Reporting from the 1975 WSOP

Here’s something interesting, worth a look here on the eve of another World Series of Poker -- a short video of a televised news item from 1975 filed during that year’s WSOP Main Event.

The clip got passed around a little on Twitter not too long ago, which is how I first saw it. It’s from the Associated Press and was first posted on their YouTube channel last summer. The report is interesting in part because there isn’t really any other footage from that year’s WSOP floating around.

For a deeper look into the WSOP circa that early era at Binion’s, you can see a lot more from the 1973 WSOP in the televised special created that year for its CBS Sports Spectacular weekend show. That entire program is up on YouTube, if you’re curious.

There’s a reference at the start of the clip from 1975 to “only 20 men” being able to come up with the $10,000 entry, although in truth there were 21 entered that year. Brian “Sailor” Roberts would be that year’s champion, and I believe he can be spotted briefly early on in the video, as can a couple of other early WSOP Main Event winners, Amarillo “Slim” Preston and “Puggy” Pearson.

The reporter notes the winner-take-all format, the stamina required to play for long periods, and the fact that many of the better players are from Texas.

Johnny Moss appears briefly, introduced as “the Hank Aaron, Joe Namath, or Jack Nicklaus of World Series Poker.” Moss talks about having won the year before (his third WSOP title), then answers a few questions about the tournament.

“They should let us buy all the checks we want and play three days,” opines Moss, suggesting he’d rather not stick with the freezeout tournament format. In fact, it sounds as though he and some of the other players were having a discussion that year about changing things going forward.

“They gonna do it next year,” he continues. “They gonna make this tournament three eight-hour shifts, and buy all the checks you want. Then you’ll see millions of dollars.”

Of course, what Moss is describing isn’t really so much a tournament at all, but what would be a high-stakes cash game (kind of like they played back at the first WSOP in 1970). As we know, that plan did not come to fruition, as they kept with the freezeout tournament format the following year and every year since.

It would take a few more years -- not until 1982 -- before the prize pool would exceed $1 million in the WSOP Main Event. The first time the winner took away $1 million would be 1991. Then it wouldn’t be too long after that before they could say there really were “millions of dollars” at stake in the event.

Check it out:

Photo: “A group of players outside of Binion's Horseshoe in 1974.” CC BY 3.0.

Nolan Dalla Interview, July 2010

This morning I noticed a bit of conversation over Twitter regarding this petition that has appeared online. The petition seeks to encourage the World Series of Poker to eliminate all rake from the Main Event as well as to start a “revenue-sharing program to supplement the prize pools” with money generated from ESPN and other sources.

It’s a pipe dream, no doubt, although the petition did cause some to recall how, in fact, the WSOP Main Event was not raked as recently as 2002 (when it was still under the Binion’s Horseshoe aegis). That historical tidbit reminded me of a conversation I’d had several years ago with Nolan Dalla who for many years served as the Media Director for the WSOP. (I believe his current title is “WSOP.com Senior Writer.”) Actually the conversation was an interview I did of Dalla during the 2010 WSOP for Betfair Poker.

We started that interview talking about the WSOP circa 2002, in fact, just before the “boom” happened and Harrah’s acquired the WSOP. After a little hunting around I found that like other older articles I’d done for Betfair the interview with Dalla also is no longer available online. It took some more hunting, but I eventually found the sucker, and as I’ve done before here with some of those items that have disappeared I thought today I’d share the Dalla interview here.

I like this one a lot, not just because of the nostalgia it evokes thinking back to 2010 and the various WSOP-related topics of interest back then. I think my favorite stuff comes at the end where we get into the topic of tournament reporting and the relative place of writing about poker.

* * * * *

“The Betfair Poker Interview: Nolan Dalla”
[Originally published at Betfair Poker, 7 July 2010]

The WSOP Main Event is now underway, and I remain at the Rio both this week and next to help cover the Series for PokerNews.

Anyone who comes to the World Series of Poker to report on it likely comes into contact at some point with Nolan Dalla, Media Director for the WSOP, and -- I would venture to add -- likely benefits immensely from having done so. As one of my colleagues noted just a day ago, “Nolan Dalla is better at his job than anyone I know is at theirs.”

I had the opportunity this week to sit down with Dalla to ask him a few questions about his involvement with the WSOP over the years and about how this year’s Series has gone.

Short-Stacked Shamus: You’ve been WSOP Media Director since 2002. Let me start by asking -- how did you end up in this role?

