Going in blind: How PokerStars ambassadors were dealt into the sport

PokerStars hosted its North American Poker Tour (NAPT) at Resorts World Las Vegas from November 3-12, as Global Gaming Insider was on hand to speak with brand ambassadors, including Jason Koon, Caitlin Comeskey, Maria Konnikova and Kenny Hallaert.

Konnikova was able to claim a trophy as part of a $5,300 buy-in tournament, while Sam Soverel beat out 39 entries to capture the PokerStars NAPT spade trophy and take home over $200,000 in total winnings.

What do you look forward to most at an event such as the NAPT and how does it help expand the poker community?

JK: The thing that gets me most excited about NPT is getting to play high stakes in my backyard. We added a bunch of big tournaments to the schedule this year, which was really exciting, and looking out and seeing the Las Vegas Strip just makes me happy. I'm pretty exhausted with all the international travel and hope there's a lot more North American action to come.

CC: Gary, Maddie and their team at Poker Stars USA have done such a good job at curating off-the-felt experiences. I think with NAPT, I almost look forward more to the trivia night or the comedy night because it helps build community and fellowship within players. The field can be really aggressive, we can be going at each other's necks but a week like this gives us a chance to create joy together and that's really awesome.

MK: PokerStars runs the best live events in the world, period, and the NAPT holds a very special place in my heart because it's the grand return to North America. I split time between New York and Las Vegas, so this city is like a second home. The beauty is it shows what a brand PokerStars is and how it can distinguish itself from other brands because it just everything runs smoothly. The dealers are great and, to me, their live events are something that can bring everyone in and help them experience how poker should be played.

KH: In the first place, poker itself. Everytime I can play the game I look forward to it as this has been my passion for the last 20+ years. Attracting players from a variety of backgrounds in different stages of their poker career, and the live events team organizes a range of activities which help build the community to where poker players can meet up with one another. For me personally, it is also perfect to catch up with players I haven't seen in a while who live on this side of the pond.

When did the Ambassador partnership with PokerStars first originate and how can you assist in expanding the brand?

JK: I've known the people of PokerStars for a very long time. It was the first website that I put money on to play poker in 2004 and I align with the company's values. I'm really excited about helping it expand its offering into North America as well as getting out and playing some European poker tournaments. I made it to Barcelona and Monte Carlo this year and it was delightful.

CC: I believe Joe Stapleton put in a good word for me. He was a friend of mine and really enjoyed my content and I had a lot of accolades from the poker industry community which helped put me on the radar. People had a lot of respect for the quality of work I was doing, so I think that opened the door for me, but I've been asked to do a lot of different things with PokerStars. That's been such a joy. I get to do commentary, live stream on Twitch, make short form content and I get to interact with customers through my content, streaming and on social media.

MK: I got into poker from a book, The Biggest Bluff, and ended up doing well and winning a PokerStars event, the PCA National Championship, almost a year after I started playing. After that, I signed with them for the first time, but then Covid-19 happened and we parted ways. I managed to re-sign with them a few years back and the reason I'm with PokerStars is because I feel very strongly about being a good ambassador for poker and making sure it's shown in the proper light.

KH: I began working for PokerStars in 2011 when I was tournament director for the Belgian Poker Series. After a while I switched the focus a bit more on my career as a player, with some good results to say the least. In 2023, PokerStars Associate Director of Live Events Cedric Billot approached me with a proposal to become a live events advisor and ambassador for the brand. I didn't think too long before accepting his offer, as I can now bring my experience as a player and industry person to them and serve as a bridge between the players and the events team.

How did you find an early interest in poker and eventually develop the skills for a professional career?

JK: I didn't really develop an early relationship with poker, I really came to discover it once I was in college. I got hurt as an athlete and my friend introduced me to it and from the first day I played I loved it and I never looked back. From there, I started rising in the ranks on the internet, built a friend circle and eventually moved to Las Vegas with a couple of my closest internet poker friends.

CC: I used to tour while hosting burlesque shows and doing stand-up comedy, so whenever we had a couple hours free I'd find the nearest poker room and it was kind of my side hustle. I was only making $100 a day as a touring performer, so it was a way to supplement my income and I was a recreational player.

I didn't even really track it that closely when I moved back to Texas in 2018. Poker had just become legalized there, so I started playing in cash games and, since poker was brand new, the games were really soft and really juicy and it was only a few months of me playing heavy cash volume when I started making more money at poker than I did at my previous job. I was working the front desk of a Hyatt resort at the time, so I decided to take the leap at the beginning of 2021 and go full time with poker.

MK: I ended up coming across poker when I was reading John von Neumann's Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, probably not the typical way for people to get into poker. When I read the book, I was like, 'what is this poker thing?' and then I was incredibly lucky to have won that tournament, because there are some amazing players who are the best in the world but never get to win a major event. There is that element of chance, but I probably couldn't have told you I'd still be in the poker world today.

KH: In 2004, I discovered the game via an online platform and in no time I had a big passion for it. In the beginning I was playing pretty much exclusively online next to my daytime job as an electrician. Then, in 2008, I made a decision to focus more on playing poker, giving up my electrician job and working for a poker room as their marketing manager, which would later transform more into running events. I have been very fortunate with some amazing results in the past, but I wouldn't be where I am right now without the millions of hands I played online at PokerStars.

How has poker's online presence grown to replicate activity witnessed in retail casinos?

JK: Since online poker's inception, it's been an integral part of live poker. Not only does it have satellites and other gateways to get people to play bigger tournaments they couldn't otherwise afford, it also gives them a training ground to play lower stakes and get in a bunch of volume to become confident players before they step up and start playing live. Even though it's a very different game than live poker fundamentally, you can get quite good and your learning curve for live poker will be much much faster if you've played a bunch online.

CC: There are a lot of young up-and-coming content creators who are really grinding and building an audience of younger people, and I'm glad to see they're getting so much support from the community. I think Covid-19 was a huge boom for online poker because it created this time where we were all locked up and didn't have much to do but play online together. That was really a renaissance for the online platforms.

MK: It's a really interesting mix. I play a lot more online than I used to through working with PokerStars and I even started my career online. That's a way you can gain a lot more experience, so I would reverse commute from New York to New Jersey every day, and I could basically look out over my apartment and say, 'hi, it's legal here, but it's not legal over there.' It's pretty insane, but there is a beauty to online poker and being able to really understand the game much more quickly than just playing live because of the sheer volume.

KH: For me, live and online poker are still two different aspects of the game, yet the rules are the same. Both have their pros and cons, but one couldn't live without the other and vice versa. The 'Moneymaker-effect' had a huge impact on this since 2003, when Chris Moneymaker became World Champion for $2.5m after having qualified online for a two digit number on PokerStars. Live poker tournaments started booming since then with the help of online operators.