Another WPT champion - a Legend no less - has been crowned, and it is Dan Harrington. Fitting, wouldn’t you say?

I attended the taping of the final table as a spectator instead of a reporter, and I was so glad that I did. The members of the media were sitting around before play began wondering where they were allowed to go, what their access was going to be, and how they were going to provide sufficient coverage. Honestly, I don’t know how it turned out because I went into spectator-mode.

I met up with Tom Schneider’s wife, Julie, and a group of their friends and family members. We had an absolutely great time watching the final table. Tom has a fabulous group of supporters in his corner, and I felt lucky to be in their company last night.

A few hours into play, we discovered (okay, he was hard to ignore) a drunk spectator behind us who kept yelling instructions to Dan Harrington. “Raise, Dan….. Harrington!” Obviously, he didn’t know Dan, and we were highly amused by the antics. A little while later, said drunk guy was actually being taken from the casino in a wheelchair with vomit on his shirt and in a nearly catatonic state. Lovely.

Tom ended up finishing fourth though he came in as the chip leader. He just couldn’t get that usual momentum going, and he was definitely disappointed. My take on it, however, was that this was an incredible showing. After winning two bracelets out of three final tables at the WSOP, capturing the WSOP Player of the Year honors, he makes the WPT final table in the first event he plays since the WSOP. And this was his second WPT final table in less than two years. Ummm, if the entire poker world doesn’t take notice of this guy, I don’t know what game they’re paying attention to.

We left the final table after Tom’s elimination and went across the street for dinner. It was a good time - fun conversation and even a short tutorial on Chinese poker. Robert Goldfarb (15th place finisher in the Legends main event) taught me the basics, and though our food came and disrupted the game, I’m anxious to play more in the future. I finally see the attraction to the game, and with a little practice, I’ll be ready to lose money to any and all challengers.

When I returned home late last night, I saw that Dan Harrington won the event. The heads-up match between David Pham and Dan lasted quite a few hours; both of them truly wanted to win that title. I know that David has made numerous WPT final tables and wanted to win one more than most people I’ve talked to in poker, but it wasn’t meant to be last night. At the same time, it’s difficult not to be happy for Dan - so respected in the poker community and so deserving of a WPT title.

I don’t think I’ll be returning to the Bike for the WPT Ladies Night event tonight, as I have a ton of work on my plate, and traffic to get over there is just a complete bitch. I don’t think I have the energy for it, and my car is begging me not to do it. So, no more craziness from the Bike for the time being…

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

Hey guys,

Just got back from The Bourne Ultimatum with some high recommendations. I’m interviewing Daniel tomorrow morning, so I need to get crashed out asap. How will my body react to the change in schedule? Should be interesting to see. hopefully, I sleep through the experience, aided by a little too much sleeping pill. I’d write more but they’r starbting tooo tabke effec

Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I want to take this opportunity to pimp a new website that I launched yesterday. It’s called “Scoop!” and it presents fake poker news in satirical form. For example, the second post there is an interview with God about poker and Jerry Yang’s WSOP win.

The site is www.PokerScoopOnline.com.

I hope readers find it entertaining. Thoughts on the site are welcome, and links to it are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your support!

Side note: I’ll be heading to the Bike for the Legends of Poker final table later today. Tom Schneider is coming in with the chip lead, but other big names like David Pham and Dan Harrington are certainly going to make a strong showing. I will blog about it later tonight.

hey guys, I spent a good portion of the day playing today, finishing up a little bit. The reuslt though is there isn’t as much to report on as there often is. Still, there are a fw things worth noting;

- The interview with Daniel Negreanu for the radio show is set. We’ll be pre-taping it this friday at 10AM, with Daniel calling in from Barcelona. I’ll be interested to see if he’ll speak out against two organizations he’s been so friendly with over hre last two years.

- Today’s Pages From Poker’s Past is awesome; I stubled across Roger Ebert’s original movie review for Rounders. be sure to check it out.

- The next ESPN article, assuming interviews go smoothly, with be about Hal Lubarsky, the blind man who went deep in this year’s World Series of Poker.

