Huh. We kinda figured “the world’s leading poker magazine” had lost the All-In lasts-longest bet to the energy drink. I guess not. Expect some reverse payouts in a few dead-or-alive props, too.

Hmm, now call it a coincidence, but that All In water disappeared from the Amazon room the day after this article ran on the front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in which the least championed 10-bracelet winner says:

Not everyone is as happy about the World Series as Harrah’s Entertainment, which bought the series in 2004. One of poker’s legendary players and a two-time main event winner lashed out at how the gaming company has run the event and treats the players.

“In the old days, when Jack Binion owned it, he never took a penny out, but we always tipped the dealers good anyway,” Johnny Chan said, complaining about how the gaming company has increased its cut of the players’ pool. “Now Harrah’s takes out 4 to 10 percent.”

The company also has cut back on its comps to players, Chan said. Harrah’s gave him only a $100 food coupon when he entered the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event last week, he said.

Chan has not been much of a presence this year at the WSOP. He has shown up for a few big events (4?), but hardly sticks around once he busts. In fact, he sneaks out a back door, whereas last year he was constantly in the hallways at his company booth, or in the VIP lounge, which was also heavily labeled with All In signage. And that was before he became a supposedly official sponsor. Might someone have made a deal and forgotten to pay the water bill?

The Examiner recently took notice of the Johnny Chan-sponsored drink, and it’s getting good reviews. In the Caffeine Examiner column, Big Red Boots (the caffeine guru, evidently) reviewed the grape and citrus concoctions of All In Energy Drink with the following results on a scale where 10 is the highest score:

Tasty grape poker themed drink keeps your game face from sagging:
Taste: 7
Nutrition/Buzz: 8
Packaging: 8
Website: 9

Citrus poker energy drink puts fear in competition:
Packaging: 8
Nutrition/Buzz: 8
Taste: 8
(Assuming the same website gets the same rating, it would be a 9.)

As the 2008 WSOP was coming to a close a few days ago, Pauly and I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be no new sponsors that weren’t already around for in the summer. Disappointing, sure — but maybe it’s just the general economy?

I began to speculate that WSOP marketing honcho Tye Stewart must be in BIG trouble, dude! couldn’t have been too happy that the most celebrated deal inked between July and November was an extended contract with Johnny Chan’s All In Energy Drink. About 10 minutes later, though, Jeffrey Pollack was speaking to the crowd, giving specific thanks and extreme kudos to Stewart as the successful, hard-working architect of the The November Nine vision. And indeed, we now know the broadcast returned some admirable TV numbers; and even as players got eliminated, there were lines of people in the Rio hallways to fill the Penn & Teller Theater’s 1,200 seats. So maybe now, with something definitive to sell potential backers in the future, what looked a little disappointing while riding up and down the escalators is actually a sign of better things to come?

Below is a pictorial look at some added value for official WSOP banners (and inflatables) in action:

Milwaukee’s Best Light’s been good to poker (and presumably vice-versa) but their contract is about to expire (if it hasn’t already). Will they re-up? Overall the beer is supposedly the lowest performer for the newly merged MillerCoors (despite having Phil Hellmuth’s picture on cans) yet the WSOP might be all that’s keeping it alive.

All In Energy will be the official mock-amphetamine beverage of the WSOP for at least a few (two?) more years.

As mentioned above … Planters: They go great with Milwaukee’s Best Light!

Capriotti’s is still the official sandwich of the WSOP. It really is pretty good grub, but I wonder how much they spent on that clever marketing phrase.

I still don’t know what Gamma-O is, but they have hot girls pushing some sort of testosterone supplement.

For legal and political reasons, Everest Poker is the lone(ly) little online poker sponsor of the WSOP.

Go Corum! They made a pretty cool looking bracelet this year. Not sure how well their high-end brand of wristwear looks on a grubby paw opening an aluminum can of Milwaukee’s Best Light, however.

