Jennicide comes on and discusses her new Red Wine-based diet / cleanse that you may have seen on Youtube and her twitter.  Looks like just getting drunk and making eggs to me, but she sets me straight.  John Gumption calls the Venetian, and Pokerati Dan explains what republicans are doing what in the Nevada caucus.  Drexel adds his insight and Reggiman brings the scotch (again).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Join us today as Drexel and I, Bryan Micon, have on Will “Poker Monkey” Souther on the show to discuss his ongoing feud with Beau Rivage Poker Room manager Johnny Grooms and his subsequent 86′ing from all MGM properties world wide.  Karina and Drexel give their account of the strip poker tournament they recently attended and Menachum gives his superbowl pick after going 0-2 in the championships last week.  Badguy23 tells us of a deposit issue at Hero Poker and peaces it out with us.  and I won $9k in a whathaveyou and almost got a Doug Lee ring.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t miss this 3+ hour romp of a Cold Call Show as Drexel joins Micon for a huge facial of DonkDown radio.  Jasmina or whatever from the Donkey Show in Oregon on real radio talks to us about Brandon’s advances.  We discuss the last 3 NFL Football games of the year with Menachum and talk SOPA and PIPA with Pokerati Dan.  We even leave a tilt message on the RIAA voicemail.  Karina calls with Cosmo buffet review and much, much moar!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Poker continues to gain ground on Capitol Hill! On Monday, Gambling Compliance reported some excellent news (click here, subscription required) in an article entitled Reid Says DoJ Opinion Gives Congress Incentive for Internet Poker Bill.

The article quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) as follows: “It [the Department of Justice’s clarification of its interpretation of the scope of the Wire Act as not including online poker] (will) give us an incentive to get something done. We cannot have a series of laws around the country related to [Internet] gaming, I know a lot about gaming. I’m a former chairman of the Nevada [Gaming] Commission, and I think it’s very important that we have a national law.” The article further states that Sen. Reid has confirmed that he is negotiating with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) on a federal online poker bill bill!

When articles like this goes public, lawmakers always look at public reaction. So, let’s all do our part and tell both that we wish for them to push forward with appropriate online poker legislation! Fortunately, we can do this quickly and easily.

More…

On Today’s DonkDown Radio we have on Michael Chow, Hawaiian Vegas Crew (HVC) member and O8 WSOP bracelet winner.  Reggiman and Adam Schoenfeld join Micon in studio as we crack a bottle of Highland Park 25, a fine single malt.  The show gets interesting as we have on Badguy23 and TMMLgay as we determine the status of his scammatar.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Join us this week on DonkDown’s radio critically acclaimed “The Cold Call Show” as we have Gavin Smith on as special guest.  He comes out firing and we have a spirited discussion about Joe Sebok, PokerRoad, podcasting, and staking Goldfarb… who fucked me by betting sports right after he begged for rent and food money.  Also a girl calls up thinking we are a different show.  Lolz.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jamie Gold joins us for an extremely candid interview about the rumors that have been circulating throughout the poker world since he won the 2006 main event (starts at about 67 minutes).  This is a must-listen to interview.  We drop some flavor of local Vegas Rapper Sam Bone Dean on you.  Karina Jett co-hosts as we also talk to the 11-year old jewish wonderboy Menachum and check in with Badguy23 and TMMLgay.  We also start a regular segment, the “Chainsaw Check-in” and we learn about $.01 slot machines and mashed potatoes.  Oddly enough I think I remember pranking the Tropicana poker room before we talk to Jamie Gold about his flophouse Tijuana debts.  OFFICIAL THREAD FOR THE JAMIE GOLD INTERVIEW SHOW.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On this amazing episode of DonkDown Radio’s “The Cold Call Show” Karina Jett joins us for the second half of the show while Neverheeb kicks us off with his tale of two Craigslist hookups, both at one point willing to “dome him up.”  Brandon and I tell the tale of the epic bender, Menachum drops his NFL picks on a sugar high, Allen Kessler and I discuss tipping and his Matt Savage twitter blockage, Pokerati Dan updates us on Brent Beckley’s guilty plea, Goldfarb got his shmekel waxed and is playin’ great, and John Gumption tries to get to the bottom of Tim Mix’s Venetian firing slush fund whathaveyou.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

