A note from @CRLana in Chicago that we’re happy to pass along to Pokerati readers (emphasis added) … and congrats indeed! We should like hang out sometime and/or follow each other on Twitter:

Congratulations to Jonathon “Nikachu” Zaczek, winner of the inaugural CardRunners Video Challenge. Along with the $5,000 Grand Prize, Zaczek has also signed as a new video instructor at CardRunners. View the winning video here.

Polls were open for two weeks and voting was very close. Fewer than 30 votes separated the top 3 finishers of our contest.

Final standings of the Video Challenge are:

1st Place – $5,000 – Jonathon “Nikachu” Zaczek

2nd Place – $2,500 – Matthew Janda

3rd Place – $1,000 – Lee Przytula

4th Place – $500 – Bryce Paradis

5th Place – Chip Set ($175 value) – Johan “Roundkick” Ryning

Thank you for all who participated and please keep an eye out for future contests at CardRunners.

As always, if you haven’t done so already, give yourself an edge over someone who likes to play online poker but is lazier than you by signing up for free poker training from CardRunners.

It’s just a list, but a fun and important one … the Class of 2010 to be considered for the Poker Hall of Fame presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. Er, wait a minute, scratch that last part. You mean there’s no sponsor plausibly affecting the outcome of how things get inked into the record books? Next thing you’re gonna tell me is there’s no Jungleman or Durrrr. Wha’? Didn’t you see him get 2nd place!?! I mean the old guy, not Jungleman. He’s not even 21 yet, so that’s understandable that he shouldn’t be eligible ’til next year. OK, anyways …

Here are the names being considered this go-round … on first glance I don’t see any insta-scratches … so all 10 get at least a shake:

CHRIS FERGUSON
BARRY GREENSTEIN
JENNIFER HARMAN-TRANIELLO
DAN HARRINGTON
PHIL IVEY
LINDA JOHNSON
TOM McEVOY
DANIEL NEGREANU
SCOTTY NGUYEN
ERIK SEIDEL

More…

While the PPA’s petition has already received more than 7000 signatures, including most of poker’s top professionals, the PPA is not letting up on the Commerce Casino for its vocal opposition to HR 2267. Responding to the Commerce’s response (to a response to a response?), the PPA points to the law as written and shows how most of the Commerce’s supposed concerns were addressed in amendments. The PPA wants players to see how California casinos are really making a protectionist money grab but trying to disguise it as a bold stand to protect poker players worldwide.

PPA Excutive Director John Pappas told PokerNews’ Matthew Kredell he will stop supporting Commerce events, but stopped short of calling for an all-out boycott:

“We didn’t think that was appropriate. Players will make that decision on their own. But you see the number of professional players who signed the letter. I know Commerce will be holding a lot of high-profile events in the future. Some pros might question whether to attend.”

Follow coverage of the PPA’s crusade to get Commerce officials to change their minds here. Meanwhile, the Commerce Hold’em Series gets underway today,

It’s a rare moment to have online poker discussed on late night TV, but Tuesday night had two separate programs dedicated time to the topic.

First, ABC’s Nightline aired their segment on teenagers winning big playing online poker:

Later, NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno featured Barney Frank, and when the subject came around to ways to raise revenues (around 3:45), Frank offered his support of legislation regulating online poker. Leno — making appearances this month at the Mirage in Vegas — wasn’t supporting the idea:

Detail from “Superstar Satellite” (above) and “Big Chick, Crabs and Snowmen” (below) – Oils on canvas – by Lisa Jane.

Those Brits, I tell you what … whether talking literature, theatre, or visual high art, they just always seem to be a tick ahead of mass-America when it comes to anything culture. Not being a self-loathing Yanker in saying that … just acknowledging why it’s hardly surprising that art would be a part of September’s massive poker activities in London.

* It’s hard to tell if Jane’s paintings are being deferential to highly regarded American poker artists who preceded her, or if she’s mocking them.

