2010 WSOP, Day 41: Rejoining the World (Series)

Ten days ago I was writing about having a day off and finding it almost uncomfortable, the routine of working so much having made it strangely difficult to handle the sudden reward of leisure.

After another long stretch of consecutive work days, I was given that reward again here at the start of the Main Event, not assigned to begin helping with PokerNews’ coverage until today (Day 1d). That meant two straight days off -- something I don’t think I’ve had all summer.

Had no problem figuring out what to do on the first one. I slept. A lot.

Yesterday, though, I realized I needed to get out of the home away from home. Which, of course, is not a home at all, but a room, decorated (incidentally) entirely in blacks and dark grays. Sure, I’m a “noir” kind of guy (as the scheme of this blog indicates), but six straight weeks in the dark simply cannot be good for a person.

So I got up and wrote a little. Then I got out.

Did some walking around outside in the 100-plus degree heat which immediately had a positive effect on my mood. Then I met up with Pokerati Dan at a nearby sushi place for dinner. Some dishes were better than others, but overall it was good eats. The place was nearly empty save us and a group that included Shannon Elizabeth, Nick Binger, and a few other poker players to whom we said hello as we left.

Dan and I mostly talked about the WSOP and the many knotty issues connected with covering it, including that Pokerati op-ed on the subject by the “Anonymous Pro” from earlier in the summer that generated a lot of discussion (and heat). I always like talking with Dan about such things, both because he’s knowledgeable and connected, but also because he’s got some real insight into how this complicated game gets played.

Having given up my rental car a couple of days ago, I caught a ride with Dan to the Rio where I ended up sitting in on the latter part of Day 1c. I had a couple of purposes to going in on a day off like that. One was to get my autographed copy of Lost Vegas from Dr. Pauly, which I’ve already begun and am hooked.

As I told Pauly last night, a lot of us are as excited as he is to see the sucker finally available for public consumption. Lost Vegas is available over at Lulu. Where, by the way, you can also get my hard-boiled detective novel, Same Difference (which has nothing whatsoever to do with poker).

The other reason why I went to the Rio was to interview Nolan Dalla, the WSOP Media Director, for a Betfair piece that’ll appear tomorrow.

I’ve gotten to know Nolan a bit over the last three summers and readily echo the praises of many in the media for the many, many ways he helps us do our jobs. He’s a writer, too, of course. Besides writing hundreds of articles and releases about poker for the WSOP, he also co-authored (with Peter Alson) the excellent biography of Stu Ungar, One of a Kind.

In the interview I asked him a few questions about how the Series has gone thus far and about some other things, including one about the coverage of the WSOP, generally speaking. I think it’ll turn out an interesting read -- I’ll remind you of it tomorrow once it goes up over at Betfair.

All in all, it was a good day, which included some visiting with Otis and Stephen (the PokerStars blog) and Reinaldo (Pokerstarsblog.la). A day mostly spent among writers, punctuated by a lot of interesting and useful discussions -- in many different contexts -- about writing.

As the day wound down, the mood in the Amazon Room seemed to me to be somewhat reserved. There were a few outbursts of excitement here and there, but all in all it looked like a fairly cautious, deep-stacked tourney in which a lot of patient poker was being played. Nor did the media seem overly frantic about things, having perhaps settled into this Day 1 groove now that they’d done it three times over.

I think things will be a little different today, though, as just about everyone I spoke to yesterday anticipates the largest group of any of the Day Ones to be there -- perhaps even as many as 3,000 players, which would mean filling up both the Amazon and a good portion of the Pavilion to start the day. Whatever the turnout, there’s little doubt at this point that the 2010 Main Event will be the second-largest ever (behind the 8,773 of 2006).

Back to the circus, then. I’m already reading the excited tweets by some players who will be there for Day 1d. I’ll admit I’m excited, too. Would be strange not to be.

See you over at the PokerNews’ live reporting page.

PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Debuts

For the first time this year, I decided to pick my team -- the Carolina Panthers -- to win in Dr. Pauly’s Pigskin Pick’em pool. (Wrote a little about the pool a couple of weeks ago.) I’d gone against them three times, and was right to do so in each case. But I decided they had a chance at home versus the Redskins yesterday, and so finally decided to go with the Cats.

