High Stakes Poker
Winning Hands, Gaining Fans
By Marcia Bradford
From May 30 to July 15, 2008, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tour at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas set new records for a poker tournament—drawing an over-capacity crowd of more than 500 spectators and thousands of television viewers to watch the grand finale. Having started 46 days earlier, the 2008 WSOP Tour was the largest and longest-running poker tournament in the world, according to Seth Palansky, communications director for Harrah’s Entertainment/World Series of Poker. “We call this the ‘Woodstock’ of poker tournaments because it draws so many players and fans from all over the world for an extended period of time; it’s huge,” he said.
Open to anyone and offering a variety of poker styles, the WSOP Tour featured 59,000 players from 125 countries in 2008—a 9 percent increase from 2007, Palansky said, adding that the WSOP represented more countries than even the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
While the WSOP may be the very biggest, it is just one of many poker tournaments attracting a rapidly growing number of players and fans. The World Poker Tour (WPT), launched in 2003, is an annual series of 16 international events that are open to all players. The 16 events are filmed at some of the world’s largest casinos and broadcast weekly around the globe; fans buy tickets to watch live, and DVDs of each season’s tournaments are racking up big sales, according to Lyndsay LaGree, senior manager of public relations at WPT Enterprises Inc., based in Los Angeles.
Part of poker’s big appeal is the potential to win big money. The first- and second-place winners of the 2008 WSOP final round won $9.1 million and $5.8 million, respectively. On Nov. 12, 2008, 23-year-old Jonathon Little won his second World Poker Tour title—and more than $1.1 million.
Charity poker events are also on the rise, a further indication of the popularity of the game, according to Leonard Walker, chief marketing officer of the Par and Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity. He expects this year’s event, set for Jan. 29 at Tampa Bay Downs’ The Silks Poker Hall in Tampa, Fla., to be even more successful than the inaugural event in January 2008 in Phoenix. “Last year, we raised more than $300,000 for the Joyner-Walker Foundation Inc., our local charity, and for several local charities. This year, we hope to surpass that figure, even with the recession,” he said.
In addition, the World Poker Tour’s Corporate Events division plans and manages poker tournaments for corporate entertainment or fundraising events, LaGree said.
Poker As Sport
Poker may not require the physical stamina of traditional athletic events, but it is increasingly being referred to as a sport. Many of the tournaments are broadcast on the major sports channels, such as ESPN and FSN, as part of a programming schedule that also includes Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) contests. According to statistics provided by WSOP, the television ratings for the 2008 WSOP final table in July were higher than MLB’s regular-season ratings.
Steve Lipscomb, founder, president and CEO of the WPT, contends that poker is not only a sport but also a more inclusive sport than most others. “Poker is the only sport that allows the ‘Everyday Joe’ to go up against the professionals and win life-changing money and celebrity status,” he said.
And poker players draw fans just like other types of athletes, Palansky said. “Big poker pros are treated like other sports celebrities these days. People come to events to take pictures of them, to get autographs and to try to learn about their techniques and strategies.”
One of the main attractions of the Par and Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity, which teams up sports fans with star athletes for 18 holes of golf and No Limit Texas Hold’Em Poker, is that so many well-known athletes are also avid poker players, according to Walker. Seth Joyner, a former NFL linebacker, is the celebrity host, while basketball great Julius “Dr. J” Erving and baseball hall-of-famer Ozzie Smith are among the celebrity participants this year. “There are a lot of athletes who are retired from professional sports but are still very competitive. Poker, as well as golf, is a very popular activity for them.”
Why It’s Growing
Walker credits organizations like WSOP, WPT and PokerStars.Net for working with the media to bring poker to the mainstream. “Poker’s popularity has grown with the rise of coverage. Social gambling has always been around, and poker parties have long been played among groups of friends. The rise of video and online poker, casino tournaments and other broadcast poker events have catapulted poker throughout television and the Internet.”
Jim Sterling, poker room manager at IP Casino Resort Spa in Biloxi, Miss., where poker tournaments are hosted throughout the year, said online poker tournaments have also fueled the growth of the game. “Poker tournaments have exploded in popularity partly because so many people have been able to learn the game in the comfort of their homes. Once they have gained some skills, many people decide to enter into live play.”
The success of Chris Moneymaker, an Internet player who won a seat into the 2003 WSOT Tour and ultimately won the televised main event, $2.5 million and the coveted championship bracelet, was a turning point, Sterling said. “People watched him in the tournament, learned that he had started by playing online and started thinking they could follow in his footsteps. It made people feel more comfortable about getting into the game even if they had little experience.”
Changing demographics are another reason for poker’s growth, according to Walker. “In every aspect of poker, you see gender, sex, age and race expanding,” he said.
One of the greatest growth areas in poker is men in their twenties. WPT statistics indicate the median age of tournament participants is 37, with more than 23 percent of players ranging from age 21 to 29.
While women made up less than 10 percent of the players on the 2008 WPT Tour, Palansky said their involvement has climbed from less than 2 percent to more than 9 percent over the past five years. He expects the number of women participating in the WPT to continue to climb, especially since launching the WPT Ladies Tour, with a first-place cash prize of more than $60,000, last year. The season finale at the Bellagio in Las Vegas drew 150 players and generated nearly $200,000 for Susan B. Komen for the Cure, which funds cancer research, Palansky said.
How Host Sites Benefit
Whether they are charity events or offer large sums of prize money, poker tournaments often have a positive economic impact on host facilities and their surrounding communities, according to organizers and tourism professionals.
One of the goals of the Par and Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity is to benefit the local community, Walker said. “We feel it is only right that we should leave some money behind to help out the local community and its nonprofit organizations. This year, we are adding a Taste of Tampa and a Networking Tent to help promote local businesses and restaurants.”
Additionally, he said, tournaments can boost business for the host facility. “Our 2008 event was held at the oldest casino in Arizona (the Fort McDowell Resort and Casino) and was by far its largest Thursday since opening, an increase of 87 percent in floor games.”
Nicole Learson, director of marketing at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau (MGCCVB), said that poker tournaments are adding significantly to the tourism business in the area. “Large poker tournaments bring more folks to the area, who shop, dine and visit other attractions. These events help the casinos fill their hotel rooms, often at slower times of the year. Also, as more tournaments are televised, we benefit as a destination since the cameras are often taken out into the community as well as to the poker games. We’re always excited to have high-profile, well-attended poker tournaments come to the area.”
The WPT’s Southern Poker Championship was held Jan. 2-17 at The Beau Rivage Casino and Resort in Biloxi. Learson said the CVB tries to participate with the host casino to promote the event and provide any other tourism-associated assistance, such as registration assistance or hosting receptions for the participants and fans.
“Poker has become so popular these days, it’s almost unbelievable. We’re a natural destination for these types of events and it has been great to take advantage of this trend.”
Sterling said Biloxi, like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, N.J., and other gaming destinations, is well-suited to host poker tournaments because the facilities, tables and other equipment are already in place. “It’s just a matter of plugging the tournament in to our current setup. At IP, we usually fill our convention center or use one of the ballrooms, depending on the size of the tournament,” he said, adding that poker tournaments are becoming an increasingly bigger segment of business for IP. “Most players fly or drive in and some of them rarely leave the casino, even when they are here for a two-week event…We fill a lot of hotel rooms and the poker players typically spend lots of time on the gaming floor. The fact that tournaments now often last several days means that people are in town longer and spending more money here.”