February 14 2012, Brett Collson

The World Poker Tour has seen consistent growth in several areas since poker was flipped upside down on Black Friday. In addition to the tour’s expansion into Europe with several new stops in Season X, the television ratings on Fox Sports Net climbed by 30 percent, and the online poker traffic at ClubWPT has increased considerably.

World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller sat down with PokerNews recently to discuss the changes made to the WPT business model and how it could potentially change if online poker is legalized in the U.S.

Many poker players flocked to ClubWPT.com after Black Friday. How has business changed at the site since April?

ClubWPT was already doing very well [before Black Friday]. It certainly did add an additional layer of players who wanted somewhere to come and play competitive poker online. It’s helped the business, but it was a very healthy business beforehand. The integration and sponsorship of the show have exposed the brand and the model to a lot of people, which has really been the key factor.

We still see several real-money online poker rooms operating in the U.S. today. What does ClubWPT offer players that they can’t find at these other sites?

There are a series of things you’ll find at a legal operation as opposed to one that is, quoting the government, violating the law. We run a very professional operation as a subsidiary of bwin.party with a lot of people in the company who have operated in large online poker operations. I think the poker experience is outstanding.

And very importantly, regardless of the service itself, being WPT branded brings with it all of the WPT attributes. Not only do you have the ability to win seats to WPT events, but then you have what we call the ClubWPT VIP experience where you meet the cast, get invited to the parties, you get interviewed, and put on television.

Right now, ClubWPT is a subscription site. Could we see a change in the business model if online poker is legalized in the states?

I think you’ll always see a subscription offering. I think there’s a market for subscription that fits a lot of people’s lifestyles quite well. However, if there are other forms of poker that are legalized and of interest to the poker playing community, then of course we would look to offer that service using the WPT brand and applying the WPT assets. I’d say it would add to [the subscription site] rather than replace it.

Would bwin.party have any influence on that?

Well, bwin.party is the parent company, but we very much run an independent entity here. We have relationships with a variety of online sites in Europe and a variety of casinos. We would make decisions that would be best for the WPT brand and the WPT business.

What do you think will happen in the next year in regards to online poker legislation in the U.S.?

I’m not sure I’m the person to be predicting what the government is going to do, or any one of 51 or 52 governments is going to do in the United States. But we certainly have some optimism that you will see regulated online poker in some form somewhere during 2012. It think it feels to most of the industry like there’s a lot of momentum toward the government understanding that regulated online poker is the best solution for online poker.

What we’re really focused on is getting quality legislation and encouraging the government to interact with the industry and make sure that the legislation integrates all of the knowledge in the industry on how to best serve players, protect players, and satisfy the consumer interest.

Switching to the live circuit, what has attendance been like at WPT events since Black Friday?

The attendance has been excellent since Black Friday. It is very difficult, frankly, to assess the year-to-year numbers in general, but there are a variety of influences on live event attendance. It’s difficult to isolate one influence, and we even believe Black Friday has had conflicting influences. In other words, there have been some positive influences and some negative influences on tour attendance.

For example, you have the pros in the U.S. who will be interested in showing up for an event in a casino and playing in the cash games and other tournaments before and after because that’s now the primary place that they’re going to play poker. The downside is that some players who were maybe “fringe” players have stopped being poker pros and decided to either find another interest or only play on occasion. The factors go in multiple directions, but in general, the attendance has been fantastic. We had our biggest event ever in September at Borgata with over 1,300 entries.

The World Poker Tour has expanded into Europe with more stops overseas in Season X. Do you expect more growth in Europe during Season 11?

There’s been great demand for WPT in Europe and we’ve taken the tour from having two events a couple years ago to having 10 or 12 in the calendar year. I do expect to continue to see additional events on the tour and WPT branded. There are a lot of casino partners that continue to come to us that have interest; it’s a matter of finding the right venues and the right calendar. But Europe continues to be a vibrant and growing market, and certainly WPT will continue growing there.

