Pebbles and Marbles

An interesting thing happened recently at Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker. Chris Grigorian, aka The Armenian Express, defied all odds and won three events. Sure, that has happened before in tournaments, but Chris won three limit hold'em events. In my opinion, limit hold'em is the most difficult game in which to accomplish this feat. The $2,500 no-limit hold'em championship drew a bunch of the greats of poker to compete. The final table featured a lineup of Tuan Lee, Chris Grigorian, Dick Corpuz, Kirk Conrad, Mel Weiner, Richard Tatalovich, Tony Ma, Scotty Nguyen, and Can Hua. Hua captured the victory and the $90,000 first-place prize.

The Orleans Open no-limit hold'em championship took place on the same day. The buy-in was cheaper, $1,000, and there were more than 220 players in attendance. Thus, the prize pool was almost the same as Hustler's, but it was a much different tournament because many of the hotshots played at the Hustler. The final nine at the Orleans Open championship were: Daniel McGuire, Chad Layne, Al McCoy, Jimmy Tran, Maria Stern, Jeff Cohen, Marlon Santos, Erick Lindgren, and Bill Tesene. Bill won, and Erick came in second.

In the last issue, I told everyone to keep an eye on Erick Lindgren … and I said his nickname is E-DAWG. He informed me after the fact that it is E-DOG. Sorry, Erick! However, I was born in Seattle, where we refer to the Washington Huskies as Dawgs. So, I suggest that he change his nickname, because E-Dawg is cooler than E-Dog. Poker needs an official person who's in charge of deriving nicknames. I think Adam Schoenfeld would be great for the position. He is witty and intelligent, and needs new material for his column. In fact, I can't remember the last time he submitted a column.

OK, let's get back to the Orleans Open. For the past few years, players have been required to flip over their hands in all-in situations in tournament poker. At first, I was very opposed to this rule. The Orleans does not use this rule, and it was the first time in a year that I played a tournament without having to flip over my hand in all-in situations. I must admit that I am now used to flipping my hand over, and I think it is much better for the game. It speeds up the action, gives the players something to root for (or against), and eliminates some slow-rolling.

During the past few weeks I have received several e-mails regarding my column on Phil Ivey in the July 18, 2003, issue. Of course, it was intended to be humorous, as I am good friends with Phil. The truth is, I was getting a little tired of Max Shapiro taking credit for all of the satire in the magazine. I guess I should have put a lien on Phil's house for the hundred bucks instead of joke about it in writing. So, now I am confronted with a dilemma in my brief writing career. Should I continue trying to be funny in my column (trying is the key word), or should I write fictional puff pieces like Max Shapiro? My good friend Kyle summed it up perfectly to me. He said, "You should be yourself, but take a few lessons on how to write with humor, because you aren't as funny as you think you are. At least Card Player readers don't have to listen to you tell jokes. Your mumbling doesn't come out on paper due to your good executive editor. It sounds like you have pebbles and marbles in your mouth when you speak, and if you mix that with a bad cell phone connection, you really aren't funny."