English painter Lisa Jane opens her first solo exhibition in the UK today, called “Poker in the Eye” — a multi-casino show of poker-inspired works that runs through the end of the month in London’s Mayfair district. Her paintings will be on display at the Maxim Casino, in the Palm Beach Casino’s tournament room — site of the currently running WPT-London Poker Classic — and down the street at Crockford’s, the world’s oldest private gaming club and assumed venue for the biggest cash games in Europe this week. Considering that “Crocky’s” has been hosting nobility-stakes action since 1828, it kinda makes you wonder about the WPT’s London kickoff … can you really call something a “classic” when it was est. 2010?

Regardless, because we are high-minded folks at Pokerati (seriously, minored in art history and shit) and want our readers to appreciate the finer things in life, we cut a deal with some down-on-their-luck art thieves to get you a sneak peek at some of Jane’s work from the show … while yours truly tries to remember what art (and art criticism) was really all about before the days of blogging.

Click to enlarge the images below.

More…

The durrrr challenge with Jungleman ran its second session late Monday morning into the afternoon, playing a shade under 1000 hands this time around. Jungleman (Daniel Cates) continued to hold the advantage, and even when losing big pots he was always able to bounce back within minutes. Durrrr, on the other hand, was found felted on two tables and playing shortstacked poker, despite a rule in the challenge requiring a reload at 75bbs. Jungleman ended up winning $172k in session #2, all NLHE, to bring his total to +$692k after 6820 hands, according to FTP’s Poker on the Rail blog. Not bad (so far) for a 20-year-old college student making the 24-year-old Team Full Tilt pro look something like an old man.

JungleMan’s blog on CardRunners here. Good interview with Daniel Cates here.

After a quiet period in the poker community, the tournament circuit has come back to life with a variety of tournaments spanning the world. Some highlights:

WPT Legends of Poker

Andrew Frankenberger defeated Kyle Wilson to take down the title at the Bike in LA, collecting $750,000 for the win. Notables who finished in the money: Former WPT Player of the Year Jonathan Little (12th), Allen Kessler (20th), Erica Schoenberg (30th), Joe Sebok (32nd), November Niner Soi Nguyen (34th) and Joe Hachem (43rd). Click here for results.

WPT London Poker Classic

Monday is day 1a of the first WPT event in the UK, with the £5,000 + £300 buy-in London Poker Classic at the Palm Beach Casino. Jack McLelland from the Bellagio is helping run the tournament, with registration remaining open until 1:30pm on Wednesday. Live updates available over at PartyPoker’s blog here.

EPT Villamoura

Day 2 of the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour stop in Portugal starting with 384 players, creating a prize pool of €1,862,400, with the winner collecting €467,835. Currently, less than 130 players remain, with the current chip leader is Grzegorz Cichocki of Poland with 312,000 in chips. Other notables still in the field: 2008 EPT Grand Final winner Pieter de Korver, Brandon Cantu, Liv Boeree, Sorel Mizzi, Lex Veldhuis, David Williams among many others. Follow the live updates and pictures of players enjoying the sun (as photography is banned inside the casino) at PokerStarsblog.com

WSOP Circuit – Council Bluffs

The first $1,500 Main Event of the WSOP Circuit started on Sunday with a field of 251 entries, creating a prize pool of $361,440, with the winner cashing in for $88,555 and entry into the $1,000,000 National Championship in May. Day 2 resumes today with 75 players playing down to the final table. Another way to earn a seat is to be the “Casino Champion” at each tour stop, to the player who earns the most points in the 10 WSOP-C ring events. To view the “unofficial” leaderboard after 8 events, check it out here. WSOP Circuit legend Dwyte Pilgrim won one of the many non-ring events that support the WSOP-C for a mid-four figure sum. For results so far check out the WSOP site and PokerPages for the non-ring results.

The River @ Winstar Casino

As noted in an earlier post, the Winstar Casino in Thackerville, OK is in the midst of their River $3,000,000 Guaranteed tournament series. What passes as results for Winstar is to show the points earned for those that make the final table, without stating how much each player received.

