The professional league Standards and Conduct Committee is comprised of seven voting members. Five of the committee members are cardholders in the league:  Eric Baldwin, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Joe Hachem and Nick Schulman. The remaining members include Tournament Director Matt Savage and an independent professional ethics advisor, Stephen Martin.

“I am honored to be on the Standards and Conduct Committee for the Federated Poker League. I hope my small contribution helps to make this very prestigious league the worldwide success I believe it will be,” said Chad Brown.

Professional league Commissioner Annie Duke is the only non-voting member of the committee. The committee members will serve for an initial term of two years.

“The members who have been invited to sit on the Standards and Conduct Committee were carefully selected for their knowledge, understanding and desire to promote excellence and professionalism in poker,” said Duke.

The professional league Standards and Conduct Committee has the following responsibilities:

Monitoring the FS+G league member qualification and admission process.

Partnering in the development of league tournament rules and other membership policies.

Overseeing the continued eligibility of players to participate in the league after their initial qualification period.

Functioning as a league and player resource for establishing and maintaining the credibility and integrity of the league.

Overseeing player compliance with the league’s Code of Conduct, tournament rules and managing other related policies and procedures.

"I am excited about taking a position on this committee, I intend to work hard to uphold the organization’s integrity so that we can build a true professional league that all poker players can be proud of,” said Eric Baldwin.

Stephen Martin, a former Federal prosecutor in Washington D.C., and a highly-regarded corporate governance expert and ethics professor at the University of Denver, is helping guide the committee’s formation and initial work.

“There is an opportunity to further professionalize the game of poker through a focus on fair play and application of the same standards of conduct expected in other professional leagues.” said Martin.  “I am honored and excited to be part of this effort and work with the committee members.”

Beginning in August, the Palms Casino Resort will host four FS+G event weeks in the inaugural season, along with the 2011-12 championship event.  The four main events will feature different formats of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play, a heads-up tournament with an innovative seeding structure and a special multi-format tournament to round out the season.  Each event week will include a Pro-Am event, a charity tournament, and a $20,000 buy-in main event.

Each tournament week at the Palms will begin with a $1,500 Pro-Am event, which is also rake free for league members, in which the top nine finishers will be awarded a temporary league card for that week’s league Main Event.  The nine Main Event buy-ins will be withheld from the Pro-Am tournament prize pool and the remaining prize money will be awarded to the top 10-percent of the Pro-Am players, including the players who are awarded the temporary league cards. The Pro-Am tournament will be open to all players 21 years and older.