A few years ago at the World Series of Poker, selfie sticks were everywhere. Players from around the world wanted to record themselves in action or on the scene at the WSOP. These days, selfie sticks are seen... but not frequently. There's a deeper tale therein, in that for many years the WSOP had plenty of signage throughout the WSOP banning all film. Since the move from the Rio to Bally's and Paris, those signs have disappeared as well.
It's another way that the WSOP is modernizing and dealing with changing times. Filming of any sort by players or other visitors is still strictly disallowed. Yet it's only occasionally enforced, and that's usually in the instances where a player has attached his phone to a selfie stick and is quite blatantly filming, whether it's a hand at the table or action around the room.
If it's the selfie stick that's drawn the attention of casino security or tournament staff, and if the violator is wearing logoed clothes or any form of brand patches, that player is generally invited to turn off his phone. This writer witnessed the tail end of one such instance a few days ago; the player protested, but to no avail.
Filming rights protection at heart of unofficial policy
WSOP Vice President and lead director Jack Effel took time to explain the distinction for Poker.org. The answer as to why the WSOP will not allow filming by anything that appears to be a for-profit or for-promotion entity is because that interferes with the multi-year filming rights the WSOP has already sold to PokerGO, formerly known as Poker Central. PokerGO owns filming rights that span all of the WSOP tournament space, and the WSOP's cracking down on selfie-stick-plus camera use is its way of protecting PokerGO's rights under its contract.
