Sliding Back

Back on the farm today after a week-and-a-half in the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, so I thought I would slide back in here for a quick check-in.

It’s called the “PCA” again after that one-year trial by PokerStars with new names and different branding, and I know many are pleased we’ll soon be talking about the “LAPT” and “EPT” once again. I suppose down the road those results from 2017 tournaments will all be referred to as part of the distinct histories of each of those other tours.

Vera got to accompany me for part of this one as well, which made the trip all the more enjoyable. There were a few cloudy days in the Bahamas this time around, although for the most part the temperatures were warm and skies relatively clear. Much different from back on the farm where we’ve had some of the coldest days and nights all winter, as well as a big snowfall yesterday.

On the last day before leaving, I went back to the waterslides at the Atlantis for the second time during my stay. Before I started going to the PCA a few years ago, I can’t even remember the last time I went on a waterslide -- probably as a pre-teen. But now it has become a kind of annual ritual for me to jump in a tube and go every January.

When staying at the Atlantis, riding the slides is included, which means guests can go as many times as they wish. Technically there are what they call “River Rides” and “Water Slides.” River Rides are like long, multi-day, multi-table tournaments, winding around large sections of the resort. Water Slides are like single-day turbos, tending to produce more adrenaline but over quickly.

Of the River Rides, I prefer the one called the “Current” which has a few rushes here and there to keep you engaged. (The “Lazy River,” by contrast, is a bit too lazy for me.) Vera and I took a turn on the Current while she was there.

Of the Water Slides, the Leap of Faith (a single 60-foot drop) and the Challenger (a similar straight drop on which you can race a friend) are okay, but I prefer the longer ones -- the Abyss (starts with a 50-foot drop, then 200 more feet of twists and turns, some through dark tunnels) and the Surge (also starting with a big drop followed by a twisty finish).

The Drop is fun, too (and a little scary, as you drop through a dark tunnel), while the Serpent Slide (pictured above) neatly shoots you through a clear tunnel submerged in a shark lagoon, putting you in uncanny proximity to the predators.

The farm is covered with snow today. We live on a sloping hill, actually. Hmm... I wonder if I could build a course starting at the barn and twisting around the house down to the creek.

Photo: Atlantis Bahamas.

Travel Report, EPT13 Prague, Day 11 -- Coffee, Crepes, and Communism

The last European Poker Tour festival is done, with winners emerging from both the Main Event and final High Roller in Prague. Both endings involved deals, and in fact when it came to the High Roller the sucker culminated with a deal rather than a victor being decided on the felt.

The Main Event had gotten down to three players when the deal talk first began. Essentially David Peters wanted more and couldn’t get the other two to give him what he wanted, so they played on and Peters ended up taking third (and earning considerably less than he would have with a deal).

Then at heads-up came another discussion and a completed deal, after which Jasper Meijer van Putten outlasted Marton Czuczor to win the trophy. Here’s a recap of the final day from Howard Swains that shares all of the final day’s highlights, including those deal talks.

Meanwhile later in the evening over in the high roller Patrick Serda and William Kassouf struck a curious bargain that gave Serda (who had a big chip lead) the larger cash prize but Kassouf the trophy and title, ending play with the deal (i.e., without playing it out for a small leftover bit of cash).

I was on the Main Event, and so wasn’t around for the multiple discussions punctuating the High Roller’s finish, which had to have been interesting to witness given Kassouf’s involvement. You can read Jack Stanton’s end-of-event recap for a bit more on how it all went over there.

Before play began, Vera Valmore and I made a return trip to a breakfast place we enjoyed before, lingering for a while over coffee and crepes with apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, and whipped cream (yum). From there we took a short subway ride over to the Museum of Communism located in the center of Prague on Na příkopě, itself an interesting, bustling area to walk around.

The not-so-easy-to-find museum is tucked away just above a McDonald’s, which gave us a chuckle. There’s a casino nearby as well, something else the museum advertises as a way to play up the contrast between how the Czech Republic looks in 2016 compared to the era the museum chronicles.

It’s a modest collection of materials related primarily to Czechoslovakia’s history under Communist rule from just after WWII through the Velvet Revolution. We took an hour or so winding our way through the various rooms looking at the photos, artwork and other propaganda, lingering over a couple of videos, and reading the long descriptions attached to each display.

Despite the often grim subject matter, the museum takes a humorous approach to things, particularly in the gift shop where the postcards and refrigerator magnets have more to do with kitsch than culture (“You couldn’t get laundry detergent but you could get your brainwashed”). I did get a kick out of one display near the end telling the story of the Plastic People of the Universe, that political “Prague Rock” band I wrote a little about before embarking on this trip.

The Kafka one might have been better, and as we left I found myself going over The Trial and The Castle in my head while remembering the dozens of times I taught “The Metamorphosis” to world lit classes. But I didn’t regret getting over to Na příkopě and exploring a different part of the city with Vera.

Kind of like with those tournaments, the museum visit was a bit of a compromise with which to end things here in Prague.

Home tomorrow! Has been great fun, and especially so with Vera here. But we’re both more than ready to get back to the farm. Let me go another 5,000-plus miles or so and we can talk again.

Photos: Museum of Communism.

Travel Report, EPT13 Prague, Day 9 -- The Maze of Life

Today the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event continued apace, playing down from 65 players to just 18. There are a few familiar folks still in the running, including David Peters and Team PokerStars Pro Felipe “Mojave” Ramos.

