While I hate to push down Dan’s post on the HardRock, here’s some video goodness from the Pokerati people who still give a damn about Texas Oklahoma.

Phil Gordon is still alive and well in the main event — and because he clearly doesn’t have his podcast priorities straight, I got to sit in for him on ESPN’s The Poker Edge. This was new poker podcast territory for me, as co-host Andrew Feldman made me talk about actual poker players and chips — as if we were tracking some sort of athletic competition or something. But in doing so, we actually get down to the brass tax of it all, and break down what this field size, blind structure, and remaining-player make-up means for various stack sizes going into Day 3.

Click here to have a download/listen.
36:40

Oh, by the way, ESPN also honors Raj Kattamuri as the 2008 WSOP Main Event-Day 2B Player of the Day. Go Dallas poker!

Not just for gamblers, of course … that wouldn’t be news. I’m sayin’ genuine free booze — specifically Stoli Bueberi, at iBar, just a few steps further yonder from the hooker bar, from 6-9 pm. It’s all part of a pretty cool traveling daily Las Vegas happy hour. Just thought some of you/Jamie Gold might wanna know.

photo: Jackie Endsley
Putting your last dollar toward a bad-beat jackpot may not have been the best career strategy for this guy.

Audio

I got a call yesterday at the WSOP from the Butler. I haven’t seen the guy for a couple months — not since me and my jiu-jitsu coach and heavy metal teacher got booted out of our sweet pad (pool table, poker table, dart board, 65-inch HDTV, Strip-view bedroom, fireplace/jacuzzi bathroom, no utilities) on the Eastside. We of course knew all was headed south when the Butler — the guy who set the whole housing arrangement up — walked into our casa unannounced to do a cocaine deal, and shortly thereafter got busted by The Boss (who owned the house, in theory, though not on paper) for stealing rent money.

(I met the Butler last year at the WSOP, as he was trying to sell his private concierge services to poker players and convince me to turn him into a recurring character on Pokerati.)

Anyhow, so I got a call from an unknown 973 number yesterday that I answered in the press box. “Hey, Dan, it’s John. Are you at the Series? How’s it going?”

“Um, uh, pretty good? We’re just getting rolling … so what’s up? Did you make it to Kansas City?”

“Yeah, and it’s not good. I’m calling because I need a stake.”

“Yeow, dude … can’t help you out. Wouldn’t know how to get you money if I could.”

“Western Union.”

“Sorry, man Have you tried Tom? His number is 602-97… .”

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One of the things I’ve started keeping track of with the poker bankroll is food. Just curious if I notice any trends on how I do related to what I’ve eaten, when I’ve eaten, how much I’ve eaten, etc. So far there is no apparent consistency … beyond that I either win or lose within 24 hours of eating … but I have been getting to sample a handful of Vegas restaurants, and thought that might be of interest to other poker players who, you know, gotta eat, too.

Yesterday I went to the ever-luxurious Sherwood Forest Cafe at Excalibur …

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Via our friend, Short-Stacked Shamus:…

In “Family Pot,” our intrepid trio (sans SitNGo Steve, who for this episode stood up and went) carefully interweave a number of anecdotes and observations thematically linked by the subject of family. Recorded Thanksgiving eve, discussion begins with a detailed cataloguing of various family traditions, most of which seem to involve tableware. While the phrase “somebody gets stabbed and there is rolling on the floor” is uttered, the overall tone here is in fact light-hearted. Jovial, even.

The conversational tête-à-tête-à-tête then turns to consider non-traditional “families.” Such as the one comprised of all of those poker bloggers presently assembling in Vegas for the big WPBT Winter Gathering. Concerning which, do head over to Tao of Poker and check out Dr. Pauly’s instructional post “Bloggers Invading Vegas Tips 5.0” (from 11/19/07). Add to list “never call a ‘post’ a ‘blog’ when speaking to Dan.” Not that any self-respecting poker blogger would. The tone during this middle section? Vaguely combative.

Finally, looking ahead to Christmas and the new year, the group collectively resolves to make some resolutions. And perhaps write them down somewhere. Here the tone becomes sentimental — even maudlin — as Tom, Dan, and Karridy demonstrate they, too, form a kind of “family.”

Maybe they should consider sending out cards this year.

Check out this week’s show. And ride the BTT hosts’ coattails along with me by emailing them at theshow(at)beyondthetable(dot)com and/or calling the listener line: (888) 820-8091.

You can read Shamus’ real poker musings over at Hard-Boiled Poker. Thanks, Shammy-Poo.

Ron in Plano writes in to voice his concern about the one thing that keeps him from enjoying his time at the tables in Oklahoma … where apparently the Chickasaw tent is anything but a sweat lodge these days:

winstar casino poker room is soooooooooo cold / i wear a turtleneck and a warm jacket when i play / dressing warm doesnt help if your hands are ice cold / complaining doesnt help either

Thanks for letting us know, Ron. This is especially troublesome considering that our plan to intimidate the competition on our next venture to the Great Poker North included wearing cutoff jeans and a wife-beater. Are you sure it’s not just you and your thin Texas blood?

