Chris Moneymaker’s win was always a double-edged sword for the poker media. It began the Cinderella model of coverage with the requisite fairy tale ending — where the winner was not only the most skillful, but the most worthy of taking home the glass slipper. And the money that flowed from online poker sites for ads and affiliate deals had print and the online media heavily invested in maintaining poker’s Lake Wobegon image where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

I remember my first article for Bluff Magazine’s inaugural October 2004 issue chastised ESPN’s judgment to not only whitewash Dutch Boyd’s reputation in the poker community, but glorify “the crew.” And I guess we’re still waiting for the day they “take over the poker world.” I was actually a little surprised at the time that Bluff let me publish my swipe at ESPN. But then again, when they first started up, I was dealing with an editor from the UK who thought that Mike Matusow was probably a US football player.

And in 2006, when the poker shrink and I wrote our series of stories about the erroneous introduction of 2+ million chips into the WSOP main event, ESPN struggled with how to deal with it.  From a number of sources I would learn that many, many iterations of proposed commentary went back and forth between Harrah’s and ESPN on just how and what to acknowledge. And although there was an acknowledgement - it was still a brush off. It was also a very difficult decision for PokerNews to publish the articles. Harrah’s was, and still is, the gorilla in tournament poker and PokerNews was risking access to future events - which would have had a very negative impact to their bottom line. Unlike ESPN, PokerNews stepped up to the plate and swung for the fences.

But Otis had a very interesting post in Up For Poker recently, where he discusses the changing paradigm in poker coverage.  ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP is decidedly different this year, from Justin Bonomo to Scotty Nguyen. Mike Paulle and I have little in common, but on one thing we agree: this really wasn’t unusual behavior for Scotty.  In the past, the media just chose to show those “I love you baby” moments.  That people were actually surprised by Scotty’s behavior is testament to the media’s unbelievable power to create an image that is accepted as reality.

I wrote a piece about Scotty back in 2003. At the time, I was disturbed by what I saw. But after talking to the folks and players that had been around the scene a lot longer than I had, Scotty’s potential to meltdown was a known entity. The article used to be on PokerPages, but I think it got lost in their last website redesign.  It also was on Canadian Poker Player’s site - but they went belly up.  So for the time being, I have put it here until I figure out what to do with it. I remember sending the first draft of the article to Andy Glazer, and I guess I just don’t want to lose all that the article represents to me now. I noticed that even my piece about Dutch Boyd seems to be lost off the internet, although I still have the magazine for posterity.  Who said the internet is forever.

But the real bottom line is: it’s become acceptable to talk about fight club.  Collusion is covered in the media now.  The AP and UB insider cheating incidents were not only reported, they were investigated.

Question: Did the poker media develop more journalistic integrity? Or did the UIGEA dry up the cash, so there’s nothing left to lose?                     

So a lot of my life will continue to go on hold until that puppy is put to bed.  I’m totally backlogged on my correspondance, so I suspect there are a ton of people that think I’ve run off with BJ to join the circus. But I swear I’ll catch up at some point. I’ll be going out to Vegas in early September to read over some chapters with Mike - but short of that, it’s just going to be crunch time. In light of my current reality, I think I’ll probably be spewing bloglets rather than ubber posts. Random spewage follows:

1. Bob Pasco, I’m going to be pretty pissed (and downright inconsolable) if you die on me.  I know you didn’t tell me how sick you were because you were afraid I’d get all mushy on you.  But Jesus Christ Bob, it’s me. When was I ever mushy?  Instead of just threatening to come up there and kick your ass, I would have done it.  And I would have sworn more, and I know how much you like that.  

From the first time Bob and I met at IBM, we were destined to be friends; he was an underage curmudgeon and I was a bitch - and bemused cynicism was our bond. He likes to remind me that he was the one that came up with my band name “Guido and the Scum Puppies.” And I like to remember he was the one responsibile for my ten smoke-free years. I still remember when he suggested we both quit smoking together. I was offering up some pretty lame excuses why I wanted to wait a few months.  I think the strongest argument I came up with was that I liked smoking in the summertime and suggested fall would be better.  He just gave me one of his classic looks of disdain - like I had just farted at a tea party. When we reconnected after many years, we laughed at how we had both mellowed.  We pretended this was a terrible thing - that we had gotten soft over time.  But secretly I was content to know that the man with such a capacity for happiness had found it.  Because I guess that would have been the bigger tragedy. Crap Bob.

