Poker News Daily: Let’s start with the question everyone’s been asking you lately: Why make the jump from DoylesRoom to Victory Poker?
Alec Torelli: There are a lot of reasons. Look at [what we put on at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino]. There is a lot of buzz and a lot of energy and I really believe in my friend Dan [Fleyshman]. What he did with Who’s Your Daddy Energy Drink was amazing and if he can do half of that with Victory…
We’re also all really professional and my best friends are all part of the company. They’re endorsed pros like Andrew [Robl], Brian [Rast], Keith [Gipson], Antonio [Esfandiari], and Paul [Wasicka]. Everyone was on board, the ship was leaving shore, and all of my boys were there, so I couldn’t pass it up.
PND: Was Victory Poker’s emphasis on the lifestyle of poker part of the draw for you?
Alec Torelli: Definitely. I loved what was going on with DoylesRoom and things were going well. I had a good deal and got along with everyone, but what my vision was for DoylesRoom was really similar to what we’re doing with Victory. I think a lot of people like to play poker and are good at poker. I think our lifestyle is something that a lot of people want to emulate. I think at Victory, the lifestyle is something we’re going to pride ourselves on and something that people are drawn to.
PND: What kind of lifestyle-related projects do you have on the horizon?
Alec Torelli: We’ve done a lot of fun stuff lately. In the coming months, there is so much speculation that I don’t want to say something, get hyped up, and not end up doing it. You know, with poker players, plans are always changing. We blew up an RV, Antonio Esfandiari got shot in the chest, and Dan Bilzerian and I were in Hawaii recently off-roading, surfing, and paying some guy to run around naked at a luau. We’re doing everything at Victory. It’s so much fun to have your best friends as your co-workers. It’s just so easy to do everything. It’s like we’re turning our lifestyle into a business, which is just so easy to do because I would be doing this stuff anyways.
PND: You spent some time on the tournament circuit in late 2009, but we haven’t seen you at many big events recently. You have a background in cash games. Is that what you’ve been spending most of your time playing lately?
Alec Torelli: Tournaments are great for exposure and media. I don’t need to be super-famous in the poker world, though, so recognition is not that big of a priority. For me, cash games allow a lifestyle that is very conducive to what I want. I can play when I want. I can leave when I want. I can do whatever I want when I want, the life most people want to have. Tournaments are great too, so I do both. We were in Europe, played four or five tournaments, and then took four or five weeks off. I would never play a tournament in a place I didn’t want to go.
PND: What’s the coolest place you’ve been in the past year?
Alec Torelii: I like Hawaii, my most recent trip. It’s amazing. New Zealand and Italy are close, though. We went a lot of cool places this year. We had our boys in Europe for two months and it was madness. It was so much fun. It wasn’t really where we went, but just whom we were with. We could have been anywhere.
