"Sitting at a table with a bunch of bloggers is kinda
like playing a game of chess, in a comedy club, while getting interviewed
by a reporter, with the soundtrack to Oceans 11's being played by
a Mariachi coverband. Oh yeah it's for your hard earned cash too."
- UWannaBet
The next stop on the World Poker Bloggers Tour will be the Holiday
Classic set to take place at Sam's Town Casino in Las Vegas, NV on
Saturday, December 10th. The first several blogger tournaments were
hosted at various online poker sites. Saturday will mark the first
live event in the inaugural season of the WPBT.
What originally began as a long weekend in Las Vegas with my brother
slowly evolved into a trip with a few other bloggers tagging along.
I had an idea of trying to get a private table in a casino where we
could all play together. After a conversation with The Poker Prof
from Lasvegasvegas.com, he suggested I contact fellow blogger Dick
Gatewood from Buyitinvegas.com, who is also currently the poker room
manager at Sam’s Town Casino. He gave the event the green light
and said that Sam’s Town would be happy to host a three table
private tournament. Within days after I posted the news on my blog,
several more bloggers booked flights to Vegas after securing the necessary
time off from work and bribing their wives and girlfriends.
With the help of Dick and The Poker Prof the Holiday Classic grew
into an all day affair with several professional players including
Charlie Shoten, Tom McEvoy, Ron Rose, and Evelyn Ng scheduled to appear
at a breakfast poker seminar. We've all seen them on TV and read their
books. Now we have a chance to talk shop with some of the best minds
in poker and then afterwards have a chance to play with them in a
no limit tournament. After posting that announcement on my blog, every
seat was reserved and a waiting list quickly grew.
Bloggers from all over the country are flying in for a weekend of
tumultuous lunacy and some of us will be meeting each other face-to-face
for the first time. We are looking to knock each other out of the
tournament, perhaps collecting a bounty on knocking out a professional
player, while "dropping the Hammer" on random cowboys in
town for The National Rodeo Finals. Enough buzz has been generated
with the Holiday Classic that there is serious interest into expanding
and creating a live tournament circuit involving different casinos
and in several cities. For now, everyone in the poker blogging community
is excited about the recognition we are getting in Las Vegas. The
tournament is still two days away and my palms are already sweating.
Written by Paul "Pauly" McGuire, author of Tao
of Poker.