Poker rooms have been very busy as of late signing new pros to their teams as well as adding new sponsored pros to their site. Since the World Series of Poker starts this week, many poker rooms are adding players to get their name seen many times during the popular poker series.
The most recent site to add a new signed player is UltimateBet. The online poker room recently signed adult performer Samantha Ryan to a sponsorship deal. Starting this week, the online poker room will be supporting the star in five World Series of Poker events.
Ryan is hoping to make it to the Main Event which is highly televised around the world. Ryan commented that she would have the opportunity to win hundreds of thousands of dollars and it would be life changing.
Ryan has been a porn star since 2004 and has been an avid poker player for about seven. Ryan commented that signing with UltimateBet is giving her an opportunity to turn one of her passions into a career.
Ryan, of Kansas has shown she is a good poker player. She has played in five different events over the past month, all of which were charity events. She donated all of her winnings and she even took down Jose Canseco, a former baseball player in the process.
Ryan recently earned a spot in a celebrity event when she got a call from some of her friends in the poker industry. When she arrived at the event she was seated next to Annie Duke’s boyfriend. She apparently made an impression because now she is sponsored by the site, which is also a sponsor of Annie Duke.
“So I sat next to her boyfriend Joe and was telling him about myself and he was super impressed by me. He had no idea what I did and he spoke up and said something to Annie. Now I’m completely floored, completely in shock,” Ryan said. “I will be sponsored in five events. I just got my UB patches. I’ll put a patch on my clothes and I’ll be wearing different UB gear throughout the tournament. It’s cool because a lot of my fans are going to play in the World Series.”
Ryan commented that she will be moving to Vegas for the duration of the WSOP. She learned the game of poker while she was working real estate before she got into the porn industry. She started playing online poker just four years ago and she also plays blackjack.
“Four years ago I started playing for real online and had good results,” she said. “I final-tabled a couple times in events with over 1,000 people. There is an element of luck, especially in the World Series. The events I’m playing in are going to be three to five days with fields of 3,000 to 5,000 players. I’ll be playing poker from noon until midnight every day that I’m playing as long as I’m still in it. I’ll be putting live updates on Twitter, and will try and do some video on my website.”