Hello, everyone, Welcome to a new episode of the Poker Go Podcast Special Edition podcast. Because I have Jeff Platt here with me today, I have to ask you, though I have no idea what your actual title is, so please tell me. Oh, I would love to tell you, Donnie, I would love to tell you it is Global Broadcast Talent. I've heard that face of the experience. I've heard that when you're on stage just today MC, so I've kind of heard it all, okay, but I like your official ones so global we can get the actual people to tell you that. Okay, okay, say that let's go. Let's go. You can refer to me as that really just guy with a microphone, though it works. I appreciate you having me on. By the way, I pretty much demand it to be on. When I heard Donnie with his first podcast, he did actually text me, please please let me on. Let me jump on with you at least once a Monthther's. Yeah, And I think you know. I won't normally release episodes by themselves, but I think this one is warranted. And it's funny because I wanted to have you on to talk about the exact things that we're gonna talk about. I just I'm worried about abusing the relationship. Oh come on, but you ask all these people all the time, and it's like, really at some point, like you know, the worst is when people are running deep in the main event and you talk to them on day five, then you talk to him on day six and I'm like, can I talk to you once again one more time? I mean, I'm sorry, but you're kind of doing well, like you know, what are we gonna do? But for me, I love it, like I love jumping on and talking with you, and it doesn't, of course have to be about stuff that I promote. I feel like we both share this passion for poker, so this is a cool space for me to be involved in. So always happy to jump on with you. Yeah, I mean, as you alluded to there, we've both been around poker for for quite a long time, as you much longer man, Okay, I mean, but you were playing, Yeah, I mean, so you've been around it. You know, even if you weren't exactly working in the industry, you. Were around it absolutely. As it relates to the doubsip though, quick timeline for those out there who need a little bit of a refresher but it goes from the Rio to the Horseshoe slash Paris in from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two. Right, yeah, you. Got more than ten thousand entries in twenty twenty three. You know, I think. I mean, I heard Norman on your show yesterday saying like, if if the whole online poker thing didn't happen, that would have happened years ago, which is likely the case. And then after the online poker thing did happen, it was kind of a question of is it ever gonna happen? And then it finally did happen. So that's great. You got GG Poker acquiring the brand. In twenty twenty four, you got the WSIP live app. It was WASIP plus. Now it's the WASP Live app launching last year, which I know that might sound like a small thing on this timeline, but I'm telling you, guys. Is a huge thing. Okay, it's a huge thing, and now this year, I mean the big thing is that the venues are flipped. Right, this is what Horseshoe was, and it's bigger. Over here we are on the main set right now. Does it feel surreal to you going from player to working in the industry a bit now being escalated to the position that you're in. To see all those changes in a relatively quick period of time for the w would. Be Yeah, it's a great question. It shows you how we really just skyrocketed over the last couple of years. You mentioned the change in locations, it's because the set just couldn't fit in Horseshoe. It could not fit. So for the World Series of Poker under the new ownership you mentioned to be willing to make that kind of investment along with investing in the app. I mean, I think it shows you what the future could become, and that's something that WSP is really looking out for. That's really why I wanted to align myself with this brand moving forward. When you first got into the industry, obviously you have a media background before getting into poker on the working side and the industry side of things. Was that a goal of yours? Were you like, I want to get into that industry and I want to do the media stuff and I want to eventually work my way up whatever that may be. Yeah, that's dream job. You and I have talked about the main event being the greatest poker tournament in the world. It is over these I don't care what anyone says, it just is. It's just at another level. So the super Bowl, so to speak, for me and for a lot of us in poker, is the World Series of Poker main event. With what I do specifically in hosting or sideline reporting or global broadcasts talenting, it just makes sense that that would be my dream job, right to be involved in that World Series of Poker main event, to be able to tell the story of the greatest poker tournament in the world to a wider audience to people who cannot make it live. And it took a crazy fortunate balance here and there with timing, and then it was twenty twenty and then Kara couldn't do it, and I'm sure a lot of people couldn't do it. So Dan Gotti eventually got to me on his list, and since then, I just I just got in at the right time, and I'm so thrilled, proud, honor to be here. I realized some like that could sound maybe corny in a sense, but like it's really genuine for me. It's something that I think about a lot, that this is true dream job status for me to be involved. You're you're really