The Poker Beat - July 1

[IFlyLikePaper]

Originally Posted by 5carab

Vanessa Selbst was described as a solid player... LOLOLOLOL! Selbst is a fantastic player, but solid is about the least solid player on the circuit, right up there with Kevin Saul, Shaun Deeb, Faraz Jaka and Tom Dwan.

She is solid. Define solid. I say solid means results.

[Willing2die]

Scott Seiver was the name that came to mind when they were discussing free agents on the show.

[IFlyLikePaper]

Originally Posted by Willing2die

Scott Seiver was the name that came to mind when they were discussing free agents on the show.

Scott Seiver obv.

On a side note, they were talking about US players only. Lotta talent across the pond!

[The 6th Wilbury]

Originally Posted by IFlyLikePaper

She is solid. Define solid. I say solid means results.

I chuckled at this, too. To me, a "solid" poker player is a tight-aggressive, relatively ABC player. Other than aggressive, none of this describes Selbst accurately.

[The 6th Wilbury]

Originally Posted by Willing2die

Scott Seiver was the name that came to mind when they were discussing free agents on the show.

Originally Posted by IFlyLikePaper

Scott Seiver obv.

On a side note, they were talking about US players only. Lotta talent across the pond!

Ah, I skipped right over him when I was thinking of my list. For some reason, I had it in my head that he was a PokerStars guy.

[5carab]

If I was signing one guy (without my bias towards the likes of Haxton, Bonomo and Galfond) then surely someone like Jimmy Fricke has to be near the top of the list. He does stuff like PRR etc. and that makes him a valuable asset regardless of TV coverage. However, I guess him being a "weird dude" doesn't help

[Willing2die]

He invokes curiousity and conversation which seem to be qualities that I would want in my pros if I was a site.

[IWantSomeCheese]

Now that Durr, Laak, and Antonio all have deals, there pretty much no one the general public knows and that has TV presence is unsigned (that comes to mind). Online sites aren't sweating who's gonna Seiver (altough he's entertaining), Galfond or CHarder.

When it comes to getting a sponsership deal:
TV Presence>>>Skill

[BJ Nemeth]

It would be great if we could poll the general poker public to see who there favorite players are ...

Oh, wait. We just did. The WSOP Tournament of Champions. Here's the list, in order of public preference:

1 PHIL IVEY 16,267
2 DANIEL NEGREANU 16,239
3 DOYLE BRUNSON 13,796
4 PHIL HELLMUTH 12,673
5 CHRIS FERGUSON 11,585
6 ALLEN CUNNINGHAM 10,486
7 JOHNNY CHAN 10,434
8 SCOTTY NGUYEN 9,834
9 BARRY GREENSTEIN 9,806
10 JOHN JUANDA 8,835
11 ERIK SEIDEL 8,802
12 JENNIFER HARMAN 8,206
13 HUCK SEED 8,180
14 DAN HARRINGTON 7,342
15 T.J. CLOUTIER 6,281
16 SAM FARHA 6,085
17 HOWARD LEDERER 5,596
18 GREG RAYMER 5,404
19 JOE HACHEM 5,272
20 ANTONIO ESFANDIARI 5,129

On that list, here are the players who don't seem to have a sponsorship:

Johnny Chan
Dan Harrington
T.J. Cloutier
Sam Farha

On that list, Dan Harrington seems like the only guy who has a clean image that tends to appeal to sponsors. But he hasn't been playing a lot of tournaments lately, and doesn't tend to appear on TV lately. But fans clearly still like and respect him, so that has to have some value.

Sam Farha seems like a strong candidate for sponsorship. He's different from most of the current pack of Full Tilt and PokerStars pros, but he's got his own iconic image that makes him memorable. (The unlit cigarette in an era when smoking isn't allowed in poker.)

Johnny Chan has had business troubles that may scare away sponsors, and T.J. Cloutier has had gambling troubles that may scare away sponsors.

On the show, I mentioned Scotty Nguyen, who is easily one of the most popular and recognized poker players in the world. While Scotty is sponsored by Expekt Poker, I'm not sure how strong of a sponsorship that is. I feel like if a big site (Full Tilt, PokerStars) or a spend-the-money new site (Victory? Someone else?) wanted to sign Scotty, they could probably outbid that deal or pay the penalty clause. That's why I mentioned Scotty on the show -- he's not a free agent, but he can still probably be picked up as a sponsored player.

If I could sign any "free agent," I'd probably go with Scotty Nguyen first, and then either Sammy Farha or a young, media-friendly player that I was ready to take a gamble on.

[The 6th Wilbury]

Originally Posted by BJ Nemeth

It would be great if we could poll the general poker public to see who there favorite players are ...

Oh, wait. We just did. The WSOP Tournament of Champions. Here's the list, in order of public preference:

Nice. Although keep in mind... that's only a list of the favorite bracelet winners.

In a way, Harrington already is his own brand. Not quite like John Heisman is to football or James Folger is to cheap coffee, but the same idea -- as time goes by, his name is becoming more associated with an entity than to a person who bears it. (It reminds me of a co-worker who was amused to learn that the all-time major league wins leader is Cy Young. He always thought it was an award, like Oscar.)