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#262 – London Journal #23 – Last Hand at the Empire, Part I – Patchwork
I conceived of the idea of following Jeffrey Pollack or Ty Stewart for a day during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas last July. This is a classic reporting technique but it has one obvious flaw: any institution REALLY worth examining that close would generally resist granting that kind of access.
Until late June 2007, I had no basis for believing Harrah’s would go along, and many reasons for presuming they would not. First, 2007 was just the second World Series of Poker under the Jeffrey Pollack regime. The first World Series run by Pollack had resulted in widespread criticism of nearly every aspect of Harrah’s operations. The 2007 Series started with numerous foul-ups, all aired ad infinitum by griping players and nearly every writer that wasn’t somehow co-opted in their coverage. Second, Harrah’s has made a practice of requiring media outlets to PAY for the best access to cover the World Series, under the guise of “media partnerships”. Why give someone independent and potentially critical that kind of access when they had friendly “partners” to provide that kind of information. Third, the casino business, because of its heavy regulation and general paranoia, usually keeps the media at arm’s length. On several occasions, reporters have gone looking for skeletons in the closet in the casino business and found, literally, skeletons. Why would a gambling enterprise, which can do just fine with a low profile and an “open for business” sign, ENCOURAGE scrutiny?
Finally, as a practical matter, I had no relationship with Harrah’s that would encourage them to give me the access to hang out and watch from up-close how they run the World Series. I was friendly with Gary Thompson, the director of communications, and Nolan Dalla, the World Series media director. But I had never been introduced to Pollack or Stewart, one of whom I’d be trailing at a crucial time in the Series for such a project to work, and I had been critical of both in my prior blog and in this one.
But things changed during the World Series. As I pointed out in this blog during the Series, Pollack and Stewart appeared willing to admit mistakes and make changes. When the new playing-card design proved difficult to read, they immediately brought in new cards with the old design and created a forum for players to provide input on the subject. Some problems from early in the Series, like the long registration lines, disappeared. Others from last year, like the quality of dealers and the apparent ill-will between the dealers and Harrah’s, were clearly being addressed.
As a personal matter, I finally connected with Ty Stewart. Though I didn’t actually meet Jeffrey Pollack until WSOP-Europe in September, Ty (and probably Jeffrey) noticed that wherever they were, I was there too. When they approached Annie Duke at the start of the Series about the USA TODAY ads for the Ante Up for Africa tournament, I was with Annie. When they were both dispatched to deal with some issue involving Shannon Elizabeth and the player release, I was standing with her at the cage. When Phil Hellmuth busted in sixth place in his try for bracelet number twelve and Ty tried helping Phil arrange tickets for a show that night, I was holed up with Phil in the Poker Royalty lounge.
I even joked with him at the time, “Wherever you’re going, Ty, you’re gonna find that I’m already there.” Stewart took it in the good-natured way I intended, and we talked that day. We met again during the Main Event and I felt comfortable enough with him to raise the subject of my following him around on final-table day to write about the climax of the Series from his perspective.
It didn’t work out for the Main Event, but not because Stewart, Pollack, or Harrah’s as an institution had a problem with the concept. My meeting with Stewart discussing the matter was just one day before the end of the Main Event. Ty wasn’t sure whether I should be tailing him or Jeffrey, and Stewart was too busy to set it up.
That Ty Stewart, Director of Sponsorship and Marketing for the World Series of Poker, with the approval of Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series, would give their approval implies several very positive things. First, they weren’t paranoid. Second, they didn’t feel they had to distance themselves from me simply because I was critical. I thought Pollack and Stewart were starting to “get it” and letting me see inside their operation suggested they had a story they wanted to tell, rather than one they wanted to hide or control.
During a lunch meeting at the Empire Casino in London on Friday the 14th, Stewart himself brought up the idea that I could watch final-table day of the WSOP-Europe Championship from his perspective. When I quickly accepted, he recommended that I start late on Saturday the 15th, when they played down to the final table.
It looked for awhile like the end of WSOP-Europe would be a death march reminiscent of some Las Vegas events. Because of U.K. gaming rules, play could not start until 2 PM and had to stop at 6 AM. Furthermore, there was no off-day once the final table was set. On Friday night, they reached the bubble with 37 players left at 11:30 PM. When they stopped play at 2 AM, there were 32 left and no one had been eliminated in the previous 90 minutes. With that many players left, and so many dug in like that, it was hard to imagine getting from 32 to 9 without Saturday being a very long day.
So I took my time arriving at the Empire on Saturday, expecting that I would be there until 6 AM, watching Ty Stewart “start” Final Table Day as play ended when they had 9 players left or were forced to shut down.
When I arrived at just after 4 PM, my friend Annie Duke had just been eliminated, along with three other players. By 4:15 PM, 14 players had been eliminated and the field had shrunk to 17. Within a couple hours, I talked with Ty and he told me not to bother sticking around. The rush of activity that was anticipated for the pre-dawn hours on Sunday would not be occurring. He promised to e-mail me about anything that went out after the conclusion of play and we made plans to meet at the lobby of his hotel, the Hampshire, at 10 AM.
After I returned to my room at the Hilton and read about the final eliminations online while doing other work, I wondered whether it was wise for me to leave. Could Stewart have second thoughts about letting me hang around? Would he get so busy that he’d forget about me? My strength in these situations is my presence and tenacity, and I was giving those up.
