Lou Krieger (1945-2012)

Late last night the family of Lou Krieger posted a note to his Facebook page relating the news of his passing. Many of us who were friends of Lou knew he’d been diagnosed with cancer, and he had kept us all in the loop regarding his treatments ever since. So while I suppose we weren’t altogether unprepared, it was still a shock for a couple of reasons.

One was the short amount of time that had passed since we’d heard about the diagnosis -- just a few months. The other reason was that knowing Lou, we knew that despite the fact he was an incredibly benevolent and kind person, he was also tough as nails.

As his family pointed out in last night’s announcement, “he fought courageously to the end with the same pride and dignity that carried him through his life,” and “he wanted everyone to know that he did not go peacefully in his sleep but fighting like hell.”

While the news was surprising, it was no surprise to learn Lou had fought to the end. Nor that he wanted to be sure we knew that he’d fought to the end. Let me explain.

Like many I first encountered Lou via books like Hold’em Excellence: From Beginning to Winner (1995) and Poker for Dummies (2000). He’d author or co-author 11 poker books altogether, plus hundreds of columns for numerous outlets including Poker Player Newspaper for which he served as editor up until a few months ago.

I think it was around 2006 or so that I started listening regularly to Lou’s podcast “Keep Flopping Aces” which he then co-hosted with Amy Calistri. I remember early on hearing Lou once talk about his experiences growing up in Brooklyn. While I can’t recall all of the details, the story had something to do with Lou getting into fights a lot. It was kind of funny to hear, actually, this sketch of a young, angry Lou seeming to contrast sharply with the obviously kind-hearted fellow we listeners had come to know.

In fact when I first learned about Lou’s diagnosis via his email, that image of the young fighter immediately came to mind. I wrote him back alluding to this “tough guy” I knew he was, and in our last exchange this fall he mentioned his intention to “finish kicking cancer’s ass.” So while his prognosis wasn’t necessarily good, I guess I still had this idea he’d win the fight, as I imagine others did, too. In any event, I took some comfort in knowing that he was battling.

I continued listening to KFA and would occasionally write about the podcast here. At some point along the way Lou and I got in contact with one another over email. We remained in communication that way for awhile, then I ended up coming on KFA as a guest a few times to talk about poker with Lou and his later co-host Shari Geller, most recently this past May.

During one of those appearances on the show I spent half of the program fielding questions from Lou and Shari, then I became the interviewer for the second half and from that came a Betfair Poker interview which you can read here. I asked Lou a lot of questions about being a poker writer and the publishing business, and his answers provided a lot of insight into both his career and the industry.

One of the points Lou makes in the interview is to note how writing “forces you to clarify your thoughts.” “You can’t be ambivalent,” he says. “You can’t believe it’s one way on Tuesday and another way on Wednesday. You have to take a position about something. You have to offer advice that’s clear, concise, works, and holds up, so you have to think it through. As a result, the act of writing, like the act of teaching... the person that often gets the most out of it is the writer or teacher himself. I’ve learned more from writing books than I could have gotten any other way I can think of.”

I’ve been a teacher for a long time, and so know exactly what Lou is talking about when he refers to the teacher also ultimately learning a lot about whatever it is he or she is teaching. Assuming the responsibility to lead a discussion about anything forces a person to learn a lot about the subject beforehand. Then comes the class where the teacher learns still more from the students sharing their thoughts and responses.

And of course writing can work the same way, if one approaches it similarly. I remember way back when I first started the blog and how one of my primary motives was to try to learn more about poker by writing about it. As Lou says, if you’re going to publish your idea to an audience, you not only have to do the work to formulate that idea, but you also have to commit to it. To take a position regarding it. To fight for it.

Lou had lots of great ideas. And he was especially good at conveying them to others. Thus will the books and columns and podcasts be a big part of how we remember him, with Lou successfully “fighting” for all sorts of poker-related positions -- from how to gauge starting hands in Omaha/8 to the various legislative battles in which poker has been constantly embroiled.

But really, most will not be remembering Lou as a fighter, but rather as a person who brought people together. It’s no coincidence that Lou was at the center of so many different poker-related communities, and that so many people last night and today are expressing their fondness for him and sadness at his passing.

When I think of my circle of colleagues and friends in “poker media,” it seems like nearly every one of them has enjoyed some sort of beneficial interaction with Lou somewhere along the way. And of course others in poker did, too. Like all of them, I’m grateful for having known Lou and from having been a recipient of his kindness and generosity.

Lou makes me think of Malcolm Gladwell’s characterization of people who are “connectors” (in The Tipping Point) -- that is, “people who link us up with the world... who introduce us to our social circles -- these people on whom we rely more heavily than we realize... [who have] a very special gift of bringing people together.”

Lou always struck me as someone very mindful of the “poker community” and desirous to be constructive when it came to improving that community. Nolan Dalla today wrote a nice remembrance of Lou in which he calls him “the best listener I have ever met.” I think most who knew Lou understand exactly what Nolan is talking about. He was great at giving others his attention and responding meaningfully and thoughtfully to what others had to say. Nolan also mentions Lou being a big reader and often seeking out opinions that differed from his own in his unceasing study of the world, and I think that is just another example of his genuine interest in others’ opinions and experiences.

