Check it out:

Then buy a T-shirt.

The big tournament going on right now is the Mohegan Sun $5k main event … make the the NAPT-Mohegan Sun main event … make that the PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event.

To some extent, this was a proof-in-the-pudding tournament for the fledgling-but-promising North American Poker Tour. They pulled off a total hit a couple months ago in Las Vegas at the Venetian … but that was in Las Vegas, where most of the pros live and tourists love to travel to — this is Uncasville, Connecticut! But still … turned out Mohegan Sun has proved that NAPT events can indeed draw enough top-rank talent across the country for a $5k event worthy of televising on ESPN2.

Even Full Tilt showed up — and not just the red pros, but team pro, too, including Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan.

The event set Mohegan Sun records for both attendance and prizepool. They got 716 players … more than 100 of whom will chop up nearly $3.3 million … and top prize is a handsome $750k.

Follow the live updates and chip counts here.

Pauly’s there, too … holy fugk, the event even drew Tao coverage — surely it’s gonna stick!

Click below to see what really does look to be a great payout structure.

P.S. David Williams is winning.

More…

Even Superman eventually gave birth to Superboy (or somehow existed in a parallel universe with him) and likewise, Full Tilt is welcoming their newest Team Pro, Tom Dwan, with a soon-to-be-released poker-noir TV commercial all about the self-discovery of Durrrr.

The new advert came up in our Poker Beat pre-game discussion, and @GaryWise1 offered a solid explanation of its significance:

it’s really the first time any post-2003 face has appeared in a commercial for any of the big brands. It may be a topic for a different show, but dwan has proved it’s possible to take one’s place beside the old guard

Here’s the ad itself:

You can find a more thorough and detailed analysis of the business behind this pre-release sneak preview at Wicked Chops here.

So many socio-political hot-spots right now you’d think the 2010 WSOP were being played in the Paktika region of Afghanistan. Poker’s legal quandaries keep growing … as the industry’s longtime adversaries in Kentucky have filed suit against Pocket Kings, the alleged dba for Full Tilt.

Here’s the actual complaint, filed two weeks ago in Franklin Circuit Court. You’ll see they spell out a host of alleged infractions by Full Tilt according to Kentucky state law against the citizens of Kentucky. And thus, they’re seeking to have all rake and player losses refunded.

More…

New show coming soon … “The Champions of Poker Commentary” — essentially a Best Damn Sports Show knock-off, but using poker pros not affiliated with online sites to shoot the real shit about the poker world for people who may or may not think poker hasn’t changed since that most recent rerun of WSOP 2003.

You know me, I want to lambast and ridicule any Tom Schneider endeavor — because that’s how we show our friends we care — but gotta say, this is pretty damn good. Very different:

According to Eric Ulis, the host of this in-development show, the current poker-on-TV offerings are a bit “stuffy” … and that’s where they supposedly come in — to talk about the poker news of the day in a different way. It’s all part of a derivative of Ulis’ Continental Poker Championship, and the plan is to film it regularly with this crew of Arizona high stakes pros — Tom Schneider, Hooman Nikzad, and Jesse McGinty — at the Gila River Casino Wild Horse Pass, just outside of Phoenix.

The Financial Times in London is reporting that a federal grand jury in Manhattan has been investigating Full Tilt Poker and is ready to indict the online poker site along with several players who represent the site, including Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Howard Lederer for possible money laundering and gambling violations. The article notes that FBI agents and/or prosecutors have spoken with at least two people involved in disputes with Full Tilt Poker.

Attorneys on both sides aren’t saying anything right now, but expect more news to come out when an announcement of possible indictments in the near future.

Start off your poker news-week by catching up with what the main topics of convo were last week. We all talk a little LAPT-Lima, the predictable plug-pulling on Bellagio’s Rebuypalooza, Bryan Devonshire’s recent score … and whether or not he matches up with the likes POWER of Dwyte Pilgrim. Bluff magazine’s Jess Welman steps up to fill in (nicely) for BJ … She, Gary, and PokerRoad’s new low-stakes columnist Ben Conoley talk about the sudden re-resurgence of poker on TV, and then I rejoin the crew to discuss the “retirement” of Mike “Timex” McDonald … apparently at age 20 he already can hear the clock ticking on his prospects for a fulfilling career.

Also … in an April 1st treat (ha ha listeners), BJ steps outside his usual fact-stat box to sub for Joe Stapleton and deliver the Tight Laydown. What-the … manager mixing it up in preparation for the World Cup. Tune in next week as Gary pretends to be Huff by wearing a tie on the air and I reveal myself to be Isildur1 and/or The Insider outs himself as @AsianSpa!

