2010 WSOP, Day 48: The Long Walk

Anybody remember this book, The Long Walk? I actually read this as a teenager, not realizing at the time it was by Stephen King as it had been originally published under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman. This was the cover of the copy I read, I recall. Haven’t looked back at it since I first read it, but it's one of those weird tales that kind of sticks with you.

Found myself thinking about The Long Walk again yesterday while helping cover Day 5 of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. The story concerns a contest in which 100 boys are essentially made to walk without stopping, with the last one to survive winning “The Prize” -- i.e., anything he wants for life. And when I say “survive” I mean that literally, as those who fail to keep moving are shot dead.

Like I say, it has been a while since I’ve read the book, but I remember it being well-plotted and full of several interesting characters. And it had that hook -- as King’s stories and novels often do. Some of the boys crack up along the way, I recall, suffering both physically and mentally. I think some even kill themselves rather than being executed.

I thought of the book yesterday because we have reached that point in the Main Event where we’re all becoming more and more conscious of the endurance aspect of the tournament -- the fact that we’re now moving beyond the 40-hour mark in terms of time played.

And it sort of seems like some are cracking up.

Yesterday the day began with the bustouts once again coming at a rapid pace. I think the field went from 574 to 500 in the first hour of play, meaning more than one elimination per minute. I know in the blog over on PokerNews it felt as though just about every post was reporting yet another player pushing all in before the flop and not surviving.

The short stacks had no choice, of course. They were like the characters in the novel who had reached their physical limits, and simply could not go on. But then there were the medium or even big stacks suddenly going out, too. They could have walked on, but for whatever reason had reached some sort of limit, too.

I am referring to those wild coin flip-type hands in which players freely commit 100-plus big blinds before the flop knowing they are in a race situation at best. This sort of high-stakes gambling has happened all three years I have helped cover the Main Event.

I remember in 2008 commenting here about a hand I had reported in which two players each committed 1.2 million preflop with A-K when the blinds were 4,000/8,000. Not unusual at all to see that at this stage of the ME. Indeed, remember the very last day of play in 2009 (when they played down from 27 to 9), which most said would take 20 hours and was over in half that time. There were some examples of what appeared to be unnecessary risk-taking that day, too.

On the one hand, it seems like after playing poker for a week-and-a-half one would be less quick to risk that huge stack one has worked so hard and so long to accumulate. Then again, I think most players do reach a point where it doesn’t matter how many big blinds they have, they are desirous to put it all on the line regardless.

The Main Event is unusual because of its size and structure. In just about every other tournament these guys have ever played, they’ve never gotten close to the 40-hour mark in terms of playing time. Somewhere long before that they’ve reached the stage where some or even most players are in push-or-fold territory, and the gambling begins.

But in the ME -- with its slowly rising blinds/antes, two-hour levels, and such a huge field (meaning a ton of chips in play) -- that point really hasn’t come yet for the majority of the field. When play ended last night there were 205 players left. The top 40 still all had at least 100 big blinds. The top 120 still had at least 50 big blinds. It remains a “deep-stacked” event -- i.e., one in which flops can (and in most cases probably should) be seen -- if people want to play it as such.

Johnny Chan remains a big story heading into Day 6, still way up on the leaderboard (in 9th). Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was on a short stack during the bubble period, but is now sitting in 30th place. In case you missed it, three of his brothers -- Robert, Danny, and Eric -- also cashed in the ME, an incredible feat. Robert is the only one still in, but is super short to begin today.

Another story today is that only one woman made it to Day 6, Breeze Zuckerman. She won Wicked Chops’ Last Woman Standing Cup when Dorothy Van Sachsen went out in 273rd. I think many were betting we’d see more women left in the field at this point, especially given all of the “Year of the Woman” talk leading up to the Main Event. (Anyone remember Ty Stewart, Vice President of Harrah’s, predicting women would win “three-plus bracelets” in open-field events?)

I imagine we’ll get down around 70-80 players today, then play down to 27 on Friday. They’ve planned the schedule well this year, in my opinion, mostly ensuring that none of the days go too long.

Although as I say, if players choose (and/or are able) to tighten up with their stacks of 100-plus big blinds, they could all keep on walking a bit longer.

2010 WSOP, Day 47: The Roving Reporter

My assignments yesterday helping cover the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event were a little out of the ordinary. I started out in the suddenly eerily-quiet Pavilion (pictured). Just me and one reporter -- Mickey, one of the best -- were there to cover things as the final 16 tables broke into the Amazon.

Two of those tables were gone before we even started, having been designated feature tables and relocated to the main room. And another broke as the first hands were dealt. In all it would only take an hour-and-a-half or so for the rest to go as well.

We actually got to report a few hands and some other color before we left, including the story of Philip Goossens, the player who ended Day 2 of the Main Event with an above average stack, but had to leave -- apparently because the package he’d won only covered expenses through the weekend, and he couldn’t pay out of pocket to change his flight or for extra nights’ lodging. His stack made it all of the way through Day 3, but only made it through an orbit on Day 4 before finally vanishing.

When I got over to the Amazon I ended up over at the two feature tables -- the ones that will be getting a lot of play once ESPN shows their stuff for Day 3. In the past we’ve had trouble getting access to these tables, which has been unfortunate because usually there are notable players at them. But I was able to get close to both and spent the rest of the day roving back and forth between them, gathering hands and stories from each.

I’d thought at first it might be a somewhat tedious gig just watching the two tables, but there ended up being quite a lot going on at both. We are getting to that stage of the tournament, actually, where just about everything that is happening is rising to the level of being newsworthy.