closely connected to the player experience, the fan experience. You know, a lot of the stuff that you wanted to make happen here. You're like, we got to make the viewing experience better. You've always said that's what's the most fun part of that side of the gig. I think it's just that everybody's open to listening to everybody else, not just me. But I can get time with Ty Stewart, our CEO, or Spunky, our head of production, and we'll have a great back and forth. And they are always looking for what I have to say, what other people have to say. They're good at gathering opinions. Nobody has to be right one hundred percent of the time. So just to really have a seat at the table, just to be in the room during these discussions, just to throw out some opinions, it helps you set it. Because I'm not I don't consider myself just a broadcaster, but a player a little bit on the side. So I want to look out for player experience, and that includes parking dealers, the app et cetera. I consider myself a fan, right so when we're out here at this stage, I want it to be the best setup possible, so you show up and you know what's going on, your view is not blocked. And then speaking of views, I'm a viewer also, so I know, like I think, I know what I would like, what you would probably like, what most people would would probably like, and it's nice to be able to have a say in every single one of those areas. Speaking of views, you know you've been getting bombarded with questions on the schedule, what are you guys streaming? What's going on? My sense of it is that I think you guys are base just we're turning the cameras on at let's say two o'clock every day, the stream's going to start it let's say five o'clock every day or whatever that time is, and it's just go time basically in a way, twenty four to seven. Once the cameras got turned on yesterday and now it's just every day throughout the duration of the series. But for the people out there, can you help describe, you know, what the schedule is, because you are getting questions, what's streaming today, what's going on? Where's the schedule that the schedules schedule right? That is kind of the way I see it that this is new, innovative, comprehensive live stream coverage. Now we will focus on certain events a bit more than others. For example, the twenty five kads Up Championship, we will have them up on stage at our future tables. We will have the five K no limit final table on one of our side features, or the five KPLO Final table on one of our side features. So the plan is to have one main tournament that we're honing in on that we're going to show you a ton of coverage from. That is going to be twenty five K Heads Up Championship, twenty five K hi Roller, ten KGG Millions, two hundred fifty K Super Highroller, but also Millionaire Maker, Monster Stack Colossus, to try to captivate the audience no matter what form of poker they may be interested in, whether it's high bids with the Superstars, lower bi ins with the weekend Warriors of the world. But at the same time that we're showcasing all of this featured table coverage, we are keeping track of what's going on at the outer tables, so we're just taking you. The goal is to take you in to the World Series of Poker and give you a sense of everything that is going on. Seventy seventy five eighty percent of our coverage will be honed in on one event and the rest of it will just be out and about and see what pops up and see what storylines developed. So I don't really think there's a need to put out a specific schedule. I understand that people want it. We have something like a schedule on YouTube. It's always subject to change, and I think you put it perfectly. A certain time is gonna hit and we're gonna turn the cameras on. That's future table coverage, and we have a ton of camera crews outside to treat every day if the World Series of Poker like it's the main event. Yeah, you mentioned the outer table coverage. Where Jeff and I are sitting right now are the outer tables. This is what's the cluster. It's called the cluster. There's twelve tables here, there's these behind us, there's five feature tables in. A horseshoe shape. Yeah, and then they're gonna be bouncing around from everything and then you guys can't see it. But off camera is a new pregame show set, morning show set, whatever it's being called what's the motivation behind that this year? Well, first, are running the show. It is called WSP Countdown. Yes, we did have a rebranding. We were talking about developing a morning show and it just kind of turned into that pregame show that you mentioned. So it is me, David Williams, Joe Stapleton, Norman Chatta, some of a rotating cast of characters. You know, I'm hoping our friend Maria Hope and join us a few times here and there, things like that. The goal of this show, it's kind of like the goal of the live stream coverage. It's to take you inside the World Series of Poker to give you a sense of what happened last night and what to expect coming up on our live stream coverage. That is going to include diving into some hot topics. You know this the drama is going to pop up at some point in the World Series and we'll be there to cover it, and we want to cover it. We don't want to ignore it. So that's the overall game plan. It will include interviews with big name players, it will include bracelet ceremony recaps, it will include live looks at whatever Daniel Lgrantini or feel Helmut