Travel Report: Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Day 4 -- Fast Finale

All done in Florida and now I’m back home after a quick, uneventful voyage back. Jared Jaffee took the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble down without too much struggle yesterday after starting the final six-handed table with about a third of the chips in play.

Actually runner-up finisher Blake Purvis did manage to challege Jaffee briefly, even seizing the lead by less than a big blind to start heads-up play. But Jaffee won the first two hands between the pair to push back ahead, then whittled away for another hour before finally using -- our friend Poker Grump’s fave hand -- to crack Purvis’s pocket aces and secure the win.

It took 99 hands and just a few minutes under four hours for the final table to finish up. Many spoke of it being one of the fastest final days they could remember for a WPT final.

The length of levels were increased from 60 to 90 minutes after dinner on Day 2 and continued at 90 minutes through the long Day 3 when they played down from 26 to six. Then for the final table they reverted back to hour-long levels, then made it 30-minute levels when heads-up play began, all of which helped create conditions for that rapid finish.

I know back during the first few years of the WPT there was much talk about the structure not allowing for enough play at final tables. I’m remembering some changes being introduced around 2007 to slow things down at the end somewhat, then in 2009 another change was made to what I believe is this current format. A little too tired at the moment to look it all up. I’ll be at another WPT event in a couple of weeks (the Five Diamond at the Bellagio) and in fact will be working with longtime WPT reporter B.J. Nemeth at that one, so he can surely fill me in on the history of these structure changes.

Even if things got pushed along a little quickly at the end, Jaffee was certainly a worthy winner, breaking through to grab a WPT title after having made a couple of final tables and come up short before.

Now that I’m back I’m catching up a bit on the news, including the big story regarding New Jersey imminently joining the online poker game in the U.S. with licenses being approved and a “soft” launch of some sites happening tomorrow and the official start of things cranking up next week. Something else I’m going to have to read more about in the coming days. Gonna be very interesting to see WSOP.com, Ultimate Poker, and others getting up and running over here on the east coast.

For now, though, I’m going to try to grab some rest. Was a good time in Jacksonville working alongside friends old and new, and much thanks to the bestbet folks again for being so accommodating.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Day 3 -- Stacks in Jax

Ended a little before midnight last night, which meant getting to bed a little earlier and in fact sleeping a little later, too, as we aren’t starting today’s final day of play at the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble until 2 p.m.

They’ve reached a final table, now, with Jared Jaffee enjoying a big chip lead among the final six with 3.65 million chips, nearly 2 million clear of second-place Margo Costa who hopes to be the first woman to win an open WPT Main Event. (Van Nguyen won one in an invitational.)

The day went well and involved some extracurricular distraction as that wild Carolina Panthers-New England Patriots MNF game played out on the television screens up above. Have to say after the Panthers’ go-ahead TD drive then the crazy finale with the picked-up penalty flag on the Pats’ final play, I was emotionally exhausted. Don’t even know how to feel after seeing my team win a couple of nail-biters like this after losing so many in similar fashion over the last several years.

I’ve been mentioning here how inviting the bestbet Jacksonville poker room is, which seems especially well run and has been a nice stop all around for those of us reporting. The players in this WPT event have been having fun, too, with a lot of table talk and socializing and a generally positive atmosphere.

Was thinking a little about this whole idea of trying to make sure poker is enjoyable for everyone involved after posting the second part of Josh Cahlik’s interview with 2013 WSOP bracelet winner Calen McNeil over on Learn.PokerNews yesterday.

The focus of their discussion was “checking your ego at the door” when playing, and near the end McNeil tells a great story about playing in a WSOP Circuit prelim and finishing runner-up to an older, amateur player.

McNeil talks about having wanted the victory but also having been truly excited for the fellow who did manage to win, and the whole discussion really highlights a nice thought about poker really can be a social game. The point reminded me a bit of Brad Willis’s opinion piece “Before the Bubble” for the PokerStars blog from the summer in which he was talking about the need for established players to be more inviting and less critical of newcomers.

Check out the McNeil interview and read that last section in particular and see if you agree.

Looks like they are starting to unbag and stack the chips so I’ll sign off now. Again, check the WPT site for live updates of today’s finale and also watch the live stream which will be coming with a half-hour delay.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Day 2 -- Some Reads

A little longer of a day yesterday for Day 2 of the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble. They played from 123 players down to 26, finishing close to 1 a.m. this morning. Cong Pham (who led at the end of Day 1a) ended the night on top after a kind of up-and-down day that saw the very active, aggressive player endure some big swings.

Was a day during which I found myself focusing a lot more on the actual poker than was the case during those two Day 1s, by which I mean I was thinking more specifically about strategy and how players played their hands. In fact, there were a couple of occasions along the way I’d watch a hand play out from the beginning and would successfully guess what a player held prior to my guess being confirmed at showdown.

