Michael Craig's Journal

It’s 9:40 PM and the interesting part of my day is just about to start. Ted Forrest and I are going to meet for a Razz lesson in advance of the event tomorrow. Ted has lost a couple cell phones this week, so he’s been harder to reach than normal. I got him by calling his girlfriend’s cell. He explained that he was just eating dinner - a combination of Pizza Hut and Thai food - and he would call me to tell me the location when they finished eating.

Not that this day hasn’t been without its adventures. I returned to Las Vegas at midnight last night, grabbed a couple hours sleep, and started working on someone else’s blog.

Yep, I don’t have enough to do with my journal and the 150,000-page manuscript on which I am hopelessly behind and have no chance to complete before the September 1 deadline. I am, in effect, however, doing the homework for one of the cool kids.

Robin Leach, who writes Luxe Life as the centerpiece of the AOL Vegas Project, is one of the coolest kids on the planet, with 1.7 million readers. He gave me an opportunity to be a guest columnist next Tuesday and, if I don’t disgrace myself, during the opening week of the Main Event. Normally, I’d be as giddy as an inmate at the prospect of writing something for the mere publicity value, but I like Robin Leach, I may be doing a movie project with him, and I like converting some of his 1.7 million readers to my readers.

I’ll tell you about it when it appears on Tuesday.

Robin and I were going to get together for cigars at the Rio this afternoon and I wanted the column completed before we met. I actually had an hour to spare, so I toddled over to the Amazon Room to check out the scene. A lot of people were surprised to hear I wasn’t playing today. I don’t know if that was a compliment about my publicized-for-reasons-other-than-foolishness performance of Tuesday, or because they needed one more fish in the field. From the looks of things, it couldn’t be the latter.

I showed Robin around the Full Tilt suite, just as half the field in today’s event went on break. It was loud, crowded, and chaotic, which was how I wanted to show it to him. I introduced him to Jennifer Harman, who had her game face on. I told Leach she was the best female poker player in the world, maybe the best player, period.

“Not the best player, period,” she said before fleeing for the tournament.

Mike Matusow was holding court on his early exit and the collected bad beat stories of several other pros. I was going to introduce him to Robin but there was no way to get in a word of introduction. Robin hadn’t heard of Mike but I said, “They call him The Mouth.” He understood.

Even though I told Michelle, the PR person in charge of the suite, that I was bringing Robin Leach by, they stopped me from coming in at the back, then stopped Robin. It was just a brief delay during a busy time, and I understand the need for security, and they didn’t mean anything by it … but ….

I introduced Robin to Howard Lederer and Robin snapped our picture, I assume, for Luxe Life. Howard said to me, “I read that you’ve come out of the closet about the identity of the suicide king.” I just wrote that this morning. I’m amazed he read it. But I’m amazed when anyone reads something I’ve written and mentions it to me.

Annie Duke came by and I introduced her and Leach. They had briefly met once before and they both remembered it. Then I got to say, “Remember when I introduced Jennifer Harman as the best female poker player in the world? Anyone who doesn’t think it’s Jennifer thinks it’s Annie.” (Thank goodness it’s not a competition. I’m not being diplomatic when I say this but they are both superb players and the list of other superb players who happen to be women is long. Well, at least it includes Cyndy Violette.)

Robin and I were going to exit the convention center for a cigar and I invited Annie to join us. She has, ridiculously, TAKEN UP CIGARETTE SMOKING FOR THE SERIES. This is one of the smartest women I know, a Call Girl on any subject on which I can engage her, yet she decided what her body needed now that she was having trouble exercising and eating right was cigarettes. And she just won a big bet for stopping smoking.

Annie was excited about discussing her antitrust suit against the World Poker Tour, the environment of the World Series, the state of poker, and her own busy schedule away from poker. Introducing her to Robin - though they technically had already met - I thought the same thing I thought the first night I saw her at the 2004 World Series of Poker: Annie Duke oozes charisma.

She completely hijacked the discussion, which was exactly what I wanted, without even knowing I wanted that. Robin and I had no agenda; we were just catching up amid some business. I wanted to introduce Robin Leach to the chaos, the energy, the ingenuity, and the brilliance of poker.

I showed him the inside of the Amazon Room, with three tournaments going on, cash games, a supersatellite, and single-table satellites. I showed him around the Full Tilt suite and pointed out the other suites. But sitting at the bar with Annie Duke, I was able to really SHOW Robin what’s so great about poker players.

When I told Annie afterward that she hijacked the meeting, she thought for a moment that was a criticism. I explained it but probably not very well. One of the things I want to do with my life as a communicator is show the world what I think is so great about poker. Annie Duke exemplifies many of those reasons, so it was a treat to spend some time with Annie and Robin, as he tried to grasp what the hell al the fuss is about.

Well done, Annie, and thanks.

After Robin left for a meeting, Annie and I stopped by the PokerStars suite to say hello to Wil Wheaton. (Annie looked down at her clothes. “I’m not branded today.”) Interestingly, they both remembered the time they played at a table together and how Annie busted Wil with A-Q against K-K. They had a discussion about integrating a family back home with the World Series, which may end up in Wil’s blog. (No one asked my opinion, which may be a commentary on the lack of balance in my own life. Maybe Wil or Annie would say, “You have a family?”)

I didn’t want to start some inter-site war but, while we were talking, a couple people in the PokerStars suite pulled out Annie Duke pictures and asked her to autograph them. (Where would they get those pictures in the PokerStars suite? Were they carrying them around on the off-chance they’d run into Annie some day?) Wil was going to watch his posse at the final table so Annie, I, and her new fans left for the UB suite.

I stayed just long enough to inhale some of their afternoon buffet and watch Phil Hellmuth try to sleep on the couch. He used one giant cushion to cover his head and another to cover his feet. He turned inward to the back of the couch, so only the back of his UB jersey was visible.

Does he know what exactly he’s inhaling at the back of that couch? He may go rifting off but it won’t be REM sleep he’s experiencing. Hello unconsciousness! If I knew him better, I’d have suggested that he take the rest of the day off and go home, or at least punch a couple holes in the back of that couch to let some air in.

In fact, if I knew him better, I might say something about that hair.

Last note: I swiped a bunch of August issues of BLUFF. My column and the Andy Bloch feature look really good. I’m very pleased with how they both came out.

By the way, it’s 10:20 PM and I haven’t heard from Ted Forrest. Better wrap this up and search my sources for him. He and Huck have three Razz bracelets between them. If there is any chance I Earth I can get them to teach me about the game, I better make all possible efforts to make that happen.

(Final quote: When I told Pauly I was going to pay $1,500 to play the Razz, he said, “How about I’ll kick you in the nuts for 20 minutes for $750. It will be just as enjoyable and we’ll both come out ahead.”)

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 at 12:22 am and is filed under My favourites:.