You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best

The WSOP Main Event drew 7,221 entrants this year, a big boost from a year ago and actually the third-largest field ever behind the pre-UIGEA 2006 Main (8,773) and the last pre-Black Friday one in 2010 (7,319).

They’re down to a final table now, with the two-day respite before that gets going very welcome to those of us who've been at this for 10 days running. You’re no doubt following the action in the usual places, as well as on both ESPN and PokerGO (a very welcome addition to the coverage, imo).

Just to report quickly here on a few off-the-beaten path items, the WSOP Media Event happened back on Tuesday. Close to 100 played, I think, and your humble scribbler made it to the last 20 or so before finally busting a short stack.

“Thanks to all my backers,” I tweeted, forgetting to add the obligatory “AQ<QJ” afterwards. (The Media Event is a freeroll).

A few days after that Howard Swains and I felt uptight on a Saturday night and so spent part of the dinner break walking over to the other side of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino to enjoy a round of KISS Mini Golf.

Was a fun 45 minutes or so knocking golf balls around the course replete with cool black lights and glow-in-the-dark decor full of all sorts of KISS imagery, with the tunes blasting the whole way (natch). Click that pic above for a bigger image. Imagine “Calling Dr. Love” pounding through your device’s speakers as you do.

I’m going to post a full report in a few days over on the PokerStars blog which I’ll link to here. (Here’s that report: “Rock in the Rio at KISS Mini Golf.”)

Finally, the day after that (Sunday the 16th) I was parked as usual on media row when Antonio Esfandiari came around to settle up his “shirt bet” with Lance Bradley (here with Pocket Fives). Was humorous watching them tie up that loose end, then seeing Esfandiari look up at everyone with a grin to say “Who’s next?”

Most everyone cowered behind their laptops in response, not having Lance’s courage. (If you aren’t familiar with the bet, Lance spells it out here.)

More to come.

Travel Report: PokerStars Festival New Jersey, Day 3 -- Shirt Tales

Worked through Day 2 of the PokerStars Festival New Jersey Main Event on Thursday, a relatively short day during which the field was whittled down to 23 players. Still several in the field who’ve notched big scores before, including Darren Elias, Matthew Affleck, David Vamplew, Michael Gagliano, and Randy “nanonoko” Lew of Team PokerStars Pro Online.

Afterwards I grabbed a dinner with Jess Welman and Lance Bradley, where among the topics discussed was Lance’s famous “shirt bet” with Antonio Esfandiari. Not a bet per se but a freeroll for Lance that requires him to wear the same shirt (when in public) for one year in order to win $8K from “The Magician.”

If you haven’t heard about the bet, you can read all about here from Lance himself on PocketFives. As you might have guessed, Lance was quite careful when dining. I had a French Dip sandwich that came with an awkwardly-shaped gravy boat full of au jus with which I was extra cautious while sitting within striking distance of Lance and the shirt.

The situation inspired me to share that New Year’s Eve tale from a couple of years ago I wrote about here, one involving a reckless busboy and me ultimately wearing a full glass of red wine. Of course Lance has imagined such a horror already and thus has worked through both strategically how to avoid it and mentally how to deal with it should it occur.

Meanwhile that Third Annual Chad Brown Memorial tournament last night was a roaring success, drawing something close to 90 players who rebought enough to create 300-plus entries I believe. Appeared a very good time for all involved, and as I was saying yesterday I was to be encouraged to think again of Chad who was such a friendly guy and so well liked by so many.

I ended up making an early evening of it, passing up on a chance to play some poker and I think I made a good call as I was already asleep in front of Thursday Night Football by nine-thirty. Am seriously catching up on rest here after all the travel of late.

Back at it today for the Main Event and perhaps more as the Festival continues. Check the PokerStars blog again to see what’s happening.

Eight-Figure Cashers Meet Heads-Up in WSOP-C Finale

I was up late last night doing some work and so noticed some of the tweets going by signaling that Jamie Gold and Antonio Esfandiari were among those who were at the final table of the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Bicycle Casino. Also making the final nine in that $1,675 buy-in event (with re-entries) were Ray Henson, Bryn Kenney, and Ludovic Geilich.

As the night wore on the messages continued to pop up as Gold and Esfandiari eventually made it to heads-up. It was then I clicked over to the live stream provided by the Live at the Bike folks and watch the last several hands play out, with Esfandiari eventually winning to take the ring.

With 756 entries, the first prize for Esfandiari was $226,785. Many commenting over Twitter noted how the pair showing up at this WSOP-C Main final table was a bit of a throwback. “It was like 2006 all over again!” tweeted Jennifer Tilly, a thought occurring to many others, I imagine.

