Thursday afternoon brought a field of 596 players for the Commerce Casino’s $335 Million Dollar Guarantee Tournament. So far there has been a total of 1,688 entries into the tournament, with 3,509 entries needed to meet the $1,000,000 guarantee. The day 1c leader is Linh Le with 224,500 in chips. Notables among the final 27 moving on to Sunday include WPT winners Danny Nguyen (140,000), and Nam Le (109,000). Those who picked up some cash, along with another chance to play on Sunday include Eric Hershler and Minh Nguyen. You can find the full results for day 1c here.
Day 1b of the $335 Commerce Guaranteed Million Dollar Tournament drew a field of 563 players Tuesday afternoon, with James Pittman (victim of one of Phil Hellmuth’s classic rants, shown below) led the field with 311,500 in chips. Other notables returning Sunday include Michael Woo (101,500) and Mike Souza (89,500). Notables who earned money but who can try again for a top 27 finish include Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Hoai Pham. Play on Sunday for the 135 players remaining will resume at the earliest level that play ended on the opening days. At this time, day 1b has ended the soonest, on level 16 (1500/3000 with a 500 ante). The full results for day 1b can be found here.
Freedom must be protected everywhere it is threatened. The FCC has an opportunity to protect Internet users from telecom interests seeking to exploit them. This session will dissect the fight for an open Internet to this point and share strategies for building grassroots support to achieve real Internet Freedom.
The description of Bloch mentions his work with the PPA as part of a grassroots effort to protect the rights of poker players live and online. How much of that will be mentioned during the panel is unknown, but you can watch the discussion from 10:30am-11:45am PT on Ustream.tv.
Wednesday’s hearing on HR 2267, which would regulate and license Internet gambling, brought out strong opinions from both sides in over two hours of testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee. The next step in the legislative process is a mark-up of the bill, tentatively planned for next week where members of the Committee can add amendments to the legislation, with a vote to move the bill out of Committee and have the full House of Representatives vote on the legislation later this year. A couple of items from the hearing:
Bachus v Duke on Ultimate Bet scandal
One of the more contentious moments of the hearing was when Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) entered into evidence a two-year old article from MSNBC.com discussing the Ultimate Bet superuser scandal. That article stated that over $75 million had been stolen from its players. Duke corrected Bachus, stating that the figure was $22 million, and the entire amount was refunded to its players. Duke also stated that the scandal was a reason why regulation would be beneficial to those who play online poker so that justice could be served for the parties responsible for the scandal.
Disagreement among opponents
Another point brought up during the hearing was while anti-terrorism/money laundering consultant Michael K. Fagan, a former US attorney, was against all forms of Internet gambling. Meanwhile, California cardroom executive Tom Malkasian was also against the legislation, but he and his coalition of California cardrooms and Native American casinos have been pushing hard for intrastate gambling in California. Another Native American executive, The Honorable Lynn Malerba of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut was for the legislation, but the tribes had to be on a level playing field. Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), who is against the legislation, got into a war of words with Malerba, stating the legislation could threaten the sovereignty of Native American casinos.
You can watch the hearing at the link above, and read the press release from the PPA regarding the hearing:
With limited factcheck, we do have a little more poker-minded info to go on beyond the hedline and the TV news report:
14 arrested — “at least,” authorities say — presumably to be charged with traffic-ticket offenses. Though you never know with Harris County … they’d be up for Class A capital punishment there, I suspect, if that dang constitution didn’t get in the dern way.
Not clear on what the FBI’s involvement was here. The Feds generally haven’t gotten involved in these sorts of local raids throughout Texas. And in general this raid seems a bit peculiar as there supposedly hasn’t been any sort of crackdown for a few years, a Houston player tells us.
Some basic info about what was known as the I-45 South game:
It’s a very large game that’s been running for many years. They have $2,000 freerolls every night. Games running from 1/3 NL up to 5/10 on a regular basis.
Also a bit odd/lame … commentors in this news report seem intent on naming names and tattling on other games that may or may not be involved in the Houston poker underground but have yet to be raided. Cool raw video footage though, if you want a closer glimpse of handcuffed players.
UPDATE: A series of roll call votes will delay the hearing until at least 2:15pm.
This afternoon, Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing scheduled for 2pm to discuss HR 2267, a bill to license and regulate online gambling.