2. On a happier news front, wildbill is tying the knot today.  Best to you and Becky, the kid and the cat. I hope you and Becky realize that we pokerboyz will be judging the success of this union based solely on the wildone’s ability to make the next poker road trip.  The pressure’s on.  

3. I do spend a brain-dead hour or two before I go to bed watching, but not listening, to the Olympics.  Why don’t these commentators shut up? They must get paid by the word.  I do like the fact that they are covering more sports than usual - even when the US isn’t involved.  Although I did find my mind wandering at one point, speculating the success of an event that coupled synchronized diving and skeet shooting.

4. I’ve had little time for poker, but was able to squeak in some time to play Pauly’s 5th anniversary tourney.  I swore I wouldn’t be bubble girl and pushed about three quarters into the event.  Alas.  But it was a great group, as aways, and it felt great to be back on the virtual felt. And for those looking for some great reads, I just got caught up on the latest issue of Truckin’ and you really shouldn’t miss it this month.

5. Among the countless things I’m behind on, I feel most guilty about my blogroll.  I promise to catch up on this front and in the mean time offer up I am THE James from one of my split-game partners in crime and Brass Umlauts from one of my investment partners in crime.  Andy (of BU) is a fab writer who only recently started his blog, at my urging. He’ll probably rue the day as he’s already totally addicted.          

The grind awaits - later.

Once we settled on a spoiler-free night, a good time (as always) was had by all.  We did talk a little about the WSOP because one of the guys had gone to Vegas to play - and money - in his first WSOP event.  Although he’s played poker a lot of years now, he said he was really nervous in the early going.  But the first flop he saw was three aces - and he held the fourth.  It turns out that quad aces can really settle your nerves (I’ll have to remember that).  In the home game, I managed an early bust out in the bounty tournament which got me some serious  time in the cash game.  I’m not sure why they play no limit Omaha hi/lo - but I’m sure glad they do.

I got a press release from the WPT saying that they had signed on with Fox Sports for the upcoming season.  I looked for what they were getting as a licesnsing fee per episode, but couldn’t find it in the release.  I also looked on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website.  No mention of money.  My guess is the WPT might get a cut of the ad money, but FSN is not upchucking the buck for the shows.  This is great for a few groups - its good for the players that will still get some air time and potentially some sponorship dough - its good for the casinos that will get more pros because of TV - and its good for Steve Lipscomb who will still be able to draw down a salary for the next year.  It pretty much sucks for WPT’s shareholders, however.  I suspect the WPT is using its US TV brand name as sort of a loss leader - but since their online money business doesn’t operate in the US, it’s a little less compelling of an idea.  And I doubt their subscription business can pull up the slack created by their production costs.  Ah well.  One more season at least.  

One of the reasons I haven’t written in awhile is because of my ridiculous schedule during the WSOP.  The other reason was Sammy.  It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote about how Sammy would wake me up like clockwork to put in my WSOP recap shift.  Except one morning - just days after I wrote about it - he didn’t.  It seems poor Sammy’s kidneys were failing - his little body just started to shut down.  I so wanted more time with the seven toed wonder, but in the end, I couldn’t let him suffer.  So I had to put my furry friend down.

Sammy defied the odds for a long time.  They say it takes a village to raise a child- well it took a neighborhood to raise Sammy.  He was twice abondoned before the neighbors on my street saw to his care.  He was also adopted by another stray cat in the neighborhood who protected Sammy.  But when his stray pal died, Sammy was more vulnerable living outside.  He was also diagnosed with FIV.  At that point, now five years ago, I took him in.  Sammy was not like any cat I had before him; he loved company.  There was nothing aloof about Sammy - he gave and received attention unconditionally.  Weeks later, I’m still heartbroken.

Work has actually been a good distraction.  And strangely enough, I’m finding a lot in common between the poker and investment worlds.  Our new office building is currently being rennovated and our temporary space has one shared bathroom.  While there is rarely competition for use - on the rare occaision that more than one person is vying for the travertine palace’s throne, Roshambo is the accepted method for dispute resolution.  I think I’ll try rock today.                      

