Celebrities' Endorsement Of Online Poker
Two more celebrities have joined the ranks of those who endorse online poker. Jason Alexander has been appointed official poker ambassador for PokerStars, while Steve Martin admitted on TV that he likes to play poker online.
"Everybody loves Raymond", and so does Ray Romano love poker, as he put his skills to test at the WSOP 2008. However, he is not the first Hollywood celebrity to enter the Poker world as names such as Matt Damon or Ben Affleck have also found poker to be just the game for their taste. Now two more celebrities join their ranks by publicly admitting they are in favour of online poker.
Seeing the increased interest of celebrities, PokerStars, one of the largest online poker platforms, made a team of ambassadors outside the professional poker community and ever since keeps adding famous people who carry the passion for poker in it.
Jason Alexander is the latest name to become a part of PokerStars, which already has likes of former baseball player Orel Hershiser and former tennis champion Boris Becker as ambassadors. The former Seinfeld star was more than pleased with this opportunity:
“PokerStars has very graciously asked me to sign on as one of their official players. I am very flattered and happy to be playing for a real quality site and with the kind of professionals that remind me every day how truly mediocre I am at this game,” joked Alexander. “But I’m learning. And now I can learn from some of the best,” he added.
Alexander will play in PokerStars sponsored events, 2009 WSOP and possibly the European Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Steve Martin is another Hollywood celebrity who found online poker playing to be the perfect hobby. His endorsement of online poker came two weeks after Jason Alexander signed as the official ambassador of PokerStars, as he revealed some of his experiences from the Online poker:
“For a while I played Internet poker, when it was legal. I used to
play and I had one of those Ambien experiences. It was late and night
and I was playing poker and I said ‘okay it’s time to go to bed’ and I
was travelling and doing show business so I took an Ambien to go to
sleep. Well, I’ll play a little Internet poker. I had $500 in my
account and then I quit and went to bed,” said Martin, referencing
pre-UIGEA days.
“I woke up the next morning and I said ‘oh I’ll play a
little Internet poker’ and I opened it up and I had $1,500 in my
account and I said ‘oh they made a mistake and I’ve got an extra
$1,000. I thought you know what I better call them, somebody might have
my credit card or something.”
“So I called the guy in Pakistan, that’s where it was, or India,
somewhere. I said ‘I think someone made a mistake and put money in my
account’. He said ‘No we have you playing with your IP address, you’re
playing from 4 am to 5 am in the morning’. And I’d won a $1,000,”he explained. The video where Martin talks to David Letterman on his show about this issue can be found here.
More celebrities militate for the legalization of online poker, and several states have already taken the first steps to ensure their citizens can enjoy the right to do so. Now that the Midnight Rule Act and Congressman Barney Frank are two more powerful tools meant to bring online poker to American citizens, it may only seem as a matter of time before this all becomes reality.
