Kevin Martin has spent more than a decade making poker watchable.
Better known online as Kmart Poker, the Canadian poker player and creator was streaming tournaments before poker streams became an established corner of Twitch. Since then, his career has taken him through major online tournaments, high-stakes swings, sponsorship deals, reality television and some increasingly ambitious poker productions of his own.
Martin also has a distinction very few poker creators can match. He has won Big Brother Canada, played on Game of Gold, and then taken what he learned from both worlds to create his own poker reality competition.
His audience has been there for plenty of the ride.
Who Is Kmart Poker?
Kmart Poker is the poker creator name used by Canadian professional poker player, streamer and GGPoker content ambassador Kevin Martin.
Martin is from Alberta, Canada, and discovered poker in 2014. The interest became serious quickly.
At the time, he was working as a radio DJ. Within months, he had left that job and was trying to make a living from poker, initially playing low-stakes cash games in Canadian casinos before moving more heavily into online tournaments.
Crucially, Martin didn’t wait until he was an established professional before putting himself in front of an audience.
He started broadcasting his poker journey while he was still building his game and bankroll. That meant viewers weren’t being shown a polished version of a successful poker career after the hard work had already been done. They were watching the hard work itself.
There were wins. There were ugly downswings. There were mistakes.
That openness became a major part of Kmart Poker.
Kmart Poker Was Early to Twitch Poker
Poker streaming is normal now. It wasn’t when Martin started.
He became an early adopter of Twitch poker around 2015, at a time when broadcasting an online poker session to strangers on the internet still felt experimental.
The format suited him.
Martin could explain what was happening without turning every hand into a strategy lecture. More importantly, viewers could see the emotional side of playing poker for a living.
His streams have documented swings running into six figures in both directions. That matters because poker content can easily become distorted when creators only show tournament victories, enormous pots and perfectly played hands.
Kmart Poker has shown what happens between those moments too.
Over time, viewers have watched Martin move from the lower stakes into much tougher games while developing from poker player with a camera into a professional creator.
Kevin Martin and Big Brother Canada
Poker isn’t the only game Kevin Martin has played in front of an audience.
Martin first appeared on Big Brother Canada Season 3 in 2015, eventually finishing ninth.
Two years later, he went back.
This time he won the whole thing.
Martin became the winner of Big Brother Canada Season 5 in 2017, winning the final jury vote 9-0.
For somebody already fascinated by poker, Big Brother was an unusually appropriate second arena. Both games revolve around incomplete information, pressure, risk, personalities and trying to work out what somebody else is going to do before they do it.
There is one fairly significant difference.
You can’t fold your housemates.
Martin’s success introduced him to an audience far beyond poker and gave him experience of reality television that would become increasingly relevant later in his career.
Kmart Poker Quick Facts
- Real name: Kevin Martin
- Creator name: Kmart Poker
- Nationality: Canadian
- From: Alberta, Canada
- Profession: Poker player, streamer and content creator
- Started playing poker: 2014
- Streaming career: Began during the early growth of poker on Twitch
- Former career: Radio DJ
- Big Brother Canada: Season 3 contestant and Season 5 winner
- Game of Gold: Season 1 contestant
- Poker team: GGPoker
- GGPoker role: Content Ambassador
- Content: Online poker, tournaments, challenges, streams and poker entertainment
- Main platforms: YouTube and Twitch
- YouTube: Kmart Poker
Kmart Poker’s Most Popular Video
My Biggest Poker Win Ever!!!
This video follows Kevin Martin deep into a high-stakes online tournament where he reaches the final table as the chip leader. With the biggest payouts now within reach, Martin has the stack to put pressure on experienced opponents rather than simply trying to survive each pay jump. That creates exactly the sort of situation his aggressive style is built for, with increasingly important pots as the field gets shorter and the potential payday grows.
The title gives away the eventual significance of the run: it becomes the biggest poker win of Martin’s career. What makes the video worth featuring isn’t simply the final amount. Viewers get to follow the closing stages of a tournament where every decision can materially change the payout, from arriving at the final table with the lead to navigating the final opponents with a career-best score on the line.
From PokerStars to GGPoker
Martin’s rise as a streamer soon attracted the attention of online poker operators.
He joined Team PokerStars Pro Online in 2016, when Twitch was becoming an increasingly important way for poker sites to reach players.
Martin left PokerStars in 2019 and stepped away from poker and content creation for a period. A brief spell with partypoker followed before another major change arrived in 2020.
He joined GGPoker as part of the original GGSquad.
The partnership has lasted considerably longer. Martin is now listed by GGPoker as a Content Ambassador and has become closely associated with the operator’s video and entertainment output.
It has also given him opportunities that go well beyond sitting at a computer and streaming tournaments.
Kevin Martin on Game of Gold
Martin was one of 16 players selected for the first season of Game of Gold, GGPoker’s attempt to combine serious poker with reality television.
It was almost tailor-made for him.
The cast included Daniel Negreanu, Jason Koon, Fedor Holz, Maria Ho and other established poker personalities, but the competition wasn’t structured like a conventional tournament.
Players competed in teams and faced different poker formats while trying to survive long enough to reach the individual stages.
Martin joined Daniel Negreanu, Jason Koon and Michael Soyza on Team Clubs.
Their stay was short. Team Clubs lost the opening stage and all four players were eliminated.
For Martin, though, appearing on the show brought together two parts of his career that had previously existed separately.
Poker had collided with reality TV.
