Column: Can We Guarantee a Guarantee?

Barry Carter reflects on the Partouche Poker Tour welching on their €5 million guarantee this week, and asks what can we do about it?

Proof of the €5 million promise

Some words have different meanings in poker than they do in normal society. Words like "sick" and "fish" have a second meaning at card tables. There is one word that sometimes means its complete opposite in poker, and that is "guarantee".

I am of course talking about the Partouche Poker Tour, who this week reneged on their €5 million guarantee by €700,000, while the event is still in progress.

They have removed all previous mentions of a €5 million guarantee from their marketing, but thanks to Google cache and a small army of outraged poker players, those marketing materials (like the one above) have been preserved.

Unfortunately, the Partouche Poker Tour is not the first event to welch on a guarantee - though it is certainly one of the larger ones. It is yet to happen, but maybe the biggest backtrack on a guarantee in the history of poker is likely to come in an event which is being organised by the same people - the International Stadiums Poker Tour.

This event had already dropped its guarantee from $30 million to €20 million before dropping the word guarantee completely from its marketing. The fact Partouche seem to be reneging on an arguably small amount by comparison does not bode well for the ISPT, which has been doubted and scrutinised by just about everyone in poker since the event was announced.

No accountability

Vanessa Selbst plans to boycott

Backtracking on guarantees is allowed to happen in poker because in most regions, the local government or regulators are not interested in policing these events. Just like a lot of casinos can get away with barring winning players from their house games, they can usually get away with welching on a guarantee.

Many may see poker as predominantly online with a modern ethos, but it is still very much a handshake industry and a lot of "old school" methods still prevail, particularly in live poker. Shady behaviour therefore can run rampant, but it also means reputation is everything.

The only thing we have in retaliation to this is naming and shaming the wrongdoers and voting with our feet in the future. Unfortunately, poker players have historically had bad memories where outing scammers has been concerned, but in recent years this has really changed. Now we have developed a great culture of pointing the finger at scammers and cheats.

The Partouche Poker Tour already had a terrible reputation on the circuit; every year there have been complaints about poor dealing, non-French players being treated like second-class citizens, angle shooting, and collusion. The only thing that brought the players back was the guarantee.

Reputation is everything

Dusk Till Dawn's reputation is built on guarantees

Now that the guarantee has been proven to be an illusion, I think the long-term damage of Partouche going back on it will manifest this time next year.

A number of players have already said they are boycotting this event in the future and side events this year, including former champion Vanessa Selbst.

I live in the UK and thankfully I have seen the opposite side of the coin where guarantees are concerned. The biggest card room in the UK (and possibly Europe), Dusk Till Dawn, have a reputation for making huge guarantees and sticking to them.

The net effect is that they have broken the UK/European attendance record multiple times, paid out huge overlays multiple times, and received universal respect from the UK poker community as the best card room.

I'm not sure whether the Dusk Till Dawn strategy of taking monumental risks with tournament guarantees is sustainable for most live poker operator. What I do know is that because they pay out on them, they have about as good a reputation as I have seen in poker. People travel from far and wide for their events and they usually only need word of mouth to fill an event.

Going back on your guarantee a few months before an event is forgiveable; at least the players have a chance to withdraw if they so wish. Going back on your guarantee during an event is nothing short of a scam. Players fly hundreds or thousands of miles, pay rake, and incur heavy travel expenses for guarantees - and the chance of an overlay.

I hope Partouche realise the error of their ways and make good on the guarantee. If they don't, I hope next year it costs them way more in lost revenue than the overlay they should have paid.

By Barry Carter