When it comes down to the World Series of poker, I’m trying to dive into how sponsorships work, including all the stickers and patches we see all over people at the feature tables and final tables.
A few years back, this guy at my local casino made it to the final table and I noticed he was wearing a patch (I don’t recall company at the time) prior to the main event, he was not sponsored. Do these companies approach everyone at the final table and force them to wear a patch? Or are they paid for doing so? I noticed pretty much everyone wears some sort of sponsorship. Can somebody give me some insight as to how this works? Can you get your own local sponsorship and would that be allowed on TV? I always wondered how these patches promoting online sites work… thanks guys!

I believe the WSOP has rules about how many patches you can have and where you could wear them. My understanding is that includes any commercialization.

So if your local Bobby Joe’s Hardware store wants you to wear a patch or shirt or whatever, that counts as a sponsorship/promotion you can wear so long as the size and placement are within the allowable guidelines.

I’ve heard the final table players who don’t already have sponsorship branding on them are approached by a handful of poker companies and asked to wear their patch. I’m not sure but I believe there is some monetary reimbursement for doing so. I don’t think it’s terribly significant, though.

That’s how I’ve heard it works but I could be wrong.

You might get some better replies in the "Tournament Events" forum so I move the thread there.

What people think of when they hear "sponsored pros" are players who are poker-famous and have some sponsors for who they wear patches at tournaments and other poker related things.

If you aren't sponsored and make it to a televised table at a tournament like the WSOP there's a chance a rep from a company approaches you to wear a patch for them while you're being filmed. Those patches you just put on your sweater/shirt and rip them off in the end like a name tag at a conference.

During the boom years that happened quite frequently. As far as I know not so much today.

The WSOP have lots of detail on types of sponsorship detailed in the Tournament Rules book they put out on their website.

BUY IN SPONSORSHIPS RULES 2023
SECTION I – TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION AND ENTRY page 6
Third-party registrations for Participants are not permitted unless submitted by official WSOP sponsors, official WSOP promotional partners, or official WSOP product licensees. For more information regarding third-party entries, please contact
Johnny Hernandez by email at jhernandez1@caesars.com.

SECTION V – PARTICIPANT LIKENESS AND IMAGE Page 9 (deals with size of patches, number, disallowed products or services etc etc

In the hay day of the Original November 9 main event I know that Dennis Phillips (chip leader) held out to the final table when he made a very lucrative deal with Poker Stars - they even allowed him to wear his signature St Louis Cardinals baseball cap to the final table. Times changed after the black Friday shut down of online sites in the United States regarding sponsorship deals (from interviews I have listened to) and are not nearly as profitable for the player as "the good old days" . Part of that is the elimination of the 120 days wait for the final table.

Funny addendum to the above Dennis had like 10 different patches that year at the final table including one he auctioned off for charity with the money given to MS. You can't do that anymore

I can share my experience with sponsorship. I was approached by 888 when I had a deep run in the Main Event one year. I was on one of the secondary feature tables for a little bit. I was approached and they offered me $3k I think (It might have been $2K), just to wear it for the day. They said after the day is over we can discuss the next day. For me, it was a no brainer to wear the patch and make the money. I signed a short contract and I got paid like 1.5 months later. The contract they had me sign, basically said that I couldn't wear any other patches while wearing their patch (If I remember correctly).

I do know some players try and negotiate for slightly more money and you can if you are going to get more air time (if you are a known pro, or have a good story that will get you air time). Final table sponsorship is worth more than say Day 3 or Day 4 of the main event. If you are celebrity or famous athlete, then I'm sure you can get a much higher sponsorship deal as everyone wants to see you play and is curious about how your main event went.

Interesting. I assume you were paid by check and received a 1099-Misc tax form from them for that tax year. Is that right?