Of course, they’re all pretty familiar to us by now after four days of this tournament plus seeing most of these folks in other events over the last week-and-a-half. One player coming back to a short stack is one such example, the Czech player Martin Kabrhel who talks at the table as much as any player I’ve covered in a while -- more than William Kassouf, even, who was making noise as part of the €10K High Roller field on Saturday as well.

For your humble scribbler, however, Saturday’s highlights all came away from the Hilton Prague Hotel as Vera Valmore and I were able to make a couple of excursions, one in the morning before play began and another in the evening once things had wrapped up.

The morning one involved joining our friends Howard, Stephen, and Gareth for a subway ride down to Vysehrad, the historical fort built on the Vltava River a thousand years ago (or more) where are located a few of Prague’s oldest buildings.

Indeed, one of the first sights we saw as we made a loop around the hilly “city within a city” (as Howard advertised it) was the Rotunda of St. Martin, a chapel built in the 11th century said to be the oldest Christian house of worship in the country.

There was the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul and other old, Gothic structures at which to marvel. We also walked through the famous Vysehrad cemetery where many of Prague’s most famous are buried, mostly painters, musicians, sculptors, and others responsible for the country’s considerable contributions to the arts.

The Romantic composer Antonin Dvorak is buried there, whose Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), commissioned while he was in the U.S. during the 1890s, is one of the more famous symphonies ever composed (and was played during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon in 1969).

So is the poet and journalist Jan Neruda whose collection of short stories from the 1870s were famously translated into English during the 1950s as Tales of the Lesser Quarter. Playwright and novelist Karel Capek who wrote science fiction and is often credited with having coined the word “robot” (in a 1920 play) is there, too, along with about 600 others, I believe.

The various shapes and sizes of the headstones well suit the creativity of those resting underneath, creating a kind of crazy quilt of different designs that are fascinating to look upon and even inspiring. Hard not to think, also, about the many paths life can take a person, all of which end similarly.

The entire fortress is a bit like a maze, actually, with various paths all winding and criss-crossing through it. Appropriately, on the way out not far from the Rotunda of St. Martin is a circular maze on concrete. We watched as Gareth chose to negotiate his way through it, and I snapped a few photos as he did.

Reading around online, I found a reference to this “magical maze” and how those who enter it “while ruminating over an important task or urgent issue... will find the solution upon reaching the exit.” While we weren’t aware of this story at the time, we nonetheless had fun making an emblem out of Gareth’s circuitous journey, applying it more broadly to the human condition.

After the poker, Vera and I grabbed dinner at the hotel and then took another, more direct walk straight over to the Christmas market to see it all lit up at night. We’d each been there separately during the day, but it was fun to return together and be among the crowds enjoying a festive Saturday night filled with lights and music.

We’re angling toward a museum visit or two here during our last couple of days, if we can manage it. Meanwhile wind your way back over to the PokerStars blog for more from the last EPT festival.

Travel Report, EPT13 Prague, Day 8 -- Czeching In

Just a quick note to report Day 3 of the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event went relatively quickly, the field being trimmed from 231 to 65 in time for us all to escape for a nice dinner at a place called the Krystal Bistro located about a 20-minute walk or so from the Hilton Prague.

Was a brisk evening, although the temps have been pretty mild throughout our stay, remaining well above freezing with little precipitation. In fact it has been much colder back home on the farm in North Carolina these last couple of weeks -- not what we expected as we’d thought we’d encounter snow and frigid conditions here.

Great atmosphere at the Krystal Bistro, and the eats were fantastic. I had snails au gratin for an appetizer and the veal entrecote with foie gras for a main course -- both scrumptious, making me wish I had two stomachs so I could order them again.

While meals (and most things) at the hotel are not inexpensive (although not inordinately pricey), we’ve enjoyed a few great meals in Prague and spent relatively little, the dollar being especially strong here at the moment. It’s a work trip, but as Vera and I are discovering Prague is a nice vacation destination, too, for a number of reasons.

With a full belly, then, and I’m signing off. Will have to get up early Saturday to get some work out of the way, as we have some more walking around planned before work tomorrow. Meanwhile walk over to the PokerStars blog to see how things continue to play out in both the Main Event and the soon-to-start final High Roller.

Image: “Vchod” (adapted), Dušan M.

Travel Report: EPT13 Prague, Day 7 -- The Beginning of the End

Thursday was Day 2 of the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event, the last Main Event ever for the EPT.

Late registration ended with the start of play, and when the numbers were all added up there were 1,192 players who took part in the €5,300 buy-in event -- a record for Prague. That meant the top 231 would make the money and were able to share the €5,781,200 prize pool, and as it happened they reached that point of the tournament with the last hand of the night.

With a few hours to go me and Nick, one my blogging partners, made a bet regarding whether or not the bubble would burst before night’s end. We factored in the possibility that they might get to the end of the day’s schedule having gotten very close to 231 -- perhaps close enough to start hand-for-hand play -- and would therefore extend things thereafter in order to ensure the bubble would go pop on Day 2. In that case, we decided, our bet would be a push, and indeed that’s exactly what happened.

Crazily there were no less than eight all-ins in which the at-risk player survived (either by winning the pot or chopping) before the ninth one fell and finally the day was done. One of the tougher bubbles I can remember, and it seemed sorta fitting for the last ever European Poker Tour Main Event.

There’s been a few references around the tournament room to this being the “last EPT,” especially since the Main Event began. Again, it’s only just a name change, and in my end-of-night recap I riffed a little on the “what’s in a name?” line while alluding to the fact that there won’t be too much different next year beyond the signage. But there remains this feeling that we’re coming to the end of something, especially being here and around so many people for whom the EPT has been a big part of their lives for such a long time.