That of course was the year of Jamie Gold’s victory in the WSOP Main Event, marking his introduction to most of us via the subsequent ESPN coverage. By then we also were well familiar with Esfandiari thanks to his 2004 win in the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, also shown repeatedly on our teevees.

Both players have made California home, explaining their having turned up for the event at the Bicycle. Both have also at one time in their careers sat atop the Hendon Mob’s “All-Time Money List” ranking players’ tournament winnings, a list currently headed by Daniel Negreanu.

There was another connection between the two I couldn’t help but think about while watching them square off last night. This had to be the first time two players with eight-figure cashes on their tournament résumés ever met heads-up in a tournament.

By winning the first Big One for One Drop at the 2012 WSOP, Esfandiari cashed for $18,346,673, while Gold won a $12,000,000 first prize for taking down the largest-ever WSOP Main Event in 2006. (As we know, neither player actually won those full amounts, with Esfandiari reportedly only having around 15% of himself and Gold famously giving up half of his prize in the subsequent lawsuit.)

Only two other players have eight-figure tournament scores -- Daniel Colman (awarded $15,306,668 after winning the 2014 installment of the Big One for One Drop) and Martin Jacobson (who won $10,000,000 for his victory in the 2014 WSOP Main Event. Safe to make the assumption, then, than none of these guys have played heads-up before. (Sam Trickett, who finished runner-up to Esfandiari in that Big One for One Drop, became an eight-figure cashers upon the conclusion of that event, as his prize was $10,112,001.)

One other bit of trivia from last night’s WSOP-C results -- Gold’s second-place cash for $139,820 was the second-highest of his career.

Image: “List of largest poker tournaments in history (by prize pool),” Wikipedia (retrieved 3/30/16).

Travel Report: 2016 PCA, Day 6: Back to “Normal”

Am I already writing about a sixth day at the PCA? Have I been here that long?

After the craziness marking the conclusion of Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, Day 3 was a relatively “normal” day of tournament poker that saw 195 players work their way down to 73, with the jovial Brazilian Leonardo Pires accumulating chips all day to spend a second straight night as the chip leader. Have to use scare quotes with that word when used in connection with poker, of course, as “normal” here ain’t quite what most take that term to mean.

Speaking of the craziness from Sunday, check out Brad Willis’s long form treatment of the Antonio Esfandiari disqualification and all of the surrounding circumstances, titled “The Longest Lunge.”

Pires winning pot after pot at one of the central tables in the tournament area earned a lot of attention and some entertaining table talk from his opponents. Meanwhile a table over the Scotsman Martin McCormick was a nonstop barrage of bantering and badgering, seemingly fueled in part by a drink or three. He’d earn a penalty before the night ended for all of his antics, although he produced a few grins, too, among those observing.

It’s another cloudy day today, although I might stubbornly go sit poolside for a little bit here before I go in a little later to help with the coverage of the $25K High Roller, an eight-handed NLHE event with a single re-entry.

This is the last of what are three big “high roller’ events among the 104 numbered events on the schedule, the previous being the $100K Super High Roller won by Bryn Kenney and the $50K Single-Day High Roller that Steve O’Dwyer took down.

Last year this $25K event drew 269 entries (including 69 reentries). Will be curious to see how many show this time around. Looking at the other high rollers this year, the $100K SHR drew 58 entries (up from 50 a year ago), while the $50K Single-Day attracted 80 entries. (There wasn’t a $50K at the PCA last year.)

Is this really Event No. 74? Have I been here that long? And those eight-foot green moray eels over in the Dig (an underground aquarium here), are they really that long?

Slink over to the Pokerstars blog today for $25K reports and more from the Main Event.

Photo: courtesy Carlos Monti/PokerStars blog (top).

Travel Report: 2016 PCA, Day 5: Planet Earth is Blue and There’s Nothing I Can Do

Had great fun early yesterday going on the water slides with my buddy Remko Rinkema. Nothing funnier than seeing Remko get dumped out of a tube, except maybe him coming over and dumping me after I couldn’t stop laughing.

Of course, when I woke up this morning I was initially thinking about the Esfandiari disqualification from late on Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, obviously the most memorable part of covering the event yesterday. Then I learned the news of David Bowie’s passing, and that has pushed aside the other story from my thoughts a bit as I ready for today’s Day 3.

I had actually been covering Esfandiari’s section yesterday, and even reported on a couple of hands and some of his table talk with fellow Super High Roller Talal Shakerchi who was seated at his table. Esfandiari was in Seat 1 and Shakerchi in Seat 8, on either side of the dealer, and so I saw them leaned back and talking to each other frequently as I passed by the table.

