Ed. Note: This post woulda been much more relevant and timely had it gone up yesterday, when it was written.

Despite slightly lower numbers, the WPT World Championship will still likely end up being one of the five biggest tournaments in the Milky Way this year … and Day 2 has just gotten underway. Pokerati would love to beyotch about not having access to the makeshift WPT TV studio at Bellagio to do our brand of non-chip coverage, but we’ve been invited to a WPT Party tonight with free food and booze, so we’re obviously all good with the status quo.

421 of 545 starting players remain … A few names that I’ll be paying attention to for various reasons, and where they stand in relation to their starting 50k chipstack include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ - 172,075), Tom Schneider (25,400), Clonie Gowen (93,975), Gregg Merkow (40,075), Nenad Medic (12,425), Rodeen Talebi (18,000), Ray Henson (89,550), and David Sklansky (41,050).

Click below to see how the whole pro-studded field shaped up as of noon-Pacific today, and click here to follow the action throughout Day 2.

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Not sure if you noticed, but Pokerati was down for the past 24 hours. Oh, sure, it didn’t appear down — which kinda made matters worse — but none of us had the ability to write a post, edit anything, leave a comment, etc. Very frustrating/scary … at a time when all sorts of good things were going on.

These situations usually spring up once or twice a year, at which point I call The Fat Guy in an absolute panic, and he stops whatever he’s doing and tells me not to cry. Then, usually, he calls me a few hours later and everything’s fixed. But this time was different. With the site totally paralyzed, he was telling me he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what was wrong. (Gulp.) He even had one of his uber-tech-geek buddies take a look, but he too couldn’t solve the problem, let alone identify it. And to make matters ironically worse, this was all going down on the 172nd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. Probably serves us right for temporarily forgetting the Alamo.

Anyhow, blah blah blah, now Pokerati is back in action and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Turned out to be my bad, as you can see below.

Note to advertisers: Oops, sorry we deleted your stuff. We’ll have it back up within 36 hours before week’s end, and of course be crediting you with extra days, paying back the down time at 2:1 3:2.

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Four years ago today — on the glorious holiday that is 4-20 — Pokerati went live. Our first post was about a new online poker site that also just went live called Full Tilt. Prediction at the time: “I suspect this site will fare well.”

Boo-yah! Right on target … that’s how prescient Pokerati can be! Granted, we also said the online poker room market was also probably saturated in April 2004 … hey, you can’t hit a home run every time, right?

We’ve gone through lots of changes over the years, and more TK for sure. Personally, I can’t believe I’ve stuck to anything for four years … but it’s amazing what the burning desire to not work ever will do for you. Anyhow, thanks for reading us once or twice during that time. Kiss off, I don’t need you! We couldn’t have done it without you. So thanks again, happy blog-birthday to me. Maybe next year Full Tilt and Pokerati should have their party together.

Today’s paper, seen here in a box at DFW airport, seems a bit ironic.

DFW AIRPORT–Argh. After getting my arse kicked by various turns and rivers in the Batface home game last night, I am now waiting in an airport terminal for a heavily delayed plane. One of the other passengers got a good read on the situation before we boarded — “It’s never a good sign when you see your pilot hanging out the window cleaning his own windshield. Don’t they have people for that?” Sure enough, we got on the plane, waited for an hour, then were asked to deplane. (I’ve never before been told to get off a plane once getting on it.) US Airways pilots and managers and ticket agents are outside looking at the plane trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. Not a good sign.

I booked this early flight so I could make it to the Jennifer Harman charity event. Note to J-Ha: sorry, don’t think I’m gonna make it, but you should probably still have the event. T.J. Cloutier is also on this flight — headed to V-town for the $25k WPT World Championship at Bellagio — as are Dallas/WSOP dealer Beth and her poker-playing boyfriend Brice, who are taking a Vegas vacation together for the first time … and there’s one other passenger dude I don’t know but I recognize from a table somewhere, either in Las Vegas or Dallas.

Have a feeling today is going to be really fun … for traveling poker players and non-players alike.

Remember these guys? They are blogging again, only different:

DALLAS–I happen to be on my old stomping grounds … to play a little Batface poker and try to do the work that police can’t and get to the bottom of the string of robberies here. (Pokerati’s conclusion, despite declarations to the opposite a few weeks ago: the Dallas Poker Bandits are a single group of three or four people hitting one room after another … not random coincidental robberies by different sets of two black guys in ski masks.)

