When most people talk about preparing for the World Series of Poker, they are referring to rereading poker books, consulting with a mentor, and playing more small buy-in tournaments for practice. Not me!

I’ve never played in the WSOP, though someday I hope to make that dream come true. For now, I write about poker and those who play the game, and I couldn’t be happier to do just that. I have secured a great gig for the WSOP as a tournament reporter for PokerPages, and I’m going to be at the Rio for 31 out of the 45 days of action.

I’m really excited about it, to tell the truth! I’ve heard that the days are long, the tournament room is cold, space for the media is limited, and being homesick gets to everyone. Even so, I’m ready… and I’m just not going to let those stories get to me.

PokerPages is allowing their writers days off during the coverage, which is an incredibly considerate offer. We’ll be set up with a comfortable place to stay, and I should get along just fine with my housemates. I’m going to be ready for the chilly tournament room and other challenges that I might face. My excitement about being there is keeping my worries to a minimum.

The first WSOP I ever attended was in 2006, but I was going there on my own dime to obtain interviews and check out some of the action. I saw very little of the actual tournaments and was only in Vegas for a fraction of the many weeks. This year, I will be there for most of it - and I’ll be smack dab in the middle of the action. It’s exciting to just be in that tournament room - looking at a sea of tables and players and fans, hearing the clicking of chips, imagining the money that is won and lost there. It’s invigorating and energizing for anyone who loves poker!

For now, I’m already starting to try to figure out how to carry my life to Vegas for 45 days. I am a planner to a fault, and planning this temporary move is going to be more of a chore than the tournament reporting! Wish me luck…

You wouldn’t believe what I’m looking at right now.

This morning, my stay at the Bellagio ended. I’d been there for eight days and it was definitely time, but before I could get out of Vegas, Bluff called me and asked if I could stay in town for a couple of extra days to take some meetings for the World Series. I know, doesn’t sound like much of a burden, but I was looking forward to going home.

Bluff had a good rate with the Wynn hotel, so I packed my things and cabbed my way over. While checking in, since I’d been on just the fourth floor at Bellagio, I told the guy at the counter ‘the higher, the better.’ After telling him I was indifferent regarding smoking or non-smoking (I’m a non-smoker, but have no problem allowing entertained guests to partake) he informed me that if I was cool with the smoking arrangement, he could upgrade me to a ‘well-ventilated’ junior suite at no extra cost. I jumped on it.

Despite my excitement, I wasn’t ready for what was coming. I walked in to find the plasma tv on the wall blaring classical opera, a fitting dramatic score for the view. This room has two wall-sized windows, sitting on adjoining walls. From this, the FIFTY-NINTH FLOOR (caps intentional), I could see virtually all of Vegas. Its an awe-inspiring sight.

On the one side, I’m looking down on Vegas present. Treasure Island, the Mirage and Ceasar’s Palace. Beyond TI, the Rio shines red in the darkness reminding me of where I’ll be slumming it this summer, and when I look beyond Ceasar’s, the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay are mocked by my positioning above.

The other window is a look at Vegas past. Circus Circus is a lonely figure, while the Frontier sits in Steve Wynn’s mighty shadow. Soon, those will be gone, replaced by the bigger and brighter the brightest city in the world can offer. Its nostaligic, but like Carlos Mortenson told me Friday, “Always look forward.”

If Carlos doesn’t mind, I’m going to dwell on the present for the time being. The view is too good to not appreciate in the now. I’ll be home in two days and I can think about the Series then. For now, thogu, I’m just going to enjoy the view.

