One thing I’ve found strangely coincidental since Black Friday has been the subsequent use of the phrase “All In” across competitive sport. The poker magazine of the same name (which I briefly edited in 2004-05) was one of the first casualties of Black Friday, and since its ultimate demise in May of 2011, it’s like everyone suddenly began embracing the phrase in their own semi-trademarkable way. The New York Giants, Michigan Wolverines, Addidas (on behalf of all soccer), Auburn families (sold out), even Hawaiian cockfighting … Either we as poker players are losing control of these five-letters-and-a-space, or the rest of the world is paying homage to the game, the life it gave to the mainstream.
For NFL safety Antrel Rolle, an aggressive poker philosophy is something close to his heart, right up there with New York City and winning the Super Bowl:
Hmmm, that nipple doesn’t look like my nipple, I don’t think.
Source: 23 Best Athlete Instagrams of 2012 [Buzzfeed]
Though personally I don’t expect Darvin Moon to look anything like Sammy Farha en route to 2nd place … you gotta love the debate going on over who will, and who should win … let alone whose victory would be “better for poker”.
Super-young but true online pro vs. the “Ultimate Everyman” … you know, if everyman happened to cut trees for a living.
As you know by now, I’m probably as much a Cada fan as I am an Aston Villan (I’ve got Fake$100 invested in his winning) … but the hubbub going on right now reminds me a bit of funny-in-retrospect conversation as WSOP things got down to heads-up in 2003 …
From my first poker magazine piece in the first issue of (the recently resurrected) ALL IN:
On the last day of the 2003 WSOP main event, a handful of eliminated pros gathered around the final table to watch the action. Moneymaker — the Tennessee accountant who had never before played a live tournament — had amassed a sizable chip lead when Mike Matusow turned to fellow professional Eric Siedel and said, “I can’t believe another donkey is going to win the World Series of Poker.”Â
“You better hope he wins,” Seidel responded. “If Moneymaker can pull this off, it’s going to be worth at least $5 million to you and me over the next two years.”
“Are you crazy?” Matusow said, dismissively.
The only difference this go-round, of course, is that the world has already been introduced to online poker, and the Sammy Farha pro character is being played by a 21-year-old who stands to be the youngest WSOP main event champ in history (for the second year in a row).
Seen on a coffee table in Pokerstarzistan’s WSOP embassy (aka Joe Hachem’s “Champion’s Lounge”) … a new edition of All In Magazine (where I got my poker-media start):
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.