Among the players who moved through those seats during the day were Johnny Chan, who continued to build his big stack throughout the day (he’s in 13th place entering today). Others passing through included Dan Harrington, J.P. Kelly, Jonathan Tamayo, Brett Richey, Michael Mizrachi, Frank Kassela, Gavin Smith, Chris Bjorin, Jean-Robert Bellande, Vince Van Patten, Karina Jett, Matthew Brown, and Max Casal.

Probably my favorite bit during the day was being there as Gavin Smith was asking Dan Harrington about the origins of “M” and joking with Action Dan that he should have called it “H” or perhaps “Dan.” Here is the post sharing that conversation.

Of course, the most exciting moments of the day were associated with the bursting of the cash bubble. You probably heard that we’d gotten close -- within four eliminations of getting to the final 747 and the cash -- when it was decided to go ahead and take the 90-minute dinner break a few minutes ahead of schedule, then come back to begin hand-for-hand play.

Kind of funny -- when asked at the start of the day when I thought the bubble would burst, I had said either just before or after dinner. “You were right both ways,” said B.J. Nemeth to me later. It would have burst just before dinner if they’d chose to play it out then, but instead the decision was made to wait.

Some hastily declared taking the break at that moment was “the worst decision in the history of the WSOP,” though I didn’t really think it was such a bad idea. Things get a little crazy when the bubble bursts, and I thought taking the break just before would give tourney officials a chance to get all their ducks in a row as far as handling the payouts were concerned, as well as perhaps finding the short stacks and making sure they had their numbers right.

The delay also allowed everyone to get hyped for the big moment. I was back at my seat at the main feature table a few minutes before play resumed, and I was enjoying overhearing the dealers and tourney officials chatting about the upcoming hand-for-hand play.

“If it goes an hour,” said one, “I’d like to put the line at 13.5 hands.” (That would end up being much too high of a line, as it turned out.) “You see some wild things,” said another. “I’ve seen them open fold queens, kings...” “Oh, I’ve seen them fold aces!”

Once play resumed I was talking to Matt (a field reporter) who said he thought taking the break wasn’t such a good idea, mainly because it increased the likelihood of collusion. It was a good point, I thought. There was at least one hand (reported in the blog) of a player down to just 4,000 chips getting a walk in his big blind, which maybe seemed even more sketchy given the fact that there’d been that long break before hand-for-hand.

Hand-for-hand ended up lasting six hands total, and it ended up taking just about an hour all told. The 748th-place finisher, Tim McDonald, was awarded a free entry into next year’s Main Event. Interestingly, the fellow who had that distinction last year, Kia Hamadani, made the cash this time around. In fact, he’ll be back for today’s Day 5. My colleague Heath wrote an awesome post detailing his story.

At the feature tables, Gavin Smith busted shortly after, making a minimum-cash. He’d pushed all in at least three times right before the bubble burst, but had had no callers. Finally he was all in with pocket treys against Max Casal's ace-rag, the big stack at the table with over a million. An ace flopped, and Smith couldn't catch up. A short-stacked Frank Kassela went out shortly thereafter in a wild three-way all-in, though by cashing he locked up a share of the WSOP Player of the Year.

All in all it was a fun day at the WSOP for me, made more so by the fact that I was working alongside B.J. Nemeth for much of the time, both in the Pavilion and at the feature tables. I have an interview with Nemeth focusing mainly on his photographing the WSOP coming out on Friday over at the Betfair poker site. He’s a great colleague and friend, and as anyone who follows poker at all knows, his contributions to the coverage of the WSOP and poker are significant. Indeed, when it comes to the professional poker circuit, he is the quintessential “roving reporter.”

One other highlight of the day involved B.J., actually. Shortly after the cash bubble burst and we were on a break, a player who was at the main feature table, Dan Harkenrider, came over to compliment B.J. for his reporting and his contributions over on The Poker Beat.

Harkenrider talked a little about how playing in the Main Event was something of a rare thing for him, and getting to learn more about the WSOP via Nemeth’s reporting genuinely helped him prepare for the experience.

I got a real kick out of seeing B.J. receive those kind (and much deserved) words. If somehow you aren’t familiar with B.J.’s work, do check out his WSOP photo blog and also that Betfair interview on Friday, which I’ll remind you of once it goes up.

Back to the Amazon room today, where they are already taking out tables as the field continues to shrink. There are 574 players left and I think the plan is going to be to try to track ’em all. Check in over at PokerNews’ live reporting page to follow along.

2010 WSOP, Day 46: The Odd Couple

Yesterday was Day 3 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, the day when all the players finally came together.

Of course, when I say the players were “together” they were still spread out pretty far.

The Amazon room, which I’ve heard can seat up to 1,089 players, was filled to capacity. And the Pavilion, which has something like 257 tables set up, looked to be about three-fourths full of Main Event players when we began yesterday.

There were 2,557 total runners to start the day, and the bustouts came quickly. In just eight hours of play, they’d made it down to less than half that total, with a little over 1,200 players making it through the last hand of the night with chips.

PokerNews had the full court press on yesterday, with all available bloggers and reporters working. Even then, it was a challenge. For instance, there were two of us -- me and a field reporter -- covering about 50 tables to start the day over in the Pavilion. By mid-afternoon, though, the tables in our section began to break elsewhere, and so as the day wore on things became more manageable.

Probably the most interesting table we had was one at which sat both 2002 WSOP Main Event champion Robert Varkonyi and Vanessa Selbst, positioned on either side of the dealer. The two players couldn’t be more different, both in terms of their personalities and reputations. I am a fan of both, actually -- for different reasons -- and so enjoyed watching the two of them play.

Varkonyi, the amateur who won the WSOP just before the Moneymaker boom, continues to play the Main Event each year and occasionally will show up for other tourneys here and there. But he’s always retained that amateur status; he even jokingly said something at the table last night about how he’s “new to the game.” He’s a soft-spoken guy who generally seems desirous to avoid conflict, if possible.

