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.

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.

This go-round she tackles some of the challenges of international travel that are unique to poker players jetsetting into and out of action … and specifically the need for a good poker face when moving through Customs.

DFW AIRPORT–Argh. After getting my arse kicked by various turns and rivers in the Batface home game last night, I am now waiting in an airport terminal for a heavily delayed plane. One of the other passengers got a good read on the situation before we boarded — “It’s never a good sign when you see your pilot hanging out the window cleaning his own windshield. Don’t they have people for that?” Sure enough, we got on the plane, waited for an hour, then were asked to deplane. (I’ve never before been told to get off a plane once getting on it.) US Airways pilots and managers and ticket agents are outside looking at the plane trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. Not a good sign.

I booked this early flight so I could make it to the Jennifer Harman charity event. Note to J-Ha: sorry, don’t think I’m gonna make it, but you should probably still have the event. T.J. Cloutier is also on this flight — headed to V-town for the $25k WPT World Championship at Bellagio — as are Dallas/WSOP dealer Beth and her poker-playing boyfriend Brice, who are taking a Vegas vacation together for the first time … and there’s one other passenger dude I don’t know but I recognize from a table somewhere, either in Las Vegas or Dallas.

Have a feeling today is going to be really fun … for traveling poker players and non-players alike.