Nolan Dalla Interview, July 2010

This morning I noticed a bit of conversation over Twitter regarding this petition that has appeared online. The petition seeks to encourage the World Series of Poker to eliminate all rake from the Main Event as well as to start a “revenue-sharing program to supplement the prize pools” with money generated from ESPN and other sources.

It’s a pipe dream, no doubt, although the petition did cause some to recall how, in fact, the WSOP Main Event was not raked as recently as 2002 (when it was still under the Binion’s Horseshoe aegis). That historical tidbit reminded me of a conversation I’d had several years ago with Nolan Dalla who for many years served as the Media Director for the WSOP. (I believe his current title is “WSOP.com Senior Writer.”) Actually the conversation was an interview I did of Dalla during the 2010 WSOP for Betfair Poker.

We started that interview talking about the WSOP circa 2002, in fact, just before the “boom” happened and Harrah’s acquired the WSOP. After a little hunting around I found that like other older articles I’d done for Betfair the interview with Dalla also is no longer available online. It took some more hunting, but I eventually found the sucker, and as I’ve done before here with some of those items that have disappeared I thought today I’d share the Dalla interview here.

I like this one a lot, not just because of the nostalgia it evokes thinking back to 2010 and the various WSOP-related topics of interest back then. I think my favorite stuff comes at the end where we get into the topic of tournament reporting and the relative place of writing about poker.

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“The Betfair Poker Interview: Nolan Dalla”
[Originally published at Betfair Poker, 7 July 2010]

The WSOP Main Event is now underway, and I remain at the Rio both this week and next to help cover the Series for PokerNews.

Anyone who comes to the World Series of Poker to report on it likely comes into contact at some point with Nolan Dalla, Media Director for the WSOP, and -- I would venture to add -- likely benefits immensely from having done so. As one of my colleagues noted just a day ago, “Nolan Dalla is better at his job than anyone I know is at theirs.”

I had the opportunity this week to sit down with Dalla to ask him a few questions about his involvement with the WSOP over the years and about how this year’s Series has gone.

Short-Stacked Shamus: You’ve been WSOP Media Director since 2002. Let me start by asking -- how did you end up in this role?

Nolan Dalla: Well, quite by accident, really. I was in the middle of a perfect storm, so to speak. Back in 2002, we really didn’t have many media here coming to the World Series. There were a few poker writers, and 300 or 400 people played in the Main Event -- nothing like the scale of today. Then everything pretty much changed my second year with the World Series working for Binion’s Horseshoe.

I had moved to Las Vegas and was the Director of Public Relations for the Horseshoe. A lot of people don’t remember that right before Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event in 2003, the Horseshoe and the World Series were on the rocks. The World Poker Tour had just started and their numbers were enormous over at the Bellagio -- they were actually beating us. And here I was working at the Horseshoe and it felt like we were rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic and the ship’s getting ready to go down. That really was the prevailing attitude.

SSS: Wasn’t the World Poker Tour talking about buying up the World Series?

ND: They actually made a cash offer. I remember I was in the office when a fax came in. I can’t say what the figure was, but I remember that figure was looked at and considered, and boy, it was a bargain basement price at the time, considering what [the WSOP is] worth now. Nobody could really have foreseen how everybody’s life would change in May 2003 when Moneymaker won.

When I talk about a perfect storm, it was ESPN’s first year [doing a multi-part series on the WSOP], Chris Moneymaker, the everyman, wins the Main Event, and I just happen to be the Media Director. I think I knew it was going to be a big moment, but I don’t think I realized how big a moment until I looked at my cell phone [after Moneymaker won] and I saw the David Letterman show, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN... it was like whoa! And everyone’s life, including my own, changed from that point forward.

SSS: So here we are in 2010 and the Main Event is underway. From your perspective, how has the 2010 World Series of Poker gone thus far?

ND: Well, the World Series is up. The economy is still bad in a lot of places, but the World Series just seems to be recession-proof. I have to admit that every year I think “When is it ever going to catch up?” You would think at some point that this momentum shift would stop, but again it appears that the [2010] World Series is going to be way up from last year. This Main Event could and should be the second-largest poker tournament in history. [Indeed, the Main Event drew a total of 7,319 entrants, making it the second-largest live poker tournament ever behind the 2006 Main Event.]

SSS: A lot of us were curious about how the World Series would go after the departure of Jeffrey Pollack as Commissioner, who I think a lot of people felt like contributed quite a bit during his tenure. Is there anything that has been different without a Commissioner?

ND: It’s a fair question. I think that most of us who worked with Jeffrey look at that period very fondly. He did enormous things for the World Series from 2006-2009, and certainly he’s left an indelible imprint upon the World Series. However, I will say that the new management team -- starting with Ty Stewart, Seth Palansky, Howard Greenbaum, and others -- have been around this game for many years and they have learned, as we all have, from some of the mistakes we’ve made years ago and we seemed to have gotten it a little bit better every year until we’ve reached this point.

I think anyone who has come to the World Series this year has to say that the facility, the comfort level, the organization, everything about it is much better. Is it perfect? No. Can it get better? Yes. But I think that as far as the World Series of Poker experience goes, I don’t think it’s ever been higher in terms of satisfaction.

SSS: I had a chance this year to help cover the Ladies Event, where there was some controversy when a few men entered. So I was there when you came and said a few words before the final table in support of the Ladies Event. Comment a bit on what you said there.

ND: We need more women in poker. No one can disagree with that. That is a good thing. And women’s poker tournaments and the Ladies World Championship fosters that greater participation. No one can disagree with that. That’s a fact.

I think for anybody to upset what I call a fragile balance that exists, I think that’s a bad thing and is counterproductive to the game -- not just to the women in poker, but to the game. I understand other people have their own agendas and they may have their political views with regard to equal rights issues and all of these things -- that’s all fine. But the bottom line is what is good for poker? What is good for the World Series of Poker? And that is to protect the integrity and tradition of that event. The Ladies event started in 1977 -- that is 33 years!

Unfortunately we have to let this issue play out, maybe in the courts or wherever this fight and this discussion is going to take place next. But I think there are a lot of us who really want this tournament to continue and are going to do everything we can to make sure it continues.

SSS: Back in February I enjoyed an article that you wrote about your most embarrassing moments at the World Series...

ND: Ha ha.

SSS: Not to make you draw attention to a particular embarrassment from this summer, but is there anything that’s happened here in 2010 that maybe would wind up on an a list like the one you compiled for that article?

ND: As you know in this job there are a lot of hours you put in and if you see a lot of things it is kind of like the law of large numbers -- you make more errors. And I’ve sure made my fair share over the years. And sure, I’ve had a few more this year and I think that I’ll do a follow-up column and it won’t be the ten most embarrassing moments but maybe the 20 most!

SSS: I can identify with this very strongly. You put in a 14-hour day and you do your best to be perfect and cover everything, but it can be a challenge.

ND: Yes, and it’s a shame also that you just don’t have the mental capacity to talk to everybody you want to, to get to know everybody you want to. Because, really -- and I really believe this -- there are 65,000 people who have played in events this World Series so far, and there are 65,000 stories out there, if you go after them. Everybody has something to say. The problem is there are only 24 hours in the day.

SSS: Even if you knew, I don’t think you could answer this next question. But where do you think the World Series of Poker is going to be next year?

ND: Yes, everyone is speculating [about whether the WSOP will relocate from its current home at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino]. That is the big question everyone will probably be asking once this Main Event ends. It’s appropriate because people care where they are going to be playing. And I can tell you that anybody who thinks they know the answer to that question doesn’t know what they are talking about. The Harrah’s organization will examine all of the options, and those discussions really haven’t started that much yet. So anybody who thinks they have inside information, they really don’t.

SSS: What I keep hearing is “A dealer told me that it was going to be...” and generally the sentence is finished with wherever it is that dealer is dealing.

