Just over five years ago, a friend of mine invited me out for a game of poker in a local pub. I had previously played online to no particular standard and basically thought why not. I played poker at the same pub for just over a year and whilst I learned the basics of the game and also made some great friends, the main focus of my night was basically have as much beer as I could and see how well I could do.

The thing was, I really enjoyed playing and had come to realise that if I didn’t drink alcohol then I played a better standard of poker. I started to play at a new venue where I didn’t drink and I knew there was a mix of players there from average to very good. This turned out to be possibly the best decision I had made. I learned off the good players and within a couple of months had managed to final table three times and actually win the tournament once.

A few times in conversations around the tables the subject of players being sponsored cropped up and how good it would be to be in such a position that somebody would pay for you to play poker.

Fast forward a couple of years to a time when I am taking my poker seriously and I have since heard many players having the same conversation about becoming sponsored, BUT, what does being a sponsored poker player actually entail and how do you become one? This was my task, to try and find the answers to these questions and even try to get sponsored myself, but where do you start and what game would it be for?

The usual way the big companies are attracted to players is basically results orientated. If you are consistently taking down big tourneys on a particular site then that company is obviously going to know how good you are and from there see if you can be an investment for their company. They will not sponsor you just because they like you; they are there to ultimately make money off the back of your skills. This would obviously prove bad for my quest as my online game has been terrible and is an area that I am working on. I also had to find a tournament that appealed to me.

After a quick check on Hendon Mob at the upcoming event calendar a tournament stood out as the one I wanted to play, this was the GSOP which was being held at Old Trafford home to the football team that I had supported since I was a child. It was a reasonable buy in, but a lot more than I usually pay at $1,500 + $150 and only a few miles from home, one problem remained, who was going to sponsor me?

As luck would have a few nights later I was having a conversation with David Williams from Gentingpoker.com and the topic of what I was working on cropped up. I explained what my intentions were to Dave and he seemed genuinely interested. A couple of days later Dave emailed me saying that Genting were working on an idea similar to mine and were prepared to take a chance and sponsor me for this one event. I was obviously delighted at this news but at the same time a voices in my head was saying “What if you lose?”, I am happy to put my own money on the line for a tournament but this was now me playing with over £1000 of somebody else’s cash. I asked a few of my friends opinions about my quest / dilemma and the basic advice was to just forget about the money and play your own game, obviously a few insults about being soft for worrying about the money came my way as well.

The day of the tournament came and myself and fellow Poker Shark Magazine player Danny Hernon made our way down to the game, strangely all my reservations and concerns had gone and I was feeling extremely positive about what lay ahead. We queued up to register and then settled down at the bar for a quick drink and a snack before the game started. The field was about 85% Scandinavian as the GSOP is run by the OnGame network and qualifiers had been running for a couple of months to this event. I received a text from Dave Williams wishing me all the best for the game and he reiterated the fact that I should stay calm and play my own game.

The game got underway and I think I was on the quietest table in the world, nobody spoke. Still I wasn’t here to chat so I settled down and tried to work out what kinds of players were sat with me. There were a couple of good players at the table but also a few very loose ones as well. After a few blind levels I had settled in and had a few thousand over my starting stack. In one hand I was sat behind the button and found myself with QQ I duly raised the pot 4X and was called by both the blinds. A flop of 4 6 A came out and I made a “C” bet but was duly raised by the small blind which the big blind called, I reasoned that one must have an Ace so I folded, come the showdown the winning hand had called me with A2 off suit whilst the big blind had pocket 10’s.

My stack was going up and down on a regular basis and after about nine and a half hours play I had just over eleven big blinds. I was in the BB and found A9, there was an early limper and also the SB limped in as well; I announced raise and pushed a decent portion of my chips across the line. The first limper folded and then the SB just flat called. A flop of 9 8 5 and my decision was made “All in”. The Scandi in the SB insta called me and gleefully showed 6 7 off suit. I wanted to rip his face off there and then, but instead smiled, shook his hand and wished him good game. I was absolutely gutted, how can he call with 6 7 off to a pre flop raise? I went outside for fresh air and about six cigarettes and looked at my phone. I had another text from Dave Williams asking how I was going on. I thought for a few seconds and gave him a call to tell him that I had lost. The response I got really surprised me, he totally understood that I had been donked out and his concerns were for me not the money that Genting had put up. I was still sick at being beat like I had been, but the reassurances that Dave gave me helped in a big way. After calming down for a while, and a few pints, I went to rail Danny who was doing Ok on his table. Soon after the game was stopped for the end of day 1 and all the chips were bagged up. As I was waiting for Danny I saw the guy who had beaten me and he came over to chat with me. He had himself just been knocked out and wasn’t that happy himself.

As it turned out, he was a really nice guy and this was his first attempt at playing live, but he had enjoyed his experience and was looking forward to playing his next event which he would satellite into. We sat down together and chatted whilst everyone was being chipped up and I could not resist asking him, “What would you like to achieve in poker” the answer made me smile “I want to win big and become a sponsored player for one of the big names”

Well firstly being a sponsored player does let you play in events that you sometimes could not afford, and it is fantastic to have a company back you not only financially but also on a personal level as well. I did initially feel bad about losing the money but if things had been different and I had won the tournament then I would have given back the buy in and a percentage of the money that I won. All in all it was a fantastic experience being sponsored by Gentingpoker.com and one that I will look back on in the future. The question I ask myself now is “What do I want to achieve in poker”? I think you can guess the answer.