Mustapha Kanit and Adrian Mateos Join Team Winamax

Just in time for the WSOP Europe that kicks-off today, French poker site Winamax has recruited two top pros capable of taking down an event or two and heaping more positive publicity on the site, namely Mustapha Kanit and Adrian Mateos.
The players hail from Italy and Spain respectively, which is a departure from Winamax’s previous policy of recruiting players just from its own home country. With France, Italy, Spain and Portugal inching closer to a shared liquidity pool, however, Winamax has now decided to extend its reach beyond its immediate borders.
Mustapha Kanit, 26, is currently Italy all-time live tournament earner with $9,261,556 in winnings, with his biggest score to date coming last year after taking down the EPT Monte Carlo Super €100K High Roller for €1,462,000 ($ 1,653,491). Kanit has also won a further $4,686,540 playing tournaments online under the screen name Lasagnaaammm, mostly at PokerStars, and tweeting soon after his recruitment was announced, Kanit wrote:
“Ready for my 1st tournament with Winamax team. Top feeling! Top vibe!”
Meawhile, Adrian Mateos, 23, is Spain’s number 2 all-time money winner with $9,656,638 in winnings, with the pro having also captured three WSOP bracelets throughout his career. In 2013, Mateos earned his first bracelet by taking down the WSOP Europe Main Event for €1 million ($1,351,661), and since then has added another two bracelets to his tally in 2016 and 2017.
Commenting upon his reason for joining Winamax, and his expectations of the operator going forward, especially in light of the new player sharing agreement between some of the main European poker playing countries, Mateos stated:
“I think Winamax is going to play a very important role in the new market. I know they will fight to be an exemplary room.”
Post-Black Friday, sponsorship deals were few and far between as the poker industry tried to cope with the exit of US players from the market. As new ways to engage with audiences have become popular, such as through live streaming coverage, more and more pros are once again finding themselves offered lucrative sponsorship deals from major poker sites.