While the turnout has been great it has not transferred over so well to the limit and mixed game events. The WSOP needs to look hard at themselves when figuring out why this is the case. It is certainly not because the mixed games are dying and the WSOP is just a casualty of a much bigger worldy trend. That would be just an easy excuse to write off the downward slope in numbers. The fact is there are more mixed games and or limit games being played around the world on a daily basis than ever before. So why are the limit and mixed events at the WSOP not also growing in conjunction?

I believe it is a problem that can easily be fixed. The mixed events offered at this year’s WSOP are designed with the severe flaw of trying to do too much as a middle ground for what players’ want.

The WSOP needs to rid itself of $2500 and $5000 events in the mixed games arena. Each discipline of the mixed games should have a $1500 event and also a $10,000 championship event. There is a huge psychological barrier when the entry fee jumps from $1500 to $2500 in any event. We lose many amateur players who are such a large percentage of the field without that jump in price. Many casual poker players will take a shot for $1500 in a discipline they feel less than confident about but will not take a shot for $2500. There is an invisible barrier there that is not easily definable but is there nonetheless. The fields would be dramatically larger at the $1500 level and the prize pools would always follow. I am convinced by having a $1500 event in any discipline of the mixed games would spur continued growth year over year for any limit event. I would really like to see that begin for the WSOP in 2014.

The $5000 events do not attract many players that would not also play the exact same event at a $10,000 buyin instead. In fact an overwhelming majority of the players in a $5000 mixed game event would prefer to have the buyin priced at $10,000. All the WSOP accomplishes by having $5000 events in place of the $10,000 is to greatly reduce the prizepool and in turn reduce interest from the poker community. A $10,000 Stud might only get 80 players. A $10,000 Omaha H/L might only attract 170 players. But these small fields are not a bad thing for the WSOP. This would bring the romance back into these ‘Championship’ events. These final tables will be full of superstars which is what the mixed games and the WSOP both need. There is something special about a 10k that can’t be duplicated with a 5k no matter how you cut it.

$1500′s and $10,000′s each serve a great purpose and each do it well.. $2500′s and $5000′s try to do too much and wind up doing nothing to benefit the long run. $1500′s produce large participation and build new interest in each discipline. $10,000′s bring the intrigue and puts our stars on the stage.

This is a win win plan. Win for the players. Win for the WSOP brand.

In the decade since the poker boom, poker tournaments have grown in size, scope, and location. There are always the smaller tournament series at casinos around the world, and now there are local tours that focus on particular countries or areas. There are so many that it would be nearly impossible to schedule all of them in any particular calendar order.

I realize that the idea of all of the casinos and card rooms in the world to work together is impossible and may not even make good business sense. Each one has to market their properties and special events to the best of their abilities and for the benefit of the majority of their primary customers.

On a bigger scale, though, there are the majors. The three biggest tours/ events are the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and European Poker Tour. For the most part, these three entities work around each other and do not often overlap. But sometimes they do, and that is where I believe they could work together to prevent that from happening.

When Epic Poker came on the scene in 2011, the organizers took special care to work around other major poker tournaments. By the time the third event came about in December, it was scheduled perfectly and back-to-back with the WPT event at Bellagio, giving players extra incentive to stay in Las Vegas or travel to Las Vegas for both major tournaments. And in Europe, Prague recently had three consecutive events (EPT, WPT, and GSOP) in early December and all drew huge numbers; both are ideal examples of the way tours could work together.

Maybe it’s time to start a discussion of the majors in poker. Personally, I believe the formula to determine a “major” tournament should simply be 5 x 5: five consecutive years of tournaments with a $5 million prize pool or higher. Those which currently fit those criteria are:

While the WPT World Championship and Aussie Millions both fell about $300,000 short one year they are staples in the industry and should also qualify. The Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, EPT London, and EPT San Remo are also major events now that will likely fit the criteria in a short period of time. I am open to a formula that would work and include all nine of these tournaments. I invite those reading to discuss and debate the validity of my choices.

This is business, and I do realize that the tournament series and casinos are in competition with each other to attract the most players, biggest prize pools, and most media coverage. But without the players and their satisfaction, there is no longevity in that plan.