Ivan Demidov: 30,725,000
Peter Eastgate: 27,175,000
Dennis Phillips: 26,950,000
Ylon Schwartz: 20,475,000
Scott Montgomery: 20,300,000
Darus Suharto: 10,600,000

Damn, that’s tight poker. And I don’t mean tight tight … I mean close-tight.

Before dinner break, btw, Phil Hellmuth introduced Johnny Chan, and Hellmuth got more boos than Tiffany Michelle. He said, that’s OK, boo all you want … and the crowd that is at this point tired-drinky (think post-football game tailgate in college) obliged.

They were announcing a multi-year deal between the WSOP and ALL IN energy drink. Oy, I guess all I can say for now is that after going through my bajillion cases … I didn’t rebuy.

Here is the message posted on the site:

We are sad to inform you that Chan Poker will be ceasing operation effective this Thursday, August 21, 2008. Effective immediately we will no longer be accepting deposits. On August 21 our poker clients will be disabled.

If you have a cash balance with us rest assured that all withdrawal requests will be honored and promptly processed. To facilitate timely withdrawals, limits for certain withdrawal methods have been increased. We will make every effort to accept withdrawal requests through our website for as long as necessary however we strongly advise submitting your request as soon as possible. To initiate a withdrawal now please follow this link to go to your account. Please note that once final withdrawals are processed your account will be automatically closed, no further action is necessary.

The final $50 daily freeroll will be held Tuesday, August 19, 2008. We will not be holding any additional weekly Red Orange Freerolls.

For those that wish to continue playing online poker, know that we are actively seeking a partner to provide a new home that will honor your player point balances. We will keep you informed of developments on this front.

As always, if you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@chanpoker.com.

Warm regards,

Chan Poker Customer Support

(And the way the FIDPA 80 work … they leave room for adjustments, so theoretically you could go to a tourney and the TD woulds say, “We’re using FIDPA rules today, except for #47, where we’re going to let you blah blah blah” or “… and we have one extra rule of our own: no coughing.”)

The WPA meanwhile, seems to have moved their rules agenda to the backburner, focusing instead on tournament rake — pushing for more sponsorship/commercial money to be added to major event prize pools, a la the PGA:

It’s a disgrace that tournament poker players for the most part do not share the revenue generated by their participation in events (e.g. television, sponsorship, etc). In most or all events players put in all of the prize money via the buy-in, have 6-10% of their money taken out, and only a small number of participants make a payday. Any revenue generated by sponsors or other means is not shared with you the players.

This is something we must change.

This is the WPA’s principal focus. This is why you joined the WPA. This is why we need your support.

Yeow! I’m not so sure I agree with the not-shared part … those waters they put on the table ain’t free, ya know! But the All In Energy Drink is!

Though I suppose both operations ultimately wanna become the FIFA of poker, it looks like their going about it in two kinda different ways

It is no secret that poker tournaments filmed for television have made logos an important part of the game. Online poker websites and companies selling poker-related products are among the most lucrative deals to be had, as they are willing to pay players in front of the cameras to advertise for them. It works – players receive bonus compensation to allow a company rep to strategically place a Full Tilt or PokerStars or All In Energy Drink sticker on their shirts or hats.

Most television production companies involved with the big tournaments now lay out specific guidelines for the number of logos allowed, as well as the size and wording of them. For example, the World Poker Tour allows only one pre-approved logo per player, no bigger than 6 square inches and located on the shirt breast pocket.

The World Series of Poker has taken a different approach, allowing multiple logos for any site or product, with a few exceptions like prohibiting dot.com gaming sites that accept U.S. customers. The specific rule about logos at the WSOP is as follows:

Tournament Rule #43:
Tournament participants may wear apparel with multiple logos, patches or promotional language. However, no individual logo, patch or block of promotional language is to be larger than 12 square inches. No single company name is to be represented more than once on any individual article of clothing. For players seated at a table taped for television or broadband video coverage, logos may not be added after the beginning of that day’s session of play.

