Close Call for Rafa Nadal in Head-To-Head With the World's Best Female Poker Player

Monte Carlo, Monaco (ots/PRNewswire) -

The world's number one tennis player and PokerStars ambassador,
Rafa Nadal has lost out to the world's best female poker player,
Vanessa Selbst in a heads-up poker game. Nadal finished with slightly
fewer chips than Selbst in a special charity poker game held at
Casino de Monte Carlo.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/71400516-rafa-nadal-vanessa-selbst-in-m
onte-carlo

Nadal was hoping to build on his poker tournament victory in
Prague last December, when he beat the likes of Brazilian football
legend Ronaldo and the world's number one poker player Daniel
Negreanu. Speaking about his first ever live heads-up poker
experience, Nadal said: "It was a great honour to play against a
strong competitor and although I lost, I had a lot of fun."

Selbst added: "Rafa played a great game, but the format and the
cards were in my favour. I was able to win by using aggression in
good spots and I also made a number of strong hands. I had an
excellent time with Rafa and I'm looking forward to the re-match!"

Alfonso Cardalda, Nadal's poker coach said: "Playing against
Vanessa was a very important part of Rafa's poker journey. After
winning in Prague, this was his next big step and he played very well
against one of the best poker players in the world."

Both Nadal and Selbst are well known for being extremely focused
and determined competitors, who possess the strategic and technical
abilities to succeed. Their coming together was a great battle of
minds.

Nadal faces a different type of opponent next week when he'll be
competing in the first round of the ATP Monte Carlo Masters, in
search of a record ninth title. Yale law graduate Selbst will next
participate in the PokerStars European Poker Tour event in Sanremo,
where she hopes to add to her impressive $9.6 million in poker
tournament winnings.

Five thousand Euros will be donated to Care International as part
of this charity event.

Images and video content from the event can be downloaded from the
links below.

Images: http://we.tl/58LHvvl74I# [http://we.tl/58LHvvl74I ]

Video news release: http://we.tl/WyTCgCtBsR

Highlight video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9PzmWgeC4A&feature=youtu.be

Contact: press@pokerstars.com

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Video:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/71400516-rafa-nadal-vanessa-selbst-in-monte-carlo

ots Originaltext: PokerStars.com
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