Big name pros are aligning themselves with the World Poker Association (WPA) as it stakes its claim to be the international governing body of worldwide tournament poker.

Barry Greenstein, Kenna James, Phil Hellmuth and The Hendon Mob’s Joe Beevers and Barny Boatman are among the first players to sign up to support WPA founder Jesse Jones, a cancer survivor and consummate poker pro, who has cashed out over Top stars get behind governing body’s bid to standardise the game’s rules, ethics and player ranking system $500,000 playing in tournaments since 2003. Jones has set up the not-for-profit organisation in an attempt to create the poker equivalent of football’s FIFA or golf’s PGA, which also paves the way for poker to become an official Olympic sport.