PokerStars Announces Two New Additions to Team PokerStars Pro

ISLE OF MAN - PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site, has announced two new additions to Team PokerStars Pro after signing Marcel 'The Flying Dutchman' Luske and Jason "treysfull21"
PokerStars.com  Mercier.

Luske, the highly experienced Dutch poker pro, who won the European Poker Awards 'Life Time Achievement Award' in 2008, has had a long and successful professional poker career, with tournament cashes in virtually every country on the globe.

Luske is widely known in Europe for his distinctive and stylish dress sense, but he is also an incredibly sharp poker player and was ranked the number one poker player in Europe in 2001 and 2003 at the European Poker Awards.

It was not until the 2004 World Series of Poker however that Luske attained worldwide poker stardom, when he came second in a Stud Event and then finished tenth in the WSOP Main Event. With an even-keeled temper and uncanny ability to read his opponents, he continued to excel in 2005 and 2006, earning a coveted championship title at the Bellagio's Five Star World Poker Classic.

Luske not only has a reputation as one of poker's most skilled players, he is also one of the sport's most popular and respected faces. With his friendly personality, gracious demeanour, positive attitude and genuine kindness, he is always a welcomed player in any card room.

During 2007 and 2008, Luske devoted himself to founding the 'Federation Internationale de Poker Association' (FIDPA) aiming to standardise the rules of poker. Despite the demands of his new role, he still managed to make two final tables at the 2008 WSOP in Omaha Hi-Lo events. At the 'European Poker Awards 2008' at the Aviation Club in Paris, he received the 'Life Time Achievement Award'.

Today, 'The Flying Dutchman' has spread his wings to take on a number of projects - in addition to representing PokerStars worldwide. This includes several charity projects, television work and even music recordings. With his debut performance of 'The Poker Song' at Bluff Magazine's 2006 WSOP Party, Luske's childhood dream of becoming a singer ultimately came true and he still regularly performs at poker events and card room grand openings.

Jason "treysfull21" Mercier, already a PokerStars SuperNova Elite, has proved he's a force to be reckoned with on the live poker circuit with over $3.2 million in live cashes to his name since his first major tournament appearance at the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Many of his biggest victories have been gained on the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour circuit and only a few weeks ago he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet when he took down the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event.

"Becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro means a lot to me. I'm so excited to be playing for the site I first started playing on. I feel like this solidifies my standing as one of the top poker players' around." said Mercier.

Mercier first came to the attention of the international poker community when he took down the Season Four PokerStars EPT San Remo event for $1,372,893 after winning his seat via a steps satellite on PokerStars. Only a few months later, he finished sixth at the PokerStars EPT Season Five event in Barcelona, earning $324,946, and the following month he cemented his growing reputation by winning the PokerStars EPT London £1 Million Showdown High Roller tournament for £516,000 ($944,847). Playing against some of the best live tournament players in the world, Mercier bested an 85-strong field and tore apart a final table that included poker greats such as John Juanda, Scotty Nguyen, David Benyamine and Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier.

Mercier has had a superb run at the World Series of Poker this year with four cashes so far. On June 1, the young American beat 808 players in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $237,415.

Jason first started playing poker when he was 15, and was introduced to online poker while he was studying at college to be a Math teacher. After a successful run playing No Limit Hold'em cash games, he decided to play poker full time, multi-tabling $2/4 and $3/6 no-limit Hold'em.