Poker's Power 20
Poker’s Power 20 is a list of the most important entities and people who make the poker world go round. Of course, there are many groups and individuals who make poker what it is, but those on our list have each arguably changed the game in some signifi cant and wonderful way. These are the people who strive to keep poker in the forefront for both diehard players and casual mainstream observers. This year, as we have in years past, we called upon our colleagues in the industry to help us with our selections and we are thrilled with the results. Drum roll, please...
Honorable Mention: Although these folks didn’t make it into our top twenty that’s not to say that they don’t deserve praise. Poker is a mega-industry and without all its cogs it would surely not be where it is today. This year’s honorable mentions include, in no particular order: PokerRoad, 11 Management, No Limit Management, CEREUS, Phil Hellmuth, NBC Sports, 441 Productions, Matt Savage, PokerListings, and the APT.
20. Wicked Chops Poker
As gossip sources like TMZ and Perez Hilton have more and more popular, the minds behind Wicked Chops have seamlessly brought this addictive format to the poker world. Frequently the fi rst to scoop a story and always there to cover the major events in the poker world, WCP’s dedication to poker, gossip, and hot women allow the “entities” to crack the Power 20 for the fi rst time.
19. The Backers
Relatively unknown to the casual enthusiast, poker relies very heavily on a select few wealthy investors to keep a large number of tournament and cash game pros in business. The likes of Erick Lindgren, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Eric “Sheets” Haber, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan are integral in keeping the poker economy moving. Without them, many of your favorite poker personalities would never have broken onto the scene or wouldn’t still be there.
18. Poker Players Alliance
It’s been a tough year for poker in the US from a legal standpoint, but it would have been a lot tougher if it hadn’t been for the efforts of the PPA. Alfonse D’Amato, John Pappas, Greg Raymer, Chris Ferguson, and Howard Lederer, among others, have worked tirelessly to lobby for the legality of poker by working with politicians, hiring the best lawyers, and, most importantly, uniting the poker playing public and giving them a voice and hope.
17. CardRunners
Founded by professional poker player Taylor Caby, CardRrunners has been an industry leader in training poker players for both live and online cash games and tournaments. On top of providing a tremendous arsenal of unique training videos, the addition of Lee Jones, one of the brightest minds in poker, their sponsorship of the WSOP satellite room, and their partnership with Full Tilt are all signs that this company is here to stay.
16. Ivan Demidov
Anunknown name just a year ago, Ivan Demidov has captured theworld’s attention by being a member of the fi rst November Nine and historically fi nishing second in the WSOP Main Event and third in the WSOP Europe Main Event in the same year. With the continuous globalization of poker, Demidov has become to the world what Chris Moneymaker was to the US in 2003. Already the face of poker in Russia, he gives players around the world hope that they too could become a poker superstar.
15. Players Advisory Council
Formed in 2006 by the freshly appointed Jeffrey Pollack, PAC is a group of top professionals including Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, and a few others who work together with Harrah’s to ensure that the WSOP is looking out for the players. The group has helped improve all aspects of the WSOP — including food options, registration, tournament structures, and the event schedule — and is a major reason the WSOP has continued to grow and attract more players each and every year.
14. Doyle BrunsonYou would think that his age would begin to catch up with him, but it hasn’t. Doyle is still as involved with the game he loves now as he was in year’s past, and actually probably more so. On top of playing in the biggest cash games and tournaments all over the world, Doyle is actively involved with making DoylesRoom.com a safe and reliable place to play poker online and has one of the most read blogs in poker (which you can fi nd at BluffMagazine.com).
13. TwoPlusTwo.com
In an industry that relies heavily on forums, nobody has more infl uence than the community at 2+2, as evidenced by their role in bringing the UB/Absolute scandal to light. Founded by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, 2+2 provides various forums for poker players and fans, including categories such as: Books and Publications, Coaching/Training, Home Poker, and the ever popular News, Views, and Gossip. On top of the forums, 2+2 is also a major player in the poker publishing world, offering up titles like Harrington on Hold’em, The Theory of Poker, and Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players, and recently launched its own radio show for advanced listeners which has garnered a lot of attention.
12. PokerNews.com
Led by professional poker player and majority shareholder Tony G and Editor in Chief John Caldwell, PokerNews is without a doubt one of the largest poker portals in the world. With a combination of unbiased news, strategy, videos, forums, and live tournament reporting — all of which can be translated into 23 different languages — it’s easy to see why PokerNews is one of the core reasons that poker has been expanding so rapidly internationally.
11. World Poker Tour
The company that helped start it all has had a busy year ñ switching over from GSN to Fox Sports Network, launching Club WPT (free, legal online poker), and developing the fi rst fully integrated poker destination at MySpace — all while putting together one of the most popular poker tours in the world. With events from Barcelona to Borgata to Biloxi, the WPT schedule culminates with one of the most prestigious events of the year, a $25,000 buy-in at its favorite tour stop and the heart of the poker economy, the Bellagio.
