Casino Gran Madrid is a familiar name to European poker players. It was here that last year’s EPT Grand Final was held, and it will be a stop once more in EPT Season 8. This week, it is playing host to another PokerStars event: The Estrellas Poker Tour Madrid, the first stop of the tour’s third season.

Such is the popularity of the ESPT that 220 players turned up to play yesterday’s Day 1A, a bumper field that was whittled down to 110 by play’s end, when the Russian Denis Vasiliev was on top with 90,000, a stack that could have been as high as 120,000 were it not for a last-minute hiccup. Ruben Velasco is right behind him with 87,500 chips.

Leader: Denis Vasiliev

Also through safely to Day 2 of this €1,000 + €100 tournament are Team PokerStars Pro Juan Manuel Pastor and Friend of PokerStars Poli Rincon, the former football star, both with around 40,000.

I’m not sure how good your Spanish reading skills are, but if they are better than mine, then you can dive in to full live coverage of this event, which restarts at 2pm local time today, over on our sister Spanish PokerStars Blog, where Ivan Marti is writing so much he is in danger of setting his laptop on fire.

And for more info on the tour, see the Estrellas Poker Tour website.

Here is the full end-of-Day 1A chip count:

Denis Vasiliev Russian Federation 90000
Ruben Velasco Merino Spain 87400
Enrique Valle Lledosa Spain 85000
Mikel Allende Diaz PokerStars Player Spain 79800
Tamas Konya Hungary 65900
Luis Rodriguez Cruz PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 63800
Alexander Billy Stevic Sweden 58900
Dara O´Kearney Ireland 52700
Joaquin Serrano Cano Spain 52500
Pierre Mothes PokerStars Qualifiers Letonia 51700
Mario Muro Lacasa PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 51400
Andrey Gatilov PokerStars Qualifiers Russian Federation 51300
Miguel Arraco Serna PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 51200
Mantas Visockis PokerStars Qualifiers Lithunia 50100
Angel Calderon Romero Spain 50100
Javier Torrado Lindo PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 49000
Oscar Blanco Carrasco Spain 48500
Jonathan Sanchez Spain 46000
Elias Gutierrez Hernandez Spain 45300
Oscar Antonio Romero Martinez Spain 44000
Raul Molano Gil Spain 43000
Jose Obadia Chocron Spain 42500
Emilio Puigdellivol Abad PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 42000
Josuha Charles Hart United Kingdom 41600
Roy Vink PokerStars Qualifiers Netherlands 41200
Alexey Mironenkov PokerStars Qualifiers Russian Federation 40500
Juan Manuel Pastor Spain 39500
Samuel Bernabeu Guilabert PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 39200
Poli Rincon Spain 38300
Francisco Alvarez San Jose Spain 38100
Mihails Morozovs Lithunia 37800
Carlos Payo Diez PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 37800
Ruben Sanchez Cebollada Spain 37200
Alfonso Saiz Lopez Spain 37100
Gerardo Segui De La Paz Spain 36900
Roman Dolgorukov Russian Federation 36400
Eustaquio Imbernon Orenes PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 34500
Luis Hornero Sanchez Spain 34400
Carlos Gabriel Palaincini Lopez Mexico 34300
Andoni Larrabe Sanchez Spain 33700
Jose Luis Puente Oña PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 33700
Steve Enriquez Gallo Spain 33000
Ivan Martin Carballo PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 32800
Iulian Enache Romania 32400
Marco Antonio Rivas Nuðez Spain 31800
Manuel Martinez Solsona Spain 31800
Fernando Seror Garcia Spain 30900
Jose Manuel Perez Roman Spain 29500
Roberto Garcia Santiago Spain 28700
Ricardo Vilariño Gestal Spain 27900
Jose Luis Garcia Devesa PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 27500
Pablo Fernandez-Baldor Spain 26800
Francisco Jose Lopez Romero PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 26800
Jaime Closas Martinez PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 25800
Pawel Brzeski Poland 25700
Georgios Papadopoulos Sweden 25600
Ronan Arthur PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 25500
Ricardo Berzal Fernandez Spain 24800
Isidoro Barreña Diaz Spain 24700
Dimache Diulica Romania 23800
Manuel Cuberos Lopez-Cozar Spain 23700
Daniel Tejedor Moya PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 23600
Cesar Garcia Dominguez Spain 23500
Priit Brikker PokerStars Qualifiers Estonia 23400
Rodrigo Espinosa Gonzalez Spain 23300
Martin Damian Wainstein Berestovoy Argentina 23200
Manon Veldhuizen PokerStars Qualifiers Netherlands 23000
Mª Jesus Martinez Tejero Spain 22600
Alvaro Ballesteros Spain 22600
Theodor Lothman Sweden 22500
Ashley John Squirrell PokerStars Qualifiers United Kingdom 22100
Arturo Sabugal Alvarez Cascos Spain 22000
Antonio Calderon Catedra PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 21900
Jose Luis Rujas Gil Spain 21700
Justas Semaska Lithunia 21300
Mateusz Matla PokerStars Qualifiers United Kingdom 21000
He Jiang PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 20800
Francisco Salvador PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 20500
Jose Carlos Perez Torres Spain 20400
Josu Muro Motrico Spain 20100
Rafael Canoira Amador Spain 20000
Matthias Frost PokerStars Qualifiers Germany 18700
Angel Peñalver Hernandez Spain 18700
Ivan Santos Benavides PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 18300
Arpad Kovecses Hungary 18000
Luis Martinez Sidrach De Cardona PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 17600
Miguel Enseñat Matamalas PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 17400
Pentek Zsolt Hungary 15900
Vincas Tamasauskas PokerStars Qualifiers Lithunia 15700
Tim Bettingen PokerStars Qualifiers Germany 14600
Tim Davie PokerStars Qualifiers United Kingdom 14000
Martin Clemmensen PokerStars Qualifiers Denmark 13300
Vytautas Semaska PokerStars Qualifiers Lithunia 13200
Fabian Deimann PokerStars Qualifiers Germany 13100
Oleg Poluzhnikov PokerStars Qualifiers Russian Federation 12800
Hannes Krebs PokerStars Qualifiers Germany 11700
Chris Jensen Denmark 10900
Ramon Ortigosa Ruiz PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 9500
Vicente Delgado Zamorano PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 9400
David Rodriguez Lamas Spain 7600
Juan Jose Altuzarra Amutio PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 6600
Cesar Garcia Reillo PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 6200
Francisco Marin Pedreño PokerStars Qualifiers Spain 6000
Juan Manuel Campos Hernandez Spain 2200

