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A Modest Poker Proposal


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[Content Disclosure: 100% Poker]

In most poker venues the tables are tight and when you add in 65-70 poker media, like this week at the Bellagio, it becomes a traffic jam. But their comes a point, like today, when the field thins and there "could be" more room for the players, more room for the media and even room for fans to pack the rail and see some poker.

So here is my modest proposal to all tournament directors.

Late in a tournament consider breaking tables in a staggered pattern. Break every other table and pull the chairs out of the way so that media can cover the event and not pack in around the players. Also consider, where fans can get near the tournament, breaking the interior tables first and keeping the rail tables in play so on at least one or two sides fans can see the action.

Now I know for some players it is important to know when their table will break (some players don't care) but for those who do; nothing prevents tournament directors from simply announcing a "staggered pattern" for the breaking tables. Sure some players will not listen and some will complain but they never listen and they always complain. So let's give this a try, better coverage for the fans not at the venue and more viewing possibilities for fans who do come out.

If you want this to be a spectator sport, consider the fans and those who bring them the stories.
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I Just Love Cats and I Like Poker

[Content Disclosure: 75% Poker; 25% Cats]

For the poker purists in the audience..... there will be very little poker in today's post. To cut to the "poker only content" read my article on PokerNews and/or my post on PokerBlog on this topic.

Today I am going to talk about a great charity event coming this Friday here in Las Vegas and a great cause the Nevada Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals No-Kill Sanctuary.

The event is the Jennifer Harman Celebrity Poker Tournament and Charity Auction to be held this Friday, April 20th at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Lots of poker, lots of professional players, many celebrities from Hollywood and Las Vegas. All of the buy-ins go to the SPCA and there is even a $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat for the winner.

Promises of many surprise appearances and some fairly outrageous personal donations for the auction should make for a fun day for everyone.

There are seats available for the tournament; you are bound to be seated at a table with, at least, four or five professionals and celebrity players. But enough about poker.

The SPCA Sanctuary is just a great place. I hung out in the "Cat Wing" for an hour after a press conference earlier this week and then filled out my volunteer papers before I left. My living situation here in the desert does not allow for feline companions, so now I can get my kitten fix by hanging out with 150 cats on a regular basis. The volunteers at the SPCA Sanctuary are a great bunch and I look forward to getting to know them all too, just as soon as I get those cats off of me, which will be in a week or so.

If you can't make it out to the event this Friday, please consider a donation directly to the SPCA No-Kill Sanctuary. Remember on a cold winter night, nothing is better for a chills than throwing another cat on the bed.

Donate to Nevada SPCA

Many thanks to Steve Hall for the photo.
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Springtime in Las Vegas

[Content Disclosure: 110% Poker]

Well the spring poker season has started here in Las Vegas. The World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship has already begun preliminary events at the Bellagio. The $25,000 Main Event that will wrap up Season Five of the WPT will be held April 21st - April 27th.

Less than two weeks after WPT Season Five crowns its chamption, Season Six launches just a couple of doors north of Bellagio at The Mirage. May 7th - May 23rd will be the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown with its $10K Main Event May 19th - 23rd.

Even before the Mirage event is done, the second tournament of the 2007 WPT season will begin preliminary play at Mandalay Bay. May 21st - June 2nd are the dates for the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship with another $10K Main Event running May 29th - June 2nd.

But wait there's more:

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOP) comes to Caesar's Palace from April 22nd - May 2nd with a $5K Main Event scheduled for April 30th - May 2nd.

This, of course, does not take into account the scores of tournaments held every day in greater Las Vegas starting at $30 and going up to regularly scheduled $550 and $1050 weekly events.

Oh and then there is one more little event starting on June 1st at the Rio.

I am going to be covering many of these events in one capacity or another for a variety of media outlets. Stay tuned for that schedule and welcome to Springtime in Las Vegas, it was 90 and sunny today.
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An Invitation to a Resurrection

[Content Disclosure: 100% Poker; 43% Shameless Self Promotion]

If you are reading this blog entry you know all you need to know today about UIGEA [Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act]. Unless you are one of my non-poker buddies and you are here to see what I have been doing the last few years, in which case you should give me a call and we can catch up.

