November Niners Bruno Foster Politano and Felix Stephensen Sign Up as Brand Ambassadors for 888Poker and Betsafe; PokerStars Drops Ambassadors

Making it to the WSOP November Nine is a promise of making it to the history books of poker. It is also a means of signing lucrative contracts with the big names in the business-world of poker.

Two of the November Niners have signed up with prestigious poker houses, Bruno Foster Politano joining 888Poker and Felix Stephensen (cover image) making it into the online gambling site, Betsafe family.

The Brazilian Politano was the first to be snapped up as ambassador and he now joins the likes of Bruno Kawauti and Nicolau Villa-Lobos, fellow Brazilians, comprising a new and emerging bevy of brand 888Poker in the Latin-American country.

Others in the 888Poker ambassador list include last year’s November Niner JC Tran, Sofia Lovgren, Xuan Liu and cricketer Shane Warne and now the 888Poker website shows Politano besides them.

Politano tweeted about the signing, “I’m honored to announce that I’m now part of the #team888 Brazil. @nicolauvl and @brunokawauti we are now Brazilians family #888poker”

Considering that Politano had the smallest stack at the final table and no spectacular history, as compared to others at the GPI rankings, his choice by the poker giant is certainly not based on his playing merits.

Clearly, 888Poker are seeking to improve their brand visibility and raise awareness in Latin America, especially in lieu to the fact that PokerStars had done resoundingly well last November at Sao Paolo, with its BSOP Brazilian Series of Poker that attracted 2,131 players, a record that was beaten only last week by EPT Barcelona.

While Politano makes it into the 888Poker family, biter Luis Suarez could not sustain his position.

Just a month ago, the company took the decision to dropper the footballer, when his vampire tendencies took over at the World Cup. The subsequent negativity was unpalatable to 888Poker and his contract was terminated. However, Barcelona FC were certainly not affected by the biting and signed up the footballer for £75m.

24-year old Norwegian, Felix Stephensen, was the second November Niner to grab a branding tie-up deal with online gambling giant Betsafe.

While Politano was the lowest chip stack holder, Felix is among the top favorites for the November win, with his 32,775,000-chip stack, second only to the one held by Jorryt van Hoof.

Not to be left behind, the latter has also signed up as ambassador for the coming Masters Classics of Poker (MCOP) in Amsterdam.

Felix will be seen with Scandy way of the Microgaming Poker Network skin that is owned by the Swedish online gambling company Betsson.

Besides these, Betsafe has sports betting and online casino options in its portfolio.

These signings may seem like an upswing, but there have been more drops than tie-ups this season.

PokerStars has not renewed contracts of almost 50% of its Brazilian team, with names such as Angel Guillen, Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero and Humberto Brenes getting dropped by the online giant.

Costa Rica Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes had been an eight-year member of the PokerStars brand ambassador group. Brenes openly shared with the media the inability of both parties to come to an agreement, led to no-renewal.

Jose Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero, a popular and regular face at tournaments was another whose contract was not renewed. Mexican Angel Guillen a long time ambassador for PokerStars was another, who was dropped from the list.

PokerStars representatives responded to the no-renewals, as being in compliance with the company’s shift in policy for Latin America. He further added that more drops could be expected soon, due to budgetary restraints and the global concept of having just one face as brand ambassador.

Another company, Ultimate Poker also dropped players William Reynolds, Jeremy Ausmus, Phil Collins, Brent Hanks and Lauren Kling from its stateside brand.