I’ll try not to overdo this as Dan has posted much on this past weekend’s tourney; but I did want to give a quick summary of my tournament and a review of the tournament and casino at large.

First, my tournament. I made it into level 7, a little more than halfway through the day. I had a good starting table, with several players limp-calling and nittily letting there chip stacks dwindle away. The only problem was that through the first break (after level 4) we hadn’t busted a single player at my table; at the same time, almost half the starting field on our day 1 was gone. As a result, there were not as many chips for the taking. Even still, I was at 8400 (average of 6200) and feeling pretty good. I have not played a MTT since the Main Event (subject of a to-be-written post entitled “Supernova, or, how to donk away a money finish in the Big One”), and I was a little loosey-goosey early, but I managed to level it out and felt pretty good with a pretty good table image.

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Is anyone else watching reruns of High Stakes Poker right now? They’ve got some newfangled “Do you want this card?” text thingy where you can text-message in some card you may or may not want to see for an undisclosed charge to your cell phone bill.

So what’s the over/under on how long it stays, and whether or not it will reappear when Season Four begins airing later this month? Like seriously, is GSN’s greed in making a few extra cents off the text-horny worth ruining the best poker show on TV? Apparently so, because they’ve given whateverdafug game they are inviting you to play prime real estate on the screen — it covers up the chips and fingers handling them, and the side-game cards they’ve added are bigger than the real hole cards being shown.

Terrible.

UPDATE: It’s called “High Stakes Poker - Play like a Pro.”

Still annoying.

LAS VEGAS–Ooh, meant to tell you about Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi’s new deal as the face of Planet Hollywood’s poker room. Good fun to be had, particularly at the special Chinese Poker table, you can only imagine. Then again … though you gotta like the concept of pros-turned-hosts at brick-and-mortar poker rooms, I’m not really a fan of P-Ho, as Pauly calls it.

Click here to read the review I submitted to The Poker Atlas, in which I call this locale “my least favorite room in Vegas, if not anywhere.”

Click here to see the CardPlayerTV interview with Mizrachi that ignores the regular presence of horrible music/jackhammers in the background.

P.S. Wonder if my opinion would be different had two $60 tournaments (with re-entry permitted) and two 1/2 NLH sessions resulted in better than nearly $700 in losses.

RE: HammerWear

LAS VEGAS–There’s a sale at the Rio! That’s right, get your non-freebie swag! Last year so many T-shirts were being given away, I’m sure it was hard for the official joint to hawk its merch. This year no one’s here to give away the goods gratis … so apparel is being sold on the corner (like literally — prime location at the Amazon room crossroads) for $25 a pop. Or shall we say $17.50 a pop?

A few featured selections:

Wow. Kinda hard to believe that these shirts have the officially licensed WSOP logo, no? Oooh, Dead Man’s Hand! Pizz-izz-zashhaw! Don’t Hate the Playa, Foo! Booh-yah! Perhaps the worst shirt for sale — one commemorating Phil Hellmuth’s historic 2007 WSOP victory:

click to enlarge

These shirts have been on sale for about two weeks now … guess how many they have sold.

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This year, to cram in 55 events, Harrah’s added several 5 pm bracelet tournaments. I’ve been told by an unreliable source the new schedule allows players to bust from the noon (usually) No-Limit Hold’em events then register for the afternoon tournaments (usually) Stud, Omaha and Limit Hold’em.

Here is the problem, limit tournaments take a long time to lose players which means you need a good 14 hours to make it to the money with a large field (1200-ish) and possibly more with a small field (300-ish). Last year when playing in a noon limit event you could make it to the money by 2 or 3am, however, this year the door to the vault doesn’t open until close to the end of day two. Unfortunately, this prevents players from playing in the noon event the following day.

While having a NL event first provides earlier eliminations at a faster rate, limit events at 5pm are just a little too late.
IMHO.

LAS VEGAS–Here is the complete list of multi-bracelet years. This information comes from what might arguably be the best publication in poker — BJ’s Pocket Guide to the 2007 WSOP / Daily Schedule & Media Guide:

1973 - Puggy Pearson (3)
1974 - Jimmy Casella (2)
1976 - Doyle Brunson (2) Howard Andrew (2)
1977 - Doyle Brunson (2) Bobby Baldwin (2)
1978 - Gary Berland (2)
1979 - Gary Berland (2) Louie Lakewood (2)
1981 - Stu Ungar (2)
1982 - Billy Baxter (2) David Sklansky (2)
1983 - Tom McEvoy (2)
1984 - Jack Keller (2) Dewey Tomko (2)

1993 - Ted Forrest (3) Humberto Brenes (2) Phil Hellmuth (3)
1994 - TJ Cloutier (2)
1995 - Dan Harrington (2) Men “the Master” Nguyen (2) Hilbert Shirey (2)
1997 - Max Stern (2)
2000 - Chris Ferguson (2)
2001 - Nani Dollison (2) Scotty Nguyen (2)
2002 - Phil Ivey (3) Layne Flack (2)
2003 - Chris Ferguson (2) Men Nguyen (2) Johnny Chan (2) Layne Flack (2) John Juanda (2) Phil Hellmuth (2)
2004 - Scott Fischman (2) Ted Forrest (2)
2005 - Mark Seif (2)
2006 - Bill Chen (2) Jeff Madsen (2)

All that’s gotta make the 53.5 not all that surprising, right?