- We have a new writer here at wisehandpoker.com. Earl Burton, host of Texas Hold’em Radio, has been writing about the game for the last three years, mostly for pokerNews. now he’s doing some work for WHP. You can find a couple of his pieces already in the feature articles section.

- Our frustrations go out to Joe Sebok, who’s been a good friend to wisehandpoker.com. Joe, who’s been searching valiently for his first $10,000 win, was the chip leader going into yesterday’s play at the WPT’s Legends of Poker only to get eliminated in seventh. Tom Schneider and Dan Harrington are the two biggest stacks heading into the final table. Should be a good one.

I’m staying up even later than usual tonight in order to acclimate myself for the interview tomorrow morning, which is a good hting since i still have two articles to do now at 8:00 AM. I’m going to get back to it. Have a good one,

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Well, tonight was the third show we’ve actually gotten on the air with Wise Hand Poker, the radio show, and I can say for the first time that I think those of you who didn’t listen really missed something special.

We started things off with the unfortunate news that the folks over at pokerwire.com are closing down shop in the wake of the agreement that has CP delivering exclusive coverage of the WPT. That deal combined with the Bluff/WSOP deal has left anyone not working with either group outmoded. It’s an awful development for the industry in that many talented people who are enthusiastic about poker and the professional game have been jettisoned from sharing their love of this industry and it’s denizens.

Fortunately, not everyone is content to stay quiet about it. over at the website, a number of industry insiders are sounding off, with a welling of support from the player ranks. Even Daniel Negreanu voiced his displeasure; before tonight’s show, I spoke with Daniel, who’s over in Barcelona and he agreed to do a pre-recorded interview with me sometime this week, which will hopefully be aired on next week’s show.

Next, we were joined by Jen Newell. Jen’s been doing what she can to check out the action at the Legends of poker despipte the CardPlayer embargo, so it was good to have her come on the air. In the years she’s been covering poker events, Jen’s never been on radio or television, so I can proudly say we’re ones who got to launch her multi-media career:) Thanks for coming on Jen, it was the least I could do for someone who’s worked hard and shown a lot of dedication to their craft.

Next, we brought on the heavy. Todd brunson joined us to talk about the changing face of poker and the game it’s changed from. He talked about his belief that the behavior of today’s players is shameful, how ten years ago a player would have gotten the shit kicked out of them for the behavior that’s become commonplace now, the new tavern he’s opening up in Vegas and the legends of the game who served as near-uncles as he grew up. Turns out he actually called Sailor Roberts “Uncle Sailor”. Who knew. Todd is a remarkably blunt and up front kind of guy, the type i like interviewing most; no bullshit, no beating around the bush, just the truth. Why waste time with anythign else, you know?

Last, we were joined by Jamie Gold, who spoke about the turbulent year he had after his WSOP victory, the prevailing opinions from those not in the know about how he plays the game and the charity work he’s been able to do in the wake of his still-relatively-newfoud celebrity. jamie and I have done a number of very good interviews in the last few months, and this was another one, with the conversation flowing. As Jamie’s come to trust me as an interviewer, he’s learned to open up with his answers a little more. Each interview with him has been better than the last.

Suddenly, the two hours were done. It went by in a blur, the way it’s supposed to when everything goes according to plan. It has me excited to do more, and next week shoiuld be a doozy; in addition to Daniel, I’m hoping to pre-record an interview with Nancy “Bart Simpson” Cartwright on her charity event coming up on the ninth of September, and I even started chatting with Brian “SBRugby” Townsend abotu the possibility of his joining us also. We’re going to catch up on things a little later tonight and figure out if he can make it from there.

So you all know, next week will see us in a new time slot. With ESPN’s WSOP episodes airing on tuesdays from 9-11, it was pretty retarded to have the show on at the same time, especially in light of my relationship with them. As a result, we’re going to be on next Wednesday, September 5th, from 8-10 PM. Don’t worry, I’ll only mention it around a thousand more times between now and then. Thanks to jamie, Todd and jen for a great show. i had a blast.

