If someone would have told me only two months prior to the World
Series Of Poker 2014 that I would be working there for more than six
weeks, I'd shrugged and called them crazy. During the EPT Vienna I
covered the Highroller events for a German website and chatted with Chad
Holloway, who suggested to apply with PokerNews for the Series.
One week later I had an invite for EPT Sanremo to do a trial run and immediately accepted when the offer for Las Vegas came by email. Three other small live tournaments in Europe were proposed to me but the WSOP opportunity doesn't come that often, so the decision was quite easy.
Trips over the pond are always some kind of adventure when you live in the middle of nowhere and thus it took almost one full day from door to door. Fortunately I was able to avoid jetlag and after some brief introduction, we were all thrown in the cold water that is the Rio's. If you ever played an event at the WSOP in the past 10 years, you will know what I mean with cold and a hoodie is typically the best friend.
The by far biggest difference to the tournaments I usually cover is the fact that no media cards exist and early on, you simply have to stick to the familiar faces that you know.
Anyways, enough of the intro and straight to my personal highlights in no particular order. People tend to use top five or top 10 lists, but all the below experiences have the same important value for me.
The Year of the Germans and a surprising Interview
There may have been barely any German among the top 100 players of the Main Event, but it still was a very successful year with a total of five golden bracelets (two each for Dominik Nitsche and George Danzer as well as one for Florian Langmann) . Furthermore, a couple of Germans reached Final Tables (Heinz Kamutzki, Ismael Bojang and Manig Loeser among others) but the biggest surprise was possibly the 3rd place of Max Kruse in a 2-7 Lowball event. He is a football striker for the team that I support in Germany and I had the pleasure to do an interview with him for Pokernews that can be found here.
Mixed Game Specialists on the Rise
Aforementioned Danzer and Brandon Shack-Harris battle for the Player of the Year (POY) honors and both reached tremendous results with several Final Table appearances next to their name. While Shack-Harris only won 1 bracelet, he scored another 2 second place and 1 third place finishes this summer. Melissa Burr was the first woman to ever cash in the $ 50,000 The Poker Players Championship and impressed with four Final Table results, missing out on another by only four spots.
Hollywood Poker Open: Kitty claws and Deadman defeats Nemesis
Initially, I was disappointed that I was sent to cover the Hollywood Poker Open instead of the Ladies Event at the WSOP, but the location off the strip was most excellent . The tournament itself under the guidance of Bill Bruce had an excellent structure and they looked after my colleague Aaron and I the whole time. Maybe it was also quite appreciated because of the bikini contest at the pool during Day 2. Either way, I was quite happy about the third place of EPT regular Kitty Kuo. And then there was Simon Deadman, who had already racked up a ton of second place finishes in 2014 and finally scored that long-overdue big win.
How to cover a Mixed Game
I love to play Seven Card Stud and Pot Limit Omaha (both Hi and Hi Lo) in my rare free time but you barely ever get the chance to do the live reporting on these poker variants. It was a hell of a challenge for me especially since it was held in limit as well. But after being confused for quite some time on the first day, I eventually got used to it and mastered the challenge that was $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (Event #25) thanks to the help of Chad.
Wizards getting their Reward
One of the biggest names to win a bracelet this year was definitely Phil Ivey. But I was even more pleased by the wins of Dan Kelly, Paul Volpe, Bryn Kenney, Calvin Anderson and Vanessa Selbst. The latter once again confirmed that she is by far the most feared woman on the international poker circuit. Kelly finally won his second bracelet whereas the other three online wizards finally claimed the important first victory.
Magicians from Belgium: Davidi Kitai and Pierre Neuville
Davidi Kitai was already a member of the elusive Triple Crown club even though some media outlets argue that the WPT Invitational win should not count. However, there is little doubt over the mad skills of the Belgian at the poker table though and he confused the hell out of Phil Hellmuth on the way to his third WSOP bracelet.
EPT serial qualifier Pierre Neuville set several records in Las Vegas this summer, cashing in eight WSOP events as over 70 year old, including an impressive second place finish in the $ 5,000 No Limit Hold'em - Six Handed (Event #24) for $ 385,041. He is probably the most friendly and polite player I have ever met on the international poker circuit and showed all the young guns that age doesn't matter.
Meeting old and new Friends
Of course these big festivals also draw the attention of all regulars on the circuit and gives you the opportunity to see all the familiar faces that one otherwise only knows from TV and poker videos on YouTube. You walk through the huge rooms filled with poker tables everywhere and stumble over friends that you haven't seen for a few years. New friendships are established and all those cherished moments help a lot to get through the long grind and lack of sleep.
The Poker(News) Family
Every deep run of a friend sparks some extra motivation but we all have those days when nothing seems to go right. A saying suggests to simply "go left" when that happens and then there is also the smile, handshake or hug to cheer you up. Further, it is important that all colleagues help each other and I for one as "PokerNews newbie" definitely needed and appreciated that a lot.
Lessons that I learned
- I am too stubborn
- Almost all women like chocolate
- Consistency is the key to success
- I need to improve on my writing and taking pictures
The whole Vegas trip was a massive learning experience for me and should improve the performance at my other future live coverages significantly. All the tiny mistakes add up, but often one should just concentrate on getting the work done and worrying about the rest later. Nobody is perfect but as long as you learn from the mistakes, it will be worth it and makes you stronger.
On the way back home, I had the unfortunate timing to fly from Las Vegas to Charlotte while Germany gobsmacked Brazil in the semi final of the World Cup of Football. At least I was back home in time to watch the final victory over Argentina, otherwise it would have probably been even more cruel.