Anyhow, this post isn’t about robberies in Dallas or police raids in Houston — everybody wants the poker money, don’t they? … it’s about the April ‘08 issue of Bluff. Though these articles aren’t online yet, three of the four they highlight are about Texans:

One is about how to be like Houstonian Sammy Farha. Another is about poker politics and ledes with a certain group of Dallas players wooing Congressman Pete Sessions to get behind pending poker legislation. And a third is about Gavin Griffin, a former Dallas underground dealer who became poker’s first “triple crown” winner.

Not only do I think that is Texas neato, but also I think it says something about the state’s continued super-relevance in the game. But hey, maybe I’m biased.

Harris County sheriff’s deputies raided a poker room on the northwest outskirts of Houston this afternoon. There were about 8 tables of action — a $300 tournament had just gotten underway — and 11 were arrested. Police say the raid came after two months of investigation.

Hmm, sounds kinda like the Aces bust in terms of numbers. However some key differences are that nine of the busted were charged with organized crime. Yeow! No no no … Class C misdemeanor … maybe a Class A that can be pled down! Leave it to Houston to try to outdo/be tougher than Dallas.

From the local ABC news team:

they weren’t playing ordinary poker matches. Thousands of dollars were at stake in the sophisticated operation.

“You gotta know somebody to get in. They have two doors to gain entry. It’s operated by a button to gain entry, as well as they have cameras to monitor who’s at the front door,” said an officer.

Indeed, a button to gain entry. Case closed, obviously.

One of the other players arrested got cuffed for “unlawfully carrying a weapon” and the other guy ha an outstanding warrant.

This room had reportedly been around since late last summer. We’ll see if we can’t find out more about how this all shook down, where the room went wrong, and what’s really gonna come out of these organized crime allegations.

Thanks, Jim in Houston, for the tip.

There’s talk in the comments down below about poppin’ caps in the poker bandits. It’s a shame when your decisions about where to play factor an EV calculated as Expected Violence. (Fortunately most poker players I know are a bit too lazy to hunt down bad guys and show ‘em who’s boss with a barrel, and the CHL holders steer clear of premeditated homicide — no matter how justifiable — for fear of losing their license.)

But still … guns were in play in last night’s robbery. Not just on the thugs who obviously come in not wanting to shoot anyone, but also on a player or three … At least one guy last night had a (legal) gun on him when being robbed. Afterwards, some apparently questioned his decision not to use it. The rub is that had he fired as robbers were kicking their way in through the wall, the ski-masked duo woulda turned right around and skeedaddled. True enough, but as liberal as Texas is when it comes to shooting people messin’ with your property, the nature of the venue might negate that defense. And what if it was the police?!? Yeow, shooting blindly at what may or may not be a SWAT team can never be good for a game. Hmm, Class C misdemeanor or Death Penalty … decisions decisions.

Clearly a good fold. In general I’d prefer loaded weapons to be in the hands of a rock more than a maniac.

A little more info coming in … one thing, it was way more than $10k stolen … as one of the players‘ watches taken cost that much. So our new estimate for damage is $20k. Probably a little more.

Another North Dallas poker room apparently just got robbed about two hours ago — the gunmen making off with more than $10,000 in cash, watches, cell phones, and at least one bracelet.

The 15/30 Omaha game had just broken a little after 10 pm central and a full 2/5 NLH table was going strong when players heard Smash! Crash! “What the fuck?!?” one player screamed.

“I know what that is,” another player answered as he ran toward the back room and others followed. It sounded like a police raid — we all remember how the cops busted through the walls at Jackie’s on semi-live TV — only this time it was robbers. Two armed black males wearing ski masks and hoodies came busting through glass windows and sheet rock to enter through the smoking room. Players looked for an escape in the seconds that followed, but there was no back door. This game – located in an office building near the Galleria – was relatively new … had been open just a few months … and seemed plenty secure with a two-door entry system monitored by cameras.

“Where’s the fucking money at?” the lead thug shouted as he emerged from the smoking room into the main area and made his way to the gace.

“There are a couple 50s beneath the drawer,” on of the room operators said.

