Matt Savage is the World Poker Tour’s Executive Tour Director, founder of the Tournament Directors Association, a nine-time nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame, and a 5x Global Poker Index award winner. He also plays a damn good Santa Claus when the need arises when December rolls around.
What was the best thing to happen to you in 2024?
The amount I’ve been able to travel to continue to grow poker worldwide has been tremendous. We’ve had so many new partners and international events. It’s been fun.
You never know how it will go with all the competition out there. But so many people have been showing up to play in WPT events and giving us positive reviews about their experiences.
You just had your WPT World Championship events at the Wynn this month. Were you happy with everything?
People are coming up and telling me it was the year's best festival. You don’t hear that about any place else except at the Wynn. I’m thrilled and proud of the response to the events this year.
The energy was so high in the main room every day. Our Prime event had almost 10,000 entries. Then we had the $5M Freeroll, where we had so many new people we hadn’t seen before. And if you’re trying to grow the game like I always am, that was a great way to do it with that event.
The $5M Passport Freeroll was a fun event to watch.
It was. We knew that somebody’s life would change when they won the first prize of $1M. If they get the confidence to overcome a field like ours, they may become one of our great players in the game. You never know.
One player posted on social media that they were not happy with the structure – Allen Kessler. I thought he might be trolling or joking, but I wasn’t sure.
Yes. It’s kind of typical. Allen doesn't really respect anything that we do or that I do. It's unfortunate. I really would love for people to understand that it is a freeroll. It was always going to be a little faster structure, and the payout structure would be different. This isn’t a tournament for everybody.
I literally heard only one person complain, and I didn't even hear that because I blocked him on Twitter.
What was the most challenging part of this past year for you?
There are always changes in partnerships that we have each year. I always try to promote the game and work with other people. I wish we would not have some of the competition this time of year. I wish that we could all work together in this industry to make it better for the players. I'm always about making it better for the players.
I think that's an essential step for poker to move forward. I understand everyone is fighting to gain market share, but I don't think the fight is necessary. We've got a great product out there with the World Poker Tour. We do many great things to make it good for the players. I hope that the players will respond.
It's unfortunate to me when we try to do these things and do them well, and then other people try to steal your glory, so to speak.
Competition can be brutal. It’s a bit unfortunate that some of the best players in the world didn't play this year due to a competing event.
To be honest, it's great for the players that are here. There was great value for the people who played at the WPT events at the Wynn. We gave away 100 seats for the $10,000 Championship event; for some players, that will be the first $10K event they have ever played.
What are your plans for the coming year? Anything you’re really excited about?
For me, it’s about the Tournament Directors Association. We want to make sure we maintain the very best industry standards. I think that we have achieved that up to this point. I want to continue with that legacy. It’s very important to me.
You posted about putting your chip racks in their proper place. How did that work out?
I will continue to fight to get racks off the floor. I had people hand me racks all week, telling me it made a big difference. I will continue to fight the good fight where racks are concerned, even if they choose to put them on my head.
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