Second Life: A Reporter's Award-Winning Poker Story of Cancer Survivors and the WSOP
Brad Willis has written for the PokerStars Blog for 10 years. He understands the ephemeral nature of his work. "In this age of blogs and fast media and the Internet, you can write a story and people can be excited about it for a day. Then it disappears into the ether." One of those stories, produced last July at the World Series of Poker, caught the attention of thousands of readers. More than eight months later, the story won't let go.
From late May to mid-July, the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas hosts the World Series of Poker. For the final 10 days, over 6,000 competitors pay $10,000 apiece to play the Main Event. The frigidly maintained Rio Convention Center becomes an abattoir for money, talent, ambition, and hope. Ninety percent finish out of the money, staggering bleary-eyed into the searing heat with just a receipt for their 10 grand and their stories. Uniformly, those stories include an unsatisfying ending.
For journalists like Brad Willis, the experience is also a meat grinder. With writing partner Stephen Bartley, he sifts through all those stories-in-progress to produce the PokerStars Blog. Day 1a, on July 5, 2014, was typical for Brad. He posted his first article at 11:11 a.m. before the start of play. Alternating assignments with Stephen, he posted another pair of articles and took his turn writing the end-of-the-night summary. When he exited the back door of the Rio, it was after 1 a.m.
"Tell Me"
Ten hours later, he was back, interviewing Day 1b competitors Vanessa Pacella and Nicole Rowe. Even in the carnival atmosphere at the beginning of the WSOP Main Event, they stood out. Ms. Rowe wore a garish pink wig. Ms. Pacella was bald. "These women were decked out in pink, with flashy makeup on," Willis said. "They walked into the media room and said they wanted to tell somebody their story. I happened to be in the media room and I said, 'Tell me.' The story they ended up telling me blew my mind."
Vanessa Pacella and Nicole Rowe are breast cancer survivors. They met playing poker. Vanessa gave Nicole her $5,000 wig when Nicole lost her hair in chemotherapy. Their circle of cancer survivors grew, each in turn receiving the Healing Wig and sharing the group's camaraderie and strength. Vanessa's cancer returned, reached Stage 4, and spread to her liver. To encourage Vanessa to rally, Nicole bought her friend entry into the 2014 Main Event. They told their story to spread the message that women should not wait until age 40 to get mammograms.
"It struck me at the time that these two women weren't necessarily there to win the $9 million or whatever first place would pay," said Willis. "They had this really terrible shared experience. But at the same time they had this wonderful thing they could do together. It struck me in a way few stories would at the World Series."
Vanessa and Nicole left the media room to fulfill their dream of playing the Main Event together. Brad gathered his emotions and his notes, put on earphones, and began writing WSOP 2014: Stages, which he posted at 3:07 p.m.
The PokerStars Blog has a large audience and Brad Willis is adept in promotion through social media. Even though he was occupied with writing and posting another pair of articles, he recognized that Stages would get its day in the spotlight. "I had immediate feedback on the piece across the board: from PokerStars readers, from poker players, from fellow media members at the World Series of Poker. It was immediately clear that it was a piece that touched people, which was gratifying. For me, it was more exciting that Vanessa and Nicole's story was going to get out there and get out there quick."
"The One Thing I Didn't Expect"
Willis noticed that Nicole Rowe, the more experienced of the pair and a successful tournament poker player, was eliminated on Day 1b. Vanessa Pacella, just 10 days from her most recent chemotherapy treatment, survived Day 1 elimination. She took her seat to play Day 2ab on July 8 wearing a pink wig. (Vanessa's original wig, the Healing Wig, was still traveling among survivors. This pink wig was the one worn by Nicole two days before.)
Vanessa told Brad that after 1b, she was tired but excited to talk to Nicole about the experience. Willis was stricken by what awaited Vanessa. "When she got back to the hotel room, she found that Nicole had fallen very ill and had some sort of infection. It was a terrible experience because Vanessa wanted to help her but because her immune system was so compromised, she couldn't put herself in a position where she was in a hospital full of sick people. So she had to sit with Nicole until someone could get her to a hospital."
Brad found this second part of the story difficult to write. He also had another post to finish first. At 3:20 p.m. on July 8, he posted the follow-up story, WSOP 2014: Never Stop Fighting. Three-and-a-half hours later, he posted on a different subject. The next day, he wrote four more articles for the PokerStars Blog. On the day after that, three more. Never Stop Fighting was the last he wrote about Pacella and Rowe at the World Series of Poker.
The articles speak for themselves. Mr. Willis told his subjects' story with great economy and immediacy. Stages is only 1,132 words. Never Stop Fighting is barely half that length. The articles are outstanding, but not for their unusual quality. They are outstanding because of their usual quality, especially as the reader recognizes that Vanessa Pacella and Nicole Rowe were just two of over 6,000 players in this event. Their story was just one of the thousands in progress at that moment. These were just two of the 26 articles Brad Willis posted during the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event. The emotion is generated by the reader, not manufactured by the writer.
Rebirth
Asked about the rediscovery of the story six months later, an eternity for the Internet's swelling but largely ignored archive, Brad joked, "Everything I find out about my life, I find out from social media." In late January 2015, he awoke to a Facebook message from his friend Robbie Strazynski, who writes for CardPlayer Lifestyle.
Mr. Strazynski congratulated him for being nominated for an American Poker Award. The American Poker Awards, started in 2014 by entrepreneur Alexandre Dreyfus (owner of the Global Poker Index and other assets trying to "sportify" poker), had just released announcements from its Nominating Committee. This was the first Brad Willis had heard that Stages and Never Stop Fighting had been nominated. As congratulations poured in, "I realized over the course of the rest of the morning what a big deal and a big honor it was going to be."
"Because of the nomination," he explained, "the story got a new life." He found this especially gratifying because Vanessa Pacella and Nicole Rowe shared their story initially to raise public awareness about breast cancer screening.
On February 27, 2015, their story's hold was cemented when Brad Willis won the 1st American Poker Award for Poker Media Content of the Year. Family obligations prevented him from attending the Los Angeles ceremony. He certainly did not expect to win. "It was very nice to be nominated but I didn't expect in this day and age for blog content to be the kind of thing that a jury might pick for the award."
Naturally, he learned of his victory through social media. He was sitting at home when he saw a Tweet mentioning he had won. When his wife noticed it, he told her, "Nah, I think that's probably a mistake."
It was no mistake.
Brad is quick to credit Vanessa and Nicole. "I was just a way for them to get their story out there. I feel very honored that I was able to do that. This story, and the award, belongs as much to them as it does to anyone else."
What about Ms. Pacella and Ms. Rowe? Part of the authenticity of the original articles was their lack of sentimentality toward the subjects. They were friends and poker players with a story, not heroes or martyrs. Their story was especially compelling but in poker, there is always the next hand and always other players. For Brad Willis, that meant other stories, and he gave those stories the same attention. It would have been maudlin if he, after having tugged the public's heartstrings, kept pulling.
Brad had plans to write about Vanessa and Nicole before the 2015 World Series of Poker. When the articles received the attention from the American Poker Awards, he reached out to let them know. He talked to Nicole but has not spoken to Vanessa. "Nicole is doing pretty well for herself since then but Vanessa is still fighting a real hard battle."
Michael Craig is an author, journalist, and lawyer. He has written four books, including The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time. In addition to poker and gambling, he regularly writes about politics, law, sports, and finance. Follow him on Twitter (@mikecraigisamok) and Facebook. This article is part of a collaboration with PokerStars covering poker, online and casino games, and profiles of smart, interesting, independent risk takers.
*Lead photo courtesy of PokerStars.
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