 Everyone in the poker media knows there is one sure way to get recognized by the World Poker Tour and that is to write a "negative" article about them. The crack WPT public relations person will drop you a mumbling, pandering email and even suggest subtle changes to your story more in line with what WPT would have you believe is the "truth" about their business activities. Well the WPT truth has always been different from what any reasonable observer would deduce. Today, the litany is undisputed, but I await my email none the less.
-Lakes Entertainment, Inc. was given away (distributed) all of its WPTE stock to Lakes stockholders, so that they might monetize their positions (sell the stock).
-WPTE stock is going to be delisted on the Nasdaq for being under $1.00 a share for too long.
-WPT Academy, never heard of it? My point exactly.
-WPT is dropping out of its deal with Cryptologic for the WPT online poker site.
-The prize of the crumbling WPT enterprise is the World Poker Tour, which is almost completely supported by revenue from the television broadcast. The television rights have bounced around to several channels in a now soap opera-like serial relationship. Revenue from the latest deal is well below what it costs WPT to produce the show.
The key to WPT operations has long been the attempt to do everything possible in the poker entertainment sphere without doing anything very well. The first few seasons of WPT on television were ground-breaking but there was never the foresight nor innovation to build on that product. The trend for televised poker shows has been clear for several years and yet WPT has made no attempts to change or innovate other than building a new set each year and firing another hostess.
Perhaps televised poker shows were never going to be anything but a fad for a few years. The devotion of the poker-addicted has even faded now but WPT certainly made no attempt to adapt or adjust to the changing audience, which is a sure recipe for demise.
Don't get me wrong, this is not gloating in any way. All of us have pulled for the World Poker Tour to be a continuing success. Many in the poker world have offered suggestions but none were ever heard above the din of the WPT truth machine. The end of the World Poker Tour would be a great loss to the game and we all regret the management miscalculations which led and continue to lead the WPT.
 I have been thinking a lot about the World Poker Tour this past week. In formulating this "Report Card" I have tried to not come off as completely negative and critical. To be fair the WPT has done a lot for poker but therein lies the first problem. The chief spokesperson for WPT is Steve Lipscomb: the founder, CEO, public relations spokesperson and all around face of the WPT. Let me say what everyone in the poker community knows: Steve Lipscomb does too much and says too much without benefit of a cool, calm, trained public relations staff and that invariably leads to trouble.
The infamous "Open Letter to the Poker Community" from a few years back is only the most notorious of his PR gaffs or was that his comments about Capitalism in Communist China? Either way, it is all well and good to promote your product, even to the point of some exaggeration but honestly does anyone except Steven Lipscomb believe that the WPT sole-handedly created the world wide poker phenomenon? Certainly, the televised WPT poker tournaments were a major factor in the increased public interest in poker; there really is no need to inflate that fact beyond all reason.
I will leave to the various poker forums the high and low lites of: WPT and Traktor Poker in China, WPT having "never made a profit"; WPT Academy and other spinoffs; WPT and the revolving hostess; WPT on the Game Show Network or the Travel Channel. To my mind the World Poker Tour does two things: they put on poker tournaments and they produce them into a television program. So I will stick with those two central items.
First, the tournaments. Other than the ongoing dispute with several professional players, which the WPT could have and should have settled several years ago. Other than that, I think the WPT tournaments have addressed most ongoing issues rather well. The ever changing schedule is a fact of life in the ups and downs of the current poker landscape. I have no issue with the schedule nor its reliance on Bellagio in Las Vegas for five tournaments. After all, it would make sense to go where the players live and where the tournaments are consistently well run and well attended. Say what you will about Jack McCelland's interesting tournament rules, he and his staff at Bellagio run a player friendly event with style and minimal sideshows.
The WPT was slow to respond to the player's complaints about the small chip stack to blind structure at the WPT final tables. But respond they have and as of now the WPT final tables offer the finest example of big stack professional poker of any tour or tournament structure. Props where props are due and the WPT has done well with this critical aspect of tournament poker.
Now to the televised show. The show as it now is presented on GSN has not kept up with the changing face of poker. This is not a harsh criticism, simply because editorial and directorial decisions about the show are really tough calls. Clearly though, I have some suggestions.
First a question: Is the show aimed at more new audience members or at the continuing audience from the first five years? The answer is probably: both! And therein, lies another problem. Too much basic information, annoys and bores the poker literate audience; not enough and new viewers get lost in the subtleties of professional poker. But the show needs some new blood. Here are my suggestions.
Do not fire Mike and Vince, but quit wasting their time by having them sit through and talk through the live event. You don't use 90% of what they say live anyway. It is in post-production when they can see the hole cards where you get the bulk of their commentary, so drop the pretense and get them out of there. If you want some live quotes, Linda Johnson's live commentary is always entertaining; oh wait, you lost Linda Johnson; now that was a mistake.
Second, if you are going to put microphones on the players at the final table; then you need to use that dialog in the show. A most recent example will illustrate. During Bellagio Cup III, Mike Matusow carried on a six hour conversation about deep stack poker. He was praising the new structure of the WPT, so good promotion for the tour from one of the best known and most critical players in the world. And his comments were very informative about how deep stack poker is different from other types of poker, he illustrated by commenting on several key hands. At times the other players joined in the conversation with Mike (I know I was there), it would have been perfect for Mike Sexton and Vince to build a entertaining and informative conversation around those comments. But all we hear of this, in the televised show, are two or three of The Mouth's comments, all of which are being talked over by Vince on some completely different topic.
