- Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo will be playing tennis superstar Rafa Nadal in a live heads up poker match on November 6.
- Last December, the two played in the European Poker Tour Prague Charity Challenge, which raised €100,000 for charity. Rafa won the six player event, coming ahead of Ronaldo, and also beating fellow PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu.
Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo will be playing tennis superstar Rafa Nadal in a live heads up poker match on November 6.
PokerStars have named the heads up match “The Duel,” and plans to live stream it from London on PokerStars.tv.
PokerStars ambassador Rafael Nadal is currently ranked number two in the world of professional tennis. He also holds the honors after defeating Ronaldo in their previous encounter at the poker table.
Rafa Beat Ronaldo in Prague
Last December, the two played in the European Poker Tour Prague Charity Challenge, which raised €100,000 for charity. Rafa won the six player event, coming ahead of Ronaldo, and also beating fellow PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu.
“The last time we played together Rafa won the match and it was a lot of fun. This time it will be different, though, because I have been improving on my own poker strategy and will be more prepared,” said Ronaldo.
“I really enjoy playing poker and the challenge of learning as quickly as possible, so I can’t wait to get back into training on my game and to play against Ronaldo,” responded Rafa, sounding equally confident.
On September 22, Rafa took to the play money online poker tables in “Rafa vs The World – Round 2.”
He took on all comers in 58 heads up matches over the course of an hour, and finished convincingly ahead winning 31 and losing 27. He won the first Rafa vs the World event 20 to 18.
Match starts 13 mins in to the video
PokerStars Ambassadors Enjoy Their Role
Rafa Nadal’s last celebrity match for PokerStars was against Vanessa Selbst in April. “It was a great honour to play against a strong competitor and although I lost, I had a lot of fun,” said Rafa after the match in Monte Carlo.
In May, Ronaldo took part in a Zoom mobile promotion where he played from behind a screen and his opponents only discovered his identity at the end of the match.
The tables were turned at the end of the session when the screen revealed not a member of the public, but fellow famous soccer player, Bebeto—José Roberto Gama de Oliveira.
The video of the promotion gained over 500k views on YouTube in three days—the total to date is over 1.2 million views.
The endorsement by the two mainstream sports stars gives PokerStars the ability to raise its brand awareness in parts of the market its other promotional activities cannot reach.
