That’s the question Matt Savage, one of the guys who has created quite a few of them, asks in 2+2 Magazine. Fascinating look (for blind-structure geeks) at things like “the rubber-band effect” in middle levels.

Indeed, I agree that too often people think simply adding more chips leads to better everything — but don’t consider myriad other factors that come into play over the course of hours (or days) in a timed event that takes you from X number of players ultimately to just one.

[via F-Train]

Apparently ESPN would make it easier for me to set my Tivo … here’s the episode-by-episode schedule of the 2009 WSOP on ESPN. My only question — and I can almost bet they’ve had this fight internally — is can’t they get at least one extra hour (or preferably two) for the semi-live coverage of the November Nine? I mean shee-ot, we want poker to be treated something like a sport, and yet poker’s version of the Super Bowl can’t even get as much airtime as an NFL pre-season game? Gives the producers so little to work with …

Anyhow, until then … coming up next: Tom McEvoy becomes “the Champion of Champions” by winning a car that he will sell before the end of the WSOP:

REMAINING ORIGINAL AIR SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN)

Show 3 Champions Invitational August 4 8pm-9pm
Show 4 Champions Invitational August 4 9pm-10pm
Show 5
Ante Up for Africa August 11 8pm-9pm
Show 6
Ante Up for Africa August 11 9pm-10pm

Main Event (24 Hours) August 18-November 3
Show 7 Day 1A 18-Aug 8pm-9pm
Show 8 Day 1B 18-Aug 9pm-10pm
Show 9 Day 1C 25-Aug 8pm-9pm
Show 10 Day 1D 25-Aug 9pm-10pm
Show 11 Day 2A 1-Sep 8pm-9pm
Show 12 Day 2A 1-Sep 9pm-10pm
Show 13 Day 2B 8-Sep 8pm-9pm
Show 14 Day 2B 8-Sep 9pm-10pm
Show 15 Day 3 15-Sep 8pm-9pm
Show 16 Day 3 15-Sep 9pm-10pm
Show 17 Day 4 22-Sep 8pm-9pm
Show 18 Day 4 22-Sep 9pm-10pm
Show 19 Day 5 29-Sep 8pm-9pm
Show 20 Day 5 29-Sep 9pm-10pm
Show 21 Day 5 29-Sep 10pm-11pm
Show 22 Day 6 6-Oct 10pm-11pm
Show 23 Day 6 13-Oct 9pm-10pm
Show 24 Day 6 13-Oct 10pm-11pm
Show 25 Day 7 20-Oct 9pm-10pm
Show 26 Day 7 20-Oct 10pm-11pm
Show 27 Day 7 27-Oct 9pm-10pm
Show 28 Day 8 27-Oct 10pm-11pm
Show 29 Day 8 3-Nov 9pm-10pm
Show 30 Day 8 3-Nov 10pm-11pm
Show 31 Final Table
(2 Hours) November 10 9pm – 11:00pm

We cover industry news from France to the United States, as professional sports leagues & governments have a dramatic affect on gambling. The NFL joining with others to sue the state of Delaware? Plus, an announcement about Bodog.

photo: Steve Hall

Don’t Trust This Guy: He’s shown a willingness to screw over five fellow poker players and sully the WSOP for just $2,400.

Big congratulations to Savvas Zenonos for successfully stealing $2,400 from the prize pool in a 2009 WSOP main event mega-satellite that was supposed to be shared in a 22-player chop.

Click here for the details of how a good chop can go awry.

It was a skillful play by Zenonos, who hails from Queensland, Australia — effectively mugging five other players of $300-$500 each without even having to reach in their pockets! Nice!

On the benefit of the doubt that it was a simple mistake (despite his saying, “I’m going to screw you over,” before actually doing so), we gave him three days to make good … and then even another couple of weeks before outing him as a brazen petty poker thief here … but no luck.

Zenonos had no cashes at the 2009 WSOP, but did finish 3,050th for number of cashes in 2008, and 2,984th in WSOP money won that year. His lifetime tournament winnings total $7,675 — though these results do not include satellite wins like this one, where he won an agreed-upon $7,800 but left (supposedly he literally ran off) with $10,200.

