Since Chris Moneymaker’s historic 2003 win that turned the poker world upside down, 11 players have surprisingly been crowned World Series of Poker Main Event Champion.
Interestingly, none of these champions have truly evolved into poker superstars, Joe Hachem being the nearest exception. In most situations, they aren’t even marketable. However, as I’ve expressed privately, I believe that the overall value of WSOP Champions is much higher than the individual parts, making a group of WSOP Champions highly marketable, even if Jerry Yang or Pius Heinz aren’t marketable individually.
Taking into account WSOP.com’s recent recruitment of the 2012 WSOP Champion Greg Merson as an ambassador, I believe it’s the perfect time to share one of my promotional ideas. This idea aims to unite online and live poker, leveraging the prestige associated with the title of WSOP Main Event Champion.
I have a million-dollar concept of organizing a Champion of Champions tournament at the 2015 World Series of Poker. This idea can also be applied to Borgata/Party/WPT, featuring past Borgata Poker Open winners or previous WPT $25k Champions. The tournament would create a unique competition where all these internet-era champions compete against each other. This televised tournament promises to generate excitement not just from the massive amounts of money these millionaires are playing for, but also from the inherent drama of the competition.
To begin with, this idea is likely to work only if the tournament is broadcasted by ESPN, owing to the anticipated high drama between the former champions and the online players they represent. I will elaborate on this shortly.
This is how the actual tournament would operate.
The basic setup
To start with, this would be a freeroll tournament aimed at enticing every past champion to participate and ensuring they give the tournament the attention it warrants. Here’s my proposal for the payouts, assuming 12 participants, though the total including Moneymaker is 13:
- $100k
- $50k
- $25k
- $10k
- $5k
- $3k
- $2k
- $1k
- $1k
- $1k
- $1k
- $1k
That’s a total of $200,000 (from Caesars’ funds).
This idea might remind you of the 40th anniversary tournament hosted by WSOP back in 2009, which Tom McEvoy won (if I remember correctly, the prize was a car then), but it’s more than just 12 past champions competing against each other.
Besides increasing the prize pool, there’s another significant twist that propels the entire promotion. I aim to link the tournament closely with the company’s online poker site.
Tying in WSOP.com
Prior to the main event, WSOP.com plans to hold 12-13 satellite tournaments. Each winner will get a 50% share of a previous champion’s winnings.
All these winners from the online satellite will be flown to Vegas for the tournament. The tournament could happen either on Day 1a or Day 1b of the Main Event. The night before the tournament, they would participate in a random draw to find out which former champion they will be paired up with. They will then own 50% of the champion’s stake.
Moreover, these qualifiers will participate in a parallel tournament concurrent to the WSOP Champions, offering a similar prize structure (an additional $200k from Caesars’ funds). This guarantees each satellite winner a minimum of $1,500 (on top of any prize-package they receive for attending the WSOP). However, potential winnings could climb to $50,000 from their share of a Champion, $100,000 if they win their tournament, and potentially even higher.
How much more?
If both the champion and his partner manage to win their respective tournaments, you could award them an additional $50k each as a creative incentive. Consequently, WSOP.com would be liable for $400k-$500k in prize money, as well as the costs required to transport these players to Vegas.
Borgata / partpoker organized a somewhat similar tournament in New Jersey (where players qualified online) and offered a prize of $1 million. Therefore, I don’t believe offering $500k is unreasonable.
Clearly, the amount of prize money can be tailored to fit Caesars’ budget. However, there’s a significant potential for merging online and live poker, particularly the WSOP, as well as an opportunity to capitalize on the recent WSOP Champions.
How can you elevate the marketability of Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Peter Eastgate, Joe Cada, Jonathan Duhamel, Pius Heinz, Greg Merson, Ryan Riess, and the 2014 champion over that of Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth? By uniting them under one banner and focusing the tournament on amateur online players competing for life-altering sums of money.
