Recently, World Poker Tour (WPT) officials released the Season 8 schedule. The action kicks off on July 13th with the Bellagio Cup V. In addition, a brand new tournament debuts at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Poker News Daily sat down with WPT President, Founder, and CEO Steve Lipscomb to learn more.
Poker News Daily: Give us your thoughts on the Season 8 WPT schedule. What went into its development?
Lipscomb: We continue to strive as hard as we can to provide the best tournament experience for players, whether it’s up and coming stars or those who have helped grow the WPT. You look at our major events and we are continuing to focus more on them. We also have a couple of additions that are exciting. The Hollywood Casino is one of the places we are wowed by. We have yet to provide a major presence in the Midwest. Walking into the Hollywood Casino was kind of like when we walked into the Borgata in Atlantic City.
PND: The feedback we’ve received is excitement over the addition of the Hollywood Casino event and disappointment over the North American Poker Championship no longer appearing on the WPT schedule. Can you talk about both?
Lipscomb: The feedback has been a mixed bag. We enjoyed having the event in Fallsview, but we heard a lot of people on the other side of the equation who weren’t happy going there. Players thought it was tough to get to and they didn’t enjoy it. It was partially that and partially the challenges that Canadian casinos have with poker and the strong presence of online gaming companies at these shows.
Change is good and change is bad. I continue to be jazzed with the central spot in Indiana. At the same time, I hope that we can find new ways to partner with online sponsors to grow multiple events in Canada. It’s a great market that deserves a large WPT presence.
PND: Talk about the elimination of the second Foxwoods event.
Lipscomb: Not having the Foxwoods Poker Classic partly had to do with the market. The large events in places like Los Angeles and Las Vegas are well subscribed and people are thriving in those cities. The original intent of the second Foxwoods event was to do it for one year. Then, we decided to try it for a second year. This year, we looked hard at the schedule.
The international market for poker tournaments is exploding. Whereas it used to be just the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and WPT, there are now European Poker Tour (EPT) events and tournaments like the Aussie Millions. We don’t want big players to have to make decisions.
PND: What changes can players expect, if any, during this season of the WPT?
Lipscomb: We had some long final tables last season. Once an audience has been there for 11 hours, they are gone. It takes away from any chance of it being a spectator event. If it’s about endurance as opposed to skill, then that’s what blinds and antes are all about. We can’t just sit back and wait for huge hands because that’s pure luck. We’re going forward with a change at the final table. We’ll keep the small incremental blind levels, but we’re bringing the time for each down. Blind levels will now be 60 minutes at the final table and 30 minutes when play is heads-up.
PND: How excited are you to see the action unfold in HD?
Lipscomb: It’s exciting. I’m jazzed about it, although there are challenges. The format we created is driven by the poker signal, which is good in a 4:3 ratio. That’s the perfect size to frame up a person. You can see a player and their hand perfectly. When you’re looking at a person in 4:3, you’re not looking at a huge expanse of space next to them like you will in HD. It will be a fun challenge this year.
PND: Will Amanda Leatherman be returning? What are your plans for the Season 8 hostess?
Lipscomb: We’re still working on what to do Live Updates. My sense is that we won’t have a hostess in Season 8. Most of the things we did with the hostess in Season 6 and before we accomplished by holding a microphone in front of someone last year and it worked. We’re trying to make it more about poker.