As the 2008 WSOP hit the money, many players had sponsorship deals of some sort, and there was no shortage of logos in the tournament area. Full Tilt logos were well within the guidelines, while PokerStars pushed the envelope but somehow did not violate the rules. Other sites like UltimateBet played by the rules, except when it came to Phil Hellmuth’s jersey, the entire front of which is a UB symbol.

When I asked a WSOP official about the exception made for Hellmuth, he noted that the ESPN cameras never get the entire logo in the shots. He likened it to a player’s shirt that read “Illinois” across the front, and when I pointed out that Illinois isn’t selling itself like UB is, he said that it would simply be too arduous a task to ask everyone with a word or symbol on their shirt – like University of Michigan or Nike – to change clothes. Understandable, but is it too much to ask that an experienced pro like Hellmuth abide by the fairly clear-cut rules?

The WSOP official did mention that the logo rules will be revisited during the planning of the 2009 WSOP. Now, if someone would just tell Hellmuth…

So, the production that is the WSOP begins to shrink as well. The Poker Kitchen closed its doors tonight for the final time. With chains on the doors, the staff can be seen through the glass tearing down tables and packing up packets of ranch dressing. The only place left to get food in this area of the Rio for the next four days will be a makeshift pizza stand in the hallway and the gift shop for snacks and boxed sandwiches.

The All In Energy Drink booth has transported the last of its products to the warehouse. The Poker Players Alliance information booth is no more. The Hertz rental car company is gone. And various other booths, like Gamma-O Testosterone Booster and NatureEnergy will likely be deconstructed in the next 24-48 hours.

As media access for non-official media begins to be restricted tonight and in the coming days, with fewer tables and less space to get around the ESPN cameras, many members of the media will be less visible here at the Rio because of the limited access. Granted, there will be much more coverage to come as the remaining hundreds of players vie for seats at the final table, but the light at the end of the WSOP/Rio tunnel is causing some inevitable shrinkage.

Episode 21: Poker for Africa(feat. Otis)

On June 30th, I attended the All In party at the Palms pool. The place was packed with more people than I expected. On the other hand, the door was completely disorganized. Some people got right in, while others who were supposed to be on the list were held up for quite awhile. I was supposed to be on the media list, but no one ever checked or even seemed to have a list, so I finally just got in on my word. And when I attempted to get a VIP pass through a friend, they had run out of them and looked a little panicked about it.

Free drinks were evidently a short-lived offer, and the bar in the VIP area was completely understaffed, causing patrons to have to wait 20 minutes or more for a drink. All in all, though, it was a large enough space for everyone, and most seemed to be having a good time. The entertainment for the evening was a rap act, which obviously got me excited until I saw that it was the guy who did the All In rap video with Johnny Chan. Yep, this one. And he did that song, followed up by the playing of the video of that exact song he just performed. Hmmm. But once the DJ came back and spun some good hip-hop tunes, the normal party atmosphere returned.

All in all, so to speak, the All In crew didn’t seem prepared for the kind of interest they generated, but the event went over well despite the snafus.

Last night, July 1st, the World Series of Barbecue took place at the Golden Nugget pool/shark tank. Howard and Susie Lederer team up with Steve Zolotow to have this shindig each year, and last year it was at the Zolotow home, but evidently there were some problems with the legality of shooting professional fireworks in a residential zone. So, they took the party to a public place this year… It was my first year in attendance, and it was fabulous!

Free drinks complimented the incredible buffet – filet mignon, lamb chops, hummus and stuffed grape leaves, pork from a terrified looking dead pig, taco fixings, and an incredible dessert set-up. The music was great, though it was interrupted by a Guitar Hero competition hosted by Evelyn Ng. After Jeff Madsen competed, he did an impromptu rap, as did Phil Ivey’s cousin. The two rappers ended up in a bit of a rap battle, which was more than entertaining to watch! (Ivey’s cousin won hands down, but Madsen wasn’t half bad.) Karaoke then took over the majority of the late evening hours.

