GGPoker Cuts Affiliate Partnership with Vanessa Kade Over Bilzerian Issue

GGPoker’s decision to sign Dan Bilzerian as its newest ambassador had raised some eyebrows among the poker community. The self-proclaimed “King of Instagram” likes to portray himself as a playboy and a successful high-stakes poker player.

Bilzerian has become an infamous celebrity for his misogynistic character – he constantly posts photos of him with near-naked women acting like his servants.

He has also been part of a number of controversies which include a stunt going wrong when he threw a naked porn star, Jennifer Griffith, off a roof into a pool, which resulted in Griffith suffering an injured foot. He doesn’t mince his words when hitting back at his female critics.

That’s why it came as no surprise why GGPoker’s decision to partner with Bilzerian attracted a lot of negative reaction from the female poker community, with Vanessa Kade choosing to be vocal about her disappointment.

The Canadian poker pro ranted on Twitter, describing Bilzerian as a “sleazy, sexist tool” who is not fit to represent the game of poker. As a response, Bilzerian labeled Kade a “hoe” who should just shut up because nobody knows who she is. Kade continued with her rants, attacking GGPoker and Bilzerian for a few more days. Little did she know that her comments would lead to the termination of her affiliate marketing account with GGPoker.

Sponsoring a sleazy, sexist tool with toxic followers as poker’s biggest ambassador lends validity to the idea that he’s an accurate representation of our sport.

Not unlike supporting a president with similar traits because he would benefit our bottom line.

Not worth the price. https://t.co/890sSmMSl1

— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) December 3, 2020

Quiet hoe, nobody knows who you are

— Dan Bilzerian (@DanBilzerian) December 4, 2020

GGPoker Closes Kade’s Affiliate Account

As the world was celebrating International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8, Kade was told she would no longer be one of GGPoker’s affiliate partners.

A representative named “Rachel” sent a message to Kade, blaming her previous comments against GGPoker and Bilzerian for the termination of her affiliate account. Rachel defended the site from Kade’s misogynist accusations and praised GGPoker for supporting women. She also said she had not experienced any sort of inequality issues working with the company.

Kade shared the conversation between her and Rachel via Twitter the following day and criticized the site for failing to acknowledge any wrongdoing. In her responses to the Rachel, Kade revealed that she has friends who work for GGPoker and could attest to her claim that the site indeed does not respect women.

Well,@GGPoker finally responded to the Bilzerian mess, by terminating my residual affiliate account from way back (idgaf) – a day after International Women’s Day, and not acknowledging any wrongdoing or anything remotely close to an apology.

Seems about right. pic.twitter.com/f9TMKBoVrc

— Vanessa Kade (@VanessaKade) March 9, 2021

Kade previously promoted GGPoker on her Twitch channel, and in return she would get a commission for every follower who would register with the site using her affiliate link.

Paul Burke, spokesman for GGPoker, released a statement on the issue. He said Kade failed to comply with her affiliate terms with GGPoker. According to him, the Canadian poker pro chose to attack the site and damage the brand instead of acting as a partner. For this reason, her affiliate account was officially closed.