How would you like to have a piece of one of the most influential poker players in the history of the game?
That’s exactly what Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu is offering his fans on a mass scale for the upcoming 2019 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
It’s not uncommon for poker players to sell a percentage of their action but with nearly $40 million in lifetime live tournament earnings and a host of wealthy poker pro friends, Negreanu is well past the stage of needing to sell his action.
Instead Negreanu is bucking convention and selling his action as a reward to fervent fans and believers. In an unprecedented move he’s offering small pieces for as little as $5 each with absolutely no mark-up, which is typical when professional players sell action.
Negreanu Looks to Stay Motivated, Reward Fans
The 2019 WSOP marks an interesting change to the way Negreanu typically plans his WSOP.
In years past Negreanu has primarily played high-stakes tournaments where the fields are small but tough and pretty much ignores the sub-$1,500 buy-in low-stakes events, which contain the majority of players.
Thanks to how the Player of the Year formula has changed over the years it’s now weighted heavily towards rewarding players for getting through huge fields.
That’s part of the reason why Negreanu has decided to play low buy-in events this year in attempt to win a record third POY. He’ll still play a large number of high-stakes tournaments but he won’t ignore the small events this year and, if you typically play $1,000 or $500 buy-in tournaments, you might find Negreanu at your table this year.
So why would one of the best poker players in the world sell his action on a massive scale?
There are two main reasons:
1. Motivation
This year Negreanu is planning on playing a number of small stakes tournaments in order to chase a record third WSOP Player of the Year title. In order to stay motivated in the small stakes tournaments he decided to sell his action so he’s, in effect, playing for people other than just himself.
2. Give Something Back
Negreanu has always had arguably the most fervent fanbase in poker so he wanted to give something back to his fans. Poker fans will have the chance to earn potentially huge money in addition to one heck of a story.
Three Different Tiers of Investment
Negreanu decided to offer three different investment packages to his fan so that everyone would be able to take part regardless of their personal finances.
That's why Negreanu is letting people in on the action for as little as $5 but all the way up to $5,000. He actually decided to organize his package into three separate tiers based on tournament buy-in. They are as follows:
- The Low-Roller Package
This package includes an assortment of tournaments with buy-ins cheaper than $1,500. Negreanu will be offering 10% of his total action at a maximum of $100 per person. Players can buy as little as $5, however, if they want a small sweat.
- The Mid-Stakes Package
The mid-stakes package includes all buy-ins from $1,500 to $10,000. This time Negreanu is putting up 25% of his total action for a maximum spend of $500 per person. The minimum amount is TBA.
- The High-Stakes Package
This includes all events with buy-ins $10,000 or higher. Negreanu is selling 50% of his action with a maximum purchase of $5,000 allowed.
Potentially Huge Payoffs for Negreanu Backers
If Daniel Negreanu goes on a tear at the WSOP it could represent a huge windfall for backers.
Last year Negreanu had an uncharacteristic down year at the WSOP that still saw him cash five times for a modest $110,103. The year before that, however, Negreanu cashed 11 different times for a total haul of $699,804, which is more usual for the poker star.
It goes without saying that Negreanu is one of the all-time most successful players at the WSOP with total winnings of $16.3 million and six gold bracelet victories.
It also helps that Negreanu is playing some of the massive field tournaments this year where the Return on Interest (ROI) is off the charts.
For instance last year Roberly Felicio outlasted a 13,070-entry field to win $1 million in the Colossus. The buy-in for the Colossus is just $565. That means getting a modest 1% or 2% of Negreanu in one of these events could potentially be worth tens of thousands if Kid Poker is able to strike gold.
It’s also worth noting that potential backers will get a great sweat because Negreanu is once again doing a VLOG for the entire WSOP so viewers will see first-hand the ups and downs of playing the biggest poker series in the world.
Negreanu has yet to release details for how players will actually invest money in his WSOP but there’s a good chance he’ll release it on his YouTube channel in the weeks to come. He goes into more detail about selling his action in this video.
