Thursday, April 19, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Binion's distribution plan annoys poker players

A plan by Binion's Horseshoe owner Becky Behnen to split a 3 percent portion of World Series of Poker prize money among property employees has created controversy among some of the world's top poker players.

Early advertisements for this year's World Series, set to kick off its 32nd year on Friday, announced that 3 percent of the prize pool would be withheld to pay tournament personnel.

The remaining 97 percent would be split by the winner and top finishers in each event.

The decision followed the practice of competing major tournaments of withholding a small portion of the prize pool for dealers and other tournament personnel to make them less dependent on volatile tip income.

The controversy began when the Horseshoe announced recently that the tournament personnel slated to receive shares of the 3 percent set-aside included Horseshoe employees who many poker players don't consider to be tournament personnel.

"The players have, at a minimum, been misled," said Paul Phillips, a Las Vegan who is a professional poker player.

"When people hear that 3 percent of the prize pool has been withheld, they expect it to go to the dealers and tournament floor personnel," Phillips said. "If Binion's wants to supplement the salaries of its employees, they should raise the entry fees rather than subtract from the prize pool."

Despite his frustration, Phillips, who expressed his feelings while waiting to play Wednesday at Binion's, said a player boycott of this year's World Series is unlikely.

"There is a lot of unrest, a lot of dissatisfaction, but the WSOP has a lot of tradition and prestige," he said. "If the tournament continues antagonizing players, it will be hurt in future years."

Behnen, whose father Benny Binion created the World Series, which is considered poker's premier event, said Wednesday that player concerns were misguided.

"We said 3 percent would go to tournament personnel, and it will," she said. "I'm not taking a penny of the money, and my family's not taking a penny. It's going to the employees who have to deal with the incredible month-long tournament."

Last year's prize pool totaled about $15 million, and 3 percent of that figure is about $450,000.

The casino makes its money from nontournament games and entry fees for small tournaments called "satellites," which enable a table or more of players to compete for tournament entry fees.

Behnen said most Horseshoe workers deserve to receive a cut of the 3 percent fee to compensate for the extra work the World Series generates.

"Everyone will come away from the World Series as a winner," Behnen explained. "The cashiers, the (management information systems) people, the payroll people -- they all put in a lot of extra work. Now they'll get a little extra too."

Dissatisfaction with the casino's decision is apparent on one of the Internet's most popular poker discussion sites, the rec.gambling.poker news group.

Richard Tatalovich, one of the world's best poker players, wrote: "The advertised purpose was that it was being held for tournament personnel, and that is where 100% of it should go. Everyone who is part of the poker world knows who are considered tournament personnel and who are not."

World Series of Poker participants pay two separate fees to enter the tourney's first 25 events. Each player pays a buy-in ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 along with an entry fee of $50 to $150.

Entrants to the World Series' final event, the world championship no-limit Texas Hold'em contest, pay a $10,000 buy-in but pay no entry fee.

The total of all of the buy-ins at each event at past World Series formed the event prize pool, and all of the money in the prize pool was divided among players.

The total of the entry fees for each event went to the Horseshoe to offset the cost of the tournament.