Shortly after 10pm, the fireworks went off in grand fashion. Honestly, it was an extraordinary display! The karaoke continued after that and the party began to wind down as midnight neared. All the while, Phil Ivey hosted the charity tournament through his Budding Ivey Foundation in “The Grand” ballroom. Good times all around the Golden Nugget…

Tonight, the Ante Up for Africa after-party is being held at PURE but invitations are scarce. I think I’ll end up at the Bluff/Doyle’s Room party at Sapphire, which is where most of my friends are going. Besides, who am I to refuse an invitation to a party with tons of sexually frustrated men strip club party?

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha final table has been set, this group of 9 faces the hot lights of the ESPN cameras:

Seat 1: Kido Pham 1,080,000
Seat 2: Brandon Moran 1,286,000
Seat 3: Peter Jetten 492,000
Seat 4: Michael Mizrachi 1,767,000
Seat 5: Billy Argyros 729,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst 637,000
Seat 7: Tom Hanlon 192,000
Seat 8: Marty Smyth 1,068,000
Seat 9: Richard Harroch 372,000

The other final table scheduled for today and the other tournament action on the next page:

The $1,500 HORSE event stopped play with 21 players left as they return to play down to a winner at 3pm today. Phil Hellmuth is the current chip leader, Victor Ramdin, Randy Holland, Keith Sexton and Jens Voertmann are some of the known names remaining in the field. If the PLO event ends early, and Hellmuth makes the final table, expect that table to be moved to the TV table as well.

The $1,500 NL Holdem event made the money late last night, with 233 returning at 2pm as they play down to their final table. Notable names still in the hunt for a bracelet: Mimi Tran, Matt Matros, Chris Gregorian, Dan Heimiller and Nath Pizzolatto.

Besides the $500k All-In “freeroll”, the last bracelet tournament before the Main Event starts at noon today with the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout. Last year, Hendon Mob member Ram Vaswani took down the bracelet in a field of 720.

More updates during the day, and surely a tournament report from Dan on the All-In clusterfuck…

Seriously, that can’t be healthy, can it?

Big tourney for me tomorrow, of course. Half a million bucks at stake in what seems sure to be an organizational fustercluck.

In the meantime, as of a few days ago, none other than PokerStars is all over (literally) the Palms. Get the sense that with hundreds of main event online qualifiers shacked up across the street from the Rio the low-stakes cash games will be extra-juicy there?

It is a given that Harrah’s is always open for sponsors to buy their way into some Rio Convention Center space and a spot on the ESPN stage. That is the nature of business and the corporate world. Therefore, the 2008 WSOP has sponsors/partners like CardRunners, Bluff, and PokerNews, which are obvious choices. Everest Poker squeaked in there to get its name on every table felt and around the inner ring of the ESPN final table. There are even others like Hertz rental cars, Planters nuts, and Gamma-O testosterone booster. *chuckle*

The booth for All In Energy Drinks was not a surprise, and their push to sell their drinks in exchange for a “freeroll” tournament was nothing out of the ordinary, though questionable in its possibility for financial success. But a few weeks into the WSOP, the cocktail servers inside the tournament area began donning red All In shirts. And they were serving All In bottled water and energy drinks. Wonder how much it cost to take over the servers?

And the final table of the $50K HORSE surprised even me. At first, those final table players – competing center stage for a couple mil – were told that they couldn’t have anything but All In drinks during play because they were on camera. Huh? At the obvious protest of Scotty Nguyen, who wanted/needed his Michelob bottles, the staff finally agreed to bring him his drink of choice but to plaster tape around the labels so it looked like some generic, unlabeled brand. Really? Of course, I understand sponsorships, but it seemed like they tried to take it too far.

