WGM#38 NOV/DEC 2015

杰 克 的 扑 克 旅 程 The house that Jack built
generous with the opportunity to partner with
them. It was a big deal for them to be able to provide
their product to the WSOP, be recognized by the
players and enter into new markets just like any
other business would want to. But we play a lot of
games that nobody plays and have a lot of players
that play differently than normal. When you play in
Italy you play two-card Hold’em, you look at your
cards once or in a lot of cases guys just pick the two
cards up and look at them in their hand. They’re not
pinching them and they’re not digging into them,
so from their perspective they’re thinking, “These
cards are great. They’re used all over the country and
we’ve never had a problem.”
Then when they got into this environment I
think they realized they needed higher quality, more
durable cards because the players at the WSOP are
more aggressive with them. They don’t stand up
as well in this environment. But Modiano stepped
up to the plate. They sent us newer cards that are
higher quality and we’ve had zero complaints. A
lot of players have even said they like them better
than the Kem cards. So I think the whole deal was
trying to find the right card that would be good for
the WSOP and even if they didn’t get it right the first
time, they got it right the second time.
Any time you’re partnering with anyone, you
want them to be someone who can take criticism,
look at the product and make it better. That’s the
same business that we’re in. Then again, poker
players are hyper critical and when something goes
wrong they will let you know about it. Something
as important as the cards can make a lot of other
things start to seem bad too. Cards are important
because you’re playing for money which is
emotional and if players feel they’re not getting a
fair shake, that’s a problem.
BB: I recall another interesting problem a few years
ago where some of the chip denominations were
difficult to tell apart.
JE: Yes it was the 5k, the 25k and the 50k chips.
Chips are really interesting actually. I have almost
900,000 individual chips here at the WSOP, so we’re
pushing the million mark in terms of all the different
chips through all the different sets. And every time
you create a chip, it needs to look different to the
same denomination chip in a different set – or even
another denomination chip in a different set. So think
about how many denominations of chips you have
in one set and multiply that by six or seven … you
start coming up with all sorts of funky combinations!
When you’re looking at the samples and you
start putting all the chips side by side to see what
looks good with the other chips, you need to
make sure none of them look too similar but if you
produce enough chips over time then eventually
you’re going to make a mistake. Sometimes the
artwork you get for a chip also looks very different
from the final product. You have to be careful with
certain colors like orange and pink and red because
they’re very close.
BB: As a board member of the Poker Tournament
Directors Association, you have a big say in
overseeing the official rules of the game and there
was a notable change at the recent Poker TDA
Summit in regards to when a player must be seated.
Two years ago, the “first card off the deck” rule was
introduced which stipulated a player’s hand would
be killed if they weren’t in their seat when the first
card was dealt. That rule has now been quashed and
we’ve returned to the former “last card off the deck”
rule instead. What are your thoughts on the two?
JE: I wish I was as passionate about it as everyone
else is outside of the fact that I know from a players’
standpoint the last card seems to make more sense
in this environment, just because I’ve got guys
bouncing around from table to table, I’ve got guys
outside signing autographs or making deals with
each other. And they sit in their seat for up to 15 or
16 hours a day, so to tell them they have to stay in
their chair is very difficult. I understand why “first
card off the deck” is better for the operator but it’s
not better for all of the players. I look at first card
off/last card off as how we view rules collectively.
Everyone approaches rule making for poker
differently.
From my standpoint, yes there are rules
that people must abide by to play but I don’t like
to create rules that basically tell you how to play.
I prefer to create rules around the way people
naturally play. You want an environment where
players are comfortable, they can play cards and
their game is protected. Penalties and rules are
there to protect the game but rules should be to
govern it in its natural state and not make people
conform to this very stringent, tight style of play
where they’re all robots. I try to make the game fun
and comfortable while maintaining its integrity.
BB: What are your thoughts on players speaking
to one another in different languages while at
the table?
JE: I’m not going to say that I’m completely open
to letting anyone speak any language they want
so I have certain rules. I don’t like anybody talking
across the table in a different language while a hand
is in play. I don’t like them seeking advice from an
outside source while in the hand. If you want to talk
to somebody on the rail, do it out of the hand and
away from the table. I don’t care what you want to
talk about, just do it away from the table. I think
that if you’re at a place where French is the universal
language you should be able to speak in English and
French. If you’ve got Chinese and Vietnamese and
Thai then those languages should be prominent
along with English. It should be the native tongue
and English, which is pretty universal around the
world. By the way, I think for the most part the
players are going to police themselves. I’d be more
concerned if there were only two French people
as opposed to, say, five French and five Americans
because they can’t all be dishonest!
BB: We’ve recently seen online poker return to three
American states – Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey
– although for now online gaming remains banned
across the rest of the country. Of course, the WSOP is
one of a handful of players in this new online poker
market through WSOP.com. What do you think the
future holds for online poker in the USA?
JE: I can’t really answer that, but what I can say is
online poker is a great tool for learning the game
as well as being a great thing for anyone that
already loves the game. Online poker is basically
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