In other words, he seems like the sort of player Selbst consistently runs over. I actually helped report on Selbst’s WSOP bracelet win in 2008 -- one of my favorite events I’ve covered, in fact -- the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event in which her aggressive style served her well. Unlike Varkonyi, Selbst’s reputation as a sound, tough player is unquestioned. That is to say, even though relatively speaking she’s only been a pro for a short time (just a few years), no one would ever even joke about her being “new” to the game.

One could probably pursue the contrast further by bringing gender into the discussion, and perhaps characterize Selbst’s style as including so-called “masculine” tendencies (aggression, competitiveness) while Varkonyi could even be said to have “feminine” traits (passivity, conflict avoidance).

But I won’t go too far down that road. The culture creates these so-called “gender roles,” of course, and also tends to criticize -- unfairly, in my opinion -- those who exhibit tendencies usually associated with the other sex (i.e., a “masculine” woman or a “feminine” man). You get my point, though, I hope. Two very different people. And players.

And, as I say, I like them both, though for different reasons. Varkonyi just seems like a friendly guy with a very good perspective both on his own abilities and his place in the poker world. I probably identify with his still being an amateur (and being humble about it). And Selbst is an intelligent, clever player whom one cannot help but respect. With her I am probably more awed and fascinated to see (and maybe learn from) the plays she makes.

So it was particularly interesting to see this odd couple get involved in an odd couple of hands with big pots in which their differences seemed to be highlighted.

I’m not going to go through both hands in full detail here -- you can read the reports on the PokerNews live blog, if you’re curious (linked to below). The first was delivered to me by my field reporter, Dave, and the second I saw for myself. Both eventually had Varkonyi all in, and both resulted in chopped pots as the two players held the same hand.

In the first one, both players made the same straight on the turn, which was the current nuts. There was a third player involved in the hand who led with a bet, Varkonyi called, and Selbst raised. The other player folded, and Varkonyi took several minutes before reraising all in. Selbst snap-called, and was surprised to see Varkonyi had the same hand. Indeed, it was strange that he’d tanked like that having the best possible hand.

In the second hand, the pair were the only two involved. Varkonyi had raised from the cutoff and Selbst called from the button. They each flopped top pair of queens, but kings came on both the turn and river. Still, they made it to the end with Varkonyi pushing all in and Selbst taking a long time before making a very tough call.

Both hands -- especially the second one -- were ones that kind of fell into that “strange but true” category of hands that can be challenging to report. I wrote about that subject last summer in a post titled “Seeing Is Believing.” Actually the only real strange thing about the first one was Varkonyi’s tanking before reraising all in, but the second one involved some interesting thinking from both players that could have helped explain how the hand went.

But that’s where the reporter has to pull back -- we can’t explain what players are thinking, even if we’re tempted to do so.

Today I imagine the Amazon room will be filled, and there will be about a dozen tables or so over in the Pavilion which will be the first to break. The money bubble will burst sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, which in some ways is the most exciting moment of the Main Event other than the final table. Head over to PokerNews to see how it all plays out.

2010 WSOP, Day 45: Tournies & Trophies, Gin & Juice

Yesterday was a day off for the WSOP, a chance to recharge, let loose, unwind, what have you. It is a day for parties, tourneys, and other fun stuff to which some of us look forward all summer.

I had the opportunity to play in a couple of different freeroll tourneys yesterday, the WSOP Media event and the one put on by PokerNews. The Media Event started at noon over at the Rio, while PokerNews one was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the Hard Rock, although it didn’t really get going until after 3. My original plan was to try to play both, which I knew should be possible barring a deep run in the first one.

About 130 started the WSOP Media event. Only the top nine spots won anything, although I wasn’t sure about any of the prizes other than that the winner would get an iPad and there were trophies for the first one out as well as for the top three finishers.

The structure was fast, as is usually the case at these things, although we did start with 10,000 chips and 100/200 blinds. And in fact I felt like I did get to play some postflop poker for the first couple of hours or so, which was a lot of fun. Felt like I played pretty well during that stretch, although I never seemed to build too big of a stack, always hovering around average or a little below.

Got to the first break at which point the field had been cut in half. Then played another hour-and-half and we were down to 30 or so. Finally there came a point about 3 p.m. where I knew I was either going to have to bust right then to make the PokerNews tourney, or double up and try to hang on to the final table.

I’d gotten down to about five big blinds or so and was in middle position when I picked up the hammer, 7-2-offsuit. In went the chips, and I ended up getting one caller who held A-4. I hit a seven and doubled up. “All skill,” I said as I ordered my suddenly comfortable-sized stack. A little later managed a more-than-double-up with pocket sevens, and somehow weaseled my way to the ten-handed final table.

Nolan Dalla and Seth Palansky (both of whom had played) were there and Dalla had each of the final ten say something about themselves in a microphone over the Rio’s PA. One item we were supposed to share was our “goal in life,” which I said was “to try somehow not to bubble this.”

I took a look at the stacks at the table and saw there were only a couple of players with fewer chips than me, one of whom was AlCantHang. The first hand was dealt, and I was in the big blind. A player who had me covered pushed all in from middle position, and it folded to me. I looked down and saw pocket kings and made the call. He tabled A-Q, and my kings held up. Soon the unlucky player whom I’d beaten in that hand was eliminated, and just like that I’d achieved my goal in life.

With only a couple of exceptions here and there, it was pretty much all-in-or-fold poker from that point forward, and while I didn’t get much in the way of cards after those kings, I did stay out of harm’s way long enough to get down to the final three. I was the shorty then, but very nearly made it to heads-up if it weren’t for a lucky river card for one of my opponents. I finally busted with the mighty , though I was ahead until the river on my last hand, too.

