I live under the thumb of a tyrannical regime. My actions are dictated by the whims of shadowy figures, who move throughout the country, placing their targets under de facto house arrest while they wait for many tortuous hours. Then, just when you we think the danger has past, a doorbell announces their arrival. In other words, I’m having a new oven delivered today and therefore cannot leave my flat. At least the 4 hour delivery estimate I was kindly furnished with gives me plenty of time to scrounge up some exciting news from the Wider World of Poker.

Poker Loses Again

With Thor Hansen’s cancer diagnosis still ringing in our ears, the poker fraternity has been dealt another crushing blow with the news of Nikolay Evdakov’s untimely demise. The Russian pro is most famous for his endeavours at the 2008 World Series, where he set the record for most cashes in a single WSOP by notching up 10 money finishes. It’s a record that stands as a testimony to his legacy. He is survived by his wife and children. [Gipsy Team]

888 Hit the Jackpot 

Time to draw ourselves out of this funk and poker players only know of one way to salve an aching heart: Cash! Online gambling providers 888 have plenty to go around, having announced a 28% uptick in revenue for Q4 2011. The future looks rosy for 888, thanks to their deal with Caesar’s Entertainment. Through subsidiary Dragonfish, they furnish Caesar’s with the official WSOP online poker site. When Nevada finally gives the go ahead to intrastate online poker, chances are 888’s star will continue to rise. [Guardian]

Missives From a Ringer 

Get on a plane to Macau, find the poker table with the most money on it, squint a bit, and you can pretend that it’s 2006 all over again. Poker’s most famous grinders have been gorging themselves on the action in China’s special administrative region for the past few months. Familiar names like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius have all been playing, but have otherwise kept schtum about the game’s details. Not so Gus Hansen, who has been providing daily blog updates on the highs and lows of his multi-million dollar sessions. Yesterday’s entry indicates that – shock! – Hansen has been playing a few too many loose hands, so you might want to get reading before The Great Dane goes busto. [Gus Hansen]

Popstar Becomes a Poker Star 

Hey Americans. Are you aware of laddish popstar Robbie Williams? Back in 2000-ty something he set off for the colonies, hoping to make his fortune, but after becoming addicted to various naughty substances, arrived back on the mainland to rejoin with former cohorts Take That. Now, for the glorious next stage of his career, Robbie has decided to open an online poker site. I expect it to quickly fade into insignificance, but given that it annoyed someone in our nation’s flagship bigotry newspaper, the venture has definitely proven its worth. [Bluff Europe]

I must now return to my eternal vigil. I’ll be back next week, summoning up more poker news than you can possibly handle. Bring a friend.

In the midst of a so-far unprofitable weeklong stretch of daily tournaments around Las Vegas, I decided to try my luck+skill next at the Orleans (a grizzled locals favorite), the Golden Nugget (for a tourist-packed short-stack event), and the Venetian for a little Deep Stacks Extravaganza with hoodie-and-headphones set. Each tournament has its own appeal, and gave me quite a taste of the broad range of game selection across town.

Friday night’s 12,500-chip starting stack at The Orleans.

Ragin’ Cajun: Friday Nights at the Orleans

Those on the lower-stakes Vegas grind often rave about Friday night at The Orleans. Large field, good structure, big prize pool. A friend advised that I arrive early because the event fills up so quickly. I parked around back almost an hour before the 7pm start time, and after securing my $125 entry, sat at a bar near the food court with T.G.I. Fridays, Fuddruckers, Baskin Robbins, Sbarro, Subway — yeah, real Cajun cuisine.

On this night there would be 270 players, with first place paying about $8,000. The floor supervisor said re-entries were possible but improbable because of a long list of alternates. As we got underway, two locals spoke conspicuously about a mutual friend who was playing a $250k buy-in event in Australia (the Aussie Millions high-roller event, won by Phil Ivey).

Of The Orleans’s comparably tiny entry fee, $100 goes to the prize pool, $2 goes to tournament “players of the month,” $13 goes to the house and $10 goes to staff. The tournament can often last until mid morning, but my run in the event would be a quick one, as I never dragged a pot and busted 5 minutes before the first break.

