To the Victor Belong the Spoils

Immersed right now in basketball, in particular the college conference tournaments.

My Atlantic Coast Conference is unrecognizable right now (something I wrote about a year ago over at Ocelot Sports), having bloated to 15 teams including Notre Dame which it seems like might be a far piece away from the Atlantic.

The bracket -- with byes and double-byes -- is like an algebra final, and while I think I can figure out who plays whom from this point forward, my Heels losing this afternoon has me reduced (more or less) to pulling against Duke.

Carolina most assuredly deserved to lose their game today against Pittsburgh. They came out flat, let the Panthers build a huge 20-point second half lead, then forged a too-little-too-late comeback to make the final score seem respectable. But while certain breaks didn’t quite go the Heels’ way, Pittsburgh deserved to win and UNC deserved to lose.

I found myself reflecting a little this afternoon how in sports, for the most part, that’s how games go -- the team who wins is generally given credit for having earned it, even if luck were involved. Only on those rare occasions when an official unreasonably influences the outcome with an erroneous call do fans or players or coaches ever bother to say the winner didn’t deserve to win or the loser didn’t deserve to lose.

I mean fans will say their team should have won or lost -- but generally they will still concede the outcome as creditable.

Poker, however, isn’t always like that. Especially tournament poker, where luck can play a crucial role. I know I’ve won tournaments in which I couldn’t necessarily argue without qualification that I “deserved” to win. And, of course, I’ve lost them, too, when I felt as though I was somehow robbed of a victory by an unfortunate sequence or some other fate-tipping factor.

These thoughts were inspired, I think, by a post published today over on the PokerStars blog by my buddy (and transatlantic running partner) Rick Dacey, titled “Opinion: Giving credit where credit is due.”

In the article Rick discusses how sometimes those following a poker tournament -- i.e., the “spectators” either watching a live stream or following live updates -- sometimes unreasonably deliver judgment regarding the skill level of those involved. He brings up in particular two recent tournament winners, EPT10 Barcelona winner Sotirios Koutoupas and UKIPT4 Isle of Man champ Duncan McLellan, as having earned some ill-informed criticism based mostly on an impression that they were unreasonably lucky to win their titles.

I watched Koutoupas’s win in Barcelona with Rick, helping him cover the event for the PS blog, and knew first-hand how the Greek player had impressed us all with his play for several days in that tournament. Rick notes how some fortunate hands for Koutoupas at the final table inspired some trolling, and so he invited Team Online member Mickey Petersen to do some analysis of a few key hands to help show how such judgments miss the mark.

A similar procedure is performed with McLellan’s performance, and the whole adds up to an interesting read that includes some worthwhile poker strategy discussion to boot.

Rick’s piece won’t stop the cries of “The bum got lucky!” when the next tournament is won, but it does remind us how hard it is to make unambiguous conclusions about poker players’ skill, especially given (1) the incomplete information we generally have as observers, and/or (2) the incomplete knowledge most of us possess when it comes to understanding how the game is played.

Anyhow, wanted to give Rick his due credit for a thoughtful and well written opinion. Meanwhile, I’m going to turn back to this N.C. State-Syracuse game and hope that the Wolfpack earns a well-deserved victory. After all, the last time these two played the Pack wuz robbed! (Or not.)

On the Run

Spent much of the day working then went for a run this afternoon and now the day has already mostly slipped by. After going weeks without running at all, I’ve been five times in the last eight days thanks primarily to Eugene Katchalov.

While in Deauville last week I had a chance to talk with Katchalov a few times, including after his near-miss winning the Main Event as he finished second out of a field of 671. Besides being a talented tourney player, the Ukrainian is also an especially friendly, outgoing guy with lots of interesting ideas -- both about poker and other things -- and a willingness to share them.

On the very first day of the tournament I’d interviewed Katchalov at the first break and we talked about his newfound commitment to fitness and eating well over the last couple of years that had produced many good outcomes for him both physically and mentally. I wrote up a post for the PokerStars blog titled “Before and after Eugene” sharing what he’d said.

During the week I was talking with Vera who was back home following the coverage online. She’d mentioned how the Katchalov post was inspiring, and looking back at it I realized it was.

One point he’d made with regard to sticking to some sort of workout regimen was to have a partner or someone to help keep you going when your inspiration to do so started to waver. For him it was his friend Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who served that role, with their hired trainer also helping a great deal of course.

“It’s always nice when you have a partner or friend to go through it with you,” explained Katchalov, referring to having Grospellier likewise working on his fitness with him. “So with ElkY if I’m working out it pushes him to work out and vice-versa. Even if you don’t work out together, just having someone to compare your progress with is important.”

I used to run regularly but over the couple of years had fallen out of the habit. Looking back on the blog, I see myself in early 2009 writing about starting to run every day. (I was also playing poker every day then, too.) I actually kept on running right up until I went out to the World Series of Poker that summer, and even while in Vegas I remember hitting the treadmill several times at the hotel where I was staying.