I missed Mike Matusow’s bracelet in the Deuce to Seven Lowball.  And since this WSOP will be the final chapter in Mikey’s book, I would have loved watching  this one from the bleachers.  Of course the Poker Shrink was there to record the details.  And I read every hand and every interview.  But it’s not quite the same thing as being there.  Mikey also made the final table in $10K Omaha hi/lo and judging from the live reports, he was almost literally wired for sound.  It seemed like every other entry quoted the lyrics of one of Mike’s poker “songs.”  

Since Mike started playing the WSOP in 1997, he’s made a final table every year except two.  In 1998 he didn’t make a final table, but instead was one of three backers to pick Scotty Nguyen to win the WSOP Championship.  And in 2007, he came close three times with 11th, 15th, and 16th place finishes.  He was so mad at how he played the main event that year, he wanted a second chance.  So he went across the street and came in second in the WPT Bellagio Cup III that same week. 

And while I don’t know Vanessa Selbst personally, I’ve seen her in the field a number of times and I really like her game.  Back when NBC picked their Heads-Ups contestants, one of my chief gripes was that they didn’t select Selbst.  NBC went out of their way to include some of the younger players that had honed their skill online.  But in the end they just went with the boys - even though Selbst had made the semi-finals of the WSOP Heads-Up and another final table last year.  So this year she got her first WSOP bracelet, completely dominating the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha field.  And she again made the semi-finals of the WSOP Heads-Up (admittedly after putting bad beats on both of the Mizrachis).  If NBC doesn’t pick her up this year, it will just confirm the worst about their criteria for selecting women players.

And then of course there’s Barry.  When I was about to accept my job offer in Austin this summer, I got this weird premonition.  I thought, if I take this job, I’m going to miss seeing Barry Greenstein’s next bracelet.  And that premonition came true when he won the razz bracelet last week.    

Early in poker’s growth cycle, Barry donated his tournament wins to charity.  The cash games were really his bread and butter - so he viewed his high variance tournament cashes as disposable income that could be used for a higher purpose.  But with many of the big cash games drying up and with Barry’s support of one of my favorite sties, PokerRoad, he’s now in a position where be must financially rely on tournament cashes. 

One of the many things I admire about Greenstein is his unflinching realism.  In one of his audio blogs, Barry discussed how challenging it was for a player to carve out a life primarily playing tournaments - and how challenged he felt facing that prospect.  So I suspect he was under some pressure going into this year’s WSOP.  But pressure is apparently one more thing Greenstein can handle and I’m happy to see he’s getting the job done.

Barry replied to an email telling me it was time to “get into the real world” and wishing me luck in my new job.  But the world is only as real as you make it.  And poker doesn’t have the exclusive on delusion or self-destructive optimism any more than the financial world has a lock on objective behavior - as the subprime crisis demonstrated in spades.

I know plenty of players that live in the fantasy world of poker, but Barry isn’t one of them.  And I suspect that’s why he’s still in the game.

And I can’t say that my world is any more real working a 9-to-5 in Austin than it was strutting through the tables in Vegas.  In fact recently, my world has been more like Wild Kingdom than Wall Street.  Our office is in the Texas Hill Country where there are more deer than people.  In my first week I saw a deer poop up close - which was pretty cool in a South Park-esque kind of way.  In my second week, I watched one pee for what seemed like ten minutes.  But in my fourth week, a doe walked by with little tiny hooves sticking out of her backside.  She was strolling along while in the process of giving birth.  The boyz in the office were semi-grossed out - but I thought it was awesome.  Last week I saw the doe with two jumpy, playful fawns.  I watched from the deck, only 20 feet from her, as she nursed her young.  And then they were off. 

And maybe that is the real world.  All the rest is our construction.                                             

As I stumble through the dark living room, I click on the laptop.  By this time the silent cat alarm has sounded.  Blacula is hurling himself against the back door for food, while Java weaves underfoot. Needless to say, my mostly nocturnal cats are loving my new schedule.  From there, I start a 12-cup pot of coffee.

While I am certain that no humans have stirred in my neighborhood, I know I am not alone.  I envision Falstaff bumping around his house at the same time, although different time zone.  Both of us will spend the next few hours pouring through WSOP reports and recapping the day’s most recent events.

