Meet the New President (of the WPT)

I went to Bellagio yesterday for free danish a little poker suit ho-down to learn more about the PartyGaming-World Poker Tour merger/acquisition/absorption … and was thinking how this meeting that included outgoing WPT president Steve Lipscomb and incoming new boss Adam Pliska might be kinda like George W. Bush handing the keys to the White House over to Barack Obama — you know, peaceful transition of power, new regime, new direction … change … then I thought, nah, that comparison might not be fair, and might be stretching things a bit.

But then, upon meeting Pliska a few minutes later …

Hmm … White House, WPT House, WPTE House … Party Politics … workshop … but still, there might be something there.

Click below to read the corporate bio of a guy who stands to be rather influential in shaping poker\’s future. But first, here\’s another pic (taken at the actual White House) of the new WPT president, who was in town to talk about plans for what he believes will be a major poker stimulus:

ADAM PLISKA
PRESIDENT, WORLD POKER TOUR

Mr. Pliska served as the General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of the public and predecessor entity, WPT Enterprises, Inc. (formerly NASDAQ: WPTE) until November 2009, when a new company by the same name was established from the acquisition of the assets of the World Poker Tour by Peerless Media, Plc a subsidiary of PartyGaming, Plc. In his former role, Mr. Pliska oversaw the legal process that resulted in the former company’s initial public offering in August of 2004 and primary deal making throughout the United States, Europe and Asia throughout his tenure.

Prior to his experience at WPTE, Mr. Pliska served as the Vice-President of Legal and Business Affairs and eventually General Counsel for a multi-media company headed by the world renowned futurist, Alvin Toffler and financed by Carlos Slim Helu (See Forbes #3) and the Telmex Corporation. In addition, Mr. Pliska was an associate at the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Los Angeles where he worked on various litigation and intellectual property matters.

Before his legal career, Mr. Pliska worked as a television producer in connection with noted industry veteran Al Burton including work at Universal Television and Castle Rock Entertainment where he produced and developed numerous television properties. He contributed and worked on various programs including The New Lassie, Baywatch, Out of the Blue, and shares an Emmy Award for his contributions for the Development of the television program Win Ben Stein’s Money.

Mr. Pliska is an alumnus of USC Film School and UC Berkeley\’s law school, Boalt Hall. While at Boalt he worked as a research assistant to Professor John Yoo preparing amicus curia briefs for the California and U.S. Supreme Court. Additionally, he served at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Alex Kozinski and at the Governor\’s Office of Legal Affairs in the state of California for then Governor Pete Wilson.

Mr. Pliska also serves in the capacity of Chief Legal Counsel to the Company.

Mr. Pliska was born and currently resides in Newport Beach, CA.