philosophy

Barry Greenstein: PokerStars’ Renaissance Man

SCOOP logo.gif There’s a famous New Yorker cartoon, featuring two men, clearly residents of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, which has its de facto northern boundary at 14th Street. One says, “I haven’t been north of 14th Street in 20 years.” The other thinks for a moment, then replies, “I’ve never been north of 14th Street.”

Sometimes the poker world, and its heroes, can be like that. Particularly for the youngsters among us, it’s easy to get completely wrapped up in this game and its milieu. Especially if you’re one of those chasing SuperNova or SuperNova Elite status, and/or you follow the various online forums, track the SCOOP results, and so on – suddenly it seems like there’s not much time left for anything else.

Then there’s Barry Greenstein. I’ve known Barry since the late 80′s, when we played in the same cardroom (Garden City in San Jose, California). That’s not to say we were playing at the same table; Barry was playing in the biggest games and I was in some of the smallest. But the point is that 25 years ago, Barry was plying his trade, and that’s pretty much how he’s supported himself and his family since.

But along the way, even while becoming a world-class cash games player and major tournament winner, Barry has studied and learned the world around him.

This was brought into sharp relief yesterday when Barry was kind enough to spend a couple of hours chatting with his fans in the SCOOP Fan Club¹. When the questions were typical (“Do you feel good about making play X on televised hand Y?”), Barry’s answers were more or less what you’d expect from a serious professional player. But I knew he had a broader range and threw some non-standard queries at him. For instance, “Discuss the strategic importance of U.S. President Obama publicly supporting same-sex marriage in an interview yesterday.” Barry’s replied that it would force Obama’s likely opponent in November, Mitt Romney, to face up to the question of “equality for all Americans” during the campaign. Clearly he was aware of that interview and had thought about its implications.

Greenstein in a similar Q&A at the 2012 PCA

Then another member of the club asked Barry about his mathematics background. Barry said something about “(W)hile I was working on my PhD in mathematics…” That surprised me; while I knew he was a serious computer scientist and programmer, I didn’t know he had that advanced background in math. Hearing that, I asked Barry for his Erdös number (a measure of a mathematician’s publication-fu). Somewhat to my surprise, he said, “Well, I thought it was going to be 2 (an impressively low number), but I didn’t get author credit on (a paper) I did some computer work on, so I guess it’s infinite.” This impressed both me and the math-geek who’d asked Barry the original question.

Other questions elicited uncharacteristic (but wonted for Barry) replies that showed his forward-looking nature. “What was your favourite poker moment?” “I don’t know – it hasn’t happened yet.” This from a guy who has WSOP bracelets, WPT titles, and has been inducted into the poker Hall of Fame.

But lest you think that this has distracted him from his day/night job, you should have seen the discussion about his session lengths. “I generally average 16-hour sessions… Given my age, I’m trying not to go over 20-hour sessions.” Barry takes his job very seriously, and yet somehow finds time to inspect both the world around him and himself.

Perhaps we got a glimpse of how he does that on a recent EPT broadcast. He said he was reading a book on (I believe it was) “etiology”. When broadcasters James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton sounded confused, he explained that one of his kids was taking a philosophy class and Barry had a standing offer to read any text book that his kids had to use in school. Thus did professional poker player Barry Greenstein find himself wading through a philosophy text.

This method of supporting your kids has the excellent side effect of occasionally throwing a new and different subject in your face. While that may not hold specifically for dry philosophy tomes, I suspect that in general, PokerStars Team Pro Barry Greenstein relishes the opportunity to stretch his brain and learn a new thing or two. That’s how one keeps his Renaissance Man chops up to date.

¹ The SCOOP Fan Club is in Home Games club #634789, invitation code “scoopfan”. It’s open to everybody and we’ve already visitors such as Talonchick, Nanonoko, and David Williams. There’s plenty of room for new members so come on in.

No comments

SCOOP 2012: The real Shaun Deeb, SCOOP champion

SCOOP logo.gif If you don’t know Shaun Deeb, you don’t know online poker. For nearly as long as I’ve known the online game, I’ve known Deeb’s name. Long before I ever met him, I knew who he was. He had a reputation as a sometimes brash, always confident marksman at the table. He crushed online. He has nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. This week, he won his second SCOOP title. There’s not much more that people can write about the guy. But, as he won a second SCOOP, it seemed like a good time to check in.

This is how it normally works. More often than not, Spring Championship of Online Poker winners are unknown, or if not unknown, at least anonymous. To help everyone have a better idea of who the winners are, I like to reach out to the winners with a few questions that might shed some light on their life, personality, and poker philosophy. Many people prefer to remain anonymous, but there are several who concede to outing themselves.

In Deeb’s case, there isn’t a great deal more to reveal. That said, I shot him a few questions anyway, and he was kind enough to respond.

Deeb is now 26 years old and living in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, a home away from home he found after leaving the USA post-Black Friday.

What is the most interesting thing that’s happened to you in the last year?

Deeb: Moving out of the United States to continue to play online poker. The best part of Black Friday was getting me to move to Playa del Carman. I will be living here for a long time.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to deal with in the last six months?

Deeb: Deciding between spending time with family or spending time to grind online.

Shaun Deeb with his grandmother

How does your win compare to your other poker success?

Deeb: Oddly it felt a lot better then my other major titles. The prize money was less, but I have felt out of the game a bit in online MTTs with all my mixed game hands in the past few years. It was nice for it to pay off in a such a tough, albeit small, field.

What do you want everyone to know about you?

Deeb: I maybe not the nicest guy on the tables, but away from it we are all different people. So, don’t hold grudges, especially if it was something that was done years prior. People change a lot during that time. Always giving second chances helps a lot more than it hurts.

Did anything particularly interesting happen in your SCOOP event (other than you winning it, of course…)?

Deeb: I was offered a bet by a fellow highstakes guy who wanted to make the event bigger so we crossbooked which means we paid out the amount if either cashed in the event. I got lucky to get an early chip lead, and he was bust, so it was a quick freeroll going for me.

Anything else on your mind?

Deeb: To everyone who is just a no-limit hold’em or pot-limit Omaha player, it’s time to become a professional poker player. If you want to make the most money long term, you need to be adaptive. Learning new poker variants can only help you in the future.

Fish like other games they know. Everyone is good at no-limit hold’em, plus the older they are, the more likely they grew up playing games besides Omaha and hold’em. Plus, I personally really enjoyed the rejuvenation of motivation in poker when I got into them. It’s like you’re taking baby steps, and every stride for improvement you feel more rewarded than just grinding out hands in a game you aren’t getting significantly better at every session you put in.

No comments

Happy seventh anniversary to…us!

Seven years ago today, I pressed publish on the very first post of the PokerStars Blog. On that day in 2005, I’d been playing poker my whole life. I’d been blogging for six years. I’d been blogging about poker for almost as long. There was no reason to be nervous. And yet I was. As I sent the first PokerStars Blog story out into the ether, I wondered, “What is this going to turn into?” I had no way of knowing how big it would get.

Today, we here at the PokerStars Blog celebrate our seventh anniversary. In the seven years since that first post, we have grown from one guy with a notepad and a camera to an entire team of writers, photographers, and tech gurus that we like to think has no equal. How we got there is a road so winding, I don’t even remember all the turns. The long version of the story is told in a post I wrote last year chronicling our story for PokerStars 10th anniversary: How the PokerStars Blog got its start. If you’re interested in how we grew, that story tells it in a really big nutshell.

How we looked seven years ago

Today, there are more than a dozen PokerStars Blog outlets in just about any language you need. We have writers all over the globe who work tirelessly to bring you the best PokerStars online and live coverage there is. Our readership has grown exponentially since 2005 and we welcome millions of readers to this page every year.

How?

