MEET THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: JIMMY ALLEN - HORSESHOE SOUTHERN INDIANA
In 2009, Jimmy Allen, poker room manager and tournament director at Horseshoe Southern Indiana, took a few minutes out of his day to chat with WSOP.com.


WSOP.com: Would you care to tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from originally? Married? Kids?

Allen: I was born and raised in Louisville, KY.  I have been married for 12 years and I have two beautiful daughters, Alexis is 13 and Bailey is 11.

WSOP.com: So, how did you get your start in the gaming industry?

Allen: I owned my own DJ / Karaoke Business for 6 years and I was starting to get burned out.  I saw an ad for Caesars Indiana Dealer school and applied.  I fell in love with Poker right from the get go and I actually dealt the very first hand of Poker ever at our property.

WSOP.com: Do you play a lot of poker yourself?

Allen: I don’t play nearly as much as I used to.

WSOP.com: If so, how good of a player do you consider yourself?

Allen: I am average, but very tight.

WSOP.com: What is one of the biggest changes, if any that you’ve seen in poker rooms over the past decade?

Allen: When we first opened our property back in 1998 we only had 6 Poker tables tucked in between Slot machines.  Once the Poker boom hit we expanded to our current room which has 30 tables.  No Limit Hold ‘Em and Tournament Poker have taken over.   10 years ago we had a hard time getting 50 players for a Tournament and now a days we hardly run anything with less than that.

WSOP.com: What’s it like running a poker room right outside of Louisville, KY.  How big does the action get?

Allen: Louisville is my hometown, so it is great to have such a wonderful job in my own backyard.  We spread some pretty big games in our room.  We have a 30-60 Stud game that runs every weekend and has been a staple of our room since we first opened.  We also have a Pot Limit Omaha game with the type of action that I would put right up there with any games that you will see in Vegas or Atlantic City.  Of course our staple game is No Limit Hold ‘Em and we spread $1-$2, $2-$5 and $5-10 No Limit.

WSOP.com: For those not sure whether they have the chops to play in a WSOP Circuit Event, what do you have to say to them?

Allen: Every year when I do the introductions for the players at the Final Table, I always run across 1 or 2 players that put on their Bio sheet that they had never stepped foot in a casino before, or they just started playing within the past year, so anyone can win.

WSOP.com: What would you say to online players in the region who have yet to step inside a live poker room?
       

Allen:  Part of the thrill of playing Poker for me is the atmosphere and conversations that take place at the table.  These are things that you cannot experience playing online.  

WSOP.com: Who are some of the big names that frequent your poker room?

Allen: Legendary University of Louisville Basketball coach Denny Crum is a regular in our room and we have big names pop in and out every year, especially during Derby Week.  We have had many big name Poker players participate in our Circuit Events in the past.  Players like Chris Ferguson, Kathy Liebert, David Williams and Men the Master.

WSOP.com: Do you have any funny stories to share?

Allen: We got a call earlier this year and a player was inquiring about a Tournament that we had coming up.  We had advertised that the winner of each Daily Event would win a seat in the Main Event.  This player wanted to know what the seat looked like.  After talking with him for a few seconds, my supervisor realized that this caller thought that you actually won a chair and he wanted to know what it looked like.   

Make sure to drop by the poker room and say “hi” to Jimmy next time you’re in the Louisville area. For more information on Horseshoe Southern Indiana’s circuit event, click here.