Nolan Dalla: Well, quite by accident, really. I was in the middle of a perfect storm, so to speak. Back in 2002, we really didn’t have many media here coming to the World Series. There were a few poker writers, and 300 or 400 people played in the Main Event -- nothing like the scale of today. Then everything pretty much changed my second year with the World Series working for Binion’s Horseshoe.

I had moved to Las Vegas and was the Director of Public Relations for the Horseshoe. A lot of people don’t remember that right before Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event in 2003, the Horseshoe and the World Series were on the rocks. The World Poker Tour had just started and their numbers were enormous over at the Bellagio -- they were actually beating us. And here I was working at the Horseshoe and it felt like we were rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic and the ship’s getting ready to go down. That really was the prevailing attitude.

SSS: Wasn’t the World Poker Tour talking about buying up the World Series?

ND: They actually made a cash offer. I remember I was in the office when a fax came in. I can’t say what the figure was, but I remember that figure was looked at and considered, and boy, it was a bargain basement price at the time, considering what [the WSOP is] worth now. Nobody could really have foreseen how everybody’s life would change in May 2003 when Moneymaker won.

When I talk about a perfect storm, it was ESPN’s first year [doing a multi-part series on the WSOP], Chris Moneymaker, the everyman, wins the Main Event, and I just happen to be the Media Director. I think I knew it was going to be a big moment, but I don’t think I realized how big a moment until I looked at my cell phone [after Moneymaker won] and I saw the David Letterman show, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN... it was like whoa! And everyone’s life, including my own, changed from that point forward.

SSS: So here we are in 2010 and the Main Event is underway. From your perspective, how has the 2010 World Series of Poker gone thus far?

ND: Well, the World Series is up. The economy is still bad in a lot of places, but the World Series just seems to be recession-proof. I have to admit that every year I think “When is it ever going to catch up?” You would think at some point that this momentum shift would stop, but again it appears that the [2010] World Series is going to be way up from last year. This Main Event could and should be the second-largest poker tournament in history. [Indeed, the Main Event drew a total of 7,319 entrants, making it the second-largest live poker tournament ever behind the 2006 Main Event.]

SSS: A lot of us were curious about how the World Series would go after the departure of Jeffrey Pollack as Commissioner, who I think a lot of people felt like contributed quite a bit during his tenure. Is there anything that has been different without a Commissioner?

ND: It’s a fair question. I think that most of us who worked with Jeffrey look at that period very fondly. He did enormous things for the World Series from 2006-2009, and certainly he’s left an indelible imprint upon the World Series. However, I will say that the new management team -- starting with Ty Stewart, Seth Palansky, Howard Greenbaum, and others -- have been around this game for many years and they have learned, as we all have, from some of the mistakes we’ve made years ago and we seemed to have gotten it a little bit better every year until we’ve reached this point.

I think anyone who has come to the World Series this year has to say that the facility, the comfort level, the organization, everything about it is much better. Is it perfect? No. Can it get better? Yes. But I think that as far as the World Series of Poker experience goes, I don’t think it’s ever been higher in terms of satisfaction.

SSS: I had a chance this year to help cover the Ladies Event, where there was some controversy when a few men entered. So I was there when you came and said a few words before the final table in support of the Ladies Event. Comment a bit on what you said there.

ND: We need more women in poker. No one can disagree with that. That is a good thing. And women’s poker tournaments and the Ladies World Championship fosters that greater participation. No one can disagree with that. That’s a fact.

I think for anybody to upset what I call a fragile balance that exists, I think that’s a bad thing and is counterproductive to the game -- not just to the women in poker, but to the game. I understand other people have their own agendas and they may have their political views with regard to equal rights issues and all of these things -- that’s all fine. But the bottom line is what is good for poker? What is good for the World Series of Poker? And that is to protect the integrity and tradition of that event. The Ladies event started in 1977 -- that is 33 years!

Unfortunately we have to let this issue play out, maybe in the courts or wherever this fight and this discussion is going to take place next. But I think there are a lot of us who really want this tournament to continue and are going to do everything we can to make sure it continues.

SSS: Back in February I enjoyed an article that you wrote about your most embarrassing moments at the World Series...

ND: Ha ha.

SSS: Not to make you draw attention to a particular embarrassment from this summer, but is there anything that’s happened here in 2010 that maybe would wind up on an a list like the one you compiled for that article?