Well, I think there are a lot of reasons. First and foremost, PokerStars’ eye for and dedication to innovation has meant a great deal to the PokerStars Blog. There is no arena PokerStars enters that it doesn’t strive to be the best, and the PokerStars Blog is no exception. There is a top-down philosophy that mandates the people of the PokerStars Blog work to be the best at what we do. Despite our admitted and transparent bias toward PokerStars, we maintain the strictest of standards in our reporting efforts. We aim to not be a machine that spits out press releases. We actively work to offer you the most accurate, entertaining, and comprehensive poker reporting available (you can also read how that came about in this post. If our readership is any indication, we feel pretty confident we succeed most of the time.

Furthermore, over the years, we have all kept our eyes open on new innovations and technologies to help us better report the news. In the past few months, we have expanded our live coverage team such that we now can report all the hand-by-hand action while simultaneously providing the best color and features on tour. Here’s a look at a day in the life of a PokerStars live blogger.

It goes beyond that, however. All the philosophy in the world won’t matter if we don’t have the people to execute it. Fortunately, over the years, we’ve put together a staff of people who know how to report the news and tell good stories. A majority of the people who work for the PokerStars Blog were professional storytellers before they turned their focus to poker. Our staff is made up of former newspapermen, broadcasters, novelists, English professors, and top bloggers.

The result is what I consider to be the best team in the business turning out some of the most interesting stories around. In the end, we turn out hand-by-hand action of live events, in-depth features and interviews, and breaking news as it happens. Even when you don’t have time to read us here, we update the PokerStars Blog Twitter feed.

The blog team in Monaco

A few of the bloggers at the PCA

If you’re new to the PokerStars Blog or haven’t been able to read us daily, here are a few stories from the past few years that have stood out to me as representative of what we do and how we do it.

The long, lonely walk of Matt Affleck (by Howard Swains)

Slaying the EPT Monkey (by Simon Young)

Finding Isildur1: Viktor Blom cops to his secret identity (by Brad Willis)

Seventeen steps with Barry Greenstein (by Brad Willis)

The PokerStars Blog One Time Chip (by Howard Swains)

It got hot in here (by Stephen Bartley)

Drama with 30,000 chips (by Stephen Bartley)

How you can back Tom McEvoy for the Poker Hall of Fame (by Simon Young)

The real reason Stephen Bartley looks so odd (by Simon Young)

Safari so good (by Simon Young)

A public health message (by Brad Willis)

Perspective (by Brad Willis)

The Post-Modern American Dream (by Paul McGuire)

Cinderella (Wo)man by Kristin Bihr

Baptism by bloco (by Dave Behr)

The best thing I’ve ever seen on this tour (by Brad Willis)

There are many, many more that I could list here from the likes of Rick Dacey, Martin Harris, David Aydt, Jennifer Newell, Kevin Mathers, Marc Convey, and the long, long list of other writers who contribute here. They are people who put their hearts and souls into blogging for us, and we’re lucky to have them on our team.

So, today we celebrate our seventh anniversary. It’s a happy day for us, and we’re looking forward to many more years of making the PokerStars Blog even better.

No comments

A Letter to Ndugu

16 April 2012
California, USA

Dear Ndugu,

I hope you are well. I received all of your letters and read every single one at least a dozen times.

I apologize for not sending you money over the last twelve months. After the events of Black Friday on April 15th of last year, I no longer had the available funds to donate to your orphanage. Before Black Friday, I earned a redonkulous amount of blood money from online poker sites. It was embarrassing that a hack like me should be compensated for writing pedantic trite on Tao of Poker, so in order to feel better about myself, I used a percentage of that windfall to fund humanitarian efforts like feeding organic foodstuffs to hippies, supporting odalisque single mothers twirling on the pole, and of course… sending money to your foster program in Tanzania.

I know it’s been approximately 111 days since my last letter and I have no excuses, expect that I had nothing meaningful to say. Nothing. For the last few years, I’ve felt like a fraud without a sincere message. I hate repeating myself and my schtick is nothing more than a derivative of something I already said much better years before. I’m supposed to be imparting pearls of wisdom to you, but instead I’ve done nothing but brag about what it is like dabbling in the Dionysian lifestyle (smoking too much grass and popping waaaaay too many pills), while promoting the genius of degenerate gambling.

I was a peddler of broken dreams — a postmodern Pusherman — shoving online poker down the throats of whomever wandered into this corner of the web. I should’ve been executed five years ago by a firing squad for crimes against humanity.

There’s something to be said about the Seven Deadly Sins. The Jesuits used Dante’s Divine Comedy to teach them to me in Latin — acedia (sloth), avaritia (greed), gula (gluttony), invidia (envy), ira (anger), luxuria (lust) and superbia (pride). I often indulge in at least four of them at any given time. Sometimes I brazenly juggle all seven and it’s like trying to catch searing fireballs. Even though I release them as quickly as possible, those fireballs of sin still char my flesh.

It’s impossible to wake up every day without being driven by one of those sins, and let’s be honest, living a life of purity isn’t all that much fun. Johnny Hughes once told me, “You need one vice, one drug, and one girl. But never more than one of each, otherwise you have real problems.”

Ndugu, I can’t stress the importance of this: if you realize you’re juggling more than three sins, then it’s time to take a break because each sin is like a vat of acid that corrodes your soul into a bubbling mist of despair.

Life has been good to me. Too much so. In the buffet of life, I overindulged myself. Can you blame me? I’m a curious person, which has often gotten me into trouble, but it’s definitely saved me from living a life of mundane comfort.

I lived in cheap motels in Las Vegas and clients put me up in luxurious hotels all over the world. I spent many hungover mornings sitting in international airports gazing at the beleaguered faces of other harried business travelers. I can’t believe that I’m somewhat sane after jumping more time zones than I can count, acting as a missionary for the Church of PokerStars, blazing trails into uncharted territory and trying to convert the locals by preaching salvation via online poker. When that failed to work, I became an economic hitman resorting to the oldest trick in the Gringo Manual on Latin American Commerce — tempt them with glossy images of the celebrity culture and wave a fistful of cash until they start drooling.

Poker is a game of skill, but greed is a deadly drug. Sometimes it’s not easy to differentiate between the two. Unfortunately, you really can’t become the best at whatever you want to do without being greedy. Conflicts arise when greed spills into other aspects of your life. You want more. You consume more. You covet thy neighbor’s wife. You covet thy neighbor’s oxen. You hate and despise those whom have more. You make fun of those whom have less. It’s just the nature of the game. Once we’re in… we’re in for life. It’s like getting on a superhighway without any off ramps and exits. If you slam on the brakes, then you’re going to be crushed by an 18-wheeler. You have no choice but to keep driving until you reach your final destination… death.

While caught up in the pursuit of material items, humans forget that we’re just a bunch of animals and a single chromosome away from being a chimpanzee. After all, we share something like 98% of the same DNA. Whether it’s God or a bunch of alien geneticists — whoever created us pretty much carved us out of a similar mold.

It’s through greed that they control us. Who is they exactly? The collective cloud of capitalism. The gears of commerce. The massive machine of consumption.

The Ned Beatty character explains it the best in the 1976 film Network, when he rips Howard Beale a new asshole for speaking out against the system….

“It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity. It is ecological balance. You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no Third Worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems. One vast, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petrol dollars, electro dollars, multi dollars. Reichsmarks, Rins, Rubles, Pounds and Shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today…

We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations… inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime.

I don’t have to explain to you how absolute power corrupts all institutions. You’ve seen the heavy hand of colonialism come smashing down on your continent. Your rare minerals are extracted to build mobile phones. Your clean water is stolen and converted to Coca-cola. Your glistening gems eventually are draped around the emaciated bodies of cocaine-eyed starlets posing for the paparazzi on red carpets in Hollyweird.

Bad beats are something you experience every single day and the fact that I’m even complaining about my situation makes me a vapid wanker. I don’t have to tell you about tyranny and inequality through imperialism because I’m preaching to the choir. You’ve seen the daily horrors of predatory capitalism disguised as national hegemony. Corrupt officials worldwide padded their overseas bank accounts after becoming perverse corporate-owned puppets. The nefarious rulers of banana republics take bribes in exchange for allowing their lands to be raped, polluted, looted and destroyed by ruthless multinational conglomerates, meanwhile the same unscrupulous leaders are pimping out its powerless citizens as cheap slave labor.

