Matt Savage Joins Federated Sports and Gaming Poker League

With the Federated Sports and Gaming League set to kick off in August, organizers Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack are making some impressive hires to make sure Season I goes smoothly.

Matt Savage, who currently serves as the Executive Tour Director of the World Poker Tour (WPT) and Tournament Director at the Commerce Casino, will be adding his years of experience as the Tournament Director of the League, a move that will certainly please the 200 players selected for each event. Savage, who co-founded the Tournament Directors Association in 2001, will help design and manage all league tournaments, including structures, rules, and staff.

“Matt Savage is one of the most respected and experienced tournament directors in poker,” Duke, the League Commissioner, said in a press release. “He is going to be instrumental in creating a very special playing experience for our league members and will work closely with me and our colleagues at the Palms on all of our events.”

Also joining Savage on the management team this week was Katherine “Kat” Kowal, who will serve as Vice President of League Operations and Programming for Federated Sports and Gaming and has more than 14 years of experience in sports, entertainment, and television. Kowal was one of the first employees at the WPT and her most recent role was Vice President of the poker training company DeepStacks Live. Kowal will collaborate with Duke and the Palms Casino Resort on event management, media production, and business development.

Rounding out the team was Joanne Priam as Director of Player Relations. Priam has more than 10 years experience in the poker industry and will use her strong player relationships to help create a service-oriented experience for all league members. She formerly worked with UB.com.

“With Kat leading our event management and programming and Joanne focusing on world-class player relations, we are on track for a successful introduction and launch beginning this coming August,” said Duke.

The four-tournament series will take place in August, September, December, and January, followed by a League Championship. All tournaments will be played at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas over a week and feature a Pro-Am event, a charity tournament, and a $20,000, rake-free Main Event:

Event #1
Pro-Am: August 12-15, 2011
Charity Tournament: August 14, 2011
League Main Event: August 16-19, 2011

Event #2
Pro-Am: September 30 – October 3, 2011
Charity Tournament: October 2, 2011
League Main Event: October 4-7, 2011

Event #3
Pro-Am: December 1-5, 2011
Charity Tournament: December 4, 2011
League Main Event: December 6-10, 2011

Event #4
Pro-Am: January 20-23, 2012
Charity Tournament: January 22, 2012
League Main Event: January 24-27, 2012

The four Main Events will feature different formats of No Limit Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play, a heads-up tournament with an innovative seeding structure, and a special multi-format tournament to round out the season. The League Championship will take place from January 29 to 30 at the Palms, where the top 27 players in the league standings will compete in a $1 million freeroll.

The Federated Sports and Gaming League will invite the world’s top 200 players based on its own ranking system that uses historic statistics similar to those governing professional golf and tennis. However, players who do not qualify for a league card will still have a chance to get in, as each tournament week will begin with a $1,500 Pro-Am event awarding the top nine finishers a temporary league card for that week’s Main Event.

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Useful poker information:

CASE - The fourth card of a particular rank, as in "he folded the case 9" when describing where all the 9s were in a hand. Comes from the game of Faro where an employee of the house, called the "case keeper". kept track of the number of each rank of card remaining.
RAGS - Board cards that are small, not suited and not in sequence, e.g., 9-5-2. When "rags flop", it is unlikely that anyone has a good hand, except possibly the big blind in an unraised pot.
SPREAD LIMIT - A variation on fixed limit wherein the minimum and maximum bets are different. A 1-4-8 game allows bets from 1 to 4 in the early rounds and 1-8 in the last round. A 1-4-8-16 game allows bets from 1 to 4 in the early rounds, 1 to 8 in the next-to-last round, and 1 to 16 in the last round.
KICKER - In hands containing pairs and trips, the highest card not matched. In draw games, sometimes a card kept for deception purposes.
HIGH-LOW SPLIT - Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand.
JOKER - A 53rd card in the deck, distinct from the others, used as a wild card or as a BUG.

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