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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272383952016-05-25T20:43:40.000-04:00Hard-Boiled PokerExistentialist musings from Short-Stacked Shamus,
 an online poker player of (primarily) micro and low limits.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-34810022954631208032016-05-24T20:29:00.000-04:002016-05-25T20:43:40.013-04:00Summer's Coming

The World Series of Poker gets started in a little over a week, with the first of 69 bracelet events starting on June 1 (the $565 buy-in Casino Employees Event).
 I watched that "Twitch Town Hall" last week hosted by the WSOP "brass" (as my buddy Mo Nuwwarah likes to refer to them). To be honest, I had it on but ended up getting distracted by other things as the sound was muddy and it was occasionally hard to follow. Seems to be a common thing on Twitch when folks don't use microphones but rather just the internal mics in laptops. (It is often listenable enough with earbuds, but I don't always want to use those.)
 I did pick up on the fact that they were answering a lot of questions about this year's "Colossus" (or "Colossus II," as they're dubbing it), mostly to do with registration concerns. Sounds like they think it'll be even bigger than the 22,374-entry field from last year, which is nuts.
 There was other stuff having to do with the WSOPE and WSOP APAC (both up in the air, it sounds like), the WSOP POY and the GPI working on a better formula, the earlier start times, Uber, All-American Dave, and so on. But nothing huge to get excited or bothered about, from what I could tell.
 There will be some good stories again this summer, as there always are. The whole enterprise has definitely grown to the point now that it feels more like a big lumbering machine -- even more so than just five or seven years ago, I think. And with all of the other tours circling the globe to keep each week -- each day, even -- filled with tourney talk, the WSOP has definitely become less central, though still unique.
 Photo: "Temperature," Jan. CC BY 2.0.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-91842828960595810492016-05-23T21:21:00.000-04:002016-05-24T11:35:13.450-04:00WSOP-Related Reads on PokerNews

A few good reads over on PokerNews today, IMHO (as they say). All have something to do with the 2016 World Series of Poker, which starts in just about a week.
 For one there's the first part of PN's annual predictions for the upcoming World Series of Poker, where I'm chiming in along with several others. We give thoughts about 10 different questions in this part, with more to come.
 We guess who will win WSOP POY, who will win various marquee events, opine about how various pros will do, and weigh in as well on this question of whether or not Howard Lederer and/or Chris Ferguson will turn up at the Rio this summer.
 I'm more or less okay with my predictions in this part, though I'm less confident about some of the ones I ventured in the second part. In any case, check out "2016 World Series of Poker Predictions, Part 1: Will Ferguson or Lederer Return?" and compare your own ideas about what's going to happen this summer.
 Two good strategy articles additionally went up today, also both relevant to the upcoming WSOP.
 One is by Darrel Plant, who took a close look at the structures for the low buy-in events at this year's WSOP and saw the early levels go much faster this time versus last year. The $565 buy-in Colossus gets most of the focus, and what Darrel has to say should be pretty interesting (and useful) to those playing in that one.
 See "Playing the Colossus? Structure Changes to Early Levels Make Fast Start Crucial."
 Also, our friend Robert Woolley, a.k.a. the "Poker Grump," wrote what I think has to be the first strategy article I've seen that specifically focuses on seniors events such as the $1K one the WSOP has for players aged 50 and up.
 Check it out: "Thinking of a Seniors Event? Tips to Make it Fun and Profitable."
 Photo: courtesy PokerNews. Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-20799499260305180662016-05-20T20:55:00.000-04:002016-05-22T19:03:36.484-04:00"Poker Twitter"

Spent the day taking care of the usual business while also readying the farm for a get-together tomorrow where we'll be hosting a lot of family and friends. It's kind of turned into an annual thing here every spring, a fun way to get everyone together, eat some barbecue, and just relax.
 Had too much to do to spend that much time following the Twitter stuff today, but I noticed enough to see the some of the griping back and forth in anticipation of the World Series of Poker (which gets started in a little over a week). A lot of personal beefs being played out before an audience again, with the WSOP also getting in there and bothering people with some of its tweets, too (as they've done before).
 You've probably heard our friend Kevmath has been hired by the WSOP to take over their Twitter account starting May 31, finally officially being awarded a job he's been handling on his own for years. I don't envy Kevmath the task he's taken on, although I've no doubt he's going to do it well.
 I was thinking today about one of the conversations I was having with my buds at LAPT Panama about social media -- Twitter, specifically -- and how often those who interact on there misinterpret others' meanings or intentions, fail to appreciate context (or irony/sarcasm), or otherwise misread each other, often leading to the spectacle-creating argument and vitriol we're so used to seeing scroll past.
 I made an observation -- perhaps insightful, perhaps not -- that since poker is a game full of misdirection and purposefully misleading plays, actions, and/or verbal exchanges, it's only natural for "poker Twitter" (as it were) to be full of the same sort of challenges to clear, direct communication.
 I've made that observation here on the blog before how some treat Twitter like a game, viewing others as like opponents with whom to battle over some unspecified prize. I guess this point is a slightly different one, as I don't think everyone engaging in "poker Twitter" looks at it as a contest. Rather (I'm suggesting) I think it might be more likely than not that poker people are going to be less than direct with their communications in public (such as over Twitter), busy as they often are with building images and looking for edges.
 Dunno if that point is clear or not, but I guess it can be summarized as a general recommendation to take pretty much everything you read over "poker Twitter" with a grain of salt, if you can, and not react too quickly without looking a little further into context and or intention. Also know you don't always have to call or raise, even if you're pretty sure someone's probably bluffing.
 I think Kevmath has good instincts in that regard, which'll help him once the barrage of questions (and criticisms, probably) come his way starting at the end of the month.
 Me? I'm just hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow. That's all. No, really... no hidden message or irony. Let's just have some sunshine!
 Image: "Twitter icon," Jurgen Appelo. CC BY 2.0.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-85674677935460870742016-05-19T22:46:00.000-04:002016-05-20T10:49:08.129-04:00Lederer's Mea Culpa