Gulf Coast Poker Championship – Beau Rivage

Another major series that got underway over the weekend is the Gulf Coast Poker Championship at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. Their main event takes place Sept. 4th with a $5,000 NL Holdem Main Event. Their schedule can be found on the beaurivage.com website here.

Commerce Holdem Series

Matt Savage returns Sept. 1st to the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for the Commerce Holdem Series, featuring several guaranteed prize pools events as well as the $1,100 Ironman tournament. More details available here.

Partouche Poker Tour – Cannes

One major tournament that starts later in the week when the French Partouche Group of casinos have their Main Event in Cannes Sept. 2nd. The 8,500 Euro buy-in event has a 3,000,000 Euro guaranteed prize pool with 1,000,000 Euros guaranteed for first. Like the WSOP Main Event, their final table will be delayed, taking place in late October and aired live across Europe on the EuroSport network. I believe there’s also live streaming available (in French) during the tournament. Further details available on the PPT site.

Drama was out in full force this past week, with allegations of hypocrisy, cheating, and extortion exploding through the poker world, which was still feeling aftershocks from an Annie Duke/Daniel Negreanu feud that had reached new levels of nastiness after Negreanu’s aggressive C-bet. But the poker fight that really blew up late last week was between the Commerce Casino and PPA, and shows how heated political matters can get in a very short period of time.

Open letter from pros, PPA website target Commerce
Though Barney Frank’s online gambling bill made it out of committee last month relatively unscathed, one troublesome opponent came from the Commerce Casino in California. In an effort to squelch the impact of their dissent, the PPA sends its million-plus members word of an open letter to the Commerce (signed by a few dozen top-level pros) and launches PlayersBeforeProfits.com, making it easy for poker players to bombard the Commerce with tweets, emails, and phone calls voicing displeasure.

Commerce says PPA misguided, Frank bill will cost jobs and hurt poker
Commerce board member Tom Malkasian, who testified against HR 2267 last month, turned up his rhetoric against the PPA, saying they are ignoring key issues. The Commerce has a right to fight against unfair competition from offshore operations, he tells PokerNewsDaily, and its something they must do to protect California revenue, American jobs, and poker player interests, he says. At least Duke and Negreanu seem back on the same team, having both signed the initial letter and both tweeting to help get thousands of signatures for the PPA in just a couple days. Duke hints at plans for a boycott.

Bike, other California casinos lock step with Commerce
In what’s becoming an increasingly hostile back and forth, the PPA appears to be winning the PR battle, now with more than 6,000 signatures and countless tweets to Congress. The Commerce counters with even bigger numbers and a sign their side is growing, too. They mass-email a press release late Friday, announcing a unified front with other major California card rooms, including the Bicycle, Hawaiian Gardens, and Hollywood Park. These card rooms claim they collectively represent more than 20,000 California employees and handle $13.4 billion in wagers, all of which would be severely threatened by the Frank bill.

Industry Leaders Join Together with Commerce Casino in Opposing Frank Bill; “California Will Lose If Frank Bill Is Passed”

The letter suggests HR 2267 is too broad, and would be more acceptable if it tried to legalize poker-only, not all online gambling. It also says the Commerce welcomes the emails, but asks concerned players to use their new email address supportonlinepoker@commercecasino.net.

Boycott Commerce?
Twitter suggested lots of support for the idea, but few if any have thus far declared intent to cancel plans or skip the upcoming Commerce Hold’em Series, which kicks off Wednesday with a $500k Guarantee.

For those who like to railbird the high stakes action online, especially at Full Tilt Poker, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s open challenge seemed like a match made in heaven. 50,000 hands of 200/400 NL holdem or PLO action over at least 4 tables, with Dwan offering his opponent an additional $1,500,000 if they were ahead with the opponent paying Dwan $500,000 if he came out on top. The first player to accept the challenge was Patrik Antonius in February 2009. However, other cash game action slowed down the action creating gaps of several months where no hands were played. 18 months later, Dwan is up over $2,000,000 on Antonius with about 10,000 hands left in their challenge.

