Oskar Garcia, Associated Press

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 | 5:30 a.m.

Card professional Annie Duke plans to be the commissioner of a new league that is hoping to become the PGA of poker, defining the game's best players and hosting invitational tournaments for only its biggest stars.

The yet-to-be-named league is planning four televised regular-season events plus a $1 million championship freeroll at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas this year, league executives said.

"This is incredibly pro-centric," Duke told The Associated Press. "This is the one piece that's kind of missing from the poker landscape right now, which is something for the best players in the world to compete against the best players in the world."

Other tournaments, including the World Series of Poker, are open events with anyone able to play if they're willing to put up pricey entry fees. The world's most famous card tournament, the series' no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event, costs $10,000 to enter and attracts thousands of players each year. Jonathan Duhamel, a Canadian professional not widely known before making the final table of last year's main event, took $8.94 million for first place.

As poker became more popular during the last decade, growing tournament fields have made it impossible to guarantee showdowns between star players.

Duke, a former "Celebrity Apprentice" runner-up, said she hopes this league will change that by defining what it takes to become a card-carrying pro. About 200 players will be invited to the league based on a mathematic formula measuring finishes in major events, money earned and recent success, she said. It won't measure success in cash games or in online poker.

The league, created by a private company called Federated Sports & Gaming, Inc., is co-founded by Jeffrey Pollack, a former World Series of Poker commissioner known for being well-respected among players, especially famous pros.

"Membership in our league will signify standing as a true professional in poker," Pollack told the AP. "We're going to apply a little more rigor to that definition."

Pollack, who will act as the league's chairman, said he will stay in his current post as chairman of Professional Bull Riders, Inc. He is a former executive for NASCAR and the NBA. The league's other partners are the founders of Youbet.com, a horse racing wagering site that last year was sold to Churchill Downs, the track that runs the Kentucky Derby.

Most league memberships will have two-, three-, or five-year terms, with fewer than 10 lifetime cards being granted to living players who have had unparalleled success in poker, Duke said.

"Fans have shown over and over again that they love the stars of this game," she said. "It's the stars of this game that they really want to be watching on television, and I think the stars should get something in return for that."

Pollack said he doesn't see the league as competition to the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour or other big poker tournaments. He said the league is about creating a new tradition _ where players have to do well in many major tournaments just to get in.

"There are scores of perspectives on this, and we're trying to clarify a new perspective on professionalism in this game," he said.

Duke, who lost to comedian Joan Rivers in the Donald Trump reality competition and has cashed 38 times at the World Series of Poker since 1994, said running the league will mean she won't compete in it and will spend less time playing poker than she has in the past.

"This is something that I really wanted to see happen for a very long time," Duke said. "And if my sacrifice is to give up playing full time, then that's my sacrifice and I'm OK that."

But Duke said she won't give up playing entirely, and will still play in the World Series of Poker and other major tournaments.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jan/18/us-poker-new-league-1st-ld-writethru/

Welcome message (from the website) from Jeffrey Pollack

We may be a new company, but Federated Sports + Gaming is built on a timeless value:  putting people first.

Our ground-breaking poker league will put professional players first and celebrate the stars of this great game like never before.  As in any other endeavor, the world?s best talent deserves the spotlight and poker is no different.  Federated Sports + Gaming will provide a custom-tailored tournament experience that clearly demonstrates how poker professionals lead the industry and are skilled in a way that is rare and worthy of special attention.

The television and media coverage of our tournaments will focus on poker professionals -- making them the rule, not the exception -- and it will put viewers and fans first with great story telling and a level of production that elevates the game of poker and honors its most talented and compelling personalities. Led by highly acclaimed and Emmy? Award winning creative talent, our programming will provide an ideal showcase for the world?s best poker players and carry forward a tradition of excellence shared among established, elite sporting events.

Federated social media games will also break new ground and put online players first with a superior experience that is fun and simplified. And, we will provide great customer service every step of the way and build an online gaming environment that is safe and secure.

Along the way, we will partner with companies that share our passion and values and also put people first ? both their customers and employees. For our own part, I know that we have assembled an executive team at Federated that is replete with experience, insight, perspective and a fierce desire to work as we live ? with integrity, honesty, transparency and a keen sense of humor. Our people rock and have a wealth of experience in sports management and media, entertainment, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and legal online gaming.

When I took the helm of the World Series of Poker in 2005, a smart media executive said to me, ?Always remember, it?s just poker? and suggested that the game never be taken too seriously. Well, we are serious about treating poker professionals with the respect they deserve and we are serious about our mission.  But, we?re going to have a lot of fun along the way and I invite you to join us.

