Tuning In: A Few Recent Poker Podcasts

Was doing some work in the barn today and listened to a few poker podcasts while I did.

I first went back about a month to hear Bill Chen’s segment on Episode 371 of the Two Plus Two Pokercast. Chen’s always an interesting one to listen to -- very relatable for me, not because of the depth of his analytical thinking, but for the place of poker in his life as something very important but not all-consuming.

Then I checked out the latest PokerNews podcast -- Episode 326 -- which started with some discussion from Donnie and Rich about the recently completed PokerStars Pro Tour in California and then featured a enjoyable conversation with WSOP National Championship winner Loni Harwood. All interesting and fun and a good quick catch-up on recent events in poker.

Finally I dialed up a podcast I hadn’t tuned into for a while -- Ante Up! -- which just last month made it a full decade’s worth of podcasting. I used to listen to these guys -- Chris Cosenza and Scott Long -- constantly back when they first started out and wrote about their shows here fairly frequently, too. Tuning in again, I had to grin at how much the show had remained the same with the familiar mix of personal anecdotes about their own play, a run-through of news items, and some strategy talk.

They aren’t numbering their shows, but 10-plus years’ worth of weekly podcasts must add up to well over 500 by this point. Kind of brings to mind the story of this blog (into its 10th year now) which I know by this point readers sometimes drift away from and then return occasionally, perhaps surprised to see things still chugging along as usual.

The episode I grabbed was from a couple of weeks back, the one in which they discussed Matt Savage’s recent Facebook poll and discussion inviting players to weigh in about what they thought constituted an excellent tournament structure -- the 7/30/15 episode.

If you didn’t follow that whole discussion from Savage, the Ante Up! show is a good way to catch up with its particulars. (Indeed, as one of the few not on Facebook, I’ll admit I didn’t quite follow the entire structure discussion.) They get into it about the 12-minute mark and the discussion lasts about 15 minutes.

By the way, according to those responding to Savage’s poll, the most-important to least-important factors when it comes to creating an excellent structure were determined to be (1) time; (2) levels; (3) player ability; and (4) chips, or starting stack.

Savage agreed that of these four, the number of chips in the starting stack should be considered the least important -- since the length of levels and schedule of blinds/antes increases can obviously make a “deep” stack less deep, relatively speaking. Meanwhile, Savage agreed with the importance of having well measured levels (e.g., not skipping steps along the way), and that the length of levels does in fact have a lot to do with how great and/or appropriate a structure is.

Gonna have to get Ante Up! back into the regular rotation here. Have always enjoyed the way Chris and Scott approach all things poker, representing as they do the perspective of the great majority of us -- i.e., non-pros who greatly enjoy playing the game and following the stories surrounding it (including the stories involving those who are pros).

2012 WSOP, Day 33: Cruising Along

For me Day 33 of the 2012 World Series of Poker began a lot like the previous ten days with me rising early, doing some scribbling, then heading over to the Rio for another lengthy stay. Have worked seven of the last eight days, and am looking at another four days on before my next day of rest arrives.

Later in the morning I met up with my buddies Chris Cosenza and Scott Long of Ante Up (the magazine and podcast). I’ve met each of those guys more than once before at previous WSOPs, but I think this was the first time we were able to sit down for more than a few minutes to chat.

Long time readers know that when I first started writing the blog I would often talk about poker podcasts to which I was listening, with the weekly Ante Up show being one of only a few regular ones to discuss.

Since those early days, Chris and Scott launched a monthly magazine to go along with the podcast, and if you visit their website you’ll discover they have a lot more going on, too, including frequently hosting Ante Up cruises where folks can play poker and visit various destinations.

Speaking of the Ante Up cruises, I told them how yesterday I was helping cover the final table of Event No. 47, the $1,500 PLO8 event, and Scott mentioned how one of the players, Steven Loube (last name rhymes with “robe”), had been on a few with his wife. Loube was second in chips to start the day, having enjoyed a serious rush near the end of Day 2 to catapult to the top of the counts.

As it happened, Loube would win the event yesterday, a turn of events I think even he would admit was a bit improbable. After all, as he let us know during the course of the day, this was his first ever WSOP event! He also mentioned how the most he’d ever won before in a poker tournament was a $50 gift certificate (“good for food, but not for liquor”).

Loube mostly sat tight during the early going as the short stacks fell. He did get involved in a big three-way hand at one point in which he made a big fold on the flop in what was really a tricky spot. As it happened, if he’d stayed in he would have won the hand and a lot of chips, but it probably was prudent not to have taken the risk at that point.

Loube also had a hand in which he made a somewhat serious blunder, calling a big bet on the river thinking he had a flush when in fact he did not (he had misread the board). His reaction was great, though -- suitably self-effacing, maybe a little embarrassed, but you could tell it probably wasn’t going to send him spiraling into tilt mode.

There was other evidence along the way that Loube was the least experienced at the table, especially once it got to four-handed (which lasted an especially long time, about five hours). He more than once noted how tired he was, suggesting he’d never played so much poker in three days before. He had Advil with him, too, and I believe popped a couple along the way to help ease the pain caused by having to concentrate so long and so intensely.

If I were to have bet on who would win with four left, I would’ve picked either of the other three players -- Timothy Finne, Roch Cousineau, or Cam McKinley -- over Loube. But the amateur hung in there, and once McKinley was eliminated and the blinds jumped up, the gambling began in earnest.

Three-handed didn’t last very long, not enough time for your humble scribbler to toss out a line about Loube being caught between a “Roch” and a hard place (as he most definitely was). Cousineau was soon ousted, and it was down to just Loube and Finne.

I wasn’t pulling for anyone in particular as I watched -- I really never do with these things -- and in fact like Finne a lot both as a player (this was his fifth WSOP final table) and a personality (lots of grinning, humorous and friendly comments). But it was kind of cool to witness the excitement of Loube and his supporters after he’d won.

The 34-year-old personal injury attorney was pretty humble about it all afterwards, too. When one of his buddies said something about him playing all of the rest of the events now, he immediately shook his head. “No way, this is way too tough,” he said, obviously worn out by the long tourney journey, an adventure as exotic as any cruise or other vacation he has ever taken, I’m sure.

When watching and reporting on these suckers, it is definitely a lot easier to identify with guys like Loube than, say, those high rollers at the final table of Event No. 45, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship won by Michael Mizrachi yesterday. Just easier to relate to someone for whom the money is that much more meaningful, and the experience perhaps that much more special, too.

I like that picture Joe Giron took yesterday (see left) of Loube under the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign that hangs above the stage in the Pavilion room, one of many cool ones Joe snapped. Kind of underscored the excitement of the day for Loube, as does that kind of anxious-seeming smile on his face.

I can relate to that fatigue Loube felt yesterday, too. “Every time I meet you, you always seem exhausted,” said Chris to me yesterday morning early on during our visit. Indeed, we’ve only ever met at the WSOP -- when I am in the middle of working these lengthy, uninterrupted stretches -- and so I understood what he was saying. It is a long, long journey.

Today it continues for me with Event No. 51, the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, which I’ll be covering from start-to-finish. Am looking forward to doing so. Two years ago I helped cover the second and third days of this event. I was not on it last year when once again more men played and one even made the final table.

I’m curious to experience the first-day vibe of this tourney, and perhaps enjoy some more of that feeling of poker being special and fun. Kind of thing keeps you cruising along, you know? Even if you’re a little tired, and the waters a little rough.