Dick Van Patten, a Poker Pop

Was sorry to hear the news yesterday of the passing of actor and poker enthusiast Dick Van Patten at age 86.

I have had several occasions to interact with his son Vince, both while covering him in World Series of Poker Main Events and when working with him a few times at World Poker Tour events. I have written here before about enjoying those conversations, which have pretty much all been about poker. Meanwhile I’ve always been curious to talk further with him about his tennis career (and once beating John McEnroe -- no shinola), all of those TV roles, Rock ’n’ Roll High School, and other stories from his teen idol days.

In truth, I was a little young to have followed either Vince’s tennis playing or to have noticed him on television during the ‘70s and early ‘80s (although I do remember seeing him back then in Hell Night when that slasher turned up on HBO). On the other hand, I was very familiar with his father, thanks primarily to Eight Is Enough. That show aired from 1977-1981, and I’ll bet I saw practically every episode once the repeats went into syndication in the years that followed.

I’d notice him again in the several Mel Brooks films, in particular High Anxiety (a fave), then also in some other ‘70s titles like the Firesign Theatre’s Zachariah, Soylent Green. Westworld, Gus, and Freaky Friday.

I wasn’t paying any attention at all to televised poker in the 1990s, so I missed Dick Van Patten having prefigured his son’s later career as a commentator when he teamed with Jim Albrecht from 1993-1995 for ESPN’s telecasts of the WSOP Main Event final table. You can hear him in this clip of the final hand of the 1995 WSOP ME won by Dan Harrington, when there were no hole cards and the scene was considerably more modest than is the case today:

The New York Times obituary mentions Van Patten’s poker playing in passing, noting how a People magazine profile “said that Mr. Van Patten’s only vices were twice-weekly poker games and regular visits to the racetrack.” However, according to the accounts of most -- including Vince -- both cards and the horses were pursuits to which he was especially dedicated.

Several of the stories circulating today repeat an anecdote both father and son would later laughingly tell, one from the days when the teenaged Vince would participate in his pop’s poker games. As the story goes, at a late hour the boy would ask if he could go to bed, and his father would tell him to “shut up and deal.”

He played the family patriarch in Eight Is Enough, and the obit describes him as having been a “father figure” on the set, too. While my memory of the show is now admittedly dim, it’s hard not to think of him similarly, an image enforced even further in the poker world where his son serves as our primary link to him.

Contemplating Commissioners

Was listening today to an interview with the new Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred who was elected to take over the position last August after Bud Selig stepped down.

Can’t say he was especially riveting to listen to as he addressed various “state of the game” questions, but afterwards my mind wandered a little into a couple of interesting memories from years past.

One was very long ago -- had to be 1981, I guess -- when Major League Baseball went on strike for nearly two months right in the middle of the season. I lived and breathed baseball then, playing all summer, collecting cards, watching and listening to games, and poring over box scores in the paper every day, so the strike was hugely disappointing to a young Shamus. (Making it worse, the strike started the day after my birthday.)

I was concerned enough about the situation to write a letter to then MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn, something I probably wouldn’t remember having done if not for the fact that Kuhn wrote me back. I have long lost both letters, but you can imagine what they both said -- mine expressing a desire they’d resolve the sucker and his registering my concern and stating his similar hope.

I thought of that when hearing Manfred talk about how baseball fans contact him constantly -- some every single day -- with thoughts about the game and how it can be improved. I imagine he probably experiences that sort of thing much more often than Kuhn did back in those letter-writing days.

A bit of trivia: Had history evolved differently, Richard Nixon could have been in the MLB Commissioner’s seat then as he was actually offered the job in 1965, which he turned down. Later on, after both he and Kuhn took their respective offices in 1969, Kuhn presented Nixon a trophy honoring him as “Baseball’s Number 1 Fan” during a reception at the White House (pictured at left).

I also found myself after listening to Manfred being interviewed thinking a bit about the World Series of Poker’s experiment with having a commissioner and Jeffrey Pollack’s tenure in that position which lasted from early 2006 through November 2009. Pollack first came from NASCAR to the WSOP in mid-2005, and somewhere in there -- perhaps just after he changed from being VP of Marketing to Commish -- there were rumors that Pollack was in fact angling one day perhaps to succeed Selig as the next MLB Commissioner.

Some of Manfred’s PR-like talk about baseball made me think of Pollack and the rhetoric he employed -- often effectively -- when talking about poker in general and the WSOP in particular during those years. While many spoke favorably of him early on, later things soured a bit and his departure and subsequent involvement in the failed Epic Poker League helped influence many to conclude his influence on the game’s livelihood was mixed at best.

I was thinking, though, about how we got used to having someone in what seemed an authoritative position -- even if it weren’t, really -- who was constantly addressing questions about the “state of the game” and thus by default carrying a kind of influence, if not on the game at least on how people thought about the game.

There are certain poker players who today perhaps occasionally seem to fill that role. I suppose Alex Dreyfus with his GPI-related ventures perhaps also does, too, as do those leading the EPT, WPT, WSOP, and other major tours and venues.

But there’s no “commissioner” currently acting as the game’s “table captain” -- not that there actually can be, I don’t think.

Which is okay. Until there’s a strike, then to whom will the kids send their letters?

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott (1954-2015)

Sad news this week regarding the passing of Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott who succumbed to cancer just a couple of days after his 61st birthday.

Ulliott occupied a meaningful place in poker lore for many players, especially those who came into the game just before and during the “boom” of the mid-2000s and most especially for players in the U.K. who watched him star in (and win) the first series of Late Night Poker back in 1999.

As detailed in Des Wilson’s Swimming with the Devil Fish (2007) and Ulliott's autobiography, humbly titled Devilfish: The Life and Times of a Poker Legend (2010), Ulliott had a colorful life including tales of safe-cracking, robberies, fist fights, and prison time as a younger man, and lots of gambling and poker dominating his story thereafter.

He’d win a World Series of Poker bracelet (in 1997) and come close several more times. He also had success on the World Poker Tour (winning an event during Season 1), helping make him a familiar character to American poker TV viewers as well.