It’s this openness -- of mind, of heart -- that helped make Lou a “connector” in the poker community. And which serves us all as a great example to follow.

Lou was a fighter, sure. But he fought not against others, but for things worth fighting for -- ideas, the welfare of others, building communities. Things that make life worth living. And that make life worth fighting for, too.

The Big One for One Drop One Month Away

Am settling in after the big trip, looking to relax a bit here over the next two-and-a-half weeks before heading Vegasward. Was able yesterday to catch up with some of the World Series of Poker coverage going on, including checking out updates on PokerNews.

Last night I had a chance to join Lou Krieger and Shari Geller on their podcast, Keep Flopping Aces, which has recently moved over to the newly-relaunched Hold’em Radio network. We talked some about my trip to Uruguay, but mostly about the WSOP. The show is being replayed all week and will be available for download.

I also last night had a chance to enjoy some of the live streaming from the WSOP.com site I mentioned last post. Saw a bit of the end of Event No. 3, the $3,000 Heads-Up NLHE/PLO event won by Leif Force, plus a good stretch of Event No. 4, the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low event won by Cory Zeidman. Couldn’t stay up for the end of the latter as it went until after 3:30 a.m. or so Vegas time, dawn here on the east coast.

After some glitches early on, the live streams appeared to be in working order. David Tuchman led the commentary on Event No. 3, with Steve Gross and Doc Sands helping out. The other feed had no commentary, but the cards and bets were announced well enough to follow the action.

Here’s that page again for the live streams. The next one starts at 2 p.m. today, I believe, as that stacked final table of Event No. 5 gets underway, the $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event with Bryan Pellegrino, Jon Aguiar, Tommy Vedes, John Eames, and Daniel Negreanu among the last nine.

For those looking for daily recaps and highlights from the WSOP, let me recommend “The WSOP Daily Shuffle” that WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla is putting out each day. You can find those on the “News” page on the site amid other articles, including Dalla’s initial wraps from each event. For more then go over to the individual pages for each tourney and find Nolan’s “Official Report” from each event for all sorts of facts about each.

By the way, the WSOP made another good move this week by hiring Jess Welman as the new Managing Editor of the website. As we’ve come to know via her work with various other outlets, Jess makes everyone with whom she works better, and it’s great to see her teaming up with Nolan and the rest of the WSOP folks in this way.

One of the stories Dalla, Welman, and others are going to be reporting on more and more as the Series goes will be the $1,000,000 buy-in tournament scheduled to begin one month from today (July 1st), a.k.a., “The Big One for One Drop” (Event No. 55).

It is sounding more and more like the field for that one may exceed 40 entrants, perhaps even reaching the announced “cap” of 48. At present at least 30 have confirmed they’ll play, and when I spoke to Seth Palansky not too long ago he sounded confident they’ll get several more.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had some nice email exchanges with some of those involved with promoting both the event and the One Drop charity, and agreed to make Hard-Boiled Poker a “media partner” for All in for One Drop. There’s a website with lots of information about the tournament and One Drop, now the official charity of the WSOP.

Unlike some charities with dubious organization and/or handling of resources, the One Drop charity, initiated by Guy Laliberté in 2007, seems especially well run and devoted to an unmistakably worthwhile cause to increase access to clean drinking water in countries presently lacking such a basic need to sustain health and life. If 40-plus do participate, with $111,111.11 taken from each entry for One Drop, that’ll translate to around $4.5 million or perhaps $5 million raised.

Was glad to get involved when asked, happy to help folks like 2010 WSOP ME champ Jonathan Duhamel (pictured above with Laliberté) and others looking to promote the tournament and the charity. Besides, I’m as intrigued as anyone by the prospect of a poker tournament with a $1 million buy-in... and, perhaps, a first prize of more than $15 million (or even more than $17 million).

A ton happening at the WSOP between now and then, of course. Looking forward to a little time to enjoy being a fan before heading out to help report on it all.

Onilne Gaming in the U.S.: Reservations from the Reservations

I watched that hearing yesterday of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, titled “What’s at Stake for the Tribes.” You might recall this is the second such hearing for that committee, following an earlier one back in November.

If you’re curious you can read the testimony from yesterday and view the hearing yourself over on the committee’s web page, although if you happen to dial up the video skip to about the 44-minute mark because for some reason the actual hearing doesn’t start until there.

With that opinion from the Department of Justice first made public in late December indicating an altered position regarding the Federal Wire Act, the tribes and those representing their interests are now viewing the prospect of online gambling in the U.S. as not just a possibility but likely. And, as I cracked after the first hearing, there appear to be a lot of reservations coming from the reservations when it comes to the possibility of legally-sanctioned online gaming coming to the U.S.

