Home / Poker News October 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – October Niners Find Sponsors
The Poker Grapevine – October Niners Find Sponsors
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2012-10-22 10:21
As the October Nine showdown approaches, the anticipation and the tension build, exerting pressure not only on the participants, but on their supporters and on the wider online poker industry as well. What exactly was the purpose of the October/November Nine move on the part of the
WSOP though, besides building tons of anticipation and pressure for the final showdown? When first introduced in 2008, the several month-long break was supposed to give players the time and the opportunity to “milk” their final table presence to the max, through various sponsors and endorsement deals. Back then, with no Black Friday in sight, the sponsorship market was of course much hotter than it is today.
Despite the generally adverse circumstances though, some October Nine members have managed to strike sponsorship deals earning an extra buck or two on the side. Jeremy Ausmus is the latest Octo-Niner to have inked a deal. TTAGIT Social Networks will be the entity sponsoring his final table appearance. Although Ausmus is entering the final table with the shortest stack, he still retains at least a theoretical chance to take down the $8.5 million top prize. Other October Niners who have managed to secure various sponsorship deals are Steve Gee, who signed a contract with PokerAce, Jesse Sylvia and Russell Thomas. Sylvia and Thomas have apparently signed with
888Poker.
In other news: last Tuesday, the WPT’s National Series Main event played down to a winner in Vienna, Austria. The winner of the €1.1k NL Holdem tournament was Slovenia’s Tomaz Kogovsek, who picked up €60.6k for his efforts. Kogovsek started the final table dash in a favorable position: sitting behind the largest stack. He took full advantage of his situation and he hammered home his edge, defeating Thomas Muhlocker heads-up.