I also have caught many of the WSOP bloggers online in those wee hours.  BJ and I have used that time to catch up on the latest series doings.  Pauly has also weighed in at the crack of dawn.  And I try not to bother change100 when I see her online, as I know she’s still feverishly covering an event that is in its 13th or 14th hour of play.  Haley and I conduct the vast majority of our daily online conversations at that time. But just as the sun is about to rise in Vegas, they disappear from my online view.  They are, after all, vampires.  They have fallen into the sport’s rhythm that thrives in the darkness and is loath to sunlight.

For me, recapping the events has been a double-edged sword.  While it keeps me connected to the tournament I now find myself so many miles away from, it is also a constant reminder of what I am missing. 

Recapping the $10K Stud event, I realized how long its been since I’ve seen Cyndy Violette.  In 2005, Cyndy found out I had Celiac and was finding it challenging to live within my dietary restrictions while working the WSOP.  She had her chef prepare gluten-free meals for me every day - for the entire WSOP.  I think that’s among the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.  I also saw that Alan Boston was there, ready to sing to me..but I wasn’t.  I missed witnessing Jay Greenspan’s first WSOP money finish.  I know I will catch up with Mike Matasow later next month, but I really wanted to hear about his victorious weight loss bet while it was still fresh in his mind.  And it’s killing me that I wasn’t there to see my long-time friend, MJ Bernstein, cash in his first two WSOP events.

For those of you that don’t know, it was MJ that led to my Stetson-wearing ways.  I met MJ in January 2005 at the World Poker Open when he and I played a stud satellite together.  Back then, he was an accomplished stud specialist and quickly carved up the table.  I was lucky enough to take out the last player and pull close to even as we were about to go heads-up.  At that point, he, thankfully, suggested a chop.  (Later, he would finish 3rd in the WPO stud event).

The next day I bumped into him; I was wearing a ballcap instead of my Stetson.  He told me to go change hats.  He said that one of the reasons he chopped with me is that he was intimidated by the hat (I had already suspected that it wasn’t my stud prowess that motivated the chop).  It was then I learned what Chris Ferguson and Hoyt Corkins had probably known for years.  From then on, I left my hat on.

In the years that I’ve known MJ, he has developed a world class NLHE game.  I’ve been one of many people telling him he needed to play the WSOP, but up until this year, his fear of flying kept him out of Vegas.  This year, he drove out.  And of course, this year, I’m not there.  So I wasn’t there to see him money in his first two events.  I have promised him, however, that I will fly out for his first final table.

The ultimate salt in the wound will come this weekend, however, as the bloggers start to spew out blogs detailing their semi-annual descent on Vegas.  Miss y’all.                                             

On Friday afternoon, everyone in the office was quietly cranking away.  At 2:00 pm central time, I stood up at my desk and bellowed, “Shuffle up and deal.”  It’s been a number of years since I missed the WSOP first siren’s call to poker players around the world.  I sat back down at my desk and continued to work, my head in Austin — my heart in Vegas. 

Once home, I got even more verklempt after receiving a nice note from WSOP Media Director and friend, Nolan Dalla.  By the time I came across Pauly’s shout out, I was downright home-away-from-home sick.  When I made the choice not to go out to Vegas this year, I knew it was going to be hard.  I didn’t realize how hard until the first day of play.  

But if I was going to miss a year, this was the year.  I truly think that this will be the best reporting year the series has ever known.  This will be PokerNews’ second year as the exclusive media provider – and I think it makes a big difference that they already have one under their belts.  For one thing, PokerNews was able to bring back experienced veterans like Change100 and Mean Gene.  They’ve got BJ Nemeth in his “sweet spot” providing features and color.  I was stoked to hear they picked up Snoopy and Dana.  And talented additions like Short-Stacked Shamus and F-Train are only going to raise the bar.

Without the shackles of a reporting “day job,” Pauly is cranking out his best stuff on Tao.  At this rate, Pauly may have a book’s worth of material before the WSOP is done.  And I’m also pleased that, even with the media restrictions, other tried and true poker outlets continue to belly up to the WSOP media bar.

But even with the great reporting this year, I still missed the unbridled optimism of the first day.  With 55 bracelets yet to be awarded, every poker player walks into the Amazon room feeling the potential of their moment.   

I also miss the fact that I couldn’t be there to watch Shaniac amass a large stack in yesterday’s Event #2 Day 1A - or see writer Jay Greenspan survive the night.

