Coming Attractions

Have a number of posts on a variety of topics simmering here at Hard-Boiled Poker -- none quite at boiling temperature yet, but all close. Here’s a quick preview of five different topics I plan to be writing about over the next couple of weeks (and beyond):

A couple of weeks back I mentioned plans for a post about Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, one of my summer reads. Nothing too terribly esoteric, mind you, but I did want to make a brief observation about how the main character, Raskolnikov, has something in common with poker players. Or so I am claiming, anyway. That post is coming sooner than later, I promise. So all you Dostoevsky fans out there, hang on!

Was in Borders last night where I picked up a copy of Women’s Poker Night. I’d been keeping my eyes open for this one for a couple of months, but never seemed to see it around. For those who don’t know, the book collects 17 essays written by various female poker players/writers, all of which touch in some way on issues concerning women and poker. I’ve already read the first two entries by Barbara Enright and Maryann Morrison. Morrison, who edits the collection, in her essay makes a couple of good points about ladies only events that I now see anticipate some of what I wrote about recently in a couple of posts about the subject. Plan to post thoughts about this here collection sometime in the near future.

I’ve also finally picked up a copy of Anthony Holden’s Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom and have started it as well. Might put it on hold for a week or two for these other concerns, but I am looking forward to making my way through this one. As most of you know, Holden wrote one of the more influential poker memoirs -- Big Deal: Confessions of a Poker Player -- published back in 1990. He also co-authors a terrific blog called Bigger Deal that features a number of different, talented poker writers. Will be posting a review of this one soon as well.

I read the news today that PokerWire was calling it quits -- apparently both the site (as it currently exists) and the podcast. Both the WPT and the WSOP have signed exclusive deals with competing sites, thus prompting PokerWire to pull out of the game. Am sorry to hear this, as I’m a big fan of the podcast and also enjoyed reading their assorted coverage of this year’s WSOP. Might sit on this one for a week or so before attempting to opine on the subject.

Finally, through super-secret, cannot-be-disclosed means, I’ve obtained a copy of the ESPN pay-per-view broadcast of the 2007 WSOP Main Event final table. I’ll probably be sharing some thoughts on this once I’ve watched it through. Last year I ended up writing a number of posts about specific hands from the broadcast. Might do something similar this time around. (Those posts begin here.)

I did get to watch the first eight hours or so of this year’s final table live, so it won’t be entirely new to me. The first 60 hands were fairly mesmerizing, I have to say, with Jerry Yang’s ultra-aggression bamboozling everyone (yr humble servant included). In Women’s Poker Night, Barbara Enright shares a few humorous anecdotes from her career, including a couple concerning long time tourney director Jack McClelland. Enright tells how when a tourney would near the bubble, McCelland would jokingly announce that it was time to “Shuffle up and steal.” Thinking back to how that final table began, that must’ve been precisely what Yang heard the announcer say when they started play on July 17th.

That’s the plan. We’ll get Dostoevsky out of the way here soon enough, then move on to these other topics PDQ. Or at least ASAP.