Play Your Way on to TV with 888 and Poker Night in America
As part of their sponsorship with the TV show Poker Night in America, 888 has just announced a new promotion in New Jersey that will see the site award at least three prize packages for the upcoming PNiA stop at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
This will take place from November 14th through the 17th, including the chance to play in the televised cash game with some of the biggest names in poker.
The first prize package is for the Main Event tournament that will be held at the casino while PNiA is in town. The winner of the US.888Poker.com qualifier will receive the $1,100 buy-in and an additional $1,400 in expenses. 888 will award at least one seat to the Main Event based on the number of entries.
The second package is even more lucrative, as at least two lucky winners will get to play in the televised cash game and appear on the Poker Night in America broadcast. In addition to taking on the pros, 888 will foot the bill for each winner (a $5,000 buy-in for the cash game) and add an extra $1,000 for expenses.
Qualifying For The Prize Packages
Interested? Here is how you can win one of these packages at US.888Poker.com.
There are three ways to qualify for the September 1st and September 2nd qualifiers:
- Win a seat to a qualifier in our weekly freeroll
- Win a seat to a qualifier by entering a series of satellites with buy-ins starting at $1 (this is a four step process)
- Play directly in one of the qualifiers on November 1st or November 2nd (these are $500 buy-in tournaments)
For more information on these qualifiers and the Show America You Got Game promotion you can visit 888 Poker.
Why Is This A Great Idea?
When 888 was announced as an official sponsor of PNiA I got a little excited. Having a licensed online poker site sponsoring a televised poker show is everything we’ve always hoped legal poker in the U.S. could be. Something capable of delivering a marketing campaign the likes of which we’ve never really seen in the U.S. before.
Not only can 888 run commercials for their poker site, they have the opportunity to converge their online products with the PNiA TV show and direct buy-ins to events, something we haven’t seen in a very long time.
During the Poker Boom every amateur player wanted to be the next Chris Moneymaker. They wanted to win heaps of cash, win the WSOP Main Event, and get on TV and play with the pros.
It’s this last part that kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but Poker Night in America and 888 seem to understand the value of amateur players, either that or they must be listening to my advice. Back in July I claimed that, “I’d like to see more amateur players. Having people who are playing way above their pay grade adds instant drama to the game.”
Not only does it make for interesting TV, but it also makes your online product more appealing as you’re offering a way for people to accomplish two of the three points outlined above: win heaps of cash and get on TV and play with the pros.
This is why I think 888’s promotion in conjunction with Poker Night in America is a great step for online poker in the U.S.
