WSOP Tournament Director, Robert Daily

With the World Series of Poker rapidly approaching, the excitement is almost tangible. Having been a poker player for many years, the opportunity to talk poker with Robert Daily, Tournament Director for this year's World Series of Poker, was a real treat.

What follows is part two of my interview with Mr. Daily.

Click here for part one.

Justin West: Is there anything you're particularly excited about going into the WSOP this year?

Robert Daily: We have a $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event coming! That's a new event, $50,000 entry fee. We're getting very positive feedback from the professionals and some of our amateurs that are very interested in the tournament. We think it's a big positive, and we'd like to applaud our management for making that particular decision. That's an event that should get a lot of attention during the WSOP.

Justin West: What effect do you feel that online poker has had on both the World Series, and the game of poker as a whole?

Robert Daily: It's creating very polished young players. We know that the online poker rooms are increasing in size and running more and more qualifying tournaments and things. So they're bringing more players to the World Series in that regard. But we're pleased with the size of the World Series, the quality of players coming in, and I think the online sites have had a lot to do with that quality.

The popularity of poker itself has been strengthened heavily by the advent of television, particularly ESPN, permitting you to see the hole cards, talk, and analyze the decisions the players are making. That's brought a lot of attention from the amateur player that wants to play more poker. It permits them to learn about poker and understand how professionals make those decisions.

Justin West: Certainly the showing of hands for television, through use of the 'lipstick cameras,' is a bonus for the viewing audience, but does this present a security risk during the tournament, itself?

Robert Daily: Well, it does not. It's recorded in a secret area. Nobody has availability to that, not even the tournament operators, so we don't know what the hole cards are at all until we see either the player turn over their cards at the end of the hand, or watch it on television. It's very well secured.

And of course the Nevada Gaming Commission looks at that as well, and they've approved all the procedures. So if they're happy, we're happy, and the players are happy. We've never had any incident where this information has gotten out and affected a hand of poker.

Justin West: As a player, I might feel uncomfortable if I knew my hands were to be broadcast on television to such a wide audience. Has this had an effect on the players' strategies?

Robert Daily: We've kind of noticed that when players get to featured tables they might tighten up a little bit. We've heard a couple of players say: "I would normally call this, but I don't want the general public to know how loose I was," so they'd fold, instead. I'm kind of thinking it might affect the play just a little bit on featured tables, but it's added a lot to the entertainment value for the television public.

Justin West: Have any players refused to sit at a featured table for fear of exposing their style of play?

Robert Daily: No, of course not! They love the featured table. Most of them have sponsors, and TV time is important to those sponsors, so they all love it.

Justin West: It seems as though a tournament of this magnitude might carry certain security concerns along with all the money at stake. What are some security measures in place during the WSOP?

Robert Daily: In the tournament itself, security is really not an issue. We give random seat assignments which kind of preclude collusion. We move players around in a random manner as we combine tables, as well. We have enough employees there to watch it and see it that if any collusion does take place, we will certainly find out, but we've never really had an issue with that.

As for security on the floor, we have random security patrols just handling the crowds so that's under control and never an issue. We also have parking lot security, hallway security, and have direct contact with all security personnel so there's no delay in if they're needed.

Justin West: What are some of the most common issues encountered during the tournament?

Robert Daily: There's always something that comes up. A player might not like a call that's made at the table, something of that nature. Foul language at the table. The same issues that we deal with in an ordinary tournament are the ones that we have to deal with in the World Series. It's not even really amplified more than a normal tournament would be just because of the size. You're gonna have certain small things like that that really aren't issues. We deal with it on the spot, and once we make a decision we rarely have any backlash from it.

Justin West: PokerPages recently started the PokerPages Industry Index, a tool used to track the growth of the game of poker. In your opinion, is the game still growing, or have we reached a plateau?

Robert Daily: Well, no doubt poker has grown. And it's going to continue to grow as we see it, particularly because of the younger generation becoming involved in poker. Of course, that generation kind of guarantees the longevity of poker throughout that lifetime. We might ask that question again in about 3 or 4 years or so, but we think it's going to grow.

Are there limits on these tournaments? We don't see the limits right now, because we're going to throw enough resources to accommodate all comers. But right now the attitude is we're going to continue to accommodate the tournament regardless of the size.

Justin West: Thank you for your time, Mr. Daily. Before we go, I just have to ask you... was that really 7.5 million on the final table last year?

Robert Daily: Yes, it was! Absolutely. If you look at some of the video tape that didn't make television we must have had 15-20 people carrying those boxes of money into that room. So yes, it was that amount of money.

There you have it, ladies and gents! After speaking with Mr. Daily, I must say my expectations for the WSOP are high. The player's will be out in undoubtedly record numbers yet again, and it's safe to say that the ship is in good hands. I'm certainly not envious of those involved in actually planning the events, but I'll tell you... I respect them. Not an easy task, and they're doing a hell of a job.

Just for fun, two predictions from this author for this year's WSOP: More than 7,000 players, and a first place prize in excess of $10 million.

Follow along on my blog for PokerPages' 'WSOP Countdown 2006!'

Part I | Part II

More Interviews

Justin West played poker since the age of 17, he spent more than a year earning a living on the green felt; a modest living, to be sure, but a living nonetheless. His aim was at one point to win the WSOP main event, thus causing Hell to freeze over. However, given his penchant for sin and his extreme dislike of cold weather, Justin has put that dream to rest.

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