Manuel ‘Grubby’ Schenkhuizen has been a very busy man of late. With casting OSL in Korea, running and playing in the Pokerstrategy.com League and attending big tournaments like WCS and DreamHack, he’s got his hands full. I got to take a shot at asking this Dutchman how he manages to do this all at the same time.

(credit: Jeroen Weimar)

You’ve been casting the Auction All-Kill OSL in Korea of late. Do you think that casting will become a more permanent thing for you or do you try and balance it with pro-gaming?

Grubby: From the last 9 tournaments I've been to, 3 were casting jobs and 6 were as a progamer. The three casting jobs were national events, namely WCS Nordics, OSL Starleague and WCS Asia. I couldn't have attended any of those as a player according to the rules.

Just imagine that I travel more than a regular progamer. Casting jobs are fun, they are relaxing because it's a lot easier to do and I have no match stress, and have a guaranteed pay-out. On top of that, I learn from studying players so closely and with the audience I share those new insights in addition to my existing knowledge. I think everyone wins.. right? :-]

What do you think of being in Korea from a caster and a player’s perspective?

Grubby: I got my first behind-the-scenes look to any tournament in Korea ever. It rounds me out as a person and a self-professed "eSports-connoisseur". It was nice meeting and speaking to the Korean OSL casters, and seeing the players come to the media room after they played in the booths.

I also like working together with a lot of different commentators so I get to know them better. I always seem to find that I gain more respect for other people when I spend a little time doing their job. Khaldor is tireless, Moletrap takes criticism like a boss, Artosis is dedication personified, Kaelaris is enthusiastic and became a good friend. Anyway, I am digressing.

In my last interview with Kaelaris, he said that you two complement each other a lot while casting. Who of all your casting partners have you found to be the most interesting and who do you want to cast with in the future?

Grubby: I've enjoyed casting with Kaelaris and dApollo the most and I think I've had the most synergy with them to create a well-rounded cast. I would say that I am personally closer to Kaelaris because we did many casting gigs together for the national WCS Qualifiers so I'm always looking forward to seeing Kae-Kae.

The road to the 2012 World Championship Series has been rough and you have done a great job in the European Final where you came in shared 5th/6th place with BabyKnight. Did you feel like you could have done better and what do you think about your results overall?

Grubby: If I had had more confidence in myself, I feel that I needn't have lost to LucifroN. I think I would've beaten LoWeLy too for the top 3 placement, and then face off against VortiX. Who knows what might've happened? I feel like I should've been Top 3 at that event. But that's hindsight. When I chewed through 5 rounds of LB I was more concerned with staying alive and qualifying.

(credit: LDLC invitational )

Your other project is the PokerStrategy.com League in which there are 9 invited players, including yourself. What’s the story behind this League?

Grubby: So it's a 9 player round robin where everyone plays 10 maps against each other, so a total of 80 maps. Best score wins at end of league. That's the short of it. However the thought behind it, and one of the important elements was that every player would be a big streamer or an aspiring streamer and would broadcast all of their matches.

Because we didn't outline it in the rules due to technical difficulties of that, it seems some players aren't taking the idea to heart which is a bit of a shame. I'm the only one who streamed all his own games. It's a big plus to stream your own games because you get Ad Revenue + guaranteed Prize money, but I don't know why the other players aren't doing it as much.

The way it would work out that it's a string of high-profile showmatches which combine to form a League story, which would be the red thread. But the showmatches would be interesting in and of itself. It's a unique format. We're going to be doing some thinking about how we could possibly improve it IF we do a PSL2 (we haven't decided this yet).

PokerStrategy.com and I have been slowly but steadily expanding the scope of our partnership and sponsorship. The PSL (PokerStrategy.com League) is an idea that we kind of got together, which combines my desire to create a league with Team Grubby while they provide the funding and offer an valuable learning tool to aspiring Poker Players as well as illustrating a link of professional Poker and professional RTS gaming. I feel like we need to improve the way in which we translate this message to the viewer. We're having a meeting about that soon to see what improvements we can make.

What do you hope that the PokerStrategy.com League will accomplish?

Grubby: I hope for the following things:

- Provide reliable income to a number of players, not all of whom are top-world stars

-Create a platform for players to increase their marketability and stream viewership numbers/subscribers

-Create more awareness and gain more subscribers for the PokerStrategy.com website

-Be a tournament that a big amount of viewers likes to watch and finds relevant

-Be a tournament that has its own identity.

I think we succeeded at a number of goals and can improve upon some others!

What do you think of the current state of Protoss in Wings of Liberty?

Grubby: I feel like we are just about getting ready for HotS. Our options are a little bit limited when choosing how to deal with certain situations, so you see a lot of typically similar unit compositions. I don't let it get to me though, because there's plenty of variety to create in the sense of Build Order specifics, timings and an occasional oddball.

But I would lie if I said that I wasn't getting very excited for adding units like the Oracle and Tempest to my arsenal. As for an evaluation based on pure strength, I think Protoss is a strong race that can hold its own against the other races if controlled well by a great player.

The groups for the MLG Fall Championship in Dallas have been announced this week. How do you feel about your group with (currently) Naniwa, BabyKnight, HwangSin and TheSTC and the fact that one of the three open spots in your group will be filled with a Brood War pro?

Grubby: I think it could've been worse. Most important will be who my first and second opponent are. It's a mini double elimination bracket after all. No matter who I will face, I feel confident.

You have been in the pro-gaming circuit for about 9 years now. What are your plans for the future when it comes to pro-gaming and do you think you will still be in this business in, let’s say, 10 years?

Grubby: In 10 years, I think I will be fed after midnight and will start growing little eSportlins out of my back.

Thanks a lot for doing this interview with me! Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Grubby: I've just started re-uploading all my WC3 commentaries on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my channel if you like to see more ;> thanks!