When Bellagio Cup III got down to heads up, a lot of talk table was aired between Mike and Kevin Saul; but that had been going on all night. Another strong and entertaining thread to make this final table unique and different from all the other WPT final tables. All I am saying is that the WPT format has gotten stale but they actually have a unique and fresh product if they would only choose to show it. Quit trying to force the broadcast into some formula that makes all the final tables look the same.
So overall, on this report card, I give WPT a B minus. They can do better, they have shown the ability to adjust to the changing market but the market is changing again. Who if anyone will catch the second wave of the poker boom and who will get swamped by the splash of the already descending shark?
 The World Poker Tour has been making some news recently; let's see what they have been up to. First, they announced that as part of the WPT Championship of the current season six, currently underway at Bellagio in Las Vegas; as part of that celebration, they would be giving all former winners (96 of them!) a WPT Championship bracelet. There will be a big ceremony and nearly everyone has said: "So what? The WSOP gives bracelets, why is the WPT coming out with a copycat bit of bling at the end of six years of tournaments?"
Next, WPT Enterprises announced that Grup Peralada's Casino Barcelona will host its second World Poker Tour event May 21 – 27, 2008. But it really isn't on the official WPT schedule, it will not be taped for television and, well and what? Seems a bit like a placeholder and not a real tour stop.
Finally, there was the announcement of the World Poker Tour Canada. A completely separate Canadian WPT, which will begin on May 5th with the Coast to Coast Poker Tournament at the River Rock Casino Resort. The Coast to Coast Poker Championships will be the first stop for World Poker Tour Canada but no further sites or dates have been announced.
Perhaps before the World Series of Poker gets underway late next month, perhaps we should take a look at the World Poker Tour and see just how well they are doing. Time for a World Poker Tour report card. Coming next week.
Two new poker spokespersons were named this week and both were a bit of a surprise.
 First, the World Poker Tour announced at the L.A. Poker Classic that Antonio Esfandiari would be their first every poker player representative. Duties and responsibilities for this first time ever move by WPT are unclear but there is now a professional face to the WPT other than the corporate image of Steve Lipscomb. Antonio is, of course, well know in the poker world and has fair well in WPT events. Using a professional player as the spokesperson is a new concept for WPT and one has to wonder how Antonio's responsibilities will meld with long time WPT announcers Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten; not to mention the revolving door of WPT spokes model/eye candy of the past several years.
 In an even more interesting move, Absolute Poker has added Liv Boeree to their line-up of players/spokespersonalities. Liz is a 23 year old astrophysics graduate (their idea to include that resume item),as well as a recent player on the European scene. More than just a pretty face or a pretty face who plays poker, Liz has previous experience covering poker. Since August 2005, the London-based model has worked as a TV presenter, writer and interviewer on some of the most popular poker broadcasts including Ultimatepoker.com Showdown, Gutshot TV, Daily Express, Challenge TV, Gala UK Poker Tour, Sky Poker TV, Poker Verdict, Ladies' World Poker Open, and the WSOPE.
 Oh and one more item of note. Doyle Brunson, a lifelong Republican has switched parties to endorse Barack Obama for U.S. President, citing Obama's support for free market poker legislation.
 The World Poker Tour has released it's schedule for season seven and it is a much reduced tour from season six.
Gone from last year's schedule are:
Mirage Poker Showdown, Las Vegas
Turks and Caicos Poker Classic
Mandalay Bay Poker Championship, Las Vegas
WPT Spanish Championship, Barcelona
World Poker Open, Tunica
World Poker Challenge, Reno
WPT Ladies Night
Here is the Season Seven schedule:
 Steve Lipscomb, CEO of the World Poker Tour, either needs to get himself a PR person or a gag. Once again the "Loose Lipped" Lipscomb has put his foot in his generously proportioned mouth.
You will remember back when the Gang of Seven (Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Annie Duke, Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Phil Gordon) complained about WPT using their images to promote the WPT online poker site and eventually this led to their boycotting the World Poker Tour and a long and confusing legal battle that still lines the pockets of serveral dozen lawyers. Well back then Mr. Lipscomb put out an "Open Letter" that basically said: "We won't do that again, you can trust us." [Full text below]
Now Mr. Lipscomb has made a deal with the Chinese Government perhaps giving the WPT access to the largest untapped poker market on the planet. No problem Steve but do you really intend to take business tips from the Chinese? as you describe them:
"the most forward looking capitalists on the globe."
.
Here is the full text of what the WPT CEO had to say about those free market fanatics, the Chinese.
BEIJING: Tournament poker is coming to China — a country that still strictly outlaws all forms of gambling.
World Poker Tour Enterprises Inc. said it would sign an agreement on today with the China Leisure Sports Administrative Center. The partnership will "promote the sport of poker, by helping to create, expand and commercialize China's first ever national poker competition," World Poker Tour Enterprises said in a statement.
It said the partnership agreement would run for five years, with an option to extend. Additional details weren't given and it wasn't clear what stakes participants would play for. This deal will not be focused on the island gambling mecca of Macau but rather on mainland China, which represents a different challenge because the Communist government forbids gambling, categorizing it as a form of criminal, anti-social behavior along the lines of prostitution and drug use.
See Dream Big part I here.
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