The 46th annual World Series of Poker will have 23,000 players this year according to executive producer Mori Eskandani. The event returns to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV May 27-July 14, 2015, a 2,522-room property owned by Caesars Entertainment. An enormous undertaking, the WSOP occupies the Pavilion, Miranda and Brasilia Ballrooms, with the main event and set in the Amazon Ballroom.
“The tournament takes up just over 100,000 square feet of ballroom, with most of that covered in a sea of poker tables,” says Mori Eskandani, who doesn’t make an effort to conceal his enthusiasm while discussing the event.
Eskandani, a professional poker player for 25 years, created his company, Poker Productions, 13 years ago. Caesars Interactive Entertainment and ESPN worked together to bring poker to a televised audience. The Rio proved to be the ideal convention site. ESPN then brought in Eskandani to produce the events.
Between the television broadcasts and the introduction of the spectators being able to view the player’s hole cards, interest grew even more rapidly. What started as fewer than 20 players the first couple of years now boasts 6,000 to 7,000 players for the main event. This year, a remarkable 23,000 players were involved in the first side event of the WSOP.
With obvious glee, Eskandani recalls an overflowing parking lot at the Rio with thousands of cars. “At most sporting events, you have tailgaters in the parking lot. Not here,” he exclaims. “Those cars all belong to the players! In order to play, participants have be at the tournament. These folks come from all over the country, some even from other countries to be here. The Rio is a great fit for this event.”
Eskandani brought in a set, lighting and audio package to heighten the excitement of the tournaments. Innovative Show Design has been his preferred vendor since day one of starting his company more than 13 years ago. An Emmy Award-winning design firm, Innovative Show Design (ISD) specializes in scenic and lighting services for television productions, corporate events and live theater.
A boutique company with an interactive approach, ISD consists of four principals: Chris Runnells, president and artistic director; Justin Garrone, lighting director and associate artistic director; Nate Mitchell, senior graphic designer; and Mark Dowling, project manager and associate graphic designer.
While Runnells, Mitchell and Dowling design the scenic elements, Garrone enhances these elements by incorporating both truss and lighting design. Dowling coordinates all installation logistics. Once completed, Runnells, Garrone and Dowling, who travel with the show from truck doors open to close, supervise the installation of the scenic and lighting elements on site.
Garrone explains the inspiration for the truss design emerged from an effort to mimic the WSOP bracelet awarded champions at the tournament.
A ringed truss flown overhead the main table supports a 40 foot wide circular “Jumbotron” much like you would find in any sports arena. Illuminated with LED lights, the structure features a wraparound row of a 15-mil flexible blow through LED tile that receive media from the Martin Maxedia.
A Sports Stadium Look
The set consists of three tiers with chairs in a semicircle for audience. Behind that, curved, upright trusses are loaded with Martin MAC Auras. “The set design goal was to create a sports stadium effect,” says Garrone. “The Auras backlight the audience and serve as “beauty” lights for the cameras.
The set includes a player’s entrance area, just like a stadium. Garrone chose the Elation Design Wash LED 60 as a background element. “They are incredibly bright for their size and most importantly have a white LED,” he says. “When I use just the white LED during the actual game the aura around the poker table and players creates an almost angelic background. In fact they are so bright I ride them at about two percent, and they still look gorgeous on camera”
The ever-popular Elation ELAR 108 Par RGBWs light the audience. Garrone says he needed a workhorse fixture that could do color washes and go to white during non-televised segments. “These were on constantly for a month and I needed something that would not burn out. There was no time for that and getting to them would have been difficult.”
Should it ever come to that, he has excellent assistance right at hand in Encore Event Technologies, the in-house AV company at the Rio.
“Anthony Riccardelli, the event director, and his staff are excellent,” Garrone says. “Their experience and professionalism helped meet our deadline.”
Richard Reddrop, director of sales for Encore Event Technologies, details just what is involved.
