The World Poker Tour (WPT) has long been synonymous with excellence in the world of poker, and few individuals embody the spirit of the tour more than Matt Savage, their Executive Tour Director. The company is now once again back in Cyprus after close to a decade away, at Chamada Prestige Resort, staging the WPT Prime Cyprus Festival.
We caught up with Matt on a break during the series’ Championship event for a discussion in which he took the time to reflect on his past and present experiences in Cyprus, from reconnecting with old friends to exploring new opportunities at the stunning Chamada property. Over the course of our interview, Matt shared insights into the challenges and joys of his role, the importance of constantly innovating in poker, and the exciting future of the WPT Prime tour. Whether it’s fostering partnerships, pushing for the inclusion of more mixed games, or introducing new tournament formats, Savage’s dedication to elevating poker, and the WPT brand in particular, shines through in every aspect of his work.
You’ve been here to Cyprus before, but it’s been about a decade – what’s it like to be back?
It’s different because it’s a new property that I’ve never been to before. We’re all working with different people except for (Head of Chamada Poker) Ali Alpsaran, who was around 13 years ago. Ali has been trying to get me to come back since then and has always asked me about rulings and rules. Now that he’s the director of the property, it’s nice to reconnect with him and visit this new location.
Aside from that… well, too much food, too much fun, and too much sun! It’s a beautiful property. I haven’t explored everything yet, but if you get a chance to walk around, you’ll see some beautiful areas around the hotel, with different hallways and décor.
We have arrived at Chamada Prestige Resort and Casino in Cyprus
Sitting in the main tournament area ahead of Day 1A of the @WPTPrime Championship Event, which begins in just under an hour.
I’ll be doing feature coverage on @PokerLifeMedia. pic.twitter.com/yEzheEYGV5
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) August 22, 2024
What sort of work and liaising have you done with Ali and the local staff ahead of your visit? What are your impressions thus far, after about one day on site?
Actually, Ali and his team have reached out to us and sent a lot of players to our other events on the WPT Prime circuit. Every time they come to our events, one of the Chamada team members (Romeo) has traveled with a group from here. They’ve been encouraging us to come back, saying, “Once you see our new property, you’ll want to be our partners forever.”
Now we’re working on partnerships for the future, and we think Cyprus could be a place that we return to many times.
Have you got any particularly fond memories of your last time in Cyprus? Are there any away-from-the-felt experiences you’d like to repeat this time around, or that you didn’t get to do last time that you hope to do now?
They have some amazing parties! In fact, we’re going to have a player party from 9-11 pm tonight. There’s an ordinance that you aren’t allowed to have fireworks unless it’s a Friday or Saturday night; however, I heard that the owner, Mr. Murat Sahin, is specifically going out of his way and paying the fine so that we can have fireworks tonight (Thursday night).
The parties are what I remember most from my previous visit to Cyprus. There are pools, a beach club, and a spa—it’s easy to have a lot of fun here.
It’s PARTY TIME at @WPTPrime Cyprus
A Day 1A players party at Chamada Beach Club? Sign me up!
pic.twitter.com/9ms3VwVwMd
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) August 22, 2024
I noticed that only Texas Hold’em tournaments are on the schedule. I know you love mixed games and are always trying to push for them, but I was surprised to not even see a PLO tournament on the schedule, as the game is particularly popular in Europe. What gives?
I didn’t have as much to do with the schedule as I’d like this time, but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future. There’s definitely an opportunity for us to bring in international players, and if they’re playing PLO, we will have PLO tournaments on future schedules.
There are big PLO cash games here, though, and they’re very popular. This is a property that “doesn’t mind gambling.”
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You’ve done a lot of extra traveling this year as part of your role as Executive Tour Director for the WPT. It can be tough being on the road, but usually your wife Maryann comes with you, and you’ve started bringing your son Marko along from time to time as well. I’m sure that helps a lot. Can you share a little about how you balance your personal and professional responsibilities during your trips?
I’m very lucky that (WPT President and CEO) Adam Pliska has not only been a boss but also a mentor and friend. He understands that the amount of travel I do wouldn’t be as acceptable at home or by me if my wife wasn’t able to travel with me. Luckily, she has been able to come with me quite often. It’s actually in my contract that she gets to travel with me. She gets to see the world, and we call her the “WPT Team Mom.” She really helps me out while I’m on the road.
My son is here with us, too. He just graduated high school and will be taking a semester off, so I want him to see a little bit of the world that maybe he won’t have the chance to for many years. It’s important to me that he sees how different cultures are around the world, and I think he’s really going to enjoy it.
What constitutes a “successful” WPT Prime tour stop in your view? Beyond fulfilling your own professional responsibilities and hitting the guarantees—$1 million for the Prime Championship and $2.5 million overall for this series—what things are you looking for, or would you point to and say in retrospect, “We did a good job over in Cyprus”?
