Is it that time of year?
Jul. 28th, 2006 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksPauly is ranting in his latst post (http://taopoker.blogspot.com/) about the hell that is the WSOP media tent at this time, with all the press people turning up just for the big one having arguments with the people who have been there from day one.
He's got some pictures of the press and media event as well. Which, of course, set me back to thinking about 2003. I mean, where were these people then? There are people in the poker media frenzy who seem to claim to have been around since the year dot, but, I'll be honest, I don't remember many of them among the people playing in the 2003 press event, which seemed to consist of 53 local press reporters, Oklahoma Johnny Hale and, from the UK, Barry Martin, Vicky Coren and me. Maybe Pauly was there, I dunno. I wouldn't have recognised him if he was. But I'm fairly sure that 99% of the "names" in poker writing today were not there. And, when the craze dies, they will move on to the next big thing. Good on 'em.
I mean, swanning in for just the big one is bad enough, but, personally, I would ban anyone who hadn't written about poker before Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP.
Apart from that, frankly, it's hard to give a shit. I thought that it would take Harrah's three years or so to dilute the brand value of the WSOP to the level of washing powder, but, showing that the skills of big business know no bounds when it comes to fucking anything up, they seem to have managed it in a mere 18 months.
Pauly actually has some sensible things to say about Harrah's being right, in a way, to restrict media coverage after the free-for-all in 2005 (which was, in a way, a disaster of their own making as well).
Yes, I'm bitter and dealing with it. The WSOP main event is going to start on Friday and I'm going to have to adapt to these new changes in media restrictions and with the hordes of media elbowing each other to get the same fuckin' photo of Phil Ivey. I'm outnumbered and drowning in assholes.
I actually wrote to The Guardian in 2003 and offered to cover the event for them, only to be told that it was "too louche". There was no-one there from The Times, or The Telegraph. It's hard to imagine that. Today you just could not offer me enough money to make me cover that event for anyone. I'd rather go to a convention in Latvia on industrial packing machinery. And why? Because at least at the latter you would be one of the few press people who cared about the obscure topic. Most of the press at the WSOP don't give a toss about poker, don't know anyone apart from Hellmuth, Ivey and Dave Ulliott (okay, throw in Johnnny Chan, perhaps, Doyle Brunson, probably, but you know what I mean) and cover the event from the point of view of it being just that, an event. The poker is secondary.
I don't want to meet these people. I certainly wouldn't want to work with them. And, while Nolan Dalla is a fine enough guy who loves poker to death, he is now in the thrall of a big business machine that sucks the blood out of every living thing it comes into contact with. If Nolan starts to react badly to the light, it isn't from too many nights spent indoors playing cards, its because Harrah's has replaced his blood with vampire juice.
I've been writing or otherwise computer working virtually non-stop since 5.30 this morning. I'm shattered and it's only lunchtime. I've done a word-count - 5,400 words (including this stuff). I make that, given a five-day week, four weeks off a year, something like a million words a year. Except of course that I couldn't keep it going at this rate (like knowcking out 20,000 hands a month ....). It's only because my American freelance is sipping Chianti in Tuscany, or Tosca in Chianti, or something, that I have to do the lot myself. Fucking hard work when every insurer and his wife is releasing half-yearly results, I'll tell ya. I actually looked forward to scraping all the grime off an old Le Creuset saucepan I had.
+++++
This is the kind of hand that I always used to get knocked out with in tournaments. However, given the way my opponents played, I don't think that I would have gone broke even if I had just learnt the rules. I mean, these players are seriously bad.
Hand #380655249 at table: Table TH 162
Started: Fri Jul 28 18:48:22 2006
Rob1no is at seat 1 with 40.39 (UTG)
trebor1 is at seat 2 with 34.26
alchemikAA is at seat 3 with 97.70
*Begeta* is at seat 4 with 24.30
Juaninhoo is at seat 5 with 29.50
barsas is at seat 6 with 37.50
eggdance is at seat 7 with 61.95
__LOON__ is at seat 8 with 35.75 (Button)
riichal is at seat 9 with 46.00 (Small Blind)
Birks is at seat 10 with 66.90 (Big Blind)
Birks: 10d, 6d
Rob1no: Call 0.50
Juaninhoo: Call 0.50
eggdance: Call 0.50
riichal: Call 0.50
Birks: Check
Flop (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h):
Gives me trip sixes
riichal: Bet 0.50
Birks: Call 0.50
Rob1no: Fold
Juaninhoo: Call 0.50
eggdance: Fold
Why just a call? Well, as I said, this is the kind of hand where I've been knocked out of tournaments many a time, and more often than not I have been drawing to three outs
Turn (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h, Ac):
riichal: Bet 1.50
Birks: Call 1.50
Juaninhoo: Call 1.50
I seriously thought about putting in a raise here, because an Ace with a decent kicker is likely to call me. I also have to make it a big enough raise to knock out any pot odds for a player drawing to a straight or flush. Let's assume I put riichal on a bad Ace and Juaninhoo on a flush draw or straight draw (but not both), how much should I raise here? Anyhoo, as it happens, I called
River (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h, Ac, Jd):
riichal: Check
Birks: Bet 2.00
Juaninhoo: Call 2.00
riichal: All in for $43.50
Birks: Fold
Juaninhoo: Call for $27.00
riichal shows 6c, Ah for a full house, sixes over aces.
Juaninhoo shows Ad, Td for two pairs, aces and sixes.
More surreal was the conversation that happened after.
