Building a Poker Player's Organization

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

Poker has never been more popular. Just look around. There are poker games everywhere - and everyone is talking about our favorite activity. It used to be, not that long ago, that hardly anyone understood my fascination with this great game. Now I hear everyone talking about those guys they watch on TV.

Here's a true story. I was in Arlington, Massachusetts - a somewhat upscale, historic, Western suburb of Boston -having breakfast in a local diner at 7:00 AM. It's the kind of place that folks come to every day for breakfast.-where the waitress, who's been there for 25 years, pours your coffee and starts to fill your order before you say anything because it's the same breakfast you've had for 20 years.

I'm sitting in there reading the paper, wearing my Poker Stars baseball cap. An elderly woman, about 90 or so, walks in slowly with her cane. She is bend over somewhat, and is immediately greeted by three of the patrons and one of the waitresses. "Hi Dora" they say - in different accents and different tones of voice. She smiles sweetly.

I turn to see her. She walks right over to me, looks at my baseball cap, and sits in the stool next to mine.

I am by nature gregarious. So I turn to her, smile, and say "good morning" in a slightly loud voice - assuming that since she is so ancient that she is probably deaf.

She does not immediately respond but looks at my cap. After ten seconds or so she says, "Do you like poker?"

I nod, say, "Yes, I do!" and smile. I go back to sipping my coffee.

I expect the conversation to stop then. But she surprises me and shouts (maybe assuming I'm deaf since I spoke so loudly before), "THAT GUS HANSON IS ONE HELL OF A BLUFFER ISN'T HE!!!"

This from an old lady in Arlington, Massachusetts. Imagine.

And it's not unusual. Believe me. I wear all sorts of poker garb wear and frequently get similar comments from all sorts of folks. So I know that poker is hot. All you have to do is turn on your TV. People are saying that it may be the next NASCAR or the next GOLF. Wow.

The television networks are clearly making a bundle from their poker programming -as it has risen to be some of the best rated TV. And the production costs are minimal - with the static and unchanging scene. No need for a lot of reporters or camera angles. No need to hire writers - the stories write themselves. It's like boxing or wrestling in the early days of TV. With the advent of the card camera, poker is made for television.

But there's a problem - a serious problem of inequity that needs to be addressed by all of us. It's this. The poker players, the ones who are making the television networks their money, aren't getting compensated for their efforts. Unlike their counterparts in golf, tennis, bowling, baseball, NASCAR, horse racing, boxing, wrestling or any other competitive endeavor you can name, poker players aren't paid for their appearances. It appears that they're paid - because there is prize money. But all of the money - every penny - is coming from the players themselves. This needs to change.

In fact, in poker, not only do players provide all of their own money for the competition, they end up, aggregately, with less than they start with. Players pay the house for the privilege of providing television with a very profitable event. It's called the entrance fee, the vig, the juice, the tax, the rake or the time. Poker players who enter these big tournaments pay it. They shouldn't.

Sponsors give money to the television networks to place their ads on the poker show with the poker players, but unlike every other major sport or televised competition, the players don't make any of it (well, maybe some of them have private deals - but surely the money from the sponsors goes principally to the producers of the show). This needs to change.

The only way it will change is for the players in poker to do what players in every other major public competitive activity have done - organize. Look at major league baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, bowling - everywhere there is organization. But not in poker.

There are two other reasons for poker players to organize. They need to protect what they have. Sure, the boom looks like it will go on for ever. There's plenty of money to go around. Let's not get greedy. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Poker is different. Yada yada yada. I've heard the arguments against organization. But they're not valid.

Poker isn't different. Players draw viewers. Viewers attract sponsors. Sponsors pay money. A simple equation. So players should get a piece of all of this outside money. And they don't. This is wrong.

It would be good for poker programming too if the industry organized. Television money is at least somewhat dependent on the product continuing to attract viewers. And what attracts these viewers? I think it is principally this. It is the combination of known players and the possibility of an unknown player winning everything. People tune in to watch the folks they love or that they love to hate. And they like the idea that it could be, with a little bit of luck, someone they know - maybe even themselves.

This is all good for poker. But there can be too much of a good thing. Look at the recent final table of the WSOP. Once Mike Matusow was knocked out, the remaining players were largely unknown. Imagine every World Poker Tour event with those players. How long would it continue to sustain the interest of the public? Which interests the public more. An event with some folks they recognize from prior contests or an event with no one that they've ever heard of? Where would golf be without the famous players? How about tennis, football, baseball, or bowling?

In short, the producers and the professionals in the poker world have a vested interest in protecting some of the professionalism of the final table. This can be done by limiting entries to known players - and it can be done by having qualifying events - like open events on the PGA tour. But however it is done, players need to have a hand in determining the method and the scope of the restrictions that will be imposed.

Toward that end, there needs to be a democratic organization of players to have a say in their own destiny - rather than leaving it up to the tournament organizers, casinos, television networks, producers and sponsors. Similarly, like the PGA, it would make sense to have an arm of the organization that is accessible for the non-professional player - a way for a regular Joe to get a ranking that will enable him to see where he stands and, if he's so inclined, rise up the ladder from local to regional to national tournaments, where he can compete against the best, with the producers and sponsors of the events providing the prize money.

Imagine this. Imagine an event that is much like the World Series of Poker. There are 600 contestants who compete over three days. The $10,000,000 in prize money is put up by a major network, with money they make selling advertising money - just like it's done in golf, NASCAR and tennis. There are 300 seats reserved for the players on the professional circuit and 300 seats reserved for the non-professionals who have the highest rankings in the world as determined by a series of live and on line casino tournaments held over the past year. This would pretty much assure that some of the final table players were recognizable pros. But there would also be plenty of room for the local hero and the low stakes qualifier to have a good shot at the top prizes. The sponsors would get what they wanted - a known product sure to attract public viewer ship; the pros would get what they want - a prize pool that they don't have to fund; and the general poker playing public would get what it wants - an event that is accessible to every player in the country who has the stones and the skill to make their way up the ladder.

Everyone who now plays poker would benefit by an organization like this. The top pros would get the infusion of outside money into their sport that they deserve. The tournament directors and casino operators would continue to get the enormous attention that poker rooms need to survive. Television networks would get the star-crazed viewers who like to follow the guys they know and love or hate. And the amateur or semi-professional player would get access to the game in a way that they've never had before. They'd be able to compare themselves with their fellow players all over the world - as they do in bridge, golf, and chess. And they'd be able to actually qualify for seats in the huge national tournaments that their heroes play in.

What's not to like?

As an epilogue, let me mention that there is a group forming with just this goal - the World Pokerplayers Organization (WPO). It is just getting started and it has attracted the attention of many in the poker industry - including me. I don't know if this is the group that will finally do the difficult job of organizing professional poker - but I think they have a better shot of succeeding than anyone else that's come along. I'm pulling for them.

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