Survivor: Juan Manuel Pastor

Tags: eureka poker tour | moth | news | online-poker | rio | russian | Super Tuesday | tcoop | twitter | united-kingdom | writing

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

One of my friends is a veteran Hollywood scribe and summed up this situation best on Twitter: “Hey, @wsop, what part of “Never go out of your way to piss off a writer” was unclear?”

I’m sure the WSOP had legitimate reasons for creating this unwritten rule (poker media cannot play in any WSOP event, but cash games and satellites are permitted) in the first place. But they should have waited until everyone posted their fluff pieces about the press conference before giving everyone the bad news.

Hence why the WSOP was one big Fail Whale on Twitter on Wednesday. Instead of us filling the echo chamber with nifty PR sound bites, everyone went on the war path. Today should have been a day to laud the fact that live poker, especially the WSOP, is the new King after the post-Black Friday online poker apocalypse had given way to a New World Order of Poker.

Never go out of your way to piss off a writer…especially the ones who have to promote your brand during devastating economic times in America.

So while reporters were penning their recaps of the WSOP press conference (which included introductions of new sponsors and rule changes), word spread fast via Twitter that the WSOP was prohibiting members of the press from playing in the WSOP.

A shitstorm ensued.

Actually, it was an volcanic eruption, followed by an earthquake, which triggered a tsunami, and then hailstones made out of monkey feces rained from the sky.

Instead of poker scribes focusing on the highlights from the press conference, they will spend the next 24-48 hours raising hell in every place possible. Even some poker pros known for hating the media were rushing to our defense. I guess the old adage applies… my eneny’s enemy is my best friend.

