Lots of poker players around the world would love to replicate the success of Darren Elias in the game. The association between that name and a legacy of winning ways is exactly what Partypoker hopes to bring to its brand by enlisting Elias.
Elias is the newest brand ambassador for BetMGM’s online poker platform. Elias will do much more than just lend his face and name to connected events for New Jerseyans, though. Players will also get chances to square off against the poker icon.
Darren Elias teams up with Partypoker
Elias is probably best known for his four World Poker Tour titles and being the winningest player in WPT history. However, Elias has also added over $8 million in online poker winnings to his record $9 million in physical tournament profits. That’s why BetMGM sought out his services.
“During his career, Darren Elias has been a strong advocate for the game of poker,” said Matthew Sunderland, Vice President of Gaming, BetMGM. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to the partypoker US Network team and look forward to working together to elevate our brand and drive awareness for the WPT Online Borgata Poker Open and beyond.”
As Sunderland alluded to, the publicly visible aspects of this relationship will commence with the upcoming WPT Online Borgata Poker Open. Elias will not only promote the event but play in it as well. The three-day event begins on Sept. 19.
“As partypoker US Network continues to expand, I’m excited to grow with them and bring accessible, championship-level online poker to players across the U.S.,” Elias stated. “As an online Main Tour event, I believe that the upcoming WPT Online Borgata Poker Open can fill a void left by the postponement of many live events this season. I hope to ‘see’ many of my friends on the felt, as we all try to put our name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.”
You don’t have to be one of Elias’ friends to get in on that action, though. As a matter of fact, some lucky New Jerseyans won’t have to buy in at all.
How to play alongside Elias in New Jersey
The WPT Online Borgata Poker Open is the final event in an ongoing NJ Partypoker series. The buy-in for the tourney is $3,500 with a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million. Players on BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker, and Partypoker have been vying for spots since Aug. 29.
That included a freeroll tournament which has now concluded. 10 winners got entry into this penultimate event. Other players earned their way into the Open by winning satellite events with various buy-ins, starting at $5.
For poker fans who don’t get a seat at the final table, the WPT will live stream that action on its Twitch channel. There are plenty of opportunities to earn a seat, though. As an Open, anyone physically located in NJ who is of age can buy their way in.
In the last WPT Open, players created a total of 395 entries. As $3,200 of the buy-in goes to the pot, the pool ballooned to $1.264 million last December. The winner, Soheb “MyCousinVinny5” Porbandarwala, took home $239,820.
If this event isn’t for you, though, don’t worry. Partypoker plans to provide many other opportunities to engage with Elias. Perhaps just the proximity to his greatness will rub off for some lucky NJ online poker players.
Photo provided by BetMGM
