PPA’s Executive Director John Pappas will be on Bloomberg TV this morning to “discuss licensing and regulating online poker” per @ppapoker morning tweet.
Will he give details on iPoker’s status on the Hill, or confirm/deny @ESPN_Poker‘s recent assertion that #reidbill is dead?
Watch it LIVE here @ 11:45am ET/8:45am LV -> http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/
For the final show of the year, Chops is joined by Attorney and poker writer, Dave ‘F Train’ Behr and Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com as they discuss and analyze the latest on the Reid bill and poker legalization in America. Jess Wellman provides the poker headlines where one thing is dominating the poker world. Tune in for the latest poker news, debate and the occasional Duhamel. For more information, show notes and an upcoming schedule, go to http://thisweekin.com
Released Dec 15, 2010
WASHINGTON, DC – Harry Reid went on record about the lame duck session schedule, telling The Hill, “we need to stay here until we finish.”
Whether or not “finishing” includes passing the online poker bill remains to be seen. What is clear is that the Reid bill is still on the table and continues to be revised, albeit quietly, as the Senate engages in a multitrillion-dollar left-vs-right holiday battle royale. But so far the only thing the bill has attached itself to is what is becoming, as NPR explains, a contentious race against the clock.
The Constitutional deadline for this session of Congress to close its business is noon on January 3rd, 2011.
It’s 172 pages and looks rather official, but beyond that there’s no date on it, nor any verification of the original source … but it does come from a presumably vetted Chris Krafcik … a reporter for Gambling Compliance in … er … St. Louis?
Have a look for yourself at #ReidBill v 3.0. Personally I’m resigned to thinking this bill is like that proverbial box of chocolates at this point … and I get the sense that the lack of info being fed to media is with a purpose, and thus suspect any info put out now could likely be misinformation.
BTW, be sure to tune in this afternoon at 4pm PT to This Week in Poker … where I’ll be joining the Wicked Chops crew and F-train to break something down.
But before you do that, be sure to vote for Pokerati and The Poker Beat here.
Pokerati’s DC correspondent, Scarlet Robinson, makes her podcast debut on the Bernard Lee Poker Show today to discuss the Reid bill. The show airs online on Money Matters Radio, 1120AM in Boston, 830AM in Worcester, or 970AM on Cape Cod at 6p EST/3p PT. The episode will also be available for download on iTunes | Rounders Radio later this week.
You can tell the conversation made Lee smarter by the time he got to ESPN studios in Connecticut for this week’s Inside Deal, where he and Andrew Feldman break down the Reid Bill and what it means for poker players whether or not it passes out of the Senate. Check out the latest episode of Inside Deal on ESPN.
It was a Happy Birthday for Antonio Esfandiari, as he made his first WPT final table in more than six years and defeated a stacked final table to come out as champion. The WPT events that take place in Las Vegas tend to attract the most pros because of the obvious attraction of not having to travel very far, and this year’s 5 Diamond was certainly no exception. The final six was certainly the most impressive collection of players in this or any of the last several seasons on the World Poker Tour.
Entering the final table as chip leader was Vanessa Rousso, who was aiming to be the first woman to win an open WPT $10,000 event in its history, and it seemed like just the stage, having made a name for herself at Bellagio by bubbling the final table of the WPT Championship back in 2006. John Racener continued an incredible year, following up a second place finish in the Main Event with this final table appearance (though the following few days weren’t too good for him). Esfandiari looked to work some Birthday magic and prevent himself from doing his usual disappearing act on the WPT, trying to channel his recent resurgence into hard-to-find success on the WPT.