ND: Haha, yes. Any property in Las Vegas would love to have the World Series, with all the people eating in the restaurants, staying in the hotel, gaming, and the excitement and publicity that it generates. The World Series of Poker is really Las Vegas’ best infomercial. Forget about that “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” campaign, the best informercial for Las Vegas is the WSOP. And so any casino would love to have this event at their place, and it is just a matter of seeing where it will end up.

SSS: Okay, last question. You’re the WSOP Media Director, so you spend a lot of time helping those of us who report on the WSOP and try to give us what we need and make it so that the covering of the World Series is as successful as it can be. What is your impression about how the WSOP is covered currently and do you have any ideas about how it could be done differently?

ND: Boy, that’s a great question. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that. I had a very interesting conversation with a reporter from USA Today -- we were talking last night at dinner, in fact. And he said that he thought poker was tailor-made for the internet. And he’s right -- the immediacy of the internet, and people turning on a computer in 115 different nations and say -- bam -- Phil Hellmuth just busted out two seconds ago, that’s incredible.

Really no other sporting event is quite like that. With football, you watch it live and after it’s over it’s done. But with poker afterwards you have these logs, and hand histories, and you can look it over and have this great amount of information. I don’t think that really exists in football or baseball or in major sports -- the detailed information of what goes on, which is really a testament to what the reporters do. To be able to detail all the hands, all the players, all the quirks, all the stories...

So I agree that this is a game that is tailor-made for the internet, and I expect that to be the major focus [of WSOP coverage] as we move into the next few years.

SSS: When you say that it makes me think that there is something about poker -- that ESPN can do what they do, and we can put cameras on people playing and watch it happen -- but there’s something about poker that almost requires it be narrated, that is, put into words. And the immediacy of the internet helps us tell those stories almost as they are happening.

ND: You just nailed it there. If you watch something, sure it is interesting. But having someone there creating a mental picture of what happened... it’s kind of like how they say the book is always better than the movie.

I’ll tell you something, I’m astonished the talent that has come into this game as far as writing goes, especially in the last three years. There are some really fine writers, and people who come from all walks of life, who have come into this game. We didn’t really have that five years ago. Not that poker writers were bad, but we’ve got some extraordinary talent and people who love and are passionate about the game and that really comes through in the coverage now. I mean on many sites, not just the news sites, but the bloggers, reporters, everybody.

Much thanks to Nolan Dalla for taking the time. And speaking of good poker writing, if you are looking for a excellent read about one of poker and the WSOP’s most fascinating figures, let me recommend to you One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ‘The Kid’ Ungar by Dalla and Peter Alson.

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Here are some other, older interviews I’ve reupped here, if you’re interested:

Catching Up With Kevmath (from February 2010)

Jesse May Interview, April 2011 (Part 1 of 2)

Jesse May Interview, April 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

I Said “Lady, Step Inside My Hyundai”

Didn’t see the Grammys -- can’t say I normally do -- although have absorbed the requisite amount of buzzing about it over the last couple of days, as will happen if you click on your computer machine and look around.

I like Beck’s Morning Phase, the disc that earned the trophy for album of the year, although as most who’ve followed his career have acknowledged, there are other, better titles in the catalogue. For me, Midnite Vultures and Sea Change are the twin peaks. The latter does the melancholy thing more consistently for me than does Phase, while the former is an inspired amalgam of faux funk.

I realized this morning when my alarm went off I’ve had the first few seconds of “Debra” as my ringtone for so many years I’d stopped thinking of the song when it goes off. Meanwhile, just now I clicked on the video below and reached for my phone.

I remember seeing Beck do this one on teevee close to two decades ago on some show wearing a white suit and referring to it not as “Debra” but something like “I Wanna Get With You Only You and Your Sister.” I knew Mellow Gold and Odelay and was a fan already, then later when “Debra” finally found its way onto Vultures I was fully hooked, destined to keep checking in on Beck thereafter.

Beck’s been hit-or-miss for me in some respects, although he’s always intriguing. I even spent a week or two last year exploring that Song Reader release for which Beck issued an “album” of 20 songs without recording them -- i.e., just as sheet music. I learned a couple on the guitar, and watched a number of vids of others’ versions which all somehow sounded more or less like “Beck songs.”

I also saw and heard the odd-seeming rant by Kanye West about Beck’s win. That seemed to have began as a humorous, self-effacing reprise of his “Imma Let You Finish” performance at another awards show a few years back, then became less funny after West’s incoherent manifesto about Beck needing “to respect artistry” and give the trophy to Beyoncé.

I wonder if those Global Poker Index-sponsored American Poker Awards coming up later this month in Los Angeles could drum up some analogous controversy? Maybe I’ll try to stir things up over Twitter among the nominees for Media Person of the Year -- Nolan Dalla, Chris Grove, Kevin Mathers, and Rich Ryan -- to create conditions for something similar.

I mean, Dalla seems like a good candidate to deliver a Kanyesque rant, wouldn’t you say? He definitely provided some good Grammy-related criticism this week, reaching back through the years with his post “The Most Baffling Grammy Award Winners of All Time (i.e. “My Anti-Grammy Awards”).”

Meanwhile, I’m heading out. Gonna step inside my Hyundai and go out for a real good meal.

Picked Apart

After six weeks of the NFL football season, I’m feeling as though I’ve been thoroughly picked apart as far as trying to pick winners in the Pigskin Pick’em contest goes.

A month ago I was cheerily writing here about getting an average of two out of three games correct and how that wasn’t too bad, but by now I’ve fallen off that pace considerably and am already in a desperate spot in the pool near the bottom and a dozen games out of the lead just over a third of the way into the campaign.

While yesterday didn’t go well at all for me, last week was even more difficult to get through after losing three early games in which the teams I’d picked all blew big leads. Even worse, all three were meaningful games as far as the pool was concerned, for which the picks were evenly divided and thus getting them right or wrong affected one’s standing more significantly.

Below are the win probability graphs for those three games as calculated by Advanced Football Analytics where I’ll sometimes find myself much as when playing online poker I would end up over at Two Dimes after suffering an improbably bad beat -- kind of a masochistic seeking out of an answer to the question “How bad was that, really?”

That’s right -- I had Chicago, Tennessee, and Detroit, all of whom had a WP of 80% or better in the fourth quarter of their games only to lose. The Titans were up 28-3 at home versus Cleveland before blowing their game 29-28. I also had Houston beating Dallas in the early game a week ago, and the Cowboys won in overtime, completing a four-game sweep of close ones going the wrong way.

This week’s games featured fewer heartbreaks but a lot of surprises (at least for me), thus hurtling me even further down the leaderboard in the pool. Like can happen in poker after enduring a long stretch of losing, I’ve now entered a zone in which I’m doubting my ability to play this game at all. Sure, I might have won at it in the past, but was it all just dumb luck?

I take a little bit of comfort knowing that I’m not gambling serious cabbage on NFL football -- indeed, I don’t bet on games at all. For those who are, I have great sympathy, especially after yesterday saw not one but two games end with “pick-6” interception returns for TDs that helped teams (Denver and Arizona) cover spreads during the final seconds.

Speaking of, check out Nolan Dalla’s post today titled “Anatomy of an NFL Apocalypse” in which he spells out in profanity-laced detail the “impalement of the heart, mind, and wallet” that was NFL football yesterday.

On James Garner, Who Portrayed a Poker Player and a P.I.

Actor James Garner passed away over the weekend at the age of 86. Much beloved for a variety of roles, Garner’s most famous ones actually covered special areas of interest for your humble scribbler -- one a poker player and the other a private investigator.

Those of my generation probably most remember Garner from The Rockford Files, the TV series in which he played a private investigator. It originally aired from 1974 to 1980 then stuck around a long while in syndication, and I remember watching it a lot with my Dad. The groovy theme song is pretty firmly etched in my memory.