ND: As you know in this job there are a lot of hours you put in and if you see a lot of things it is kind of like the law of large numbers -- you make more errors. And I’ve sure made my fair share over the years. And sure, I’ve had a few more this year and I think that I’ll do a follow-up column and it won’t be the ten most embarrassing moments but maybe the 20 most!

SSS: I can identify with this very strongly. You put in a 14-hour day and you do your best to be perfect and cover everything, but it can be a challenge.

ND: Yes, and it’s a shame also that you just don’t have the mental capacity to talk to everybody you want to, to get to know everybody you want to. Because, really -- and I really believe this -- there are 65,000 people who have played in events this World Series so far, and there are 65,000 stories out there, if you go after them. Everybody has something to say. The problem is there are only 24 hours in the day.

SSS: Even if you knew, I don’t think you could answer this next question. But where do you think the World Series of Poker is going to be next year?

ND: Yes, everyone is speculating [about whether the WSOP will relocate from its current home at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino]. That is the big question everyone will probably be asking once this Main Event ends. It’s appropriate because people care where they are going to be playing. And I can tell you that anybody who thinks they know the answer to that question doesn’t know what they are talking about. The Harrah’s organization will examine all of the options, and those discussions really haven’t started that much yet. So anybody who thinks they have inside information, they really don’t.

SSS: What I keep hearing is “A dealer told me that it was going to be...” and generally the sentence is finished with wherever it is that dealer is dealing.

ND: Haha, yes. Any property in Las Vegas would love to have the World Series, with all the people eating in the restaurants, staying in the hotel, gaming, and the excitement and publicity that it generates. The World Series of Poker is really Las Vegas’ best infomercial. Forget about that “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” campaign, the best informercial for Las Vegas is the WSOP. And so any casino would love to have this event at their place, and it is just a matter of seeing where it will end up.

SSS: Okay, last question. You’re the WSOP Media Director, so you spend a lot of time helping those of us who report on the WSOP and try to give us what we need and make it so that the covering of the World Series is as successful as it can be. What is your impression about how the WSOP is covered currently and do you have any ideas about how it could be done differently?

ND: Boy, that’s a great question. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that. I had a very interesting conversation with a reporter from USA Today -- we were talking last night at dinner, in fact. And he said that he thought poker was tailor-made for the internet. And he’s right -- the immediacy of the internet, and people turning on a computer in 115 different nations and say -- bam -- Phil Hellmuth just busted out two seconds ago, that’s incredible.

Really no other sporting event is quite like that. With football, you watch it live and after it’s over it’s done. But with poker afterwards you have these logs, and hand histories, and you can look it over and have this great amount of information. I don’t think that really exists in football or baseball or in major sports -- the detailed information of what goes on, which is really a testament to what the reporters do. To be able to detail all the hands, all the players, all the quirks, all the stories...

So I agree that this is a game that is tailor-made for the internet, and I expect that to be the major focus [of WSOP coverage] as we move into the next few years.

SSS: When you say that it makes me think that there is something about poker -- that ESPN can do what they do, and we can put cameras on people playing and watch it happen -- but there’s something about poker that almost requires it be narrated, that is, put into words. And the immediacy of the internet helps us tell those stories almost as they are happening.

ND: You just nailed it there. If you watch something, sure it is interesting. But having someone there creating a mental picture of what happened... it’s kind of like how they say the book is always better than the movie.

I’ll tell you something, I’m astonished the talent that has come into this game as far as writing goes, especially in the last three years. There are some really fine writers, and people who come from all walks of life, who have come into this game. We didn’t really have that five years ago. Not that poker writers were bad, but we’ve got some extraordinary talent and people who love and are passionate about the game and that really comes through in the coverage now. I mean on many sites, not just the news sites, but the bloggers, reporters, everybody.

Much thanks to Nolan Dalla for taking the time. And speaking of good poker writing, if you are looking for a excellent read about one of poker and the WSOP’s most fascinating figures, let me recommend to you One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘The Kid’ Ungar by Dalla and Peter Alson.

* * * * *

Here are some other, older interviews I’ve reupped here, if you’re interested:

Catching Up With Kevmath (from February 2010)

Jesse May Interview, April 2011 (Part 1 of 2)

Jesse May Interview, April 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

Shamus in Vegas: Episode 2 -- What’s Your Plan?

