Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst honored at first American Poker Awards

ONCHAN, Isle of Man -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- PokerStars, an Amaya Gaming Group, Inc. (TSX: AYA) company, continued its award-winning streak on Friday night at the inaugural American Poker Awards, as Team PokerStars Pros and staff were victorious in three categories.

The PokerStars-sponsored ceremony, which took place at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles, saw Daniel Negreanu awarded the title of Best Poker Ambassador and Vanessa Selbst named Female Player of the Year, while PokerStars’ Head of Blogging, Brad Willis, won the Poker Media Content of the Year award for two PokerStars Blog articles he wrote during the 2014 World Series of Poker.

Commenting on his win, Willis said: “For all the deep gratitude I have, all of it pales in comparison to how grateful I am for Vanessa Pacella and Nicole Rowe [the subjects of the articles]. When I met them one morning in Las Vegas and heard their story, it seemed nothing else mattered. Yes, people were playing for millions of dollars. Yes, there were stories up and down the hallway. But standing there in front of me were two women who were tougher than anyone I would meet at the 2014 World Series of Poker.”

Alex Dreyfus, CEO of the Global Poker Index and the American Poker Awards, said: "The first edition of the American Poker Awards set a precedent and the line-up of award winners was amazing. I'm already excited knowing we will organise an even better event next year."

Jason Somerville, the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro, was also nominated for Poker Media Content of the Year for his online series ‘Run it UP.’ Somerville, who was announced as a Team Pro and PokerStars Twitch host on Friday resumed his Run it UP series yesterday.

The awards in LA are the latest in a haul of recent PokerStars-related honors that include:

• Three British Poker Awards
• Two International Gaming Awards
• Two Gaming App Awards
• Two eGR Operator Awards