Sam Grafton couldn't pass up coming to Campione, Italy for the first PokerStars Open. We couldn't pass up catching up with the PokerStars ambassador as he shared his thoughts on the season's opening event, the state of poker, and what he plans to play this year.
'It's good to be back in Italy'
Grafton had never played in Campione, so he was excited to hit the felt here for the first time.
"I'd heard of the EPT that they had heard 10 or 12 years ago. It sounded like a very exciting and exotic location, so I'm excited to finally be here. I also played one EPT in Sanremo, so it's good to be back in Italy playing poker. I'm enjoying the food and the people."
Grafton was passionate about the season of Open events on the PokerStars calendar for the rest of the year.
"The Open series is a very exciting adventure for us. Showcasing poker tournaments around Europe is going to be an amazing tour and have a really bright future."
Watch the video below for more, straight from 'The Squid's mouth:
'The majority of poker players are honorable'
When you've been around the game as long as 'The Squid' has, you can take a step back. He shared insights about where the game is, what we must do to preserve it, and why he believed PokerStars is at the front of such preservation and protection.
"So many people get into this game as a hobby and a passion," said Grafton. "For me, it's been a joy to play for all these years. It's really important to me that we preserve this great game that we love.
"The majority of poker players are honorable, wonderful individuals with incredible levels of integrity. Obviously, as technology changes, and with the huge prize pools, we need to all be really serious about stamping out any form of cheating or advantage play within the industry."
"PokerStars... we do our best from a game integrity point of view, we invest in that. We need other sites to invest in that."
Beyond an operator's role, Grafton encouraged all of us as individuals to do our part, too.
"As a community, we [must] shame and pressurize peers, friends, colleagues, anyone that we think might be breaking the rules, even fractionally. We need to be vigilant. It's something PokerStars is incredibly serious about, and it's something I'm really serious about."
2025 plans: He's not a 'young gun'
When looking at the calendar year, there are certain events Grafton never missed, Outside of those, he talked about what he looks forward to playing this year. Part of that may be dictated by the new PokerStars Open Leaderboards.
"I know how many determined poker players there are out there," said Grafton, regarding the chase for the new leaderboards. "There are obviously so many guys putting in insane volume, young guns with that energy. I don't know whether I can make it, but if I get off to a good start here in Campione, then maybe I'll get interested.
"I think it's a great thing that we're doing. Any extra incentive to create narrative and excitement down the stretch of a big poker series is a really good thing. I'm sure we'll have new stars emerge and be able to bring a spotlight on some of the great players."
Regardless of whether a leaderboard chase is in the cards, Grafton knows a couple of stops he won't miss.
"Next up is the Irish Open, I'm really excited to go there. Of course, I'll be in Barcelona; that's another stop I never miss. I'm not sure about other events. I don't tend to go to the World Series. Triton events are great high rollers, so maybe an appearance in Montenegro or Jeju later in the year."
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Learn more about the new PokerStars Live League here.
Images courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Manuel Kovsca/Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
