Team PokerStars SportStar Rafael Nadal played his first real-money tournament over the weekend at the brand new Spanish Championship of Online Poker (ESCOOP). The €200 buy-in Main Event saw a field of 1,842 players, all of whom received 20,000 chips each.
Nadal had a decent start in the tournament as he eliminted one player with a set of 10's against a pair of aces. Then it didn't tak[...] Read more » Rafael Nadal's Real-Money Debut On PokerStars
Joined: Feb '10
Location: Suriname
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 1189
Well congratulations to Rafael Nadal for his first tournament and in the future he will surely win a big online tournament, just keep learning the p***********y and tactics.
Joined: Dec '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 579
Well he doesnt have to worry about going broke playing these tournaments thats for sure. Anyone knows how much he made playing tennis ?? Must be 10's of millions !
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 10090
well well well- he's only a rookie but already received the "guided excursion" on the "abilities" of pokerstars software flopping a top pair with great kicker only to find out that 2 of your opponents flopped sets...lol i guess he is "getting back on atp tour quicker then expected" according to insiders
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4829
Entering a €200 buy-in as the first experience in a tourney is a nice choice. The amount isn’t that much and, taking in consideration the size of the field, the prizes are already relevant. For a tennis champion who should have some millions in a couple of safes, that wasn’t the most relevant, but more – and that should have been discussed with PS – the expertise level he would be finding in most of his opponents. I think he did very well for a first time, and he should have also learned new things, as being in real tourneys gives the player a completely different view about the game, when comparing that with being in private tables playing with PS colleagues.
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 58 (M)
Posts: 2437
The Spanish Championship of Online Poker, €200 event attracted a bumper field of 1,842 runners. Nadal gets same s**t like us from the server,it was poker's most prominent ace that caused Nadal's downfall,pair of Aces against set(2 sets) to be sure Nadal is out.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 5713
Forgive me if I sound cynical, but..... pair of tens, pair of kings and he increases his stack by 50%. i guess most of us mortals could have achieved something like this. I also guess that most of us wouldnt have gone all in (if we were first to call after the flop) as we may have seen an opportunity to see what theothers had with the option of getting a load more into the pot or folding if they reraised us! It also doesnt saywhether he got into the money (Im guessing he didnt). So overall... for a €200 investment it was a pretty rubbish night
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4829
He is learning to play with some of the best players, they really should know some tricks and have some useful advices to give him to use when on the real tourneys. It’s not the same as learning alone at home, summing losses and keeping beating with the head on the wall until things start flowing on our side. I also guess he will still surprise and generate pokernews with his conquers; it’s a matter of time. If this happens, we can see in the future PS promo campaigns with the tennis pro saying “If I could, you also can” and giving a development to the site’s online school.
Joined: Oct '11
Location: Germany
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 154
anyways seems to be a better fit to pokerstars then germam former tennis star boris becker who is playing since some years bt still playing like a fish. according to hendon mob he's got about 70K$ in live cashes besides playing mutliple big buy ins(10K+). but i guess for those guys its just like play money for us
Joined: Sep '12
Location: India
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 335
Posted by thefly131: There s still the question remaining :
Why is PS spending money on the celebrities who have money enough ???
Players like Boris Becker and Nadal and others have money enough to pay for there buy-ins, why is PS sponsoring them.
Let s be serious, it will take ages for these guys to reach a same level as the avarege pro.
Well Rafa Nadal is a public figure , a big celebrity and a great tennis player !!
He surely has enough money to buy in which ever event he wants by his own !! PS is using him to publicize their brand by sponsoring , as he tours all over the world to play tennis he can even spread poker also the PS !!
So its a good move by PS !! its worth a investment ,,, IF he wins or not !! he plays , that itself attract many people !!!
Joined: Nov '11
Location: Poland
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 1090
Exactly! You may ask - why big company (Adidas, Nike, Coca-Cola, etc) sponsor sports stars/clubs - they have a lot of cash... Yes, but they want more Why Mourinho plays in Gillette ad? For money!
PS. Great start for Rafa - I like him, so I wish him good play & winnings!
Joined: Oct '09
Location: South Africa
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 92
Thats a typical hand on PS for you. If he had not gone all in on the flop, the "random number generator" would spit the Ace out just to make sure that he'd lose everything on the turn.
I'm sorry, call me cynical or whatever, but I honestly do not trust the Pokerstars software. There just too many bad beats and one is always set up perfectly to make sure that there is a lot of action.
flopping a top pair with great kicker only to find out that 2 of your opponents flopped sets...lol i guess he is "getting back on atp tour quicker then expected" according to insiders 