The players are the most important factor in the success of these poker tournaments, and it behooves the organizers to work together to make the events convenient and beneficial for them. When players can easily coordinate their travel schedules, money transfers, and even familial obligations around a set schedule, everyone will win, including the majors, which will see bigger turnouts and happier crowds. The level of competition among the majors will be more complex, but it only means that they will have to find other ways to entice players to invest their money in their particular tournament. There are satellites, locations, side events, and even parties that players can consider in their decision making processes.

As the Executive Tour Director of the World Poker Tour, I am happy to do my best to work with other poker entities to initiate this discussion and planning if others are willing.

With more poker tournaments around the world each and every year, I understand that the reality of this meeting of the minds is more difficult. However, considering there are still major players in the game -WSOP, WPT, EPT and even the upstart Epic Poker League, I believe there can be some consensus. If we can work together on the schedules each year, it will benefit the players and the tournaments themselves.

This may only be a dream, but I would very much like to see it become a reality.

The real issue for the poker community was always about getting paid back their FTP account balances. The continuance or the bankruptcy of FTP was never really that important. It seems now the best case scenario has been realized for non US players as Pokerstars is going to fully refund their account balances. That is great news for them. But we are still in wait to see mode on what will come of US player balances. The DOJ is handling that responsibility and while we all hope they will just continue with the fine precedent set by Pokerstars to plainly refund our full account balances, nobody knows if that will be the case. A total mess will ensue if they decide to keep up with the whole notion of FTP being a ‘ponzi scheme’. In that unfortunate scenario they could choose to only refund deposits and not feel the need or responsibility to pay out account balances. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.

The ironic thing about this entire FTP mess is that had the DOJ not shut them down on Black Friday, the situation could have been much worse for FTP account holders. It is apparent that at the time of Black Friday FTP was at risk of corporate bankruptcy due mostly to their exuberant marketing budget, uncollectible deposits in the mutli-millions, and the consistent monthly dividends paid out to FTP shareholders at an alarming rate. It is important to realize that even though we haven’t been able to play online poker within the US for the last year and a half, if the DOJ had not shut them down, it is quite possible and even likely that FTP was going to crumble under its own mismanagement. Remember, basically every shareholder has since said they had no idea the troubles they were in and had no idea of what was going on. That being the case it was probably just a matter of time. The situation for account balances now is way better than what could have been.

Davida Mintz discovered poker out of a desire to learn a live table game to play during trips to Las Vegas. Little did she know that poker would become her life. Accustomed to trading stocks and options, her brain quickly adapted to analyzing and sorting through poker stats and information. Soon, she started playing online poker daily, joining training sites, reading books and articles, as well as reviewing and analyzing hands using popular software. With a degree is in broadcast journalism and years of experience in television and radio news, her next logical move was to write about the game she loves.
Poker pros and entrepreneurs have a lot in common. Major live events are a stage for talented players to showcase their business skills. The 2013 World Series of Poker was no exception.

What would you do after grinding out a long day at a World Series of Poker event? Knock down a few beers, or go to bed early? Two-time WPT Champion Jonathan Little plays even more poker. He spent hours each night playing cash games and MTT’s on Ultimate Poker. The multitable action was streamed live to give players outside Nevada the chance to experience the first legal online poker room in the U.S. Simultaneously, Little was actively recruiting private coaching clients, and new members to join his website, Float The Turn. He answered viewer questions and commented on every hand played, encouraging his audience to invite poker buddies to watch. Turns out, some of his online opponents were also checking it out, listening to him talk about strategy and writing questions into the chatbox.

Entrepreneur, Educator Producer

Little has more than one additional stream of income. While playing at the 2012 Main Event, he put together a set of coaching videos to help his students prepare for the WSOP. The six video and Mp3 course is on sale for $299, and Litte says quite a few of his students have had excellent results this year. Dr. Patricia Cardner attended Little’s WSOP class last year, and went on to final table a major tournament in Oklahoma. With more than $5 million in career earnings, I asked Little what motivates him to continue working so hard. Little’s response, “I do not need motivation to work hard on a daily basis. If you enjoy what you do and would do it for free, getting paid is a bonus.”

Hypnotherapist: Specialty-Poker Performance

When Jonathan Little is in Las Vegas, he turns to hypnotherapist Elliot Roe(DHP) to work on his mental game. Here’s a quote from a testimonial Little gave on Roe’s website, Hypnotherapy Las Vegas. “I listened to the mp3 every day before and after the $25,000 WPT main event and I feel like I put in 4 of the best days of poker in my life. I was paying attention well, not tilting, and picking up small tells much better.” Little told me he listened to each Mp3 again to ensure a positive mindset at the 2013 WSOP.

