The Full Tilt Hearing - Wow, that was dull

The Full Tilt Hearing this week was the first of its kind in poker, and also the first for me as not only was it the first legal hearing I have attended, it was one of the first ‘tweet updates’ I have done. After an entire day of the press being shut out, the hearing was adjourned, much to the annoyance if the poker community.

For me personally, it was one of the most rewarding things I have done as a journalist, and, in equal measure, one of the biggest wastes of time.

It took an entire day, behind closed doors, and the end result was nothing had changed and nothing was going to happen for a couple of months. It was not what the poker community wanted to hear, it was not the story I wanted to write, and a dozen or so of us poker journalists were left to twiddle our thumbs, and try to find something, anything, worth writing about.

It was very much like waiting for a delayed plane, mind numbing but with a degree of hope keeping you awake. I actually can sympathise with anyone who participated in the phone hacking scandal, because if that is what more traditional journalism looks like, there is no wonder they would do anything for a scoop – they must be so bored all the time, waiting for news to happen.

(Only joking of course)

But on the plus side, I learned a lot about the legal process, mainly from talking to the rest of the press and staff that were shut out of the hearing. I will be much better prepared next time (I have already downloaded Tetris for my phone), and in a sick way I will be happy to do it again.

I also received an additional 300 twitter followers in one day (who are yet to unfollow me). That in itself was worth losing the day in the foyer of the Plaza hotel. Amazing that, on the day I said the least, I got the most followers.

And I also managed to tick one off my poker journalist bucket list, as on the train on the way back I wrote a small write up of the hearing for a newspaper. OK, it was only the local newspaper of Guernsey and not quite the Racing Post like I had hoped, but its newsprint nonetheless.

I am live on Sky Poker channel 865 tonight from 8pm, where I will be talking about the hearing.