Americas Cardroom is reviving an old idea by giving someone a sponsorship deal worth more than $100,000.
Aptly, the promotion is being fronted by recent Team ACR recruit, Chris Moneymaker. Why is that apt? Well, Moneymaker is, perhaps, the most prominent symbol of the original online poker boom.
Poker sites across the industry were offering sponsorship packages during the noughties and, now, Americas Cardroom is harking back to this golden age.
From pennies to Moneymaker status
The quest to find the next Chris Moneymaker begins on April 12. Players will compete in qualifying tournaments in a bid to earn points.
The top performers over a 12-week period will advance to a final showdown and, the winner of that event will get a sponsorship package worth $105,000.
How to qualify
- Americas Cardroom players can take part in as many specially nominated MTTs as they like from April 12 to July 4
- Buy-ins for these MTTs cost $0.01
- The top 100 players (approximately) in each MTT will receive points based on their finishing position
- Players count their top five finishes at the end of the week; these results constitute their weekly total and where they finish on the leaderboard
- The top 30 players each week advance to a final showdown that starts on July 11
A total of 360 players will compete in a finale that spans three sessions (July 11, 15, and 25). The winner of that final group of sessions will become an honorary member of Team ACR.
Americas Cardroom going sponsorship crazy
ACR’s route to becoming a sponsored pro isn’t exactly the same as the one Moneymaker took. He qualified for the 2003 WSOP Main Event via a satellite on PokerStars before going on to win Main Event. After becoming world champion, he became PokerStars’ poster boy for more than a decade.
That contract came to an end in 2020 and Moneymaker is now flying the flag for Americas Cardroom. This partnership has raised the US-facing poker site’s profile in recent weeks, as has the signing of Vanessa Kade.
ACR’s promo team is capitalizing on this by using a tried and tested system. Paddy Power Poker gave players a chance to become sponsored pros back in 2009. Full Tilt also offered customers a chance to become Red Pros in the mid-noughties.
Americas Cardroom will do the same this year by giving one player the following prize package:
- $25,000 in cash
- $40,000 in live tournament buy-ins
- $40,000 in online tournament buy-ins
The winner will have some contractual obligations to fulfill, and tournaments they play in will have to be approved by Americas Cardroom.
They’ll also have to be available for interviews, photos, and promotional events. In return, they get to play dozens of tournaments for free, and have their travel arrangements taken care of, just like a pro.