Besides having engaging, problem-solver plots, the show also highlighted a father-and-son relationship between Jim Rockford (Garner) and his Dad, Rocky (played by Noah Beery, Jr.), and looking back I’m realizing how as a kid that aspect of the show was appealing to me as well.

For those of my Dad’s generation, though, most probably most readily associate Garner with the poker-playing Bret Maverick character he portrayed on TV from 1957 to 1962. I have no memory of watching that one, although I know I did see a few reruns as a kid. And in fact the bouncy theme song to that series describing the Old West hero “livin’ on jacks and queens” sits faintly tucked away in the back of my noggin, too:

I wrote about Bret Maverick once in a “Poker & Pop Culture” piece a while back, a fictional character uniquely associated with poker demonstrating the meaningful connection between the game and the Old West. I also wrote here several years ago about a reprint of a book I’d picked up called Maverick’s Guide to Poker which had been reissued following the 1994 film.

I’m of course familiar with the film adaptation starring Mel Gibson -- I often show a clip of the climactic poker scene in my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class -- and while it’s thoroughly entertaining it isn’t necessarily my favorite “poker movie.” Garner does a turn there, too, getting introduced as a supporting character, Marshal Zane Cooper. (And now that I think about it, there is kind of a father-son thing going on there as well.)

By the way, Nolan Dalla shared a nice story yesterday about Garner dating from 2006 when he turned up to play in that year’s World Series of Poker Main Event and on one of the starting days agreed at the very last minute to deliver the traditional directive to “shuffle up and deal” -- only Garner handled it a little differently than expected.

Check out “A James Garner Poker Story.”

The Tomko Story

Hear about this weird story involving Poker Hall of Famer Dewey Tomko and an anti-online op-ed that appears to have been attributed to him without his consent? (That’s Tomko pictured, natch -- from a Flipchip photo.)

If you haven’t, Nolan Dalla’s blog is a good place to go for an initial introduction to the story. In fact, his blog post “Who’s the Imposter Behind the Dewey Tomko Hoax?” is itself the most interesting part of the story, as there Dalla reports on having asked Tomko directly via phone about the editorial that appeared on the Press of Atlantic City website back in March.

The editorial speaks of the dangers of online gambling, advocating against it with some specious arguments about collusion. The piece is attributed both to Tomko and a person named Bill Byers, but as Tomko told Dalla he knows nothing about the article or why his name has been attached to it. (Meanwhile the article continues to appear on the Press of Atlantic City site without any corrections or disclaimers regarding its authorship.)

Follow links in Dalla’s post for some more backstory to the op-ed and response to it in the poker community. Then check out Rich Ryan’s discussion of the situation over at PokerNews in his “Five Thoughts” piece published today, as well as Haley Hintze’s follow-up on the story at Flushdraw in which she does some detective work to try to start to answer the question posed in Dalla’s post title.

There’s more to the story than is contained in all of these sources, it seems, including details regarding the apparent involvement of figures associated with anti-online gambling lobbying efforts as covered in Haley’s piece.

Kind of funny, actually, how the big dangers some of these folks routinely list when it comes to online gambling/poker -- namely collusion and being able to misrepresent oneself online -- seem also to be tactics possibly being employed by the lobbyists as they work together to create confusion regarding who is saying what about the issue.

(EDIT [added 5/7/14, 8 p.m.]: Well, this one got a lot twistier and odd over the last 24 hours. My original title for the post was purposely ambiguous with its reference, potentially alluding either to the Press of Atlantic City article, Tomko’s seemingly true story as told to Dalla, or the entire complicated “story” being reported on by others. More meanings seem possible now.

The signoff suggesting there may have been some sort of online identity-borrowing going on still seems partly possible, though it doesn’t appear today as though it was a simple case of Tomko’s name being used without his knowledge or permission. [In other words, there’s some question, it seems, regarding his “story.”]

Today the original March op-ed was pulled from the PoAC site, but not before more complications arose suggesting that Tomko may have indeed at least had some knowledge of it and the planned attribution. For those wanting help sorting it out, check out the following posts from today:

“The Curious Case of Dewey Tomko and the Disappearing Op-ed,” Steve Ruddock

“Updating the Dewey Tomko Controversy -- What (Apparently) Happened,” Nolan Dalla

“Dewey Tomko-signed Editorial Yanked from Press of Atlantic City Site,” Haley Hintze)

Talking Ice, Power, and Limit Hold’em

Had a decent-sized ice storm hit us starting before dawn today with the cold temps and freezing precipitation lasting into the early afternoon.

We woke up to no power and as I write here just after dinner time we’re still without, although after successfully cranking up our generator (a must for farm living) we’re enjoying a window of a few hours of power before bedtime. That pic is of two of our barn cats, Lily and Moe, who like Vera and myself figured out how to make do.

With little time to write I just wanted to point folks to Nolan Dalla’s latest piece on his personal blog, one that focuses on limit hold’em and how it was once all the rage in poker rooms prior to the “boom” and now finds itself a threatened game not unlike five-card draw and other rarely spread variants.

Dalla titles his post provocatively -- indeed, pretty much everything he posts on his blog is provocative -- calling it “Mason Malmuth Was Right (Limit vs. No-Limit Hold’em).” The title is referring back to Malmuth’s prediction way back in the early 1990s that no-limit hold’em had little chance of catching on, something he had written in a volume of his Poker Essays.

I actually wrote a little something last summer about this very same passage in Malmuth’s book, coming in a chapter titled “The Future of Poker.” It’s one of those predictions that reads much, much differently from our perspective, of course, and Dalla offers some reasonable justification both for Malmuth’s position back then and for his underlying arguments about no-limit hold’em actually still being valid despite the fact that NLHE has not only lasted but has grown into the single most popular variant of poker played for the last several years.

I can’t delve into the entire discussion just now, but you can read what Dalla has to say and decide for yourself what you think about the points he makes. I will say that as a LHE player myself, I’ve always felt similarly to Dalla that the game is more fun than NLHE, and in fact to me provides a lot more action in the form of constant decisions and the higher percentage of hands played.

I even wrote a kind of defense of LHE for Learn.PokerNews some time back called “Limit Hold’em Isn’t Always Like Watching Paint Dry” in which I made a couple of the same points Dalla does about why LHE is fun, perhaps especially so for beginners and/or recreational players.

Anyhow, follow those links for more Friday evening reading. Meanwhile, I’m going to go try to enjoy a couple more hours’ worth of power here before we shut it down for the night. Might go check on the cats one more time, too, although I’m sure they’re doing fine.

2013 WSOP, Day 46: Finding a Final Nine

They are down to 68 players now in the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event, having played five more two-hour levels yesterday. That’s 25 levels in the books, or 50 hours’ worth of poker so far for these players, who now represent just over 1% of the starting field of 6,352.

Early in the day yesterday we started hearing that the plan will be to have the players play five more again today, regardless of how many are eliminated. Every year I’ve been at the WSOP (since 2008), they’ve played down to 27 on the penultimate day, then down to nine on the last. Looking back at 2007 -- the last year before the November Nine -- it appears they began the next-to-day with 36 players and thus had a super long one to get down to the final table.

It’s a better plan, really, to go the full five levels today and increase the chances tomorrow won’t be a marathon. Last year at the start of Level 31 there were still 25 players left, but I would not be surprised if they get below that total tonight. In 2012 they’d end up reaching the final nine midway through Level 34 (with nearly 250 more players having entered).

The chip leader going into today is a fellow named Sami Rustom, one of a number of players left that most poker fans (and reporters, too) will not have known about prior to the Main Event. I first started to notice Rustom on Day 3 when I saw him knock out both David Benyamine and Jeff Shulman early in the day. Then later on Day 3 I saw him play a hand in which he raised from early position, got a reraise and another reraise behind, then come back over the top with a five-bet that got the others to fold. As the chips were pushed his way, he then cheekily turned over .