Pokerati was unable to reach Zenonos for comment, but will respectfully keep him on The Pokerati Bad List until he pays the money he owes (to any or all of the five afflicted) or volunteers to serve 10 days in a pillory at the 2010 WSOP.

Well not exactly … but WSOP-Europe isn’t too far away, and I just found this promotional video, which amused me:

Here’s a list of the 59 poker rooms that, as of right now, have signed on to officially embrace the 2009 TDA rules:

Aces & 8`s Poker
Amelia Belle Casino – Amelia, LA
APT Poker Room – Galaxy Starworld Hotel & Casino, Macau
Asian Poker Tour – asianpt.com
Avenue Card Club, Hove, UK
Aviation Club – Paris, FR
Bay 101 – San Jose, CA
Bay Mills Resort & Casino – Brimley, Michigan
Beau Rivage – Biloxi, MS
Big Slick Poker Tour – Prince George, BC
Binion`s Horseshoe – Las Vegas, NV
BLACK LIONS POKER CLUB, BUFFALO NY
Borgata – Atlantic City, NJ
Caesars Palace LV
Canterbury Park – Shakopee, MN
Card Player Cruises – At Sea in the World
Casino Del Mar, La Concha Resort – San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Casino Oostende, Belgium
Cherokee – Tulsa, OK
Club 52 at Melbourne Greyhound Park – Melbourne, FL
Colorado Central Station – Blackhawk, Co
Commerce – Commerce, CA
Crystal Crown Casino, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room
Derby Lane Poker Room- St. Petersburg, FL
Diamond Jo Casino – Dubuque, IA
Eureka Resort and Spa – Mesquite, NV
Federação de Poker do ES (FePES) Vitória-ES, Brasil
Firelake Grand Casino – Shawnee, OK
Fortune Rooms, Northern Ireland
Foxwoods Resort and Casino – Ledyard, CT
Golden Gates/Blackhawk, Co
Golden Nugget – Las Vegas, NV
Grand Sierra – Reno, NV
Grey Eagle Casino – Calgary AB Canada
Hollywood Casino – Lawrenceburg, IN
Hollywood Park Casino – Inglewood, CA
Horseshoe – Tunica, MS
Horseshoe Casino – Bossier City, LA
International Club – London,UK
LUCKY CHANCES CASINO – San Francisco Bay Area
Mandalay Bay – Las Vegas, NV
Mirage Resort Casino – Las Vegas, NV
Northern Stars Poker Tour – Manitoba, Canada
Ocean`s 11 Casino San Diego County, Oceanside, CA
Orchard Farms Poker Room – USA
Peppermill – Reno, NV
Red Rock Resort Casino and Spa – Las Vegas, NV
Ringo`s Little Vegas – Spokane Valley, WA
Rio – Las Vegas, NV
Spirit Mountain Casino – Grand Ronde, OR
Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino – Lemoore, CA
The Casino at Portmaso – St. Julian Portomaso PTM01, Malta
The Poker Room @ Seabrook Greyhound Park – Seabrook, NH
The Silks Poker Room @ Tampa Bay Downs – Tampa, FL
Tri State Casino – Cross Lanes, WV
Venetian – Las Vegas, NV
VFW Post 194 – Salisbury, MD
Wynn Casino – Las Vegas, NV

Not everyone uses these — the WSOP has their own version filled with extra, enforceably questionable legalese — but these are the simple standards made available for card-room runners across the world by the Tournament Directors Association, recently updated at a conference held during the World Series, and thus far officially adopted by 57 59 poker rooms.

Click below for the rules (which TDA members can download here in all sorts of easily printable and mountable forms).

What’s changed?

The over 125 Poker TDA members that attended the 2009 Summit discussed and voted to accept the following:

Nineteen (19) 2007 Rules were changed; they are rule #’s 3, 4, 6, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43 and 44.

In addition, Four (4) new rules were adopted; they are rule #’s 7, 15, 28 and 33.

More…

Setting foot in a casino card room for the first time since the WSOP yesterday, I did so to support my local L.A. poker spot The Bicycle Casino. The lovely Marketing Director Kelley O’Hara invited me to play in the media tournament in the brand new Event Center to kick off the month of Legends of Poker tournaments. While I opted not to play and only observed for a short time, I must say the Event Center is a vast improvement over the tournament room of the past. The spacious room is bright, welcoming, and about as elegant as Bell Gardens, California can get. Players at Legends events will be very pleasantly surprised.