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Hey all,

going to be a quick one today. Three things:

1) Thanks to the few of you who e-mailed me after yesterday’s rant. it’s nice to know someone’s reading this drivel, even if one person did threaten to steal another one of my writers. Don’t worry folks, he was only kidding. I think. War, buddy, war.

2) I’m really looking forward to tonight’s show. I’ve got some good questions ready for Todd and Jamie aside from the usual mundane stuff they get asked by the lesser-initiated in the poker community. Not only that, but they aren’t the only one’s who are going to be joining me. Added to their number will be…

3) Jen Newell! Jen has been hanging out down at the Legends of poker, and with the main event down there now in full flux, it seemed like it would make sense to have her come on the show and let us know what’s happening. When I first approached her with the idea, she was definitely nervous about doing radio, so why not add a little to her pressure by letting you all know you should come and listen to her podcast debut? Be sure to be there and check it out; even if you think I’m crap, she deserves the support. All the best,

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Tidbits for your reading pleasure from Day 2 of the Legends main event at the Bike…

I can’t talk about the WPT event at the Bike without giving the latest update on the new media rules that resulted from the WPT/Card Player alliance. Again, the rules were being strictly enforced, but the new problem was that the enforcement wasn’t consistent. Various media outlets discussed this issue amongst themselves and requested a meeting with WPT officials. From what I gathered, the rules about what these reporters were allowed to post was unclear - ummm, remember the WSOP? - and they were wondering if future coverage of WPT events would even be worth the time or effort. Reporters were frustrated, and I don’t blame them one bit.

As for me - only there to get interviews - I was doing my usual leaning against the door of the tournament room, watching the action from afar and waiting for breaks when I could talk to players. At one point, a PR rep suggested I take a walk through the room, and I declined at the time, as I really didn’t have the need. A little later, I was trying to see how many chips one player had left, and I walked less than 20 feet into the room to take a quick look, and I was asked to step out because there was another non-Card Player reporter in there at the same time. She was nice about it, but that was the last time I cared to walk in that room. Too much of a hassle for me.

I’m curious to see how it all plays out. If the WPT and Card Player don’t let up a little, no one will be covering the WPT tournaments anymore, period. Is that really good for poker? And is that what the WPT really wants?

Anyhoooo, on to other things…

The field was just stacked today with big names all over the place. There were 191 players who returned for Day 2, and the field was diminishing at a decent pace as the day progressed.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Anna Wroblewski for quite awhile and conduct an interview for a magazine article, and she was just the sweetest person to talk to. Her early years as an orphan in Vietnam are very interesting and say a lot about who she is and why she leads her life the way she does.

My fav music producer, Irv Gotti, was hanging on today and doing well when I left. He was nearing the 100k mark this evening after being down to about 17k early on. I think he was actually starting to dislike the attention of the media, though, and when I finally asked if he’d be interested in speaking to me for an article, he declined. He was polite about it, but he seemed to be distancing himself from the media. Obviously, I was bummed, but he did tell me a little about the new Ja Rule single that should be on the radio soon. (Not many people care, but I’m excited about it. Let me have my moment, will ya?)

The most interesting part of my day was my personal Vinnie Vinh saga. I knew that he busted from Day 1B last night after I left, so I left him a voice mail message to get in touch with me or see me at the Bike today. No sign of him before the tourney started, so I asked David Pham if he knew where Vinnie was. He made a call and returned to tell me Vinnie was back in Vegas. Doh! Several hours later, however, I look up from the sushi bar to see Vinnie walking through the cash game area. Hey! I finished my spicy tuna rolls, then went out to the smoking area where I saw him headed. He thought I didn’t see him and darted around to the side entrance of the casino. I wasn’t about to chase him, but I got the message. He was definitely avoiding me, so I let it be.

