From the Farm to France

About to hit the road again, returning to Deauville, France for a second straight year to help cover the EPT stop. I fly out tomorrow, and with one long layover and losing a bunch of hours it’ll be Saturday before I arrive -- in time, though, for the Sunday start of the Main Event.

Am looking forward to returning to Deauville after last year’s trip which was the first time I’d been back in France after having lived there for a year with Vera some time back. We were in Lille, which is also in the north and which bears a lot of affinities with Deauville, thus filling last year’s trip with a great deal of déjà vu for your humble scribbler.

The headlines these days out of Ukraine are making me think of the first time I ever traveled to report on an EPT event, the one in Kyiv that happened back in 2009. (We used the Ukrainian spelling then, and I continue to today.) That was kind of a one-off occurrence, with a stop that had been originally scheduled to happen in Moscow getting rebooked for Ukraine at the last minute (also a reason why I happened to be asked to step in to help with the reporting).

That was a memorable trip for me for a number of reasons. At the time it was the longest distance I’d ever journeyed (by a long shot) to cover a poker tourney. And while Vera has had a chance to travel in Russia and surrounding countries, I’d never done so and thus it was kind of fascinating to spend even a short while in that part of the world.

That trip stands out for one more reason in my memory, too, as I happened to win the Media Event in a tourney that took five or six hours to complete. Indeed, I used to joke for a long time about how I was undefeated in tourneys outside the U.S. (no longer the case today). I wrote trip reports from Ukraine here, if you’re curious.

Of course, now I am seeing the frightening footage and am reading the reports of the massive protests happening in Kyiv currently (and spreading elsewhere). They’ve been going on since December, although turned violent this week with some protester deaths amid an escalation of the conflict with the Ukrainian government. Seeing the reports, I’ve attempted in vain to recall the streets I walked when I was there over four years ago, trying unsuccessfully to match my dim memory with the chaotic-seeming images from the past few days.

Am certainly hoping the tide turns in a more peaceful direction there soon. Meanwhile, I’m glad to be traveling and meeting up with friends and others who’ll be converging on Deauville over the next week. Am torn somewhat as I really don’t want to leave Vera and the horses. The farm is so calm and quiet, making it that much harder to leave it -- even just to go to the grocery store, never mind travel over the ocean.

But it’s good to see the world some, too. More to come.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Looking Back

About halfway through last week I got an email from a poker media colleague who was thinking about also doing a bit of traveling to cover a non-U.S. poker tournament. Like me prior to going to Kyiv, that’s something he hasn’t done before, and so wondered how I was finding the experience and whether or not I thought it was worth it.

I didn’t have a lot of time to respond, but did shoot him a quick email with a few thoughts, the gist of which was to say I was especially glad I’d made the trip. Sure, for a poker reporter you could look at it in a practical way as a résumé-builder. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have something like covering an EPT event successfully under yr belt. And making a little cabbage is always nice, too. But for me the benefits of the trip go way beyond career stuff or the financial aspects.

Last night Vera Valmore asked me to tell her what I liked most about the trip and what I liked least. I had many answers for the first question, and struggled mightily to answer the second. Had to settle for “not getting enough sleep” and “being away from Vera” as the main downsides to the trip. Meanwhile, had lots to say about what I liked.

Travel is something I have always enjoyed, though never really sought out to do. Have taken many trips all over the world with Vera, but chances are probably slim I’d have gone to all those places without her. So had the invitation to cover EPT Kyiv not come my way, I can say pretty confidently I probably wouldn’t have gone to Ukraine otherwise, unless it came up in some other context. (Yes, I do run good -- in many ways.)

As those who followed the blog last week probably gathered, most of our waking hours were spent at the Kyiv Sport Palace covering the event, so our days were mainly taken up either at the tourney, at the President Hotel (our home-away-from-home for the week), or making the ten-minute walk to and fro. So I didn’t really see a lot of Kyiv beyond what I experienced in those places, although on Saturday I did get to join Eric, Glo, Jeremy, and John for a long walk through the city for some sightseeing and shopping.

