Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Arrival

Greetings from eastern Europe! We made it! Was a long, long, long stretch of traveling Sunday-slash-Monday. But arrive we did around 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday, Kiev time (GMT+2).

Pardon my glee at merely having arrived, but there was a period in there when it did not appear Eric (a.k.a. FerricRamsium) and I would make it. At least not by yesterday afternoon, anyway.

Our trip included three separate flights, one to Memphis, then to Amsterdam, then to Kiev. The itinerary was well planned, but all seemed quickly to go awry when our initial flight was a solid 90 minutes late leaving thanks to a series of problems connected with fueling the sucker. Then once we landed in Memphis we sat on the tarmac an extra half-hour as we waited for a gate to free up. Hadn’t even left the continent and it seemed like we were already doomed to endure an extra day of travel for sure.

Those delays meant we were getting off that first flight a few minutes after our flight to Amsterdam was scheduled to depart. It hadn’t quite left, though, so Eric and I hoofed it. And after a wild, half-mile dash through the Memphis airport -- made all the more fun as we were each carrying a week’s worth of luggage, plus laptops, etc. -- we were the last to board before the plane took off.

“We run good,” we laughed, once safely in our seats.

The connection in Amsterdam some nine hours later was much less stressful, and we made it to Kiev right on schedule. Got off the plane, turned a couple of corners, and ran smack into an enormous, not-apparently-moving-much-at-all throng of people awaiting entry through customs (see left). Soon after taking our spots at the back of the line, our PokerNews colleagues John and Jeremy arrived, and the four of us had plenty of time to catch up during the two hours or so it took us to get to the front. (Gloria, the fifth and final member of our team, would arrive a couple of hours later.)

While waiting we spotted and waved to Benjo, Marc Convey, and a few other poker reporters helping form the madding crowd. Actually, the crowd was quite relaxed, as all appeared resigned to accept the fate of the wait. Also saw a few poker players in there, as it seemed like just about all of the flights to Kiev had landed around the same time.

Once we finally got through, the four of us shared a taxi to the hotel, making the already not too expensive trip (just 200 Hryvnia or about $25) even less so. Driver cranked his stereo. (“AC/DC, good?” he asked. “Very good,” answered Eric.) Am guessing something like 15 miles to our digs, located in close proximity to the Kiev Sport Palace where the tourney is taking place.

As the music pounded, we silently surveyed the interesting mix of architecture out the car windows, marking the somewhat chaotic-looking sprawl of the city. Some eye-catching buildings dotted the landscape, though lots of public housing in various degrees of disrepair filled the gaps, too. Lot of traffic, helping contribute to the familiar big-city smell of polluted air. Weather pleasant, though -- clear and upper 70s, I’d say.

Was some time after 7 p.m. when we finally got checked in to our rooms. A humble set-up, but plenty comfortable and quiet. And a decent enough view. This morning I took some amateurish shots off the balcony, then pieced ’em together to fake this wide angle shot. Soon after taking those pics, I went down and enjoyed the awesome breakfast buffet -- a huge spread, with good, strong coffee to help stimulate yr still-a-little-tired gumshoe into full consciousness.

There’s a fitness center here, too, which I think I’ll have to try to start hitting. (Will have to be before that buffet, though.) The hotel does have wireless as well, but at a price (50 Hryvnia per hour). Am likely not to bother too much with that, I expect, since I’ll be spending most of my days at the Sport Palace, anyhow. Gonna head over there probably around 10 a.m. or so to pick up credentials and try to figure out how things will go this week as far as web access, set up, and what exactly we’ll be covering. We know we’re on the Main Event, Day 1a of which begins at noon today.

I’ll attempt to post updates here each morning before our days begin, writing them up before going over then trying to send at some point during the days. Will see if I can maybe snap a photo or two here and there as well.

Meanwhile, check in over on PokerNews’ live reporting page to see whether or not FerricRamsium and I have been able to get online. As the English version of our hotel’s greeting message says, “we hope for the fruitful cooperation!”

Destination Kiev... and the Book Is Out!

Sorry for the late post today. Was visiting family and grabbing some R & R as I ready for the Kiev trip. I fly on Sunday and arrive Monday.

Will be a lengthy trip, with two stops along the way -- something like 16 hrs. or so of traveling time. One nice aspect of the trip, though, will be that I’ll be flying with my partner in crime, FerricRamsium, who’ll be live blogging the sucker with me next week. Once we’re there, we’ll be meeting up with the rest of the PokerNews crew.