Aaron in Carrollton also writes in inquiring where to find a good low-stakes limit game to develop his chops:

I know this isn’t something you want to write about via email so you can text or call if you want, but I’m trying to find a decent limit ca$h game, maybe 2/5 or 5/10 limit. I’m going to Vegas twice next year (if the schedule lets me of course), once in January [...] and in the summer for the WSOP. But I need to primer my game here, so to speak, and really get better at a limit 5/10, maybe even 10/20 then go out there and see how I do vs. the better players.

I dont really want to go to card rooms since they’ve obviously been getting busted a lot, but shit maybe I have to, to get good. Let me know what’s up or who I should call, etc. Any advice on this? Thanks Dan.

Even though my first games I ever played in Dallas were 3/6 limit, really, as far as I know they are all gone now. Your best bet? Oklahoma. Or maybe Louisiana. I’m not positive of what they are spreading — but I am almost certain you can find a good 3/6 or 4/8 table at Choctaw, WinStar, and a few others to the North. Likewise for the Horseshoe and Eldorado in La.

If you were thinking you needed to get some tournament play before heading out to the WSOP at The Rio then now is the time.

The Mirage Showdown and WSOP Circuit Event New Orleans are two perfect festivals to attend.

While The Mirage is the first of the WPT Season VI, the New Orleans Circuit Event is the last before poker pros start filling up The Amazon Room to play for a bracelet.

For those of you that have not played New Orleans you’re truly missing out. New Orleans is a fun city with amazing food and Phil Gordon will be there giving a seminar.

I highly recommend staying at the very swanky W Hotel as it is directly across from Harrahs. Furthermore, New Orleans rarely hosts legal poker tournaments and you (Texans) can drive!

LAS VEGAS–I’m boondoggling in Sin City for the big fight tonight (FYI–smart money is on Mayweather going the distance, based on my poll of 3 cab drivers). I had basically all of Friday to kill, so I figured I’d play in the $550 at Venetian or the $1,080 at Bellagio. I’d heard the Venetian was getting much deeper fields than the Bellagio, and since the Bellagio tourney often involves some grizzled pros (like David Sklansky), I figured it was a better play for my money.

Upon arrival, I have to say once again, the Venetian poker room is spectacular. People are nice, dealers and staff are great, food is good, and there are about 47 million tables in a very comfortable room. I wandered over to tournament registration, where I was informed that the tournament usually has around 100 players. Okay, I thought, this may not be quite as big a prize pool as Bellagio, but it was probably a smarter bet. Plus, the structure is phenomenal: 10,000 in chips, 40 minute levels, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 100-200 with an ante, etc. I signed up.

Tournament time rolled around and I took my spot, Table 39, Seat 4. In seats 6 and 7 were two delightful, talkative ladies I did not recognize. Seat 3 was open. I settled in and counted my chips. As I looked around the room, I notice there appeared to be only 3 tournament tables going. So great, not much of a prize pool. As I lamented, Seat 3 sat down and I looked up to see Scotty Warbucks. Huh? What is he doing here? The prize pool is like $15,000??? He starts talking to seat 6, and it becomes apparent that she is Marsha Waggoner. Before long, their good buddy Kenna James stops by–Kenna is playing at the next table. If you are scoring at home, that’s almost $5 million in tournament winnings sitting in, what turned out to be, a 31-person tournament. What the hell is going on here?? Garcon, more gin tonics!

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So how badly does the historic great nation of the legendary WinStar tribe want Dallas poker’s money? “Lupita” in Dallas writes in to remind us that tomorrow is the grand opening of the new poker room in the great-big-tent across the river:

I’ll definitely tell [friendly Dallas poker guy] you said hi. By the way, have you been to the new poker room at Winstar yet? If you haven’t — it is surprisingly nice. Wood paneling, multi-colored carpet, its own grill — and very quiet, nothing but the sound of riffling chips. And HUGE! 19,000 sq. ft. and (I think) 46 tables. Tomorrow is their official grand opening — they’re splashing the pot of a random table every 1/2 hour with $500 in chips, giving away a seat to the WSOP, giving away (I think) 6 seats to the Red River Shootout in August, and also giving away a black Infiniti. But you probably already know all this. Anyway, I’m headed up tomorrow morning — hoping to get lucky and win one or two of those splash pots — and any of those other prizes wouldn’t be bad either.

I’ve only played in the new room once . . . when I asked for the 2/5 game, I was suprised to be led to a separate room with six tables in it at the front of the poker room. After I’d played a few hands, I finally asked the dealer why we were in a separate room. I was told, “This is the high limit room, ma’am.” I had to laugh . . . only in Oklahoma would a 2/5 game be included in the “high limit room.” But I tell ya, every time I left the room to go to the bathroom, I felt like Jennifer-Freakin’-Harman strolling outta there . . .