Ever since I more or less became involved full-time with poker, I’ve become accustomed to this feeling that everything about it feels weirdly tenuous -- as though it’s all going to end at any moment, even if there exists no rational basis for such an impression. This feeling dates back to the very first time I ever went to report on a poker tournament, when I was fairly comfortable with the idea that it wasn’t going to be anything but a one-time deal.

I don’t mean to suggest this feeling is especially negative or less than constructive, like some kind of apocalyptic mindset full of fear and anxiety about everything blowing up. But rather just a kind of useful edginess, kind of like when playing in a poker tournament and continuing with an understanding that (if you aren’t the chip leader) every single hand could theoretically be your last one.

We had the media event after play was done and I wasn’t able to make too much happen in it, becoming short and experiencing that very feeling until finally jamming with ace-ten, being up against both ace-jack and ace-king, and indeed meeting my end. Nothing jarring about it.

There’s something healthy about being always ready for the end, I think -- that is, not fooling yourself into thinking something is going to continue indefinitely when you know that isn’t really possible, and instead being mentally prepared and ready for worst-case scenarios. I suppose that’s why the bubble being so especially stubborn to burst seemed appropriate, as though the tour itself had to do some work before accepting the truth that the end is nigh.

Still a ways to go for me, though, before the end -- four more days of work plus travel home. But tomorrow we’ll have a shorter one, I think, and I’m looking forward to a nice dinner out with Vera and the others. Meanwhile, visit the PokerStars blog to follow this last EPT Main to its conclusion.

Photo: courtesy Neil Stoddart / PokerStars blog.

Travel Report: EPT13 Prague, Day 6 -- Whizzing Along

I mentioned how Vera Valmore has joined me here in Prague, having arrived last night. We’ve been lucky to be able to get together on these trips occasionally, and are looking forward to enjoying the very Christmas-y Prague over the next few days during the holiday season.

On Wednesday I was on Day 1b of the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event, which was huge (as expected). After last night’s late one, I was able to get off early tonight and so Vera and I took a cab over to the other side of the Vltava River for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Hergetova Cihelna.

Although we’d made a reservation, once there we were a little uncertain as the restaurant proper was closed for a private event. We eventually figured out there was another annex-like location nearby where they were serving.

As we walked around we saw how right in the same area is the Franz Kafka Museum, a place we may go back to before the trip is done. There was also this hilarious art piece/fountain just outside featuring two animated male figures peeing which I’ve since learned is a 2004 piece titled Piss by Czech sculptor David Černý.

We laughed and laughed at the sight of the figures, just standing there whizzing along. The figures are made of bronze and the middle sections swivel back and forth, with each figure’s manhood rising up and down as well as they go wee. We were there at dusk and so my photo is no good, so I’m sharing another one up above (click to embiggen).

Since it was dark we also didn’t realize that the base of the statue is shaped like the Czech Republic, which suggests the figures are peeing on the country. Reading around a bit, I’m seeing that visitors can actually send a text message to the fountain and they will pee the message.

There’s actually a fairly famous piece by Černý back home in Charlotte (I’m realizing), another animated fountain called “Metalmorphosis,” the title of which recalls Kafka as well.

In the restaurant our view was directed the other way -- not at statues of dudes peeing, but over the river. The food was fantastic. I started with a duck consommé with egg yolk ravioli then had the filet mignon, while Vera enjoyed an appetizer of baked beetroot with goat cheese and a main course of baked pike perch. So good.

Back at it tomorrow for Day 2, where the last ever EPT Main Event keeps whizzing along. Check the PokerStars blog to follow.

Image: “Praha, Hergetova cihelna, čůrající fontána” (adapted), Jan Polák. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Travel Report: EPT13 Prague, Day 5 -- Finished

All poker tournaments have structures which in most cases extend out a few levels beyond where the event actually concludes. It varies, of course, but most of the multi-day, multi-table tourneys I’ve ended up reporting on over the years have by now settled into a predictable pattern which finds them ending somewhere in the early-to-mid 30s, level-wise.

Tournament directors have formulas they’ve internalized that give them a good idea what to expect when predicting when an event will end. A few of my tourney reporting colleagues over the years have similarly come up with their own ways of calculating when, say, the bubble will likely burst, when bustouts will slow down thereafter once in the money, and when a tournament will likely conclude.

Regarding the latter, one rule of thumb I’ve heard has to do with counting the number of big blinds in play once a tournament reaches heads-up, then figuring that once the two remaining players’ average stacks dips below 50 BBs (or 100 BB between them), the sucker should be ending not too long after that.

For instance if there are 10 million chips in play, you look for the level where the blinds reach 50,000/100,000 and figure that’s around the point things are going to end. That’s hardly a hard-and-fast rule, of course -- as Tuesday night’s final day of the Eureka Prague Main Event final table proved.

There were eight players to start the day at noon, and with the average stack at around 40 big blinds we knew it wasn’t going to be a super-quick day, but didn’t really think it would last all of the way to midnight as it did. In fact I don’t think anyone did, given that they never even took a dinner break, in part because they’d whittled down to four players by the dinner hour, then got to three not long after that and so it seemed like things might be ending sooner than later.

But three-handed play went on for a long while, protracted further by some attempted deal-making that didn’t work out initially, then finally happened. They got to heads-up a little after 10:30 p.m., with Hubert Matuszweski sitting with about 32 million and Vladas Tamasauskas with just over 18 million to begin. (I was mentioning those long names yesterday -- as it happened, two of the longest lasted the longest.)