We live in a use and abuse society. If you aren’t using someone, then you’re being abused.

Those atrocities will never end. And how do I try to change the world? I don’t, so I wallow in Catholic guilt which just makes me even more miserable.

For almost a decade, I easily distracted the masses from the maelstrom of evil that has engulfed the world by churning out misogynist rhetoric about the glamorous rockstar lifestyle of a professional poker player. I don’t mean to rag on pros because I have a sincere respect for what they really do. They are an eclectic breed of rebels and rogues, born with an innate and uncanny knack for cards, and the majority of them work their asses off. The day-to-day life of a pro is nothing close to being swanky and upscale, rather it’s utter terror with nonstop pressure and many of them struggle to avoid drowning in their own self-doubt.

The same can be said for anyone running the rat race. Doesn’t matter if you’re Phil Ivey or Lloyd Blankfein, because most of the time, everyone is emotionally beaten by the daily grind so they insulate themselves from reality by adopting the “balla” persona.

Deep down we all know what we’re doing is complete bullshit anyway… so it’s better to live it up now and relish the present (dare I say, carpe diem?) rather than rue the past or be fearful of the unpredictable future.

From that perspective, the prevailing sense of anomie is what justifies the means. We feel devastatingly empty about how we earn a living, so we surround ourselves with material items that are supposed to symbolize and replace intangible feelings of self-worth and accomplishment. If the material items don’t work, then we indulge in carnal pleasures — drugs, sex, rock and roll. And if that doesn’t work, then we turn to religion and find solace worshiping invisible entities.

You never realize how much you miss the sun, until you’re covered in complete darkness. That reminds me of a Bill Withers lyric, “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.”

One day I will die. Maybe in 25 years? Maybe tomorrow? The “when” never really matters because we all die. Sometimes I wonder if Neal Cassady was right about life being like driving on the open road… “We are four dimensional beings in three dimensional bodies, looking out two-dimensional windshields.”

I briefly mentioned the car accident in previous letters, but I didn’t want to scare you about the severity of my injuries. In case you were wondering the details… my girlfriend wanted to sleep in, so I drove myself to breakfast. I was completely sober, which is ironic, because had I been a little buzzed, I would have been driving a little more cautious. But then again, almost everything in life is out of our control. All it takes is one jerkoff to run a red light and then you’re done. Fade to black.

The good news is that I’m almost fully recovered, which is a miracle. I still walk with a slight limp, but I thank the universe every day for having the chance to see the sun rise and then set. I’m living on borrowed time. I’m not afraid of dying. Death is inevitable. I’m more afraid of barely being alive. The fact I’m not crippled baffles me. The paramedic took photos of the crushed car and he often shows it to his colleagues. When he was driving my battered body to the ER, he told my girlfriend that I luckiest guy in Vegas because walked away from what should have been a fatal accident. A monster-sized SUV spearing the driver’s side of a mid-size car at a high rate of acceleration usually results in 85% mortality rate. I sucked out big time. I’ll never complain about losing money in Las Vegas again, because last July, I won a priceless jackpot — a second chance at life.

I should’ve perished underneath the blazing Nevada sun and inside a twisted heap of metal and granulated glass. I would’ve been a ghost wandering the Las Vegas valley for eternity, yet for some cosmic reason, it wasn’t my time to go. But, I can’t let an hour pass without thinking… “Why am here?” I’m struggling right now because I’m ashamed that my existence is and was utterly meaningless.

What difference did I really make in this world? What have I contributed to this society?

Nothing. I failed. There’s no way to spice up that glaring and disappointing fact that I lived a shallow life. Warren Schmidt said, “Once I’m dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it’ll be as though I never existed.”

That’s how I feel right now.

Hey, but don’t worry about me. I won’t beat myself up too much, after all, I had an absolute blast. This was one wild ride and one I never expected to take. I fell ass backwards into this nebulous world and for many years, I called it my home. This long, strange trip was fun… while it lasted. I’ve been waiting for a time when I can finally say, “This has all been wonderful, but now I’m on my way.” Alas, I won’t fret too much and I’ll fondly look back at the halcyon moments and allow the infectious smiling faces of friends to become permanent memory burns on my brain. And all the bad beats and petty stuff, like the surplus of assholes who caused me turmoil? They’ll get deleted from my memory banks. Every one of them. You’d be surprised how quick a few rum cocktails helps you forget the sullen times.

I wish you the best, Ndugu. Always remember that you have your whole life ahead of you. I hope you can learn from my mistakes and actually do something constructive and meaningful with your life. Don’t be a selfish tosser like myself. Live a life of integrity. Try to make a positive impact in this world.

Be good. Do good. But most importantly… be yourself, Ndugu.

Death is the eventual end point of life. One day we miraculously show up. Then one day we depart and return to the void of nothingness. So while we’re here, right now, we have to make it count. Life is all about small, simple pleasures. Never forget that. Cherish every single moment. Every. Single. Moment.

I don’t want to say that this is my last letter to you, because I cannot predict the future, but let’s be honest, Ndugu… this will probably be my last letter because I’ve said everything I wanted to say and I can’t keep going on forever. Ken Kesey, the great writer and ringleader of the Merry Pranksters, summed it up the best: “Impermanence is impermanence…. nothing lasts.”

Your friend,
Pauly

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

No comments

EPT8 Madrid: Simão continues to show Brazilian flair, will he make the final?

In the football world (read soccer if you’re North American) the Brazilians are known as the most skilled in the world. They’ve won the World Cup more times than anyone else (five) and had the greatest number of FIFA World Player of the Year wins (eight, way more than France and Argentina with three apiece). You can pin it on the samba rhythm or the capipirinhas if you want, but those South Americans have flair when it comes to sport and it appears it’s a playing philosophy that Brazilian João Paulo Simão has adopted here in Madrid.

The 23-year-old hit our radar yesterday when calling out for Pele, Brazil’s iconic number ten, when looking for the board to match the ten in his hand. It didn’t come, but he didn’t seem to mind. It allowed James Sudworth to double, a player that he seemed to like and perhaps would have felt bad for flipping out of the tournament so near to the money.

ept madrid_day 4_simao.jpg

Simao: the best Brazilians are known by just one name

This sensitive side manifested itself again on the last hand of play last night when he knocked out two players in one fell swoop. The sympathy he showed to Konstantinos Nanos (3rd place finish at EPT Vienna for €265,000) was obviously genuine.

“When I knock out players I say good game to show respect but that guy was special. He was talking to me since the first day. He was a very great guy and we started a friendly relationship. I didn’t want to knock him out but I have ace-king, I have to call. I was sad to do it,” he said, finishing with a shrug as if to shirk the last vestiges of guilt.

ept vienna_day 5_nanos.jpg

Konstantinos Nanos at the EPT Vienna final table

Simão, who astutely categorises his own game as ‘very aggressive’, had a swingy day yesterday, hoovering up chips in one hand, doubling someone else up the next, tearing away with a monstrous chip lead and then tangling with Bruno Lopes when the Frenchman held the near nuts. If we were to draw his chip counts into a chart it would look a little like Sugarloaf Mountain: some large humps, steep drops but an overall general incline. Today has been no different.

“I started the day with 2,000,000 chips, lost three big pots in the first level and was down to 1,000,000 then I won small pot, small pot, small pot to come back to 1,500,00,000. Now I’m back to 2,000,000 (after knocking out Siyu Sha) after winning with queens. My stack has been going down and up, down and up, like in every tournament,” he told us at the break.

Perhaps that’s how your stack goes in every tournament, João. It’s a playing style reminiscent of the Brazilian national side, who eviscerate their opponents with a we-don’t-care-if-you-score-we’ll-just-score-more policy. It’s devilishly effective if you’re got the skill to pull it off.

ept madrid_day 4_nic levi.jpg

Nic Levi staring Simão down

Simão has been playing professionally since graduating in civil engineering and largely plays live cash games but has latterly turned his attentions to online and live tournaments: “I’ve played twice in Las Vegas and once at the PCA. This is my first EPT, my first tournament in Europe and it’s going well.”

