While poker sponsorships may have dried up for American players, the top international pros are still bringing down high profile deals.
It was announced this morning in London that U. K. poker pro Jake Cody has signed a sponsorship deal to join the online site PKR and its professional roster. The innovative online poker site, which was one of the first to provide innovations such as 3D graphics for online play, has also been groundbreaking in the talent they have brought into the site. With the addition of Cody, Team PKR arguably has the best “pro player” coverage on the European continent.
The addition of Cody provides a high impact name that Team PKR lacked among its roster. Although its members – APPT champion Vladimir “Beyne” Geshkenbein, cash game pros James “james666” Sudworth and Sascha “Iocodice” Walter, WSOP Europe bracelet winner Scott “PKR_Scott” Shelley, Marc “Waswini” Barillier and Sofia “wellbet” Lovgren – are highly respected in the poker world, their recognition factor to the average fan wasn’t high. With the addition of Cody, Team PKR has one of the top stars in the world of poker at this time.
“I’m very excited about joining Team PKR Pro,” Jake stated during the announcement of his signing with Team PKR. “I’ve been patient with sponsorship, waiting for the right deal to come along. When I spoke to PKR, I was really impressed with the whole setup and the ideas that they have going forward and I knew straight away I wanted to be part of it! It’s a great site to be involved with right now and I think I can help take it to the next level.”
PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger was elated at the signing of one of the fast rising superstars of today’s game. “We’re delighted to welcome Jake to Team PKR. He is the future of poker, a perfect example of the new breed of players who are taking the game to new heights. We’re really excited that PKR’s players will have the opportunity to interact with Jake and benefit from his insight and experience.”
Along with wearing the colors of Team PKR in international events, Jake will also help to build the site’s media content through videos and interact with players in their online community. Jake will have the first opportunity to take on PKR players when he steps up to play in two of PKR’s Sunday “Bounty Day” tournaments.
This most recent accolade is just the latest in what has been a whirlwind of activity for the 22 year old British pro. He is one of only four men (Gavin Griffin, Roland De Wolfe and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier are the other three) to have won poker’s mythical “Triple Crown” – a World Poker Tour championship, a European Poker Tour championship and a World Series of Poker bracelet. What is most remarkable about this feat is the relatively short time span in which he did it.
At the start of 2010, few had heard of the British phenomenon, but Jake quickly set out to change that sentiment. He won the EPT Deauville in January of that year (taking down €857,000 in the process) and won the WPT London in August of that same year (for another £273,783). At this year’s WSOP, Jake won the $25,000 Heads Up Championship to add another $851,192 to his bankroll and, at the WSOP Europe in October, Jake made the final table before being knocked out in seventh place.
It took only 520 days for Jake to complete what most every other player takes a lifetime in simply pursuing. Since his debut in the live tournament poker world, Jake has amassed four victories, eight final tables and seventeen cashes. His lifetime live tournament poker earnings – in just over two years of play – sit at $2.87 million.