I can’t say I had a great deal of interaction with Ulliott, although I did cover him in many events at the WSOP. The most vivid memory of came in 2011 when at the $10,000 NLHE Six-Max event Ulliott pulled out a harmonica during the early levels of Day 1 and played it for a few minutes before tournament staff made him stop.

Soon after he’d pulled a guitar from a case and began playing a blues riff, getting part of the way into the first verse before being stopped again. “Was someone complaining?” deadpanned Ulliott, to which the TD responded “You just can’t have a guitar at the table.” (Here’s a short report of that moment.)

I remember after that him picking the guitar back up during breaks that afternoon to serenade passersby. Such center-of-attention antics were the norm for Ulliott at the tables, inspiring a lot of positive memories on the forums and over Twitter this week and a few not-so-nice ones, too.

Of course, Ulliott’s willful seeking of the spotlight was one of a few crucial elements of that first series of Late Night Poker -- along with the under-the-table hole card cams, Rob Gardner’s production, the commentary of Jesse May and Nic Szeremeta, and others’ contributions -- ensuring himself a significant role in chapters about latter-day poker’s history.

Visit The Telegraph for a more substantial obituary covering the highs and lows of Ulliott’s colorful life and career.

Travel Report: Season XIII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, Day 4 -- Turn 21, Win a WPT

The last day of the World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble was an enjoyable one, with Eric and I doing the hand-for-hand updates of the final table eventually won by Ryan Van Sanford who’d just turned 21 back on Saturday.

This was a televised tournament, meaning they had the whole crew there including Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Lynn Gilmartin shooting all of the on-site footage that’ll end up going into the broadcast some months from now. That’s a shot of the trophy presentation above, with the WPT cup on which they etch the names of the champs appearing about as big as Van Sanford.

Van Sanford had the chip lead going into the final table, and among the final six definitely appeared one of the stronger players left. I’d also pegged Jason Helder as a likely candidate to win, although he ran into series of really unfortunate hands during the first two levels -- e.g., flopping two pair versus a set, flopping trips and chopping with an opponent who had the same hand, running pocket queens into pocket aces -- that made it hard for him to avoid going out in fifth.

Got a chance to talk to Helder some in the airport this morning who’s a friendly guy and a good player. He’s had some success over recent years including a dozen WSOP cashes and a final table, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him showing up at more final tables sooner than later.

Despite his age, Van Sanford has also racked up a number of cashes this year playing in Florida where you can play poker if you’re 18 or older. I didn’t really talk to him too much -- just a brief chat about a hand once -- but he struck me as very mature for his age. I also heard other players saying the same at the tables, including Mike Gracz and Jacob Bazeley who were making a similar comment to him as they got down to the last 18 or so.

On the dinner break the night before the final table I was sitting for awhile with Van Sanford and Farhan Madhani, the latter being another strong player who ended up finishing seventh in the tournament after clashing in a big hand with Van Sanford before going out (the one I’d asked Van Sanford about, in fact).

I liked overhearing Madhani giving Van Sanford good advice about handling things going forward, especially if he were to go on to win (as he did). Very cool, I thought, for a guy with more experience to help out another like that.

As I say, covering the final table was fun and as always it’s kind of a marvel to watch the WPT crew in action as they create all of the materials on the fly that will be put together in the edited show later. The fan boy in me can’t help but enjoy seeing Sexton and Van Patten seated over to the side -- just as they appear on the show -- delivering their commentary in bits and pieces along the way. It’s all impressive to watch, and highly entertaining as well.

Speaking of watching poker, I did get back in the hotel room in time to watch the finish of the WSOP Main Event and Martin Jacobson’s remarkable win. I’d actually picked Jacobson despite his eighth-place stack going in, and he obviously had to withstand some risky spots on Monday night in order to get chips with which to battle. But once he did, “MJ” was certainly playing above the rim the whole way, and emerges as a most deserving winner.

I managed to DVR all of it and so will likely have more to say about the November Nine once I get to sit down and watch it. Meanwhile, as much fun as Jacksonville was, I’m looking forward to getting back home. More to come this week from the farm.

Travel Report: Season XIII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, Day 3 -- Same Old Gold

Have a couple of quick highlights from yesterday’s Day 3 of the World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble to share.

They played down from 27 to six players yesterday, starting at noon and winding up right around 10 p.m. to make it an much earlier finish than we had the first three days here.

Ryan Van Sanford of Fort Lauderdale ended the night with the chip lead. I knew Van Sanford was young, and likely the youngest of the final 27 when play began. Heard someone say he was just 21 at one point, confirming that suspicion. Then at the end of the night when the final tablists filled out their bio sheets I learned he only turned 21 last Saturday. Couldn’t help but reflect a little after that on where I was back in late 1993 (i.e., in grad school already).

Jamie Gold ended up making it to the final two tables before going out in 16th place. Again, as I was noting yesterday, there was lots of table talk from Gold and other evidence to support what Christian Harder tweeted earlier in the event when referring to Gold: “He played and talked exactly like he did when he won the WSOP.”

Again, it was a kind of uncanny watching Gold perform, given how strongly it was echoing the behavior most of us saw back during the 2006 WSOP coverage. There were pretty much all of the same antics that both make watching the game more interesting but also drive some of the players kind of nuts with the way he pushes the boundaries of angle-shooting and rule-testing.

Early yesterday I noticed him frequently saying “nice hand” whenever an opponent showed any resistance on an early street. That is, he wasn’t saying it after a hand completed, but during it, such as when he would bet the flop and an opponent would call. No idea what effect it was having on other players, but as a reporter it was jarring to keep hearing the phrase at the wrong moment like that when following the action.

There was one fun hand that saw Gold fold on the turn in the face of an all-in shove from Harvey Vandeven. His fold was preceded by a lot of anguished talk as he revolved his hole cards in his hand, exposing them for those who were curious (which would warrant a penalty), though not exactly showing them. He also was saying what he held, though again, not exactly.

