The Changing World of Poker Sponsors
Playing in the highest buy-in tournaments backed by a rich sponsor is a dream for most players. In return for a logo on your hat or jacket many pros are bought into the large events by their sponsor, just look at any photo of your favourite player most of them having a logo placed somewhere about their person. Normally they even get to keep any winnings. Sponsors are gambling that their player will do well and give them exposure through T.V. coverage at a final table appearance. Players selected for these sponsorships are those who are either very well-known professionals, or younger players who have a high profile final table appearance at the WPT or WSOP. Unfortunately that was how it used to work. Sponsors want less gamble and more return for their sponsorship, so a new trend of allocating money to players is emerging.
Poker rooms used to scour the final tables and offer crazy money to wear hats, jackets and logos for the TV stage of the coverage. One player I know earned close to $50,000 just for wearing a jacket from a large poker room when he made a final table at the WSOP in 2008! If you look closely players on final tables they are usually covered in logos, and poker rooms pay big money for those livery spots. Whilst the poker sites gain exposure from this, they are not being totally honest with players. The players endorsing the site are doing so because of the money, not because playing at this site improved their game and helped them reach the dizzy heights of the final table they now sit at.
Pokerstars are the largest poker room at the moment, along with Full Tilt Poker. Pokerstars normally sign the winner of the main event as a Team Pokerstars pro. Full Tilt offer players red pro status with an excellent rake deal. This does not mean that they played at Pokerstars or Full Tilt before they become well-known, but they probably will afterwards after getting a good deal.
Poker rooms quickly realised that a major benefit is having players fighting for sponsorships before having their big score, so that many players increase their rake. This way the players really earn their sponsorship, not by getting lucky in one tournament but by sustained use and success at the poker room offering the money.
Betfair poker was the first room to sponsor their most active and prolific poker members. John Tabatabai, Annette Obrestrad & Sorel Mizzi were, and still are, high rake generating members of the Betfair site. Because they were so loyal Betfair rewarded them by placing them high in their branding of their poker room.
Nowadays if you are a high raking player you have a good chance of being offered buy-ins into the live poker events to publicise the fact that you, as a good poker player, have chosen their specific poker room. Other rooms are following suit, with Ladbrokes poker sponsoring John Kalmar, who played on Ladbrokes Poker, then had great success in the World Series main event in 2008, finishing 5th.
There is still the opportunity for you to bag a good payout if you reach a live final table. Poker rooms will still pay you to wear their logo. But it is worth keeping watch for the offers some of the growing poker rooms are making to high volume players. Some are giving them great exposure by buying them into main events and featuring interviews with them on their site, amongst other things like personal appearances and so on. Poker rooms are looking to reward their loyal players, so take advantage of this if you get the opportunity. Also, look for qualifiers and freerolls that cheaply can take you to the big poker tournaments.
By Malcolm Clarke
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Tags: main event, online poker, playing poker, poker, poker player, poker tournament