Lloyd Fontillas joins the Poker TDA Board of Directors
Beginning his career in the poker industry as a chip runner, Lloyd Fontillas has worked his way up the ranks and gained a reputation in the Asian poker community as a tournament director who is always willing to try new types of games and feature new tournament elements. Now, he takes another step up the ladder by joining the Board of Directors of the prestigious Poker Tournament Directors Association (Poker TDA).
Lloyd joined the Asian Poker Tour in 2009. Prior to this move, he served on the tournament management teams for both the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker. Currently, Lloyd is based out of the Philippines, where he manages all APT tournaments worldwide as Executive Tournament Director.
Lloyd is quoted as believing that the best thing a tournament director can do in his position is “listen to players and do your best to make the next event even better.” Due to this attitude, Lloyd has gained great respect in the Asian poker community. He depicts his winning APT formula as follows:
“Great floor people, player-friendly buy-ins and structures, a beautiful venue, a players’ party, live streaming and a great award ceremony. The overall experience is the great product we deliver to the players.”
Read More : Interview: APT Tournament Director – Lloyd Fontillas (2015)
What is the TDA ?
The Poker TDA’s mission is to regulate the poker industry by adopting a set of basic standards, rules, and procedures that will positively affect the industry as it grows. Matt Savage, David Lamb, Linda Johnson, and Jan Fisher founded the TDA in 2001 with the goal of drafting a standardized set of rules for poker tournaments.
Currently, the TDA meets twice a year to review the industry with an eye toward adding new rules and amending or eliminating current rules that are deemed unnecessary or in need of alteration. In order to fulfill their mission, the TDA regularly invites industry stakeholders, such as tournament directors, players, and the media, to their meetings to discuss, evaluate, and, potentially, vote on proposed changes.
Read More : Interview with Executive Tour Director of WPT Matt Savage (2016)
The origin of the TDA
Although the TDA now boasts more than 2,500 members in 63 countries, it was not always such a popular idea. Indeed, when Matt Savage first proposed the creation of such a body to the Tournament Directors of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, he was met with quite a bit of resistance. They simply did not believe it would be possible to get all major tournaments to agree to conduct themselves under a common set of rules.
The idea started in 2001, when Savage, who was directing poker tournaments at the Lucky Chances Casino and playing local tournaments in the San Francisco Bay Area, frustratingly discovered that tournament rules differed from property to property and for different events at the same property. Driven by a desire to standardize tournament rules he met with the Tournament Directors of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Although they turned down his initial proposal due to the seemingly insurmountable difficulty of getting all stakeholders to agree on a set of common rules, things begin to change when Savage met with Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, business partners who were hosting the WPIC (World Poker Industry Conference). Because so many tournament directors and card room managers attended the WPIC, it turned out to be the perfect venue, and once Savage, Johnson, and Fisher caught the attention of widely respected tournament director, David Lamb, the Poker Tournament Directors Association was born. While only twenty-four people attended the first Poker TDA Summit, it has since grown enormously in both size and popularity. Currently, most major tournaments around the world use the official Poker TDA Rules.
