There was a ruckus at the bar. It was late night in the casino at the WPT Amneville and I had ambled over to get some drinks, but a young Brit was having a problem getting beer in the quantity he wanted. Which was all of it.
To be fair, he probably didn’t need any more beer and he knew it. “You must be Ben Carpenter,” I said. “I’ve heard about you.”
In fact I had heard about Ben “MYBIGGUNS” Carpenter. I’d heard that he was a young Brit who had been destroying the tournaments on PartyPoker for some time, playing forty tournaments a day for six days a week.
But meeting Ben Carpenter is a whole other trip, because he puts you instantly in the mind of Luke Schwartz.
Carpenter has got a hell of a cheek and the game to back it up. After being told several times that if he spoke one more word of English at the table he’d be disqualified, he came out to the bar to declare that if the locals were making their poker decisions completely at random, then they’d be tougher to play against. Modest he’s not. But maybe Carpenter is on his way to following Giovanni Safina’s lead in qualifying online for the next Premier League. He’d certainly be good for it.
I didn’t hear a single complaint the whole time I was in Amneville from the Non-French who came there. Oh sure, they mightn’t have loved reading a menu or trying to understand the road signs. But every Brit and Swede I talked to were ecstatic about the quality of value they found. And that’s what it’s about when you’re playing poker on the road.
WPT Marrakech is around the corner. I managed to talk a bit with Alexander Dreyfus, who is very involved in organizing. Marrakech sounds exotic, mysterious, and to be a place where they take extra care of the guests. And the value won’t be too bad either. I can’t wait.
Show 19 (November 15) with Ben Carpenter is online now! Click the play button to listen:
[podcast]http://www.thepokershowlive.com/media/mp3/205.mp3[/podcast]
Prefer to download? Right click here and Save As.
