The other day I posted about how the WSOP is beginning to bore me and today I would like to take a look at something I consider to be a black mark on the both the industry and the event.
PokerNews is considering legal action against Tiffany Michelle because her agent found a loophole in her contract with PokerNews and she decided to sport Ultimate Bet gear while slugging it out to her 17th place finish in the WSOP Main Event. What people may or may not know is that this is so commonplace it’s not funny. Many of the players you see sporting Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Ultimate Bet, and other poker room logos did not qualify on those sites nor have some of them ever played on those sites.
When someone makes a featured table the reps from those room swarm all over the players with big wads of cash and pay them off for wearing their gear. Prices can be up to $20K for a featured table late in the event and by the time things are down to the final table or two the big stacks can sign deals for $50K to $100K depending on how far they’re expected to go.
Every year there are tales of one sponsor or another getting the shaft from the player who goes deep and then decides to forget how they got there. Jamie Gold’s infamous dispute with his sponsors is a perfect example of someone with selective memory. But it happens with many lesser known players and seldom do these disputes ever get much publicity.
It’s like a scene out of Jerry McGuire with Bob Sugar and the Cushman’s. A sponsor or a poker room qualifies or buys the player into the event, gives them gear, have a host taking care of them during the event, and then one day the player shows up sporting gear from some other sponsor. No discussions. No chance for counter-offers. Just some shady backroom deal to whoever flashed the most cash.
I don’t blame the players who take the deals other than to say that many of them do it on the sly and don’t even have the cahones to tell their original sponsor they got a better deal. They simply show up wearing gear from another sponsor. That’s just a poor way to do business and really ends up doing the player’s reputation as an honest business partner great harm. But then again, I guess some people could care less about their reputation.
I also can’t blame the online poker rooms or the other sponsors for trying to slap their logo on such a highly televised event. The lack of rules encourages it and any smart marketer is going to shoot whatever angle he can.
In general though this is something that Harrah’s needs to get a handle on. People are showing up at featured tables looking like a NASCAR driver. They’re wearing three, four, five different ads on their clothing and most of them are slap on patches that simply look ridiculous.
At the moment PokerNews is saying that they bought her way into the Main Event as well as several other events and had a contract with her. They think that her agent was able to find a loophole that allowed her to give PokerNews the legal middle finger and they’re rightfully pissed on a personal level. From a legal perspective they may be screwed though as even they are acknowledging that a loophole may have existed. While I would usually be saying bravo to her agent for being so creative I can’t quite bring myself to applaud someone who negotiates in the shadows under so much bad will.
Now all that being said, I do have to take PokerNews to task for their statement in which they say:
In regard to the Ultimate Bet and PokerNews relationship, Ultimate Bet has come under considerable scrutiny from the Poker Community for several scandals involving high-ranking employees and the use of defective software that allowed these users to see their opponent’s hole cards. As a result of such breaches in the online communities trust, PokerNews has decided that it will no longer promote this site within its network.
I’m sorry guys; I’m not buying it. PokerNews had plenty of opportunities to pull their support for UB but until this event they didn’t exercise that option. I have a hard time believing that their decision to pull support for UB has anything to do with the cheating scandals and has everything to do with feeling like they got knifed in the back by a business partner.
Listen, I feel like PokerNews got the shaft in their deal with Tiffany and that is reason enough for them to pull the UB promotions from their site but to try to take the high ground and claim that it was a result of the cheating scandal is highly questionable. Why now? Why include this vow in a official release about the situation with Tiffany Michelle?
Like I said, this particular incident, the whole buying and selling of players at the event in general, and PokerNews’ questionably timed decision to finally do the ethical thing all are black marks on the WSOP and online poker as an industry and the people who organize these events should take action before the WSOP becomes better known as the World Sponsorship of Poker.
James McManus, a PartyPoker qualifier who had been sporting Party colors all week at the WSOP, was approached by a Tilt rep while he was actually sitting at the TV feature table waiting for the first hand of the Day 6 to be dealt. They offered him $20K to rip up the Party patch he was about to put on and use their’s instead.
James is a loyal Party player and refused, sticking the Party patch on instead.
Two things anger me: firstly shady agents approaching players who are so obviously contracted to rival sites, and secondly making that approach as the player is actually sitting at the feature table trying to prepare mentally for the most important poker session of their life.
James deserves great credit for sticking with his morals and telling Tilt where to go. He ended up cashing for more than $96,000. GG.