The pair made it to the end of Level 39 in which the blinds were 500K/1M, meaning there were just around 50 big blinds total in play. When the tournament clock reached the end of that level, we could help but laugh at how rather than go on to Level 40, it simply read “FINISHED.” Which is exactly how me and my blogging partner Jack were feeling right about then.

“We’re through the looking glass now,” I joked in the blog. “Uncharted territory. Your maps are no good here.”

They soon got a Level 40 programmed in there, and many more small, checked-down pots followed. Somehow they got all the way to Level 41, where the blinds were 800K/1.6M -- i.e., just around 32 big blinds total between them. Soon enough Matuszweski -- a.k.a. “The Hube” (our delirium-inspired nick for him) -- won the thing, and we really were finished.

More exciting for me, though, was the fact that Vera arrived in Prague during that long endgame and will be sharing the next week here with me! Looking forward to enjoying the city some more with her over these next days, when people aren’t carrying poker tournaments deep into the nights.

Am moving over to help with the EPT Prague Main Event, which is already and running. Visit the PokerStars blog to follow that one all of the way to the end early next week.

Boom-Boom-Crackle

Coming off a busy weekend here, having traveled 300-plus miles and back by car for a wedding, getting home yesterday evening.

As I’ve noted, our horse farm is located in a fairly rural area. Our neighbors aren’t that far away, but we’re still pretty well isolated, with nice views in every direction and the big, big sky to enjoy each day and night.

Being out in the country, it wasn’t surprising at all to hear fireworks last night, although as the evening wore on Vera Valmore and I marveled a bit and just how relentless the various amateur shows were.

We could hear them better than see them, although occasionally a burst would flare up over the tree line. They seemed to be coming from all four sides of the property, and were quite loud and intense at times.

Of course, that was only the third of July, and tonight the boom-boom-crackle has started up once more. We are fretting a little about the horses, although they seem to have dealt with it all without much problem last night and are doing so again tonight.

You get used to the noise after a while, but it does make a person think about how nice the more typical calm and quiet can be. I was just now thinking how it reminded me of “poker Twitter” a little, in particular the constant chip updates and mood swings that noisily burst up through the usual chatter, catching your eye for a moment before dissolving into the past without trace.

Happy Fourth, all.

Image: “Fireworks,” Andy Rogers. CC BY-SA 2.0.

My Biggest Buddy

Living on the farm with our horses has taught me a few things. One is that the sight of a horse rolling on its back is one of the funniest, happy-making occurrences there is to see. Unbridled hilarity! (Pun intended.)

Another is that the sight of a horse getting back up after rolling around is equally fascinating and delightful to witness. There’s something uncanny about it, like watching one of those films of a building being imploded in reverse or something. There’s an awe-inspiring grace to the action, too, the way the legs and body and head move together, almost like an unseen puppeteer has pulled the horse up somehow by invisible strings.

Last night I learned something else, something I’m very sad to report today. One of the most heart-rending things to witness is seeing a horse who wants to get up, but cannot.

I got back from Monaco Saturday night, in time for our nightly feeding of the four horses we keep. Sunday I visited with each for a short time, then set about doing some yard chores. Unfortunately Sammy, our eldest, found himself in some unexpected distress during the afternoon -- something entirely natural for a horse of his age to encounter -- and several hours later we were faced with a decision that was really no decision. We had to let him go.

Vera got Sammy many, many years ago, even before we were married, and so he’s been an important part of our family since even before it technically was a family. Living on the farm over the last two-and-a-half years gave me an extra chance to spend even more time with Sam, whom I have always called my biggest buddy. He’s actually the only horse I’ve ever ridden, always cool and calm when carrying an amateur like me around, much as he’s done with countless others over the years.

The suddenness of losing Sam made it especially tough to bear, and we’re still reeling. It was the best possible way for him to go, honestly, with relatively minimal pain and not too much of a prolonged struggle.

But man, oh man, did he want to get up. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wanted him to as well.

Poker taught me a lot about patience. Living on the farm has taught me even more about the subject. Nothing gets done right away, and in fact most things end up taking twice as long as expected.

Sammy was such a laid-back, good-natured creature, he rarely showed any kind of impatience. That photo up above is a bit of an exception, and one of my favorites of him. He’s waiting by the fenceline for Maggie, our older mare. She’d left with Vera for a lesson, and he was whinnying and watching for her return.

I’ve joked that I act the same way when Vera’s away. We hate to be apart from those we love.

So another test of patience begins. It’ll take a while -- probably twice as long as we think -- to come to grips with having to move on without my biggest buddy. We’ll get there, though. Eventually.

Robyn Hitchcock at the Grey Eagle

Took a nice, leisurely trip up to Asheville this past weekend with Vera Valmore, kind of a mini-vacation inspired by Robyn Hitchcock -- a longtime fave of mine -- having come to play a gig at the Grey Eagle on Saturday.

Hitchcock is someone I’ve been listening to for more than three decades, which means I started picking up his records not that long after he started making them. I wore out the Soft Boys albums, his solo LPs, and those he made fronting the Egyptians, picking up and studying just about everything right through the ’90s and after. And I have continued checking in on the more recent stuff as well, including his latest, The Man Upstairs, released a couple of summers ago.

