on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Nemeth, Michalski, Wise, Parvis, Stapleton
3/12/09

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Here they are, in print-outable PDF format.

UPDATE: Join the fun and see how your predictions compare by filling out a bracket here.

UPDATE 2: With so many people getting in on our bracket action, we’re going to offer a prize to the winner. Not 100 percent sure what it is yet, nor what the rules are for winning — hey, this is kinda new to us — but you can feel pretty confident someone other than myself is getting a Pokerati T-shirt and/or a Pokerati cut card.

P.S. Action is just about to get underway. All players have been through make-up and have been called to the set. Others have complained that it’s starting some 90 minutes later than planned, to which I say, “Clearly you are not very experienced in these televised poker productions, and therefore you don’t stand a chance of winning.”

Online gambling is discovering allies in the strangest places, as Utah just announced their support of Barney Frank and online gambling regulation. Meanwhile, the New Hampshire lottery runs into problems with the UIGEA. Plus, why are Irish banks searching peoples bank accounts for online gaming transactions? Watch and see!

Mike matusow got a deal with godaddy. (along with vanessa rousso.)

I’m not sure if the technical definition of decimation is to reduce something by 10 percent, or to 10 percent of what it once was. Regardless … I was just checkin’ out some poker-site traffic graphs the other day (what, you don’t check out poker-site traffic graphs?) and found a rather interesting unscientific visual representation of the industry, and the scale by which it’s been reduced since late 2006:

First, we see American traffic to FullTiltPoker.com. Interesting … they apparently did a good job of growing in the aftermath of the UIGEA — or at least regaining what they lost — and have stayed relatively steady, with hints of slight growth, in the past two years.

Now we see how Full Tilt compares to PokerStars.com. Again, this is not scientific, and it only represents a sampling of web traffic, not on-the-table real-money action … though we can only presume the two correlate.

Now add PartyPoker to the mix, which, as we all know, pulled out of the US, and … wow … 75.6 million vs. 1.4 million … I think we get a clearer picture of just how much was lost, and perhaps, how much stands to be gained.

Scott Fischman seeking help from Phil Hellmuth:

Creative cred to texcoast44.

Because of a variety of scheduling thingies, we’re gonna be doing The Poker Beat a little early today — around “12:30ish” (pacific), fyi. (Isn’t internet radio the best?) So if you happen to be up by then and wanna listen live, click here whenever we all happen to be on the line.

Full Tilt just launched a new offering that they’re pretty proud of — the Full Tilt Poker Academy. It’s basically a copy of CardRunners Daniel Negreanu’s VT Poker University of Phoenix curriculum meets video games … with different Full Tilt pros giving video lessons on all sorts of really specific poker situations, like playing the bubble of a sit-n-go or using pause as a means of deception in 6-handed PLO against two medium stacks to your left and a short stack two to your right with the dog barking on a cloudy day. And then the pros give you little tasks to complete before you move to the next level.

I actually had something to do with this … seriously … if you happen to be watching the vids translated into Hungarian, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Mandarin Chinese, or about a dozen other languages … Flemish? that was me! Well not exactly … The only Polish I know is “dupa” (which is apparently not a very nice word), but our friends at Full Tilt did need my well-honed, advanced podcast production skills to properly line up the green graph thingies that represent sound. Ability to type was a plus.

Check it out, here. (You can watch the previews and change the languages with ease!)

Ivan Demidov is not able to attend the NBC Heads-Up event at Caesars’ Palace this weekend due to visa issues. Hevad Khan will take his place, which was announced by Mori Eskandani on Gary Wise’s podcast on Rounders Radio.

At venetian. Room is rockin

Just turning on csr to show someone at the venetian something. Tourney underway … 176 players

Xtranormal creative props to Reddred.

Could cracks in the European Union spell trouble for the online gambling industry? The free trade protection afforded to our industry could be in jeopardy if member nations begin to pull out of the alliance. Also this week, J Todd takes us on a fishing expedition!

Pokerati’s own Dan Michalski took part in an “expert panel” for ESPN with Dr. Pauly, Chops of Wicked Chops Poker, Gary Wise, Bernard Lee, Lance Bradley of Bluff Magazine, and ESPN.com’s Andrew Feldman ranking the field of the NBC National Headsup Poker Championship, starting on Friday. Since I’m only able to write an article at one of these sites, let’s take a look at how Dan ranked the field:

More…

There’s a big deal pending with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott right now, and though his opinion is technically not be legally binding, his decision will set a standard that impacts thousands and thousands of players in Texas … and will affect the state’s ability to raise millions of dollars for charity via poker.

The Kerr County Attorney has asked for an opinion on charity poker galas. He wants to know if hosting a pricey dinner that happens to include an optional poker tournament violates Texas gambling laws if the winners are awarded prizes. Likewise he wants to know if leasing a ballroom or banquet hall for such an event constitutes a “private place” defense.

Click here to read the specific and official pending opinion request.

More…