Sponsored Players

Ever since online poker sites have existed, they have employed poker players to represent them as sponsored players and brand ambassadors. They are the recognisable faces of the brands they are promoting and help create a touch point for customers of the online poker site, especially when they participate in live poker tournaments and events. Often they are the only real-life people that customers of an online poker site will ever come into contact with.

There is no single type of player that poker sites prefer to use as ambassadors, with some being chosen for their ability at the poker tables, while others are engaged on a basis akin to that of an influencer. Sports stars are often used as brand ambassadors, with the most famous ones to have taken their seat at the poker table including tennis legend Rafael Nadal and soccer star Neymar Jr.

During the original online poker boom of 2003-2007, many online poker sites had extensive lists of sponsored players on their books. It was often the case that players would pick up a sponsorship deal purely for winning a big tournament or recording a series of good results in a short space of time. But these were often not the hardest working ambassadors and as the industry matured, poker sites began to expect more from their pros than simply making correct calls and good folds.

To be a successful ambassador for a poker site you have to not only have an above average understanding of the game, more importantly you have to be producing content, engaging the community. To help to raise awareness and grow the game of poker, you can't just play and wear the logo.

Professional poker players who are sponsored by an online poker site are usually winning players and have skill levels that are greater than the average player. They may have won some big poker championships, but this is not essential. 

Sponsored poker professionals wear branded clothing or logos of the brand they represent when they play live and will also take part in customer promotions. They might feature in marketing materials and on the websites of the brands they represent. They are often active on social media channels and have large followings, and will use their profile to promote poker brands to their followers.

Some of the most famous sponsored professionals include Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospelier, who are both sponsored by GGPoker and as such are two of the most recognisable poker players in the world. Their images have even been turned into digital versions that live within the GG Poker client, popping up to laugh at your bad beats and congratulate you when you win a big pot.

Chis Moneymaker is another of the highest profile sponsored professionals, rising to fame when he won the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. He was sponsored by PokerStars for 17 years before joining ACR Poker.

All sponsored players are effectively ambassadors of the sites they work for, but some sites choose to describe them as ambassadors rather than sponsored pros. The term is looser and enables players who might not be successful at the game, but who have a high profile within the poker community to represent brands. Their roles are effectively the same as sponsored professionals, but with greater emphasis on promoting the brand and less expectation that they will win lots of events.

Often ambassadors will be people who have a profile outside of poker, but are also known to be players.

Alexandra Botez is a chess player who recently became an ambassador of GG Poker.

She is not the first female chess player to have crossed over to poker and taken on an ambassador role. Jennifer Shahade made the switch from Chess to poker many years ago and presents a poker strategy podcast.

Live streamers are another category of players that are sponsored by online poker sites. They live stream their online poker sessions on platforms like Twitch and YouTube and can have hundreds or even thousands of fans watching them play. It is a very engaged form of brand representation and tends to be more useful for player retention than introducing new players to the game, as people who watch poker streams tend to already be familiar with the game. 

Streamers can help to give exposure to online poker sites and give them greater branding awareness than sites that don’t engage streamers. Poker streamers who represent specific brands will sometimes do giveaways for their viewers, such as tickets to tournaments and satellites at online poker sites.

Not all streamers are sponsored either, such as girafganger7 (Bert Stevens) who as an unaffiliated player won the WSOP Online Main Event on GG Poker while streaming, from his shed in Austria, declared that he didn’t really need a sponsor anymore, as that he’d just picked up a $2.7m score and that 'the price has no gone up bitches'.

Rafael Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Usain Bolt and Neymar Jr are amongst the highest profile sports stars to have been ambassadors for online poker sites. 

Comedians, actors and television presenters are also often employed to do fulfil a similar role, with Kevin Hart being amongst the most famous entertainers to have represented an online poker site. 

Actress Jennifer Tilly, who is married to poker pro Phil Laak is also a keen player herself and has won a WSOP bracelet.