I also remember hearing some table talk from Rustom in which he noted he was more of a cash game player than a tourney guy, and his Hendon Mob page certainly suggests he’s not one to play big buy-in events that often. But he continued to be aggressive throughout the last couple of days and I’m not too surprised to see him at the top of the counts this morning. (He is on the left wearing shades in the pic above, courtesy PokerNews.)

Jackie Glazier made it to Day 6, thanks largely to one big hand yesterday that saw her all in on the turn and needing either to fill a flush or hit one of her two overcards, which she did. She’s the only woman left, with three others having made the top 100 before being eliminated yesterday -- Kima Kimura (who finished 100th), Annette Obrestad (89th), and Beverly Lange (86th).

Fortune was on Glazier’s side in that hand, but earlier in the tourney at the very end of Day 2 she played a memorable hand that I watched and reported in which she folded pocket kings preflop. I wrote about that one here, too, which is a hand I continue to think about the further Glazier gets in the tournament.

Looking up and down the list of the remaining 68, I can say of about a quarter of the remaining players that I definitely knew of them prior to this week -- Ryan Riess (currently in 7th position), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (11th), David Benefield (18th), Noah Schwartz (20th), Jonathan Jaffe (21st), J.C. Tran (28th), Carlos Mortensen (35th), Yann Dion (37th), Mark Newhouse (41st), Jim Collopy (42nd), Bryan Pellegrino (46th), Steve Gee (55th), Vitaly Lunkin (59th), Jaime Kaplan (60th), Rep Porter (61st), and Brett Richey (65th).

There are a few others in there whom I know I’ve covered in tourneys before, and some of the remaining players have become familiar to me over the last couple of days. Mortensen is, of course, the lone remaining WSOP Main Event champion left (he won in 2001) as last year’s winner Greg Merson was eliminated in 167th. Steve Gee finished ninth last year, and so he is gunning for a second straight ME final table, which would obviously be noteworthy.

Not too many other obvious storylines in play yet, though, although like every year, some will certainly emerge as they get closer to then actually reach the final nine. There are a lot of interesting characters left in the field, and the table talk at many of the outer tables was engaging as players appeared to be having a lot of fun.

At one point yesterday I chatted briefly with WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla who noted how players tend to get quiet up on the two feature tables, especially in the “mothership,” as many likely find it hard to relax in such a setting. But he also agreed that a lot of the players seemed to enjoying themselves and indeed were acting much more relaxed than you’d expect at this stage of the Main Event, something he attributed as perhaps being a consequence of having a higher percentage of players with live poker backgrounds (as opposed to online only), which seemed a good theory to me.

Play picks back up at noon Vegas time today, so again, head over to PokerNews to see who makes it through to tomorrow’s final day of the summer.

2013 WSOP, Day 26: Cold

“Is Daniel out?”

So asked Shaun Deeb of me with about 40 players left in Event No. 41, the $5,000 PLO 6-max. event. I glanced at Daniel Negreanu’s table and he was still there, albeit completely obscured by his long-sleeved hooded jacket. Uncharacteristically for him, he had the hood up over his head, as photographed to the left for PokerNews/WSOP.

I jerked a thumb in Negreanu’s direction. Daniel wasn’t out. He was in, both the tourney and a large, heavy plaid cocoon.

“Keeping warm,” I said. “Good idea,” answered Deeb.

When I landed at McCarran Airport last week, I tweeted that I’d arrived, noting how my first order of business was to remove the jacket I’d been wearing aboard the plane. The hot, dry Vegas air was immediately apparent upon my first exposure outside the airport, and as usual the temps have been hovering in the 90s or low 100s for much of the time I’ve been here so far.

Several responded to be prepared to put my jacket back on once I’d made it to the Rio. It’s cold, they said. Real cold.

People have complained about it being too cold in the spacious ballrooms of the Rio where the World Series of Poker and other associated tourneys play out every single summer I’ve come out, so no one was telling me anything I didn’t already know. Sure enough, when I visited the Rio that night and entered the mostly empty Amazon room where a couple of tourneys had reached their end stages, there was a chill in the air. But I had my jacket and a sweater, and as I was writing about last week, everything seemed in its place in an almost comfortable sort of way. Including the chill.

Last night we were stationed in the far right corner of the Amazon. Again, like just about every day I’ve been there so far, the Amazon was mostly empty with Day 2s playing out in the corners and Day 3s finishing up on the main and secondary stages.

Players started complaining about the cold mid-afternoon, and after a while it became apparent that it really did seem colder than usual. I started out in a heavy shirt, then added the sweater, then added the jacket. All of the players were wrapped up in jackets and hoods, and while no one in our event had taken to wearing gloves, we were hearing stories of some in other events who had.

I’d say Negreanu finally reached a boiling point, but the metaphor seems inappropriate. After talking to the TDs about the situation a few times, he’d return from the dinner break with a digital thermometer, just to get an idea how cold it really was.

I’d mentioned to my reporting colleague Matt W. at one point that I’d guessed it to have been at least 15 degrees’ difference between the hallway and inside the Amazon. “I thought walking in I could see my breath,” I joked, and while I couldn’t actually do that, the change was so abrupt it did uncannily feel like stepping outdoors during winter rather than coming inside during summer.

Negreanu later tweeted the results of his test. I think he might’ve deleted the photo since, but I believe it read 60 degrees. Not sure if it was actually that cold in there, but the lower 60s is likely.

No one it seemed could avoid talking about the cold. Nolan Dalla wrote a humorous post about the cold on his blog. AlCantHang compiled various tweets about the situation for PokerListings -- some serious, some less so. Jess Welman earned the highest grin-producing score by making reference to the nine bracelets won by Canadians this year, as passed along by Bryan Devonshire:

“There’s a reason why Canadians are winning all the bracelets: they’re more acclimated to the weather.”

Once Negreanu busted from our event in 34th yesterday, he voiced further complaints over Twitter, and the response was that someone had apparently fiddled with the thermostat yesterday -- that is, we weren’t all imagining things -- and that it would be set at 74 going forward.

I return to the Rio today to cover the third and final day of Event No. 41, currently led by Steve “gboro780” Gross. We’ll see if it is less cold inside the Amazon today. And if not, how well people keep their cool.

Moneymaker

Today’s a special anniversary in the poker world, one that many have been noting had been coming for the last couple of weeks. I’m referring, of course, to it being the 10th anniversary of Chris Moneymaker’s stunning victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, an event which many point to as a catalyst of sorts for the subsequent poker “boom” thanks to the way it brought together numerous influential factors -- online poker, newly-revamped televised poker (with hole cards), and the underdog story of an amateur being the pros that further inspired so many to get involved in the game thereafter.

I’ve written many times about Moneymaker and his win here before, including writing posts marking this very date and its significance, and so am not too interested in scribbling yet another, similar one today. Am also kind of running low on mental fuel, to be honest, thanks to having sat up the entire night following and reporting on an online tournament -- one in which Moneymaker himself actually made a fairly deep run, finishing ahead of about 1,500 other players or almost twice as many as he bested in the 2003 ME.

I’ve enjoyed reading some of the other pieces that have been posted this week regarding Moneymaker’s win, most particularly that cool, lengthy oral history of the 2003 WSOP Main Event compiled by Eric Raskin for Grantland, titled “When We Held Kings.”

Nolan Dalla has also been writing a series of entertaining posts over the last several days sharing his memories of that Main Event. As I talked about once with Dalla in an interview for Betfair Poker, it wasn’t that long before Moneymaker’s win that he’d become the WSOP’s Media Director, and he worked for Binion’s then, too, which necessarily put him right in the middle of things when lightning struck 10 years ago today. Check his blog for the series, to which he’s still adding.

