The 3DC Vegas Invasion of 2012….  February 18th & 19th to be more precise.

The 3DC had arranged two events coincided with an SCA event happening in Boulder City, NV just 30 or so miles from the strip. The first of these was a 6 dram paired tasting at the Ri’Ra’ (Mandalay Hotel/Casino), and the second night was to be a visit to the Freakin’ Frog’s Whisky Attic to take advantage of the 850+ drams Adam Carmer has sitting on the shelves just waiting for folks like us.

To that end, and having had a grand time swishing and a poking all day at the Practicum of the Sword event. It really has no comparission, we both have a good amount of experience on sites like online-casino-sverige.se but playing live is such a thrill! Jeff and I (Raz) trundled back to the Hotel in Henderson to get cleaned up and grab a light snack to prep our tummies for the drams that were to follow. After doing so, and courtesy of Melissa’s kind offer of transport and Stephen’s equally generous offer to be the designated driver for the weekend, we set off from Henderson. With Saul at the wheel we charged down the 215 to the Ri’Ra’ and valeted our golden chariot, then strode into the hotel lobby and, via a misstep past one of the worst bar bands in living memory, we made it to the bar about 45 minutes early. Scott (Ri’Ra’s manager) met us at the front door and showed us right back into our own private side room. It was kind of like a toss back to the 1970s stylistically but had it’s own wee bar staffed by our own wee Irish bartender. A round of cider was ordered to whet the palate and we had great conversations with folks as they trickled in. In the end we numbered a scant 8 actually participating, but Scott was OK with it since they haven’t done more that a couple tastings before and were looking at our event as a way to gain more experience. 3DC luck plays out in out favor again it seems. But we could as well hone our skills many online casinos that offer free games. Online casino are best these to playing casino games.

To the meat of the matter then, the pairings:

1. Dalwinnie 15 and the Irish Salmon. The dram was better than I’d remembered it. Personally I didn’t like the salmon at all, which is no surprise to me at least, but those who actually like salmon said it paired well and was quite tasty.
2. Macallan 12 and the (lamb) Sheppard’s pie. A wonderful smelling dram (ended up dabbing a bit on as a cologne) and paired quite well with the pie. The pie itself was spectacular. There was some extensive conversation around whether the dram helped the pie or if it was the other way around. The consensus around the table came out in favor of the influence of the dram this time.
3. Talisker Distiller’s Edition and the Irish Cheddar. The dram hit the table ahead of the cheese so we sipped on it. This was powerful and full of brine like an angry sea. The table seemed to agree that we wouldn’t likely be getting all the way through this one. It really was grabbing us by the balls after the Speyside in the last pairing. The cheese showed up and was very salty and very tasty too. That’s when the magic happened. This was the paring that most surprised everyone. The greatest impact one to the other of any of them on this evening. The conversation about which was the greater influence reared it’s ugly head again, this time falling in favor of the cheese. Far from not finishing the dram as it turned out, we ran dry before we’d finished the cheese. I’d give this one the award for most astonishing pairing of the evening.
4. Jameson’s Gold and Pork Belly / spinach. The fist pairing of the evening to fall a bit short. Partially, at least, in the execution. The dram itself was quite good, full of spice and vanilla as would be expected. The pig however was a bit cold and underdone. The fat did not pair well with the dram; contrarily the few burnt end pieces actually did pair quite well with it adding complexity not originally in the dram. The spinach was actually more complex than the dram so that kind of took away from it. All in all, it was kind of nice to have this pairing not work as it showed us both possibilities. A huge improvement in #3 to a degrading of the dram here. I think if the belly was end pieces or even proper Irish bacon it would have worked much better.
5. Tullamore Dew 12 and a creamy tomato soup. This also did not pair well though not because of the execution. The tomato soup may possibly have been the best I’ve ever had. A truly wonderful concoction. Paired with the dram though all kinds of acid and sharpness was present. An utter failure of a pairing. That being said the soup was far too good not to eat, so I shot the dram, had a sip of water and enjoyed the rest of the soup at my leisure.
6. Compass Box Hedonism and dark chocolate cake with a dollop of fresh cream and a thin shaving of strawberry. This was likely the best pairing of the night and I was so very glad to end the pairing menu on this instead of #5. This was a wonderful cake and a wonderful dram that when paired together was ecstasy. I can’t recommend this pairing highly enough, but it was a pretty safe bet.

