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#1
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EPT London - Victoria Coren
Bad news to those of you who are looking for long-term sponsorship deals.
Veteran British TV poker personality Victoria Coren won the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in London on Sunday. Coren becomes the first woman to win a TELEVISED OPEN event at either the WSOP, WPT, or the EPT. I now expect every British sportsbook and online poker room to bid for Coren's services as spokeswoman. Furthermore, I now expect the bidding for Coren to start at USD$500,000 per year for at least 2 years, for a deal worth well over USD$1 million. The sooner Vicky Coren gets her endorsement deal done, the better for everyone else. |
#2
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
How does this relate the nefarious interweb-china-WPT-mafia poker world domination scheme?
I'm confused [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] Regards, Woodguy |
#3
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
Buy up tin foil now! There's going to be a run on hats!
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#4
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
I had thought Vicky was sponsored by Paradise for quite a while, but I see her sporting Stars gear on The Hendon Mob's forum.
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#5
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
[ QUOTE ]
I had thought Vicky was sponsored by Paradise for quite a while, but I see her sporting Stars gear on The Hendon Mob's forum. [/ QUOTE ] SportingBet PLC discontinued all player sponsorships when it took over ParadisePoker.com. Signing Victoria Coren to a long term endorsement/sponsorship deal will cost PokerStars or one of its rivals an arm and a leg. I would not be surprised to see the bidding go above $1 million a year. I peg the absolute minimum bid for Coren's services as spokeswoman to be $500,000 a year for at least 2 years, if not 3 years. There is no doubt that every British talent agent who knows anything about TV poker and his brother and sister will be contacting Coren for possible representation. -- Coren's win at the EPT in London is bad for everyone else IN THE SHORT TERM who are shopping for sponsorship deals, as the entire online poker world will now be almost 100% focused on bidding for the Coren sponsorship/endorsement deal. However, once Coren gets her sponsorship deal done, the dollar amount of the deal will set a new benchmark for everyone else. That might be good for certain people in the long run. -- What is for certain: a "young gun" American who wins a single WPT event, a single WSOP bracelet, or a single EPT event is not worth much if anything at this point, as there is a glut of "young gun" Americans out there who have won a single televised event and TV poker ratings in the U.S. have flattened out in 2006, the 4th year of the TV poker phenomenon. The "young gun" will have to win TWO in a single year the way "The Grinder" did in order to be worth something to sponsors. Jeff Madsen did a quick deal with FullTiltPoker.NET after he won his 2 bracelets off camera. |
#6
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
[ QUOTE ]
I had thought Vicky was sponsored by Paradise for quite a while, but I see her sporting Stars gear on The Hendon Mob's forum. [/ QUOTE ] Yes she was wearing Paradise at the WSOP. [image]http://pokerfolio.com/Gallery1/WSOP-06/vicky[/image] |
#7
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
Because I'm Canadian we get all of the European poker tv shows and I see Victoria a lot from the celebrity poker showdown to the Ladbrokes Poker Million. She can play for sure unlike some overhyped North American women stars. I hope she has a good agent because she can fetch for a lot of dollars bills...
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#8
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
[ QUOTE ]
Because I'm Canadian we get all of the European poker tv shows and I see Victoria a lot from the celebrity poker showdown to the Ladbrokes Poker Million. She can play for sure unlike some overhyped North American women stars. I hope she has a good agent because she can fetch for a lot of dollars bills... [/ QUOTE ] Victoria Coren is almost "the total package": She can definitely play poker. She can act and she is photogenic: bleach blonde hair with a pleasant "face" and a good voice. She can write. The only minus I can think of: she smokes cigarettes. That might not be as bad for her image in Europe as it would have been if she were North American, but smoking is fast becoming an image-killer in Europe as well, especially for women. -- Below is a much better photo of Victoria Coren. You can decide for yourself whether Victoria Coren is worth USD$1 million a year to an online poker school or a sportsbook. (For comparison: Erica Schoenberg got a 3 year deal from MANSION that is worth around USD$400,000 a year, or USD$1.2 million total, with no prior track record.) |
#9
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
Olivert,
I think the # of sites sponsoring big names is actually decreasing. Full Tilt and Poker Stars are doing a lot more than they used to, but it seems like a number of medium/small sites have stopped. and when they do, it's for a very specific demo. So I agree that some 22 year old American has basically no value, but I also think deals for attractive players are harder to come by from most sites. The # of bidders seems to have decreased, but I'm not sure. |
#10
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Re: EPT London - Victoria Coren
[ QUOTE ]
Olivert, I think the # of sites sponsoring big names is actually decreasing. Full Tilt and Poker Stars are doing a lot more than they used to, but it seems like a number of medium/small sites have stopped. and when they do, it's for a very specific demo. So I agree that some 22 year old American has basically no value, but I also think deals for attractive players are harder to come by from most sites. The # of bidders seems to have decreased, but I'm not sure. [/ QUOTE ] The marketing focus of online poker schools have shifted from North America to Europe and "emerging markets". The European Continent is definitely THE hot spot right now, given that TV poker is peaking in Europe to the point where state-sponsored gaming monopolies in Germany, France, and Italy feel threatened enough to crack down HARD on the likes of bwin. Given that Europe lags behind the U.S. by two years, I would expect TV ratings in Europe to start declining in 2007 and flatten out by 2008, just in time for the poker industry to be forced to migrate to East Asia, where Macau (China) will be the obvious hub of activity, in order for poker to continue to grow. -- Back to Victoria Coren: 1. Obviously PokerStars will have to put in a bid for her services because PokerStars is the presenting sponsor of the EPT, and because PokerStars is positioning itself to go public on the AIM portion of the London Stock Exchange. 2. I would also expect FullTiltPoker.NET to put in a bid, as TiltWare is also positioning itself to go public in London. TiltWare already sponsors The Hendon Mob and TiltWare just spent a good chunk of marketing money to buy TV time on Sky Sports to present the FullTiltPoker.com Million Dollar Cash Game. I would be more than surprised if neither PokerStars nor FullTiltPoker were to bid for Coren's services, given that whichever entity that ends up with Coren will be able to use Coren's presentation event/press conference as a "marketing" event. |
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