Poker Discussion Post

The entire discussion is definitely not moot.  My entertainment lawyer, my agent and my manager have all told me not to play...that the contract would violate existing agreements that I have and jeopardize future opportunites. 

First, it is simply not true that WPTE has not used a player's likeness in anyway except to promote the show.  The banner add is one example.  Steve took it down but under the new agreement he would not be obligated to do so.  What if someone buys the WPT who is not so magnanimous? 

A more insidiious example is that there is footage of me in the new WPT Xbox/PS2 game. when my lawyer contacted the WPT about removing this footage they refused saying they had the right to leave it in under old agreements I had signed.  Ditto for Howard and some other people.  This is certainly footage used to promote the game itself and get you to buy it, not the show itself.  I was not compensated for this nor given prior notification that this would happen.  Crave Entertainment, the publishers of World Championship Poker II, certainly has an issue with this and are pursuing it. 

If you sign these rights away it doesn't matter if you have a prior agreement with another vendor.  The onus is on you.  WPTE would be within its rights to use your image and the lawsuit would be directed at you.  To say that this agreement would not conflict with any prior or future agreements is just wrong.  What kind of clairvoyance would you have to have to know that about the future.  And as for the past they have already used my image in a way that conflicts with a prior agreement.

It is not just my lawyers who say so but other players' as well.  My lawyers asked to amend the release to read that the rights granted could not be used without my approval or compensation negotiations and that my image could not be used in a way that conflicted with any pre-existing deal I have or any deals under consideration.  They refused.  Why unless they intend to keep the option open to use my image in that way?

It is just wrong that they have not already used images to promote products other than the show. It is wrong that this release would not prohibit  a player from entering into an exclusive relationship with a vendor.  Just because Daniel has an exclusive agreement with FCP does not mean WPTE couldn't put his image on their site.  The onus would be on Daniel for granting rights he no longer owned, not WPTonline.  Daniel would be sued.  The WPT might get sued but would win under the new agreement, lose under the old one.

The point is, if the WPT does not intend to use images in this way, why won't they put it in writing? Steve said himself several times in his letter that the agreement legally grants those rights and the only thing that would stop them from using images for secondary purposes is his own good will. Well he might not always be the decision maker there. He also clearly sates that he would only listen to players' concerns and then make a decision and if he decided against their concerns he would explain why.  What does that mean?  Read it carefully. 

It means he can use the players' images in any and all media to promote whatever he wants unless a player objects and even then it is up to Steve's discretion.  The player will not have prior notification so will have to complain after the fact.  The player may or may not get his way depending on whether Steve agrees with them or not...though Steve will be nice enough to explain the reasons he is continuing to abuse the player's likeness in case he disagrees.  Oh and when he does disagree he will not compensate you for the use of your image.  Sounds fair to me.  How bout you?

I would venture to guess that this WPTE waiver affects Annie moreso than any other poker player alive.  Certainly there are players with greater accomplishments, etc., but few of the female gender (maybe with the exception of Kathy Leibert...but we all know that Kathy is as marketable as a mini-van).

That said, I'm going to agree with Sheets' statement in that signing the waiver to play in WPT tournaments is purely voluntary...so play if you're willing to surrender your rights.  Again, it affects few people in the poker world.  Personally, while I have some TV coverage and several WSOP/WPT cashes, I would love to have my face on a WPT slot machine even for zero compensation...it would provide me with plenty of equity in future endorsement deals.  Once receiving several large endorsement deals, however, I would be in the same boat as Annie.

Disclosure: I do not support WPTE's legal language whatsoever, and greatly question the ethics of Steve and Lyle, but do not feel personally affected enough to stop entering WPT tournaments.

Happy holidays all!! See many of you in the Bahamas in just over a week.

WPT is a Go!

Ok, it looks like I'm sticking with my plan of playing all three WPT events in January and I'm really excited about it. I've spoke to lawyers, my agent, to Steve, and I feel comfortable that the information I received is accurate.

A couple points of interest:

1) Any exclusive agreements I have are not in jeopardy in any way, shape, or form. Legally, since I have an exclusive deal with FCP for example, they couldn't possibly use my name and likeness to promote WPTonline.

2) Steve's intent with that paragraph didn't come through well in the way that he wrote it. While it reads as though he is clearly stating that he feels as though he has the legal right to use our name and likeness to promote the WPTonline, his intent was to say that he took the banner down simply because the players asked him to, regardless of whether or not he had the right to do that. He would NOT in fact, have the legal right to do that.

3) The WPT has never, and I mean never used a player's name and likeness without a player's permission and/or compensation.

4) Finally, nothing in the release conflicts with any contracts that I currently have signed and wouldn't hinder me from signing future contracts in any way.


So all in all, I feel more than comfortable playing and signing the release. In some respect, there is simply no "smoking gun," if you will, and no precedent for all of the WPT release bashing.

Now, if an issue does arise in the future, then we'd sick em' like rabid dogs! However, since there is no "issue" and no reason to believe that there will be, I'd rather bury the whole thing and get back to playing some poker!

On that note, I'm headed over to www.fullcontactpoker.com to play some heads up limit hold'em- man that game is fun!

Annie Duke makes perfect well-thought-out logical sence.  Each and Every one of us would feel the same way in her situation. 

WPT really seems to be acting like a Control Freak Parent after the 'kids' have all grown up.  "Thanks mom and dad but I am on my own now so stop telling me I owe you everything.  We both benefited from eachother and this should not be a one way street.  You don't OWN me anymore".

WPT seems VERY MANIPULATIVE and won't put what they say they will do in WRITING. 

On the other hand - Sheets was right if you don't like their rules then play elsewhere.

SOLUTION:  Have the top pros start their OWN tour like they did on Full Tilt.  What do ya think of that??