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

The Oral History Program under the University of Nevada, Reno conducts taped interviews with those figures who have impacted the development of Nevada. For two days in 1973, Mary Ellen Glass sat down with Lester Benny Binion. The interview covered Binion’s childhood, careers in Texas and Las Vegas, while emphasizing the Horseshoe and his family. The transcript is a fascinating read and not lost is Binion’s Texan dialect.
~
By 1973 the popularity of the World Series of Poker had just began to bud. The year prior Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston won the event and took his prize on the road appearing on many radio and television spots including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Still at this time, Mary Ellen Glass did not dig that deep into the event as I might have hoped for. In fact, only two letter style sheets are dedicated to the WSOP, and even then the tournament is only mentioned, not from direct questioning, but from Binion discussing the advertising involved in running the Horseshoe. He briefly describes the action between Puggy Pearson and Johnny Moss in the ‘73 Main Event, but the majority of the excerpt is devoted to one man, Jimmy ‘the Greek’ Snyder.
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“The first year, when he (the Greek) put on the poker game here for us, he didn’t charge us anything. Howard Hughes had just let him go, and he wanted to prove hisself, what he could do, he just took this poker game. Hell! Nobody thought you could get this much publicity out of this poker game! I didn’t, but he did. He said, “I just want to show ‘em what I can do with this poker game. Let me have it.”
We said, “You got it!”
He put it in seven thousand newspapers. So I’d say that’s pretty doggone good.”
~
I agree. Snyder’s promotion came before the pocket cam, rabbit cam and cheesy ESPN coverage; not an easy sell. He narrated the first television documentary of the WSOP in 1973. And if you happen to bootleg that one at the market, you might find it to be the best WSOP coverage to date; old school in the truest sense, and bluntly real.
~
Binion goes on to describe Snyder as having “a lot of personality, he’s a good speaker…And I think he can just get about as good as coverage as anybody. Fact of business we use him exclusive for the poker game.” The game was lucky to have the notorious Snyder as a spokesman in the early stages. After 1973, CBS began regular documentaries on the event into the 80’s, then ESPN eventually took over in the 90’s and the circus culminated with the 2003 poker media explosion. A lot of poker players are rich today, outside of the playing itself, thanks to Snyder’s promotional seeding.
~
Interesting note: Doyle Brunson received his nickname when Snyder planned to announce Brunson to the crowd as “Texas Doyle” but instead mistakenly uttered “Texas Dolly”. The nickname stuck.
~
Mark Rogers is a poker historian and author of “52 Greatest Moments World Series of Poker”
www.52pokermoments.com

Thomas Wahlroos was the unfortunate soul that has to bear the burden of being eliminated in 7th place at a WPT event. Worse yet the Championship event. What does that mean? No televised final table. Sucks to be Thomas Wahlroos.

He made a play and was very unhappy with the result, repeatedly stating “How does he call with that hand?” Sorry Thomas, but if you’re going to claim your bust out was a result of your opponent’s poor call, we need to take a closer look at the situation.

Thomas is sitting 3rd in chips with around 4.5 million, with blinds of 80,000 - 160,000. A tight player in Mike Wattel opens the pot for 420K. A player named Paul Lee makes the call behind Mike. Paul has won a preliminary event at the Bellagio earlier this month, and made a final table in another. He is a legitimate player, however, he is not afraid at all to mix it up and gamble with his chips. Thomas has been playing with him all day and should know this. Anyway…action gets to Wahlroos in the big blind. Thomas is what we call a “defender” in the poker world. He hates folding his big blind. Anyone that has played a significant amount of time with him will know this. He decides to re-raise Wattel and Lee for all his chips, a pretty hefty raise. He has Wattel covered, but Lee is the chip leader.

Wattel folds and Lee calls without too much hesitation holding A-Q off. Wahlroos turns over As10s and is appalled by Lee’s call. This play is not a matter of a loose call by Lee, but a gross miscalculation on Wahlroos’s (is that right???) part.

First… this looks like your standard squeeze play. Through and through. Wattel and Lee are obviously players, not born yesterday. They know what a squeez play is and both of them suspect something is up when Thomas makes a raise 10x the original raise.

Second… Wahlroos is a defender. He hates giving up his big blind. Both players are familiar enough with him over the past few days to realize that. He is likely to re-raise with a large variety of hands.

Third… Wahlroos KNOWS that Lee is the most likely guy to call him at the table. At times reckless, he has been calling opponents down with marginal hands the whole tournament. Wahlroos has seen this. Of all the guys to make this move on, Lee was not the guy.

Long story short, the As10s didn’t improve and Mr. Wahlroos is out.

Why do I bring this situation up??? As in the case so many times in poker, if we continue to blame our results on the poor play of others, chances are we are not looking in the right spot. Look inside yourself and the situation to realize why things happened the way they did. It is easy to blame a beat on the “donkey” play of an opponent. The hard thing to do is pin the tail on your own ass.

If you read my last blog, you know that I have a 10-12 page paper due next week on Rounders. Well, I was watching the movie one last time when a flame was lit inside of me. I was ready to write. I felt like I was going to punch out the whole paper in one session. For once, I was actually enthused about doing my homework. I had to go to class before finishing the movie. I planned to finish watching the movie and then do my paper.

