Adapting to a New Normal in Life and Poker During a Pandemic
If I would have been asked half a year ago whether or not I wanted to cover a live poker tournament for a weekend at a nearby casino while no other event was happening, it would have been a rhetorical question and the answer would have always been an instant yes. After all, this has been my bread and butter for several years and covering poker has become my current main source of income.
That all but changed a few months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit on a global scale and interrupted the comfort zone of many people including myself. After attending an event in the Philippines in mid February 2020, I headed to Taiwan for a week and Japan for another 10 days for sightseeing purposes to catch a break and explore places I had not yet visited while soaking up some urgently needed fresh energy and motivation.
“Please be careful over there, they have the virus in Asia” was the common narrative in messages by friends and family. Perhaps I was too stubborn to cut my trip short and stick with my initial plan. There were temperature checks at the entrances of the Okada Manila casino complex and the Mall of Asia. Advisory messages to wear masks appeared in all public transport methods in Taiwan and Japan with plenty of sanitizer options available at all major train stations.
Was it a frightening experience as visitor from Europe where these things were unheard of until then?
The magic answer would always be “it depends” but in this specific case I shall prefer “yes and no” as both applied. Many tourist attractions in Japan closed towards the end of my trip but I could not tell any fear mongering by the press. In fact, all these precautionary measures made me feel quite comfortable and secure at the same time and gave away the impression that these countries (and Taiwan in particular) were aware of the risks and ready to do whatever it takes to limit the spreading.
It still took another few weeks until most European countries went into lockdown and I clearly remember the apathy I felt by being stuck at “home”, a place I barely remained at regularly throughout the last few years while the work grind sent me all over the world. The most useful thing I had bought for my apartment was a dryer as a quick pit stop in the own apartment often required to be ready to depart within 72 hours.
For two weeks straight, I slept badly, woke up and grabbed a cup of coffee to try and start a daily routine. A look into the mirror and all the motivation to do anything constructive vanished. I was a shadow of my former self and quickly gained a few pounds in weight, unable to think straight. Online courses to try and learn new things were started but never finished, my best friends were the PlayStation and jigsaw puzzles to retain what was left of the brain cells.
Thanks to my mum the fridge was filled and the apartment was stocked up with lots of vitamins as I self-isolated on my own without being required to do so. When we headed to the supermarket to stock up in the middle of March, very few people were wearing a mask and you can imagine some of the dumb comments thrown around It would become mandatory to wear them soon after.
I started some writing online to earn money and kept myself occupied, fortunate enough to pick up work by covering online tournaments for most of May 2020. Certainly not the same thing as the experience at a live casino, it came with a lot of unusual challenges and I improved my home office setup with a proper gaming chair and second external screen to make it bearable in case of being grounded for an extended period of time.
Upon being asked to cover the live event last week, I inquired about the general details and found out that it was supposed to be a High Roller tournament in the great game of Pot-Limit Omaha, which happens to be my favorite poker variant. The price tag of €2,500 to enter also ensured that it would likely be a rather small field and that was one of the main reasons why I agreed.
Professional poker players tend to take calculated risks and the same also applied for me in this case. There was that itch to finally get out of the own apartment and home town in the middle of nowhere after months of boredom. The circumstances seemed acceptable and I was fully aware of the risks involved.
To reach the King’s Resort in Rozvadov, a train ride was the first step and it is mandatory these days to wear a face mask. The train was barely filled by one third and everybody was indeed wearing a mask. I can totally understand that this may be unusual and uncomfortable to a lot of people especially for several hours but a safer environment for everybody seems worthwhile from my current understanding of the situation.
Upon arriving at the venue I received a room in the adjacent hotel, which was actually a first as I knew pretty much all other locations for people to stay at during my dozens of visits in previous years. Staff and players were required to wear masks for a month by then but this restriction was relaxed a few days prior to this event.
Some of the dealers and staff were wearing a mask and the percentage of visitors that did so were certainly in the minority. I received some funny / amused looks for using my colorful masks in the three days I spent at the venue as most people seemingly wanted to fall back into their old routine as soon as possible.