Poker players make up the lion’s share of Roe’s business. He uses regression therapy to get to the root of scenarios that trigger emotional responses and make players feel angry or out of control. For example, he says players who don’t like to be 3bet can often trace that back to being bullied at school. Roe says hypnosis improves focus, reduces tilt and says, “As people get better at poker, the edge you need to have becomes greater, so if you can last longer without tilting, people will know that those who’ve invested in their mindset are making more money, and therefore, they’ll be happy to invest in them as well.”

Staking: Invest in a Player’s Career

Poker players with the cash on hand,are happy to invest in the high risk high reward business of staking. Players back other players, even teams of players, and frequently compete with each other in the same tournaments. The backer generally pays 100 percent of the tournament fees, and splits the winnings 50 50 with the player. If the player has losses from earlier tournaments in the series, they’re deducted before the split. In the event both players score, the backer is looking at a huge payout.

Coaching: High Profile Pros Hired for the Final Table

These high profile players have seen more than their share of enormous payouts, and now they’re coaching poker on the side. Three 2012 Main Event players hired two time WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst, Jason Somerville and Mike McDonald to get them final table ready. With a TV audience, and $8.5 million dollars at stake, the players wanted to walk into the final table arena looking and feeling prepared. Jesse Sylvia turned to Selbst, Russell Thomas worked on his game with Jason Somerville and Jake Balsiger picked Mike McDonald, the coach Pius Heinz did some training sessions with before winning the 2011 WSOP Main Event championship. The price these coaches are paid for their services is not public knowledge, but to get a range, I looked at the Deuces Cracked website, where Vanessa Selbst publishes her fee of $650 an hour for online sessions.

Tournament Training: Classes that Travel to Tournament Events

Deepstacks Live is a hand-on poker training seminar that travels to tournament sites, hotels, casinos and card rooms where groups attend intense, hands-on poker training seminars. Attendants play side-by-side with pros that include Michael Mizrachi and Mike Matusow. They’ll test your skills, find your leaks and teach you how to plug some of the holes in your game. Deepstacks Live is part of the Deepstacks Poker tour. The tournament company plays national and international televised events.

A New Cottage Industry is Right Around the Corner

So as you can see, there’s no shortage of ‘cottage industries’ that can be born out of a passion for poker. Skilled players with some business acumen will always be looking for a way to increase their return on investment.

1. Increased prize pools

2. Increased likelihood of a pro showing up in the winner’s circle

Increased prize pools

This is clearly a good thing for all involved. A larger prize pool is better for the players as well as the venue hosting the event. A juiced prize pool brings more excitement and awareness to its surrounding area and has the ability to attract more casual players to the event.

Increased likelihood of a pro showing up in the winner’s circle

It is clear that professional tournament players are more likely than the casual players to re-enter after losing their respective stacks. This will in turn lead to a higher percentage of pros at the final table and thus a higher percentage of tournaments won by the top most well funded pros.

Those two facts are undeniable with regards to unlimited re-entry and cannot be debated. The question remains: Is unlimited re-entry good or bad for poker?

The first effect of re-entry: Increased prize pools are great for poker. It is such an obvious point that there is no need to go into any discussion about this aspect.

Where it gets tricky is with regards to the second effect of re-entry: The Increased likelihood of a pro showing up in the winner’s circle. There is a clear downside when any amateur feels he or she is at an additional disadvantage versus a well-seasoned pro due to re-entry. Even though the amateur has the same opportunity to re-enter as the pro, he or she will have a compounding equity deficit as they both continually re-enter. The counter argument to that point is the theory that while the amateur does not vary his or her play very much on the fact that he or she may re-enter, the average professional poker player plays marginally to significantly worse knowing the option to re-enter exists. Many pros are willing to give up additional equity if they feel it increases their chances of winning an event. Tournament strategy dictates that pros should adjust their play ever so slightly in a re-entry format, but from experience I have seen it time and time again where the ‘pros’ are just throwing away real equity in a tournament knowing it only marginally increases their chance of winning the tournament. This actually bodes well for the tournament equity of an amateur. While it is true that the final table will be made up of tougher opponents on average. It must also be considered that the increased prize pool is partially gained by those same pros ‘dusting off’ in the early stages and thus boosting the prize pool. The tougher final table field should be offset by the increased payouts caused by re-entry.

