ptr retires from CS:GO

The now-former Bad News Bears AWPer sets his sights on a career in poker.

Peter "⁠ptr⁠" Gurney has decided to retire from CS:GO, the 31-year-old has announced. The American leaves a long career behind during which he represented organizations such as CLG, NRG, and Complexity as an AWPer and, at times, the in-game leader.

He was last part of Bad News Bears, a banner he has been the main face of in recent times and a name he represented on and off for the past two and a half years. His departure leaves the Alan "⁠Shakezullah⁠" Hardeman-led side without an AWPer less than two weeks before the team's campaign in Group A of ESL Pro League Season 14 kicks off.

ptr leaves CS:GO behind to focus on poker

ptr first came into the public eye with mouseSpaz in late 2014, a team also featuring James "⁠hazed⁠" Cobb, Stephen "⁠reltuC⁠" Cutler, Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik, and Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta that went on to become the first lineup to represent CLG in CS:GO and played in the first Major of 2015, ESL One Katowice.

A few short tenures later, the AWPer found a stable home in NRG in 2016, where he got to play under the leadership of Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik when the organization boasted a German core and later alongside Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele. In the following years, he jumped from team to team before joining Test Takers, from which the Bad News Bears tag first originated in 2019.

Since the scene moved online in early 2020, ptr has mostly competed on home soil with BNB, winning several ESEA Cash Cups, the Mythic Spring Series, and placing in the top four at DreamHack Open January and DreamHack Masters Spring. The regional success saw the team get the opportunity to travel overseas in July for the IEM Cologne Play-in, from which they were eliminated in last place following losses to MOUZ and LDLC.