Wasn’t looking so good at first, as Washington scored a touchdown within the first minute of play. When Carolina countered with a safety, I noted that the score -- 7-2 -- resembled the kind of hand Carolina fans had been dealt all year thus far. Got as bad as 17-2 in the second half, but somehow the Panthers got their act together and won 20-17. Good news for my team, More Cowbell.

After the game, I kept the tube on to watch the premiere of the “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge” on the Fox network. I’ll be honest -- my hopes for the show, which from what I’d read sounded not terribly unlike the less-than-thrilling “Face the Ace,” were not that high. I’d be pulling for it, just as I had pulled for the Panthers. But like with the Panthers, I can’t say I was expecting greatness.

Really not fair to the show, coming at it with such low expectations. But I find myself wondering what exactly shows like “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge” and “Face the Ace” have to offer those of us who are already fully immersed in the poker scene? (More on that below.) By the way, there are spoilers here, so if you are planning to watch the show online or on your TiVo or whatever, you might just skip to the last three paragraphs.

The show was hosted by Chris Rose, who calls MLB and NFL games for Fox and has hosted Fox Sports’ “The Best Damn Sports Show Period.” Rose appeared much better suited for this sort of thing than was Steve Schirripa on “Face the Ace.” (The pretty Michelle Nunes also had a little face time to announce a freeroll on PS for viewers.) As a PokerStars production, there were a number of PS pros shown on the set, but only a couple participated in the proceedings, with Daniel Negreanu announced early on as “the star of the show.”

Like with “Face the Ace,” what we have here is poker being squeezed into a “Deal or No Deal” game-show type format, with a contestant first playing a heads-up no-limit hold’em match versus a celebrity (a non-poker professional). If the contestant wins that first match, he or she gets a paid trip to the Bahamas during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. (No entries or anything, it sounded like.) The contestant also wins a second match against a PokerStars pro, and if he or she wins that one the prize is $25,000 and the chance to play one more match against Negreanu for $100K. (If the contestant loses the third match, he or she apparently also loses the $25K.) Winning the third match also gets one entry into another sit-n-go down the road, the winner of which takes home $1 million.

There were a number of gimmicky twists thrown in as well involving Negreanu. He sits at the table with the contestant for the first match, coaching but not looking at cards. He then sits in a booth with a headset and advises the player during the second match, this time being able to know the contestant’s hole cards, too. There are other particulars in there involving time outs and whatnot, but you get the gist.

The featured contestant for the first episode was actually a Catholic priest, Father Andrew Trapp of Garden City, South Carolina. You can read more about Fr. Trapp and the whole question of where poker and/or gambling fits into Catholic teaching here. On the show, some fun was had now and then when Fr. Trapp blessed the cards, thanked God when a fortunate river card completed his flush, and so forth.

Indeed, in the first match in which Fr. Trapp played former NBA player John Salley, he was all in and needed a river spade to survive. When the came on the end, Fr. Trapp turned to the camera and said “For all the non-believers in our viewing audience, that was proof that God exists,” getting a laugh from Negreanu and others. Salley countered that it proved “God is dangerous,” and we cut to commercial.

Salley proved a predictably awful opponent, and soon after Fr. Trapp’s fortunate flush the basketball player horribly mangled a hand resulting in the priest winning the match. Five hands were shown in the Salley match. Fr. Trapp then moved to face Vanessa Rousso. They shared some table banter during the three hands shown, which concluded with another win for the priest. Fr. Trapp, who’d noted that the money he won would be going toward the building of a new church, went for the third match against Negreanu, and in just four hands he’d won that one, too.

On his Twitter, Pokerati Dan yesterday noted that while he’d missed the second half of the show, he liked the first half. “Overall a pretty good infomercial,” said Dan. Indeed, my read of the Twitter crowd was that the show was basically well received, with several noting that it was more fun to watch than was “Face the Ace.”

As I suggest above, I personally couldn’t get into the show very much and was wondering while watching what exactly I was getting from it. Negreanu is certainly a smart, funny guy and has a winning enough personality to make a show somewhat interesting, but like Dan I found myself responding to the show with the same sort of ambivalence I do when watching an infomercial. The only difference here is I have already bought the product (having long ago opened a PokerStars account). Of course, whenever I linger over other infomercials, I never, ever buy the product, so my sense of detachment there is in fact quite similar to what I was experiencing yesterday afternoon watching “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge.”