I woke up a 4:00 am to start my Event #2 recap, only to discover that Event #1 was still in play.  Just as I was finishing up, so did they.  It was 4:30 am pacific time.  But the final table line-up makes me think it was worth the wait.  Chris Bell, Kathy Liebert, Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, Mike Sexton, Phil Laak, Nenad Medic, Amit Makhija, and Mike Sowers will all have a shot at this year’s first bracelet in the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event.  Amazing. 

I will be heading out to Vegas at some point - unfortunately not in time to catch the semi-annual bloggers gathering.  So I’m counting on y’all to put all the gory details up on the web.                  

For a game to be legal in Texas - 1) it must be fair, 2) it must be private (ours is by invitation only), and 3) the house can’t profit in any way.  It is also one of the safer games to play in Austin.  A robber would be risking a lot for our low stakes.  Many of the guys are from the contractor trades and can clearly handle their own.  I’ve never seen a gun at the game (although I’ve seen mace and an assortment of knives), but I wouldn’t rule out that a few people are packing.  

We start with a tournament until enough people bust out to start up the side games.  Usually it’s a low buy-in with rebuys, but sometimes it’s a higher buy-in freezeout - and there’s been at least one bounty tournament in my tenure.  Wednesday was our “usual.”  Although they’re all fun tables, I was lucky to draw Kevin for my first table.  Kevin is a damn fine player and has plans to “go pro” in August 2024, once the kids are grown.  But Kevin is always full of mischief during the rebuy period, simultaneously pulling down a big stack while putting everyone else on tilt.  His signature move is raising pre-flop with one chip of every color (rainbow) without looking at his cards.  It never fails to get the obligatory moans from the table. Wednesday night, like all poker nights, was filled with good natured ribbing, solid discussions about strategy, recent Vegas trip reports…and a lot of laughter.

As the WSOP final table is a hot topic in our little world, I wasn’t surprised that the subject came up again at the game.  William started it off by confessing that he liked the ESPN pay-per-view.  As far as I know, William and I may be the only ones on the planet that actually prefer not seeing the hole cards.  We want to be put in the position, as viewers, of having to make decisions with the same imperfect information that the players have.  William’s coverage solution would have them show a hand without the hole cards.  Once the hand is complete, they would reveal the hole cards and have a post hand discussion while the next hand is being dealt.  I thought this would be a perfect solution all the way around.  It would also have the added benefit of cutting down on Norm Chad’s stories about his ex-wives and amp up the actual discussion about the game.  But delay or no delay, I suspect the current hole card model is sacrosanct.   Alas.            

I tend to play better when Kevin is at my table.  I usually play too tight during the rebuy period and Kevin forces me to mix it up.  Wednesday night I was able to build a decent stack during the rebuy period and eventually eke into fourth place for the money.

Unwinding with great people over the game we all love is the primary benefit of my Wednesday night game.  But there are other perks.  My AC froze up last week (low on coolant) and the company that came out gave me a high pressure pitch for a new system - along with a fairly high estimate with no details.  The system is 15 years old - which is pretty much the normal lifespan here in Texas, but I still didn’t want to jump in without more information.  I seemed to remember that one of our game regulars was an AC guy.  Sure enough, Russell was out within 24 hours with all kinds of meters and gadgets.  After 45 minutes in the hot sun and even hotter attic (along with some poker talk), Russell assured me that I had some time on my side.  He’ll work up a detailed estimate and deal with it once the summer busy season is over.  I love my home game.

On the work front, something odd is happening.  I’m beginning to miss the voices in my head.  It seems that ever since I started writing my blog, I have been producing a constant monologue in my brain.  Most of the hours in my day were spent performing this strange, almost out-of-body, commentary about my life and the world of poker - I assume as a way of testing out future blog material.  It was even stranger when I was putting in the bulk of my time on the Matusow book as often Mike’s voice would also chime in - which is as strange as it sounds.  At work, these voices are stilled.  I was beginning to fear that they would leave me for good.

But yesterday I was sitting out on the back deck with Blacula (former stray - current outdoor cat) and I started singing a rather complex and silly song to him.  It wasn’t my voice - it was Matusow’s.  In the course of the near hundred of hours of recorded interviews with Mike, I must have a dozen or so ”songs” sung by Mike to his cats.  These not mere ditties.  They are epic compositions that revisit the cat’s social interactions, play preferences, moods, and life history.  They are usually performed with Mike holding the cat up to his face while simultaneously composing and singing.