or feel iv Er up to on that day. So it's just a little bit of everything, and I think that's why I'm excited about it. It's very easy to say that you want to model yourself after a college game day ornt inside the NBA, right, But that is the goal, and I hope we can take steps in the right direction to reach that goal. Did you guys come into this whole summer plan with everything you know, new stage, the way that you're planning the coverage, the countdown show ahead of time, with the idea of like, listen, we want to push poker coverage. To new heights. We want to set a new standard. Yeah, That's been Spunky's goal this whole time, recognizing the poker boom of the Moneymaker era and trying to develop one that doesn't necessarily rely on any specific superstar. And I think that's important. You know this. I feel like, especially in our Poker go years, how bad did we run as far as getting you know, big names to a final table or something like that. Of course, it feels like it. It felt like it always fell apart, right, And. I'll be honest, listen, Poker gro had its own budgetary restrictions and whatnot. Of course. I mean listen, for lack of a better term, GG Poker's unloading the clip and it's fucking great. Okay, it's awesome, you know, so that, but you know, we are still partnered. We are still working with you guys on everything. I mean the Blueprint fifty two team, which is the arm of poker Goo that does these builds. They're the ones that built this set, you know. So obviously the vision came from the WSP side of things, but then you had to have the handyman in the room to make it out. Yeah. Yeah, And I think it's It's also an important note, not just because I am on the Poker podcast or talking with you, or because I've worked with poker Go or because they're still partner. I think poker Go did a tremendous job over the last few years in live streaming. You know, we hear a lot about today like oh well now it's not behind a paywall, but so much of the coverage last year was open and available on YouTube. Poker Go set up a distribution this year. Get right, they forget, They forget very quickly. Poker Go's distribution deal not only included the main event being televised by other preliminary Bracelet events being televised. I think they were great, But to your point, I mean, Ensis, the parent company of both GG and WSP, they're going to fire off. They are going to invest in the future, invest in our coverage. We want you to see this setup, whether it's because of an Instagram post or because you're watching our coverage on WSP's YouTube channel, or because you're watching the main event on ESPN and you see it and you want to be here, right, And so that's that's kind of the boom that we're hoping to develop, that that Spunky is hoping to develop. Change the game. As far as production is concerned. Just go bigger, Just go so much bigger. I don't want to say, don't worry about cost, but it's close to that. I mean, I'm looking now, you're not the one right in the check so you know that helps a little bit. I'm looking now at our countdown show set that we were just talking about. I see now we have like a teleprompter and a huge monitor for the prompter. It's just like these little things. It's just like, yeah, I gotta put you on the spot who needs the teleprompter? Well, you think, Donnie, if it's pointing at Norman's seat, I know it's not you. It's one of the other three. I can't quite see the angle from here, but it's definitely fair states. They do have a couple of monologues they want to go off, and so I think a. Prompter is a question now is can they read? I mean, yeah, we're gonna find out. We're gonna find out soon enough. So you saw this thing at the at the warehouse, the poker warehouse, like I think it was like a third built right now, take me back, like what was when you walked into you guys, your team got a view of like, okay, this is like basically half of it or a third of it. This is an idea of what it's gonna look like. What were your thoughts then, because it's it's one thing to see it on some renderings or in some photos, you know, but then to see it in real life. Well, I not only saw the renderings, but I heard from Spunky and Ty that you know, this new set we're gonna build is three times bigger than the one in the Bahamas, which the WCP Paradise set was pretty pretty massive. I thought that was the biggest poker stage setup that I had ever seen. So I heard that, I think, okay, okay, And then I walked into the warehouse at Poker Ghost Campus and then I saw it. I was like, wow, this this is big. And then more it comes over and says, you know, this is only like a third of it. Oh my god. So it's still like it still could not I could not process it. It could not get through my mind. And that's what I told everybody and the lead up to this, it's like I still can't get it through my head what it's going to look like. Even walking in here a week ago and seeing some of the set up with you, Oh wow, this is nice. This is really cool. But it's just ten times better than it was in the development process, Like this is this is an I know we're still searching for an ame. And you mentioned the arena, and I like the arena, and maybe it would be Grand Arena. Grand Arena is really good. Maybe we go back to Thunder, I don't know, whatever we figure out, maybe whatever pops up organically, but like this, this is the future of poker. This is the new home of the World Series. I can't