Enter Daniel “Jungleman12″ Cates, an instructor at CardRunners who went from .25/.50 NL HU to playing in the biggest cash games online in just two years. After Cates accepted the challenge on July 19th, the forums went wild, longing for the days when Isildur1 was crushing the cash game superstars. It took over a month, but after an interview with AlCantHang on FullTiltPoker’s Poker from the Rail blog, the challenge finally got underway early Friday morning. The first session had Dwan ahead by over $161,000 after nearly 1,600 hands were played. A second session started a few hours later, with Cates holding over Dwan over the next 3500 hands, finishing with a profit of over $500,000. The chart of the early action appears below, and you can follow the action on FTP’s Durrrr Challenge 2 page.

The Cereus Poker Network, home of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, have been sold to “e-gaming entrepreneur” Stuart Gordon, creating Blanca Games to purchase the company previously owned by Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG.

The full press release appears below:

More…

We’ve been saying for awhile how critical Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is for any regulated online gambling legislation to stand a chance at making its way into law. And despite non-denial denials from his office regarding plans for a forthcoming poker-only Senate bill, the Reno Gazette-Journal is reporting that Reid is now saying something more directly suggestive of his online poker intentions:

[Gaming] executives said Reid, D-Nev., told them he would support the legalization of online poker in the United States but drew the line there — he would not support any other form of online gaming — during an Aug. 16 meeting at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa [in Reno].

This falls in line with what Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) told the same paper earlier this month — that Reid’s position against online gambling had “softened dramatically” — after she and Nevada’s two other representatives made a serious push on Reid to support Barney Frank’s HR 2267. Berkley and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) are Frank bill co-sponsors, and Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) “cautiously supports” it.

The problem Reid’s supposedly running into now are non-Harrah’s B/M casinos in northern Nevada asserting online gambling is a threat to business and Nevada tourism … thereby costing the state jobs. And as outdated and arguably inaccurate as that argument is — we’ve heard it before, from the same Vegas ops and Indian tribes that now support online gambling — anything that opponents can spin against Reid as anti-jobs probably isn’t something the senator would want to risk heading into November, as he faces a statewide election in the state with the highest unemployment in the nation. At a minimum, wading into such waters would require a lot more money for internet ads to smear Sharron Angle out of contention.

More…

One of the biggest non-major tournament series of the year is underway in Thackerville, Oklahoma, promising $3 million in guarantees. “The River” — hosted by Greg Raymer and the historically storied WinStar tribe — is 9 events spread across two weeks, Aug 23-Sep 6. They’ve got some sort of overall points leader prize for a Porsche Cayenne overlay, too, worth $70k.

2009 twitpic: @EweE420 (now @EricMizrachi)

Today’s event, Event #3, happens to be $440 NLH/PLO with $40k Guaranteed. Wonder if they’re aware that Lev Serzhenko was recently crowned the World Champion of $230 NLH/PLO with a Single $200 Rebuy.

Since the main here will be more or less the regional championship in my old stomping grounds — in fact, thinking we might-should call it the North-North Texas Championship in future posts — I find myself wanting to follow these events uniquely as a fan. I’ve got tons of friends playing and would expect to see plenty of past opponents from the Dallas underground, presumably some Batfaces, lots of ole Lodge amateurs, and, I hope, a few Team Pokerati players. Also curious to see what type of pros show up.

But semi-live coverage of the River is hard to come by. Lots of future thoughts on why that is … but in the meantime, here’s where I’ll be checking for River buzz, for starters …

@WinStarWorld
@Fossilman
2+2 Tournament Circuit thread

And because Pokerati can’t be there this year (but kinda-sorta would like to be) here are some possible news stories I see shaking out, or at least stuff worth looking into for anyone who might wanna ask some questions or snap pics with their iPhone and send an email or an @reply on Twitter:

More…

Keeping with the 6-max NLHE, today we turn to Peter Jennings, aka “Marshall28″ … a low-stakes 6-max NLHE specialist who advises CardRunners students on $.50/$1 play online — instruction that seems particularly well-suited for slightly short-handed $1/$2 and $2/$5 no-limit live game players.

