Led end-to-end launch of Mystery Bounty at PokerStars. Opening weekend outperformed projections by roughly 60%, turning it into one of the platform's top-performing tournament formats globally.
~60% over forecast
Mystery Bounty opening weekend revenue
1 year in 3 weeks
All-In Poker (a rebrand of the underperforming Tempest format) matched Tempest's prior annual revenue in its first three weeks post-launch
<1% globally
Outstanding performance rating, three consecutive years - achieved by fewer than 1% of employees globally
Career
Where I've been.
PokerStarsSept 2021 - Present
Senior Product Owner
Own end-to-end vision and execution of core gameplay across global desktop and mobile, serving millions of active users.
Led Mystery Bounty launch, outperforming opening weekend revenue forecasts by ~60% and establishing it as a top-performing tournament format.
Led All-In Poker re-release (previously Tempest) - within three weeks it matched Tempest's full-year revenue.
Transform complex requirements into clear user stories, epics, and initiatives in JIRA.
Awarded Outstanding performance rating for three consecutive years - achieved by <1% of employees globally.
Brookfield Asset ManagementSept 2020 - Dec 2020
Finance Intern
Prepared quarterly public financial statement note disclosures and debt covenant calculations.
Increased automation by ~90% for the Press Release preparation through Workiva.
Reformatted support workbooks for reporting consistency and accurate data pulls.
UnileverJan 2020 - Apr 2020
Junior Financial Analyst
Consolidated and published month-end reports, liaising with business partners on performance insights.
Completed deep-dive data analyses to identify unknown variances and build decision-making metrics.
Hockey Stick StoreJune 2016 - Mar 2017
Founder and Operator
Founded at 17. Negotiated wholesale pricing tied to sales quotas, generating $30,000 in gross sales with a 35% net profit margin.
Operated as a zero-inventory sole proprietorship, eliminating stock risk and maximizing capital efficiency.
Product Strategy • AI Tooling • User Research • Go-to-Market • Data-Driven • Cross-Functional Leadership • Next.js • Prototyping •
Product Strategy • AI Tooling • User Research • Go-to-Market • Data-Driven • Cross-Functional Leadership • Next.js • Prototyping •
PokerStars
What I've shipped.
A highlight reel of features and products delivered across the core PokerStars gameplay experience.
01Mystery Bounty
02All-In Poker
03Emojis & Phrases
04Winning Moments
05SAG Live & Seasons
06UI & UX Overhaul
01 — Tournament Format
Mystery Bounty
Led the development of a brand-new tournament format featuring hidden bounties, bespoke table animations, a custom theme, lobby updates, and full game logic changes. Opening weekend revenue beat forecasts by ~60%, making it one of the platform's top-performing formats.
Led the rebrand of Tempest - an underperforming format - into All-In Poker, taking it from concept to production in under a month. Delivered a new table theme, bespoke lobby, gameplay logic changes, and hand history updates under extremely tight deadlines. In just three weeks post-launch, it matched Tempest's prior annual revenue.
Led the development of an in-game emoji and expression suite, bringing a wide range of emojis to the poker table for players to react and interact in the moment. Phrases are fully localized - a player clicking "Good game" in English delivers that phrase in the recipient's local language, unlocking communication across the global player base. The response was immediate: in January alone, 210K players used emojis 6.6M times.
Led the development of a two-part engagement system: a 3-tier winning hand animation scaled to pot size so big wins feel epic without cluttering small pots, and tournament table states that fire when players reach the money or top-3, building hype for deep runs.
05 — Live & Seasonal
SAG Live & Poker Seasons
Led the development of the online experience for the Spin & Go Championship Live - debuted at EPT Prague and grown to a €300K prize pool at EPT Paris. Also delivered Jet Set, Stars, and Sunday Million seasons with bespoke lobby assets, table themes, throwables, and prestige badges to drive engagement in off-peak months.
Led the development of a wide-ranging modernization of the core poker table - shipping updates to the player pod, checkboxes, timebanks, action buttons, colour-coded chip stacks, settings UX, sounds settings, and hand sharing via the PokerStars Replayer API.
Outside my product work, I lead the PokerStars Toronto Social Committee - growing it from a quiet calendar into one of the office's most anticipated programs.
270%
Increase in events YoY
7→26
Events in first year
30%
Budget reduction
8
Annual Live Poker Tournaments
Largest Office Poker Tournament
The largest poker tournament ever hosted by the Toronto office. 170+ employees across PokerStars and FanDuel competing in a full live tournament experience with professional dealers, sit-and-go tables, catering, and a charity component to raise donations for a food bank.
