Travel Report: APPT Macau, ACOP Warm-Up, Day 3

Not too much scribblin’ time today, but did want to check in with a quick update.

The Asia Championship of Poker Warm-Up event went late last night, not ending until around 3 a.m., and I was up another couple of hours after that tying up loose ends. Meanwhile, today starts the Main Event with that big buy-in of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $13,000 USD). So between preparing for that -- and being mildly distracted by the election coverage that’s yammering away on the teevee in my hotel room -- I’m not so able to produce a full post today.

Yesterday’s Day 3 of the ACOP Warm-Up played from 18 down to a winner, with Jeff Rossiter of Australia coming out the victor.

Both Johnny Chan and Joseph Cheong made the final table. Chan ended up finishing seventh, having been unable to get things going once the final table started and Rossiter began building on his chip lead. Cheong made it all of the way to third place and could well have won, I think, although by the time they got to three-handed Rossiter’s lead was formidable enough to make a comeback less likely.

They’re optimistic about getting a decent-sized field for today’s Main Event -- probably at least 150, with hopes of maybe even getting to close to 200. There will be a lot of Team PokerStars Pros and other familiar faces in the field today, with a lot more of them familiar to me now that I’ve been here for four days following the Warm-Up.

There’s a welcome party tonight which will provide another chance to get outside the hotel and see a little more of Macau. And the schedule has been thoughtfully constructed to end early today (Day 1) and start late tomorrow (Day 2), which means I’ll probably try to do a little sight-seeing during the day on Thursday, too.

Has been fun thus far, and really I can’t praise the APPT/ACOP staff and PokerStars folks enough for how hospitable and helpful they’ve been. Sure, traveling 8,000 miles from home to go to work represents a helluva commute. And the days have been long and exhausting at times. But once again I find myself in an incredibly supportive work environment, something I’ve been fortunate to experience frequently in the poker world.

Check over at the PokerStars blog to follow the ACOP Main Event today through Sunday. The PokerNews peeps are here now, too, and so there’ll be even more updates and chip counts, plus videos and more.

Travel Report: APPT Macau, ACOP Warm-Up, Day 1b

Good morning once more from Macau, where if I’m following the whole daylight savings situation correctly I am now yet another hour ahead of most of you (Eastern time plus 13 hrs.). Probably will continue to follow this schedule of writing entries in the mornings and thus posting at a time that is late night back home.

Yesterday went well at the tournament, the Asia Championship of Poker Warm-Up event with a buy-in of $25,000 (HKD). Ended up being able to post frequently on the PokerStars blog throughout the day as the Day 1b field whittled down to 71 players, which means a total of 138 will be coming back for today’s Day 2.

Poor Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier got bounced during the first 15 minutes or so of the day, getting very unlucky in a spot where he got his stack in especially good yet the cards didn’t cooperate. That provided an easy first post of the day, with the player who busted him, Artem Lobus, wearing a hilarious message on his sweatshirt -- “Russian Fi$h” -- that kind of provided a punchline to the hand.

Johnny Chan arrived midway through Level 2, and just as he was about to take his seat gave me some time to do a quick interview for a post about him. I’ve covered Chan in several tournaments before at the WSOP, but this was the first time we’d ever really talked and I have to admit having gotten a kick out of it.

Chan was born nearby in southeast China, then moved over to Hong Kong with his family where he lived until he was 11 before they moved once more to the U.S. We mostly just talked about poker in Asia and Macau for the post, although afterwards I told him about my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class and we spent a little time discussing that, too. I explained to him what we covered in the course and how we watch Rounders (among other films). I told him how I’d be going back to tell my class about our visit, and he was genuinely intrigued, asking me questions about the history of poker and other aspects of the class.

I couldn’t resist also asking him about “Full House with Johnny Chan,” but he just laughed and said he couldn’t really talk about it other than to say he was surprised at all the hits that YouTube teaser got.