It’s all about stack size and subsequent implied odds, working your opponent’s subconscious, and what small bets on the flop can do to set up bluffs on the river … dependent on scare cards, of course.

Because if that’s the game you’re looking to play, you better know when to pull the plug on a triple-barrel assault with nothing.

Check out his CR blog about poker coaching here and sign up for CardRunners’ free poker training here.

Kinda funny … the other Peter Jennings used to offer journalism training here.

Jon Katkin

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The Poker Economy

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OP-ED

For 99.99987 percent of the players in this year’s events, the 2010 WSOP has come to a close. Some were winners and many more were losers. And, for nine lucky combatants, there’s still one more long day of poker left to play before someone claims the game’s most prestigious title and poker’s second-largest payday ever.

As tonight’s television coverage of the Main Event (ESPN 9p ET) moves past the massive Day 1 fields and more and more players see their WSOPs come to an end, I just have to wonder: Where did they all come from?

After a slow start, the 2010 WSOP finished strong, enticing 72,966 players total to Las Vegas to play in 57 separate events — a 20 percent increase over 2009’s record-setting figure of 60,875. And it wasn’t just the smaller events that benefitted. After hitting a high-water mark in 2006 with 8,773 entrants and a prize pool worth more than $82.5 million, the Main Event contracted over the next three years, attracting no more than 6,844 players for the big dance. Until this year, that is.

The best guess is that live satellites account for about 15 percent of the Main Event field. Combined with the online qualifiers, that means roughly 40 percent paid something less than $10k to play in the tournament, which seems about right. Still, that means that about 60 percent (roughly 4,400) of the players coughed up $10K each for their seats at the WSOP tables.

According to the WSOP’s official figures, 7,319 players took part in this year’s $10,000 Main Event. That’s 825 more people than who played in 2009, or an increase of nearly 9 percent. Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty impressive, especially in today’s economy where nearly 10 percent of the general public in the US is out of work and Europe is struggling to keep countries like Greece and Ireland from going completely bankrupt under the weight of huge budget deficits.

All of which, again, begs the question, where on Earth did all these players come from?

More…

Nightline gets into the online gambling fray by taking a deeper look at internet poker players under age 21 — represented by defending WSOP champion Joe Cada and others — tonight on ABC at 11:35pm ET/PT.

For a preview:

Teenage Poker Players Go ‘All In’ Online
Before They’re Old Enough To Set Foot in Casinos, Teenagers Rake in Thousands

The $550 NL Holdem – $200,000 Guarantee Main Event of the Detox Poker Series concluded Sunday evening with James Wheatley earning his second title of the series, defeating Bryan Watkins in heads-up play. A deal was negotiated when play was five-handed, with Wheatley earning $38,118 for the win along with a seat in the WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino in February 2011. Watkins earned $32,994 for the runner-up finish, with John Kim third for $25,461, Bona Sar 4th for $18,039 and George Meyer 5th for $20,808. The rest of the results:

6th – Al Carmosino – $9,030
7th – Julian Herbrecht – $7,220
8th – Stefen Starner – $5,420
9th – Ylon Schwartz – $3,610
10th -12th -Jason Romanik, David Chin, Anthony Yeh – $2,700
13th -15th – Joe Brandenburg, Richard Smith, Jennifer Sherry – $2,200
16th – 18th – Lanston Loh, Getty Mattingsley, Venerando Villarino – $1,700

Part of the buzz underlying this week’s Detox Poker activity has been the fate of the Hard Rock Poker Lounge. To be sure, the luxed-out $12 million 18+table poker room that opened in 2008 — nearly two years ago to the day and possibly two-and-a-half years too late — will be closing in about a week.

