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Are we not bigger than that?
Is the poker world so small that we have to read about how Phil Hellmuth got tickets to a basketball game?
Didn't it used to be the other way around? Wasn't it the athletes and movie stars that thought poker and the players were cool?
The Swedish Prince Got Married Last Friday
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NBA players are some of the finest athletes on the planet.
I would really like to go to an NBA Final. I would love to have front row tickets.
Surely I would tweet about it if I had a Twitter account. Surely I would write about it on Facebook if I had that.
But it's not exactly news. Not even if I got the tickets from the owner as a gift, like Hellmuth did. A fact we were all informed of by reporting poker journalists.
The Swedish Prince got married last Friday in Stockholm. I happened to walk by when he boarded a boat to take him and his fiancé to the wedding ceremony.
But I would never write anything about that. Not even though his wife used to work in the café where I used to have my coffee.
Because it has noting to do with poker, and nothing to do with me.
Just Like Hell's Angels
We should all be grateful to the big crybaby who, by being a character, is bringing flair and interest to the game.
I'm fascinated by his ego but not interested in what he does in his spare time. Others are, and that is one definition of a star.
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But I can't believe that poker players are interested in reading that he went to a basketball game.
And I do think it's downgrading to the industry and to the game by reporting such things.
Do you remember when the Full Tilt pros were the royalty of poker?
The other pros from the other big poker rooms thought they were good but everybody knew that Full Tilt players were the stars.
They were the best and everybody wanted to come and play with the pros. The brand was so strong that they had endless hangers-on.
They even had prospects - Red Pros, just like Hells Angels. They only got rakeback but wore their colors with pride.
Wise Words from a Wise Man
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Every time we talked about Full Tilt, Chris Björin told me how great it was that the money went to players and that the money didn't leave the poker world.
Those were wise words from a wise man. Especially considering he declined an offer from the start to be the Full Tilt representative in Europe for a percentage of the company.
He was absolutely right, as always. The poker players who owned a piece of the pie sprayed it back into the community with high-stakes cash games, flair and excitement.
They had such cash flow that they really were the A-team in poker. Nobody could compete and they were treated like royalty on and off the tables.
In the 2008 World Series I had Howard Lederer to my left. He delivered wisdom to us all and it seemed that the whole table worshiped every word.
Phil Ivey was sitting at the next table just behind me. He and Howard had a friendly conversation amongst owners and poker kings alike.
Nobody else talked, just quietly and happily listened.
Those Tears Dried a Long Time Ago
The poker kings were talking about the NBA Finals. It was Lederer's team, the Celtics, against the Lakers.
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He was contemplating if he should get front-row seats for $20,000 or a second-row seat for $10,000.
Apparently it was a tough decision. It was his team, but you really don't see the game any worse a chair back. And $10K is a lot of money.
Ivey tried to help Lederer with the pros and cons of the decision.
Money comes and goes, but memories last. That's my philosophy and I told him so.
I added “... since it isn't a monetary decision.” Lederer is tall and sat straight so he looked down on me like a god on one of his disciples.
“There are other values than money.”
It has a different ring today, but back in 2008 several of the other players got tears of joy in their eyes for the experience of such a word of wisdom from poker royalty.
Those tears dried a long time ago. I believe that the same people today would go directly to the execution, without a trial or any words of wisdom.
Or even a last word.
About Ken Lennaárd:
Sweden's most controversial poker blogger Ken Lennaárd has been around the professional poker circuit for almost 20 years. Among his numerous accomplishments are Swedish Championships both live and online, three WSOP final tables and over $1.5m in live earnings. He's now bringing his singular poker voice to the English world via PokerListings.com. Look for new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Note: Opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the views of PokerListings.com.
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