Some shows I recently found and/or enjoyed … you may want to give a listen, and perhaps bookmark for recurring download:

Poker Fraud Alert Forum Radio — I try to steer clear of industry love triangles, but sometimes can’t avoid the latest Donkdown breakup story. New and clique-worthy from Druff and Drexel: the pilot episode of their version of the old show, complete with real newschat about a botched pepper-spray robbery for Bellagio cranberries (as per plans hatched on Craigslist), the felony arrest of alleged exposed Vegas scammer Peter Falcone, and informed tangential discussion of female biology on, off, and under the table. http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/radio.php

Vegas Gang Podcast — Pub-style virtual roundtable, featuring gaming industry wonks talking about non-poker casino numbers and constructions stories with a little history and on-air smoking. http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com/2012/05/vegas-gang-78-may-17th-2012/

CEM Audio Edge — Twitter’s @GamingCounsel (and Pokerati’s own non-binding legal correspondent) Stu Hoegner takes the mic at Casino Enterprise Management for a guest hosting gig and Jersey-style cage match with DC lobbyist and iMega chieftain Joe Brennan, Jr. http://www.cemaudioedge.com/episode/gaming-law-news-guest-host-stu-hoegner

UNLV Gaming Podcast — Dr. David Schwartz’s advanced study of degen living, aka UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, provides statistical data set to audio, and sometimes featuring research fellows presenting their findings on matters like, on the episide I heard, the sociology of gambling expansion. http://gaming.unlv.edu/podcast.html

St Louis Circuit Props:

Welcome to the St Louis WSOP please “smoke freely”

Picture by David Clark

Last year I had some trouble getting into the Harrahs St. Louis and almost missed the stop entirely after an issue with my temporary drivers license. I won’t get into how I got around that issue for fear of legal ramifications, but trust me it was a pain in the ass. St Louis was arguably the most annoying stop on the circuit with heaps of overzealous rules and regulations. I was going to spend some time getting into these problems here, but with the recent sale of Harrahs St. Louis to a rival corporation they are most likely moot points.

I wouldn’t shed any tears over the loss of Harrahs St Louis. The poker action was good, but with high smoke and noise levels on the floor plus strict gaming regulations and state taxes it’s an event I will be happy to scratch off the schedule. The last round of the event did produce some major fireworks though, with multiple circuit stars putting on a show and the roommates of room 143 stealing the spot light almost* entirely.

I should have known I was in for trouble when I came down from the room one night to sweat La and ended up at the bar with some circuit regulars. I just wanted to relax, have a beer, and sweat. These kid’s idea of a relaxing night at the bar is a shot, and then another, and another… As is often the case on the circuit, consumption of copious amounts of alcohol leads to trash talking, which in turn leads to prop betting.

I was in the company of most of room 143: Tripp “captain” Kirk (@tkirk1212), Matt “Bum” Hankins (@pokerskibum), Kyle Cartwright (@da_kyky), along with their friend @chronictown, with later appearances by my roomies La “CanULala” Sengphet (@lasengphet) and Andrew “Andy” Nguyen (@winnersnguyen). We decided to pick 2 player teams and bet on a series of props. We had a must-cash prop for the next event plus a last longer, and a series-long team total cashes prop (by this point Tripp had already finished 3rd in the re-entry so that result was excluded).

La struck early winning the must-cash prop and last longer for her and Andy. My teammate Kyle put a strong finish on the board next by shipping the 1k for his 4th ring and a 53k cash. He won his HU match against the other roommate of 143, Alex “Ap” Phahurat (@legitap47). Going into main event we had a 53k lead, meaning someone would have to get 4th or better to steal our lead and ship the props.

Number 4 for Kyle:

Picture by Eric Harkins of Image Masters

In typical Tripp Kirk fashion, he flashed his trademark smirk and then took a dump all over his roommate Kyle’s 53k score. He called the 53k and raised another 137k and a main event ring with a lil prop cheese on top. It’s Tripp’s second ring and his biggest score to date. Not a bad days work for a guy with a limited poker schedule and a day job that often ships him out of the country. I did get the last laugh on Tripp though. We left St Louis early and I was able to fade the pain of paying him and his smirk directly by giving the money to his partner Bum at the next stop.