Still, I did get to recognize and appreciate a different culture, one that seemed to share a lot with other European cities I’ve visited. One big difference was the cost -- of everything, really -- which was very manageable compared to most other European destinations. Indeed, I spent much less than I expected to during the week, and wasn’t necessarily Hryvnia-pinching my way through the trip, either.

Certain things -- like haggling with taxi drivers over what you’ll pay them -- didn’t necessarily come naturally, though it wasn’t hard to get used to how things were done. Really everyone with whom I interacted was very hospitable and friendly, and while I can’t speak knowledgeably about the current state of Kyiv (economy, crime, other culture, etc.), it certainly seemed a safe, stimulating place to live.

The European Poker Tour -- sponsored by PokerStars.com -- is a very impressive, well-managed operation (in my view). Of course, I haven’t really been on the “inside” for other tours besides the WSOP, and so don’t have a lot on which to base a comparison. But just about everything associated with EPT Kyiv -- the planning and preparation, the accommodations for media, the treatment of players, the functioning of tourney staff (dealers, directors) -- seemed strong evidence that those running the show really know what they’re doing.

Talking with colleagues who’ve covered other EPT events confirmed all of these impressions for me. There’s a ton to consider when taking a tour to different countries and venues, trying to adapt in ways that work for everyone involved. Maybe I’m still a newbie who hasn’t been to enough stops to have developed a more critical eye, but I come away from EPT Kyiv a big fan of the tour and what it has accomplished during its five-plus seasons.

You might remember the story of the power outage on Day 1b (see post), when play in the Main Event was interrupted for 20 minutes or so. Was thinking afterwards of how chaotic such an event might have been at the WSOP, and how negative the reaction would have been. Nothing like that at all at Kyiv, where everyone took it in stride and, really, it just became another interesting facet of an already interesting experience. There are probably a few ways to explain this response, but one is certainly the professionalism and care with which the EPT is run. (Not necessarily implying here that the WSOP isn’t run well -- it is -- but just to underscore my positive response to the EPT.)

Another big plus for me was working with the PokerNews group -- my partner blogger Eric (FerricRamsium), Gloria Balding (GloriaJoy) and Jeremy Firth (twitter / blog) (video), and Jonathan Boncek (photographer). Funny, smart, talented folks, with whom I’m honored to have been able to work. Here’s just one of the many vids Glo & Jeremy put together during the week, one which shows you a bit more of what there was to see when one wandered beyond the hotel and tourney venue:



I mentioned before, also, how cool it was to work with those from the other sites, too, including the PokerStars blog and the several other sites there covering the event. A bunch more quick-witted, gifted, and mutually-supportive people, making for a terrific work environment.

As far as the actual tournament went, I’ve come away a big fan of a few players, including Shaun Deeb, Andrew Malott, and Alex Fitzgerald -- Americans who made the trip and came away from Kyiv having profited. The guys who did well in the Main Event, including the winner Maxim Lykov and a few others, impressed quite a bit, too.

Dunno know how many of the 296 who entered the Main Event I’ll be seeing or running into again, but I have a feeling I’ll be pulling for all of them somehow, given how each played a role in helping form this nice memory for me.

Which was the point of this and the last few posts -- to chronicle and thus help me remember my Kyiv adventure. (Thanks for reading along!)

Back to the usual applesauce tomorrow. Got some news coming regarding the podcast, as well as more info on the novel, too. Oh, and as I resume the “real” life I’ll probably try to play some poker in here somewhere as well, so might be talking about that, too.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 5

Back home, safe and sound. The trip from Kyiv to Frankfurt to Cincinnati to home was relatively smooth, though took about 20 hours total and so I’m afraid I’m too sapped to write much of anything today. That’s a pic out the window from the first leg of our journey, for which we flew Ukrainian International Airlines.