We got back from the last break of the night, and I actually caught a small hand involving Esfandiari and had gone to report it when the DQ occurred, so I wasn’t on the floor at the time. His being removed from the tournament was much bigger news than the small hand I had, so I scrapped it while the DQ was reported on the PokerStars blog:

“We've just been informed that Antonio Esfandiari has been disqualified from the Main Event. According to Edgar Stuchly, Esfandiari was removed for a serious breach of tournament etiquette.”

I heard some talk at a neighboring table that suggested a reason for the disqualification, although it was one of those weird situations where I simply didn’t trust my own ears. In fact, I didn’t even share what I’d heard with anyone until after it was confirmed that yes, indeed, I had understood what the player at the neighboring table had said.

You’ve no doubt heard about what Esfandiari did, too, along with the story of his prop bet with Bill Perkins which occasioned his transgression. If not, just do a quick search of “Esfandiari” and “disqualification” and I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough. Seriously bad judgment on his part -- piss-poor, you might say.

I have a few other behind-the-scenes tidbits related to it all -- including one very funny one -- but I think I might save that stuff until after the PCA is done. I will say the tourney staff absolutely made the right call, and also handled the business of administering the disqualification well.

But like I say, I’m thinking more about Bowie today, kind of marveling at how “alive” he seemed to many of us over such a long period. It was just a few days ago his birthday had come back around -- his 69th -- and I suppose when it comes to celebrities hearing about a birthday always puts them back in the foreground, although like I say he always seemed to be there for me.

I’m one of those devotees who has 16 LPs of his on my iPod (plus “Under Pressure” with Queen, natch), with really only the middle period of the 1990s and early 2000s not represented. Realized today how I’ve more or less internalized all 16 of those records, and in fact have probably listened to every one of them at some point during the last 1-2 years. And of course, we hear him on the radio several times a week, especially in the barn where we keep it on the classic rock station.

I very much liked his penultimate one, The Next Day (2013), and was already thinking about picking up what will turn out to be his last, Blackstar. That’s part of what I mean about him seeming “alive.” In fact, just yesterday when making a reference to glam rock to someone I evoked his name -- it seems like he’s always right there, somehow, as an example of something (if that makes any sense).

I had one chance to see Bowie back in the late 1980s for what was probably his least regarded tour, the Glass Spider one. Still there was a nice run through of various Ziggy and Aladdin Sane tracks, and while the props and theatrics were certainly overblown, it was a fun spectacle to witness.

Ziggy is probably tops for me, with the Eno trilogy close behind. Station to Station is a sleeper and in fact probably the album I’ve listened to the most times, oddly enough, followed by Aladdin Sane, Hunky Dory, Scary Monsters, and The Man Who Sold the World.

Meanwhile I’m fairly certain the early one, Space Oddity, is the one I’ve listened to the least, not ever quite getting into that early, nascent identity of Bowie’s. But the single keeps floating there as a perfect little time capsule, worth opening up and playing again and again. As I’ll continue to do, and many others who are feeling a little blue today will, too.

A little under 200 remain in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. Again, go over to the PokerStars blog for updates, photos, and also to find the live stream.

Photo: “Bowie performing in Oslo on 5 June 1978,” Helge Øverås. CC BY 3.0.

Travel Report: WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts 2, Day 1 -- Pants on the Ground

More rapid-fire posting this morning as we’re only about a half-hour away from the start of Day 2 of the WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts here at Christophe Harbour.

It rained fairly heavily yesterday, which scattered the mosquitos but dampened the view a little all around the resort. The tournament provided a lot of fun and interesting moments, though.

There were 11 players total, with a couple re-entering once and Antonio Esfandiari ultimate buying in three times after he was knocked out twice before the cutoff point. Esfandiari’s last re-entry made for an interesting twist as they had gone to a single nine-handed table, then when he returned they had to redraw and go back to two five-handed tables -- as though the tourney was running in reverse.

Esfandiari also provided some grins by going pantsless for most of the day, shedding them early on thanks to the heat. The five non-pros in the field -- Bill Perkins, Talal Shakerchi, Kathy Lehne, Michael Singh, and Tony Guglietti -- additionally made for some fun hands and a lot of enjoyable banter about the tables as the discussions ranged all over the place.

It was fun, too, to witness the large crew of WPT folks pulling together the show again as the tournament progresses. So much creativity all around, and you get the sense that everyone is constantly coming up with new ideas as it goes for ways to shape the program that will later be aired on Fox Sports.