In fact, now there appears to be more explicit fretting over negative consequences for the tribes should individual states start moving forward with offering online gaming. Such appeared to be the sentiment being expressed by some of the witnesses yesterday, anyway.

I. Nelson Rose, the gambling law professor, was there as a witness and his testimony -- outlining his speculative view of what will be happening as we move forward with states lining up to pass legislation, establish regulations, issue licenses, and start offering online gaming (either intrastate or with other states as a “consortium”) -- seemed to me as though it probably mostly confirmed the tribes’ fears that their significant gaming revenues were going to be in danger.

Meanwhile, Patrick Fleming, an attorney who is serving as the Litigation Support Director for the Poker Players Alliance, appeared to be trying assuage such fears, suggesting instead how online gaming need not necessarily eat into the profitability of the tribes’ brick-and-mortar casinos. Fleming also made an effort to distinguish poker from other casino games, but I’m not sure how significant that argument really was in this context.

In the end, the hearing again seemed to demonstrate how discussions about online gaming on Capitol Hill have tended to veer away from being marked by moral objections to gambling, generally speaking, and are becoming more focused on practical questions regarding (1) how it is all going to work, and (2) who is going to benefit financially.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was a guest last night on the poker podcast “Keep Flopping Aces” with Lou Krieger and Shari Geller, and we did spend some of the hour talking about the prospects for online poker in the U.S. both on the state and federal levels.

When asked by Lou to predict whether or not we’d see any online poker in the U.S. in 2012, I had to say I didn’t think so. While things are moving on the state level -- having progressed the most in Nevada -- it still feels to me like logistical concerns may require significant time to pass before anyone is actually playing online poker in the U.S.

And as far as the idea of an interstate “consortium” goes, I can’t help but think the feds won’t stand idly by and allow that to happen without some sort of meddling that’ll at least delay such a development if not prevent it altogether. (I could be way off-base in thinking that way, but I guess I’m still mired in a believe-it-when-I-see-it mode for a lot of this.)

Meanwhile, I suppose there always exists the possibility of some surprise addendum to a federal bill to allow for online poker. In fact, there was some of that talk coming out of the rumor mill yet again this week -- i.e., that Harry Reid was again primed to try to do just that by adding an online poker bill to an upcoming payroll tax bill. I might have accounted for that possibility when answering Lou’s request to make a prediction, but I feel like there are so many variables affecting the prospects of a federal bill succeeding that it is hard for any of us amateur prognosticators to foresee that turn of events.

I was reflecting on Lou’s question again today, and thinking how in fact there still are a lot of months to go here in 2012. Still, with all of the various political forces in play -- Indian gaming being just one of them -- it continues to seem like the odds are mighty slim that online poker could be legally offered anywhere in the U.S. before the year is out.

Exposure

Last week I had a little “exposure” -- I suppose you might call it -- when I appeared on “Keep Flopping Aces” (the 4/28/11 episode).

From what I learned that night, it was their last live show, as the Rounder’s Radio site on which KFA appears has decided to continue its shows though offer them only as podcasts. If you’re curious to hear it, the episode on which I appeared is now available for streaming or download here.

Near the end of the show we discussed the upcoming WSOP, speculating as well as we could about what effect “Black Friday” might have on this year’s Series. I noted that while I thought it possible that numbers would be down, especially for the Main Event, I believed the WSOP has a “momentum of its own” and thus would probably be okay, relatively speaking.

Of course, as Tony G has been talking about this week on the Hardcore Poker Show, QuadJacks, and elsewhere, if Full Tilt Poker manages to delay cashouts to American players much longer, that may well have some significant effect on how things go at the WSOP.

You might recall how in those first few days after Black Friday when announcements were being made about various cancellations -- including the Onyx Cup, “The Big Game” and “Million Dollar Challenge” on Fox, and ESPN’s coverage of the NAPT -- a rumor was briefly floated that ESPN might discontinue its WSOP broadcasts, although I don’t think many seriously believed that would happen.

In any event, Andrew Feldman rapidly squashed that rumor over on Twitter. And this week we learned that not only will ESPN continue to cover the WSOP, but the network will be expanding its coverage significantly to include a great deal of live and/or “(semi)-live” coverage not just of the Main Event, but also the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship (Event No. 2), the $50,000 Players Championship (Event No. 55), and those WSOP ME rematches, too.

In other words, regardless of how many players the WSOP manages to attract this summer, there will be a lot more exposure as far as coverage is concerned.

Besides the 32 hours’ worth of regular, edited coverage of the ME that will appear on ESPN from July 26th through November 8th (leading up to the November Nine), there will be a total of 126 more hours of poker from this summer’s WSOP shown on both ESPN2 and the internet-only ESPN3. (I still can’t view the latter, dingdangit, thanks to that absurd arrangement ESPN has with ISPs regarding access.)