For example, there was one hand involving Jeff Madsen in which he was in the small blind and three-bet a middle-position raiser who called him. Madsen continued with a bet following a benign-looking nine-high flop and his opponent called, then Madsen checked the turn which paired the board with a second deuce.

At that point I thought to myself that Madsen appeared especially strong and was checking to induce his opponent to bet. I’ve watched Madsen play before, of course, including helping cover his WSOP bracelet win this past summer, and his opponent I’d been watching enough to have some idea about his tendencies, too.

Sure enough Madsen’s opponent bet -- in fact, he pushed all in -- and Madsen called in a flash, turning over pocket aces. His opponent had but an inside straight draw which didn’t complete, and Madsen earned a big boost and eventually made it to today’s Day 3 with an average stack.

Now I’m congratulating myself here for having guessed correctly on this hand. I’m remembering one other where I’d done something similar, i.e., followed the action and guessed correctly a player had ace-queen before he showed it down. But I know these tiny, private feats really don’t mean a whole lot, and in fact the whole idea of trying to put players on hands while reporting on them is both a little foolhardy and probably best avoided.

First of all, when you’re wandering around from table to table catching a small percentage of hands and writing up and even smaller fraction of them, you cannot get a feel for table dynamics, history between players, and other important factors that all matter greatly when it comes to guessing players’ hole cards. Sure, there are common denominators when it comes to betting patterns, flop textures, and so on, but in truth anyone who is not sitting at the table but just observing is operating at a significant handicap when trying to guess players’ holdings.

Secondly, I actually trained myself more or less to stop doing this sort of thing long, long ago when I first started reporting on tournaments. I’m talking about thinking about players’ strategy and trying to guess what they have or what their actions signify.

I think other experienced tourney reporters would probably agree that it is best simply to focus on accuracy and getting the action correct, with any sort of extraneous meditations on what a player might do -- or should do -- best left to the side. I can imagine getting carried away with that sort of speculating to the point where it could even affect your ability to focus on simply seeing what does happen.

That said, it is important and needful for reporters to understand basic strategy, too, as that helps make what we witness make sense to us. Knowing, for instance, what “standard” raises are helps one follow the action, as is being familiar with the usual rhythm of play.

Much more to say, but as always time is limited here so I’ll sign off so I can head back over to bestbet Jacksonville. Along with Pham and Madsen, Ryan Eriquezzo, Jared Jaffee, Matt Glantz, Corrie Wunstel, David Diaz, and Jacob Bazeley are among those still in the hunt. Check that WPT live updates page today to see who makes the six-handed final table.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Days 1a & 1b -- With a Twist

“I know you guys have heard every bad beat story before.”

So began one of the players visiting our desk early on the first Day 1 flight of the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Poker Scramble. We looked up in unison, and he leaned forward to continue.

“But this one is different,” he insisted. “This one... has a twist!”

That visit came a few hours into the day on Friday. As it turned out the story he told us involving his first-hand elimination had a twist, all right -- a misread seat assignment meant he’d taken the wrong seat -- but we’d still heard it before. In fact, that same day I’d seen something similar happen early in the first level with the difference of only a few small surface details.

Influenced somewhat by that “seen it all before” feeling, I’ve decided to combine the first two days into a single travel report this morning, both of which featured Day 1 flights that went well as the 358 total entries for the $3,500 buy-in event played down to 124 players.

While the bad beat stories have turned out not to be unique, the bestbet casino has a layout unlike any I can remember seeing before.

From Monument Road which runs out in front of the place, the casino appears very much like a grocery story or shopping center, as though it were some local version of a Walmart (see the photo in the previous post). In fact I remember riding past it on Thursday night and when spotting the lowercase logo on the nondescript façade thinking vaguely that the place had something to do with the casino at which I’d be working -- like some local sponsor -- and not the casino itself.

Inside the layout is entirely open, with poker tables filling much of the space, a bar and grill plus other food options in the center, and a race book in the back. Every playing area is surrounded by televisions and monitors displaying tourney clocks and lists for games. At the end of the night yesterday we were standing near our desk and guessing just how many TV screens we could see with today’s NFL games in mind. Was in the dozens.

From all appearances it seems a very inviting place to play poker, and a popular one, too, with a lot of games and other tourneys running and a large contingent of locals filling the place. The staff has been great, helping us a lot while being especially hospitable. They’re taking care of the players, too, with lots of freebies and a Draft Kings-sponsored party last night over in one half of the room with food, drinks, and games that continued past the end of play so everyone could take part.

Ryan Eriquezzo leads to start today’s play after having hit a couple of big hands yesterday including one in which he and two other players turned flushes -- with his being the nuts -- and another in which he flopped a set versus Andy Frankenberger’s open-ended straight flush draw and saw his hand hold up. From our group of diners on Thursday neither Marvin Rettenmaier nor Aaron Massey made it to Day 2, but both Joe Kuether and Jake Schwartz did with stacks about half the average.

