One year ago – the second Friday in March 2020 – I gathered in San Jose, CA with a handful of poker tournament staff and reporters, along with the final 10 participants in the Bay 101 Shooting Star, a $5,000 buyin that is one of the most popular tournaments in the country each year.
The previous 48 hours had been somewhat surreal as the country, from sports teams and more, began reacting to the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We watched on TVs hanging inside Bay 101’s poker tournament area as Rudy Gobert tested positive and the entire NBA season went on postponement. That was the moment it seemed to hit everyone collectively this virus was not only real, but we were facing something unprecedented in our lives.
We were in the county with – at the time – the highest number of COVID cases and the fastest nationwide response. County health officials were reducing – almost hourly, it felt like – the maximum number of people allowed to gather.
The final 10 players were given ICM numbers the night before, just in case the casino was ordered closed by health officials on Friday. They opted to come back and play, but concerns were huge and decisions still to be made.
As I noted later that month, Matt Savage gave a great recap of how the days leading up to the shutdown took place, how rapidly events changed those final few days at Bay 101, and what the final 10 players decided to do.
I was with Matt and his team from late January at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles as the reporter for the LA Poker Classic, over with him to Thunder Valley for the WPT Rolling Thunder Series, and on to Bay 101 after that. We watched and worked as the days went from an initial curiosity about something that was beginning, to more and far greater emphasis, to the eventual shutdown of most activities and businesses across the entire country.
Here’s Matt’s description of how it all unfolded.
3 pm that Friday, I walked through what is one of the nation’s busiest airports on a Friday afternoon. I walked long distances without passing another person. Despite that rather eerie feeling, I had no idea what we were all about to deal with in the coming months. I had no idea it would be almost 11 months to the day before I worked another poker tournament.
I’m glad to be back at it, hoping today’s announcement all American adults are to be vaccine-eligible by May 1 bodes well to more ‘normal’ activities returning as summer begins.
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