Finally, I very much liked Brad Willis’s piece on the PokerStars blog today in which he shares a more personal account of how Moneymaker’s victory affected him both personally and professionally. In “Ten years later: How Chris Moneymaker changed my life,” Brad tells a story that is familiar to a lot of us, and in fact when I look at his next-to-last paragraph, I could almost quote it verbatim as representative of what also happened me (changing out only the original career):

“Ten years ago today, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life working in local TV news. It wouldn't have been a bad career, and I think I could’ve done it with pride. But because of that day in 2003, I’ve seen a big part of the world, been able to report some amazing stories, and met friends I will cherish forever. And, for what it’s worth, I’ve been able to hang out with a poker hero named Moneymaker from time to time.”

All of those statements apply to me, too. Even the bit about getting to know the champ a little, as I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Moneymaker on several occasions, including about what happened on May 23, 2003. Such a friendly guy and truly a remarkable ambassador for the game -- and, if you think about it, a person who has helped define what we mean by that idea of being an “ambassador” for poker.

Of course, when I think back to 2003 I don’t remember anything at all about what happened on this date as far as poker was concerned. Like many, many others, it wasn’t until ESPN began showing its coverage of the Main Event in late August -- and I got hooked like everyone else on the weekly one-hour segments -- that I ever paid any attention to Moneymaker and his story.

If I’m adding up the dates correctly, it would have been Tuesday, October 7, 2003 when the seventh and final installment of ESPN’s coverage was shown for the first time. That was the night it all went “boom,” I’d say, and everyone finally found out about Moneymaker and the WSOP and online poker and everything else.

Still today’s a day worth noting, and enjoying the memories being shared by others regarding a life-changing event for one 27-year-old accountant and for countless others, too.

Travel Report: 2012-13 WSOP-C Caesars Atlantic City Main Event, Day 1 -- If This Were Yesterday, What Time Would It Be Now?

As the clock turned two this morning -- and then, in a flash, turned again to three -- I turned to WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla.

“I’d like to suggest a moment of silence for the loss of that hour,” I said. He shook his head and chuckled. A long day behind the laptops was finally coming to an end.

We’re both here at Caesars Atlantic City to cover the World Series of Poker Circuit. He’s been here the last 10 days or so, actually, as he’s covering all 12 events for the WSOP blog. Meanwhile I am here for the three-day Main Event which had gotten underway Saturday way back at 11 a.m.

Play had only just concluded -- 15 hours after the first hands of the day were dealt -- and there was still more work to do before we could call it a night. And like a rude postscript to the day, we’d suddenly leaped forward yet another hour deeper into the evening. Meaning, of course, we were already one hour closer to the start of Day 2 and another long work day.

I’d noticed earlier in the week this was to be the weekend that Daylight Savings Time was to be begin. I think we always miss that hour somewhat, but I knew already I’d be missing it even more given my assignment this weekend.

As I continued to tidy up some loose ends and prepared to pack up my stuff and head up to my room, I thought of a question Vera asked me a few years ago on the day after we’d sprung forward.

“If this were yesterday what time what it be now?”

I also remembered two years ago when I came to cover this same WSOP-C Main Event at Caesars. It was the same weekend, with Daylight Savings Time again kicking in. In that instance, the tournament had begun on Friday, so we were at the end of Day 2 when the time change occurred.

Twenty-odd players remained, I recall, and some fairly hilarious confusion began to circulate among the three remaining tables as players struggled to figure out exactly what time it really was. No one seemed to know for sure if the clocks were to be moved forward or back, and looking back at the post I wrote the next morning I think the so-called “smart phones” didn’t used to be as smart two years ago when it came to automatically adjusting the time.

As we closed in on the end of play last night, announcements were made noting the time change, the reminders designed to prevent anyone from missing today’s noon start. And while there were a few follow-up questions, the message seemed to be readily understood by all.

As was the case at the WSOP-C Harrah’s AC event I helped cover in December, this event featured two Day 1 flights in a single day, comprised of nine 40-minute levels each. Players busting during “Day 1a” had an option to re-enter the evening “Day 1b” session. Also, anyone eliminated only a single time on Saturday still can buy in a second time before the start of play today, and while it is doubtful there will be too many taking that option those that do will still get to start with a stack of 25 big blinds.

Though arduously lengthy, the day went relatively smoothly, and I enjoyed working alongside Kevin (my PokerNews blogging partner) and Nolan again. Not too many so-called “big names” among the 519 total entries yesterday. Steve Dannenmann, Christian Harder, and Matt Glantz were probably the best known of the bunch. Dannenmann didn’t make it through to today, having busted in both flights, but Glantz and Harder both did.

Another “big name” (especially around here) was Roland Israelashvili, and I’m not just talking about the number of letters in his name. Israelashvili took 25th in last summer’s WSOP Main Event, gaining him some notice. But here in Atlantic City everyone knows Roland. After all, he final tabled this same event the last three years in a row, including winning it back in 2010. But like Dannenmann, he, too, would bust twice yesterday to end his WSOP-C run prematurely.

Had a few funny exchanges with players throughout the day, something I’ve mentioned before is always more likely to occur at these Circuit events than at the relatively more series WSOP bracelet events in Vegas. Probably my favorite happened when I was hovering near the table of Christopher Leong who has managed to win two of the preliminary tournaments here this week, thus giving him a shot at winning an unprecedented three WSOP-C gold rings at a single stop.

Players at the table noticed my presence, then began wondering aloud which among them might be the reason for my being there to watch them play early level hands. One joked that he was “paulgees” -- i.e., the New Jersey-based player Paul Volpe, who I do remember playing in this event two years ago. Volpe, of course, has been busy on the other side of the country this week where he has been making consecutive final tables at World Poker Tour events in California (at Bay 101 Shooting Stars and the L.A. Poker Classic). Some might remember him as well for having like Israelashvili made a deep run at the 2012 WSOP Main Event where he finished 20th.

Finally the conversation at the table began to focus on Leong, whom some suspected had in fact done something of note during the week. "Is it really true he won two rings this week?" one of his opponents asked of me, and I just smiled and shrugged as Leong sat silently. “It's okay,” the player continued. “You won't be giving anything away. He’s wearing the rings!”

Everyone laughed, including myself. Leong wasn’t wearing the rings, of course, but the jig was up nevertheless. He did manage to survive the day, albeit with a short stack, so chances are I might be hovering near his table some more at the start of play today.

It’s a tough schedule, no doubt, although I suppose things get balanced out a bit thanks to the ease of traveling to relatively close destinations like AC. The accommodations are nice enough here, too, and staying on site always makes it easier by shortening those trips back and forth to bed.

I’m not even sure what the schedule entails today, but I know for sure it’s going to be another long one. Looking back at two years ago when the event was not a re-entry and players played longer on Day 1, I’m seeing how we had 81 work their way down to a final table of nine on Day 2. That obviously ain’t happening today, as there still a whopping 268 left. Gonna assume we’ll get it down around 20 or so, thus probably setting up another long one on Monday to settle it.

At least we know we won’t be losing another hour tonight.

Defending Dressage

I mentioned a couple of days ago how I’d had a post ready to share about the old 1944 Western Tall in the Saddle starring John Wayne. Got interrupted by this week’s big PokerStars-DOJ-Full Tilt Poker news and so didn’t pull the trigger (pun intended). I’ve decided I’m going to hold onto that one a short while longer, actually, for a couple of reasons.

One is I’m starting to look back at a few other John Wayne flicks that involve poker, part of a larger project I have in mind regarding poker in film. The other is the Olympics have inspired me to discuss yet another topic, one that also happens to involve horses. And does in fact have something to do with poker, too.

Among other things, the Olympics have the potential to provide a great opportunity to learn about cultures other than one’s own. That sort of education can include learning about various sports and disciplines to which we normally pay little attention otherwise, only following them whenever we see them come up every couple of years at the summer or winter games.

