Poker's most recognizable and accomplished tournament director began his career as a lowly chip runner, worked his way right into a front row seat to the poker boom and successfully standardized tournament poker rules all over the world. He has helped guide the game's global growth within the modern era.
But what many of us do not know about Matt Savage is that he started off as a poker player.
"I was always a player," he told PokerNews. "A FOUL player, but a player."
Savage was a service tech at a Bay Area alarm company in 1991 when he realized he can make more cash as a chip runner on the Garden City Casino in San Jose, California. Seeing dealers making $200 to $300 an afternoon made him need to get within the box, and when the Bay 101 Casino opened in 1994, Savage somehow convinced them to take an opportunity on him.
"I wasn't really qualified, but they liked my attitude toward poker and so they hired me anyway," Savage said. "I BEGAN dealing and that i just loved it. I loved working with people, I loved the cash I USED TO BE making and that i would take all of the overtime I'LL and pick up shifts whenever anyone asked. I'd probably still be dealing if I hadn't burned myself out and needed to go at the floor. Carpal tunnel set me at the route to where I'M today."
The pain of carpal tunnel syndrome forced Savage to take a floor person position at Bay 101 and he quickly developed a name as a good and only one. When the cardboard room's tournament director would take time off, Savage would fill in and he continued to play tournaments himself within the Bay Area and beyond for the following couple of years.
Seeing firsthand how tournament rules appeared to change from room to room, Savage said he started occupied with the desire for standardization, and in 2001, he headed to the sector Series of Poker in Las Vegas with a plan to convince others within the industry of exactly that.
"I went to the WSOP with the intention of speaking to key people within the industry a couple of standardized algorithm for tournaments," Savage said. "Right away, Bob Thompson, who was the sector Series of Poker tournament director on the time, and has since passed away, and his son Robert, said it wasn't going to happen. Back in those days, I USED TO BE a youngster within the industry and there have been most of these old guys running events that really felt there has been little need to listen to from some young guy how they need to do things. Luckily Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and David Lamb gave me an opportunity and more importantly, realized that a standardized algorithm can be better for different properties and the players."
Johnson gave Savage slightly time at her World Poker Industry Conference on the Orleans Hotel & Casino. Twenty-four different tournament staffers showed up, and after a little bit from side to side at the topic, the Tournament Directors Association was born.
The organization, whose stated goal is to advance the industry and help adopt uniform poker tournament rules, has since grown to over 2,500 members in 63 countries. There's also an bi-annual summit where they debate, discuss and adapt rules to switch alongside the game.
Savage took over as tournament director on the WSOP within a year, and in his second year at the job, he was witness to simply poker's most unforgettable moment.
"It was definitely a career highlight when Chris Moneymaker won the principle Event," Savage said. "It really was a unique time. It was the very best storm, along with his name, the web satellite story and the ESPN coverage. It was really the instant that poker boomed and have become so popular."
Savage said nobody really knew what to anticipate that year.
"Most people thought it was going to be the primary year that attendance would go down a couple of hundred people or so and we certainly weren't expecting the massive boom that came after it," he said.
The 2003 WSOP Main Event drew 839 entries, up from 631 the year before. After Moneymaker won, the tournament drew 2,576 entries.
"We weren't even sure Binion's had enough tables," Savage said. "We were completely swamped and putting players in on ten-and-eleven-handed tables. It was a crazy time, however it was also special time. We saw the expansion and all of us knew the tale of 2003 was a large a part of the massive number in 2004. Everyone could see poker was booming."
The boom brought a large number of big opportunities for somebody with Savage's unique set of skills and expertise.
"The industry was changing so much and there have been people like Gary Garcia making a lot of poker TV shows for Fox Sports Net, the entire different Internet companies available in the market and a complete lot of various opportunities," he said. "Howard Greenbaum, who ran the WSOP for Harrah's on the time, said he desired to have me back and there has been a spot for me there in 2005, but I'D must be exclusive to Harrah's. It was somewhat a gamble, but I DETERMINED it was a growing industry available in the market and there have been more experiences I NEEDED to have. I WISHED to grow, do more, make more money, and profit from all of the opportunities that were suddenly available to someone like me."
Savage quickly became the go-to tournament director for upstart and established TV tournaments world wide. By 2010 he was named the arena Poker Tour's Executive Tour Director, taking charge of essentially the most successful TV tournament series ever. However, one particular WPT stop has always remained near and costly to his heart and he's returned home to San Jose year in, year out, to run it.
"Bay 101 is a property I still consider home," Savage said. "The Bay 101 Shooting Star really is likely one of the highlights of the WPT season, not just because it's my hometown, but additionally as it is without doubt one of the most unusual tournaments in poker. It is also the most effective value tournaments in poker and we've had considerable growth there from year to year, even though it has now stabilized at around 700 entries."
Indeed, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star is without doubt one of the few bounty events at the WPT's Main Tour and the valuables is in a position to run a live satellite program as much as two months ahead of the event, ensuring a large field. San Jose also has one of the crucial unique poker fan bases within the United states of america. Despite the fact that they do not have the ability into the event, the local poker community turns up in droves seeking autographs and the chance to root on their favorite stars.
"It's a hometown casino; people go there because we all know their names," Savage said. "The locals end up like it's their Superbowl."
Over the years, Savage has also continually returned to the Commerce Casino and the la Poker Classic. The Commerce has long been the middle of poker in Southern California, and Savage said he's particularly happy with probably the most tournament poker innovations he and his crew have get a hold of there.