Seems that about 180-200 people turned out to play in the tournament, including players like Annie Duke, Joe Reitman, Men Nguyen, and Jamie Gold. Some of the celebs spotted were Camryn Manheim and Sara Rue, along with local TV newscasters like hottie Phillip Palmer. It was no surprise that Duke took it down, though, and donated the winnings to Ante Up for Africa. (I get the feeling she’s really dedicated to that there organization.)

Taken from a post from Andrew Feldman over at Pokerroad’s forum, the first question that comes up, why wasn’t this considered last year?:

ESPN.com Announces New Web-Only Original Poker Show, ESPN Inside Deal

ESPN.com is expanding its poker coverage with ESPN Inside Deal presented by PokerStars.net, an original web-only weekly poker show on ESPN.com that will debut Tuesday, August 4. The show – co-hosted by ESPN The Magazine contributor Laura Lane, professional poker player and ESPN.com columnist Bernard Lee and ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman – will not only feature some of the biggest players in the game and cover poker news each week, but take an inside look at the lifestyle in the world of poker.

The three-month series will conclude with the completion of the World Series of Poker main event final table and along the way will interview and analyze each of the remaining nine competitors. In addition to original Inside Deal content, viewers will also see never-before seen hands and features from the World Series of Poker broadcasts.

Throughout the series, fans will be able to submit questions to their favorite pros via email, Twitter and Facebook. Fans will also be given an exclusive chance to participate in a sweepstakes where one lucky winner will experience the November Nine in a unique way.

The featured guest for the first show will be Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion. Moneymaker turned a $39 satellite victory on PokerStars.net into a $10,000 WSOP seat and then into $2.5 million after defeating 839 players in his first WSOP appearance. He is frequently credited with sparking the poker boom in the United States, often referred to as the “Moneymaker effect.” Others featured players for Inside Deal will include Daniel Negreanu and Joseph Hachem.

photo: Steve Hall

Now where’s a guy like Devilfish gonna go to work on his tan?

We saw them in bikinis every day … and though we didn’t get to know their names (at least their real ones), they had without a doubt become part of the WSOP family at the Rio. The hot wayward distant cousins, I suppose, roaming the halls of the Rio with free drink coupons and promises to poker players of nipples in the sunshine …

And now they are gone.

Sapphire Pool at the Rio has closed, after failing an “integrity check” by LVMPD.

We can only wonder what that might have entailed. Brilliant concept, though — stock a casino/resort pool with topless dancers working on their line-less tans (who in turn use it as a way to recruit customers to an off-premise strip club).

It also raises the question of why go after the Sapphire Pool? Were the post-WSOP shenanigans just out of control (after the girls had to make up for the cheap bastardness of poker players)? Do the Las Vegas cops have it in for the Rio? Or can we expect further “integrity check” crackdowns at the clubs themselves? You know, rough economy and all has made the, er, “intensity” of lap dances rather negotiable …

ANSWER: No, according to the LVRJ story (Thanks, F-Train, for the link). Harrah’s supposedly requests these integrity checks, and voluntarily closed the pool down on its own behest.

UPDATE: Prostitution and cocaine selling. (You naughty girls!)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/29/metro-prostitution-activity-found-topless-rio-pool/

(Does anyone recognize any of the mugshots as poker-hallway girls?)

OK, I’m definitely Tivo-ing this one:

The economy is definitely taking a toll on everybody, but unlike many people, Norm Zada took a chance and became a millionaire–by gambling! Norm made $100,000 in one year which he eventually turned into $100 million by playing poker. Watch him talk about his journey on TV Land Prime’s new original series “How’d You Get So Rich?,”- hosted by gossip diva Joan Rivers- which premieres on August 5th at 10pm. Multi-millionaire Norm is able to live every man’s dream in a lavish 11 bedroom house surrounded by famous neighbors and beautiful women serving as his employees.

WTF? That’s what MTV (parent network of TV Land) is saying … even though this Norm Zada character has no listing in the Hendon Mob database nor on Pocket 5s. So who is he really?

