WORLD POKER TOUR | DEEPSTACKS POKER TOUR
WPTDEEPSTACKS
On April 29 2014, the World Poker Tour and DeepStacks Poker Tour announced they had
joined forces to form WPTDeepStacks. We sat down with WPT President Adam Pliska and
WPTDeepStacks Executive Producer Chris Torina to talk about their new relationship
ADAM PLISKA
WPT PRESIDENT
The WPT Regional Series did
have some successful events;
why not continue with the
current model?
We are proud of the success
and growth of WPT Regional
events. But for us it’s all
about continually finding
ways to improve the player
experience. Consequently,
players can look forward to
larger prize pool guarantees,
bigger fields, more player
amenities, and the addition of
a seat into the 2015 WPT World
Championship as part of the
new WPTDeepStacks Player of
the Year race. So in this way,
we just find it an evolution of a
good poker product.
What is the plan for the
WPTDeepStacks series in the
coming months, years?
WPTDeepStacks will soon
announce its schedule with
a broad range of events that
deliver the WPT experience
players expect. But what I
am really excited about is to
continue to play in the sandbox
with Chris and our partners and
find ways to innovate this level
of the poker market. While we
cannot announce everything
we’ve discussed, there will be a
lot of fun things coming up.
CHRIS TORINA
WPTDEEPSTACKS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Chris, congratulations on
joining forces with the WPT to
form WPTDeepStacks. What
made your team decide this was
the right direction to go?
Adam and I met about a year
ago and had a very meaningful
conversation about the
mid-major poker industry and
agreed to start exploring ways
our companies could work
together. It wasn’t until several
months later, when we
reconnected in LA and we
continued the discussion, that a
joint venture in some form was
imminent. We didn’t know what
form this would take, but both
of us were very keen on making
it happen.
What sort of challenges are you
facing retooling on the fly?
I think anytime you decide to
do something really meaningful
in any industry there are
always going to be challenges.
In regards to WPTDeepStacks,
the biggest challenge initially
was timing and making sure we
selected the most opportune
time to rollout WPTDeepStacks.
We had to consider what
the impact of an ‘on the fly’
rebranding would have on our
business development team and
their ability to communicate
with our clients ahead of the
announcement. We also had
FANTASY DEEPSTACKS
WPT POKER MANAGER
Congratulations on
your new partnership
with the DSPT team.
What did the WPT see
in the DSPT that made
you want to work
with them?
The World Poker Tour
is always looking for
ways to ensure we are
consistently delivering
the very best poker
experience to our
players around the
globe. Sometimes that
means developing
events on our own,
and, other times, it means
creating strategic partnerships
that leverage the strengths of
both parties to best support
our players. In the case of
DeepStacks, they focus entirely
on delivering a first-class
experience to the mid-major
buy-in events, and they do it at
a level and consistency we have
come to admire. By combining
WPT’s brand and footprint with
DSPT’s hands on approach,
WPTDeepStacks is a win-win
for both franchises and a big
victory for poker players around
the world.
to consider how much
heavy lifting our
marketing and design
departments would
have to undertake to
meet the demands of
an in-season rebrand.
It was a true team
effort in every way
imaginable.
Fortunately, we
were very proactive
and actually began
the rebrand process
in early February. We
set deadlines, met
project deliverables
and really went into the
May announcement
prepared and
organized for the initial rollout.
It was a true credit to both of
our teams and how well we all
worked together to make sure
we were ready.
The WPTDeepStacks will still
continue with its current Player
of the Year race – powered by
the GPI. How important is the
PoY race for you and what are
players saying about it?
The WPTDeepStacks PoY race
is extremely important. It was
one of the main components
discussed early in negotiations.
We believe the PoY is an
important tool to show our
players how serious we are
about WPTDeepStacks and its
position as the leader in the
mid-major market.
Initial feedback to
WPTDeepStacks has been
overwhelmingly positive.
Players are amazed at all of
the things we are offering to
encourage them to participate
in our events. They really
appreciate how much thought
went into our PoY package.
FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.WPTDEEPSTACKS.COM
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