Rob Kuhn is confident that winning the Main Event can still bring a lot of additional benefits:
– I wonder if people studying for the WSOP Main Event factor in how much winning it is worth off the felt:
- You become a legend
- You expand your reach exponentially
- You can become an ambassador for a big poker site
What is your guess on how much actually winning the Main is worth outside of the actual cash?
If I had to guess conservatively, $5mill+ lifetime, if you don't vanish from the poker world.
He also added a caveat afterwards:
This would of course require them to actually capitalize on the opportunity.
Which, after winning 10mill, perhaps they don't care.
"5 million?" Will Jaffe clarified, accompanying the post with a photo of Jonathan Tamayo, who, both before and after his victory, has been living the quiet life of an inconspicuous grinder.
“How would you capitalize to get remotely close to $5M?,” asked Aaron Barone. "Limited number of ambassador deals, obviously the most recent Main Event Champ would be prioritized but what’s the staying power? Would a site snap Tamayo at $250k a year? Outside of poker sites who else is throwing money at well known players? Where’s the Jack Links Beef Jerky money?"
"You are way high, it’s not even close to that number," says 2009 World Champion Joe Cada. "If you are soley focusing on just winning the ME now, and not getting other results elsewhere consistently, or having a huge social media presence, 250k being generous. It all depends on the platform you have or build after winning, but that isn’t solely the ME."
"Lol c'mon... name me one winner post black Friday (that isn't Espen who grinded super hard for a very small deal) that has made any substantional money off their win/likeness," asked Matt Berkey.
"I imagine grinder has done well in the past year/will continue doing well going forward," Kuhn replied.
"#1 it's Grinder who already had a brand," Berkey answered. "#2 I'll happily take way under 500k in year 1 and no sponsorship by year 4."
"Negative $800k seems like a good line," says Mike McDonald, taking a realistic view of the world. "In terms of how much people will steal from you, invite you to crooked games, and encourage you to invest in both their poker play and business ideas."
"It's worth very little for those who don't capitalize," Alec Torelli explained. "But max capitalization, in theory, is easily 100M+ IMHO. But would require an outlier to win to reach the long tail of that EV."
Alec gave a detailed explanation, laying out a plan with several points – the first being the advice to invest $10 million at 10%, which would yield an EV of $82 million over 30 years. Alec didn't explain how this related to the conditions Rob Kuhn had set in his initial message.
"Reading the responses it’s baffling to me," said David "ODB" Baker, also optimistic. "I’d bet it would be worth more than $5 million for me and I’m old."
"This is rage bait and I bit hook, line, and sinker 🎣," Matt Berkey concluded after a while.
“As I sit here watching all the takes on this,” agreed Jonathan Tamayo.
"Counting your millions of sponsorship dollars?" Matt joked.
"Why would this be rage bait?" Adam Levy questions. "Sure, the start is a bit over the top but if you’re at all marketable, people and brands will reach out to you."
Who? Who will reach out? What brand deals do you think any of these guys have gotten in the last 13 years?" Berkey asks, surprised.
"Reiss, Jacobson, Mckeehan, Blumstein, Qui Nguyen, Cynn, Hassan, Koray, Espen (he's a friend and I have a good idea what he got, which is more than most and not a lot), Weinman, Tamayo???
Healthy mix of Americans and Euros (who still had full ROW online sites available to them and to market for).
Grinder is the only exception because he already had a strong brand and had a literal HOF year, but even still his deals are likely peanuts compared to long standing ambassadors like Koon, Fedor, Pads, DNegs etc. There's quite literally no one to pay them and most of their shelf lives are 365 days. Winning the Main Event is worth exactly $10 million (pre tax) and some change. Idk why everyone is so delusional about the economics of our industry."
"You’re not wrong about post-black Friday the past. Pre-black Friday was insane." Adam accepted.
"Now let’s take a beat and think ahead.
We’ve got ESPN on board again (with Peyton and Eli’s production company taking the reins), Solana main sponsor, and WSOP just shelled out a ton for a new feature table area and hired back a bunch of the old commentators.
Pokers got motion—lots of it. Now let’s say the hype doesn’t die down for 3-5 years and the winner is someone who’s decent behind a camera. Is $5 mill lifetime really that crazy?? It isn’t."
"It's all 100% driven by GG." Berkey pointed out.
"You know they pay ESPN and Omaha Productions to both make and broadcast the main event. They also already own the WSOP branding and own 100% of the NIL of the winner, as far as their participation in the event goes.
Why would they ever shell out more? If they do it'll be peanuts.
As far as outside sponsors, that'll be on GG to cultivate and will be strictly with the idea of lowering their overhead (the exact same model Pokergo used btw, GTO Wizard was their title sponsor and a handful of others paid lowered amount for felt exposure etc). ESPN isn't going to attract Ray Ban or Busch beer, that's up to GG to sell."
Meanwhile, the first episodes of the main tournament aired on ESPN. The first broadcast was watched by 174,000 viewers, the second by 186,000.
Chris Moneymaker's victory in 2003 was watched by over 500,000 viewers, and the record (likely permanent) was set in 2008. The final table, won by Europeans Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov, was watched by 2.4 million people in America, and the rest of the broadcasts that year also attracted impressive audiences of 1 to 2 million viewers.
After 2010, ratings for all ESPN broadcasts in the US steadily declined, and poker was no exception. In 2019, the channel ended its partnership with the WSOP. The series moved to PokerGo, but this summer, the partnership with ESPN resumed.
"Only 173k viewers for the first episode of 2026 WSOP on ESPN" one poker fan lamented on Twitter. "Ranking in as the 119th most watched thing on TV.
More people watched Press Your Luck on GSN, Squatters on AE, Ms. Pat Settles It BET, reruns of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy...
I don't think this episode was the highest watched poker event in 2026."
This post inspired Matt Berkey to write another long read:
Recently I've been watching Richeisen's "This WAS Sportscenter" podcast, which is a nostalgic one on one series w/the greats who helped shape ESPN into what we came to know as the industry leader in sports coverage. The one single thread that appears in every episode is Rich & his guest painfully admitting that they simply could NEVER do Sportscenter now in such a fast paced world the way they did back then.
Social media, smart phones, & news aggregators everywhere have changed the game, largely forcing a shift in how you deliver the story, not just the score. Look no further than PatMcAfeeShow & why he's so successful in today's landscape. He's a proxy for insiders, athletes, & first hand knowledge/experiences that dives much deeper than the outcome of an event.
I say all of this to highlight that the WSOP (and poker coverage as a whole) is desperate for an overhaul. I didn't understand the excitement when it was announced that ESPN was back in the fold, and I'm equally surprised by the disappointment now that the numbers are trickling in. 🧵👇
His story continued, and you can check it out on Twitter if you're interested in the Berkey perspective.
Let me paint a picture of WSOP's heyday.
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) July 25, 2026
It's 2010, Day 5 of the main event and roughly 300 people remain from the just over 7k who began. As I enter the amazon room there are 2 young women surveying every person that walks through the doors. One by one they pull young…