Four or five players had crammed into a supply closet in the back room and locked the door behind them. Huddling together in the dark, they scrambled to find places to hide their wallets. One player had wedged his in some plastic wrap behind a stack of plates just a few seconds before the robbers realized there were people in there and ordered them out. They were told to lay on the ground with their faces to the floor – all complied – at which point the other robber frisked them one-by-one for their valuables while his accomplice made a quick check of the closet but apparently found none of the stashed goods.

The whole robbery lasted just a few minutes … as of last night, no decision had been made about whether or not to call the police, which you can suspect whoever is behind this latest string of poker robberies is partially banking on.

The BTT crew: Poker talk fused with gay jokes and fat commentary was all the rage in 2007.

Some of you have been wondering, why no new episodes of Beyond the Table? Tom, Karridy, and I have been wondering the same thing. It’s been a good run, and with drinks in the air, three guys who clearly love/hate the sounds of their own voices are calling it podcast quits.

Back when we started, our show about poker but not really about poker stood out as revolutionary in a sea of lame poker interviewcasts with questionable audio quality. Soon after iPod sales were booming as more and more of the world got hooked on downloading poker audio with funny intros and Angry Julie cameos. But Tom couldn’t handle the celebrity and Karridy developed a crack addiction lives got busy and producers for Beyond the Table fared about as well as drummers for Spinal Tap. The show hired Shamus at a fraction of a Cambodian farmer’s wage to pump up our numbers — did he ever get his T-shirt? — but with a new generation of poker podcasts getting better and stronger (Lou Kreiger, Gary Wise, 2+2, Pocket Fives, Ante Up, Poker Road, et al) old-school payola wasn’t enough to save us from going out on the podcast bubble.

Listen below to a heretofore unpublished episode (recorded on 2-27, my dream flop) as your favorite semi-amateur yammerers phone it in for the last and final-ish time:

Beyond the Table: Fin

Thanks for listening via RSS, iTunes, play-in-popup, and direct download … we already miss ourselves.

You can still prank call Karridy on the Beyond the Table listener line at 888-820-8091.

As hinted at below, I spent a lot of time last month investigating the Las Vegas housing market by no choice of my own. (I have indeed found a place — it is a renter’s market here, after all — move this weekend.) All this searching coincides with a handful of poker players reaching out for info about WSOP accommodations. The World Series, of course, brings a lot of visitors to Vegas for an extended stay — anywhere from two weeks to two months — yet they’re hesitant about Extended Stay America because of ricin. Fortunately there are plenty of other affordable, non-casino options for those looking for a home away from home during the annual poker hajj, compliments of, at least in part, a housing crisis that’s being debated in Washington as we type.

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Sorry for the lack of personal postage last week and presumably this one … I have gotten caught up in the housing crisis and am moving again over the next couple days … even though I don’t know where yet. Seriously, housing crisis is very real here — our friends at The Poker Atlas were forced to relocate due to the house they were renting going into foreclosure; Rounder Club West got evicted from their digs a couple weeks ago because their landlord decided to desperately sell. When this sorta thing happens to three homes in an isolated niche, it can’t just be coincidental.

Anyhow, so yes, content … sorry for the lack thereof and sorry for the blog-cliche post about being sorry. There’s still plenty going on out there that the poker-minded populace shouldmaybe care about, regardless of my personal battle against homelessness.

As we know, the US is currently trying to figure out how to enforce the UIGEA — the AMERICAN BANKS say they can’t really do it — so now, instead of rewriting our own bad laws, we are pressuring the UK to change theirs.

And here’s an article about EL PASO’S rich gambling history - underground or not — over the past 100+ years, starting with a mayor in 1895 known as “Poker Bob” Campbell.

A NEW BLOG (to me) I am now following semi-regularly: David Matthews’ Gambling in Space.

Through him, I learned about FRANK GAGLIARDI, a California Lottery winner who also likes to gamble and recently won his very relevant (to me and you) court case vs. the IRS:

If this case stands, then it could effectively rewrite tax law and make it easier for gamblers to report losses and more difficult for the IRS to go after gamblers.

BALLY TECHNOLOGY also won a pretty big case in court — against SHUFFLE MASTER, which up to this point has maintained an expensive stranglehold on the automatic shufflers you see in poker tables.

And CALIFORNIA JEN may have loved the poker mockumentary THE GRAND, but not everybody did.

