Humanity's most earnest wear their hearts on their sleeves, the same place where PokerStars' most dedicated wear their iconic red PokerStars spade. Today in Las Vegas, the people behind PokerStars' year-long re-emergence in the USA added something to their public wardrobe: a giant roadmap, one that drew a clear and straight line from the internal company strategy to how PokerStars sees itself covering the American map.
The strategy presented itself simply and put the spotlight's brightest arc on two ambassadors. Nevertheless, later conversations with NAPT brass made it clear that the new faces are just the beginning of a plan that could see PokerStars become legal across the American map.
Funny, but not joking around
As PokerOrg reported, on Day 2 of its NAPT Las Vegas Main Event, PokerStars opened a news conference with the announcement of two new ambassadors. It didn't require a seasoned industry analyst to see the meaning behind the move and the strategy it represented.
Jason Koon represented all the talent and success a poker player could hope to have. Caitlin Comeskey, a comedian and poker content creator, represented something else: an acknowledgement that content can be just as powerful as the kings of poker.
In a conversation after the news conference, NAPT Vice President Steve Preiss told PokerOrg that Koon was a no-brainer icon for aspirational poker players. And Comeskey? She captured Preiss' attention close-up ten months ago.
"I met Caitlin literally handing her the award for best short form content creator at the Global Poker Awards. Watching her in action there and then following her since then, it was very clear this was a person that we should be working with," Preiss said. "She's very relatable to a more mainstream audience and also to female players and hopefully in a way that gets them excited about coming in and playing, too"
Caitlin Comeskey in actionMatthew Berglund
Caitlin Comeskey in actionAn old welcome wagon made new
When Preiss got his start in poker, he was a content creator with a flair for capturing the attention of people who were just finding the game. He came up in a poker industry that grew exponentially for many years. For decades, poker had been content to stay stuck in a dusty niche. The Moneymaker Boom and the content that followed introduced new stars to the game, and content propelled many of those moonshots.
"To me, that is one of the missing elements right now: capturing those everyman and everywoman stories of people either chasing their dream or just having that 'Oh my gosh' once in a lifetime moment," Preiss said. "I think as an industry, we haven't told those stories very well over the last five to 10 years."
Preiss (right) with Garry Gates and Boston RobPreiss, the NAPT, and PokerStars aren't hiding their strategy, and that much was evident to anyone paying attention at the Las Vegas Main Event. Only an hour after Preiss wrapped up his new conference, a large group of people stood in the outer corridor holding cameras and waiting with clear excitement.
Yes, Phil Hellmuth was walking down the hallway toward them, but the cameras weren't for the Poker Brat. They were for the man Hellmuth was escorting, NFL legend Rob Gronkowski.
Gronk and FOX's famous broadcaster/sports content guru Nick Wright were both on their way to play in The Big Game on Tour cash game. If they'd looked close enough at the poker players in the Main Event, they would have seen at least one player outfitted with a #87 New England Patriots Gronk jersey.
The strategy is as big and bold as Gronk himself: capture the attention and imagination of potential poker players with stars from the sports world. It is a strategy made all the easier by PokerStars flying under the same corporate umbrella as the sports betting/fantasy outlet FanDuel.
Gronk and Wright are grand marshals in a new era of poker's welcome wagon parade, and once their fans' eyes light on the sports stars at the poker table, The Big Game on Tour will introduce those fans to people who look just like them.
Gronk and Nick Wright in an ad for The Big Game on TourLoose Cannons gone wild
Unlike most of the televised poker entertainment of the last decade, The Big Game actually introduces viewers to the hopefuls, up-and-comers, and--dare to speak the words--real people who love poker. On the TV show, those folks are known as Loose Cannons.
"Viewers can see the casting process on The Big Game and actually get invested in who those Loose Cannons are before you just see them playing cards at the table." Preiss said.
Nikki Limo gets some advice from Season 1 Loose Cannon Nadya Magnus. Introducing poker fans to the world of the Loose Cannon is just the first step. In the second step, PokerStars is unveiling what it calls the Power Path, an online poker offering that offers a much easier onramp to people who want to compete at the level of the NAPT and higher.
"The sophistication of players today compared to 20 years ago is significantly different," Preiss said. "Players are better. So we need to create ways for those newer players to actually get there. I see the game growing because we're investing in content, investing in our actual customers and players, giving them the ability to participate in those events, and telling those stories, making it relatable to the average person."
Roadblock ahead?
Preiss may be optimistic, but he is no Polyanna. He succeeded through the Moneymaker Boom and, like the rest of the poker industry, ran face-first into Black Friday. Since the April 15, 2011 U.S. government online poker shutdown, the road to regulation in the United States has been slower than any pure optimist could ever hope to endure.
"Had you told me 12 years ago that this the number of states that would be regulated, I think we would both be surprised in somewhat disappointed," Preiss said.
While the surprise and disappointment aren't yet distant memories, PokerStars might have an easier path around the biggest roadblocks standing in the way of American online poker.
Just as PokerStars' sister company FanDuel is helping with crossover appeal on The Big Game, it also offers the opportunity to--as a proven and trusted company in many U.S. jurisdictions--serve as an escort for online poker to states where sports betting and fantasy sports are already legal, regulated, and producing good tax revenue.
"There is an opportunity now that those states have had a successful showing in online sports betting," Preiss said. "I think that's a key part of the strategy moving forward."
The strategy is clear, but the amount of time it will take remains less so. The 14-year steep climb to regulation makes almost everyone wary of predicting when most U.S. states will be able to take advantage of the old-but-new-again PokerStars strategy. When pressed, Preiss did his best to answer.
"Next year might still be a little bit slow, but 2026, 2027 and beyond, as we're deploying a strategy of getting poker in where online betting is legal, I do think that you'll see the growth there," Preiss said.
That's the roadmap today. That's Preiss and PokerStars looking ahead, both with one certainty: looking back offers a lot of lessons, but the roadmap to the next American online poker boom can can only lead forward.
