GPInterview: Randall Kasper | Poker, From Behind The Curtain

I’ve always been fascinated by what goes on behind the scenes in poker. We tend to think that poker players show up, sit down, and play … and that, for the most part, is the case. But poker is also big business and some of the game’s biggest stars look to people such as Randall Kasper to take care of all other business that doesn’t involve poker. Kasper’s Poker Players International represents hundreds of poker players. He usually prefers to stay behind the scenes, but we were able to convince him to take a few minutes of his precious time to talk to us:

TAKING CARE OF THE PLAYERS

Randy, you are the Founder/Team Leader for Poker Players International, tell us how you got involved in the business of representing poker players?

I was representing professional football players since 1993. Like many of us, I got into the poker craze and played at Borgata. That’s where I met my eventual business partners Eugene Castro and Eric Siegel.

Eugene was very good friends with Ylon Schwartz, I had also known him from Circuit events. When Ylon made the original November Nine, he knew that’s what I did and that was the foundation of Poker Players International.

What are the main differences between representing football players and poker players?

We could talk about this for so many hours! The first and most glaring difference is that there is no players’ union in poker. There really isn’t anyone looking out for the best interest of the player.

There is no organization for the players which makes the landscape much more difficult for them, even in the days where free money was floating around for them from Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.

As a player representative, what is your primary goal for your stable of players?

There is definitely a set of goals for the mass of players and then we have goals for them individually.

They all are in line for their moment in the sun. Every year, there’s a large group of players, other than the headliners, that are quite phenomenal players, a lot of it depends on when the player gets their big moment.

We’re excited that in 2014, we’re going to unveil one of our long-range plans for our players, for all of our clients.

TAKING CARE OF THE CHAMP

One of these players, Greg Merson, won last year’s Main Event. How exciting was it to have a PPI player go through that process and win the big one?

We had represented WSOP champions after they became champions but Greg was the first one that we represented prior to winning the Main Event, I can’t even put that experience into words. It was one of the greatest pleasures in representing players, in any sport, in 23 years … it was just incredible.

You just had a feeling that his story was bigger than poker, what he did for poker was give so much hope to people who’ve gone through real-world problems. Greg’s story was a crossover experience. Every person out there can relate to Greg. He’s really an incredible person and an incredible ambassador.

Your organization is also involved with several charities; can you talk about that for a bit?

We’ve always been very conscious of how fortunate we are and  we always try and give back. One of the amazing things of the poker community is that it’s so giving and so charitable.

Eugene and I were on the board for Bad Beat on Cancer, The Nephcure Foundation (Eric’s son has Neuphrotic Kidney Disease) and Linda Johnson’s charity Poker Gives are just a few of our favorite charities.

Our clients have been amazing, over 100 of our clients have donated 1% to Bad Beat on Cancer and given to so many other charities that I can’t even begin to list.

TAKING CARE OF THE NEXT BIG THING

The WSOP November Nine is right around the corner; you already have a few players on board?

We have four signed right now  – Jay Farber, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Sylvain Loosli and Mark Newhouse.

How do you go about seeking sponsorship for your November Niners, do you seek regional sponsorship (depending on where they’re from) or more internationally recognized brands?

It’s going to be a healthy mix. I’m happy to say that this year, there is going to be a mainstream huge crossover brand – a worldwide brand – that will be on board. This is a mainstream brand that all of us have purchased from, that all of us will continue to purchase from – and that’s exciting to me.

Other than that, yes, there are brands that make more sense for Marc McLaughlin than they do for Mark Newhouse (for example). Mark (Newhouse) will soon announce a deal with a California-based casino and Marc (McLaughlin) would be in talks with Montreal-based casinos.

Some brands make perfect sense for someone from Montreal while others make more sense for someone in California, or Las Vegas, or France.

Finally, what’s going on in your life, still finding time to play poker?

I have my four kids, which is why I leave it to my partner, Gene Castro, to run the Las Vegas office! I have a nine-year-old son and I have three daughters aged 7, 6 and 4 so when there is time, I’m a super happy guy because I have a wonderful wife and family.

I don’t really play poker as much as I used to anymore, my last major tournament was the Borgata Winter Open PLO that I won back in 2009 which was kind of a funny experience. PPI had been around for a while but we had our semi-official kickoff at the 2009 Borgata Winter Open and one of our first clients won Event #1 … then my partner Eugene won Event #3 and I won Event 4 or 5 … but since then I’ve really stepped back and not played as much.

When you represent four November Niners, it’s extremely time consuming so there isn’t much going on except for work and family for now!

We thank Randall for spending time with us. You can follow Randy on Twitter: @RandyRockets and visit the PPI’s website at PokerPlayersInternational.com.