Today the skies are a deep, rich blue and the forecast calls for sun all day, which is making for a nifty view from our perch here as we’ll watch them play down to a winner. Come over to the WPT live updates today to see Joe Giron’s photos of what we’re seeing and to follow the reports as they play down to a winner.

2014 WSOP Main Event Final Table Hole Cards (Complete)

As I did in 2012 and 2013, I’ve once more gone through the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event to chronicle all of the hole cards shown during ESPN’s broadcast. Unlike in the past, you can find this year’s list over on PokerNews in a handy table form with the added bonus of links to each of the hand reports. I have also added the players’ positions, something I didn’t do in past years.

Here it is: “Complete List of All Hole Cards Shown During the 2014 WSOP Main Event Final Table.”

This year ESPN handled the hole card thing a little differently, although some may not have realized it. In the past they’d only show hole cards after a hand completed, and only of the players who were still in the pot at the very end. This time they’d show cards whenever a player entered a pot voluntarily from the start of the hand.

Thus there was no guesswork when watching the hands regarding what cards players held, which changed the nature of the commentary quite a bit. I saw a lot of divisive commentary on Twitter on Monday and Tuesday nights about Antonio Esfandiari’s analyses. While I only listened to it in bits and pieces as I gathered hands today, I’m gonna say he, Lon McEachern, and Norman Chad all acquitted themselves just fine once again on that front -- a very challenging task, really.

While there could be errors in my list -- there were 328 hands all told -- I think it’s likely more accurate than my lists from the past two years, in part because I was able to use both my DVR recording and some backup from WatchESPN online to help with a few hands my recording didn’t catch. If you can believe it, I actually used an old school VCR before, which made putting the list together a lot more taxing.

Anyhow, I hope the list will be of use to some looking to analyze more deeply the play at the 2014 WSOP ME final table. Excuse me now if I step away from the keyboard for a while, as my fingers are tired and brain is a big bowl of mush at the moment.

Poker Among the Ruins

There’s an interesting piece over on the Salon site today provocatively titled “Has ESPN ruined poker?” The article is by a freelancer named Argun M. Ulgen who provides a fairly well informed judgment on ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker over the last decade. As the title suggests, Ulgen is mostly censorious with regard to the network’s presentation of the game, and in fact he seems ready to blame the network for online poker’s legal woes in the U.S. (even if he doesn’t pursue that idea much beyond just suggesting it).

Going back to Chris Moneymaker’s big win and the much-repeated, seven-episode presentation of it by ESPN that many point to as having been a necessary component in the “boom” that followed, Ulgen recalls those early days of the hole card camera and what for many was a kind of revelation that it could actually be interesting -- even riveting -- to watch a bunch of people sitting around playing cards.

The article severely takes ESPN to task for what was always a somewhat obvious inner contradiction in the coverage of the WSOP during those first few post-Moneymaker years, really right up until the brink of Black Friday -- namely, the jarring juxtaposition of the “skill game” argument either explicitly made in the broadcasts or implied by the whole idea of showing poker on a sports network and programming seemingly highlighted by lucky hand after lucky hand with players constantly all in and powerless to affect their fate.

The coverage “routinely failed to provide by way of non-intrusive info graphics or quick commentary fundamental, skill-based pieces of information,” argues Ulgen. Noting a general lack of context surrounding the showing of all of those key preflop all-ins (not enough about stack sizes, blind levels, and so on), Ulgen laments how viewers were “mostly treated to showdown results, which, whether it is poker, basketball, or finance, is always heavily flavored with luck.”

Most of us deep within our little niche -- or “cultish game,” as Ulgen calls it -- recognized early on the wide divide between reality and romanticism in ESPN’s WSOP coverage, noting to each other at length how all of those “Degree All-In Moments” (remember those?) weren’t really poker, but added up to a kind of glorified, exaggerated version of the game that seemed to entertain not just us, but the masses, too.

From there Ulgen moves into a discussion of ESPN’s 2011 WSOP coverage from the first post-Black Friday Series, in particular its showing of uninterrupted play on a couple of Main Event tables for hours on end for several days in July, accompanied by fairly high level commentary by Olivier Busquet and Antonio Esfandiari. I remember writing a little here at the time about ESPN’s coverage that summer, including the weird feeling once of covering the tournament then going back to the hotel room early one night to watch the tourney continue on television.

Ulgen laments the rapid shift away from that type of coverage -- i.e., the sort that lended itself well to making a much more convincing and coherent “skill game” argument for poker -- that has taken place over the last two years. (He doesn’t mention or draw any conclusions from the fact that 2011 was the year Poker PROductions took over the WSOP coverage for ESPN, taking over from 411 Productions.)