So Howard Lederer today -- today (!) -- issued an "apology" for the whole Full Tilt Poker 1.0 fiasco shared via Daniel Negreanu's blog over on Full Contact Poker.
 As it happens, earlier this week the player pool at Full Tilt Poker 2.0 was at last combined with that of PokerStars, both sites being currently owned by Amaya Gaming. That's actually coincidental, though, as Lederer has no connection to the new Full Tilt other than having been among those who named the site long ago.
 No, the timing of the apology rather has to do with the World Series of Poker beginning in just a week-and-a-half, or at least that seems the most likely explanation for it. Lederer is now admitting both to having made mistakes pre-Black Friday and not owning up to his culpability afterwards in what appears to be an attempt to pave the way for his return to the WSOP, something Negreanu alludes to as well in his contextual commentary on the statement.
 You can read the statement yourself and decide how genuine the apology seems. You might also note how it mostly avoids any sort of particulars with regard to the mismanagement of player funds, Lederer's own prominant role with FTP right up until and after Black Friday, and the way he still weirdly seems to portray himself as a victim of sorts while nominally accepting blame.
 As far as Lederer's playing at the Rio this summer goes, the WSOP reserves the right to refuse anyone the ability to participate in their events, and so it is technically up to them. I don't necessarily see any legitimate argument for not allowing Lederer to play, but perhaps others might.
 That said, I can't imagine most are going to be all that enthusiastic about Lederer playing. He himself notes in his statement, "Players were not able to get their money back for a minimum of a year and a half, and, for many, it has been much longer. I've been a poker player my entire adult life. I know the importance of having access to one's bankroll."
 In other words, thanks to Lederer's own mismanagement and lack of oversight, he (and others) significantly damaged the careers of thousands of poker players -- indeed, in many cases, ended those careers altogether. Who could possibly be eager now to compete with such a person at the poker table -- i.e., to have such a person (again) do what he can to try to keep others from winning money at poker?
 That's what I think about here -- not just Lederer playing in WSOP events, but winning in them by cashing. Who could possibly be enthused by that prospect? (I even wonder how much Lederer himself would enjoy it.) Reminds me a little of what happens when men who choose to play in ladies events make the money, and the unpleasant feeling that results. What has been won, exactly?
 If Lederer is not angling for a WSOP return, then, well, the gesture perhaps has some, small meaning. If he is, though, that only makes the much-delayed apology seem more empty and without significance than it already is -- another mostly self-serving act, following a long, long sequence of them.
 Photo: "Sorry," Timothy Brown. CC BY 2.0.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-48954967691808229972016-05-18T15:33:00.000-04:002016-05-20T09:18:54.390-04:00On the Grind

Was a pleasant enough day of traveling yesterday, starting early in the morning and ending with me back home at not too long after 10 p.m. So glad to be back on the farm again, and to be looking at what should be a stretch of staying put for the next several weeks, too.
 Between the EPT Grand Final in Monaco and LAPT Panama, the last 24 days have involved me working 16 of them and traveling another five, only being home for those three full days in between last week. That's probably the longest, most involved stretch of tournament reporting I've been on for the last couple of years at least -- surely since we got the farm in late 2013.
 As I was writing about last week, though, that's nothing, really, compared to the schedules most of the others who report on and/or help staff and run these events go. Over on his blog, Will O'Connor, with whom I had the chance to work in Panama, mentions at the start of his last post how he's already worked 100 days this year. (I believe I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of a third of that.)
 It's truly a nonstop game, both for the players and everyone else who involved in helping keep this traveling tournament poker circus going. Have been chatting with various folks preparing themselves for the seven-and-a-half-week grind of the WSOP as well, which presents its own special kind of psychological and physical challenge similar to what happens elsewhere but more intense (and, for some, stress-creating).
 Unless something unexpected happens, I'll be home again this summer, not too bothered about not being in Las Vegas although it has been long enough now I'm starting to get an itch to go, if only just to touch base with friends and colleagues whom I know will be there, even after a couple of years' worth of turnover.
 I like the rhythm of going on the road for short stretches then being able to stay home long periods, too. I suppose it resembles the rhythm of play (for many), say, at a full ring game or in a tournament, where you find yourself occasionally involved a lot but folding and watching others a decent amount, too.
 For me, though, not always "grinding" allows me to miss it enough when I'm away to look forward to it when I go back.
 Photo: "World Alarm Clock - Grove Passage, London," Bob Bob. CC BY 2.0.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-11693042014905966662016-05-17T08:20:00.000-04:002016-05-20T09:17:21.452-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Day 4 -- On the Big Stage

The last day of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event turned out to be a bit longer and more exciting than I'd anticipated.
 The eight-handed final table started at noon and didn't end until after 11 p.m., which means it went on considerably longer than normally happens in these LAPT finales. And there was some intrigue, too, thanks to how things played out.
 There were three Americans at this final table, something I can't remember happening at any LAPT I've ever been to, and I'm sure hasn't happened since Black Friday. One, Alcides Gomez, was the short stack and busted early, but Austin Peck (who finished fourth) and Aaron Mermelstein (who took third) both appeared as though they had as good a chance as anyone to win.
 Heads-up was kind of wild, too, with Ruben Suarez (from Venezuela) and Andres Carrillo (from Colombia) battling kind of fiercely despite having shallow stacks. At one point Carrillo folded to a big Suarez bluff when calling would have essentially given him the win, something that appeared might have rattled him a little with the loud rail of Venezuelans not helping matters for him.
 But Carrillo managed to hang on and eventually win in the end, prompting another enthusiastic celebration among his supporters. You can read a recap of how it all played out on the PokerStars blog.
 The set-up for reporting was kind of ideal, as we were situated up on a stage looking over the final table below, making it easy both to see all of the action and to remain out of the way. Of course, if you were just passing by it might have looked like we were the show, being up on stage as we were. There a shot up top -- done in b/w by the great Carlos Monti -- giving you an idea. You can see another photo of me illustrating my partner Will O'Connor's post-tourney recap on his blog, too.

To the left is another photo Will took of me, Reinaldo, Sergio, and Carlos -- actually four of them taken with a camera Reinaldo had. Would be a good album cover for our band, I'd think. And it really does feel like a band sometimes, and it was great fun having Will playing along as well this time.
 We'd talked about playing some poker after everything was done which would've been fun, but things ended too late and some of us had to get up early this morning, so we skipped it.
 Day of travel ahead. Was another fun trip but after working two in a row like this I'm more than anxious to get back to the farm. Talk to you again from there.
 Photo: courtesy Carlos MontiPokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-31805032276713054602016-05-16T09:37:00.000-04:002016-05-18T15:50:08.438-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Day 3 -- Playing Sgt. Pepper