Finally he folded, showing he indeed had what he was indicating he had. Then Vandeven showed one of his cards to reveal Gold was ahead when he folded, and that produced a lot of merriment at the table and some good-natured congratulations from Gold. Here’s the hand report, if you’re curious.

He’s a character, all right. Definitely possesses what on the surface appears to be a lot of humility about himself and his game, yet his words and actions are often so ambiguous its hard to know what’s sincere and what isn’t. In any case, he added some extra entertainment to what has already been a pretty fun tournament thus far. (Photo of Gold above by Joe Giron.)

Harder ended up getting all of the way to the final 10 before running pocket queens into not one but two players holding pocket aces. Before the community cards were dealt, Jason Helder cracked that it would be funny if Harder’s opponents made a set, and Harder quick-wittedly replied that he was pulling for that to happen (as it would mean a fouled deck).

Others making deep runs included another blast-from-the-past of sorts, Mike Gracz (who finished 11th), Jacob Bazeley (15th), David Diaz (18th), Darryll Fish (21st), Shannon Shorr (26th), and Anthony Zinno (27th).

They don’t start back until 4 p.m. today, so you can check over at the WPT site beginning then for updates to see if Van Sanford wins. I’m going to assume he’d be a youngest-ever WPT champion -- I believe Nick Schulman won one at 21, too -- but I don’t know for sure.

We’ll probably be edging toward a conclusion by the time the WSOP Main Event picks back up tonight three-handed. I did end up watching some of that last night -- getting back in the room just in time to see Newhouse’s incredible bustout in ninth again. I’ll probably write more about that later in the week after I return, but for now my attention points back to the bestbet Jacksonville for one more day.

Travel Report: Season XIII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, Day 2 -- Chip in the Box

Day 2 at the World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble was a marathon of a day, lasting from noon until after 2 a.m. They played from 161 players down to 27, with Jason Helder who ended the Day 1 flights with the chip lead still the pace-setter with a leading stack.

Jamie Gold is among those still in the hunt, too. In fact he was the first player to get to 1 million chips yesterday before coming back to the pack by night’s end. He again was the source of a lot of table talk and interaction, making things a degree more interesting for the observer than is usually the case. Can’t speak to how his presence and behavior affected others who were playing with him, but most seemed to roll with it.

I was writing about reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63 on the way here, a time-travel story. Indeed, there’s a “time travel” feel to watching Gold here doing all the same things we saw him doing back in 2006 during his Main Event run.

Daniel Strelitz (54th), Zo Karim (49th), last year’s “Scramble” winner Jared Jaffee (47th), Matt Jarvis (45th), Mohsin Charania (44th), John Racener (39th), former NFL player Richard Seymour (37th), and last year’s third-place “Scramble” finisher Margo Costa (33rd) were among those cashing yesterday.

Probably the most memorable moment yesterday came shortly after they’d reached the money. Matt Jarvis was actually the shortest stack in the room with 55 left, and only 54 paid. But he survived into the money, then shortly after had won a pot that saw the dealer sweeping chips afterwards to him seated next to him in Seat 1.

The dealer got a little too close to the jackpot box in between them with the move, and a chip found its way into the box which led to a lot of hilarity and a little consternation as there wasn’t a key handy to get in there to retrieve it. (See pic above by the great Joe Giron.)

In fact, it wasn’t clear at the time if just one chip fell in or perhaps more, and so when play continued while a key was fetched and Jarvis got involved in a hand, that created a somewhat intriguing situation. You can read about “Jarvis and the Jackpot Box” here.

Gonna close it here as Day 3 is already almost here. Check the WPT site for updates today in between tuning into the November Nine and following the PokerNews coverage of that tonight.

Travel Report: Season XIII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, Day 1b -- Scrambling from the Start

These last two days have been two of the more enjoyable Day 1s I can remember covering in a poker tournament. There are a lot of factors leading me to say that, among them getting to work with great folks including a friendly and cooperative venue staff. Again, though -- as I mentioned yesterday -- having these bounties made the early stage of the tournament much more interesting both for the players and those covering them. And the “chip leader bonus” for the end-of-day leader once more provided a lot of excitement as things wound down, too.

To clarify, there were a total of 40 bounties worth $2,500 assigned to particular players, some more than once after they busted and re-entered. There was also a $5,000 prize given to the player ending Day 1a with the chip lead, then another $5K for the Day 1b leader. The money for those prizes didn’t come from the prize pool, by the way.

The bestbet Jacksonville also ran a ton of satellites for the $5K event, which definitely helped boost the numbers. Ultimately they drew 461 entries, which to be honest was probably about twice what I thought it would be before coming down here. Thus they’ve more than doubled the $2 million guarantee.

I mentioned excitement at the end of the night yesterday associated with the “chip leader bonus.” Several players were bunched around the 280,000-chip mark, and in fact 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold -- with whom I ended up chatting a few times during the day -- was one of them. Then on one of the very last hands of the night there was a set over set over set situation (no shinola) that resulted in Corey Hochman surging up to 324,000 to end the day with the lead to win the prize.

Gotta run as play is soon starting again. Check over at the WPT site for updates on Day 2 today where 161 players return, 15 of them bounties.

Travel Report: Season XIII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, Day 1a -- Bountiful Action

Just gonna share a couple of quick thoughts about the first Day 1 flight of the World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville that played out on Friday.

One is to remark on how big the field was for Day 1a, with 196 entries altogether. That was way more than what I was expecting to see, given that a year ago I was here for a $3,500 buy-in event that had 358 entries total. Didn’t really think a $5,000 buy-in event was going to exceed that for a turnout, but such looks likely now.

This one has a $1 million guarantee, which had suggested 200 players was a mark that would likely be met but didn’t necessarily indicate anything too far above that. But apparently they ran tons of satellites at the bestbet Jacksonville over recent days, with more than 100 winning seats that way. There are other cool things about the event -- besides the especially inviting atmosphere of the large poker room and the great staff -- that I think helped, too.

