Hart
announced the partnership in a hastily called press conference in Monaco over
the weekend during the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte Carlo Casino,
one of poker's most prestigious live events, which is running until May 5.
Hart
called the press conference on his Facebook late Friday night and enlisted Team
PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, who is the world's winningest poker player, to
announce his plan to change the face of poker.
"I
am going to make poker fun, and working with PokerStars will give me the poker
platform I need to do this," Hart said. "I'm glad there are all these
poker pros here who I can compete with and take their money. But the best thing
about poker is that anyone can play it, whether you're making millions like
Daniel Negreanu or just sitting around the kitchen table playing for
coins."
"I'm
not going to tell you yet how we're going to do it," Hart added. "But
I have some great ideas for bringing poker to the people, while having
fun."
Hart
said he will leverage PokerStars marketing, live events and his own social
media channels to promote the fun and social aspects of poker.
"We
take poker seriously, because that's our business. Kevin Hart makes everything
he does fun because that's his business," said Eric Hollreiser, Amaya Vice
President of Corporate Communications. "Kevin is a maverick and we're
thrilled to work with him to take poker to new audiences around the world and
have a great time doing it."
Hart arrived in Monaco to take part in the action at PokerStars Championship tournaments at the glamorous Monte Carlo Bay Casino Hotel & Resort. He shook up the tournament floor with his antics and banter, breaking the often quiet and focused concentration of many of the world's best poker players.