Following in the graces of fellow World Series of Poker “November Nine” member Dennis Phillips, PokerStars Pro Ylon Schwartz has auctioned himself off for charity. Schwartz has hired Recordweb Communications to promote his marketing endeavors and is offering a 10 square-inch advertising patch on his hat, chest, or arm to the highest bidder on eBay. He will don the logo, along with others, during the WSOP Main Event final table. The auction ends on Wednesday, November 5th.
Schwartz, a native of Brooklyn, New York, will enter the Main Event final table with 12.5 million chips, which is good for the fifth most at the table. He weaved his way through a field of 6,844 players to guarantee himself a payout of $900,670 with the opportunity to earn the top prize of over $9 million. The final table will take place on November 9th and 10th and then air on ESPN on November 11th for two hours. The broadcast is expected to receive excellent ratings, as this is the first year that the Main Event final table has been able to build momentum following a four-month layoff.
The starting bid for Schwartz’ auction is set at $100,000 and half of the proceeds will go to the EDC Habitat for Humanity charity. He will be seen repeatedly during the broadcast, as will any patches on or around him. Scott Neuman, the Presdident of RecordWeb Communications, discussed the value of the sponsorship opportunity on Poker News Daily’s website:
“EDC is running a number of poker related auctions and asked if Ylon would join in,” Neuman said. “Ylon was more than happy to help out when asked. What people have to remember is that while it’s a charity auction, the value of the patch is worth between $100,000 and $3 million dollars. The more that patch gets seen for periods of time on ESPN, the more value it has. Since it is also a charity auction, a portion of the bid can be deducted from taxes or the entire bid can be treated as a business expense.”
Schwartz’ first auction on eBay was not as successful as he desired. He and his management team anticipated a bid of at least $100,000, but instead received only one offer for the minimum amount of $37,500. The bid was pulled back after neither Schwartz nor his management replied to the bidder’s e-mails. This time around, Schwartz promised to donate half to charity in hopes of attracting a bidding war much like the one Dennis Phillips achieved weeks ago.
Phillips offered the same logo placement opportunity as Schwartz in October and chose to donate all of the profits to the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. After a hectic 10 days of bidding, he raised $19,000 for MS. In addition, Phillips has made contributions to a number of other charities, including The Pujols Family Foundation and the Boys Hope, Girls Hope Foundation. He also agreed to donate 1% of his Main Event earnings to “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer“, an organization founded by poker professional Phil Gordon.
These generous charitable donations add to an ever-growing list made by poker players around the world. Superstars such as Barry Greenstein, Victor Ramdin, and Andy Bloch are some of many pros that have made contributions in the past.