Betrayal by Tiffany Michelle???

[thkcduckworth]

With the completion of Day 5 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, PokerNews’ own Tiffany Michelle sits high in fourth place of the remaining 79 players with a little over 3.43 million in chips.However it has come to my attention, and many others, while working the floor of the Rio that a little ‘conflict of interest’ has occurred. Now my question to fellow PokerNetworker’s is what do you do if you were in PokerNews’ position.At the start of the main event PokerNews put Tiffany Michelle into the main event as a PokerNews recognised player, with a cut of 30% (so we hear) of profits that she makes. Now coming into day 5 with a healthy stack, you will notice in the difference between the two photos, that Tiffany is now adorning an Ultimate Bet sponsorship patch replacing the PokerNews patch that was on her head and also semi-covering the one on her t-shirt when she wears her jacket.Now what do you do in PokerNews position?You’ve put someone in to represent the company, and is doing really well; getting world-wide exposure both online and when the show gets aired, and now all of a sudden they are wearing an online site’s logo. Now obviously they are not rivals but can this be seen as a type of betrayal or lack of loyalty by Tiffany or is it a case of to get more recognition to help further her position in the poker world???

[thret]

Everyone knows she is associated with PokerNews. We only know her through PokerNews video's, we are all following her ME through the PokerNews site. Of course she should get sponsorship from an online site, if the PN deal didn't explictly deny her that right. I think if PN make any kind of issue about this whatsoever they will be shooting themselves in the foot. They should just back her completely as I am sure they are doing.

[luckyshades]

Agree 100% with Thret. Back her 100% - she is very well associated with PokerNews - who cares if she wears a UB patch (Stars and FT really dropped the ball on this one by the way).

[thkcduckworth]

Yeah i know she is most associated with PokerNews, but doesn't it seem like Ultimate Bet is getting the maximum exposure in this case??Like, being on the feature table all day with a pretty hidden PokerNews patch, two UB patches in major exposure and her already know connection with UB's Hollywood Dave. Surely the higher parties might not be happy with the whole situation; especially the fact that they weren't aware of it either!!

[LaLa]

"that girl who works for pokernews" is getting way more attention than "that girl wearing the ultimate bet patch"

[rmh123]

The facts!I have just spoken to Tony G who is currently in Russia and not happy! Tony told me that he paid entries for 35 people into the main event, with the aim of helping some people, but also to gain maimum exposure for Pokernews. Tiffany approached Jeff Lissandro at a pre-ME party about playing. It was agreed that as Pokernews paid her salary they would also pay her entry fee, and in return she would receive 33% of prizemoney, and also conduct as many interviews as possible with fellow players during the event.She signed a contract outlining these conditions, so Tony is obviously upset to see her covered in UB gear without as much as a phone call to ask if that was ok. How this all came about he does not know, but I'm sure he will get to the bottom of it, as he feels betrayed at this time. He pointed out to me that he staked players such as Marcel Luske and Kirril Gerasimov and they would NEVER do this without contacting him beforehand. It also makes UB look bad I think, and as Tony said he could have got her a much better deal with Pokerstars if she had continued to do well. I have known Tony for a long time and he is a ruthless businessman, but also has a big heart and at this time feels he has been badly let down. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next 2 days.

[danielg]

i read she went with UB coz her boyfriend is linked with them, anyone else confirm deny?also if she did sign some form of contract did it stipulate that she couldn't "whore" herself out to other sites?if not tony hasnt got shit to whine about.

[luckyshades]

Obviously the appropriate thing for her to do would ask the people at PokerNews, but I seriously doubt PokerNews have any recourse.If she were advertising Card Player it would be a different matter entirely.

[BEWARE]

If someone is decent enough to pay your entry fee and also give you a handsome slice of the payout then you are indebted to them.If approached by a different party because of your success then it is only fair to talk to your original staker about what you should do.

[maxypaxy]

for what its worth my take on this scenario is that the young girl has been poorly advisedas both a sponsor of players and someone who is currently sponsored by an internet site(T6)...when you sign a contract or shake on a deal you show loyalty whether its in the fine print or not!the girl will be HUGE if she final tables..MASSIVE if she wins..i'm not sure she fully understands the value of goodwill....hachem showed the way by staying unbranded at his final table and was able to do a super deal later...jamie gold showed just how not to do it and has been abandoned by the corporate world...goodwill counts for alot with the general public,you dont want to be dogged by contraversy...you want to stay squeeky cleanfrom what i've seen of tiffany she looks good and has great personality which makes her extremely popular....this could kickstart her career outside poker as well...