Talk About the Passion

Mentioned yesterday that “Inside SCOOP” show, the daily web program hosted by Joe Stapleton and Nick Wealthall throughout PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker. I’ve gotten a big kick out of following the show these last couple of weeks, surprised, really, that a show about an online poker series -- one in which I cannot even participate, no less -- is not just holding my attention, but making me laugh repeatedly, too.

For those of you who’ve watched it, you know what I mean about the funnies. If you haven’t, I’m not really going to try to explain why the show is so entertaining, but rather just recommend you check it out yourself. I will, however, mention one of my favorite parts of the show is when the pair offer faux strategy advice during the “Tough Spot” hands they present and at other moments here and there.

One great exchange came a few episodes ago when they were discussing upcoming events, one of which was pot-limit Omaha. “Omaha is great,” said Stapleton. “Four cards, a million combinations... you literally can play every hand!”

“You literally cannot go wrong,” deadpanned Wealthall in response.

Each episode also features brief interviews, often with Team PokerStars Pros but also with others who are having success in SCOOP events. On the 5/18 show the pair had 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem on, and he was asked a question about what it has been like to have been an “ambassador” for poker for the last six years. In his answer, Hachem made an observation about how the poker world has changed over that period that I found interesting and thus thought worth sharing.

“From the very outset for me it was... I hate to sound corny, but it was like an honor, you know?” said Hachem, responding to the question. He added that he considered it a “privilege” to have been put into the position of having to represent poker, because he loved the game so much.

Stapleton cracked that Hachem was giving the “perfect ambassador answer,” but Hachem interrupted him, wanting to clarify what he meant.

“Let me tell you something fellas,” he began. “I think a lot has changed in the last few years in poker.... Most of the people who are in poker today are in poker for the wrong reason.” Hachem then made a distinction of sorts between his generation of players -- or at least those who had come into poker at some point prior to the “boom” of 2003-2006 -- and those who have come into the game more recently.

“We came into poker because we love the game,” said Hachem. “And eventually it turned into something that we could make money out of, like real money. [However,] a lot of the people who come into the game today are coming in strictly because... their friends told them they can make money out of it if they do A-B-C-D -- you know, they’ll be a profitable player [if they follow certain steps]. Where’s the passion in that?”

The show’s somewhat rapid-fire format didn’t really allow for the trio to discuss the point further, and thus they moved on to a different topic. But I found myself thinking afterwards about what Hachem was saying.

It was kind of an odd-seeming statement, essentially suggesting that getting into poker for the money was somehow a less-than-honorable reason for doing so. If I understand his meaning correctly, I think his point was to emphasize the value of competition and challenging oneself -- that is, to think constructively about the game in terms that aren’t necessarily financially-based.

I don’t think Hachem was dismissing the goal of earning money altogether, just demoting it from its position as an all-encompassing goal -- i.e., pointing out that there is a lot else about poker to be enjoyed and from which we can benefit than making ourselves some cabbage. As he says, the “love” or “passion” for the game came first for him (and others like him), and only later did it “turn into something that we could make money out of.”

Some might recall an earlier, somewhat similar statement by Hachem about the young generation of players near the end his deep run in the 2009 Main Event (in which he finished 103rd). Kind of got blown up a bit, but Hachem was complaining about some players’ predilection for overly aggressive bluffs and risk-taking, even going so far as to say things like “these guys have no right being at the World Series” and “should be playing $2 sit-and-gos online.”

Hachem would scale back those criticisms somewhat the next day after he busted from the ME, referring to his genuine love for the game and how being so “passionate” caused him to be a little less than rational with his commentary the day before. “Everyone has the right to play poker however they want,” said Hachem, sort of recasting his previous comments inside the context of his petitioning for “respect for the game.”

All of that from a couple of years ago was perhaps a bit dubious, and while I think Hachem’s comments on “Inside SCOOP” were not unrelated, I feel like he’s was really making a different point there about what it means to be “passionate” about poker.

Hachem may well be correct to some extent when he says there are those who get into poker -- either as players or in other ways -- who aren’t necessarily in it because they love the game but for other reasons. And while there might be something lamentable about that, we all have to accept the fact that just as everyone has the “right” to play poker however he or she wishes, people can get into poker for all sorts of reasons, too.

In any case, as I say, I found that brief discussion on “Inside SCOOP” interesting enough to think about afterwards -- a momentary bit of seriousness amid the show’s shenanigans.

I dunno... I guess I am always intrigued when I hear someone talk about their passion. I’m sure Hachem knows, though, that not everyone can carry the weight of the world...

2010 WSOP, Day 37: Feeling Gravity’s Pull

Early this summer I dialed up R.E.M.’s 1985 LP Fables of the Reconstruction on the music player and have found myself putting it on pretty much every day since.

Fables was one of those records I listened to quite a bit way back when, and have continued to go back to it off and on over the years. I remember at the time it came out the Athens-based band actually spoke badly of the record, complaining about having gone to London to record it with Joe Boyd (producer of the late Nick Drake) and saying it didn’t compare well to their two previous ones (Murmur and Reckoning).

But I always liked it, and felt like the subsequent LPs were a bit of a drop off for R.E.M. I paid attention for a few more records (through Green), but once they became megapop stars I kind of lost the thread. (Now I see a 25th-anniversary edition of Fables is coming out in a week or so, and guitarist Peter Buck now calls the LP a “personal favorite.”)

Anyhow, listening to a record again and again like this means the songs tend to settle in your consciousness even when not listening. And so it wasn’t surprising that last night when I got to the end of an especially exhausting 14 hours or so of helping cover Day 2 of the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event (Event No. 54), certain phrases from the mostly abstract, even surreal lyrics from the album’s songs began to occur to me…

“I felt gravity pull onto my eyes…”

“Driver 8, take a break, we’ve been on this shift too long…”

“When the world is a monster, bad to swallow you whole…”

“Home is a long way away…”

Of all five different events going on at the Rio yesterday, my Event No. 54 was way down at the bottom of list as far as interest and/or priorities went.

The Ante Up for Africa charity event took up most of folks’ attention, with a crush of stargazers filling the halls in search of a glimpse of Matt Damon, et al. A lot of eyes were on the final table of Event No. 52 as well -- the $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event -- eventually won by Dan “djk123” Kelly.

Event No. 55, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship was supposed to finish yesterday, but when it took them until after 11 p.m. to reach the final nine, they decided to come back and complete that one today. Same problem is happening with Event No. 56, the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event which was supposed to be finished today, but they still had 75 players left when they quit at 3 a.m., so they’ll need to continue through to Monday to finish that one now.

Then there was the WSOP Tournament of Champions, of which not one hand was played yesterday, but which had everyone running back and forth constantly as it seemed at any moment they may try to get that one going again. (They didn’t.)

Anyhow, with all that going on around us, our humble little $1K tourney chugged along in relative isolation through the afternoon and evening. Ours was actually the first one to start yesterday, but thanks to various factors -- on-the-fly scheduling changes with the other events, extra delays because of some computer snafus with the payouts, etc. -- our tournament somehow was the last one to finish.

So I didn’t leave the Amazon Room until 3:45 a.m. or so, at which time the entire, spacious ballroom was almost completely empty save a couple of security guards and a couple of members of the media still stuck behind laptops.

And like most everybody right now -- players, media, staff -- I was feeling gravity’s pull. Tired. A little lonely. And maybe a little unsure about the point of all these “fables” we are pulling together -- these hastily-compiled “reconstructions” of what is happening at the World Series of Poker.

But I’ll save fretting about that later, when I’ve some perspective.

’Cos “time and distance are out of place here…”