3 days after qualifying for the 2005 WSOP Main Event, I received an e-mail from the Event Manager at PokerRoom congratulating me on becoming a member of Team PokerRoom.com.
The whole "team" concept was different from the other online poker rooms in that you weren't just a qualifier representing a particular site, you were also part of a family. I know it sounds cheesy, but PokerRoom did a stellar job promoting the team concept through exclusive events (more on this later) and bonuses for its members. Upon my arrival to Vegas for the WSOP, there'd be a PokerRoom.com Party at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center with champagne, food, open bar, entertainment and press. This would be an opportunity to meet and mingle with my fellow qualifiers as well as meet some of the faces behind PokerRoom.com. Furthermore, there would be a "WSOP Teammate Bonus" paid out by PokerRoom to the team members who didn't cash in the tournament. The Bonus would be a percentage of the total amount amount won between the team members who did make the money, which was reason enough alone to support my fellow team members. All we needed was a deep run by 1 person for EVERYONE on the team to make bank. Now I'm not sure what the other online poker sites were doing for their qualifiers, but PokerRoom was going all out to make its Team feel like VIPs and professionals.
Also in the email was information relevant to the WSOP. PokerRoom reserved and paid for my room at Luxor from 7/6/05 - 7/16/05 and would be crediting my PokerRoom account with $1,800 for airfare and spending cash. But before they credited my account, I had to pre-register for the WSOP with Harrah's and sign and return a contract that PokerRoom attached to the email. It was a simple contract (with nothing shady in fine print or anything) that said I would participate in the WSOP as a member of Team PokerRoom.com and had to act accordingly (ie, wear their gear, mention that I qualified through their site if I was interviewed in connection with the tournament, etc.). I also had to send them a digital photograph and answer some bio questions for their Team PokerRoom.com web page. To have my name and picture displayed alongside some of the more notable and successful online players such as Carl "colson10" Olson, Chris "MarvinGarden" Birchby, Randy "nanonoko" Lew and Brian "BonesATL" Bonacci was not only a great honor for me, it helped me become a renown player on PokerRoom as well.
To my surprise, I'd get some recognition for my achievement locally in Cleveland as well. On June 17th, 2005, I just finished setting up a live remote broadcast at Jacob's (now Progressive) Field for WTAM 1100's Mike Trivosonno when Triv himself came up to me and said "Ryan, come here. You're going to the World Series of Poker?" I knew Triv was a big fan of poker and told him about how I qualified through a satellite tournament online. He seemed genuinely happy for me (and also a bit envious) as we chatted a bit more before his broadcast started at 3pm. At 4:10pm, he caught me off-guard when he called me over to the table and told me to "sit down, I'm gonna put ya on the air." As you can imagine, I was nervous as hell but I ended up having a 6-minute segment on the #1 rated radio show in Cleveland about how I qualified for the World Series of Poker. Whether you love him or hate him, Triv was a guy I looked up to and respected a great deal. Being able to share coveted air-time with him - much less 6 whole minutes of air-time - was an incredible experience that I will never forget.
Finally, it was all becoming a reality. At first it didn't sink in, but the interview with Triv made me realize what a big deal this really was. The World Series of Poker was right around the corner and was going to be the opportunity of a lifetime.
To be continued...
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