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Poker Encore adds 2 exciting new pros to its ranks

London, 7th April 2011

Poker Encore is pleased to announce the addition of Constantine Paparestis and Simon Jones to its ranks today. Both players will represent the site both online and at live events over the coming year.

Cos (23) and Simon (31) are very well known in UK poker for their fascinating online blogging and will be updating their upcoming exploits online at Poker Encore as they embark on their latest around the world trip taking in Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America and ending where else but in Las Vegas

Cos has been a regular player on Poker Encore since its emergence last year as prominent skin on the Ipoker network. He is leaving his regular job behind to play professionally both in the UK and whilst incorporating extensive travelling. He has kept a regular diary on Blonde Poker (under the alias GreekStein) for the last few months which has been extremely well received.

Simon has been a professional player for almost 4 years. He gave up his job as a teacher to pursue his interest at the felt and has been focusing mainly on mid stakes online MTTs with strong results. He has also developed a strong following from his regular online blog which he keeps under the alias Amatay.  

Poker Encore Director Karl Mahrenholz commented “I’ve been following the exploits of these guys online for some time and the chance to link up at this exciting time for them was too good to pass up. Hopefully they will provide inspiration for the many people who aspire to live this life and give a glimpse into what it can be like”

You can find Cos and Simon playing on Poker Encore under the aliases GreekStein1 and Starfish1 and their blogs will be regularly featured on www.pokerencore.com

If we know anything about these guys, their trip reports will not be ones to miss!

give over.

is this post 7 days late?

I have just been sent it, by Karl

lol cos is 23? and amatay is 31!

wtfffffff

well done both & good luck

punchline?

Cos told me he gets $100 for every ladyboy that joins

Not actually a level before you lot rip into me too hard :)

Not sure what's most unbelievable in this post.

Cos is 23.
Amatay is 31
Amatay was once deemed responsible enough to be in charge of children
Cos's diary has been very well received.

Cos is 23???

Wd both. Well deserved!

Like

Lol, Cos you didn't think this was something you'd mention when 6 poker players meet up for dinner?

Well done mate, hope this relationship works out for you, Simon and Poker Encore.

email must of been late in arriving

def an april fool

This seems as good a time as any to announce my retirement from International football.

just as i get picked for the next squad

;tightend;

Thanks to everyone who's posting nice stuff.

WD.  so what's the deal?

lol "exciting"

wow gratz, does this means Am's porn site goes?:)

mucho congrats

Congratulations to you both! :-)

Congrats Guy's...

Can you sort out RB...

I will issue my congrats upon the confirmation this isn't a level :)

+1

+1

sick life imo. swap??

congrats

yup i was waiting for confirmation also, congratulations!

Congrats guys!

I know neither Amatay or Cos.....however been reading Amatays blog for years, and he is a fellow Watford boy and a regular reader of Cos diary.

If this isn't a level - I think it is quality and am delighted for them both, especially Amatay whose blog is genius.....does it mean the porn links and rumpage exploits have to come off to be in keeping with Poker Encore's image?

Well done guys

why does everyone think this is a level?

1
I actually think very shrewd move by Karl and Paul and Encore....will get attention, just everyone else suggested level!

Congratulations both, sounds great. Look forward to hearing more about it.

Congrats to my favourite greek and my second favourite rumpa.

I think my diary prob had something to do with this...

Well done guys!

Jokes aside, if true, the lads could actually add more value than many Red Pros. Simply because they both have a well read blogs and if they were able to do something interactive to encourage people to flock towards Poker Encore and actually stay there. They kinda both have their own 'community' of fan boys and that for me is more valuable than making some WPT winner a red pro and have them do fuck all for a year.

Obv if I was Karl I would have expected some pretty solid ideas about how they plan on adding value, but if they are going to embrace their own tribe, its not a far cry from what PKR/Party/Sky are doing and that for me is the future of sponsorship.

Congrats Fellas....

Excellent news for you both.

And to Vinny - this just shows where a good diary can lead to  ;)

Congrats to one of the nicest, funniest guys I have met through poker. Well deserved.

Oh, and well done Cos too.

Good work guys although I don't know simon It reads like you two are going traveling together.  Can we still follow your adventures on here or will it be on another site.

So details of the live events these pros are going to be playing as they seem to be embarking on a worldwide tour? What is Poker Encore's motivation in sponsoring a self confessed degenerate and the internet's biggest porn supplier since Larry Flint?

Just wondering that's all?

Oh obv congratulations guys if this doesn't turn out to be a pretty feeble wind up. 

Hehe jk fellas.

It's nice to see guys like you getting some kind of sponsorship deal.

Congrats :)

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii nice one cos

who would have thought the geeky greeky that used to be a gala notts degen would become a sponsered pro..congrats mate very pleased for you and amatay

 ;letsparty;

Congrats, both top fellas.

I don't know why this seems so unbelievable, but it does.

oioiiiiiii, wd guys.

yup sickos. wdwd xxx

This might just be the most surprising Thread of the year.

Have to say - & I don't quite know why - but I immediately assumed "level", which sounds rather churlish, but is not, not at all, it just sort of struck that nerve. Just never saw it coming, especially as I thought Cos was sort of giving up on Live Poker.

Delighted for Cos, Amatay, & for the guys at Poker Encore, who I respect immensely for the sheer hard work they are putting into their venture, which I've seen at first hand.