Then there was his friend and fellow Victory Poker Pro Andrew “good2cu” Robl, primarily a cash game player but trying to find his place amongst the well known players following appearances on High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark and other high profile television shows. Anyone who watched poker when it first hit big will remember Ted Lawson and his infamous Pot Limit Omaha final table with Lee Watkinson, though several years on the circuit have produced some fairly impressive results. And finally there was Kirk Morrison, a former poker “brat-pack”er along the likes of Negreanu and Ivey in the 90s that fell off the face of the earth, a specter of a man who came out of nowhere (well, New Zealand) to finish second at the WPT Championship in 2007 and sporadically throw down some sick finishes, including two WSOP final tables.
Lawson was the first to go out, with Morrison and Racener following him out the door. The true intrigue came when play got down to three, as Rousso, Robl and Esfandiari traded the chip lead like a hot potato for several hours before time ran out for Rousso. Heads-up play featured an interesting dynamic between the two friends, who joked between hands but got down to business when it counted. The crowd was evenly split and added quite a bit to the atmosphere. After a lengthy heads-up battle where they traded the chip lead a few more times, it was Esfandiari’s KJ surviving Robl’s straight and flush outs to win his second WPT title and $870,000. [WPT]
22-year-old Australian online phenom Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis topped an impressive final table of his own in capturing the APPT Sydney Main Event, defeating the likes of Daniel Negreanu and Roland de Wolfe. Proving that you don’t have to come to the United States to be successful, Karamalakis topped an impressive year that included a win at the Aussie Millions bounty event and a runner-up finish at the Melbourne Poker Championship High Roller event with his victory in Sydney.
Negreanu entered the final table as the short stack and promptly lost a flip to de Wolfe. De Wolfe then lost several monster pots to “MonsterDong” and was the next to fall. Former APPT Macau champion Eddy Sabat made a nice run of his own before going out in fourth place. Karamalakis withstood the onslaught of amateur Ben McKlean and pulled off a bit of “presto” magic of his own, turning pocket fives into a winner on the final hand and banking a first place prize of AUD $459,510 ($455,000). [PokerStars Blog]
They made a chop, and then another chop, but when the dust settled it was Michael Woods taking home one more dollar than his opponent David Espanola to be technically crowned the champion of the latest Foxwoods Megastack event. Scarlet Robinson was there all series with Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum and Rob “veeRob” Perelman covering the action, and you should definitely check out this article that highlights the way veeRob and company cover this (and other) smaller events and bring plenty of attention to them. [Foxwoods Live]
Dmitry Gromov won the final event of the inaugural season of the Russian Poker Series, taking home $201,000 for his victory in Kiev. Details from our Russian correspondent are a bit spotty, but PokerStars has apparently found the last part of the world in which they didn’t have a tour and put one there. I, for one, bow down to our new alien PokerStarsian overlords. [PokerStars blog]
Clearly jealous of all the attention that Jess Welman has received in this column, PokerNews correspondent Kristy Arnett took it upon herself to throw her hat in the ring for “Best Poker Playing Member of the Media, Female (and in General, Really)”(c) by capturing the $55 MiniFTOPS Heads-Up title Sunday night, defeating a field of 4,096 on her way to over $31,000. [PokerNews]
It will be interesting to see how he represents the PokerStars brand, and if it gets us any closer to identifying him positively, but PokerStars made a very interesting move this past week in signing internet phantom isildur1 to Team PokerStars Pro. Expect to see someone dressed in a luchador’s mask and a PokerStars patch at a major tournament near you, although rumors are abound that his true identity will soon be revealed, potentially in an hour-long special airing in place of “the Big Game” on FOX where isildur1 will officially announce he’s bringing his talents to Gibraltar.
The Main Event before the Main Event (Regional Championship) is underway at the WSOPC Atlantic City at Harrah’s. Tam Ly is the chip leader, but “Bodog Ari” Engel and Josh Brikis are both in the top 10. 71 of the 352 who started are still in contention for the $118,000 first prize.
Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler made some noise at the 2010 Winter Bayou Poker Challenge Main Event in New Orleans, taking 8th for $8,800, with Tyler Smith capturing that title and $66,000.
