Asked and sorta received. Tom Franklin and John Leontakianakos stepped up and claimed positions on the board. Both players have been in the game for a number of years and have experience in poker as well as business. Their bios are on the WPA website.

While Leontakianakos, nicknamed “The Greek,” claims to have been playing high-stakes poker for more than 31 years, he is a relative unknown in the tournament poker community. But that might be a plus as compared to Franklin (“Captain” Tom, that is), who has a proven track record at the poker tables through the years but also gained quite the reputation, deserved or not, through the trials and tribulations of the late Brandi Hawbaker. The much-discussed story was that there was a penis-on-the-back (POB) incident between Franklin and Hawbaker (I think you can put the pieces of that puzzle together), and his reputation has been somewhat scarred in the past two years with POB references.

For the sake of the WPA, Franklin will rise above reminder posts like this those references and do some good for the organization. And who knows…..maybe a few others will step up and fill in the rest of the vacancies on that board.

WPA FOUNDER MESSAGE

I founded the WPA in November 2005 with $100,000 of personal funds as a non-profit association. The mission was to represent tournament poker players worldwide and establish uniform tournament rules, procedures, structures, and payouts; and to improve playing conditions for players. In June 2006 a WPA booth at the WSOP for six weeks saw 80 professionals pay $1,000 each as Founding Members and approximately 800 others join as regular members. In March 2007 an initial Board of Directors was elected by the membership. I was elected Chairman by the board. During the 2007 WSOP the WPA booth saw an additional 50 professionals become Founding Members and approximately 350 others join. During the first two years I worked countless hours to introduce and gain support for the WPA and had umpteen conversations with poker pros and poker related businesses all the while playing in major events around the globe.

Because of my health issues with voice and other physical problems from prior throat cancer I requested the Vice Chairman to chair all board meetings. During 2007 I served on the Executive Committee. Some of the accomplishments of 2007 include the formation of an Ethics Code, revision of the website, formation of basic rules, donation of the WSOP booth space by Harrahs, planning of the first WPA tournament and annual meeting with an educational conference.

In 2008 a new Board of Directors slate was chosen by the outgoing board and elected by the membership. I disagreed with the leadership as “pushed through” and made my feelings known to some of the board members. The leadership decided to resign within two weeks after being chosen and in the process all but one of the remaining nine voting board members decided to resign also which happened at a special meeting on June 10, 2008. During that meeting two motions were proposed – 1) a motion to refund membership fees paid by all members starting January 1, 2008 and 2) a motion to dissolve the World Poker Association. Any member can read the minutes of this meeting in the members only area. Because one director opted not to resign the dissolution motion did not pass and I was reinstated as Chairman. I read a 3 page statement to the directors before the vote asking those who had not made up their mind before hand to remain and stating my case for keeping the WPA active.

Blair Rodman and I were the two directors remaining after the meeting. I immediately reinstated Affiliate and Friend membership levels. We reversed the “refund” decision primarily because the WPA was not dissolving. I made contact with a number of news agencies and potential affiliates all of which were positive. Within a couple of months Blair Rodman decided to resign which left me alone on the board. In the past six months I have invited several prominent poker players who have won WSOP and WPT events to join the board and who expressed an interest in getting involved with the WPA. During the 2008 WSOP I had very serious discussions with an individual who was planning an international tour and sharing the proceeds with the players. Those discussions ended because of philosophical differences. To date none of these individuals has volunteered to join the board.

For whatever reason the right mix of leadership or the lack of proper marketing of the WPA has prevented the WPA from growing into a size befitting tournament poker. Currently there are over 1400 members from 41 countries. Tournament poker continues to grow, being up 7% over last year and an annual total of worldwide buyins reaching almost $700 million according to Pokerpages.com. Wow! I believe now more than ever that tournament poker needs a professional body like the WPA to be the PGA of poker. Other major sports or even many associations (like ducks.org which has 700,000 members who pay $25 annually) are represented by a professional organization for its players or members. The Poker Players Alliance grew into 1,000,000 members via the support of major online poker sites. There are almost 500,000 individuals who have entered tournaments this year. And all of their rights are dictated by profit making casinos or tours. Isn’t it time we as players have some influence over our participation?

I take full responsibility for falling short in leading the WPA. As much as I’d like to I am unable to continue to fight the good fight in a leadership capacity. Because of declining health I am happy to continue to serve on a WPA Board but will not be able to be its leader. I also have severely curtailed my tournament playing due to stamina issues.

I welcome 3-5 individuals who have leadership skills and business expertise to send me an email with their interest and background. Being a board member means devoting time once a month at board meetings (via conference calls or in person) and devoting additional time to special projects or committees. The primary focus in my opinion remains increasing the membership and addressing membership needs. Perhaps there is an online major site who will sponsor the WPA. There are millions of tournament poker players worldwide; surely the WPA can attract them and represent their needs. Just as Barack Obama is the right leader for the US right now, the WPA needs the right leader right now to spark the growth of the WPA. Is that you?

When I put in $100,000 of my own funds to found the WPA, I did it with the knowledge that it may fail and the money may go waste. I was encouraged by the initial response and support. It’s up to you, the members, whether it succeeds in its mission. Please send any comments or inquiries to me at jessej@wpapoker.org.

Warm Regards,

Jesse

While the outgoing WPA leader does get in a few jabs at Jesse, her predecessor and succesor … where’s the vitriol, the bloodthirst, the instinct to kill-kill-kill!?!?!!!! C’mon, we’re living in an MMA era … and unless you two are gonna both make it to the final table in the next WSOP seniors event, how can we expect good TV ratings if we don’t get to watch poker industry stalwarts violently wrestle for power?!? The web is good enough for being cagey, but next time lets take it to the Octagon!