The Poker Beat
4/1/10

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As Stephen A. Murphy over at CardPlayer suggests, this news perhaps comes as a bit of a head-scratcher. But then again, poker players have come to expect high variance when it comes to state courts’ attempts to decide the issue of whether poker is a game of skill or chance.

Reversing a ruling from early last year, a Pennsylvania appeals court this week ruled that poker was more chance-based than skill-based, thus making it a form of “unlawful gambling” according to the state’s predominance test. The court voted 2-1, with Judge Robert Freedberg authoring the opinion. “While the outcome of poker may be dependent on skill to some degree,” wrote Freedburg, “it is predominantly a game of chance.”

The ruling thus goes against the January 2009 decision in the case concerning a private home game of $1/$2 no-limit hold’em. In that one, Judge Thomas James explained that “in conjunction with analyzing skill versus chance… it is apparent that skill predominates over chance in Texas Hold’em poker.”

The Poker Players Alliance chimed in to express “disappointment” in the ruling. The defendants’ lawyer has suggested the case will likely be headed to the state’s Supreme Court.

Read more about the Judge Freedberg’s decision over at CardPlayer.com.

Everest Poker, the biggest on-the-felt sponsor for the World Series of Poker, reportedly told Harrah’s officials yesterday not only that they are pulling out of a three-year sponsorship deal with the WSOP, but also that their parent company, Ultra Internet Media, is suing the WSOP’s parent company, Harrah’s, alleging breach of contract.

Fun! Now we get to see the types of numbers that Harrah’s, as a private company, would probably prefer to keep private … and we get to watch our friends at WSOP headquarters scramble for a new sponsor while, two months before the 2010 Series, they learn that an $8.4 million check they were expecting is not going to arrive.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

UIM says that in 2008 it agreed to sponsor the World Series of Poker for payments of $6.2 million for the 2008 tournament, $7.9 million for the 2009 tournament and $8.4 million for the 2010 tournament that begins May 27 at Harrah’s Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

[...]

UIM says in the lawsuit it paid the amounts due to Harrah’s for the 2008 and 2009 events, but that on Thursday it notified Harrah’s it is pulling out of the 2010 tournament.

UIM said that’s because in previous years Harrah’s breached the sponsorship deal when ESPN broadcasts of the tournament by an affiliate in France, television channel RTL9, failed to display Everest’s name and logo and instead featured the name and logo of Everest competitor Full Tilt Poker.

More…

Check it out … Pokerati gold-star commenter Johnny Hughes has a great story in Bluff Europe: When the Most Famous Gambler in the World was a Shill.

In it, he directly challenges Michael Craig and Jim McManus for their takes on legendary gambler Nick the Greek Dandolos, and much of the Chicago-Tex-Vegas history between him, Johnny Moss, and Benny Binion.

I have no idea who’s right … it’s all just old-school mob-time poker to me. My take on Johnny is that he’s a solid writer with proper respect for good storytelling, the game of poker, and historical narrative. He also can end up sometimes way off in left field, like any good Texas senior should.

I actually re-read the story upon noticing the publish date of April 1. But then, after re-re-reading, I found myself second-guessing my second-guessing, which i guess is the whole point of the piece.

A little self-promotion … check out the latest issue of Southwest Spirit magazine. The cover story is a feature on cruises. Scroll about 4/5 down the page; yours truly speaks as an expert on all things gambling … and give my tips to cruisers on how to enjoy the most bang for their ocean-gambling buck at not just Texas Hold’em, but also slots, blackjack, and roulette.

LOL, if only they really knew …

Pick up a copy in a Southwest Airlines seat back near you.

UPDATE: Cruisers beware of pirates.

The worldwide expansion of PokerStarszistan continues south of the American border… as the LAPT adds another stop — Lima, Peru. June 2-5.

The tour has struggled compared to other PokerStars tours … and has had to face obstacles ranging from policia shakedowns in Mexico to historic earthquakes in Chile … not to mention the political obstacles inherent with organizing big-money gambling operations throughout South America. But, apparently, PokerStars can’t be stopped! Seriously, when are we gonna see the Antarctic Poker Open?

The main event in Lima — which I hear is a beautiful, super-duper affordable country, btw — is a $2,700 NLH. One interesting thing about the set-up for the tournaments surrounding it is their liberal use of single-rebuy events. Solid idea, imho … it gives good players a chance to bounce back from an early bout with bad luck, while encouraging bad players to put a little more into the prize pool … but doesn’t discourage solid 1-and-2-bulleters from just avoiding the unlimited rebuyers altogether.

Meanwhile … haven’t checked the numbers yet, but word on the street from a reliable source is that Event #1 of the Bellagio’s Rebuypalooza drew only 21 players. Yikes.