When you already have one of the most popular players in the game today, what else do you need for your online poker site? Apparently, the management behind GGPoker didn’t feel that having Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu on their team was enough. Thus, GGPoker announced on Thursday the signing of…well, let’s just call him “personality”…Dan Bilzerian as an official ambassador for the online poker site.
“King of Instagram” to Celebrate Birthday with Site
The self-proclaimed “King of Instagram” and the online poker site which hosted the 2020 online World Series of Poker festivities this summer announced the sponsorship which, to be honest, doesn’t seem to be a good idea on either side. While Bilzerian has approximately 32 million followers on the social media site Instagram, most are not drawn there because of his poker prowess. But that didn’t stop GGPoker from penning the deal.
In a statement that is purely hyperbole, Negreanu himself spoke about Bilzerian’s new deal. “Dan joining Team GGPoker is a huge win! No one in poker has a bigger reach than Dan,” Negreanu said during the announcement. “He has won millions in cash games (writer’s note: in the interest of truth, there is nothing indicating that Bilzerian has won “millions” playing poker) and isn’t afraid to get into the mix against the sharks in the high-stakes streets at GGPoker!”
Bilzerian himself stated, “In these crazy times, GGPoker is the best option to get my poker on – they cater to the recreational players and that’s the future of poker, not a bunch of math nerds. I’ve battled guys from the $2 buy-in to the $200,000 buy-in tables at GGPoker and will be working with GG to make cash game tables even better for the average player out there.”
As a part of the new deal, a $100,000 freeroll tournament will be held on Monday. The tournament is open through several different methods and will award the winner a $10,000 payday and a chance to play Bilzerian heads up. There are other prizes available also, with half the field being rewarded in some manner.
REALLY Who You Want to Represent You?
As if his comments regarding signing the “ambassadorship” weren’t looking to tick off a segment of the poker community, Bilzerian really demonstrated he doesn’t give a crap about trying to bring people to GGPoker. Or maybe that he just doesn’t give a crap about drawing in half of them; following the announcement of the signing, Bilzerian got in a Twitter spat with cash game professional Vanessa Kade, telling her “Quiet hoe, nobody knows who you are.” Melissa Burr also targets Negreanu for some well-deserved hammering, retweeting a couple of Tweets that show his hypocrisy.
The decision by GGPoker to sign Bilzerian is questionable, to be honest. Bilzerian, who came into a fortune from questionable means (his father was facing jail time and significant fines for insider trading, then suddenly came up destitute in 1991), has said on several occasions that he nearly completed SEAL team training (one, real SEAL team members don’t brag about such status, and two, varying reports from those who served with him say he was worthless), that he is a movie producer and that he plays poker for the highest stakes against unnamed people. What is verifiable through his Instagram account is that he has women in varying degrees of undress around him constantly (price?) as he spends millions of dollars keeping up an image of a “playboy” globetrotter that objectifies women and basically makes them little more than pieces of meat.
His “poker career” is even more suspicious. Even though he SAYS he is a winning player, there is absolutely nobody who admits to playing against him. His tournament poker resume, according to The Hendon Mob, is a whole ONE entry from the World Series of Poker Championship Event in 2009 (his brother, Adam, has much more success on the felt, with almost $900,000 in career earnings). And he has never been verified in any large cash game action in any locale around the world.
The new signing by GGPoker indicates that they are trying to be “edgy” with their approach to marketing, but there’s “edgy” and then there’s idiotic. They’re probably going to regret the decision at some point, especially since Bilzerian has a huge propensity for being…well, for lack of a better way to put it, a loudmouth who says and does inappropriate things. We’ll see how long it lasts.
Bilzerian called Vanessa Kade a hoe, not Melissa Burr.
Thank you! Mixed up Vanessa and Melissa as Melissa retweeted the comment. But Melissa was also mentioned in that “hoe” Tweet.
You’ve expressed the thoughts and feelings of everyone in and out of poker. Listening to DNegs is a waste as he is simply Poker’s biggest shill, will do literally anything and sponsor anything for money – Stars, Choice Centers, GG, and whatever bullshit they’re pedaling. If was not in the US, I would still not play on a site that elevates That complete low-life Bilzarian. Word
Don’t like the guy. Hope he gets married and has five girls. Good luck to a bad guy.ps I will not have anything to do with anyone associated with this jerk.