Some more fun stuff from World Tavern Poker Open this weekend … their promotional swag shirts feature the catchy slogan “Great Parties. Great Poker. Great People.” But beyond that, we saw a few other gems on poker players around downtown, including:

You know what they say … first rule of poker is “never fold”.

Chip, chair, beer … Nice! And the whiner shirt, I gotta think, would work just as well in the high-stakes pro world.

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Chad Brown, Liv Boeree, and some other stuff on this week’s show.

Will a Wall Streeter Win Big at the World Series of Poker?

Good article. Semi-interesting guy. Neato that the writer is in Begleiter’s extended home game and therefore has a piece of him.

Overall, the press coverage seems more extensive this year than last … I’m predicting growth in ESPN (and Harrah’s) numbers. Not huge (except maybe in Europe), but noticeably needle-moving. The diverse and topical nature of each player in the November Nine class of 2009 likely has much to do with that.

Not to get all Chicken Little, but while we’re a week away from crowning a new WSOP champion semi-live on TV … we’re three weeks away from at a ticking bomb blowing up in the poker industry.

Dec. 1 is the UIGEA enforcement deadline … and effective, appropriate policy wheels are supposedly in motion in Washington DC to get this theoretical D-day at least moved back. But if we fail, dare I say it, we’re FUCKED! facing significant new challenges.

Though I don’t have detailed-details — yo Mitchell, got a copy of the actual letter? — apparently banks are already letting their customers know that they will not be processing certain online gambling transactions, and even mention the UIGEA by name. Or is this just old news to Californians who have already had funds confiscated?

Mitchell the Razz Guy writes:

My bank wrote to tell me that they will no longer process these transactions:

“any wager which involves the use of the Internet, where such bet is unlawful under any applicable Federal or State law in the State or Tribal lands in which the bet or wager is initiated, received or otherwise made.”

The bank even updated their Deposit Agreement and Disclosure to include the UIGEA.

Again, I’m hesitant to presumptiously declare the Nagasaki to the UIGEA’s Hiroshima … but yeah … bing bang boom!

I just witnessed something pretty-dern interesting (new to me) … am at Binion’s for the World Tavern Poker Open 9, and saw for the first time instant replay used to help with a difficult floor situation.

WTP is one of the bigger amateur bar-leagues out there, and this is one of their two annual big kahuna championship tourneys. More than 10,000 bar-league players across the country competed for seats in this event, which started with a field of 188 … The top 8 all make the money … with prizes starting at $1,000 WSOP event entries, and $2,500 worth of WSOP dollars for the winner. They were down to 11 players when a dealer error almost seriously fugked things up.

Apparently it was a multi-way all-in, and at some point the dealer took a bunch of chips from one player to pay another … but he scooped in more than he was supposed to, and then mashed them all together. Floor got called over (Binion’s Monday afternoon TD, Alan, the guy in the Aikman jersey) and it was a bit of a nightmare sitch trying to recreate the hand to figure out who had exactly how many chips before and after the hand.

But tournament purity was salvaged when they could simply go to the cameras, and the floor guy could see exactly who had what and when:

They’re at the final table now … with eight plastic champagne glasses awaiting a toast for the money finishers once the bubble bursts … and because of cameras, all can know they did or didn’t get there fairly.

So many jokes to be made about BJ’s Guide to Women in Anything … but regardless, he hooked his pal @MariaHo up with a little cheat sheet to help her prep for her appearance on CNN (“Breaking into the Boys’ Club”). Click below to read it all — a glimpse at what kinda study goes into appearing on TV news as “yourself”, and a pretty good breakdown of a minority’s influence on the game.

(BTW, semi-related but kinda an aside … Kathy Liebert, arguably the most successful on-the-tables female in history … is currently in strong chip position at a final table (5 remaining at time of press) in a $2,500 Foxwoods event. While reading the BJ guide, you can follow her ride as we are on Twitter here.)

BJ’s Guide to the History of Women in Poker

By BJ Nemeth

HOW MANY WOMEN PLAY

1.  In major tournament fields (WSOP, WPT, etc.) women usually comprise about 3% of the field. There are no official stats kept.

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Annie Duke’s Celebrity Apprentice friendmate Brande Roderick is apparently sticking with the poker thing in some capacity. A series of $100 tourneys at Binion’s over the next few months include a chance to qualify for a Tournament of Champions … and the winner of that gets to spend the Super Bowl with the business-savvy Playboy bunny:

Shoot, I hadn’t even finished writing up my Amazing Race elim post yet … and already, Maria Ho is off to do a pretty major nationwide TV appearance … and it’s supposedly not even related to The Amazing Race.

She’ll be appearing on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ tonight at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT — as part of a panel about women in male-dominated professions. She is scheduled to appear alongside Suze Orman, Dee Dee Myers (the first female White House press secretary), and a neurosurgeon.

Here’s CNN’s teaser for the segment.

From a Form 8-K filed early Monday morning:

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In case you missed it … an LA Times business columnist (different than the guy who did the Matt Savage piece) brought “our issue”â„¢ to the non-poker fore the week before last:

Calling America’s bluff on Internet gambling
The U.S. approach to Internet gambling, which is legal in much of the rest of the world, is absurd. The activity is unstoppable, so let’s regulate it.

Writer Michael Hiltzik lays it out pretty good — right down to who has what interest in the billions of dollars at stake, the historic political principals in play, and the impracticalities associated with the unregulated, semi-legal status quo. Gotta like the quasi-wholesome, subconscious message the picture sends, too — seeing online poker positioned with Starbucks (manageable addiction) and golf balls (recreational pursuit).

While “our issue” hasn’t fully arrived until Glenn Beck starts chalking up a connection between Ace-Queen and Al Qaeda … this kinda ink does help the poker industry’s efforts to win hearts and minds of Americans who will give five seconds of thought to the matter or more revenue via safer+better online gambling/poker.