1. David Benyamine
2. Andy Bloch
3. Chad Brown
4. Doyle Brunson
5. Johnny Chan
6. Don Cheadle
7. Glen Chorny
8. Allen Cunningham
9. Ivan Demidov
10. Annie Duke
11. Tom Dwan
12. Peter Eastgate
13. Eli Elezra
14. Antonio Esfandiari
15. Sam Farha
16. Chris Ferguson
17. Scott Fischman
18. Layne Flack
19. Ted Forrest
20. Brad Garrett
21. Jamie Gold
22. Clonie Gowen
23. Barry Greenstein
24. Gavin Griffin
25. Bertrand Grospellier
26. Joe Hachem
27. Gus Hansen
28. Jennifer Harman
29. Phil Hellmuth
30. Orel Hershiser
31. Jeffrey Ishbia (Caesars qualifier)
32. Phil Ivey
33. John Juanda
34. Gabe Kaplan
35. Phil Laak
36. Howard Lederer
37. Erick Lindgren
38. Jonathan Little
39. Mike Matusow
40. Dario Minieri
41. Chris Moneymaker
42. Daniel Negreanu
43. Scotty Nguyen
44. David Pham
45. John Phan
46. Greg Raymer
47. Vanessa Rousso
48. Ilari Sahamies
49. Huck Seed
50. Vanessa Selbst
51. Erick Seidel
52. Mike Sexton
53. Gavin Smith
54. Jennifer Tilly
55. J.C. Tran
56. Kenny Tran
57. Paul Wasicka
58. David Williams
59. Jerry Yang
60. Leon Yanovski (online qualifier)
61. Caesars qualifier
62. Online qualifier
63. Online qualifier
64. Online qualifier
Why nueter the UIGEA regulations when you can just repeal the whole damn thing? That’s what Barney Frank says he’s going to do next month! Plus we are following industry news from California to South Carolina, stopping along the way to talk about a few affiliate programs.
This coming Sunday will be one of the busiest days for watching poker on TV in quite some time. Besides the WPT episode that may air in your area on FSN, High Stakes Poker begins season 5 on GSN at 9pm (preview available below). At the same time, NBC debuts Celebrity Apprentice with Annie Duke. At 10pm, ESPN2 airs the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe.
The WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event is in full swing at the Commerce Casino in cloudy-but-mid-70′s SoCal, and the turnout for the $10K main is spectacular. It started on Saturday with 696 entrants according to PokerNews and 695 according to WPT Live Updates, but either way, it’s the largest turnout second only to the 791 number in 2007. With TD Matt Savage at the helm, players are excited about the structure and anxious to get into the money today or tomorrow.
As noted previously, more media outlets made the trek to L.A. with the understanding that the Savage-run tournament would offer a lifting of the usual WPT media restrictions, the ones that typically keep non-official media out of the tournament area with the exception of 15 minutes per level. Turns out that Savage’s wishes on behalf of Commerce weren’t enough to override WPT contracts, so companies like PokerNews have been very limited in their ability to cover the tournament or provide chip counts. (F-Train is one of many frustrated reporters on scene.)
It was interesting to note, however, that a WPT executive commented on the beauty of the media-filled stage at the back of the room. But when he realized that it was not the norm, that WPT restrictions usually prevent much of the poker media from coming to WPT events anymore, he seemed to understand the problem. Whether he can or will do anything about it going forward remains to be seen.
Mildly amusing column in the Washington Post today … it’s actually about bowling, from a dude who calls himself the Couch Slouch, and he’s writing an open letter to Barack Obama on behalf of all middle Americans. What caught me was an aside … so good to know that the message is appropriately out there in the Beltway:
(By the way, Mr. President, let’s talk cards for a moment. The government’s got a deficit, no? Well, Internet poker is a cash cow that you should exploit: Legalize it, regulate it and levy it. Heck, you love playing poker — it’s your duty as the nation’s check-raiser-in-chief to open up this revenue stream and add big chips to the public’s coffers. Shuffle up and tax!)
(P.S. on poker: Besides the fact you shouldn’t play too much of it online — it’s dangerously addictive; just imagine Bill Clinton’s White House years if he had been playing no-limit Texas hold ‘em under the handle “slickwillie” — can you make sure it’s legit? With government regulation should come government safeguards to prevent software schemes and shenanigans that are inevitable with that much money on the virtual table.)
Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling like if we can’t get poker laws corrected in 2009, then we probably never can. I mean this both on a federal and state (Texas) level. We’ve got courts ruling in our favor left and right, we’ve got a strong desire for new and reliable revenue streams, public opinion is on our side, our opponents seem stuck in the 20th century … and in Washington DC, our leading torchbearer — Barney Frank — has his hands all over everything to do with banks. If you haven’t heard, this country’s dealing with some major banking issues these days … conditions couldn’t be riper, which has me thinking it really is just a matter of doing the nuts and bolts heavy lifting hard work hammering through procedural kinda stuff during a particularly crazy and hectic time, which could work both for or against us, depending on how we play it.
UPDATE: LOL, I’m an idiot. I just realized The Couch Slouch is Norman Chad. I knew that. But still.
Interesting article about how the Golden Nugget is pushing forward with expansion — new tower and all — despite economic woes. I had forgotten GN was a Texas-run joint … no wonder it’s one of my favorite places in town. And though it’s my preferred downtown cash game venue, when someone recently asked me to put together a list of the 10 best most noteworthy poker rooms in Vegas, it didn’t make the cut. (Would come in #11 or 12.)
And lastly, speaking more generally about downtown and economy … though I haven’t seen any numbers, I was on Fremont St. on a recent Saturday night, and it was busier and more packed than I have ever seen it. Ever. And yet the Strip, different hotels and the street itself … noticeably quieter than in months and years past.
Karridy outlasted and out-intimidated “Century 21 Rocks!” and every other student-player at WinStar.
Karridy’s in Oklahoma this weekend, attending the WSOP Academy at WinStar … (note to Texas legislators) … and, sure enough, after a day of schooling, he won their big tournament last night. I don’t know the details — I think it was like 40something players, two of whom may or may not have included instructors Greg Raymer and Mike Gracz … and the prize is something like a fancied-up trip to Vegas and seat in WSOP-A’s tournament of champions. Anyhow, nice job K-man! That’s 2-for-2 for him when representing Team Pokerati.
ALT HED: Karridy Don’t Need No … Edu-ca-tion
Oh, wait, I’m forgetting about the two WSOP 1500′s where he busted out early on Day 1. But regardless, in what is something of a rarity, the entire Beyond the Table hosting crew (SitNGo Steve excused) was playing poker Saturday night. While Karridy was winning his tourney, I was kicking a little ass playing 1/2 online, booking my second $1,000 win in two sessions (might I actually have learned something at cash games college?), and Tom was playing the main event of the LAPC, where he won his seat via satellite but would soon be busting out not too far into Day 1, thereby making him happy for his amateur BTT cohorts, but not so happy about being the biggest loser of the bunch.
We wrap up the week in online gambling with our exclusive interview of Nick Jenkins from Betcha.com about his battle with the Washington State Gambling Commission. Plus, breaking poker news from South Carolina and the European Union’s next move!
So we’re really kinda having some fun over at The Poker Beat. Turns out the shop a bunch of us media types talk amongst ourselves is kinda interesting to at least a few people … and dare I say even more captivating than an hour-long episode of ClubWPT? What’s really making the show work, I think, is that all of us panelists actually wanna listen to the segments we’re not on … it’s turning out to be a great way to find out reliable info about important stuff we may not cover closely, which all turns out to really be just a 57-minute set-up for Joe Stapleton jokes (which really are kinda funny).
On this week’s episode, BJ reports from the LAPC about field sizes and Scotty Nguyen’s repeat performance in the $10k HORSE Event; I chime in to discuss WPT Season 8 and try to fill BJ with job insecurity; Parvis and Gary Wise get all Durrr Challengy vs. Patrik Antonius; and podcast newbie Chops joins the fray to break down the Erick Lindgren vs. Dane Cook comedy feud and Mike Matusow’s fiddna to go ballistic on Russ Hamilton.
The Poker Beat
Huff, Nemeth, Michalski, Wise, Parvis, Chops, Stapleton 2/19/09
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NOTE: The five guilty in South Carolina just got fines, not jail time.
Remember that David Williams porn thing? Yeah, we don’t either … but I guess lesson learned via the Internet, that things you may or may not do don’t exactly ever go away in the digital age.