The show might well prove a bit more compelling as it continues, with different contestants and that prospect of the million dollar sit-n-go at the end drawing closer. And while my interest might increase eventually, my hopes for the show remain tempered, not unlike my hopes for the Panthers for the rest of the season. In other words, I ain’t expecting any miraculous conversion on my part to occur.

On Those UltimateBet Hand Mysteries, er... Histories

Listened to The Poker Beat’s latest episode last night, and -- as I expected -- the hosts didn’t seem to pull many punches with regard to the Joe Sebok signing at UltimateBet. Pretty clear all of those who spoke -- host Scott Huff, Pokerati Dan, Gary Wise, and John Caldwell -- are less than thrilled at Sebok’s decision to sign on with UB, expressing varying degrees of skepticism and trepidation in their conversation.

The good news there, of course, is that the content of PokerRoad’s most interesting show doesn’t appear to have been unduly affected by PR’s CEO having become a sponsored pro and “media and operations consultant” for UltimateBet. As I say, I didn’t really think it would -- though I suppose that like with other matters we’ll have to wait and see how long things remain as they are at present over at PR. (Will be most interesting, of course, to hear the next episode of PokerRoad Radio, the show Sebok himself co-hosts.)

On yesterday’s episode, Pokerati Dan shared his funny story regarding his recent request to obtain his hand histories. As you might have heard, Sebok published a blog post informing everyone how to get their hand histories from UB, and Dan followed the Cub’s instructions. Apparently after his initial request, Dan was sent a form letter instructing him how to look at previous hands while playing at UB -- i.e., a useless non-response. He did get another, less impersonal reply afterwards (not discussed on the show), but it didn’t jibe with Dan’s memory of his UB (mis)adventures. (Dan’s interactions with UB support are being chronicled in the comments to this Pokerati post, if you are interested.)

Some readers of this blog might recall my own struggles with trying to get hand histories from UB, a site which I joined in the fall of 2007, then quickly decided to leave on the heels of the Absolute Poker cheating scandal. Knowing that UB and AP were owned by the same folks, I didn’t see any reason to risk remaining on UltimateBet and so pulled my money off of the site a couple of months before the scandal broke over there.

Anyhow, it was in the fall of 2008 that I put in a request to UltimateBet to get copies of all of my hand histories -- not so much because I was worried about having been cheated (I play at low stakes, and thus apparently below the range of the cheaters), but simply as part of my efforts at the time to get hand histories from all of the sites on which I have played. Incidentally, my requests to PokerStars and Full Tilt were entirely successful, with both sites able to supply me with four years’ worth of hand histories within days.

The response to my October request was that “unfortunately, due to the amount of information, we are not able to send you all your hand histories.” Of course, we’re only talking a couple of months’ worth of play on the site, so while I was skeptical, I didn’t pursue the matter.

Then on 12/14/08 Annie Duke appeared on Sebok’s PokerRoad Radio podcast and said "We'll send anybody who requests it their lifetime hand histories." So again I sent in a request, and this time was told it would take a couple of weeks, but I could get my hand histories. After three weeks of nothing, I wrote back, but received no response. Tried one more time later in January, but once more my email went unanswered.

So I gave up, but decided this morning to try again. My request concludes with the following paragraph:

“I played on UltimateBet for only a couple of months -- Aug.-Sept. 2007 -- and according to my records only played a small number of hands, relatively speaking. I also played low limit stakes, and so while it is likely I was not affected by the cheating that occurred on the site, I would like to see my hand histories nonetheless. UB’s response to my request will determine whether or not I wish to return to the site, and also whether or not I will be recommending to others that they consider playing on the site.”

I’ll note in the comments to this post what sort of response I get from my request (if any). Perhaps some -- including those handling the hand history requests at UB -- might for various reasons view my case as relatively unimportant. Indeed, I wouldn’t disagree that there are those who played on the site for whom there is much greater urgency here than is the case for myself.

Nevertheless, I was a customer at UB. And I’d like to know with utter certainty I wasn’t cheated while playing there. Indeed, I recall how during my last session on UB -- not long after the Absolute Poker merde had hit the fan -- a weird hand or two led to thoughts of the possibility that someone could see my hole cards. Which led to the realization that I couldn’t keep playing on the site, whether or not my paranoia was justified. (As it happened, the cheating was still going on at UB at the time -- although as I say probably not at my low limit table.)