So I think I can live without voices in my head during the 9-to-5, as long as they continue to serenade me on the home front.

If you can’t see the pictures on my blog, there’s something terribly wrong with your computer.  Well not really.  It seems that my old version of wordpress had become a hacker’s dream and most hosts have terminated its upload feature - including mine.  It will take a few for me to migrate to a newer version - but apparently pictures will magically appear again once that happens.  Although my faith in ”the new” is never as solid as my comfort with “the old.”  Along those same lines, this is my first post from my new desktop.  After a week of trying to get the computer to communicate with the monitor (it’s hard to debug shit when you can’t see it), it looks like the basic necessities of life are functional.  I have yet to get the monitor to pivot to portrait for editing or color calibrate accurately enough for photo editing - but it’s getting there. 

The news that the WSOP is parting with its traditional final table ways has been out for a couple of weeks now.  I had just seen the title of the announcement in my email when the phone rang.  I knew it was BJ Nemeth before the second ring.  BJ and I had a number of conversations about it since the rumor broke more than six months ago.  Players seem to either hate it or are backing it in reaction to the harsher economic realities that have been undermining the business of poker.  And while I get both sides of the reactive coin, I also recognize that my currency differs from most when it comes to poker.  For me, playing a final table months after the event doesn’t represent a change - just another step in the evolution away from the game of poker I came to know and love.  

I liked poker before it was popular; before it was a business.  And maybe, just maybe, I liked it because it wasn’t mainstream.  It was my secret world.  I remember going to the World Poker Open in 2002 and wandering between the tables - brushing past the players that, up until that point, I had only read about.  I chatted with them in the hallways; usually over a fast cigarette at the breaks.  It was there that I would play my first “major” event - busing out half-way through when my flopped top pair/top kicker got outrun by a turned set.  It was also there that I performed my first official sweating duties.  I had met Judy Ingram at breakfast before the Ladies event.  As she progressed throughout the day, she invited me to sweat her and provide chip count and player updates until she eventually made the final table; she finished in third place.  Other than players’ spouses, there were no spectators.  And other than Nolan Dalla - there was no media.

In 2003, before Chris Moneymaker would alter poker’s mainstream potential, I chatted with Perry Friedman on the sparsely populated WSOP bleachers as we sweat Chris Ferguson to his Omaha hi/lo bracelet.  A week later, he would win another in the mixed limit holdem/seven card stud event.  It would be almost another month before ESPN would bring in their film crew to televise the main event. 

I love the old ESPN WSOP footage; documentaries of a game, not the entertainment business that it has become.  And other than High Stakes Poker, I haven’t enjoyed televised poker more than I enjoyed the subdued intensity of pre-boom ESPN.

I understand the economic benefit to players, Harrah’s, and ESPN to try to keep the post-boom era from slipping away.  And I absolutely understand the economic realities of the agents, writers, magazines, news websites, and of course online poker sites, that grew in the wake of poker’s popularity.  Trust me: I do realize that my ability to make a living writing about poker was a direct result of the mainstreaming and monetization of poker.  Even so, my attachment to poker has always been emotional not economic.  In a contest between “the game” and “the business” - game was the no-brainer.

Many of poker’s economic beneficiaries are desperately fighting to hold on to the vestiges of the ebbing poker boom.  They are hoping that four months of hype will be just the miracle cure needed to save an ailing patient.  But whether the business of poker thrives or fades, the poker that I first loved won’t be resurrected either way.  So at this point, I view the WSOP final table change with almost distant ambivalence. I understand the reasons for optimizing the promotion of poker and all the economic threads woven into that cloth.  I know that finding an alternate media model may be paramount to ”saving” the business of poker.  And I guess at this point, I will wish them the best of luck. 