There will be live streaming (without hole cards) from the aforementioned preliminary events as well as the Main Event, plus that “(semi)-live” coverage of two feature tables from the Main Event starting on Day 3 and continuing every day until they reach the final nine (July 14-19). The “(semi)-live” coverage will involve showing action from those two tables on a 30-minute delay, with hole cards shown after the flop for players still involved in the hand. (Click here for a FAQ regarding all facets of ESPN’s planned coverage.)

A bit of brouhaha this week regarding that planned “(semi)-live” coverage, with a few players complaining that playing at a feature table during the tournament and having one’s hole cards shown -- even for just a few hands -- could create a competitive disadvantage for the player whose hands were shown.

In other words, not everyone is excited about getting such extra exposure.

Five Years

On April 28, 2006, I published my first post on Hard-Boiled Poker, titled “What’s the Rumpus?” The idea to start a blog had come perhaps a week or two before. Not quite spur-of-the-moment, but close.

There was no “five-year plan,” I can assure you. There wasn’t even a second-post plan, to be honest.

I had brooded a while over what to call the sucker, and somewhere along the way thought up the Shamus character behind whom I’d sort-of-hide for the first part of the blog’s history.

I’ve written before here about how I’d begun with an idea to write about poker -- primarily my own low-limit misadventures -- while employing the “hard-boiled” style of the detective novels I loved (and eventually tried to follow in my own novel). It only took a few weeks to discover I couldn’t keep firing out posts about gathering scratch and setting up patsies and running grifts while keeping a straight face. So, much as players eventually find the style that suits them best, I soon settled into a more reasonable “voice” with which to continue.

The passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in October also affected the direction of the blog. I’d scribbled some about the WSOP that summer and other items in the poker “world” not having to do with my own circumscribed experiences. But now there was lots else for a blogger identifying himself as an “online poker player” to consider.

On April 28, 2007, I was in the midst of publishing a series of posts about a trip to Vegas with Vera Valmore. Posts from that trip described (in absurdly comprehensive detail) some low limit sessions, meeting cool cats like Paul Seldon (one of the very first readers of HBP), Tom Schneider (who’d go on to become the WSOP POY that summer), Wade Andrews (of Hold’em Radio), and Howard Schwartz (proprietor of the Gamblers Book Shop), and an especially entertaining ride on the Deuce titled “What Happens In Vegas Gets Spread All Over the Internet.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d been to Vegas, but it was still a place full of new experiences for me. Had no idea at the time that before long I would be spending entire summers there.

Wasn’t long after those Vegas trip posts I got recruited by John Caldwell and Haley Hintze (then) of PokerNews to help out with some articles over there that summer while the first-string scribes were away to cover the WSOP. That association continued afterwards, and eventually led to my joining the team of bloggers at the WSOP the following year.

On April 28, 2008, I wrote a post titled “Celebrating Seconds” in which I commemorated the blog’s second anniversary with an account of a runner-up finish in a “Saturdays With Pauly” PLO tournament.

Looking back at that post causes me to think that it came at a time when I was probably enjoying playing poker more than I ever had before or perhaps even since. I was also enjoying writing about poker, and excited about the opportunities I getting to write more.

On April 28, 2009, the blog’s anniversary came and went without my even noticing. My post that day was titled “Time Is Money; or, the Return of the Waiting Game.” (Maybe I was in a hurry and hadn’t the time for sitting around celebrating birthdays.) The post followed up an earlier, much-viewed one sharing a story from that year’s SCOOP involving Daniel Negreanu complaining about opponents stalling as the cash bubble neared.

On April 28, 2010, I was just about to leave my full-time job to focus entirely on freelance writing. I’d made the decision many months before, but it would be a couple of days later (on May 1) that the move would become official.

Not too surprising to see I was in an especially self-reflective mood on that day, as evidenced by the post “Detour: Four Years of Hard-Boiled Poker.” That one tells the story of the blog fairly well, if you’re at all curious about that.

Speaking of telling my story, earlier this week I had the chance to do so in an interview with Mike Owens over on CheckRaze. And tonight I happen to be appearing as a guest on “Keep Flopping Aces,” the podcast hosted by Lou Krieger and Shari Geller. (The timing there is coincidental -- it was “Black Friday” and all that has happened since that I’ve been invited to discuss on KFA, not this here blog.)

If you’re interested in hearing the show, it starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight (Thursday, 4/28) over at Rounder’s Radio. You can listen live, and later the show will be archived.

Events of the last couple of weeks had caused me to think about this fifth anniversary of the blog a little differently. I’ll admit I even had a moment -- a couple of days after “Black Friday” -- where I thought maybe this would be a fitting place to write a final post and move on to devote more time and energy to other, non-poker writing. Or perhaps to announce my intention to scale back and post less regularly. After all, I have posted every weekday here since January 1, 2008 (and on some weekends, too).

But it seems after five years of this there’s more to write about than ever before. Even if, as an American with no money in accounts that haven’t been shut down by the feds, that “an online poker player” descriptor is currently inaccurate.

So the scribbling will continue.