Because we all agree that the pros are more likely to spend more on re-entry, we can also agree that a higher percentage of pros will be at the final table. This leads to the assumption that a higher percentage of the prize pool is straight from the pockets of the pros. While it is clear the amateur has a decreased chance of outright winning the tournament due to re-entry, it is not necessarily correct to assume the amateur has less equity in a re-entry tournament and it can be argued the exact opposite is likely the case.

By the Numbers: An example of re-entry results

We ran 3 unlimited re-entry tournaments at Parx Poker Room in Philadelphia this past month. I have the following data and would like to share it as one example of how the numbers might really pan out for re-entry tournaments. I really this is a small sample size of only three events but it is the only data of which I have access. The following is data from $300, $500, & $1500 buyin events.

I am not here to bash or scold you guys. You know I am your biggest fan. The young guns of poker, all one hundred or so of you, are the future of our poker industry. What I described above are just some of the things that happen quite frequently within your lifestyle. In the future, it will be your choice whether or not to be more responsible for yourself. These are all examples of personal responsibilities that, when you screw up, you usually only wind up costing yourself.

When I say “Responsibility in Poker”, I’m referring to how you act or speak out in any public forum or media outlet. The things you say and do reflect on all of us. Regardless of your intentions, your actions shine a light not just on you, but on all professional poker players. That light will shine dark or bright for all of us. When any one of us acts poorly in the spotlight, the ripple effect is typically immeasurable. The perception of poker has consistently grown more favorable over time. However, any one bad action in the poker world seems to spontaneously nullify all of the recent good. Poker has been fighting a negative connotation in the media since its beginnings.

It is a fact that if you are successful enough to be a member of the Epic Poker League with its rigorous qualification requisites, then you are also admired by many amateur and professional poker players throughout the world. Your actions: good or bad, will be respected, followed, and mimicked by the young poker world. You are an incredibly talented group and you are the future of poker. That being said, you must realize that you have a responsibility to poker.

Your actions at a poker tournament reflect on the entire industry. When you bust from a poker tournament through a bad beat, and decide to kick your chair, people notice. When they see you acting out like this, it makes it seem acceptable. When you tweet about the tournament director being an idiot without first confronting him with a specific issue, it benefits nobody. All it does is create resentment, and further distances the players from the staff. When you berate a dealer or a floor person for making mistakes, in the eyes of those watching, it makes it the thing to do. Then, the next day when you are not around, you perhaps have influenced three young kids from your previous day’s table who are just waiting for dealers or a floor person to slip up, so they can berate them because they think it’s cool.

You guys are looked up to by the entire poker world. Whether you are in a major televised poker tournament or just in your local card room, you are always on stage. Your actions have many ripple effects. As a young person, this is a hard fact that you must come to understand.

Poker needs you to come to this realization. You have to present yourself in a positive light at ALL times for the game. If poker is your career, you need to do your best to help grow poker for the long term. We can all do our part. The success and growth of poker is determined by its profitability. The only way poker stays profitable is by attracting new people and new money.

The game cannot currently sustain itself, but that can change in the future. We can’t give advertisers any more reasons to stay away from poker. In this respect, we are working from the ground up, and need to work hard to continuously improve the public perception of the game. Making poker a respectable profession can only help grow the sport.

I highly recommend that all of you take the time to read a certain book that, if understood, will help you realize the truth as to how and why so many of us are in such a great position within the poker world. The book is called “Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I can’t stress enough how much this book will enlighten you about poker and your life.

In 2012, I am going to make a concerted effort to change the way my fellow poker players think about their individual responsibilities towards the game. I hope you will join me in this effort to convert our fellow professionals towards this beneficial way of thinking, that we all have a responsibility to poker. We are all very fortunate to be able to play poker for a living and, thus, should treat the game with the respect that it deserves. We have to make a consistent and conscious effort to always do our best to publicly present poker in a positive light.

Things like internet poker legalization and sponsorship dollars are out of our control for now. However, the way we present ourselves as individuals to the public is within our means and that is what we should be focusing on – to make things better for everyone. We have a very small community in which we are all familiar faces. We need to be vigilant in this endeavor with our fellow poker players, and I am hoping that together we can promote a sea of change in the sense of responsibility to our fellow professional poker players and to the game itself. This is the first major hurdle we need to overcome towards building a brighter future for poker. The growth of poker from this point forward will only be born from a significant core of respectable professionals bound by the highest ethical standards. This core will not only be the players who produce the best results in poker, but also the ones who succeed in the art of media savvy.

