After drawing the outrage of the poker community – especially those that play online – the Tournament Directors Association has announced a change in plans for their upcoming TDA Summit this summer.
If you’ll recall, the Board of Directors, helmed by World Poker Tour Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage, quietly announced on March 26 that the upcoming conference would be held at a location that no one was pleased with. In a simple Tweet, Savage said, “The 2015 TDA Summit will be held June 16-17 at the Venetian Las Vegas.” No sooner had Savage made that announcement, the commentary from the poker community threatened to derail what is a very important meeting for tournament directors worldwide.
Players, including poker’s all-time leading money winner Daniel Negreanu, former World Champion Ryan Riess and Allen Kessler (who was allegedly banned from Two Plus Two for his commentary on the subject, according to his Facebook feed) announced their opposition to the decision of the TDA Board of Directors to hold the meeting at the Venetian. Media members also sounded off on the decision, but Savage accurately pointed out that the Venetian was offering everything the conference needed (conference space, audio/visual materials, etc.) for free or at reduced rates (discounted rooms).
With the TDA stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place, it was the leader of the Global Poker Index, Alexandre Dreyfus, who actually offered a potential resolution of the issue. Dreyfus offered to foot the bill for the TDA to hold the conference as long as it was held in a location other than the Venetian. Dreyfus himself suggested Aria as an alternate location and, following Dreyfus’ offer, everyone set about the attempt to make the change.
Those discussions reached fruition late on Friday night when Savage took to his Facebook page to make a new announcement that was just about as quiet as the first one. “The 2015 TDA Summit will be held June 26-27 (at) Aria Las Vegas,” Savage briefly wrote. “Registration details to follow shortly. Please tag your local Tournament Director and/or Card Room Manager please.” The TDA website followed up early on Saturday morning with further details, including registration forms and topics of discussion for this year’s TDA Summit.
Of course, the reason for the outrage of the poker community with the TDA was their decision to have the TDA Summit at the Venetian in the first place. The owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (the ownership behind the Venetian) is billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who seemingly has made it his life’s work to enact a federal ban regarding internet gaming and poker. Through the creation of the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling to his spokesman Andy Abboud testifying at pretty much any hearing on the subject as a staunchly anti-online gaming advocate, Adelson hasn’t even begun to show how far he is ready to go.
In the waning days of the last Congressional session, Adelson attempted to have Republican lawmakers, led by Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, ram through “The Restoration of America’s Wire Act” (RAWA), which would not “restore” the previous interpretations of the Wire Act of 1961 but would rewrite it to include internet gaming and poker. Those attempts failed but, with the start of the new Congress this January, Chaffetz has reintroduced his House version of the bill; Graham, as of yet, hasn’t moved on the Senate version but it is expected. The push for these bills has even drawn Adelson to Washington, D. C. to basically rally the GOP to pass the bills with their newfound hold on Congress.
Naturally, it is easy to see why the poker community was a bit angered by the decision of the Board of Directors of the TDA to hold their convention in the “den of the viper,” so to speak. It should be noted also that the TDA wasn’t receiving the support from any other poker room/casino/hotel that they were receiving at the Venetian (the 2013 conference was also held at the Venetian and there were some questions, but not as much as this year), thus their decision makes sense to keep costs low for their summit attendees. It isn’t known if Dreyfus and the GPI pulled the trigger on some monetary arrangements to assist the TDA or not, but the turmoil can now relax after the move of the 2015 TDA Summit to its new grounds.