Can’t begin to say how appreciative I am of everyone -- all of the way back to my buddy Paul who came on here back in June 2006 to say “Nice blog shamus. Keep up the good work!!!” -- who has spent time reading and responding to all these many “musings” over the past five years.

As I was writing about earlier this week, the blog has led to a lot of interesting, exciting opportunities for me over the years. But most importantly it has been the means by which I’ve gotten to know countless people -- including many amazing, creative, funny, smart people I today unhesitatingly list among my closest friends.

Thanks again, everybody. I’m so grateful this here blog enabled us to get together.

Your Roving Reporter

Check out my new laptop! It’s awesome. I love the colors and lights that flash. And the tunes! Having a hard time composing words with just six letters, though I can work around that. I mean, it is kind of bad. But it is also def fab. (I know, I’m a cad. Hey, I just got out of bed.)

Great fun last night talking with Lou Krieger on his podcast Keep Flopping Aces. The hour flew by, with him interviewing me for the first thirty minutes, then I asked him questions about the current state of poker books and publishing for the remainder of the show. If you didn’t listen live, I imagine the show will be available for download soon (check the KFA page over on Rounders Radio), and it’ll also turn up in iTunes.

As I mentioned on the show, I’ve been a long time listener of KFA, so it was indeed a treat to get to take part like that. As others who’ve listened to the show or read his books well know, he’s a very thoughtful guy, and I found his answers to my questions about poker books and publishing both interesting and insightful. Much thanks again to Lou for having me on.

I’ll soon be writing up some of the latter part of the conversation for a piece over on the Betfair site. Today’s item over there is one I think many of you might find interesting -- a chat with Kevin Mathers (a.k.a. “Kevmath”) of Two Plus Two, Pokerati, and all of our Twitter feeds. Check it out!

Meanwhile, as I’ve been alluding to this week, I’ll be helping cover the big North American Poker Tour event at the Venetian that gets cranking tomorrow. Lot of buzz surrounding that -- will be very interesting to see how it all plays out. I’ll try to check in here to report how things are going when I get the chance.

Wish me well. Hope this new computer works for me.

Appearing on Keep Flopping Aces Tonight (2/19, 6:00 PT)

Busy days. Seems like I have a half-dozen things I’m supposed to be doing right now, one of which includes readying to go help cover the North American Poker Tour Venetian event starting this weekend.

Saw the exciting news a couple of days ago that ESPN2 will indeed be airing a number of hours’ worth of NAPT events starting April 19. (Read all about it here.) I also saw the less thrilling news yesterday that apparently Full Tilt Poker doesn’t want its pros playing in the NAPT Venetian. Gary Wise reported on that development over at ESPN, and Dan Michalski adds a few thoughts as well over at Pokerati.

Besides readying for the trip, I’m busily trying to finish some articles and take care of other matters, too. Feeling pulled in a number of directions, but not too stressed, really. (Maybe I’m being inspired by those Olympians to rise to the challenge.)

In any event, all of this stuff has most definitely gotten in the way of my creating a new episode of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, which I now have to admit is on a hiatus of sorts. But I do have more shows planned!

Speaking of the HBPRS, the show is now being aired -- syndicated, if you will -- over on the fledgling Poker Radio Network. They streamed the first episode over there (Dead Man’s Deal) last week and I had some nice feedback on that. Should get the show a few new listeners, and perhaps some new readers over here, too.

I think the HBPRS gets played over on the Poker Radio Network on Mondays at 5 p.m., Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., and Fridays at noon (all Pacific times). I believe there’s also a time on Saturday when the show comes on, too. There are some other shows over on PRN as well, covering a variety of poker-related topics.

Meanwhile, I’m going to be turning up over on Rounders Radio tonight when I appear on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces podcast. The plan is for him to interview me a bit initially about the blog and other items, then I’m going to be asking him some questions to pick his brain a bit regarding the current status of poker books and print publications. (My plan is to write something up from my interview afterwards for Betfair.)

Krieger, as most of you know, has published numerous poker books -- 11 altogether, I believe -- and so has a particularly informed perspective on the subject. His first poker book was published back in the mid-1990s (Hold’em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner), and his most recent one in 2007 (52 Great Poker Tips). That means he was already on the shelves when the “boom” happened in 2003 (and, I assume, benefited somewhat from that). Here’s a page on his website where you can see all of his books and follow links for ordering.

Krieger also edits Poker Player Newspaper, familiar to anyone frequenting the cardrooms in Vegas and elsewhere, so he has some insight into that side of poker publishing as well.

Should be fun to go on KFA, which is one of the poker podcasts I’ve been following for a long time. I think I first found it three years ago (or so), when Krieger was co-hosting the show with Amy Calistri, and have always enjoyed the variety of guests and discussions. The show airs at 6 p.m. Pacific time tonight, or 9 p.m. for those of us here in the east, and then will be subsequently available for download as a podcast.

