MORE OF THE WPPA FIASCO & MEET FOILEDCOUP, OUR NEWEST STAFF WRITER

The results of the WPPA final table at the Orleans Hotel are now part of the public record so guess we are safe to report the finishers and their prize money. The Game Show Network people were yelling threats of high dollar lawsuits at everyone in sight if any leaks resulted or our readership learned how the players finished. I guess GSN will be especially incensed when they look for a non-disclosure agreement from LVV (there is none), they never bothered to followup. We would have been happy to comply to their wishes even though we just don’t understand the logic. They apparently don’t understand the tournament poker business. We were grandfathered into the final table area in the Arena at the Orleans for both days of play, probably as a result of the many hours we gave covering all the events of the first (and perhaps last) WPPA Tournament of Errors. Our photographer and on-site representative was there the first day after driving across Las Vegas and he would hang out for hours to get the photographs and write the coverage of the daily WPPA events. We provided the WPPA with considerable free, positive publicity, even for those events that didn’t attract enough players to fill two tables. Needless to say, we are true to the sport and loyal to our readers. Amazing that this is the first problem we have encountered as media at a poker tournament. We covered the WSOP start to finish (we published the first interview with Greg Raymer after he won the $5 million), the Pro Am Celebrity tournament at the Hard Rock (many movie/rock stars and well known pros), The Ultimate poker Challenge (thanks Matt Savage for making us feel wanted), Final Table Challenge (beautiful set, great film crew, very professional), Four Queens Poker Classic (thanks Debbie Burkhead for your daily reports) and we are currently photographing and reporting the Bellagio’s Fiesta al Lago WPT sanctioned tournament (quality big time poker here). Wouldn’t you know that trouble would come from a second rate event paying less to their main Event Winner than some satellites.

Most of the problems came from a twenty-something Spielberg wannabe late in the evening when they couldn’t convince the pro players to speed up the action. He needed someone to lash out at and our guy and Felicia Lee were handy. Apparently this TV game show genius suddenly realized they were going over budget, and with six stubborn players remaining, there appeared to be no end in sight (the tournament apparently ended at 7:30 in the morning). This cinematic Einstein suddenly decided to demand that our photographer, as well as Felicia Lee, “get the hell off HIS set.” Our photographer had no choice, other than to go, after WPPA Honcho pro tem, Louis Asmo, suddenly had an attack of temporary amnesia (maybe it was a premature senior moment) and assured the young GSN film maker (?) that he had never seen our camera guy, even though he had asked if he could have a copy of the pics and a link to our permanent gallery of the WPPA photos. Of course our photographer said yes we could provide them even though we were not receiving any compensation nor were we offered any. Unfortunately for the WPPA and the GSN their unacceptable, rude behavior forced our photographer to leave the premises with all three hundred of the nights images of the final table. They will now be available only on our website to our readers. We will publish our gallery of photos from this event in the near future after I get them sorted and processed for publication. I will even publish some of the young GSN film maker guy looking into the lens of our photographer’s camera.

I was somewhat upset at the shabby treatment we received after all our efforts to provide positive coverage of this WPPA event. I no longer am all that unhappy and I am thankful I didn’t write the deserved flame last night. Always better to take the lemons and make the lemonade. We will no longer have to work the WPPA events into our already busy schedule. We will better utilize our time covering legitimate major poker events. For a complete recounting of all the “less than sterling” details of the WPPA problems read Felicia Lee’s first installment of a ‘probable’ novel length WPPA report. She was there from start to finish volunteering her time and money trying to make the WPPA a success. Take the time to read her accurate, well written account. You will also find the complete order of finish and prize money for the WPPA final table.

I wish to take this opportunity to introduce our latest addition to the editorial staff, FailedCoup. Of course, that is his chosen pseudonym since he wishes to remain anonymous, even though he is well known and read in the European poker community. Expect a refreshingly different take on Vegas and the Vegas poker scene. Our new guy knows his way around the tournaments and poker rooms and he always has a small, sneaky camera handy so you will also get some of his views of the Vegas poker landscape. The timely piece below is his first for us.