Birks: I had the other six...
riichal: You would have called if you had the six.
Well, that says a lot, don't you think?
He's got some pictures of the press and media event as well. Which, of course, set me back to thinking about 2003. I mean, where were these people then? There are people in the poker media frenzy who seem to claim to have been around since the year dot, but, I'll be honest, I don't remember many of them among the people playing in the 2003 press event, which seemed to consist of 53 local press reporters, Oklahoma Johnny Hale and, from the UK, Barry Martin, Vicky Coren and me. Maybe Pauly was there, I dunno. I wouldn't have recognised him if he was. But I'm fairly sure that 99% of the "names" in poker writing today were not there. And, when the craze dies, they will move on to the next big thing. Good on 'em.
I mean, swanning in for just the big one is bad enough, but, personally, I would ban anyone who hadn't written about poker before Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP.
Apart from that, frankly, it's hard to give a shit. I thought that it would take Harrah's three years or so to dilute the brand value of the WSOP to the level of washing powder, but, showing that the skills of big business know no bounds when it comes to fucking anything up, they seem to have managed it in a mere 18 months.
Pauly actually has some sensible things to say about Harrah's being right, in a way, to restrict media coverage after the free-for-all in 2005 (which was, in a way, a disaster of their own making as well).
Yes, I'm bitter and dealing with it. The WSOP main event is going to start on Friday and I'm going to have to adapt to these new changes in media restrictions and with the hordes of media elbowing each other to get the same fuckin' photo of Phil Ivey. I'm outnumbered and drowning in assholes.
I actually wrote to The Guardian in 2003 and offered to cover the event for them, only to be told that it was "too louche". There was no-one there from The Times, or The Telegraph. It's hard to imagine that. Today you just could not offer me enough money to make me cover that event for anyone. I'd rather go to a convention in Latvia on industrial packing machinery. And why? Because at least at the latter you would be one of the few press people who cared about the obscure topic. Most of the press at the WSOP don't give a toss about poker, don't know anyone apart from Hellmuth, Ivey and Dave Ulliott (okay, throw in Johnnny Chan, perhaps, Doyle Brunson, probably, but you know what I mean) and cover the event from the point of view of it being just that, an event. The poker is secondary.
I don't want to meet these people. I certainly wouldn't want to work with them. And, while Nolan Dalla is a fine enough guy who loves poker to death, he is now in the thrall of a big business machine that sucks the blood out of every living thing it comes into contact with. If Nolan starts to react badly to the light, it isn't from too many nights spent indoors playing cards, its because Harrah's has replaced his blood with vampire juice.
I've been writing or otherwise computer working virtually non-stop since 5.30 this morning. I'm shattered and it's only lunchtime. I've done a word-count - 5,400 words (including this stuff). I make that, given a five-day week, four weeks off a year, something like a million words a year. Except of course that I couldn't keep it going at this rate (like knowcking out 20,000 hands a month ....). It's only because my American freelance is sipping Chianti in Tuscany, or Tosca in Chianti, or something, that I have to do the lot myself. Fucking hard work when every insurer and his wife is releasing half-yearly results, I'll tell ya. I actually looked forward to scraping all the grime off an old Le Creuset saucepan I had.
+++++
This is the kind of hand that I always used to get knocked out with in tournaments. However, given the way my opponents played, I don't think that I would have gone broke even if I had just learnt the rules. I mean, these players are seriously bad.
Hand #380655249 at table: Table TH 162
Started: Fri Jul 28 18:48:22 2006
Rob1no is at seat 1 with 40.39 (UTG)
trebor1 is at seat 2 with 34.26
alchemikAA is at seat 3 with 97.70
*Begeta* is at seat 4 with 24.30
Juaninhoo is at seat 5 with 29.50
barsas is at seat 6 with 37.50
eggdance is at seat 7 with 61.95
__LOON__ is at seat 8 with 35.75 (Button)
riichal is at seat 9 with 46.00 (Small Blind)
Birks is at seat 10 with 66.90 (Big Blind)
Birks: 10d, 6d
Rob1no: Call 0.50
Juaninhoo: Call 0.50
eggdance: Call 0.50
riichal: Call 0.50
Birks: Check
Flop (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h):
Gives me trip sixes
riichal: Bet 0.50
Birks: Call 0.50
Rob1no: Fold
Juaninhoo: Call 0.50
eggdance: Fold
Why just a call? Well, as I said, this is the kind of hand where I've been knocked out of tournaments many a time, and more often than not I have been drawing to three outs
Turn (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h, Ac):
riichal: Bet 1.50
Birks: Call 1.50
Juaninhoo: Call 1.50
I seriously thought about putting in a raise here, because an Ace with a decent kicker is likely to call me. I also have to make it a big enough raise to knock out any pot odds for a player drawing to a straight or flush. Let's assume I put riichal on a bad Ace and Juaninhoo on a flush draw or straight draw (but not both), how much should I raise here? Anyhoo, as it happens, I called
River (Board: 6s, 6h, 5h, Ac, Jd):
riichal: Check
Birks: Bet 2.00
Juaninhoo: Call 2.00
riichal: All in for $43.50
Birks: Fold
Juaninhoo: Call for $27.00
riichal shows 6c, Ah for a full house, sixes over aces.
Juaninhoo shows Ad, Td for two pairs, aces and sixes.
More surreal was the conversation that happened after.
Birks: I had the other six...
riichal: You would have called if you had the six.
Well, that says a lot, don't you think?
