While I can\’t keep up with all of the Olympic coverage, I\’m doing my damnedest. My TiVo has been working in hyperdrive, recording everything airing on NBC, the USA network, and CNBC, and I\’m watching a lot and fast-forwarding (with occasional stops) through everything else. With more than 24 hours of coverage a day, it\’s a Herculean task.
One thing I\’ve noticed is that PokerStars is putting up a fair amount of commercials during the Olympics, at least here in the Atlanta market. (Can anyone watching the Olympics in other markets confirm that it\’s national?) The two commercials I\’ve noticed the most are from PokerStars — one with Daniel Negreanu (playing pool & playing poker) and one with Vanessa Rousso (bungee jumping & playing poker). Of the two, I think the Vanessa Rousso one stands out much more — more contrast between bungee jumping and poker compared to Daniel\’s billiards commercial, and it also has a taste of those \”extreme sports\” that the young\’uns seem to like.
Regardless of what you think of Vanessa as a poker player, I think this could actually be good for the game of poker. One of the things Barry Greenstein came away with during last year\’s Congressional visit (to discuss the legality of online poker) was how impressed the congressmen were with the female players who showed up — Annie Duke and Vanessa Rousso. In their eyes, Vanessa is an attractive young woman with a degree from Duke University, and plenty of opportunities open to her. But she chose to play poker. That challenges their view of poker much more than seeing players like Greenstein or Doyle Brunson.
I highly doubt poker will see a post-Olympic bounce from these commercials, but if PokerStars is targeting an entirely new demographic of sports fans, I think they could do a lot worse than putting Vanessa Rousso out front and center.
