As a big fan of soccer and rugby, I've long been accustomed to the prosaic style that is perculiar to that particular genre of sports writing. However, since me recent absorbtion into the world of Poker, I now find myself blogging in admiration of some of the better poker writers.
The two worlds are entirely separate, regular sports are predominantly physical, whereas poker is almost spiritual when expadited by the experts and yet the pathos, excitement and passions are, as I'm learning, surprisingly close kin.

The regular sports writer primarily describesactions and counter-actions with perhaps a passing reference to psychology and emotion: 'Over the moon"; "Sick as a parrot, Brian", etc. Whereas the game of poker, played, I fear at an infinitely higher level than our 'back room' antics, is all about mind games and mental strategies. A good writer will often get his/her point across with only a passing reference to the cards themselves. A multi-paragraphed narrative may close with the almost incidental "....and then John casually flipped Jacks"

Follow up:

ALlthough I cannot pretend to be an expert on the genre of poker writing, I feel that I can recognise a true craftsman. One area in which a poker writer is invariably better equipped than the regular sports writer is that s/he is often still an activie participant in the game. This is not to suggest that a good player is necessarily a good writer - far from it. I would argue that you can virtually count the number of professional players with genuinely intriguing websites/blogs on the fingers of one finger. However, within this fraternity of playes/writers, there are some true masters, both eloquent and entertaining, who can describe the action in the most mundane event with stupifying brilliance.


Bloggers at The Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure


As I've come to appreciate, decent poker blogger is a fundamentally different animal from the poker writer. S/he is writing under tremendous pressure, as the sction happens and without the writer's greatest gift - the benefit of hindsight. As a result, most blogs are fairly mundane, 2 dimentional affairs that, while serving their purpose, should never be considered 'art'.


However, here at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, there are two writers in particular who, I feel, break the mold:


Sharla Lehermann - an obviously experienced writer who's blogging for Poker Pages and Texans For Poker. She has a charming, sing-song writing style that comes across like a warm fire on a cold day. Sharla clearly loves her job and writes respectfully of players while giving the reader a good overview of the tournament as it progresses.


The other blogger of note, indeed, the journalistic fulcrum of the PCA is, without a doubt, Brad 'Otis' Willis, the main scribe at Pokerstars Blog. True he has the advantage of immediate access to all the facts but his daily blogs are all you could want - detailed, concise and highly entertaining.

Its a mystery wherre he finds the time to write, as every time we see him, he's extremely affable and always has a minute for us mortals. I have to steal myself from calling him 'Sir'.



For more on the Pokerstars Caribbean adventure, check out our sister blog at Bahamas Poker Blog.