FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#263 – London Journal #24 – Last Hand at the Empire, Part II – Better, Better …. Betfair

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

I arrive at the Hampshire, a Radisson hotel across Leicester Square from the Empire, at 9:55 AM, five minutes early. The Square, which always seems to be teeming with activity no matter the hour, is quiet and empty on Sunday morning. All of London is seemingly sleeping it off; the London Underground was deserted and I counted 20 WSOP-Europe posters (“The King of Europe will be crowned in Leicester Square”) on my solitary trip up the long escalator to the street. I notice this morning, for the first time, that the Square itself has statues of both William Shakespeare and Charlie Chaplain.

Ty arrives in the lobby moments after me and walk the short distance to the lobby restaurant. Ty Stewart is a big man, well over six feet tall. He is in his mid-thirties. He has a high forehead and a boyish face. Though his dark hair is short and neat, it never seems to stay in place. This is probably because is constantly in motion. The time we spend sitting at breakfast is, by far, the longest he remains seated, or even in one place, for the next sixteen hours. He wears a dark suit and a Burberry-patterned tie. I don’t know Ty super well but I know him well enough to be able to confidently predict that the outfit will eventually be askew.

We are joined for breakfast by Chris, an assistant of Stewart’s who is dressed casually. He looks like he hasn’t gotten much sleep and Ty ribs him about it. It’s “fashion week” or something like that so the hot night-spots are allegedly crawling with hot model-types. Without asking, Stewart assumes that Chris spent the late hours of Saturday night in unsuccessful pursuit of European supermodels.

But it’s mostly talk about business. The U.K. rules against undue product placement are already forcing their presenting sponsor, Betfair, to cover its logo on one of the final-table players. They need to find out if it’s going to get worse (e.g., having to cover more Betfair logos if additional non-Betfair players are eliminated or being unable to uncover logos if Betfair players go bust); they’ll hear soon from their consultant, veteran U.K. television producer Martin Turner). Ty and Chris also discuss the other items they need to attend to before play starts at 2 PM: setting up the Shadow Bar for the broadcast, arranging details like the display of the bracelet and the money presentation, attending to the sponsors, and choreographing the pre-final table press conference and the bracelet presentation.

Still, Stewart concludes, “This is a breeze compared with the World Series of Poker. With the live broadcasts there – pay-per-view, live streaming over the internet – everything has to go off on schedule. Today? It starts when it starts. And because it’s Sunday and we’re here in London, I don’t have to deal with all my other business while it’s going on.” He goes on to explain, for my benefit, that his responsibilities include sponsorship and marketing deals throughout Harrah’s. If this was a weekday or we were in Vegas, the deals don’t stop for the World Series. He’s been working on deals involving pro beach volleyball, the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, and several others.

“Between May and now, the World Series is what’s most important 99% of the time, though there is plenty to do with it the rest of the year. For 2008, we’re trying to figure out where to stage it. Yes, the Series will be at the Rio, but with what footprint? The tent’s going away; we know that. But what other space? Where? Setting the schedule for the Series directly relates to the decisions on space. We’re already late for sponsorships for 2008, so we’re trying to guide the sponsors for next year, doing things like making sure Mike Matusow doesn’t beat up their peanut.”

Ty tells me the story of Mike Matusow and Mr. Peanut. I heard about it but never quite got the whole story. On Matusow’s Day 1, he was seated at the “second” feature table. Mr. Peanut, the giant peanut-mascot of Planters (the Official Nut of the World Series of Poker) was walking the floor, posing for pictures. Mike saw him and called him to come by his table. When he didn’t, Matusow started yelling that Mr. Peanut was blowing him off. At one point, he tried unsuccessfully to jump over the signage at Mr. Peanut. It sounded like a riot, though it never made it on TV.

“It wasn’t censored,” Stewart tells me and I believe him. “There just wasn’t an opportunity to fit it in. Mike wasn’t a factor in the Main Event this year. It was big in the online coverage.”

I told him that Planters should jump at this opportunity. If they really want to be associated with the World Series of Poker, this could be a godsend: Mr. Peanut heads up against The Mouth? Mr. P trading in that monocle for a giant pair of shades?

It turns out Harrah’s is way ahead of me. It wasn’t for no reason that Jeffrey Pollack snapped up Stewart as soon as he got the Harrah’s job and found out Ty was available. Ty is working out a deal in which another well-known brand and mascot (arguably BIGGER than Mr. Peanut) signs on and the mascot appears in commercials ready to play poker.

After breakfast, Chris leaves and Ty takes me to the basement of the Hampshire where the media center is set up. Harrah’s had 150 credentialed media for the Main Event and they had four rooms in which to work, all with audio and video of the final table, with good internet access and plenty of work space. Frankly, this seemed like a much better place to watch than in the Shadow Bar itself, which would be jammed to capacity.

Leaving the media center, we run into Bex, an energetic woman who Betfair has hired to help them with the Series. As the presenting sponsor, and a relative newcomer to poker, Betfair had numerous responsibilities, to Harrah’s and the event and to its own qualifiers and sponsored players.

Ty didn’t get a chance to gauge Betfair’s reaction to how play ended on Saturday. If nothing else, he wants to hear them be excited about having 5 of the 9 players at the final table, and make sure they are okay with covering up the logo of one of their players.

Bex is thrilled with how it worked out, both getting logos on 4 of the finalists, not to mention seeing their recently inked deal with Annette Obrestad, the Norwegian wunderkind not yet 19, paying instant dividends. She busted Jennifer Harman on Friday night and Annie Duke on Sunday night. “That’s great for us.”

After Bex is out of earshot, Stewart tells me what a great partner Betfair has been. “The presenting sponsor could be standing around, focused just on the hospitality. But Betfair has been a true partner. These guys are working so hard, it’s almost like they are a London office for us.”

As he explains this, I’m reminded of how many constituencies Ty Stewart and Jeffrey Pollack have to please. They have to work within Harrah’s bureaucracy and the casino-resorts that host events. They are expected to run sound, profitable operations. They have to stay clear of legal and regulatory issues that lurk in the background of nearly everything they do. They have to do right by the sponsors and partners they bring in. And they have to, where the World Series of Poker is concerned, produce events that seem worthwhile to the players.

Although these constituencies sometimes operate at cross-purposes, they have to constantly balance them. The beautiful thing, of course, is when the interests are all aligned. I never got around to asking the specifics of what Harrah’s got from Betfair but they assisted in numerous aspects of running the event. They ran a huge number of satellites and were responsible for decent percentage of the field. They added £120,000 to the prize pool for first place could be an even £1,000,000. They ran the players lounge. They helped develop the advertising campaign.

At 11:05 AM, before we walked across the Square to the Empire, Ty had to excuse himself to go back to his room. “Left my credential upstairs.” When he returns a couple minutes later, however, he has not just the laminated access badge, but a bulging white shopping bag. I’m curious about what’s inside, but I figure, as we walk into the casino, I’ll find out sooner or later.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Be Sociable, Share!