The penultimate day of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event was a quick one, with the players getting from 32 down to eight by early evening, permitting us to get away early enough to enjoy a leisurely dinner at the Sorts Hotel, Spa & Casino.
 Sergio, Will, and I went back over to the Score Sports Bar for our meal, which was leisurely indeed with another lengthy wait for the dishes. During that interim I pulled out my Beatles deck of cards -- a recent gift from Vera -- and dealt a few hands of a game I'm inventing called "Sgt. Pepper."
 It's a Badugi variant and is still in beta, although I'll tell you instead of needing four different suits in your hand to make a Badugi, all that's required is to have a single, lonely heart among the four cards -- the other three can be anything else -- to make what I'm calling a "Fab Four."
 One rule Sergio introduced which I like is that if two players happen to hold the same hand, the one with the lowest heart wins.
 Meanwhile, when a player stands pat, that's choosing to "Let it Be." I want to introduce another twist allowing a player to swap hands with an opponent, a move announced with the phrase "I Want to Hold Your Hand," although I'm not sure as yet when and under what circumstances that will be allowed.
 I'm not too eager to introduce lots of wild cards into the came, although perhaps it might be worth my getting some advantage "When I'm Sixty-Four." Perhaps there could be variants of Sgt. Pepper -- "Eight Days a Week" (in which eights or wild) or "Revolution 9" (where nines are) or "Sun King" (making kings the best card to have, not the worst).
 Having a three-card hand and drawing to a Fab Four is called "Fixing a Hole." A "Cry Baby Cry"-ing call after the third draw that turns out to be a loser is referred to as "I Should Have Known Better" (or, if it's a particularly bad call, "I'm a Loser"). And when someone folds to your bet rather than calling, that's a "You Won't See Me."
 Like I say, the game is still being developed, so I welcome any ideas. I'd like to say in the end I was able to invent Sgt. Pepper with a little help from my friends.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-77437414406959861122016-05-15T10:12:00.000-04:002016-05-18T15:50:00.507-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Day 2 -- Wingin' It

Day 2 of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event was a fast-paced one, with 172 players managing to work their way down to just 32 in a little over nine hours' worth of poker. That's something like 15 knockouts per hour or one every four minutes.
 A Columbian player named Anderson Blanco bagged the chip lead at night's end, but Aaron Mermelstein of Philadelphia is close behind him and appears well positioned perhaps to add an LAPT title to his collection. Mermelstein, you might recall, won a couple of World Poker Tour events last year, and he's obviously one of the stronger ones left in the field.
 Oscar Alache is there, too, though, hanging on with a short stack. He's won two of these LAPTs which ties the record along with Nacho Barbero, Fabian Ortiz, and Mario Lopez, so he'd be setting a new standard if somehow he was able to push back up the leaderboard and win the sucker.
 Will and I held up amid the madness well, and we're enjoying working the event along with Sergio, Reinaldo, Carlos, and the others here at the LAPT.
 I mentioned before how accommodating the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino has been. They've even been bringing around food and drinks for us throughout the day, which has been nice given how it isn't always easy to break away for meals.
 Yesterday chicken wings were among the offerings, and up above you can see me flexing my blogging muscles, reporting with one hand while feeding myself with the other.
 Back at it today with the plan being to work down to the final eight. Check the PokerStars blog for all the action. I promise to try not to get the keyboard too greasy.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-66113073765010838712016-05-14T11:36:00.000-04:002016-05-18T15:49:51.225-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Day 1b -- Do What You Do

The second Day 1 flight of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event went smoothly yesterday. Having fun with Will O'Connor, my blogging partner-in-crime at this one.
 I was joking with him about my idea that "once I get out of blogging, I'm going to start coaching blogging," something that Remko Rinkema and were laughing about back in Monaco recently.
 I shared with Will my tweet to Remko approximating coach-speak for bloggers:
 "Get out there… blog. Blog! Do what you do. Keep countin'! And stay cool even when it heats up!"
 (There's a relevant image illustrating the tweet and explaining that last line, if you click through to see it.)
 After enduring a much-too-long wait for lunch at the sports bar early in the afternoon, Will and I managed to run well at the dinner break and get a quick, good meal at Fenecia. He had the risotto (which he reviews highly) while I had sushi (the spider roll), also good.
 Forgot to mention yesterday how a friendly player from Argentina, Arthur "Cacho" Korn, came up to say hello and let me know he was a Hard-Boiled Poker reader. Neat to find that out, and fun as always to think about how small a world it really is.
 Yesterday's turnout ended up bringing the total field up to 553 entries, which I think is probably a good number all things considered. The Spring Championship of Online Poker is a focus for many players right now -- in fact some of those playing in this event are focused on SCOOPs as well (as shown above). There's also the WSOP right on the horizon, for which many players are resting up.
 In fact, of all the places the LAPT goes, Panama is the longest trip for the South American players, and so that's always going to affect how many can come. More Central Americans can get to it, though, and a few more U.S. players, too, than usually make it down to Chile or Uruguay or Brazil.
 Cutting it short to get back downstairs to Day 2. Check the PokerStars blog for more evidence of us doing what we do.
 Photo: courtesy Carlos MontiPokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-23848554669157550652016-05-13T09:35:00.000-04:002016-05-14T12:41:53.420-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Day 1a -- My Two Balboas

Day 1a of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event was a smooth one, with a not-so-huge field and great accommodations make the reporting work pleasurable.
 In stark contrast to Monaco, our media area is located right next to the tournament -- though in a separate room which allows for clearer-headed thinking while scribbling. In other words, instead of walking two full minutes (and negotiating lots of stairs) back-and-forth to file updates, it's just a quick hop to get stuff and get it out.
 I was mentioning yesterday how the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino is a new facility and thus full of new-fangled, latest-and-greatest accommodations to make things easy. Panama is also one of those countries Americans can visit without having to fret too much about things like currency, electrical outlets and so on. USD is the commonly-used currency, accepted everywhere, and the plugs are all the same.
 I have gotten back some Panamanian balboas as change, the national currency (named after a famed Spanish conquistador -- no, not Rocky) with an exchange rate of 1-to-1 with USD. And in another contrast with Monaco, expenses are much less exorbitant here (obviously), with stuff costing about what it should (i.e., nothing like those €20 cheeseburgers). Again, nice -- to give my two balboas about it.
 There were 218 entries yesterday and 63 survivors, and today's second and last Day 1 flight oughta draw at least 300 if not considerably more. Check the PokerStars blog for updates to see who comes and how many of them there are, along with pics and updates from myself and Will O'Connor.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-54852406723477023642016-05-12T09:48:00.000-04:002016-05-13T11:28:24.596-04:00Travel Report: LAPT9 Panama, Arrival -- Ain't That a Kick in the Head