I saw him play a couple of times way back when -- once during late ’80s, then another time around ’91 -- and in fact I even dragged Vera to the second of those shows. Since then he’s slowed down somewhat, having evolved from a loud, electrified rocker with psychedelic tendencies into a softer, acoustic-based act that strikes newcomers as a kind of weird neo-folk, although the inspired, surreal lyricism remains the most conspicuous common thread tying together the different eras.

Seeing him again kind of paralleled the experience I was describing last week when I located and listened to a boot of a Bruce Springsteen show I’d attended over thirty years ago. I say that because of the uncanny deja-voodoo I experienced as Hitchcock happened to play some of the same songs I’d heard him perform before all those years ago.

One I know he played at the earlier shows was the meditative “Raymond Chandler Evening,” a kind of homage to the hard-boiled writer filled with dark, gritty imagery that contrasts with the sweet arpeggios carrying its catchy melody. (Was delighted when he tossed in an extra verse I’d never heard before, introducing another crime scene into the proceedings.) He followed that Saturday with another one from the same 1986 album Element of Light -- “Bass” -- a song I’m also pretty sure he played when back when I last saw him.

Vera and I had to laugh when he began “Bass.” Earlier in the evening we’d enjoyed a very fun dinner with our poker-playing friends PokerGrump and CardGrrl, and Vera and I both happened to have ordered bass for our entrees. I joked then Hitchcock had a song by that name, though I doubted he’d play it... and then he did.

Someone’s already uploaded that particular track to YouTube, if you’re curious. In fact, I'm noticing other songs from the show on there, too, and have linked to each from the titles in this post. During one of Hitchcock’s many extemporaneous acts of word association used to introduce songs (a signature trait), he joked about skipping ahead in the YouTube video, fully conscious of the fact that many artists’ performances get instantly memorialized in this way.

Hitchcock actually split the bill with the comedian, Eugene Mirman. Hitchcock came on first, playing about 10 or 11 songs, with other highlights including “I'm Only You” and the Dylan cover “Not Dark Yet” with which he opened.

After that Mirman made us laugh for about 45 minutes, then the pair both carried on a suitably absurd conversation onstage for a while before Hitchcock closed the night with “My Wife and My Dead Wife” (another ’80s-era track I’d seen him play in the past). A great time, start to finish.

My only bit of chronicling during the show was to snap that poor-looking pic up above, one showing Hitchcock squinting out into the crowd in a fashion that seems to suit the photo’s lack of clarity. As I was telling PokerGrump and Cardgrrl after our dinner, I’ve lately found myself actively opposing the whole take-a-picture-of-everything urge that so often possesses us these days. (Not to mention the subsequent feeling of being obliged to broadcast those pictures via one’s preferred form of social media.)

I guess I archive plenty enough here on the blog, although that exercise is a little different. Here I force myself to translate experience into words, that act alone being enough to make whatever it is much more memorable than tends to happen when snapping a pic or shooting a short vid.

The whole weekend was like that, really, spent mostly unplugged -- like Hitchcock.

Travel Report: 2016 PCA, Day 7: High Rolling

Actually started yesterday working in the room and listening to David Bowie all morning -- the “Berlin trilogy” albums (Low, ”Heroes”, and Lodger). Then once the afternoon came I was back in the poker room here at the Atlantis helping cover the $25K High Roller yesterday at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where the field was super-stacked as was expected.

There were 214 entries yesterday, and there will likely be a handful more to start today before late reg and the reentry period ends with the first hands of Day 2. The total will be shy of last year’s 269, but will still create a big prize pool and a huge score for the winner. From that group 106 made it through to today.

Chatted briefly yesterday with Alex Dreyfus of the Global Poker Index who showed me the 12 team logos for the Global Poker League. I believe the official announcement of that comes today. The logos did look cool, and while I’ll still mostly in the dark about what the GPL will be like, I am a little intrigued, I’ll admit.

Gotta run this morning as thanks to the encouragement of Vera Valmore I have decided to take the “Stingray Experience” here at the Atlantis, which involves wading around with, feeding, and snorkeling/swimming with around 130 cownose stingrays (no shinola!). You can read more about what it involves here.

Half-terrified, half-excited about getting so close to the stingrays. Assuming all goes well, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check out the PokerStars blog today for updates and more on Day 2 of the $25K and Day 5 of the PCA Main Event, the penultimate days for each.

Photo: courtesy Carlos Monti/PokerStars blog.

Thanksgiving, DVR’d

The flights home were fine yesterday and I made it home safe and more or less sound.

Between the longish ride to the São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (about an hour-and-a-half), the flight to Miami where I had a couple of hours’ layover, the flight home, then the drive after that (nearly another hour), it took something close to 20 hours to get all the way back.

Everything went relatively smoothly, though, save one moment right at the start of the trip when checking in. “There’s a problem with your ticket,” said the agent, letting me brood on that for close to 10 minutes before it was finally determined that there was no problem at all. It was enough time to make me feel grateful afterwards for what has been a relatively lengthy period of run good (literally), all things considered, when it has come to all of my trips.

Was glad to reunite with Vera and all of our four-legged friends on the farm, then tonight she surprised me with a belated Thanksgiving dinner (pictured above). It was like she DVR’d the meal for me to enjoy once I got back. The only thing missing was football on the tube, although as I mentioned before that was the one part of the holiday I didn’t miss while in Brazil.

Will get back to poker stuff, tomorrow. For now I’m thankful for everyone in Brazil who made my trip a good one, thankful to be home, and thankful for the slice of pumpkin pie that awaits.

Travel Report: WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts 2, Day 2 -- Come Open! Up Here!