The poker world will probably give more attention to the final day of the third WPT Alpha8 event happening today a little further south of here in St. Kitts where there are 16 players left (from a 28-entry field) in the $100,000 buy-in event with the plan being to play down to a winner today. Which is fine, as the real drama here won’t be starting until later today when the money bubble bursts, then tomorrow when a smaller field plays down to a final table.

Check the WPT site for updates on both of those events and see if any twists do happen to arise.

Travel Report: Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Pregame

A fun night yesterday after getting together with a group all here for the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble that begins today.

Got to enjoy a terrific dinner at the Bella Vita Italian restaurant in Jacksonville with several WPT folks as well as some who’ll be playing in the tournament, too. Jon (who snapped that photo) and Eric of the WPT were there, as were Royal Flush girls Jeannie and Danielle. Aaron Massey, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jake Schwartz, and Joe Kuether -- all of whom will be playing in the event -- were part of the crowd, too. Also got to meet and chat some with the friendly Deb Giardina, VP of Poker Operations at bestbet Jacksonville.

I had the Zuppa De Pesce, an enormous plate full of linguini topped with shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, and calamari. Could only really handle about half of what was served, although I did manage to save room for some cheesecake afterwards.

At one point Jon quizzed the players about their biggest cashes, with Rettenmaier of course having the most impressive response. “One-point-two?” he said, alluding to his nearly $1.2 million win in the WPT World Championship in 2012.

Kuether, Schwartz, and Massey all have some pretty notable scores among their results, too. Kuether has several six-figure cashes. Schwartz took runner-up in a WSOP event this summer for over $200K. And Massey -- who I remember first meeting in 2011 at the WSOP when he final tabled a $1K for one of his first big cashes of about $44K -- now is nearing $1.5 million in tourney winnings.

There was talk about a trip to Disney World if they can survive Day 1a and thus avoid having to play tomorrow’s second and last Day 1 flight. Rettenmaier just visited Disneyland like a couple of days ago, in fact. I guess Disney World is around two-and-a-half hours from here, so that Disney double could be accomplished if the cards go the right way.

Was a nice, relaxing pregame for what will be five solid days of reporting starting at noon today. Has been a little while since my last live reporting gig as I haven’t been anywhere since the Lima trip in July. Should be enjoyable working with the WPT crew again as well as with others like Mickey, Josh, Will, and eventually Joe Giron with whom I’ve worked many times in the past.

Have to take care of other business this morning, though, and so will cut this little prelude short in order to get everything done. Click over to the WPT live updates for today’s Day 1a to see who comes out and who makes it through. Depending on how things go, perhaps we’ll see Mad Marvin wearing the Mickey Mouse ears come Day 2.

Welcome, Visitor!

Am on the run today and thus not able to post too much at the moment. Spent part of the day traveling down to Jacksonville, Florida for the start of tomorrow’s World Poker Tour event, the bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, a $3,500 buy-in tournament that will continue through to next Tuesday.

Was trying to remember if I had ever been to Jacksonville before and could not recall. Got a friendly welcome from the shuttle driver who lives here. She overheard me telling Josh -- one of my partners in crime this week -- how I had tweeted “Touchdown, Jacksonville” upon landing then joked that those two words have been rarely used together this season. “Hey, we won last week!” interjected the driver, alluding to the Jags’ upset victory over Tennessee and I laughed, duly chastened.

Looking back at last year, it looks like this event drew 477 entrants total (including re-entries), with Florida native Noah Schwartz taking top honors and a little over $400K for a first prize.

Speaking of Schwartz, Michelle Orpe has been doing a weekly interview series over on Learn.PokerNews called “Orpe’s Top Ten” in which she’s talked to numerous poker pros about how they got started. They’re all pretty cool, but Schwartz took a lot of time and thought with his responses, making his interview worth checking out if you’re curious. (More good interviewees coming soon, too.)

Have now checked into what will be the home-away-from-home for the next several days, waiting at the moment to connect a little later with some of the others who’ll be helping me report on this one, including the aforementioned Juice Box Josh as well as Milkshake Mickey. I’ll likely be sending along a few brief reports here as we go, so more to come from the Sunshine state.

Meanwhile, I noticed this morning a milestone of sorts arrive for Hard-Boiled Poker. When logging into Blogger lately I’d been seeing this figure for “pageviews” (somehow a single word in Blogger’s vocabulary) creeping closer and closer to the 1 million-mark. Finally today it got there, and after tweeting a screenshot earlier I got a lot of very nice replies in response.

In truth, the tracking of hits only goes back to May 2007, which is about a year after I started the blog. The traffic wasn’t all that heavy during the first 12 months of posting, though, so I’ll guess the actual crossing of the million-view milestone wasn’t that long ago (like just a few weeks at most).

I know “hits” doesn’t always equal reads -- and in fact more often than not equals “hit-and-runs.” But I’m grateful nonetheless to have people continue to stop by and thus that number of views continue to go up. Thanks again for all those nice messages on Twitter today, and thanks to you, too, for coming around today to add one more to the total.