TEAM POKERSTARS PRO ONLINE KEVIN MARTIN TAKES ON THE BIG BROTHER HOUSE ONCE AGAIN

Has Kevin Martin got the $100,000 edge to make his housemates fold?

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – March 8, 2017 – Team PokerStars Pro Online team member and Twitch fan favourite Kevin Martin has entered the Canadian Big Brother house taking him into a tournament of a different nature from the usual online poker action at PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand, which he broadcasts daily on the live streaming video platform Twitch under the handle KevinMartin987.

 “I can’t wait to get stuck in to life in the Big Brother Canada house. I love talking to people but it’s also a fascinating, strategic game,” said Martin. “I’m really going to miss my regular Twitch fans and playing poker, but I’ll approach the experience in a similar way to a poker tournament and hopefully my skills will come in handy.”

Poker gives the edge

PokerStars fans of the Twitch star will be able to follow his progress on the Big Brother Canada website as he uses his poker-honed skills to outwit and outplay his fellow houseguests using intuition and his ability to deduce their behaviour. These abilities, which recently helped him win $7,500 in a PokerStars online tournament, one of his biggest online poker cashes to date, are sure to see him right in the Big Brother house and secure what would be the biggest win of his career so far: a top prize of $100,000 in cash, plus a handy $30,000 gift card and a 2017 Toyota ’86 sports car.

Team PokerStars Pro Online Manager May Maceiras said: “Kevin’s enthusiasm and talent for engaging with beginner poker players has made him a very popular member of Team PokerStars Pro Online. We are going to miss him online but we hope that his recent success playing poker translates to success on the show. I’m sure he will once again prove to be a well-loved member of the Big Brother house.”

PokerStars will show their support for Kevin Martin by naming special online tournaments after him while he is in the house. Watch out for further announcements.

The former radio show host has made no secret of his obsession with reality TV, previously appearing in Season 3 of the Canadian version of Big Brother in March 2015. He said, “As soon as I saw the commercial for Big Brother, I said ‘I want to be on this show, and win’.”

Martin did well on his first Big Brother outing, lasting 49 days. His luck ran out at the end of Week 7, however, just a couple of weeks before the final. This time maybe things will be different and he can use his previous experience in the Big Brother house to his advantage to avoid eviction, go all the way to the final (table) and take it down.

POKER in the spotlight

Martin isn’t the first poker player to appear on television or film. In 2015, Vanessa Rousso drew on her poker smarts to gain an advantage in Season 17 of the US edition of Big Brother, reaching the final. In the same year, Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu was the subject of a documentary, KidPoker, which shone the spotlight on his life and experience as an elite poker player. This followed a cameo role in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and an appearance in Season 6 of The Bachelor in 2013. Team PokerStars Pro Fatima Moreira de Melo is no stranger to TV having reached last year’s final of It Takes 2, a singing competition show and having won Expeditie Robinson, the Dutch version of the Survivor reality TV series, in 2012. Phil Hellmuth is set to appear in an upcoming episode of the hit TV show Billions. Away from Hollywood, poker player David Williams reached the final of MasterChef in Season 7 of the US series, shown last year.

Follow Kevin Martin’s progress via live updates from the Big Brother website, Twitter feed and updates on the PokerStars Blog.

About PokerStars

PokerStars operates the world’s most popular online poker sites, serving the global poker community. Since it launched in 2001, PokerStars has become the first choice of players all over the world, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and with the best online security. More than 165 billion hands have been dealt on PokerStars, which is more than any other site.

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