While much of the industry seems to be moving away from the concept of sponsored pros, Instagram star Dan Bilzerian earlier this year was part of what appears to be an attempt by GGPoker to capitalize on well-known personalities in the poker world and beyond. 16166c
Tied-in to this new strategy is the recent rebranding of the sponsorship team. Main sponsored pros, like Bilzerian and GGTeam, and regional pros will now fall under specific regional teams like Team Russia and Team China.
Additionally, TwitchSquad and OmahaSquad have been added as sub-teams to focus on featuring the operator online and showcase the four-card offerings at GG.
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Natural8 software that is rated as some of the best in the industry, the operator has moved rapidly up the ladder of the online poker world.
Part of its recent strategy seems to be using high-profile faces and names to bring more recognition to the site through its GGPoker Brand Ambassadors — and we predict there will be some more big gs ahead as well. Building such an impressive squad certainly helps to boost GG’s profile in the larger poker community, as well as to capitalize on the individual followings of its sponsored pros.
With names like Negreanu, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Fedor Holz, and Felipe Ramos, they have found big names who have huge audiences in specific target markets. With the addition of Bilzerian, that focus on hype is even more clear, as “The King of Instragram” brings a huge audience that may only have been exposed to poker through Bilzerian.
GGPoker Brand Ambassador Squad GGTeam Expands Globally 6m6t1s
In addition to the main GGTeam, GGPoker is starting to push into specific regional markets with new ambassador gs. The concept goes back at least as far as the g of Brazilian star Ramos as the face of their Latin American poker presence.
But recently, with the addition this year of poker market in the world’s most populous country.
GG’s TwitchSquad and OmahaSquad Are Also Growing 1f1d6d
The latest additions to GGTeam are TwitchSquad and OmahaSquad. As the names imply, the new sub-teams are designed to take advantage of specific niches within the online poker world.
TwitchSquad wear their hearts on their sleeves, letting viewers in on all the highs and lows of Canadian Twitch streamer Kevin “KMart” Martin, for example, brings a non-poker audience to the stream as a former champion on Big Brother Canada.
OmahaSquad on the other hand, is designed to showcase the four-card game on GGPoker. Follow streamer Fernando “JNandezPoker” Habegger and social media phenom Sasha “PokerSasha” Liu for tips and tricks to master the great game of Omaha.
Bilzerian Twitter Controversy e3x2a
The GGPoker strategy for GGTeam hasn’t been without its problems though. The PokerStars, and on the heels of a string of social media missteps. Negreanu didn’t exactly mend his ways after ing Twitch either, suffering a ban from the popular streaming platform after an on-stream tirade.
The more recent addition of Bilzerian to the team continued the controversial gs. While Bilzerian’s following is huge, his reputation is polarizing, with many of his followers lauding his free-spirit approach to life while detractors point to Vanessa Kade expressed reservations about the g on Twitter, Bilzerian responded in a way that seemed to prove his detractors’ point.
In an epic twist, shortly after she called out Bilzerian for his misogynistic behavior (and got her 15th Anniversary Sunday Million — not only winning an impressive $1.5 million pot but also making Bilzerian and his defenders eat their words.
Following the Bilzerian Twitter fiasco, the operator made a move that seemed to be an attempt to repair some of that damage, partnering with women in poker, but the jury is still out on whether the move will do more to reform GGPoker with the addition of female players or bring the FLIP brand down to its level.
While many of the sponsored pros and new additions to TwitchSquad and OmahaSquad are free from the controversy that might be associated with Negreanu and Bilzerian, they are part of a team that has had its share of negative publicity recently. It is still an open question whether the recent strategy of GGPoker will result in a reputational net gain for the operator, or damage the brands now associated with it.