I write today from hot, nearly-sweltering Panama City where I'll be situated for the next several days helping cover the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event.
 The flights down to Miami and then to the Tocumen International Airport in Panama were both smooth and on time. They took a little longer than I remembered from a couple of years ago, but I was in no rush.
 In fact on the second leg I was able to watch all of the original Ocean's 11, the one from 1960 starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop of the "Rat Pack" along with several other recognizables. A fun time-filler (I'd never seen it before), featuring a kind of hilarious ending that jarred with my memory of having seen the remake some time back.
 Love the constant stream of hipster lingo in the flick, a lot of which overlaps with "hard-boiled"-type chatter. Dean Martin kind of steals it, I think -- I didn't even mind hearing him sing "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" three or four times. Also dug Cesar Romero a lot as the scheme-spoiling Duke Santos.
 Got my shuttle to the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino and was checked in a little after 9 p.m. local time. The LAPT moved its Panama series to the Sortis last year, so when I came in 2014 we were in a different location. This is a brand-spanking new place, only going up a couple of years ago, and it still has that "new casino" feel.
 I'm reminded a little of covering an event at the Sands Bethlehem back in late 2012 not long after it had opened up -- everything shiny and in perfect working order, and lots of examples of the latest and greatest when it comes to accommodations.
 Met up with my buddy Sergio and got to meet Will O'Connor, my blogging partner-in-crime for this trip, whom I already know will help make the trip a fun one. Have been going solo on these LAPT excursions for a long while now (for the last 3-4 years or so), which makes it's great to have someone to team up with for the long days and nights.
 We three had dinner in the sportsbook here, then I was able to get back to the room at a decent hour to rest up for the days to come. Our plan here will be less elaborate than the one Danny and his boys cooked up in the movie -- just a straightforward, day-by-day accounting of what happens in this tournament over the next five days. Start checking the PokerStars blog today to see how we pull it off.
 Image: Ocean's 11 (1960), Amazon. Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-52192877833400789052016-05-11T11:02:00.000-04:002016-05-11T11:02:08.203-04:00On to Panama

Heading back out on the tournament trail today, a little sooner than usual given I only got home from Monaco on Saturday. Going back down to Panama to rejoin the Latin American Poker Tour this time, a return trip after I went there two years ago.
 They've moved over to a new venue -- which I've heard is terrific -- and so am looking forward to that. Also looking forward to getting back together with the LAPT gang. Saw some at PCA back in January, though it's been since last November and São Paulo that I've been at an LAPT event in a Latin American locale.
 There were 422 entries in the event a year ago when the buy-in was $2,500, and 550 the year before that (when I was there) when it cost $1,700 to play. The buy-in is $1,500 this time around, same as LAPT9 Chile in March which drew 565, so we'll see how many make it to Panama City this time.
 Had a chance to do some touristy stuff when there last time, including seeing much of the city as well as the Panama Canal. I don't expect I'll have that urge quite as strongly this time, although I'll keep my eyes open should anything interesting come along that makes me want to go along.
 At times it feels like I'm on the road a lot, but in truth I'm not compared to many of my colleagues. For a lot of those guys, they're away more than they're home.
 At Monaco, Remko Rinkema was mentioning to me one day how everyone who was there seemed like they'd be at a different tournament in a new city just days later. (He's already in Amsterdam covering another event.) I think that's the norm for many, although I've been fortunate to space these suckers out for the most part, and thereby spend longer stretches home on the farm.
 Where, by the way, we're holding up well -- those of us with two legs, and our four-legged friends, too. Thanks to the many who contacted me this week after I shared the news about Sammy. I've found myself wanting to go out and check on everyone several times these last couple of days, and I know I'll have to deal with that urge during the short time I'll be away.
 More to come from Panama, where the only papers I expect to see are the scraps on which poker hands will be chronicled.
 Image: Flag of Panama, public domain.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-87028915819027428612016-05-10T17:30:00.000-04:002016-05-10T17:37:36.334-04:00Poker & Pop Culture, the Return

A quick post today to let you know of a new series of columns I've begun over on PokerNews. In truth, it's not entirely new, and in fact is focused entirely on the past. Let me explain.
 Way, way back, I had the opportunity to begin writing some columns on PokerNews under the title "Poker & Pop Culture." Then-editor Haley Hintze proposed the idea, and if I remember accurately she did so after I'd written a two-parter here on Hard-Boiled about poker references in Rolling Stone magazine (here those are: Part 1 and Part 2).
 For a good while I wrote columns every couple of weeks about how poker popped up in various films, books, television shows, and so on. I think the one I got the most response from both right away and over the years since was one discussing the many references to poker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
 That lasted less than a year, during which time I wrote not quite 20 of those columns. Sometime after that I freelanced my way over to Betfair Poker where I occasionally would write columns in a similar vein, then had a spell writing a similarly-themed column titled "Community Cards" for the ill-fated Epic Poker League site. Then after that I had a nice opportunity to revive the idea yet again for PokerListings, where we called the column "Pop Poker."
 Meanwhile I developed this college course I've mentioned here many times, "Poker in American Film and Culture," which I teach in the American Studies program at UNC-Charlotte. Between all of those columns and the course -- not to mention the many posts here at HBP that have highlighted poker references in non-poker contexts -- I've now amassed a lot of material under this heading.
 That inspired the "Poker & Pop Culture" revival, with the idea this time being the columns will eventually be collected (along with other material) as a book. I'm doing the series in a roughly chronological fashion, and so after starting with an introduction last week did a kind of "pre-poker" survey of references to gambling and cards today. Then next week we'll finally get going with actual poker history, starting with the very first reference in print to poker.
 If you're curious to see the first couple, here they are (first one's headline shares the title of the book):

Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America's Favorite Card Game
Poker & Pop Culture: If I Gamble, Will I Go to Hell?
Would be keen to hear either feedback or suggestions along the way, if anyone has any. These first couple do a lot of stage-setting, and I expect the ones starting next week will each be more focused on telling distinct, stand-alone stories and anecdotes, hopefully in new and entertaining ways.
 Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-24072936841667948942016-05-09T19:45:00.000-04:002016-05-09T19:47:07.254-04:00My Biggest Buddy

Living on the farm with our horses has taught me a few things. One is that the sight of a horse rolling on its back is one of the funniest, happy-making occurrences there is to see. Unbridled hilarity! (Pun intended.)
 Another is that the sight of a horse getting back up after rolling around is equally fascinating and delightful to witness. There's something uncanny about it, like watching one of those films of a building being imploded in reverse or something. There's an awe-inspiring grace to the action, too, the way the legs and body and head move together, almost like an unseen puppeteer has pulled the horse up somehow by invisible strings.
 Last night I learned something else, something I'm very sad to report today. One of the most heart-rending things to witness is seeing a horse who wants to get up, but cannot.
 I got back from Monaco Saturday night, in time for our nightly feeding of the four horses we keep. Sunday I visited with each for a short time, then set about doing some yard chores. Unfortunately Sammy, our eldest, found himself in some unexpected distress during the afternoon -- something entirely natural for a horse of his age to encounter -- and several hours later we were faced with a decision that was really no decision. We had to let him go.
 Vera got Sammy many, many years ago, even before we were married, and so he's been an important part of our family since even before it technically was a family. Living on the farm over the last two-and-a-half years gave me an extra chance to spend even more time with Sam, whom I have always called my biggest buddy. He's actually the only horse I've ever ridden, always cool and calm when carrying an amateur like me around, much as he's done with countless others over the years.
 The suddenness of losing Sam made it especially tough to bear, and we're still reeling. It was the best possible way for him to go, honestly, with relatively minimal pain and not too much of a prolonged struggle.
 But man, oh man, did he want to get up. I can't even begin to tell you how much I wanted him to as well.
 Poker taught me a lot about patience. Living on the farm has taught me even more about the subject. Nothing gets done right away, and in fact most things end up taking twice as long as expected.
 Sammy was such a laid-back, good-natured creature, he rarely showed any kind of impatience. That photo up above is a bit of an exception, and one of my favorites of him. He's waiting by the fenceline for Maggie, our older mare. She'd left with Vera for a lesson, and he was whinnying and watching for her return.
 I've joked that I act the same way when Vera's away. We hate to be apart from those we love.