Chan survived the day with chips and so will be back today along with Joseph Cheong, Dominik Nitsche, Mike "SirWatts" Watson, and several APPT notables. PokerStars Pros Randy "nanonoko" Lew (Online), Celina Lin (China), and Vivian Im (Korea) are still in the mix, too, with Lew returning to a decent-sized stack.

Play finished up around midnight or so, and it took another hour-and-a-half to get all the loose ends tied before we could leave. Then Fred Leung, the Country Manager for Pokerstars here in Macau, took me out to join a crew of players and others at a restaurant not too far from the Grand Waldo.

Today (Monday) is Team Pro Celina Lin’s birthday, and the party was in full swing by the time we arrived. Had a good time eating some sushi and roasted squid while chatting with a few PokerStars folks and some players, too. Had to beg off around 3 a.m. and head back to the hotel while the group left for the next karaoke-related stop. I’m still fatigued from the trip and first couple of days of work -- I’ve yet to really catch up with a full night’s sleep -- but even if I were fully rested I’m not sure I could’ve kept up.

Was great to get outside the hotel, even if only to go a few blocks away, as I’ve been fairly immersed in the work side of things thus far. It’ll remain busy that way for me, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to get out to see more of Macau over the next week I’m here.

(Photos by Hong Kong portrait photographer Kenneth Lim who is here helping out with the coverage of APPT Macau.)

Here’s Johnny, Welcoming Us To His Mansion

Like some of you, I spent six minutes and 22 seconds yesterday watching a YouTube video titled “Full House with Johnny Chan.”

On the surface, the video appears to be some sort of promo short designed to drum up interest in a possible television series. It only just appeared on YouTube, and despite advancing a concept that seems nearly a decade too late, apparently was produced quite recently.

The video begins with reference to Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson having each won 10 WSOP bracelets. We briefly see the two pretending to play a heads-up home game against one another. Then Chan is shown walking down a staircase and introducing himself as “the most famous poker player in the world.”

Then Chan stops, holds his arms outward in an inviting pose, and declares “Welcome to my mansion!”

Seriously, what an opening. Harrowing stuff.

From there we are introduced to the show’s scenario. Chan explains how he’s invited five poker pros to live in his house, staking each $200,000 to engage in some sort of poker competition. The explanation of that competition is fairly fuzzy -- something to do with the pros playing nine-handed sit-n-gos with the viewer also somehow able to participate (?).

In any event, the rest of the video introduces us to “Johnny’s Line Up,” i.e., the five “poker pros” who’ll be engaged in the competition. They are presented as though filling certain imagined roles for poker pros -- the Playboy, the Genius, the Bully, the Queen of Hearts, and Chico Loco.

“I don’t consider poker gambling,” says Jay, a.k.a. “The Genius.” That’s Jay Ishimaru, listed at the end as a co-producer along with Javier Prato.

“It’s more like stealing candy from a child,” he continues. “I enjoy the game.”

Hey, who doesn’t enjoy stealing candy from children? It’s so easy, and candy is delicious. Am I right?

The clip is filled with other howlers, amateurish acting, and additional awkwardness filling the spaces between montages of Las Vegas and Chan pushing people into pools. Unsurprisingly, the video has earned a lot of derision on a 2+2 thread devoted to it (a thread likely started by one of the producers). There were also a number of “dislikes” and other negative response on the video until comments were disabled.

The most common response has been to question the “reality” of this apparent attempt at some sort of poker-themed “reality television.” Is it sincere? Are there actual plans (or hopes) to produce such a show? Or is it all a goof? A satirical send-up of both poker stereotypes and reality TV?

Clearly, we need some “immersive” critics to go to work and uncover the true meaning here. You know, like those guys who figured out The Shining is really about how Stanley Kubrick helped fake the moon landing. Like Chan’s signature orange, it’s a mystery in need of unpeeling.

Whatever it is or its intentions, the chance that there will ever be anything more than these six minutes and 22 seconds’ worth of “Full House with Johnny Chan” seems unlikely.

Which means in the end all we’ll be left with will be this short clip, a brief, uncertain postscript to the “golden era” of poker television, a period which ended emphatically at least a year-and-a-half ago, although for many had already jumped the shark much earlier.