Season X is set to hit television screens this month. Can you talk about the changes to the coverage and what you have in store for viewers this season?

Last year, we made a lot of major changes in not only the way that WPT is broadcast, but in a way that we think poker programming is thought of. This year, we’re continuing that path. I think one of the big things that’s changing is we’re now offering three hours of coverage of each event, which allows for extended coverage of the play-down days.

Coverage of the play-down [from Season IX] got tremendous feedback from viewers and players and really gives a much fuller sense of what goes on at the event. So we decided to expand that substantially. It allows us to show more hands of poker, but also gives us some time to add more context to the players at the final table and the event in general.

We’ve also added a segment called “On The Road” which shows life on the World Poker Tour from the cast perspective and the player perspective to give viewers a little bit of a look behind the scenes.

We’re also celebrating our tenth season as a milestone and anniversary. You’ll see some look-backs into some of the most famous and most dramatic final table moments from the first nine seasons.

What are some of your plans for the WPT in the future?

We see the WPT’s role in the industry as very much of an ambassador to bring poker to people’s lives. So we’re going to continue to look for ways to expand geographically. We’ll look for ways to expand poker to make it of greater interest to those who have been historically engaged in poker. And we’ll try to allow viewers in particular to get a greater understanding of what playing in one of these events and being on the tour is like, and who these people are so [viewers] can root for them or root against them. That way they’ll have a more entertaining and deeper experience.

One important development is that the viewership has become more sophisticated. In Season IV we had a segment called the “Raw Deal” where you’re going into great depth and very sophisticated analysis. I think we’ll continue on that path to allow people to get deeper and deeper analysis and discussion of what goes on on the tour.

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February 13 2012, Brett Collson

We hope you enjoyed your weekend even half as much as Adele enjoyed hers. But now it’s time to get back to business. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’ll be covering Doyle Brunson’s recent success in Las Vegas cash games, a new site launched by PokerStars, and more.

In Case You Missed It

How did Isaac Haxton get his start in poker? Find out that and more in part one of the latest Seat Open series.

Matt Juttelstad continued building his stack on Day 2 of the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open. Find out how Juttelstad kept his chip lead in our daily WPT recap.

Did you miss Sunday’s World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.

The Epic Poker League still has one more event left in Season 1. Donnie Peters takes a look at the results thus far and which players are in contention to earn a seat in the $1,000,000 Championship Freeroll.

How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who took home the biggest win? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.

Dan Blakeman was the chip leader after Day 2 of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Tunica $1,600 Main Event. Kurt Jewell, meanwhile, was looking to make some history.

Never Too Old to Quit

Doyle Brunson admitted last year that traveling the tournament circuit is becoming too much of a grind at his age. But the 82-year-old legend is still crushing the Las Vegas cash games as if he was still in his twenties.

Brunson recently wrote in his blog that he’s been playing lengthy sessions over the past few weeks at Aria and the Bellagio. The high volume has apparently paid off, too, as Brunson said he’d won 14 of the last 15 days as of Friday, Feb. 10.

“Poker is going strong in Vegas,” Brunson wrote. “There are two or three medium stake poker games every day. The games aren’t nearly as high as they were before Black Friday, but at least they are going every day. The games are $300/$600 at the Aria and $600/$1,200 at the Bellagio with the stakes going a little higher sometimes. There seems to be lots of players because there is usually a waiting list.”

Brunson did mention one lousy beat: Doctors told him he had to lay off the Cheetos and Goldfish crackers for a while. If he’s looking for a replacement snack to keep the heater running, we recommend apples.

Read Doyle’s full blog at doylebrunson.com.

PokerStars Launches New Site

Poker players in Sweden and Finland received great news Monday when PokerStars launched a new site that will allow residents of those nations to play on the site tax-free. PokerStars.eu will continue to offer the same games and software as the dot-com site, but PokerStars’ new Maltese gaming license will allow players in European markets to take advantage of the gambling-friendly tax laws of the European Union.

