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One of the most frequent questions I am asked out on the tournament trail is “Are you sponsored?” Well, after two years of looking for a company that believed in me, I am happy to report that the search has ended. I can proudly say that I am not only a sponsored professional poker player, but will also be the Spokesperson and Team Leader for SunPoker.com. So that will now lead to the question, “What is Sun Poker and will they sponsor me?” To answer these queries, let me tell you how it all came down; and how you, too, may soon find a sponsorship deal under the Sun.
I first met Rob Gallo (Marketing Director for SunPoker.com) at the CPC (Caribbean Poker Classic) in St. Kitts, an island in the Caribbean. The offices are located nearby on the island of Antigua, which brings new meaning to company meetings! Rob is a young, aggressive entrepreneur and an all-around great guy, with a sincere passion for the game. It shows in his grassroots marketing campaign, in which his desire is to make the “Average Joe” a better poker player and teach him how to win. Thus, I’ll be coming on board, not only as a sponsored player out on the tournament trail, but also to coach, holding question and answer sessions online every Thursday night (9 p.m.) at the site, www.sunpoker.com. So, if you’re looking to improve your game, come check it out. In fact, Rob and I hooked up again in downtown Detroit during the Super Bowl to do just that, and held many free Learn, Play, Win games, in which people could just stop by and play for fun, while learning how to play better poker.
The CPC, by the way, is an annual tournament, and for those of you who are looking to please your significant other while you play poker, this is the place. I spent a lot of time myself off the felt, scuba diving, golfing, and relaxing on the beach. The whole event is aptly run by Andy Goetsch and the Cryptologic team, a software development company out of Toronto, Canada. Cryptologic (NASDAQ: CRYP) is the gaming software company that SunPoker.com runs on, and has been providing safe and secure online gaming software since 1996.
I am currently working on a sponsorship program with Rob, in which players can earn their way to be sponsored professional players on tour, and play alongside me, representing SunPoker.com. We are still in the development stages, so I am limited to what I can “leak,” but I understand that a lot of professional poker players need sponsorship support, and we plan to offer a program whereby a select number of players will be invited onto Team SunPoker. So look for details on the website in the next few weeks, as our plans are to have a formidable team to send to this year’s WSOP and beyond.
I also want to take a minute to bring to your attention the World Poker Association. Please visit the site, www.worldpokerassociation, which just officially launched this month, and show its founder, Jesse Jones, your support Jesse has singlehandedly taken on the task of uniting the poker world in the interest of protecting the game from special interest groups. For too long now, the players have needed to bind together in an effort to protect the game from exploitation. In speaking with one unified voice, the players and the industry as a whole, including the casinos, will make themselves heard, and can each make a difference in determining the future of tournament poker.
Good Flops and Happy Days
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