Ken Adams Joins World Poker Association Board

The World Poker Association (WPA) announced the addition of noted antitrust lawyer and poker player Ken Adams to their Board of Directors.

Adams will also serve as a member of the WPA's Executive Committee, in addition to chairing its Elections and By-laws Committee. His election to these posts was by a unanimous decision of Board members at the last Board meeting.

WPA's Executive Committee oversees the operations of the Association between board meetings and makes recommendations to the Directors regarding special projects.

According to WPA Executive Committee Chairman, Wendeen H. Eolis, "The Board was diligent in its recruiting efforts, and it paid off." She added, "I can't think of anyone who brings more assets to the role of a Director than Ken. He is a passionate poker player, a highly regarded poker writer and has acquired special wisdom in recent representations in gaming matters as well as decades of broad legal experience in a nationally recognized law firm."

Adams is a Yale graduate with three WSOP cashes and a recent seventh-place finish in a $5,000 WPT event at the Borgata. He has a most interesting background, which you can read on the WPA site at www.wpapoker.org.

Here's an exerpt from the site, decribing how Adams got involved with poker, in his own words:

"As for my relationship to poker, I have always been interested in games of all sorts. But I did not get serious about poker until I met Perry Green in his fur shop in Anchorage, during a family trip to Alaska in 1985 (purchased at a fundraising auction at the school whose board I chaired). Perry ended up giving me a copy of A. Alvarez' The Biggest Game In Town, which I devoured on the long plane ride home. I was fascinated and puzzled by the fact that the game considered by professional players to be "the Cadillac of poker games" - no limit Texas holdem - was one I had never heard of or played.

When I got back to Washington I organized a monthly tournament with a group of friends, as a way of learning the game. Part of the buy-in was carried over from month to month. At the end of the year, the player who accumulated the most points (based on order of finish each month) won the prize- a trip to Las Vegas to watch the final table of the World Series.

I won the prize, and in 1987 I went to Binions to watch Johnny Chan win his second successive title, busting Eric Seidel when he slow played the nut straight (in a scene memorialized in Rounders). From that point on, I attended every year's final table and began writing free-lance poker columns for various publications."

He added, "Eventually I gained enough confidence in my game to compete in the World Series starting in 2002. During the past five years I have cashed in three World Series events (including a 10th place finish in 2007) and in a dozen other major tournaments (most recently a 7th place finish in the Borgata WPT $5,000 event). I continue to write about tournament poker for cbsnews.com (the online division of CBS News), and to compete in about 15 major tournament events a year."

More Poker News Articles

Keikoan Captures Harvey's Lake Tahoe WSOPC Championship
12am Thu Nov 19th, 2009

This week marked the finale of the biggest annual tournament series in Northern Nevada, the WSOP Circuit championship at Harvey's Lake Tahoe. While the Main Event saw only a modest turnout, it did boast of a tough final table, and a WSOP bracelet owner as the eventual champion.

WSOP Main Event Champ Joe Cada to Appear on Letterman
12am Wed Nov 18th, 2009

The poker world will receive some late night attention tonight as "The Kid" Joe Cada, the youngest champion in the four decade history of the World Series of Poker Main Event, takes a seat next to embattled talk show host David Letterman.

First Korean Champ of Asia Pacific Poker Tour Crowned in Cebu
12am Tue Nov 17th, 2009

Another stop on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is in the books, this time it's the APPT Cebu in the Philippines, and for the very first time a Korean player has come out on top.

Pollack Done as Commish of World Series of Poker
12am Sat Nov 14th, 2009

Just three days after crowning Joe Cada as the 2009 Main Event champion, officially closing the special 40th anniversary run of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack has resigned his post as Commissioner of the WSOP.

Durrrr Signs as Team Full Tilt's Youngest Member
12am Wed Nov 11th, 2009

Tom "durrrr" Dwan is the newest member of Team Full Tilt, the online site's highest level of affiliation. At 23, Dwan is the youngest of the now 14-person team. The high stakes cash phenomenon was nominated for induction this year into the Poker Hall of Fame until the Hall of Fame Governing Council decided he was too young to meet the "has stood the test of time" qualification.

Joe Cada Becomes Youngest World Series of Poker Main Event Champ
12am Tue Nov 10th, 2009

History was made early Tuesday morning in Las Vegas as 21-year-old Joe Cada outlasted Darvin Moon in heads-up play to claim the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet and more than $8.5 million.

Moon and Cada Heads-Up, Ivey 7th at WSOP Main Event Final Table
12am Sun Nov 8th, 2009

After a marathon session at the most esteemed table in the poker world, a 21-year-old and a logger are set to go one-on-one for the World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet.

PokerStars Launches New UK and Ireland Poker Tour
12am Wed Nov 4th, 2009

PokerStars.com has announced the start of a new poker tour with stops throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. The UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) will kick off in Galway, Ireland in mid-December, and the first event in the UK will be held in Manchester in February.

Peerless Media Agrees to Purchase World Poker Tour Enterprises
12am Mon Nov 2nd, 2009

According to a Monday press release, WPT Enterprises Inc., mothership of the World Poker Tour, is now the rightful property of Peerless Media, Ltd., subsidiary of online giant PartyGaming.

Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho Hit the Amazing Race Rail
12am Mon Nov 2nd, 2009

After surviving six legs of the Amazing Race by the skin of their teeth, poker pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho were finally eliminated in the CBS reality show's most recently aired episode. Michelle and Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker Main Events, gave reality television fans another chance to watch poker personalities compete away from the felt. Annie Duke garnered quite a following earlier in the year on another reality show competition, NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.