Until now, gamblers in Sweden and Finland were taxed high amounts on their online gambling winnings earned outside the EU. Poker players from those countries will now be able to play tax-free on the dot.eu site because Malta, a member of the EU, does not tax gambling winnings.

“Some markets treat European Union-licensed operators differently than other license-holders,” said PokerStars head of business development Guy Templer. “Offering our online poker on www.pokerstars.eu with a Maltese license provides benefits to players in Sweden and Finland in particular and we are always striving to offer the best product possible to our players, wherever they are located.”

Get the full story at PokerNews.com.

Iowa Pushes for Online Poker

Online poker is expected to be one of many topics discussed by Iowa lawmakers when they return to the Statehouse this week.

Sen. Jeff Danielson says he expects to receive a draft of legislation establishing regulatory perimeters for state-licensed casinos to offer online poker to Iowa residents. The outlook of online poker in the state improved when the Department of Justice changed its stance on the Wire Act of 1961, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal told The Gazette that it’s “hard to tell” whether a bill could be approved by the end of the year.

“We have this messy circumstance where there’s this gray market or black market online poker business going on,” Gronstal said. “I think it’s something worth exploring. I think there’s a lot of potential side tracks for this bill to go down. But I think it probably makes sense for us to try to regulate this industry that’s already going on.”

The Gazette has more.

ESPN’s Horowitz Gets a Promotion

On Monday, ESPN announced that Jamie Horowitz has been promoted to Vice President of Original Programming and Production at the network. Horowitz, who has supervised the production of ESPN’s Emmy-nominated World Series of Poker coverage for the past five years, will now be responsible for all original programming at ESPN.

“My goal is to further ESPN’s commitment to the highest quality sports programming and to work with the talented teams we have in place to enhance our content,” said Horowitz, who created, developed and produced NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship before joining ESPN. “The sports business is an ever-shifting landscape and I am excited to have the opportunity to help strengthen this dynamic area of our business.”

Horowitz will continue to oversee production of the WSOP broadcast. He will also continue production oversight over shows like ESPN2′s First Take, SportsNation and Numbers Never Lie.

Read more at the ESPN Media Zone.

A Warehouse of Poker Knowledge

On Monday, PKR.com announced the launch of a new online poker encyclopedia that will provide access to a wide range of free poker content contributed by poker fans around the globe. The online poker room teamed up with a group of writers to set the framework for The Poker Wiki, but it is now up to poker players, bloggers and fans to write bios, update tournament results, and more.

“PKR has worked with a team of writers to get The Poker Wiki up and running, but from now on our involvement will be very hands-off,” said PKR Media Manager Dan Grant. “The Poker Wiki’s future is now in the hands of the poker community who we hope will pick up the baton and contribute content to help create the world’s foremost repository for all things related to poker.”

Check out the site at www.thepokerwiki.com.

Britain’s Got Talent

The United Kingdom has seen dozens of poker superstars burst onto the scene of late, and our friends over at UK.PokerNews want to make sure none of them go unnoticed. Over the next few months, the site will feature interviews with British pros who have been dominating at the tables. The profiles will include hints, tips and poker strategy from some of the best poker players in the U.K.

Your name doesn’t have to be Chris Moorman or Sam Trickett to be featured on the site, either. The UK.PokerNews team is also looking for successful players who have flown under the radar playing mid-stakes tournaments and cash games. “Whether you play 14 tables of $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha or are winning at no-limit hold’em with blinds of $0.01/$0.02 we want to hear from you,” says UK.PokerNews Editor Matthew Pitt.

Check out UK.PokerNews.com for more information.

The Life of a Poker Pro

Ever wonder how poker players are perceived by the general public? Take a look at this gem created by poker player Daniel Didech:

Didech posted this hilarious meme on his Facebook wall Sunday night. By Monday, it had gone viral with nearly 1,000 shares. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

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