And, of course, at least one new, sure-to-endure catch phrase:

“I pay my rent in Euro, baby!”

(EDIT [added 10/23/12]: PocketFives offers more information regarding the video, as well as an interview with one of the co-producers, in an article humorously titled “Johnny Chan Poker Reality Show: It’s Real.”)

WSOP Rematches Offer Chance to Look Back

Yesterday the World Series of Poker announced plans this summer to host a few heads-up “rematches” from Main Events past. On Thursday, June 2, three such rematches will be staged, and later (on July 26) ESPN will air two hours’ worth of coverage showing what happens with all three.

One of the pairings will feature the 2003 WSOP Main Event finale between Chris Moneymaker and Sammy Farha, the tournament that many believe helped change the course of recent poker history thanks to the amateur Moneymaker’s victory.

With that one the WSOP will have the players play a best two-out-of-three format. In the first match they will start with the same stacks each had when heads-up play began back at Binion’s in 2003, when Moneymaker had the advantage with 5.49 million chips to Farha’s 2.9 million. The second match will begin with the two exchanging stacks prior to the first hand; i.e., Farha will have 5.49 million and Moneymaker 2.9 million. If they split those two matches, they’ll play a third and start with even stacks.

I’m not seeing anything in the press release about what the blinds/antes or scheduled structure will be for these matches. In their original heads-up match, I believe the blinds were at 20,000/40,000 (with a 5,000 ante) when they started, meaning they were quite deep (i.e., Moneymaker had over 130 BBs and Farha more than 70). By the way, that original heads-up match back in 2003 lasted for 28 hands.

The second rematch will find Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth reprising their heads-up battle from the 1989 WSOP, won by Hellmuth. This will be a one-and-done affair, with both starting with even stacks.

Not too sure how exactly heads up went between those two back in the day (anything before 2000 quickly gets fuzzy when it comes to tracking down WSOP details). But it appears to have been a short battle that ended when Hellmuth -- with about a 2-to-1 chip lead -- won a preflop all-in after his outlasted Chan’s .

For the third rematch (another single match with even stacks), the WSOP is soliciting fans to select among four possible pairings of former Main Event heads-up combatants:

Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel (1988)

Greg Raymer vs. David Williams (2004)

Jamie Gold vs. Paul Wasicka (2006)

Jonathan Duhamel vs. John Racener (2010)

Of these, it appears Chan-Seidel is the likely favorite to be selected for the third match. The WSOP is conducting its vote over on Facebook, unfortunately, rather than having the poll on its site, which means I won’t be voting. If I were, I’d probably select Chan-Seidel as the one rematch I’d most like to see of these four. I’m guessing ESPN would not mind if most of those voting think similarly.

Glancing at other pairings that might’ve been considered, I could see nominating a few others as contenders, including Baldwin-Addington (1978), Ferguson-Cloutier (2000), and Hachem-Dannenmann (2005). One assumes various factors (including player availability) kept those off the list of possibles.

Incidentally, while I assume the players participating are receiving something for doing so, it is interesting that the press release mentions nothing regarding any sort of cash prize for the winners.

Perhaps it is just as well that there be no real cash or anything tangible on the line here. ’Cos really, who wins or loses these rematches will matter very little to just about everyone. With the exception of Hellmuth, of course, whom we should expect to speak loudly and often about “defending” his title.

Rather, these rematches will be more about the spectacle than the sport, mostly functioning as occasions for thinking about and revisiting certain moments in WSOP history -- especially the one that lit the fuse for the “boom” back in ’03.

2010 WSOP, Day 48: The Long Walk

Anybody remember this book, The Long Walk? I actually read this as a teenager, not realizing at the time it was by Stephen King as it had been originally published under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman. This was the cover of the copy I read, I recall. Haven’t looked back at it since I first read it, but it's one of those weird tales that kind of sticks with you.