Tripp Kirk and his smirk with his 2nd ring:

Picture by Eric Harkins of Image Masters

Tripp’s win would be the second St Louis main title for the roommates, Kyle took it down the year before. Overall the occupants of room 143 had 4 top 3 finishes in the 3 biggest prize-pools of the series. Tripp took 3rd in the re-entry and won the main, Kyle and AP took 1st and 2nd in the 1k, AP also had two near misses finishing 10th and 11th in two other prelims. Not a bad series boys, but next time you score big I would probably avoid tweeting your room number until after you left town #RookieMistake.

*Usually that would be the end of the story, but the last-chance ring event also had another usual suspect doing some work. Kurt Jewell (@kurtjewell), a two time wsop circuit main event winner with an O/8 ring from St Louis last year, added a forth ring to his twitter pic. Kurt delivered a drunken-master-like performance taking it down with a beer in one hand and cards in the other. Congrats on number 4 Kurt #YeahBuddy.

Kurt Jewell ships his 4th:

Picture by Eric Harkins of Image Masters

Originally published May 24, 2012 at whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com.

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Seriously, I know simply by thinking about poker skills and on-table situations (as opposed to poker news, poker laws, etc.) I’ll improve my game and presumably my results. For more serious felt work, they’ve increased the trial membership over at Stack’Em Coaching from three days to seven.

Joe and I will be discussing gaming—including Internet gaming—developments in New Jersey. I think this is going to be a fascinating program. As many of you already know, Joe is a highly knowledgeable and well-spoken resource on what is happening in US gaming law and policy, especially so with respect to New Jersey. I know that you may well have questions about what’s happening in New Jersey, about its ‘opening up’ to Internet gaming licensure, about how its landscape compares with Nevada, and other matters. This will be a fantastic opportunity to put your questions straight to Joe to learn more about what’s happening in this jurisdiction.

Tune in live to the program on the 24^th (through the link in this message) and call in with questions. I’m not sure you’ll have a better opportunity to engage on these issues with a more informed person than Joe.

Our average pre Black Friday day consisted of waking up whenever, having “breakfast”, and grinding out sessions in the upstairs war room. We lived a good life in a nice house close to our friends and family in DFW. A few times a year we would travel to a deep stack tournament series for a change of pace, but the majority of our working hours were spent at home in our boxers and bathrobes. When we went on the road we would take our laptops with us. If there was no action after we busted a live event we could supplement our income with online sessions.

After Black Friday our war room got turned into an arcade.

Dressed up for a day at the office

I used to tease my 9 to 5 friends about my “commute” from the bed to the office upstairs, “traffic was good today” I’d say and laugh. Well, karma is a son-of-a-bitch. After Black Friday we started spending more than half our year on the road. Our “commute” involves lugging 90+ pounds of luggage to an airport, catching a flight with multiple plane changes and layovers, and often ends with extra hours in a shuttle or rental car to reach our remote destinations. We then spend the next two weeks grinding out 14 hour days. Our expenses have tripled and our average “commute” takes the better part of a day each way. I’m a lil jealous of my 9 to 5 friends half hour drive to work now.

The extra expenses and extended travel schedule made keeping a 2600 sq foot house in Texas an untenable burden. It didn’t make sense to spend 2k+ a month on a house when we only spent a week or two of the average month staying there. We moved half our furniture into storage at the end of 2011 and moved into a 1300 sq foot house our friends had available. This location is much less central than our old spot, but it is closer to both the airports and much more affordable for the time we are home.

Our poker room in the old house was a casualty of Black Friday

The decision to stay in a non-poker friendly state like Texas was a tough one, but being close to our friends and family is important to us. Being able to recharge and reconnect, even a few days out of the month, has been invaluable to our motivation and sanity while following this hectic schedule. Being home also allows us to be there for loved ones. My grandfather recently passed away and our decision to stay based in Texas allowed us to be with him and my grandmother in his last days. I’m so glad we didn’t let the DOJ take away these last days together.