It’s not surprising, then, when every time the Olympics come around we hear reactions -- sometimes voiced as criticisms -- concerning whether a particular event really rates as a “sport” or not. Some readily deliver judgments denouncing, say, synchronized diving or badminton or beach volleyball, and arguing over whether such sports are worthy of being included among those in the summer games. Same goes for curling or snowboarding or luge or perhaps some other sports we see in the winter.

The equestrian sports in the summer games always receive a lot of this sort of attention. There are various reasons why this is the case, although probably the biggest one involves the fact that humans aren’t simply competing against one another but are riding horses which have been variously trained and are thus also necessarily affecting outcomes.

There are six equestrian events, three for individuals and three for teams. Probably the best analogy for understanding how the events break down would be gymnastics, where you have both individual and team competitions, an “all around” event that combines several disciplines, and events which focus just on one discipline.

The equestrian events include one that is called “eventing” which combines dressage, jumping, and cross-country. Then there is just a “jumping” event. Finally they have a “dressage” event, too.

Dressage is getting added attention this summer here in the U.S. thanks to the fact that Ann Romney, wife of presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, is part-owner of a 15-year-old mare (Rafalca) that is competing in the individual dressage event, ridden by Jan Ebeling.

Romney, of course, already has an image as a super-wealthy candidate whose affluence (for some) perhaps makes him less able to identify with and/or lead or even communicate with the middle or lower classes. The connection with horse ownership and dressage is predictably being focused on as further evidence supporting that image.

I’ve written about dressage here a few times in the past, thanks to the fact that Vera Valmore (a.k.a., Mrs. Shamus) has been competing for many years. For her the sport is a logical extension of a lifetime of riding horses. I’ve watched countless shows in which she’s participated, and together we’ve seen a number of top level events over the years, including several in which Olympic champions have competed (in Las Vegas, Florida, here in North Carolina, and elsewhere).

The experience has caused me to appreciate dressage and the incredible skill it requires of riders as they communicate (and train) their horses to perform the various gaits and movements required by the various tests. I’ve also come to recognize a lot of overlap between dressage and poker and the mental challenges both involve.

As you might imagine, Vera and I have discussed these connections between poker and dressage many times -- including the fact that as is the case in poker, men and women compete against one another in the equestrian events (the only Olympic sport in which that is the case). I’ve occasionally written about those connections here, too.

Vera can obviously talk about dressage much more knowledgably than I can, although I think I’m probably more informed than most when it comes to discussing it and even arguing in favor of it as a worthwhile pursuit. But really my main reason for even bringing it up here is to defend dressage against the specific charge that it’s a sport in which only the rich can participate.

WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla recently started a personal blog in which he’s sharing some entertaining stories and observations. In just a little over a week he’s already published about a dozen posts. Some are about poker and/or gambling, although so far most concern other topics, and all are worthwhile for Dalla’s insight, wit, and readiness to share an opinion or three. For those of us already fans of Dalla’s voluminous poker-related writings, the new blog has quickly become a welcome addition to our daily reading.

One post Dalla wrote earlier this week concerned the Olympics and his belief that “most of these gold medal events aren’t really ‘sports’ at all.” Not surprisingly, the equestrian events were included among those Dalla targeted.

While I’m not really too interested in debating whether or not something like dressage should be an Olympic sport, I do have to take exception to Dalla’s characterization of equestrian events as “nothing more than a chance for uber-rich people to say they made the Olympic team” and that “99.9 percent of the population can’t afford to do this activity.”

Dalla’s missing the mark a bit here. Like poker, dressage can be played at a variety of “stakes” -- high, middle, low, even “micro.” Sure, like those competing in other Olympic sports, there’s a lot of expense involved for those who end up at the Olympics or the World Cup or other top level competitions. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t many, many others enjoying and getting a lot out of equestrian events at lower levels, satisfying many of the same desires for competition and achievement many of us get from playing poker.

I’m certain Dalla wouldn’t think it fair for someone to have watched the $1,000,000 buy-in “Big One for One Drop” aired earlier this week on ESPN and from it drawn a conclusion that poker is just for the “uber-rich,” using that as a reason to dismiss it entirely as something not worth our time or attention.

I get where Dalla’s coming from, of course. Stephen Colbert came from a similar place this week on The Colbert Report in his hilarious two-part dressage lesson with the Olympian Michael Barisone (someone Vera and I have seen compete many times).

Check out Colbert’s dressage lesson here and here in which he goofs on the whole idea that dressage could ever be considered a sport for “Joe Six-Pack.”

Sure, dressage isn’t for everyone. But neither is poker. Like poker, equestrian events do generally require money in order to participate. But they are hardly as exclusive as some think.

2011 WSOP, Day 23: Percentages, Points, and Kevmath

Yesterday was a relatively relaxing one as I mentally prepared myself for the run of workdays to come. Prepared myself physically, too, I suppose. I believe I’m on the schedule to work the next six days straight, and so the time for resting up is nearly over.

Had fun early on yesterday enjoying a visit with Kevmath who happened to have a rare day off. We spent an hour visiting over a late breakfast before he took off to join the daily deepstack madness going on over at the Rio. There are three of those tourneys going off each day, with the big one ($235 buy-in) starting to attract over 1,000 runners again and again. That means over $40K for the winner, one sweet ROI.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve felt like I’ve gotten to know Kevin pretty well already over the last few years. Thus is our finally getting together almost more like reuniting with a friend than getting to know someone new, given the large amount of common reference points we share.

We have some other things in common, too, which we chatted about some over our eggs, bacon, and toast. We both became part of this complicated and interesting world of poker players and writers through somewhat unusual means, and both also found ourselves having created these “characters” through which many know us (“Kevmath” and “Shamus”). Then again, we’ve both been playing those “roles” for such a while they have become a bit part of how others see us. And, I suppose, who we are, too.

As Kevin told me about his experience thus far this summer, I was reminded a lot of what it was like for me in 2008 when I covered my first WSOP. As those of you who were reading over here back then know, I was definitely possessed with a kind of “shot-taking” mentality then, not entirely sure how it would all work out but knowing I’d regret it if I didn’t take the chance and see how it did.

Obviously I’m glad I did take the chance back then, and I think Kevin is glad he has, too. I know a lot of the rest of us who are here are glad he did as well.

During the latter part of the afternoon I snuck back over to the Rio for a short stay. Mainly just wanted to reacquaint myself some with a few things in preparation for going into today to help cover Event No. 40, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Six-Handed) event. Met a few new folks and chatted with a couple of others whom I hadn’t seen on Tuesday, including WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla.

I repeated my joke to Nolan about being disappointed they started the sucker without me, and he played along, saying how they’d tried but people just kept coming and would’ve broken down the doors if they hadn’t let them play. That led to a brief conversation about the overall numbers being up this year and how that perhaps has made the staging of the Series even more of a challenge.

We also talked a bit about the latest stat the WSOP issued regarding women’s participation, a topic Jen Newell and I addressed in our “He Said / She Said” column over on Woman Poker Player this week. Through 29 events, just 946 of the 29,421 entrants have been women, about 3.2%. CK, a.k.a. the Black Widow of Poker, points out in a 2+2 thread on the subject that if you leave out Event No. 1, the Casino Employees Event, participation by women in all of the other events is just 2.98%. Nolan expressed a bit of dismay at the fact that the percentages of women playing at the WSOP really hasn’t gone up much since the Moneymaker boom.

I got back to the home-away-from-home and soon after the PokerGrump picked me up and we went for dinner at Bachi Burger, a reprise of a visit we’d made there last summer. From there we joined a group back at the Rio at McFadden’s for a weekly pub trivia contest, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Among those at our table -- and thus, on our team -- were Kate (a.k.a. @caitycaity), David, Cheryl, Bob Lauria, and a couple of others who came and went. It’s a weekly thing for the team, named “Quiz On Quiz Off,” who besides having won weekly prizes is in the running to win the current season.

