Bodog Poker CEO throws down Monaco EPT gauntlet

Everyone likes bringing a smart ass down to earth and Patrik Selin is offering poker players the chance to do just that by offering €1,000 cash to whoever knocks him out of the EPT Grand Final in Monaco.

There’s nothing worse than an overachiever and it seems Selin qualifies with flying colours, given that he’s the only CEO of a major poker company who can also hold his own on the world poker circuit.

The reason the Swede is so confident of winning probably stems from the fact that he has posted some decent finishes at the felts, winning the Ritz Club Live Tournament in 2006 and coming second to Peter Gould in the 2007 UK Open Main Event.

But then that was a while ago now and Selin’s game has got to have got rusty as he’s since been busy cutting business deals like the €500m sale of the OnGame poker network to BWin while CEO at OnGame and taking charge at Bodog Poker Network.

Trash-talking aside, it is actually quite refreshing to see senior management getting involved in the game proper and other operators could do worse than shuffle up and deal at grass roots level.

“I think its a shame more senior management of poker rooms do not play at these events as it is the best way to find out what players want,” said Selin. “Everybody at a live event is passionate about the game and happy to talk about their likes and dislikes which is invaluable to anybody running a poker room.

“Now I have raised the stakes and will be putting €1,000 straight into to the hand of the person who knocks me out which should make the banter even more fun in Monaco.”

As a face and a player Selin has got some interesting views on the future of online poker, which he aired shortly before the Feds rounded on Full Tilt. So read here for that and if ever you needed an extra incentive to get down to Monaco at the end of the month (25-30 April) you just got one. Knock Selin out and you might even be able to hang around for a couple of weeks and watch the grand prix.

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