So without further ado, I’m going to go ahead and bring on our guest today. Today, we have Piotr… I’m not going to even try the last name, but Piotr’s a eSports trader with Sportsflare. Piotr, thanks for being here with us.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Hello, everyone. Thanks, Ryan, for having me here.

Ryan Knuppel:

Hey, I’m super excited to have you. For those of you that don’t remember back in episode 136, we actually had Kenny Jang of Sportsflare on. He actually talked all about eSports… I’m sorry, Sportsflare. So if you missed that show, make sure you go back, watch that show on repeat. We’re not going to go through all of the same stuff, but I want to hear about this guy. I want to hear where you came from, Piotr. Give us a little bit of background about yourself and how you got into this eSports business.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Okay. So, once again, hello, everyone. Actually, once again, my name is Piotr. I’m from Poland. I’m 21-years-old student. I study computer science and econometrics. And I have privilege to work at Sportsflare for more than half a year already as an eSports trader. Previously, I was working in a different field, actually. I was building websites for real estate agents in the United States. I was also responsible for digital marketing. At some point, I was also doing HR and talent acquisition for one of the American leaders when it comes to automation. So, yeah. That’s different, but when it comes to my field of study, it’s great.

Ryan Knuppel:

Well, that’s quite a resume for only being 21 years old. So congrats on the success so far. And I’m excited to see where you head in your career. And I know, right now, [inaudible 00:03:20] Sportsflare and I’m excited to hear more about… What does your role entail at Sportsflare? I mean, being an eSports trader. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about what that role means and what that is.

Piotr Skrzyp:

So, first of all, I would like to joke a little bit about this name, eSports trader. I noticed that on LinkedIn, usually, people who loves to make different names for it. So like [OS compiler 00:03:43], data assurance, data specialist, data programmers, et cetera. All of them, of course, combine the core of the same duties, that we are making sure that information that we are receiving from tournament organizers, and then passing next to makers and other companies, are in the most quality form as possible. My daily routine consists of checking on every single match that is going to be featured on one of our partners’ websites, checking how Dota, League of Legends, CS:GO is doing, checking odds, markets, starting times. All of those things that can probably, at some point, be broken by some random events. But don’t be misled, this task is not that simple. And yet, it’s very funny and not so boring as it might sound.

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah. No, I don’t think it sounds boring at all, but, I guess, I have that mind as well. I think odds and really having your hand in a lot of pieces like that is super exciting. So tell us a little bit about Sportsflare at a high level. I know we went into that in episode 136, make sure you go back, watch that episode. But just give us a little bit, a very high level, for those that maybe didn’t see that episode of what Sportsflare is, what your mission is, what kinds of things you guys do for this iGaming industry.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Of course, for this task, I believe that the best person will be actually a salesperson, who could give a little speech about all the things that we are doing. There is plenty, actually, that we are doing currently and planning to do next. But our biggest mission is actually to revolutionize eSport betting and make it step closer to all of the people who loves to gamble, all of the people who loves to bet. And there is a few products that we are introducing that makes so. So first of them, just like the basic step, I believe, for us, is creating a lot of new markets that are focused heavily on players. So we are able, for example, right now, to watch matches such as, for example, Virtus.pro versus Endpoint, and try to recognize who is going to be star of this match, and who is going to be less effective.

Piotr Skrzyp:

There’s a huge difference between sport and eSport, but it doesn’t [inaudible 00:06:25] there is plenty of other things such as, for example, Bet Builder, something which is quite well-known in a sports industry. Previously, it wasn’t well-known in eSport. So we are very proud to make it, also, here. And star of our products, I think, is betting yourself. You are able to play and bet on yourself during the rank game in Dota, League of Legends, Valorant, CS:GO, and plenty of other games.

Ryan Knuppel:

Wow.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Yeah. I mean, perhaps for people who are not completely into games, it might sound ridiculous to bet $100. But trust me, even betting small amount, like $1, during some kind of party with your friends, is going to make things a little bit more spicy and emotional for all of us, for all of the people who are involved.

