Had a fun weekend with Vera Valmore at a horse show. It was a lot of fun to get away and be off the “grid” for a couple of days.

I’ve written before about how Vera competes in dressage, that equestrian sport that involves training a horse to perform various gaits and movements — e.g., walk, trot, canter, passage, piaffe, pirouette, etc. Sometimes dressage gets referred to as “horse ballet” or compared to gymnastics, although the judging (in my opinion), while necessarily subjective, is much more heavily technique-based. (That’s a diagram of a dressage ring, by the way.)

Vera had a couple of nice rides this weekend, although her competitiveness and drive necessarily caused her to think she could have done better. We were at the show with some other riders, one of whom did particularly well in her two rides, netting a couple of high scores and first-place finishes in her classes. After her first ride, our friend came away expressing surprise that she had scored so well.

“It’s such a crapshoot,” she said, although I think she was being mostly humble.

Like I say, the scoring is somewhat subjective — it has to be, to some extent. But I do think that since the scoring is so carefully managed by a detailed score sheet on which judges mark the quality of every prescribed movement in a given ride, it really isn’t as much of a “crapshoot” as is the case in other kinds of competition.

That said, like in poker, there is definitely a “chance” element that can have something to do with how riders end up doing. At this particular event, one of the rings in which riders rode was unfortunately close to a nearby highway. Thus would the passing of a loud truck or some other traffic noise potentially startle the horses, and thus perhaps negatively affect a ride. Even just a stray rock stepped on by the horse during a ride can upset things in a significant way.

We were all talking at the show at one point when someone mentioned poker. I had brought some cards and a chip set, and eventually had fun teaching one of the other husbands there how to play no-limit hold’em. Without knowing what I’ve been up to this summer or over the last few years, the woman who had had the good rides then mentioned how her employer had gone to Las Vegas recently.

“Yeah, he played in this… what was it? World Series or something? World Series of Poker?”

I laughed and nodded. Did he play in the Main Event, I asked? She wasn’t sure. Was it a $10,000 buy-in event? Yes, it was. Indeed, he’d played in the ME, busting on one of the Day Ones.

I told her how I’d been there reporting on the Series, and while I didn’t recognize her employer’s name from the thousands who’d played the ME, I told her how he and I may very well have crossed paths at some point when he was there.

She went on to say how her understanding was that he is a very good player, although his credentials primarily consisted of his being a card counter. “He was even banned from one of the casinos because he was so good,” she said. I didn’t explain how card counting wasn’t so relevant in poker, but assumed that indeed the fellow probably had at least some acumen when it came to poker.

“Small world,” I thought, additionally considering how people from all sorts of backgrounds and locations go to Las Vegas each summer expressly to compete in the WSOP Main Event.

On the way home, I chatted some with the fellow to whom I had taught hold’em this weekend about how the ME worked. He was surprised to learn that only the top 10% of finishers got paid.

“Kind of like buying a lottery ticket, huh?” he asked, and I had to agree that in some respects it was. Though I did go on to explain that while one did probably have to get lucky to get all of the way to the final table and the millions of dollars waiting there, like with dressage, it wasn’t quite right to call it a complete “crapshoot.”

Then again, I guess just about anything — especially any competitive endeavor — could be regarded as a “crapshoot,” depending on one’s perspective.

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photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Be there for Annie Duke’s charity poker tournament to benefit After-School All-Stars at the Commerce Casino on Thursday, May 20th starting at 6:30PM. California Governor Schwarzenegger’s After-School All-Stars is a nonprofit organization for at-risk youth.

Take the time to help out this cause for some kids that deserve all the help they get. Make a difference in the future of these young lives with participation in this event. Entries are $250 per player with $100 re-buys and $75 for non-players. All proceeds go to After-School All-Stars.