Not sure at the moment which events at EPT Kiev we’ll be covering. Still awaiting word on those specifics. We’ll certainly be covering the Main Event, a 4700 + 300 (EUR) event capped at 600 players. I imagine we might also be blogging the three-day High Rollers event, which sports a hefty 20,000 + 50 (EUR) entry fee. (No need to cap that one.) The full schedule can be seen over on the PokerStars’ EPT site. Also, be sure next week to check in over at the PokerNews’ live reporting page to see whassup.

I mentioned before that while I’ve done some traveling around Europe, and even lived in France for a full year, I’ve never been to Ukraine and thus have only a vague idea what to expect. Vera has been to Kiev before, though it was some time ago. In fact, it was the late 1980s, when Ukraine was part of the yet-to-be-dissolved U.S.S.R.

I know Kiev (or “Kyiv”) is a huge city with a population of more than 2.5 million or something (compares to Chicago). But I’ve still got some reading up to do between now and when I land Monday. I have a few informational items I’ve printed out over the last couple of days I’m taking with me, and may hit the bookstore tonight or tomorrow to see if there happens to be anything on the shelves that might be of use.

Speaking of books...

Big thanks to everyone for the many nice comments on yesterday’s post, esp. with regard to my novel. Actually got a physical copy of the book in the mail today, and it looks terrific. As I mentioned yesterday, I spent some time with the cover design and layout, and I have to say I couldn’t be more happy with it.

Pretty amazing world we live in, really. On Monday I was on here whimpering some about how books have become less and less a part of most peoples’ lives. Monday was also the day that I published my own book. And by Friday I’m holding a copy in my hands! On the one hand, advances in technology have certainly made books less central to how we experience the world. Yet on the other hand, some of those same advances have made it easier than ever to publish a book and make it available for worldwide distribution.

I have looked over the book and have now “approved” it for distribution, but it will apparently still take 6-8 weeks before it shows up over on Amazon (and on other retailers’ sites). You can, however, go ahead and buy a copy through Lulu, if you want, by clicking here. As I was saying yesterday, it is a work of hard-boiled detective fiction, and no there really isn’t any poker in it anywheres.

At some point down the road I might say more here about the novel and maybe even try to promote it a little more conspicuously, but am gonna wait for it to be available on Amazon and elsewhere before I do that. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about it feel free to write me at shamus at hardboiledpoker dot com.

Talk to you again next week -- from the other side of the Atlantic!

The Writer’s Life

  Has been an interesting month here at Hard-Boiled Poker since
  my return home from helping cover the World Series of Poker.

  A couple of weeks ago, I had a regular freelancing gig suddenly
  evaporate. Of course, nothing in the world of freelance writing should be considered regular, so you might call the phrase “regular freelancing” an oxymoron.

Or, alternatively, you might just call the person who uses such a phrase a moron. Won’t hurt my feelings none.

But the fact was this had been a long-term, quite consistent -- not to mention highly enjoyable and productive -- stream of writing assignments that surprisingly went away when the client abruptly decided on a new direction (and some new and different writers). I’ll spare you further details, but I can’t help but share my disappointment both in the decision and (in some respects) how it all has played out.

In any event, all that wondering out loud last spring about possibly moving over into full-time freelancing has been pushed aside for now. Maybe even for good.

Meanwhile, a couple of other sideline jobs have come my way.

The most notable will be my going to Kiev, Ukraine next week to help cover the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour’s first stop of Season 6. No shinola!

You’ll recall how this event was moved to Kiev from Moscow following Russia’s having declassified poker’s status as a sport, thus making it subject to new anti-gambling legislation. Thus did all the poker rooms in Moscow swiftly close, and so Kiev it was.

Have spent considerable time in Europe before, though never made it as far east as Ukraine, so I expect it will all add up to quite an adventure. No idea at present what my access to the web will be like, so if there’s any interruption in the postings next week, you’ll know why.

I know already I will not be following the footsteps of some of my reporter colleagues and making the world traveling thing a primary occupation. But I am definitely looking forward to this trip and taste of what it is like to report on tourneys outside the U.S.

Secondly, once I get back home I’ll again be helping blog the World Championship of Online Poker for PokerStars come September, doing recaps and some live blogging of the WCOOP Main Event. Looking forward to that, too, as I enjoyed doing the same both last spring (for the inaugural SCOOP series) and for last year’s WCOOP.

Finally, I have one other bit of sideline business to report with regard to my writing career. This is kind of exciting, actually.

