Deborah Giardina And Matt Savage Receive WPT Honors AwardVice President Of Poker Operations And WPT Executive Tour Director Become Sixth And Seventh Person To Receive Award |
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Vice President of Poker Operations at bestbet Jacksonville Deborah Giardina and World Poker Tour Executive Tour Director Matt Savage were given WPT’s most prestigious award Sunday night in Las Vegas.
The duo was the sixth and seventh members of the poker industry to receive the WPT Honors award. In a celebration of the more than 60 years of combined experience, many of poker’s most prominent figures were in attendance to celebrate their accomplishments that led to huge advancements in the game.
Before Giardina’s tenure began at bestbet in 2010, it wasn’t much of a poker destination. Now, it is home to one of the most popular WPT main tour stops, a WPTDeepStacks event and a Card Player Poker Tour series.
The stops bring players from outside of the region to play at a room that doesn’t have many of the traditional accompaniments of a regular casino. There isn’t an attached hotel, there aren’t any slot machines. There isn’t much gambling outside of the poker being played at the room’s 88 tables.
What sets it apart from other rooms is how well the tournaments are run. Giardina credits that to her staff, most of which have followed her all over the country throughout her 30-year career in poker.
“My team is amazing,” said Giardina during her acceptance speech. “It’s not because of me that I’m here. It’s because of them. [Director of Poker Operations] Jesse [Hollander] has been with me a long time. The fact of the matter is the reason that the World Poker tour is so successful at bestbet Jacksonville, that man right there is most of the reason.”
Poker Hall of Famer and partypoker Ambassador Mike Sexton was one of several speakers who spoke to just how much Giardina has impacted the game. During Sexton’s speech, he described the first time he saw Giardina in action. It was on a poker cruise run by fellow Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson.
“I was wowed that this room was already running like a Swiss watch,” said Sexton. “When the night ended, I went up to Linda Johnson and I said ‘Linda, I don’t know who she is, but she is a keeper.’”
Sexton said that shortly after that cruise, Johnson called him up and asked him if he would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for Giardina, who was applying for the position of Director of Poker Operations at Canterbury Park, a new casino at the time that was opening in Minnesota. He obliged and Giardina got the position. It was her first stop on her long journey of poker success.
Following about a 10-year stint in Minnesota, Giardina took a similar position at the Wynn poker room in Las Vegas, where she continued to thrive. She accepted her current position in Jacksonville about a decade later in 2010.
Aside from just her success in Florida, Giardina was known for implementing policies that severely cut down on abuse in the industry to both players and staff. Her and Johnson began implementing zero-tolerance policies for abuse and made it well-known during her acceptance speech that she won’t stand for any semblance of abuse.
“I remember Linda Johnson took a chance with us and she was one of the first people that came across with the no abuse [policy.],” said Giardina. “My feeling has always been that you treat people the way that you want to be treated… There is a level of respect that you must be willing to give each other.”
In 2014, she was inducted in the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame and now she’s received one of the most popular poker tour’s highest honor. What is next for her?
“Just to keep opening doors for people and training and loving the industry,” she said.
While Giardina was making strides in specific rooms, her co-honoree made strides in changing the game as a whole.
Savage worked his way up the poker world from the bottom. In his own words, he worked “just about every single job in poker.” He started off as a chip runner then moved onto dealing cards, eventually took a position as a supervisor and then became a tournament director.
He was one of the founders of the Tournament Directors Association, the game’s most prominent group of tournament directors that are working towards standardizing the rules of a poker tournament. The TDA meets annually at the TDA Summit in Las Vegas to discuss and vote on rule changes.
The group was instrumental in many changes in the poker world, with the latest being at the forefront of the implementation of the big blind ante. Along with his duties as Executive Tour Director of the WPT, Savage is still a tournament director at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.
But according to many of the speakers, Savage was more than just a TD. More than just putting together structures and schedules. He was an influence over the game’s next generation of tournament directors.
Sam Quinto, casino manager at Bay 101 Casino and one of Savage’s many proteges, said that even though he’s already done so much, his impact will be felt even after he is gone because of the knowledge he has passed along.
“We are his legacy,” said Quinto.
Savage and Giardina join Sexton, Johnson, Bruno Fitoussi, Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman as the seven industry veterans that have received this award.
Photos Courtesy of WPT
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