At any rate, you really should see the new poker room . . . don’t laugh, but it sort of reminds me of the Venetian in Vegas (the wood paneling). It’s really very nice.

Thanks, Lupe, for the info. And if anyone can sneak some pictures with a cell-phone cam … that would be really cool.

LOS ANGELES–So the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, Ca., really was an interesting place … and according to my research, I have concluded that, indeed, poker rooms would be good in Texas. (So there you have it, Texas legislators … you can now feel comfortable supporting legal poker in our state.)

The first joy was running into two people I know at the tables — one was a guy named “Paradox” … who had dyed his hair purple since I last played with him in Lake Tahoe. The other was Kaelaine (from PokerPages). Seriously, very cool how poker can bring people together from all over. Can’t wait ’til Texas becomes such a place. Beyond that, here is some of the other stuff that might interest you about The Bike:

• Strangest buy-ins ever. As mentioned before, the max buy-in to the $2/$3 game was $100 (w/$150 rebuys). The max for $1/$2 was … get this … $40! For the $5/$10 it was $300-$500, which is at least tenable to start, but really, not sure on the rationale here for limiting the amount of money put on the table.
• Amazing food. It’s all free of course, and it seemed a reason a lot of people went there. We’re not talking burgers and dogs … we’re talking Sushi, Italian, Teriyaki noodle stuff, quarter watermelons … fancy set-ups, and every table had at least one player chowing down.
• Holy juice. The tournament I played cost $335. Of that, $291 went to the prize pool. $35 was the “entry fee” and $9 was a “service charge,” whatever that meant. In total, it comes out to a greater than 13 percent vig.
• Mexican Poker. They had a whole little section — with four active tables — of something called Mexican poker. There was soccer being shown on the TVs near these tables (Go Chivas!), and most of the players, interestingly enough, were Hispanic. A few black guys and whiteys to boot, but they were clearly the donkeys in this game … which consisted of each player having three exposed cards in his/her hand. Lots of cowboy hats at these tables, too.
• Not-so-great tourney blind structures. Half-hour levels were cool. But an average stack should never be a short stack! Especially halfway through the event. Just my $.02, though I kinda understand — West Coast offense required — when the tournament starts at 7:15 pm and finishes around 4:30 in the morning.

Oh, the other interesting observation — and this would be important for any on-the-fence Texas legislator to see — though The Bike was clearly hopping, it does so without changing the landscape of the surrounding community. It’s like just another building — albeit a big one — that happens to be nearby. But the super-super majority of citizens seem like they could care less about what’s going on inside. And really, that’s kinda a good thing, I would think.

Go California poker!

LOS ANGELES–It’s true. I got booted from the Bike last night. This likely won’t surprise those of you who know me. As for those of you who don’t know me: Hey, I’m Gonz. Here’s what happened:

Yesterday afternoon, Dan and I ventured to the Bike to play some cash until the $300 + 35 NL tourney was set to go off around 7:15. We both sat $2-3 NL, which, oddly, had a max buy-in of $100. Dan killed the game. Meanwhile, the game killed me. I ended up skipping the tournament in an attempt to work back into the black. I won’t bore you with bad beat stories, but the true nut-kick came when my bad beat jackpot was counterfeited on the river. So I went to the bar …

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The Jennifer Harman Charity Event (photos)was successful and fun. For a $300 donation plus $30 the event raised $125,360 for the warm fury friends. The Las Vegas SPCA is a no-kill shelter which means if you lose your pup and it goes there you may just get him back. Shelters that euthanize will terminate your family pet after five days. It is expensive to house so many animals and it is up to the public to help these organizations keep up there great work. Seeing as how Jennifer Harman appeared in Card Player a few years ago with her puppy love, it comes as no surprise she would be hosting this benefit.

Texas funny man, Robert Williamson III, hosted the live auction encouraging his poker colleagues to spend, spend, and spend. In fact, someone purchased a pair of Robert’s socks for $500. Christie Shulman and Angela Brunson both bought a commissioned portrait of their pets. While Andy Black (another funny man) decided on a more contemporary piece of a rooster’s head. Robert Williamson declared the art work a portrait of his….a part of his body. Andy outbid himself until he donated a respectable amount for the portrait. Yes, that’s correct, he was the only bidder.

It was fun if you like playing in a tournament with a list of players like this:

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I’m not so sure what is classic about a new tournament but it will be held in a “classy joint”. Here is what I love about the Wynn Casino:

• Beautiful Poker Room without fake air freshener
• Wider buy-in range (I’ve seen 20k on a 1-2 game)
• Gorgeous Hotel Rooms
• Blackjack at the pool (with a lot of topless men)
• Easy access to poker from your room, garage and valet

Another bonus is the owner, Steve Wynn, the man that has always built a nice poker room (The Mirage & The Bellagio).

I will be playing in the limit event on Wednesday. I hear Marcel Luske and James Van Alstyne are already there. Should be a lot of fun with a tough field.

As a Texan, I’ve seen more than a couple large and promising poker tournaments fail to break the buzzosphere, leaving countless hopeful players on the rail. Not to mention the would-be recipients of the charitable breed of such events. Knowing the disappointment first-hand, I can’t begin to tell you how rejuvenating it is to know that poker is not only alive and well in one small Texas town… It’s becoming a King Kong, the likes of which this state has never seen.