Five witnesses are expected to testify at today’s hearing (with links to ther opening testimony):
The first of five opening days of the Matt Savage-run $335 Commerce Casino Million Dollar Guarantee tournament drew a field of 529 entries Tuesday afternoon, with the final 54 players making the money. Each day 1 will play down to the final 27, with the day 1 survivors returning Sunday afternoon to play down to a winner. If you bust out early, you’re allowed to enter the tournament on another day 1, meaning one could cash in the me tournament up to five times. Notables already playing Sunday include “Miami John” Cernuto, Tony Ma, Young Phan and Shan Jing. The full list of results can be found here. More information, including structure and payout information, can be found at the banner at the top of the page.
That’s the word Annie put out about 10:30 pm last night, via twitter:
AnnieDuke Heading to DC tomorrow. Testifying Wednesday at 2pm in front of Chairman Frank’s Committee on his new legislation to regulate online gaming.
about 4 hours ago via web
Apparently it’s the real deal taking shape in DC. Annie, of course, has been in this position before and delivered admirably … and that was before she had faced off several times in front of Donald Trump in the Apprentice board room.
Still unclear how far the current package of poker-related bills can go this year. (Frank Bill, McDermott Bill, and think one other in the Senate but have lost track.) Not to be a doubter nor pose as a political Joe Navarro, but it doesn’t look promising in what’s sure to be a contentious election season when the three most powerful Dems in America (Obama, Reid, Pelosi) are kinda speaking volumes with their silence on the awesomeness — nay, the righteousness — of internet gambling.
Maybe that’s what this week’s hearing is all about?
Also from that same June 28 Time magazine article, here’s an interesting video sidebar about poker — and Texas Hold’em specifically — finally coming of age in China / Macau. You’ll notice the big presence of PokerStars there, too … a reminder of their role in building the “poker world” on a truly global scale:
Surely it’s got to be, right? And maybe not just for main events … I wouldn’t be surprised if this represents the youngest final table ever — for any WSOP event in history! One of the youngest five, for sure, I’ll virtually guarantee.
Eight 20somethings and one Gen-Xer (who happens to be the second shortest stack):
FILIPPO CANDIO – 26
JOSEPH CHEONG – 24
JOHN DOLAN – 24
JONATHAN DUHAMEL – 22
MATTHEW JARVIS – 25
MICHAEL MIZRACHI – 29
CUONG “SOI†NGUYEN – 37
JOHN RACENER – 24
JASON SENTI – 25
It seems the most prescient pre-game analysis might have come from a non-poker media source … specifically Time Magazine’s Dan Kadlec, whose article (“World Series of Poker: Attack of the Math Brats“, 28 June 2010) is now up online for those of you who didn’t get to read it in full when it first came out.
The November Nine Class of ’10 includes only two players who were 21 or older when Chris Moneymaker did his thing at age 27.
We were right … a Nguyen made the final table, as statistically we knew one would … of course there was no way AK was going to catch up with Matthew Jarvis’ QQ.
Episode 77: The 5:41am Finale – After an exhausting evening, Dan and Pauly capture the 10th place elimination in the Main Event as Brandon Steven bubbles off the final table. The November Nine is finally set and you get to hear the celebration going on the background as everyone rushed the stage.
Shortly after we uploaded the above episode, I stepped outside for a little perspective … and found some … with a bit more than I was expecting for an early morning close:
I’d say see ya’ll in November, but I think we all know we’ll be talking about lotsa things before then. Click below for the Nolan’s early write-up from WSOP.com:
For many of us here in Vegas — even when the WSOP is not in season — sunrise is often a sign that “it’s time to go to bed!” Tonight’s a little different, and not just because it started yesterday … here’s a view from across the highway, taken and twit-shared by @SavagePoker, about 20 minutes ago:
A security guard asked us if this was the longest final table bubble ever. “That’s a good question,” said Pauly. It’s by far been the longest we can remember. And while it’s possible such a 10-down-to-9 occurred back in the old days … I highly doubt it. It’s a testament to the value of making the November Nine, if anything, and ironic how it brings us back to the old-old days when poker tourneys were routinely settled over marathon sessions.
Episode 76: On and On and On and On with Benjo — Some four hours into the Final Table of 10, people are getting antsy about getting to the November Nine. Alcohol is wearing off and drugs are kicking in … causing some people to sleep on chairs and others to run randomly across the Amazon. (Everyone’s got the munchies, but the cupboard is bare!) Tony the security guard gets nervous about his staff having to go home at 7am, and the players … it’s call-bet-fold, maybe bet-raise-fold.
randompoker: RT @MeanPokerDealer: I think it's SO cool how you guys loop the earbuds around your ears so they're hanging there all not in your ears and stuff. I hate you. 55 minutes ago
We were right … a Nguyen made the final table, as statistically we knew one would … of course there was no way AK was going to catch up with Matthew Jarvis’ QQ.