You hold on and I don’t know how.  I wish I did.  I can’t get negative enough.  I can’t get angry enough.  And I can’t get positive enough. - Robert Redford’s character in The Way We Were                      

Congratulations to David Chiu (pictured above), who put in a spectacular come-from-behind performance against Gus Hansen (pictured below) at the WPT Championship yesterday.  I was happy to see the WPT Championship draw a pretty healthy crowd; off only slightly from last year.  There were a lot of great names in contention down the stretch.  Today’s pics are of players that had a nice run there.  I still haven’t heard if the WPT was able to get a deal with GSN for Season Seven yet. I think the decision deadline is sometime in May,but WPT isn’t scheduled to film in the next couple of months, so that could be extended.  

I started playing poker in the dark years; when poker rooms were closing to the onslaught of slot machines. I was just about coming to terms with the fact that I had fallen in love with a terminally ill game when Chris Moneymaker burst on the scene.  The boom that followed was awe-inspiring, but it created the excess that all booms and trends encourage.  Every casino, big and small, added a poker room.  Existing poker rooms expanded.  And now that the bloom is off the boom rose, it’s not surprising that some of the excess capacity is falling off with the petals.

I recently read that Paris and TI are both closing their poker rooms during the graveyard shift.  Rumors are also swirling that Paris has already set a date to permanently close their room.  I doubt we’ll see any changes in the “big” rooms like the Bellagio, Wynn, Mirage, etc. - but I suspect that some of the smaller rooms around Vegas will be rethinking their commitment to poker once this year’s WSOP is over. 

I’ve been two whole weeks doing the 9-to-5 gig.  I’d love to play the day job martyr card - but I don’t think I’d get much sympathy.  The “office” is only ten miles from my house - which is just about the right amount of time to mellow out with NPR.  By the time I get to my Hill Country enclave, I’ve been suitably informed about the plight of Canadian forests (pine beetles are really taking a toll), the still unclear election results in Zimbabwe, and how loopholes are used to fund the political party conventions.  The work is interesting.  My work buddies are fun and hardworking.  The boss has bought lunch for the office twice already.  And there are two does and a fawn that graze right outside my window.  I feel stupid at least once a day - but for a new job that’s actually not bad.  And I’m learning a lot.  

My biggest issue is finding a new routine - or any routine for that matter.  My only routine for the last few years was turning on the laptop and letting it boot while I made my morning coffee.  After that, anything could happen. Now I realize that I can’t really get in a good blog read until the weekend - which is a long time to wait for Change100’s ”Idol” recaps (the best on the web imo).  Although it was her “Domestication by IKEA” post that had me both giggling and nodding in sad recognition this week.  I’m also very glad to see Up For Poker experiencing a resurgence. Some great content is being offered up there - I think they have definitely caught their second wind. 

When I told a friend I was taking a “real” job, she said, “What the hell for?  You never buy anything.”  While I am correctly known for my frugality, I do buy what I think I need - just not at retail.  All that being said, I’ve been on something of a spending spree lately.  I bought new tile (40% below list price) for my kitchen and family room.  I recently replaced my 1994 Mazda (aka the “Green Monster”) with “Rosita” (used and below book value).  After researching and combing craigslist for three months, I just pulled the trigger on a brand new desktop system (with a 32.50% off coupon) and a new widescreen monitor that pivots to portrait for easier editing.  I got a nice quad processor with a decent (not top end) video card that will handle dual monitors with dvi.  I stayed with XP - but this system can easily handle Vista when I think all the bugs are finally out.  If I keep at my current pace, Congress can safely hold back on further stimulus packages. 

I’m currently doing research on my next purchase - and I’d appreciate any recommendations.  I need a good pair of headphones for work - i.e. plugged into the computer.  I can’t wear ear buds; they drive me insane and give me ear aches.  I  need a closed pair as sound leakage would be an issue at work.  I also don’t want to fuss with a headphone amp.  Any suggestions?

Pics (all taken at the 2007 WSOP):

1. David Chiu, winner of the 2008 WPT Championship
2. Gus Hansen, runner up
3. Cory Carroll, 4th place
4. Bryan Devonshire 12th place
5. Karga Holt, 8th place
6. Nick Binger, 15th place                               

In today’s theme of “too little too late” I can’t help but start with Brandi Hawbaker.  For those not in the poker circle, Brandi was the author and subject of some of the most outrageous content on the poker forums.  Just the title “Brandi” on a thread was liable to get 1000 hits a day.  She was attractive, smart, and creative.  She was also destructive in her relationship with others and herself.  Her troubles were obvious, but apparently solutions were not.  Some tried to help her with money, friendship, and security - but unfortunately these were short-term bandages for a far deeper wound.  Brandi Hawbaker took her own life last weekend.  From the forums, I understand she was finally under a doctor’s care.  Maybe too late.  Maybe too little. Or maybe neither.

