Chris Moneymaker and Vanessa Kade signings take center stage on latest podcast episode
Americas Cardroom made its biggest ambassador signing to date in February, adding Chris Moneymaker to the roster of ACR Team Pros. Poker icons don’t come much bigger than Moneymaker. The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion is credited almost unanimously as the player that vaulted poker into mainstream consciousness.
ACR picked up another big name in March, with Vanessa Kade joining as a Team Pro. That signing took place in the middle of the most eventful month of Kade’s career, a month that ended with Kade scoring a life-changing $1.5 million win in the PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary special event.
Just a week before joining the ACR Team Pros, Kade found herself in the middle of one of the bigger controversies the poker world has seen so far in 2021. Kade’s criticism of GGPoker’s signing of Dan Bilzerian as an ambassador put her in the middle of a debate. The talk focused on what's morally expected from a sponsored ambassador at any poker site.
The latest episode of the PokerNews Debate Series focuses that question on unregulated sites, such as Americas Cardoom. The topic for Thursday’s episode asked the question - do ambassadors have moral responsibility when representing unregulated sites?
What should be expected of an ACR ambassador?
Podcast host Sarah Herring posts the episode’s main question to PokerNews’ Jason Glatzer and Mo Nuwwarah. Glatzer takes the side (per the show’s format) that ACR Team Pros like Moneymaker and Kade do have an ethical responsibility.
“These are all very impressive poker players,” Glatzer said in reference to Moneymaker, Kade, and other recent ACR signings. “As site ambassadors of an unregulated site, I believe that they should have an extra responsibility than that of a normal site ambassador. Due to history but due to other things as well.”
Glatzer mentions that the recent wave of ACR team Pro signings (Moneymaker, Kade, Randy Lew, and Jonathan Van Fleet) inspired the topic for the PokerNews Debate Series Episode.
“We expect that if a Chris Moneymaker goes behind a brand, that everything is on the up and up,” Glatzer said. “And history has told us otherwise when it comes to unregulated sites.”
“ACR has been the best of the bunch when it comes to unregulated sites. Other than a bot scandal, there’s never been complaints about people cashing out.”
Nuwwarah takes the other side of the argument, debating that ambassadors for an unregulated poker site don’t have any extra ethical responsibility when compared to an ambassador for a regulated online poker brand.
“The goal in poker is to make money,” Nuwwarah said. “Especially when you’re a professional player. These people are playing for a living, they’re trying to make money to put food on the table and pay the bills.”
“As part of that they take these sponsorships. In that role they’re employees. Their role doesn’t have anything to do with operations.”
The hour-plus podcast episode presents an interesting debate on whether the poker players that represent an unregulated poker site have a moral obligation to discuss the possible ramifications of playing on the site.
Moneymaker joined the Team ACR Pros after a 17-year run as one of the main faces of Team PokerStars. The signing of the longtime poker fan-favorite marked the biggest acquisition in the history of Americas Cardroom.
Featured image source: Twitter