Found myself thinking about The Long Walk again yesterday while helping cover Day 5 of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. The story concerns a contest in which 100 boys are essentially made to walk without stopping, with the last one to survive winning “The Prize” -- i.e., anything he wants for life. And when I say “survive” I mean that literally, as those who fail to keep moving are shot dead.

Like I say, it has been a while since I’ve read the book, but I remember it being well-plotted and full of several interesting characters. And it had that hook -- as King’s stories and novels often do. Some of the boys crack up along the way, I recall, suffering both physically and mentally. I think some even kill themselves rather than being executed.

I thought of the book yesterday because we have reached that point in the Main Event where we’re all becoming more and more conscious of the endurance aspect of the tournament -- the fact that we’re now moving beyond the 40-hour mark in terms of time played.

And it sort of seems like some are cracking up.

Yesterday the day began with the bustouts once again coming at a rapid pace. I think the field went from 574 to 500 in the first hour of play, meaning more than one elimination per minute. I know in the blog over on PokerNews it felt as though just about every post was reporting yet another player pushing all in before the flop and not surviving.

The short stacks had no choice, of course. They were like the characters in the novel who had reached their physical limits, and simply could not go on. But then there were the medium or even big stacks suddenly going out, too. They could have walked on, but for whatever reason had reached some sort of limit, too.

I am referring to those wild coin flip-type hands in which players freely commit 100-plus big blinds before the flop knowing they are in a race situation at best. This sort of high-stakes gambling has happened all three years I have helped cover the Main Event.

I remember in 2008 commenting here about a hand I had reported in which two players each committed 1.2 million preflop with A-K when the blinds were 4,000/8,000. Not unusual at all to see that at this stage of the ME. Indeed, remember the very last day of play in 2009 (when they played down from 27 to 9), which most said would take 20 hours and was over in half that time. There were some examples of what appeared to be unnecessary risk-taking that day, too.

On the one hand, it seems like after playing poker for a week-and-a-half one would be less quick to risk that huge stack one has worked so hard and so long to accumulate. Then again, I think most players do reach a point where it doesn’t matter how many big blinds they have, they are desirous to put it all on the line regardless.

The Main Event is unusual because of its size and structure. In just about every other tournament these guys have ever played, they’ve never gotten close to the 40-hour mark in terms of playing time. Somewhere long before that they’ve reached the stage where some or even most players are in push-or-fold territory, and the gambling begins.

But in the ME -- with its slowly rising blinds/antes, two-hour levels, and such a huge field (meaning a ton of chips in play) -- that point really hasn’t come yet for the majority of the field. When play ended last night there were 205 players left. The top 40 still all had at least 100 big blinds. The top 120 still had at least 50 big blinds. It remains a “deep-stacked” event -- i.e., one in which flops can (and in most cases probably should) be seen -- if people want to play it as such.

Johnny Chan remains a big story heading into Day 6, still way up on the leaderboard (in 9th). Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was on a short stack during the bubble period, but is now sitting in 30th place. In case you missed it, three of his brothers -- Robert, Danny, and Eric -- also cashed in the ME, an incredible feat. Robert is the only one still in, but is super short to begin today.

Another story today is that only one woman made it to Day 6, Breeze Zuckerman. She won Wicked Chops’ Last Woman Standing Cup when Dorothy Van Sachsen went out in 273rd. I think many were betting we’d see more women left in the field at this point, especially given all of the “Year of the Woman” talk leading up to the Main Event. (Anyone remember Ty Stewart, Vice President of Harrah’s, predicting women would win “three-plus bracelets” in open-field events?)

I imagine we’ll get down around 70-80 players today, then play down to 27 on Friday. They’ve planned the schedule well this year, in my opinion, mostly ensuring that none of the days go too long.

Although as I say, if players choose (and/or are able) to tighten up with their stacks of 100-plus big blinds, they could all keep on walking a bit longer.

2008 WSOP, Day 17: Brasilia

Covering one of these three-day WSOP events from start to finish is unlike just about any other experience I’ve ever had.

I’ve done some traveling abroad, and I suppose I might liken the experience to finding oneself in a foreign country, far away from family and friends, interacting with a culture much different from the one to which one is accustomed. An utterly social experience, yet one is also always alone, too.