With that said, I’m headed to the All In Energy Drink party tonight at the Palms. Yep, color me a hypocrite if you like, except that I have nothing against the drinks or the company, only with their attempt to monopolize the drinking public at the WSOP. Dan, on the other hand, may be looking to buy stock in the company, if his newfound All In root beer addiction is any indication.

More ALL IN has arrived at my doorstep — the “energy water”:

This time, your Tao of Pokerati hosts discuss the Nascar-ization of Poker, one poker-medio’s addiction to a liquid Chan enterprise, and what the success (or failure) of a pseudo-freeroll bounty tourney just before the main event means for the future of poker. Damn, that’s a lot to swallow in three(ish) minutes … hence the need for a chaser.

Episode 13: Energy Bucks

Thus far, bits of poker history have been made – the first set of siblings to each win a bracelet in the same year and only the second set of brothers to every accomplish the feat, and the fourth largest poker tournament ever held (Event #2). Professional poker players have absolutely dominated the Series, with numerous players like Lindgren and Singer finally taking home the gold. And through the end of the day June 17th, the totals were as follows:

30 WSOP bracelets awarded
28,223 players registered in tournaments
2,705 players finished in the money
$66,514,615 prize pools combined

There is also an interesting and notable change that takes place at the WSOP near the halfway mark.

It is a lull, certainly not in the action but in the energy and excitement of the bodies circulating through the halls of the Rio Convention Center. It is human nature to become exhausted after two or more weeks of long hours, but add in irregular meals, limited sleep, anxieties, financial ups and downs, emotions, and pressure, and it becomes a recipe for burnout.

Tell-tale signs of the stress are obvious in the faces of the players, staff, and media. The eyes are weary, and some of the smiles have faded.

Players who are running bad are getting concerned about the toll it’s taking on finances and relationships. Players whose bankrolls are suffering frantically play satellites, and those with backers are calculating what they owe in makeup and how much they have to win to get ahead again. In some cases, sleep and exercise are put on the back burner in order to keep up momentum, while energy drinks and sometimes energy-inducing drugs come into play. Spouses and significant others feel the intensity that often reflects back on them, and some of those relationships become strained.

Those who are doing well are focused on continuing the good run. Pros like David Singer and Scott Clements are up for the challenge and have had phenomenal years, not to mention a great WSOP thus far. (They are two examples of pros who are also very happy with their personal lives, though, and that makes a difference as well.) There are players like Tom Schneider who are somewhere in the middle; though he has five cashes thus far, falling short of his goal to win a bracelet and possibly another Player of the Year nod is disheartening. What he – and others in his position – do over the next few weeks remains to be seen.

Members of the media start to feel the pain as well. Not only do they pick up on the tension among players, but the ability to stay fresh is challenged. Finding new ways to write about aces cracked, large fields, lengthy hand-for-hand or bubble situations, players eliminated, and amateurs at the final table about whom little is known become difficult tasks as the days wear on. Writers and reporters also see the darker sides of the players – poor attitudes, nasty exchanges with dealers, detrimental vices – that become a struggle of integrity and ethics. Trying to decide what is fair game and what the publication or website will allow tests the strengths and weaknesses of everyone. And depending upon the hours they are required to keep for their jobs, many media members also suffer from exhaustion and poor health choices.