I went to class and came back to my room ready to follow my plan. I started watching the movie again and realized I didn’t have the urge to write my paper anymore. I figured, once I started watching the movie again, I would get my drive back. I finished the movie, still no enthusiasm. I started the paper anyway. I figured that once I started I would get on a roll. I am now almost two full-pages into it; I am still waiting for my eagerness to return to me. Who would have thought that school would actually kill my drive to get my schoolwork done?

I am shutting down for now. I will either start writing again later tonight or tomorrow. I wish I would have skipped my class and got it done when I wanted to. Once I get this paper done, I am basically done with schoolwork till my final exams. I will be able to relax and play poker again. If I like my final product, maybe I’ll see if I can get my analysis of Rounders linked on my author page.

That is all for now though. I’ll catch all of you later.

I headed out to Vegas from L.A. on Saturday, hung around the tournament area for three days, then came back to L.A. yesterday. It wasn’t a long trip, but I did some interviews for articles with Freddy Deeb, Mark Newhouse, Eric Hershler, and Erick Lindgren. I spent some quality time with Lara and Miri, and I met a new friend, Mariealena. I had a fun night of karaoke with Miri, Lara, Bryan, Mariealena, Liz, Heather, Jay, Ships, and a number of others, including Wise Hand Poker’s own Tom and Ryan. I had a great dinner with Liz on Monday night at a fabulous sushi restaurant, and I watched Bryan Devonshire make a serious and respectable run at the WPT Championship title. (Congrats, Bryan, on your cash!)

Since I wasn’t doing tournament reporting for this trip, I stayed outside the tournament area most of the time I was at Bellagio. I went in with my press pass when necessary, but there wasn’t room to move around much, so I stayed out of the way. I sat at or near the bars outside the Fontana Lounge, and I paid special attention to the poker fans.

I understand that everyone doesn’t appreciate the railbirds - they block the entrance/exit from the tournament room by hovering to attempt a peek at their favorite players, and they take the players’ break times with photo and autograph requests.

I see the other side of the coin, as do many poker players. These fans make poker the popular and exciting sport that it has become. It’s those people who spread the word about the great game, sharing their cell phone pictures with friends. It’s those people who buy the poker merchandise, watch the TV shows, and contribute to the cash games in casinos.

And I can’t help but smile when I see them getting so excited to meet their favorite poker players. One guy told his friend, “Dude, I just shook Mike Matusow’s hand!” Another guy told his friends, “This picture of me and Phil [Ivey] is going up on my MySpace!” A group of young women were excited to see Joe Hachem but were speechless when he walked right by them. Several young men carried copies of Super System to get Doyle Brunson’s signature in it.

Just when I was getting a little down from hearing stories about players being broke, prop bets gone wrong, major sexual harassment going on at the tournament, etc., I see and hear those railbirds and remember why I love this game. Poker, with all of its ups and downs, has become my livelihood, and I love it. This was a trip that I desperately needed, and it reaffirmed my passion for the poker world.

So…Liz Lieu, Jon Friedberg, and “The Captain” Tom Franklin walk into a bar. Sounds like the intro to a bad joke; right…Actually, it is the introduction to one of my recent evenings in Las Vegas. Day 1A at the WPT Championships has just ended, what do you do? After a dinner at the Bellagio buffet that was spent dining on lamp chops, Kobe beef, and chocolate-covered strawberries, Tom Bostic and I headed down the strip to the Karaoke Bar at the Imperial Palace. There are two palaces on the Las Vegas Strip, and after tonight I’ll venture to say that Caeasar’s Palace has nothing on the Imperial Palace. They might think of renaming the place the Superior Palace.

Disclaimer: The remainder of this blog will be administered in multiple choice, for all you college kids out there.

Question One: How many security guards does it take to patrol a dive bar at the less-than crowded Imperial Palace?

A: 1
B: 2
C: 3
D: 4

Correct Answer: Four, I don’t know why but every ten minutes or so four security guards set up shop in preparation for god knows what. Don’t even ask how many of them it would have taken to replace a light bulb.

Question two: Brian Devonshire walks up to a microphone at a karaoke bar, what song does he sing?

A: Summer Lovin’
B: Gin ‘n’ Juice
C: The Gambler
D: Any Country Music song you can imagine

Correct Answer: Gin ‘n’ Juice, he received bonus points for introducing his rendition of Snoop Dogg with this statement, “This goes out to all my fellow white boys who grew up listening to gangsta rap in Southern California.” Extra Credit: the correct answer for “Captain” Tom (and half the bar) would have been D, he twanged his way through some country song I’ve never heard and then made a B-Line for the exit.