I ended up with a gift bag full of t-shirts, caps, and other items (including more Jack Link’s beef jerky), a WSOP chip set, and a trophy. Best of all, though, was the five hours of fun I got to have. Big thanks to the WSOP staff for putting on the sucker.

I then cabbed it over to the Hard Rock. I had missed my chance to play in that one, of course, but nevertheless enjoyed watching them play out the final table. Tim Duckworth took it down, the key hand being one in which he used deuce-four to crush Chip Bitch’s pocket kings. (Poker Grump, take note.)

Rested up a short while after, then it was over to the Palms for the PokerStars party. A tough life, I know.

We got there about 9 p.m. and I enjoyed seeing and hanging out with various folks during the course of the evening. I’d been to this event back in 2008, but skipped it last year when Nelly performed. This year they’d gotten tha Doggfather himself, Snoop Dogg. Just about everyone was pretty hyped to see the iconic figure, even those of us who didn’t know much beyond “What’s My Name” and “Gin & Juice” (if that).

Don’t have time to run down all of the details of the evening, but fun was had by all, fo shizzle. Snoop -- appearing about an hour later than most thought he was to come on -- definitely delivered. (That pic via Pauly, as none of the ones I took came out very well.)

By the time Snoop Dogg came on after midnight, I was with Danafish and Snoopy, both of whom cracked me up time and again. I think Snoopy was forever changed last night after hearing his name chanted repeatedly by hundreds of drunken revelers.

Hopefully everyone got enough rest for today’s Day 3, which promises to be a doozy. Today is when the different flights from the first two days consolidate into one. It looks like a total of 2,557 players from the starting field of 7,319 are still with chips, and all will be there in both the Amazon and Pavilion rooms today. As you follow the action today, stop by PokerNews’ live reporting page where I’ll be helping with the coverage.

2010 WSOP, Day 44: The Return of the World Poker Tour

Yesterday I enjoyed another day off and so ended up staying away from the Rio for Day 2b of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. Today (Sunday) is another day of rest for all of the WSOP, then the entire remaining field -- something like 2,600 or so, I believe -- comes back tomorrow for Day 3. (I’ll be back helping with the coverage over at PokerNews every day this week as the tourney plays down to 27 on Friday.)

Knowing I was going to be off yesterday, I had made plans earlier in the week with my friend and colleague Jen Newell to have lunch. She was going to this World Poker Tour press conference scheduled over at the Bellagio yesterday morning. So I met her there and went to the presser, too, and we then went afterwards for a delicious meal and enjoyable conversation over at the Cafe Bellagio. (Maryland Crab Cakes Benedict FTW!)

I ended up being very glad I went to the press conference, as it became a chance for me to meet a lot of different folks in the poker world whom I hadn’t spoken to face-to-face before.

As far as the conference itself goes, the WPT was announcing its Season 9 yesterday, although it sounds like they aren’t quite ready to list all of the stops and schedule. Mike Sexton did open things up, however, by saying there would be “six, seven, [or] eight” events in the U.S. and Europe this year.

Then World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller said a few things, including noting the WPT’s intention “to put more show in the show” by incorporating “more information, more context, [and] more entertainment.” Part of that effort will include hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten being at the events from Day 1, and having some segments from prior to the final table included in the broadcast, so as to give viewers a better feel for how those who made the final table got there.

Adam Pliska, President of WPT, then spoke briefly, introducing Matt Savage as the WPT’s new “Executive Tour Director,” a position in which Savage will act as a liaison with the various casinos and their tournament directors to help “harmonize” the events on the tour. (Savage will also continue to be the TD for a couple of WPT stops, too, e.g., at the Commerce and Bay 101.)

Savage noted how there was a kind of excitement surrounding the WPT at the moment, so much so that he said it “feels like Season 1.” Seemed to me like others in the room -- including the media -- were picking up on this excitement a bit, too. There is a lot of competition out there among the various pro circuits, but I believe most probably agree that it would be good for poker, generally speaking, for the WPT to start thriving once again.

Pliska then introduced Kimberly Lansing -- a hostess for the show back on Season 6 of the WPT -- as the new “anchor” for the show. The position, explained Pliska, would be sort of like Bob Costas at the Olympics, and would help the show in its efforts to incorporate more context and commentary, as well as to “change the look and feel” so as to make it even more like a sporting event.

Lansing said just a few words, then Van Patten was given the task of introducing one other new aspect of the WPT show, the Royal Flush Girls. Sort of seems like they are continuing the same hostess-type role originated by Shana Hiatt and later filled by Lansing and others, only now they’ll be rotating six different women to do the occasional on-camera stuff, including interviewing players.

The conference proper then concluded with photos and one-on-one interviews while Marcel Luske and Carlos Mortensen played a heads-up match as part of a prop bet.

Luske is from Amsterdam, and so will be supporting the Netherlands today in the World Cup final. Mortensen, meanwhile, is from Madrid, and so naturally is going to be pulling for Spain. Each wore his country’s jersey to the match, and the loser has to wear the other team’s jersey today during the final.

That match was still going on when Jen and I left, but before we did I got the chance to chat with several people there. Ended up talking with both Sexton and Van Patten. As it happened, both were in my section on Saturday playing Day 2a of the Main Event, and so I spoke with each about reporting on them and their days.

Sexton was eliminated on Saturday. I reported the hand in which he was short-stacked and all in with pocket kings versus two players. His opponents both had pocket pairs, too -- queens and nines -- but unfortunately for Sexton a nine flopped and he couldn’t catch up. “That’s poker,” Sexton said to me yesterday as he talked about the hand. We also chatted some about his time in North Carolina (my home state), where he lived for 15 years playing underground games before going to Vegas.

