WPT Invitational, Gotta Be Cruel to Kind

I have always enjoyed playing the annual WPT Celebrity Invitational held at the Commerce Casino towards the end of the LA Poker Classic, and I've said many times it's the most fun you can possibly have while playing live poker. It's also a fun event to write about, and you can find my recaps from the 2008 event here and the 2009 event here.

This year, though, I was basically too tired and hungry (thankfully I made it to the buffet just moments before they cleared the food) to fully enjoy the event. The rainy evening in Los Angeles (yes, I know it's hilariously lame to hear Angelenos complain about the weather) also had a noticeable dampening effect on the pre-game schmoozing on the second-floor deck.

The Grinder was at my starting table, and he's the perfect player for the event, clear in his stated objective to NOT make it through the night but have fun for as long as possible in the meantime. I took his first 5K chips when he pushed blind over my open-raise and I called with KJo (he had Q4o). That forced him to use the optional $200 rebuy, which went to benefit Chrysalis. After the rebuy period ended, it was announced that $95,000-ish was raised, and Commerce kicked in the rest to make it an even $100K for charity.

Richard Kind was the only recognizable celebrity at my table, and when he alluded to his short stack during the rebuy period, I said, "Well, you always got that rebuy bullet!" And he just sort of said, "Nah, I don't rebuy." I could tell it was a stratagem he held dear, but I pointed out that the rebuy benefited charity. He acknowledged this, said, "That's true...charity" and still didn't rebuy.


I am a fan of Richard Kind's acting, but he was not a very likable person at the poker table. It was almost like playing with a bitter, inverted version of the goofy-but-lovable characters he plays on screen in Curb Your Enthusiasm and A Serious Man.

Now, the event pays cash to 1st-6th places, and a hefty $100K to first. In other words, it's worth taking seriously (although apparently not seriously enough to rebuy), but Kind left the impression of taking things a bit too seriously and came off like an aggravated, unhappy Commerce regular, often flicking his cards into the dealer tray in an inexplicable display of frustration. This is the sort of behavior you sometimes see from cranky full-time live poker players, who spend 40+ hours a week in card-rooms, but I could not relate to Kind's table demeanor whatsoever.

I did wind up busting Richard Kind with kings vs. eights preflop, then I gradually became more spewy with my chips as the night went on and busted myself around 1AM.

***

There were, of course, a couple of distinct highlights: Gina Gershon, whom I've had a crush on forever, was standing behind her seat, a few tables over, and she looked amazing in a leather jacket, wearing her characteristic wide smile. Matt Savage, the best showman in the Tournament Director business, was as good an MC as ever, subtly alluding to the Bound reunion in the room of Gershon and Jennifer Tilly without actually mentioning the film.


It was also great to run into Vince Lozano in the hallway. He and I first met at the 2008 tournament and have seen every year since at this event. Really nice guy, and we always wish each other good luck in the upcoming year. It was especially cool to see him show up on my DVR a couple nights later in a part on the new Chris Elliot show Eagleheart.

***

Also very cool is that two French poker acquaintances, Almira Skripchenko and David Kitai, made the final table. On March 2nd, they play for the a $100K first prize (with $5K guaranteed to the six remaining players).

Good luck Almira, David, and Vince! See you next year.

Anthems

The circumstances are sort of ironic, but having the Grammys on in the background a couple Sundays back reminded me to get caught up with a couple of artists whose career trajectories I have been familiar with from the start, The Arcade Fire and Eminem, and I bought both of their newest albums a couple of days later.

Back when The Slim Shady LP was released in 1999, my friend and I were two severely fucked up New Yorkers. The brightest memory from that time might actually be spending hours in his grandmother's apartment watching MTV. I guess it was a renaissance for videos, because I can remember three memorable ones from the time: "No Scrubs" by TLC, "When a Woman's Fed Up" by R. Kelly and "My Name Is" by Eminem.

We were hooked from the opening line, "Hi kids, do you like Primus?" and then got sucked into the entire album's brilliant expression of maternal resentment, drug addiction and pointed-yet-directionless anger and frustration.

(As an aside, "My Name is" is a good example of a solution to Noah Zark's #2 Rant, and simultaneously discovering both the clean and dirty versions is an under-appreciated treat for hip-hop fans).