Well, I can only guess that Vinnie is in a strange place these days because of what happened later. I waited for traffic to die down, then went to the valet to get my car around 7:45pm. As I was standing there, Vinnie walked out of the casino doors, locked eyes with me, and came over to give me a hug. “I sorry!” he said as he walked over. He repeated the apology several times, and I told him it was okay. “If you don’t want to do the interview, it’s okay,” I said. “Just tell me the truth.” He proceeded to let me know that this was just a really bad time right now, but he insisted that we will meet for dinner very soon, and he will talk openly. “I call you!” he kept saying as I drove away.

Maybe, maybe not. But I’m not giving up. I will have a conversation with Vinnie, and I will chase him until I get it. I won’t stalk him or make him uncomfortable, but I want to talk to him. Seriously.

One other thing about my day… Though I was only in jeans and a t-shirt - nothing special - I received compliments today from the valet, the guy working the cafe, and the security guards. I’m sure they don’t see many women ’round those parts, but it was nice to be complimented anyway. And it makes the sting of not getting some key interviews a little less upsetting. It’s all good in the ‘hood for me.

I don’t think I’ll be making the unpleasant drive to the Bike for Day 3 or 4, but I’m fairly sure I’ll be there for the final table. I will post another blog if anything happens with my “Chasing Vinnie” saga or when I return to the Bike.

jshronk: yo
GarbeRRRules: hey—you are in europe now, yes?
jshronk: yep
jshronk: barcelona
jshronk: only two tv stations i get here in english are a channel that shows random old sports games
jshronk: like a regular season hockey game from 2003
GarbeRRRules: like, espn classic sucky
jshronk: and CNN
jshronk: and the same chick has been on CNN since I got here like 14 hours ago - it’s creepy

7:09 AM. Glad my sleep schedule is so intact.

I’m just finishing up for the night after a more productive day than I’ve had in the last few weeks, finishing the ESPN champions article, getting a few other pieces done. I’ve been fighting some block of late, so it was nice to get over the hump.

Writer’s block is a funny thing. There was a discussion about it at the writer’s round table dinner at the World Series of Poker. ‘The round table’ as we dubbed it, was a dinner arranged by Nolan Dalla in which a select few writers were asked to come and talk about the game and the craft, and Nolan was the one who asked about block and how some of us get over it. My answer was pretty straightforward.

Writing is about taking the life you lead, learning from it and expressing what you learn on the page. To that end, you need to experience in order to stay focused on the page. In the wake of the series, where i was surrounded by friends and colleagues and experiencing sixteen hours a day, I’m finding my more mundane Toronto existence a lot less inspiring. The irony of course is that when we’re there, we complain about the stress and the hours. Now, all I can think about is getting back to it. The grass is always greener, I guess.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve done a lot of blank staring at the page. I’ve done a lot of opening up Microsoft Word, lowering my hands to the keyboard, then moving my mouse to other things to distrct me from what i should and need to be doing. I hope and feel like that’s going to change now, and when I get to the point where I’m writing and writing and writing again, I’ll once again get to a point where I need to experience instead of write in order to stay inspired. I guess that’s the cycle I live.

I’m mostly just telling you this because I want to write, needed to post a blog and let my fingers do the walking. I guess in some way it’s my way of explaining why this site goes through periods of stagnation. There are other writers working here, but we’re not making enough money to pay them as much as I’d like, if at all, and that means they eventually get offered jobs by folks who have money and take it. Twice in the last year, I’ve made deals with writers on our roster to have them increase their workload in exchange for what little money I can muster only to have them accept deals with other sites less than a week later and it’s frustrating. More frustrating is that the companies that have hired them have done so knowing about the writers’ affiliation with wisehand and with me, and their offers are being orchestrated by people who call me colleague and smile to my face, then don’t have the respect to man up and tell me they’re about to steal these people. it’s enough to make a guy feel very much alone. I’m a solitary person, but it catches up some times. Call this a purge.

I hope you’ll keep checking in here even when that stagnation does happen. Between the hand of the day, the blog, trying to broker deals with other sites, the ESPN and bluff work, the radio show…well, the list goes on, it’s tough to keep up and live life at the same time. Of course, if I take time to live life away from the keyboard, that’s less work that’s getting done here.

