Let's do an experiment. Enter your first and last name in any search engine. Then put quotation marks around your name. A list of all websites will appear where it is listed. If you play tournament poker (with any regularity), it is likely that your name will appear on more poker sites than any other. What you see on the screen is your life.
The Internet has become the official registry. Soon after we are gone, our names will remain in cyberspace. The New York Times is no longer an official document. All news that can be printed is online.
I have written hundreds of tournament stories. I have probably documented over a thousand tournament results over 15 years. Almost all of these reports are posted online on dozens of gaming websites. The reports contain the names of thousands of poker players around the world who, if not for the tournaments and poker reports, would probably not have gained prominence. This leads me to make a statement to all poker players.
I need your help. First of all, I want your name to be correct. I want it to be spelled correctly. I want your name to appear on the record the way you want your nickname to be correctly recorded. This is not always possible. And soon you come to me (and everyone else who writes about poker) and get angry. You are asking why your name is incorrect on the websites. Wondering why the poker hand isn't named correctly. We all lose because of these avoidable mistakes.
For those of you who participate in tournaments, you know that at the end of each day, players are asked to fill out a piece of paper - their name, hometown, and chip count. It's easy enough, isn't it? Unfortunately, you won't believe how difficult it is to decipher many of these scribbles. This leads to problems with tournament coverage.
There are also player biographies that are used by tournament officials and television networks. Sheets with this information are usually filled in by the players who make it to the final table. I'm amazed that some players don't take the time to fill them properly. And later, when an official report is written and published on various Internet sites, the information about them is either extremely inadequate or incorrect. Player of the Year points system, career records and tournament archives, and many other important points depend entirely on what we report about ourselves. If your name is illegible or not listed properly, you will not receive points. Your tournament entry will be incomplete. Nobody wants that, right?
Recommendations for filling out reports
- Always write your details clearly. Don't assume that we know you and that, for example, your hometown of Springfield is in Missouri. Maybe this is Massachusetts. We want to keep records correctly. But it's difficult when so many tournament entries look like a chicken stepped into an inkwell and walked across the page. I'm serious.
- Always use the same name in all tournaments. If you check the tournament archive on several online sites, hundreds of names are duplicated. Results are not recorded properly. Make a decision and stick to one name, be it John Smith, John C. Smith, J. Smith, J. K. Smith, Dr. John Smith, or John Doc Smith.
- Information for volunteers. Feel free to tell tournament or poker journalists about yourself. Are you a military veterinarian? Let us know. Have you won an award in your community? Tell us about it. Have you been honored for your charitable work? Please tell us. Too many of you have great stories, but we do not know you and therefore cannot share them. Poker is an opportunity to tell the world who you are. Don't be shy.
- Tell us your story. We always want to know more about you. What prompted you to play in the tournament? What were you thinking during your strong hand? Why did you make this or that decision? Almost everyone has something to say. We are your voice in the poker world.
- Read the tournament logs. Many websites provide an excellent service to the poker community: they often list tournament results hand by hand. There are also logs in the early and middle stages of tournaments with many interesting hands. These magazines can be an awesome learning resource.
Be aware that if a tournament is 12 hours long, reporters will arrive before the event starts and then leave well before the day ends. I have seen many reporters working 16 hours a day. There are many good writers and reporters in the poker industry. Most of these wonderful people could write for major newspapers and magazines instead. But they love poker. I think most of them are underestimated.
If you don’t think reporting is important right now, you will surely see otherwise later. And those around you - your family, friends, children - will appreciate the poker story in which you left your mark. This will become your legacy.
English 
Russian