Antitrust Lawsuit Hits World Poker Tour

This is an interesting development. 7 of the top poker players in the world - Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Phil Gordon - have filed a lawsuit against the World Poker Tour for violations of their intellectual property rights. This has actually been brewing a long time. A lot of the top players have refused to play the World Poker Tour for the last couple years because they feel the agreement that they have to sign in order to play the tournaments is far too broad and eliminates any control they have over their likeness and image for marketing purposes. This is an area of the law I know very little about, so I can't comment on the validity of the suit. But based solely on my past interactions with two of those players, people I hold in the highest respect and one of whom is an attorney specializing in intellectual property, I'm willing to give them the benefit of every doubt. And frankly, i hope that this leads to the creation of an effective organization to represent poker players. At this point, both the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker are being run without any thought to what is best for the players or the game.

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So let's say that, a couple of years down the line, there's some sort of "NFL for Poker", an overarching controlling entity whose function is to promote and protect the game itself. Who would you want to see as Commisioner?

I'd say Howard Lederer would be a good choice if you were looking for a player to turn administrator, but I'm not so sure that's a wise paradigm. The great pro sports league commissioners were not players before taking the reins, and with a poker player you have a high-risk-taking, gambling personality that I am not sure is the right profile. But Lederer is very calm and deliberate, he reminds me of David Stern of the NBA.

Anyway, just an idle thought.

Oh, and if you don't watch "High Stakes Poker" on GSN -- start. It's the best poker on TV.

Yeah, I agree on High Stakes Poker. Excellent show. I wouldn't want to see a single poker league with a commissioner like that. What I do want to see is a real players association that can represent the interests of the players and negotiate with the big tournaments and casinos. There are several fledgling groups out there now.