Michael Craig's Journal

I just got back to Vegas and was preparing to spend a fun evening joining Tony Holden for dinner and attending Full Tilt’s party at PURE. Forget all that. Self-loathing is now on the menu.

(more…)

[Last update: 9-11, 5:05 PM MST] 

When Perry Friedman and I sat next to each other during a hold ‘em event at the Series, we talked about all the different names for two-card starting hands.

(more…)

It’s 10:10 PM as I dictate this. I’m driving home to Scottsdale for 36 hours. I played in the Stud Eight-or-Better tournament, without any success. This makes, I think, seven events without cashing. The totality of that is depressing, but I generally felt good about how I played. I can go back over some particular hands and point out some mistakes, but I’m still learning, and probably always will be. But in general, I played well, regardless of the result. And there’s still the main event.

(more…)

It’s 10:45 AM. I’m playing in the Stud Eight-or-Better event in a little more than an hour so this has to be FAST.

I had dinner last night with Tony Holden, good friend, author of BIG DEAL, author of the still-being-written BIGGER DEAL, and expert at using writing as a means to avoid paying for things. I got him to pick up the check at dinner, so who’s the expert now, eh Tony?

(more…)

I busted out of the Razz tournament on the last hand of level seven, so don’t hold your breath waiting for the invite to the victory party, at least not in Razz.

(more…)

It’s 9:50 PM on Saturday night. We’re on the dinner break at the $1,500 Razz event at the World Series. I’m still in the tournament.

Wait, let me rephrase that. I’M STILL IN THE FUCKING TOURNAMENT, SUCKA!!! (Yeah, that’s right - 3 exclamation points.)

(more…)

It’s almost noon and I’m rushing to vacate my room because it is supposed to receive its weekly cleaning. I have, however, discovered the dirty secret of the Smoke & Disinfectant Inn. They have some scheme I have as yet not unraveled for profiting by promising to clean the rooms and failing to follow through.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

*I wrote this entry on July 1, as soon as Linda Geenen told me that Pokerworks.com was going to hire me to write a blog. I started with some goals and background, and finished with what I hope is a BANG: the identity of the suicide king in my book, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time. I had guarded the person I was referring to for reasons explained below, and I now recognize that I can tell the secret.*

(more…)

It’s high noon on Wednesday in Scottsdale. I promised Jo Anne and myself that I’d do no work today, even though I am starting to freak out over having to submit a 150,000-word manuscript in 40 days. She allowed me to make an exception for this blog entry.

(more…)