PokerWorks Blogs

Before the World Series, I was visiting Howard Lederer. He was amusingly annoyed at an ad Doyle’s Room was running. We got on the subject of the lack of imagination of online poker sites competing with Full Tilt. This particular ad said something like, “Other online sites just give you a seat to the Main Event.” It has a pile of chairs, with logos from online sites, Full Tilt’s included. Then it lists all the unique things Doyle’s Room provided to its Main Event qualifiers.

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Believe it or not, I am NOT going to go crazy-ass on CARD PLAYER, even though their September 27 issue (another Jamie Gold cover) just showed up in the Wynn poker room today. Based on my theories of karma, this post, which will tell you about one or two correct things the magazine did, will motivate them to trash me.

So just to cover myself, I’ll also tell you about some of their usual ridiculousness. See, there’s something for everybody. Whether you loathe CARD PLAYER or are simply disgusted by them, I’ve got something for you.

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THE POST IS COMPLETE! Now I can catch up on some interesting poker stuff to share.

This post is really a shorthand means of letting you know the progress of the “Welcome to the Jumble” post. [As I update that post, I will update this one, so you can quickly see how far along I am on my Mega-GnR Project.] I’m in Las Vegas, working like a maniac to finish the Full Tilt book. For reasons I can’t describe, it seemed like a good idea in the middle of this to attend Guns ‘n’ Roses’ return to Las Vegas last Sunday night for Robin Leach and AOL. (That piece will appear on Leach’s LUXE LIFE site on Wed. or Thu.) But too much weird stuff went on for me to content myself with just a straightforward review/summary. That’s why I’m writing Welcome to the Jumble.

I’m offering you the chance to read it as I compose it from my notes and recollections of that night. I usually don’t develop these things in order, plus I’m “interrupting” that creative process by interviewing Chris Ferguson, interviewing Phil Gordon, reviewing a chapter by Rafe Furst and Andy Bloch, arranging an interview with Howard Lederer, and trying to coordinate one with Erick Lindgren. And all that has to take place before I leave Vegas this Thursday afternoon.

I am, as always, interested in your comments. You can leave them here or e-mail me at mrchaotic@aol.com.

1. I Could Sleep in it ‘Til Morning but this Nightmare Never Ends

In the pre-dawn hours of September 14, I had a dream. I consider my sleeping dreams insignificant and I rarely remember them. (In contrast, I think my waking dreams are very meaningful.)

But this one was different.

I dreamed I was talking to Axl Rose, explaining to him why it was in both our interests that my next book be about the 15 years he has spent between Guns ‘n’ Roses studio albums. A psychiatrist would (and, someday, may) chalk it up to deadline anxiety. I’ve been working like a Tijuana whore on crack all year on the Full Tilt book, while Mr. Badass Axl Rose has been closeted for more than a decade in a Malibu mansion trying to create 60 minutes of music.

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I’m back in Vegas, trying to finish the book and watching the Guns ‘n’ Roses show at the Hard Rock for Robin Leach. It was something to be enjoyed … and then endured. They opened the doors to let us in at 8:30. Axl Rose and the (new) gang started playing at 11:15. Much about the show was good, but there are many questions. I have plenty to tell you about my three hours standing six feet from the stage amid an ever more restless and finally angry crowd. It’s a story of three women who befriended me, and one who actually, truly wanted to kill me.

But I have to rest now. I promise to write it all up in my next entry, and there’s also this matter of the last two chapters of the book that’s due in a couple weeks.

Sorry to be out of touch for a couple days. Pokerworks was doing something or other with its software and they asked me not to post.

OK, in all honesty, that explains away about 6 hours of the 72 since I last posted. While I know you appreciate the unmatched quality of the snippets of my life I share with you, I’ve gotten lots of mail about the QUANTITY of my disclosures. I always imagined that one of my strengths as a journal writer would be that you could keep coming back and finding something new, and I think that’s been the case.

I’ve been crazy-busy and addled by The Little Things.

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I’m living the Writer’s Life, abandoning my family for 22 hours out of every day to work at a condo 5 miles from our house. The condo is nice; my Mom and her husband live here during the winter. But it is desperately in need of cleaning.

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I think the articles by Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli on Pokernews.com represent as positive a development as the poker media could hope for. I haven’t seen Harrah’s response yet, though Amy and Tim separately told me they were going to essentially agree with the articles’ explanation about where the 2 million extra chips came from. Simultaneous to that, the September 13 Card Player is now littering poker rooms.

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Finish reading this ASAP and read the trio of articles on Pokernews.com by Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli solving the mystery of the extra two million chips introduced on 3-table day at the Main Event. (Part I, Part II, Part III)

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Jay Greenspan, a friend and author of Hunting Fish, e-mailed me today. We saw each other every day at the Series and haven’t spoken or written since. In addition to covering some routine business – he owes me 1/4 of a steak quesadilla and reminded me, unsolicited, that he intends to pay up – he said, referring to my blog the other day that meantioned The Pina Colada Song, “The Pina Colada song is genius.”

He picked the wrong guy, either to attack or defend.

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