Finally, you can also hear me crashing the party again over on the latest episode (No. 8) of the Gambling Tales Podcast with Special K and Falstaff, where we have a segment discussing James McManus’s Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker. As I’ve said before, those of you who have listened to and enjoyed my podcast should check out GTP, as it also features some great stories about gambling, delivered via interviews and discussions of such tales from history. Fun stuff.

So there are a few audio snacks to fill the gap between servings of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show. By the way, if you have any questions about poker books & publications you’d like me to bring up on tonight’s Keep Flopping Aces, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll see if I can work them into the conversation.

Be talkin’ to you.

Staying Tuned

Been keeping up with a number of podcasts (see the list over in the right-hand column), but I thought today I’d recommend three particular episodes for your listening pleasure.

The guys on Ante Up! continue to roll along, still managing not to have missed a single week since the podcast’s debut way back in the spring of 2005. They are now producing a magazine, too, which one can find in Florida cardrooms (or to which one can subscribe). The mag is somewhat oriented toward the Florida poker scene, although they also include less local items like interviews with pros and other features. The Ante Up! blog appears now to be solely devoted to Florida poker news, but the podcast remains directed toward a more general audience of poker enthusiasts.

Last week’s show (the 11/21/08 episode) featured the first of a two-part interview with the Mad Genius of Poker, Mike Caro. Now I know not everyone thinks Caro is the bee’s knees when it comes to poker strategy and advice, with some wanting to judge him harshly for his paltry tourney record. But one can’t deny his poker acumen, not to mention his importance to poker history and literature as a chief contributor to the original Super/System and author of hundreds of columns. He is also a pretty funny dude. Lotsa grins in this first part of the interview, and he even addresses that question about why he has so few tourney cashes.

Another show worth your time is the most recent episode of Keep Flopping Aces, hosted by Lou Krieger. On last week’s show (11/20/08), Lou had Tim Lavalli, a.k.a. the Poker Shrink, a.k.a. winner of Event 1 of Run Good Challenge 2: Electric Boogaloo, on to discuss various items related to poker and psychology. Tim offered some terrific observations about tilt (a discussion that resonated with me a bit after that brief bout I had with tilt last week), as well as some specific responses to a couple of infamous episodes from the 2008 WSOP -- Scotty Nguyen’s behavior at the $50 H.O.R.S.E. final table & Phil Hellmuth’s end of day 5 outburst at Cristian Dragomir and penalty (subsequently rescinded) during the Main Event.

I was there at the Rio for both of those events, but witnessed neither of them first hand, having been working a different tourney during the H.O.R.S.E. final table and covering the outer tables on Day 5 of the Main Event. Tim, meanwhile, was right there watching both, and has some interesting insights into both the players’ psychology as well as some opinions about how the tournament directors handled (or mishandled) the situations. Lou and Tim also speculate a bit about plans for next summer’s WSOP, including talk of going to some sort of “yellow card/red card” system like is used in soccer.

Finally, if you are looking for a genuine howler of a show you might go back and check out the 11/5/08 episode of PokerRoad Radio. This was their first show from the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. I usually end up listening to most of the PokerRoad shows when they come out, although I’ve found myself sometimes skipping through some of the “game show”-like segments (e.g., “How Much Would It Take?”) if I’m pressed for time. Ali Nejad’s humor is usually hit-or-miss for me -- sometimes he genuinely cracks me up, though not always. However, I do think he’s particularly good with interviews, which is why I’ll occasionally skip ahead to the latter half of the show when the guests come on.

On that 11/5/08 show, Nejad, Joe Sebok, and Court Harrington had two guests on at once, Eugene Todd (bro) and Will “the Thrill” Failla. As anyone who has heard Todd on the show before can attest, the man is pretty friggin’ hilarious. Failla (also from New York) is equally funny (and foul-mouthed), and the pair play off each other to good effect during this interview. To give you an idea what the interview was like, on a subsequent show they reported that someone had emailed them that the “F-bomb” had been dropped something like 115 times during this particular episode. (Needless to say, don’t follow this here recommendation if yr among the easily offended.)

Anyhow, dial up the show and skip ahead to the interview which starts at about the 42-minute mark. Then, around the 49-minute mark comes one of the funniest damn hand recaps ever chronicled. Failla tells the story of a hand he played early in the Foxwoods tourney, a hand he simply was not going to lose. Trust me, you will not be able to listen to this without laughing. Easily one of the funniest things I’ve heard on a poker podcast since Beyond the Table or perhaps that appearance by Haralabos Voulgaris on The Circuit a couple of years ago.

Hope you enjoy these. Meanwhile, for you old time radio fans a tenth episode of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show is in the works and should be appearing in the near future. Stay tuned!

John Vorhaus’ Under the Gun

John Vorhaus is best known to poker players as the author of several strategy guides, including several titles in the popular Killer Poker series. He’s also involved in the entertainment industry, having written screenplays for various shows (including Married… with Children), and has additionally written a couple of instructional books about creative writing. With such a background, it isn’t surprising to find Vorhaus coming out with his first novel -- a poker-themed thriller with the nifty, hard-boiled, doubly significant title Under the Gun.

