Retroactive Bling
2008-04-11 11:41:37
By: Gene Bromberg
Something of an odd story in the poker world this week--the World Poker Tour announced that it will award bracelets to players who win WPT titles. Previous winners will receive their bracelets on April 21st, during the WPT Championship at Bellagio. Here's what the bracelets look like (to me they kinda resemble dog collars):
What makes this a bit odd is that we're in the middle of the sixth season of the World Poker Tour--why start handing out bracelets now? And why bracelets? Copying the World Series of Poker seems an odd choice, though the options for costume jewelry are somewhat limited. Bracelets are taken, and rings are awarded for WSOP circuit events, and how many men actually want to wear big, doorknocker-sized rings?
My recommendation? Championship belts, just like they have in professional wrestling. Jewel-encrusted, wide enough to cover the jelliest of bellies, the perfect accessory to throw over your shoulder when you're walking to your seat. There are so many parallels between poker and wrestling already--the nicknames, the feuds, the funny outfits.
Imagine it–Norman Chad is interviewing Phil "The Poker Brat" Hellmuth and all of a sudden the room is filled with some hard-charging anthem. The crowd goes nuts and Chad says, "OH MY GOD, IS MIKE THE MOUTH HERE??" and Matusow races down the aisle and hits Hellmuth in the back of the head with a folding chair. And the two flop around on the ground for awhile before Doyle Brunson fires a pistol in the air and says, "Alright fellas, that's enough of that". Seriously, poker wouldn't even need cards or chips anymore.
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