About this time last year I received a call from Kyle, a recent poker acquaintance who has since become a good friend. Kyle was inviting me to drive a couple of hours out of my beloved city of Fort Worth to join him and “some friends” for their annual poker tournament. I am almost immediately disinterested. See, I’m a city boy and clearly lack the pick-up truck and most certainly the accompanying gun-rack which I believe might be required to even step foot inside this tournament. But Kyle assures me that I won’t be the only urbanite in the house and so I move on to more important matters.

“What’s the buy-in?”, I ask.

“$350″.

“Wow”. I am impressed. “Okay, so how many do you have so far?”

“Almost 200 players as of right now”.

“…No shit.”

“No shit.”

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A concerned reader writes in wanting to know:

hey…you did not mention to the poker world that [tag]Clonie[/tag] would be on Poker After Dark this week. did you not know this yourself or has the flame died and you just don’t care?

Ed

Ed, I was not aware that she was on until I watched the show myself last night. It looked like she was getting crappy cards and playing them well. It also occurred to me that this was her first time playing in an ultra-personality driven show. I mean sure, she has made plenty of TV appearances, but not one like this … one that follows the High Stakes Poker model, putting the real personalities (sometimes under pressure) on display. Two-and-a-half hours of relatively unedited interaction can be rather challenging, I suspect. But so far …

I think she’s doing great … and I can’t help but totally dig the cowboy hat and cleavage cute shirt. Really brings out her tingly charm.

CORRECTION: **Two-and-a-half hours** should be five hours … assuming she makes it that far. Based on the previews for tonight, it looks like she successfully manhandles her sparring match with Tony G and will make it to Friday heads-up against Chris Ferguson. We’ll see.

UPDATE: According to Sang, we apparently were watching two different shows. He claims she “got hammered” by Tony G …

Looks like Caesar’s Palace is hopping with tournaments. Just this past weekend Brandon Cantu and his partner Alexia Standard won the Caesar’s V-day Couples event. And speaking of partners…Jennifer Harman’s husband, Marco Traniello, scored an entry into the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Event to be aired in April. Thanks to Lisa Wheeler at CardPlayer for giving Marco his own identity.

But wait! There’s more. Caesar’s not only has one of the best tournaments on the strip, they now have a ladies night tournament every Tuesday. And if that wasn’t enough to get your boots dusty, the WSOP Circuit Event hits Caesars April 22 - May 2, 2007.

I once heard a rumor that the WSOP would move from The Rio to Caesars. Unfortunately, it was only wishful thinking. But you never know…

Golly, it seems only like yesterday I was sitting in Cafe Roma wishing Caesar’s had a poker room.

Austin Pete is heading to Biloxi, MS, and is looking for the lowdown on poker action in the home of “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin:

Either of you played at the Grand or at Beau Rivage? Anyone better than the other? Not a lot of info on thepokeratlas.

In defense of our good friends at TPA, they are still relatively new and building up their database of reviews. But perhaps for now some Pokeratizens can share their Mississippi insight with Austin Pete …

Therese in Las Vegas Fairview writes in with her own report on the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK:

Dear Dan,

I am so happy going to Oklahoma instead Louisana. I paid the $25 for the trip. One hour on the bus. Better than 4 or 5 hours. They gave me $20 cash & the Buffet $9 was free. Lots of machines. Very friendly. In an half hour played $10, $40 ahead. Of course I couldn’t stop. I could, but I couldn’t find the Bingo room. I did asked & the person didn’t know. Finally later I asked at the lobby, it was in another building. Next time (Mar. 3 another trip) I’ll play Bingo. I think I lost about $10. I’ll be able to go with Uncle Ray & Aunt Sue or Aunt Marcie & Uncle Bob.

Love, Grandma

Sounds like you had a fun trip, Grandma, despite the negative bankroll impact. Thanks for letting us know. I’ll mark my calendar for March 3, in case you need a ride. And don’t forget … Bingorati! … just sayin’ … I know people who can hook you up.

Re: Over the River and through the Woods

My grandmother’s senior-citizens church group made it across state lines into Oklahoma this week. Sounds like she has found some new stomping grounds:

From: Danielle Michalski
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 11:18 AM
To: Dan
Subject: GRANDMA - CASINO

Dan,

Just wanted to let you know that yesterday Grandma went to the Choctaw Casino and came back home very excited. She said that it was very very nice there and that she would go back.

Love Mom

So glad to hear! Coming from a Las Vegas transplant who vacationed in Laughlin while pursuing an advanced degree in nickel slots, freebie giveaways, and comps … that’s quite an endorsement for the set-up in Durant. (And, of course, the pro-gambling concept amongst conservative politicos.)

Calling all Pokeratizans. Will be in Tucson for the next three nights, and I’d love any input on a place to play there. I seem to recall someone (think it may have been on pokerblog) reviewing a couple of places there. Any input would be appreciated. And, I’ll let anyone have a percentage of my action if they like (since I’m running so good and all).