Welcome to a new way of doing business in the sports and gaming industry, and to a company that puts people first.

Welcome to Federated!

Jeffrey N. Pollack

Co-Founder and Chairman

    * Gaming
    * Sports

  Couldn't agree more , sounds like the " stars " need their egos stroked .         

I dunno. After Dark and High Stakes are my two favourite poker programs, because you get to see the best playing the best. If they do it right, could be good.

Part 2



Are you afraid this new league may just be viewed as another venue competing against the likes of the WSOP, NAPT, etc.?

We expect to coexist peacefully with them. There is absolutely a place for both. The world where 8,000 people plunk down $10,000 to play an event and everyone has a chance at a huge prize pool, I think is a valuable piece of the poker world. I love it, I support it, and I?ll continue to play in it, our pros are going to continue to play in it, and I think it?s an amazing spectacle that fans love. But I think that fans also really love to see the players that they know, the players that have become stars and are the top talents in the game, competing against each other. I believe there is absolutely room for both to coexist.

When will the scoring system take effect? In other words, when will players begin earning points?

The first round of qualifications will be announced sometime around the beginning of March, followed by a secondary round in July. That is a very important time with the WSOP, and we don?t want to exclude all the events that are happening at that time. People can expect over the next six weeks or so to get a look at what the qualification criteria are. When you get a card, there is also going to be maintenance criteria that are associated with that card, in performance and other things, so people will be able to get a look at that actually pretty quickly, and they?re also going to be able to see who the initial list of cardholders is in March, which is really coming up quickly.

Given the fact that you?re trying to make the new league on par with the PGA, will participants be expected to abide by certain rules and professional codes of conduct? Will it be possible for someone to lose a membership if he or she becomes involved in a situation that negatively affects that game of poker? In other words, could players face consequences in the league based upon their behavior and conduct?

The short answer is yes, but we?re going to be announcing those kinds of things over the next couple months. The answer is, in every single way, we believe this is a way to professionalize the game and obviously whenever you do that, the things you?re talking go along with that and I think it?s really important. We want to raise the level of poker and the way the public views poker. That?s not to say that people can?t be colorful, we love colorful, but we?ll be making more announcements on that as we move ahead.

Have you had the chance to talk to others in the poker community about this venture, such as your brother, Howard Lederer, or your good friend Erik Seidel? If so, what is the general consensus in regards to starting a new poker league?

Yeah, obviously I?ve got a lot of close confidants that I was doing a lot of gut-checking with as we were developing what this was going to look like over the past few months. We?ve really gotten an amazing response from the people I?ve talked about it with. I think this is something the pros have been looking for and have been talking about for quite awhile. Now, of course, since we?ve announced, I?ve had the chance to do some more gut-checking and have been able to talk to a broader range of people, and the response has been incredibly positive from the people I?ve talked to. Which is really nice and very gratifying since I?m really passionate about this, and Jeffrey is really passionate about this, so knowing that the response from the players has been so positive is really amazing.

Is this new league anything like the Professional Poker Tour (PPT) that occurred back in 2004-2005? What are some of the similarities and differences?

Obviously there are some differences in the details, but I think a lot of it has to do with timing and the business plan. I?m not sure people are aware that the main reason the PPT failed was because of a shareholder?s decision. It had to do with where they wanted to put their resources in that company, which was originally built around a specific business model which the PPT was sort of added to that model. So the PPT really wasn?t the main focus of that business and the reason it went away was not so much that the league wasn?t successful and that the players didn?t want to play, it was more just the decision of the shareholders in where they wanted to put their resources.

I also think, personally, as a pro at the time, that there were a lot of exemptions given. I certainly think that we?re treating that differently in terms of the level of success that you?ll have to reach, but I think even more importantly, and I think this is really the most important thing, there are two things that really distinguish what we are doing from the PPT. Number one is the timing. The PPT was very early in the poker game where players were still in the brand building business and when the public was still becoming aware of who the great players really were. Now, we?re six years later, and I think in a very different situation where we have created incredible stars in this game. I think there is a major difference in terms of what the poker landscape looks like, and I think it?s a better time to try and create that kind of league.

The other thing is, this leadership team that has been put together is so amazing in terms of the breadth of their knowledge, from poker-specific knowledge to general media, television, Internet, and marketing is really incredible. In addition to Jeffrey Pollack, we?ve got Michael Brodsky, David Goldberg and Jeffrey Grosman. . . they understand a lot about the gaming world and, more importantly, they come from other broad businesses . . . I think It?s just a leadership team that is really well suited for this endeavor.

