The 26-year-old, 11-time Grand Slam champ will learn the game from current PokerStars pros and help promote online poker in Spain following the recent awarding of government licenses to online poker sites.
“It’s no secret that I love to compete," Nadal said in a release, "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.”
Nadal will stick to tennis for most of the summer but when his schedule frees up in the fall he'll start representing PokerStars in online poker tournaments, appear in more advertising campaigns and play in charity poker events.
Fans can join Rafa on his poker journey on his own page at PokerStars and Twitter followers can use the #nadalpoker hashtag to send messages his way.
Sign up at PokerStars via our review page to be eligible for an up to $600 sign-up bonus and exclusive monthly Sunday Million freerolls.
Help Rafa Learn Poker, Win an EPT Barcelona Package
In support of the signing PokerStars is also running a contest to help Rafa learn to play poker.
Players can send in a video with their top poker tip for Nadal and he'll give out exclusive prizes for the videos he thinks give him the best advice.
The player with the most impressive video will win an EPT Barcelona prize package (Aug 19-25) including the €5,300 Main Event buy-in, eight nights hotel and €1,500 for expenses.
The winner and five runners-up will get a chipset signed by Rafa and everyone who submits a suitable video will get a $22 MicroMillions Main Event tourney ticket.
Send your full name, PokerStars ID and video to nadal@pokerstars.com to enter.
Note: Video submissions must be < 30 seconds, under 15MB and be an MP4, .AVI, .FLV, .MOV or .WMV file. One entry per week, per person is allowed.
Video also must be in English and you need a PokerStars ID to enter. Sign up for one here.
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