Greg Merson, the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion has been brought on board by the WSOP.com as their new brand ambassador. This announcement came on Thursday along with news of other promotions relating to the one-year anniversary of WSOP.com’s launch in the regulated Nevada online poker market.
Back in June during the World Series, Merson was seen at the tables on the first flight of the $10,000 Main Event wearing a WSOP patch and that’s when the rumors started circulating that he may indeed play a larger role in promoting the site. More than three months have passed since then, and the rumors have been confirmed with an official announcement from WSOP.com.
This announcement seems to be a backflip on WSOP.com’s stance on how they should promote their brand. Last year, they seemed adamant that they were not going to use “professional poker players” or “brand ambassadors” to represent their online poker site. At that particular time, the Executive Director of the WSOP came out and said that” “On the land-based side of the WSOP, we’ve always shied away from signing personal endorsements with individual players.”
In addition to tweeting about his WSOP.com grind he is also displaying a link to WSOP.com on his profile page. This is what Merson had to say to PokerNews when asked his thoughts about signing as the new WSOP brand ambassador: “WSOP is the most exclusive brand in all of poker, and I am honored to be able to help them promote online poker back to its full potential.”
It has to be said that if you were going to choose someone to endorse the WSOP brand it would be hard to find a more suitable candidate than the 2012 WSOP Main Event champ. Merson got his start in the online poker world and has overcome issues including depression and drug addiction to claim two WSOP bracelets both of which took place in 2012. In addition to being victorious in the Main Event, he also won a bracelet in the $10,000 Six Handed No-Limit Hold’em event that same year. His passion for the game is there for all to see and he is not a person to shy away from giving his opinion about poker when it would be good for promoting the game.
The WSOP.com has worked very hard to promote their brand in the regulated states of Nevada and New Jersey. They weren’t the first operator to launch in Nevada but after ironing out a few problems it didn’t take them very long to gain a bigger market share. The recent World Series of Poker provided a great opportunity to promote their brand even more which saw their cash game traffic more than double. With the excitement of bringing a new brand ambassador on board as part of the WSOP.com team it is hoped that the WSOP.com will increase in its popularity especially among casual players where the real money is.
The 26 year old poker pro will be playing from his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, so all of his volume will be on the WSOP.com New Jersey site. With PokerStars moving closer to entering this market, this new “brand ambassador” signing seems extremely timely, as with more competition and a finite number of players attracting new customers is now more important than ever. He previously played under the online poker alias “Toddmcshay” on WSOP NJ but can now be seen playing under the name “GregMerson”.