My Grandfather and Grandmother’s 70th anniversary

Life on the road has been tough, but there have been positives on our new journey too. Online poker can be very isolating, it’s not so bad for an introvert like me, but La is a social butterfly and needs the interaction. Through her we have met so many wonderful characters and made lots of great friends that are now part of our traveling family. From the PTC crew, the media, players, photographers, writers, and local casino staff we have been lucky to find so many special people to share our time with. We might have met only a handful of these friends if Black Friday hadn’t pushed us out the door.

Just a few of the many friends we share our time on the road with:

In addition to pushing us out the door, Black Friday made me rethink my life. Being forcefully unplugged gave me time to try new things like blogging, investing, and starting a small business. Clearly I have a long way to go with all these endeavors, but the invigorating new directions have brought more depth to a life that used to be dominated by a fairly monotonous routine.

Life on the road can be repetitive too, after awhile all the casinos start to blend together. Ultimately these trips have taught me its not where you are, but how you approach life that determines what you get out of it. Our time on the road has shown me that there is potential everywhere, and when one spot goes away there are always more to replace it for those willing to look. I hope that online poker comes back to the US in a big way, if it doesn’t though, this last year has taught me there are plenty of new games to play.
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Originally published April 15, 2012 at whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com.

Market:

Even though Rincon is close to a major metropolitan area the presence of more accessible casinos with larger poker rooms limits the amount of local traffic for the wsop. The Rincon poker room is a tiny 9 table space on the second floor of the hotel with one sign in the lobby acknowledging it’s existence. The hidden poker room helped walk up traffic to the WSOP’s events next to the casino floor, but meant cash games were a poor alternative for post bust-out grinding.

The room even had a promotion going during the series which paid 20 dollars in cash and 50 dollars in casino free play chips for an hour of cash play with a wsop mtt slip. The offer was valid for 48 hours and could be used concurrently with multiple entry slips. This generous rakeback yielded an average of 2 1/3 NL games and 1 3/6 FL game per evening, an extremely disappointing turnout. There was better cash game grinding available for those willing to make a half hour drive to a neighboring room, but La and I chose to focus on sngs in our off time.

Fields:

The field sizes were up this year, but the inconvenient location keeps them smaller than the majority of stops. The turnouts and short commute from Vegas have made this stop a favorite of LV grinders trying to pick up points for the wsop freeroll. The collection of high level talent in town for the last weekend’s events has to make it one of the most stacked WSOPC main event fields outside sin city.

Harrah’s outrageous weekend rates and small prize pools limit the value of this event to many circuit grinders. So while the fields have more LV pros, there are less circuit regulars which somewhat balances out the later events and certainly makes the prelims softer. There are a couple places to stay close to the property, but if you don’t book early, affordable accommodations mean a half hour commute up and down the mountain.

Food:

Dinning options were decent as far as circuit stop casino eating goes. There was a 24 hour cafe with a typical american menu. Fortunes asian cuisine had solid (for casino) pho and noodle dishes. The steak house was disappointing, with overpriced food and mediocre service. The diamond lounge had a selection of fruit available throughout the day with tiny finger foods served by the wait staff around 5pm. The buffet was probably one of the better dinning options for our stay. Harrah’s had a good comp available for buffet dinning: An hour of table game play or an hour and a half of cash poker (also stackable w the wsop promotion) would get you a meal ticket.

If we didn’t feel like eating out, peanut butter jelly time was always an option.

Our trip:

With some great travel agent work by La, we were able to keep this trip’s costs manageable. It wasn’t a huge stop for us, but we left with more money than we came with, so it still goes in the W column. A couple of our friends did well, if you haven’t read my previous blog entry you can find it here:

http://whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/texans-continue-california-gold-ring-rush/

Overall we enjoyed our visit to the casino in the mountains, the hotel was nice and the staff had excellent customer service. The PTC did a great job as usual and the growth in WSOPC attendance was encouraging for future visits.

