World Series of Poker -- Tournament Director Jack Effel Talks About Ongoing Summer Series

Jack Effel is the Vice President of International Poker Operations for Caesars Interactive Entertainment and has been the Tournament Director for the World Series of Poker since 2007.

In 2013 he was added to the Tournament Directors Association Board of Directors. Effel is widely credited as being one of the key parts of the growth and development of one of poker’s most prestigious events, bringing the WSOP into the modern era.

Card Player will be checking in with Effel throughout the summer to bring you his thoughts on the poker world’s greatest tournament festival.

Beth Davis: Talk about the success of the first ever WSOP turbo event. Do you think the WSOP will have more turbo events in the future?

Jack Effel: The turbo event was interesting. I didn’t want to take it to the extreme side of a turbo with 15 minute rounds, it’s over in one day and people feel like they haven’t had enough time to play. However, I wanted it to be fast enough that they could get through an accelerated format. I think there are different levels of turbo in that maybe it could be a little bit faster, but it was a great tester model for next year. Players have given a lot of good feedback, they liked the fact that they got in the money the first day and they got deep. Where it actually counted was when we got into day two and the levels were 60 minutes and that they got a lot of play and had a good final table. They actually loved the format. Maybe there’s a hyper-turbo. Maybe this format could be used for something else. There could be some minor tweaks for the future but I got great feedback from the players. If the $1,000 buy-ins are received as well as that one was then maybe that should be a two-day event as well. Especially for the weekend warrior that comes out who plays the 3-day $1,500 events. Maybe the $1,000 being a two day would attract people to play the $1,000 and the $1,500 because a lot of times it’s easy for people to get a Monday off but it’s not as easy to get a Tuesday off. I could see similar formats in the future.

BD: The series has reached the half-way point and is that much closer to the main event. What are your expectations for the second half?

JE: I think the first half of the series has been an extraordinary success. The events have drawn great numbers, the side action has been the greatest that I’ve ever seen at the World Series of Poker. It really is a poker player’s paradise. A place where you can play anything from the smallest stakes to the sky’s the limit. That’s what I’m proud of most, that this is truly the mecca and center of the poker universe. Everyday there has been some sort of excitement. The expectation is really that we continue to have a great experience for all the players regardless what the turnout is for any event. We’re pacing very well to break lots of records. We’re moving very close to the main event and the numbers are looking very good so far. People are sending in their money to reserve their seat. They’re winning satellites. All indications are that the WSOP is alive and doing very well and is going to continue that trend for the next few weeks until we’re done. I’m also very excited to see after the main event starts to dwindle down the spike of the Carnivale of Poker events. There’s definitely more stuff to do than there ever has been.

BD: The ladies event is coming up next week. How many men do you expect to play in this event now that the buy-in for men is $10,000?

JE: I think there will definitely be fewer men entering the ladies event this year. It’s a very special event and by design it’s for the ladies. It’s to introduce ladies to poker and new players to the World Series of Poker and in an environment they feel comfortable and have a sense of camaraderie to be able to compete against one another. To eventually be able to move to other disciplines or formats of tournaments here at the WSOP. So we would like to continue to keep that as a very special event for the ladies. We hope that the guys will respect the event and decide there’s something else for them to play. My motive is to try to continue to have an event for the ladies that is very special to them. That will make them want to come out and participate and spend time together and learn to play poker. This is their world championship, similar to the seniors event. It’s very important to recognize and support these fields and understand that they represent a small, but very valuable portion of the poker community. There are a lot of ladies that have crossed over and have really made a name for themselves and are doing really well. Vanessa Selbst plays as good as anyone in the world. Jennifer Tilly went pretty deep in the turbo event. There are a lot of ladies that are elevating their game and if we want to continue to build upon the 3 percent of fields that are made up by women we have to continue to promote that and reserve something special for them. It’s very special to us, it has a lot of rich tradition and we want to make that event the best that we can.

For complete coverage of the summer poker festival, check out our WSOP landing page.

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