POKER BOSS ESTIMATES REVENUES AT $2 BILLION AND UP

25 January 2008

World Poker Tour chief talks on a mathematical system for gauging ability and aggression, and a new venture


In an interview with the American newspaper USA Today this week, World Poker Tour chief Steve Lipscomb revealed that his company has partnered with Stats LLC to produce the poker industry's first sports-style database. Stats LLC provides data collection and analysis for 85 leagues, including the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.

"In poker, we all think we're better than we are," said Lipscomb told writer Mike Bambach. "We're going to develop statistics that will allow you to compare one win against another. The first stats you're going to get are rather basic, telling you what your ranking is based on the strength of field. All we have now are the WSOP bracelets, but some of those are smaller buy-in events.

"If you won a World Series of Poker tournament years ago with 150 people in it, how does that compare to a WPT event with 500 people in it? This will tell you."

Poker statistics, which are available on the WPT website, are also another way to validate poker as a sport, opined Lipscomb. For example, take the 'aggression index.'

"It's a mathematical formula on how many times you raise in certain positions with what hand," Lipscomb said. "We all know poker is infinitely nuanced, but that's no different than baseball. The audience has adopted poker as a sport. But the next step is how we talk about it in sports parlance. We're learning how to talk about this."

The WPT, which Lipscomb credits for launching the global poker phenomenon by making it a mainstream spectator sport, will soon unveil a subscription-based gaming platform in which players can legally compete online for as much as $100 000 in prize money every month, USA Today reveals.

But the website, clubwpt.com, will not be accessible in all 50 American states. Lipscomb said the website will operate under sweepstakes laws in 38 states and the District of Columbia on a state-by-state basis. He says people can join the site for free and play for free in all 50 states.

Federal laws restricting wire transfers for Internet gaming have not prevented "enormous amounts of money being made in Internet gaming," Lipscomb said, estimating revenue at $2 billion to $4 billion.

"We have not felt comfortable taking those bets," Lipscomb said. "With comfort, we can provide something that the Justice Department says is not illegal."

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