(LOS ANGELES)–First off, only compliments to the Commerce Casino for the way they run a poker game. The tournament structure is excellent and the dealers are outstanding. Even though the Commerce lacks the luxuries and energy of the Bellagio, their staff is personable and professional. It’s almost like a large professional home game. Everyone seems to know everyone there.

I had fun catching up with Amir Vahedi, who busted out early in the limit event. Chatted with Cyndy Violette (correction: she does not have black streaks). Caught up with fellow mom Karina Jett (she says “hello,” Dan). And the Asian guy with black hair that hit his three outs, knocking me out of the satellite was MINH NGUYEN not Men “the master” Nguyen. It is easy to confuse the two since Men Nguyen translates into John Smith. Did I mention Minh’s guilt? Before finishing the satellite he came over to me with a piece of cake. And by the way…no, I am not a whining player. I take it like a man professional. As for the bust in the limit event…I played with CAMPBELL DAVIS from Dallas.

It looks like I won’t be winning a seat into the WPT main event. My stack was crippled after my A7 was crushed by Mary Jones’ A3. (She won the 2006 WSOP Ladies event.) But our table broke and I quickly grew my 400 into 3200 in three hands. Thanks to a new table where I was no longer receiving 72 (hence the beautiful but dangerously stupid A7 play).

I picked up AK of hearts under the gun and made a standard 3x raise. It folded to the big blind who decided to raise me all in with her AQ offsuit. I flopped a king, she turned and rivered queens. Goodbye Commerce. I busted from the LA Poker Classic Ladies tourney at 10 pm and was back in Houston by 11 am this morning. Whew!

I missed the first segment of the premiere of High Stakes Poker: the third season. But lo and behold, the guys over at Wicked Chops have just that much! Can we say perfect?

Check it out yourself:

You’ll see Jamie Gold betting into Doyle Brunson’s nuts on the very first hand. The game starts out tough. And Gabe Kaplan, he refers to the Matusow shirt I dug as something from a “gay beer garden.” And at the end of the above video, he even talks about the fashion trend sure to be started by Jamie Gold’s square of tape. (Dude, Gabey, we are so in sync! We should be together. Love, Stan.)

Question: do you think GSN sees the airing of their episodes on YouTube as good (free advertising/promotion) or bad (copyright infringement)? Mark Cuban, of course, wants to know.

So wow, I almost forgot! Today [ed note: last night] is the premiere of “High Stakes Poker: the Third Season” on GSN. I can’t believe Sang’s missing this! (He’s on an unexpected date with a stripper right now.) This show is clearly the best poker on TV right now — and there’s been a tantalizing little buzz about what’s in store for this go-round. Real people we want to get to know. Real poker we want to play.

At tonight’s table (clockwise): Doyle Brunson, Mike Matusow, Jamie Gold, Daniel Alaei, Sean Sheikhan, Victor Ramdin, William Chen.

8:11 pm — Hmm, my guess is that everybody is gunning for Jamie Gold, and America can’t wait to see him get torn to bits … both poker-wise and personality-wise. Yep, that’s what this episode has got to be about. He knows it, and most of us know he knows it … and presumably he knows we know he knows it.

8:13 pm — Hmm, I think I like Matusow’s Guayabera … white, with flowery-red vertical lines. Gotta get me one of those.

8:14 pm — Ooh, Bill Chen … awesome. Yep, he looks the most out of place at this table. Remember that super-smart, super-dorky Asian math whiz who tried to tell particle physics jokes in high school? Like that guy … right down to the glasses and clump of hair at the back of his head that defies the square root of gravity times pi.

8:15 pm — I bet Chen knows pi to way more digits than Doyle Brunson.

8:15 pm — The way they have the logo, with “the third season” written in a smaller font below, suggests that High Stakes Poker is going for a “Six Feet Under” vibe.

8:19 pm — Jamie Gold is wearing a black hat with a logo covered up by a square of black tape. Looks kinda cool! You know, that should be a knew hipster fashion thing … hats with an “insignia” consisting of a patch of tape (or fabric) the same color as the hat itself. What a statement! Commentary on corporate legal interests in the age of TV-celebrity narcissism and untested internet laws. It could be like the new Malcolm X hat. Genius.

More…

I just got an email from Harrah’s (by proxy) asking my opinions on how they handled the media at the WSOP. I’ve long contended that despite the difficulties this year, the real test of Jeffrey Pollack and his cronies will come in 2007 — in seeing how they handle the issues that became clearly apparent.

Over at PB I’ve raised the question of whether or not this email is an indication that the World Series has hired a new PR firm. But regardless, the fact that they are seeking my opinion is scary suggests they are taking steps in the right direction. The survey asked us about everything from bathroom convenience to food quality … and even inquired about the credentialing process and rules within the tournament area. Click below to see my answers to the follow-up questions on items I rated “poor” or worse:

More…

Austin Pete is headed out of town for work, and writes in:

I have a deposition in Reno. What is the best casino to stay at there?