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Not so pokery but when you think about kinda-sorta it really is … Nevada Gaming put out their latest sports betting data on Super Bowl wagers, showing $94 million bet in Nevada’s 184 sportsbooks — significant growth over previous year(s) … with the house actually finishing $5 million on the upside (suckers) this go-round. Though GOPers who just rolled through Las Vegas might want to believe otherwise … some economists (aka my old roommate Sang, who happens to be uber-conservative but otherwise really smart) believe this could be yet another indicator of Vegas recovery, fortuitous for a national economy likely to follow.

Though I’m sure plenty will disagree with the above analysis, I’ll take the upward Super Bowl trend for Nevada sports books as a win.

Meanwhile, semi-related but not really, Delaware is looking into how the new DOJ Wire Act interpretation (heralded by online poker types) could actually help the state offer more-better sports betting options to the masses via the internet.

A Houston-area man got killed this past weekend at a poker game — after a fight broke out at what appears to be a family home game, and hosts ejected a supposedly uninvited player, who then returned with a handgun, police say, and fired wildly at the table, hitting at least three people. One of the shooting victims, Angel Vazquez, 48, returned fire with his own weapon and wounded the alleged attacker, Manuel Morales, 41 … but in the end Vazquez died at the hospital, while Morales, picked up by police at a nearby gas station, is in critical condition and facing murder charges.

Hard to tell if this game in Northeast Harris County was truly a family poker night in a residential neighborhood or underground poker room … but either way, sad as it is in the face of death and painful injury, you gotta believe there is more to this story:

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Quick LOL … something I stumbled across while reading what I presumed was just a ho-hum news article about another state gearing up for online gambling (via the PPA’s latest newsletter). I wanted to see what state was next and whether or not they separated out poker. Turns out it was just California, talking about how much money they stand to make if they can just catch up with Nevada. For sure. Righteous, dudes.

But what stands out most to me is a line from one of the opponents of any measures for California to finally get serious about regulating online games within their own borders:

“We don’t want to see any of it,” said pastor James Butler from the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. “Pretty soon they’ll have an app that will allow you to connect instantly to a casino or a gambling site. Want to lose your home? We have an app for that,” Butler said.

Emphasis added. Not sure if we should tell the fine pastor that they already do have such an app — all over the UK to be sure, and in Nevada you can bet sports for real money anywhere you want using your Droid or iPhone with Leroy’s App. (It just turns off when you get to the California border — amazing that crazy technology these days!)

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Buckle up … the news (we care about) has been moving too fast for Pokerati be the lone source keeping up with it all. And with this latest — Caesars has made it official … the Empire is going public (again)! — don’t be surprised if February/March 2012 turns out to be the biggest news month in poker since April 2011.

I haven’t quite yet figured out if and how this is different from an IPO. But I do know these sorta things don’t happen in a vacuum. And considering the last time Caesars — soon to be better known on NASDAQ as CZR — looked serious about going public was the last time they had reason to believe passage of online poker legalization was imminent (Dec 2010) … uh, um, gahhh! So much going on, so many old docs to look at, so much for Kevmath to hopefully fact-check … my head is spinning with the possibilities! (And I can only wonder who Barack Obama met with on the side when he visited Las Vegas long enough to stay the night in the suburbs a couple weeks ago,)

Probably not a bad time to remember that Caesars was a public corporation (called Harrah’s) that went private almost immediately after passage of the UIGEA, controversial legislation that leveled the impact of the biggest online poker sites in the world (at the time).

Read below for an official press release.

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We know about Jamie Gold’s poker residency at the Tropicana in Las Vegas — where he can be found playing 1/2 and apparently trying to fill the poker world’s Professor void by offering lessons that cost about as much as a college education. (The Jamie Gold Poker Room official launch party, btw, is Feb 17!)

But what about the rest of ‘em?

You can currently find Jerry Yang, the 2007 WSOP’s biggest winner and #20 on the all-time poker tournament money list, bussing tables while commanding an otherwise lackadaisical staff (according to Yelp) at Pocket 8s Sushi & Grill in central California. Um, pass the yum-yum sauce?

