CHARITY DONATION COULD MAKE POKER TOURNAMENT ECONOMICALLY UNPLAYABLE

18 April 2008

WPT and players disagree in percentage-of-prizepool donation plan


Entry into the World Poker Tour Ladies Tour scheduled for Las Vegas next week may be influenced by a disagreement over a charity donation which surfaced during a radio talk show this week.

Apparently the WPT has decided that the Las Vegas event at the Bellagio will have a 15 percent chunk of the prize-pool donated to
Susan G. Komen for the Cure (SGK), a breast cancer charity which the WPT has supported in the past.

Although the cause and the vehicle are regarded as worthy, it is the size and method of the deduction that is causing some waves, and these became apparent on the radio talk show Poker Talk America when former WSOP Ladies Event champion Susie Isaacs declared that she would not play in the Ladies Championship. She had earlier posted her decision on her blog titled The World Poker Tour Ladies Championship Controversy, saying:

"As a working player who would gladly have donated 5 percent of any win I may have taken, I am very disappointed that this event is no longer on my schedule. With the 15 percent (donation) and the juice I don't believe it is playable from a financial point of view."

Lisa Adams, the poker player hostess of Poker Talk America, joined Isaacs in boycotting the event because of her perception that withholding charity funds from the prize pool is unfair to players.

Both women have made it clear that they feel any event with part of the prize pool withheld for charity should be advertised as a charity event, not as a championship.

Steve Lipscomb, the CEO of WPT defended his company's decision, saying it was simply trying to do a good deed.

"We're trying to promote women in poker and promote a good cause," Lipscomb said, appearing as a guest on the show along with Isaacs.

That the WPT had partnered with a worthy charity was not questioned; the concern was over the equity of the issue, said Isaacs.

With 15 percent going to the charity, an additional 3 percent withheld for the tournament staff and a further $25 500 earmarked to provide the winner of the tournament with a seat in the WPT Championship, the prize-pool is likely to be depleted by almost 25 percent before play even starts.

Jesse Jones, founder and chairman of the World Poker Association, supported Isaacs in her opposition, writing a letter to the WPT in which he said: "I believe you are taking advantage of women, especially novice women who have no idea about prize pools and their equity in an event."

Jones went on to suggest that a better solution to the problem may be for the WPT to make the donation from its own treasury, based on the number of players entering the event, and then invite players to make a matching donation.

However, it appears that the WPT intends to continue on its present course, although it has said it will consider suggestions for future events.

UPDATE: The World Poker Association has issued a statement on this issue, with chairman Wendeen H.Eolis advising that the organisation has not yet taken a public position regarding the WPT Ladies Championship “obligatory charity donation”.

"Jesse Jones, Chairman Emeritus and founder of the Association has expressed his personal support for the ladies in question in a letter to the WPT," Eolis writes. "I am the chairman of the WPA and as its chief elected officer, I have been in discussions with many of the ladies and the top WPT officials. The WPA’s executive committee will be meeting on this matter, following which I will issue a public statement.

FOOTNOTE: The WPA subequently held its meetings and came out on the side of the women players, who were not opposed to donating money to charity but objected to the unilateral approach by the WPT organisers to set and deduct donations from the prize pool.

"The furore has centred on the WPT's insensitivity to the varying financial means of 'working players' and more broadly on the decision to compel a charitable donation in an event labeled as a championship," said Wendeen Eolis, World Poker Association chairman.

Eolis pointed out that the WPT has not previously done this, and called upon the WPT to "reverse this mistake" for future events. Lyle Berman, chairman at WPT Enterprises reiterated CEO Steve Lipscomb's undertaking to reconsider, and said that in future there would be "...no such requirement in a WPT championship event."

Poker player Susie Isaacs, who initiated the protest against the WPT move, posted her satisfaction on her blog.

"I am no longer sad [about not playing] in the WPT Ladies Championship. It was worth it," Isaacs says in her blog. "I believe that the efforts of a group of women, from coast-to-coast, have made a big difference for the future of ladies poker tournaments."

The WPT Ladies Championship went ahead as planned with the 15 percent removed from the prize pool for the agreed charity. One hundred and fifty players entered.

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