For one, he is founder of the implant-free porn magazine Perfect 10 (nsfw). He’s the same guy who sued Google (and won) over their use of thumbnail images from his publication. He’s also the author of a book, Winning Poker Systems, which was a follow-up to his not-so-heralded paper, “Theoretical efficiency of the Edmonds-Karp algorithm for computing maximal flows.”

Prior to poker (and porn), he apparently taught mathematics and computer science at Stanford, Columbia, and UCLA. And then he tried to start money management competitions called the U.S. Trading Championship and the U.S. Investing Championship … essentially the World Series of Finance? In 1996, he supposedly made the claim that balancing the US federal budget would lead to “economic disaster” — and offered $400,000 to anyone who could prove him wrong.

Zada, a Ph.D., is the son of famed UC-Berkley mathematician and computer scientist Lofti Zadeh, who received the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for “inventing and developing the field of ‘fuzzy logic,’ in which a system applies a quantitative assessment to inherently ambiguous ideas, thus providing a new paradigm to improve artificial intelligence and automated control systems.”

Oh, and he’s part Iranian.

Yeah, I almost forgot, too … was reminded by @ESPN_Poker:

Don’t forget, the 2009 WSOP debuts tonight on ESPN at 8 p.m. with the $40,000 no-limit hold ‘em event

We’re way past complaining that ESPN is showing only four events, right? Because I’ll be missing tonight’s episode, and I’ll be honest … I might not even set the Tivo were it a $1,500 donkament.

OK, I’m lying … I’m not setting the Tivo for this one either. Will catch it on a rerun, I’m sure. Spoiler alert: Vitaly Lunkin wins.

What I would wanna watch, personally … Any PLO $5k or higher, any Omaha Hi-Lo (because I really think I’m starting to learn that game), and No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Single-Draw, especially were Phil Ivey to make the final table.

This season, as we know, is going to be all about the main event, which we can only expect by the extra weeks to be more of a reality TV-type experience. And then of course the final table being semi-live … yes, live poker is often pretty good, and I look forward to seeing ESPN’s improvements on their second go at the November Nine.

Seriously, not trying to hate on ESPN’s WSOP coverage by letting you know I don’t really care about tonight’s show. On the contrary, props to them for recognizing that poker-on-TV coverage continues to evolve, and they need to mix it up a bit to stay relevant. But I do wonder how knowing this, knowing the role TV plays in getting pros to pony up the bigger buy-ins and online sites to pony up patch-wear overlays, might affect future WSOP tournament schedules.

UPDATE: OK, admittedly I am getting a bit more interested, and see how the $40k will presumably set the stage for the main event reality show after reading this and watching the teaser for Episode 2:

Gotta say, wanna make fun of Tom, but his analysis seems pretty good and spot on as they’re down to heads-up — Calvin vs. Randy — in the Washington State Poker Championship:

http://CPC.tv/watch.php

UPDATE: Calvin wins. For now, the best criticism I’ve got is … Not quite the excitement of Harry Caray announcing a grand-slam in the bottom of the 9th at Wrigley. Note to Tom: Next time, consider more Budweiser.

That’s what PokerListings says:

“We’ve been concentrating on Rounders 2 lately; Ideas are percolating,” [David] Levien told PokerListings. “It’s great to know that all of the original players want to come back and do another one.”

Our good friends at Betfair have released the betting lines — already moving — for the final table of the WSOP main event. Current market numbers:

Darvin Moon – 4.2
Eric Buchman – 5.8
Steven Begleiter – 7.2
Phil Ivey – 8
Jeff Shulman – 8
Joseph Cada – 16.5
Kevin Schaffel – 17.5
James Akenhead – 19
Antoine Saout – 21

Bodog’s lines are a tiny bit different, at least at the top:

Darvin Moon – 17/10
Eric Buchman – 3/1
Phil Ivey – 4/1
Jeff Shulman – 4/1
Steven Begleiter – 4/1
Joe Cada – 10/1
Kevin Schaffel – 12/1
Antoine Saout – 12/1
James Akenhead – 22/1

Am I the only one who thinks being chip leader is virtually a kiss of death?