Aussie Millions:Community and Cricket

Below we have a typical, if poorly executed, photo of poker pro Carlos Mortensen. I draw your attention to the railbirds in the upper part of the frame. These folks are watching the poker, but they’re not especially interested in the 2001 World Champion. Rather, they’re checking on the progress of the guy sitting across from Carlos, Chris Svenski.

Chris, an online qualifier, is among the more dynamic personalities in the room–or in any room for that matter. He met Phil Ivey early in the trip and promply told Phil that he planned to be “the Ernie Els of poker.” On the second day of this trip, he told me that his true goal for the week was to enter into a dance-off with Chris Ferguson. A couple of days ago, a group of us went to a club, where we got to see some of Mr. Svenski’s moves. They were extravagant and hilarious. Though in a dance-off, the safe money would be Jesus.

Chris with his game face

The railbirds are Erin and Summer. They’re actors from LA. And they’re terrific — engaging and charming. They seem to have become friends with all the qualifiers and most of the Full Tilt staff. Erin will playing in tomorrow’s starting heat, and he wanted to see how his new friends were fairing.

Erin and Summer

As an online player myself, I’m finding this experience delightful. There are great people playing this game online–bright, engaging folks with varied interests. This trip allows us to get beyond “nh” and “tyvm.”

It’s also great to see that many of our qualifiers are accumulating a lot of chips. These folks can play.

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According to a couple of Australian journalists, the most recognizable person in Australia played in the tournament today. His name is Shane Warne. He’s a cricketer (cricket player) who recently retired. He was, according to these guys, the best spin bowler in the country–maybe the best spin bowler ever.

I’ve watched about an hour and a half of cricket since I’ve been here. It’s on TV every hour of every day. I finding the game totally impenetrable. The rules and even the purpose of the game is a complete mystery to me. The TV commentators use words like “wicket” and “run” and “over” in seemingly random ways and manage to get very excited even when nothing is happening.

I asked a couple of Australian journalists, Shawn Ingauanzo and Glen Atwell, for a rundown of the rules. As they gave me a overview, Daniel Negreanu, sitting at a nearby table, overheard us. He joined us in the conversation. Below is a partial transcript of our talk:

Me: How long does it go?

Shawn: A test match is five days. It’s when both sides bat the ball twice. So the first bats then bowls then bats. And at the end of the game it’s whoever makes the most runs.

Me: What’s a run?

Shaw: It’s when the batsmen swap ends. So the batsmen hits the ball to a fielder, then they swap sides. Each side has 10 batsmen; you gotta take 10 wickets. So to get a batsmen out is wicket.

Me: Does everyone have to bowl and bat?

Glen: Well, yes. But if you’re a bowler, you tend to be further down the batting order. Each team will have three full-time bowlers, three full-time batters, and three all-rounders who do both.

Me: What’s an over?

Daniel: Six balls is one over. It’s a total of 300 balls, but you know how in baseball you play the top and the bottom? They play all the top first and then all the bottom, so you know what you have to get, total.

Me: Thanks. Now it’s all perfectly clear.

Daniel: If they hit it over the fence it’s 6 runs but if they hit it to the fence on the ground that’s 4 runs.

Me: How do you judge a bowler?

Daniel: You got spinners, right. It’s their job when they’re up by a lot to keep it in play… So you throw you a spinner in so he can keep it low so you can’t get under it and hit it out of the park…There’s also Economy. It’s like an ERA. So if a bowler has an Econmomy of 4.26 runs, it means his opponents score 4.26 runs per over.