Mayor’s Charity Tournament Could Be a Boon for Online Poker in New Jersey
Last month I wrote an article at Bluff.com where I opined that the licensed online poker rooms weren’t doing enough to differentiate themselves from unlicensed rooms and were simply recycling the advertising and marketing the industry has been using for the past decade.
In my opinion, this is costing them players.
In the article I made a number of suggestions including the idea to, “Get some local celebrities together for an ad campaign that shows them playing legal online poker,” in an effort to boost awareness and pull in some mainstream press.
It appears one site may have been listening, as the World Series of Poker (WSOP.com) will be hosting the first annual New Jersey Mayor’s poker tournament for charity in Atlantic City on May 22.
“This is going to be a very exciting weekend in Atlantic City as mayors throughout the Garden State will come together at the most famous boardwalk in the world for the chance to compete amongst their peers for the benefit of charity,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “It’s an honor to have this amount of local support for our inaugural event; it’s going to be a great atmosphere and we look forward to seeing which mayor presents the best poker face and wins the grand prize.”
The tournament will take place at the newly minted WSOP Poker Room at Bally’s in Atlantic City and will be part of the lead-up to the World Series of Poker Circuit Series National Championship, which will be the first WSOP gold bracelet awarded in 2014.
The tournament will feature an undisclosed number of mayors from across New Jersey who will compete for a $10,000 first-place prize; a prize that will go to the winner’s charity of choice.
WSOP.com has also offered up the services of a poker coach (a professional poker player) to any mayor who wants a one-hour tutorial before sitting down with their brethren, and I’m almost more interested in seeing these coaching sessions than the actual tournament.
Here is a look at the mayors that have already locked up their seat in the tournament thus far:
- Atlantic City – Don Guardian
- Brick – John G. Ducey
- Freehold Township – David M. Salkin
- Galloway – Don Purdy
- Jersey City – Steven Fulop
- Long Beach Island – Joe Mancini
Special events leading up to WSOP National Championship
The Mayor’s Challenge is just one of three special events that will take place in the Bally’s Atlantic City poker room in the run up to the WSOPC National Championship.
The first will take place on Monday, May 19th at 6 pm, with Bally’s hosting a special freeroll tournament for select qualifiers, with the winner receiving a seat into the WSOP National Championship.
On Wednesday, May 21, an $1,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em poker tournament will take place in the newly minted WSOP branded poker room. Along with their tournament winnings the winner of this tournament will be awarded the last remaining qualifying seat into the WSOP National Championship.
The WSOP National Championship will be nationally televised on ESPN as part of their WSOP coverage.
In their press release announcing the special events and the WSOP National Championship, Caesars described the spectacle thusly:
The WSOP National Championship pits the top qualifiers from around the globe who have competed in a series of up to 264 events that earned them the right to compete for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and a prize pool in excess of $1 million in the three-day event May 22-24. For more information, please visit http://www.wsop.com/.
A golden opportunity
The New Jersey Mayor’s Poker Tournament will be a live event, but I would be shocked if Bally’s didn’t take advantage of the press and exposure the tournament to promote their online poker sites, WSOP.com and US.888Poker.com. With that in mind the tournament should accomplish two things (on top of the generous charitable contribution) for New Jersey online poker:
Raise awareness of online poker in New Jersey
When of the most remarkable statistics in recent polling is the lack of awareness among New Jersey residents that online gambling is now legal in the state. Furthermore, many players are unable to distinguish between the legal, licensed sites, and the unlicensed offshore sites still operating in the market.
The Mayors tournament could help raise awareness and brand recognition.
Add legitimacy to the industry
In addition to awareness, many players still have reservations about online poker, something the mayor’s tournament could help to alleviate, if Caesars markets their WSOP.com online poker site during the event.