Those other cool things comprised the other remark I wanted to make, actually. I mentioned earlier this week the “bounties” in play for this event. More than 30 players are being designated as such, with $2,500 prizes going to the players who knock them out. That money is coming from the bestbet, not the prize pool, and is paid right there at the table in cash.

That added some extra fun to Day 1a, when 21 bounties were playing and I believe nine or so were knocked out by night’s end. It made following the action interesting right from the start -- which as a longtime tourney reporter I can say is unusual for a Day 1 -- while also creating some intriguing situations as far as decisions made in hands, both by the players seeking to collect bounties and the bounty players as well.

Also adding some interest at the end of the night was the “chip leader bonus” of $5,000 awarded to the player ending Day 1a with the lead. (The same bonus will be in play today for Day 1b.)

It was a tight race right up until the tourney clock was stopped with 10 minutes to go and the announcement made that seven more hands would be played. I went around and noted five players -- Jason Helder, Shannon Shorr Jonathan Little, Mohsin Charania, Jared Jaffee -- all sitting either a little over 200,000 or just below that mark. “It’s going to be close!” I wrote excitedly in the WPT blog.

Then came a massive hand in which Helder knocked out Sean Winter -- a bounty, in fact, earning him $2,500 -- that catapulted him way up over 350,000, and he ended up finishing with just over 400,000, well clear of everyone else and easily enough to earn him the $5K.

Like I say, these Day 1s usually aren’t so interesting, but the bounties, re-entries, and the “chip leader bonus” all helped make it more fun to follow. Will be back over there today, so check in at the WPT site to see what kind of numbers and/or drama Day 1b provides.

Watching Golf, Watching Poker

Got thoroughly caught up in the PGA Championship yesterday. Such high quality play from the leaders at the end, and Rory McIlroy more than proved himself with his comeback, making shot after shot to top that tough field and claim yet another major. Three straight weeks’ worth of wins by McIlroy is pretty incredible, too -- perhaps slightly more likely than a poker player winning three successive tournaments, but still a very rare feat to pull off.

I’ve written here before about the many similarities between golf and poker, both of which are games that players of wildly differing levels of skill and commitment can enjoy. Amateur golfers like myself can watch pros and still feel somewhat connected with what we are seeing, having ourselves attempted similar shots even if we’re competing on a much lower level. I’m not sure that’s really so much the case, though, with poker. Not currently, anyway.

I was realizing yesterday that when we think back to televised poker’s heyday during the mid-2000s, one of the primary attractions for a lot of us was the fact that we could make a similar connection with what we were watching. Whether it be the WSOP Main Event, the prelims that got some play on ESPN during those couple of years, the WPT, or other poker on TV, many of us watching were players ourselves and without too much effort could readily appreciate similarities between hands we were playing and those we were watching.

It was kind of like one big game then (if that makes sense), with online poker especially helping all of us feel connected in a much more immediate way than is the case today. Even if we didn’t necessarily think “one day that’ll be me” as we watched, we still recognized the games on TV as analogous to what we were doing when we played.

Some of us who continue to tune in and watch televised poker today still think in similar terms as we watch -- that is, we connect somewhat with the players and the game -- but I think the gap between what’s happening on screen and what most of us experience with poker is a lot wider now. Certainly when it’s the “Big One for One Drop” being shown none of us identifies that much with those participating in a $1 million buy-in event. But even in other tourneys I’d venture to say many of us find it hard to relate to what we’re seeing.

During the PGA broadcasts this week they would occasionally show short instructional segments featuring Lou Guzzi, the 2013 PGA Teacher of the Year. That’s a shot of him above, getting set to deliver a quick lesson about how to hit the ball out of a fairway sandtrap. The lesson didn’t seem out of place at all within the context of the coverage. Players could benefit from the instruction, and even non-players might have found it interesting to see the mechanics of such a shot being explained.

I know in televised poker there have been various attempts to introduce strategy discussion into the coverage. In truth, every single hand shown is usually accompanied by some talk along those lines. But I think most of such commentary is received simply as describing the action, not prescribing potential plays we viewers might make. The level of engagement by the viewer just isn’t the same with poker as it is with golf.

I’m discussing this phenomenon as if it isn’t just personal but applies more broadly among most viewers, which could be incorrect. This might just be me. Or what I’m describing might primarily apply to recreational players of both golf and poker (in which categories I put myself in both cases), and not as much to others.

Still, I think for all the similarities between golf and poker, there are some big differences, too, particularly when it comes to trying to make the card game into a game as engaging to watch as golf can be.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 4 -- Canadian Comebacks

Was a good last day at the Playground Poker Club. Kind of a weird one, poker-wise, actually. The two short stacks entering the final table both survived double-ups within the first eight hands, then eventually outlasted everyone to make it to heads-up.

Then Jason Comtois won yet another double-up to take the lead away from John Paul Tabago, and eventually Comtois -- who began sixth out of six -- won the sucker. As he won, I recalled Comtois saying on Day 3 how he’d survived 10 all-ins that day alone and had never had an average stack for the entire tourney. That’s Comtois enjoying a raucous celebration with his friends after all was done, the pic again from Rob Gracie for the WPT.

The poker was bookended by a couple of meals, the first coming early on when I met my blogging colleague B.J. Nemeth, Chris Tessaro, and Kara Scott for crepes at a place called Bagel Expressions just a few minutes’ walk away from the hotel. Had the strawberry and banana crepes, along with a couple of cups of coffee, which along with the interesting conversation made for a good start to the day. Was a lot fun hanging and chatting about various poker-related topics with those three, and we also learned some details about Kara’s wedding coming up in May in Italy.

Play ran from noon until late afternoon, then once the last hand was dealt and all the loose ends were tied most of us repaired back to the Rail one last time (the restaurant/bar in the Playground), including Tony Dunst and Mike Sexton who came over once they’d completed the commentary they had been delivering on a half-hour delay.