I once was involved in a situation where someone “I knew” faked their own death on the internet.  It turned out that the 56 year-old woman had created a 20-something year old hottie as her online persona - but then came to resent the attention and friends she made; feeling that those around her didn’t like her for the person she really was.  I had hoped that Brandi had done the same; ending the online drama and finding a way to start anew.  Unfortunately Brandi’s problems extended beyond the ether and so, too, did her fatal solution.  Peace out, Brandi.

Another “too little too late” in the poker world might be applied to the WPT.  In an attempt to monopolize all things poker, the WPT developed a corporate culture steeped in predatory and proprietary practices.  One of the early sticking points between players and the WPT involved their waiver form.  To play a WPT event, a player basically had to give up all rights to their own image.  Theoretically, the WPT could then use the player’s image to market just about anything they wanted.  If a player had already endorsed a video game, the WPT could use the player’s image to market a competing product.  In some cases, signing the waiver could be viewed as breaching contracts the players already had signed with other companies.  The players tried working with the WPT to modify the waiver, but the WPT was unyielding.  A lawsuit was filed.  Some very well known players boycotted or simply couldn’t play WPT events. 

With the WPT now bleeding financial red ink and Season Seven - scheduled to start in the next few months - in potential jeopardy, the WPT announced that it was changing the waiver form.  The lawsuit was dropped. 

The WPT also announced last month that it was retroactively issuing bracelets to all its past 96 winners.  It’s hard to interpret this action: is it tardy recognition of the players’ participation or is it a parting gift?

The WPT became famous for never backing down from a position: right or wrong.  But last week they changed their position about making the players’ buy-in include a mandatory charitable contribution for the upcoming ladies event. 

When the WPT went to an exclusive media provider for its events, I called to find out what the media conditions would be if I were to attend the event at the Beau Rivage.  I had planned on doing a travel/promotional piece for the event and renovated casino - and not provide any tournament coverage per se.  I was told that I could only go inside the ropes for 15 minutes at a time and only with an available WPT escort.  I suspected this translated into my actually getting inside the room once or twice a day.  I would not be provided with a place to sit or work from.  I decided it was probably going to be too hard to provide a meaningful story - and the WPT lost out on a piece that would have promoted the company to the mainstream press. 

I understand that, though media restrictions are still in play, the WPT is providing a “media lounge” at the currently ongoing WPT Championship at the Bellagio.  I have no idea what the lounge includes.  And again I have no idea if this is a case of the WPT realizing that being more receptive to the media can only help their brand - or another parting gift.

I can’t help but wonder if the WSOP might have their own realizations about the media “too little too late.”  I noticed in the media regulations this year that you can only provide content to your designated media credentialed outlet.  In other words, if I wanted to do a story for the Austin American Statesman about a local player that won a bracelet, I couldn’t.  Do they know what’s going on in print media?  Most major newspapers have cut back their news staffs.  They’re not going to send a reporter for seven weeks of the WSOP when they can’t even cover Iraq.  If a credentialed reporter also wanted to comment about the WSOP in their personal blog, they couldn’t.  Although I understand the exclusive deal that Image Masters signed with the WSOP years ago, making reporting entities delete any and all pictures from their websites within 72 hours of an event’s conclusion is a logistical nightmare and actually gives the random spectator with a cell phone more rights than the media.   

I keep wondering if three of four years from now - when the bleachers and media rooms are empty and when the television cameras are no longer trolling the aisles - what the WSOP and other tours and venues will do to re-court media attention.  Perhpas it will be something “too little, too late.”

a) Brandi (2007 WSOP)
b) Scotty and the Grinder (2006 WPT WPO)
c) Jared Hamby (2007 WSOP)
d) Shaniac (2007 WSOP)
e) Tex Barch (2007 WSOP)
f) Sammy Farha (2006 WPT WPO)

P.S. Had the same WSOP media restrictions been in place last year, most of these pictures wouldn’t exist.  Had the same WPT restrictions been in place, there’s an outside chance I would have been able to get the pics of Nguyen/Mizrachi and Farha.