And there’s really no stepping away from it, even just for a moment in the hopes of catching some clarifying glimpse to help determine what it “means” or where it all fits into the “big picture” or the like. That’ll come later, perhaps, after one has returned home and resumed that other life, the so-called “real” one filled with familiar faces, routines, and/or modes of communication.

Was feeling that weird sense of being utterly enveloped in this other, strange world last night as we were off in the Brasilia room covering Day 2 of Event No. 28, the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/rebuys event. The Brasilia room is down the hall and around the corner from the Amazon room where I had been every other day I’d worked thus far. Whereas the Amazon contains something like 165 tables, plus that mini-arena over in the corner (where I’ll be for tonight’s final table), the Brasilia room has perhaps a third of that number. Still a lot of people coming and going -- some asking about satellites and/or napkins -- but relatively speaking yr fairly well tucked away from the main thoroughfare of poker playing and watching.

Had a few exchanges last night with visitors inquiring about the WSOP and what was taking place there in the Brasilia, and I could sense their amazement when I told them who was playing over there in the middle of the room. Yes, that’s right. Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, and David Benyamine are all over there. Yeah, I know it looks like just any other cash game, but that’s them, battling for a bracelet.

We went deep into the night-slash-morning, my first real marathon of a day (ended up working about 14 hours, total). If I were given to hyperbole (which I ain’t), I’d almost describe the scene at 4 a.m. as surreal. Didn’t seem right, somehow, for all of this to be going down so peacefully. Shouldn’t there be music? A laser show? Norman Chad?

The six above-named pros, all regulars on televised poker and unquestioned celebrities in our little poker world, were at that last ten-handed table being dealt the last hands of pot-limit Omaha of the night. Standing around the table were perhaps 20 people total inside the ropes, only a very small handful of whom were charged with the duty of reporting on what was taking place. There were some fans there, too, though not too many. Due to the late hour and the relative obscurity of our location, I’m guessing few had any idea what was happening.

Hellmuth, incessant craver of attention, would occasionally pipe up to remind everyone he was there. He had to, as his short stack of chips didn’t allow him to make any noise otherwise. Negreanu was quick and alert as always, constantly engaging others in strategy talk and post-hand analyses. Benyamine exuded confidence and competence, once defending his play against a half-baked criticism from the Poker Brat, but essentially remaining focused on the cards.

Chan chimed in at one point after dragging a pot with a fairly weak hand. With a king in his hand and one on the board, he’d offered from early position at a small pot and had a couple of takers. All checked the turn, then another king on the river prompted Chan to bet again. All folded, and Chan showed his king (and not much else) as he dragged the pot. Some ribbing about the lucky river ensued, but Chan defended his play through infectious laughter.

Juanda remained silent throughout those final hands, and in fact seemed almost to be hiding behind the dealer over in Seat 1. That’s Juanda’s style, constantly flying under the radar. He’d only appeared in a couple of our posts last night, despite having the chip lead at one point during the night. You just don’t see him over there for some reason, and he certainly does little to draw attention to himself.

I was standing behind Ferguson, and so didn’t see his expressions or reactions during those final hands last night. Didn’t have to, though, as we all know how little he varies his countenance and behavior at the table. After the hand in which he was eliminated, the player who knocked him out, Brian Rast, shook his hand, saying “Sorry, Chris.” Ferguson was utterly gracious, taking a moment to congratulate everyone for having made the final table before sauntering off into the sunrise.

And after spending some time helping chronicle those last moments over at PokerNews, I, too, made my exit. It was daylight again, the only evidence of the evening being the still-turned-on headlights of a few of the vehicles on the road with me as I made my way back to the home-away-from-home.

Another stacked final table tonight. As I said, we’ll be back in the Amazon, over in the staging area, with the cameras and an announcer and fans in the stands. Will seem more like a spectacle today than that quiet, serene scene from early this morning.

Which, in an odd way, may make it all seem a little less strange to yr humble observer.