He points out how the current coverage again fails to provide adequate context when showing hands. He’s a little harsh and not entirely accurate about ESPN not currently providing information about position, blind levels, and stack sizes (they usually do give all three, in fact, although not always). But he still makes a valid point about how the shows often tend to race around from highlight to highlight, having gotten far away (again) from the studied presentation of the game that briefly popped up a couple of years ago.

Ulgen’s title employs some obvious hyperbole as an attention grab. In truth, many might say that far from “ruining” poker, ESPN on the whole done has a lot more to revive poker, bringing in new players and expanding the game considerably, even if it has done so in a way that has corrupted (perhaps permanently) the mainstream’s understanding of the game in its failure to present a convincing case for poker’s skill component.

Ulgen’s article is worth a read, but for those of us who’ve been involved with poker over the last decade, the point he’s making is very familiar to us as something we all argued among ourselves at length all through those “boom” years and after. Of course, back then -- pre-UIGEA, pre-Black Friday -- we were so distracted with our multi-tabling most of us probably weren’t as invested in the argument as we might be today, as the fate of the game hardly then seemed threatened.

We were all like the guy who gets his chips in bad and then draws out anyway. Skill... luck... who cared? We were winning.

Cannes Openers: 2012 WSOP Europe Underway

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe is currently in full swing in Cannes, France, with the first three bracelets (of seven) having already been won, and one more to be claimed later tonight.

In Event No. 1, the €2,700 buy-in six-handed no-limit hold’em event, Imed Ben Mahmoud topped a field of 227 to win. Mahmoud is the first player from Tunisia ever to win a WSOP bracelet of any sort. Meanwhile runner-up Yannick Bonnet came one spot shy of grabbing a first WSOPE bracelet for France.

Event No. 2, a €1,100 NLHE tourney, drew 626 entries. Antonio Esfandiari won a third career bracelet in that one. Again, it was a Frenchman who took second, Remi Bollengier.

It looks like France finally broke through, however, in Event No. 3, the €5,300 pot-limit Omaha tourney, where just moments ago Roger Hairabedian of beat the Finnish pro Ville Mattila heads-up to win. I remember “Big Roger” as one of the more entertaining personalities from WPT Marrakech a couple of years ago. (I believe Marrakech is Hairabedian’s current home, although he was born in Marseille.)

They drew 97 entrants for the PLO event. Event Nos. 4 and 5 are underway as well, and it looks as though so far the overall turnouts are significantly lower than was the case last year.

The schedule is essentially the same except for all of the buy-ins having been increased slightly from 2011. But check out how the number of entrants fell off in the first four events (see left).

Esfandiari’s win follows his big victory this summer in the “Big One for One Drop,” the one in which he won a bracelet and that massive $18,346,673 first prize. (Yeah, I know -- he didn’t really win $18-plus million, as he was staked for much of the million-dollar buy-in.)

I remember covering a tournament just after the “Big One” in which Esfandiari was playing, I believe it was Event No. 59, a $1,000 no-limit hold’em tourney. It was Day 1, and Andy Frankenberger (who also won a bracelet this summer) was asking Esfandiari from a neighboring table if his win in the $1 million buy-in event had counted toward the WSOP POY race.

Esfandiari said he didn’t know. He then asked me if I knew, and I remember finding out (confirming with our buddy Kevmath) and reporting back that yes, indeed, the “Big One” counted.

I seem to recall some discussion after that at both players’ tables over whether or not the $1 million buy-in event should count toward the POY race. That debate was revived this week after Esfandiari won the €1,100 event and grabbed the POY lead away from Phil Ivey.

Some are arguing the “Big One” should not count. Others are suggesting as well that counting WSOPE events is not necessarily right, given that a significant number of players who played in Las Vegas over the summer don’t make the trip to play in the European events. The fact that the WSOPE also only spreads no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha (i.e., no stud or draw, no mixed-games, etc.), has been brought up as well by some as a reason for excluding the Cannes tourneys from the POY race.

I don’t have a problem with counting the WSOPE events toward the POY race, although understand arguments against doing so. I do think the “Big One” probably might’ve been excluded as an utterly unique tournament (both in terms of the participants and the buy-in) that doesn’t really belong in the category of events being weighed against one another for the WSOP POY.

The POY race is still up for grabs, though, as Ivey, John Monnette, David “ODB” Baker, and Phil Hellmuth (who round out the current top five) are all in Cannes battling for bracelets along with leader Esfandiari. Those are the current standings to the left, which are being updated here as the events play out over the next week in Cannes.