Crap, that’s hardly everything, but I have to run …

According to current forfeiture laws, when the Dallas cops raid a poker game, they generally get to keep whatever money they confiscate. However, assuming the DPD is operating all on the up-and-up, that money is supposed to be used for more poker busts …

In addition to what I was calling “Henser’s Game” (have since learned it might be “Gennser’s Game”), DC’s Poker House also got raided last week — Friday, I believe, about the same time as the robbery at the Ashton.

From a Pokerati citizen journalist on the ground:

Another game that got raided was DC’s POKER HOUSE in dallas off of shiloh & northwest highway. The cops single handedly busted that game because of money laundering. DC had about 40 slot machines in the building that caused his place to be shut down. I beleive what made DC’s place get so hot was when he pulled out a 9mm on one of the players who were getting a little out of hand.

Yikes, mix 8-Liners and 9-millimeters together and you kinda gotta expect some problems, no?

Also, maybe this is where the reports of a triple poker robicide came from … within a few days last week you had two busts and one robbery nearly simultaneously … and as we know in poker, it’s often difficult to distinguish between the two, because the action and results are usually pretty much the same.

UPDATE: Hmm, this is the second time that a robbery and police bust went down at two separate poker rooms nearly simultaneously. Strange coincidence? It’s possible that both sides make similar assessments when it comes to game selection — picking nights when they expect the most money to be in play.

Inverse Underground: Small private games in luxury high-rises such as The Ashton (above) seemed a safer alternative to strip malls and warehouses as gun-wielding cops/robbers began infiltrating Dallas poker action.

More info coming in about last week’s robbery of a Dallas game in Uptown. First, we have no indication of any synchronized Al Qaeda-type attacks … it appears to be a single robbery, committed by two black males … which has some people speculating that the perps were the same two black males that have been seen brandishing guns in at least one other poker robbery. Because you know, two black guys is very specific.

The poker venue that got robbed Friday night was known as “The Ashton,” after the building it was hosted in. There were actually two games there — a “little game” (2/5) during part of the week, and a bigger one less often that attracted pros and somtimes saw five-figure bricks of cash on the table. The robbers poked their 9mms in the door during the little game, which suggests that either they didn’t know that there was less money in play with more potential players/potential troublemakers, or they just were being less criminally greedy, thinking thousands of dollars stolen from many players would be nicer than taking 10s of thousands from just a few. With that said, the robbers left cash on the floor, so they musta been in a hurry, too.

Security was apparently the problem … dudes got lax, or at least comfortable. So much so that others involved in the game(s) reportedly had been complaining about security procedures to poker authorities at The Ashton, but no one really tightened up their game. The more details I give you here, the less certain I am of my accuracy, but one (theoretical) dealer supposedly lobbied successfully for hallway cameras, but they weren’t used very diligently. Hey, play too loose with a comfortable stack and its almost certain you’ll eventually lose it, right?

The Ashton’s non-poker management reportedly knew about the game(s) all along — I suspect they thought it was kinda cool to have a two-table poker speakeasy in their joint, especially one that paid the rent reliably — but have since asked their poker tenants to leave, who of course, being the good clean pokerers the are, are complying.

That’s what we’re hearing … that three games got robbed on Friday. One such robbery is semi-confirmed at a popular 2/5 locale.

Not sure about the other two. The last time guys with guns stormed in to three places simultaneously and took all the money was in November 2006, when the DPD busted out the big guns and battering rams. More TK, of course.

UPDATE: The one semi-confirmed robbery took place in an Uptown high rise. Reportedly, “the phone rang indicating that someone had entered the access code in the lobby. They authorized access without picking up the phone. Whoever opened the door did not check and the perps stuck a 9mm in the door. 2 black males. They told everyone to empty their pockets but did not even take all of the money on the floor.” One player who was there also happened to be at another Dallas poker robbery a while back and says it was the same two guys.

We continue to hear that two other rooms were robbed, but whenever there was a poker raid, we would always hear about two others with it, and only once did that check out.

Unconfirmed word coming in over the Pokerati newswire …

Police shut down a suburban Dallas game on Wednesday — I only knew it as [name temporarily withheld]’s Game — located in Mesquite at Motley and I-30. It wasn’t vice or SWAT, reportedly, but detectives … confiscated the money in the game, and issued players Class C misdemeanor tickets outside. The game’s purveyor was “caught on the street” and police supposedly confiscated his car, along with all the cash he was carrying.