What do you do when Drexel returns?  You host a show with him and Karina Jett, and call Sam Grizzle about his partner that got shot while you pretend to be drunk and allude to an extramarital affair.  Then you call an 11 year old Jewish kid for football picks.  Then you call the Tropicana to poke fun at their new “Jamie Gold Poker Room.”  John Gumption tries to get to the bottom of that fail promotion, and gets snapped off clean when he confronts the Venetian about Sheldon Adelson’s opposition to online poker, which Pokerati Dan sets us straight on before his cell phone goes DD.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

We spend so much time reading about poker legal developments here at Pokerati that we sometimes forget to share the relevant news before the cycle turns to something else … and then I complain that our readers here aren’t as smart anymore as they used to be? It doesn’t take a JD to see the flaw in my logic there. Thus, here’s a much-needed batch of recent highlights and hedlines to keep the incessant but important buzz in context … a semi-special link-dump, btw, brought to you by our new-good friends at LegalPokerSites.com:

First UIGEA Conviction in the Books The DOJ logged their first win on UIGEA charges — making the supposedly weak law thus far undefeated — against online sportsbook operator Todd Lyons. His arrest back in May 2010 shoulda been a big warning sign to American online poker operators (and players?) — and Full Tilt specifically — that the DOJ was coming to get them! [CalvinAyre.com]

First Black Friday Trial Date Set John Campos and Chad Elie, the Utah banker and PokerStars payment processor indicted for their role in online poker criminal activity, have a trial date in March … creating a tangible timeline for Black Friday cases and added pressure on the big fish the DOJ really wants — Isai Sheinberg, Ray Bitar, and Scott Tom. [Legal Poker Sites]

MGM Sues Poker Domain Squatters Just as Caesars sued (and won) to obtain the domain WSOP.com, MGM has filed suit to repossess the domains mgmpoker.com, bellagiopoker.com, luxorpoker.com, mandalaybaypoker.com, and ariapoker.com. Apparently the casino giant thinks they’ll have need for them soon. [VegasInc]

Barton Says Online Poker Bill Still Alive This Congress Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) gave a luncheon keynote at the DGLP, where he spelled out how his online poker bill is moving forward as a piece of stand-alone legislation and/or still could be absorbed into some omnibus bills. Pretty straight-forward, honest-sounding stuff as Barton even talks about his own live real-money play and admits to multi-accounting for play money on PokerStars. [Pokerati Soundcloud]

Adelson Balks at Readiness for Online Poker The poker masses got spun into a tizzy after Vegas politico Jon Ralston “reported” that Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson has been buzzing around DC that he is morally opposed to online gambling … and that age-verification technology isn’t ready yet. Ralston concludes that this could kill online poker’s chances in Congress as if Adelson alone is more powerful than the combined forces of Caesars, MGM, Steve Wynn, Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, Michael Gaughan, et al. Quick to cry, some poker players have begun calling for a boycott of Venetian Poker. [Las Vegas Sun]

Nevada Regulations Almost Ready While so many chatter about complex details of future online poker, the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board seem to be the only ones systematically moving forward with thorough, enforceable rules and regulations for online gaming. In one of the biggest overhauls to state gaming regs in history, they just released a whole bunch of revisions for licensure and suitable ownership that Big and Small casinos alike are paying close attention to. [gaming.NV.gov]

Fry Howie? Funny/sad, shortly after Black Friday I thought we might be seeing T-shirts that said “Free Howard!” not “Fry Howard!” But loyalty can be a fickle bitch when you eff up with someone else’s money. Hence this flash creation for players wishing to express their personal outrage against Full Tilt and Howard Lederer violently. [PokerListings]

UB Player Database Leaked Lots of offline debate over how and why nearly 3 million poker-player IDs leaked out. Work of a disgruntled employee or scuttling the ship before UB ultimately hits sea-floor? And will there be more such pressings of self-destruct? [Haley's Poker Blog]

Rest o’World: Cyprus on Crackdown, South Africa’s Open-Market Mind, German Pre-unification Some of the other key political moves from the rest of the world, as the future of legal online poker (and gambling) actively takes shape … the mediterranean island that isn’t Malta doesn’t have moral opposition, they just want their cut (kinda like Kentucky) … while South Africa continues its progressive-minded movement from staunch opposition to tolerance to active support of online gambling … all while the German province of Schleswig-Holstein’s acceptance of new online poker rules is so big it actually moved some major market needles. [Legal Poker Sites]

On This fun-filled episode of DonkDown radio I am joined by Hollywood Dave Stan to host a fun-filled hour and a half.  We touch on the giagantic UB data leak that dropped this week, where 3.something million user accounts and their personal data was leaked to the public.  We get a 3-team parlay play from 11 year old Jewish sports picker Menachum, and we discuss Goldfarb’s upcoming rendezvous with a female.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Security risks seem to be the name of the game this week, with UB and Bodog making headlines for all the wrong reasons. On the plus side, the $1 million One Drop Foundation tournament seems to be in good shape, and Pokerstars broke another world record for the size of their tournaments. Found out about this and more on this week's show.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Badge of Dishonor? Once upon a time the idea of Russ Hamilton wearing the scarlet triangle of Full Tilt Poker seemed laughable.