How will your role as commissioner impact your poker game? Obviously you won?t be playing as much, but will we still see you at the bigger events such as the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and the WSOP?

Well, first of all, I have to go and defend my title at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship. There is no question I?m going to be there. I?m also committed to playing in the Shooting Star tournament at Bay 101. I love that tournament and go to that every year, and I?m also planning on playing a pretty full slate of tournaments at the WSOP.

That being said, getting this league off the ground and making sure it?s done right is my main priority. If that impacts my playing time, so be it. Poker is still going to be there when I?m done, and I can still play part time now, so that certainly seems to be a fair trade.

Did this new opportunity to serve as commissioner have any influence on your decision to part ways with UB?

I sort of felt, on my side, my relationship with UB was winding down. The reason I stayed with UB through the difficult times they had in the scandal was that I felt like I wanted to stay and do what I could to try and make sure that the players were refunded and the hand histories were given out. I felt like the new management came in and had really good intentions and I didn?t want to leave the brand and make people think that for some reason I didn?t trust the people who were in charge. I just felt a deep obligation, honestly, to the community to try to stick around as that situation was being resolved. I tried to work hard to get as much done from that side as I could and really let people know that I thought it was absolutely a management you could trust.

But, you know, that situation I feel has been resolved as much as it could possibly get resolved at this point, and I really wanted to be in a situation where I had a bigger voice in the business. So I had really started to think about parting ways and trying to wind down my relationship with them actually prior to this situation presenting itself to me. That being said, this opportunity probably sped that process up for me because I realized that I really wanted to focus full time [on this new league]. For that reason I really needed to be a little bit quicker about winding down my relationship with UB. So, I guess my answer is that it is somewhat related but I think that I would have been leaving UB anyway.

And finally, any word on an official name for this new league?

There is and we will be announcing that within the next month. The league is not going to be called the Federated Sports and Gaming League [laughs]. That would be a mouthful. We?re going to be having a lot of announcements over the coming months. There?s going to be a lot of news coming from us. I will tell you that we?re very excited about the name, and hopefully the community will be as excited as we are when they hear it.

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/01/annie-duke-discusses-new-professional-poker-league-part-2-9690.htm

Huffington Post article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110503/us-poker-league-players/

Poker News interviews

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/05/federated-sports-gaming-annie-duke-jeffrey-pollack-10327.htm

He's the face (or was) of FTP.  Which means he's in EVERY tournament of significance.  That probably encompasses close to 100 events over a full year.  Jamie Gold can cash 9 times in that volume of entries.

Standards and Conduct Committee announced for FS+G

http://www.federatedinc.com/news/headlines/first-ever-standards-and-conduct-committee-for-a-poker-tournament-series

Federated Sports + Gaming Acquires Heartland Poker Tour

Federated Sport + Gaming (FS+G) announces acquisition of Heartland Poker Tour (HPT). Check out our exclusive interview w/ Jeffrey Pollack & Todd Anderson.
Source: Federated Sports + Gaming Acquires Heartland Poker Tour

Name unveiled: Epic Poker League

http://www.federatedinc.com/news/headlines/federated-sports-gaming-unveils-professional-league-name-epic-poker-league

http://epicpoker.com/

http://www.facebook.com/epicpoker

^^ It's good that they made fun of their own name at the end of that piece. The industry is just jam packed full of lame names. PokerStars. Ultimate Bet. I am hard pressed to think of a decent name in Poker.

FS+G launches Global Poker Index

Los Angeles, CA (July 14, 2011)­– Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G) announced it has launched the Global Poker Index™ (GPI™), a patent pending system to rank and track the weekly performance of the world’s top 300 live tournament poker players. The GPI will conclusively answer for the first time who is currently the best player in live tournament poker. Starting today, the GPI will launch in USA Today Sports and on www.GlobalPokerIndex.com, and will also be available through www.EpicPoker.com after the site’s launch later this month.

More at http://www.federatedinc.com/news/headlines/federated-sports-gaming-launches-global-poker-index

In a nutshell is based on buy in, field size, and "freshness" of your placings in the last 3 years.

Current Top 10

Rank Player Name Total Score
#1 Jason Mercier 2459.89
#2 Bertrand Grospellier 2446.83
#3 Eugene Katchalov 2350.38
#4 Samuel Stein 2157.85
#5 Fabrice Soulier 2133.87
#6 Sorel Mizzi 2097.41
#7 Thomas Marchese 2023.70
#8 Tobias Reinkemeier 2017.54
#9 John Juanda 2013.63
#10 Vanessa Selbst 2011.05

CBS!? So is this gonna be part of Monday night comedies?