Van Patten fared better on Day 2a. I reported on a couple of his hands early on, too, when he was mainly holding steady with about 75,000 chips. But near the end of the day he picked up a couple of big pots and bumped way up to 174,200, which I believe is a bit more than twice the average heading into Day 3. We talked a bit about his day and he asked me some questions about the reporting.

I’ll admit to being a little fascinated by Van Patten. I remember him first for his acting career. That horror movie Hell Night in which he co-starred in the early 1980s was one of those late night cable flicks I recall seeing as a kid. He was in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, too, which I’m making a mental note to see again soon. Van Patten was also an accomplished tennis player, once ranked as high as 25th in the world and beating the likes of Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe. (No shinola.)

Anyhow, I found him a very friendly guy and will confess to have gotten a kick out of all of his questions of me about the reporting side of things.

I spoke with Matt Savage some, too, and he added a couple of other items about how the WPT events will go which I found interesting. He said that when they get to the final tables they will roll back the blinds if they are too high. He also said that at each WPT event they would be running bustout tourneys that would serve as satellites to the next WPT Main Event on the tour, which sounded like a cool idea to me.

I also had the pleasure yesterday to meet and chat with Jesse May, author of the great Shut Up and Deal, which I just happened to have brought with me this summer to reread during those rare moments when I’ve had the time. We chatted about a few things, including his entertaining poker podcast and our mutual friends Kevmath and Dr. Pauly.

Later in the day I met up with another friend, James, who has come to Vegas for what has now become an annual visit for him to see the WSOP and play some golf. He and I had dinner at the Hard Rock (the Pink Taco), and he then went over to watch some poker at the Rio. I passed on the latter -- have seen my share of poker lately, dontcha know -- instead making an early evening of it.

Today will be taken up with what should be more fun times. There’s the WSOP Media tournament at noon in which it looks like something like 130 folks will be playing (perhaps more). Then later in the day PokerNews is also having its annual freeroll, too, in which I also plan to play, barring some crazy deep run in the WSOP Media event.

Should be a fun day -- a good way to kick off my last week in Vegas. Hope you get a chance to relax and enjoy your Sunday, too.

2010 WSOP, Day 43: Following the Action

Yesterday was the first of two separate Day 2 flights at the World Series of Poker. A total of 2,412 players who made it through Days 1a and 1c came back yesterday to play eight more hours’ worth of poker. Actually not all of them played eight hours; in fact, only a little under half of that group (1,200 even) made it to the end of the night and will return on Monday for Day 3.

Eight hours -- even with a 90-minute dinner break stuck in there -- makes for a short day of work, relatively speaking. It was intense, of course, but there were many cool hands and incidents to report, making the day quite interesting.

Probably the most curious hand I reported on happened right as the dinner break had arrived.

I had spoken to B.J. Nemeth before the break about interviewing him for a future Betfair piece, and so was in no hurry to rush off once the break had come. I was stationed yesterday in the Media box over in the Red section of the Amazon, which curls around one of the “feature” tables. Carlos Mortensen had been playing at that table for much of the day, but following his bustout another WSOP Main Event champion, Chris Moneymaker, was brought over.

As the break began, I was writing up a hand involving Billy Kopp -- the last hand played before the break at his table -- and when I finished I noticed Moneymaker and another player, Bryan Pellegrino, left behind at their table playing out a hand. Looked like someone was making a big decision, so I checked it out.

The river had been dealt, Moneymaker had some chips before him as a bet, and Pellegrino sat motionless. It appeared as though Pellegrino was in the tank contemplating what to do. In fact, a tourney official came over at one point and asked me whose action it was, and I whispered to him it looked like it was on Pellegrino.

A full ten minutes passed. B.J. was there and had time to snap a number of pictures of both players as waited. (That is one of them above.) Moneymaker stood up and began pacing around a little, looking a bit agitated about how long things were taking. Finally -- and apologetically -- Moneymaker said he was going to have to call the clock.

That’s when Pellegrino said he had already declared himself all in, much to the surprise of Moneymaker, the dealer, and all watching. In fact, Pellegrino said he was about to call the clock on Moneymaker (which would have been something to see). Once the situation was understood, Moneymaker quickly called with just top pair, and Pellegrino instantly mucked his hand -- in fact, he may have mucked even before Moneymaker showed his. (Here is the write-up of that hand over at PokerNews.)

B.J. and I then spent the first part of the break hanging out with the All 360 Poker guys and eating some El Pollo Loco chicken. Then I interviewed B.J. -- primarily about his experiences photographing the WSOP -- and that was very interesting and should make for a neat piece next week.

There were some other interesting hands yesterday, including one near the end involving Annie Duke in which she made a straight flush. Things are starting to get a bit more exciting, and of course once the money bubble approaches, then bursts, then the field starts to shrink, that’s when the real excitement starts.

I get one last day off today, then another tomorrow as the entire Main Event is taking Sunday off to ready for the coming week. Got various things planned, including some visiting with friends and a couple of freeroll tourneys on Sunday. Meanwhile, I’ll be checking in some over at PokerNews’ live reporting today to see how Day 2b plays out.

Enjoy your weekend, all. The action is on you.

2010 WSOP, Day 42: Day 1d Anecdotes

Day 1d of the Main Event had a rhythm that I think mirrored that of the first three Day 1 flights. A very high energy for the first six hours of play -- both from players and from those of us covering them -- followed by a relatively slower pace during the three hours that followed the 90-minute dinner break.

From the reporting side, we’re finally finding ourselves in a situation where a 2,000-plus field is manageable, with many more of us working at once to write reports, keep track of counts, and so forth. And I don’t think anyone minds the relatively shorter work days during the Main Event, too.

There were a few interesting moments that came up yesterday, although nothing truly jawdropping. No one wins the Main Event on the first day. Some build big stacks but even that is not yet terribly notable. There is a long way to go.

Thought I would share a few of the more interesting moments along the way from Day 1d.

