Afternoon Updates:

• Chatting with one of the hotel poker bosses that was monitoring the tournament brought about this comment, “… these guys are really serious. On a typical Wednesday night we may have four tables going in the poker room. Last night there was a line to get in. That’s always great to see both for the hotel and the players, in this case these Continental players.”
• Now that we’re in the afternoon session, Miller Lite is starting to overtake Starbucks as beverage of choice.
• Of the 29 players starting the tournament who were wearing sunglasses, 8 of them have been knocked out so far. Not sure what that means other than 21 of them are still wearing their sunglasses.
• Four hours into the tournament, a player just arrived from Hawaii. As with all other late-arriving players, their original chips are there for them minus any of the blinds (bets) that would have been put up for ante. One of the more experienced players commented that in theory, a person might win a tournament without ever playing. Now that is something i should have tried rather than watching the money, er …. miles flow by.
• According to the pit boss (a term I saw in a Vegas movie one time), there is a wide variety of players in this tournament, from those who have never touched cards before to some very experienced players. This makes for a very difficult play since the more experienced players never know what the “rookies” are going to do. They are referred to as “the great unknown.”
• Interesting, the chip stacking habits of some of the players. For some, it’s the organized method by chip type and by stack height. Others, chips are simply scattered all over in front of them with no apparent measure of value. Some even use the chip trays from the dealers to keep themselves organized.
• Also noticeable are the table dynamics. Some tables appear more like Friday night poker at a friends house with everyone talking and joking. Others are far more reserve and serious with almost no words exchanged.
• Some poker players appear to be quite the multi-taskers, juggling all-in bets and card counting with reading and replying to email and text messages on their Blackberries and iPhone. No one really even seems to notice.
• And finally, I love watching “the stare.” This is when someone plays to the limit on a hand and out of nowhere one of the players slips in that winning card. That winning player gets “the stare” from which you can only guess what they must be thinking to match that look. While this game may be fun, there is little doubt it is also serious.

47:54 into hour six we have the winner of the largest single frequent flyer mile prize in the 27 year history of frequent flyer programs.

$11,200,000 in chips and the winning cards.

With about 10 days to go until the start of the OnePass Poker tourney, it’s time I begin to think about just how big this event is. Imagine … 21 million OnePass miles. In future blogs, I’ll break down the miles into an understandable grid of possible redemptions. But for now, I’m getting my game face on. On a recent international business trip, I did stumble onto the movie 21 playing so it got me into the gambling attitude and for those who have seen that movie, you’ll notice my tribute to the “winner, winner, chicken dinner” mantra from the film included in the heading for this blog. But one movie is not enough, so with my good friend Google I found a listing of The Game’s the Thing - 10 of the best card playing and poker movies. The author notes: “Hollywood often uses gambling, and less often card playing, to add a flavor to a movie. Unfortunately most of these movies have silly scenes (House of Games) or stink (Honeymoon in Vegas) or both (Maverick).”

Netflix proved to be invaluable for me collecting these 10 movies to watch and here’s the link to the best card playing scenes in the movies.

The Game’s the Thing

Here’s the guide to the official rules to the OnePass tourney - along with my observations.

Q: How much do I have to bet?

You must bet a minimum equal to the Big Blind.

(if you have to ask these questions, then you better be prepared to come with a “Dummies Guide to Texas Hold’em“)

Q: How much can I bet?

This is a No-Limit Hold ‘em, so you can bet as many chips as you have at any time you desire.

(he-he-he! This I got to see when the chips - or the miles - are really on the table.

Q: How much can I raise?

You must raise at least the equivalent to the most recent bet made; and you can raise as high as you desire.

Q: Can I pick my seat?

Seats are drawn randomly at the time of registration.

(Heck, there goes the fun of sitting across from the guy wearing the sunglasses…)

Q: If I am not sure how to bet or if it is my turn, what can I do?

The dealers are neutral and you may ask them any procedural questions you like; however they cannot provide advice on any playing decisions.

(Might be a little late to be asking for advice like that, but then again, I’ll be available to tell you how much you could possibly lose on the hand…)

Q: Will we have break times?

Yes, there will be scheduled breaks in the tournament.

Q: If I need to leave the table will I be penalized?

No, you may miss as many hands as you like with no penalty; if it comes to be your turn in the small or big blind, then the dealer will take the appropriate number of chips from your stack to pay those blinds.

(I don’t know about you but I hate it when others touch my chips. I really, really hate it.)