We ended the event with more great conversations and another cider. Not sure how, but no one really was all that tipsy. This was a grand evening and we learned so much.

Special thanks to Melissa for taking notes as we went along so that I could reference back to them here. A huge thanks to Stephen for getting us home safe. Another huge thank you to Robin Robinson and Compass Box for the bottle hookup. It really saved our tasting.

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Sunday, after another fun day of swinging swords about, we met the gang back out in front of our hotel and opted for dinner at Freakin’ Frog’s ahead of meeting up with Adam in the Whisky Attic. A moment to further endorse this little off strip dive bar, the food was really good. I would warn you against to the nuclear hot chilli fries unless you are looking for that kind of experience. The Dogfish Head Sah’tea beer I had with my dinner was amazing. Ask Saul if you don’t believe me. I’d ordered it blind from seeing just the top of the bottle not realizing it was a 750ml bottle so I needed the help. My new favorite beer EVAR!

Sometime just after 8PM we told Adam we were ready and we scaled the stairs passed the velvet rope up into the wonderland that is the Whisky Attic. By the time the evening was done we numbered a pleasant 13 or so in our group. Adam was a wonderful and quite funny host. Normally he runs structured seated tastings but given our reputation, he opened up the bar and let us wander around the shelves each picking drams willy-nilly. Jeff stumbled onto what was probably the best way to do a freestyling trip to the Attic. He picked a dram and then asked Adam where he should go next. Adam put together a 4 dram journey of flavors building in intensity and ending in an unexpected far off land. I however, arrogant as I am, knew what I wanted: drams to which I don’t normally have access.

1. I started with the best whisky in the world (to my palate) the Bunahabhain 25. It’s like the 18 but +100 points for, oh I don’t know, everything. An expensive dram to be sure but as someone who generally doesn’t necessarily appreciate the more pricey drams over munitions grade fare, I was blown away.
2. I chose as my second dram I picked the Sheep Dip 1990. A hefty dram to be sure. Not subtle at all but not harsh either.
3. For my last dram of the night I let Adam pick for me and he gave me Heart Brothers bottling of a Glen Turret Cask Strength 10 year. A surprisingly soft and smooth dram for a cask strength dram. Down the Speyside road for complexity.

A very nice way to end my visit with Adam and all in attendance seemed to have had a great time and we all learned a lot and had things we didn’t know existed.

Adam wrote me a note thanking us for the visit and saying how much he enjoyed our group and that he’d love to see us anytime. I’m thinking next year we let Adam set up a tasting for us and I’ll coordinate it with the SCA event. I’d be interested to see how Adam runs a structured tasting. I’m sure I could learn a lot.

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Live Poker Sees Uptick

Online poker made great strides in 2017, but the brick-and-mortar version also had a solid year. Nevada, home to about 600 of the roughly 6,100 poker tables nationwide, experienced a poker revenue uptick that it hadn’t seen in a decade. Despite losing three poker rooms on the Strip (Luxor, Monte Carlo and Hard Rock), live poker in the Silver State was back on a winning streak, albeit a modest one. Other positive signs for live poker included the Pkv Games online World Series of Poker setting a participation record at the annual summer festival and Maryland’s poker market, the hottest in the country throughout 2017, growing by about 30 percent thanks to an MGM poker room outside Washington, D.C. that opened in late 2016. 

Clickable Poker Personalities Of The Year

Win a big tournament and you’ll almost certainly find your name in headlines, but there are plenty of poker players who manage to find the spotlight just as often for their shenanigans off the felt. Here’s a look at those who got more than their fair share of attention in 2017.

