With the 2012 World Series of Poker on the horizon, poker professional Tatjana “TattyTats” Pasalic and Bodog announced earlier this week that they have renewed their sponsorship deal until at least 2013.
The excitement of the renewed deal might have been a bit much for Pasalic, who Tweeted the news even prior to the announcement of the signing. “Very proud and happy to announce that I have renewed my Bodog contract,” she chirped to her followers. “Bring on the party and more poker videos!”
Pasalic has been a part of the poker community for quite some time, albeit not in the traditional manner. She spent much of the past eight years working as a television announcer, with PartyPoker and the World Poker Tour Europe, before stepping to the felt in 2009 to become a poker professional. She was rewarded for her tenacity in the business by earning a precious sponsorship deal through Bodog in May of last year.
Pasalic’s renewal brings Team Bodog Pro to a roster of four, joining Canada’s Evelyn Ng (a member of the squad since 2006), the United States’ Amanda Musumeci (who joined in 2010) and recently signed member Jennette “Jay” Tan. The four femme fatales of the felt also might lead some to ask what it takes to get sponsored by a major online poker room, especially following the travails of the past year.
Over her career, Ng has been able to rack up an impressive $377,191 in tournament earnings, including her second place finish in the WPT’s Ladies’ Night event back in 2003, but times have been a bit tough on Ng recently. She did make a nice run at the 2011 WSOP Championship Event, but that made up the majority of her over $36K in earnings for the year and it was her first cash in a tournament since 2008 (admittedly, Ng also has cash games skills to alleviate some of those tournament pressures).
Pasalic has found the transition from media member to active player a bit more difficult. After making a nice score in 2010 at the PartyPoker.com Women’s World Open, the tables have been unkind to the Croatian. She has yet to see a tournament finish since the PartyPoker event.
Carrying the load for Team Bodog Pro has been Musumeci. In 2011, Musumeci earned ten cashes, including a deep run in the WSOP Championship Event and a championship in a preliminary event at the Borgata Fall Poker Open, on her way to making a neat $208,675 over the year. 2012 has also been kind to Musumeci as she has already earned ten cashes for the year and is looking to increase that total during this year’s WSOP.
Tan has been a terror in the Asian poker world, earning five cashes over the past two years in Macau and one in Manila, but she has yet to step into the “ring of fire” of major tournament poker (European Poker Tour, WPT, WSOP). Tan has earned a total of slightly more than $64,000 from her exploits in Macau and Manila.
It has never been about the tournament success for the folks at Bodog, however (remember, they could not come to terms with former WPT Championship winner David Williams, even after he won the title). Prior to the signing of Tan, Bodog stated the criteria they were looking at when it comes to filling out the team. “Bodog is looking for an attractive female poker player who is a fresh face in the industry,” the spokesman stated. “Bodog is not looking to teach a Playboy model how to play poker, so poker experience is necessary.”
It is also necessary to look at the locations that Bodog is targeting as far as their sponsored pros. Ng covers the Canadian market; while Musumeci is from the United States, she has a wealth of international support. Tan covers the Asian gaming arena, while Pasalic picks up the Eastern European contingent.
The ladies of Team Bodog Pro will be on hand to attack the WSOP later this week, so there are great opportunities on the horizon. It sounds as though Pasalic is ready to step up to the challenge, however, stating during the announcement, “The WSOP is around the corner and I can confirm I will definitely be on that plane. I love working with Bodog and they seem to like me…here’s to another great year.”