The EPT Kyiv Main Event ended somewhat excitingly, with the Russian Maxim Lykov -- who had ended the previous three days as the chip leader -- taking it down. The coverage went well, I think, and in the end it was a very satisfying week of reporting. Was a blast working with Eric, Glo, Jeremy, and John, as well as alongside all of the other folks there reporting for the many different sites.

Speaking of, just before play began yesterday, I was interviewed by a Ukrainian poker site called Balaganoff. Grigory, my interviewer, asked me about winning the media tourney, my visit to Kyiv, and my experiences this week covering the event. Here’s the interview, if yr curious. Starts out with a couple of minutes of montage from the media tourney, then comes me (dubbed, natch).

I’ll be back on tomorrow with a few last reflections on the trip. For now, it is time to get some rest.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 4

Was a late one yesterday, with play lasting until after midnight and our wrap-up work not concluding until after 1 a.m. Ended up staying up another hour back at the hotel chatting with Vera Valmore on Skype. I guess it says something about my age to say I’m still flummoxed by the fact that it is possible to chat (with video) with someone 5,000 miles away like that.

Had thoughts of getting up and doing a little more sight-seeing this morning, but was dead to the world until 10:30 a.m., my body clock finally catching up and allowing me to have a decent period of sleep. Of course, we’ve only one more night here in Ukraine, so I’ll be having to adjust again soon.

Final table today starts at noon local time. You can follow the action over at EPT Live, if you like -- a very cool way to follow all of the EPT events. Have to say, they do a lot of things especially well on the EPT.

Gotta get to work, so no time for more today. Might not be back on here for a couple of days actually, as I’ll be in transit. Will surely have some post-Kyiv reflections to share on the other side, but I can say for now it has been a terrific week -- for lots of reasons -- and I’m really glad I decided to make the trip. (But I’ll be glad to get back home, too.)

Signing off from Kyiv. Check out the PokerNews’ live reporting page to see how the tourney plays out.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 3

Was a relatively short day at EPT Kyiv yesterday. At least as far as the Main Event went, anyway. Turned out to be a long, long one for me. Lemme explain.

The plan for Day 3 was to play down from 68 to 32 players, making it four eight-handed tables coming back for today. (The event has been played eight-handed since Day 2, by the way, and the final table -- like all EPT FTs -- will be eight-handed, too.) “Miami” John Cernuto went out early on Friday, as did the last remaining woman, Liya (not Lika) Gerasimova.

Indeed, of our final 32 there are a couple of folks whom some of us knew previously -- such as Americans Andrew Malott and Alex Fitzgerald -- but most hail from Russia or the Ukraine and we only know them thanks to having followed them this week. Some characters and personalities among the bunch, though, so it will be interesting to see how things play out.

Will also be interesting to see how the reporting will go today and tomorrow, as the action will all be shot for broadcast in Europe. I assume we reporters will be on the floor today, but on Sunday the action will move to the main stage (where the week began with the drummers and dancers of the opening ceremony), and we may well be simply reporting from a live feed rather than actually being there near the final table. Whatever the case is, I’m sure all will go well, as tournament organizers have been especially conscientious of the media’s needs all week.

Play ended around seven p.m. or so last night, which meant we were pretty much done with the wrap-up work by eight o’clock or so. Then came the media tournament, sponsored by PokerStars. A neat bonus, as we got to play at the tables, with the EPT cards, chips, and dealers. The top three finishers would cash, with PokerStars promising to deposit into those players’ accounts according to a sked of $150-$100-$50.

It was probably about nine p.m. or so when cards went in the air. How’d it go? As my partner Eric (FerricRamsium) sez, “Ship it!”

Somehow yr humble gumshoe managed to negotiate his way through the field of 40 or so players to take down the sucker, the end coming a little after 2:30 a.m. I don’t think this quite rates me a page on Hendon Mob, but it will serve for a nice memory of EPT Kyiv, dontcha know. Indulge me a quick highlight reel.