Celebrity Sightings

Kevin Hart, one of the biggest comedy starts on the planet, opened the year strong for poker by making an appearance at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas. The avid poker fan even dropped more than $300,000 in buy-ins, firing multiple bullets in the $100,000 and $50,000 high roller events. Hart then later played in the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €100,000 high roller in April, as well as the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl in May.

During the summer, PokerStars announced another big signing with Olympic legend Usain Bolt. The eight-time gold medalist joined other athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Rafael Nadal to endorse the site.

In August, Anton Zaslavski, better known to his fans as EDM superstars Zedd, finished third in a €2,150 buy-in PokerStars Championship Barcelona event. The 27-year-old earned €44,000 for his finish, which came after performing a 90-minute set at the tournament’s welcome party.

Trouble With The Law

In April, David Dao was attacked by authorities while aboard a United Airlines flight, knocked unconscious, and dragged off the plane for refusing to give up his seat. The poker world was surprised to find out that Dao is a part-time poker pro with nearly $250,000 in career live tournament earnings. Wild rumors of a settlement as high as nine figures were even reported by the Washington Post.

Jason Funke made the money in the WSOP main event, taking 490th place overall for $24,867. Then a month later, he was shot by Las Vegas police after a bizarre standoff in front of a church. Funke was completely nude and holding a handgun during the August incident.

Paul Senat finished 70th in the WSOP main event, banking $101,000 for his deep run. But it might be a long time before the 37-year-old will get to play in Las Vegas again, after it was revealed that he was out on bond for a manslaughter charge in April. Senat is accused of accidentally killing New York Giants player Travis Rudolph’s father in a West Palm Beach strip club.

In December, an armed robber quietly held up the Bellagio Casino’s poker cage while the Five Diamond World Poker Classic played on just a few feet away. The bandit, who wore a wig and sunglasses, is still at large. This incident occurred just one month after naked man (a completely different naked man, believe it or not) was detained by security after trying to get back into a poker game.

They Did What?

Although 2017 was a quiet year for outlandish prop bets, one hilarious wager did catch our eye. In May, poker pro Mike Noori was given 5:1 odds on eating $1,000 worth of McDonald’s food in a 36-hour time frame. Noori didn’t even come close, tapping out after about $100 worth of fast food. There was apparently more than $200,000 worth of action booked for the bet.

The always-vocal Tony G, whose legal name is Antanas Guoga, has been absent from the poker scene for the last few years while working as a member of the European Parliament for his home country of Lithuania. In March, however, Guoga was back in the news after he became one of 12 politicians banned from Russia by Vladimir Putin.

Phil Ivey continued to be largely absent from the poker world while he continued to appeal rulings in his edge-sorting case with two major casinos. The man who was once widely regarded as the best poker player in the world suffered a big blow when the U.K. Supreme Court ultimately decided that he wasn’t entitled to recover the $10.1 million he won at Crockfords Casino in London back in 2012.

Although Fedor Holz’s retirement announcement turned out to be a lot of hot air, a couple more prominent players followed suit in 2017, stepping down in the prime of their careers. Dani Stern, who was known online as Ansky451, said he was quitting in October. Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst, did the same in December.

Good For You

Poker pro Kyle Cartwright had a solid year at the tables, winning a WSOP Circuit title in September, but during the summer, he had quite the run playing video poker. The Memphis-native hit two $100,000 royal flush jackpots in Las Vegas and then followed that up with another while in Tunica. The odds of hitting just one are about 40,000:1!

It wasn’t all bad news for Ivey, who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in July, along with the departed David “Devilfish” Ulliott. Ivey, who just turned 40, got in during his first year of eligibility. Mike Sexton, who was inducted back in 2010, announced back in May that he was moving on from the WPT commentating booth to take a position as Chairman of PartyPoker.

Australian pro David Eldar proved that he could do more than just poker when he was crowned the World Scrabble Champion in London this August. Eldar’s $11,000 first-place prize was small potatoes compared to the amount he has won playing poker, however.

