Poker Perambulation

Her main job has been to make your and my life a roller coaster at the tables. But, that’s evidently gotten too easy. So, the little minx went looking for part-time work. She found it close by – saving serious gasoline costs. She taken on the job of adding spice to the WSOP and the lives of the suits at Harrahs/Caesars and ESPN and the rest of the cast. Collectively, all that can be called: “The Poker Boom.”

 In the new century, Poker was hit over the head by the deck and went on a multi year/hand run. That was Moneymaker, Raymer, Hachem – along with a host of new household names compliment of the Travel Channel and the WPT. All this was analogous to you and I doubling up our bankroll in a month and thinking we were responsible for it. Everybody but you and I knows what comes next.

 So, the real gambling god called in the Poker Fairy and offered her part time work. The first hand she dealt was the UIGEA. Not satisfied with that runner, runner bit of skulduggery, she threw in the Gold-Crispin mess. Next hand was more like a three-card Monte session where we kept looking under the cup for Jerry Yang but he never was there. Call that a draw or breather before the current event.

 It is looking like the poker boom has been cold decked. In poker the smart thing might be to play smaller for a bit but that’d blow your high roller image. Jeff Pollack is a high roller. He came to poker after igniting NASCAR and working with the NBA during the Jordan era. That runner-runner luck. Today, he holds the dual titles of Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketing at Harrah’s Casino and Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. Two word job description is “idea guy” and that is what got him the big bucks.

 Although it was poker Jeff found a way to double down. Nothing wrong with pushing a rush but poker really wasn’t on a rush. If poker were a stock, it’d be called being in a consolidation phase. I’ve experienced that kind of a trading range at the table for some period. I find it annoying. Jeff and his pressure job found it untenable.

 The idea man came up with the delayed final table. Darn thing looked good on paper. But just how well thought out was it?

 6000+ folks kick it off. These folks aren’t main street America. These folks are risk takers. You and I are the salt of the earth but the demographic doesn’t get skewed in our direction. When you reduce that down to nine players, the likelihood they are all Moneymaker, Raymer and Hachem types is pretty remote. That was proven when Richard Lee got raided and arrested for operating a major bookmaking operation””fortunately when the WSOP was history. Then, throw in Gold and the extension of his win into a court action. You can see that it isn’t all roses.

 If the Bellagio decided to require background checks on all the customers, how many would then get shown the door? We’ll assume it’d be more than if the hometown church did the same. It would seem Mr. Pollack’s making a long shot play when he figures those 117 days are going to be filled with media looking for feel good stories about 9 gamblers with formerly unexamined backgrounds. But, in our heart of hearts – where we want all this to keep letting us have a nice run at the tables – we now know he’s looking for runners to the ninth power.

 Is the Rheem problem I mentioned in my recent blog dealing the first brick? Bricks are certainly what Mr. Pollack is passing these days.

 ADDENDUM:

 I really don’t want to sell Mr. Pollack short. His WSOP-E was a stroke of genius for the brand. It is happening in an area of the world (EU) where all government pressure is toward opening up the possibilities. Unfortunately, the U.S. Market is the 800# gorilla in all this and that is his big problem these days.

 He’s been a home run hitter throughout his career. This at bat for him has stretched out to a 3-2 count. I hope he does hit the curve ball well because it doesn’t look like it’s going to come floating belt-high down the middle for him.

———-

Congressmen Spencer Bauchus is an ass and poker’s enemy.  The folks he cited in attacking poker in the recent hearings have called his naked bluff down

—————-

Do you think Linda needs a part time job to make the Pahrump payoff early?   If so, she could consult one of her old fellow dealers at the Belagio.  But, it isn’t promising.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Journal, Pols and other Crooks. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.