As the preliminary events finish up, and the poker world preps for the 2012 World Series of Main Event, the 2012 WSOP is officially winding down, but the stories continue to fly out of the Rio and around Las Vegas. Today I’ll take a look at two stories that have slipped through the cracks, one involving a player trying for a WSOP record, and the other involving a very wealthy athlete getting a free ride in the 2012 WSOP Main Event.

Roberto Luongo will play in the Main Event

Roberto Luongo is not only one of the best goalies in the NHL; he also enjoys the game of poker, and is a solid player in his own right. Luongo, who has an endorsement deal with the B.C Lottery Corp. will be making the trek to Las Vegas to play in the WSOP Main Event this year, and will be doing so on the B.C. Lottery Corp.’s dime as they will foot the bill for his $10,000 buy-in. As part of his deal “Luongo represents its Playnow.com poker and casino games website at a number of gaming events, including the World Series of Poker main event,” according to the Vancouver Sun.

While the partnership may seem a bit strange and raises a few eyebrows concerning the integrity of sports (a sports star sponsored by a gambling entity) , Kim Steinhart, BCLC’s senior public affairs officer sees it differently, telling the Vancouver Sun:

“Businesses commonly partner with celebrities or sports figures to help strengthen their brand image… Roberto Luongo is an well-known celebrity in our marketplace, and a natural fit for this type of a marketing approach.”

“The partnership provides BCLC with an opportunity to build the PlayNow.com brand by providing our customers with an opportunity to interact in a meaningful way with a well-known sports celebrity. The money for Luongo’s agreement is part of BCLC’s annual marketing budget and has no impact on revenue that flows through to the province.”

Konstantin Puchkov looks for his 11th cash in 2012

There is such a thing as running hot during the WSOP (just ask Phil Ivey or Ben Lamb) but even in these cases it’s hard to overcome the variance that tournament poker can throw at you and stay hot for an entire WSOP. But don’t tell that to Konstantin Puchkov, who finds himself the chip-leader of the $10k 2-7 Lowball tournament heading into Day 2. If Puchkov manages to cash in the event (the last open-event of the 2012 WSOP) it will mark his 11th cash of the summer, giving him the all-time record for cashes in a single WSOP.

Puchkov is currently tied with Nikolay Edvakov with 10 cashes, and if he falters before the money bubble is burst he will have the entirety of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe tournament series this September to break the record.

Tags: B C Lottery, Bclc, Best Goalies, Brand Image, Endorsement Deal, Game Of Poker, Gaming Events, Marketing Budget, Natural Fit, Poker Main Event, Poker World, Public Affairs Officer, Roberto Luongo, Sports Figures, Sports Star, Steinhart, Vancouver Sun, World Series of Poker, World Series of Poker Main Event, WSOP Main Event

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2012 at 9:45 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.