Tournament snapshot
Level 23: blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2,000
Players: 15 of 477
Average stack: 954,000
Click here for live coverage and more features.

Moments after we hit the publish button on this post news came through that Simão had bluffed off half his stack to Frederik Jensen. Keep following the updates to see if it’s just another bump on Sugarloaf Mountain.

No comments

EPT8 Madrid: Approaching the end of Day 1

When you enter the final level of a Day 1B there’s always that creeping feeling the tournament is finally getting started. Thoughts of an overall Day 1 chip leader start to manifest, which is looking like Ilan Boujenah with around 190,000 in case you were wondering, and the disparity between those looking to take every edge and those that are simply hoping to make Day 2 really come to the fore.

McLean Karr sports a baseball-hunting cap fusion and sits a couple of seats to Boujenah’s right with around 100,000. Dutchman Paul Berende looks, quite frankly, somewhat bored with his arms crossed behind a stack not far from his 30,000 starting stack waiting for Theo Jorgensen to finish playing a hand.

ept madrid_day 1b_mclean karr.jpg

McLean Karr doing his best Kein MacPhee impression

ept madrid_day 1b_theo jorgensen.jpg

Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen

Dominik Nitsche, whose doppelganger was earlier spotted by Erik Seidel in Paris (you’ll have to check out either of their Twitter accounts), is bobbling along on around 75,000. PCA third-place finisher Faraz Jaka is up past the 100,000 mark and, as per usual, is wearing a delightful shirt (a kind of aquamarine paisley). Anton Wigg sits opposite Jaka with somewhat less chips, perhaps less than 25,000, but seems to be in the zone nonetheless, headphones on and head bobbing up and down.

ept madrid_day 1b_kevin macphee.jpg

The real Kevin MacPhee

These are all players that are here to win, most with major titles to back up that philosophy. But it doesn’t work for all. That peroxide wizard ElkY fell when his dominating ace failed to hold, Kevin MacPhee is short stacked with 10,000 and John O’Shea was also sent to the rail when his ace-king couldn’t connect against Nick Yunis’ pocket queens. Bagging and tagging will start shortly but there’s a palpable sense that this tournament could be a special one. Stay with us for a wrap of the day’s action and overnight chip counts. And while you’re at, log onto PokerStars to watch Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom take on Isaac ‘philivey2694′ Haxton in the SuperStar Showdown. Blom is ahead some $36,000 at the moment, but Haxton’s trying his best to pin him back.

No comments

Corporate Blog: We Are Poker

Last month we launched a new global ad campaign which we believe captures the emotional essence of why poker has become such a global phenomenon. You can view the first ads from the campaign on our We Are Poker channel.

Written by our in-house creative team, the ads introduce the phrase ‘We are Poker,’ which serves as an anthem for the millions of people around the world who enjoy poker in its many incarnations. It celebrates the heroes of the game – from the established Pros featured in the ads to the millions of others around the world who are still seeking their place at the final table. Eight new TV ads touch upon the core emotions of poker and portray the qualities of success that mark the best players in the world, many of whom are featured in the ads such as ‘Nacho’ Barbero, Liv Boeree, ‘ElkY’, Daniel Negreanu and Ivan Demidov.

Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov in one of the We Are Poker ads

‘We Are Poker’ encapsulates the PokerStars company philosophy to provide the best platform on which to compete at every level of the game, whether just for the fun of it, or for the glory of beating the biggest tables and tournaments in online poker. Because, while there’s no such thing today as a typical poker player, there is one core trait that they all share: the desire to compete, to challenge themselves and others.

Today’s top poker players are often relatively young and highly intelligent (which is why we see so many players with advanced degrees). They can also be very instinctive, strategic, bold or decisive; willing to take calculated risks for big returns. This campaign captures these mind-sets and delivers them back in ways that can resonate with current players and will also attract new players who share these same characteristics and aspirations.

In short, the ‘We’ in ‘We Are Poker’ is not PokerStars the company. It is the nearly 50 million very different people all over the world who play at our tables.

* * * *

Alex Payne is the Chief Marketing Officer for PokerStars

No comments

Tao of Poker – 2011 Year in Review

By Pauly
New York City

Time flies, eh? Hard to believe that 2012 is around the corner, but I’m kinda glad that 2011 is over. This year was one of the roughest, saddest, and most excruciating that I experienced since I ventured into the poker world. I can only be optimistic about the future, because it can’t get any worse… right?

Without further ado, here’s the best of the Tao of Poker…

* * *

January 2010

God’s Cell Phone Number – Things got a little crazy while betting on the NFL playoffs and I successfully pulled off a Band of Brothers reference…

Sometimes I refer to God as Gretzky. At least, that’s what I have him labeled on my cell phone. I’d hate for someone to steal my phone and than have a direct number to God. Hence, why He’s coded as GRETZKY. He doesn’t gives those out to anyone. It’s one of the perks of attending a Jesuit high school. You learn Latin, Greek, and get God’s cell phone number… MORE

Dispatches from the PCA: You Enjoy Myself – My lovely girlfriend won a satellite to the Ladies Event, so I flew down to Paradise Island in the Bahamas to attend the PCA as a civilian and professional railbird. I also drunk a shit-ton of rum and gambled at the sports book.

The cabbie pulled into Atlantis and I tipped him fairly decent, enough that he tried to sell me a bag of blow. I politely declined. Do you know the six words that aptly describes cocaine from the Caribbean? Clumps together, but only cut once… MORE

Dispatches from the PCA: Divided Sky – I spent a lot of time watching the Dead People Channel and then hung out on the rail to sweat Change100 during her victorious run in the Ladies Event.

It’s no secret that I feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed at any Ladies Only events because I’m getting thousands of daggers shot at me from evil glances from the players, many of whom on principle hate men, not to mention a slew of female players who think I’m an asshole because my writing glorifies misogyny and the poor treatment of women by condoning prostitution and promoting stripping… MORE

Tao of Pokerati Podcast: Bahama Mama – Change100 Scores Ladies PCA Title – Listen to a super quick podcast that I recorded with Change100 after she beat Lauren Kling heads-up to win the PCA Ladies event.

Looming Municipal Debt Crisis the Key to Online Poker Legislation? – The majority of the states in the union were faced with severe budgetary problems at the start of 2011. I hypothesized that some states will look to legalize online poker in order to make a dent into their ginormous debt obligations.

The future is grim no matter how you look at it. That’s why there’s very little chatter in the media about the looming municipal debt crisis. It’s sort of like an asteroid ready to crash into Earth — it’s much easier to be the ostrich with its head buried in the ground, and let everyone go about their daily lives, rather than clue them in on the reality of the situation and that the end of the world could be right around the corner…MORE

Dan Shak’s Hedge Fund Nearly Blows Up the Gold Market – Speaking of finance… did you hear the one about Dan Shak nearly causing a financial tsunami?

Talk about a trader who has a set of titanium balls! That’s what I love about Dan Shak — he made a ballsy trade, it went south, he cut his losses, shrugged it off, and wants to get back in the game… MORE

Eight Voices and a Sea of Trouble – I broke down the eight different voices inside my head that often get me into gambling trouble.

Accessing the future for my own financial gain is an unattainable pipe dream. I meet people all the time in Vegas and in poker circles who claim that have foolproof systems for blackjack, roulette, the horses, stock options, etc. I’ve met lots of shit-talkers, but I’ve never crossed paths with a legitimate psychic who can accurately predict the future. Believe me, I scoured the world for a seer and found lots of charlatans, but came up empty…MORE

* * *
February 2010

Your Hands and Feet Are Mangos, Part 1 – For one week, I conducted an experiment — do nothing except drink rum and bet on sports.