I had a burger and a piece of cheesecake, then we hung around a bit longer while meals were finished. One player, Alexander Wong, stopped by to thank Dunst and Sexton for their kind words about his play on the commentary, and it was cool to hear them discuss some of his hands with him. A few other folks asked to have their pictures taken with Mike, who was obliging in every instance.

All in all a very fun week in snowy Montreal. Big thanks to the Playground Poker Club for being so helpful all week, and thanks as well to the WPT crew who were great fun to hang with again.

Looking forward now, though, to getting back to Vera and the farm and all of our four-legged friends.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 3 -- Chip Math

The snow is melting, the bridge is open, and the end of another week of tourney trippin’ is almost here.

Was one of those strangely long tourney days yesterday for Day 3 of the partypoker.net World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship, a day stretched out further and further and further into the evening by a series of improbable double-ups that had everyone scratching their heads over whether or not it would ever end.

There were 39 players to start the day and with one-hour levels and already big blinds, the usually reliable “chip math” suggested an early evening finish as the plan was to play down to a six-handed final table. But play lasted well beyond that point and ultimately we didn’t get back to the hotel until midnight or a little after following a late dinner.

Was mentioning yesterday the relatively fast structure of the tournament. By the last hour the average stack was 30 big blinds with seven players left, and will be a little higher than that to start play today although the blinds will be jumping up in a hurry and soon everyone will be short. So, again, “chip math” is suggesting the day will have to be a short one, likely done by late afternoon following a noon start.

All six of those making the final table hail from Canada, although a couple were originally from elsewhere. No real names, although Mario Lim did make a deep run in that WPT Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls I covered not long ago (finishing 21st), which was in fact his first ever WPT (and this is his second). Two players -- Alexander Wong and Daniel Gagne -- seem strong players and they do carry the two biggest stacks to today’s final table, and so would stand to be the favorites.

That said, with stacks as shallow as they will soon be, anything can happen.

Gonna run as Chris Tessaro (here again for a WPT stop in Canada) has invited me and some others out for crepes for breakfast, and I’d like a chance to socialize a bit as well as to eat a meal somewhere besides the Playground Poker Club (although the eats there at the Rail restaurant are quite good).

Follow over at the WPT site to see how it plays out. There will be a live stream as well (on a half-hour delay with hole cards), with commentary by Tony Dunst and Mike Sexton, both of whom cashed in the sucker (finishing 44th and 74th, respectively). (Photo above by Rob Gracie for the WPT.)

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 2 -- Hurtling Through the Snow

Had snow yesterday in Montreal, and somewhat sketchy conditions for the drive over to the Playground Poker Club, particularly in the morning. But our driver, Harry, expertly guided us both to and fro yet again.

They raced from 311 players all of the way down to just 39 during yesterday’s Day 2 of the partypoker.net World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship at the Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake near Montreal.

They’ve played 24 levels thus far, all just 45 minutes long, which by the latter part of the night yesterday introduced a definite “turbo” feel to things as chips flew back and forth and leaders and short stacks switched places frequently.

Levels become one hour long today which ought to slow things down a little, although the average stack is still short enough to suggest our day might be a quick one as the plan is to play down to a six-handed final table.

The WPT has different tiers for their tourney, with these “National” events (like the “Regional” ones) not necessarily featuring the same structures as the showcase WPT, tourneys. A little like the World Series of Poker and its WSOP Circuit events, I suppose, to make an analogue.

At dinner last night I ate at the Rail bar while watching the end of that exciting Kentucky-Michigan game, and overheard a couple of players who had busted from the event commiserate with one another over how they had gone out.

One had made the cash, winning about double the buy-in (if he hadn’t re-entered), while the other had come up short. Soon I knew all of the details of both players’ final hands, and a little while after that they’d gotten their phones out to calculate which of the two had suffered a worse beat, percentage-wise. Funny stuff, if typical.

Lots of Canadians are playing, of course, including many from this part of the country. I’ve been praising the Playground Poker Club all week for its many amenities and expert management of tourneys, and I can see how any poker player who lives anywhere close to here would want to make it a regular destination.

Gotta run, but watch the WPT site today to see how quickly those 39 get down to a final six to set up Tuesday’s final table.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 1c -- The Bridge, Baseball, and Bieber

The third and final Day 1 flight was much like the first two, natch, at the partypoker.net World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship. A big boost in the number of players coming out on Saturday meant they made the $1 million guarantee and then some, with 1,079 total entries for the $1,000+$100 buy-in event (Canadian dollars). (That above of the Stanley Cup card protector was snapped by B.J. Nemeth here during play on Day 1c.)

Our commute in from Montreal was a little circuitous this morning as the Mercier Bridge -- our normal route over to Kahnawake -- has been closed to southbound traffic for the weekend. Such will be the case again today, but going northbound the bridge is open and so getting back to the hotel is easier.

In other news from the largest city in Quebec, was noticing yesterday both on the large screen TVs all around the Playground Poker Room and in some of the headlines I’ve been reading that the Toronto Blue Jays actually played a couple of exhibition games against the New York Mets over in Olympic Stadium here in Montreal, the first time they’ve had any major league baseball here since September 2004 when the Expos left.

Kind of funny to think about teams coming here right now -- amid these temps and conditions -- to play spring training games, but the first one on Friday was attended by over 46,000 I am reading, with the fans chanting “Let’s Go Expos” for much of the day.

Yesterday was able to have dinner with Anthony Charter and Lane Anderson who are part of the team behind the PokerNews Canada site. The site only got up and running very recently, and they are here covering the event while also planning to do some more tourney reporting soon.

I enjoyed getting to know them a little better and comparing notes between the Canada site and Learn.PokerNews. (I also made clear to them my envy of their continuing to enjoy life with online poker unlike most of us poor Yanks.) Check out their site if you’re interested what’s happening poker-wise north of the border (and there’s a lot happening).

By the way, speaking of the Learn site, have been running some cool strategy items lately, as well as a multi-part history of Late Night Poker penned by one of the show’s creators, Nic Szeremeta. I’ve always been kind of fascinated by this pre-“boom” U.K. show that introduced a lot of ideas soon adopted by the WPT, WSOP, and others a couple of years later. If you are interested, click here for the first part and read on through. The series will conclude on Monday.