Question three: The color Teal is best represented by which object?

A: A Hornets jersey that Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, or Mugsy Bogues used to rock when the team still played in Charlotte.
B: A T10,000 chip from the WPT Championship.
C: The outfit the lady who was too old to be at the club was sporting at the Karaoke Bar on said night of said events.
D: That bomb Jansport backpack all junior-high kids used to rock in the nineties.

Correct Answer: My heart wants to say the answer is A or D. My eyes want to say the answer is B, but nine out of ten optometrists can’t be wrong. The answer is C, quite possibly because this lady not only found two tones of teal, but she wore them at the same time. By the way, she totally rocked!

Question four: You’re hanging out at a Karaoke Bar with “Captain” Tom Franklin, Liz Lieu, Wise Hand’s own Tiffany “Hot Chips” Michelle, and Jon Friedberg. Which two poker players walk into the bar next?

A: Jeff Madsen and Theo Tran
B: Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok
C: Doyle Brunson and T.J. Cloutier
D: Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Phil Hellmuth

Correct answer: Jeff Madsen and Theo Tran. Don’t be too disappointed in yourself; I would have guessed B as well. Those two were not present. But there were rumors of Gavin showing up. There were also rumors that Kenna James would show up to sing some country songs, but he heard that Tom Franklin brought the house down with his performance and never showed.

Question five: The bathroom in the Karaoke Bar at the Imperial Palace smells like?

A: A Snow Cone Shack
B: One too many urinal cakes
C: Flowers
D: Kool-Aid, more specifically what it would smell like if the Kool-Aid man busted through the wall of said bathroom and shouted, “Oh Yeah!”
E: All of the above

Correct Answer: All of the above. These were all answers supplied by the four occupants of the bathroom at the time. The Kool-Aid answer prompted us to all start screaming, “Oh Yeah.” This prompted one of the four security guards patrolling the area to bust into the bathroom as if he were the Kool-Aid man himself, prompting us all to laugh even harder.

Speaking of Flowers, Bostic and I ran into Frankie Flowers at the high-limit area of the Bellagio poker room on our journey back home. He was sitting at a table with actor James Woods and Rajendra Patel, who won the Foxwoods Poker Classic. I’m pretty sure a 15-minute hand took place between Woods and Patel in the time that we chatted with the always entertaining Flowers.

Bostic and I then returned to our home away from home at 1095 Bellagio Boulevard and I now sit here with you at my computer. Email me your test scores when you get a chance. On that note it’s time to go to sleep, Good Night, Good Luck, and Good Riddance!

Ryan “Force” Lucchesi
force@wisehandpoker.com

The other day I had two hours off between classes and decided to play an online cash game. I looked at my clock after awhile to discover I still had an hour before my class. I kept playing and things were going real well. I looked at my clock again after what felt like five minutes. 1:20! DAMN! MY CLASS IS STARTING RIGHT NOW! Being a cheap college student, I waited to get the rest of my free hands before my blinds came and then headed to class. This is the first and hopefully last time poker has actually affected me attending class. I guess I could ask the question is poker killing my education or is education killing my poker game? No worries, Ryan Schmelzer will be cool and stay in school.

The school year is winding down and I have a very busy week in front of me. I have a three-page paper to do and a 10-12-page paper. The bigger paper is an analysis on a movie my choice. Of course I selected Rounders as my movie. I realized that Rounders is a pretty realistic portail of the poker world. There are some impossible/improbable things in the movie, but for the most part, it is pretty realistic. After all, they have to add something to the movie to spice it up. I realized that this is the thing that made me dislike ESPN’s show Tilt. I never liked the show, which only lasted one year. It frequently showed hands like 2-2 vs. 10-10. Every time I saw it happen, I just thought how unlikely it was for it to be pocket pair vs. pocket pair each time a key hand happened.

I should have those papers done by next week. This will give me time to finish reading “One of a Kind” and get out a review on it. You should also keep your eyes on the player bio section. I should be adding to that too once I have the time.

Keep hitting the tables and best of luck!

While I was back in San Francisco for a few days I was able to take in a couple baseball games. Going to as many games as possible has been one of my favorite parts about living in the Bay Area. I’m a huge Giants fan and AT&T Park is one of the nicest parks in country. Many of you will discover this during the All Star game this summer. The Giants defeated the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals in both games I attended, which should boost their confidence in the climb back to a winning record. Barry Bonds hit homerun 738, which was great to see. No matter what you think of the guy he is one of the greatest ball players of this or any other generation.