Those who are responsible for product booths in the Rio hallways also become weary. The CardRunners booth that boasted of names like Taylor Caby and Mike Schneider during Week 1 now typically sits empty with only the CardRunners videos running on a loop on the plasma screens. Fans take the sometimes-provided fortune cookies left out for fans and use the idle chairs to rest for a few minutes. The Sapphire strip club girls even look to be over it. They see our same faces each day and know that we’re not going to take their free pool passes, and those who do accept their offers, usually male tourists, are looking for a “date” or a pass to the strip club for a lap dance. No one has been at the Gamma-O testosterone booth for weeks, though someone does show up each day to turn on the plasmas to an all-music video channel. The only crew that doesn’t seem to be exhausted is the All In Energy drink folks who, strangely enough, always seem to have some energy to promote their products…

This is a tough time when the glass often seems half empty, but it is possible to see it as half full. Technically, there are only about 20 more events after today before the main event, one of which is the $50K H.O.R.S.E. that many feel is the truest world championship tournament of them all. And the $10K NLHE main event begins on July 3rd, and along with a new influx of players and media, the excitement returns. The end of the summer of tournament madness nears when media members can count the days until they return home to families and reasonable schedules and players can take some time off to soak in the results of the 2008 WSOP.

Despite the dark tone of this post, it is only meant to give readers and those far away from the Rio a glimpse into the reality of living this WSOP life for nearly seven weeks in the mad hot summer of Sin City. And it’s not to say that most of the players and media would choose to do anything else. Most of us look forward to it each year and miss it at least a little when it’s over. There is nothing like it in poker, and for those with a passion for the game, nothing beats it. In most cases, the good outweighs the bad over the course of the summer, and the experience itself is a valuable one.

Now, I return you to your regularly scheduled WSOP coverage.

Heard a knock on my door early this morning. Look what I found:

You know that feeling when you shove all-in with nothing … You’re pretty sure it was the right play, but you’re nervous it wasn’t, but even then oh well, because if your read was off at least you’ve got two live little unders working on your behalf?

Uh-huh … That’s kinda how I feel, having recently put $300 into Johnny Chan’s All In Energy Drink(s).

All In is all over the WSOP this year — they’re the official energy drink, making them the Red Bull alternative at the tables, and their patches are all over players. In an effort to drive online sales and overall poker-player awareness, they’ve got a big booth right outside the Amazon Room, too, where the promotion they’re pushing is a $500k free(ish)roll on July 1 and 2 … which I will be playing in because I bought 144 cans of the stuff. Yep, should be arriving at my doorstep any day now … [whistling phrroo-hoo] .. yep 12 cases make me one of their top 1,000 customers … yep, any day now …

It all made sense mathematically at the booth … I’m getting a bunch of energy drinks (and energy water) for a Sam’s club price ($2/can). And I actually like the stuff — the root beer is totally unique and fantastic in my minority opinion. So in making this purchase, I get to play in a fun tourney where not only am I competing for a $125k first prize, but also there’ll be a bunch of pros in it with $1,000 bounties attached to their heads. Positive EV, right?

click to enlarge

The only thing that’s giving me a little grumble in the tumble is that the numbers don’t seem to add up on the other side of the felt. I mean let’s see, the prize pool is $500k “guaranteed” … the promotion says it’s limited to 1,000 players … I paid $300, people who bought multi-cases of All In before me got in for only $100 … now the price is $500 … and then all the pros who may or may not be freerolled … and two WSOP main event seats added to the prize pool. Would probably sound better were it not for All In’s play with the word “cases” … technically I bought 12, even though it would be 6 if I were buying 144 cans of just about any other beverage. I dunno, it just kinda feels like the Poker Bowl, ya know? The difference, of course, is that this event has Johnny Chan’s name and backing attached to it, but when it comes to honorable reputations among the top 3 bracelet winners of all times … um, let’s just say Phil Hellmuth is a solid second.

But hey, I’ve got an open mind, an enthusiastic desire to bust some pros, and if I wear the patch that came with my receipt, I get free All In root beers throughout the duration of the WSOP! (Go Hevad Khan-ish behavior!) Should be interesting to see what happens — because either this tournament is a model for corporate-sponsored events in the future, or it’s gonna prove a money-loser for All In. Could be both and just a marketing loss-leader, of course, assuming the 144 doses of an unregulated, arguably addictive product sold over the internet arrive by US mail.

UPDATE: Still waiting …