In December, the poker world was finally treated to a good poker movie. Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game opened on Christmas day, and received mostly-positive reviews. Meanwhile, Rounders writer Brian Koppelman appeared to be fed up with questions about a possible sequel, explaining to fans that he doesn’t control the rights to the film.

The Poker World Says Goodbye

Manuel “Noli” Francisco, one of the earliest champions on the World Poker Tour, passed away in February due to kidney failure at the age of 75. Francisco had three runner-up finishes at the WSOP, and won the WPT Borgata Poker Open, which was televised back in 2003.

Tournament poker has long been the most exciting and approachable form of the game, capturing the imaginations of both the top players and brand new fans around the globe. 2017 was an incredible year for poker tournaments, with prestigious established events showing staying power while new and exciting tournaments helped spread the love of poker to new corners of the world. This article will take a look at the key events of 2017 that helped define the year on the international poker tournament circuit.

Winter

This year kicked off at a familiar locale: the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. The PokerStars Championship Bahamas played host to a number of massive events, starting with the $100,000 buy-in super high roller. In the end, Jason Koon emerged victorious, earning $1,650,300 for the win. 2016 champion Bryn Kenney came close to defending his title, but ultimately finished in seventh place.

Just a day later Kenney won the $50,000 buy-in single day high roller at the same festival, defeating a field of 69 entries to win $969,075. Two days after that he outlasted a field of 59 entries in a $25,000 single-day high roller, securing his second title of the year and the top prize of $392,876.

The $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at the PSC Bahamas drew 738 total entries. Christian Harder emerged victorious with the title and $429,664.

While the events in the Bahamas exemplified the high rolling side of tournament poker, the WSOP Circuit Choctaw was evidence of the healthy state of lower buy-in events. A $365 buy-in preliminary event there drew 5,280 entries to create a $1,584,000 total prize pool, while the $1,675 buy-in main event attracted 1,451 entries. Grant Hinkle came away with the gold ring and the $375,427 first-place prize.

Across the globe, the high roller scene made its way to Australia for the 2017 Aussie Millions. Nick Petrangelo won the $100,000 AUD super high roller for $665,734. The main event drew 725 entries, with local Shurane Vijayaram taking home $1.6 million AUD as the champion.

The World Poker Tour held a number of exciting events in the early months of 2017. Daniel Weinman defeated a field of 1,312 entries to win the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event for $892,433. A few weeks later, Ema Zajmovic took down the WPT Playground $3,500 CAD no-limit hold’em main event title, becoming the first female player in WPT history to win an open main event on the tour.

Darren Elias kept the history-making streak alive in the next WPT event. He won the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic $5,000 CAD main event for his third WPT title, which saw him enter a five-way tie for the record of most wins on the tour. The WPT closed out the winter months with the L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 main event. Daniel Strelitz outlasted a field of 521 players to win his first WPT title and the top prize of $1,001,110.

Spring

The 2017 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star main event drew 806 entries, the largest turnout ever for the event. Sam Panzica came out on top with the $1,373,000 top prize. The three-stop “California Swing” of the WPT that began with the LAPC came to a close with Michael Del Vecchio winning the WPT Rolling Thunder, defeating Sorel Mizzi heads-up to win $284,638.

For the second year in a row, the WPT’s season came to a conclusion with a trifecta of events held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. Tony Sinishtaj was the last player standing from a field of 1,207 entries in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in. He took home $661,283 for the win. A few days later 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess emerged victorious in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale $10,000 buy-in event for $716,088. Riess overcame a 349-entry field to win his first title on the World Poker Tour.

Daniel Weinman took down the second annual WPT Tournament of Champions for a $381,500 payday, putting an end to the tour’s 15th season. Weinman won his way into the event by taking down a WPT title earlier in the season and was part of a 66-player field that included his fellow season 15 winners and the champions from previous season who were able to buy-in, rake-free, for $15,000. The event also had $100,000 added to the prize pool and plenty of added bonuses, like the 2018 Audi S5 coupe Weinman was awarded as the champion.

Thanks to all the 3DC and friends there of who came out and played with us. The great conversations I had each night were what makes all this worthwhile for me.

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