Swiss Courts and Poker Legality

The Helvetica Federal Administrative Tribunal has made a decision that poker is more a game of skill than chance, which essentially makes Swiss poker legal. This is upholding an earlier decision by the CFMJ, which made an agreement to allow 189 private tournaments of the game of Texas Holdem poker to be run in 2008 – the agreement that then came under fire from Casinos, who were concerned about losing business. The year of 2008 also was the record holder for number of complaints against this form of poker.

Main Event, Day 1A – Small Gathering Kicks Off Main Event

I came into the Rio early this morning to make sure I could secure a seat in Media Row. It was 9:45 a.m. local time and the room was quiet. There were no dealers, no floor people, and only one security guard. In one corner, a few cash games were being played and workers were setting up the tables with the proper amount of chairs and “swag” that each player would get. The swag this year was a snack bag of beef jerky and a seat cushion. I kicked back and sipped on my coffee, taking in the scene, knowing in less than two hours the room would be filled to capacity with players eager to make their mark on the poker world.

The players were allowed in about 15 minutes before noon and the quiet faded into the loud chatter of people talking excitedly with their new best friends (or enemies depending on how you look at it) and the clatter of shuffling chips. Surprisingly, Jack Effel and Jeffrey Pollack took the stage right on time and the event started with little fanfare. There was no marching band, no Wayne Newton, just a quiet shuffle up and deal from the Jacks Links’ mascot, Sasquatch, that Effel had to repeat.

It was a smaller than expected crowd, causing some members of the media, WSOP staff, and media to worry if the numbers for this year’s event were going to decrease dramatically. The Amazon Room, save five to ten tables for cash games, was full and there was only 11 tables going on in Brasilia. This meant there was slightly over 1,000 players playing today. I don't think there is anything to worry about though as traditionally the last two days are close to sold out at 2,500+ which means we're looking at 7,000+ if the first two days have 1,000 apiece.

I made my first walk through with “The Official Gorilla of the 2009 WSOP.” I snagged about 20 photos including the gorilla's purchaser, Beth Shak, Jeffrey Pollack (who held a sign proclaiming it the official gorilla), Jack Effel, and even Norman Chad. I received my usual strange looks and laughs and explained the story at least 10 times. It's a little embarrassing but it's all in good fun so I don't mind it too much.

At one table, I saw a crazy hand go down that proved that even amateurs are capable of making great plays. I picked up the action on the river with about 5,000 in the pot and the board reading 5♠5♣3♣6♣Q♣. The player in the big blind led out for 4,000. An early position player made it 8,000 to go. The button made it 20,000 to go. The big blind took five minutes to make his decision, glancing back at his cards numerous times. I caught his hand briefly (and since he revealed what he had after the hand, I'm ok with saying what it was). It was A♣3♥ for the ace high flush. He finally folded, convinced his flush was no good. The early position player didn't take as long and much to the table's surprise turned over 3♦3♠ for a flopped full house. It was a great fold, however, as the button turned over 5♥5♦ for flopped quads. Some good poker there, I have to admit I was impressed (more so by the guy that folded the full house as the flush fold is standard there in my opinion).

It's now easier than ever to make a dinner break. Instead of the customary five levels they usually play on Day 1, they are only playing four levels. A number of players were curious and/or complaining about it so I went and asked why this decision was made. I was told it was because they wanted to make sure that they didn't come close to making the money on Day 2 since they almost had a problem with that last year. It'll mean longer days after Day 2 though, so the players better buckle in for a long, grueling tournament if they make it that far. Of course if they do make it that far it means they've cashed, so I'm sure it'll just be a minor inconvenience.

I've always wondered exactly how random a table breaking is. Why? Because I see the following happen way too much: Jason Alexander's table is broken up. He moves to a “random” table. Said random table contains Brad Garrett two to his left. I've seen these “random” moves happen all the time. I'm going to go out on a limb (even though the floor and ESPN swear it's purely coincidental) and say it's intentional. Conspiracy theorists rejoice!