Am sitting in the small St. Kitts airport with Vera Valmore as we wait to board the first of two flights that will take us back home. Looks like our first one is delayed a bit, but we’re hopeful of making the connection in time to get home late tonight.

Yesterday saw the World Poker Tour Alpha8 St. Kitts event finish up with Jason Mercier ultimately taking away the trophy and $727,500 first prize. He outlasted a couple of non-pros at the end who claimed the other two cashing spots, Kathy Lehne who finished second (for $436,500) and Tony Guglietti who took third (for $291,000).

I know Lehne is the president and CEO of Sun Coast Resources, one of the nation’s biggest petroleum marketing companies that operates out of Houston. The first woman ever to play in a WPT Alpha8, I think Lehne has a home at St. Kitts not far from where the tournament was played at Christophe Harbour. Don’t know as much about Guglietti’s background, other than he played Alpha8 at St. Kitts when they first went there a year ago and didn’t make it past the first day.

There were some dramatic hands that led to that threesome occupying the final spots. Lehne spiked a four-outer against Olivier Busquet (who’d later bubble in fourth) once to survive, then in hand against Antonio Esfandiari won with A-K versus his pocket queens after a tantalizing 4-3-J-5-2 runout gave her a wheel.

Once Guglietti went out in third, Lehne battled with Mercier for a short while before they took a dinner break, with Mercier chipping up to increase his lead without too much resistance. Then after the break Lehne had a more aggressive approach and in fact had rattled off a streak of hands won before finally losing the last of her stack to the pro.

The weather was glorious for much of the day, with blue skies and warm temps all around. That increased the mosquito count a bit, although we all endured. Later came an afternoon shower, then the weather cleared as night fell. That’s when the whistling tree frogs came out, their squeaky chorus having by the third night become quite familiar to hear.

Got back to the hotel to reunite with Vera who spent the day at the pool, the beach, and exploring elsewhere as well where among the sights she saw was the warm invitation at left for a “Monkey Donkey and Horse Tour.” Despite the enticing exhortations (“Come Open,” “Up Here”), Vera didn’t take the tour, although we did spot a couple of monkeys during our stay, which I heard someone say outnumber the humans by about two-to-one on the island.

With our late flight out today we had a chance to hang out at the pool a bit, which is where Vera snapped the pic of me up top. Was a nice, relaxing finish to a busy, fun few days, made even more so by the friendly folks everywhere we turned while here. A great time, but we’re both anxious now to get back to our four-legged friends on the farm.

Various Views

With Vera out of town for a couple of days, I’ve been in charge of the farm, which means feeding the horses (and our trio of barn cats), cleaning stalls, and various other daily maintenance that always seems to come up.

I was due for a turn taking over the chores after having left Vera to handle them during my recent tourney trips. Makes for a long day since the early morning feeding comes before sunrise. That picture is from this morning, after the feeding was over and I’d let Sammy and Maggie out to spend their day grazing.

I’ve only fired up the tractor once during the last couple of days. Last weekend I finally attached the bush hog and mowed a big section of our land.

We have some spectacular views of the sky here, a nice side benefit from working outdoors. Unfortunately there were thick clouds the night of the lunar eclipse and “blood moon” earlier in the week, scrubbing out everything above for the entire evening. But the nights since have revealed a big round moon peeping its head up on the horizon some time after nine o’clock and tracing a splendid path overhead.

We can see all of the stars, too, and have gotten into identifying them with the help of a handy app (Pocket Universe). Can pick out where the various planets are as well -- Saturn is right by the moon tonight -- and am starting to think a telescope would be a good item to acquire.

Spent a little time today watching EPTLive and the action from Sanremo, as well as the live updates over on the WPT site from that stacked final table at the Seminole Hard Rock.

But have had to give attention as well to these views all around, too. All of us here on the farm have.

The Year of the Horse

Saw the other day how this year is the “Year of the Horse” according to the Chinese zodiac. I guess technically the Year of the Horse doesn’t begin until the end of January with the Chinese New Year, but given the fact that Vera and I have just moved to a new farm, we were already going to be considering this the year of the horse regardless of what the calendar said.

I say that because our primary reason for moving was to have a place where Vera could keep her horses. She has two currently, and while we haven’t any plans at present to get any more or to board others’ horses, the barn does have four stalls and we have enough acreage to handle a couple more should we decide to go that route.

Vera has ridden horses her entire life. Her parents got her a pony when she was four, and she’s pretty much always had at least one horse except for a brief period during college. I’ve written here many times before about how Vera rides dressage. She competes fairly frequently and we’ve had many occasions to discuss similarities between her sport and poker, such as the discipline each requires as well as how both combine skill and luck.

Like all animals -- humans, too -- horses can be difficult at times. They’ll get “spooky” now and then, and occasionally act up in other ways. And of course for those who ride dressage there’s an ongoing challenge to improve communication between horse and rider that can test the patience of the most level-headed among us.

But more often than not horses are tranquil, peaceful creatures that exude a kind of calming influence (in my experience). As herd animals they are quite social, too. In fact, I’m sure we’ll probably never have only one horse here if we can help it, as horses don’t very much like being alone.

I really had very little contact with horses until I met Vera. She’s managed to get me on a horse a few times over the years, but I’ve never become a rider and I’m not sure I ever will. But I do very much like being around horses. I know we’re in for a ton of work once we finally move her horses over in a week-and-a-half, but I’m sincerely looking forward to them being here with us and getting into the routine of helping care for them.

Maybe I’ll even be persuaded to climb in the saddle again here before too long. They’re so big, though!

