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Grantland: Oral History of the 2003 WSOP

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by JackReacher, May 23, 2013.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I find it on my Fox Sports West channel occasionally. I will say one thing about the current WPT episodes: Tony Dunst's "breakdowns" (or whatever they call it) are really really good. He's great.

    And Esfandiari's work on the WSOP, after he busts out, is excellent as well. And Hellmuth is, surprisingly, a very good commentator.
     
  2. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    That's exactly my point. Because FSN channels all are doing MLB, NBA and NHL games almost all the time, the WPT is no longer on one set night at one set time every week. Even worse, the show is now one hour and goes in two parts. So you can spend an hour and not have any clue who wins, then miss the second hour the next week because there was a game on and they showed it the next afternoon.
     
  3. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Getting back to this oral history - that was a fantastic read. Really good.

    To show you just how delusional some pros are, I was listening to a poker podcast a few months ago, and Mike Matasow was on. He had just beaten Phil Hellmuth in the NBC Heads Up challenge. I guess he was pumped. In a few weeks, he said, they are going to show the heads up between him and Hellmuth, and it will be the biggest thing ever in poker. Bigger than Moneymaker in 2003....


    Uh, no.
     
  4. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Matasow is an idiot. Wasn't he the guy in the story who said the hole cam would ruin poker?
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Mike Matusow is severely mentally ill.

    That was a fantastic story. Moneymaker wouldn't even have entered the first satellite if he had read his screen right ... geez.
     
  6. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Not to get all meta-physical and everything, but I truly believe that life is made up of a series of random events. Not luck, not fate. So many things had to happen for Moneymaker to win.

    It did kind of bum me out that the win ruined his marriage. As Chris said, his wife didn't sign up for his life as a traveling poker rock star.
     
  7. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Don't remember that, but didn't he say Moneymaker winning would ruin poker?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  8. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Yeah. That was it. My bad.

    I knew it was something insanely stupid.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  9. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Yeah, it was sad that his marriage broke up. On the flip side, how many poker professionals have stable marriages? Even stable relationships? Other than poker pros married to poker pros.
     
  10. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Great read, brought back a lot of memories. I talked my paper into paying my expenses to go to one of the first big tourneys after that WSOP, in the South. I paid the entry fee (with help from friends), lasted long enough to not look completely ridiculous, then wrote a first-person story about it and the Poker Boom. Damn, I used to really be into it back then. Watched all the TV, owned a half-dozen books, played every chance I could (though never online, that didn't appeal to me at all). Then I had children and that was that for the poker life. I don't think I've even thought about poker in five years, but that oral history shook out some old cobwebs.
     
  11. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    I did a story once on a semi-local guy who played in the WSOP. I was all kinds of pumped up to hear his story. So I dig up his number, call him up and set up an in-person interview.

    Me: Where would you like to meet and discuss this?
    Him: How bout you just stop by while I'm at work?
    Me: That's fine. Where's that?
    Him: The concession stand at the town pool.
    Me: .................

    Pretty interesting afternoon.
     
  12. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    This week on NPR's The Moth, Annie Duke tells the story of 2004's Tournament of Champions.

    Full audio will be posted on Tuesday, but if you're a an of poker -- especially from that era -- I think you'll enjoy it:

    http://themoth.org/posts/radio-extras

    Edit: actually, it's up now: http://www.prx.org/pieces/91597-1313-texas-hold-em-kin-and-cloistered-nuns-5
     
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