Touched down at McCarran Airport around 10 a.m. Vegas time on Wednesday. Check-in wasn’t until the afternoon, so Vera and I grabbed a quick lunch and I dropped her off at the Thomas & Mack before motoring the rental car over to Binion’s Horshoe. Got there about 12:15 p.m. Figuring I had the time, I decided to try to play a spell there at “the place that made poker famous.” Plan was to sit in on a $2/$4 limit hold’em game for a bit until the 2:00 p.m. meeting of the Wednesday Poker Discussion Group. If a seat were available, that is.

Wandered over to the poker room and saw one table going -- the final table of the daily tourney -- and nothing else. Heck, I thought. Where is everybody? A desert in the desert. I kept wandering and soon found the new poker room with the tables of beige-colored felt. There were about four tables going, including a couple of LHE ones. A seat was open, and before long I was in it.

Live Poker, Binion’s Horseshoe

On my fourth hand I was dealt two black queens in the cutoff. Two players limped, I raised, and both blinds called, meaning five of us saw the flop of . It checked to a player in middle position who hesitated, then checked. Has that nine, I thought. Checked to me, I bet, and all but one stayed for the turn -- the . The MP player bet this time, and despite my having decided he’d made trips I went ahead and called, as did one other player. The river was the , and when he unhesitatingly bet again I did what limit hold’em players generally shouldn’t do -- I folded on the river. The other player called, and the MP player turned over . So it goes.

The dealer said something in my direction about that king being “just a notch” too high as he gathered the cards, which I took as a correct read of my hand. I don’t think I had given anything away when still in the hand, really, with my actions, though perhaps when folding I showed the king’s influence on my decision. I said nothing.

That hand was followed by several orbits of trash hands, most of which I readily folded. It was a full table, with lots of limpers and callers and not much reason to try to win hands without cards. Saw a couple of flops with suited connectors, but they weren’t connecting.

The Poker Grump arrived and I was starting to think about leaving, having gradually dribbled down a good $35 or so. That’s when I picked up in late position. A few limped, I called, and the button called behind me. Flop came . Checked to me, I bet, the button called, and two other short-stacked players, each of whom had only bought in for $20, called as well. The turn was the , giving me sixes full of tens. Checked to me and I bet again, the button called, and the two others both put in their last chips. The river was the . I bet, and the button thought a moment and called.

I showed my sixes, and he turned over . The side pot was mine. How about the main pot? Both short stacks mucked, so that was mine as well. I dragged the chips, flipping the dealer the only tip I’d leave the entire session, and soon left just seven dollars down. Woulda made more on that one had the short stackers had more behind, but I was glad to win anyhow.

Was joking with the Grump afterwards how silly it was to think how winning that one pot so greatly affected my mood about the entire session, but he agreed that being “results oriented,” while not advisable, is hard to avoid. If we are human, that is.

Was also talking to Grump about how in these lowest-limit games players often tend to play as though they are competing against the house, not other players. Not much regard for hand selection, really -- as if one is playing blackjack, and is basically forced to play whatever cards one is dealt. Then the focus is mainly on connecting with the board (like getting as close to 21 as one can), then showing down in hopes of winning.

For example, in the two sessions I ended up playing last week, I saw players limp in with A-A no less than three times. These same players limped in with all other hands, too. Why not just pull a lever over on the slots? So the only way to go, really, is to practice some hand selection, make hands, and value bet at every opportunity.

As I was saying last week, I don’t really view these $2/$4 tables as a place either to (1) learn a lot of poker strategy, or (2) make much cabbage. But I do get something, I think, out of simply playing more live hands -- which can’t hurt down the road, regardless of what I end up doing poker-wise.

The Wednesday Poker Discussion Group, Binion’s Coffee Shop

The Poker Grump and I went over to the coffee shop around two o’clock, but there were only a couple of others there for the WPDG. We hung out and talked with them and some of the other friendly folks who gradually trickled in. Eventually about 25 people turned up, gathered around three or four tables. Ages ranged from 20s to 60s. Just two women showed, I believe. A couple of discussion leaders took positions at one wall, positioning menus so as to create a place to display cards from a giant-sized deck. Finally by about three o’clock the meeting began.

There were some preliminaries. New people introduced themselves. I described myself as an amateur who was really more of a poker writer than a player, and mentioned my having helped cover the WSOP last summer. There was some talk of the various promotions and freerolls available around town, with several recommendations made. Then we got to the main focus of the meeting -- the hand discussions.

I think the plan might have been to discuss multiple hands played by group members, but as it turned out we spent the entire meeting (at least another hour-and-a-half) talking about a single hand that came from a $2/$5 no-limit hold’em game ($1,500 cap) over at the Wynn. The hand occurred around six in the morning, and involved a group member and a couple of loose players who had been drinking.