Via Pokerati’s resident Vegas grinder-thug @AndrewNeeme:

Poker Fish: You wouldn’t believe how many of Jerry Yang’s relatives are always hitting him up for free sushi.

There’s a muffin waiting for me at the end of this article. Yes, I have stooped so low as to require sugary bribes for motivation. Not an English muffin, either. Those are no good for inducement. Only the sickly American variety has the requisite density of glucose and cocoa.

There we go. Not one paragraph in and I’m already enjoying a new vitality. The chocolate macguffin remains wrapped in its brown paper bag and yet I’ve remembered what it is I love about writing. Sometimes we just need a little encouragement. Well, now that I’ve dealt with that personal crisis, pull yourselves together and lets get on with the news.

The Aussie and the Ivey

Yes, that’s a Christmas pun. So what? I’m recycling. Besides, I’m sure plenty of us media types put a resurgent Phil Ivey in our letters to Santa. After finally emerging from a cash game in Macau hiding, Ivey arrived at the Aussie Millions to play in one of his first major events since Black Friday. As if to make everyone else look like rank amateurs, Ivey waltzed into his most profitable month of tournament poker. After tumbling out of the $100k event, Ivey won his buy-in back by finishing 12th in the Main Event and then grabbed another $2,000,000 for winning the 16-player $250k tournament. Some guy called Oliver Speidel won $1.6m in the Main Event, but his name does not rhyme with ‘cor blimey’ so nobody cared. [Wicked Chops]

The French Channel

The Frenchy bit of Canada and the part of the British Isles closest to France have enshrined a new era of cooperation. The duo have agreed to routinely share information and expertise relating to online gambling regulation. Ontarians don’t have anything to actually regulate yet, but plans are afoot for a province-wide service later this year.

A little to the Southwest of Alderney sits another British Crown Dependency. Back in 2008, Jersey announced that it was providing egaming licenses, just like its little brother Alderney. Their overtures had not attracted any big names until Playtech took the plunge earlier this week. It’s not exactly clear what Playtech will do with their new license, but my guess is that it has something to do with wagering money over the internet. [Gambling Kingz] & [iGaming Business]

Gaming Gongs

“Oh my god! Are you the Galaxy Macau Integrated Resort?! Winner of the 2012 International Gaming Award for Casino/Integrated Resort of the Year? Can I get your autograph?”

That’s the sort of attention the Galaxy Casino is going to have to put up with from now on. Crazy people asking buildings for autographs. Signature hunters will have better luck with Sam Trickett, who was announced as Player of the Year at the European Poker Awards. Other prizes went to Ilari Sahamies, Natalia Nikitina, and Bertrand Grospellier. [European Poker Awards] & [International Gaming Awards]

Poker’s Impending Loss

Finally, something very very sad. Thor Hansen, the doyen of Norwegian poker, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. A veteran of Vegas casinos, the 64-year-old has two WSOP bracelets to his name and more than a few friends in the poker community. Hansen will long be remembered as pivotal figure in the growth of the European game and an inspiration to the Norway’s new poker generation. [Card Player]

Nothing funny to say after that. See you next week.

Dear dan,

Below is our second DC Update for 2012 available exclusively to 2012 PPA members.  Because we’ve received so many questions from members about PokerPAC and how and why it’s important in our fight for the game we love, I’m providing this week’s DC Update with a bit of background on PACs generally, and specifically why PokerPAC is so important.

PPA DC Update | February 1, 2012 | Bryan Spadaro | Poker Players Alliance

While I am not technically a lobbyist for the PPA, I am excited to write this week’s insider piece to our membership.  This week’s piece is about Political Action Committees, or PAC’s, an area in which I have expertise.

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Jeesh, everything’s so serious these days … or stupid. Either way, it’s been too long since we forgot to tell you about the latest from The Micros. It really was a funny episode a month ago. But like always, lol because it’s true!

And we have a bonus late episode — the Micros’ pitch for people to vote for them in the 2011 Bluff Readers Choice Awards, where Rose, Chase, and Tommy somehow got lumped in with all the podcast/video/live radio newsy shows (in the category The Poker Beat always dominated) and cleaned up.

