29.08.2008 MAW Communications get a full house for Gocompare.com Poker tournament

The reputations of The Sun, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Sunday People were at stake when journalists from national press took part in the first ever Gocompare.com charity poker tournament organised by MAW Communications.

The evening event for personal finance journalists was held in a private room at the Empire Casino Leicester Square and was complete with Vegas style showgirls and professional poker dealers. The evening was designed to cater for poker novices as well as experienced card sharps so pre tournament master classes allowed everyone the chance to gain a basic grasp of Texas Hold ‘em, the most popular variant of poker played in the UK.

MAW Communication’s Jason Wyer-Smith said, “With personal finance journalists from virtually all of the major national newspapers taking part it was great fun watching The Daily Mail take on The Sun and The Telegraph battling it out with The Times.  The Gocompare.com team enjoy a game of poker so it was something they could really get involved with.  As a hospitality event it worked really well.  Between games there were opportunities for the guests and hosts to get to know each other over a drink and a canapé and learn more about the Gocompare story.”

The Sun’s personal finance editor Charles Rae narrowly lost out to Gocompare.com’s own Marketing Manager Nick Hall after a thrilling final hand.  The top three players were able to make sizeable donations to their favourite charities and take a few Nintendo goodies home with them as well, all courtesy of Gocompare.com.

Jason continued, “The reaction from journalists was fantastic.  The PR team were flooded with ‘thank you’ emails the following day with one guest from Moneysavingexpert.com describing the evening as ‘the best press party ever!’ and another promising that their next girls night out was going to be a poker party.  The feedback really demonstrated the value of this kind of event and after such a great success it’s no surprise that we’re already planning next year’s tournament”