That’s one reason for checking in on the coverage (on PokerNews and the WSOP site). The Main Event getting started this weekend should provide another, despite the lower turnouts and what seems a slight dip in interest overall in what’s happening at the WSOPE.

Esfandiari on Stern

I know most readers of this blog are probably honed in on this long interview with Howard Lederer that’s being slowly rolled out this week over on the PokerNews site.

Like most, I watched the two half-hour segments yesterday, and I expect I’ll be looking in on the rest as well. And like most I have all sorts of opinions about what I saw and heard regarding the questions, the answers, and other aspects of the interview.

Gonna resist adding to all the noise about “The Lederer Files” today, though, and instead just mention another interview I heard yesterday. Antonio Esfandiari appeared on the Howard Stern’s satellite radio show where he talked with Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers for more than half an hour about a range of topics, including the Magician’s $18 million-plus win in the Big One for One Drop.

If you’re curious, you can listen to the interview here, as a Two Plus Two poster has made it available.

I’m not a regular listener of Stern. I used to hear him now and then back in the day when his show was syndicated and would turn up on FM, but since his move over onto satellite radio some years ago I haven’t really heard him much at all. I do like his humor and personality, though, and while all the “shock jock” or blue material can be hit-or-miss sometimes, I’ve always thought he was an engaging host who knew a lot about how to keep listeners from turning the dial.

Stern has been a proponent of poker over the years, occasionally opining about the game and speaking out in opposition to prohibitions against online poker. A few years back he had PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato on the show to talk about the PPA’s cause. In the interview with Esfandiari, Stern further reveals himself to be genuinely interested in the game -- he does play -- and not a little bit fascinated with the world of high-stakes players.

Among the topics covered are the Big One for One Drop, backing arrangements, skill and luck in poker, bankroll management and dealing with swings, and the culture of poker/gambling and Las Vegas.

They also discuss Esfandiari’s background as an Iranian immigrant, his career as a professional magician, and his early days starting out as a low-stakes player. And on multiple occasions Stern returns to the topic of Esfandiari’s sex life and his predilection for partying, about which Esfandiari doesn’t hesitate much at all to share details.

Fans of Esfandiari will like the interview a lot, and even those who aren’t necessarily interested in him might find it interesting to hear Esfandiari represent poker to a wider audience. Despite Stern’s often adult-themed topics and his being on satellite radio, he show does fall squarely within the “mainstream,” and Esfandiari does a decent job (in my opinion) representing the game to those who aren’t inside of our little poker world.

For example, Esfandiari does quite well throughout the interview explaining the importance of skill in the game while also consistently pointing out how luck is involved, too. And Stern is convinced there exists a huge divide between amateur players like himself and pros like Esfandiari.

“I think that poker is a game of skill,” says Stern near the end. Then Esfandiari offers an analogy.

“It’s like saying if I spent as many hours doing what you do [i.e., hosting a radio show], I'd be as good as you,” says Esfandiari. “Of course not...”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Stern interrupts, and you can almost hear him grinning. “Look at you. Cards is one thing, being the king of all media is another!”

It’s true... just like poker, interviewing requires skill (from both the interviewer and interviewee). If you want to hear a couple who are quite good at it, check out Esfandiari on Stern.

2012 WSOP, Day 38: $18,346,673

“Who’s ahead?”

I looked back over my left shoulder. Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, was asking about the hand in progress, what would turn out to be the decisive hand of the biggest poker tournament ever held.

“Esfandiari,” I answered. He leaned forward to see the cards on the screen above the table below a little better.

Timmy, the dealer, had spread the flop . I had only just arrived a couple of minutes before Stewart, having been back in my room watching the “almost live” (or “moments ago”) coverage on ESPN of the final table of Event No. 55, the $1,000,000 buy-in “Big One for One Drop.”

Finally enjoying a day off, I had spent some of it away from the Rio relaxing a little and getting other work done, then had been in earlier in the afternoon to do an interview about WSOP history (and other topics) with Tatjana Pasalic. (I believe some videos including segments with me and Nolan Dalla will be appearing over on the Calvin Ayre site shortly, if you’re curious to see those.)

I’d briefly been in the Amazon before and after the interview to watch some of the final table at that time, then had gone back to the room and watched until Esfandiari and Sam Trickett had reached heads-up.

The stacks were fairly deep at that point. Esfandiari had a more than 2-to-1 chip lead to start heads-up play with better than 102 million to Trickett’s 41.5 million. The blinds were 400k/800k, though, meaning Trickett still had more than 50 big blinds. The sucker could end at any moment, of course, but I figured there was a chance it might go on a while, and so decided to drive back over to the Rio and see if perhaps I could get there to witness the end in person.

