WGM#38 NOV/DEC 2015

杰 克 的 扑 克 旅 程 The house that Jack built
an online tutorial to create new players who will
eventually, hopefully, come and visit us here at the
WSOP. It’s another way for them to get from one
point to another. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
You practice, practice, practice. This allows players
to develop their skills and the technical aspects
of their game, to learn the mathematics, to build
their bankrolls and do all those kind of things. The
negatives people hear about online poker are far
outweighed by the benefits. And it is critical to the
future of the game. The fact of the matter when you
look at poker is that not everyone is a winner. The
same applies to regular sports – there is a winner
and a loser – and the same with the stock market.
Poker is no different. But online poker is crucial to
the growth and evolution of the game.
BB: Liquidity will obviously remain a problem
for America’s online poker sites for as long as the
majority of the country is locked out. What are your
thoughts on player numbers at WSOP.com so far?
JE: This year we had an online bracelet event for
the first time and it attracted 905 players which is
fantastic. The liquidity is not terrible considering
the players are all here in the state. I haven’t been
keeping up too much with what’s been going on this
summer but I know there has been a lot of activity
and a lot more guys playing this year than last year.
They’re obviously enjoying the game. Anybody that
loves poker should be a supporter of online poker.
We saw what it did in the early days to develop
new players and teach them how to play. Now it’s
even more important to continue to find ways to
do that. We just hope that one day it is wide open
and regulated so people can play freely in their
robes or offices and continue to participate. That’s
the other thing – a lot of people want to play poker
but can’t because they don’t have access to it! If you
live somewhere that doesn’t have live casinos and
you don’t want to play in a private game where you
might risk being robbed or killed, having the ability
to play online is great.
BB: Back to the land-based version of the game and
there have been rumors swirling for years that the
WSOP could be moved to Caesar’s Palace for one
reason or another. Can you see it happening?
JE: No. I think the Rio is a great place for the WSOP.
As much as we have other places where it could
also be held, this is a great place to have it. There is
plenty of parking, the hotel is great, it’s big and it’s
set up for this event. We know how it works, the
stakeholders love having it here and they embrace
it. The problem with holding the WSOP elsewhere
is that first, you’d have to find a place that was big
enough, then you’d have to find someone that loves
it as much as we do which is really hard. I think the
Rio is a pretty damn good place to host it. They’ve
been absolutely gracious in hosting the WSOP
these past 10 years and they’ve worked very hard
to improve. They listen to the players and let’s face
it – for two months every year this is the place to be.
Caesar’s Palace might be the flagship property for
Caesar’s Entertainment but the Rio in June and July
… there is no place like it. It’s not even close. This is
like Woodstock, the place everybody wants to be.
BB: On a lighter note, what are some of the
funnier things you’ve seen at the WSOP over the
past 10 years?
JE: One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was the
first year I was working here when Johnny Chan and
Phil Laak were heads-up for a bracelet in a US$2,500
PLO event. Phil was relatively new to the WSOP at
the time but he’s a crazy personality and that headsup
clash was one of the funniest things I’ve ever
seen. He was yelling “It’s Johnny f****** Chan, it’s
Johnny f****** Chan!” and doing push-ups and situps
between hands, shadow boxing. Johnny could
barely play! He ended up winning his 10th bracelet
but it was hilarious to watch. There have been some
funny moments in this building over the past 10
years. I’ve seen players take bad beats and fall over
crying, I’ve seen people go nuts running through
the building when they’ve won a big hand. I’ve
even seen a panda fall out of the audience! That was
great during the final table of the 2013 WSOP Main
Event – a guy in a panda costume comes flying out
of the stands, trips over the stage and hits the deck.
In a million years I could never have expected that to
happen! There was the time Phil Hellmuth crashed
a race car in the parking lot … we’ve seen some
unusual and interesting things.
BB: One of the biggest changes to the WSOP
Main Event came in 2008 when the concept of the
November Nine was first introduced, which saw the
tournament halted for three months once the final
table was set with the remaining players returning
in November to play to a winner. You must be
pleased by its success, even though it was quite
controversial when first announced?
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