The PPL Draft and the Venetian
It felt like the series for one night...--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night marked in my opinion one of the best things that has happened to poker in a long time. I am so thrilled with the timing of this too - that last night came six days after Black Monday even though it was planned months in advance.
I was at the Venetian last night for the inagural draft of the Professional Poker League. 64 of the best poker players in the world have made a long term committment to the Venetian to play a series of poker tournaments and matches that will be held weekly and broadcast nationally. The Venetian in turn has built an arena that will play venue to the matches. I am not sure how the players are going to make money or how the Venetian is going to make money, but I am assuming that it is purely endorsement and advertisement money. That is good news to me because the primary marketing monies have come from internet poker. Perhaps more beer and tobacco endorsements? Or perhaps it will look like NASCAR with the individual competition but the team aspect at the same time. Either way, it is very much off the ground and running and no doubt a good thing.
The energy in the room was incredible last night. It felt very much like the Series. Right off the bat I saw my friend Kenna James who I had not seen since the Series. He gave me a big ol bear hug and we spent a while catching up. I also saw my friend Katie who writes for Poker Pro magazine. Unfortunately the second time I walked up to her she got busted out of the tournament... I am a bad sweat. I also spent some time with David Williams who is as fun as ever.
After the draft most of the PPL players played in a bounty tournament in the Venetian poker room that was quite a hit. There were people everywhere. Daniel had a line of people waiting for autographs and pictures, and he greeted each and every individual between hands with a handshake and a smile. There was a named pro at almost every table of the tournament and it went down as quite a success.
I did not make it into the tournament - aparrantly it was sold out for quite a while. I was playing in the 40-80 game that decided to get going again for the first time in over a month. I got crushed for $1200 in the first 12 minutes but eventually battled back for a win of about $1050. My session was interrupted when my friends Brandon and Zach showed up and we headed into Tao. Brandon Cantu won event #2 of the series this year and his event was just televised last Tuesday. It will replay tonight at midnight pacific time also! I was curious if he would be recognized as he walked into the room or perhaps at the club, but such was not the case. We had a good time hanging out, chatting about how cool the PPL could eventually get, and called it a night somewhere around 3:30am.
So, very excited about the new current state of poker, stoked on how good this month is going, and ready to get on to winning some tournaments!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
maverickusc@gmail.com
posted by Devo @ 5:42 PM
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