So, we’ll see. Can’t believe, really, we’re all chirping about UltimateBet again like this.

Of course, some are worried about other highly important stuff. No, I am not referring to Phil Hellmuth threatening to mastermind an alternative poker site/series to compete with the World Series of Poker/Harrah’s (check it out). I’m referring to the pressing need for casinos to ready themselves for the possibility of pot being legalized in California and Nevada. No shinola! What is this, poker news or freshman comp? Got nothing but love for my bud-loving buds, but legalization is still a huge longshot. And casinos letting players get high in the poker rooms? Pure fantasyland. (Of course, the author does suggest at one point he thinks most of his readers might well be high, so maybe I’m somehow missing the big picture here, man.)

To be honest, I think it is only slightly more possible that all 31 names of the cheaters alluded to in the KGC “final decision” on the UltimateBet cheating scandal will be named. And maybe a little more likely all these friggin’ hand histories will finally be shared. Even so, I think we can all agree these are still matters worth discussing.

Shamus in Vegas: Episode 5 -- Finding Yr Calling

Had originally planned to title this last episode “The Writer’s Life,” but during the week I found a different, better title. As anyone who has ever been the least bit serious about writing knows, there’s always room for revision.

My last two days in Vegas were taken up with a good deal of running around, meeting various folks while also pursuing a particular writing project. The meetings were all fun and fruitful, and the project did get completed. All the back-and-forthing meant I didn’t get to play anymore poker after that brief session at the Gold Coast I wrote about yesterday. Though, to be honest, I wasn’t all that bummed about it.

You could say those last couple of days illustrated fairly clearly that when it comes down to it, I’m really more of a poker writer than a poker player. As much as I love to play, if given the choice, I have to admit I would rather write. Which is a good thing, as I’m probably better at writing than playing. I know my ROI tends to be better there.

Met with David Schwartz early Friday afternoon over at the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV. Wound my way up to the third floor of the Lied Library where David and I spent a while talking about the CGR and its fellowship program. Then I spent an hour or so looking through their catalog and perusing the small part of the collection they have out on the shelves. Had numerous ideas for various poker-related writing projects, and would love to spend more time over there taking advantage of the Center’s resources.

Then, as I wrote about last week, I made it over to the Wynn later that afternoon to spend a couple of hours visiting with Dan Michalski (Pokerati, The Poker Beat). While waiting to make the connection, I spent a good while watching some poker at the Wynn poker room, which was especially active that afternoon.

Dan and I talked a lot about the blogging game, podcasts, and the upcoming WSOP. I shared with Dan some of what I have been thinking about lately with regard to the writing thing -- how it is starting to become much more than just a sideline and is in fact seriously threatening to take over as my primary occupation. Goes without saying that freelance writers -- in poker or anywhere -- face a lot of uncertainty, work-wise. Of course, these days most of us are facing a lot of uncertainty work-wise, but freelance writers probably a bit more than most, as jobs are usually short-term/temporary. And there’s the whole benefits thing to fret about, too.

So while I’m still not quite ready to chuck it all and give myself over to writing full time, I do know that when I’m writing I’m happy. And life is too short not to be happy as much as possible. As Justin Shronk says in answer to one of Matt Waldron’s Random Questions “What is the meaning of life in eight words or less?” -- “Don’t be sorry.” One shouldn’t spend the majority of it doing something that isn’t totally rewarding. And happy-making. Just because you’ve started down one path, life-wise, you don’t have to continue in that direction. There’s always room for revision.

I mentioned last week how I’d forgotten to take my cell phone to my meeting with Pokerati Dan, which led to some silliness as I tried to survive a couple of hours “off the grid.” Part of that writing project I mentioned above concerned me meeting up with someone for an interview, and all week I was basically worrying over whether or not that person would call me. So that was another reason why I was a little anxious about not having my phone with me for a while on Friday afternoon.

However, once I got it back there were no messages indicating I’d missed a call. Vera and I then met some dressage folks for dinner over at Caesars Palace. We ate at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. As we had arrived about a half-hour before our reservation time, the group split up and sauntered around a bit, and at one point I had wandered into the nearby Apple store where I spent a little while goofing around with iPhones and laptops.