What are the odds of this happening? First, a player with quads lost to a player who had a straight flush. Then about an hour later, a player holding 9♥8♥ on a  A♥7♥5♠10♥J♥ board actually lost. That's right, he had a straight flush but his opponent had K♥Q♥ for a royal flush. The RNG is rigged!

Players are about to go on the dinner break. I'll be back at the end of the day with the rest of the highlights from Day 1A.

Day 36 – Weddings And Works

Howard and Suzie Lederer's World Series of Barbecue was taking place today at the Golden Nugget. With the charity poker tournament benefiting the Boys and Girls Club kicking off at 4 p.m. local time there wasn't much time to visit the action at the World Series of Poker but I stopped by around 2 o'clock to see what was going on.

It was a quiet day at the Rio. The main action going on was the Mega Satellites they were holding for Main Event seats. In one section they were playing down the $5,000 6 handed NLHE event which had started with an impressive field of over 900 players creating a 1st place prize of over one million dollars, only the 3rd event at this WSOP with that big of a 1st place prize. The other two were the two massive buy in events, the 40K NLHE and 50K H.O.R.S.E. They would get down to 18 at the end of the day with Phil Hellmuth once again coming close but not close enough as he finished in 24th place.

In the back corner, they were playing the two final tables of the day. One was the Deuce To 7 Triple Draw event which had an unusual rail. Standing behind Japanese pro Masayoshi Tanaka was a wedding party complete with bride and groom in wedding dress and tuxedo. The bride still had her bouquet. The two were sweet… holding hands and gazing at one another… while watching their good friend Tanaka compete for his 1st WSOP bracelet. The story was almost perfect but Tanaka ended up finishing 2nd.

At the same table, former World Series of Poker Player of the Year Tom Schneider was watching his wife Julie play. Tom met Julie when she dealt poker to him in Arizona and eventually a love connection happened and the two married. A very good player in her own right, especially in Deuce to Seven, Julie would hang on for a long time as Tom watched intently from the rail. She would end up finishing in a very respectable 3rd place.

I headed over to the party and watched the charity poker tournament for a while. There was no Don Cheadle like there was last season but a lot of pros were there donating to the cause. At 6 p.m. the party started and people started moving to the pool area where a Mediterranean barbecue meal was awaiting the party goers. Among those who I saw partaking in the festivities were Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Phil Gordon, Erica Schoenberg, Jeff Madsen, and a slew of other faces.

One of the highlights of the evening was the karaoke contest where Joe Reitman got up and performed “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. The singing was atrocious but humorous… the dancing however more than made up for it as Reitman did his best MJ impersonation and had the crowd rolling. Jeffrey Pollack even tweeted about it as it was going on. Unfortunately, Reitman wouldn't win the competition. I guess being able to sing matters.

Another notable performance was Robert Williamson III, his wife, and Erica Schoenberg getting on stage to perform the B-52's classic “Love Shack” – it was an entertaining performance. I managed to capture a brief clip of it on my cell phone (cell phone video sucks but you'll get the idea). Check it out here:

http://aaronhendrix.com/LoveShack/LoveShack.avi

At a little after ten, a spectacular fireworks show went off. The fireworks lasted for over 15 minutes and were accompanied by music from the DJ. I had to wonder how much that set back the Lederer's because a show of that magnitude couldn't have been cheap. It rivaled some of the best fireworks shows I'd ever seen. It was a great end to the night and people slowly filtered out once the fireworks were over.

The stars will be out in force tomorrow for the Ante Up For Africa event and the Gaming Expo (Poker Palooza) has officially opened so I'll walk through and see what kind of stuff they have going on this year for the masses and what free crap I can get to give to friends who have no clue that it's crap. Tomorrow though is the moment we've (well me at least) all been waiting for… Day 1 of the Main Event! Until then…

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