Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
I conceived of the idea of following Jeffrey Pollack or Ty Stewart for a day during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas last July. This is a classic reporting technique but it has one obvious flaw: any institution REALLY worth examining that close would generally resist granting that kind of access.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
I once had the ambition to be the last person to play a round of golf on the island of Montserrat. This probably strikes you as a bizarre ambition, but it significantly affected my writing career and explains, in part, why I spent Sunday, September 16 in London with Ty Stewart, Director of Sponsorship and Marketing for the World Series of Poker.
Sunday was Final Table Day at the Main Event of the first World Series of Poker-Europe. I was with Ty almost every minute of that day and night, from when he came downstairs for breakfast in the lobby of the Hampshire on Leicester Square, to when we ate cold McDonalds hamburgers in the basement of the Hampshire sixteen hours later and he excused himself to go to bed. Stewart rarely stood still for more than a minute and the experience took me to every part of the Empire Casino, including the counting room and a place Stewart called “the hole.” We also found ourselves in a basement poker game, on the London Underground running into Robert and Cate Williamson, at Harrods at closing time with an armful of silver platters, and in a predictably awful London McDonalds at 2:30 in the morning.
But the story starts more than a decade ago, on a tiny island a half a world away.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Sorry for the delay in posts. Full Tilt is working on some exciting new stuff and they asked me to help them in the planning. No details for now but it’s really neat stuff and I devoted a lot of time to the project. I’m also working on a long multi-part post about Final Table Day at World Series of Poker-Europe, tentatively titled “Last Hand at the Empire.” I will start posting portions as soon as the early parts are done and I’m sure it’s looking right. (I also have many other posts about London to complete, and maybe something about the experience of my high school graduating class’s 30-year reunion. At the very least, I need something to answer the IRS agent when he asks, “You deducted the expenses from your high school reunion WHY?”)
But now I want to mention the upcoming Bad Beat on Cancer tournament.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
Full Tilt announced today that it was running the sixth installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series on November 7 to 18. I have carefully calculated that if you take my worst stretch of online poker play but OMITTED my FTOPS results from that period, I would still be a profitable player. Actually, I didn’t calculate that, but it sure FEELS that way.
So why am I excited about the next edition?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized
I’m trying to work my way though a backlog of material from London. The main piece is about final-table day at WSOP-Europe. Ty Stewart, who with Jeffrey Pollack runs the WSOP for Harrah’s, let me trail him for the day to write about the final table from his perspective. It’s going to be a great piece but it’s taking some time. I also have an entry in progress about visitng the Tower of London with Chris Ferguson then eating two dinners, one with my writing heroes and friends Tony Holden, Al Alvarez, and Des Wilson (along with Al’s wife Anne and Tony’s wife Cindy), and the second dinner for Annie Duke’s birthday at what was supposed to be the hottest restaurant in London.
Be patient, please. In the meantime …
Popularity: 1% [?]