With seven or eight teams competing, it was a hard-fought contest with three or four teams having a chance to win at by the final round. In fact, as they were announcing the winner at the end, I was almost convinced we hadn’t enough points even to make the top three, although our personal tally was incomplete and thus we weren’t entirely sure. Then came the word -- we'd won, and by a single point! Woot!

The “hand of the day” (as I jokingly called it afterwards) was a question we had missed about a film starring Mickey Rourke in which Bob and I had in improbable fashion collaborated to come up with right answer (Wild Orchid) yet couldn’t summon the collective will to commit to it and write it down. It was a classic example of reading the situation correctly yet being unable to pull the trigger. Thankfully it didn’t cost us, and we were able to do what so many in Vegas strive for but few accomplish -- to walk out as winners.

Got back to the room and did a little work before crashing hard around midnight. Still a bit stuck on Eastern time, as indicated further by my early rising again today. That’ll all change soon enough after a full workday or two walking the floor and live blogging at the Rio. The $5K short-handed event should be a good one, attracting a lot of top pros including the online guys in particular, many of whom are playing as many events as they can this summer with the rolls they’ve been able to cash out from PokerStars.

On that topic, one of my trivia teammates last night, David, works with the Total Rewards folks who issue cards to players entering all of the events, and he mentioned to me how a lot of the online guys are entering 20 or more events. Struck me as an attempt to emulate the sort of volume they would put in online, although obviously the cost (and, presumably, the risk of ruin) is so much higher for them in this context.

I covered this same event back in 2009. Turned out to be one of the more exciting tourneys I’ve ever reported on, in fact, won by Matt “Hoss TBF” Hawrilenko with Josh Brikis finishing second and Faraz Jaka third. Hawrilenko took over $1 million for first prize that year, as 928 entered. Jeffrey Papola won it in 2010 when 568 entered, taking just over $667K for his win.

The vacation is really over, it seems. But I’m rested. And ready.

Head over to PokerNews live reporting today -- and tonight -- to follow all of the action.

WSOP and POV

Had an especially enjoyable weekend, spent with family while occasionally following the WSOP coverage at PokerNews and WSOP.com.

My birthday was on Saturday, and thus it was nice to be able to hang out at home to celebrate the day for a change rather than spend it 2,500 or so miles away.

Got to visit with my Mom and brother some. From my brother I learned about two new things. First he told me all about the Wilhelm scream. Then he taught me what a trebuchet was. He said he wanted one. I asked him what that was and he explained it to me. Then I asked him why he wanted one.

“Have some stuff I want to launch,” he said.

The WSOP launched nearly two weeks ago, and they are already up to starting Event Nos. 22 and 23 today. (See the full day-by-day schedule here.) After having been right in the thick of it there at the Rio from start to finish for the last several years, it is interesting -- and useful, I think -- to observe the Series from afar as it has progressed through these first couple of weeks.

The fact is, it is often difficult to have any sort of broader perspective at all about the WSOP when there. Especially when immersed in the business of closely covering a single event, which has generally been the case for me since I started covering the sucker in 2008. Point of view gets all narrowed down and blinkered.

One writer whose perspective I have particularly enjoyed following thus far is that of Dr. Pauly. Pauly gets a lot of accolades for his WSOP reports on Tao of Poker, so my chiming in (again) and adding another clapping of hands to the already loud applause ain’t gonna make a lot of difference. Indeed, anyone wandering over here during these first couple of weeks to see what I might be writing about prior to heading out to the WSOP is certainly already following Tao and so knows already how good it gets over there.

But if somehow you aren’t already reading Tao of Poker -- and if you have an interest in following what’s happening at the WSOP -- let me encourage you to go over and read Pauly’s account of the scene during the Event No. 16 final table from Saturday night: “2011 WSOP Day 12: Hellmuth Chokes and Prohibition Ends at the Mothership.” That was the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit) Championship in which John Juanda denied Phil Hellmuth his 12th WSOP bracelet.

There you will find...

considered commentary on the make-up of the field (a mix of old school mixed-game vets and online-trained neophytes)

a few behind-the-scenes tidbits regarding those who made the final day

an account of the food-and-beverage-prohibition subplot at the so-called “Mothership,” theatrically lifted once play reached heads-up

anecdotal sketches of various crowd characters, all of which add up to a comprehensive portrait of the audience’s attitude toward watching poker played with no community or “up” cards

a glimpse at side action between ultra-keen bookmaker Neil Channing and underdog Benjo

the shifts of momentum and mood during heads-up play

And more. Then comes a postscript covering other WSOP events plus extracurricular activities at the Rio sportsbook and elsewhere, again peppered with lots of fun, generally unseen stuff that helps convey what it’s like to be there.

There are a few others whose WSOP reports I find myself actively seeking out day-after-day in addition to checking in on the usual news outlets. These include (but are not limited to) Jesse May’s Poker Farm posts, Snoopy’s articles and blog posts over on Black Belt Poker, Jess Welman’s nifty “WSOP By the Numbers” pieces on the BLUFF site (here’s the latest), and Nolan Dalla’s always awesome WSOP.com reports and wraps.

Am also every day checking out PKRGSSP’s great compilation posts, too, which often point me to other stuff worthy of attention. (I wonder if PKRGSSP knows he has successfully revived a tradition begun by the erstwhile Blogfather, Iggy, with his “uberposts” each weekday?)

But to get back to Pauly, it’s that ability to combine close details and “big picture” stuff that makes his reports special, one of many reasons why they are so worthwhile. Like I say, it’s hard enough to have any kind of larger perspective at all when there, let alone successfully convey it to an audience in a way that makes sense (and is entertaining, too).

Have about a week more to try to appreciate the “big picture” before I launch myself Vegas-ward. Looking forward to it, for sure, but also have been glad to have had this chance to “see” it all from afar via others’ POVs.

Travel Report: WSOP-C Atlantic City, Arrival

I might have been dreaming. Could have sworn I heard shouting coming from the parking deck across the street from my room at Caesars Atlantic City.

Sounded like someone saying “we’ve still got one grand” over and over, adding “we’re in Atlantic City.” His interlocutor was female, and while I couldn’t make out her responses they seem to have been antagonistic to whatever plan he had in mind. Went on for quite a while, and whether real or imagined, the exhange was enough to remind me I wasn’t sleeping in my own bed.

My flights yesterday were both smooth. Speaking of gambling tales, on one leg I was seated near a member of one of the NASCAR crews who spent most of the journey excitedly relating his recent adventure in Las Vegas to his neighbor.

The tour had a stop there last weekened, I believe, and this fellow told how he’d taken a Mason jar filled with $63 worth of coins along with him. Ran it up to $500 or so, he said, before leaving Las Vegas with “about a hundred.” (Which probably meant something a little less than $63.) Had friends -- apparently lacking his discipline -- who lost two or three grand, though.

So, you know, it was like he was up. A lot.

Took a cab through the dreary, pounding, early evening rain and made it up to my room a little after dinner time. Ended up spending some time scoping out the scene downstairs, including finding the large ballroom where the WSOP Circuit $1,650 buy-in Main Event will be happening today.

Found WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla there monitoring the conclusion of a preliminary event, and he and I had a good time talking about what we’ve each been up to since last summer. Dalla’s a sports bettor, and he and I also talked some college hoops and some of the conference tourneys he would have his eye on this weekend.

Now that I think about it, all that shouting about what to do with the last thousand dollars probably was a dream, suggested to me by that bit of eavesdropping on the plane, my rereading the end of Jesse May’s Shut Up and Deal and a couple of chapters of Alvarez’s The Biggest Game in Town on the flights, and my conversation with Dalla.

In any case, it is sounding like there ought to be 300 or so hopefuls showing up this afternoon, themselves all dreaming of a handsome payday and a WSOP Circuit ring come this weekend. And each willing to part with more than a grand to get there.