According to casino personnel, almost immediately upon the conclusion of Detox, Hard Rock cash games will be moving to a more efficient 6-8 table spot connected to the main casino area — something with a smaller electric bill, more in line with plans for expanded sports-book offerings, and in view of the round casino’s famously raucous “center bar”.

The decision to downsize was final before Detox even started — and gotta say … kudos to HR Poker Director Troy Evans for presumably putting his job on the line to keep Detox. New suits above him were supposedly less enthusiastic about keeping the Matt “Savage Rocks!” late-summer mini-series on the calendar. Don’t have any hard dates for transition, but all potentially affected say it will be quick. Here’s a glimpse of what the new space next to Wasted Space will look like:

(Wasted Space is also closing, to make room for the new-and-improved sportsbook.)

The new poker room — about a third the square footage and in an arguably better location — will replace the former “Hell’s Belles” blackjack pit (hot dealers, go-go dancers, $100 minimum bets), which prior to that had been the “Peacock Lounge” (a pimped-out tribute to Jimi Hendrix). It will supposedly still have its own bar (with video poker, of course), a semi-private nook for high-stakes or VIP games, and a separate poker-player’s bathroom. Management says they’ll be bringing over the same tables and chairs, but are unsure whether or not they will keep the name “poker lounge”.

Decisions were also still pending (as of last week) about whether or not the Detox Series would be back and held in a Hard Rock ballroom. The current poker space will apparently become a restaurant.

Today’s lesson brings us back to the 6-max cash tables that action junkies just love … with CardRunners mid-stakes 6-max NLHE instructor Joey Lawrence — the Aussie online poker pro “jcl”, not the ’80s pop star — talking through a hands with an eye for extracting the most value when players are deep, and how not to tie up too many chips in places you shouldn’t. All pretty critical if you really wanna see your bankroll, um … Blossom?

If you want more Joey Lawrence, you can read his personal blog here, his Cardrunners blog here, and see his videos as an up-and-coming boy-band soloist here.

But for poker instruction to give you the best chance at some day living like you were once a Tiger Beat coverboy, the most +EV play is to sign up for CardRunners’ free poker training here.

The Detox Poker Series on Saturday Day 1b of the $550 NL Holdem – $200,000 Guarantee drew a field of 228 players on Saturday creating a total field of 433 entrants for a prize pool of $216,500. The final 27 players made the money, with some of the notables who cashed yesterday: Alex Outhred and David Tuthill (both earning $1,200), David “The Maven” Chicotsky and WSOP photographer Rob Gracie (each collecting $800).

The leader from Saturday’s action is Alexander Carmosimo, finishing with 511,000 in chips. The most notable name from Saturday who made the last nine was 2008 November Niner Ylon Schwartz, but he returns with only 73,000 in chips. The 18 returning players are guaranteed $1,700 with the winner earning $60,030. Live streaming of today’s action will be available at www.detoxpoker.com, with the players seated with 34:04 remaining in level 16, blinds at 4,000/8,000 and a 1,000 ante:

The full list of results and payouts are available at the Detox Poker site here.

The final tournament of the series starts at 5pm, the Player Appreciation w/ $50 rebuys tournament with $5,000 added to the prize pool. The tournament is available exclusively to players who present three tournament receipts from the Detox Poker Series. Players start with 2,000 in chips, with $50 rebuys available when your stack is 2,000 or lower. At the end of level three, a $50 add-on is available to add 4,000 chips to your stack.

Be sure to check out www.DetoxPoker.com for updates, videos and more as the Detox Poker Series concludes.

Just read a fantastic, eye-opening, blog entry about variance in poker. I highly recommend you read it if you are serious about playing poker for a living.

The brilliance contained in this article is how you react to it. After reading it take the following quiz.

Which statement below is most accurate:

A) They (The Pros) aren’t as good as everyone says they are.

B) You aren’t as good as you think you are.