Natural8, a member of the GGNetwork, has launched the Brazilian Cup of Poker exclusively for its players.
The title is a little misleading. The events are all online and there are no geographical restrictions. The link with Brazil is that Natural8 is partnering with several Brazilian personalities to promote the event.
"It's Brazil Cup of Poker (BCOP) week!" tweeted the Natural8 account. "The tournaments are not only open to Brazilian players, everyone is welcome to join."
Among the partners who are promoting BCOP for Natural8 are Dan Almeida, Laura Cintra, and Rebeca Rebuitti.
The series got underway over the weekend with a couple of key events, including the Kick-Off and Ladies event, hosted by Cintra and Rebuitti.
The full series will run for 12 events nominally. However, many of these events are running main, mini, and micro versions. As a result, there are substantially more events on the schedule than just the thirteen.
Natural8 is running the events until July 31, 2021, when Event #12: CLOSER EVENT will play out. This will be a $25 buy-in one-day turbo event.
Still on their way are the Main Events, also on the 31st. These come at three price points: $2, $25, $88 with $1k, $5k, and $15k guarantees respectively. Clearly, Natural8 is anticipating a reasonable turnout in order to hit those guarantees.
Brand ambassadors assemble
The event seems to serve as publicity for Natural8's ambassadors. The ambassadors associated with the event are all relatively small social media stars in the poker world.
Raising ambassador profiles creates a virtuous circle for websites. As ambassador profiles increase, so does the reach of Natural8. Poker sites use events like this to try to keep the virtuous circle going.
"We're proud to present our first event collaboration between Natural8 and our Brazillian partners: Dan Almeida, Laura Cintra, Luizftorres, Nelepo10 & Rebeca Rebuitti," tweeted the Natural8 Twitter account.
With the exception of Dan Almeida, these players don't have much in the way of poker records. Almeida has $1.8 million in online earnings and another quarter-mil from live tourneys. All five are solid poker players, but the strengths they bring to the table are more related to personality and social media following.
The BCOP is a chance to sell the "partners" as poker players to the poker community. All five partners will be streaming events on their Twitch channels. Natural8 will also be conducting a ton of giveaways during the partners' streams.
Just as importantly, the events draw focus to Natural8's availability in the growing Brazilian market. Brazilian players had a remarkable haul of titles at last year's SCOOP and online WSOP events. Natural8 and by extension the GGNetwork could really use that traffic if they are to keep sticking it to PokerStars.
Featured image source: Twitter