In the last few years, what used to be a ravenous love affair with sports betting had become a coarse, listless, co-dependent relationship. Each bet used to be like riding a rollercoaster for two hours while jacked up on cocaine. But not anymore because watching each game was more like being prisoner on a cruise ship adrift in stormy seas that’s inducing you to puke your nads out….MORE

Your Hands and Feet Are Mangos, Part 2 – Here’s the second and final installment of my rum-inspired sports betting diaries, which started out as a social experiment but over a long weekend, I nearly lost my shirt on college hoops and had an accident that left our kitchen floor all… sticky.

“Good news and bad news,” I barked and then inspected my soaked jeans. “Bad news is that the kitchen floor is pink and sticky. Good news is that thanks to the supreme technological advances in developing plastics, the shatter-proof bottle prevented the rum from exploding.”…MORE

Syracuse Point-Shaving Rumors Debunked; Major College Basketball Betting Scandal Averted? – The Syracuse point-shaving rumors blew up overnight and what would have just been whispers among paranoid bettors, until it became a national scandal.

College athletes have become pawns for corporate entities. All of those annoying redundant commercials during March Madness made you nauseous, but it’s a clear indication at the significant money that is thrown around by major advertisers. Someone is making a buck on college athletes, everyone except the athletes themselves….MORE

Tao of Pokerati Podcast: Exotic Betting on the Super Bowl with Change100 – I recorded a quick podcast with my girlfriend, who was excited to bet on how long it was going to take Christina Aguilera to sing the National Anthem.

Live Sumo Is Rigged – If you didn’t know, the national sport of Japan has a shady past of rigging matches.

Taking a dive was a dishonor yourself, let alone a sincere dishonor to the entire Sumo community of wrestlers, trainers, promoters, fans, and even the guy who gets paid to wipe the arses of ginormous wrestlers…. MORE

The Bluff Power 20; Howard Lederer Has the Juice – Howard Lederer was named the most powerful person in poker.

Deadhead. Former bookie. Poker pro. Online poker visionary. Top dog. Top gun. King of the Hill. The Godfather… MORE

* * *
March 2011

Closing the Sahara – I took a walk down memory lane when I found out that the Sahara Casino in Las Vegas was closing its doors.

Las Vegas rose up out of the nothingness of the sand. A former Mormon missionary outpost had transformed into a gambling Mecca by gangsters, real estate developers, and bankers. Mecca is actually an inappropriate word to describe Las Vegas because there’s nothing religious about a pilgrimage to modern day Sodom and Gomorrah — the epicenter for the orgy of consumption… MORE

Orphaned Cards – I cannot explain why, but sometimes I find random cards in the middle of the street.

Rolling Out the Magic – If I was a TV exec and I could rig a final table, I’d pick nine specific personality types.

Television executives in poker are faced with two rigorous obstacles: 1) inaction at the tables, and 2) lack of stimulating dialogue. Both are detrimental to ratings. Lackadaisical ratings gave poker a blemish, which is why the suits in charge of programming banished poker to uncoveted late night slots, where stoners and insomniacs alike watched with an indifferent glaze. The few remaining programs were lost in the shuffle at the farthest ends of the satellite spectrum, embroiled in fierce competition against 1,000 other stations…. MORE

Sweating Sachin Tendulkar – New low as a degen gambler… I bet on cricket.

Despite being plagued with a short attention span, an 8-hour sporting event like cricket is a definite commitment, both physically and mentally, but due to medical breakthrough and advances in technology, 8-hour long cricket matches are conductive if you have proclivities to specific time-released pharmaceuticals…. MORE

* * *
April 2011

Down With Diseased Monkeys – I began the month betting on baseball and went on a horrid losing streak.

Sports betting is a huge life leak, but it’s also a life sweetener, or a bottle of hot sauce that spruces up mundane aspects of daily life, which is why it’s inherently dangerous. Finding the perfect balance between entertainment, merriment, stroking the ego is essential to healthy lifestyle. It’s when you cross over the proverbial demarcation line in the murky, cloudy grey area that you takes strides away from the light and rush toward the dark…. MORE

Black Friday, Vampire Squids, and 1,000 Masturbating Monkeys – I was in Lima, Peru when Black Friday hit and waited until after I finished climbing Machu Picchu before I wrote about my take on the worst day in the history of online poker.

What was the point of even sending the PPA to Washington? Instead, we should have sent a hundred masturbating chimpanzees to lobby for online poker — they would have accomplished the same fucking thing as the PPA, but at least we’d have some cool YouTube videos of monkeys jerking off on the steps of the Capitol…. MORE

* * *
May 2011

Aunt Emma – Another installment of the infamous Pai Gow Diaries.

A disheveled woman sat down next to me. She wore a green terry cloth jacket. For a second I thought she walked into the casino wearing her bath robe. But she smelled like she had slept in her car, woke up, blew a snot rocket, smoked the ends of three week-old cigarette butts, then walked over to the Pai Gow table…. MORE

PokerStars Offices Raided in Costa Rica – I just happened to know a few friends in Costa Rica who were around when the federales raided the San Jose offices of online poker rooms.

Black Friday Fallout: Offshore Sportsbooks Fleeing U.S. Soil – The sportsbetting industry also took a hit when they experienced residual fallout from Black Friday.

14 Fun Moments from the 2010 WSOP and 14 More Fun Moments at the 2010 WSOP – I was reminiscing about some fun times I had in the summer of 2010.

Fading the Rapture – I love betting against Jesus Freaks, especially those predicting specific dates for Armageddon.

Glow in the Dark Dragons – And what’s the WSOP without kicking it off by going on dealer tilt at a Pai Gow table?

The new line of Pai Gow bots will not arrive until late in 2011, which means I only have to deal with older version, which are prone to glitches and the occasional error. I guess that’s the only good thing to come out of the Japan quake. Sure, Japan is drowning in radiation soup while traces of radioactive material flutter its way toward North American airspace, but at least I won’t have to worry about an upgraded version of the Pai Gow bots…. MORE

* * *
June 2011 and August 2011

Thanks to Alexander, I got to be on the cover of The Circuit. here’s my interview…

I covered my 7th World Series of Poker on Tao of Poker. Here’s the index of coverage…

Let’s start with a couple of posts that were published before cards went in the air on Day 1. Among those were a few tidbits about the Ivey/Full Tilt lawsuit.

2011 WSOP: Before the Madness Begins – A prelude to the seven-week fiesta of poker.

WTF? Phil Ivey Suing Full Tilt Poker – In one of the most peculiar news stories since Black Friday, Phil Ivey announced he was leaving Full Tilt, suing Tiltware, and sitting out of the WSOP. All of these important announcements were made on his Facebook fan page. Whaaaaa?

Full Tilt’s Angry Response to Phil Ivey’s Lawsuit – The drama-filled start to the WSOP continued with an angry response from Full Tilt’s HQs. That’s the fastest they ever responded to anything in the wake of Black Friday.

Finding Pil Ivey and the Doctor Is In – The video crew at Bluff Magazine did an awesome job with their videos this summer, especially the bit Finding Ivey. I got tapped to tape an interview and you can see a teaser in this video.

The Circuit Cover and Interview – I was fortunate that Alexander asked me to be a part of his amazing photo project — The Circuit. Check out what went down behind the scenes during the photo shoot, including a candid interview about what life is really like on the road following around the tournament circuit.

Okay, and now here are the daily recaps from the 2011 WSOP…

Day 1: Welcome to the Jungle and Phil Ivey’s Titanium Balls – The 2011 WSOP kicked off with lots of questions swirling around about which pros would toe the company line and support Full Tilt Poker, and which red pros would ditch the patches and other FT branding. Phil Ivey fired the first shot with his lawsuit (announced via Facebook), but did he incite a mutiny with other red pros following his lead?

Day 2: Ivey’s Hippodrome and Bare-Chested Scandis – Gus Hansen wandering around with his shirt undone and the ongoing saga between Phil Ivey and Full Tilt were among the more dramatic topics on the second day of action.

