Poker Writer
Zynga Poker is partnering with comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key as the host of a new game, “Poker Dash,” making it the latest poker brand to use a celebrity to promote its game.
The popular “freemium” mobile poker site will use Key to be the voice of the brand and use the tagline “Listen to Your Inner Winner” to encourage users to embrace the new game. Key is the prominent face of the game, with the new promotional content featuring him against colorful red backgrounds in a flashy red suit.
Key talked about his new partnership in the Zynga Poker release:
We’ve all got that little voice in our heads telling us to trust our instincts, mine can sometimes be a little more energetic than most. Getting to play everyone’s ‘Inner Winner’ was an absolute blast, and I love that players will hear me cheering them on, both when they’re watching the campaign, and when they’re playing Zynga Poker.
The partnership is the latest in a long line of celebrity poker endorsements. Most of them have not seemed to deliver the desired impact, with Kevin Hart’s association with PokerStars standing as the most notable.
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Poker Dash
Key will serve as the in-game host of “Poker Dash.” According to a Zynga rep, Poker Dash is a limited-time competitive event that is free to play.
The premise of the game is that players race against four opponents and compete in real time with the goal of accumulating as many chips as possible across three progressive rounds. The fastest player to hit each round’s target moves on, while everyone else has to start over from round one. The winners of all three rounds walk away with a chip reward that Zynga promises is “massive.”
One of the promotional images shows a screenshot of the game, with four players on a leaderboard. The players race to four hands won as Key cheers on in the background.
Key Featured On Celebrity Poker Showdown
Zynga promotes Key’s partnership as an exciting one that features the comedian’s signature high-energy style. The Michigan native actor does have some history with poker prior to this promotion.
In 2006, he competed on episode 4 of season 8 of Celebrity Poker Showdown. He defeated four others, including longtime co-star Jordan Peele, to win the preliminary round.
He then played in the season finale, the Championship Final. There, he lost to actor Jason Alexander, a celebrity who has been a familiar face in poker with several appearances at the World Series of Poker through the years. Alexander hosts a celebrity poker tournament of his own each year, with the proceeds going to cancer research.
Key also appeared in the 2017 movie Win It All, which features poker and gambling.
Key Joins Kevin Hart As Actor Turned Poker Promoter
Keegan-Michael Key is not the first actor-comedian to get into the world of poker promotion.
Kevin Hart has been a longtime proponent of poker and has represented PokerStars and PartyPoker through the years. Hart promised to “change the face of poker.” However, little developed from the partnership, aside from Hart pumping up some super high roller prize pools at major PokerStars Live events.
Hart has also played on High Stakes Poker several times. Several comments on the YouTube video praise Hart for being a decent player and fun to watch, particularly for his table-talk style of play.
PokerStars also had a brief fascination with inking athletes to sponsorship deals. It signed the likes of Usain Bolt and Rafael Nadal. Again, the partnerships seemed brief and yielded little.
Because of the popularity of its free-to-play option, Zynga may have a bigger reach than any other poker site that inked a celebrity partnership. They’ll be hoping Key’s charisma, combined with the attempt at innovating a new format, creates a bigger buzz than past journeys down this same road.
Image Credit: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (image) (license)
