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.

Talking Generational Differences in the Great White North

Rapid-fire posting this morning as we are readying for an early start (11 a.m.) for this first of three Day 1 flights at the World Poker Tour National: Canadian Spring Championship in Kahnawake near Montreal. There is snow on the ground here and cold temps here for my return visit to the Great White North (after having come to Niagara Falls just a month ago).

Got in around dinner time last night and had a fun meal at a local steakhouse with Tony Dunst, WPT Event Coordinator Bennsey Johnson, and my blogging colleages for the week, B.J. Nemeth and Ryan Luchessi.

Among the many topics of conversation was an interesting discussion of the “internet generation” -- i.e., those who are young enough to have grown up in a world in which the internet was already the omnipresent cultural force it is today -- and how they differ from those who came before.

B.J. made an interesting analogy, I thought, when he pointed out how those of us who grew up pre-internet (like he and I did) often have to “translate” online phenomena into offline approximations in order to understand them, whereas the younger generation is already “fluent” and doesn’t have to make that extra step.

Online poker perhaps provides the most ready example, as Tony and his contemporaries all took to the game -- their introduction to poker -- without having to think of it as a “version” of live poker and thus needing to adapt strategies learned in that context when playing online.

I’d go on, but we are already here at the Playground Club and readying to go, and so I’ll stop here. Follow the updates over at the World Poker Tour site today to see how things go, eh?