Moving and Stuff

I’ve mentioned here a couple of times over recent weeks how Vera and I have gotten ourselves a farm on which to live and keep Vera’s horses. The move has been a long time coming, the culmination of years of talking and planning and looking and finally finding. Even once we found the right place it still took a few months to get everything in place.

And it’s great. Well worth it, we already know.

We’re already mostly moved in, although we’ve still got a few items left to go. The last few days especially have been filled with lots of to-and-fro-ing as we gradually trucked everything to the new place. For others Boxing Day was the 26th, but for us boxing day was really the 27th as we spent something like 12 hours straight that day filling an endless-seeming supply of cardboard cubes and taping them shut.

I’ll probably be writing more here about country life before too long. While neither of us ever were especially “city,” this move does represent a change of sorts as we’re now pretty well isolated. From our old place it was a five-minute walk to grocery stores and restaurants, but here it’ll be a decent-length drive to get anywhere.

Today, though, I’m more preoccupied with the whole process of moving and getting settled. Vera and I have done this together perhaps eight or nine times overall, although the last time we did was several years ago.

Moving always forces a person to reconsider his or her relationship to possessions, large and small. I always think of the George Carlin bit about “stuff” in which he expounds hilariously -- and insightfully -- on the wise observation that “a house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”

There’s also that whole “this is your life” game that goes along with packing and unpacking all that stuff. I’ve had a few of those moments over the last couple of days where I’ve lingered over this or that item as it reminded me of a past experience.

The long path through graduate school and a teaching career has been heavily documented -- to absurd lengths, really, and I’m thinking already of a first use of that fire pit that was left for us here on the farm by the previous owners. So, too, are there a myriad of reminders of various highlights from this second career, the one in poker that more or less began right here on this blog.

So there’s the invitation to scrutinize one’s own materialism (or lack thereof). And there’s the memory lane stuff. But moving to a new place also engenders thoughts of the future, too, and the new projects and paths that lie ahead. The fact that our move is coinciding with the end of the calendar year is probably further heightening that tempation to make resolutions.

You know, about all the new stuff I’d like to do.

OFCP at the WSOP?

A quick hello here mainly to wish all a happy Xmas eve as Vera and I are about to go spend time with folks today and tomorrow.

I think I might’ve mentioned here at some point how we’ve bought ourselves a farm on which to keep Vera’s horses and are preparing for the move in the coming days. That to the left is an early present from your humble scribbler to his beloved, something I think will be getting a lot of use once we make the move. (I’ll have to start signing off as “Old McShamus.”)

Meanwhile, I was intrigued by the Twitter discussion yesterday regarding Open-Face Chinese Poker and the possibility of it being added to the 2014 World Series of Poker schedule as a bracelet event. Ended up posting a little summary of the discussion over on Learn.PokerNews this morning, including adding a poll question at the bottom about it. Take a look and perhaps click “yes” or “no” at the end, if you like clicking things and I know you do.

The most interesting part of the debate, I think, is how some are arguing OFCP isn’t really “poker” because it doesn’t involve betting (in the traditional sense) or appear to provide opportunities for bluffing. I think both counts might be debated somewhat, although I tend to agree that the game strikes me as being a lot more like gin rummy or even spades or hearts than it does poker, even if it does involve making poker hands.

I probably lean toward the group who oppose making OFCP a bracelet event, especially so soon after being introduced to the majority of those who play it. I do like the game, and in fact not long ago downloaded the “ABC Chinese Poker: Open Face” app which I’ve enjoyed playing quite a bit. If you have the app, find me and let’s play -- I’m “ShortStackedShamus” there in the Game Center thingy.

But like I say, I’m dubious about OFCP’s inclusion as a WSOP bracelet event for most of the same reasons others have voiced. I also am not sure adequate tournament rules have been devised for the game yet, either, another reason to think twice about adding it at the WSOP.

Anyhow, check out that summary of yesterday’s debate and let me know what you think about it all. Meanwhile, we need to load up the wheelbarrow with gifts for our travels today. Enjoy the day, all!

Travel Report: EPT10 Barcelona, Main Event: Day 3 -- La Rambla-in’ Along

Another fast-moving day yesterday at the Casino Barcelona as players in the EPT Barcelona Main Event played down from 235 to 79, taking five 90-minute levels to do so. The Englishman Tom “hitthehole” Middleton ended the night leading all as the only player to bag up over 1 million chips.

I imagine today’s Day 4 will likely follow a similar schedule with at most five levels as the target (usually) for these next-to-next-to-last days of EPTs is to get down to the final 24. It’s possible they may press forward to 16 today, but in any case I don’t think we’ll be going too late into the night.

One oddity that stood out yesterday was the fact that the player who ended up bubbling the event in 184th -- Nuno Da Camara -- never showed at all for Day 3. They reached hand-for-hand which went on for a while, and in fact several players survived all-ins while Da Camara’s stack was being blinded and anted down to a last couple of hands. Finally Da Camara was the one to be eliminated, and his empty chair became one of the most photographed pieces of furniture in a decade’s worth of EPTs.

Was kind of a long day, anyhow, yesterday as after play was done we had the media tournament. Your humble scribbler didn’t fare too well there, I’m afraid, and I believe I may have ended my non-U.S. undefeated record in tournaments after having won the EPT Kyiv media event a few years back.

Never could really get anything going, bungling a couple of hands and then losing a race with A-Q-suited versus jacks to end my run relatively early. Was for the best, though, as Vera was there waiting for me and had I gone deep she would have been forced to hang around the casino much longer.