The book just came out a couple of days ago. I’d heard about it listening to Vorhaus be interviewed over on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces (the 7/24/08 episode). I had the opportunity to read the book this week and enjoyed it. I can definitely recommend it as an entertaining page-turner, especially so for poker players.

The story concerns a mild-mannered accountant named Hal Harris whose brother Guy is a small-time poker player in Vegas hoping to hit it big. Guy manages to win a satellite into a huge $100,000-entry poker tourney called the Poker Apocalypse, and invites Hal out to celebrate. After a bit of prodding, Hal makes the trip, but shortly after his arrival Guy gets killed, leaving Hal the coveted entry chip -- which now not only represents Hal’s potential entry into the Apocalypse, but also an initial clue toward solving the crime.

It is a clever premise, and Vorhaus follows it up with other plot twists and characters that likewise demonstrate a certain ingenuity. The Poker Apocalypse, or, as Guy describes it, “the biggest poker tournament in the history of ever,” is itself a neat device around which to built a murder mystery. Cooked up by Kai Cortland, a high-rolling casino developer, the tourney is kind of a not-so-distantly-futuristic version of the World Series of Poker, complete with the requisite ostentation and media coverage.

Some of the characters Vorhaus invents seem drawn after certain types we see in the poker world today, though embellished to fit the slightly-exaggerated version of that world he presents in the novel. There’s the villainous Marko Dragic (“Dark Mark”), a poker player with a criminal past whom Hal will need to confront eventually in his dual quest to win the Apocalypse and to discover what happened to Guy. Slaughter Johnson is an old-timer who emerges to mentor Hal. Slaughter’s gritty daughter, Vinny, a dealer, is along to help Hal as well. And there’s Minty McGinty, the one-hundred pound dog Hal also inherits from his brother.

Vorhaus does well to create a plot that keeps the reader’s interest, and there are a number of small touches that add to the overall pleasure of the read. There are a few Raymond Chandleresque analogies here and there (e.g., “The Elvis of his common sense, as it were, had left the building of his brain”) which are certainly fun. And even relatively minor characters, such as a bathroom attendant who briefly figures into the goings-on, are presented with engaging backstories that keep us absorbed.

Of course, it should be said that by trying to construct a poker-themed fiction, Vorhaus follows a long, long line of others (fiction writers, film makers) who have struggled to do so successfully. Indeed, poker players -- especially serious ones -- who read Under the Gun are likely going to want to argue over the plausibility of certain aspects of Vorhaus’ story.

Additionally, non-poker players might object to the sometimes lengthy explanations of poker strategy and accounts of hands. Since Hal is not a poker player when the story begins, he has to learn everything, and so occasionally one encounters a stretch of instruction and/or hand analysis that I personally find highly readable but could imagine being less enthralling to some. (In fact, I don’t think it is that big of a stretch to say that some, attentive non-poker playing readers may actually pick up a number of useful tips about tournament poker from Under the Gun.)

I like the way Vorhaus presents the poker, though. It is nice (for a change) to read someone describing hands and the machinations of a tournament while secure in the knowledge that the author knows of what he speaks. (I noticed no “howlers” such as one regularly runs into in poker-themed films and stories.) And he does interweave the story of the tournament in with the sleuthing to find Guy’s killer fairly well, too. As I say, it is a page-turner, culminating with a suitably frenzied finale.

All in all a good time, and like I say should be especially fun for the poker player who likes a good thriller filled with comic touches. You can get the book via Amazon. You can also order it through Vorhaus’ website, Vorza’s Brain (where you can read the first chapter, too).

Reporting on Absolute Poker; or, If a Tree Falls

Caught part of Keep Flopping Aces last night. Jennifer Newell (a.k.a. California Jen) joined Lou Krieger as co-host, and they had Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles on to talk more about the Absolute Poker scandal and its aftermath.

I only picked up the show about fifteen minutes after it began. As far as AP is concerned, what I heard essentially reiterated ground already covered several times over. Witteles -- who spoke for just about the entire 35 minutes or so I heard -- made almost all of the same points on Wise Hand Poker back in early November. There was an interesting bit toward the end about bots starting to pop up more frequently on certain sites, but otherwise I’d heard it all before. (If you missed the show, you’ll just have to wait for it to appear in the RSS feed.)

Of course, just because I’ve heard it all before doesn’t mean a lot those listening in have. As was pointed out on the show, not many people are even aware of the AP scandal, never mind up to speed on what happened, how it was discovered, and how AP and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission chose to deal with the matter.

This point briefly came up on the show. Krieger mentioned how he’d been writing about the scandal on his blog, and also referred to the series of articles Newell has written about the scandal for Poker Player (here is the first). He then said [to Newell] “I think that essentially it’s you and me and maybe a little bit of Gary Wise and that’s about it.”

Gonna have to disagree with Krieger there on that last point. Others have written about -- and continue to write about -- the scandal.

