As any kid who has spent time in a rock pool knows. It helps if there are more than one of you sifting through the pebbles and the sand looking for errant crabs, sea urchins and whelks.
We learn the importance of networking from an early age. Before you’ve even pushed north of your fourth birthday, you are feeling a biological urge to become tribal. It’s a feeling that mounts in pressure, only subsiding if you find a way to numb the pain of loneliness.
While systems might not feel biological pain, there is still suffering as a result of an inability to communicate effectively and create networks that create value either through more epic meaning and purpose or increased EBITDA.
GGPoker is a system and one that’s growing.
It began serving punters in the East, and as we did with Coronavirus, most of us assumed it would stay there.
Then came the signing of Bryn Kenney.
Given Kenney’s ‘lone wolf’ persona, it was a signing that was as unusual as it was inspiring.
Then the signings stopped at the All-Time Money Earner.
Were they hoping that Kenney’s experience and influence would be sufficient enough to crack the Western world?
Learning From The Competition
The signing of Kenney was the ladder that GGPoker used to climb out of the trenches, and into a No-Mans Land where partypoker and PokerStars were busy lobbing grenades at each other.
PokerStars had the most impressive artillery, but there was something savvy and sleek about the way partypoker went to war. You were never going to see partypoker stuff a chloroform soaked rag into PokerStars’ mouth. They were always going to beat them through their mission, purpose and relationships.
With COVID-19 crushing live tournaments, sending the morose and marvellous to online poker in their droves, partypoker has busted out the moves, leveraging their carefully carved relationships to provide their players with a wide variety of value at either end of the buy-in spectrum.
PokerStars?
Not so much.
If GGPoker is going to get into this war, it’s not bad timing, because they get to learn from the victories and defeats of the PokerStars v partypoker clash, and it will be interesting to see how that develops.
GGPoker’s Ever-Evolving Relationships
After waiting an eternity to add to their ambassadorial ranks, GGPoker’s foot has stepped on the accelerator pedal.
Daniel Negreanu’s signing was even more shocking that Kenney’s. Negreanu is one of the few professional poker players whose popularity and presence transcends the game. But he was recently divorced from PokerStars, and newly married to Amanda Leatherman and his duties as a husband and hopeful father.
It was a powerful statement.
With North America nicely covered, GGPoker focused attention on the South by hiring the Brazilian star Felipe Ramos. A man who has the likes of Neymar Jr and Ronaldo Nazario on his speed dial.
With the Americas in the bag, GGPoker turned to Europe, and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier joined the crew from partypoker. ElkY and Negreanu had both worked together at PokerStars, so I am sure the Canadian gave the hirers his wink of approval.
ElkY has strong ties with Leon Tsoukernik and the King’s Resort & Casino. The Frenchman calls Prague his home and tutored Tsoukernik through last summer’s Triton Million London event.
Another poker entity that has ties with Tsoukernik is the World Series of Poker (WSOP). GGPoker joined that threesome, by inking a deal with the WSOP to host an 18-gold ring World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Online Series, and will most certainly be a favourite to host online bracelet events in the coming months. Today, GGPoker announced a partnership with Tsoukernik’s live card room.
And the ranks of the ambassadorial team have also risen.
Tennis legend Boris Becker is the newest brand ambassador for GGPoker and King’s Resort & Casino. Negreanu, Ramos and ElkY have worked with Becker in the past, and it’s the third online poker room that has turned to the youngest person ever to win Wimbledon to try and promote the game to the mainstream after PokerStars and partypoker.
That’s how one became six.
Bryn Kenney, Felipe Ramos, Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Boris Becker form an impressive spine. Partnerships with The World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the King’s Resort & Casino strengthen things even more.
GGPoker is becoming a more impressive animal daily.
If they ever get to the top, it will be interesting to vivisect to see how vital these early relationships have been.