Vicky Coren Joins Team PokerStars

PokerStars.com landed another big professional this weekend as they’ve announced Vicky Coren as the newest member of Team PokerStars. This move comes just a week after they added Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown to their already impressive list of pros.

Back in 2006 a popular European Poker site posted a news article with the title “Vic’s Vick gets the Vic at the Vic”. This news story carried with it a lot more than just an intriguing headline as it covered a pivotal moment in the poker career of Victoria Coren. On this date, September 26, 2006, Vicky had become the first female player to win a PokerStars European Poker Tour Championship, doing so at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, England where she frequently populated the cash games.

While the EPT victory was certainly a career booster, it was a well deserved victory that has long since proven to of been no fluke. Coren first began playing poker when she was 16 years old, and now 20 years later has over $1.2 million in career tournament winnings. This is pretty impressive as is, but becomes even more impressive when realizing that Coren is much more of a cash game player than she is a tournament player. She is widely considered to one of the most feared regular cash players at the Vic casino.

“I’m genuinely proud and happy to be an ambassador for PokerStars, I have played on the site for years,” said Coren. “And I’m especially delighted to help promote the EPT, which was already my favourite tournament series even before I won in London. The only difference is that I used to play it in cheaper shoes. Team PokerStars Pro, is a line up of some of the most exciting and memorable characters in modern poker, I’m really chuffed to be joining them.”

It can’t hurt PokerStars any when they’re able to pick up an attractive female poker celebrity from another online poker room. Back in the day when Paradise Poker was still popular, Coren frequently played there with the handle “Vicky Coren”. While it’s not known for sure if she was an endorsed player, Paradise was known for signing professionals to play under their real names and chose not to advertise this heavily so as it would appear that these pros were playing there because this was their favorite site.

Whatever the case might have been with Coren’s previous endorsement deals; this is a big win for PokerStars as all these additions help them to compete with Full Tilt Poker. While PokerStars is currently the largest site by a wide margin, Full Tilt has them dominated in terms of professional endorsements. In our opinion, Coren is an excellent addition a she helps them receive additional publicity in the UK market where she is known for more than just her poker accomplishments. For example, she receives additional recognitions for being the daughter of late humor journalist Allen Coren, for her regular columns published in The Observer and The Guardian, and for her career as a television commentator where she hosts shows such as “Celebrity Poker Club”

Editor’s comments: When poker rooms are signing professionals left and right and the promotion offers keep getting better and better one can only assume that the poker market is in good health. This is good news for the players as sites are competing heavily in global markets where the poker booms are just beginning, a lot of advantages can be had right now keeping an active account at large websites like PokerStars and Full Tilt as well as their competitors such as Everest Poker.