Day 3: Moneymaker and Johnny Fucking Chan Win Grudge Matches and Men the Master Cheating Accusations – A Made-for-TV event occupied the Mothership with Chris Moneymaker and Johnny Fucking Chan winning their Main Event “grudge matches”. Meanwhile, in the real WSOP, Men the Master was the center of hurricane of shadiness when he hypocritically accused Hollywood Dave of shorting a pot. A shouting match ensued and both were on the verge of being disqualified.

Day 4: Jake Cody’s Emos, Hooligans, and Hat Tricks – Jack Cody, the latest British wunderkind made history when he became only the third member of the Triple Crown club. His victory did not come without a little rail rowdiness along the way.

Day 5: Apocalypse Now (Guest Post by Change100) – Yes, I had the day off and Change100 stepped up to pen an atmospheric piece on the tension in the air at the start of the 2011 WSOP — the first series in the wake of Black Friday and “money getting stuck on Full Tilt” fiasco.

Day 6: Ho-most for Maria Ho – The lovely Maria Ho went deep in the 5K NL event and came within one spot of winning her first bracelet.

Day 7: British Invasion, Vampire Squids, and the Devil – After the first week of nonstop poker, the first zombie begin to appear at the Rio. The zombies in turn attract the Devil along with treacherous vampire squids.

Day 8: The Marked Cards Conspiracy and the Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To – It’s not the WSOP unless there’s a controversy involving the cards. There’s always something wrong with the decks. At the 2011 WSOP, a couple of the decks had a printing error that was only visible underneath the groovy purple grow-lights inside the Mothership.

Day 9: Cocking Blocking the Brits – The Brits launched an all-out assault on Las Vegas once again as they threatened to win another bracelet but the bloody 10-level rule was the only thing that prevented them from shipping another bracelet.

Day 10: Banning Booze, World Series of Mormons, and Sweating the Mavs – Despite the financial woes bringing America to the brink of ruin, the WSOP continued to thrive in the face of external adversity on both the political and financial fronts. The influx of players always brought with it a wave of fervor on the rail during final tables. The powers to be did not anticipate a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere inside the Mothership that is a fragile TV set and not a country-western bar. As a result, booze was officially banned at the final table.

Day 11: Social Media in Poker and Tex Dolly Blows Chunks – The poker world has changed for the better (or worst) because of the heavy influence of social media. Oh, and we found out through Twitter that Texas Dolly got ill during the middle of a tournament because of something he ate.

Day 12: Hellmuth Chokes and Prohibition Ends at the Mothership – Phil Hellmuth was on a mission to win his 12h bracelet, yet his attempt was thwarted. Meanwhile, much to the delight of the alkies in Vegas, booze was permitted to be consumed inside the Mothership. Yes, the short-lived prohibition was over.

Day 13: Tweaker City, USA – I experienced a rather sketchy encounter in the parking lot at the Gold Coast while hanging out with Benjo.

Day 14: Subterranean Homesick Alien and Brits Snag Third Bracelet – By the end of the second week of the WSOP, everyone is ridden with homesickness. Despite the malaise, another Brit won a bracelet, meanwhile, we decided to pay homage to old school Vegas with a trip downtown to where it all began — Binion’s.

Day 15: Triple ElkY and The Mark is the 22nd Best PLO Player in the World – The French surged during the beginning of the third week of the series. They won three bracelets in a short period of time and ElkY became only the fourth player to win the Triple Crown. Meanwhile, a close friend of the Tao of Poker went deep in a PLO event. Yeah, The Mark fell short of his first WSOP final table.

Day 16: Le Deux; French Snag 2 Bracelets in 24 Hours – The French surge continued with their second bracelet within a 24-hour period.

Day 17: Mike Sexton Heads-Up for Bracelet and Liquidating the Sahara – The Ambassador of Poker, Mike Sexton, went deep in the Stud 8 event, only to have it suspended due to the 10-level rule. Sexton was heads-up when his tournament was halted. Meanwhile, the big liquidation sale at the Sahara kicked off. Jerome and Camille shot a stunning video of that dreary sale day.

Day 18: No Country For Old Men; Barry Greenstein and Mike Sexton Denied Bracelets – Two poker greats came very close to winning bracelets, yet they fell short of the mark. In addition, the Senior’s Event kicked off with everyone standing to attention when the Stars and Stripes were played.

Day 19: The Donkenator and Eating Death – Dominating a donkaments are never an easy task. Woever wins that bracelet damn well deserves it. I delve a bit into Milton’s Paradise Lost in this recap. Enter at your own risk.

Day 20: The Egregious Case of the $9 Pizza and Stein Shines – It was a matter of time before I went off on an old-fashioned anti-food rant because of the horrendous $9 pizza that the Poker Kitchen tries to pass off as a culinary delight.

Day 21: A Day in the Life; Hellmuth Denied 12th Bracelet (Again) – This is my favorite piece of the summer, mainly because most of the hijinks happened outside the Amazon Ballroom that eventually morphed into my first Memento moment of the WSOP. Anyway, I went on a classic bender at the Gold Coast while Phil Hellmuth went deep once again and tried to win bracelet #12.

Day 22: Slowdown, Rocky Mountain High, and Chau Giang Confirmed Alien – The WSOP caught its breath at the start of the fourth week of play, while I determined that Chau Giang is really an alien.

Day 23: Timex Flashback, Jason Mercier Wins PLO Bracelet, and More Sordid Tales About Chasing the Dragon – I squeezed in a little personal Pai Gow degeneracy in between a recap about Jason Mercier’s victory in the PLO event along with a flashback about the origins of Timex.

Day 24: Dwan Song, Revelry, and Hooligans – Whenever Tom “durrrr” Dwan makes a final table, the entire poker world stops to watch. With a few million in prop bets on the line, Dwan’s final tables always have an added element of excitement. Alas, it was the Brits who sucked up all of the attention in the Amazon Ballroom as they railed their boy Middy and even drank Jager bombs out of their shoes.

Day 25: Rubber Soul, Electric Daisies, and Two-Tabling Pai Gow – The Electric Daisy Carnival swept through Vegas and a quarter million ravers invaded Sin City. Fabrice Soulier shipped a bracelet and became the third Frenchie to win one in 2011. Ah, and I also engaged in a live session of Pai Gow again and two-tabled it. I’m lucky I didn’t get 86′d.

Day 26: The Sickness – If you’ve spent a significant amount of time in Las Vegas, then you’ve seen those afflicted with The Sickness. I spoke about some of my experiences with the dreaded disease.

Day 27: Shaking Down Ravers; November Niner Snags Bracelet – I had a situation when I should’ve rolled a couple of schwasted ravers in the elevator, but I couldn’t cross over to the dark side and take advantage of the party people on the last day of the Electric Daisy Carnival.

Day 28: The Glass Onion; Lamb Leads POY – Donkey slayers, Brazilians, and Ben Lamb seizing the top spot in Player of the Year race.

Day 29: Carnival at the Mothership; Akkari Wins Bracelet – I went to cover a final table and a Brazilian soccer match broke out. The Mothership was transformed into a World Cup final when Brazil’s native son Andre Akkari advanced to the final table and was heads-up for a bracelet.

“Vamooooooooooooooo!”
Days 30-33: OFF

Day 34: Happy Birthday, America – On the Fourth of July, America celebrated with its annual Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island. Only in America can we boast about binge eating to celebrate our creation and independence from British tyranny.

Day 35: Catching Up - After a brief holiday away from the Vegas grind, it was time to catch up on everything I missed.

Day 36: Don’t Stop Believen‘ – Hellmuth and the 50K hit a hard stop. Grumbles ensued.

Day 37: Another Runner-Up Finish for Hellmuth; Whiffs on Three Flush Draws to Lose Bracelet#12 – Hellmuth had another disappointing evening after he whiffed on three big flush draws only to lose to Brian Rast, who won his second bracelet in 2011.