A party for the players (and media) punctuated the evening last night, although after two straight weeks’ worth of uninterrupted work and travel your humble scribbler wasn’t really up to it and so instead rode out the night watching the end of that Arizona-Wisconsin NCAA game in a quieter corner of the Playground. Those with whom I was watching the game instantly agreed with me the refs screwed up that last out-of-bounds call (after five minutes’ worth of leveling themselves looking at replays) The charge called before that was highly sketchy, too.

Finally returned to the hotel around midnight, discovering that Justin Bieber is apparently in Montreal and staying at the hotel just around the corner (where some of our colleagues are staying). I guess Miley Cyrus played at the Bell Centre here last night, too, which may or may not have had something to do with the Biebs turning up here.

When we came back there were a number of cars and a crowd outside Bieber’s hotel, presumably teenaged girls yearning for a glimpse. Thankfully -- unlike with the bridge closing -- our route wasn’t affected.

The tourney continues today at noon local time, giving us an extra hour this morning. Looks like 311 made it through to today’s Day 2, with three more days’ worth of play to go to find a winner. Check the WPT live updates to see how it goes.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 1b -- Bubble Hockey

Another busy, fun one at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal yesterday reporting on the second Day 1 flight of the partypoker.net World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship. There were a few more entries yesterday than for Day 1a, and more are expected today as they shoot for the 1,000-entry total to make the event’s $1 million guarantee.

I was mentioning yesterday how well run the event has been, with the support from the staff being especially helpful for those of us reporting. There have been other nice amenities here, too, including our set-up being right next to a “players lounge” that includes refreshments, a big screen TV playing Rounders on a loop, and bubble hockey (of which we’ve taken advantage during breaks).

There’s also no shortage of sports on TV here, too, and they even turned some of the screens away from hockey last night to show the exciting NCAA games. Got to see my bracket at last crumble to dust last night as all four games went the wrong way for me, so I won’t be making any late run to comeback to win the pool this year as happened for me a couple of years ago.

There are a few “names” in the field, including Antonio Esfandiari who has busted both Day 1 flights. Was kind of a highlight yesterday watching him play a hand versus an opponent who raised him all in to force Esfandiari to fold, with lots of entertaining table talk happening both during and after the hand. It was clear the other players got a big kick out of playing with Esfandiari, and he, too, clearly enjoyed all of the banter.

Meals here at the Rail (the poker room’s restauarant) have been good as well, with many good dishes from which to choose. Am thus following up some good eats down in Viña del Mar, Chile with another week’s worth of decent dining.

It has snowed some and temps are right around freezing, and thanks to the commute every morning and night we have been exposed a little to the frigid weather. But the hotel is very comfortable and as I was saying yesterday these are some fun folks with whom to work.

Back to it for one more Day 1 flight today. Check the WPT site for updates.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship, Day 1a -- Red, Yellow & Green

Another day of ninja-posting as these early starts (11 a.m.) here at Playground Poker Club in Montreal are closing the window of available time in the mornings for me to post over here.

It was a fun day yesterday for the first of three Day 1 flights at in the partypoker.net World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship. The tourney attracted 219 runners, 62 of which made it through the thirteen 45-minute levels. Players can re-enter once per Day 1 flight, so a number of those who busted will likely be back either today or tomorrow.

Fun again to be back with the WPT crew who are always enjoyable to work with and after so many years of doing this have their system down very well. And speaking of having a good system in place, the Playground Poker staff do a lot of things especially well here when it comes to the management of the tournament as well as making the jobs of those doing live reporting a lot easier.

For one, they track everyone all day long here, letting us know throughout the day not only who has busted from the event but also all of the seat changes along the way. It’s the kind of thing a live reporting team might dedicate one person to handling -- if they can spare him or her -- but usually cannot be done, especially on a Day 1.

That practice obviously makes things a lot easier when it comes to identifying players throughout the day, especially in a large field, low buy-in event in which a lot of local players are participating whom we might not recognize otherwise.

There are other nifty ideas in play here, including a little “traffic light”-like arrangement on a pole attached to every dealer’s chair and sitting well above the tables. The red light calls the floor over, the yellow is a request for a cocktail server, and the green announces that a seat is open and/or requests a floor person for a less urgent reason.

It’s simple, and it’s brilliant. There’s no yelling back and forth to get a floor person to a table, nor is there a lot of extraneous fuss or delays over getting servers, filling empty seats, or keeping tables balanced.

Anyhow, if I had been more efficient with my time perhaps I could write more, but that wasn’t the case. Check the WPT blog for updates from snowy Montreal today.

“May All of Your Cards Be Live...”

I mentioned how this most recent trip of mine culminated with that WPT final table at the Bellagio which was a “TV” one. Not all WPT events are shot for later broadcast (on Fox Sports), but quite a few are. Since this was the first time I’d actually been present at one of these, I thought I’d share a few quick impressions.

Anyone who has attended a WPT final table that was scheduled to be televised probably will be familiar with everything I’m sharing here. That is to say, it isn’t as though anything I noticed as someone there reporting on the event is that different from what anyone else in attendance gets to see, too.

In fact, for poker fans who happen to be where a WPT televised final table is taking place, I recommend checking it out. The entire day I was thinking of a good friend of mine who loves to watch poker on TV -- still (!) -- and who is always asking me about players he sees. I realized how much of a kick he’d get out of seeing one of these shows being created.

I knew before that Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten were present at these final tables, but I hadn’t necessarily realized how they actually are commentating quite a bit as the hands go by. I know they’ll go back and do more in post-production, but I hadn’t necessarily appreciated from watching the WPT on television that some or even most of what we hear from those two comes during the actual playing of the final table.

The desk at which they sat was far enough away from the table -- and from the crowd and those of us reporting -- that you couldn’t hear every word they said. But you could definitely pick up on the excited responses as Sexton and Van Patten both reacted to a big river card or other crucial moments at the final table (of which there were several), which added an extra bit of fun to the proceedings.