The frequency of the runs finally lessened, though, and like I say it had been several weeks since I’d run at all when I finally hit the pavement again after returning from France. People sometimes ask me about posting on the blog every day, and often I will bring up running as a kind of analogy -- that like a regular runner, I find myself in the habit of wanting to post each day just to keep exercising these writer “muscles.” But the comparison hadn’t really been applicable to me of late as I had found it much easier to skip running than not to write.

I say Katchalov was the main inspiration, but so, too, was PokerStars blogger Rick Dacey who began 2014 with a goal of running 365 miles during the calendar year. He’d only made it to nine miles by early February -- including an early morning seaside run in Deauville near the end of our week there -- and so I proposed to him that I’d join him in that 365-mile quest and we could push each other, a la Eugene and ElkY.

I’m only up to 7.5 miles now -- still about nine miles back of Rick -- but each time out is getting easier. Missing a month-plus of running means picking up the pace to get back that mile-a-day goal. But with Rick up ahead of me and Eugene and ElkY in mind I’m plenty motivated to keep at it.

Travel Report: EPT10 Deauville Main Event, Day 6: Two Years on the Bounce

The week is done. Both the Main Event and High Roller concluded relatively early on Sunday in Deauville, with fairly interesting storylines emanating from both tournaments’ results.

In the High Roller, the young PCA Main Event champion Dominik Panka from Poland topped the field of 115 entries to win the €272,000 first prize. Panka hadn’t had any live scores to speak up prior to winning $1.42 million in the Bahamas two-and-a-half weeks ago, but his strong play there coupled with last night’s win will ensure he’ll get a lot of attention moving forward on the EPT.

Meanwhile Eugene Katchalov came as close as he could get to winning the Main Event yesterday, finishing runner-up to Sotirios Koutoupas after slipping to short-stacked status with five left and then battling back. (That’s the trophy presentation happening at the left.)

Katchalov, of course, was going for poker’s “Triple Crown” (something I detailed a bit on the PokerStars blog during the afternoon), needing just the EPT win to go with a WPT title and WSOP bracelet. He’d come close before, finishing third at EPT8 Barcelona. When I talked to him after play ended yesterday he called the finish “bittersweet” but was in great spirits, clearly pleased with how well he managed to play the entire week.

Koutoupas was known on the EPT for having finished runner-up himself at EPT9 Prague, so it was a tough opponent Katchalov was facing heads-up. Koutoupas had a 3-to-1 chip lead to start heads-up play and never lost the advantage, thus securing the first ever EPT win for a Greek player.

Had a nice last dinner with Rick, Howard, and Neil, all terrific working alongside all week. Indeed, as I’ve said before, all of the band who travel throughout the EPT -- from the media to the staff, the EPT Live guys, and everyone else -- are not just good at what they do but helpful and kind, too, thus adding a lot to the experience of going on these journeys.

Being around the Englishmen all week I’ve once again picked up a few new phrases, including the one I’ve used in the title. When Rick mentioned earlier in the week that Zimnan Ziyard was second in chips to start Day 3 for the second year on the bounce at EPT Deauville, I knew what he meant from the context but had to admit it was a new one for me.

It was nice coming to Deauville two years on the bounce. It was a great experience, and while I’m greatly looking forward to getting back to life on the farm with Vera, I’ll look back fondly on another great week abroad watching and writing about people playing cards.

My flights on Sunday are due to carry me home just about an hour before the Super Bowl kicks off, so I’m hoping for some run good to get home in time. Wish me luck, and talk to you on the other side.

Travel Report: EPT10 Deauville Main Event, Day 5: Les Manoirs and Loosey Dacey

A quick note to report on what turned out to be an especially fast Day 5 -- something that has become routine when it comes to the penultimate days of EPT Main Events -- in which they played down to the final eight.

Eugene Katchalov is among those left, sitting with a big stack that puts him in second position behind Sotirios Koutoupas who is looking to become the first Greek EPT Main Event champion. Meanwhile the High Roller ends today as well, where Albert Daher leads the final eight with Martin Schleich, Davidi Kitai, and WSOP Europe Main Event champion Adrian Mateos Diaz among those still in the hunt.

I mentioned the interesting story of Bahram Choubineh yesterday. He busted first on Day 5, ending with a 16th-place finish, though was hardly disappointed when I spoke with him afterwards.

When all was done yesterday Rick, Howard, and I took a drive over to one of the more highly recommended places in Deauville, Les Manoirs de Tourgéville, where we had yet another tremendous dinner.

I started with some escargots en cocette lutée et champignons -- snails in a mushroom-based casserole with a kind of pastry on top -- which was absolutely delicious. Then came a main course of filet de bœuf au sautoir with potatoes, which was enough to encourage me to turn down another rich dessert.

Afterwards the three of us played cards for a few euros, with Rick riding an insane rush to beat us first in a sit-n-go, then also become the winner in a cash game.