So another test of patience begins. It'll take a while -- probably twice as long as we think -- to come to grips with having to move on without my biggest buddy. We'll get there, though. Eventually.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-47044189199381924152016-05-06T22:18:00.000-04:002016-05-10T06:20:22.952-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 11 -- Bird or Fish?

It's over, at least for me. As I have a shuttle picking me up at 4:30 tomorrow morning (a bad draw, one could say), the fellas released me a bit early tonight (a good result) once both the €10K High Roller and Main Event at the EPT12 Grand Final reached heads-up.
 So after getting a few last bits of business in order I've been packing while watching EPT Live, and occasionally checking in on my colleagues blogging the High Roller finale which seems to have gotten short-circuited by endless double-ups of the short stack.
 I know my buddy Remko Rinkema (covering the HR for PokerNews) is hurting as the heads-up match continues, carrying him further and further from the jovial mood he was in at the start of this final day of play. At one point I was watching one of the final two tables, and he appeared at my side, whispering a question.
 "Which would you rather be, a bird or a fish?"
 Remko loves such hypotheticals, appreciating the thought experiments they sometimes can engender. I was thinking too much about a hand I was watching, though, and so answered "bird" without thinking too deeply about why I'd made my choice.
 "Yeah, bird for me, too," answered Remko, who after pausing a beat had more to say about it.
 "It would be hard to watch sports if you were a fish," he said, and I nodded with a grin while looking out of the corner of my eye. The wheels were spinning in my Dutch friend's head.
 "If you were a bird, you could get into games for free," he said. "You could even get snacks... peanuts on the ground...."
 I tweeted Remko's wisdom, and got a good response from someone: "He's not wrong."
 That pic above came from the two of us goofing around just before I'd left the night before. Remko had taken a picture of some chip counts off of one of our colleagues' phones, I decided to take a picture of his, and, well, things got a little out of hand after that.
 Home tomorrow, after having spent 11 days taking picture after picture after picture (mostly of the verbal variety) of what I've seen. Will be nice to get back and stop keeping track of everything so closely, if only for a while.
 See the PokerStars blog to find out how these heads-up matches end up, which I assume will happen. Now that the bird-vs.-fish one has been settled.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-86942122991977107782016-05-05T23:05:00.000-04:002016-05-09T19:01:30.773-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 10 -- Respite

Was on the High Roller beat at the EPT12 Grand Final today and thankfully the early shift, too, which meant I had a chance to take off a little earlier than usual and enjoy a nice dinner with my friend and colleague Stephen before getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
 We sat a spell before dinner enjoying the view of the bay -- something we mostly have been confined to looking at from the upper story windows (one of them cracked) in the media room. (Above is another such view above of a sailboat with sails down, taking it easy.) Was cool and calm and in stark contrast with the loud and occasionally relentless-seeming atmosphere of the poker.
 Among our many topics of conversation was how busy we both were, in particular when on trips such as these where the already complicated life gets fragmented further. Such is true of pretty much everyone who works these things, be it staff, media, the dealers, of whoever. Everyone has other jobs, too, and many also have families which can make the traveling and being away that much more challenging.
 Worth adding as well -- a not insignificant percentage of the players are likewise being pulled in multiple directions while trying to focus on the one leading to success at the tables.
 We moved down to the Miami Plage for dinner, a place where we happened to have enjoyed a meal last year. I had a delicious seafood pasta dish and a piece of cheesecake as we talked about family, politics, and JFK and Nixon (the latter two constant favorites of mine, and interests of Stephen, too).
 Was a nice respite before tomorrow's big finale, when both the High Roller and Main Event will be playing down to a champ. (Didja hear? One of them Spin & Go fellas -- who got into the Main for just €10 -- made the final six.) Take some time to relax yourself and check the PokerStars blog as always to see how those events go.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-69885571545527321502016-05-04T23:50:00.000-04:002016-05-09T11:01:47.464-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 9 -- Surveying the Main Event Field

Today saw the EPT12 Grand Final Main Event play down from 74 to just 28 players, with France's Adrien Allain leading and Joao Vieira, Antoine Saout, Vanessa Selbst, Dario Sammartino, and Ariel Celestino still among those with a chance at the title.
 The total turnout for the EPT Grand Final Main wound up being 1,098 players, not quite twice the 564 who played in it a year ago. The pic above came from one of the Day 1 flights, when most of the field was still in it. (In fact, technically speaking, I took the photo, although was only aiding PokerStars blog photog Neil Stoddart with some remote-button pushing.)
 The increase, of course, came from the buy-in being halved from a €10K to €5K, and so the total prize pool is close to the same.
 The lower buy-in has meant a much different make-up of players. It's still a pretty tough tournament field, as is the case at all the EPT Mains, although not quite as consistently difficult as was the case a year ago. During the early days of the event you didn't necessarily encounter one example after another of those "tables of death" containing more immediately recognizable top pros than non-familiar faces.
 The fact that this year's field also included 121 players who qualified after winning €10 buy-in Spin & Gos on PokerStars (no shinola). I believe nine of those players cashed and three are still in the sucker. That, too, has obviously affected the general make-up of the field somewhat, adding a bit of diversity to the players' general skill level.
 As much as I enjoy watching and learning from high-level, consistently strong poker, I think I better enjoy covering tournaments where it isn't necessarily the case that "everyone is solid." In fact, I think there's sometimes more to learn from watching those kinds of games, as watching players make less than optimal plays (or outright mistakes) sometimes more obviously demonstrates what good, sound play actually is.
 In any event, I'll be moving around some here as the festival plays out, shifting over to the €10K High Roller, too, to wind things up where I'll expect a lot of error-minimizing elites will be taking part. Keep checking the PokerStars blog for continuing updates of both the Main and the HR.
 Photo: courtesy Neil StoddartPokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-6763658735326981462016-05-03T23:31:00.000-04:002016-05-04T17:02:27.925-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 8 -- Stepping Up Our Game