We were able to enjoy one more nice dinner earlier yesterday, punctuating another great day of sightseeing and shopping for her. This time she made it over to La Rambla, kind of a long pedestrian mall with lots of shops and places to eat, and picked up various items including a cool FCB jersey for our little nephew.

She left this morning after having had a great vacation here, and in the end I was very pleased that we were able to spend as much time together as we did. We’ve talked about taking such trips many times before, and in fact practically every time I go on one of these tourney journeys we usually spend a little time considering whether or not she can come along, too, then decide “we’ll try the next one.” So it was great finally getting it to work this time, and we ended up picking an excellent place for it to happen.

Again going to sign off quickly here so as to ready for the day. Go on over to the PokerStars blog to read what Stephen, Rick, and I have been writing about the tournament thus far as well as to see the PokerNews guys’ updates, and don’t forget the EPTLive webcast goes on all day every day, which should become even more interesting to follow now that the tournament is approaching the latter stages.

Travel Report: EPT10 Barcelona, Main Event: Day 2 -- Poker, Plaça d'Espanya, and Paella

A shorter day yesterday at the European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, with just six 75-minute levels and no dinner break. That meant wrapping up before 9 p.m. as opposed to the 1:30 a.m. finishes of the previous two nights. The shorter day coincided nicely with the fact that yesterday happened to be Vera Valmore’s birthday, and so we were able to go out for a nice dinner to celebrate.

In the end a total of 1,234 players entered the event, crushing last year’s all-time high at EPT Barcelona of 1,082 and coming close to establishing a new standard for non-PCA EPT Main Events, just missing topping the 1,240 who played EPT6 Sanremo.

There were 697 left to start Day 2 (where the two Day 1 flights were combined), and from them 235 made it to today. From those 183 will make the cash, so the money bubble will be bursting early this afternoon. A whopping €1,067,000 awaits the winner up top.

Our day began with a late breakfast in the hotel, another cab ride over to Casino Barcelona, and following a rapid-fire series of posts throughout the day at the PokerStars blog we looked up and the day was done. Meanwhile Vera was out and about again, having mastered the metro by now enough to explore still more of Barcelona.

Her day was highlighted by a trip to the Fundació Joan Miró, a museum of modern art featuring the work of Joan Miró, an artist in whom Vera has always had an interest.

The museum is situated up on top of a hill called Montjuïc in Catalonia which requires a bit of a walk from the nearest metro stop at the striking Plaça d'Espanya. That is what is pictured to the left; up above is the museum itself with the fountains running before it.

When we reunited during the early evening, we took a walk along the boardwalk facing the Port Olimpic just outside the casino, enjoying the especially pleasant weather (mild temps, light wind) as we marveled at the dozens of boats packed like sardines. With dusk approaching, there were still a couple of beach volleyball games going and we lingered to watch them before sauntering up to the Moll del Gregal.

There we picked a restaurant from the several choices, La Fitora, where we adventurously selected a black rice paella dish with cuttlefish ink which was very tasty, causing us to smile through blackened teeth. We moved back toward the casino after that, stopping at Farggi for ice cream before making our way back to the hotel.

Vera has another full day here before leaving on Thursday. Meanwhile, at the casino we’ll be back on the reporting beat with the media tourney happening at some point during the proceedings. Once again, visit the PokerStars blog to read and watch more about the EPT Barcelona Main Event.

Travel Report: EPT10 Barcelona, Main Event: Day 1b -- Seeing the Sea

Another busy, long day yesterday at the Casino Barcelona as the second and last of the two Day 1 flights played out in the European Poker Tour Main Event. More than 700 players were there yesterday, added to the 518 who played Day 1a, which makes this year’s EPT Barcelona Main Event the biggest ever.

No one seems surprised at all at this development, as the tourney has seen increased numbers every year for the last several, eclipsing the 1,000-player mark for the first time last year. Now the focus turns toward whether or not the event will ultimately best the all-time EPT Main Event mark of 1,240 set at Sanremo in Season 6 (not counting the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which otherwise get grouped in with the EPT events).

Players can actually register through the start of play today, and so we’ll learn definitely just after noon whether or not they make it to 1,240 total. I believe the official number at the moment is 1,228, so it’s still possible that record gets topped.

One big highlight yesterday came before the tournament started when I got to take Vera Valmore out for a speed boat tour of the Mediterranean for a couple of hours in the morning before going into the casino for the noon start. The EPT Concierge set up the trip, and in fact any of the players who are interested in it can book a seat to do the same absolutely free, one of the many extra perks around of which they can take advantage.

Vera and I were tagging along as Sarah Grant was shooting a video of the trip for PokerStars.tv (that’s a still from it above.) The video does a great job capturing the feel of the trip and all of the neat sights we were able to see as we made a wide circle next to the Barcelona coast. Check it out:

I wrote a post as well for the PokerStars blog -- “Mediterranean meditations” -- in which I tried to capture some of the details of our voyage.

Other fun Day 1b posts included one about chip stacks and the Sagrada Família (about which I was writing a little here yesterday) and another after I spoke with the Slovakian player Dag Palovic about his new detective thriller coming out next month.

Again going to keep things short here today in order once more to spend some of these morning hours with Vera. No boat trips today, but we may find a way to have a nice dinner somewhere this evening. She’s been able to do some exploring during the day, too, taking lots of pictures and doing lots of great shopping.

Check in again today over on the PokerStars blog for more from EPT Barcelona, and remember the EPTLive webcast is going all day everyday this week as well.