Joaquin Vidales started working for 888poker in January 2022. After a short while, he assumed the role of Live Events Manager with the company. In a nutshell, his job is to make sure that the development and production of 888poker LIVE events actually happens. He is the individual who chooses “what’s best for 888poker to do”, including where the live events should be held, which venues and companies to partner with, and more.
I sat with “Quino”, as he’s more commonly known, for an extended conversation at the 888poker LIVE Glasgow festival to get a better feel for how the work he and his team do is manifested. I have no doubt that this special look behind the curtain at all the preparation that goes into planning these events will give poker players in attendance — and who wish they could attend — a deeper and greater appreciation for all that effort put in by Joaquin and his team organizing things behind the scenes.
888poker is among a select few online poker operators that stage live events. Why do you think that staging live poker events is such an important part of the offerings for a company whose primary product has long been online poker?
I work closely with the company’s marketing team, because at the end of the day I see my role as helping to offer the company’s customers, a.k.a., the players, the opportunity to have the same 888poker online experience they love but in a physical land-based setting via our live events. We want to bring the online experience into the offline experience.
Last year, I covered a couple 888poker-powered UKPL events for Cardplayer Lifestyle, in Edinburgh and Reading South, respectively. This, here in Glasgow, is a proper branded 888poker LIVE event. I can feel the difference from the attendee side. What would you say are the biggest differences from the operations/preparations side?
The UKPL was originally my idea; my baby. We had already signed a big deal with Grosvenor Casinos, the largest network of casinos in the UK. I saw that we only had a couple scheduled live events at their venues and my immediate reaction was “why only two?” So I set about crafting the concept of a brand new UK poker circuit with multiple stops that would be held at a number of Grosvenor Casinos throughout the UK. That began in 2024 and we’re doing it again this year. The principle that guides the UKPL is trying to give our online players throughout the UK the ability to have a live event experience as close as possible to the region they live in.
With our 888poker LIVE events, quite simply we just take things to the next level. We invest significantly more resources into it. Whereas the UKPL events have a more local and regional flavor, the 888poker LIVE events are truly international affairs. We bring a full complement of our ambassadors and streamers to these events, have enhanced media coverage, more exhaustive branding and production, and more.
We are all used to seeing 888poker LIVE events on the yearly calendar. The players just come in, register for the tournaments, sit down and play. But these multi-day affairs doesn’t just “happen on their own.” There are plenty of people working on the back end and operations side to make sure that the players have a smooth experience. We’ve heard from Debbie Johnston, General Manager of Glasgow Casino Merchant City, about the prep from her team’s side. What does your team’s prep look like?
Every year in November is what we announce our schedule of live events for the coming calendar year. That of course means that we have to be ready well in advance preparations-wise vis a vis all the venues in each location.
So, we already started our preparations for this 888poker LIVE Glasgow event seven months ago! Here’s a list of all the sorts of coordination my team and I do with other teams behind the scenes from the beginning of event prep until the event itself actually kicks off:
- Coordination with 888poker online poker room managers: They’re the ones who set up all the satellites for players to win their way into our live events. So we coordinate to ensure our systems are ready well enough in advance to qualify dozens of people into the live events via seats and packages. For 888poker LIVE Glasgow, for instance, almost 100 players have won their way into the Main Event via our online satellites!
- Tournament schedule prep: No two 888poker LIVE festivals are exactly the same, as we make little tweaks to the schedule (e.g., start times, buy-ins, etc.) depending on each individual poker market we are trying to cater to most effectively. For example, here in the UK they love to max late reg. In Spain we’d never be able to start our tournaments at noon; that timing just doesn’t jive with the local culture. That sort of thing.
- Communication with our internal marketing team: We have a large database of players and it’s our job to ensure we get the word out to them that there’s a live event on the schedule and give them ample opportunity to try and win their way in via the online satellites. Some players are quite happy to just plan themselves a poker trip, but they need to know the dates, the schedule, decide which tournaments they want to play in, find close accommodations to the live event venue, etc.
- Branding plan: We need to know the physical layout of the casino as well as where and how we can place our logos and insignias throughout each venue. We want it to be the case that during an 888poker LIVE festival, a player will walk into the venue and immediately feel as though they’re having an 888poker experience, just like they do online.
- Budget planning and allocation: Our teams need to monitor and be on top of these considerations throughout the preparation phase.
