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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 27, 2008

Time for Tidbits

Tidbit One: It's old hat by now, isn't it? The final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker hasn't drawn any of the hype we were told would occur. I know this because I've asked four of my poker buddies to name one WSOP finalist they might root for when the series ends and NOT A SINGLE ONE COULD NAME A FINALIST.

Yes, I meant to shout those words.

Now Howard Schwartz, owner of Gambler's Book Shop in Las Vegas, who doesn't play poker except for an occasional media event, knows the name of one finalist. Of course, that's because that individual shares the same last name.

Tidbit Two: The face of tournament poker might be changed forever with this new format for the WSOP final table. Between the time the finalists fought and sweated and cheered and cried their way through a huge field of competitors and the time they meet again in a few weeks, these guys are no longer in the heat of battle. They aren't running on that adrenalin, the type that keeps them awake all night, thinking about how they got where they are and how they are going to get over those last few hurdles.

Nope, they are now resting, relaxing, maybe getting offers from online poker rooms to wear a logo cap or jacket, and likely getting coached on final-table tactics. This, in my opinion, is NOT TOURNAMENT POKER. It's media hype and I blame ESPN more than anyone or anything for not letting me see how these fellows take that instant pressure.

Tidbit Three: Typically, I think about 5 percent of the entries to any major poker tournament is female. Talk often circulates that poker rooms should not offer ladies-only events, first because it's a sexist move and second because women enter these because the fields are soft.

Soft? Sure, all those female bodies in one room, that's a likely scenario for soft. Playwise? I don't think so. Sexist? Maybe slightly but then for years women were dismissed from the poker room either by being cheated, mistreated, ignored, and sometimes even threatened and told to go back to the kitchen where they belonged.

Well, California has taken care of the sexist angle and it's now illegal to offer tournaments that exclude men. So the field at the recent California Ladies State Poker Championships at Ocean's Eleven in Oceanside saw a field comprised of about 95 percent women and five percent men. So much for a soft field! No one of the 5 percent finished in the money.

I'm still on the fence about the ladies-only events. I think of them as training wheels and I think the women pros who play in them are the bumps the newcomers have to handle in order to become hard-core competitors. In California I guess that five percent adds to the training.

Tidbit Four: What's up with Kentucky's Governor Steve Beshear? He's making a move to take all the money and the domain names of a listed number of online gambling sites including some of the more popular poker rooms. Why? Because he says gambling is illegal in Kentucky. This guy claims these domain promote, conduct and/or advance illegal gambling within the borders of Kentucky. Is that legal? Suppose it's against the law for a person under the age of 21 to drink beer in Kentucky. Will he try to seize the name Budweiser or Miller Lite? Don't they advertise on TV? Aren't they promoting, and conducting and advancing the illegal drinking within the borders of Kentucky?

Face it, Steve. Just about every state in the Union is hurting right now. If we're lucky, this will pass and you'll be able to figure out how to lead your constituents into a bright future without this kind of silliness.

Tidbit Five: Phil Hellmuth isn't such a bad guy after all. So, you think that fellow sitting next to you at the poker table is one neat guy. He seems intelligent, is gregarious, articulate, and has attractive mannerisms; he appears to be sincerely interested in the game, in you and your thoughts and the world in general. He's not obnoxious; in fact, he's downright likeable. Not necessarily the description you'd give to poker's bad boy. But those wonderful adjectives describing your fellow player are exactly the words used to describe the successful con man, the antisocial personality disorder, the guy who is so good at fooling everybody, and whereas Phil will tick you off, this guy will do even worse. “If he does not believe he can beat you in a fist fight, he'll utilize a gun, or he just may burn your house down, but he will retaliate,” according to Dr. Duane Dobbert. (personalitydisorders.suite101.com/article.cfm/characteristics_of_antisocial_pd). Know any players who fit this description? I hope not.

Tidbit Six: So as not to end on a negative note, check this link http://www.plusev.net/ for some dry poker humor. You'll get it but your non-poker-playing friends probably won't.