The World Series of Poker has had its own type of star power for years.
Gabe Kaplan was a player and television broadcast commentator. Jennifer Tilly is a WSOP bracelet winner and a very regular player. Norm Macdonald was a member of the poker community. Ray Romano and Brad Garrett have been regulars at poker tournaments in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Kevin Hart has been and seems to still be an ambassador for partypoker. Celebrities have played in the WSOP, typically the Main Event, for years. Prior to the poker boom, there were appearances from celebrities like Telly Savalas and Milton Berle. Matt Damon and Ed Norton played in preparation for roles in Rounders. Jason Alexander, Toby Maguire, Kevin Pollak, and Ben Affleck are some of the more recent names, mostly drawn to the game during or after the poker boom.
Looking toward the 2022 World Series of Poker, though, the WSOP seems to be upping its game.
MC Vince Vaughn
As the 2021 WSOP wrapped up in November, its executives made several announcements. The World Series would finally leave the Rio, moving its action back to the summer (post-pandemic) and over to the Paris and Bally’s casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. And Vince Vaughn would be the 2022 WSOP Master of Ceremonies.
That last part was unexpected.
The WSOP has regularly welcomed celebrities, politicians, and sports stars to do the “shuffle up and deal” during the Main Event. But the Vince Vaughn announcement puts him in the spotlight as the MC for the entire 2022 games. And in doing so, the actor and comedian played in the 2021 WSOP and participated in some of the official commentary of the games toward the end of the series. And, of course, Vaughn did the “shuffle up and deal” for the WSOP Main Event final table.
Vaughn said that he has played poker for many years. He said that he was honored to be the MC, especially as the WSOP finally moves to the Strip. He called the gig an “absolute dream.”
https://twitter.com/CaesarsEnt/status/1461002143272509448?s=20&t=uW0V8VVozv6BdQ4hoiIyig
Starring Laurence Fishburne
Longtime award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne appears in new WSOP.com advertisements.
Yes, that Laurence Fishburne. The one from School Daze, King of New York, and Boyz n the Hood? Yes. The one who played Ike Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It? Yes. The one from The Matrix and Mission Impossible III, Predators and Contagion? The narrator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the film)? The actor on television’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and current hit show Black-ish? Yes, yep, uh-huh, that guy.
Fishburne actually has 130 acting credits on IMDB, for which he received 73 award nominations and won 27 of them. He also has 17 producer credits, 2 as director, one as writer, and many more.
Now, he is the star of a commercial for the WSOP online poker app.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsDNAjPKo4I
They aren’t just casually buying air time for the commercial. They bought time on the famous Nasdaq screen/billboard in Times Square.
https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1491457204142043141?s=20&t=4jk4NECNOrMqvS4-D1PPBA
Technically, the “they” is not the WSOP. It is Playtika, the mobile gaming company that owns the online game and licenses the WSOP trademarked brand.
The press release announcing the Playtika-Fishburne partnership noted that the “epic persona of Lawrence” complements the “epic legacy of World Series of Poker.” And while Fishburne was only aware of the WSOP and not a regular player, he said that he is fascinated by the gamesmanship of poker.
Can we expect to see more famous names popping up in the run-up to the 2022 WSOP? Will the star power draw more people to the series scheduled to start May 31 in Las Vegas? Of course, the WSOP is not going to preview its plans, nor can anyone know how attendance will fare. But this is an effort unlike any in recent memory to increase the WSOP’s brand exposure.
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