Meanwhile, Lynn Gilmartin is now doing the anchoring for the WPT shows, and she, too, was shooting a lot of her segments as the final table was being played.

I’ve known Lynn for a while now thanks to her long association with PokerNews and PokerStars, and so am well familiar with how great she is in front of the camera. In fact, I’ve joined her a few times for brief vids from the LAPT -- here’s one from last year -- on which the contrast between our relative levels of ease only further underscores her skills.

Lynn was positioned at an elevated table over to the side where she could be heard introducing returns to action or taking us to commercial breaks, interspersing questions of Mike and Vince. Then we also saw WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage interviewing players to the side of the stage, too, both before play began and after bustouts.

Watching both reminded me of sitting in the press box at the WSOP while Kara Scott would shoot segments and marveling at how cool they all are, often able to move through the segments in one take and sound great doing it.

As someone who has spent a lot of time standing in front of classrooms full of students, I’m not necessarily shy about talking to groups. But the challenges faced and conquered by these folks whose jobs put them in front of the camera still impresses me, and I can’t imagine how much work it would take to get to the point they seem to be.

The play moved rather quickly without a lot of delays for setting up for certain shots or for other production-related reasons. I suppose that defied my expectations a little, too, after having worked a lot of events on other tours where there would be frequent stoppages of play related to the broadcasts being shot or streamed. By contrast, they kept things moving pretty quickly throughout yesterday, no doubt in part because of a desire not to keep the extensive crew working longer than necessary.

All of the other elements of the TV show were there, too -- the Royal Flush girls and their “bar,” the trophy presentation, and so on. There were nice recognitions of Jack McClelland made both before and after the final table as well, as this was the last event for the Bellagio’s retiring tournament director.

All of it kind of took me back to the days of being a big “poker fan” -- i.e., a decade ago when I was right there with everyone else discovering the WPT on television for the first time and becoming instantly fascinated with the show, the game, and the people who were part of it.

I know the WPT doesn’t quite occupy the central place in poker’s subculture today as it did back then. But it is still an important part of the overall scene and I think still brings a lot that’s good for the game as a whole when it comes to promoting the game to a wider audience. And they continue to put on a good show that ultimately seems more than anything to underscore that sense that poker really can be a fun time.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Day 6 -- Keeping the Beat

For the final table of the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, the action moved out of the poker room and into one of the ballrooms on the other side of the Bellagio. As usual, the WPT had a huge set constructed for the big finale, and unlike the previous WPT events I’ve worked this one was shot for TV broadcast (sometime in the spring, I think).

The playing down from six players to a winner in Dan Smith -- a.k.a. “King Dan” -- took around seven hours or so with only a few short breaks along the way. Smith, who I mentioned yesterday on Day 5 had enjoyed some good fortune to avoid going out with 16 players left, began the day with the chip lead. He kept the lead for the first part of Day 6, but at three-handed Eddy Sabat was in the top spot and appeared in good position to win.

Smith had some more run good, though, after doubling his short stack through Sabat with versus the latter’s , then winning another big pot two hands later against Sabat when he flopped a flush. That one saw Smith getting Sabat to call on all three post-flop streets including the last all-in push, and so Smith doubled again to take a commanding lead before winning the event a couple of dozen hands later.

The last day saw me tracking chip counts after every hand while the posts were handled by my blogging partners B.J. Nemeth (who did hand reports) and Ryan Luchessi (who posted lots of cool features along the way). Was a little like moving over from playing lead guitar to sitting behind the drums in this power trio, and while I’ll admit it took me a little while in the early going to get the beat right I got acclimated before too long and ended up enjoying the night’s work.

Was also fun to see the shooting of the WPT program, something I’d never actually witnessed before. I want to write a little more about what that was like and so am going to save discussing that until tomorrow, but I will say it’s an impressive, finely-tuned production they have in place -- not that surprising considering they’ve been at it for over a decade now.

Flights back from Las Vegas were relatively smooth though I was pretty beat once I finally got home. Will be taking a little bit of a break from the traveling at the moment, but there will be more globetrotting to come.

Getting some rest now. More tomorrow about the final day at the WPT Five Diamond.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Day 5 -- King Dan’s Two-Outer

Was a full day yesterday for Day 5 of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic as they played down from 21 to the final six.

The tourney was relocated to the “high-limit” area of the Bellagio poker room, an elevated section in the far right corner, which took the players out of the center of the very active cash games happening at the mostly filled tables in the rest of the room.

Once the three tables played down to a final ten-handed table, the final table of that $100K high roller event the Bellagio was putting on was moved over into the same area as well, and in fact would play out long after we finished with Brian Rast winning more than $1 million for topping a small field.

Rast was one of the couple of players who had actually entered the $10K WPT event seven times (thanks to the unlimited re-entry format), and so despite finishing in 32nd and in the money, he’d lost more than $40K in that one as his cash was only for a little over $26K.

Not sure if Rast re-entered the $100K or not, but you can check out reports on the event by Eric of Poker Telegraph who was on hand to file updates on that one from start-to-finish.

The big news entering Day 5, of course, was the prospect of start-of-day chip leader Jean-Robert Bellande perhaps making the televised final table and thus adding a bit of entertainment to the proceedings later today. JRB was still leading at mid-afternoon yesterday, but had one calamitous level that took him from the top of the counts to the bottom, and it wasn’t long after they’d gone to the ten-handed final table that he busted in 10th.

It took a good while, but finally they reached the final six with Dan Smith the chip leader. Smith had narrowly avoided finishing 16th in the tournament when he’d been all in with 10-10 versus the K-K of Steven Silverman and no help had come on either the flop or turn. But a 10 fell on fifth street to save Smith, and he’d go on to carry the lead to today while Silverman would be the one to finish 16th.