"Sponsorship" deals "as was" are dead in the water, they need to be different now, they need to sweat the player, & the player has to deliver, & quite right too, the free rides are gone. This one is deffo a left-field outside the box affair, & fair play to all who have stuck it together. I hope it works, genuinely.

Congrats guys :)

gratz. sweet little addition to the travel fund

Thanks all, nice of you to say tikay.

Grats to you both, does this mean that Amatay can no longer play at Swank Poker.

Thanks for all the rubdowns and congrats :) I think Daveshoelace sums it up best tbh.

Not sure what is gonna happen about the porn bit of my blog and the naughty posts btw, will have to speak to Karl. Maybe we can the change the companies name to Poke her hardcore or something?

Cheers

Damn you Mr Prew, I told you to get this up a week ago...now I guess we're going to have to roll with it....

Looking forward to having these boys involved with the site. Cos' thread is probably the one I go to 1st on here and you just know the next 12 months is going to be pretty action packed.

Lol, we got the Press Release at "Thursday, April 07, 2011 5:38 PM" & the Thread was started 6 minutes later!.....

Hope it works out for you, & Encore, Karl. Mr Jackson really pushed his luck with his Logo Size on the Sky Poker Cash Game earlier this week, he turned up like a frigging billboard. We told him "too big", so he turned up the next day with one which was one millimetre smaller. "That do?" he pined. How could we say no?

Next time, we'll invite you, instead. And I might even play that one. Because I care.

Sounds good - PLO one time?

Out of interest, how did the size of Paul's bade compare with Mr Channing & Co's that was allowed from the start ;)

Mr Channing's bade was legally & OFCOM compliant, it has to be said.

It was com to observe, to be honest, because Paul Jackson & Neil Channing were like blather blather blather, but Neil shaded the blather stakes, as he's just can't help himself, with "BBP" references galore. I adore him for it too, he pushes it as far as he can, & then draws back. both Neil & Paul were well helpful, too, it was our first time, so to speak, & we were whistling in the dark a bit. I confess, I was stressed to death for the entire 2 days.

The suggestion later arose for a future session of BBP v Sky Poker, which, technically/legally/OFCOM-ly is a bit awkward, but a Sky Poker v BBP v Poker Encore might be do-able. Do you have any good players on the books?

Omaha. Err, umm, I'll swerve that I think, you run too good for me. Or, more likely, are just too good for me. I suck. And PLEASE, quit with the "one time" thing, it does my bloody head in. "one time" is so yesterday, it's "triple range merging" this week.

PS - I'm hurting that you read this Diary before any others. Sigh.

One time PLO cash game pls, wanna beat Moansandlolz on TV.

When does that cash game air btw? Interrested to see it. Did it play deep?

Finally, do you know where triple range merging came from?

il play a uk plo cash game representing team Dubai, preferably higher than 2-5 tho surely

Seriously tempted, but the problem is, Omaha is not a commercially viable product really, not to spend a lot of time & resource on, anyway, as the % of Online play on Omaha is pretty miniscule compared to NLH, so that's where the Marketing spend is concentrated. Hence Televised poker is almost never Omaha, which I find rather sad, but it's easy to see why.

Even so, I'm seriously intrigued by a bunch of you high-rollers playing a deep PLO game for the cameras, it might just be a bit special.  Is Flushy any good at Omaha? Ever won anything, like?

Two further potential problems are that we can only really seat 6 (for reasons of camera positions & Studio limitations), but that'd be good, I think.

The other problem I need to check out. We don't use hole card cameras, we use playing cards which are sort of bar-coded (they have an embedded PIN I think), & that info is trasnsferred via an overhead camera/bar-code reader to a screen-graphic which includes the win % for each hand.  And I'm not sure if it's programmed for Omaha. I'll check it out.

Anyway, let's truncate this convo here, as we are hijacking the Thread, but happy to discuss elsewhere.

Grats to both!

+1 Gl Gl

A big congrats and I hope you do well to Cos Paparestis and Simon Jones  ;hattip;

Gillis

+1 well done guys

Yikes, looks like it's a sweet deal!

$40k in WSOP buy-ins 80:20. Mbn!

http://www.pokerencore.com/blogs/2011/04/wtf-that-donko-amatay-is-a-sponsored-pro-lolz/

dont read whilst grinding imo

Level upon levels upon levels itt.

oops lol

Just caught up. VWD guys..well deserved.

I like the idea that two characters, who will keep people entertained both online and live are sponsored :) gl

tyvm Acid. :)

James Dr Oetker Ootkins - woulda thought you realised Amatay was joking as just after the $40k buy ins bit he put..'Lastly, Karl and Paul have also agreed to boomswitch my ipoker account so I’m hoping to tear up the high stakes online cash games'.

Cliffs: MC is a clown.

lol James, wasn't sure if you were serious in your tweet earlier, i'm still abit confuzzled tbh. Obv the $40k in buyins is a blag but the company car is pretty sweet imo.

I was scan reading and thought you were serious at the time :)

I thought the company car thing was weird lol

lol you plum

looks sweet but they'll get hit by that south african tax that UK players have gotta pay now

can't wait for your next misread

:)

r they looking 4 poker pros or poker clowns??

wd my greek friend and the other guy ehich i dont know.

 :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost:

lol thanks frankham.

good luck in that 300 btw. grrrrrrrrrrrr lol xx

u meant the monte carlo and the 300 as well?

give me the money.

lol.. gl 2 u anyway