That to the left is a picture of the stairs leading up to the media room at the Sporting Club where the European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event is taking place here in Monaco.
 There are 20 steps. Every time we get something on the tournament floor in the main tournament room, we have about a two-minute walk back to share what we've learned with the rest of the world, and this climb represents the last part of that journey.
 During the first minute-and-a-half of the walk, your humble scribbler is usually thinking back over the hand or hands just seen, doing a mental shorthand of the report I'm about to transcribe from the literal scribbles written down in the notebook I'm carrying.
 But by the last part of the walk -- by the time I reach these stairs -- such thoughts tend to vanish. Sometimes they are replaced by a rapid inventory of aches and pains, an inevitable byproduct of a week-and-a-half of constant movement. Mostly it's the ankles and knees demanding to be noticed, but other muscles and joints occasionally cry out as well along with the squeaks of the wooden steps.
 Monaco is all about walking, and often climbing. Everyone seems to face these flights of stairs, no matter where they're heading within the principality.
 I think during my visit here last year the metaphor of Grand Prix racing was foremost in my mind, probably because I was walking in everyday from a hotel located about a half-hour south (by foot) of the Sporting Club. But this time it is the staircase. And indeed, what I've discovered is how during that last part of the walk back to my laptop, I keep going back to the symbolic value of the stairs I climb.
 No matter what they're doing here, everyone at the festival -- players, media, staff -- looks at it as a kind of challenge that necessarily requires multiple steps to be completed. Whether it's trying to survive the levels and days of a tournament without being eliminated, or simply to get through each hour and each day accomplishing whatever job they do. And of course everyone wants to do well and succeed, however that is defined, there are steps to climb before the thought becomes action, the plan becomes realized.
 Gonna go rest up so as to be able to rise and climb some more tomorrow. Check over at the PokerStars blog to see what we all are carrying back up to the media room each of those trips to share.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-21786174125699177422016-05-02T23:46:00.000-04:002016-05-03T02:45:38.748-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 7 -- Runner-Up

The year is only about a third over, but I feel like I've endured enough runner-ups for the rest of 2016 already. My Carolina Panthers lost the Super Bowl in February, then my UNC Tar Heels lost the championship game last month. Heck, even the Charlotte Hornets teased me into thinking we might win that first round series versus the Miami Heat before coming up short in the end.
 Now I have my own second-place finish to add to the list, after playing deep into the night in the media tournament here in Monaco at the European Poker Tour Grand Final.
 Prior to my own poker-playing fun came Day 2 of the Main Event, a relatively shorter day that went from noon to around 8:30 p.m. without a dinner break. Got a sandwich and a cup of tea after that, then headed over to the media tourney that started around 10 p.m.
 I'm not playing a heck of a lot these days, so these media tournaments are kind of a treat. Like others on the EPT, this one was €20 to play. Unlike others, they made this one a "knockout" event with a €5 bounty on each player, too, making the entry €25.
 We got going on time, and were seated in the main tournament room along with the other side events still going on all around us. About 40 or so participated, I think, or perhaps a few more.

Footballer legend Ronaldo (i.e., Ronaldo Nazário) played -- you can see him pictured at left -- as did Friend of Team PokerStars and Global Poker League player Felipe "Mojave" Ramos (against whom I played an interesting hand in the media tournament at EPT Dublin). I didn't end up playing against either of them, but had a ton of fun nonetheless competing versus my media friends and colleagues.
 Enjoyed greatly hands during the first hour-plus when the blinds weren't yet too big to prevent postflop shenanigans, giving me a chance to play position a lot and also occasionally pressure shorter stacks. Soon, though, that became harder to pull off as the levels were only 10 minutes long, forcing the all-ins all around fairly frequently.
 Got in on a five-euro last longer organized by Frank Op de Woerd that ended up being worth more than third-place prize money as so many participated. That became interesting once we got to the nine-handed final table when I had an above average stack and the only other two still in the last longer -- Victor (who writes for the PokerStarsLive French site) and Stephen (of the PS blog) -- came in short.

While I started the final table well by adding chips in the first hand, those two went all in a couple of times against each other after with Stephen coming out the worse of it, then shortly after getting eliminated. Soon after that Victor and I decided to chop the last longer, guaranteeing each of us a profit on the night.
 Made it through the cash bubble (the top six finishers got paid), then with five left got short myself. A hand then arose in which Victor had raised all in and after posting the big blind I had only a couple of BBs left. Looked down at 5-2-offsuit, decided my range included any two cards, and called. Despite being up against two bigger cards I ended up making two pair by the turn, which beat the pair of jacks Victor made on the river, and a little after that chipped up enough to take the lead (winning a big one with pocket kings once along the way).
 Actually had something like half the chips with four left, though things got even again when we were down to three. Victor then finally went out in third, and one of the TV guys Farhan and myself were heads-up. I joked that if we were still playing at 5:30 a.m. they'd make us stop as had happened with Ole Schemion and Fabian Quoss the night before in the €50K Single-Day High Roller, although we knew it wasn't going to last much longer given the relative depth of the stacks.
 I had a small advantage when we had our first all-in situation, with me calling his shove with K-10 and feeling pretty good about things when he tabled K-2. But a deuce appeared in the window, and suddenly I was down to four BBs and outchipped something like 6-to-1.

I'd double once with 5-3 versus his J-6 after he flopped a six, then I hit runner-runner two pair (I was around 6% to win on that flop). But then Farhan got me with 5-4 versus my A-3 (see left), meaning every heads-up all-in was won by the player with the worst hand when the chips went in the middle.
 It was around 2 a.m. by then. Like in Barcelona earlier this EPT season (where I finished third in the media tournament), my only real disappointment was missing out on getting a winner's photo, although the €275 I ended up taking away was a decent consolation prize. That total came from second-place prize money, chopping the last-longer, and the half-dozen or so bounties I collected. Just missed out again on being the first to win two of these media tournaments on the EPT (I think), after winning that one way back at EPT Kyiv many years ago.
 Grabbing some sleep now. The tournament most people want to read about is still going on today, of course, with just under 200 making it to today's Main Event Day 3. Check in again at the PokerStars blog to see who wins the all-ins over there and continues to have a chance to make their final table on Friday.
 Photo (nine-handed final table): courtesy Jules Pochy/PokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-92206889990261565712016-05-01T23:47:00.000-04:002016-05-02T15:21:20.844-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 6 -- A Tale of Two Sevens