Was at Eric’s table to start out (there’s a picture of him there, preparing for battle), and he immediately started mixing it up, open-raising most hands and quickly accumulating chips. Had the supremely bad fortune to draw pocket kings against another player’s pocket aces, though, which crippled him. He did exit heroically, however, going out with the “hammer” (7-2).

We actually had a somewhat slow structure for the beginning and middle stages of the tourney -- at least relative to how these type of events usually go -- with short increases in blinds (and eventually antes) and 25-minute levels. I could afford, then, to be choosy with my hand selection, and therefore didn’t get too randy early on. Picked up pocket kings myself before my initial table broke and they worked out much better for me than for Eric, scoring me a double up and some early breathing room.

Skipping ahead, there were a few instances where I got lucky, for sure, the most notable example coming in a hand about an hour-and-a-half into the tourney in which I’d picked up pocket queens. A novice player -- he’d told us all this was his first time playing poker -- had raised before the flop, I reraised him with position, and he called. The flop came jack-high (rainbow), he checked, I fairly confidently pushed all in, and he called me with A-Q offsuit. Looked pretty good for me, until an ace fell on the turn. I’d already mentally given up the hand when the case queen appeared on the river.

“Miracudiculous,” I said. Afterwards, I was asked by Marc Convey if I’d used my “one-time chip” -- invented by Stephen Bartley, who also made the final table last night. I could honestly say I had not, as once that ace fell it did not even occur to me that there was any way I’d still win the hand. (See here for more on the origin and history of the “one time chip.”)

My opponent actually had me slightly covered in that one -- something I wasn’t even completely sure about when I’d pushed, to be honest -- so the one-outer had saved my tourney life. Play continued, and eventually my other PokerNews colleagues -- Jeremy, Gloria, and John -- would all go out. And head out, too, except for Glo who ended up sticking around and giving me much-appreciated encouragement for most of the night.

Sometime after midnight we’d made it to the final table, at which point I might’ve been close to or even had the chip lead with about 17,000 of the 80,000 chips or so in play. I’d fall back to average eventually, though would build back up, and when Simon of PokerStars went out in fourth I believe I might have had the chip lead again.

At that point it was just me and two Russian players, one of whom was particularly strong -- the best player of the final trio, I think it is safe to say -- and soon he assumed the chip lead. The blinds/antes started going up more rapidly, and I’d become short (down to five or six big blinds) when I got lucky on a big hand versus the new chip leader. He’d limped in the small blind, and I checked the BB with 8-4 offsuit. The flop came J-7-4, he checked, I pushed, and he deliberated for a good while before calling with a seven. Another four then popped out on the turn, the river blanked, and I was still kicking.

Soon thereafter I was heads up with Kirill, the other Russian player, and I believe I had around a 3-2 chip advantage when we started. We went back and forth some, and I chipped up a little more. Then about eight or ten hands in, Kirill shoved from the small blind/button and I quickly called with . Kirill turned over . “Doyle Brunson,” he said with a grin. The board went , and I’d won!

The whole night was a blast. The dealers were a ton of fun, and Clement, our tourney director, was terrific, too. Shaun Deeb, fresh off of taking down the three-handed High Rollers event earlier in the day, was sweating us for a while during the breaks from the PLO event he was playing. Nikolay Evdakov (who also played the High Rollers) had come over to watch as well. In fact, Evdakov had a video camera and was filming us when we were six-handed, at which point Simon delivered an uproarious monologue to the camera explaining to Evdakov how he’d spent €20,000 to enter our tourney and was looking to challenge the Russian next.

We were up early this morning, doing a little sight-seeing and shopping before going in for the noon restart. Really my only chance at seeing something other than the hotel and the Sport Palace this week, so even though I’m short on sleep, I’m pretty wired and ready to go.

As always, be sure to follow along over on PokerNews’ live reporting page as we work down to the final eight. And while yr over there check out the coverage from APT Macau, delivered by F-Train and TassieDevil, too!

