Zynga Poker Prodigy: Hugh Grant Talks About Becoming Site’s First Ambassador

By Sean Chaffin

Hugh Grant may just be the Daniel Negreanu of Zynga Poker. The 39-year-old Emory University academic adviser is one of the world’s top players on the platform. That success has now grown into becoming the site’s first poker ambassador.

Representing the company the last two summers at the Zynga Poker-sponsored WPT500 at ARIA in Las Vegas has produced come with some nice tournament results. In 2018, he finished eighth for $26,310 and followed that up this summer with 11th-place finish for $11,500.

As Day 1B got underway at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, Grant was once again leading Team Zynga and was decked in his Zynga Poker T-shirt and cap – and looking for another deep run. 

“The last two tournaments, we just kind of worked out a brand ambassador role for me,” he says. “This is one of the events I wanted to play. Anytime the WPT is running an event I’m interested and I wanted to play in one with a bigger buy-in. We put our heads together, and they thought this one be a good one to try out.”

As part of the deal, Zynga paid for the trip to South Florida and his buy-in for the event. Zynga has become a major partner with the WPT and announced a multi-year partnership agreement in February 2018. As part of the deal, the world’s largest free-to-play poker game introduced WPT-themed events and in-game tournaments.

The site also continues to bring qualifiers and VIP players to the annual WPT500 event as it makes more of a connection with the live tournament poker scene.

As a brand ambassador, Grant has been more active on promoting Zynga recently. He’s excited about his new role and has his eyes some other WPT events in the future including one of the three WPT events running in January – the Garden Poker Championship (January 9), the Lucky Hearts Poker Open here at the Seminole Hard Rock (Jan. 17), and the Borgata Winter Poker Open (January 26).

Poker, a game I love to play. Blessed to be here!@zyngapoker @HardRockHolly pic.twitter.com/dUSuPobI3G

— Hughgrantpoker (@hughgrantpoker) November 30, 2019

Originally from North Carolina, Grant now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he and his wife have a 3-year-old daughter. A graduate of Ohio University, he and his wife Aileen met at the school. He played linebacker on the football team and she ran on the track team. Aileen has joined him on the trip to the Seminole Hard Rock and helping with some Twitter posts about his progress.

When not playing cards, Grant enjoys spending time with family and friends and cheering on the L.A. Lakers. 

While he may be a Zynga card sharp, Grant has managed to make a nice transition to live poker. He may be planning to play more WPT events, but is not giving up his day job working with students. That doesn’t mean he won’t be betting and bluffing on his phone as well – he’s still playing plenty of Zynga Poker.

“I play pretty much every day,” he says. “It’s still fun. I use it as a mental break and to practice and work out things. That’s still going strong.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.