The transitory governmental restrictions of freedom and in particular the freedom to play poker have made it difficult for many poker websites to stay in business. Not just the actual gambling sites but all of the support sites. Most of those online operations employ or employed writers. I was and am one of those writers.

So I am happy to announce that one of my former poker gigs/sites is coming back to life and I will be the chief blogger again over at PokerBlog.com. That does not mean I will be abandoning this space. I like "Keeping Your Head in the Game" and I will be staying right here. But please come on over to PokerBlog and let me share with you a few of my other inner demons, angels, angles and directions; all directed at poker of course. PokerBlog will be "all poker all the time" which means this space might find a bit more room for the other sides of my life and maybe even some "other" cards.

Stay Tuned--A Seasoned Witch will call you from the Depths of your Disgrace.
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Best Laid Plans

I am really a very private person. Despite all my opinions that I toss out here and in other places on the big olde world wide web, I like to keep my private life private. As my good friend Amy might say: "The bear really doesn't like coming out of the cave all that often and he almost never likes it when someone visits and tries to open up the blinds."

But the more things change, the more things change.

UIGEA + Facet Joints + eye of newt + several muscle relaxants - five days in Monte Carlo + one big writing deal - one woman + ten days in San Francisco + that other deal that just won't go away or get signed = the current state of the shrink dot dot dot

Tomorrow I will have another announcement here on my little blog. For now, I apologize to Dr. Pauly and Tiffany and Shronk who are battling through the fog of frog in Monte Carlo down one team member. Great job guys.

The more things change the more things reorganize, reinvent, recatalyze, reinvigorate and reiterate.

Poker-wise, I sense a slow turning of the wheel; the chariot has entered the town square and who knows what the parade will bring. Remember always look behind the wagon before you look inside.

Tomorrow, more clarity, more direction and even a fact or two. For tonight--Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends, We're So Glad You Could Attend...
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Linkfest & EPT Monte Carlo

I was sitting in a Omaha8 game at Red Rock late last night, when Dr. Pauly came by and said:

"You know I may never get to say this to anyone again......."

"See you in Monte Carlo!"

Yes, Pauly and I are taking our Dr./Dr. act on the road again for PokerNews.com. This is our third joint reporting gig after Aussie Millions and the LA Poker Classic. We will add one more next month when we cover the WPT Championships at Bellagio. After that there is a small tournament this summer we might cover. But for now its off to shores of the Mediterranean for the EPT Championship. You, of course, are invited to follow the live coverage on the PokerNewsLiveTournament link.

Just to wrap up this little pre-pond jumping link-fest, for my geographically challenged friends and family:
The country of Monaco and the city of Monte Carlo are located on the Mediterranean coast of France, just a few miles from the Italian border. Monaco is the second smallest independent state in Europe (The smallest is Vatican). Yes, this is the Princess Grace place.

Finally, our silly but fun internet tip of the week GoogleFight. Enjoy.
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10,000 Bad WSOP Stories

If you want reliable news about poker do NOT go to the mainstream press.

Two days ago the WSOP top staff held a little teleconference and somewhere in there the number 10,000 was mentioned. I have now seen over two dozens press stories about that little 45 minutes of words and only one of those stories does not lead with the number 10,000. Despite the fact that WSOP commissioner Jeffery Pollack was clear and clear again that 10,000 was a high-end working number, that it was not a prediction, that numbers may indeed be down, that they measure their success by something other than numbers. Didn't matter, all the stories but one, blasted out the number 10,000!

Why?

First, none of these were news reports (save one) they were sensation pieces worthy only of the Enquirer or Hollywood Tonight. They were headlines for a toss-off filler story.

Second, very few of the "mainstream media" who asked the majority of the questions knew anything about poker, they had no experience and no context for the game and in particular for the World Series of Poker.

Three, the WSOP staff goofed. The number 10,000 never should have been mentioned. All the coverage they hoped to get from the teleconference was washed away by the mention of 10,000.

Four, to the rest of the world, poker is a game that fills up late night TV on some of those high-numbered cable channels.

Too often we think what is important to us is important to everyone else. It isn't.

Too often we think that news is reported to inform us. It isn't. News is a commodity that is used by various media outlets to fill-in between their advertising and political agenda.

If anyone cares. There will be less than 5,000 players in the Main Event of the 2007 World Series of Poker. If someone offers you an over/under bet at 4500, take the under.
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