--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Don Del Grande" <don.delgrande@...> wrote:
>
> bobbartop wrote:
> >
> > I'm asking a legit question out of my own ignorance, because I don't follow the poker tournament scene, but aren't a lot of the WSOP entries from online satellites or something?
> >
>
> If I got the story right...yes and no. They aren't "official" WSOP satellites, but if you win one of these tournaments, the poker service pays your $10,000 fee for you (presumably under the condition that you wear one of their .net-site hats and T-shirts - they had to switch from the .com stuff when the WSOP organizers, at the "request" of ESPN (which was afraid of being fined, or worse, for advertising online gambling sites), banned anybody wearing any .com poker site merchandise from playing; if I remember correctly, players turned their shirts inside-out and put tape over the .com part of their hats until the poker services sent .net stuff for them to wear). It's no coincidence that the number of players dropped immediately after the ban on credit card companies processing online casino/poker charges took effect.
>
> -- Don
>
Prior to 2007, the WSOP allowed 3rd party registration into events. If you won a $10K Main Event seat on Party Poker or PokerStars then they would pay your entry directly to the WSOP.
Following the passage of the UIGEA in Oct. 06, the WSOP stopped allowing 3rd party entries. If you won a Main Event seat on PokerStars or Full Tilt they would deposit the package value, typically $10K-$12K into your online account. You had to register yourself and in many cases people just kept the cash. That's why the 2006 WSOP Main Event is still the largest live poker tournament in history. Starting in 2007 the online sites would encourage you to play by offering a bonus, typically $1K, if you actually played and met their requirements for wearing logos, etc. Most sites also offered bonuses if you cashed or lasted late into the tournament and therefore potentially had more TV exposure.