That's a shot looking back at Monaco from the bay, one I'll admit I didn't take but rather grabbed off the EPT Live stream earlier today which I was locked in and watching all day.
 Helped cover the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event today, which meant a day of sitting rather than running up and down stairs and back and forth across the Sporting Club. A nice change for sure, and the final table proved exciting enough with the Frenchman Stephane Dossetto outlasting the entertaining Niall Farrell of Scotland to win.
 Interesting bit of uncanniness at the end of the event, as Dossetto won with a final hand of pocket sevens. His name -- as he made a point of telling us the night before -- means "two-seven," at which time he made a reference to winning a hand with a seven on his way to the final table. So his winning with two sevens was curious, as was the fact that he made a set on the last hand (another word contained within his name).
 When the night was done, Nick and I were out in time for me to check in on the Charlotte Hornets-Miami Heat score in their Game 7. Confirming the Hornets had already fallen behind by 30 in the third quarter, we scurried back over to the Mozza restaurant we'd visited and enjoyed a week before, both getting the kobe beef ravioli and that octopus salad I'd had the last time. C'était délicieux.
 Probably the most fun of the whole day was walking with Nick through Monaco with only a semi-perfect memory of where the restaurant was, then between the two of us together managing to angle ourselves exactly toward our destination. Wasn't the most difficult of challenges, mind you, but still felt like a welcome victory.
 Got back to the room before midnight, and so am looking forward to a decent night's worth of sleep after having come up short in the z's department last night. In the hopes of achieving that goal, I'll cut things off here.
 If you're curious about how that FPS Monaco final table went, check out the recap. Moving over to the Main Event today, which moves into Day 2 with what looks like a huge field, so check in over at PokerStars blog for that as well tomorrow.
 Image: EPT Live.Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-14297939801599583862016-04-30T23:53:00.000-04:002016-05-02T15:10:13.644-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 5 -- Cracked

"That should be some sort of art installation."
 So suggested Remko Rinkema, speaking of the cracked window there to the left. One of a few looking out the media room onto the Mediterranean Sea, it has been cracked in this way for as long as anyone can remember, and there are a lot of lengthy memories among those who have been covering EPTs over the last dozen years.
 Was a little overcast today, making for a less stunning view through those cracks. More often the sky is a light shade of blue and the water a deeper one, with cruise ships typically passing to and fro to create an animated postcard constantly in motion behind us as we work.
 The window takes on a symbolic significance with each passing day, too, as everyone tries to hold it together while the festival unrelentingly marches onward. In truth, aside from a few sore throats and a cough here and there, everyone seems to be managing just fine as we approach the halfway point of this year's European Poker Tour Grand Final.
 Five days are done, and six more are left. Today's fifth day was a long one for your humble scribbler who again was helping cover the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event. Meanwhile the EPT Main got started, the €100K Super High Roller finished up (won by Ole Schemion with Mustapha Kanit part of the heads-up chop, natch), and a myriad of other side stuff was going on as well to make for another crowded time at the Sporting Club.
 Our tournament started with 1,261 runners, 60 of whom returned for Day 3. From that bunch just six are left to play tomorrow, with France's Stephane Dossetto the leader just ahead of the often entertaining British player Niall Farrell. They'll be streaming "cards up" coverage of the final table on Sunday, so if you tune in over at EPT Live starting at 2 p.m. Monaco time (that's 8 a.m. ET), you can watch this one play out to a conclusion.
 None of the players seemed to crack up today, at least not in observable ways. A decision made near the end of the night to keep on playing down to six players (rather than stop at eight) was met with approval. It'll make for a shorter day on Sunday, for certain, which I think also will make things a little easier for these final half-dozen if they wish to jump in the second Day 1 flight of the Main.
 Check out yesterday's coverage of all the big events over on the PokerStars blog, and tune in today for some FPS final table fun as well, as I'm sure James Hartigan, Joe Stapleton, and Matt Broughton of EPT Live will have viewers cracking up.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-28192395721693604082016-04-29T21:19:00.002-04:002016-04-29T21:23:45.978-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Days 3-4 -- If We're Counting

Thought with yesterday's anniversary post I'd combine a couple of days' worth of base-touching regarding how things are going in Monaco this week -- days 3 and 4 here (out of 11, if we're counting).
 In truth, the two days weren't all that different from one another, as both once again saw me spending most of my waking hours over at the Sporting Club at the EPT Grand Final helping cover the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event.
 On Thursday the tournament played out Day 1b, which was énorme with 912 players coming out for that flight alone. The 1,261-player total for the event well exceeds the 993 who played it last year, and marks the second-biggest field in the six-year history of the FPS.
 They ended up seating folks all over the place in a few different locations, which meant a lot of steps for your humble scribbler (and scrambler). We added still more to our total when going for a jaunt over the border to Nice for dinner at the same Vietnamese restaurant we enjoyed going to a year ago.
 I wrote a post here then titled "Monaco is a Maze" describing the walk to the restaurant and featuring a picture of the steep stairwell going up about five flights to get to that eating establishment. Well, this year that stairwell was blocked, which meant a long, winding trek and a lot of uphill to get there this time, then we found a slightly shorter path involving a couple of mysterious elevators that helped get us back. (Over 16,000 steps that day, if we're counting)
 That night ended with one of those silly moments only those who do a lot of this tournament reporting thing find fun. Having literally eyeballed a player's stack for no more than one-third of a second before the chips got dumped into a bag, I ventured a guess to my blogging partner-in-crime Nick they totaled 263,000 and turned out to have guessed the amount exactly. This story I then repeated at least a half-dozen times before leaving as joking self-promotion of extraordinary powers of perception.
 Friday saw the bubble burst, as pictured above -- can you spot me in the crowd? (click to embiggen) -- after which the big field got carved all of the way down to 60 players. Again, it was mostly business as usual, reporting-wise, with Nick and I surviving the day in good shape and enjoying a surprisingly early finish as staff decided to cut things short by a level.
 Poker-wise, it was interesting to see the Brazilian Leonardo Pires enter the day as the chip leader, more than double his stack during the first two hours to sit with over 700,000 when no one else had half that, then in a little over two hours more get knocked out with a min-cash. Pires was the same fella who led several days in a row at the PCA this year before going out in 13th.
 I've actually already slept a couple of hours tonight (and yes, I'm counting), and so am gonna try not to distract myself looking at score updates from Game 6 of Hornets-Heat and go back to sleep right now. I mean all these mouton aren't going to count themselves.
 Photo: courtesy Neil Stoddart/PokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-45399005462185330952016-04-28T04:14:00.001-04:002016-04-28T04:14:39.010-04:00A Decade of Hard-Boiled Poker