Check it out … a new show from Jay Rosenkrantz and John Wray, aka KRANTZ of 2 Months 2 Million “fame” and JimmyLegs, CardRunners’ chief filmmaker. Their web-video series promises “high stakes, low comedy” … and as seen in the pilot episode here, it may be the most accurate (and funny) look at the degenerate side of online poker yet.
Seriously, LOLed for real multiple times. And more than 90,000 views after being up for just a couple weeks? Not even Durrrr and Jungleman draw those kinda numbers right out the gate. Might this be the show about poker (online poker specifically) that transcends Norman Chad and 2+2?
CR is a finalist for “favorite poker resource” in the 2010 Bluff Readers Choice Awards, too. Vote here!
For a good portion of last week, it seemed likely that the #reidbill was going to be attached to the tax cut bill making it’s way through Congress. On Friday morning, Politico reported that the tax cut bill had no such pokery verbage, but that attachment to that piece of legislation was “still possible” if Reid made “additional modifications” before the tax bill is voted on sometime in the coming days.
Other outs? The House approved a mammoth $1.1 trillion dollar continuing resolution (CR) bill H.R.3028 just last Thursday. The Hill discussed how the CR could be amended into an omnibus:
A CR is needed because Congress failed to pass any of the 12 regular appropriations bills for 2011, in addition to failing to pass a budget resolution at all for the first time since 1974.
Democrats plan to amend the CR in the Senate into an omnibus appropriations bill that has been crafted by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
That Senate bill, which is also being worked on by minority staff in an effort to garner enough Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, would provide about $19 billion more in funding than the House CR and would contain congressional earmarks.
The Washington Post featured the internet poker legislation on the front-page of their website on Saturday, and had this to say about the possibility that #reidbill might be included, in the omnibus -or- in other legislation:
Reid initially toyed with adding the proposal to the tax-cut compromise between Republicans and President Obama but decided against it amid concerns that it would further complicate that bill’s chances for getting passed, according to lobbyists and aides. The measure could be added to an omnibus spending bill or other must-pass legislation in coming days.
ABC News also talked about the timeframe for passing the CR in a report on Saturday:
For all the talk about taxes lately, the Senate’s only must-do issue in the lame-duck session is extending government funding into next year, a fight that appears set to take place late next week. Senators are up against a clear deadline: the latest continuing resolution to keep the government running ends at 12:01am on Sunday Dec. 19th.
-and-
The Senate is set to have its first procedural vote on the tax bill next Monday, so it is likely that the chamber will not take up the omnibus until Wednesday at the earliest. That would mean that both the Senate and the House would have to pass it by the end of Saturday if lawmakers are to avert a government shutdown.
The urgency of this continued resolution to the operation of our government is clear. Whether the fate of internet poker legislation rests with the same piece of legislation is yet to be seen.
Tao of Pokerati: December 9, 2010
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Pauly pops in to Vegas for the WPBT as Dan prepares for another day of quasilive-blogging Harry Reid’s online poker hubbub. But when Dan reveals plans to corner the last untapped market in poker with something called Pokerati Underage Poker — PUP — Pauly has to consider his obligation to call Child Protective Services. However upon closer analysis, he begins to see the potential in a tour built on birthday freerolls for teenage girls — and going after the next generation of real-money players before they can drive. Alas, Dan says now it won’t happen thanks to Harry Reid?
Subscribe to the Tao of Pokerati podcast in iTunes so that you don’t miss an episode.
Michael Woods wins Mega Stack Challenge XVIII
Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room
(photo courtesy of @WhoJedi, WJMedia.net)
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Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Results
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event – 265 entrants
Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
Note: Final four made deal – $30k each; $20k to winner
Note: Then headsup made deal to chop
1st: $40,048 – Michael Woods (was $61,692)
2nd: $40,047 – David Espinola (was $36,244)
3rd: $30,000 – David Hickman (was $23,392)
4th: $30,000 – Brad McFarland (was $18,765)
—
5th: $14,394 – Mustapha Mouttaouakil
6th: $11,696 – LeAnn Anderson
7th: $9,768 – Robert Perry
8th: $7,969 – Carmel Cambareri
9th: $6,699 – Brian Lee
10th: $4,883 – Shawn Maillet
This should be a big week, whether its days of explosion or fizzle. Some might contend poker has already changed just having gotten to where we are today — with US Senators actively engaged in decisions immediately affecting the way people play online poker in this country.