emphasize enough just how it sounds simple, but just how cool it is. What do you think, you know, fans, whether they're or players too, you know, but but players are ultimately fans of the year. I think when they you know, when they walk in here and they see this thing, now there's no more curtain when they tune into a live stream when they see it, what do you guys want them to feel. I want them to be shocked, to be stunned that this is the investment that the World Series is putting into its home, is putting into its production. And I think we achieved that goal. You know, this is to go back to what we were saying earlier, the greatest poker series in the world. This is Poker's premiere event, and now we have a stage that really aligns with that description. What's something that people don't see? Oh, good question. People are going to see this massive arena and be impressed. You've probably walked through back there. But like the production area is wild and there are rows upon rows upon rows of monitors. You know, our countdown show is their own row. You know, we have a full on production crew for what four of the feature tables. So like our usual control room which had I don't know, fifteen or twenty people in it for a final table, like you have three or four versions of those. People don't see a massive production crew running around what feels like twenty four to seven and all the behind the scenes work that goes into this. I think that's what people may miss out on. But that shows you just how how big the effort is. How do you approach the idea that it's impossible to make everyone happen? You know, we talked a little bit earlier how people are blowing you up on social media as so for this, that and the other thing. You know, even here there's people are like, you got to fix the parking, Jeff, you gotta fix this. You gotta fix that. You know. I will say, by the way, he is actually parking where the people park. And I told him that. I said, why don't you just park them back? He said, no, no, I'm not doing I said, well, okay, people are crazy. You guys park in the back. Park peacepot in the production line. But how do you like, are you do you just come into it and you say, listen, we're not going to make everyone happy. Or are you actually going to try and make everyone else well. I feel like. Part of the role that I'm in is like is listening to feedback, and sometimes the feedback is going to be something that we agree with, and sometimes it's not. You know, when it comes to player experience, of course, like we want to make the parking situation just great for everybody, and so I want to genuinely like, if you guys feel the pain from it, I want to That's something we're easily going to be aligned on. Right. Then it comes to things that are a bit more subjective, I would say, where some people may tweet at us, hey, like, why aren't you showing this fifteen hundred dollars seven cards stud final table? And I appreciate the question, I don't personally think and I don't think our team thinks that that would be a great use of our resources. You know. I know, we go ham and add this massive production crew, but we're still only going to be on a certain amount of the time, and when we're on, we're probably going to lean towards showing you the Helme Use, the Negrano's, the Miss Rockies, the Heads Up Championship. Highlights of the world while leaving a side some moments here and there to touch on the fifteen hundred dollars seven card stud I like to say that we're covering every tournament. In a sense, some tournaments will not receive the same level of coverage that others do, so I do genuinely appreciate the feedback. I look for constructive criticism. I try to get back to most people on social media because we want to be really open about our thought process. I understand the later start times and how that's going to impact some people. This is all a huge work in progress, and we'll take everything under consideration. I mean it's kind of like, you know, not sometimes things just hit the cutting room floor. I mean, like, for example, when we produce episodes, you can't cram every single hand into a forty four minute episode, and somebody might be like, well, you didn't show that hand. Well, I mean you can't. You can't always. You can't always. If we could turn every single camera on in this building and put up three hundred YouTube streams all at once, and maybe. That that is, I don't know if there's enough with an electricity to actually. Do that right, I don't know, but you know, we will develop, we will get better and better, and who knows what the future holds for us, but for now we feel at least somewhat comfortable with our game plan. Yeah. I'm a big you know, rising tide lift lifts all boats. So if the World Series a poker, which is the biggest boat in the sea, if that can can you know, do its job, or the World Series Poker really is the rising tide to be honest, you know, if it can make poker bigger, everyone, you know, even competitors of the World Series will benefit. And I do think that, you know, yes, maybe you don't make every single person happy, you know, the person clamoring for the seven card start or whatever it is. Like I get it, I was in your shoes, you know, previous years. But the jump that you've already made, and if that's like a sign of things to come, like, Okay, this is what we did in year one of this whole new thing. Next year, let's go what's