In the SNG, Rick somehow knocked both myself and Howard out in preflop all-ins in which we flopped pairs to lead both times, then Rick drew out runner-runner Broadway straights. Then on the final hand of the cash game the two of them got it all in behind Howard’s pocket aces and Rick’s pocket kings, and a king fell on the river.

No time to lament further about “Loosey Dacey” (a.k.a. “Runner-Runner Rick”) as there’s much to do to ready for the day ahead. Again, check the PokerStars blog to follow the reporting.

Travel Report: EPT10 Barcelona, Main Event: Day 6 -- Catching Up on the Future

Writing my last “travel report” a day late here, although it somehow seems appropriate to monkey with the timing a little given the theme upon which I thought I would focus. Was much too tired when I got home yesterday afternoon to do much other than sleepily watch some Week 1 football then hit the sack early, so I am catching up here today.

Our final day at EPT10 Barcelona involved following both the High Roller and Main Event final tables. The High Roller ended first, and while it appeared Daniel Negreanu was going to complete a remarkable comeback after his early exit on Day 1 (following the whole “At Your Seat” blow-up), after taking a huge lead to heads-up versus Thomas Muhlocker, the Austrian hit a sequence of fortunate hands to snatch away the win.

Meanwhile Tom “hitthehole” Middleton managed to win the Main Event, the story of which was mostly highlighted by a lengthy, ultimately unsuccessful attempt to make a deal four-handed. Really there were two deals being negotiated during the long period of talks (about 45 minutes, I think), with Middleton discussing terms with the other three players and also working out terms with his rail full of Brit buds who after offering guidance during the process ended up taking pieces of him at that point. Rick Dacey spelled it all out in a post on the PokerStars blog. (A deal was ultimately made heads-up.)

The whole deal-making sequence was shown on the EPTLive webcast, which while perhaps a little tedious was probably of great interest to some viewers not necessarily privy to how it often works (or doesn’t work, in some cases). I definitely agree with those who say it is better to have such deals allowed and made openly rather than try to enforce some rule against them and force them into secrecy (and thus increase the chance of angle-shooting or other kinds of bad faith).

Speaking of the webcast, as those who tuned in know, all of the action was shown on a one-hour delay in order to allow the showing of hole cards. (You can still watch the long heads-up portion of the Main Event final table here.) That meant also that those of us reporting on the event had to wait an hour, too, before sharing anything, which led to lots of funny (and sometimes confusing) time travel humor.

“I’m going into the future,” is what someone would say when leaving the press room -- where we were all watching the delayed feed, too -- to go get a look at the actual final tables playing out. The traveler would come back to tell us what he or she had seen, but obviously we couldn’t report any such new info until an hour had passed.

Once Middleton won, the next hour was strange to experience as we all prepared to report on the finish but held back until the final hand played out on the stream. Made me think a little of the whole “no spoiler culture” that marks how a lot of entertainment is consumed these days.

It also got me thinking a little about my reporting from the WPT Alpha8 event the previous week where following their style preferences we had to write in the present tense when reporting hands. Meanwhile, at the EPT we wrote in the past about present events that weren’t going to be viewed until the future. And yes, I, too, have a little throbbing knot right behind my eyes when trying to follow that last sentence.

Working with Rick and Stephen Bartley was a great experience all around from which I gained a lot. And again, it was awesome hanging out and working with all of the many smart, funny folks who form the fun, traveling EPT gang.

My flights home were fine. During the nine-hour flight from Frankfurt back to the U.S. I watched two films, both of which had me thinking again about confusing the past, present, and future.

One was Minority Report, that Spielberg-directed flick adapting a Philip K. Dick short story and starring Tom Cruise. Was better than I thought it would be, and of course the whole “precrime” premise wherein a method of predicting, preventing, and prosecuting future crimes uncannily echoed the scene back at the Casino Barcelona on the final day. Or was it the opposite? Heck, I don’t know.

The other was The Internship starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, which I only decided to watch because the two German men sitting next to me had chosen it and laughed like maniacs all of the way through their viewing. Turned out to be kind of a dud, really -- not unpleasant, but hardly as funny to me as my neighbors found it.

Early in the film there was an exchange between Vaughn’s character, Billy, and his girlfriend as they were breaking up in which they discussed never having gone to Barcelona before -- or “Barthelona,” as Vaughn’s character insists. Amusing to watch on a trip home after having been to Barcelona for the first time with Vera.

There’s another bit of dialogue a little later that stood out for me, coming when Billy tells Nick (Wilson) he’s hit on the idea for them to become interns at Google. Which I guess might have turned into some sort of clever twist on the “coming of age” formula but the idea never really matures into much of anything (pun intended).

“I’ve seen the future and it’s beautiful for us,” says Billy, sort of resembling what Stephen had said to us when he returned from having seen Middleton finish off the tournament on Saturday night.

“Can we talk about it later?” says Nick who is busy at work. “No,” says Billy. “The future doesn’t know ‘later.’”

“All the future is is later,” Nick responds. “That’s literally what the future is!”