blonde poker

Following on from the recent flurry of sign-ups, Ladbrokes Poker has revealed its newest pro recruit, Jonathan Kalmar. Known as skalie online, Kalmar came fifth in last years WSOP Main Event, cashing for $1.25m, and was the only Brit to make the final table. The sponsorship deal, which has been on the table since the beginning of 2008, was finally agreed on Tuesday night in Vegas. Jon, however, had no time to celebrate as he was playing in the WPT World Championship and signing the contract in his break!

An original high flier on the Ladbrokes cardroom, Jon swiftly began to crack the live scene, perhaps encouraged by his cash in the 2005 World Series Main Event and a remarkable third place finish on the second Ladbrokes Poker Cruise which netted him a mouth-watering six figure sum. Kitted out with wife and kid, the latter a result of a previous marriage, Skalie is a well respected individual within the game; no one seems to have a bad word to say against him.

skalie said: "I'm thrilled, I can't wait to take up my role of Ladbrokes Poker pro in an official capacity! I'm raring to go. As part of Team Ladbrokes in 2006 I came 82nd in the Main Event and then finished in 5th last year - let's hope I continue to improve upon my performance."   

skalie will join a core group of four sponsored players, within a 110 strong Ladbrokes Poker Team, all of whom will descend on Las Vegas on July 2nd ready to celebrate at the exclusive Ladbrokespoker.com party held at the Voodoo Lounge on the 3rd July. Ladbrokes Poker is allowing players one day for recovery and has booked everyone to play in the $10,000 main event on day 1C (July 5th).   

Edward Ihre, Ladbrokes Poker MD commented: "The signing is a formality really, Ladbrokespoker.com already considers skalie a member of the team and Laddies has been skalie's online home for the past few years.  It was only a matter of time before he joined our poker pro stable" He continued: "skalie's multi table expertise in tournaments will be a great asset to our team."   

The Ladbrokes Poker contract will see skalie contribute to the site by way of insightful blogs and reports from major poker events worldwide, including this year's WSOP. In addition to this, he will be introducing a poker promotion named after him on the site in the near future. Offline he will be one of Ladbrokes' ambassadors and will host some of their key events and head tutorials for some of the more inexperienced players.