There seems to be a big gaming conference somewhere in the world every other week. iGaming, iPoker, internet gambling, eGaming … whatever you call it, lots of people seem to want to know how this real-money internet gaming thing is gonna work, or should work — and they apparently have specific questions about online poker.

Thus, a handful of policy-minded pokeraticos are headed to Washington DC next week for the Digital Gaming and Lottery Policy Summit. I’ll be speaking on a panel with Dan Cypra from Pocket 5s and Stephen Davis, CEO of IT GlobalSecure. Our topic (moderated by eGaming broker Sue Schneider):

As interactive gaming and gambling products become more sophisticated, so do fraudsters. Here panelists look at cheating in poker (particularly player collusion and the use of poker “bots”), the danger to players and the potential devastation of operators; how fraud is being effectively dealt with; examples of attempts to cheat (both successful and unsuccessful) and how they were detected/why they were not detected.

The basic premise I’ll be addressing is that not all cheating in online poker is the same. Ghosting, multi-accounting, soft-play, superusering, collusion, etc. are all different offenses, and a one-size-fits-all-but-friends approach to bankroll seizure and account suspension probably ain’t gonna cut it moving forward. (At least that’s what I’ll be pushing for various regulator and lawmaker types in attendance to consider.)

Our ole pal Tom Schneider introduced me to the idea back in 2007, when we left the recorder running for a Beyond the Table aftershow. Sorrel Mizzi was the hot name in cheating at the time … but Tom didn’t think his MAing with Chris Vaughan FTW was too terrible a crime, and certainly not the worst of all shenanigans beginning to emerge in online poker. This was shortly before Russ Hamilton had been discovered and subsequently vilified without getting any days in court, and LOL some of the things I say revealing that I still clearly subscribed to the soon-to-be dated belief that online poker could do no wrong.

Beyond the Table (Extra)
December 9, 2007

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

POKER CON? Lo Toney plays his cards close to the vest when questioned about Zynga’s entrée into casinoville and supposed disinterest in the future of real-money online play.

Wall Street is buzzing about a coming Zynga IPO — set for December 15, according to the Huffington Post — and what it may or may not say about social gaming industry valuations and overall US economic health in a more-global internet age. Expected to raise at least $10 billion, this hotly anticipated initial public offering (one born of poker, mind you) could well be the biggest financial news in the history of our beloved little game.

Big Casinos are paying close attention, of course. It’s a fine line these days between social gaming and online gambling, particularly in a multinational economy built on virtual currency. I spoke with Zynga Poker General Manager Lo Toney a couple weeks ago … he wouldn’t make “forward-looking statements” about the IPO, and as per usual denied any interest in the future of legalized real-money online gambling … even as the company announced further steps into the casino world.

Toney had just two big developments to push — Zynga’s second live tournament event (he was really excited about Zynga players getting to compete against newly crowned WSOP champ Pius Heinz) and the opening of the new Zynga Casino … starting with Bingo, remade to appeal to grandmothers and the “younger generation” alike, he says.

But beyond the promo that usually would have little appeal to a grizzled old Poker blog like Pokerati, we did at least get to touch on the recent removal of tobacco (and water bongs) from the Zynga gift shop, my personal addiction to the Zynga Poker iPhone app, and the advantages, challenges, and social responsibilities that come with being able to market your poker (and now casino) games to 13-year-olds.

Have a listen …

Pokerati Interviews Lo Toney
November 16, 2011

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

download

Even if Toney is totally sincere about Zynga’s indifference to the possibility of legalized online gambling in the future, brick-and-mortar casinos are still actively trying to emulate Zynga’s social gaming success. No wonder the company appears so well-suited for such a big investment in the next generation of poker player and casino patrons as they come of age.

The latest edition of DonkDown Radio’s hit series “The Cold Call Show” Adam Schoenfeld joins Bryan Micon in studio and Tri Nguyen is our special guest.  Tri drops made knowledge on our faces about real pokers.  Motherfuckin’ range and shit.  It was awesome.  We play some tilt-Thanksgiving voicemails from scammer Michael Clemente, who’s phone number is 954-871-7216

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.