Would you pay $16,700 to have dinner with Phil Hellmuth?
Barry Carter discusses poker players selling charity poker experience packages at the WSOP, and makes some suggestions for alternative packages that might be popular.
This week it was revealed that a number of high profile poker players were selling experience packages with themselves at the WSOP for poker fans.
For example, you and five friends could play a single table tournament with Daniel Negreanu for $7,150 per person, get a VIP Vegas Night with Antonio Esfandiari for $5,970 per person, or hike Red Rock Canyon with Liv Boeree for $1,250.
The most notable package, however, was a $16,700 package to have dinner with Phil Hellmuth.
Now before I get into full on snark mode, it is important to note that all these packages, available at IfOnly, will see a portion of the package money go to charity. So I hope they all get snapped up.
But on face value, are these packages worth it? And maybe the bigger question is, who on earth would pay $16,700 to have dinner with Phil Hellmuth?
Are poker players celebrities?
The answers to these questions really can be determined on whether we class poker players as celebrities. There is no doubt that we poker players consider them as such within poker, but are we so star struck by them that we would pay to hang out with them?
I guess you have to be in the know, and maybe I am not the best person to say this considering I have a large number of contacts in poker due to my job, but it really isn’t difficult to meet a famous poker player. You just have to show up at a major event and say hi – all the players mentioned above are very approachable and great with the fans.
Maybe the more relevant factor here is that these packages are available during the WSOP. If you want to rub shoulders with the poker Glitterati, then a more ideal gift for the poker fan would be to buy them into a tournament.
You won’t be guaranteed to share a table with Phil or Daniel, but it would be a much better investment to spend $10k on a non-hold’em championship event like Razz (Where the field will be made up of big names) than spending $7,000 to hang out with them. Not only would you likely have more fun, but you could feasibly win money.
For the fans with deep pockets
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, and more power to everyone involved if this gets a lot of interest, because at the end of the day charity will benefit. For those with deep pockets, who could probably not care either way about the WSOP itself, then I could think of worse things than hanging out with a stand up ambassador like Negreanu.
In fact some of the packages seem decent value. You can also get private tuition from many of the players mentioned. Although they are not known for being coaches, there is no doubt that would still be a memorable experience and a great claim to fame to have been coached by Hellmuth/Negreanu/Esfandiari.
Maybe the best value package of all would be the VIP Vegas Night with Antonio Esfandiari which costs $5,970 per person. I imagine that is how much a night out with the Magician would cost anyway and he has always struck me as the one guy you would really want to party with in poker.
Though I still can’t rationalise why anyone would spend $16,700 to have dinner with the Poker Brat (Play against him, sure). Sorry Phil.
Alternative poker experience packages
While we are on the subject, what other poker experience packages would be worth paying a hefty price for?
A day of prop betting with Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari: Maybe even more fun than a VIP Vegas Night, a chance to replicate the shenanigans of I Bet You with the two official jesters of poker would probably be an experience to remember.
Front of the queue to play Gus Hansen online: I’m not saying mere mortals like you and I could beat him, but I imagine most of the nosebleed players would pay a hefty premium to charity to queue jump Gus’s table.
Being an extra in Rounders 2: There has only been one great poker movie so far, and this is our only shot at a second, so how cool would it be to be one of the extras at Mike McDermott’s table in the green-lighted sequel?
Getting to pelt Howard Lederer with rancid tomatoes: Now most players have their Black Friday bankrolls back, what better poker experience to purchase than a little bit of revenge?
Getting to be Dan Bilzerian for 24 hours: I’m not a fan of the guy, I don’t think he deserves any of his good fortune and I try my best not to give him publicity on this site. But I think most red blooded men would probably love to spend a day in his shoes nonetheless.
Would you pay for one of the poker player experience packages mentioned? Do you think they will be popular? Do you have any alternative suggestions for poker experience packages that would be popular? Let me know in the comments box.
 Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.
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