Seemingly lost amid the furor over the announcement that Viktor Blom was Isildur1, Canadian poker pro Peter Jetten announced over the weekend that he had signed a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker.
The announcement came on Sunday prior to Jetten taking the felt at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event through Jetten’s Twitter feed and an official release from Full Tilt Poker. “I’m proud to announce I have signed a deal with Full Tilt Poker,” Jetten announced over Twitter. “Wearing the patch for the first time today.” While not a full fledged Team Full Tilt member, Jetten will be one of the so-called Red Pros on the site, joining players like 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablists Michael Mizrachi and Matthew Jarvis.
Jetten is one of the most respected newcomers to the game and entered the poker world in 2004. He began his online poker career by building a stake through freerolls, parlaying his meager winnings from those into a $100,000 bankroll within a year. It was soon afterwards that Jetten began to draw attention due to his achievements in the live poker arena.
In 2006, Jetten made his first significant noise at the WSOP by cashing three times, including falling just short of the final table in the $2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event. Since then, he has added nine other cashes at the WSOP, including a runner-up finish to “Mad” Marty Smyth in the 2008 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship and a 54th place finish in this year’s Main Event. Although he has never captured a major title, Jetten has been at the doorstep of such an achievement before, with top finishes in the Aussie Millions and on the European Poker Tour (EPT).
As a result of his success on the tournament poker stage, Jetten has been able to develop an astute cash game mentality. He has been featured on such televised poker shows as the PokerStars “Big Game” and now should become part of the action on the Full Tilt sponsored “Poker After Dark.” For his short tournament poker career, Jetten has earned slightly over $1.8 million according to the Hendon Mob database.
Mizrachi was one of the first to congratulate Jetten on his signing over Twitter: “I want to Congratulate Peter Jetten for signing with FulltiltPoker.com. Great Move Bro!” Fellow Canadian poker pro Mike “timex” McDonald chimed in his congratulations across the forum pages at TwoPlusTwo.
The general mood of many in the poker community is that one of the “good guys” in today’s game finally earned a well-deserved sponsorship. Poster “evildeadalive” noted, however, that Jetten’s televised poker options may now be limited: “Grats bro!! Guess no more Big Game tho.” “Metellus” observed, “Now we’ll see him more on PAD.”
Jetten responded to the congratulations on the TwoPlusTwo forums and addressed the televised poker issue: “As far as the big game, PAD, and other TV stuff goes, I am planning on playing as many TV events as possible this year. I’ll play everything I’m allowed to, but I’m not sure what that will or will not include.”
The last couple of weeks have seen a “changing of the guard” in online poker sponsorships, moving from older established players to younger ones who are making a name for themselves.
The recent departures of Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke from UB.com – and the resulting deal to bring in Prahlad Friedman – has made the Team UB.com roster much younger and perhaps more marketable towards today’s players. PokerStars’ move to bring in Blom is also a nod to the uprising of young players in the game. With the signing of Jetten to a sponsorship deal, Full Tilt could be attempting to keep pace with these moves.