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 2

Morning, peeps. Halfway there -- three days of play down (Day 1a, 1b, and 2) and three to go. Life in Ukraine still good. Got a better night’s sleep last night, as I think I’ve finally gotten mostly adjusted, time zone-wise. Still feels a little wild to be waking up in eastern Europe, some 5,000 or so miles away from home. Most certainly the farthest yr humble gumshoe has ever ventured.

The weather here in Kyiv has been quite mild, with temperatures in the 70s most days. Been a nice week in that respect, with blue skies and just a few clouds. Was cooler than that walking over to the Sport Palace yesterday morning -- enough so to require a jacket. Inside the arena is a bit warmer (no jacket required), and there is some extra humidity here that may affect those who don’t normally live in humid environments. Comfortable, though.

I mentioned before how there are a number of folks on media row, such as Benjo, Marc Convey, and others with whom I’ve worked and/or know from the WSOP. Forgot also to mention two other familiar faces here in Kyiv -- Kevin and Robbie from the Rio, who are here acting as tournament directors for the various events. Was cool to see them, and a little surreal seeming.

Saw Robbie yesterday and told him I’d been looking for him during the power outage on Wednesday because I wanted to ask him if flash photography was permitted anywhere inside the Sport Arena. (Inside joke, there -- those of us who’ve worked with Robbie are most familiar with his frequent admonitions at WSOP events, wryly delivered in his unmistakable baritone, that “no flash photography is permitted anywhere inside the Amazon Room.”) Told him I’d come 5,000 miles to ask him that.

Play yesterday went quite rapidly, with two-thirds of the 203 returning players being eliminated in just five 75-minute levels. Brought back memories of the final days of the WSOP Main Event this summer, when many players seemed plenty willing to gamble it up with 80-plus big blinds. I don’t think those planning the tourney thought we’d be losing players at quite the clip we did on Thursday, so they’re adjusting the schedule as we go to ensure the tourney stretches out over the scheduled five days of play.

As I say, the plan is three more days, with the final two getting covered for television. Sounds like they’ll be playing down from 71 to 32 players today, then 32 to 8, then have that eight-handed final table on Sunday. As a result we may get to enjoy somewhat shorter days today and tomorrow, meaning Eric (FerricRamsium) and I might get a chance to get out and see a little bit of the city before we leave on Monday. The rest of our crew -- Gloria, Jeremy, and John -- made it out already to shoot some video and take photos yesterday while Eric and I were at the Sport Palace.

As far as reporting went yesterday, all was fairly straightforward. Nothing nearly as exciting happened as Wednesday’s power outage. Some interesting hands here and there, but mostly just chronicling the fast pace of the eliminations and the emergence of the tourney’s big stacks.

Making that fifty-yard walk back and forth between the floor and the laptop does pose a bit of a challenge sometimes, since when sitting at the computer yr too far away from the action to know if something is happening. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, media row is separated from the poker by curtains (in that picture above, the tourney is playing out on the other side). So while we can sometimes hear announcements and such, we can’t really follow anything when on our side.

So it can be hit or miss, sometimes, as far as getting good hands goes. Of course, we’ve reached the stage of the tourney now where we know most of the players by sight, which means when we do get hands they are easier to report. A good thing, since by now just about all of the (relatively few) “name” players who made the trip are busto. “Miami” John Cernuto is still in, as are a couple of others who are somewhat known from other EPT events. But I’m meeting pretty much all of these guys -- and the one lady who is left, Lika Gerasimova -- for the first time.

There’s a €20,000 “High Rollers” event scheduled to begin today, although we’re hearing there aren’t too many players who’ve expressed interest in playing that one. I think Gus Hansen may have stuck around for it, and Shaun Deeb (who went out of the Main Event yesterday) might be wanting to play it, too, although it isn’t certain the tourney will even be played. They’ve had a few other lower buy-in side events this week -- including a ladies’ event -- although the field sizes have been fairly modest for those. We’ll see.

One tourney that will definitely be happening is a PokerStars-sponsored media tourney. We’re to play that not long after play concludes today. Ought to be fun. Will report how that goes tomorrow.