He wasn’t finished with the idea.
Poker Wars Takes the Idea Much Further
In May 2026, Martin launched Poker Wars.
This wasn’t another tournament vlog or a few cameras pointed at a poker table.
Martin wanted to build a genuine reality competition around poker, mixing the cards with alliances, voting, eliminations, special powers and social strategy.
So he funded it himself.
Poker Wars ran as a live-streamed competition on the Kmart Poker YouTube and Twitch channels, with Martin putting up a CA$50,000 grand prize and taking on hosting and commentary duties.
The six-player cast included Jon Pardy, Haven Taylor, Hesham “Kiero Loves You” Elkhouly, Jake Straus, Ali Kebritchi and fellow poker creator Abby Merk.
For Martin, the concept had been years in the making.
Rather than relying entirely on the cards, contestants could use their social and strategic decisions to change their position in the game. Poker performance still mattered, but so did the people sitting around the table.
It was an obvious meeting point between Martin’s two worlds.
Big Brother had social strategy without poker. Traditional poker broadcasts had poker without much of the social game away from the table.
Poker Wars tried to have both.
Kmart Poker Is Moving Beyond the Standard Poker Vlog
There is no shortage of poker content on YouTube now.
The format has become familiar: buy into a game, film some hands, show the biggest pots, calculate the profit or loss and do it again next week.
There is nothing wrong with that. Some excellent creators have built huge audiences doing it.
Martin appears increasingly interested in what comes next.
Poker Wars is the clearest example, but his wider content also leans heavily into challenges, storytelling and the experience of actually living through poker rather than presenting individual hands in isolation.
It fits a wider shift in poker media.
The return of the 888poker WSOP docuseries showed how operators are increasingly following personalities and their experiences away from the table. Meanwhile, mainstream productions are again looking for ways to package poker as entertainment rather than simply broadcasting cards.
Martin has experience on both sides.
He knows how to play poker in front of an audience, but he also knows what makes reality television work.
That combination makes Kmart Poker particularly interesting to watch.
Is Kevin Martin a Professional Poker Player?
Yes, although “professional poker player” only describes part of what Martin does.
He has played poker professionally for years and has tournament results stretching back through his career.
PokerNews currently records more than $480,000 in live tournament earnings for Martin, while official WSOP records include numerous cashes across live and online World Series events.
Those numbers don’t tell the full story.
Much of Martin’s career has taken place online, where his results, streaming career and sponsorship work have been central to the Kmart Poker brand.
Like many modern poker creators, his career isn’t neatly divided between “player” and “content creator”.
The playing creates the content. The content creates opportunities to play.
Why Kmart Poker Has Lasted
Poker creators come and go quickly.
A player can run well, start a channel, attract an audience and disappear once the results turn or producing videos becomes more work than expected.
Martin has already been through several versions of a poker career.
He has played small live cash games, streamed online tournaments, represented major poker sites, walked away from the game, returned to it, played high stakes, appeared on reality television and started producing shows himself.
The common thread is that viewers have been allowed to see the uncertainty.
Kmart Poker isn’t built around pretending every session ends with another pile of money.
Poker doesn’t work like that.
Some days you win. Some days you lose. Occasionally you decide that putting CA$50,000 of your own money into a poker reality show sounds sensible.
Martin has managed to make all three interesting.
Where Can You Watch Kmart Poker?
The main home of Kmart Poker is Martin’s YouTube channel, where he publishes poker videos, challenges, tournament content and larger projects such as Poker Wars.
He also has a long history on Twitch, the platform where much of his reputation as a poker streamer was originally built.
His relationship with GGPoker means he also appears in operator-produced poker content and events.
For somebody discovering him for the first time, however, YouTube is the easiest place to start.
Kmart Poker FAQ
What is Kmart Poker’s real name?
Kmart Poker is Kevin Martin, a Canadian professional poker player, streamer and content creator.
Where is Kevin Martin from?
Martin is from Alberta, Canada. He began playing poker in 2014 after previously working as a radio DJ.
Did Kmart Poker win Big Brother?
Kevin Martin won Big Brother Canada Season 5 in 2017 after previously competing on Season 3 in 2015.
Is Kevin Martin a GGPoker ambassador?
Yes, GGPoker currently lists Kevin Martin as a Content Ambassador. He originally joined GGPoker’s GGSquad in 2020.
Was Kmart Poker on Game of Gold?
Yes, Martin competed in Season 1 of Game of Gold. He was placed on Team Clubs alongside Daniel Negreanu, Jason Koon and Michael Soyza.
What is Poker Wars?
Poker Wars is a poker reality competition created by Kevin Martin. The first edition was streamed in May 2026 and combined poker with alliances, social strategy, powers, voting and eliminations. Martin self-funded the production and offered a CA$50,000 grand prize.
Does Kmart Poker still play poker?
Martin continues to play poker while producing content and working as a GGPoker Content Ambassador.
How much has Kevin Martin won playing poker?
PokerNews currently lists more than $480,000 in recorded live tournament earnings for Kevin Martin. That figure shouldn’t be treated as his total poker profit or career income because it doesn’t subtract tournament buy-ins or include all online poker results, sponsorships and creator revenue.
Where can I watch Kmart Poker?
Martin’s main YouTube channel is Kmart Poker. He also has a longstanding presence on Twitch.
Follow Kmart Poker
- YouTube: Kmart Poker
- GGPoker: Kevin Martin, Content Ambassador