For fun, I picked up one of the iPhones and dialed my cell, just to see if the iPhone was in fact working. My phone buzzed in my pocket, indicating that it was. I made a mental note that if ever I was stuck without my cell again, I could find the nearest Apple store and perhaps make a needed call there.

A little while later we were seated for dinner and my phone buzzed again. Perhaps it was the person whose call I’d been expecting. But when I looked my phone was just signalling to me I’d missed a call. I looked at the number and didn’t recognize it, but thought it very likely it was the all important call.

Dammit! How did I miss it? I basically fretted over it all through dinner and even into Saturday morning. Vera kept telling me not to worry about it, but I couldn’t help it. We were only going to be in Vegas for one more day, and it looked like I’d screwed up the project.

It was actually Saturday morning before it finally hit me. I realized who it was who had called from before.

It was me.

The call I’d missed had been the one I’d placed on the iPhone at the Apple store. Vera and I had a good laugh, enjoying the absurdity created by my absent-mindedness. Seemed a little symbolic, too, the idea of missing a call to oneself. What was it that I had wanted to tell me?

In any event, like I say, all turned out just fine as far as the meeting and writing project was concerned. And, as I mentioned in my post on Monday, Vera and I had a lot of fun at the Thomas & Mack on Saturday night watching the dressage final of the World Cup. Flew back Sunday and life resumed this week as scheduled.

It was definitely fun to get back to LV like that -- to think about last summer, and to consider what might lie ahead.

Speaking of, whaddya say we put a hold on all this navel gazin’ and start talkin’ WSOP here soon? (Is it really nearly a month away?) Stay tuned.

I Would Need GPS to Find Memory Lane

Had a good visit on Friday over at UNLV with David Schwartz, Director of the Center for Gaming Research. Perused the collections for a bit, as well. Want to research a project related to gambling, Vegas, poker? The CGR is the place to go.

Made it over to the Wynn a little later in the afternoon where I met with Pokerati Dan Michalski for a couple of hours. Kind of a comical situation, caused by my absent-mindedness. I forgot to carry my cell phone to our meeting, meaning I was “off the grid” for a while. A bit worrisome, as I was supposed to be getting a call from Vera regarding our dinner plans.

When I finally got up with Dan (who, of course, had been calling me repeatedly to try to switch our meeting place), he let me use his phone to call Vera. That’s when I realized I couldn’t remember Vera’s phone number, which I never dial because it is programmed into my cell. No problem. I’ll just call someone who knows Vera’s number. I thought of a few possibilities, but realized I couldn’t recall their numbers either. Finally I found a number way back in a dusty corner of my ever-withering brainstuff and all was well.

Dan and I hoofed it over to the Encore Lobby Bar and Café where we ordered some light fare. Had fun talking blogs and the poker media, the upcoming WSOP, and the meaning of life while hounding the wait staff to bring us more than three pieces of pita bread at a time for the hummus. We walked back over to the Wynn where I left Dan at the poker room where he was going to try to join a no-limit game.

In the evening Vera and I ended up over at Caesars Palace having dinner with some friends at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, followed by some high-priced gelato and some gawking at the tropical fish in that big 50,000-gallon Atlantis aquarium.

Today it is off to the Bellagio where Day 1a of the World Poker Tour World Championship kicks off. Vera and I will be hanging out there this morning and afternoon, then tonight it is the big dressage finale of the Fédération Équestre Internationale World Cup.

Then we fly home tomorrow. Here’s hopin’ I remember to pack my cell phone.

The Anxiety of Influence

The last few times I’ve visited Pokerati, I’ve found myself lingering over that poll Dan Michalski started a couple of weeks ago in which he asks readers to choose the “Poker Person of the Year” for 2008.

Just above the list of names, Dan has attached what those who study polls call a “leading question” to his survey, that is, a question designed to focus the responses in a particular manner.

There have been some famous examples of “leading questions” throughout history of polling. For example, in 1937, the Gallup group (then just a couple of years old), conducted a poll that included the following question: “Would you vote for a woman for president if she were qualified in every other way?”

Read that one again. Notice anything wrong with it?

