888poker is really trying to capitalize on the amazing stories of this year’s November Niners, and has signed professional foosball player Billy Pappas and back-to-back Main Event finalist Mark Newhouse, after signing Brazilian Bruno Politano in September.
888poker has chosen their sponsored players very well, each of their players have a unique story that the mainstream media can very well relate to in case they win the Main Event.
Billy Pappas (real name William Pappaconstantinou) is a multiple-time foosball world champion who has never played a tournament with a buy-in with bigger than $500 before the Main Event. He is an amateur player and his attitude regarding the finale is pretty cool aswell – he has stated that he will not study or try to improve his poker game at all, because the other players in the finale are better than him anyways, and that he will just try to continue playing his game, which has been pretty successful so far!
Bruno Politano was the first one to be signed back in September, and has a huge following. The whole country of Brazil is rooting for Politano, even football players Kaká and Neymar have shown him support aswell. If Politano wins, South American poker could potentially explode which would be great for poker, considering that the numbers have been steadily dropping in the past few years.
Mark Newhouse made back-to-back final tables after finishing 9th last year, which is considered one of the most remarkable feats in the history of poker. Newhouse had a swingy career, from winning a WPT title to going broke several times.
888poker now has 3 players from the remaining 9 under their wing, and a win from one of their players could improve their traffic a lot, which could lead to better promotions. Now that PokerStars is disliked by a big percentage of the community, this could be a push to 888poker to really become a major name in the online poker business.
Newhouse will start the finale as fourth in chips, with Pappas in sixth and Politano in ninth.