Well, yes, the guarantees are a big part of it. We are breaking records, though—our Championship event just had 1,660 entrants in WPT Prime Taiwan, and I think we have a chance at breaking that number again here.
You want to have a stop where people say, “Damn, I missed that one; I really have to catch it next time it comes around,” or for players who do attend, you want them saying, “That was awesome, I can’t wait to do it again.”
I feel like we’re going to have that here in Cyprus. It’s a great property, the food is excellent, and there are lots of other things to do around the island as well. What’s not to enjoy?
It’s Season XXII of the WPT now, and you’ve been in your Executive Tour Director role for a long time. In what ways are things different now versus, say, a decade or two ago? In what ways are things the same?
I think we have a more established way of doing things. We have WPT500s, WPT Prime, Alpha 8, and, of course, our Main Tour stops. Now there’s a big buildup toward the end of the year, the WPT World Championship—we take that very seriously all year long. Earlier this year, we had the WPT Voyage, which was a great time. We try to do different things to keep it fresh.
A lot of Americans ask why we don’t have more stops in the US, but my reply is always, “We are the WORLD Poker Tour.” We want to show what we can do in different places, and we are doing and achieving that. We aren’t just licensing the name—we are out there, traveling to all these places in person. Our Global Tour Management does an excellent job; we bring in the live updates team to our stops, and we have outside media at our stops. We believe that’s important to grow the game.
What do you find to be the most challenging aspects of your role as Executive Tour Director, and what do you find to be the most exciting and invigorating?
The most challenging times are when you want to do or try something—like adding more mixed games to the tournament schedule—but despite goodwill and excellent relationships with partners, the tournaments won’t be added because those games simply aren’t played at that venue or in that part of the world. For instance, the dealers might not be trained to deal mixed games, or legally only certain poker variants might be allowed. If you push things too hard, you’ll invest a lot of time, effort, and resources but be doomed to fail from the outset. That’s challenging.
What’s also frustrating is dealing with schedules and calendar dates, and people going over the top of us at certain venues and times of the year. I really believe it’s in the best interest of all the players if we try to work together. I’d like to see more collaboration in the future.
The most exciting and invigorating parts for me are going to new venues and locations, like here in Cyprus, and meeting new people. Many people we see at different stops throughout the year keep in touch and reach out with questions to become better at their jobs. I’m happy to help them because it’s in the best interest of the game to grow it.
WPT Executive Tour Director @SavagePoker welcomes players to Day 1A of the @WPTPrime Cyprus $1,100 Championship Event at Chamada Prestige Resort.
323 entries thus far, with Day 1B and 1C yet to come…
Pretty sure the event’s $1 million prize pool guarantee will be crushed! pic.twitter.com/GN625dKJ4a
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) August 22, 2024
WPT President and CEO Adam Pliska loves to say that “the best is yet to come.” From a tournament director’s standpoint, what sort of innovations and features would you like to see introduced to further enhance the WPT Prime offering in the future?
With WPT Prime, I want people to feel the excitement that we are building and growing something. We won the GPI Award for being the Best Mid Major Tour. It is a different style of event, so I would like to see continued growth, with big guarantees that we keep smashing. Having people and venues want us is important because if we run an event and get that kind of feedback, it means we did something right.
Thank you to all of our incredible players and supporters for helping @WPTPrime clinch the @GPI Award for Best Mid Major Circuit/Tour!
Let’s keep raising the stakes together!
https://t.co/2UaJXXNDxx
— WPT Prime (@WPTPrime) February 25, 2024
Lastly, I’d be remiss if we didn’t talk a little about your innovative “Savage Average” tournament concept, which you’ve been championing since the beginning of the year. Can we get a progress report on how that’s going and what feedback has been like?
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and everywhere Savage Average tournaments have been tried, they’ve been successful. For those who don’t know, it means there’s no clock—the blinds only go up as the number of players decreases. This enables more play, even as the tournament progresses toward its end.
Introducing a new NL tournament structure I’ve recently worked on and wanted to do for many years. It will debut @TVPokerRoom March 17th during the @WPT festival. With a $570 buy-in and $50,000 guaranteed.
Highlights:
Never below 50 BB average
No clock needed!
Registration and… pic.twitter.com/WcgAQDfbCU— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) January 4, 2024
More people just need to give it a try. I think it would work wonderfully in mixed game tournaments and want to try it there as well. It’s something that I believe will eventually catch on and make events better. In many tournaments, as the field shrinks, there’s not much play—the action is all at the beginning. That feels upside down, and I’d like to change that. But it takes a lot of promotional effort, so it’s going to take some time.
Conclusion
As the World Poker Tour continues to evolve and expand globally, Matt Savage’s leadership and vision remain critical to its success. His passion for the game, coupled with a commitment to innovation and growth, ensures that the WPT Prime tour will continue to attract players and fans alike. From Cyprus to the rest of the world, Savage’s influence is felt in every event, as he strives to create memorable experiences and foster a sense of community within the poker world.
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