* * *

2011 Main Event Coverage

Prelude to the Killing Fields – The 2011 Main Event
With a Little Help From My Friends: The Michael Stevens Story by Change100
Day 38- Main Event Day 1A: Dolly’s Abyss
Day 39 – Main Event Day 1B: Luck Rack of Lamb
Prope Bets with Remkos and Micros WSOP Episode
Day 40 – Main Event Day 1C: One More Saturday Nite
Day 41 – Main Event Day 1D: Spiderman Big Records, Perma-Bans, and 6,865
Day 42 – Main Event Day 2A: Torturing the One-Eyed Clown, Hellmuth Awakes, and the Euro Surge
Day 43 – Main Event Day 2B: Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Day 44 – Main Event Day Off; Annie Duke Wins Media Tournament
Day 45 – Main Event Day 3: Poirier and Jace Are Million Men and Tilt-A-Scandi
Day 46 – Main Event Day 4: Soft Bubbles, Zombie Apocalypse, and the Reincarnation of JRB
Day 47 – Main Event Day 5: There Must Be Some Way Out of Here
The Skinny: Day 6
Day 48 – Main Event Day 6: House of the Rising Sun; NOLA’s Ryan Lenaghan Leads with 57 Remaining
The Skinny: Day 7
Day 49 – Main Event Day 7: Buy the Ticket, Survive the Ride
2011 November Nine Set

* * *

And here’s the Best of Tao of Pokerati… which are some of my favorite episodes of the Tao of Pokerati podcast that Michalski and I recorded from the 2011 WSOP featuring special guests Benjo, Snoopy, KevMath, Remko, and AlCantHang.

Episode 6: Ivey’s Lawyer (4:17) – Dan and Pauly chat about the Ivey drama that transformed the opening days of the WSOP into the “World Series of Phil Ivey.” Dan also shares some inside info on Ivey’s lawyer, renown criminal attorney David Chesnoff.

Episode 7: Sahara Liquidation with Remko and Benjo (6:12) – Benjo and Pauly discussed the Sahara Casino liquidation sale/auction with one of the members of the Dutch press, Remko. Both Remko and Benjo expressed a keen interest in acquiring a slot machine for super cheap, while Pauly has his eyes set on a Pai Gow table. Meanwhile, Benjo and Remko try to figure out how to ship a slot machine from Vegas to France and Holland.

Episode 12: The Tweaker Edition with Benjo (4:02) – Benjo and Pauly hang out at the Gold Coast and watched a tweaker get 86d by security. They later encounter the tweaker in the parking lot, and Benjo asks Pauly for a quick tutorial about the seedy Las Vegas meth scene.

Episode 14: Old School Cheats with Johnny Hughes (6:02) – Pauly sat down and chatted with a special guest — the legendary Johnny Hughes — who has been in poker circles for 50+ years. Pauly asks Johnny to share some stories about old school poker cheats and the “fear” of getting caught, which kept a lot of shady characters in line.

Episode 16: Brickless Cash Games Reprise (3:22) – Dan and Pauly recorded a quick follow-up to their previous episode while they hang out on the rail of the high-stakes cash games. They spot Eskimo Clark, “Cowboy”, and other broke dicks lingering around seeking handouts from the high rollers.

Episode 17: WSOP Fashion Report with KevMath (5:10) – Pauly chats with KevMath, who is a self-described “fashion expert.” The two compare and contrast the different styles of clothing worn by members of the media. KevMath also reveals why he won’t wear shorts.

Episode 19: KevMath Keno System with KevMath (6:01) – Pauly and KevMath hang out at the dive bar in a bowling alley at the Gold Coast. KevMath was in the middle of crushing a video Keno game, when Pauly asked him to share a couple of his big secrets to beating the game.

Episode 20: Adieu, Benjo (8:40) with Benjo – After almost a week of speculation and rumors, Benjo confirms that he’s leaving Las Vegas and heading home to France. His brief stint at the WSOP is officially over. One chapter ends, and a new one begins. Dr. Pauly, Dan and Benjo hang out in the dive bar inside the bowling alley at Gold Coast to listen to Benjo bid his farewells.

Episode 21: New Dynamic Duo with Snoopy (5:59) – Pauly holds auditions for a new sidekick with only one requirement — a outrageous accent. Snoopy, a writer from London, nails the audition. In this episode, they discuss modeling their new dynamic duo on the Batman & Robin television series, in addition to re-locating the Bat Cave to England and installing bat poles in the press box.

Episode 23: Brazil’s Mothership Invasion with AlCantHang (2:50) – Pauly and AlCantHang are on the rail inside the Mothership watching the heads-up battle between American Nachman “The Landlord” Berlin and Brazil’s native son Andre Akkari. Al and Pauly record a quick episode moments after Akkari won a decisive pot to cripple Berlin, and the Brazilians went berserk.

Episode 26: Main Event Begins! (6:34) – The Main Event is upon us and before the cards went in the air, Pauly is hanging out and listening to TD Jack Effel’s long-winded introduction and a quick rundown of the rules to all Main Event players. Jack then introduces Texas Dolly to utter the famous phrase, “Shuffle up and deal!”

Episode 27: Almost Famous with Snoopy (3:32) – While players return to their seats after the dinner break, Pauly and Snoopy notice Jason Alexander posing for pictures with fans. Snoopy explains why Seinfeld wasn’t a big hit in England and Pauly discovers someone dressed as Snow White in the crowd. Pauly also wonders if Snoopy would ever dress up in a costume for the Main Event.

Episode 29: Media Mania and Golden Toilets with Change100 and AlCantHang (3:08) – Pauly is still in the media event, so Change100 takes the opportunity to chat with AlCantHang. They both busted rather early, especially AlCantHang, who won a dubious honor of being the first player to bust out. His reward? A Golden Toiler trophy for last place.

Episode 33: Two Brits, One Irishman with Snoopy (5:09) – Snoopy gives Pauly the latest British report with three tables remaining in the Main Event. Snoopy clues us in on the two Brits (Sam Holden and JP Kelly) still alive along with Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland. Even though O’Dea is Irish, Snoopy and Brits are still keeping an eye on their “adopted” player.

Episode 36: KevMath WSOP Exit Interview with KevMath (8:50) – Kevin “KevMath” Mathers is officially done with his WSOP assignment, but he stopped by the Rio to watch the action on Day 8. He bumped into Pauly, who sat him down to discuss his favorite moments (and least favorite) during his first ever WSOP. Pauly also quizzes him on any strange “fan” encounters along the way.

Episode 37: Pseudo-Final Table (6:02) – Dan and Pauly are on the rail of the Mothership as action resumes for the pseudo-final table of ten, otherwise known as the November Nine bubble. Plenty of tension in the air because the final table will be set with just one more elimination.

Episode 39: Bruno’s New Toy (4:20) – Fun Warren brought a batch of dolls to the WSOP. The dolls, resembling famous poker pros, were custom made in London . He left a couple behind for Pauly and Dan. Pauly got Phil Hellmuth, while Dan seems a little disappointed with Daniel Negreanu. Dan suggests that he’ll probably give the Negreanu’s doll to his dog Bruno, so Bruno will now have a new play toy.

If you want to listen to more episodes from the 2011 WSOP, visit Tao of Pokerati podcast archives.

* * *
August, September, and October 2011

I took three months off and moved to San Francisco. I only posted 19 times in that stretch. Less is more, eh? Here’s a few gems from the hiatus months…

Hot Sauce
A Brief Letter to Full Tilt Poker: Fuck You, Pay Me
Full tilt Ponzi Poker
Rocketman and Welcome to the Ice Palace
The Degen Market
I Didn’t Know I Was That Far Gone
Superstitions, Jinxes, and River Rats

* * *
November 2011

I returned to semi-regular poker writing with the November Nine on the agenda and the conclusion of the 2011 WSOP Main Event Championship.

Betting guide to the 2011 November Nine
2011 November Nine – Sunday LIVE Blog
November Nine Down to Three; Germany’s Pius Heinz = Chip Leader
2011 WSOP November Nine – Tuesday Live Blog
Pius Heinz Wins 2011 WSOP Main Event

Michalski and I also recorded a few special Tao of Pokerati podcasts….

