Rafa Nadal, the legendary tennis player, became a part of Team PokerStars Pro in June 2012. The tennis star, who happens to be one of the richest tennis players in the world, couldn’t play tennis because of an injury.
While taking treatment for the same, he spent a few months in the company of PokerStars, perfecting his bluffing strategies and improving his game of poker. Nadal played a lot of poker, but became the winner for the first time while playing a €10 Freezeout tournament at PokerStars.es. As the champion of the event, Nadal won the first prize of €152.40.
The €10 Freezeout tournament lasted slightly more than 2 hours and Nadal defeated a player pool of 47 to emerge as the last man standing and win the top cash prize of €152.40.
Winning a small sum of €152 is not a big deal for one of richest tennis stars of the world. At the age of 26, Rafa Nadal has earned over $50 million playing tennis. While the actual amount won by Nadal is insignificant, what is significant is the fact that Nadal proved his ability to compete against tough opponents and win.
Speaking about his love for competing and winning shortly after becoming part of Team PokerStars Pro, Nadal said,
It’s no secret that I love to compete and try my very best in everything, whether that’s tennis, golf or video games. When I discovered the game of poker, I chose to join PokerStars because they understand what it takes to be the best and associate themselves with the qualities of champions. I’m very happy to be working with them.
When Nadal joined PokerStars for the first time, he was new to the world of poker gaming. However, he learned quickly, understood the strategies, and honed his skills thanks to the top-quality training he received about the secrets of poker gaming from the best poker pros at PokerStars.
Nadal joined Team PokerStars Pro because he had developed tendinitis of the knee and could not play tennis that season. As he recovered from the ailment, he practiced playing poker and presented an excellent performance at the €200 Main Event of the Spanish Championship of Online Poker (ESCOOP) till an opponent’s pocket jacks beat his Ace – King. Now that he has finally tasted victory, Nadal’s confidence has experienced a boost; and the poker community hopes that this will encourage him to win many more poker tourneys.