A quick pic from a lookout on the way up.

Thanks for the read. If you have any thoughts on, or suggestions for the blog please leave a comment below. I am also available on twitter @whoisdavidclark if you would rather communicate in 140 characters or less.
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Originally published April 10, 2012 at whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com.

2011 Rincon recap:

There was no event at the bicycle casino last year, but the Texas crew cleaned up at Rincon in 2011. Seneca Easley (@6ovspades), Mstr Lynch, and Justin “Choctaw” Kruger (@ChoctawKruger) grabbed four rings from the circuit stop, including a main event win by Mr. Easley.

2011 Texas Rincon winners:

Mstr Lynch, Seneca Easley, Justin Kruger

Starting strong in 2012:

La Sengphet (@lasengphet) continued the Texas west coast ring run in 2012 winning an open event at the Bike’s first wsop circuit in January. She made history with that win becoming the first woman to win 3 open wsopc events. Read more about that trip here: http://whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/lala-land/

LaLa Land:

Picture by Eric Butler of Image Masters

Different paths to the prize:

The two new ring winners both got their start in Dallas poker, but they took very different routes to their Rincon victories. Josh Evans continued his poker progression by moving into online mtts. According to pocketfives.com Josh “pairDboard21? Evans amassed 1.6 million in online cashes across the sites before the DOJ shuttered them. After black Friday Josh was forced to relocate to Vegas to continue his career as a live grinder.

John Harris transitioned from Dallas poker to a dealing job on the wsop circuit. He also dealt at the Venetian and would eventually take a floor position there. After his time in Vegas John moved to Bakersfield California to help open the Aviator casino. Recently he decided to hang up his suit and join the ranks of circuit grinders following the wsopc, a decision that has certainly started off on the right foot.

Josh Evans turns his last two antes into a ring:

Josh, like many pros, showed up to Rincon hunting points more than rings. He had a few deep runs in his limited circuit schedule, including a 2nd in the re-entry at the Bicycle Casino, and made the trip to take advantage of the short fields to try and lock up 10k in free roll equity. Of course the best way to get points is to win a tournament, and Josh showed his mental toughness recovering from a crippling loss AK vs. AK aipf to do just that.

After getting flushed out on, Josh was left with 2 500 ante chips late in day one. With some run good, solid game theory, and a never quit attitude he was able to parlay his last 1k into 120k by the end of the day. After turning 1k into 120k, turning 120k into 1.9 million chips didn’t seem so unreasonable. He came to the final table of the 6-max event with around 250k and never looked back.

Another day at the office for Josh Evans:

Josh has made multiple TV appearances, including the final table of the Million dollar free roll in 2011 where he and La spent some quality time together. His low key style and a string of 2nds and 3rds have kept him under the radar, but that trend is unlikely to continue. Titles and bravado get you publicity, but skill and consistency gets you respect in the community and Josh has earned his stripes with solid results year after year.

John Harris (@85nutz) gets off to a great start:

A few months back our good friend John Harris called me and told me he was thinking about quitting his current job and taking a shot at grinding the circuit. He asked me about the ins and outs of the circuit life and I was happy to share my thoughts. Hopefully our conversation was some of his inspiration for taking an extended leave from the floor gig and dipping his toes in the West Palm Beach circuit waters.

John’s first circuit outing was a success. He booked a 3rd place finish in a 555 prelim and cashed in the large Florida main event field making a solid profit for the trip. His opening expedition gave him enough confidence to make his extended leave a permanent one. With a backing arrangement in place with his Dad, he packed up his apartment and made plans to bunk with La and I at Rincon for his second outing.

John is a great guy. Even though he had an event to play at noon the next day, he stayed up and railed my final table at Rincon until the HU match was over at 6am. I couldn’t be happier that I quickly got a chance to return the favor and rail his final table and first ring! The story of how it happened has already been told, but I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate him again on an excellent start to his new career.

Harris ships his first ring:

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Originally published April 1, 2012 at whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com.