Jim Reid is a longtime lover of poker, a member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board, and host of the popular RecPoker podcast.
Hey, gang! I remember when Pokerstars first launched The Big Game in 2010: I was a strictly online player at the time, and most of my volume was on PokerStars. This was before Black Friday, you see, and the future of online poker was bright!
The show came at a critical time for me. I had recently injured my spine, and was laid up at home for much of the next year, unable to do much on my own other than lie down horizontally and let my body heal. Luckily for me, the week before my accident I had asked my girlfriend to marry me, and that sucker had said yes! Hahaha, joke’s on you, girl. Now you have to put my socks on every morning and take them off every night for the next six months while I recover! Literally: I spent over half a year without being able to reach my own toes, even lying down.
That was a rough time. I couldn’t work, and it was hard to socialize. I became depressed, but it was during this time that the first season of The Big Game was released, and it had a huge impact on me.
‘It was at that time that poker became truly important to me’
For a poker-loving invalid like myself, it was a magical tonic that really helped me get through that year. It was at that time that poker became truly important to me, not just a fun game that you could make money while playing, but a way to express something about myself that I had lost with my injury.
I had a newfound appreciation for my health and mobility, and I realized that – while I had always been very competitive in sports and games (maybe too competitive) – I would not be able to compete physically forever, and poker offered me an arena to go toe to toe with other players from all around the world. I‘m generally a nice guy (I really am!) but part of me truly enjoys beating people who are trying their best to beat me. Poker offered a way back to that, and the dream of playing against the best that the poker world had to offer was an intoxicating proposition.
I remember so clearly rooting for David and Nadya and Ernest in particular, and dreaming of a chance to take their place and put myself up against the star-studded cast of characters that graced that table. I spent a lot of time watching and rewatching every episode, analyzing the play from my eternally horizontal position on our couch.
After Black Friday, of course, everything changed. The show was canceled and online poker entered a dark age that we are still trying to claw our way out of. Mrs. BLUFFSTORINI and I were on our honeymoon that fateful Friday, and I still remember my phone blowing up with the news as it broke in real time. I was crushed.
Taking my shot
So when I heard that PokerStars was bringing the show back as The Big Game On Tour, I had a surprisingly emotional reaction. It brought back so many memories of that time: the bad and the good, the darkest nightmares as well as the dreams of greatness. Then when I learned there was a new season in the works, I knew what I had to do. (Check out last week’s column for those ridiculous details.)
James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton will be back behind the mics for the new season.
It all started out great. The day after my wife’s party, despite drinking most of the liquor available for purchase in the entire city of Toronto, I flew back down to Vegas with a well-worn copy of Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter’s book on satellite tournaments, reviewing my notes on the flight. The next day, I excitedly headed over to Resorts World and found dozens of similarly enthusiastic players all nervously waiting outside the tournament area, anxious to see if this would be their time to shine.
The game of a lifetime
I played well for the most part, I think, but as the milestone grew closer and blinds were going up, I played one hand aggressively that, while probably not technically a blunder, I wish I could take back. Tragically, victory was not in the cards for me this time. But as Mrs. BLUFFSTORINI often tells me, “Don’t worry, tomorrow is a whole new day with no mistakes in it yet,” and I have a whole year of tomorrows before the producers start preparing for next year’s season.
It was bittersweet seeing all the winners celebrate and plan for their auditions, but I recognized a lot of friendly faces making it through that would be awesome contestants, and I know I will be rooting for them and cheering them on. I’m excited to find out who the Loose Cannons will be for this year, and whoever they are I know they are in for the game of a lifetime.
As for me, cross your fingers for next year, gang. Heck, while you’re at it, cross your toes, too!
And please, while you’re crossing those toes, be grateful that you can reach ‘em.
Check back next week for more from the hardest working ‘Rec’ in poker, Jim Reid.
Images courtesy of Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.