There weren’t as many familiar faces in the event but some players I had followed for many years were happy to say hello, one of them even jumped out of his seat to give me a hug after he had just folded. Other contenders that met on the rail before heading into the tournament area were all smiles as they could greet poker pals they had not seen in person for months.
The general atmosphere at the poker tables and in the casino area can only be described as overly excited and enthusiastic compared to the usual Friday evening and weekend bender. People were just happy they could enjoy themselves again, there was a lot of chatter, laughter and the usual riffling of poker chips.
Hundreds of players (mostly from Germany) took part in the other scheduled tournaments and it seemed as if the casino had not expected to see so many of them back already while preparing for a busy schedule in the weeks and months to come. While walking through the aisles and nodding to participants as a new way of saying hello instead of shaking hands, I kept wearing the face mask and also continued to do so in the early stages of the High Roller event.
“Hey can you take off that thing, we can barely hear you,” was one of the quotes that stuck with me for days. I wasn’t shouting and usually replied from a distance of two meters with a normal voice, so the players would not always understand everything I said.
As the event continued to play in a secluded area on the final day, I opted to not wear the mask and avoided touching frequently used surfaces and used the available sanitizer bottles before grabbing into my face. However, it turned out to be a really dumb idea to let the beard grow longer than usual and I am undecided how exceptionally stupid it may have been in hindsight to bring my phone or iPad to the buffet area.
There was no plexiglass installed at the tables but there were indeed plenty of hand sanitizers available. I have not seen the plexiglass setup used anywhere but in the United States for now, which have had trouble to contain the spreading thus far. Some private poker clubs recently reported positive COVID-19 cases and at least one casino closed again as precaution when part of the staff contracted the virus.
From a statistical point of view, a short-handed format obviously limits the number of players and thus the potential exposure in case anyone is an asymptomatic carrier. The tournament and buffet area was cleaned regularly but I was not able to verify to which extent the chips are being cleaned, which may be an important factor for many undecided poker enthusiasts in the months to come.
One thing should be kept in mind at all time, not just for live poker but also for travel. While not mandatory, it is always recommended to apply common sense and not touch everything in eyesight. For live poker in specific, the shared chips and cards obviously remain a high-risk factor. I asked several players and most of them concluded that tables running six or nine-handed make little difference.
It would be a lie to say I was not happy to get out of my man cave and finally see other faces again in person, to talk with other people face-to-face instead of limiting my interactions to a select circle of friends on WhatsApp and Facebook. I missed the entire environment and being able to do something perceived as constructive by my own standards.
The refreshing challenge to real chips instead of glancing at the readily available stack sizes of the poker client. Hurrying to a table with an all-in and call, trying to scribble down all cards as soon as possible and trying to make sense of it later. Feeling dumb for missing some key hands as the stack sizes suddenly made no sense at all, chasing the information without clicking on a button to access the hand history.
In hindsight it seemed unrealistic of me to expect things running a lot different than they used to. And I can absolutely understand everyone that thinks the reopening of casinos and hosting live poker tournaments comes way too early. Broad and logical safety measures have to be taken until a vaccine is found and some of those steps should have been normal for many years already (sanitizer, thorough and regular cleaning of chips).
On the other side of the coin is one aspect that many people don’t want to talk about: Depression and apathy. The negative effect of being stuck at home, perhaps without being able to work and void of any motivation, should not be underestimated. When our usual patterns are interrupted and social life is suddenly severely limited, it seems far easier to fall into a dull and not attempt to improve.
Almost all of the people I encountered during the event seemed glad they could break out of that “prison” for a while despite a certain risk of exposure. And if the casinos are reopening and offering poker, the players will come and take part. They gladly waited outside for hours in the United States to play some casino games after all.
We may sulk about the past and have to learn new ways to interact with each other. For example, I very much favor the Japanese nod instead of shaking hands to greet someone. We may also have to rethink our understanding of courtesy and how our actions have an influence on others, take responsibility for more than our own bubble. Maybe it was even an urgently needed wake-up call for many to grow as a human being but only time will tell if we learn from all of this or not.