Holiday Party & Annual Events
Led the year-end holiday party for 300+ employees - managing venue, catering, decor, entertainment, gifts, and a prize draw. Also delivered a recurring calendar of events during the year including ~monthly live poker tournaments, holiday celebrations, summer BBQ, and other fun activities.
Committee Leadership
Rebuilt the social committee from the ground up - recruiting members, delegating ownership, running regular planning sessions, and managing vendor and budget relationships. Under my lead, we are delivering consistent, high-quality experiences for the office.
What people say
Kudos from the team.
Peer recognition shared internally at PokerStars across product, engineering, design, and QA.
"Sometimes it feels like there are five more Kyles all working together - that is the only explanation as to how efficient and dedicated he is. He's always ready to respond within seconds, whether it is to create a task, help with coordination between departments, assist with testing, or find clarification. He is also always looking for ways to improve the workflow of the team."
Design Team
"Kyle consistently demonstrates team spirit. He took the initiative to keep me updated on changes that could have significantly impacted my graphics team's progress and morale. We're not able to figure how he does it, but Kyle always keeps things calm, warm and positive, all the while being highly productive and focused."
Graphics Lead
"Kyle is again the embodiment of Empower & Own. When the team runs into questions, scope adjustments, and unexpected headwinds, Kyle keeps a cool head and we can always know he is keeping all contributors in the loop. He did this of his own accord and desire to see the project fulfilled. Kyle is an asset to our team."
Engineering Team
"Effectiveness, leadership, high productivity - just a few qualities Kyle demonstrated throughout the year. It is not only a pleasure working with Kyle, but most importantly, he is making everyone's job easier: devs, QAs, product owners. Together we delivered numerous important projects including Mystery Bounty, Winning Hand Animation, and Tournament Dialogues Revamp."
Engineering Team
"Kyle managed the squad's intake and output extremely well this year. The transition the table has gone through is amazing, with numerous UI and UX improvements. You have played a pivotal role in this. It is easy to work with you and you make it look easy to get things done - but we all know it isn't."
Senior Stakeholder
"For understanding the value and importance of listening to our players and always pushing for the best player experiences. Kyle's been a huge help in putting together player surveys and testing sessions to gauge sentiment on possible table changes. He's a hugely positive force."
Product Team
"Sometimes it feels like there are five more Kyles all working together - that is the only explanation as to how efficient and dedicated he is. He's always ready to respond within seconds, whether it is to create a task, help with coordination between departments, assist with testing, or find clarification. He is also always looking for ways to improve the workflow of the team."
Design Team
"Kyle consistently demonstrates team spirit. He took the initiative to keep me updated on changes that could have significantly impacted my graphics team's progress and morale. We're not able to figure how he does it, but Kyle always keeps things calm, warm and positive, all the while being highly productive and focused."
Graphics Lead
"Kyle is again the embodiment of Empower & Own. When the team runs into questions, scope adjustments, and unexpected headwinds, Kyle keeps a cool head and we can always know he is keeping all contributors in the loop. He did this of his own accord and desire to see the project fulfilled. Kyle is an asset to our team."
Engineering Team
"Effectiveness, leadership, high productivity - just a few qualities Kyle demonstrated throughout the year. It is not only a pleasure working with Kyle, but most importantly, he is making everyone's job easier: devs, QAs, product owners. Together we delivered numerous important projects including Mystery Bounty, Winning Hand Animation, and Tournament Dialogues Revamp."
Engineering Team
"Kyle managed the squad's intake and output extremely well this year. The transition the table has gone through is amazing, with numerous UI and UX improvements. You have played a pivotal role in this. It is easy to work with you and you make it look easy to get things done - but we all know it isn't."
Senior Stakeholder
"For understanding the value and importance of listening to our players and always pushing for the best player experiences. Kyle's been a huge help in putting together player surveys and testing sessions to gauge sentiment on possible table changes. He's a hugely positive force."
Product Team
Work
Side projects.
AI-powered tools and prototypes built outside the 9-to-5. Each one shipped, real, and built to demo.
Wealthsimple AI Financial Planner
A Next.js prototype that reads a user's connected accounts and financial data to deliver a fully personalized AI-powered plan across a wide range of goal types including retirement, home buying, debt payoff, and investing. The feature surfaces contextual insights and actionable recommendations tailored to each user's unique situation.
A spec-writing tool for AI builders. A 10-step wizard walks users through their idea, stack, integrations, and design decisions, then outputs a structured LLM-ready blueprint to drop directly into Cursor, Bolt, or Lovable. Built solo with Next.js, Claude API, Supabase, Clerk, and Stripe.
Building culture.
Outside my product work, I lead the PokerStars Toronto Social Committee - growing it from a quiet calendar into one of the office's most anticipated programs.