Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and Cruise Ships, Too)

Mike Sexton (left) and Mark Tenner (right) with Brian Saltus Award winner Linda Johnson

The month of March began for me with a trip to San Jose, California, for the Bay 101 Shooting Star World Poker Tour event. If you aren't familiar with it, this event has a rather unique premise: Each starting table has one "star" with a bounty on his or her head. Bust the star and you collect the bounty, in the amount of $5,000. Men "The Master" Nguyen was my table's star, and I got involved in several pots with him. Although most of the hands went my way, Men proved to be resilient and I was unable to eliminate him. Nevertheless, by late afternoon, I had jumped off to a good start, working my $10,000 starting stack up to nearly $50,000. Unfortunately, that was about as good as things were to get for me, and I was eliminated early on the second day of play. I hopped a flight back home for some recovery time, and then prepared for the month's next stop.

Cruising in the Caribbean. The PartyPoker Million cruise is one of the highlights of the year for me. It is a great chance for my wife and I to have a relaxing vacation, as we both enjoy cruising. Also, several of our good friends were on the ship, which added considerably to our enjoyment of the week.

There was business to attend to on the ship, too, in the form of the largest limit hold'em tournament in the world. Most of the 500-plus players qualified online for the $10,000 event. If one (such as myself) was inept at his online attempts, he could still attend by posting the buy-in.

Unlike Bay 101, I got off to a very poor start in the tournament. I hovered around the $10,000 starting chip amount for most of the day, and just couldn't generate any momentum. It was one of those days when anytime I'd win a pot, I'd immediately lose the chips back. Near the end of play, I finally strung a few hands together and reached the $25,000 level. The highlight was a hand in which I called a bet on the river while holding fourth pair, with straight and flush possibilities on the board, and won the pot. (Attention: Don't try to bluff me!)



Once again, though, I was unable to maintain the momentum, and ended the day with just $11,000 after losing with A-K and Q-Q in rapid succession. On the second day of play, I was an early casualty. On my fatal hand, one player raised from under the gun (he had raised during the previous lap from the same position with Q-10 offsuit), and I happily made it three bets with A-K, hopeful of a double up. This time, though, he showed K-K, his hand held up, and I was officially on vacation.



The Brian Saltus Award. One of the special traditions that has been established on the PartyPoker Million cruise is the presentation of the Brian Saltus Award. The late Brian Saltus was an exceptional recreational poker player who, while fighting the cancer that would ultimately claim his life, won the 2001 Tournament of Champions, defeating a strong final table that included "Miami" John Cernuto, T.J. Cloutier, and Scotty Nguyen. Following his victory, Saltus gave an inspiring, tear-jerking impromptu speech. The award was established to remember Brian, and to annually recognize one poker player who best represents the qualities Brian demonstrated. Past winners include Robert Williamson III, Maureen Feduniak, and Barry Greenstein.



I would like to congratulate this year's highly deserving recipient, Linda Johnson. Linda has worked tirelessly for the growth of the poker industry due to her love of the game and the people who play it. At the same time, she always treats people with care and respect, and is one of the true classy individuals in the game.



It was a bit unusual the way she won the award, as well. The award is typically announced at a ceremony on the final day of the cruise. The group that picks the recipient is comprised of Mike Sexton, Mark Tenner, and, well, Linda Johnson. At their summit to decide the recipient of the 2006 award, it was decided that Jesse Jones was a deserving candidate – and he is, as he is a longtime player and classy guy who has poured his heart and soul into the cause of building an effective players organization.



With Jesse as a co-conspirator, Mike and Mark secretly plotted to present the award to Linda. So, as the meaning of the Brian Saltus Award was being explained to the audience, Linda was beaming at Jesse in the audience, waiting for his reaction as his name was announced. Then, Mike and Mark began talking about the 2006 winner's attributes, and Linda became puzzled by the changes in the script. Things still didn't sink in immediately even when her name was announced. Finally, it hit her, and she was overwhelmed. Congratulations, Linda, you really deserve it!



Off to Japan! After only two days back in Las Vegas, my wife and I headed off on yet another adventure – this time to Japan. Probably the very best thing about being a professional poker player is that I have had the opportunity to meet people from practically every corner of the globe. One of my good friends from poker, Hiroshi Shimamura, hails from Tokyo. When he invited my wife and me to visit this spring, we jumped at the opportunity. Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson made the trip with us, as well. Since the two of them are always stretching to find column material, I'm sure they will cover the highlights of the trip. I do, however, want to mention a few other things that I will always remember, and that I found a bit surprising or unusual.



The National Pastime. We took a lot of cab rides in the 12 days we were there, and I think the drivers had baseball on the radio in more than half of them. It was interesting to follow; I could always tell when someone hit a home run, even though I had no idea what the announcer was saying.



Sushi, sushi, sushi. Japan has different types of sushi restaurants. Our favorite is called "Kaitan sushi." At this type of restaurant, we sat at a table or a bar, and small plates of sushi circled the room on conveyer belts. When something that looked desirable passed by, we snagged it off the belt. The price of the sushi was determined by the color of the plate: The two pieces of squid on the white plate may cost $1, while the tuna on the blue plate would go for $3. At the end of the meal, we notified the waitress, who came by and added up the value of our empty plates. Overall, the quality was very good, and despite horror stories about how expensive it was to eat in Japan, six of us could eat our fill for less than $100 total.



One area to cut corners next trip. We spent a couple of nights at rural resorts featuring traditional Japanese food and a dress code of slippers and kimonos. Unfortunately, being American-sized, the slippers covered only half of my feet and my kimono was more like a miniskirt. At the end of a day, we had the option of getting massages in our room. As I awaited the arrival of my masseuse, pleasant thoughts of some supple young … knock, knock, knock! Come on in. Oh, you're the 75-year-old hairless, toothless, drippy-nosed, arthritic guy who's here to give me my massage? Well, right this way, sir.



Things that make you go, hmm. The only thing more unusual than a rude Japanese person was a trash can at the train station. This was a source of much frustration for me, as we spent considerable time at stations, and it seemed as if I always had an empty coffee cup or water bottle in need of disposal. Apparently, the removal of garbage cans was an anti-terrorism measure, as a result of a poison gas attack in a Tokyo subway station a few years ago. Finally, I started dumping my trash in one of the literally thousands of coin-operated lockers scattered throughout each station.



Overall, thanks to our friend Hiroshi's hospitality, we enjoyed the vacation of a lifetime, experiencing a whole new culture while we were at it. It was a trip I'll never forget!

Feel free to e-mail me anytime; my address is [email protected].