Tao of Pokerati Podcast – 2011 November Nine Edition
Episode 1: Evolution
Episode 2: Naming Names
Episode 3: Betting on Belize
Episode 4: Non-Silence of the Lambs
Episode 5: Giannetti Lives
Episode 6: Quad Lambs
Episode 7: Poker Hall of Fame Ceremony
Episode 8: First Hand Fireworks
Episode 9: Heads-Up Outfits
Episode 10: The Final Hand
Episode 11: Hooker Bar Farewell

* * *
December 2011

The year ended with the annual blogger gathering to Vegas, which inspired a three-part trip report and as the year ended and I began to reflect on 2011, I sounded off on a few topics.

Four Haikus – Lost Vegas
Ocho – WPBT, Part 1
Ocho – WPBT, Part 2
Ocho – WPBT, Part 3
Zombie Poker Apocalypse
Puppeteers of America

* * *
That’s it. The highlights from 2011. I hope you have a happy new year.

And if you like what you read, I encourage you to vote Tao of Poker for Best Poker Blog in Bluff’s Readers Choice Awards. Thanks for your support.

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

No comments

Kindle Versions – Lost Vegas and Jack Tripper Stole My Dog

By Pauly
New York City

Merry Christmas everyone!

Were you a good boy/girl this year? Did Santa Claus hook you up with a new Kindle Fire? If so, you’re in luck because the e-book version of Lost Vegas is only a few clicks away!

Click here to buy Lost Vegas for Kindle and iPads.

Click here to buy Lost Vegas for the Nook.

Click here to buy a print copy of Lost Vegas on Amazon.com.

* * * *

And if you’re interest in my novel, you can also pick up an e-book Kindle version of Jack Tripper Stole My Dog.

Here’s the trailer…

Thanks for your support.

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

No comments

The Puppeteers of America

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA

One of my favorite political writers is Matt Taibbi, columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, who also penned a few books such as The Great Derangement, which included an astute observation about politics and Big Business…

“You don’t elect politicians to commit crimes; you elect politicians to make your crimes legal.” – Matt Taibbi

Black Friday more than put a wrinkle into the lives of American poker players, it decimated the entire online poker landscape. On April 15th, we all discovered that we could no longer play on our favorite online poker sites. Just the day before on April 14th, Americans went about their lives with the ease and comfort knowing their bankrolls were safe in a virtual bank somewhere overseas. We were under the impression that we could exercise our right to gamble… or choose not to gamble… because after all, we’re adults protected under the Constitution of the United States. We have the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Online poker could be one of those, or it could be all three. I know I spent too many hours logged onto a different online poker site bogged down in the pursuit of happiness, only to get sucked out by a one-outer, which sent me on mega-LAGtard-Scandi-tilt.

Online poker was a short-term escape from the harsh reality that we live in corporatocracy. Our nefarious politicians are pwned by oligarchs and plutocrats, all of whom don’t give a rat’s ass about your personal liberty to engage in any sort of activity (gambling or otherwise) on the internet. If you haven’t been paying attention to SOPA or the NDAA, then you should get off your ass and do some research. Uncle Sam and Big Brother are now one in the same while a shadowy cabal of international banksters are pulling the strings.

Remember that scene from The Godfather, after the ailing Don handed over the reigns of the Family to his son, Michael Corleone?

“You are like me,” mumbled Don Corleone. “We refuse to be fools, to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by other men.”

I’m still trying to figure out why some activities in America are considered a crime and why other things are permitted, but then again most laws these days defy all logic. We’re living in a rigged political system that is rotten to the core. Corruption is the grease that keeps the wheels of Big Business churning. Corruption is what re-balances the manipulated scales of justice.

Who were the real culprits behind online poker prohibition in America? After doing some research and “following the money” trail, I pointed fingers in a post titled Black Friday, Vampire Squids, and 1,000 Masturbating Monkeys. Almost eight months later, I continue to search for more concise answers. Sure, we have the names of the unscrupulous politicians leading the witch hunt, but like Don Corleone explained, someone else is tugging at those puppet strings.

Who are the puppeteers?

Why did they cock block us?

What is so terrifying about online poker?

What kind of crimes against humanity did we commit by sitting around in our underwear and playing cards?

How did the simple act of playing online poker become threatening to the Establishment?

I guess the answer to my last question is this: poker players are rebellious in nature and free thinkers. Many of us would not have taken the courageous leap into the virtual waters at online poker sites unless we were strong-willed, determined, and seeking an alternative way to live our lives. Online poker provided income, happiness, purpose and validation instead of following the herd and the Master Plan (college > job > marriage > mortgage > kids > college fund > retirement) that had been beaten into our heads since birth. We were conditioned to conform from the moment we popped out of our mother’s womb. We’ve been corralled into institutions like cattle, stripped of any semblance of individuality, brainwashed into living a life that we think is what we’re supposed to do — obey, consume, reproduce — all of this without questioning authority and expressing an independent thought. The moment any of us stray from the path, we’re ostracized and marginalized, and if that doesn’t deter us, then agents of the state (paid by our tax dollars) will beat the shit out of us until we get back in line. And those whom stay on the path and do not upset the herd are thrust into a fabricated world in which the entire point of existence is to…

1. Become obedient cubicle slaves exploited by corporate overlords.

2. Generate tax income for the bloated state.

3. Create profits for the banking cartel in form of debt creation — credit cards, car loans, school loans, small business loans, mortgages and second mortgages.

4. Buy cheap stuff (Made in China) that we don’t need, which proliferates ginormous profits for Big Business.

5. Breed children so a new generation of consumers and debt slaves will continue this maddening cycle.

I was drawn to poker because of its anarchist nature, but since then it’s been bastardized both economically and politically. Do you want me to scare the shit out of you? Many pundits vehemently against online poker are convinced online poker sites (and other online gambling sites) launder money for terrorist networks. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed the other day, which gives the military the green light to scoop up American citizens and detain us indefinitely as an enemy of the state if we’re suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda or any other terrorist groups and anti-American organizations. Say goodbye to “innocent until proven guilty.”

“Theory of Poker” translated into Farsi
Under the NDAA, our totalitarian government can demonize anyone, including online poker players, by simply labeling them enemy combatants. Many of you thought not being able to play in the Sunday Million sucked, just wait until the military shows up at your front door, bags a black hood over your head, then whisks you away to Gitmo or some other secret prison, where you’re forced to do the naked pyramid with other freshly-detained Jihadists.

What the hell has this country come to? It’s poker, for fuck’s sake! It’s just a card game. A game. An all-American game. Texas Hold’em. The Cadillac of Poker. “It takes seconds to learn and a lifetime to master,” according to Mike Sexton, the ubiquitous ambassador to poker, whose name will now pop up on the FBI’s Watch List in between Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah and Husayn Muhammad al-Umari.

Any way you look at it, unsuspecting Americans were squeezed by the government and we all got caught up in this shakedown when the UIGEA passed in 2006. Our last hope is to sway politicians to alter the laws, just like Matt Taibbi said in his famous quote… “You don’t elect politicians to commit crimes; you elect politicians to make your crimes legal.”

The sobering reality is that all the letters and emails in the world won’t change the mind of our licentious elected officials. The poker industry dusted off hundreds of millions in a concentrated effort to lobby Congress, yet those we trusted to get the job done dropped the ball time and time again. We must think outside the box to solve the problem, and resort to drastic measures in order to re-install the freedom to fire up online poker sites once again. It will take a shitload of cash and gold to persuade the immoral muppets in DC to end online poker prohibition. If bribes don’t work, then we’ll have to call in a favor with the wiseguys. Because all it takes is just one severed, bloody horse’s head in the right politician’s bed to shape policy in our favor. Then, and only then, will we be able to play online poker again.

While we wait for the proverbial horse’s head, the time has come to say farewell to a couple of dear friends. RIP online poker. RIP America.

Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.

No comments