I won’t get into all of the specifics other than to say our hero found himself sitting with in the big blind. One heavy drinker and loose player raised from UTG, another drinker flat-called from late position, and our hero decided to call, thereby closing the preflop betting, and see a flop. The flop ended up coming eight-high, putting the hero into another tricky spot. Even before that, however, the group debated for at least ten minutes the preflop decision to call.

“What’s your plan?” asked one group member. Not everyone cared much for calling an under-the-gun raise with this hand, although compelling arguments were presented for sticking around as well. And, of course, that eight-high flop encouraged a great deal more debate.

I leaned over to the Poker Grump midway through the discussion to joke that it didn’t seem fair to the lone drunk player who ended up heads-up against our hero that he was now competing with 25 minds all trained against him. Of course, given all of the different lines that ended up being entertained, the hero was probably better off only having had his own second thoughts to complicate matters.

The discussion was quite illuminating, though, in the way it revealed the many different approaches and styles that guide poker players’ thinking. I can imagine the group being extremely helpful to a serious player looking for feedback and advice. It was entertaining, too, with lots of very funny, self-effacing humor coming from all sides throughout the meeting. Everyone was very friendly, the vibe was conducive to dialogue and new ideas, and a good (and informative) time was had by all.

I’d definitely recommend the WPDG to any poker players with a free Wednesday afternoon in Vegas. There’s also a Monday meeting at the Stake Out Bar & Grill over on Maryland Parkway from 7-9 p.m. that focuses on no-limit hold’em. Newcomers are welcome.

Next up, dinner at the Grand Lux Café over at the Venetian with a bunch of other pokery scribblers.

Flights of Fancy

Took a trip to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. Strictly business, of course. (Incidentally discovered after my return that Hawaii is one of two states in the union where all forms of gambling are outlawed.) Stayed on O’ahu, near Honolulu, and from a 13th (called 14th) floor corner room enjoyed madly grandiose views of Diamond Head brooding to the left and those intensely bluish-turquoise waters off Waikiki Beach to the right.

Mainlanders who’ve never been instinctively consider Hawaii an earthly paradise, though those who have know that while it has much to offer it isn’t quite that. Now this ain’t no travel guide, so I won’t go into the all the whys and how-comes. We’ll just say of the 50th state that it’s plenty nice but not quite the cat’s pajamas. More JJ or AQ-off than aces or kings.

I connected in Chicago, and from there the flight was about eight-and-a-half hours long, so I took the opportunity finally to read James McManus’s Positively Fifth Street. I already knew the rough outline of McManus’s story. How he’d gone to Vegas in the spring of 2000 primarily to cover the trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, the pair accused of murdering Ted Binion (son of Benny), and how he ended up playing in the WSOP main event while there and finishing a remarkable 5th out of 512 entrants.

Even with such foreknowledge of the book’s two main plots, I found Positively Fifth Street a great read. It’s a page-turner, sure, but it also is more than a little insightful about some of the normally hard-to-explain aspects of human psychology (e.g., our need to take risks, to be “bad,” etc.), about the importance of family, and, yes, even about poker.

I was a little surprised (and impressed, actually) that McManus ultimately doesn’t make too much of his accomplishment. One almost gathers that despite his frequent admissions of self-doubt, he expected to do well -- even to win the damn thing (which probably partly explains his getting so far). Most enjoyable are the digressive historical bits (e.g., about the Binions and the Horseshoe, the history of poker and the WSOP, overviews of famous poker books, stories about McManus’s family).

The recounting of particular hands is also fairly gripping. And there are some humorous moments, such as when McManus encounters the main event’s eventual winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in the men’s room and tells him how even though he’s trying to play conservatively, he can’t stop his right hand from firing chips. Ferguson understands completely, and “suddenly spooky-voiced, strobing his bony fingers toward [McManus’s] face in psychedelic fashion” says to McManus it’s “‘Almost as though . . . you’ve been hyp-no-tized . . . [!]’”

The WSOP main event is poker players’ Hawaii. Even us micronauts are constantly scheming to win our way to this apparent paradise. McManus’s book does little to dissuade us of that notion; indeed, it likely reinforces it. Like Hawaii, no matter how much we read or hear about it (good or bad), we all want to see it for ourselves.

Images: WSOP logo, Hawaii (adapted) (top); Positively Fifth Street (2003), James McManus (bottom).