2011 WSOP, Day 26: Game Shows in the Desert

Last night was my first opportunity to report from the so-called “mothership” -- that outrageously lavish stage and arena that has been constructed there in the center of the Amazon Room for this year’s World Series of Poker.

“It’s like a game show,” said FlipChip to me, waving a hand around for emphasis. Seemed to me as apt a description as one could give to it. I haven’t even seen the full effect yet, with the wrap-around LED lights going off and the fog machine and all of the other bells and whistles they’ve added.

That was about 2:45 a.m. The two of us we were sitting together watching Justin Filtz and Matt Jarvis battling through their third hour of heads-up at Event No. 40, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Six-Handed) event. FlipChip was there to take some winner’s photos, but that wasn’t to be last night.

To the dismay of both players’ groups of fans cheering them on, the tourney was stopped a half-hour or so later at the end of Level 30, which means the pair will be returning today to finish up. It was another instance of the “hard stop” or “ten-level rule” that has been instituted at this year’s WSOP preventing the conclusion of a final table. The 2010 November Niner Jarvis will have a better than 3.5-to-1 chip lead over Filtz when they resume.

It struck me that the stopping of our event just prior to its scheduled climactic moment kind of replicated in miniature what the Main Event has become since the whole “November Nine” idea was instituted in 2008. The drama builds and builds, we get closer and closer to the resolution and final determination of a winner, then we “end” on a cliffhanger.

It really is a game show. Or, perhaps more accurately, a “reality” show based around some kind of ongoing competition. Come back next week to see who has been eliminated! And don’t forget later, the season finale, when the winner will at last be crowned!

To be honest, I was almost entirely ambivalent about the possibility we wouldn’t see a finish last night, especially after Jarvis survived an all-in late with A-10 versus Filtz’ pocket sevens.

To finish. Not to finish. To borrow the title of my one and only novel... same difference.

I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I’ve seen enough of these suckers through to the end that I’m less invested today in this “hard stop” issue preventing tourneys from being played out. Even so, just as I remain opposed to the November Nine delay as a crazy, artificial disruption of a tournament’s “natural” rhythm (I use that adjective tentatively), I can’t be too enthused about playing most of a final table and then stopping like we did last night.

My partner Rich pointed out to me how as occurs with the November Nine, you can expect some coaching to happen during this unscheduled delay, in this case Justin Filtz possibly getting some advice from Daniel Negreanu.

Negreanu -- who went out at the start of Day 3 to finish in 20th place in this event -- was there last night cheering on Filtz. Of added interest, at one point Negreanu yelled out at Matt Jarvis, who was sporting a Full Tilt Poker logo: “Take off that dirty patch! They don’t pay!”

Anyhow, like the disruption of the tourney’s rhythm, the added opportunities for coaching also seem to compromise the event’s integrity in some fashion. Or at least some might argue that point.

Not me, though. Am not invested enough at the moment, nor have I the energy, anyway. I’m scheduled to be back at the Rio at noon today to help with Day 1 of Event No. 45, the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. No idea how the heads-up of Event No. 40 will be handled, reporting-wise. Perhaps I’ll get pulled off my event temporarily to take care of that, or someone else will -- we’ll see.

In any case, you can check over at PokerNews live reporting to find out what happens next with this little series of game shows playing out in the Nevada desert which drew us all here.

2010 WSOP, Day 30: “You’re winning this one”

“You’re winning this one.”

So said Flipchip, the longtime WSOP photographer, to Gavin Smith near the end of Day 2 of Event No. 44, the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event, when there were 11 players left. I’ve had the chance to work with Flipchip each of these last three summers, and was there letting him know who was left in the field as he came around to snap up some late night pics.

I don’t exactly remember Smith’s reply. Something self-deprecating like “I hope so” or “That’s the plan,” I think. But I do remember Flipchip’s response -- a wordless nod, eyes closed.

He’d already snapped a few of Smith before I’d arrived with the list of the other players and their seating assignments. While he needed others’ names, he obviously knew Smith already. Like most all of us.

And like I say, he seemed to know something else, too. It was like Flipchip had just spotted something a moment before through that camera he held at his side.

Smith is one of those players whom a lot of us who follow poker feel like we know even if we don’t. As a longtime poker podcast listener -- from really the very start of such things back about five years ago -- I’d spent many hours listening to “the Caveman” on shows like The Circuit, PokerWire, and PokerRoad Radio, where I always found Smith a funny, entertaining contributor who could be thoughtful at times, too, when required.

He’s also one of those pros who has always seemed willing to share opinions about issues others shy away from talking about, less concerned (than most) with some of the politicking that goes on, as well as the tiptoeing some are forced to do relative to their endorsement deals or the desire for such.

Put all that together with his frequent television appearances on the WPT, “Poker After Dark,” and other shows, and like I say one sort of feels like one knows the guy even if one doesn’t. And I think many probably were glad to see Smith finally break through last night and do just what FlipChip said he was going to do -- win his first WSOP bracelet.

Was quite the scene, in fact, with a crush of Smith’s friends and supporters surrounding the main feature table there in the Amazon when the final hand between Smith and Danny Hannawa played out. I was lucky enough to be on this event from start to finish, and so got to help with the chronicling of it all three days.

Was kind of a frantic event to cover, right through final table, with eliminations happening quickly throughout and a ton of action. Indeed, there was a moment somewhere in there last night when I looked up and saw reporters for other publications and sites -- people like B.J. Nemeth who spent most of the day and night circling the final table with his camera, shooting pics for the WSOP -- and kind of envied how they were able actually to watch the final table playing out, enjoying a broader perspective as they slowly pieced together their articles and other means of telling the “story” of the night.

I definitely would’ve liked to have spent more time relating various “color” from the final table, such as reporting on the shenanigans happening in the bleachers among Smith’s supporters, some of the table talk that arose, and even perhaps trying to relate something insightful in the blog about Smith’s appearance and demeanor.

Smith has a bit of a party animal persona -- hence the “Caveman” tag from the podcasts – but during this event seemed to be playing a different role, with his suit jacket, eyeglasses, and fedora adding up to a more reserved, serious, sober Smith.

Would’ve liked to relate more along the way some of these other details from the evening (the kinds of things my fellow reporters likely wrote about in their articles), but I was too occupied getting down what the action was on the turn, etc.

Speaking of that changed look and deportment, I know Smith has gotten involved with this new poker “guru”-slash-life-coach Sam Chauhan with whom others have worked. I’m hoping actually to meet up this week with another poker coach -- my friend Tommy Angelo -- and might have to ask him about Chauhan.

Still, it was most certainly a fun final table to cover, and I was glad to be there to witness Smith’s triumph.

I was reminded more than once during the night of the very first final table I’d ever covered back at the start of the 2008 WSOP when Erick Lindgren won his first bracelet. That, too, was a mixed hold’em event, in fact. Lindgren, like Smith, definitely appeared to have an edge in the limit rounds over most at the final table. E-Dog also had a big rail there to support him, and there was the same festive atmosphere and celebration when he won.

When Flipchip uttered his statement of assurance to Smith night before last, I can’t say I paid much mind to it. Let’s not get carried away here, I probably would’ve said, if asked to respond. There are 11 left, Smith is in the middle of the pack, and a cooler or two in the limit rounds and he’s gonna miss the final table. That’s poker.

Then again, why not think positively, if given the choice? Imagining oneself succeeding generally does help one prepare for that eventuality. Or at least that’s what one often hears. Maybe I’ll ask Tommy about that, too.

Of course, it probably doesn’t hurt, either, to have someone who has seen three-plus decades’ worth of these things come around and tell you you’re winning this one.