Ryan Knuppel:

Absolutely. I mean, anytime you have a bet on anything, it actually drives the engagement. That gets you a little more excited. It keeps you interested a little bit further. And that’s an interesting concept. And it’s something that, I mean, most of the listeners here probably come from the true, traditional sports betting background and not necessarily the eSports betting background. And so, that’s a major difference to wrap your mind around, that you could bet on yourself. You can’t bet on yourself in regular sports betting. And so, that concept’s really neat. And I know there’s probably other differences between the two, right? I mean, is there any differences you can think of, or similarities, I guess, between regular sports betting, I’ll call it, for lack of better terms, and eSports sports betting?

Piotr Skrzyp:

Before pandemic, I was really involved into start betting on sport because, for me, it was really super interesting to see how evolved this industry of sport betting itself is. But then, when Coronavirus struck us all, obviously, eSport started growing very fast because all of the stadiums, all of the leagues were closed, and people were in a situation where they have to basically choose between virtual [inaudible 00:08:49] and eSports.

Piotr Skrzyp:

For many people, this mysteriously sound of eSports started to be a [inaudible 00:08:58] to actually still gamble, to still bet. And very fast, they realized that in sports betting, some of the things cannot be predicted. Some of the things such as lineup, such as form of individual players, those things can affect the whole match. In eSport, of course, there is also some of the factors like this, but you are able to track the most important piece of information. For example, how many hours every single player played in CS:GO, for example, in last two weeks. Those key information are going to affect whole match and are being accessible for everyone. So, in my opinion, personally, eSports is much easier to predict, much easier to get into, because you are feeling that you are getting better and better in predicting. You are getting better and better in making sure that this team that we’re going to bet is going to win.

Ryan Knuppel:

Interesting. Let’s talk a little bit about that because how would somebody, who maybe isn’t into eSports yet, maybe they know what it is, but they’re not really into it. I mean, I would conclude myself in that group, right? I like eSports. I understand eSports. But I don’t follow League of Legends. I don’t follow Dota. I don’t follow or play these games. So could somebody like myself learn to bet on it and have an advantage betting on it? Or do you really truly have to play these and live and breathe these games to be able to bet on it?

Piotr Skrzyp:

I believe that was the whole purpose of also introducing Bet-On-Yourself system. Because, in that situation, every single one of us who is playing in Silver, so the basically lowest league in CS:GO, you are the worst player. Every one of your friends will make fun of you.

Ryan Knuppel:

Wait, you’re saying [crosstalk 00:10:55]

Piotr Skrzyp:

Same here. But being able to bet on yourself and even play with randoms is still making you feel professional. You are feeling like you’re part of a big tournament and the stake is $1,000, even though the prize is, for example, $1. So, to cut it short, I believe eSport is perfect if you are not having experience, because I can just tell, as a life example, that, always, when I try to make [inaudible 00:11:32] in live bet selection, and I try to pick players that are winning right now, teams that are winning in sports, in tennis, et cetera, they’re always making comebacks. Always. There could be like 1.1 odds. So, in eSports, it’s pretty much over from the beginning, match is simply done. In sports, there’s always chance for someone winning. So, yeah.

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah. That’s an interesting difference, for sure. That’s an interesting difference. So where is Sportsflare headed? I mean, what’s coming new or is it just simply continuing to educate and get more people into the system? I know this may be another question for someone else, but I’d love to hear your input on where the company’s headed and what might be next.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Okay. That’s a very interesting question, for sure. We are, right now, focused on delivering new projects and that are being focused by the industry itself. So we are, right now, seeing a lot of [inaudible 00:12:39] in Valorant and in a lot of other games. So, right now, what we are doing is not only trying to expand Bet-On-Yourself, but also make it a lot bigger in terms of [inaudible 00:12:56] games. So, hopefully, it’s going to also give possibility for Valorant players to enjoy this kind of stuff. And, at the same time, when it comes to our past products, so, for example, Bet Builder, we are expanding our markets. We are making sure every single day that they are not broken, and I’m, personally, responsible for also testing that you are still able to make profit out of them. And, for sure, you can, just to put it simply.

