It has just been announced that PokerStars has inked a sponsorship deal to fund the so-called Nanjing Millions Tournament. The deal is part of PokerStars’ strategy to support the promotion of poker on a global scale.
The tournament will be held between April 14 and April 19 at the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Centre, a 62,000-seat venue in the city of Nanjing. The event was approved by the local Chess Sports Association and will be part of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
Back in July 2014, the Beijing-based Star Poker Club and PokerStars worked together on the launch of the first ever APPT event to be held on the territory of Mainland China. The new tournament is in a way an expansion of the collaboration between the two companies.
Danny McDonagh, the current president of APPT, shared with local media that poker has been growing tremendously in China in the past several years. He pointed out that Nanjing is a location that can be easily reached by players from all parts of the country and this is why he expects the tournament will attract a considerable number of entrants.
Mr. McDonagh also commented that the two tournaments that were held in Beijing in 2014 were quite successful. He said they were really happy to be given the opportunity to be part of this year’s event as well.
Jian Yang, the 2013 Asia Player of the Year, shared that Star Poker Club is particularly keen on launching poker events in Nanjing. He also commented on the partnership with APPT China and PokerStars as an excellent opportunity for Chinese players to demonstrate their skills at events that are funded and promoted by these companies.
Speaking of the APPT, its ninth season kicked off back in January. A total of eleven separate tournaments are set to take place in Macau, Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines.
The next tournament is scheduled for April 6-12 and will take place in Seoul during the local Festival of Poker. It will feature a total of eight events and will culminate in a three-day Main Event.
As for PokerStars, it has recently signed another sponsorship deal. Poker pro Jason Somerville joined its team of professional poker players. This agreement, too, can be considered part of PokerStars’ strategy to popularize the game of poker, as Somerville became one of the first players to be streaming their participation in tournaments live on Twitch. Not to mention that his channel has more than 3 million views and more than 57,000 followers.
