WPT bites back

The World Poker Tour has denied legal accusations that it’s breaking image rights and competition laws, and fired back at the very players that filed the lawsuit.

In August, we reported that seven top poker players – Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Joe Hachem, Howard Lederer and Greg Raymer – had jointly filed legal action against the WPT for using their names and images without their permission.

The WPT has denied all the accusations, countering with the claim that the players themselves are actually making a calculated move, which will benefit rival online poker companies at the WPT’s expense.

On the offensive

The WPT’s legal defence document stands as a bitter rebuke to the original complaint and fiercely re-raises the players’ allegations by stating: ‘This is a case brought as a competitive tactic by seven multi-millionaires who WPTE shepherded from unknowns to wealthy poker personalities with interests in competing enterprises in an ever-competitive poker entertainment marketplace.’

Lederer and Ferguson take the brunt of the wrath because of their interest in FullTiltPoker. com. The WPT’s defence document claims that the online poker site, which has produced a couple of TV shows, is competing unfairly in the States as it produces ‘tremendous revenues’ from accepting online bets from people in the US, which is ‘an activity declared by the US Department of Justice as illegal under existing law’.

However this saga ends, we can’t imagine Ferguson, Raymer or Hachem are thrilled at the WPT’s supposition that they’ve been made famous by the World Poker Tour. After all, they all made the headlines by winning the televised WSOP Main Event!

As with most legal scraps, we’re sure this one is set to run and run so we’ll keep you up-to-date with any new developments in the coming months.

Doesn’t the WPT have an online site?

The World Poker Tour does indeed own and operate an online poker site (www.wptonline. com) but, crucially to its argument, it keeps it shut to American punters.

To get round US law every poker site is based outside the US, but most are happy to take on the vast field of American players who are, technically speaking, playing online poker illegally. The WPT, however, says it ‘complies with the letter and spirit of the law leaving websites like Full Tilt Poker (and its owners Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer) to reap these illicit profits.’

But in case you hadn’t noticed we’re not American, so don’t let that affect your choice – it’s 100 percent legal to play at either of the sites here in the UK.