Originally Posted by automat

Ok, my claim is nobody cares about Daniel N. outside of poker. Your claim seems to be the opposite. 5 links to interviews/features in big mainstream / non-poker publications please.

Originally Posted by isapistola

lets see, maybe he:
-enjoys travelling around the world
-sees a lot of value (dead money) in high stakes live tournaments
-knows that the big tournaments will spawn big side games with soft players

also, some people dont enjoy sitting on their asses for their whole life, acknowledge that theres life outside their house and that the USA isnt the center of the world.

in short, youre a ****ing retard

Originally Posted by olivert

I would be surprised if Tom Dwan and Phil Galfond were offered anything other than a "standard" deal from FullTiltPoker.net.

The U.S. market, even before the passage of the UIGEA, was maturing rapidly.

==

Western, Central, and Southern Europe are now mature.

Eastern Europe is one area where players are being signed in 2008.

The Russian market is one example where the "dominoes" are falling into place. Once PokerStars.net signed Alex Kravchenko and Kirill Gerasimov prior to the start of the 2008 WSOP, the group of Russian players who achieved results at the 2008 WSOP, namely Vitaly Lunkin (bracelet event winner), Nikolay Evdakov (10 cashes), and Svetlana Gromenkova (Ladies event winner), all signed with FullTiltPoker.net.

PokerStars.net finally signed a player in Poland prior to the start of the 2008 WSOP Main Event: former junior skier and management consultant Marcin Horecki.

There are two "hot" candidates available in Hungary: Denes Kalo (2nd place at the 2008 EPT Grand Final) and Valdemar Kwaysser (LAPT Costa Rica winner). Will PokerStars.net sign either one? We shall see.

Eastern Europe will be mature by the time the 2009 WSOP arrives.

==

The one part of the world where the poker "gold rush" is currently taking place is Latin America.

Brazil is another market where the "dominoes" are falling into place. Once PokerStars.net signed two "Team PokerStars.net Pros" in Andre Akkari (prior to the 2007 WSOP Main Event) and Alexandre Gomes (in 2008, 5 days after he won Brazil's first WSOP bracelet), two poker TV analysts for a major Brazilian sports TV network who were sponsored by PartyPoker.net through the 2008 WSOP, Christian Kruel and Raul Oliveira, signed with FullTiltPoker.net during the past month after PartyPoker.net chose to cut back on its marketing activities in Latin America.

FullTiltPoker.net also established a presence in Spanish-speaking Latin America when it signed veteran Mexican-American TV personality Gabriela Hill, who has been announcing poker, in particular the WSOP, for a major Latin American sports TV network (beamed to over 20 countries from Mexico to Argentina) since 2004. (Disclosure: I have been Gabriela's poker agent since December 2007.) pokerforums.fulltiltpoker.com recently opened a Spanish-language forum section for Spanish-speaking players.

I understand that FullTiltPoker.net will air 40 hours of branded poker programming on a major Latin American sports TV network in 2009. (I am not allowed to post the name of the network, but you should know which network I am talking about.)

Another interesting market to watch is Argentina, where the prime candidate to land a sponsorship deal is Veronica Dabul, who has 4 WSOP cashes in 2 years (including cashes at both the 2007 and 2008 WSOP Main Events). I understand that PokerStars.net evaluated Veronica at the LAPT event in Punta del Este (where she cashed).

Originally Posted by WOW UR BAD

only made it thru first few sentences but, your funny. Like u have any idea what your talking about.

Originally Posted by Garbs

Really, is that necessary?

I think you're kidding yourself if you think Tom isn't purposefully trying to brand himself.

Originally Posted by WOW IM STUPID

only made it thru first few sentences but, your funny. Like u have any idea what your talking about.

Originally Posted by automat

Ok, my claim is nobody cares about Daniel N. outside of poker. Your claim seems to be the opposite. 5 links to interviews/features in big mainstream / non-poker publications please.

Originally Posted by isapistola

it probably wasnt necessary but it is my gut reaction towards people like you who state their narrow minded opinions as facts. i was hoping the smiley would take some of the edge off

Originally Posted by ipp147

I don't think you get it.

When the market was not saturated people like Doyle, Daniel etc who are high profile poker players to the entire poker market will attract poker players who do not yet play online to sign-up.

Durrr and OMGCA won't.

Originally Posted by Daniel Negreanu

My take:

Both guys make a lot of money playing poker. A deal that would please them is likely much bigger than what is being offered to them at the moment.

From a sites perspective, if you are going to sign a player you have to figure out a way for the deal to make sense from a financial perspective, in that, if you sign player X for $250,000 a year, will that player create that much value for the site by bringing in new players?

Signing an online player has limited value. The reason for that, is that an online players fan base likely ALREADY has an account and already plays at the site. When a site considers signing a player they must gauge that players mass appeal on television and to the casual watcher. Being a big name in online poker, or even a player who's gotten some TV time but hasn't found his niche audience, isn't going to demand big bucks from a site.

Both players have potential to make a big splash on television and in live tournaments. Since that hasn't happened yet, it would make more sense for them to wait until their stock price rises rather than selling at a low point.

I'm not speaking for either of them, but I imagine that would be the main reason you don't see them signed to a site. There would certainly be interest in both guys.

Originally Posted by olivert

The identity of this poker player is a no-brainer if you haven't already figured out who he is by now.

Originally Posted by kk405

Daniel...

are you saying players such as Vanessa Rousso, which by accounts of most people who have played with her quite frquently and is considered to be rude, very impersonable, and even a donk by many accounts, is a 'bankable' 'star', one whoPS readily signed and has in their commercials all over the place? somehow I have a feeling durrrr is a lot more 'valuale' to a site than Vanessa ever would be....