Though a bit more cynical than Howard Lederer’s take on the political game, Barry Greenstein offers his interesting take on how Washington DC works here … bits from an episode of Live at the Bike recorded on November 29, 2006 — shortly after George Bush signed the UIGEA into law:
Gotta wonder how Greenstein’s perspective may have changed in the past four years, as he has been at least peripherally involved in poker policy ever since he made a declaration in 2007 that we were six months away from legally mainstreamed online poker.
I’m at the Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge still, which is down to the main event final table. Pretty cool that you can see and hear what’s going on at the final table right now. The details on the players and what they’r fighting for is below.
Click “Watch LIVE Video” on the foxwoodslive.com website. There is optional new-and-improved HD video, live chat with the mods, chip counts/etc from @WhoJedi, and some occasional yammering from the guy responsible for recent hardware/software upgrades – @veeRob, Rob Perelman.
The cam is hooked up to a beam above the table, with a microphone duct-taped onto the felt next to the dealer’s right hand. This is streamed to their justin.tv/foxwoodspoker site. Slickest part? You can download the justin.tv app to your Android or iPhone and watch the table there, as well as chat.
Players do really seem to dig being on camera, finding ways to sneak in front of it and streak wave to mom, and stress about the fact that they might be shifted out of the limelight when the tables are rebalanced.
The overall effect is very good. The audio is clear enough that you can hear the table talk and under-the breath comments (and unfortunately so the chip clatter) quite distinctly. The video in HD mode almost gives enough resolution to zoom into the board cards. Players in the chat log frequently express that they want to know what the board reads.. but improvements for the much-requested “flop cam”, while possible, would potentially cause the Gaming Commission a bit of angina. @veeRob wrangled a scrolling caption bar to the streaming video, which displays the current blinds/antes.
Both Jay and Rob will be bringing their tech to the LA Poker Classic with TD Matt Savage in February, where they first introduced the cams last year.
Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Final Table
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event
10 of 265 entrants remain
Level 23 -> Blinds/Antes: 4000/12,000-24,000
Ave Stack: 1,060,000
Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
1st: $61,692
2nd: $36,244
3rd: $23,392
4th: $18,765
5th: $14,394
6th: $11,696
7th: $9,768
8th: $7,969
9th: $6,699
10th: $4,883
Seating/Chip Counts
1. Robert Perry 1,034,000
2. Shawn Maillet 433,000
3. Le-Ann Anderson 895,000
4. Carmelo Cambareri 277,000
5. David Espinola 2,023,000
6. Mustapha Mouttaouakil 1,026,000
7. Brian Lee 1,006,000
8. Brad McFarland 2,406,000
9. David Hickman 805,000
10. Michael Woods 685,000
Foxwoods Poker Room resident media guy, and fellow churros lover, Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum took time during Day 1 of the Foxwoods Mega Stack Main Event to ask James “jcamby33″ Campbell from Marlborough, MA just how he felt about the possibility of a #reidbill-induced blackout.
See what someone representing that elite minority of online players making the *serious moolah* has to say on the subject.
Soundbite->
@WhoJedi: “Are you going to Canada for those fifteen months? What are you gonna do?”
jcamby33: “I talked to the wife about this the other night… we might have to rent a house in Aruba, or someplace tropical.”
Other notable east-coast interviews from Jay are with James Wood and with WSOP 2010 run-deep guy Ronnie Bardah.