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Apparently she was tipped off to his post-Magic-pre-poker past by friends and watched a Not-Safe-for-YouTube video with her parents. But instead of being inspired by the sociological relevance of a film exploring issues of race, romance, and inter-generational for-profit love, she seemed irreparably disturbed by Williams apparent fascination with feet.
You may recall a couple recent polls we’ve run inquiring who were the most influential people in poker for 2008, working either alone or as a group, for better or for worse. Bluff Magazine did something similar, and their “Poker Power 20″ is on newsstands now. Their results are listed below, but for comparison’s sake, here’re our collective results, as determined by you, the best damn websurfers in poker:
The Pokerati Team – 44
Jeffrey Pollack – 39
Russ Hamilton – 30
PokerStars – 29
WSOP/Harrah’s – 26
Daniel Negreanu – 23
The Batfaces – 21
Bloggers (Pauly, Wicked Chops, Nat Arem, et al.) – 16
American Government (DOJ, Congress, Kentucky, etc.) – 13
Barney Frank – 11
The PPA – 9
Phil Hellmuth – 9
TV Networks (ESPN, GSN, NBC, et al.) – 7
Forums (2+2, Neverwin, et al.) – 7
shronk – 7
AP/UB/Cereus – 6
The Kahnawake – 5
Russian Mob – 5
PokerNews – 4
Brian Balsbaugh (Poker Royalty) – 4
John Pappas (PPA) – 3
Howard Lederer – 3
Non-Poker Media (60 Min, Post, NYT, etc.) – 2
Bluff Media – 1
And here’s Bluff’s list, in reverse order:
20. Wicked Chops Poker
19. “The Backers”
18. Poker Players Alliance
17. CardRunners
16. Ivan Demidov
15. WSOP Players Advisory Council
14. Doyle Brunson
13. 2+2
12. PokerNews.com
11. World Poker Tour
10. Professional Poker Players
9. Bluff Media
8. Poker PROductions
7. Daniel Negreanu
6. Barney Frank
5. Poker Royalty
4. Full Tilt Poker
3. ESPN
2. PokerStars
1. World Series of Poker
It’s that time of year again… Poker players descend upon SoCal for the L.A. Poker Classic, and the Commerce Casino buzzes with tournaments and cash games of all shapes and sizes. I finally made my first jaunt over there on Monday to check out the $10K HORSE event, the first of its kind at the LAPC, and was taken aback by the masses in the tournament room – 1,362 to be exact – for the $335 NLHE rebuy. Word was that the $100K guarantee was the draw, but the final prize pool was nearly $400K. The line of alternates wound through the hallways, and it took so long to thin the field that the $10K HORSE start-time was pushed back.
With Tournament Director Matt Savage running the LAPC show for the entirety of the series, all poker media was invited to cover it. Steve Hall has been there for the majority of it, providing some updates and gossip as only he can. (Personal fave: report of Nelly’s random appearance to play high-limit cash.) With the Monday HORSE event and subsequent $10K heads-up, PokerRoad settled in for their live shows, Life’s a Bluff came to pick up some interviews, and CardPlayer got comfortable for the duration to provide live updates of the major preliminaries and the main event. Word is that PokerNews will even be showing up for the main, as Savage welcomes the coverage, overruling (in most areas of coverage) the usual WPT media restrictions.
The pros have been all over the 2009 LAPC, starting with David Plastik winning Event 2, Fabrice Soulier taking Event 16, Jason Mercier Event 19, Frankie O’Dell Event 22, Jeff Madsen Event 24, and Scotty Nguyen grabbing another HORSE title in Event 29 (the aforementioned $10K event). The $10K heads-up will find its winner today, and the $10K WPT main event begins on Saturday.
Side note: Scotty Nguyen is evidently unable to win a HORSE event without controversy. CardPlayer reported that he taunted another player and began to show signs of his 2008 WSOP behavior, though he calmed down after a warning from Savage.
From CardPlayer updates:
As his chip stack has grown at this final table so has the level of Nguyen’s voice. He specifically taunted Matt Graham after he busted him in fifth place in a manner that definitely crossed the line.
randompoker: RT @MeanPokerDealer: I think it's SO cool how you guys loop the earbuds around your ears so they're hanging there all not in your ears and stuff. I hate you. 51 minutes ago