Some time ago I completed a novel -- a hard-boiled detective novel, natch. (I remember mentioning this in a post once a long time ago, which gives you some idea just how long ago this project has been going on.) Revised the sucker several times and sent it to a few publishers, a couple of whom expressed some interest but ended up not pursuing. Time passed, and after some encouragement from Vera Valmore I revisited the novel one last time, then decided to publish it myself. Went through and gave it a final edit, took some time with the formatting, designed front and back covers, and this week took the plunge and published it over on Lulu.

A review copy is being sent to me now, and I am going to wait until I see it and decide all is well before giving out any further details here about how to get the book. The story is set in New York City during the 1970s, and is pretty obviously influenced by the hard-boiled novels/authors I have listed in my profile here. And while I’m remembering one reference to a card trick in there, the novel has absolutely no poker in it whatsoever.

I realize I should thank everyone who has ever read Hard-Boiled Poker, especially the many who’ve sent along kind words and encouragement with regard to my writing, as that sort of thing certainly helped played a role in my decision to go ahead and push forward with the novel. Kind of satisfying to get it out there (and maybe just a little scary, too). Feel very good about doing so, though, not least because it further encourages me to get going on that second one.

So more on the novel to come. And Kiev. Stay tuned.

A Sporting Chance for Poker

Last week was “National Poker Week” here in the United States. Lots of lobbying on Capitol Hill happening in an effort to try to get lawmakers to view poker not as an immoral, unsavory vice, but as a legitimate pursuit that rewards the skill of its participants and is thus undeserving of any sort of ill-founded governmental proscription.

As far as I know, no one in Washington, D.C. last week was explicitly advancing arguments about poker being a “sport.” Probably just as well. Complicates things.

Recently the Russian government officially revoked poker’s status as a sport, thereby making it illegal to operate any non-government-sanctioned poker rooms. The change also means that poker rooms are forbidden from operating within 1,000 kilometers of Moscow, with just a few remote locations (including in Siberia) now being allowed. Big news in Russia, a country whose gaming industry had grown significantly since the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Reports are that “tens of thousands” already find themselves unemployed as a result of this change.

To give you an idea of the scope, more than 520 casinos were operating in Moscow prior to the change in designation for poker, meaning more than 10,000 people in the Russian capital instantly lost their jobs. The Russian Association for Gaming Business Development has estimated that ultimately something like 350,000 people eventually will lose their jobs across Russia as a direct consequence of the change, and more than $2 billion of tax revenue will be lost. Not all agree with those numbers -- other estimates of lost jobs and tax revenue are considerably lower -- but you get the idea.

Meanwhile, poker and other forms of gambling can only now take place in Siberia and other far-away spots.

Something kind of uncanny in hearing those references to poker having been “exiled” to Siberia. That’s because Siberia was one of the places where the Soviet Union (up through the 1950s) had located hundreds of labor camps -- by order of the governmental agency known as the “Gulag” -- where prisoners were sent to work as punishment. The labor camps predated the U.S.S.R., actually, with Russia having similarly sent prisoners to Siberia to work back in the 19th century. Indeed, at the end of The Brothers Karamazov (published in 1880 and set a couple of decades before), when Dmitri is on trial for murdering his father, he’s facing the prospect of being shipped to Siberia for a life of hard labor should he be found guilty.

Meaning the name “Siberia” automatically evokes for many ideas of exile, punishment, and the severe exertion of governmental authority.

This anti-gambling law went into effect on July 1, and appears to have caught many off guard, including the European Poker Tour which had a scheduled a tour stop in Moscow next month. It shouldn’t have, though, as former Russian president Vladimir Putin had signed the bill -- called “About the State Regulation of Activities on Gambling” (a.k.a., the “Russian Gambling Bill”) -- into law way back in November 2006. Not like the EPT and others couldn’t have seen it coming. (EDIT [added 1:30 p.m.] -- See comments for clarification here; while the anti-gambling law went into effect 7/1/09, the change in poker's "sport" designation that forced the closure of poker rooms only came more recently.)

Sounds like the whole “poker as a sport” thing was one of those peculiar idiosyncrasies that resulted from someone -- namely those running the Russian Physical Training and Sport Committee that made the list -- not really recognizing the government’s authority in such matters when they included poker on the list (back in 2004, apparently).

Since all the casinos in Moscow have been closed, the EPT has moved its August event over to Kiev, the Ukraine capital.

Where will the event take place? The Kiev Sports Palace (pictured at left). Where they host things like the Eurovision Song Contest, fairs and exhibitions, and other big public gatherings.

And various sports, too. You know, like poker.