An in-depth look at poker sponsorships Part 1: Sponsored Players

Let me start off by saying that if I was a good enough poker player to merit a sponsorship deal I would almost assuredly take it, so I place no blame on the players for the degeneration of poker that sponsorships have wrought -Don’t hate the player, hate the game-just like you can’t fault a rich advocate for higher taxes not taking his tax break, or an army veteran who is opposed to government-run health-care making use of the VA.  But there are a number of problems with the current sponsorship situation in poker.

Obviously sponsored players are likely happy with the current state of affairs -or at least content-since they are receiving more money, and more exposure, which brings about the chance for a bigger sponsorship deal, and then more money!

Unfortunately, what many people don’t realize is that aside from the very top players, the compensation for sponsored pros is usually limited to a really good Rakeback offer, and partial or full entry into major live tournaments, and travel expenses. To me this creates a major competitive imbalance in the poker world.

Personality trumps Skill

Players who have already made their name typically get the VIP treatment -full entries and travelling cost-which allows them to enter more tournaments and not have to worry about their results. On the other hand, the up-and-coming players are forced to play a far more sparse tournament schedule -especially considering the huge buy-ins for the premiere tournaments nowadays which shuts out even more potential star players-and have to rely on their skill to pay the bills, not their sponsorship deal.

This power vacuum allows the biggest names to remain at the top while players of equal, or even better skill, are almost shut-out of what is becoming a very exclusive club. So once you are sponsored you are in effect playing with house money, and unfortunately for the top players of today, it’s the players who were on top when poker exploded that have reaped all of the rewards -with a few notable exceptions of course.

It’s also possible for these players to point to tournament results, which as I said are 100% paid for by their sponsors and because of the sheer number they get to play they are surely going to win one here or there, and they can simply disregard their reputation in cash-games, since these numbers are virtually untrackable, and even online results are simply not common knowledge despite a number of sites tracking these games.

In Part 2 of this series I’ll take a look at the NASCAR like feel surrounding major tournaments, with poker players wearing 10 different patches stuck to a sweatshirt and baseball hat with what looks like Gorilla Glue!