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Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker
Watch this interview I just did with Darvin now in early stages of Day 2 $1,000 +$100 at the Foxwoods Mega Stack XVIII where 39/265 players remain fighting for the top prize of just under $62k.
We talk Foxwoods tourney room, steak/Seinfeld vs. lobster/rockbands, his latest streak of run bad, and where he’s going to next (Heartland Poker Tour @ Red Rock in January).
Other plans may include a trip to West Virginia casinos with yours truly to the casino where he won his WSOP ticket in 2009 -> we are going *fishing*!
MASHANTUCKET, CT: Day 2 of the Mega Stack Challenge XVIII $1000+$100 Main Event begins started 11a EST/8a LV at the Foxwoods Casino here in Connecticut. I’ve been (living) here at the casino’s Great Cedar hotel since last Friday, after Amtraking my way from DC->CT in the wee hours of the morning, just hours after WSJ announced the existence of #reidbill, whose fate is still yet to be decided in DC.
I’ve split my time mostly between watching the action from the media desk, and railing iPoker from afar via CSPAN2. It’s occurred to me during my time here, that if #reidbill lives on to become law (or possibly if it does not and the DOJ decides to force the issue anyhow), this casino is exactly the type of entity best positioned to provide once work-a-day online players a comfortable home to grind out a living in New England.
In the event the blackout takes hold in a month or two, say around the beginning of February, iPoker players will need to find local places to play to make a living in live play for at least 15 months, according to the stipulations of the current bill. Used to making their own schedules, working in their underwear the comfort of their homes, and getting a trillion hands per hour – the #reidbill refugees will be hungry for daily tournaments under -say- $300, satellites into bigger live events such as WSOP 2011, and cash action. Perhaps this even will spell the re-emergence of some sit-n-gos here.
What makes me say that Foxwoods would stand to benefit, in particular? The tourney room.
Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room
(photo courtesy of @WhoJedi, WJMedia.net)
Foxwoods has a big|bad ~70 table WPT World Poker Room dedicated to tournament play. Cash games were in here once, and then it was home to some slot machines, before being revamped in September 1st of this year.
The tourney room just kinda a *nice place* to exist in. The ceilings are super high, with a lot of natural light coming into the room during the day, and groovy curvy illuminated panels above. They don’t have table service for food, but there is a deli right behind near the sports book. There’s lots of room to walk between the poker tables, and plenty of displays used both for the clock and TV display. Suggestion for improvement: get some throne-like chairs akin those used at the Golden Nugget poker room.
The location works well too -> after players bust out of the tournaments, they are be faced with these options.
1) Donk off a bunch of chips at the ~90 table cash room downstairs and hope to hit the huge big bad beat jackpot (quad 8s beaten)
2) Donk off a bunch of chips on the way out of the casino at SHAKE-BO! -> a craps-like table where people take turns activating a Trouble Bubble on ‘roids with pushbutton activators
At least the players would be able to do some of their work at home from their laptops. The Foxwoods Poker Room uses the ptseats.com reservation system, allowing the players to lock up their seats online.
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Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Day 2 Update
Starts at 11a EST/8a LV
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event
69 of 265 entrants remain [30 will cash]
Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
1st: $61,692
2nd: $36,244
3rd: $23,392
POI (Person-O-Interest):
Busted: Darvin Moon, Bernard Lee, James Woods (with interview)
In it: Spiros Mitrokostas, WSOP 2006 PLO final tabler – with 205k – midfield
Played other events: Ronnie Bardah, WSOP 2010 Main Event (24th)
Chip counts/seat assignments can be found here.
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Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker
Backroom Hold’em - Poker has long fought association with cross words http://t.co/1ApiZY97
RT @compncards: Iowa Online Poker Bill Passes Committee - Moves On to House http://t.co/9j87SAZF #poker
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.
@KhanNoaman I only tweeted links to PokerNews & @CalvinAyre articles re: #Montreal lawsuit & the YouTube video of the 2011 Mtl Open kickoff.
