The knock came through a dense fog of hyper-sexual dreams and worry that I had somehow missed the final hand of a tournament that had not yet started. I jumped from the bed and found myself standing in a room decorated in East Asian chic. Where in the hell am I? Tai Pei? No, that's not right. Something is wrong.
I saw the hotel room door just as it was opening. The man was walking in with a tenative lean. He looked at me as I started to speak and muttered with a thick Danish accent, "Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, sir." And he escaped back into the hallway.
I stood confused for two seconds and then looked down at myself. I was wearing nothing but a pair of tight, tight European-style boxer briefs.
It looked like I was smuggling fruit and I suspected the Danish police would be there soon to arrest me on some customs violation.
This is my new life, I thought.
SAS airlines had lost my luggage as I flew into Copenhagen and I was forced to go on a three-hour walking tour of the city's downtown in search of clothes to wear in the dress-coded Casino Copenhagen. I ended up with a new sport jacket, slacks, socks, shirt, and fruit-smuggling underwear. How many thousand Kroner they cost, I'm still not sure.
My luggage eventually arrived and I settled back into the tournament reporting routine, rubbing elbows with some of the finer players in Europe and giggling at the antics of Marcel Luske. Note: He doesn't just perform when the TV cameras are on. What you see on TV is Marcel as he is all the time.
While a good tournament, the weekend was otherwise uneventful. For those who haven't been to Denmark, a few notes.
* Scandanavian women are some of the most beautiful creatures ever created. Even the ugly ones look good. It is as if there is nothing extraneous on their body. Every curve and slant is there for a purpose. I have no doubt now why Hank chose a Scandanavian woman as his bride.
* European players are far more polite and reserved at the poker tables. Only twice in the entire tournament did I hear an Americanized outburst. The first was received poorly by the other European players. The second was from Luske after he hit a two-outer on the river and was more funny than outrageous. I think Americans, especially members of The Crew, could learn a lot from the Europeans.
* Suck-outs happen everywhere. I watched one hand where a guy called an all-in bet with AT of diamonds on a paired flop (sixes) versus ace-ace. Sure enough, the turn and river came runner-runner diamonds. Only online, my ass.
* I've been quietly studying a particular kind of tournament player. I think I'm developing a theory about loose-aggressive tournament play. If I develop it a little more, it may be worth a post of its own.
Community
I lurked in the blogosphere over the weekend and found myself reading a lot of posts about the changing nature of our poker blogger community. While I don't really feel comfortable inserting myself in the debate, I think I will anyway.
There's no doubt that the number of poker blogs continues to grow exponentially. Therein lies the real fear of the poker blog message, such as it is, becoming watered down and trite.
While I don't think it's something we should ignore, I don't think there's any reason to get over excited about it. Here's why:
There is something very Darwinian about the online world. Those with the wherewithal to leap out from the masses and get noticed will leap out from the masses and get noticed.
While I have a vested interest in maintaining the poker blogger community, the last thing I want it to become is an exclusive club. The beauty of this community is its willingness to look at new talent and accept it for what it is. I can't imagine how discouraged I would've been if I had been turned away at the door 18 months ago. I probably never would've continued with the poker blogging that is now becoming my life and income.
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think any of the bloggers have suggested we shut the doors and not let anybody in. What's more, I agree, there's a lot of crap out there. But I've noticed some good new talent.
That's a long way of saying, while I think it's good if we look at ourselves and ask where we're going, I don't think we need to worry too much about about the new blogging glut. If we strive for excellence and maintain an actively inclusive atmosphere, we will thrive in the same way we have for the past two years.
As poker players, it is our nature to be both competitive and success-oriented. As people, though, I've found we are at our roots good people. I owe this group for almost everything good that's happened to me in the past few months. I would love to think we could show someone else the same love and respect I've received.
Here ends my two-cents worth.
The cons
While this is not something I want to discuss at length or in the comments , I think everyone should know that I am no longer going to play in the PPMIV. There are a few reasons behind my decision, which the more intuitive readers can probably figure out. To answer the obvious question with an obvious answer: Yes, I'm disappointed. But in the long run, it's for the best.
One thing about my new gig is that it's going to cut into time that I would've otherwise spent playing poker. I've been to two major tournaments in the past four weeks and haven't played one hand of cards the entire time. While I feel like my game will suffer in the short-term (it's already suffering, actually), I think I have a lot to learn about tournament poker in watching the world class players on the circuit. While I'll still be grinding away in my off-hours, I'm becoming a bit fascinated with tournament play and strategy. Like G-Rob, some of the energy has seeped out of my cash game play and I'm not playing well as a result. I'm playing distracted, like something to do in the background when I'm doing something else. That's no way to play poker. I think further studying tournament strategy might add something to my game that could re-energize my poker play.
Oh, yeah, and thanks to everyone who has written with words of encouragement. You folks are, in no uncertain terms, the best.