24 hours to go for the IPC and other news from the poker world

If there's one aspect of poker which excites me, well besides the game itself, it has to be the chance of traveling to different venues across the world. Between the IPC Crew, we've had the opportunity to play in destinations from Las Vegas to Macau to Goa of course and a few others in between. Vegas was once referred to as the gambling capital of the world. Obviously Macau in recent years has taken over that title in a big way but Vegas still remains the poker capital of the world. Every serious and semi-serious poker player, nevermind the stakes he plays at, wants to visit and play in Vegas. Not surprising as Sin City has a game pretty much around the clock to suit most appetites.

Speaking of traveling to different venues leads me to the opening topic of this post which is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure or the PCA as it's more commonly known. This event takes place in the beautiful Atlantis Resort located in the even more beautiful Bahamas. I don't know about you, but I am a beach guy. Nothing like stretching your legs out on a lounger with an ice-cold brew by your side as you allow the tranquil sites and sounds of the ocean to soothe your worries away :)
Besides these attractions, poker pros also descend upon the Atlantis for their annual Caribbean pilgrimage to play in what is the second largest event on the planet after the WSOP. This time's PCA has a total of 48 events and what's got the pros really excited is the sheer variety in the games offered. There are many Omaha and Stud games and there's big money 8 game tournaments happening too. While Texas Holdem is undoubtedly the game of choice for millions, the pros both young and seasoned alike, are relishing the prospect of flexing their versatility across these not-so-popular poker variants. Eventually at the end of the PCA, it was Galen Hall who took down the Main Event win after defeating a massive 1560 player field. Already having had an impressive set of online cashes, the 24 year old American pro takes home his biggest offline cash of about $2.3 million!

And pro reminds me of a sorta forgotten one in the form of Chris Moneymaker. The man, whose win at the 2003 WSOP Main Event, is credited with boosting the popularity of global poker hasn't really done anything noteworthy since his big win seven years ago. With personal problems relating to marriage taking a turn for the worse in the meantime really hasn't given the man the opportunity to focus on his game. However he seems to be on a comeback trail of sorts now - the marriage seems to be going strong, he's got 2 little daughters and it seems to be having a positive affect on his game as well. After a long time, Moneymaker made a deep finish, busting out in 11th place in the PCA Main Event. While a final table appearance or a win might have improved his standing some more, it's safe to say that Chris Moneymaker is likely not complaining.

And from one corner of the Caribbean to another beautiful part of the world - Melbourne, Australia and specifically the Crown Casino which hosts the Aussie Millions. The Millions has grown into one of the premier destinations for poker professionals in the world with a large number of events and big prizepools on offer. This time's Main Event had a first place prize of $2 million and the man who ensured that the title stayed in the homeland was 68 year old Adelaide native, David Gorr. The long time pro who also works as a computer analyst during the day, credits his fitness (as a result of his daily running) to be the secret of his success in outlasting a field of 721 players who each chipped in with a buy-in of $10,000. Of course a couple of bad beats, in that marathon 4+ hour headsup battle against English pro James Keys, no doubt contributed in helping Gorr take home the big one.

From offline to online, I'm quite excited about the release of Full House Poker on the Xbox gaming console. While there have been plenty of poker video games created for various platforms, they really haven't been up to the mark. The previews suggest that Microsoft is betting big on their new release and I'm hoping that I finally get to dust off the old Xbox and get it going for the game we all love. And from game releases to movie releases, the next big poker or more to the point poker-related movie is the Brad Pitt starrer Cogan's Trade about a professional enforcer who has to investigate a heist of a poker game. The confirmed male cast is like the who's who of macho roles with the likes of Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Sam Rockwell and Casey Affleck. This, along with Rounders 2, are like the two delicious poker movie morsels which poker and movie fans alike are waiting for with loads of anticipation.

Moving onto the small screen, some sad news - Gabe Kaplan will no longer be in the commentary booth of High Stakes Poker. The bossmen of the GSN network on which the show runs, have roped in comedian Norm MacDonald to take over from Kaplan.
In my mind, there are only 3 combos as far as poker commentary is concerned - the ESPN WSOP team of Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, GSN High Stakes' AJ Benza and Gabe Kaplan and of course the ever immortal poker voice of Mike Sexton who along with Vince Van Patten co-commentate the WPT events. Humour is a huge part of poker commentary along with analysis and Kaplan has one of the driest wits that I've ever seen/heard/enjoyed. Not to mention his own experience as a cash game player which he brought into the commentary booth and even took to the felt in one of the seasons of High Stakes. While I do like Norm, Gabe's voice and wit will certainly be missed. Oh and High Stakes for its upcming 7th season intends to shoot in 3D! Imagine that! The cards are gonna come flying at you through the TV screen it seems :D

And finally as I race against the clock to finish this piece and head out to the airport to catch that flight to Goa, that usual mix of excitement and adrenaline has kicked in for the Feb IPC event. We've had a fantastic 2010 where we started small in March and built ourselves up to our big blowout event in December. There is a lot of pride in knowing that the India Poker Championship has done its bit towards growing 'the scene' and we hope for bigger and better things for 2011 as well staring with our first event for the new year.
And with that I have to say adios and the IPC Crew will see you all at the tables soon!