Celebrities and poker

Celebrities are popping up all over the poker world; however, most of them have no idea how to play. Is this causing the game damage, or is extra exposure always beneficial?

In recent years more and more celebrities have involved themselves in the world of poker. Whilst this is good as it drew more attention to the game, the problem is that most of the celebrities have no idea what they are doing so the game begins to appear to be a matter of luck rather than skill. The question is, are the celebrities ultimately doing the game more harm than good?

Celebrities are normally involved in poker through charity events, television appearances or sponsorship deals. For example, every year the WSOP hosts the charity event Ante Up For Africa, this is hosted by Annie Duke and Don Cheadle and has so far raised millions for Refugees International. The event has attracted celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Montel Williams, Matt Damon, Jerome Bettis and Evander Holyfied which has only served to further the attention from the press. Clearly this can only be a good thing.

One television show which incorporates a number of celebrities is PokerStars.net’s Million Dollar Challenge. Now in its second series it has always relied heavily upon celebrities. Here challenges are matched against celebrities, if the challenger wins then they receive some fantastic prizes. The only problem is that the celebrities rarely know what they are doing. However, the chances are that it will only be a small percentage of the audience who know anything about poker. The average person is more likely to watch a show if it has faces they know on it, therefore at least it is causing more people to be exposed to poker, which means more players and more money in the game.

Every poker player is seeking sponsorship, it brings them money and fame. However, many celebrities are awarded sponsorship just because of their celebrity status as they shall attract attention to a brand. For example Emmitt Smith’s appearance at the WSOP with a Full Tilt Poker logo on or Orel Hershiser’s with PokerStars. Whilst this does favour specific sites, it does benefit poker as a whole, just as with television it shall attract new players and bring more money into the game.

Whilst it can be incredibly frustrating for experienced players to watch celebrities make a mess of the game the benefits are really beginning to show as poker’s popularity continues to grow. This in turn is bringing more money into the game which will allow for general expansion.