Prahlad Friedman following his first WPT win (Photo courtesy of World Poker Tour)

The announcement of the World Series of Poker’s Tournament of Champions (TOC) had much of the poker world in a tizzy, debating who deserved one of the coveted twenty spot, whether or not the event would be merit-based or a big popularity contest and whose roster of twenty votes reigned supreme.

Then there was that contingent of poker fans who had something else on their minds—namely, spam. That’s right, spam. The proliferation of poker player fan pages on Facebook and poker-related Twitter feeds resulted in a deluge of tweets and posts from players lobbying their followers to vote for their inclusion in the tournament. With the voting open from now until June, many in the poker world began to worry that their Twitter feed was going to be overwhelmed with spam for the next three months.

Even though voting has been open for less than a week, the wave of spam appears to have slowed down already, but there are still several players taking advantage of social media to lobby for the cause. Bluff Player of the Year Jason Mercier is using both Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about the contest, but he doesn’t intend to go overboard with the online campaigning.

“I would love to play in it,” Mercier told Bluff. “I’m really hoping to get in and I hope all my friends, family and fans vote for me.”

For now, Mercier is in good shape, as he is one of the top 50 vote getters in the contest with over 100,000 votes already counted. WSOP and World Poker Tour (WPT) winner Prahlad Friedman is also in the top fifty, thanks, at least in part, to his efforts to reach out to fans via his Twitter account (@PrahladFriedman).

Friedman told Bluff he is actually new to the Twitter scene and only opened his account around a month ago. Even though Friedman just joined the site, he has quickly taken to Twitter as well as other social media sites like Ustream. Earlier this week, Friedman invited his Tweeps to join him on Ustream to watch the poker pro as he answered questions, dropped some of his signature rhymes and even chow down on some dinner.

Friedman credits friend with giving him the idea to film himself and webstream the video. “I was watching a friend of mine, Andy Milonakis. He Tweeted that he had his own show on Ustream. I clicked on it and thought it was pretty interesting, so I said, “I’m gonna do that,’” Friedman explained. The stream proved to be a big hit, as over 3,500 people tuned in at some point during the lengthy stream to see what Friedman was up to. “I am ashamed to say it…I was on there for like seven hours. It was very weird, like “The Truman Show.” Everyone is seeing me just like, eating pasta,” Friedman said with a laugh.

If it isn’t apparent already, Friedman is having fun with Twitter and Facebook, but also sees the value in using the sites to campaign for a vote. “Usually when I just leave it up to them, I don’t get invited to these things, so I decided to take things into my own hands….I figure Doyle and those guys use Twitter and Facebook to get people to vote for them, so I may as well too.”  Friedman, who chooses to remain an unsponsored player, could prove just how powerful Twitter and other social media can be should he secure a spot in the tournament.

As of Thursday, Clark was not one of the top 50 vote-getters

Friedman’s friend ran some equity calculations on how much taking part in the TOC could be worth to each player and concluded each seat in the winner-take-all event is worth around $33,000. With a million dollars and the chance for some television exposure on ESPN, it is no wonder that Mercier, Friedman and others are trying to secure a seat.

Some third parties are even getting on the campaign bandwagon. Numerous posters on Twitter have Tweeted their support for the “Vote Eskimo” campaign to get Eskimo Clark included in the event and Daniel Negreanu couldn’t resist pointing out one player eligible for the TOC on his Twitter feed (@RealKidPoker):

“I just realized you can vote for Russ Hamilton for the WSOP TOC! Would be interesting to see how he does with the cards face down.”

With voting open until June 15th, there is still plenty of time for players to come up with the peak Twitter campaign strategy, though players like Friedman are still concerned about overdoing it on the social media. As he pointed out, “There is a line between campaigning and annoying people.”

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