For the record, I had no intentions in playing in the 2011 WSOP. I’m a cash game player and not a tournament player, but these days I’m more of a commodities trader and a sportsbettor. I play substantially more hands Pai Gow than poker.

But this unwritten rule ambushing the media became a wrinkle in the Year of Poker Media. The way everyone in the press was running at the tables, it was not improbable that one of us was going to final table a WSOP event.

I had many friends in the media with intentions on playing at least one or more events. For many reps, a single WSOP event is their only reward and bonus for working the grind of the WSOP. For women in poker media, many of them get to play in the Ladies Event. But no more.

A few friends of mine are semi-pros and supplement their income with both poker and reporting. I tried to play poker for a living in 2003-04 and when things went south, I began writing freelance pieces to guarantee a steady flow of income. My situation changed in the last few years and I supported myself exclusively on writing. I used poker winnings to fund Phish tour and self-publish Lost Vegas. I had to decline a few months of work assignment to write the book, so my summer poker winnings gave me breathing room.

But it’s absurd for the WSOP to tell any one that they can’t make a living playing poker. With a few exceptions, when you add up the hourly rate of an average WSOP reporter, it’s slightly above minimum wage. Throw in exorbitant and inflated food prices and it’s practically extortion.

After Black Friday, many reporters are going to the WSOP without knowing if they are going to get paid. And the ones who weren’t laid off had to suck it up and take a pay cut. Their only solace was the WSOP itself. They could parlay a satellite score into a buy-in to a WSOP event and have a chance to make money. A min-cash in a donkament might be a month of pay for some reporters.

Back in the day… the WSOP press room used to give out free bottled water, soda, coffee, and pastries. Times changed. Due to an internal pissing match between the WSOP and Harrah’s the WSOP media room got billed up the ass for the beverages and snacks. Alas, they stopped giving us freebies. We now have to rely on a single water cooler to hydrate the press corp. Luckily, I scored a food comp a couple of times a week, but many other reps weren’t so lucky.

I know the only power I have is where I spend my money, and because of that I attempted to spend as little money inside the Rio as possible. I’d rather give my money elsewhere and that trend will continue in the future. I used to play cash games once in a while at the Rio. I see no incentive to play this year.

Despite the popularity of the Hooker Bar, many of the media hang out at the Gold Coast or locals casinos when our shifts are over. Why? It’s cheaper than the Rio. We’re not ballers. Many of us work paycheck to paycheck. We’d hang out, gamble, eat, drink, and party more at the Rio — if the prices were better suited to the average poker reporters’ paltry income.

One chapter in Lost Vegas sums up my experience playing in the only WSOP event I cashed. I’m not the only writer to have played in the WSOP. Many of the best books in poker literature occurred because the writer was permitted to play. As Otis pointed out, the titans of poker literature were inspired by the WSOP. Without Al Alvarez, Tony Holden, Jesse May, Jim McManus, Michael Craig, Peter Alson, and Andy Glazer, many of us would not be playing in the WSOP today.

I’m incensed. Writers in Hollywood have unions, but poker media doesn’t have a union. Hacks steal content all the time. Our rates get undercut by clueless noobs who practically give away their souls for free. Our employers have pissing matches and disputes against one another, which pit us grunts against each other. The poker media used to be a family when I got into poker in the mid 00s. These days, it got turned into your worst high school nightmare. Toss into the equation desperate economic times, rising gas prices, Black Friday, and the removal of the golden carrot.

No soup for you. No golden carrots either.

What kept many poker reporters in the trenches was the proverbial American Dream — that one day we’ll be on the other side of the TV table and instead of hunched over our laptops in the darkness, that maybe we’d be the ones flinging chips across the table, jawing back and forth with Phil Hellmuth, check-raising Phil Ivey with air, and chasing down the poker player’s universal dream — to win a WSOP bracelet.

By denying media reps the opportunity to play in the WSOP events, the same exact dream that the powers to be ask us to promote has been crushed, smashed, and obliterated into a million little pieces.