Meanwhile, see you over at PokerNews’ live reporting page.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 1b

Good morning from Kyiv! It’s yr buddy, Short-Stacked Shamus. Or, should I say, SHФЯT-STДCКЗD SHДMЦS?

The second day of play at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Main Event in Kyiv, Ukraine -- the second of two scheduled “day ones” -- attracted 167 more players, bringing the overall total number of entrants for the event to 296. I know those running the show were hoping to hit 300, but I think that had been considered a somewhat unlikely goal, so 296 ain’t bad.

There are 33 different countries represented, too, which is kind of amazing to consider, especially given the fact that players only had a couple of weeks to arrange to come to Kyiv. We’ll never know, of course, how many would have been there had this event been played in Moscow as originally scheduled. I think in fact there might have been some who came to Kyiv who might not have come otherwise, given the stricter visa requirements over in Russia.

As happened on Day 1a, there were seven one-hour levels played yesterday with no dinner break. For those of us on the reporting side, that basically translates into approximately ten consecutive hours of work -- a bit of preliminary prep, blogging through the eight hours or so it takes to play the seven levels, then doing all the recap stuff afterwards (getting final chip counts, writing wrap-ups, etc.). A long day, then, though not as arduous as some of the days we had at the WSOP.

The press area is located right next to where the tourney is being played, which I’m told is a more convenient set-up than sometimes occurs at these non-WSOP events. Actually we’re all in the same cavernous arena that is the Kyiv Sport Palace, with huge amber-colored curtains hanging down from the ceiling separating the rows of tables at which the media works from the poker tables on the other side. So FerricRamsium and I are continually walking back and forth -- about 50 yards (?) -- between our laptops to the tourney as we gather hands and other items to report throughout the day.

Without question, the most memorable moment yesterday came when a construction crew working near the Sport Palace accidentally cut through the main power line, suddenly plunging the entire arena into darkness. At the time I was on the floor, standing in between two tables and trying to record the action at both.

On my left was Dario Minieri’s table. The Italian had been playing his usually aggressive game, opening most hands with preflop raises and watching his stack go up and down wildly. After more than doubling up early, he’d slipped up and was down around 10,000 or so (from the starting stack of 30,000), and so I wanted to keep an eye on him just in case he happened to bust.

Meanwhile, to my right I had become engrossed in a huge hand developing between another Italian player, Pier Paolo Fabrietti, and a fellow named Alexander Rykov. On the turn the board read . Rykov bet 7,500 into what had already become about a 20,000-chip pot, and Fabrietti called. The river was the , and Rykov again made a bet. Fabrietti responded by pushing all in, and Rykov thought a bit before finally making the call. Fabrietti had Rykov covered by about 10,000, and the pot was now over 100,000.

Somewhat surprisingly, the moment Rykov called Fabrietti tossed his cards to the dealer. He’d obviously missed a draw on that river and had nothing, although it was odd to see him mucking without waiting to see Rykov’s cards. (I ended up chatting about this hand some time later with one of the other players at the table, who said he most definitely would have waited to see what Rykov had before giving up like that.)

It was at the precise moment Fabrietti tossed his cards -- I want to say they were still airborne, in fact -- that the power went out. All of the players at the table instantly pulled out their cell phones and shone the meager bit of light they provided on the table. The dealer leaned forward, anxiously extending both hands out over the chips in the middle. Rykov turned out to have pocket kings, giving him a set. Wild stuff.

At other tables hands had been interrupted midway through, and so those were finished one at a time with the tournament director shining a flashlight. My buddy Benjo snapped that nifty photo pictured above, chronicling the action as we awaited the return of power. Backup generators were cranked up, and after about 20-25 minutes of darkness we were back in business.

Minieri busted soon thereafter. As did Gus Hansen, who arrived very late. He’d apparently bought in earlier, but didn’t take a hand until the middle of the fourth level, and was out at the start of level seven. There were 110 players left at the end of Day 1b, meaning we’ve got 203 total coming back today for Day 2.