One occurred just after one of the breaks yesterday as I sat behind my laptop writing up another hand. Near the desk where I worked, tourney officials had positioned the rail in a way that spectators could edge out a little in front of where I sat, and I so I had a few occasionally ask me questions like “Where’s Phil Ivey?” and the like.

In this case a young Asian man for whom English is probably a second language leaned over and asked me a couple of questions about the prize pool. How many players would cash? How much was first place? This was the beginning of the second level, actually, and since registration hadn’t closed, those things had yet to be determined. But I gave him an estimate, saying there would probably be more than 7,000 players (there ended up being 7,319), and that usually the top 10% made the money, so 700-odd players should be cashing.

He then asked about the stack sizes. What was the average? I told him at that point, for those playing Day 1d, it was still probably not a lot more than the 30,000 with which they’d started.

He had more questions, and while I didn’t really have time to keep answering, there was something about his demeanor that made me want to help. He wanted to know what the average was of those who’d finished the first three days. Again, I didn’t have an exact figure, but knowing about 70% of those who started the previous Day 1 flights made it through to Day 2, I estimated the average stack was probably less than 45,000 still.

“What if you have 94,000? Is that good?” Yes, I said. That’s pretty good relative to the field. Then he asked me a question that completely took me by surprise, and kind of explained all of other questions, too.

“Should I play tight?”

Ha! This wasn’t just a curious fan on the rail asking about the machinations of the Main Event. He was a player! I asked and he said he’d played on Day 1a, and so he’ll be coming back for today’s Day 2a.

I didn’t have a straight answer to his last question, saying something about how it probably would depend on his table and what seemed right to do. He was curious about whether he’d be able to make the money with his current stack -- i.e., I suppose thinking about whether he’d already accumulated enough chips to fold his way to the cash. I told him I doubted that, since there’d still be more than 5,000 players left at the start of Day 2.

A memorable exchange, and one that kind of points up the fact that the Main Event, despite its $10,000 price tag, does attract many novices without a lot of tournament experience, including those who -- like my friend on the rail, most likely -- qualified via an inexpensive satellite.

The oldest player in WSOP history, 97-year-old Jack Ury, was in my section yesterday, and I watched him play a bit. Truly remarkable. Though a bit hard of hearing, Ury seems fully cognizant of just about everything going on around him at the table, and he did win some hands, sitting there with more than his starting stack for most of the day.

Another story that stood out a bit yesterday was of the fellow who returned from dinner break and could not remember where he sat. Apparently he was led around the Amazon Room for some time by a tourney official, much like someone who’d forgotten where he’d parked his car, in an effort to locate his seat. Ducky wrote up a post about the incident.

I did want to mention a couple of other more personal highlights from yesterday. One was finally meeting Chris Cosenza of the Ante Up! podcast and magazine.

I saw Chris during the dinner break in the halls interviewing Freddy Deeb, and we ended up speaking afterwards a bit. Was glad to get the chance to thank Chris for the many hours of entertainment he’d given me since the show’s debut way back in 2005, as well as for the chance to participate in that community of listeners that grew up around the show, especially during its first few years.

I also had a quick meeting with another player from Day 1d, a reader who came around right at the end of the dinner break to share some nice words about Hard-Boiled Poker. He mentioned some of the reasons why he liked the blog, which was very nice to hear and much appreciated.

And really, I saw added reason to value his opinion since he clearly knew better than to ask me whether or not he should play tight.

I mentioned yesterday I had a chance this week to interview WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, and you can now read our conversation over at Betfair Poker. We talked about his getting started with the WSOP back in 2002, the 2010 WSOP so far, the Ladies Event, and the whole business of covering the WSOP. Nolan is a busy guy these days -- as you can imagine -- and I really enjoyed and appreciated our getting to spend some time talking with him about the game we love.

Meanwhile, it is back to the grind today, as I help collect more Main Event anecdotes for PokerNews. Check out the coverage of Day 2a over there today.

2010 WSOP, Day 41: Rejoining the World (Series)

Ten days ago I was writing about having a day off and finding it almost uncomfortable, the routine of working so much having made it strangely difficult to handle the sudden reward of leisure.

After another long stretch of consecutive work days, I was given that reward again here at the start of the Main Event, not assigned to begin helping with PokerNews’ coverage until today (Day 1d). That meant two straight days off -- something I don’t think I’ve had all summer.

Had no problem figuring out what to do on the first one. I slept. A lot.

Yesterday, though, I realized I needed to get out of the home away from home. Which, of course, is not a home at all, but a room, decorated (incidentally) entirely in blacks and dark grays. Sure, I’m a “noir” kind of guy (as the scheme of this blog indicates), but six straight weeks in the dark simply cannot be good for a person.

So I got up and wrote a little. Then I got out.

Did some walking around outside in the 100-plus degree heat which immediately had a positive effect on my mood. Then I met up with Pokerati Dan at a nearby sushi place for dinner. Some dishes were better than others, but overall it was good eats. The place was nearly empty save us and a group that included Shannon Elizabeth, Nick Binger, and a few other poker players to whom we said hello as we left.

Dan and I mostly talked about the WSOP and the many knotty issues connected with covering it, including that Pokerati op-ed on the subject by the “Anonymous Pro” from earlier in the summer that generated a lot of discussion (and heat). I always like talking with Dan about such things, both because he’s knowledgeable and connected, but also because he’s got some real insight into how this complicated game gets played.

Having given up my rental car a couple of days ago, I caught a ride with Dan to the Rio where I ended up sitting in on the latter part of Day 1c. I had a couple of purposes to going in on a day off like that. One was to get my autographed copy of Lost Vegas from Dr. Pauly, which I’ve already begun and am hooked.