It is true the mainstream “poker media” (i.e., the poker mags I wrote about on Wednesday) aren’t really providing much in the way of true, unbiased reporting on the matter. But, come on. It’s not as though no one else is writing about Absolute Poker.

For example . . .

Haley Hintze has written eight articles on the scandal for Poker News:

Tough Times for Absolute Poker (October 18, 2007)

Absolute Poker: 'We Had a Security Breach' (October 19, 2007)

Absolute Poker: Consultant Cited in Latest Statement (October 21, 2007)

Absolute Poker Situation: Unattributed Statement Released; Seif Video Names AJ Green (October 31, 2007)

Absolute Poker Situation: Unofficial Interim Audit Statement Released (November 9, 2007)

Absolute Poker Situation: Q&A with Nat Arem, Part 1 (November 9, 2007)

Absolute Poker Situation: Q&A with Nat Arem, Part 2 (November 16, 2007)

Absolute Poker Situation: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Releases Final Audit Results (January 12, 2008)

Poker Listings has also had a number of articles reporting the scandal:

Absolute Poker debacle results in audit (October 18, 2007)

Absolute Poker reports security breach (October 20, 2007)

Absolute Poker condemned by poker players (October 22, 2007)

Absolute Poker fall out far from over (October 30, 2007)

Absolute Poker issues update on scandal (November 10, 2007)

Poker rooms respond to online security questions (November 20, 2007)

Absolute Poker investigation nearing end (November 23, 2007)

KGC releases Absolute Poker report (January 13, 2008)

Absolute Poker responds to KGC report (January 15, 2008)

Final Thoughts on Absolute Scandal, PCA Bannings (January 18, 2008)

Additionally, Poker Pages has weighed in on the matter from time to time:

Absolute Poker Cheating Blamed On Employee (October 19, 2007)

Further Details Emerge in Absolute Poker Scandal (November 9, 2007)

Absolute(ly) Poker Scandalous (November 12, 2007)

Kahnawake Gaming Commission Releases Absolute Poker Findings (January 12, 2008)

Absolute Poker Responds to KGC Report (January 13, 2008)

Is There Integrity in Online Poker? (no date)

Should also mention this one -- For Cryin’ Out Loud, You Are Not Being Scammed at Absolute Poker! (September 25, 2007). Poker Pages probably regrets jumping the gun, there. But at least they were trying to cover the story.

Moving on, Life’s a Bluff has offered some poignant commentary:

Absolute Mess (October 22, 2007)

Happy Halloween (October 31, 2007)

War of Words (November 14, 2007)

Online Poker Is Rigged (January 11, 2008)

Absolute Poker Punished (January 18, 2008)

Pokerati, in addition to passing along some of the above-mentioned items, has had a number of posts on the matter, as well. Here are just a few of them:

Absolute Issue Raises Serious Questions (October 17, 2007)

Mark Seif, Absolute Respond with Call for Investigation (October 17, 2007)

Absolute Admissions: You Buyin’? (October 19, 2007)

It's On: Mark Seif v. Dan Druff, Round 1 (October 31, 2007), in which California Jen passes along the RawVegas vids

Mark Seif Speaks (November 1, 2007)

What Cheating Looks Like (November 1, 2007), in which Dan links to the YouTube Potripper vids

Absolute Issues Statement Claiming No Super-User Account. Yeah, Right. (November 9, 2007)

Absolute Cheating Report Released (January 11, 2008)

Unpeeling the Absolute Onion (January 12, 2008)

Absolute Poker Releases Statement (January 12, 2008)

Big Poker Sundays devoted a lot of time during its initial episodes to the story, as have other podcasts such as Ante Up! and the old Rounders, the Poker Show (now Two Plus Two). Oh, and Dugglebogey was already drawing cartoons about it back in September.

And, while I’m at it . . .

Playing Catch-Up (September 23, 2007)

Absolute Crap (October 19, 2007)

Would You Like to Leave Absolute Poker? (October 21, 2007)

Cleaning Out (October 24, 2007)

Poker Still "a Game Subject to Chance" (Even for Cheaters) (October 30, 2007)

World Upside Down (November 6, 2007)

Update on the Updates (November 11, 2007)

Get Ready to Rumble (November 17, 2007)

Absolute Apathy (January 4, 2008)

Something Is Missing Here (January 14, 2008)

CardPlayer Sez Go On & Play at Absolute Poker (February 5, 2008)

Absolute Poker "Security Summits" (In Search Of) (February 13, 2008)

And I haven’t even mentioned other forums and blogs that have reported (and continue to report) on the scandal.

No, I think for anyone interested, there’s plenty of information out there about the problems at Absolute Poker. That’s the problem, though. For a variety of reasons, ain’t a lot of folks all that interested.

A month-and-a-half ago, Gary Carson pointed out the pointlessless of blogging about the Absolute scandal, explaining the generally lackadaisical attitude of most poker players’ towards cheating ensures such efforts will largely fall on deaf ears.

Carson’s probably right. Indeed, sometimes I think even those who are interested in the scandal aren’t listening all that closely.