My timing turned out perfectly. What ESPN was showing was on a 15-minute delay, and I left right as the first hand between Esfandiari and Trickett was being dealt.

About 15 minutes later I was standing there in the media tower, watching Trickett check-raising that flop and Esfandiari coming back over the top. Trickett was in the tank for a short while before announcing that he was reraising again to 15 million. That’s when Esfandiari quickly pushed all in and Trickett called.

We were already standing in the media tower, watching as everyone else sitting in the “mothership” suddenly rose to their feet at Trickett’s call. The cards were turned over and pushed forward near the flop so they could be seen on the screens up above. Esfandiari held -- he’d flopped trip fives. Meanwhile Trickett had for a flush draw. That’s when Stewart asked who was leading.

“This could be it,” said Stewart, and we all leaned forward to watch Timmy deal the turn and river.

Timmy is one of the better dealers at the WSOP, a guy I’ve seen and talked to for several summers. He’s dealt lots of big hands at the WSOP, although none with so much on the line in terms of prize money before. No one had.

I had stopped in on the Big One on Day 2 during a break when they were down to two tables. Timmy was practicing dealing flops (see pic). He was joking about how he was so “OCD” that he couldn’t resist nudging the community cards to make them perfectly even after spreading a flop.

“I’ll bet out of 100,000 flops I’ve only left one alone,” he said. The dealer at the other table joked that Timmy even turns the aces around so they appear right side up when he deals. He doesn’t do that, but he is obviously a bit of a perfectionist, a trait that no doubt helped make him one of those chosen to deal at this prestigious final table.

I squinted to see the flop again, noting how the cards were perfectly even. Then I watched as Timmy rapped the table, burned a card, and carefully slid the turn card into place beside the first three.

A slow rumble began to build during the several seconds that passed before Timmy again hit the table, burned a card, and turned over fifth street... the .

Esfandiari began to run around in a circle, hands on his head, and about two dozen friends and family rushed forward to surround him. The arena lights began flashing on and off, and soon Esfandiari was up on the group’s shoulders.

As the scene settled, the CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment Mitch Garber came out to award Esfandiari the bracelet and first prize, which he noted was the “greatest... in all of sports.” Esfandiari immediately motioned for his father to come forward, saying how he was giving the bracelet to him.

I remembered Esfandiari’s Dad from last summer when I’d covered an event in which Antonio had final tabled and he had been there. He had a big grin on his face then, and it was even bigger now.

Kara Scott then briefly interviewed Esfandiari as we all stood in silence. Their words weren’t broadcast over the public address, and so we couldn’t hear them. I noticed Esfandiari was barefoot as he responded to Scott’s questions. A little later he’d slip back on the flip flops he’d been wearing, which along with his green hoody contrasted severely with the setting and situation.

Soon pictures were being taken of Esfandiari hugging the mountain of cash sitting before the table, such as that one to the left snapped by Joe Giron (WSOP). Earlier in the afternoon, Jess Welman had characterized the stacks of cash bricks as looking like a fireplace, which it did, and I’d said they couldn’t possibly have put it on the table as it would collapse under its weight.

As those pictures were being snapped, we speculated in the media tower about how it was not really $18,346,673 sitting there on the stage. Nor was Esfandiari really winning that amount, either. Someone sounding as though he was in the know suggested Esfandiari had only 17% of himself, and we all nodded.

More interviews followed, but I noted Esfandiari taking a moment to shake hands with the dealers -- Timmy and Shaun -- standing off to the side. I’d joke with Rich afterwards that Esfandiari was right to shake their hands, since besides playing well, he’d been dealt some nice cards, too, at that final table.

I then saw Timmy with his phone out snapping photos just like all the rest of us were. Was a special moment, one that seemed worth chronicling. Indeed, I think those of us snapping photos weren’t so much doing it to have our own pictures. Other, better photos were being taken all around by Joe and others.

Rather, I think some of us were taking them just to prove we were there, too.

I left soon thereafter, thinking of that “All-Time Money List,” a list that had already been thrown all out of whack some time ago when all of those “super high roller” events began to happen.

And how when someone now asks “Who’s ahead?” there the answer is also “Esfandiari.”

At least until the next million-dollar tournament.

2008 WSOP, Day 38: Living the Dream

Woke up this morning and it took me at least ten minutes to realize I was off today. Was just laying there, trying (with considerable difficulty) to calculate precisely how much longer I had available to me for snoozing before I absolutely had to get out of bed and get going. It wouldn’t add up.

