WSOP Bracelet Sale
Introduction
Last week, at a special Thanksgiving Day auction, Peter Eastgate sold his 2008 WSOP Main Event Gold Bracelet for $147,500. Fortunately the 2008 WSOP champion, having won over $9 million before even his mid-20s, didn’t need the money. In fact the auction was to raise funds for a very worthy cause instead – UNICEF. Although the eventual winner of the bidding remains anonymous, this really was a great philanthropic gesture from Eastgate that is to be applauded.
Other WSOP bracelet sales
WSOP gold bracelets - worth more than money!
Unfortunately there have in recent times been other instances of WSOP gold bracelets being sold for what can only be described as personal gain by the owner. Now it is, of course, very difficult to cast judgment on an individual for doing such a thing as we don’t know what sort of financial situation they might be in but – should something as prestigious as a WSOP gold bracelet be allowed to be openly sold like some trinket in a pawn shop? One quite surprising example of this was when in January 2010 when one of T J Coultier’s six bracelets was put up for sale by a pawn shop, bought by Cake Poker for $4006 they returned it to Coultier. The perplexing bit here is that Coultier won over $9 million himself, was almost unstoppable some 10 years ago and although now in his 70s – surely he doesn’t need the cash? Going a similar way is Paul “Eskimo” Clark’s 1999 bracelet, which having already been sold by Clark was then advertised on eBay for re-sale!
Should they be sold to anyone?
Should a WSOP gold bracelet owner be allowed to sell their trophy to just anyone and for any reason? To me it just cheapens the whole concept of winning a WSOP gold bracelet being the pinnacle of a poker player’s dreams – if someone else can just go out there and buy one. The whole point of the gold bracelet is that it marks the owner out as someone who has truly achieved something in the game of poker. To that end, perhaps the bracelets should be given on the understanding that they are the property of WSOP and that the winner of one is not allowed to sell it without the express permission of the WSOP. Why do I say this – well in no time at all WSOP gold bracelets could become a commodity in their own right being traded within the poker community for far more that their worth in gold and potentially for more that they were worth in prize money from some of the lower buy-in events. Mark my words, if one goes for over $100k at a charity auction – one will soon enough go for over $100k on the open market!