Online poker brand PokerStars has become the lead sponsor of the Global Poker League (GPL), an innovative poker competition launched earlier this year. The sponsorship agreement will see the world’s largest online poker room and GPL owner – Mediarex Sports & Entertainment, work on different promotional initiatives aimed at popularizing the competition among existing and future fans of the game.
This will not be the first time when PokerStars and Mediarex will be working together. The sports marketing agency also runs the American Poker Awards and the European Poker Awards brands, among others, and the online poker room sponsored this year’s editions of the two awards ceremonies.
As mentioned above, the GPL competition was launched earlier this year. It includes 12 teams, each comprised of 6 players. All participants are players with excellent reputation and rich poker portfolios. Combined, their live tournament winnings amount to more than $400 million. The GPL concept has been designed so as to contribute to the transition of poker from pure player experience to fan experience.
Creators are trying to achieve this in various ways. Through zero buy-in team-based structure and poker games played online in studio and in The Cube, officially designated as GPL’s flagship arena, the competition builds tons of excitement and makes it possible for fans to become part of the action.
Commenting on the recently signed sponsorship agreement, PokerStars Director of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser said that the GPL brings an innovative twist to poker and that they are happy with the chance to support Mediarex in its quest to introduce the game to new audiences.
GPL CEO Alex Dreyfus noted that being backed by PokerStars is an important step in GPL’s establishment as “a real blueprint for poker entertainment.” The executive further noted that the online poker brand will certainly provide them with diverse opportunities to grow the GPL platform and will help the competition format connect with the poker community and connect poker to the overall entertainment sector.
As part of the sponsorship agreement, the iconic PokerStars spade will be featured on The Cube. It is also important to note that Team PokerStars Pros like Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, and Bertrand Grospellier contend in the GPL.