“King Dan” will be joined by Eddy Sabat and Joe Serock at this final table, as well as a player named Shaun Suller whom I met a few times covering WSOP Circuit stops. Suller is a friendly guy and I overheard him telling the WPT TV crew in an interview how he planned to donate a percentage of his winnings to the Jimmy V Foundation, which gave me another reason to be glad he’d made the final table.

Meanwhile others coming up short along with Bellande and Silverman were Christian Harder, Dan O’Brien, and Will Failla.

Have a hectic day ahead and so am cutting things short again. Check over at the WPT site for updates later on from tonight’s final table. Should be interesting to see the staging and presentation for the TV show, as Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, Lynn Gilmartin will all be there to do their commentary as it goes.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Day 4 -- Fantasyland & BrokeLivingJRB

Not a ton of time for scribbling today, so I’ll move through this update quickly. One reason why my time is short is because after play was done yesterday I joined B.J. and our friend Shancy for a couple of hours’ worth of open-face Chinese, during which many grins were had while I also made it to Fantasyland a couple of times.

Speaking of fantasies, the 59 who returned for yesterday’s Day 4 still entertaining dreams of winning this year’s World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and realizing a seven-figure score battled down to just 21, with Jean-Robert Bellande building a big stack to carry the lead into today’s penultimate day of play.

I’m remembering Bellande being especially short in the middle of Day 2 of the event, right around the time the re-entry period ended. He was definitely in shove-or-fold mode there for a while, but when they came back for the last level of that night he went on a rush, knocking out both Phil Hellmuth and Jen Tilly sitting next to him, to finish the day in good shape chip-wise. Then for the last two days he’s just kept on adding to his stack.

I agree with those who are entertained by Bellande and find him “good for poker” (as they say). I also dig his self-deprecating persona, especially when he retweets others’ digs at him (both seriously delivered and otherwise).

Jeremy Ausmus had an especially funny tweet yesterday (which @BrokeLivingJRB of course retweeted), in which he suggested there might be something wrong with the reporting regarding Bellande’s first-position status.

Lots of big names left among the final 21 in addition to Bellande, with Joe Serock, Dan O’Brien, Christian Harder, Will Failla, Dan Smith, Barry Hutter, and Steven Silverman among them. It’s been that kind of tourney. In fact, yesterday I went through and saw I knew by sight 40 of the 59 remaining at the start of the day, a very high percentage relatively speaking.

Also happening in the Bellagio poker room yesterday was the start of a non-WPT $100,000 event which quietly began playing out on a couple of tables in the center of the room. Ben Lamb, Joseph Cheong, Erik Seidel, Jason Koon, Ben Tollerene, Anthony Gregg, and Justin Bonomo were among the dozen or so entrants in that one.

At one point I overheard staff referring to one of the high rollers (one not listed above) and saying how he’d seen him play in a $100 tourney just a day or so ago. Reminded me a little of the story OhCaptain told me about a guy who’d busted from our $10K event showing up to play that night in an $80 tourney in which he took part. Those anecdotes illustrate how the game paradoxically is both all about money and has nothing to do with money (for some).

We’re thinking it might well be a long one today. Again, head over to the WPT site to see if JRB can maintain his frontrunner status today and perhaps make tomorrow’s six-handed final table.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Day 3 -- Tight Fit

Down to 59 now in the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, just 14 eliminations away from the money. There are three more days to go the six-day event, so today will probably see the field carved down to the low 20s or so, then on Tuesday they’ll play down to six and finish up on Wednesday.

I was talking yesterday about how the re-entry format and lengthy period for buying back in made the first day and much of the second kind of anticlimactic, likening it to a “regular season” and calling the period after re-entries end the “playoffs.”

I might have called that re-entry period the “preseason,” actually, with this interim between the re-entry period ending and the money bubble bursting being the regular season and play following the cashes starting being the playoffs. However we want to draw our analogies, things are getting increasingly more interesting with much more to report as the significance of individual hands grows incrementally as they go.

Nearly all 40 or so tables in the Bellagio poker room have been constantly filled for the past three days, initially with tourney players, then as the field finally got smaller (especially yesterday) with cash games filling in once the tourney no longer needed tables. Bobby’s Room -- the walled in inner room inside the poker room -- has had two or three tables going constantly, too, with Doyle Brunson (who didn’t play the tournament bearing his name), Eli Elezra, David Oppenheim, Kenny Tran, Huck Seed, and several other familiar folks among those who have been sitting at the tables in there.

All of which means the poker room has been constantly packed with people, including players, media and the TV crew, poker room staff and Bellagio servers, and others filling every inch. Interestingly, though, I’m not really sensing anyone being that bothered by the crowded quarters, and I, too, have realized ideas of “personal space” kind of automatically adjust in such situations.

It’s like we’re all at a sold out, standing room only show or something, and while there isn’t much room to move around, all seem pretty glad to be there. The fact that everyone has been especially helpful and all seem to be working together well to keep things running smoothly has gone a long way in this regard, making it a fun tourney thus far to cover. Kind of an emblem of multi-table tournament poker, I guess, a huge field all doing what they can to try to fit into just a few seats at the end.

Non-tourney news from yesterday included me winning one NFL bet (the Bengals) and correctly resisting making a second one (on the Panthers). Also I’d had ideas during the day of perhaps joining B.J. Nemeth and Jess Welman to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey (which Jess had never seen) once the day was done, but decided to go for the extra couple of hours of sleep instead. (Here is an old post in which I wrote a bit about 2001: “My Mind Is Going... I Can Feel It....”)

Sounds like from the tweets B.J.’s attempts at making Jess appreciate the film’s achievement didn’t quite land, given Jess’ tweet afterwards (“Worst. Movie. Ever.”). I imagined a scene of conflict between the two resulting in the remote control being thrown up in the air, rotating end over end in slow motion like a bone or a space station. I also thought of B.J. responding to Jess’ dislike of the film in HAL’s voice…

“Look Jess, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.”

I think Jess will soon be explaining her response to 2001 on her blog, for which we can stay tuned. Meanwhile, as always, check back over at the WPT site for updates today from Day 4 of the WPT Five Diamond.