Column: Who Should Represent the New Team Full Tilt?
Following the announcement that Gus Hansen would be the first Full Tilt Poker pro after its relaunch, Barry Carter asks what the new sponsorship model should look like at the site.
The Full Tilt story appears to be drawing to a close and it looks like it will soon be business as usual again. The poker room will reopen on November 6, FTOPS is scheduled for December and Gus Hansen has been announced as the first official sponsored player for the new look site.
Gus Hansen is a pretty easy choice to represent the poker room going forward. He is a likeable and entertaining player to watch and interview. He is a big name in both Scandinavia and the rest of the world.
Perhaps most importantly, recently he earned a lot of kudos from the poker community after Howard Lederer revealed how passionately Gus had been fighting the corner of the players in FTP board room meetings.
So we know Gus will be the first "Red Pro" at Full Tilt 2.0, but who should be joining him?
A smaller roster?
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| The glory days of Team Full Tilt |
If it were me, I would be opting for a much smaller, in fact a comparatively miniscule, roster of sponsored players to represent Full Tilt going forward.
This is partially because I don't see a great deal of value in sponsoring poker players. If I were to sponsor someone, it would either be someone with a huge localised following (Like Joe Hachem in Australia, for example) or a celebrity outside of poker who appeals to more mainstream audiences.
The other reason why I really hope FTP doesn't go overboard with sponsorships is because I think it would be in poor taste. On Black Friday the site had over 250 "Red Pros" and given the cash flow problems they had, surely the sponsoring of so many players looks unsustainable and wasteful in hindsight?
Especially when you add the fact that so many former poker heroes have been exposed for owing, and not paying, money to the site. There is a very strong feeling in the poker community that these players took a joyride with our money. I think the mass sponsoring of pro poker players would be looked upon very bitterly this time around.
Protect the reputation
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| E-Dog has no place on Team FTP |
But it has already been confirmed that Gus will be joined by other big names, so who can we expect?
I think first and foremost, FTP has a PR makeover to undertake and the priority should be preserving the reputation of the site, and poker in general. There are so many players who are currently having their names dragged through the mud in one way or another who should not even be considered.
Players like Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, David Benyamine and Phil Ivey. Players who are said to owe money or in some way have blocked earlier attempts at a takeover deal. I'm not saying any of these players are guilty of the things they have been accused of, but while there is still a question mark they should be excluded from sponsorship talks.
Some players came across very well from the former FTP ranks who could and probably will be sponsored. Erik Seidel and Tom Dwan for example (I know the latter owes money to the site but he has made a public pledge about it and was the most vocal team pro after Black Friday).
No Americans (yet)
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| Will Isildur1 and durrrr get sponsored? |
Since the relaunch is happening everywhere but the United States, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to go giving those patches back to US players. Tom Dwan is the possible exception here, as are a handful of other American players who have moved in order to play online poker (Phil Galfond springs to mind).
Sam Trickett is one of the most talented players poker at the moment and being a European probably makes him a good bet to get signed up. Patrik Antonius is another name I would expect to see rejoin the site. They are both currently sponsored by the ISPT but I could see them dropping those deals or waiting until they are finished before signing with FTP.
Arguably the odds-on favourite to see their name in red is Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. He made his name on FTP and also made the cash games on PokerStars much more exciting when they sponsored him. He is also obviously a big name in Sweden.
A lot of people think his recent parting of ways with PokerStars was actually just a tactical way of being able to announce him as a Red Pro later on, and assuming he really did leave Stars on good terms, I expect that exactly to be what it was.
Business as usual?
A lot of people, myself including, are really looking forward to playing on Full Tilt again because the games and software were fantastic. I think most of us are hoping that the experience will be a return to how things were at the site and the things we loved, rather than an attempt to change it too much.
However the one change I want to see is FTP taking a much more prudent and frugal approach to sponsorships this time around. The industry has changed dramatically since poker players last wore Full Tilt patches and the old Red Pro model looks like a disaster waiting to happen with the benefit of hindsight.