Anyway, it's good to see Em back in form, he had me doing air pen in the car the other day:



Arcade Fire is a band I knew about just as Funeral (which for months I thought was called "Funreal") was becoming a sensation. A co-worker friend of mine from Blue Ribbon Brooklyn knew some of the band members, and if I'm not mistaken the first time I saw them was either headlining or opening at the Leonard St. Knitting Factory with another Canadian band, The Unicorns, who poured honey all over their instruments in a really fascinating display that one might also call a "shit show." I might be conflating memories.

I remember wondering aloud where the band would go with its clear talent and potential for commercial success and how it would balance that traditionally tricky combination. Well, six years later, we might have the answer: Seems like The Arcade Fire worked hard on their music, put out good records and when it came time to make money off their hard work, they did it right, selling the anthemic "Wake Up" to the NFL.



(Edit, 2/23 to include info from a commenter who sounds like he knows what he's talking about: "I'm pretty sure Arcade Fire licensed their track to the NFL and all of the proceeds went to their charity of choice for Haiti relief. The first time No Cars Go was used by Fox NFL, I'm pretty sure they got sued. So, I don't think AF has licensed a song for profit to date.")

Blogroll Updated

I cleaned up the blogroll, particularly the poker section.

Out with some old, in with several new, and all links should direct to (relatively) active and substantive blogs. Unless I forgot or missed anyone, I added everyone who messaged me with a blog suggestion. If not, or if you have another one, please comment here or email me.

Shaniac: The Corner

In the tradition of 2+2 "Wells" I am hosting an "ask me about anything" type thread. You can join in, or lurk, by clicking here.

Hi, My Name Is (PokerStars Team: Online)

I don't know where to begin, so first the news: I am now a member of Team PokerStars: Online. That means the site that has been my main base of operations for online poker since 2004 is now the site that I play on exclusively and will officially represent in print and person. I could not be more thrilled.


For the past two years, PokerStars has invited all Supernova VIPs (players who attain a certain level through Stars' VIP loyalty program) to apply and become members of Team: Online. 2010 was my first year to earn Supernova, so I applied.

My audience might recall that things weren't looking so rosy for me around Thanksgiving. My poker career had bottomed out, and I was faced with the reality of having to find other work, while simultaneously realizing that a) I wasn't really qualified for any other profession and b) I actually liked the work I had been doing for six years--playing poker tournaments.

Then, a sequence of fortuitous events occurred: I made the final table of the Sunday Million for some much needed cash, and then I got The Call. I felt like Robert Evans poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel, getting "discovered" by Norma Shearer to play Irving Thalberg in The Man of a Thousand Faces. Except my Norma Shearer was a PokerStars VIP representative calling me from the UK to discuss a variety of issues related to my poker career, past, present and future.

And I doubt Robert Evans had to sweat the results of a lame-duck congressional session in December, during which time Harry Reid was trying to push through legislation that would have prevented online poker sites from operating in the US market for 15 months and killed my deal before it even began.

Well, the legislation didn't get attached, online poker is alive and well, and the kid stays in the picture.

***

The most exciting aspect of all of this for me is the opportunity to improve my blog and try to reach out to a wider audience. Throughout all my ups and downs in poker, the sort of thing that has meant the most to me by far is when someone like Peter Rho, sitting on my left in a Bellagio tournament, encourages me to write more, saying, "You never know who's reading." Or when I get a tap on the shoulder at the Rio from some stranger letting me know that he likes the blog.

I have always attempted to make the poker narrative translatable to a non-poker readership, because I want my friends in New York to read a post and get something out of the story despite being unfamiliar with half of the terminology. Now, I also want to broaden my scope to reach out to young, aspiring pros and recreational players alike.

In a way, looking back at a six-plus year career with "nothing to show for it" is demoralizing, but I am now blessed with the possibility to rebuild from scratch and maybe provide some guidance for avoiding the pitfalls that snared me along the way.

And to my friends and family and my ex-girlfriend, who stood by me through struggle and triumph alike, I can't even begin to express my gratitude. In the words of the Zombies, "This will be our year, took a long time to come."

Sunday Result

Had my biggest online score ($76K) in the enormous $109 rebuy Sunday on PokerStars. Really tired and grateful and happy to hit a home run after a two week slump. That's right, crappy baseball analogies on Super Bowl Sunday.

More to come.