“Outside of the set, Encore provided 4,000 feet of 12-inch box truss, 100 motors and all the rigging needed, as well as 2,100 feet of schedule 40 pipe. A team of 15 riggers, ten AV techs and ten electricians did the install. Along with that, we hung 30 speakers in the three ballrooms. In house audio and video feeds were set up, as were 60 video monitors, so everyone could keep track of the tournaments. An additional six 10-by-8-foot screens were set up to capture video content, sponsor ads and announcements. We also hang and provide over 200 chimeras, or soft light, above the poker tables.”
Last, but certainly not least, Encore provided all the time clocks so essential to a large-scale tournament.
“It takes a week, but we really enjoy being a part of putting this together. The Rio is the right place to stage an event this large.”
Kevin Swank, owner of CYM Lighting, concurs. “Working in the Rio with Encore is one of the easiest repeated shows we’ve done. Anthony and all his staff have been the greatest hosts and worked side by side with us. The Rio staff was extremely accommodating and helpful with our requests.”
ISD, CYM and WSOP
Swank met ISD president Runnels 20 years ago during a poker show installation, coincidentally enough. He recalls that they “just hit it off” immediately. A steady working relationship grew, strong enough that CYM Lighting became ISD’s preferred vendor despite the geographic disparity — CYM Lighting is based in Thousand Palms, CA; ISD is based in Longwood, FL.
“We have a great relationship, and on the show floor, our mindsets are so intuitive that the workflow is stress free,” says Swank. “ISD’s shows are all over the map, East to West Coast, and we are always able to make the budget work to take care of shipping from my shop. I prefer to provide all the electricians on a show from my own staff. Not that there are not good stagehands elsewhere, it is just that my people have more at stake in the gear and success of the show.”
“Chris’ company recognizes this as a positive business philosophy,” Swank continues. “The crew [members] all know each other; working together is easier, more efficient, which ultimately makes labor cost effective. The client sees the great attitude everyone has, which is what attracts our repeat customers.”
Swank points out the same crew of 15 set and strike the show each year. He serves as the production’s media programmer and John Lotz handles lighting programmer duties. Sandy Kittisit and Chris Wagner are the master electricians.
“At the end of July,” relates WSOP executive producer Eskandani, “we have narrowed the players down to what is known as ‘The November Nine.’ In November, we load the set into the Penn & Teller Theatre with an amended lighting system.”
The $10 million purse stokes WSOP fan excitement, but for the production team, the payoff comes in the form of the camaraderie and satisfaction of a smooth-running gig out of the Rio for a two-month span.
Crew
Executive Producer: Mori Eskandani/Poker Productions
Broadcast Operations: ESPN, Caesars Interactive Entertainment
Lighting Design, Media Programmer: Kevin Swank/CYM Lighting
Lighting Truss Design: Justin Garrone
Set, Lighting, Audio Design: Innovative Show Design/ISD
Scenic Design, On-Site Logistics: Chris Runnells, Nate Mitchell, Mark Dowling
Lighting Programmer: John Lotz
Master Electricians: Sandy Kittisit, Chris Wagner
Rio’s In-House AV Co: Encore Event Technologies
Gear
45 Elation Design Wash LED 60 fixtures
36 Elation ELAR 108 Par RGBW fixtures
20 Elation Platinum Beam 5R fixtures
12 Elation Level Q7 Par fixtures
6 Elation ELED DW Par 56 fixtures
22 Martin MAC Auras
20 Martin MAC 700 Profiles
10 Martin Atomic Strobes
6 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures
120 Color Kinetics Color Blast 12 RGB
8 Color Kinetics iW Blast
135 ETC Source Fours (2×5°, 44×19°, 16×26°, 22×36°, 29×50°, 22×70°
6 ETC Source Four Par MFLs
48 ETC Source Four Par VNSPs
97 ETC Source Four ParNels
200+ Chimeras (soft lights)
1 Martin Maxedia media server (for the 15mm LED video tiles within the set design)
6 LED video screens (10’ x 18’)
60 Video monitors
4000’ Box truss (12”)
2100’ Schedule 40 pipe