Incidentally, 33% responded “yes,” despite the fact that the question implies being female disqualifies someone from running for president.

Dan’s question is much more benign, of course, merely serving to guide respondents toward a particular area of the poker landscape when choosing. Dan asks us to consider...

“Who’s the one person, in 2008, who’s had the most influence on the game?”

Like I say, when I’ve been visiting Pokerati, I have lingered over that poll but have yet to select anyone from the list of 15 or so names that appear below the question. I’m realizing I cannot decide on any single individual. I’m also finding that question of “influence” to be a difficult one to determine, given the way it requires us to look back at 2008 from an imagined future and estimate who ultimately will influence poker the most.

If we’re talking about “the game” and how it is played, we should be choosing from (mostly) those who actually play poker. That’s what Gary Trask of Online Casino City did earlier this week in an article titled “Top-10 Most Fascinating (Poker) People of 2008.” Trask limits himself strictly to poker players in his list, although in his summary descriptions only a couple of them appear to have wielded any special “influence” on poker. According to Trask, anyway.

Trask’s list includes players whose achievements are obvious, like Scotty Nguyen (winner of the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event), Peter Eastgate (winner of the WSOP Main Event), John Juanda (winner of the WSOPE Main Event), and Ivan Demidov (who finished third in the WSOPE ME and second in the WSOP ME). He also highlights folks like Tiffany Michelle and Dennis Phillips for all the attention they received during their deep WSOP ME runs, and even Yuval Bronshtein for winning consecutive events in Full Tilt Poker’s FTOPS IX.

But, like I say, Trask doesn’t really get into “influence” very much, and instead speaks of the players on his list having created lasting “impressions.” And indeed, to go back to the idea of influencing how the game is played (strategically speaking), I don’t know if any of these figures really can be said to have done much in 2008 that obviously affected how others play poker.

The question of “influence” can also include other factors, too, such as the business of poker and/or the ever-shifting legal issues surrounding both online and live versions of the game.

Under the heading of the business of poker, we could talk about entities like Harrah’s/the WSOP, the World Poker Tour, the other tours (EPT, APPT, LAPT), the online sites, and the individuals responsible for their management. Under the heading of law and politics, we could identify various members of Congress, the Department of Justice, the Treasury Department, and other lobbying groups (like the Poker Players Alliance) as being among the most influential.

I suppose we could also include the media -- both “mainstream” and other types (including a few bloggers, even) -- as perhaps having a few representatives at the table, so to speak.

Indeed, this question of “who’s had the most influence on the game?” does make me imagine a big poker table with numerous “players” all gathered ’round, all of whom are having some effect on how the game is going, but none exerting the “most influence” in a way that is obvious to all of us on the rail.

Like I say, that’s a question that needs time to answer. When one looks back in poker history, there are certain years where one can see pretty clearly “who’s the one person” who most affected the future of poker.

In 1957, Herbert O. Yardley is the man for having penned The Education of a Poker Player. In 1970, Benny Binion gets the nod for launching the World Series of Poker. In 1978, Doyle Brunson has to be the choice for having gathered his cohorts to produce the first Super/System.

I suppose Phil Hellmuth might get the nod for 1989 for being the (then) youngest winner of the WSOP Main Event. For Rounders, we might single out Matt Damon or maybe director John Dahl for 1998. Henry Orenstein patented the hole card camera in 1997, though maybe we’d give him the title for 2002, the year the World Poker Tour events started to be filmed for broadcast.

2003 belongs to Chris Moneymaker, of course. And 2006 to Bill Frist.

But 2008? No idea. Not yet.

That title, by the way, alludes to a famous work of literary theory, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry by Harold Bloom (published back in the early 1970s). In the book, Bloom takes on the issue of literary influence, using a lot of psychology to explain how poets are both influenced by their predecessors and tend to want to react against earlier poets and do something new. Thus all the “anxiety.”

Indeed, I think, in fact, we all have a bit of anxiety about saying this or that contemporary is “influencing” us more than another. Even at the poker table, it usually takes us a while to admit the guy to our left is pushing us around by his play.

That might explain my hesitation to choose anyone, too. Or the popularity of “none of the above” (currently fourth in the poll).

