(Photo: Pokerstars.com)
It was as unexpected as, well, a bolt of lightning form a clear sky – the world’s fastest man ever Usain Bolt has signed for PokerStars, and warned fellow celebrity poker player Kevin Hart that he has him in his sights.
Quite where Bolt fits in with the game of poker seems a bit unclear - Hart and previous PokerStars sporting heroes Neymar Junior and Cristiano Ronaldo having varying success at the tables before fronting the site globally – but with the sprinting mega-star due to retire soon he will doubtless be looking for new challenges and new paymasters.
Bolt said of his new ambassadorial role:
"PokerStars is a winner and I'm happy to join Kevin in helping to bring poker and PokerStars to the masses. It's a challenging game that's fun, social and competitive so I'm pleased to be able to introduce it to my fans and to people around the world."
The press release stated that ‘Bolt will represent PokerStars in marketing campaigns and live appearances geared toward introducing new audiences to poker’, according to Eric Hollreiser, Vice President of Corporate Communications at PokerStars.
"Usain Bolt is a fierce competitor who pushes his game to the limits," Hollreiser said. "But he's also one of the most-liked athletes in the world. His strong global following and winning personality will help us to introduce poker in a fun, social and fast way."
With Hart vowing to ‘Make Poker Fun’ it seems that Bolt’s signing may well allow PokerStars to introduce yet another new game along the lines of ‘Make Poker Fast’ – good news for purely recreational players, but likely not so good for proper poker players.