While you’re feeling good about yourself you will be rubbing shoulders with some of poker’s royalty mixed up with a generous slate of Hollywood stars. Maybe you’ll get lucky and walk away with a $10K WSOP Main Event seat. You could ride away on you very own Segway personal transporter or play away on a Scott Ian (Anthrax) signed Jackson guitar. Registration begins at 6:30 pm at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, CA.

Don’t miss this opportunity to mingle with the beautiful people. Where else can you be a part of the fast lane crowd for a low, low $250?

Hope to see you there.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Be there for Annie Duke’s charity poker tournament to benefit After-School All-Stars at the Commerce Casino on Thursday, May 20th starting at 6:30PM. California Governor Schwarzenegger’s After-School All-Stars is a nonprofit organization for at-risk youth.

Take the time to help out this cause for some kids that deserve all the help they get. Make a difference in the future of these young lives with participation in this event. Entries are $250 per player with $100 re-buys and $75 for non-players. All proceeds go to After-School All-Stars.

While you’re feeling good about yourself you will be rubbing shoulders with some of poker’s royalty mixed up with a generous slate of Hollywood stars. Maybe you’ll get lucky and walk away with a $10K WSOP Main Event seat. You could ride away on you very own Segway personal transporter or play away on a Scott Ian (Anthrax) signed Jackson guitar. Registration begins at 6:30 pm at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, CA.

Don’t miss this opportunity to mingle with the beautiful people. Where else can you be a part of the fast lane crowd for a low, low $250?

Hope to see you there.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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Chau Giang outlasted the field of poker pros and celebrities to claim the 2010 WSOP $10,000 Main Event seat and the Curtis & Co. custom watch. Included in the mix was well known Full Tilters Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman and Eric Seidel joined WSOP champions Doyle Brunson and Tom McElvoy in support of this annual SPCA charity poker tournament.

Flipchip sent some of his favorite photos from the event at The Venetian poker room.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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I think I might have mentioned something last week about having had plans to interview Kara Scott, the poker player who has appeared as a host or presenter on numerous poker shows, including currently on “High Stakes Poker.” We did get a chance to talk this week, and the interview can now be read over on Betfair.

I asked her about various topics, including how she got into poker and poker TV, “High Stakes Poker,” the recent PartyPoker Big Game IV in London, her joining up with team PartyPoker, and her own play, in particular those two deep runs in the WSOP Main Event she has had over the last couple of years (finishing 104th and 238th).

As was the case last week with Matthew Hilger, I had a lot of fun talking with Kara, especially regarding her experience at the 2008 WSOP. I was also surprised a little about the story of her having trained as a Thai boxer (and that being an avenue to television for her). I guess I had heard that about her at some point along the way, but had forgotten.

There was one question I didn’t ask her which didn’t occur to me until later on, a question having to do with her new affiliation with PartyPoker. She mentioned how there would be some television work there for her with Party — the Big Game IV was an example. I remembered afterwards that PartyGaming had purchased the World Poker Tour last year, so I might’ve asked if she knew anything about the future of that relationship (including the TV side of things).

We also talked a bit about interviewing players, generally speaking — something with which Kara has a lot of experience. Speaking of, I mentioned last week I was thinking of compiling a list of poker-related interviews I’ve done, so here that is:

Dennis Phillips (October 2008)
Barry Greenstein (April 2009) — Part 1 & Part 2
Andy Bloch (May 2009)
James McManus (November 2009)
Victoria Coren (January 2010)
Kevin Mathers (February 2010)
Lou Krieger (February 2010)
Ilya Gorodetsky (March 2010)
Matthew Hilger (April 2010)
Kara Scott (April 2010)

Have other fun stuff coming up over on Betfair Poker in the near future, including involving contributions from some of your favorite poker bloggers regarding the good-gawd-is-it-less-than-five-weeks-away-that-can’t-be-right-I-guess-it-is 2010 WSOP. (Stay tuned!)

Meanwhile, enjoy the weekend, all! Don’t forget the BBT5 continues over on Full Tilt Poker (details here).

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