I’m not sure there’s a point to all of this, but this is a cool 600 words I’ve just written in twenty minutes, and I type with two fingers on each hand. Guess I had something I needed to say. The experience built up. That’s why I’m back on the page.

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Interesting notes from Day 1B of the Legends main event at the Bike…

I mentioned yesterday that the PR reps for WPT were being fairly lenient with the new media rules. So much for that! Today, the rules were being strictly enforced with non-WPT and non-Card Player reporters only being allowed into the tournament room for 15-minute increments, once per hour, escorted by a WPT rep.

An unnamed WPT reporter even said that it is a disappointment to see his friends in the media being excluded, especially when it had been the trend in previous tournaments to share information about player names, chip counts, eliminations, and significant hands. I wholeheartedly agree and know that coverage will suffer immensely across the board because of the new rules. It’s already happening at Legends. The official live updates reported in their end-of-day recap yesterday that Steve Sung was the chip leader, when the true chip leader was Jerome Mangum. One oversight or a sign of the level of coverage to expect? The previous, I can only hope.

Off my soapbox and into the good stuff…

It looks like there were 266 players today, and it was simply a star-studded field. Everyone from Doyle Brunson to Phil Hellmuth to Jerry Yang to Barry Greenstein was in the room to play.

I met Jerry Yang today, and he was just as humble and kind as reports previously stated. He was decked out in a black suit and excited to play. Too bad his starting table included the likes of Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Mary Jones, Gavin Smith, and Chris McCormack. A few hours into it, though, he was holding his own quite nicely.

Just as people were trying to get close to Jerry and congratulate him, Jamie Gold walked through the lobby to no fanfare and no autograph seekers. Sorry, J!

Phil Hellmuth made his standard late entrance, which is getting old, quite frankly. He took his seat at the same table with Casey Kastle, Chau Giang, Vinnie Vinh, and Freddy Bonyadi. In the first hour, Phil received penalties for checking a PDA during a hand and dropping the F-bomb (though not directed at another player).

As soon as I arrived at the Bike before the tournament, Vinnie Vinh greeted me in front of the casino with a hug. Evidently, we’ve become close. He still wants to talk to me but certainly not while he was playing. We’re scheduling for tomorrow before the tournament. And who bought him in today? It wasn’t David “Dragon” Pham, which would have been my guess. (Good thing no one was around to bet me on it.) An unnamed source told me that it was Tommy Vu. Tommy was scheduled to play today but called the tournament director before start time and told him that he would be unable to play; he wanted Vinnie to play in his place. How convenient!

Poor Eskimo Clark was hovering around the sign-up area for today’s event, but he wasn’t getting any love. He did not play in the main event.

Kenna James came in with his closely-shaven head, a product of his recent trip to Kentucky to host a charity event for the U.S. Army and Screaming Eagle Poker soldiers. He also had a friend with him today filming some “hello” messages from pro poker players to send to the troops overseas. Nice going, Kenna!

Mark Newhouse and Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf were in the same room with no hubbub. On the first break, I check in with Mark in the smoking lounge to ask about it. He said that he had not spoken to Neverwin since the WSOP near-brawl. I asked if he was planning some sort of sneak attack today, he laughed and said, “Maybe.” Just as we were chatting, he looked over and saw Neverwin seated on a bench only feet away from us. Mark walked over and said hi as if none of the anger, stalking, and chasing had ever happened. They chatted for a few moments, no violence ensued, and all was well with the world… except for that pesky hundred thousand dollars that Mark is owed. Personally, I think this story is far from over, no matter the friendly words today.

Interesting bustouts after only three hours of play: Phil Hellmuth, Tuan Lam, and Maria Ho. And either Jerry Yang is out or moved, but the official updates are reporting conflicting information about the table at which he began. Argh.

I will be heading down to the Bike again tomorrow to conduct some scheduled interviews and check out the combined field for Day 2. By the way, my favorite music producer Irv Gotti made it to Day 2, so he’ll be one of the many I’ll be watching in the crowd tomorrow. I shall blog again tomorrow.