what's the next step, And then the next year, what's the next step. And then eventually, yeah, maybe if you are streaming, instead of five tables, it's seven tables or whatever it is. So there's there's a build in process. You also have to I mean, you can't bite off more than you can choose, right, Like if you came out here and said, okay, we're streaming twenty tables, like and then it just breaks, then you're screwed. Yeah right, So I get it. It's hard, it's not easy being in your shoes. But I also understand the lengths that you've gone already. I'm glad you mentioned that Spunky ahead of our production. He's really big on process and efficiency. So people come to and there, what if we, you know, do this and we have a special feature table that's in the corner. He's like, let's just get the process down right, Let's just keep it. Let's turn the cameras on the first space. Yeah yeah right, let's just get off the ground and let's showcase this to our viewers. And once we're comfortable with this process, then we can fine tune in, we can tweak it, we can add in one thing at a time, but we won't go super crazy because that could lead to flaws at the core of the system. We want the core to be strong before we totally branch out. You're around Poker, I mean more than anyone I mean, you know, you and I talk pretty much every single day. I know how much you're around this game, both playing on the industry side of things as well. You know what still fascinates you about poker? For me, I can find storylines, not just from a coverage standpoint. Just like if I'm walking around in every single event, it doesn't need I love it. Of course, if it's Daniel Nigranu and Phil Hellmuth and Kristen Foxen Amriell, that's great, that's easy. But I can walk by still a two hundred dollars daily deep stack and see that there are seven players left, and see that a couple players are treating it like it's the final table of their World Series of Poker main event. That still stands out to me, the passion for poker, or that's still that still hits me, because I think it still hits others. It's it's funny. I'm walking Bill. I'm watching Bill Klein walk into this room right now and twenty five kids up Championship sure like it's a high by in for poker, right doesn't doesn't really move the needle for Bill Klein. And if he won the whole thing, not going to move the needle for Bill Klin, but he's here. He's here because he wants to compete. And I love how that competition is just drawn out of everybody, from the Jesse Lonises of the world to the Bill Kleines, to the to the Colby Covingtons of the world. You know, you see our athletes come in and like they're so enthused by poker and they're just it just brings the competitive spirit out of everybody. And that's just something that I love about this game and we'll always love. A question that I've been trying to ask every single person that I have on the podcast is that you know, what does a successful summer look like for you personally? Now I know that maybe you don't take the same angle as as a player might respond to that question, but what. Does the successful summer look like for Jeff play? It's nice I don't have to set any like bracelet goals or tournament results. I'm going to win three. That kind of takes the pressure off. I think successful summer for me, it's going to sound simple, but it's perhaps more complicated than it sounds. I want to end the summer in a better position than we started off. Just want to get better, just want to improve. I know we're not going to be at one hundred percent capacity, so to speak, and perfect on day one or two, and we probably won't be perfect throughout six weeks, and I don't expect to be. But I just want to get better and better. I want to improve our process because you know this as a poker player. If you improve the process, the results are going to come eventually. They might not come right off the bat. I just want to improve the process. I just want to get a little better. I know it's cliche, but it is going to help us in the long run if we do get a little better each and every day. When it all settles down, you know, the dust settles. Let's say it's September. You know what do you want people to talk about when they look back on the twenty twenty six WSP Is it the set? Is it something that's possibly to come? You know, what is that in your mind? I want them to talk about this, this set, this arena. I want them to talk about our new and improved comprehensive livestream coverage where we're just all over the map, where we're taking you inside the world Series of Poker, and I want them to look back on a record setting World Series of Poker Main Event that is back on ESPN, that did really well with our three week delay in between reaching the final table and actually showcasing the Final table live the storylines that we were able to develop. I want people to see the investment that the World Series is putting into this and think, you know what that all of this pretty cool, pretty good summer, pretty memorable summer. All the main Event. You know, I'm bullish, I think, Sam, you know, I think it's going to get back up over ten thousand. Now does that mean record setter? I don't know, but hearing you say it, is that a motivation of the company. Is that why you're saying that, because it's in the room, in the back room, you guys are saying we want a record setter. Yeah. I think it's always the motivation of the