Sponsorship.The Unpublished Blog

bennydip2

 Some of you will remember back in the autumn i did a series of 'blogs' here on SkyPoker and enjoyed writing about moments,  and times from previous live tournament experiences  in casinos  and abroad ..
What I can add is, about 'sponsorship' ?  Being sponsored by a company or an individual  or a syndicate. 
Back in the autumn i was going to write a blog about my experience as a sponsored player but at that time I was writing about lighthearted stuff and the truth was this subject appeared a bit heavy...   So in the light of the new promotion 'Total Player' by Skypoker, to offer a great deal for three lucky players to go to the WSOP main event , here's my take and experiences..



Yes I have had a couple of great sponsorship deals, one from an old poker buddy who ive know for many years as a player and now a successful business man, and we had some success at Luton where I won four   tournaments , two were in the early part of this year.

My other sponsorship deal was a bit of a disaster as  i never really read the terms and conditions properly, and i don't think it's going to upset anyone when i say it was with 'Bad-Beat' a well know company who  have a stable of very good players throughout the country, "The Guv" as I call him John Connolly is one of the nicest people you could  ever meet and a very very good player in his own rite.
What made that a disaster was, as i said, i didn't read everything and although at the beginning I was  second  rake earner for them in my first month.   What they did was to  deposited cash into my account and i got 50% of winnings ,  nice work if  you can get it ? or is it ?
This also earned me a  free entry into a 400 pound online tournament and this is what I didn't know. I had already planned to play the the main event in the Gala festival in Bournemouth. That was a fantastic event , where I   met up again with our old  skypoker player and analyst Norman Pace and his lovely wife Bev ..
 However the problem happened when I was  in the middle of  a hand when my mobile phone rang, it was 'Bad-Beat' on the phone asking me what was happening as I was being 'anti-ed-away' in the online tournament ?
OOPS  I had to tell them I was sorry but I'm playing Live in Bournemouth and didn't know about it , so I think that didn't go down well as I had not  told them about my plans and obviously they had lost money at my expense!
 
However this brings me back to the downside of  sponsorship. In most cases your expected to play either 40 hours  a week and keep  in profit every week, if you do that you deal gets bigger if you have a  losing week the deal gets smaller.
Now look at this from two ways, if you have to get a living ,mortgage, car and all the bills that go into running a home the your under pressure from the start, and a bad -run of cards that everyone goes through from time to time could end in disaster an for a lot of sponsored players it does.. 

For me, I was working and enjoying being assistant greyhound trainer and felt committing to a online schedule  would end up being dull and me getting stale and not playing for fun but trying to grind a profit  and that's just not for me.
The problem with my mate's sponsorship was, he got more involved with other players creating a stable and suddenly found with extra players he was not getting a return on his outlay and stopped it all..

 The thing about all of this is, yes there are sponsors out there, we even know a couple here at Sky, but it's a big commitment from both yourself and the sponsor and for you, you need to know that in chasing a dream you have to be good at what your doing and be totally committed to online poker !!   For  me   I'm not,   I play online for fun and entertainment and if i'm  honest I don't concentrate especially  if there's a good film on TV or X factor .  How ever if I play live, thats different I'm an altogether a different animal  in that arena, where you have real 'tells' and 'real players' , it's a different world altogether ..
 
So what about the TP (Total Player) here on Skypoker, well on the face of it  it looks great, some details seem a bit sketchy , however we all have to be aware that in trying to catch the eye of the 'mentor' we aren't over spending and trying to hard.
Ultimately  what you also need to know is,  just play what ever games you normally play and carry on enjoying the game,   I feel some will be disappointed but look it as a lottery ticket, your chances might be better than  that  but at the end of the day there are only going to be three winners ..
Get YOUR priority's right and if the poker fairy sit 's with you, well who knows , you might just get lucky..    .. good luck all benny

BANDICOOT

Sage advice Benny as usual. I think too many can't see the reality for looking at the dream.

MADMOO

Great advice Benny, interesting read as always x

oynutter

Good stuff benny, very interesting piece, no floppers getting a piece of my winnings!--nice read!

LML

Wow Benny, what an eye-opener. x

bennydip2

Thanks guys and Moo and Lisa ,, As you say  nutter thats a big key to being sponsored, you only get a percentage of  your winnings,    true it costs you nothing but your also not always in control of final table decisions .. there were a couple of time's on a final table, when down to the last four players, I didn't want  to do a deal with the other players, I was chip leader and running hot but the sponsor wanted to do a deal ....so it was out of my hands and i had to abide by that decision...  grr*)& *%^ !! 
One other thing , with live play the game is so much slower and you have all the time in the world , the main thing being after an opponent has made a big bet, live you have  2 minutes thinking time to act .... ...  Online   say here,   it's maximum 15 secs if you lucky, or with bad connection it can be 5 seconds or maybe 2 or even timed out before you can press a button !!  
So for me the real game   is Live and  un sponsored,  and always play for fun with no pressures

thanks again  Benny

oynutter

yeh benny---you say there that it costs you nothing, but it does cost you what you would have won in the same amount of time playing for yourself--innit---these people look at your ROI and see that you are a good investment, if you have played a few thousand games and have a 40% ROI, then you are 3x better than a bank, if they get half your winnings. They are buisnessmen, and at the end of the day, they are milking you. Thats how I see it mate.

EdGiddins

...   So in the light of the new promotion 'Total Player' by Skypoker, to offer a great deal for three lucky players to go to the WSOP main event



Hi Benny,

I really enjoyed your post too, thank you, I have to mention though there is 1 winner with the Total Player promotion, 3 tournament entrys but that 1 player gets all 3 entrys [SPT, £1000 UK based and of course the $10000 WSOP MAIN EVENT PACKAGE]
Catch you soon  Ed.

dav1964

that was a great read benny full of good info as usual.dav

bennydip2

Cheers Dav and ED ,   ahh  I see,  I said, I thought  it appeared a bit sketchy !
But then thats me as I said in the post,
"I never read the terms and conditions properly" !!  "doh" 

Thanks again,  and good luck in your adventure, it looks exciting and great fun   )

NoseyBonk

Nice 'Almost a blog', Benny, yours were and always are great reads!
Cheers!!