Inside Winning Poker Network

The WPN Hall of Fame

Mondays are busy days at the Winning Poker Network offices in Costa Rica. Yes, a poker network that operates sites like ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker, and YaPoker is like any other business: chairs and desks where its team meets. And it's not just any place: it's the same office that PokerStars occupied for many years during its golden age. WPN arrived to fill this space with "Pura Vida."

Upon entering the office, we were greeted by a small "hall of fame" displaying some of the team's most prized possessions:

• 🪙 The official Guinness World Records certificate for the largest cryptocurrency winning jackpot in an online poker tournament
• 🥇 Two iGB Affiliate awards for Best Poker Affiliate Program
• 🔥 Several WSOP gold bracelets, won by friends of the company
• 🏆 Trophies from various sporting events

However, what caught our attention was right in front of these objects: a mural with hundreds of photos depicting the history of the people behind the desks at WPN. We lingered there for a long time, looking at birthdays, trips, celebrations, funny pictures, and so on. I cannot deny that I felt a touch of nostalgia upon seeing the value placed on these items, for some of my best memories are accessible only through photographs.

After this welcome, we see perhaps hundreds of workstations, many with two or three monitors, and several meeting rooms very close to the Winning Lounge, a space for coffee and playing board games. It's worth noting that this isn't WPN's only office; some critical areas of the company, such as finance, have separate spaces to conduct their work. There is a palpable sense of chaos amidst the screens, cables, and impromptu meetings — along with a touch of camaraderie that reminds me of my days in the food industry, albeit with a very different vibe.

And yes, anticipating the questions, we also had the opportunity to visit the most secure place on the network: the server room. Although it's a protected area, it's worth remembering that game servers are distributed across various locations. For those who may not know, a server room is a cold space, full of cables, typically accessed only by engineers to resolve a problem.

On the walls, you can see some motivational messages (we'll talk about this later), live (and noisy) dashboards that are updated daily with the most important indicators for the network, and different borderless work areas that include the security, marketing, tournaments, and development teams, among others.

WPN Agile

As we mentioned at the beginning, Mondays are a very busy day at WPN, not only because the most important events take place over the weekend, but also because the entire team meets to review the various ongoing projects, one by one.

No one was waiting for us with the typical visitor protocol (meeting room with documents and water bottles); they simply opened the door and said, "Welcome, this is how we work every day."

We were invited to participate in this meeting. We didn't quite know what to expect, and we even thought it would be different because of the visitors. However, I heard someone say loudly that "we must recognize that the plan is that we don't have a plan." And although we can't reveal the secrets that were discussed there, we can say that we witnessed a connected, human team, willing to experiment and learn quickly from its mistakes.

I recalled that, at one time, factories would prepare for external visits — investing in paint and a bit of make up solely to ensure the visitor left with a good impression — along with all the hassle this entailed. Here, however, what matters is not the image, but the substance.

In addition to an agile methodology, there's an open-door culture: the CEO's desk is just one of the many, without walls, perhaps only slightly higher due to Nagy's height. A clipboard covered in notes and a desk with a backgammon case complete Phil's "office." At this same desk, he showed us a beta version of the WPN client and revealed his main objective: to make the software feel alive, with small details that connect players to the poker tables. Approaching a factory manager used to require scheduling an appointment in advance and enduring a stressful ordeal; here, they simply look up to spot him and invite him to chat.

The Influence of Phil Nagy

While walking through the WPN offices, we noticed that the walls had some inspirational phrases that we initially thought were generic; however, the story behind them is, at least, interesting: at some point the team asked for a budget to redecorate, and they decided to put the words that Phil repeated to them every day on the walls, like a kind of mantra.

“Your voice matters. Together, we create a winning culture.”

Nagy’s influence isn’t limited to the walls. We saw him moving around the office, having quick conversations with different colleagues, throwing out ideas, most of which remain just words, but a small percentage become the reality that the players see on their screens every day.

“We believe in transparency. We work with integrity. We make values-based decisions. We collaborate and take personal accountability.”

The values ​​upon which WPN’s corporate culture is built are also displayed on the walls:

• 🤝 Diversity and Inclusion
• 🧠 Agile Mindset
• 🪟 Transparency
• 📖 Willingness to Learn

Curiously, a Bitcoin ATM is located right in the middle of these values, highlighting the inherent connection between cryptocurrencies and WPN.

“We are one team. We win together. And we fail together!

Active Creativity

WPN's offices have several “break” areas that are a bit out of the ordinary: pool tables, ping-pong, video games, and spaces designed so that whenever they feel the need, employees can take an active pause and allow creativity to flow through other activities (something similar to the story of Albert Einstein when he discovered special relativity).

Of course, there are a couple of fully equipped poker tables where, for about eight months now, private games have been played right there in the offices, organized by Phil Nagy and friends. The current champion of the weekly tournament is the cleaning lady, who learned to play there.

And it's not just about live poker; at some desks, we saw some employees taking active breaks playing a few hands at ACR Poker; and yes, we witnessed them losing several buy-ins at cash games, a small sign of their reliability. Curiously, we also saw other poker clients installed on the computers; an important part of fostering creativity is studying the competition.

Creativity isn't limited to the office. We had the opportunity to visit some of Costa Rica's most beautiful beaches with the WPN team, and contrary to what many might think (a group of affiliates sharing a table on a Pacific island with a poker room), our conversations ranged from philosophical topics (stoicism applied to real life) to life experiences, and of course, good food.

Martial Arts

At Worldpokerdeals, we believe that practicing martial arts is fundamental to human growth, as it develops physical and intellectual skills that are useful in life. Interestingly, WPN shares this ideal, so we organized a boxing training session with Yokasta Valle, a Costa Rican boxer with a record of 27 wins in 29 fights and six women's world boxing titles across different weight classes. This coincidence allowed us to step into the ring alongside an ally — a reflection of both corporate cultures regarding how we approach various challenges.

Ten of us spent an hour sweating and coordinating, while Phil Nagy, who was visiting, told us that this small investment in their equipment would create a moment for a lifetime for them.

When we sat down with Phil, he confessed that although he shares the same ideal, he has never fought with anyone: "I'm not a fighter. I’m a lover"

Walking into WPN's offices, we expected to see just a poker company. Instead, we saw a champion who'd learned to play right there a couple of months earlier, a Bitcoin ATM in the center of the office, and Phil Nagy wandering around the desks asking if a vegan vampire would be a good idea. Pura Vida at its finest.

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