Matchbook.com CEO Says Daniel Negreanu a ‘Poor Brand Ambassador’ for Poker
iGaming.org had a chance to sit down with sports betting exchange Matchbook.com CEO Andrew Pantling, who had a few choice words to say about poker pro Daniel Negreanu.
Pantling, a poker pro himself, drew the ire of Negreanu during last spring’s EPT Grand Final Main Event. Pantling won that event and the €800,000 that came with it. Negreanu, who finished 5th, later stated he was not impressed with Pantling’s game.
“At first, and I didn’t get to watch the feed, I just heard that Daniel had some negative comments about my game. There was some chatter about his comments on forums and, at first; I was annoyed.
“The reason is, I played with Daniel for a few days even before the final table, and I really beat him up with some big bluffs. I felt, he was quite frustrated and irritated by this so after he was eliminated, he went on the live stream and vented by disrespecting my poker game. Since then, I had a chance to look at the final table footage and I didn’t think it was a big deal, I just kind of laughed and wished I had the opportunity to play against Daniel more often.
“That being said, as a brand ambassador for PokerStars, I think he represented himself and the company quite poorly. If I was a true amateur, I wouldn’t be overly keen to play poker on TV if I felt that a well-known PokerStars ‘pro’ was going to publicly criticize my abilities in front of my friends and family, who were watching and know very little about poker. I know I wouldn’t want my brand, Matchbook, represented like that.”
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