Peter, I do not know. I have never played in Reno — have just driven through on the way to Lake Tahoe. I guess you can always go with the Harrah’s property out there. I hate to say that, really, but kinda like McDonald’s isn’t the best burger in the world, at least you know what you’re gonna get. You know … slightly above-mediocre room, overpriced food, terrible comps, shoddy treatment by casino personnel, and generally decent low-stakes action.

Actually, for anyone about ready to hit the road, the best way to find a game outside of Vegas is probably The Poker Atlas (click for Reno). The RV-travelers behind this site are still building up the database of player-generated reviews, but they’ve got pretty much every legal poker room in the U.S. mapped out, so it’s a good place to start your search. It’s how I found out I’ll be spending my Thanksgiving weekend at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, IA.

UPDATE: Austin Pete writes in with more:

Thanks for the post. I can’t get on there b/c of work blockage. In response to some of the posts, thought I would let you know that the Reno Hilton is no longer the Reno Hilton. It is now the Grand Sierra something or other.

Pokerati brother-in-law Will in Omaha writes in to inform us about one of his former students who’s apparently in good with the poker gods. Recent UT grad Jess Newman earned more than $160k by winning the $3,000 Festa al Lago event. Very well done.

OK, so maybe this took place almost a month ago … but hey, it takes time for the evangelical Christian blogosphere to link up with the poker blogosphere, so hopefully we can be forgiven for the reporting delay.

By the way, if you are ever a little curious about Godstuff, I strongly encourage you to read Will’s new book … The Kingdom of Couches: Fighting for Communal Faith in an Individual Age. While I still contend he should have gone with my suggested title (Aces Full of Kingdoms), it’s a good read … better than Sklansky, that’s for sure. Seriously, even if you’re a card-carrying heathen and doubt the probability of life after poker … you’re still likely to be entertained by the antics of a born-again blogger who tries to save souls during Spring Break beach parties and prays with cheap hookers in the New York City subway system. … only to discover Christianity itself might need a little saving.

ALT HED: Upwardly Mobile

The quality of poker coverage continues to get sicker improve … before you know it, we might actually be learning the names of European pros. Current estimate of first prize for the main event of the 2007 WSOP: €4.8 million.

Election Day is upon us. Don’t know about you, but we’re still a little on tilt here, politically at least … so the plan is to vote aggressively. Below are candidates for public office who have affirmatively shown themselves to be on the right side of poker. Remember, it’s your duty as a citizen/player to remain mindful of position as you cast your ballot.

NOTE: This is a growing list, so please let us know via comment or email of any other candidates who might deserve either a Pokerati endorsement or electoral scorn for their specific poker-related actions. For a detailed list of those whom you should vote against for their clearly disrespecting the game and/or close ties to known anti-poker extremists, click here. The PPA also contributed to this report.

The Pokerati Voters’ Guide

A non-partisan, informational reference
for non-felons and legal immigrants in America

November 2006

Texas

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GOVERNOR

Kinky Friedman (I) — all about building casinos for the sake of education and personal freedom; has repeatedly mentioned Texas Hold’em by name.
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I) — state comptroller / feisty grandma recognizes the dollars and sense behind legal gambling.

US REPRESENTATIVES

Ron Paul (R) — District 14 — spoke vehemently against the Goodlatte Bill on the House floor/YouTube.
Charles Gonzalez (D) — District 20 — voted against Goodlatte bill; sponsoring bill to study internet gambling.
Sheila Jackson Lee (D) — District 18 — voted against Goodlatte bill; sponsoring bill to study internet gambling.
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) — District 30 — voted against Goodlatte bill; sponsoring bill to study internet gambling.
Ted Poe (R) — District 2 — voted against Goodlatte bill.
Silvestre Reyes (D) — District 16 — voted against Goodlatte bill.

STATE REPRESENTATIVES

Rafael Anchia (D) — District 103 — Lavigne in Austin and TBR tell me he’s good poker people.

JUDGES

Bruce Priddy (D) — Dallas County, 116th Civil District — have actually played poker with him before; loves the game; proven ability to generally make good decisions (which seems important for a judge).

DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Terri Moore (D) — Tarrant County — sources say she wanted to throw a big-dollar poker tourney as a campaign fundraiser; reportedly dismayed to discover illegality of rebuys.

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THACKERVILLE, Okla.–Made my first journey to the much ballyhooed WinStar poker room yesterday. Some of you may or may not know this (Great Uncle Frank’s long-kept family secret) but I am pretty sure I have some WinStar blood in me. It’s time for us to be proud of our Native American roots! The WinStar tribe gave so much to this country before they had their land commandeered by Christopher Columbus and Microtel.

Anyhow, so WinStar Casino … Dallas’ nearest legal poker room, some 80 miles from downtown up a presumably booming corridor of Far North I-35 … in a monstrous industrial-strength circus fort with 15 tables set amid faux Roman architectural elements. Sat down for some 11 a.m. $1/$2 NL hold’em at a fresh table that I found very playable for about three hours.

Buy-in: $100
Cash out: $1,083
Net: +$983

Good cards, good flops, easy folds … Decent coffee and $2 Red Bulls.