Ten years of blogging?! What kind of applesauce is that?
 It's true. Ten years ago today, inspired by other poker bloggers, some podcasts, and a love of poker and writing, I decided on a whim to begin this blog. No shinola.
 I write today from the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. I suppose ten years ago I could have imagined coming here for some other reason, perhaps. Vera Valmore and I did spend a whole year in France once before, during which we loved visiting Nice. But I couldn't have then pictured a scenario where I'd be here writing about poker.
 Nor would I have imagined going other places to do the same, as I've done a lot over recent years. And all because of this here blog. Amid my other posts on Hard-Boiled Poker, I've been submitting dispatches from tournaments all over the globe, including from Las Vegas, Ukraine, Peru, Morocco, Atlantic City, Uruguay, Macau, Pennsylvania, France, Connecticut, Florida, Spain, Niagara Falls, Chile, Canada, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Bahamas, Monaco, Brazil, Ireland, and even my home state of North Carolina (at Cherokee).
 Such "Travel Reports" have been just part of the story, of course, among the 2,750 posts (including this one) that have appeared here. For the first five years (up through Black Friday), a lot of the focus was on my own low-limit poker adventures, mostly online. Other topics -- film, literature, music, television, politics, law, business, history, science, math, philosophy, psychology, and (more recently) life on a farm -- have been the focus of all of this relentless scribbling, too, with all of them somehow having something to do with poker the blog's leitmotiv, poker.
 It was around Black Friday most of the other poker blogs all started going away. Their fading began a couple of years before, really, mostly in direct correlation to the rise of Twitter. I got my @hardboiledpoker account in 2009, and it was then most of the seats at the blogging tables began emptying in earnest. Still a few of us grinding along, though, for some reason finding it necessary to communicate in chunks lasting more than a sentence or two at at time.
 The blog started as a hobby, then quickly became an unexpected entry into a large, fun, exciting community of others also enthusiastic about poker -- and about writing and reading about poker. Then came other opportunities and eventually a second, unexpected career for me, a life twist I described several years ago in a post called "Detour."
 The title of that post was an homage to the 1945 hard-boiled film starring Tom Neal as a down-on-his-luck hitchhiker. Neal's character takes an unforeseen turn in that story, as did my own. I certainly didn't see such a change coming ten years ago, back when I invented this "Short-Stacked Shamus" character and borrowed Neal's image to use as a kind of avatar for it.
 A "shamus" is a detective. And his being "short-stacked" suggests a down-on-his-luck context for his sleuthing, as though his situation mirrors in some way the desperate one Neal's character (who becomes kind of a detective) endures in the film.
 None of that really describes me or the adventure on which this blog has carried me. No, I've run especially well here, and it's all thanks to those of you who have stopped by now and then or perhaps even more consistently. Friendly and generous responses kept me writing in the beginning. Continued good feedback kept me going in the middle. And the knowledge that some are still coming around even ten years on has kept me at it still today.
 Thanks to everyone for making all of this traveling around -- both out into the world and the inner traveling that necessarily happens with every post -- so enjoyable for me. No shinola.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-77345718671384050352016-04-27T18:50:00.001-04:002016-04-27T18:50:38.435-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 2 -- Step by Step

Was a long one at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo today helping over the first Day 1 flight of the France Poker Series Main Event. Basically a noon-to-midnight workday this time, as it will similarly be for the next few days for your humble scribbler.
 The poker went about as expected, with a big turnout of 349 entries -- well over the number who played Day 1a of this same event a year ago, which suggests tomorrow's second and last Day 1 flight will be fairly massive. They managed to play down to just 91 tonight, although I expect tomorrow we'll see the Day 1b field end with more than twice that still with chips.
 Lots of steps today registered on the FitBit -- something like 14,000, I think, just about all taken going back and forth between the media room and the main tournament area. Started to flag near the end after having had only four or so hours' sleep last night, but made it through more or less in one piece.
 At least I didn't start out the day playing a set of tennis as did my blogging colleagues, Stephen and Howard. They bought a pass to play over at the nearby Monte Carlo Country Club, something I believe they've done before in past years, and after playing happened to see none other than Novak Djokovic, currently the top-ranked men's tennis player in the world (by a lot), working out on a nearby court. No shinola!
 Not too much to report otherwise so I'm gonna cut it short and try to get some more rest tonight. Am a little tempted to stay up late for the Hornets-Heat Game 5 (which starts at 2 a.m. here, but I imagine I wouldn't last very long even if I stayed up late enough for the tip.
 Better to rest up for another day full of steps tomorrow. Meanwhile, check the PokerStars blog for all the scoop on what happened today both in the FPS Monaco and the second day of the 10K Single Re-Entry High Roller.
 Photo: courtesy Jules Pochy/PokerStars blog.
Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-27238395.post-86419744135168123712016-04-26T20:13:00.000-04:002016-04-26T20:17:56.229-04:00Travel Report: EPT12 Grand Final, Day 1 -- Early Fireworks and a Side of lasagnaaammm

After sleeping a solid 12 hours -- from before midnight to almost noon -- your humble scribbler had more or less gotten his body clock in order here in Monaco and was ready for the first day of action at the European Poker Tour Grand Final at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo.
 Thankfully today's Day 1 of the €10,000 Single Re-Entry High Roller event wasn't scheduled to start until 6 p.m., which gave me a chance to get a few things done and relax some more during the afternoon before heading over. The tournament drew a bigger field than I think was expected, with nearly 180 entries on the first day (and late registration open a couple of levels into tomorrow's Day 2).
 Aside from reuniting with several good friends and colleagues with whom I get to work at each of these EPTs, there were a couple of other highlights during the day.
 One was an unexpected fireworks show happening out over the Mediterranean late in the evening -- loud, bright, and majestic. Our work area has a few large windows looking out over the sea, each framing a nice view of the show. (That's a shot by Rene Villi of the PokerStars blog up above, taken from the outside.)
 The other came via Marc Convey, my longtime blogging partner with whom I've been working on events for something like eight years now. Knowing how I enjoy the personality of the Italian player Mustapha Kanit, a.k.a. "lasagnaaammm," Convey -- without my knowing it -- got Mustapha to deliver a personal update of his chip count for me:

To @hardboiledpoker "I'm never short stacked, bro!" @Mustacchione #EPTGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/JyyA4JVWHE
— Marc Convey (@The_Conv) April 26, 2016

 Gonna cut it off there and hit the hay now, as I'm looking at a much shorter night's sleep tonight before getting back at it tomorrow starting at noon. I'll Moving over to help cover the France Poker Series Monaco Main Event, where the field will be considerably bigger. Meanwhile you can check the PokerStars blog to see what happened during today's action.
 Photo: courtesy René Velli/PokerStars blog.
 Short-Stacked Shamushttp://email@example.com