What's there to do when a poker site's brand ambassador wins the leaderboard race for a series that's been run in conjunction with the brand representative's sponsored podcast, and the player's win snaps the top prize off the board? For Unibet and David Lappin, co-host with Dara O'Kearney of the Chip Race, the answer was to announce a mock disqualification and add some prize money all around, while adding a healthy dose of cheekiness to the situation.
The unusual marketing opportunity arose when Lappin took down top honors in Unibet's just-completed Chip Race Series, which offered 26 events from April 15 through April 23. The series featured tournaments with modest buy-ins between €25 and €100, with €200,000 in total prize money guaranteed. An additional €7,000 would go to the top finishers in the Chip Race series leaderboard.
It's commonplace for sponsored pros to help support these special series by playing as many events as they can, but then Lappin won the whole leaderboard chase. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, even though it can seem the home-team guy always gets the run-good.
As Lappin explained to PokerOrg, "The first-ever Chip Race Series on Unibet Poker was a great success but there was one problem. I ran unacceptably well and I thought it was a bad look to win the leaderbord. Across the 26 tournament series, I cashed 14 times due to some truly hideous beats that I put on our players."
The 'Un-fu**king-believable!!!' tale
Lappin's winner's remorse led him to get together with Unibet Poker Content Manager Andy Paton and Head of Product Marketing for Network Games Kat Arnsby to concoct a story about Lappin being disqualified after playing in some Chip Race series events from a local pub. In the video, Lappin is seen playing on his phone, but there aren't any bartenders or dogs to be seen. (The bartenders and dogs figure into Lappin's tale, below.) Still, it's a starting point.
"She couldn't resist taking a video of me to illustrate the consummate professional that I am," Lappin explained. WIth the video in hand as the basis of the story, Lappin and Paton then concocted a text exchange wherein Lappin is informed that he's been disqualified from the Chip Race leaderboard.
It's a wonderfully cheeky bit, and how much of it was scripted we might never know. Everyone from Arnsby to IKEA figures into the trash talk as the mock DQ unfolds:
Entertaining stuff from start to finish, and no, Lappin wasn't really disqualified. He can still be seen atop the official Chip Race leaderboard. What did happen, however, according to Lappin, is that all the other finishers were bumped up one spot as well, meaning that Unibet added some extra money in exchange for some extra marketing boost. Unibet also has another €3,000 in prize money awaiting the top finishers in an added Tournament of Champions to be held on Wednesday.
"All the Series winners will be battling it out versus myself and Dara O’Kearney," Lappin told PokerOrg, "but wherever we come in the tournament, the players finishing behind us with leapfrog us for the better prizes, too."
Almost believable
Some of the best schticks run right up to the line of being believable, and this one had more than a few people wondering how much or if any of the tale was true. Lappin said, "We may have done too good a job at convincing people that I got DQed for breaking the rules because the post has gotten a lot of attention and my DMs are full of people asking if it’s real. The truth is it is not. I am still getting my prize for winning the leaderboard but so is the person who came second, with everyone else moving up a spot."
Instead, it's about having some fine while also taking advantage of a chance for marketing gold. As Lappin shared with PokerOrg, "A big part of Unibet’s brand identity is fun. We have a lot of recreational players and we create our schedule with their needs in mind. That sense of fun is also reflective of the team and some of my colleagues are very funny people indeed."
Featured image source: Haley Hintze
