Is there something going on in the World Poker Tour (WPT) brand structures? That's certainly the question a lot of people in the industry, as well as fans, are asking themselves after longtime WPT editor-in-chief Lance Bradley announced to the world on social network X that the series management has decided to let his entire team go.
What was behind this decision was unfortunately not made public. However, the entire media and editorial team of the WPT series, which for years has been responsible for promotion, media relations, articles on their website and photos and live reports from tournaments around the world, has lost their jobs.
It is common in companies to lose someone from a large collective team of people, but it is not common for the management to completely lay off the entire team, and certainly not with a big name like the WPT. This whole situation therefore raises a lot of questions, but no answers have been provided yet.
Who lost their jobs?
Let's move on to the specific names and jobs that the WPT has decided to replace. First and foremost is the aforementioned Lance Bradley, who for many years served as Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of Media at the WPT. While mentioning his name, let's not forget to mention that he has won 4 Global Poker Awards and 3 of them for written content.
Another one who was fired was Creative Senior Editor Jeff Walsh, who has been a part of the poker industry since 2005. I'm sure many of you have also read articles on the WPT website by Tim Fiorvanti, who was a senior editor and spent over a decade creating content in the poker world.
Social media manager Easton Oreman also lost his job, as did content coordinator Evan McColl, who joined the WPT in 2022. Evan was in charge of live reports around the world, along with photos and videos from tournaments.
Along with the editorial team, people working behind the scenes on entire projects lost their jobs, such as Media Relations Manager Erik Lusch, who came to the WPT from the WSOP and was there every step of the way to put together the WPT World Championship media plan. Raul Silva has worked for the WPT since graduating from college and was the content coordinator who oversaw accounts payable processes for vendors and freelancers.
The last named former WPT series staffer is Scott Pesick, who served as Affiliate Business Manager and was in charge of relationships with WPT Global, ClubWPT and ClubWPT Gold. Many well-known industry figures have also commented on the situation, such as Maria Ho, Jeff Platt, Barry Carter and Tony Dunst. They all expressed their regret over the team's dismissal and it is an incomprehensible move even for them.
Ahead of us is the WPT Cambodia, which takes place from February 6-24, offering up to 19 days of poker, with up to 63 tournaments. The main attractions will be the WPT Prime Cambodia Championship with a buy-in of $1,100 and a guarantee of $750,000, and the WPT Cambodia Championship with a buy-in of $3,500 and a guarantee of $1,500,000.
The news of the entire media team being rebooted comes just a week or so before the start of the WPT Prime Cambodia, so it's questionable for now whether we'll see live coverage and various articles from the big event on the WPT website.
What do you guys think was behind this decision by the WPT? Do you think the WPT has any problems? Let us know in the comments on our social media.
Source - WPT, Lance Bradley Twitter/X, pokernews, telcoproductions.com