Last but not least I would like to thank PokerNews for this awesome opportunity and hopefully I didn't drive too many people insane with my funny German accent.
Hasta la promixa vez!
One week later I had an invite for EPT Sanremo to do a trial run and immediately accepted when the offer for Las Vegas came by email. Three other small live tournaments in Europe were proposed to me but the WSOP opportunity doesn't come that often, so the decision was quite easy.
Trips over the pond are always some kind of adventure when you live in the middle of nowhere and thus it took almost one full day from door to door. Fortunately I was able to avoid jetlag and after some brief introduction, we were all thrown in the cold water that is the Rio's. If you ever played an event at the WSOP in the past 10 years, you will know what I mean with cold and a hoodie is typically the best friend.
The by far biggest difference to the tournaments I usually cover is the fact that no media cards exist and early on, you simply have to stick to the familiar faces that you know.
Anyways, enough of the intro and straight to my personal highlights in no particular order. People tend to use top five or top 10 lists, but all the below experiences have the same important value for me.
The Year of the Germans and a surprising Interview
There may have been barely any German among the top 100 players of the Main Event, but it still was a very successful year with a total of five golden bracelets (two each for Dominik Nitsche and George Danzer as well as one for Florian Langmann) . Furthermore, a couple of Germans reached Final Tables (Heinz Kamutzki, Ismael Bojang and Manig Loeser among others) but the biggest surprise was possibly the 3rd place of Max Kruse in a 2-7 Lowball event. He is a football striker for the team that I support in Germany and I had the pleasure to do an interview with him for Pokernews that can be found here.
Mixed Game Specialists on the Rise
Aforementioned Danzer and Brandon Shack-Harris battle for the Player of the Year (POY) honors and both reached tremendous results with several Final Table appearances next to their name. While Shack-Harris only won 1 bracelet, he scored another 2 second place and 1 third place finishes this summer. Melissa Burr was the first woman to ever cash in the $ 50,000 The Poker Players Championship and impressed with four Final Table results, missing out on another by only four spots.
Hollywood Poker Open: Kitty claws and Deadman defeats Nemesis
Initially, I was disappointed that I was sent to cover the Hollywood Poker Open instead of the Ladies Event at the WSOP, but the location off the strip was most excellent . The tournament itself under the guidance of Bill Bruce had an excellent structure and they looked after my colleague Aaron and I the whole time. Maybe it was also quite appreciated because of the bikini contest at the pool during Day 2. Either way, I was quite happy about the third place of EPT regular Kitty Kuo. And then there was Simon Deadman, who had already racked up a ton of second place finishes in 2014 and finally scored that long-overdue big win.
How to cover a Mixed Game
I love to play Seven Card Stud and Pot Limit Omaha (both Hi and Hi Lo) in my rare free time but you barely ever get the chance to do the live reporting on these poker variants. It was a hell of a challenge for me especially since it was held in limit as well. But after being confused for quite some time on the first day, I eventually got used to it and mastered the challenge that was $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (Event #25) thanks to the help of Chad.
Wizards getting their Reward
One of the biggest names to win a bracelet this year was definitely Phil Ivey. But I was even more pleased by the wins of Dan Kelly, Paul Volpe, Bryn Kenney, Calvin Anderson and Vanessa Selbst. The latter once again confirmed that she is by far the most feared woman on the international poker circuit. Kelly finally won his second bracelet whereas the other three online wizards finally claimed the important first victory.
Magicians from Belgium: Davidi Kitai and Pierre Neuville
Davidi Kitai was already a member of the elusive Triple Crown club even though some media outlets argue that the WPT Invitational win should not count. However, there is little doubt over the mad skills of the Belgian at the poker table though and he confused the hell out of Phil Hellmuth on the way to his third WSOP bracelet.
EPT serial qualifier Pierre Neuville set several records in Las Vegas this summer, cashing in eight WSOP events as over 70 year old, including an impressive second place finish in the $ 5,000 No Limit Hold'em - Six Handed (Event #24) for $ 385,041. He is probably the most friendly and polite player I have ever met on the international poker circuit and showed all the young guns that age doesn't matter.
Meeting old and new Friends
Of course these big festivals also draw the attention of all regulars on the circuit and gives you the opportunity to see all the familiar faces that one otherwise only knows from TV and poker videos on YouTube. You walk through the huge rooms filled with poker tables everywhere and stumble over friends that you haven't seen for a few years. New friendships are established and all those cherished moments help a lot to get through the long grind and lack of sleep.
The Poker(News) Family
Every deep run of a friend sparks some extra motivation but we all have those days when nothing seems to go right. A saying suggests to simply "go left" when that happens and then there is also the smile, handshake or hug to cheer you up. Further, it is important that all colleagues help each other and I for one as "PokerNews newbie" definitely needed and appreciated that a lot.
Lessons that I learned
- I am too stubborn
- Almost all women like chocolate
- Consistency is the key to success
- I need to improve on my writing and taking pictures
The whole Vegas trip was a massive learning experience for me and should improve the performance at my other future live coverages significantly. All the tiny mistakes add up, but often one should just concentrate on getting the work done and worrying about the rest later. Nobody is perfect but as long as you learn from the mistakes, it will be worth it and makes you stronger.
On the way back home, I had the unfortunate timing to fly from Las Vegas to Charlotte while Germany gobsmacked Brazil in the semi final of the World Cup of Football. At least I was back home in time to watch the final victory over Argentina, otherwise it would have probably been even more cruel.
Last but not least I would like to thank PokerNews for this awesome opportunity and hopefully I didn't drive too many people insane with my funny German accent.
Hasta la promixa vez!
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