As I told Pauly last night, a lot of us are as excited as he is to see the sucker finally available for public consumption. Lost Vegas is available over at Lulu. Where, by the way, you can also get my hard-boiled detective novel, Same Difference (which has nothing whatsoever to do with poker).

The other reason why I went to the Rio was to interview Nolan Dalla, the WSOP Media Director, for a Betfair piece that’ll appear tomorrow.

I’ve gotten to know Nolan a bit over the last three summers and readily echo the praises of many in the media for the many, many ways he helps us do our jobs. He’s a writer, too, of course. Besides writing hundreds of articles and releases about poker for the WSOP, he also co-authored (with Peter Alson) the excellent biography of Stu Ungar, One of a Kind.

In the interview I asked him a few questions about how the Series has gone thus far and about some other things, including one about the coverage of the WSOP, generally speaking. I think it’ll turn out an interesting read -- I’ll remind you of it tomorrow once it goes up over at Betfair.

All in all, it was a good day, which included some visiting with Otis and Stephen (the PokerStars blog) and Reinaldo (Pokerstarsblog.la). A day mostly spent among writers, punctuated by a lot of interesting and useful discussions -- in many different contexts -- about writing.

As the day wound down, the mood in the Amazon Room seemed to me to be somewhat reserved. There were a few outbursts of excitement here and there, but all in all it looked like a fairly cautious, deep-stacked tourney in which a lot of patient poker was being played. Nor did the media seem overly frantic about things, having perhaps settled into this Day 1 groove now that they’d done it three times over.

I think things will be a little different today, though, as just about everyone I spoke to yesterday anticipates the largest group of any of the Day Ones to be there -- perhaps even as many as 3,000 players, which would mean filling up both the Amazon and a good portion of the Pavilion to start the day. Whatever the turnout, there’s little doubt at this point that the 2010 Main Event will be the second-largest ever (behind the 8,773 of 2006).

Back to the circus, then. I’m already reading the excited tweets by some players who will be there for Day 1d. I’ll admit I’m excited, too. Would be strange not to be.

See you over at the PokerNews’ live reporting page.

2010 WSOP, Day 40: A Few Calculations

Yesterday I spent my day off largely away from the Rio. I was there early on for a little business, right about the time the doors were opened and the crush of players and spectators were first allowed into the Amazon Room. Had thoughts of sticking around but I soon realized that after a week straight of working and sleeping 3-4 hours a night I was much too fatigued to do so. It was a day off, and I needed to be somewhere else.

Ended up spending the afternoon back at the home away from home following some of the coverage online, sort of watching a repeat of the Netherlands-Uruguay match, then falling unconscious for a surprising number of hours, starting around dinner time and lasting through mid-morning today.

I guess my body had done a few calculations, decided I had fallen way short of the needed hours of sleep over the past weeks, and finally took over.

The big story yesterday -- as it seemed to me during my waking hours -- was the fact that 1,489 players came out on Day 1b, a bump up from the 1,125 who played on Monday’s Day 1a. Many wanted to compare yesterday’s number to the 873 who played Day 1b last year, but of course that was the Fourth of July which surely affected the low turnout then.

Indications are that Day 1c will also see a large turnout -- i.e., something in that same 1,500-player range, at least, and perhaps a lot more -- and everyone still expects a massive group on Thursday for Day 1d. People continue to try to guess at a total number of entrants for the Main Event, and I’m hearing a lot predicting a total just above or below 7,000, which sounds like a fair estimate to me.

F-Train has been posting off and on this summer about the turnouts at the WSOP and how they’ve been comparing to last year. His first couple of posts on the subject (here and here) noted how numbers were down, but a later one from about halfway through the Series suggested things were turning around.

A couple of days ago we received a presser from the WSOP noting that the overall number of entrants for the 2010 WSOP had already exceeded last year’s total after 55 events, with 63,706 registrations total. There were 1,942 more who played Event No. 56 ($2,500 No-Limit Hold’em), so that’s 65,648 heading into the Main Event, meaning this year’s ultimate total will surely exceed 70,000 -- a significant increase, for sure.

Of course, it should be noted also that this year there were eight different $1,000 buy-in events (including the Ladies & Seniors), as opposed to just three in 2009. Those eight events alone attracted 24,946 entrants, nearly 38% of the total through the first 56 events. That said, the total prize money awarded in 2010 will probably be more than in 2009. Last year saw a total of $174,013,215 awarded, while this year the figure will probably end up right around the $180 million mark.

What’s it all mean? Well, for both the Main Event and the WSOP as a whole, I think the main story as far as numbers are concerned is that they’ve essentially held steady from last year. One could probably dive in deeper and discover other mini-trends or anomalies worth examining, but big picture-wise, we’re not really seeing a huge gain or loss at this year’s WSOP.

There was another storyline I found sort of intriguing from following the coverage yesterday -- actually more so from following my Twitter feed which includes a few of the players who happened to be playing Day 1b. I’m thinking in particular of Annette Obrestad’s tweets documenting her struggles yesterday.

Here’s a quick sample:

@Annette_15: Not a great start

@Annette_15: Back from break. 10k. Lots of small pots gone wrong

@Annette_15: 100-200. Cant believe im this short already

@Annette_15: 25k. Why do ppl hate flops so much? Makes me rly sad. 3 betting shouldn’t b allowed lol

@Annette_15: This table is fkn crazy and theyre all randoms except for one guy whos by online definition old and hes crushing

@Annette_15: Man theyre rly making it hard for me in my first main event…. Where r all these so called donkeys i keep hearing so much about???

Obrestad’s phone would eventually run out of juice, just before she ran out of chips, in fact, and so it would be some hours later before she’d report “Oh I busted btw.”