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The first thing certain readers might notice upon stepping inside Merkow’s are the two flat-screen TV’s hanging over the bar. No, this isn’t a sports bar, and in fact the HDTV’s are only a minor part of the decor. But they sure do look familiar … ah, right … these used to hang in The Lounge (2005-2006). In fact, when the TVs were yanked out in the spring of this year, it was a sign of things to come in the underground poker scene.

Without going into too many details, Gregg Merkow — the most successful Dallas pro at the 2006 WSOP (save for maybe TJ Cloutier and expat David Williams) — at some point decided that he was gonna stick to trying to make his money on the table; and he was gonna hedge his bets by moving those TVs into a business with a less predictable but more reliable rake. And considering he already had found great success with the Hurricane Grill, why not just step that up a notch … next door, at the site of the old Greenville Bar & Grill?

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The Ed we all know and love (dude, don’t take that as an invitation to get gay on me) points our attention to the latest review of Tom Schneider’s book. The writer, Earl Burton, apparently thinks Tom’s ranking as one of the top 60 tournament players in the world is impressive. We, however, expect much more from our defending Pokerati Invitational champion, so he will continue to get the ribbing he deserves … at least until he can make a final table and finish in the top three.

LAS VEGAS–While Pokerati is working hard to bring you some semblance of coverage of the WSOP main event final table — damn, one of my Iggy horses just went out in 8th place (Boo, Swedes!) — and trying to direct the coverage on PokerBlog … there’s another place where you can find some well-written semi-live blogging of the final table … perhaps shockingly, via the Dallas Morning News.

Check out Manny “the Minnow” Mendoza as he discovers that watching 18 hours of poker and trying to cover it may or may not be very exciting.

Another new journo blogger I’ve met is Russ Scott from Moline, Ill., and blogging at Lucky Dog Poker. I get the sense from his early posts that he will be a welcome new voice in the poker blogosphere.

My other new favorite blogger here at the WSOP is fellow Andy Bealophile Michael Craig. He already knows greatness when he sees it.

LAS VEGAS–It’s fun (and easy) to make fun of CardPlayer, but sometimes they’ve got some pretty good stuff. I enjoyed Bob Pajich’s article about the Hollywoodization of poker, for example, and just recently I stumbled across this video … about what online poker means to the poker world. It’s a well-constructed assay of the online poker lifestyle, complete with visible degeneracy. I just wonder if CP producers realize what it is that makes it so great.

In the video, you’ll see:

Online player #1: They say I’ve got tells, but fuck’em, I’m from Texas!
Online player #2: I love online poker! I’ve been playing since I was underage!
Jennicide: I couldn’t handle school, you know, grades and shit … so I turned to online poker.
Phil Hellmuth: Bring it on, beyotches!

The CardPlayer reporter is kind enough to let kids know that despite all this legality stuff they’re hearing, they can still play as much as they want while the grown-ups are arguing about it. Awesome. Kudos to any intern who played a role. Seriously, it’s this close to Spinal Tap.

I know this is supposed to be a news-oriented blog, so I won’t tell you about my disappointing finish in the $500 event at Foxwoods this weekend (I’ll save that for the other site). Instead, I’ll ask if any of you have heard of, or seen, or used this software or anything like it. Apparently it “accompanies” you on the poker site of your choosing and offers odds, hand calculations, and strategic decisions. The way it’s described, the player barely has to do anything but point and click.

Sounds good if you’re math impaired, but I wonder how well it works. And I’m a bit skeptical about whether these sorts of programs can really assist you in defeating quality players. Not to mention: I can’t imagine that PartyPoker or PokerStars or the rest would be all that thrilled with players having this kind of help/edge when they log-on.

LAS VEGAS–I ran into Felicia Lee (the Susan Powter of Poker?) and her lovely husband Glenn. I was prepared for her to say somethng along the lines of, “hi, how’s it going you bad-blogging, sexist no-good motherfucker?” — because that’s how she rolls/shows she cares — but in fact she was pleasant and delightful, particularly for someone who recently busted out of a tourney.

She had just come from the Orleans … which seems to be smartly capitalizing on the influx of poker players in town.

OK, that may apply to everywhere in V-town this month. But the Orleans, for all its relative Vegas nothingness, knows its poker. And its offering games that cater to the people who want to play big tourneys for hundreds of dollars, as opposed to thousands. Felicia and Glenn had just played an Omaha event with 600 players, many of whom were “second tier” pros. (Tom McEvoy, for example.)

To make the action even more appealing, the Orleans has supposedly cut the juice on tournament buy-ins in half. And they are running hour-long (or maybe 50 minutes?) blind levels. And they are giving you more starting chips than usual.

LAS VEGAS–A few interesting tidbits about the Red Rock Resort & Casino in Summerlin, as seen from the poker room:

• They use Copags.
• They charge $5 for Red Bull — makes no sense to me, as it would seem the casino would want you to be drinking Red Bull, especially when the guy ordering it is chasing it with Jager.
• You are allowed to expose your hand while making a decision heads-up.
• They have a Salt Lick Barbecue inside — as in the same Salt Lick as the one in Davenport, TX!
• Their $1 chips are gray. They call them “blues.”
• This establisment has nothing to do with Sammy Hagar.