The tourney is scheduled to go four more days. No idea how many levels they’ll play today or from this point forward. I did hear that the tourney will be played eight-handed from Day 3 onward (all EPT final tables are eight-handed, btw). Also, there will be television crews on hand for the last two days of play, as I believe they’ll be showing this event in Europe at some point in the near future. There’s also some sort of “EPT Live” feed available online, I think -- I’m sure I’ll learn more about that as we go.

To this point Kyiv has basically been a lot of back-and-forthing for me -- from the laptop to the poker tables and back, and from the hotel to the Sport Palace and back. So not much sight-seeing, but I’m having fun, for sure. Am still struggling to find a good night’s sleep, I’m afraid. Am usually in bed by midnight, but as my body clock still thinks that it is late afternoon, it has been taking me a few hours to shut down the brain altogether. But all in all, so far so good.

Talk at you tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can check in on us over on the PokerNews’ live reporting page. Also, Gloria, Jeremy, and John are doing some location shooting in the city this morning, so there should be some cool video from Kyiv on the site soon. Go over to tv.pokernews.com later in the day for that.

Travel Report, EPT Kyiv: Day 1a

Not much time to write today, but I did want to touch base regarding the start of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour here in Kyiv, Ukraine.

That’s right -- Kyiv. We’re going with that spelling over “Kiev,” following the local custom. There is a bit of political context, actually, to the spelling issue, with “Kiev” connoting associations with the former Soviet Republic and “Kyiv” suggesting a break from the past. Getting a little bit of education here regarding the history and culture as we go.

The first day of the event went fairly well from the reporting side of things. There were a few challenges along the way, the biggest being some sketchy internet connectivity during the middle part of the day. Also, as might be expected, we were dealing with trying to identify a lot of relatively unknown Ukrainian and Russian players. There were just a small handful of “name” players among the 129 who came out for Day 1a (we expect quite a few more for Day 1b, including a lot of the PokerStars players). We did okay, though, and as the day wore on got to know quite a few players.

The day began with a nifty opening ceremony featuring a quartet of percussionists (a group called Ars Nova) and a Ukrainian dance troupe (Virskogo). Both put on raucous, exhilarating performances -- perfectly incongruous given the quiet, sober poker that followed, but pretty cool nonetheless.

That was followed by a message from Ukraine’s “Minister of Youth, Family, and Sport” in which reference was made to a recent court decision (on June 11, I believe) to include poker among Ukraine’s list of non-Olympic sports. Kind of interesting to hear that, given the fact that the whole reason the event is taking place here in Kyiv is because Russia decided to declassify poker’s status as a sport, thus subjecting it to recently enacted anti-gambling legislation. A few more remarks followed, then the cards were in the air.

Once the tourney started, it was relatively familiar territory for yr humble gumshoe. FerricRamsium and I gathered hands and reported, while John snapped photos and Gloria and Jeremy shot videos. The day was a bit arduous, as we pushed through seven levels without a dinner break. But we finished in time to grab a late dinner at the hotel restaurant and were back in our rooms before midnight.

Haven’t ventured much beyond the hotel and the Kyiv Sport Palace thus far. (Indeed, probably won’t be able to get out much at all this week, given that we’ll be working long days from now until we leave.) Have nevertheless already gotten to enjoy some fabulous eats here at the hotel. I mentioned the terrific breakfast spread yesterday. Got to enjoy another scrumptious meal last night, getting the Chicken Kiev -- spelled Kiev -- which was melt-in-yr-mouth awesome.

As I say, not a lot of time to write this morning, so I’m cutting it short. Did want to mention how cool it was to be working alongside not just my PokerNews colleagues, but the other reporters from the various sites who are here, too. Saw many of these folks over the summer at the WSOP, and it is fun to be part of the especially collegial, mutually supportive atmosphere these smart and friendly peoples help create.

Okay, off to work. Back tomorrow. Head over to PokerNews’ live reporting page for our updates today.

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!”