Poker Superstars
Phil Hellmuth
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World Poker Tour Settles With Pros |
 There was a good amount of talk a couple of years ago about a small group of professional poker players—including Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer—had filed a federal lawsuit against the WPT Enterprises Inc., the company behind the legendary World Poker Tour. After the players announced this suit at the 2006 WSOP, the subject kind of dropped off the map, but now there’s been an announcement that the suit has been settled, and the WPT player release (the culprit behind the squabble) has now been edited to affect future snafus.
The original suit stated that the terms of WPTE player release forms that the players have to sign in order to play WPT events caused these players to violate endorsement agreements they had made or been contracted for (read: they weren’t allowed to wear their Full Tilt jerseys and whatnot), thus causing them to not be able to participate in the events. The suit was represented as an antitrust suit, suggested that WPTE was trying to squash their competition while simultaneously violating intellectual property rights.
The WPTE originally denied these antitrust claims, and though the player release forms have now been altered, it is still up to prospecting what ways they have edited the agreement.
The five players listed above are the only players listed as having received part in the WPT settlement; the other two players who’d been originally on the bill (Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem) checked out before the settlement came to life.
From a WPTE release, "WPTE continues to deny any liability or wrongdoing, but wants to settle its differences with the players so that the tour can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation." WPTE founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb said, "We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker."
Chris Ferguson also commented on the results: "We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used. We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."
April 20, 2008
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