Christian Scalzi is the Tournament Director (TD) for the World Poker Tour (WPT) European Events. It’s a tough job with three main events and two national events scheduled between now and the end of the year. This means that Scalzi is on the road more than he is at home; a tough task for a family man with a young seven-year-old daughter.
“Sometimes the job can be quite difficult, but my wife is a dealer in San Remo and so she understands. Also, the tour provides some great opportunities for my family to come with me and enjoy some great vacations such as the WPT Caribbean stop in St Maarten in November.” Says Scalzi.
The job of the TD is a much tougher task in European events because there are so many different nationalities all competing at the same time. There was a lot of fuss at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), this year, about foreign players talking in between hands at the table. Reading between the lines it seems like the foreign players are made to feel uncomfortable when playing on US soil. Scalzi aims for the opposite on his watch.
“I speak five different languages and even try to manage a little Russian, as there are a lot of Russians on our circuit, says Scalzi before continuing, “It’s really important because it helps you manage the situation whilst remaining polite and friendly during your discussion and the players respect this.”
Not only does Scalzi have to manage the various different attitudes and languages from various cultures, but also as the TD for both Main Events and National Series Events he does get to manage the prima donnas and grass roots of the poker world.
“Each event is very different for me. At the National Events we have a lot of local players and then at the Main Events for notable players. Each situation is different but I like them both.”
So what locations rank as Scalzi’s favorite stop?
“Vejle in Denmark was very nice but I also like Barcelona, Marbella and Cannes. We are also in Italy with the Campione and it will be very busy…I think we will attract a lot of people.”
