It is such a beautiful friggin day outside.

I am out. High 300somethingth out of 444. But still have life. Go pauly/shaniac!

Still in @ Stephenville. 60k @ 1/2k+100

Yikes. Dude just sat at my table who looks like ernie scherer 3.

While I get some work done from home in sunny, springy Southern Cali, my Pokerati pals are actually looking for fortune and fame on the felt playing some tournament poker.

Dan is playing the much-hyped Dream Team Poker event at Caesars Palace. On his team? Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Dr. Pauly, playing as the Team Tao of Pokerati, also known as Tao of Pokerati’s 420 All Stars. Look for some Tao of Pokerati episodes to come as they record some of their intense strategy sessions and gossip about the other players. Sure, these three may be taking more breaks (certainly at 4:20pm today) than other players in the room, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be inspired to take it down.

Karridy is competing in the Texas Amateur Poker Championship. At last post, he was the chipleader with 50,000 chips in Level 4. After his recent visit to the WSOP Academy at Winstar, he might just have that extra insight that will take him all the way.

Go Guys!

Keep up with them both via CSR reports as the day progresses.

UPDATE: Karridy finished 12th in his event. 300something entries, so almost definitely in the money, but probably just short of the big money. –DanM

UPDATE: $1,190.

Thinking i flopped the nuts but really only flopping a draw proves costly. Short stacked now.

Finally folded KQ to a re-raise. Turned out to be the right move.

Dan needs to learn to fold pocket pairs preflop. Set of 3s always loses to set of aces.

Made it to level 2 … Having shot only 1 angle

Chipleading in Texas Amateur Chapionships. 50k @level 4.

Karridy is chip leader in stephenville. I am alive at dreamteam. (dennis phillips and jeremiah smith at my table.)

An appellate court in Washington State has reached a decision in the on-going battle against that state’s online gambling ban. Plus, does our industry now have to be concerned over internet filtering from Oz?

Nearly a month after his arrest in the brutal murder of his parents, the prosecution in the case against Ernest Scherer III is beginning to release some details. And it couldn’t be a more gruesome or cold-hearted story.

Some might remember Ernest Scherer Jr. from the poker tables, as he dabbled in poker throughout his life, though much of his later years were spent dealing in real estate and dabbling in local politics. That was until he and his wife, Charlene Abendroth, were murdered in their Silicon Vally, California home. But more people might remember seeing Ernie III at the tables, as he traveled the poker tournament circuit regularly and accumulated nearly $340K in winnings over the past six years. That was until he was finally arrested last month for murdering his parents.

Notably, Ernie III had an L.A. event cash during the time that he was under investigation, wondering when he would be nabbed. That was in an L.A. card room. *shiver*

The details of the hideous act of which the younger Scherer is accused involves a desperate man who spent more than he won at the poker tables, sat on a mountain of debt, and cheated on his wife with various women around the country. He allegedly planned the murder of his parents a short time after they demanded he assume his own home loan of $616K. He tried to purchase a gun on several occasions but finally resorted to killing them any way he could. He drove from Las Vegas to their home, stabbed them multiple times in the neck, and drove home to Brea, California, where his wife and baby son were none the wiser. The sick, sick story is laid out in 3,300-page case against Scherer III.

The kicker in all this — he was less than a year away from inheriting upwards of $1 million.

From the Contra Costa Times, via MercuryNews.com:

Scherer III now faces a double-murder charge that could bring the death penalty. The $880,000 house he shared with his wife and toddler son, Ernest IV, has been resold, after the couple defaulted on their seller-financed second mortgage, Orange County records show. And the trustee for the estates of Scherer Jr., 60, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, continue to add up the value of more than 15 properties here, in Texas and Nevada, along with time-shares in Hawaii and Arkansas that they left for Scherer III and his sister to share equally, when they turned 30.

Their California assets alone, including proceeds from the sale of the Castlewood home, have been valued at $2.6 million, probate records show.

The couple was last seen eating a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and salad at the Castlewood Country Club on March 7, the night police believe they were killed, though their bodies were not discovered until a week later.

A little more info on this 103-million-hand study done by Cigital, from the PPA:

The study, released by Cigital, Inc. in conjunction with PokerStars, used data acquired from 103 million hands of Texas Hold ‘Em played online in December of 2008. According to Cigital’s report, more than 75 percent of the cases saw an outcome determined with no player even seeing more than his/her own cards and the community cards. Nearly 25 percent of the games witnessed a showdown where the cards were revealed to determine the winner, but only half of the showdowns were won by the player who had the best five card hand. The other half of the showdowns were won by someone with an inferior hand because the player with the best hand decided to fold prior to showdown.

Ahh, I was wondering what Cigital was all about, and why and how they were involved — Go PokerStars! But what also jumps out here … those 103 million hands … they all come from DECEMBER 2008 … as in one month! (And from one site!) Surely that has to raise a few political eyebrows, as soon as we can get them to understand the concept of rake.

Our opposition to HB 222 in Texas said pretty clearly that their whole argument relies on the skill vs. luck debate. That, I think, is “good for poker”. Because while Christian Life Coalitions and Texas Eagle Forums continue to bring out the same old “but you could get dealt a 2-3″ argument — actually, I guess they changed it a little bit, because in 2007 they were saying 2-2 — they have yet to show one piece of hard evidence backing up this claim that it as chance-based as the lottery or bingo (which, incidentally, are both legal in Texas).

Meanwhile, anyone who looks at the game (courts included) and talks to people who have played it for a mere 20 minutes understand the luck factor in poker is no different than in stocks, real estate, Scrabble, or life. But because there are some people who insist on pressing their moral agenda on the basis of a provably unintelligent argument, a software security company called Cigital just released a study of 103 million poker hands to counter the luck claims of the people who insist on using just two:

http://www.cigital.com/resources/poker/100M-Hand-AnalysisReport.pdf

A synopsis of their findings:

Cigital will release a report outlining a study of 103 million hands of Texas Hold ‘Em, which includes compelling statistics showing the outcomes of the games are largely determined by the players’ decisions rather than chance. The results of this study are of great importance to the legal community, where many cases involving poker come down to the question of whether the game is one of predominant skill or chance. As a game of skill, poker should not be categorized as “gambling” under the law.