Piotr Skrzyp:

And I also like to mention, in the short words, what sports, for right now, is doing from my perspective, because, obviously, I’m not a programmer and I don’t consider myself a salesperson. So I can just talk about things that I’m doing. But, immediately, I would like to recognize that, for me, coming to Sportsflare is always something like [American teenager 00:14:03] movie. So I’m coming to school to meet with my group of friends, and that’s exactly how it feel every single day. And, right now, we are just making [inaudible 00:14:19] meeting and thinking, what can we do next, what next challenge is going to be ahead. So, yeah. Basically, we are trying to evolve what we are having here. And, at the same time, listen our partners, listen the whole industry, and go [inaudible 00:14:36] of them with new propositions.

Ryan Knuppel:

That’s amazing. It certainly seems like a great company to be with. And I’m excited to see where you guys go. I mean, I’m excited to see where the whole industry goes, from an eSports… eSports in general, and then, yeah, of course, eSports betting and how that piece of it develops and starts capturing more and more attention. Because it’s not going away, we know it’s not going away. The youth of the world love eSports and they love these games. And I see it every day with my own children and kids who are just die-hard gamers, and they play all these games all the time. And so, the natural progression, right? As they get older and as they start to understand the betting side of it, is mixing those two. So I’m really excited to see, as an industry, where that leads.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Hopefully, it’s going to lead people to enjoying the gaming on a new level, on the level of being also involved in professional scene. Because, nowadays, the games that are having the biggest success are games that are having [inaudible 00:15:37] eSports team. The great example is success of, for example, [Brawlhalla 00:15:43], the game which is one of the smallest ones. But with a small eSports team and with very involved, very deep community, which is try hard in every single day, they’re growing, and they’re like still making new updates they’re going on new devices. And this is amazing. And I believe that’s the future of eSport.

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah, for sure. Well, Piotr, I really enjoyed talking to you. I’m really glad you came on. Always open it up. Any last words, anything we missed? Anything you want to talk about before we jump off here?

Piotr Skrzyp:

Okay. So I would like to say just one last thing.

Ryan Knuppel:

Sure.

Piotr Skrzyp:

When I was starting working as an eSports trader, I was always fighting with one prejudice about betting. So my relatives were always speaking, “Casino always wins.” So we are, basically, helps scam people, et cetera. And, of course, that’s a very tough words to hear, right?

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah.

Piotr Skrzyp:

But I can assure you that from our perspective, as eSports trader, we are also making sure that things that we are delivering are enjoyable and beneficial for both parties. And I believe, for example, that our Bet Builder, currently, is giving possibility for everyone to even from very low-key match, from a match where also are quite obvious, make something really great. You can predict the whole [inaudible 00:17:15] of the match, who is going to destroy first tower, who’s going to make first kill, who is going to kill first dragon, whole scenario. So, yeah. That’s exactly what I was planning to say.

Ryan Knuppel:

That’s great last words. Yeah. I mean, that’s really actually really good words. And something that everybody needs to understand is, yeah, I mean, betting can be super entertaining right? Some people think of it as bad, or evil, or whatever. But you know what? It is entertainment at its finest. And then you treat it that way, and you look at it as it’s enhancing eSports, it’s enhancing the games that you’re playing, and don’t look at it as a thing that ruins your mind. That’s not what it’s meant out to be. And I think Sportsflare is building products and things to really help the entertainment side of it. So super props there, and that was a great point to bring up.

Ryan Knuppel:

But, Piotr, I really appreciate it. I’ll let you go. I know you’re a busy guy. You got to get out there, get those odds set, get those… do what you do, test those games, and make things happen over at Sportsflare. So really had fun with you on the show, and I invite you back anytime you feel.

Piotr Skrzyp:

Thank you very much.

Ryan Knuppel:

Take care. Take care. All right, guys. That was Piotr. He was with Sportsflare, episode 142. That’s a wrap. I’m Ryan Knuppel, Knup Sports Show. We hope you enjoyed this one and hope you tune in for others going forward. Stay safe. We’ll talk to you all soon. Have a great day. Bye-bye.

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