Check in over at PokerNews today to see how things go.

Her Name Is Rio

Today my review of Paul “Dr. Pauly” McGuire’s Lost Vegas appeared over on the Betfair Poker site. For those of you who haven’t picked up a copy yet, check out the review to learn what the book covers and my overall take.

Book reviews are always a bit challenging to write, for a variety of reasons. One problem I always end up facing is having to choose between several different points I want to make about the book. That is, I can’t reasonably share every little response or observation I might have had while reading the sucker, so I have to be selective and often end up setting aside certain points in order to keep the review at a manageable length.

One point about Pauly’s book I had written down but didn’t end up including in the review regarded his account of the 2005 WSOP, in particular his description of Binion’s Horseshoe where the Main Event was concluded -- the last time the WSOP was played there.

As is the case throughout Lost Vegas, Pauly doesn’t shy away from telling it like it is when it comes to describing Binion’s, noting how the place had deteriorated by then into a less than desirable destination for anyone traveling to Vegas, let alone for the WSOP.

However, as Pauly notes, “What Binion’s lacked in class, it made up for in character.” Here Pauly ends up writing a nifty little elegy to the Horseshoe, a tribute of sorts to the birthplace of the WSOP focusing on the moment the WSOP left it for good. Rather than go on at length here, I’ll let those of you who have picked up the book read what Pauly has to say about how “Benny’s Bullpen was a post-modern version of the Roman Coliseum where gladiators fought to the death.”

Like I say, I ended up leaving that comment about Pauly’s discussion of Binion’s out of my review. I was thinking about it again this morning, though, as I read some of the rumors about Harrah’s having finally sold the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Some are saying the deal has been done, and thus the WSOP will necessarily be looking for a new home in 2011. Pokerati’s short blurb about the sale a couple of days ago appears to have gotten the rumor mill churning in earnest this week. However, the official word from the WSOP appears to be that as far as its concerned the Rio remains a Harrah’s property and thus plans for the 2011 WSOP -- at the Rio -- continue to proceed.

Actually, rumors about the WSOP leaving the Rio began back in the spring, and there was a lot of talk this summer about where it might possibly go. When I interviewed Nolan Dalla, the WSOP Media Director, for Betfair last month, I asked him about the rumors, knowing full well that even if he knew anything he wouldn’t be able to tell me one way or the other what was up.

Dalla’s answer to me was nevertheless forthright. He said to me that “anybody who thinks they know the answer to that question [then, in early July] doesn’t know what they are talking about.” He added that the issue would be examined by Harrah’s soon after the WSOP concluded, but that “those discussions really haven’t started that much yet.”

Whatever happens with the WSOP in 2011, I think it is interesting to compare what people are saying about the WSOP perhaps leaving the Rio with the often nostalgia-tinged sentiments expressed back in 2005 when the Series left Binion’s.

Of course, for me the WSOP and the Rio will always be closely associated, given that I’ve never had the chance to see it played anywhere else. I haven’t any particular fondness for the place, but it has seemed to me a suitable enough location to accommodate the spectacle the WSOP has currently become.

Will be curious, though, to see what happens next for the WSOP. And -- if it does leave the Rio -- what sort of “elegies” (if any) will be written about the WSOP during the Rio years.

2010 WSOP, Day 42: Day 1d Anecdotes

Day 1d of the Main Event had a rhythm that I think mirrored that of the first three Day 1 flights. A very high energy for the first six hours of play -- both from players and from those of us covering them -- followed by a relatively slower pace during the three hours that followed the 90-minute dinner break.

From the reporting side, we’re finally finding ourselves in a situation where a 2,000-plus field is manageable, with many more of us working at once to write reports, keep track of counts, and so forth. And I don’t think anyone minds the relatively shorter work days during the Main Event, too.

There were a few interesting moments that came up yesterday, although nothing truly jawdropping. No one wins the Main Event on the first day. Some build big stacks but even that is not yet terribly notable. There is a long way to go.

Thought I would share a few of the more interesting moments along the way from Day 1d.

One occurred just after one of the breaks yesterday as I sat behind my laptop writing up another hand. Near the desk where I worked, tourney officials had positioned the rail in a way that spectators could edge out a little in front of where I sat, and I so I had a few occasionally ask me questions like “Where’s Phil Ivey?” and the like.

In this case a young Asian man for whom English is probably a second language leaned over and asked me a couple of questions about the prize pool. How many players would cash? How much was first place? This was the beginning of the second level, actually, and since registration hadn’t closed, those things had yet to be determined. But I gave him an estimate, saying there would probably be more than 7,000 players (there ended up being 7,319), and that usually the top 10% made the money, so 700-odd players should be cashing.

He then asked about the stack sizes. What was the average? I told him at that point, for those playing Day 1d, it was still probably not a lot more than the 30,000 with which they’d started.

He had more questions, and while I didn’t really have time to keep answering, there was something about his demeanor that made me want to help. He wanted to know what the average was of those who’d finished the first three days. Again, I didn’t have an exact figure, but knowing about 70% of those who started the previous Day 1 flights made it through to Day 2, I estimated the average stack was probably less than 45,000 still.

“What if you have 94,000? Is that good?” Yes, I said. That’s pretty good relative to the field. Then he asked me a question that completely took me by surprise, and kind of explained all of other questions, too.

“Should I play tight?”

Ha! This wasn’t just a curious fan on the rail asking about the machinations of the Main Event. He was a player! I asked and he said he’d played on Day 1a, and so he’ll be coming back for today’s Day 2a.

I didn’t have a straight answer to his last question, saying something about how it probably would depend on his table and what seemed right to do. He was curious about whether he’d be able to make the money with his current stack -- i.e., I suppose thinking about whether he’d already accumulated enough chips to fold his way to the cash. I told him I doubted that, since there’d still be more than 5,000 players left at the start of Day 2.

A memorable exchange, and one that kind of points up the fact that the Main Event, despite its $10,000 price tag, does attract many novices without a lot of tournament experience, including those who -- like my friend on the rail, most likely -- qualified via an inexpensive satellite.

The oldest player in WSOP history, 97-year-old Jack Ury, was in my section yesterday, and I watched him play a bit. Truly remarkable. Though a bit hard of hearing, Ury seems fully cognizant of just about everything going on around him at the table, and he did win some hands, sitting there with more than his starting stack for most of the day.

Another story that stood out a bit yesterday was of the fellow who returned from dinner break and could not remember where he sat. Apparently he was led around the Amazon Room for some time by a tourney official, much like someone who’d forgotten where he’d parked his car, in an effort to locate his seat. Ducky wrote up a post about the incident.

I did want to mention a couple of other more personal highlights from yesterday. One was finally meeting Chris Cosenza of the Ante Up! podcast and magazine.

I saw Chris during the dinner break in the halls interviewing Freddy Deeb, and we ended up speaking afterwards a bit. Was glad to get the chance to thank Chris for the many hours of entertainment he’d given me since the show’s debut way back in 2005, as well as for the chance to participate in that community of listeners that grew up around the show, especially during its first few years.

I also had a quick meeting with another player from Day 1d, a reader who came around right at the end of the dinner break to share some nice words about Hard-Boiled Poker. He mentioned some of the reasons why he liked the blog, which was very nice to hear and much appreciated.

And really, I saw added reason to value his opinion since he clearly knew better than to ask me whether or not he should play tight.

I mentioned yesterday I had a chance this week to interview WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, and you can now read our conversation over at Betfair Poker. We talked about his getting started with the WSOP back in 2002, the 2010 WSOP so far, the Ladies Event, and the whole business of covering the WSOP. Nolan is a busy guy these days -- as you can imagine -- and I really enjoyed and appreciated our getting to spend some time talking with him about the game we love.

Meanwhile, it is back to the grind today, as I help collect more Main Event anecdotes for PokerNews. Check out the coverage of Day 2a over there today.