Enjoy, if you haven’t already.

Jennicide comes on and discusses her new Red Wine-based diet / cleanse that you may have seen on Youtube and her twitter.  Looks like just getting drunk and making eggs to me, but she sets me straight.  John Gumption calls the Venetian, and Pokerati Dan explains what republicans are doing what in the Nevada caucus.  Drexel adds his insight and Reggiman brings the scotch (again).

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The following reminder that Nevada will be the place of political buzz this weekend comes via Lupe Soto, Nevada State Director of the PPA. While there are plenty of tournaments to play and press releases to spin — not to mention all the NL/PLO to heavily pimp! — it really would be a shame if these four key influencers of current national conversation rolled through Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world, and weren’t made to address the issue of online poker (and our right to play it with American money transfered through our own bank accounts without use of a sketchy third party payment processors). Because when it comes down to it, Pete Lubrano was right — “they took our fugkin jobs!” And right now before the federal government, right here (our state is ready to go!), are measures to give back these jobs and create thousands of others while guaranteeing freedoms and protections and net-positive taxes ftw … we all know the talking points.

And if online poker isn’t gonna be at least a bullet point to the national conversation now … well then, really, perhaps poker players will be getting exactly what we deserve?

This Saturday, February 4, 2012, the Nevada Republican Presidential Caucuses will be held throughout the Battle Born State. These caucuses will elevate Nevada into the national political spotlight, with all four candidates making appearances in the state in the next few days.

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Check it out all you haters … PC World magazine, a non-poker-biased publication, has included “online poker lobby” among 10 examples of “How the Web Spurs Political Change”. Though online poker liberalisation doesn’t quite reach the level of using Twitter to overthrow the Egyptian president, Poker Players Alliance activism did receive an “effective” rating, the same as:

• Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign to stop gay teenagers from killing themselves
• Russia’s Wintertime Spring to prevent Vladimir Putin from regaining power
• The Occupy (New York) movement spreading worldwide

Though personally I see Occupy ultimately going the route of Woodstock ’99, overall it’s a good crowd for poker to be runnin’ with. And that sorta social climbing didn’t come because of a Guinness World Record, crazy prop bet, or even a celebrity charity tournament; being on the national radar (in the right way at the right time) comes because of consistent and steady efforts to awaken the right people to what really is total government bullshit! political injustice.

4,500-chip, four-color starting stack at Stratosphere.

The Stratosphere’s quaint 10-table poker room sits in the back of the casino, past a row of slot machines, craps tables, another row of slot machines, down the ramp past Roxy’s Diner, near the escalators to the Top of the World restaurant — just before the Double Down Pit and Back Alley Bar. On Thursday, there was a sole 1-2NL table of action about 30 minutes before the nightly tournament.

You’d hardly know that this room has supposedly become the new Sahara when it comes to Las Vegas’ most popular small buy-in dailies — with the 7pm event drawing consistent fields of 50 players or more.

I approached the podium and purchased a seat for the event. The buy-in is $45 for 4,500 in chips, plus a $20 add-on that gives you 4,000 more chips, which you can purchase any time within the first hour. (There’s also an option for unlimited re-entry within that time frame.)  With 20-minute levels, that add-on is necessary, especially considering there are no automatic shufflers in the tournament tables.

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I had plans for my first post of 2012 to write about my new year’s resolution, which was to find more purpose in what I’m doing for a living … quite the challenge when your work day consists of picking out tourists to relieve of their vacation cash so you can pay your bills for another month.

Crushed, beaten, annihilated, squelched, wrecked … you feel helpless and empty and start questioning what you’re doing with your life and why you’re wasting so much money.

A new year is supposed to be a time when everyone is feeling the most hopeful and positive and have the brightest outlook on what the next 12 months may hold. I try to put a positive spin on everything and especially the things I write on twitter and in this blog with an audience in mind. I’m sure there are some people who take joy in other people’s down times because it makes them feel better about their own situation. But I just think it’s a better EV play to try and inspire people rather than give them something to wallow in.

I wish I could follow my own advice, but today I don’t see how.

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