Finally I realized why. I’m not working. No one is. The World Series of Poker takes its first day off since it began on May 30, giving everyone a chance to regroup before we get back to it with Tuesday’s Day 2a. Gonna be a lot to deal with when we come back. Unlike was the case on the Day Ones, we will know everyone going in on the Day Twos, and so will potentially have a ton to cover as we move forward.

I’ve worked the last five days in a row, the longest streak of the Series for me. The last of the Day Ones went fairly smoothly. Over 2,400 runners came out for this one, pushing the overall total past 2007’s and up to 6,844. A few more than expected, I think. I’d spoken with Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, during the dinner break on Day 1c, and he’d thought then it would be a tight race versus last year’s 6,358. So I’m sure the WSOP brass are all happy how things turned out registration-wise.

It was also announced yesterday how the total prize pool exceeded $64 million and how the winner would be taking home something in the neighborhood of $9.1 million. Of course, the winner should be getting more than that as they’re putting the moneys in an interest-bearing account between now and November. (I would think the WSOP would do a little math and spin that prize number upwards a bit right now.)

I was in the Brasilia room this time, where I was responsible for reporting on the back half of the room, about 30-some tables. We had some name pros in our section, including Layne Flack and Antonio Esfandiari who drew seats right next to one another. Those two provided a lot of color, including a renewal of the “how best to kill a bear” debate Flack had begun in an earlier tourney (and which I had reported on then, too, both at PokerNews and here). Flack never did seem to be able to build too much of a stack, and late in the day, after he was moved from our section, he busted. Esfandiari, on the other hand, added to his stack at every level. He ended up near 100,000 by day’s end.

Tom Schneider was in my section as well, and I got to talk to him briefly and watch a few hands. I wrote up one I saw, kind of a minor one from early on that made it to showdown. Then I ended up reporting on two more of his hands that my reporters brought me, neither of which went well for Tom. In both cases he’d gotten his money in good, then his opponent hit a draw to take the hand. The first depleted his stack and the other knocked him out.

Had Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Joe Pelton in my section, too. After the first 2 p.m. break, Schleger had rushed back in just in time for the first hand dealt, and told the table about Phil Hellmuth’s ridiculous arrival at the Rio dressed as General Patton. Trapped in the Brasilia as I was, I hadn’t seen any of that, so I was as interested as the table was in hearing Schleger explain how the vehicles and whatnot had the “US Army” logo changed to read “UB Army.” “Kind of clever, actually” said Schleger, “but must have cost a lot.” Then, after pausing a beat, he added “I wonder if they had enough left after paying people back for the super-users?” (Good question.)

Schleger had Joe Pelton two seats to his left, and he eventually busted Pelton when he flopped a nut flush. Schleger appeared to be holding steady throughout the day, and when he finally was moved he still had 33,000. But it looks like he didn’t make it through the end of the day, either.

Also covered Allen Cunningham, whom I witnessed (and reported on) dealing with some drunk railbirds very graciously. Cunningham is one cool cat. He made it through Day 1 with about 50,000.

I stayed on after the dinner break yesterday even though I wasn’t scheduled to stay, mainly because I wanted to be there to help the others cover the massive field. Most of our tables ended up breaking by the end of the night, so Matt (my reporter) and I were helping out here and there to try and get chip counts and other occasional hands. So kind of a low stress day for me, overall.

Being in the Brasilia, I missed the whole Phil Laak spectacle over in the Amazon room, too. Although it sounds like everyone did. If you haven’t heard, Laak apparently played yesterday wearing some sort of latex mask and fake mustache, and somehow managed to play the tourney without anyone realizing who he was. Might have been the result of some sort of prop bet, I don’t know. Garry Gates wrote up the story over on Poker News at the end of the night in a post titled “The Amazing Phil Laak,” if yr curious.

Figured out at the dinner break yesterday I’d completely missed the damned Gaming Life Expo. The thing ran all four Day Ones, I believe, and I never did get a chance to hop over there to see what was what. Missed out on all of the freebies, too.

That post title is from something my brother keeps telling me when we have chatted this summer. Kind of an inside joke, with him repeatedly referring -- with some sincerity, actually -- to what I am doing here with that phrase. Am still enjoying the whole deal, but I am definitely looking forward to a couple of weeks from now when I won’t be so busy that days pass without my realizing it.

Various activities on the schedule today, including a get together with PN staff this afternoon (in which soccer is the focus, although I’m hoping to shoot a few hoops), a freeroll tournament for us all at dinner time (where I’ll be dead money, no doubt), and a PokerStars party over at the Palms later tonight.

Don’t plan on too late of an evening. Am sincerely aiming for a shorter response time when I wake tomorrow.