MICHAEL CRAIG (The Full Tilt Poker Blog) vs.
ALCANTHANG (Poker From the Rail)
Who Will Last Longer in the FTOPS XIV Warm-Up?
The Stakes? Read on ….
The initial idea was Al’s, but I take most of the credit – or the blame – for the stakes.
Phil Ivey is an intimidating presence at the poker table. When you see that stare, it is not an illusion or an exaggeration. When I watched Phil heads-up against Andy Beal for three days in February 2006, I felt intimidated by it – and I was just watching.
But Phil also has a lighter, more playful side. I don’t know if he exudes charisma or whether it is just a contrast to his glare, but Phil Ivey’s smile can light up a room.
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On Monday afternoon, Ted Forrest sent me a message to meet him at a sushi restaurant a few blocks east of the Strip. I had asked for a meeting to catch up with Ted – the last time we talked, he was in Thailand – and also to ask him for some insight for my “Looking for Ivey” series. He gave me some helpful information but, like all encounters with Forrest, the excitement was in the journey.
Don’t be fooled by the name or the fancy digs. I made Shauna stay at the Gold Coast.
The trip started with such promise and ended in emptiness. That’s my unorthodox way of saying my trip to Las Vegas last week went “well” by Blog standards – meaning I obtained signficant information for future posts – but I didn’t get to do much gambling. Most important, I didn’t get to play in the WPT event at the Bellagio. In fact, the only gambling I did was playing in three WPT satellites that lasted a total of twenty-one minutes.
This is a photo Heather B took of Phil during the NL Deuce-to-Seven event in which he won his sixth bracelet last June. Interesting thing, though: this was on Day One.
Just after noon on October 21, nearly 200 poker players convened in a temporary poker room tucked into a pocket of the Bellagio that otherwise functioned as the Fontana Bar. They were contesting the Festa al Lago WPT Championship at twenty tables, with the overflow – there were eventually 275 entries – housed in the regular poker room across the casino past the cashier’s cage, players club, and endless banks of slot machines between the Starting Line Bar and the Cirque du Soleil Store.
During the first half of my friend Greg’s letter asking for advice, he asked variations on the question of how many hands to play. I addressed those in yesterday’s post. The second part of his email raised questions about “where to start” so this post will address those.
I’m currently drowning in Las Vegas and unable to post, either about Phil Ivey, the Main Event final table, or what’s pulling me under the surface. I will explain in detail upon my return and will faithfully post my “Looking For Ivey” series on Sunday, October 25, November 1, and November 8.
Before I found myself in this current jam, I received an email from a fan of the blog that raised some interesting issues. Because I had written a detailed response, I’m posting that in two parts, while I make sense of the tangled mess I’ve made of my life here in Vegas. Please keep in mind that when I wrote the material that follows, I was in a sane, stable environment and frame of mind.
I had hoped to post the first of my four-part series “Looking For Ivey” today but I got sidetracked by the Million Dollar Guarantee on Full Tilt. I finished 52nd, which is just good enough to eat up an entire day, but not good enough to make me the kind of money to blow off the blog. In fact, I’d normally just work late into the night … except I have to drive 5 hours to Las Vegas now. I’ll be in Vegas the next few days doing some work for the blog and prep work for the final table coverage. Part I of Looking For Ivey is part-written. I hope to finish it on Monday and post it ASAP.
Thanks for understanding.