company. Everybody looks at the World Series of Poker Main Event. Now, does that mean if we got nine, nine hundred and ninety two players, Even if you. Guys got eight thousand, it's still eight k in a ten k free zee. It's it's still just mind boggling to think about right when you compare it to all the other attendance numbers. But sure, we'd like to set a record. Listen, Gigi Poker sends more and more people to the main event every single year. Poker is is growing. I mean, we're seeing more and more people become interested in poker. Whether that results in more main event entries, I don't know. But we are back on ESPN. That is going to have some kind of a lure to some people. The set, the stage that's gonna have, the grand arena, excuse me, that's gonna have some kind of a lure to some people. And I think when you combine everything that you are just going to be in for a record setting main event. What I appreciate about the World Series is like we always what I just said, we just always try to get better. You know. It's like I think Nicks. I think it was Nick Saban after he wins a national championship. He has one glass of champagne on the plane, but that plane is on a recruiting trip, and you know he's just thinking about the next year. And that's kind of our model, Like just Okay, this was awesome, let's celebrate it, just for a little bit though, and then let's get back to work and how do we make the next one better? I was going to say, how could there be a huge cheer here in this room at noon? Because it's the World Series of Poker and it's Arsenal versus PSG, which it looks like PSG. Just won the Champions League. Our COO, Greg SHOs shown is French. His PSG is the French one. Right, Yes, I mean there's obviously many French teams, right No, I think he might hate PSG specific. So I think that's all I got for you. But did I miss anything? Is there anything you want to say talk about? I really don't think so. I think you know, an important note that I would want to get out there is that we're going for this every day. So everyday World Tires of Poker Countdown is going to be on and it's going to lead into our livestream coverage it if you get sick, I think we're stuck with STAPs in the hosting chair or something like that. So the show goes on whether I'm here or not. It does not rely on any one person, and we're just we're just really excited to see how it all plays out, and like I told you earlier, you know, I want the feedback, the constructive criticism, not just from you, but but from all of your listeners, all of your viewers. Just hit me up on social media and we're accepting everything. If you just say, Jeff, you suck, that doesn't help us that much. We would, we would, it should be you suck. Here's why. Yes, yes, exactly, that is exactly what I'm talking about. So that's what I want to get out and I always appreciate it and enjoy the time with you. All right, man, Well he's Jeff Platt on Twitter, so that's where you guys can can hit him up there. He is responding to I think. Every single try gets a little Sometimes I even look at it and I'm like, ah, why'd you even respond to that one? At the point, can I give you a little tease, Yeah, just because I see Seande walking up, I have a surprise for him week one of the World Series that could like Joker viral. No no, no, I'm not gonna hij I just got to come say hi, hello, my friend, love the set, thank you, The morning show going. It's it's called WSP Countdown. Let's show some respect, going, well, it's not the countdown, it's just WSOP countdown, Mark somewhere else, probably probably, So. I'm just making sure my producer, producer Rich, shout out producer Rich. He'll yell at me if I didn't do this. So, yeah, thank you for asking, Sean. It's fantastic. I was just telling Donnie that I have a surprise coming your way at some point in I think week one of the WSP, maybe early week two, and it could. It has the potential to go I wouldn't say viral, but like a poker viral, like maybe we get twenty two reposts in three hundred likes on it. I think I'll have three hundred and thirty three likes. It's just what I think. It is. Oh, interesting, interesting working. I had no comment at this time. I don't want to review. Any no comment at this time. I like it. Though. It's better than whatever Tim Duckworth has planned. You know, it's got to be at least that. I give him a lot of credit. Man, he's really growing up in his role. Over the years, has. He highly questionable? Sean? Highly questionable? Remember how low the bar was to start? That's true. That's a great point. I mean pants yesterday. Yeah, I never seen him wear it is. It's it's much colder on this side of things than it is on the horseshoes side of things. At the Showdown, you know, I'm going to stay called the Showdown. The Countdown, w SP countdown. Maybe moving back to the morning they got they got a logo and everything. I mean, give it a night show that could be the showdown on the showdown. Yeah, you should have been in our earlier conversation. I know I should be in these production meetings actually show you guys how to do things. But we're gonna up here. He's got to get it. The pleasure Sean Deep as always, it's a pleasure pleasures on flat. My mic is all screwed up now, as if it wasn't already. But all right, this has been the Poker Girl Podcast, a little special edition here with Jeff Platmin name is Dona Pears and we will catch you guys next time. Express