The short version of the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11:

Chapter 7 bankruptcy = Liquidation bankruptcy.  This is what you normally hear about in the news when a company is actually going under.  In this case a company will be forced to sell off any un-exempt assets in an attempt to pay off all creditors.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy = Rehabilitation bankruptcy.  This is what the EPL filed for today.  In this case no debts are absolved and it allows for the company to reorganize its debt.  This is typically done to allow the company to pay back its debts from future earnings rather than selling off its own assets.  If the company is unable to keep up with its debts after some reasonable amount of time then the company will be forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

So, I am in no way trying to say this filing is a good thing for the prospects of the EPL.  It is still important to understand they are not necessarily finished as a business, even though it would seem difficult for them to attract an investor or a partner that is willing to put up an outlay of $1.4m in the very next event(s).  $1m freeroll + $400k added to the the 4th event.  In talking to Dan Shak today, who has a great mind for these things; he suggested the EPL forget about the 4th event and just run the $1m freeroll event as a $750k freeroll to save half the cash they are scheduled to give away to finish their first season.  I believe this is a first-rate idea that would show a reasonable amount of good faith to the players and enable the staff and media to continue their work for the EPL to finish out the season.  I think this could satisfy all parties involved.

This story of the EPL is nothing like Full Tilt Poker.  They are not holding player funds.  They took nothing from the players in the form of rake or any other expenses.  The players who took part in the league have benefited in the way of $400k added to the prizepool for each of the first three events.  The players were treated royally in the way of “all expenses paid”.  The EPL did make a commitment to the players in the way of a final $1m freeroll that they probably won’t be able to keep, but it never seemed to me that they have had any malicious intentions.  The EPL is/was a startup business that had every intention of being successful but like many businesses out there it is having trouble keeping afloat.

I gather from reading twitter and listening to some friends in poker media tonight, my opinion might differ from most.  But, I do not feel that I got slighted by the EPL even if they never have another event after today.  I played in all three events with the $400k added.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would do it all over again next year even if there was no added freeroll promised in the end.  Sure, it would be great for me personally if they still had a freeroll coming up since I am currently one of the top 27 on the list, but I am not going to try and say that is the main reason I played in the EPL events.  I didn’t play in the EPL to support Annie Duke or Jeffrey Pollack.  I played in the EPL because I wanted to support something that is good for poker and at the same time might be slightly profitable.  And I know a majority of my colleagues felt and did the same.

This is not a Full Tilt situation.  Should the poker community really be so harsh on the people who attempted to build something that if successful was so undeniably good for poker?

Look, I get it. Things happen that are out of our control. We all make mistakes. I can understand losing money. I can even fathom someone in the operation deceiving the rest of you and causing this massive meltdown. What I can’t understand is this continued disrespect to all the players who helped build your business to what it was just a year ago. The complete lack of information coming from the owners of FTP to the player base is shameful.

To make it clear, I don’t have any funds personally tied up on FTP. I feel very fortunate about that. But I know from many poker players in the community that this lockup has forced changes in their lives that are no fault of their own. What makes it worse is that with no communication coming from FTP, these players are being held hostage – not knowing if they will ever be receiving their money back in full. In some ways, by not releasing any statements at all, it is worse than if you just tell these players not to expect anything back. At the very least, if you produced some concrete guidance to what is going on with the money these players could move on with their lives in one direction or another.

It is obvious that your lawyers are advising you to say nothing publicly and that is totally understandable, but you should be directing your lawyers to make a public statement with regard to the players’ funds. How you or your lawyers have not done that by now is astonishing. For the sake of the players, you need to make a statement or direct your lawyers to make a statement for you. To see that the players get paid is most likely out of your control at this point. But the deafening silence is a choice each one of you individually continues to make. You have given your company and your friends more than enough time by now to do something resembling the right thing. I am hoping that one of you reading this will realize that breaking ranks to speak out is the honorable thing to do. Just a little statement to direct the players on the situation will give them the necessary info they need to proceed.

To my friends at FTP, I am embarrassed for you and I am ashamed of you – not due to the player funds being lost or held. I am embarrassed and ashamed because of the continued lack of communication to the thousands of players who have been waiting hopefully for this increasingly long amount of time.: