Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and Daniel Weinman are three of approximately 40 prominent poker players that will be featured in a 200-card collectible trading-card set scheduled for release in 2024. The upcoming set is being designed by prominent poker agency Poker Royalty and will be manufactured by Dallas-based Leaf Trading Cards, Poker Royalty announced earlier today.
The as-yet-unnamed set does not have an official release date at this time, nor does it have a finalized list of poker players who will be included. Hellmuth and Negreanu are long-time Poker Royalty clients and are among poker's most famous players, while Weinman, the 2023 WSOP Main Event champion, is the most recent addition to Poker Royalty's lineup of represented players.
Weinman was thrilled to be part of the upcoming set. "Like a lot of kids, I collected sports cards growing up," he said. "To think I will have my own trading card is crazy to me and I’m really excited about it. I remember seeing those poker cards years ago and seeing a Hellmuth, Negreanu, and a Tom Dwan card. Now Leaf is bringing this idea back with new players and someone out there will find my signed card. I love it!"
Poker collectibles
Leaf's current vice president, Josh Pankow, said, "We are thrilled to announce this exciting project with Poker Royalty. Our last project together was a decade ago and we both agreed it has been too long. Even better, we’ve already got Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and Dan Weinman attached to this project. When this set is released, we will have a ton of great cards covering poker players from all eras including the newest players people are excited about!”
It's the fifth time that Poker Royalty has teamed up to produce a poker trading-card set with what is today known as Leaf Trading Cards. Earlier poker-themed sets were released in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and they remain popular niche collectibles within the poker world.
The "Leaf" trading-card brand name has a much longer history, dating back to the 1940s, and ownership of the brand name has passed through several different entities over the decades. The current Leaf Trading Cards acquired the brand name in 2010 and has produced numerous card sets since then under the "Leaf" name.
Featured image source: Jaime Thomson