"Commerce has really given me the danger to take a look at some things in tournament poker and a few of our projects and experiments that started at Commerce have spread to events globally," he said. "We started Ironman and Escalator tournaments, all-in or fold events and reentry tournaments, that is something I've changed my opinion on over the years, in relation to whether or not they are good or bad for poker."
Savage said reentry tournaments were started with the honorable intention of looking to create huge prize pools in small buy in tournaments. But in true Savage style, he's seen the results of reentry tournaments spreading to all corners of the poker world, listened to all sides of the argument for and against them and has come to think now they're actually hurting the sport and the properties that run them.
"They have was slightly a cash grab and that i can assure you they were never intended to be," he said. "LOTS OF PEOPLE have said that reentry was just differently for the casinos to make more money, but that is not in any respect what we needed to do. They were intended to create huge guarantees. Now that we see numerous casinos adopting this for all their events, simply to see what number of buy-ins they may be able to get, we will be able to see it not just hurt other events on a schedule, it also hurts the money games, that is the explanation why tournaments were created within the first place."
Already, Savage said they've seen the results reentry events have on different tournament stops.
"It's obviously a kind of things players really haven't seen the whole effect of yet, but I just think, over the long run, reentry events mean people travel less to different tournament stops they will have gone to before, for example, because they simply do not have the funds. That implies these types of events around the country become more localized and that has a negative effect at the big events people used to travel to. Overall, I BELIEVE we're starting to see that making each event a reentry event can hurt the poker economy as a whole."
This week, Savage used to be again packing a bag and heading to the most recent WPT stop in Maryland. He still spends nearly all of his time at the road, and if you cannot find him there, you'll certainly catch him online. Over the years, he's turned his Twitter account right into a one-stop shop for anyone and everybody seeking the recommendation of a tournament director. If the poker world has an issue a couple of ruling in a tournament, Savage is additionally there to weigh in.
"I think my wife probably hates it - Maryann puts up with a lot," Savage said. "NEVERTHELESS IT really is a huge plus for brand spanking new players and people seeking to get help with a ruling. I BELIEVE it's probably enhanced my career for up to it has taken clear of my time with my family. In truth I've always wished I MAY do more to assist new players and grow poker globally. Social media has helped me with that. For those who are new to the game, who could be amateurs or recreational players, with the ability to ask an issue concerning the rules of poker and get a response online right away, I'm sure it's helpful, and If I WILL continue to do that, I will."
The one downside of being so active on social media may well be that Savage has become a relentless sounding board and lightning rod for one of the crucial more vocal rules nits within the game, like Allen Kessler. Although some days it kind of feels Kessler is incessantly poking at Savage online and Savage will likely be biting back with a hefty dose of sarcasm, he says for essentially the most part, the 2 are friendly adversaries and Kessler's heart is within the right place.
"Obviously there are various upper echelon pros that do not really respect his views, or like what he has to say, but he does care concerning the game and he's looking to make poker better," Savage said. "Whether that's true of everything he desires to do or not, a minimum of he has a keenness for the game."
Anyone who spends that much time on Poker Twitter is certain to run into regardless of the hot button problems with the day are and so Savage was well conscious about the entire recent debate surrounding the taunting penalty handed to Brit William Kassouf through the 2016 WSOP Main Event.
"Rules regarding table talk was around since before [2006 WSOP Main Event champ] Jamie Gold, and had I been TD when he won, things may need gone differently, because he certainly shouldn't have been allowed to talk about the content of his hands the best way he did," Savage explained. "What he did was far more than the highest and winning the bracelet meant making a problem for the following couple years with other players looking to emulate him and do what he did. We started seeing stricter enforcement of the table talk rules and perhaps went too far the wrong way. The foundations aren't actually there to forestall table talk altogether. In fact, I BEG it. The issue is if you begin telling people what the precise contents of your hand is, you open it as much as collusion and we definitely don't need that to happen."
Savage says on this scenario, there's probably more to the tale than we know.
"I think with this Kassouf situation, we do not know what led as much as that one hand and there might have been much more. [WSOP Tournament Director] Jack Effel gave the look of he had reached a boiling point, and if you happen to just see what transpired on TV, chances are you'll think the penalty was absurd, but I WILL guarantee you there has been more that led as much as it. Table talk is fun and makes for better TV, but it surely can go over the top."
The other recent Twitter debate Savage has weighed in on is person who concerns him personally. For the second one time, Savage was one of the vital 10 names nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame this year and he's been happy to sign up for in a tongue-in-cheek campaign for induction with some of the other candidates, including Todd Brunson and Max Pescatori. In all seriousness, however, Savage said it was an honor to be nominated again and he'd like to be welcomed in.
"It is the second one year in a row I'VE BEEN nominated and yes, I'M happy to be nominated again," he said. "I TRULY would like to get in and leave a legacy for my son and my family, because within the end, that is what all that is for, for my son and my wife, for my family. I FEEL it's a must to have a legacy. It's going to mean the entire work and at all times I've spent doing this have been about greater than only a paycheck. Stepping into the Hall of Fame says I've made an impact during the last 20 years, so hopefully I CAN get in someday."
Inducted or not, it's not likely that Savage will stop doing all he does for poker. In fact, in a once again, very typical Savage style, he said he sees stepping into as a possibility to do even more.
"If I USED TO BE inducted, it'd be my goal to lift awareness and promote the Poker Hall of Fame to get the honor it deserves," he said. "I NEED to peer a physical Poker Hall of Fame where people could visit and notice the history of the sport. I'D also need to help both fans of poker and players so that you could understand the method of voting in order that players that deserve induction get recognized and nominated, including legends of the past and international players.”
*Embedded Photos Courtesy of the sector Poker Tour
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