2008 WSOP, Day 31: Tell Everyone You Know and Duplicate

Another superlong shift for yr humble gumshoe last night. We started at 2 p.m. and got out of there at something like 4:30 a.m. Still beat poor Mean Gene and Change100 who were over covering the $50K H.O.R.S.E. final table when we left, though.

I actually managed to see exactly zero hands of that celebrated event, having been away from the Rio for the first two days of it, and utterly buried under the $1,500 no-limit hold’em events I’ve been covering for the last three. Was glad to see Scotty Nguyen took that one down. Hard not to like a guy who has pet monkeys (and loves to talk about ’em).

Our event, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (Event No. 49), went fairly smoothly. We were in the Brasilia room, where I finally came up with effective signage to discourage the constant questions about satellites, registration, etc. The sign read “NO INFO ABOUT SATELLITES HERE (or much else) -- SORRY.” Several read the sign and laughed, and quite a few, including Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, stopped, read the sign, and with a smile would facetiously ask “So, do you have any info about the satellites?”

Fricke went on to suggest to me that the sign would invite even more interference, as many would stop to make that same joke. (Indeed, probably 15 people did before the night was through.) I answered that at least that was more fun than having to tell people over and over we didn’t have the info.

We played down from 215 to the final nine. Some interesting hands, and a few fun posts, but I have to admit I’m finding no-limit hold’em incredibly mundane at the moment. Was never a big fan before (it is the one game I almost never play), but writing up hundreds upon hundreds of hands is making me less and less enamored with each post.

Early in the day I was feeling particularly giddy, mainly because I had somehow rid myself of that 48-hour bug I’d picked up before. Almost got completely carried away with the puns in the post titles. Started right from the top when Young Phan had won a couple of early pots. I posted that he was getting active early, titling the post “Young and Restless.” That sent me down a dangerous road . . .

“Xiang It” -- Tingjian Xiang elimination hand.

“Merkow Not Enjoying the Vu” -- Gregg Merkow losing a big pot to Tommy Vu.

Then came the one for which I certainly secured a spot in one of the upper circles of hell:

“Nguyen-er Nguyen-er Chicken Dinner” -- Peter Nguyen wins a pot (following a post reporting Men Nguyen having won one).

Somehow no one came over to strangle me after that last one, and I managed to finish the evening/morning safely.

By the way, early on, the ever-entreprenurial Tommy Vu gave us his business card. It was for a “social networking-global commerce” website, of which he is the “founder.” By way of clarification, the card says the site is “a social site that pays you to use it and to tell others.” Sounds great, doesn’t it?

The card provides further guidance by telling the holder to follow three simple steps: (1) Call a long-distance number and listen to the message; (2) visit the website; and (3) “Tell everyone you know and Duplicate.”

I showed it to Pokerati Dan and he asked if he could have it. So if you start seeing posts over there about this neat new social site that pays you to use it and to tell others, you’ve been forewarned.

Bowling Not As Easy As It Looks

Had a fun evening last night over at the Gold Coast with Pokerati Dan and California Jen.

Enjoyed a heaping plate of Kung Pao Chicken at Ping Pang Pong, then went bowling for the first time in many, many years. Was a bit mortified at first by my incompetency, with my string of open frames (and a few gutterballs) sandwiched between Jen and Dan’s effortless-appearing strikes & spares. I think I said at one point “It’s like the ball is bowling me.” Switched to a lighter ball in the second game and actually competed for the first five frames or so before fading enough to fall just short of triple digits. (Gadzooks I ain’t.)

Here’s the scorecard for the second game, courtesy of Jen. (Game one was too horrific for me to share, although I will report Jen dazzled with a 161, Dan was strong with a 140, and I was somewhere way the hell south of both.)

Notice how in game two I fell apart after the sixth frame. Notice also how Dan choked in the tenth.

Also enjoyed our post-game convo on poker, writing, and different ways of combining the two. Had to bail shortly after midnight, as I was still only a day removed from Eastern time and thus running on fumes. Will definitely have to adjust the internal clock here over the next couple of days.

Plan today is first and foremost to try to make a grocery run (still nothing in the fridge at present except two pieces of that pepperoni pizza I ordered the first night), then meet up with the Poker Grump, one of my partners in crime over on the Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show. It is possible I may try to get some more live poker in today. More likely, though, I will just rest up a bit and ready myself for the meetings tomorrow and Thursday in anticipation of Friday’s Day 1.