10. Professional Poker Players
The industry as a whole would be nowhere without its lifeblood: the men and women who make a living playing the game that we all love so much. Proving that poker is a game of skill would be a diffi cult task if it weren’t for these players, who consistently win championships, make fi nal tables, dominate cash games, and, on top of it all, work tirelessly with the media, various advertisers, and poker sites to educate the public and aid in the expansion of poker all around the world.
9. Bluff Media
Founded in a basement four years ago by Eric Morris, Eddy Kleid, Jeff Markley, and Michael Caselli, Bluff Media is the industry leader in promoting the poker dream and lifestyle to poker fans and players around the world. Available in the US, Canada, South America, Asia, Australia, South Africa, and Europe, BLUFF is more than a magazine. Since partnering with the WSOP, Bluff Media has powered the huge growth of WorldSeriesofPoker.com and over the past two years its staff has been behind the broadcasts of countless WSOP, WSOP Europe, and WSOP Circuit event fi nal tables.
8. Poker PROductions
Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache’s company is basically a two-man show that has been behind some of the most successful poker television since its inception. If you’ve watched poker on TV, you have watched one of their shows. They have produced NBC’s Poker After Dark, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, GSN’s High Stakes Poker, and Fox Sports’ Poker Superstars, among others. Nobody has more infl uence as to who gets on the airwaves, as Mori and Eric hand pick the line-ups for most of their programming.
7. Daniel Negreanu
Not only is Daniel one of the top performers on the poker circuit — this past year winning his fourth bracelet among other fi nal tables and wins — but his face is everywhere you turn. Nobody in the game is more media friendly and crosses over to the mainstream better than Negreanu. With the launch of his all new training site PokerVT, a new book, countless TV appearances, and an association with the biggest poker site on the planet, Daniel looks to be a major player in the industry for years to come.
6. Barney Frank
Politicians have played a major and predominantly negative role in the industry since the UIGEA was introduced in 2006, but Congressman Barney Frank from Massachusetts has been poker’s knight in shining armor, attempting numerous times to get the bill repealed and continuing to work to introduce internet poker legislation. Although his efforts to this point have been fruitless, the election of Barack Obama and the Democrats controlling the House and Senate give Frank and the American poker playing public hope that there will be positive changes in government and progress towards legalizing the American pastime.
5. Poker Royalty
The name says it all: the fi ve-year-old agency, fronted by Brian Balsbaugh and James Sullivan, represents the Kings and Queens of poker including Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Erick Lindgren, and countless others. Poker Royalty has been a driving force in making poker players household names by landing them endorsement deals with online and live poker rooms and numerous products, booking public appearances, and going the extra mile to facilitate their clients needs as well as the needs of their industry peers.
4. Full Tilt Poker
Launched in 2004 and fronted by Howard Lederer and Team Full Tilt pros including Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Erick Lindgren, among others, the site has grown into a poker superpower. With a roster of pros that’s second to none, Full Tilt has stayed put in the US, even with the UIGEA in place, and given poker players a safe and reliable place to play poker. Their involvement in various poker programming such as Poker After Dark, their quirky television commercials, their work with charity, and the logo placement on pros and amateurs who make televised fi nal tables all help make the name Full Tilt synonymous with poker.
3. ESPN
The company that pushes the hardest to keep our game mainstream has been an impenetrable force in poker since before most of us even knew the WSOP existed — back when there were no hole-card cams and Phil Hellmuth was making head-shaving bets that amateurs couldn’t win the big one. Recently, with Jamie Horowitz at the helm and a new fi nal table approach, the network saw signifi cant boosts in ratings, bringing them back to ‘04 numbers and beating out both regular season MLB and NBA ratings, proving to the haters that poker isn’t dead, but instead is thriving.
2. PokerStars
A giant among men, there is nobody in the industry who does what PokerStars is able to. With more people playing online than ever before, PokerStars grabs a majority of the market with its thousands of weekly tournaments, cash games, and satellites which offer players at every level a wide variety of options. Expanding its brand to land based casinos, PokerStars recently opened a live poker room in Macau and has successfully run the ever popular European Poker Tour for a number of years. This past year PokerStars branched out and launched the Latin American Poker Tour, Asian Pacific Poker Tour, Russian Poker Tour, and is rumored to be initiating a North American Poker Tour. With the addition of Peter Eastgate, the youngest WSOP Main Event champion in history, PokerStars continues its dominance by adding to an already impressive stable of pros, including Main Event champions Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Greg Raymer.
1. The World Series of Poker
Since 1971, the WSOP has been a true innovator in poker, helping the game rise from obscurity to a multibillion dollar industry that holds the attention of millions upon millions of people. The brains behind the operation — Jeffrey Pollack, Ty Stewart, Seth Palansky, and Craig Abrahams, among others ñ stepped up to the plate this past year and pulled a rabbit out of their hat, introducing the November Nine and a fi nal table delay that allowed the masses to watch pokers biggest fi nal table play out as close to live as possible. Couple that with the vast improvements to make the WSOP more player friendly and mainstream and the push for globalization with continued European expansion, the WSOP makes the industry as a whole continue to tick. It’s safe to say that without the continued growth and popularity of the WSOP poker would not be where it is today and it might have fallen off the radar as quickly as it appeared if it ever did at all.
