The PokerGO Tour has picked up a presenting sponsor in a deal that will also enrich the tour's season-long Player of the Year race. Guaranteed Rate, a Chicago-based mortgage-lending company, has signed on to splash its brand name across PokerGO's burgeoning tour effort.
The debut season of what is now known as the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate will run through July. The tour includes several of PokerGO's owned-and-operated brands, including the Poker Masters, the U.S. Poker Open, the PokerGO Cup, and the Super High Roller Bowl.
According to Guaranteed Rate's Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Moffat, “Guaranteed Rate is proud to partner with the PokerGO Tour featuring some of the best poker players in the world. And having the Player of the Year’s name engraved on the Guaranteed Rate Cup will be an incredible way to connect our brand to a game so many millions around the world play and love.”
Guaranteed Rate is an experienced investor and purchaser of naming rights. The company is perhaps best known for its rebranding deal in 2016 which changed Chicago's U.S. Cellular Park (once known as Comiskey Park) into Guaranteed Rate Field.
Deal adds prize money to Player of the Year race
There's more to the deal for players than simply having the tour's seasonal winner's name etched on a trophy. The season's top performer on what will be known as the Guaranteed Rate Leaderboard will receive a $200,000 cash prize as well. The second and third-place finishers in the leaderboard race will earn a payout as well, of $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.
Leaderboard points in the season-long race are earned based on finishes in all qualifying events. The PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate includes what PokerGO describes as "the industry’s most high-profile poker tournaments with buy-ins of $10,000 or greater. That roster of events includes more than 100 tournaments whose results are also factored into the Player of the Year race.
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Guaranteed Rate not only to the PokerGO family, but also to the entire poker community,” said PokerGO's president, Mori Eskandani, President of PokerGO. “The PokerGO Tour aims to showcase the game’s biggest talent competing in the most exclusive events, and the partnership with Guaranteed Rate represents a joint commitment to both raise exposure and provide new opportunities for the game.”
Featured image source: PokerGO
