By Adam Ulick | June 24, 2009

For the first time in its illustrious history, PartyPoker has announced that they are stepping into the player sponsorship pool by tapping English poker professional Ian Frazer to represent the company.

Besides their decade long sponsorship of their poker ambassador, professional player and World Poker Tour announcer Mike Sexton, PartyPoker has traditionally stayed out of the player sponsorship market. By naming Frazer as their first sponsored pro, PartyPoker is looking to build a powerful team through the players who participate in tournaments and cash games on their website. PartyPoker has a plan in place to build this team, putting an emphasis on their VIPs, player loyalty and historic links to PartyPoker. More members of the team will be announced in the near future and more details on the team concept will follow as the team is shaped.

Frazer is a 50 year old building contractor from London who has compiled a strong list of success on the felt. Nicknamed “The Raiser”, Ian has captured three major European titles at the 2005 888.com Pacific Poker Open, the 2006 PartyPoker European Open and the 2006 Goalpoker.com Champions League of Poker. In total, he has amassed over $1.3 million in tournament earnings and has money finishes in the three major tours (the WSOP, the WPT and the EPT) in existence.

Ian will be hosting his own invite-only tournaments on PartyPoker and just last Sunday won a package online for the Asian Poker Tour Macau event. Frazer will join a host of online qualifiers for the Macau event, but currently he is representing PartyPoker at several events during the action at the WSOP in Las Vegas. For those that are interested in Ian’s views on the poker world, he has started blogging about life on and off the felt in Vegas on the PartyPoker Blog.

Regarding his addition as the first sponsored player for PartyPoker, Ian said, “I am delighted to have got a deal with PartyPoker. It allows me to focus more on my poker than my everyday job. I have been involved with Party since the early Poker Den days so it is a deal that makes sense and is based on a strong relationship over a number of years.”

“I left Party for a while as I felt the software got dated and the VIP service dropped from the original top level”, Ian continued. “Since the October (2008) re-launch, however, the software is second to none and I’ve seen a massive amount of extra value given back through the new VIP system, which puts Party back at the top. I’m looking forward to finding out who will join me.”

When it comes to whom PartyPoker is looking at to join Frazer as a sponsored player, a spokesman for the online poker room stated, “We are looking for players that have shown themselves to have star quality in their play but who are also fun, humorous and possess a strong character and willingness to co-operate. With our extensive international television distribution, players will have an excellent chance for some exposure.

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