All the hot dogs, peanuts, and cracker jacks got me thinking. We know baseball is the national pastime, but I think poker deserves to be considered an American pastime as well. If you think about it, we have internalized romantic versions of each game in our minds. Both games also continue to thrive and grow. While my recent proximity to the game has changed my vision of poker in the last year, I can vividly recall my adolescent vision of poker. I always picture a Saloon in the old west where cowboys stroll in through a swinging door to have a shot of whiskey, listen to the piano player, and take a load off. In the back corner of the room smoke rises from a circular green-felt table. Red, white, and blue chips are tossed into pots by Doc Holliday, Sam Bowie, your usual collection of riff-raff, and Wild Bill Hickock (with his back to the wall). They play cards late into the night while the occasional argument breaks out during a tense bluff or an accusation of cheating. Of course, every man at the table has a six-shooter strapped to his waist.

Your internal version of poker may be different. It might bring up images of a stud game taking place on a Mississippi steam boat as the white vessel steams up the river. It might be the classic image of five dogs sitting around a poker table, or even the images on the playing cards themselves. Poker is as deeply embedded into what we refer to as Americana as the historical periods in which the game was spread across the country.

To finish off my comparison of American pastimes I pondered some of the characters that make, and have made these games so popular. First things first, baseball has the Babe. Poker has the Texas Dolly. Both men are larger than life, and patriarchs of their game. Johnny Moss would have to be poker’s Ty Cobb, his brusque demeanor often rubbing opponents and fans the wrong way. Stu Ungar would be Mickey Mantle, arguably the most impressive talent their game has ever seen. They were unfortunately, equally defined by what they could have accomplished if health problems and fast living had not diminished their prime. Phil Hellmuth has to be Barry Bonds. You either love him, or you hate him, but you can’t look away. You can’t miss what they’ll do next. I may be reaching on this one, but I would say Amarillo Slim is the felt’s Willie Mays, it’s “Say Hey” kid. These two me are legends who were not only great players, but also possessed a contagious human spirit. I know I could keep going here but I have to hop on my flight to Vegas, but I’ve jump-started the discussion. Shoot me an email and let me know what you come up with, or if you disagree with my picks thus far.

Ryan “Force” Lucchesi
force@wisehandpoker.com

Oh, how I have missed this place. There is nowhere in Pennsylvania, or the world, that can even compare to Las Vegas. I mean, I love home, but as soon as you get off the plane and see the slot machines you know you are officially not in Kansas anymore. After spending last summer here, I have not been back since, but I could not be happier that I am here to cover the WPT Championship. By the way, do yourself a favor and splurge on a room at the Bellagio for at least one night next time you come. Comfy beds, luxurious everything and access to one of the nicest casinos in the world.

After getting a cab ride to the hotel, I unpacked my things and gave Gary a quick call. Although I was absolutely dog tired after only sleeping about three hours last night, I opted not to nap and instead decided to stroll the strip. As I was walking around, I was reminded of why I love this town. First, I took some ultra tourist-y pictures that I am not proud to admit. I have stayed here for too long; I am not a tourist. I’m supposed to be a professional, damn it! Yet, I broke down anyway feeling an obligation to log tangible memories of this incredible lifestyle I get to experience. Besides, some of these sites are too cool not to have a picture of.

After some cheesy pictures, I spotted a real site when I saw last years champion, Joe Bartholdi posing for a picture on top of the white marble fountain in front of Caesars Palace. Looking like he was getting a kick out of his modeling gig, he then jumped off and ran towards an attractive young women that was taking the picture. They got into a gray Lexus and left the parking lot. As if seeing one champion of the very event I am here to cover wasn’t enough, I was almost ran over by Tuan Le (Season 3 winner) moments later, when his white Escalade with 22” rims turned the corner in front of the Fashion Show mall.
Continuing on from there, I observed an older, somewhat homeless looking fellow hustling a group of young men at a three-card Monte game for $100 a guess. Then it was a bride walking the halls of the Bellagio, then a women with the most ridiculously large cartoonish breast implants I have ever seen eating at the cafe.

Thats Vegas, Baby.

Anyway, I am looking forward to some great poker this week. It seems like it will be a great turnout, proving once again that poker is still alive and well, no matter what the critics or lawmakers say.