partypoker adds to their impressive roster of ambassador, hiring the Raising For Effective Giving Founder and High Stakes pro-Philipp Gruissem.
Like Haley Joel Osment, I began seeing dead people at a very young age. I would hide under the duvet as they marched around my room.
In my teens, I had two incidents that terrified me to the core. I woke each time at 2 am in the morning. I was awake, in my room. I tried to move. I was paralysed. I felt something on my feet. I couldn’t see it. It scuttled up my body, sat on my face, and I woke up screaming.
These days, I wear a sleeping mask. My wife thinks it does what it says on the tin. I wear it because I don’t want to see things that aren’t there.
Is it happening again?
partypoker has signed Philipp Gruissem as a brand ambassador.
Feeling great about joining the partypoker crew!Lets bring some fresh and good vibes to the poker community together!!! @partypokerlive https://t.co/ewL5ZXQkZZ
— Philipp Gruissem (@TheRealPhilbort) January 29, 2018
The move comes a week after Gruissem sent a congratulatory tweet to his friend Johannes Heldens after partypoker appointed him to the position of Country Manager Germany.
“partypoker seem to be hiring good people,” tweeted Gruissem.
Gruissem is the third German hired to represent the brand. Boris Becker and Jan-Peter Jachtmann take up the slack.
Their latest import has earned over $11m playing live, and over $3.5m playing online under the pseudonym philbort. Gruissem is also a founding member of the meta-charity Raising for Effective Giving, and it’s his role as an Effective Altruist that has me seeing things that might not exist.
Gruissem isn’t the only Effective Altruist with ties to an online poker room. Fellow REG founders, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov, represent PokerStars. Ambassadors Jeff Gross and George Danzer also represent PokerStars. Martin Jacobson serves 888Poker.
REG is a finely tuned machine. These aren’t beggars picking up crusts at the doors of hipster cafes. And because of this, I have this vision of the REG crew sitting around a table figuring out the best way to include the three largest online poker rooms into their mission.
PokerStars donated rake from specified events in both the Spring Championship and World Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP & WCOOP). 888Poker did the likewise with the XL Series. Meanwhile, partypoker has kept their charitable powder very dry.
I see charity as the winner here. Gruissem will use his influence to persuade partypoker to contribute to effective altruistic causes. Think of them as missionaries, infiltrating the universal communion of poker businesses with the sole purpose of doing more good in the world.
It’s for that reason that I believe Gruissem is one of the best signings of recent years. When he wins a tournament, he saves people’s lives. What better reason to play poker than that. The timing is also exemplary. Players of his ilk will be outlaying between $3-$5m on tournament buy-ins this year, and charities will receive more money than ever.
Gruissem makes his first live appearance at MILLIONS Germany on 4 Feb where he will also appear in The Big Game. If you can’t wait that long to chat with the man, you can catch him online Sunday 4 February in the $1m Guaranteed $5,200 Powerfest Event.
