Playing poker in France
By Almira Skripchenko
It all started several years ago when I came back to Paris from a series of
chess tournaments and instead of going to the theatre I ended up playing in a poker
tournament. I was taught the basic rules of Texas Holdem by my friends in a
ten-minute taxi ride which took us to the very famous Aviation Club of Paris,
which has a very old gaming tradition and where poker tournaments are organized
every day! Untill that moment all the general knowledge I had about the game
of poker came mostly from literature and movies, so I was quite intrigued by
the fact that nowadays poker tournaments are organized all over the world.
I ended up fifth, eliminating both of my teachers on my way to the final table.
I enjoyed the tournament so much that I decided to play poker more often
in order to get more experienced and to improve my understanding of the game,
which is full of complex elements. I showed some good results from time to
time, and at the beginning of this year I was invited to take part in a television
show, Tournoi
des AS, aired on Paris Première, where many French
celebrities took part.
In the picture above we see Bruno Fitoussi, 2001 World Heads-Up Poker Champion,
presenting and commenting “Le tournoi des AS”. Here he is interviewing
me and Caroline Diamant (right), who looks rather amused, since that is
what she normally does every day on a French talk show on France2.
The show “Le Tounoi des As” consisted of six parts: five
preliminary tables and the final table, which gathered the all the winners.
My preliminary table featured some very prominent faces from French show-biz
and television, including the 2000 Olympic boxing champion in fly-weight (fighters
weighing less than 50 kg) Brahim Asloum. He has a very aggressive poker style
and went all-in (i.e. put all his chips into the pot). In the above picture
he is standing, waiting for the river card and hoping to survive. Unfortunately,
in poker you cannot always control everything, which is a very difficult feeling
for all sportsmen, chessplayers and boxers included.
Bruno Solo, the French actor, and Marc Lavoine, singer and actor, are very
much appreciated by the French public. I have to mention that I was rather
intimidated when we started the game, since sometimes I sing one of the Marc’s
songs before and during my chess games! I didn’t play too many hands
at the beginning and I tried to observe the way my opponents played and behaved.
But even though they were excellent actors it was not easy for them to suppress
their emotions and to have a perfect poker face. In the end only the two ladies
were left, and the producers immediately dubbed it “Le duel des blondes.”
I managed to win against Caroline Diamant to proceed into the final table.
The final part of the show brought together a mixture of professionals and
aspiring poker players. TV producers gave every participant in the show a particular
role to play, like in the good old westerns – but with a somewhat more
complex scenario. “La fatale” was played by Alexia Portal
(above left), a French actress and amateur poker player. Alexia has very good
results in poker tournaments and told me that she has been playing poker since
she was a child, trying to beat her father in family "closed poker"
games.
“The Queen” was me, Almira Skripchenko, French Women’s
Chess Champion trying to discover the joys of acting. Above might be my poker
face.
Above left is the “Mozart of Poker”, Adam Lunis, the
rising star of French poker, and already a professional player. “Le
Flegmatique”, Macias Enrico, is a very popular French singer. He
enjoys poker very much and has quite a style, since he is never afraid of bluffing
his opponent, even by going all-in!
Alexia Portal, Enrico Macias and Sunar Surinder, the winner of the 2004 World
Poker Tour in Paris, and one of the strongest poker professionals in the world,
known for his total poker face, showing absolutely no emotion. I have to say
that it was quite impressive and very useful for me to watch him play.
Above, Adam Lunis is appealing to the god of cards to get the one he needs
to stay in the game. On the right is “Le Professor”, Abecassis
Michel, two time European Bridge (!) Champion, who decided to become poker
professional and now is one of the best French poker players, is waiting
for his opponent in Heads-up.
I won the hand, even though I was not the favourite when I covered Adam’s
all-in. After that I had to face “The Professor”. Well, this was
the first time I had to face a final duel in poker, and something went terribly
wrong with my pistols… I was executed with very high precision.
Even though I didn’t win the tournament I was contacted by the French
poker site Poker.fr, which decided
to give me the opportunity to take part in the Ladies World Poker Championship
in Las Vegas. I was very honoured and was very happy to accept their proposal.
World Championship in Las Vegas
The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas which staged the World Series of Poker for the second
year in a row. It becomes the temple of poker for more than two months, and
you can see the pilgrims coming in from all over the world.
Here I am, on my way to my first Ladies’ World Poker Championship, wearing
the T-shirt of my sponsor and completing my first poker pilgrimage.
This year the World Series of Poker witnessed a record number of participants,
with a 12 million dollars first prize at the main event. It was won by Jamie
Gold, a 36-years-old television producer from Malibu, California.
This is what a poker tournament looks like! It gathers people from all countries
and different professions trying to win one of the WSOP titles. Unlike chess,
in poker an amateur poker player can fight along with professionals and have
a shot at the title.
In order to take your seat at the table you have to show your inscription
card to the dealer. As usual for ladies, it is somewhere in the bottomless
pit of my handbag.
Having checked my identity the dealer allows me to take my seat. I was so
nervous at the beginning that my hands were shaking when I was checking my
cards.
The 2006 Ladies World Poker Championship had a field of more then 1100 participants!
This is what my opponents looked like, and contrary to a social cliché
spread by men, most of the women participants I observed played very aggressive
poker, and bluffed very well!
Unfortunately, my first major poker event didn’t last very long, I was
eliminated, with a full house on the river which brought a very useful card
to my opponent and gave her a higher full house. I am sure that I will be back
one day, trying to win my first major title. In the meantime I spent
the rest of the two days exploring the city.
This is what Las Vegas and the hotels on the Strip look like during the day,
without the glitter and the tinkling sounds inside the casinos, where you can
easily lose the notion of day and night.
And this is a picture of the part of the city where the real population of
Las Vegas lives. The contrast is quite impressive.
The Rio Hotel by night. It has put on its sparkling night gown, as every other
hotel in Las Vegas has done as well.
Las Vegas by night, with quite a view of the Luxor Hotel main building in
the form of a pyramid. The tip of the pyramid contains a spotlight which is
the brightest beam in the world and is visible from anywhere in Las Vegas valley
at night.
And finally revealing to the general public my best friend and my undercover
photographer Alexandra Kosteniuk, who came to Las Vegas to support me!