I didn’t have to worry. Gus Hansen was eliminated in tenth place at 11:45 PM. Within an hour, Ty Stewart was back at his room across Leicester Square, firing off e-mails about the issues for Final Table Day. He kept me apprised of everything, even telling me that he was cutting me off just after 1 AM because his final e-mails were to his wife, who was seven months pregnant. “Might embarrass myself …. Requires some groveling.”
Just before that, however, Stewart had been busy organizing the issues for what could, without proper planning, be a chaotic finish. First, there was the matter of Gus Hansen busting in tenth place. It made for a phenomenally exciting finish to the pre-final table action … but deprived the final table of its superstar. Annette Obrestad – about whom Ty said at one point Saturday, “We better check her ID to make sure she’s really eighteen” – would be a big story because she was a woman and a teenager, but the final table, despite the star-heavy field, was otherwise without a Big Name. Stewart sent an e-mail to the production team to consider restructuring the broadcast to give more airtime to Saturday’s action.
Second, there were numerous matters that needed to be resolved about the look and feel of the final table – seating of friends and family, media, and sponsors; monitors in the Shadow Bar (which served as the stage for the final table) and around the Empire Casino; the bracelet; the money; the ceremony after the final hand. Stewart called for meetings at 11 AM and noon to go over the issues for the final table and the production.
Third, the logo situation was always controversial and, despite Harrah’s efforts to be a good partner with players to let them make deals, there was a problem. Based on the interpretation of U.K. broadcasting rules by their consultant, no more than 50% of the players at the final table could represent the same sponsor. Betfair, Harrah’s partner in WSOP-Europe, was sponsoring 5 of the 9 at the final table. That put Harrah’s and Betfair in the uncomfortable position of making Betfair de-logo one of its players. It also created a question for which the answer was unclear: what happens as players get eliminated? If Betfair has 4 of 9 players wearing logos, can it re-logo a player if one of its 4 is the first eliminated? If 2 non-Betfair players are the first to bust, does that mean Betfair has to cover up the logo of one of its remaining sponsored players? “Betfair is not going to be happy,” he wrote, “if they have the final two and must guess on who to stick with and guess wrong.”
Potentially, Harrah’s attempt to HELP players could contribute to the problem. For logos, Harrah’s imposed a rule that players could pick up or change affiliations so long as they didn’t change during a particular day of play. I haven’t read the rule because I just wear what Uncle Tilty tells me to wear so I may not have it technically correct but that’s the gist of it. I know that it was specifically designed to contrast with rules for some other tournaments that require players to declare, in advance of an event, all their sponsorship affiliations. Such a rule is fine for the Erick Lindgrens and Annie Dukes of the world; their affiliations are set far in advance. But what about the Guy from Nowhere who suddenly finds out he is at the feature table because Negreanu and Lederer are at the same table and it was chosen for TV, or who unexpectedly makes a final TV table? That Guy is deprived of a payday because no one wanted him to wear their logo when he had to declare, and now that he can be a walking billboard, it’s too late to declare. Harrah’s imposed the same-day limit both to keep players from being pressured during breaks and for continuity in production; no shots of a player wearing an Ultimate Bet hat and coming out of commercial decked out in Absolute Poker gear.
Could the same-day rule bite them in the ass? Betfair wasn’t running down players in the bathroom but at least one of its players would have to start the day without being able to wear its logo and maybe would be prevented from re-logoing, even if all the other Betfair players were eliminated.
Fourth, Harrah’s was going to try something brand new, a press conference with all the final table players present. It would be a unique photo opportunity and give the media a chance to see and question all nine players. But no one knew how this would look or come off, and it had to be integrated into the “traditional” press conference in which Jeffrey Pollack would make a number of points about the experience of the first World Series of Poker-Europe. Stewart had the responsibility of making it all come together, and before he went to bed he e-mailed Pollack the bullet points for the press conference.
These were all things Ty Stewart had to deal with from his hotel room after 1 AM. Then he had to review a proposal for a marketing tie-in between Harrah’s and a major sporting event. It created a great cross-promotional marketing opportunity, but the business model didn’t seem right. “They want us to pay for the world,” he told me, “and homey don’t play that.” (Ty occasionally slips into hip-hop mode. It doesn’t happen often, though I did hear him once refer to his boss as “J-Pizzle”.) Then he had to make his fantasy football picks; he was in first place in a small-stakes league with big-stakes gamblers Gavin Smith and Erick Lindgren and he didn’t want to let them off the hook. Then he had to grovel to his pregnant wife. And maybe, if he was lucky, catch a few hours of sleep before the finale of the first World Series of Poker contested outside the United States.
If all went well on Sunday, World Series of Poker-Europe could take its first steps toward becoming an enduring institution. People would laud poker as an international game and praise its ability to captivate an audience. They would watch the final table in the future and note the excellent play, the quality commentary, and the exciting climactic hands. But if it went wrong – and there were countless things that could go wrong, from players families not getting seats to pissed-off sponsors to an amateurish money presentation to the food at the dinner buffet getting cold to the table chatter being inaudible – everyone knew to blame Jeffrey Pollack and Ty Stewart.
