John Duthie, former PokerStars executive and founder of the European Poker Tour, has made the move over to one of his ex-company’s rivals and has been named President of partypoker LIVE on a five-year deal. Announced in January, partypoker LIVE, as the name implies, is partypoker’s new live poker tournament tour, slated to begin in late March.
The hire is a bit of a coup for partypoker, as Duthie is a legend in the industry, one of the founding fathers of live (and successful) international poker tours. He is also an accomplished poker player in his own right, with more than $3 million live tournament winnings.
In an announcement on the partypoker blog, Duthie expressed his excitement for his new role:
I have been impressed with the progress of partypoker and in particular the number of trusted, experienced and well-respected individuals and organisations that have chosen to put their support behind the partypoker brand. I believe there is a gap in the market for an operator whose primary focus is poker and who will listen to, and work with, the poker community as this was something that was absolutely key to the growth and success of the EPT. I still love the game just as much as the first time I saw my first flop and I believe this passion will help partypoker LIVE become the largest and most fun poker tour in the world. I plan to enjoy myself immensely working with and meeting old friends.
He expanded on his comments about “listening” in an interview with the partypoker blog, saying, “Anything that any player has to say, I’ll happily listen to. To be honest, I’ve always listened to players. You can mould an event into something very successful with just good feedback. Listening, making changes and combining them with our own ideas can only be for the good.”
There are currently seven confirmed partypoker LIVE tour stops, as follows (list courtesy of the partypoker blog):
March 23-27 – partypoker Million Sochi [Sochi Casino & Resort] – $1 million guaranteed, $1,100 buy-in
April 6-10 – partypoker Grand Prix Austria [CCC Montesino] €500,000 – guaranteed, €225 buy-in
April 18-23 – partypoker MILLIONS [Dusk Till Dawn] – £6 million guaranteed, £5,300 buy-in
April 25-May 1 – partypoker Grand Prix Canada [Playground Poker Club] – CA$500,000 guaranteed, CA$220 buy-in
April 27-May 1 – partypoker Grand Prix Germany [King’s Casino] – €500,000 guaranteed, €225 buy-in
May 5-10 – partypoker Million North America [Playground Poker Club] – CA$5 million guaranteed, CA$5,300 buy-in
June 1-5 – partypoker Million Germany [King’s Casino] – €1m guaranteed, €1,100 buy-in
Tom Waters, Managing Director of partypoker, weighed in on Duthie’s hire:
We are thrilled that John has joined us at the beginning of this journey. Very few people in the world have made such a significant contribution to poker and his experience, relationships and understanding of players will be a huge asset to us. Our guarantees are ambitious but our marketing strategy is to provide value to players instead of investing money outside of the poker community and we are confident that with John’s guidance we can optimise this strategy for the benefit of the live poker market. partypoker LIVE will offer a minimum of 5M GTD for 5K buy-in, 1M GTD for 1K buy-in and 500K GTD for 200 buy-in and we plan to visit as many continents and countries as possible. All events will feature at least one Online Day 1 for players who have limited time to spend away from home or simply wish to reduce their expenses. We love our holiday themed events such as the Caribbean Poker Party and are planning more of these.