Over at the Rio, they’ll be having that “soft opening” we heard about when the schedule was first announced. Not sure what exactly is on tap tomorrow, other than ongoing registration and maybe some satellites. On Thursday at noon will come one of those “mega-satellites,” a $500 freeze-out for Main Event seats. Stay tuned over at PokerNews for all the latest.

Here’s to the Great Beyond

Alas. No more riding shotgun with my friends. One of yr funnier poker podcasts has decided to call it quits after nearly two solid years of providing us a big ol’ stack of grins & giggles. Yesterday the hosts of Beyond the Table -- Dan Michalski (Pokerati), Tom Schneider (Oops! I Won Too Much Money), and Karridy Askenasy -- posted what they’ve indicated will be their final episode.

I first started listening to BTT back in the fall of 2006. Had been snooping around on the Hold ’em Radio site looking through the different shows and happened to download one of theirs. Found myself cracking up at a story Schneider told about playing a high-stakes mixed game in which Jean-Robert Bellande was doing a bit of angle-shooting. Grabbed a few more episodes and quickly came to appreciate both Askenasy & Michalski’s quick wit as well. I also really liked hearing how the poker pro responded to various questions/concerns presented by the two amateurs -- a neat dynamic, really, that seemed to me like another way the show distinguished itself from others. Pretty soon BTT became one of the shows I’d listen to immediately whenever a new episode appeared.

After a few months of listening I wrote a post about one episode where they had an interesting discussion about poker blogs. (Yes, aside from the laughs, they had some genuinely thoughtful discussions on there about all sorts of poker-related topics from time to time as well.) The guys responded to my post, and we’ve been in contact ever since.

Around March of last year the group moved away from Hold ’em Radio and began producing the show independently, no longer recording episodes live. About a month later I ended up in Vegas right around the time of the big $25K buy-in WPT World Championship at the Bellagio, at which time I got to meet Schneider as he played a qualifer for the main event. (Here’s the post describing our meet-up.) The Donkeybomber did manage to win his seat into the ME there and ended up making a decent run before busting out shy of the cash.

Schneider clearly must’ve benefitted in some intangible way from our meeting and/or the good vibes that came from doing the show, as he would go on to win two bracelets in last summer’s WSOP on his way to being named WSOP Player of the Year. Got a huge kick out of seeing him do so well. I know his co-hosts did, too. I ended up writing a few items here about Schneider’s odyssey, including a description of his first bracelet victory in the $2,500 Omaha/8-Stud/8 event, “Oops, I Won a Bracelet.”

Somewhere along the way I also began writing up “summaries” (so to speak) of episodes that were posted over on the Beyond the Table website. My favorite one of those was for the episode titled “Live and Otherwise” in which the guys took on the challenge of trying to record a show sans edits. Here’s my synopsis:

Following a pattern established by arena faves Frampton, Kiss, and Cheap Trick, this episode of Beyond the Table captures the group in a rare live performance. With no edits, overdubs, or other studio gimmickry, “Live and Otherwise” finds BTT returning to its off-the-cuff, improvisational roots.

The set gets going with a raucous medley of blues-based numbers, including soon-to-be-classics “Queens Done Done Me In (Again)” -- featuring a solo from Little Tommy Schneider -- and the Askenasy-penned “I Think My Hair Has a Mind of Its Own.” The group then transitions into a surprisingly peppy version of “House Hoppin’ Blues” chronicling Dan’s recent move Vegas-ward.

From there the boys turn topical, with rockers “Flight of the Dragon” (noting David Pham’s having locked up Player of the Year), “Enjoying the Game” (an homage to Chip Reese), and “Guilt Trip” (regarding the Vaughn-Mizzi account-purchasing affair). As an encore, the group surprises the audience with a new title, “Fortune’s Steward,” a brief romp recognizing Falstaff, author of PokerStage and tireless organizer of the recent WPBT Winter Gathering.

(No one caught my Shakespearean allusion there at the end, as far as I know.)

Will definitely miss listening to new shows, but I appreciate how difficult it is to crank out these on a regular basis. Kind of amazing, really, to think how much free fun the BTT guys gave us over the last couple of years. Thanks for that, fellas. And for everything else, too.