888poker has stopped at some locations multiple times in the past. Madrid and Barcelona come to mind, for example. This is the first time you guys have ever held an 888poker LIVE event in Glasgow, Scotland. What sort of factors went into the decision-making process to choose Glasgow as a new location?
It’s actually an interesting story. Originally, plans called for us to be staging this March 2025 event in the newly refurbished Aspers Casino in London. However, that refurbishment has been taking longer than originally anticipated, so we needed to make an adjustment and pivot. I saw this as an opportunity to try a brand new UK location for our live events. I wanted to look for a city that had a lot to offer outside the venue as well; places to go, interesting activities and attractions. That’s how we landed on Glasgow. When I first visited this Grosvenor Casino Merchant City venue, I saw that it ticked all the boxes, so we took the ball and ran with it from there.
I imagine you’re likely quite familiar with the live events staged by other poker companies. What types of things make 888poker LIVE events unique?
I think that there’s more of a “family feel” at our events. I walk around and I see so many players I know. They know me, see me, stop and say hello and ask how I’m doing. There’s a camaraderie among the players as well. We see each other at all the different stops. Being together at our live events gives us the opportunity to catch up with one another, deepen the bonds of friendship beyond just playing poker.
To be sure, the competition at the felt is fierce, but during tournament breaks you see players having drinks together, mingling, enjoying a bite to eat at the café. It’s very special.
There are 80 players remaining in the £250 Mini Main Event here at the 2025 @888poker LIVE Glasgow festival.
The field is currently on a short break and the atmosphere is very friendly and lively among the players.
Great service and facilities at @GrosvenorPoker Merchant City! pic.twitter.com/FUIxhYwlDA
— Cardplayer Lifestyle (@PokerLifeMedia) March 18, 2025
Something else we do is that we give away our merchandise; we never sell it. Our approach is that our players are helping us by proudly wearing and using merchandise that bears our 888poker logo. So why would we charge them for that? We’re grateful that they like our brand and are very happy to give away lots of merch at each 888poker LIVE event.
One other thing that’s of course unique is the trophies you guys give to the winners. It’s a torpedo-shaped crystal for the side events and a specially designed “8” for the Main Event. Tell us a little bit about the trophies.
About three months ahead of each event, we begin working on the trophies together with our partners. On each trophy that we award, at the bottom is engraved the location, which tournament it is for, and our logo alongside our venue partner’s logo.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you and your team face in coordinating a live event?
At the end of the day, we just want to do right by our players and give them the best possible live event experience. We always do our best, but it’s impossible to make every single player 100% happy. So it isn’t a specific “challenge” per se, but rather just a reality that we have to deal with; that it’s impossible to create the “perfect” live event. But we’ll keep trying our best, tweaking based on our players’ feedback, and improving from one stop to the next.
What sorts of things do you most look forward to during live events? In other words, what are the highlights from the operator’s perspective?
Honestly, the most important thing to me is that the players are happy. I’ve described all the effort and hard work that we put into making each of our 888poker LIVE events as good as possible. Well, the test is when the players walk in each day to sit and play. When I see that they’re smiling and enjoying themselves, I’m happy. I know that, win or lose at the tables, they’ll be spreading the word that they had a good time. That sort of word of mouth is gold for us.
You have a special £250 “Beat the Ambassadors” event on the schedule. What’s unique about that event?
This event is something we instituted last year for the first time specifically to give our players the opportunity to interact and engage more with our team of ambassadors. The seating of registered players is of course random, but with one exception. That’s that we just want to make sure that when play begins there’s no more than one of our ambassadors per table. For instance, while it might be “good for the stream” or for media reporting purposes, we don’t want the tournament starting out with (for example) Ian Simpson, Lucia Navarro, Vivian Saliba, and Nick Eastwood all sitting next to each other.
This stipulation gives the greatest number of players the opportunity to play with our pros, mingle with them, get to know them better, and of course potentially knock them out and win a special bounty prize.
Of course, as a tournament progresses and players get eliminated, it’s possible that we might end up having more than one ambassador at each table. And no, if one 888poker ambassador happens to eliminate another ambassador, they are not eligible to win a bounty. 😊
Finally, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who have yet to attend an 888poker LIVE event. Why should they consider making the trip out and what can they expect?
It all boils down to a great, fun experience. Once a player comes and sees what we do to make the player experience so enjoyable, we know they’ll always want to come back and join us again and again. The atmosphere really is just that special.
About The Author