Like every good game, you’ve got to have some rules. Here’s the ones that are in effect for the OnePass Texas Hold ‘em Tourney.

1. Tournament director is to consider the best interest and fairness of the game when making all decisions.
2. Players must be at the table when it is their turn to act or their hand will be considered dead and folded by the dealer.
3. All cards will be turned face up once one or more players is all-in and all other action is complete.
4. There is only one player per hand; solicitation of help is not permitted.
5. There will be an English language only rule at the tables during the course of play.
6. Players must keep their highest denomination of chips in plain view at all times.
7. Players that expose their card(s) during the course of play may incur a penalty but will not have their HAND declared dead.
8. If two or more players go broke during the same hand, the player who started the hand with the most chips will finish higher in the tournament than the other player(s) who also went broke during the hand.
9. Golden Nugget casino management reserves the right to disqualify any tournament participant whose behavior is considered detrimental to the game. Foul and abusive language and other misconduct will not be tolerated.
10. Tournament Directors decisions are final.
11. Enjoy the tournament and have fun.

When the tourney was originally announced, Continental said that they would pay a U.S. withholding tax for the top “8” winners. They have recently amended that to announce that they will now pay a U.S. withholding tax for the top “9” winners.

So if the fear of taxes has been holding you back, worry no longer and get in there to go “all in.”

(Latest update on withholding tax question)

Watch this little clip courtesy of the folks at fulltiltpoker.net and it pretty much explains what is in the chips for the OnePass Poker tourney:

OK, the attention has been on the actual Texas Hold ‘em Tournament itself and the grand prize of 21 million miles. However, if you’re anywhere close to Las Vegas on Sat. Aug. 9th, there will be a slot tournament for any OnePass member, not just those playing poker.

The good, well, actually great news is that this tournament will be free and there will be prizes up to 70,000 OnePass miles.

The details: Held at the Golden Nugget, registration will be from 11a.m. to 12 noon by the Golden Nugget staff in the Slot Tournament area on the casino floor. The actual tournament will begin at 12 noon.

Hot tip: The entry for this event will be free to all OnePass members … and their “guests.”

Travel lightly, but bring someone lucky with you.

Of those OnePass members who have entered the poker tournament, probably not one of them has given any thought to what 21 million frequent flyer miles would get them. I’m sure they are more focused on “pocket aces” than the miles at this point. So, I’ll do the math for them.

21 Million OnePass miles could be redeemed for:

• 35,000 years of a subscription to Conde Nast Traveler magazine (to the year 37008).
• 13,125 years of a subscription to Business Week magazine (to the year 15133).
• 6,363 years of a subscription to The Wall Street Journal (to the year 8371).
• 840 cross country train rides in business class on Amtrak.
• 518 Loge box seats (MVP section) to see the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox in August at Yankee Stadium (the last year for this renowned baseball park). P.S. there really aren’t that many of these loge box seats in the stadium .
• 840 domestic coach class tickets at the current 25,000-mile SaverPass level (that is 1,680 times you’ll have to take off your shoes by request of the TSA).
• 420 domestic first class tickets at the current 50,000-mile EasyPass level.
• 280 first class tickets to Hawaii.
• 95 Around-the-World tickets in first class.

As well, if the winner is thinking of his/her poker friends and family, they would be able to redeem miles (4,225,000 miles) to take everyone along for a trip domestically, that is, redeem a whole plane - 14 friends would be able to fly in first class while the other 141 friends or family, would be able to fly in coach. This would reserve Continental’s most popular aircraft (737-800) for a flight.

As well, if more exotic destinations are in mind to celebrate the poker win, using 11,825,000 miles (they could do this trip twice!) would get you an entire 777-200 Continental airplane to fly the friends and family to Hawaii and back, 48 of them in BusinessFirst (first class) and 235 more in coach.

So you see, winning the miles just might be the easy part. Picking which of their friends or famly members to go along on any of these trips is likely to be much more difficult.

Upgrades? Why upgrade when you can buy the whole plane with miles!!!

(caveat: it’s likely that not all the seats this winner will seek will be available at the SaverPass award level, but we can hope can’t we - straight flush comes to mind, which beats the all in and all gone scenario)

OK, one of the visitors to this blog wanted to know what this might be in their own programs’ measure of kilometers. So, with trusty iPhone calculator in hand, and if you are more familiar with the metric system: The winner earns 33,796,224 kilometers.