A lot of players use Twitter to report their progress in tourneys, and a great many sometimes will use it as a means to “vent” a little or at least remark on the reasons why they might be struggling. I’ve singled out Obrestad’s messages here, but I’ve gotten the sense over the last couple of days -- and really over the course of the entire Series -- that a lot of pros and top-level players who’ve had much success in the past have had experiences very similar to Obrestad’s this time around.

In other words, having expected to encounter fields full of predictable and/or passive players, they’ve been met with more and more difficult opponents (i.e., players who know not to limp, who do not continually give up on small pots, etc.). Tom Schneider was kind of getting at this, too, in some of his comments to me a few days ago, though he additionally observed that the poor economy has probably contributed to this toughening up of the player pool, too.

It’s a bit of a hasty generalization, perhaps, but it does seem like while the numbers are holding steady, the percentage of truly weak players (“dead money”) has declined, perhaps markedly. A lot more “thinkers” around the table -- that is, calculating players capable of moves and of successfully countering others’.

One other trend I was seeing on Twitter over the last couple of days was how some were referring to the play as being “boring” to watch. There could be a lot of reasons for why this was the case, but I wonder if one of the factors causing the play to be less than scintillating to observers was that there were more skilled players competing? The fact is, when one can’t see the players’ hole cards, good, solid poker can be a bit tedious to watch and report on (especially if one doesn’t have back stories or other information about the players to help contextualize what one is seeing).

I’m off again today, but will be back in the thick of it tomorrow for Day 1d. Last year saw 2,809 show up for that last of the Day Ones, with hundreds more reportedly being shut out. I think I saw somewhere that they are ready to accommodate as many as 3,700 players this time around -- one hopes they’ve calculated properly this time!

2010 WSOP, Day 39: From Where I’m Sitting

I spent most of Day 39 of the 2010 World Series of Poker not in the Amazon Room -- where just about all of Day 1a of the Main Event took place -- but in the Pavilion Room, huddled near the final table of Event No. 54, the last of the open-field, $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em events that I was helping cover.

Our set up was a little awkward, but actually worked out well despite a huge, sometimes boisterous rail for both our final table and the Event No. 56 final table which happened right beside ours. That there is a picture taken from our reporting location. The Event No. 56 FT is in the foreground, and ours is behind it. You can see the big crowd there on the right-hand side. It looks a little tight, but my partner Bruno and I were able to get back and forth from the table to our laptops relatively easily, and the day was not difficult at all from a reporting standpoint.

One factor that helped make the day relatively stress-free was that our final table went very quickly. The short stacks were knocked out right away -- in fact, there was one hand in which the eventual winner Marcel Vonk knocked out two at once -- and including a one-hour dinner break, the sucker was decided in less than seven hours.

Vonk is a Dutch player who (as we discovered during the course of the day) has a Ph.D. in physics and has produced a number of important studies in string theory, including a book on the subject. (Here’s his website -- in Dutch -- that includes his extensive curriculum vitae.) He beat out David “dpeters17” Peters of Toledo, Ohio, a successful online player who led for much of the day and had a 9-to-2 advantage during the heads-up portion. But it basically just took three hands -- a couple of double-ups for Vonk and the finisher -- for it all to turn around.

Once all was done I ambled over to the Amazon to see who was around. They had one more hour of play to go, the first half of the two-hour Level 5. (It was decided early yesterday they would play four-and-a-half levels, rather than just four.) They were on break when I got over there, so I didn’t see people like Otis, Mean Gene, and others whom I know have arrived.

I did chat with Dr. Pauly a bit about his long-ass day of travel as well as his coverage to that point of Day 1a. Pauly spent the day live blogging the Main Event, compiling stories and other out-of-the-way items as he has done in the past. Indeed, if you want to read about hands played, get an idea about how chip stacks went up and down, and other play-by-play from Day 1a, you can check PokerNews’ live reporting. But if you want additional color and a broader perspective on what the day was like, go read Tao of Poker, too.

When I talked to Pauly he was a bit hot because apparently someone had complained that he was posting too frequently yesterday and he had been asked not to do so. For those who don’t know, credentialed media are given a set of guidelines to follow, including one rule about “Tournament Access” that says “media organizations can only post Top 10 chip counts once per hour.” That guideline applies to everyone except PokerNews, to whom Harrah’s/WSOP has granted unrestricted access and thus allows to post chip counts continuously. There is some clarification of the “once per hour” rule in the guidelines that says updates cannot be posted until an hour after an event begins, and then subsequent posts can’t come until an hour has passed since the last one.

The rule as written specifically refers to the reporting of chip counts, but has been applied to other kinds of updating, too. I have seen it happen this year that some non-PokerNews sites have been warned about posting too frequently -- not just about chip counts, but any kind of reporting -- and apparently Dr. Pauly received a similar warning yesterday.

Go read Pauly’s Day 1a blog for more about what happened. I ain’t gonna comment too much further on it here, although I’d be interested to hear what others think about the subject of so-called “exclusive” rights with regard to reporting on the WSOP. I will repeat what I say above, though, and say that in my opinion those hungry for information and stories from the WSOP are especially well served by visiting Tao of Poker (as well as a number of other sites) in addition to PokerNews.

After six straight days of reporting, I’m off the next two. I will be at the Rio some today, however, where I’ll be trying again to catch up with some of those other writerly types who have finally arrived.

Let me end with a thank you to Pete from Canada who came by to say hello to me at the end of my day yesterday. Pete shared some kind words about Hard-Boiled Poker which I really appreciated, and his visit was a nice way to end the day of work. Thanks, Pete!

And thanks everyone else, too, for spending time here now and then. I know that as far as the WSOP is concerned, you can certainly go elsewhere for the big picture, whereas here you’re mostly just gonna get the relatively narrow view of yr humble gumshoe. So thanks for occasionally finding some value in hearing about what one guy on the ground happens to see from where he is sitting.