WPA’s opening shots here.

Part 1 of Wendeen’s response here.

Pokerati on the WPA here.

(And the way the FIDPA 80 work … they leave room for adjustments, so theoretically you could go to a tourney and the TD woulds say, “We’re using FIDPA rules today, except for #47, where we’re going to let you blah blah blah” or “… and we have one extra rule of our own: no coughing.”)

The WPA meanwhile, seems to have moved their rules agenda to the backburner, focusing instead on tournament rake — pushing for more sponsorship/commercial money to be added to major event prize pools, a la the PGA:

It’s a disgrace that tournament poker players for the most part do not share the revenue generated by their participation in events (e.g. television, sponsorship, etc). In most or all events players put in all of the prize money via the buy-in, have 6-10% of their money taken out, and only a small number of participants make a payday. Any revenue generated by sponsors or other means is not shared with you the players.

This is something we must change.

This is the WPA’s principal focus. This is why you joined the WPA. This is why we need your support.

Yeow! I’m not so sure I agree with the not-shared part … those waters they put on the table ain’t free, ya know! But the All In Energy Drink is!

Though I suppose both operations ultimately wanna become the FIFA of poker, it looks like their going about it in two kinda different ways

UPDATE: Karridy, SitnGo Steve, Ryan, Tom, and Dan are all in town … Karridy is already trying to see how many mikes he can hook up to his iPhone … Tom busted a couple hours ago out of the $10k World Championship of Omaha Hi-Lo, a bit shy of the money.

A statement is forthcoming in the next day or so, but the gist of it revolves around membership. Anyone who has signed up for a membership previously, whether it has been renewed or not, will be an active, voting member going forward if they choose. No financial contribution to the WPA will be required. After a year to 18 months, when the organization has firmly established programs and benefits that are valuable to its members, there may be a reconsideration of membership dues or a plan in place that would require a small fee to access those benefits.

The overall goal seems to be a reorganization, reestablishment of goals, and a renewed energy to move forward. For the WPA, a non-profit with the best of intentions, this may be the best approach. The public needs to know that the WPA is in good hands and has realizable goals to pursue.

More info as the WPA releases it, or as the birdie chirps.

It came on strong. Jesse Jones started the World Poker Association with the best of intentions, and using his solid reputation in the industry and a goal-laden pitch about developing uniformity in tournament poker rules globally, the WPA energized the poker community. Integrity, worldwide, rules – all words that appealed to tournament players. Membership grew, especially with the WPA’s strong presence at the 2007 WSOP. Joseph Hachem joined the board, players anted up to become founding members, and a solid base was built.

Time went by. More time went by.

Wendeen Eolis took over as Chairperson and Jones semi-retired as Chairman Emeritus. Updates from the WPA were sporadic, not-exactly-monthly newsletters came without much news, and interest waned. Certain active members of the poker community stayed involved and helped with a code of ethics and set of tournament rules, only one of which was implemented at the 2008 WSOP (albeit only in the WPA-sponsored mega satellite), and a new board was elected. Still, many in poker awaited something tangible, something to show for their membership dollars.

The lack of public interest carried over to the WPA booth at the 2008 WSOP. The set-up has been right next to the Poker Players Alliance booth outside the Amazon Room, and the PPA has been getting significantly more traffic, likely due to the importance of the PPA in this highly-charged political season and its role in trying to change U.S. laws in poker’s favor. And the WPA booth was empty quite often… until a few days ago. Suddenly, a dapper Jesse Jones appeared and manned the area. He seemed to have a renewed energy about him, despite the oxygen tubes he wore around his face.

As it turns out, the day Jones appeared was the day Eolis submitted her resignation. And when she left, eight members of the recently-elected Board of Directors also left. (I would’ve expected to see more cohesiveness with Jones at the helm again, but that is my opinion from the outside.) Eolis is said to have been offered a role in the upcoming presidential campaign – best guess from this writer is with the McCain campaign. Jones took over in an attempt to fill empty Board positions and reignite the lost excitement about the WPA.

With nearly 1,400 members, many hope to see the WPA rebound with fresh ideas and the reputation that it began upon. Time will tell.

Some of you have been wondering, why no new episodes of Beyond the Table? Tom, Karridy, and I have been wondering the same thing. It’s been a good run, and with drinks in the air, three guys who clearly love/hate the sounds of their own voices are calling it podcast quits.

Back when we started, our show about poker but not really about poker stood out as revolutionary in a sea of lame poker interviewcasts with questionable audio quality. Soon after iPod sales were booming as more and more of the world got hooked on downloading poker audio with funny intros and Angry Julie cameos. But Tom couldn’t handle the celebrity and Karridy developed a crack addiction lives got busy and producers for Beyond the Table fared about as well as drummers for Spinal Tap. The show hired Shamus at a fraction of a Cambodian farmer’s wage to pump up our numbers — did he ever get his T-shirt? — but with a new generation of poker podcasts getting better and stronger (Lou Kreiger, Gary Wise, 2+2, Pocket Fives, Ante Up, Poker Road, et al) old-school payola wasn’t enough to save us from going out on the podcast bubble.

Listen below to a heretofore unpublished episode (recorded on 2-27, my dream flop) as your favorite semi-amateur yammerers phone it in for the last and final-ish time:

Beyond the Table: Fin

Thanks for listening via RSS, iTunes, play-in-popup, and direct download … we already miss ourselves.

You can still prank call Karridy on the Beyond the Table listener line at 888-820-8091.