Morale had been at an all-time low for my brothers and sisters in the poker media. Just when we thought we had the WSOP to look forward to, the powers to be give everyone another reason to despise the establishment even more so. If the goal was to alienate the press, well congrats. The fingers that peck away at the keyboard, which unleash warm-felt messages of propaganda, have been crushed by the bourgeois.

Show your solidarity… buy an official Benjo BOOSHIT t-shirt and wear it at the WSOP. We also have stickers for $4.20. All proceeds will go toward covering our bar tab at the 2011 World Series of Pai Gow.

* * *
Update… Pissed Off Poker Media 1, WSOP 0

2:40pm PT… less than an hour after the shit storm erupted, the WSOP admitted they made an error and will be revising this “unwritten rule” to find a compromise with media members who want to play in the WSOP.

Here are the tweets from @WSOP…

Is it too late to say April Fools Poker Media? (j/k) I screwed up. I hear you. We’ll come up with an alternative that lets u do both.

Give me a day to vet, but I think there’s a way to do this that is more fair. Will provide details as soon as we can, but please rest easy.

Here’s when I use my Johnny Drama voice and scream, “Victory!!!!”

Glad the powers to be realized they made an error. Kudos to the WSOP staff (Ty, Seth, et al) for their quick and decisive action in correcting a hot button issue.

I’m also proud with the entire poker media (along with pros and readers). We all banded together to fight for a unified cause. We forced change when we saw an obvious injustice. Everyone helped pile on their contempt for this obviously retarded unwritten rule.

Now let’s take this one step further… if we can all just come together and form a union so we can: 1) demand a minimum wage rate (to protect us from tyrannical Napoleonic overlords continuously lowering the daily rate to a bag of peanuts), 2) demand higher wages and get overtime, 3) subsidies for health insurance, and 4) guarantee that editors will punish habitual plagiarism… then maybe we can actually be recognized as force to be reckoned with.

We could control the press because we are the press, but we’re controlled by corporate interests and as a result, we’ve become too chicken shit to speak our minds. Poker writers of the world… unite!

Tags: al alvarez | daily | gold coast | hollywood | lost vegas | news | online-poker | poker | sports

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Every May since 2005, I reread two books as part of my the “Spring Training” preparation that I undertake before I migrate to Las Vegas for the summer to cover the WSOP. One of those books is Al Alvarez’s The Biggest Game in Town. I won’t reveal the other because it’s an obscure book that is non-poker related and not Vegas-themed. During the last two or three years, I took the last week off in May to relax with my girlfriend on the beach in Malibu before the WSOP insanity began. During that mini-holiday, I dug my toes into the sand and devoured Alavarez’s words.

The poker community dubbed Doyle Brunson as the Godfather of Poker, so it goes without saying that Alvarez is the Godfather of Poker Writers. I’ve always said that the Brits are among the best poker writers in the business and Alvarez blazed the trail that has since been followed by Tony Holden. It’s no coincidence that some of the best poker scribes in the modern area (Howard Swains and Snoopy, to just mention a couple) hail from the United Kingdom.

Alvarez is a fantastic poet, which is why his descriptions of the WSOP in The Biggest Game in Town are enriched by compact and layered sentences that are hearty, illustrative, and powerful — all in one punch.

In homage to Alvarez, Short-Stacked Shamus recently completed a sensational and entertaining six-part series titled “Rereading The Biggest Game in Town.” It was so damn good that I decided to devote an entire post to linking up each part.

Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: Prelude (1 of 6)
Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: Poker’s Challenge to “Reality” (2 of 6)
Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: Losing (3 of 6)
Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: Playing Jimmy Chagra (4 of 6)
Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: Reality and Romance (5 of 6)
Rereading The Biggest Game in Town: America, Where Gambling is a Form of Patriotism (6 of 6)

Well done, sir. Shamus got me all excited to reread The Biggest Game in Town much earlier than May.

By the way, help support independent writers and buy a copy of Shamus’ pulp novel Same Difference.

Tags: alvarez | beach | biggest | biggest-game | download-poker | playing-jimmy | poker | pokerstars | rio | stacked-shamus | writing | wsop