I never played in this game before, but I did hear about it and find out about playing. If I recall properly, they were running a 1-2-5 … medium action and pleasant crowd. Can’t remember if it was in a house or office park. That’s all we know for now. If you’ve got any reliable info please fill us in. Interesting to see War on Drugs-style forfeiture laws being applied in poker cases where we pretty much know the results of prosecutions even before they don’t go to trial.

CORRECTION/DETAILS (3/16): A guy named “Henser” was arrested. The game took place in a residential house. Detectives were in the game (?), but they ticketed players outside the house. Not for gambling, but for parking too close to the curb and things like that. And Henser was apparently pulled over (driving away from the scene?) when cops caught up with him.

Pokerati file photo: The HB-3186 war room, led by Lavigne in Austin (standing, top left) with Texas poker politicos, player representatives, and out-of-state allies preparing for a capitol offensive.

In addition to those state-by-state member numbers, the PPA put out a press release this week announcing its new state directors. Good to see poker players getting more involved in grassroots activity as the politi-dudes looking out for us in Washington DC continue to develop into a real Beltway force. However, there’s one state where the director curiously isn’t named — and that’s Texas.

Um, Mike …? Has there been a change to your resume that you might wanna blog about that you might wanna blog about?

UPDATE: Lavigne in Austin en-route-to-Wichita-Falls confirms via Blackberry that he is indeed still a state director for the PPA, and showed off his political skills by dodging my follow-up question about “why the ‘TBA’ then?” by reassuring me that the poker political machinery in Texas, having been built and tested now, will be well-oiled for 2009 with real Texas Hold’em in Texas in 2010 so long as I don’t write anything to muck it up.

The political season is well underway, and the PPA, having brought on board a new seasoned politico to coordinate grassroots efforts and direct external affairs, is lining up their state directors and kicking butts into gear. Here is a breakdown of how many members poker’s version of the NRA has by each state, as of noon EDT today. (Go Texas!)

CA: 97107
TX: 58512
FL: 57924
NY: 52090
PA: 50221
OH: 40356
IL: 35147
MI: 34541
NJ: 23999
IN: 23538

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Phil Hellmuth’s logo and that of the Houston Rockets:

We all know Richard Lee settled his case — pleading no contest and forfeiting more than $2 million dollars to make it all mostly go away. That seems to be the way it goes with enforcing the Class A misdemeanor of “operating a gambling place” … “like seriously, don’t make us try to send you to jail, just give us all your money and everything will be fine.”

Earlier this month, with approval from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Bexar County officials released the names of Lee’s alleged punters. Some 3,200 of them — the juiciest ones, presumably, redacted … complete with cell phone numbers, you know, so other bookies can find these customers in need. Click here to see for yourself, and let us know if you recognize any celebs on the Lee-List. I definitely maybe know one dude from Dallas on there. I think he plays poker. He lives kinda near where there used to be a poker room. Sounds vaguely and theoretically familiar.

From KSAT:

According to [Bexar County District Attorney Susan] Reed, though, the list does not mean her office will pursue charges against those on the list.

“Being the number of names on here, being a Class C misdemeanor… the cost of that would be incredible,” she said. “(It’s) not something I’m interested in spending a huge amount of taxpayer money on.”

Details are just starting to come in … but three armed men broke into a residence on the West side of San Antonio last night, shot one player in the chest (twice) and reportedly made off with about $3,000. The SA media is calling it a “high stakes” game — are we all sickwads to not see a $300 buy-in the same way?

Pokerati’s chief techdude happens to live in San Antonio, plays in games for the stakes mentioned above, and almost always carries a gun … he just also happens to not be reachable right now. Please no one be dead.

Charles in Fort Worth writes in wanting to know how to donk off his bankroll without chasing straights and flushes:

Hi Dan,

I have an idea for a sports bet and since you are my connection to the world of gambling I thought you could give me some help on who and how to place it.

I want to place a $500 bet on Tiger Woods breaking the record for the most majors won. He currently has 13 and needs 6 more to break the record. I want to bet $500 on him breaking the record within the next 8 and 10 majors. Who could I contact to get the odds and place the bet with. Please let me know what you can find out or where I can go to make the bet. Thanks

GoodChuck

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From my column in The Sports Page … an interview with the original “poker brat” — who is very busy these days. (Too busy, perhaps?)

The Real Deal
HED: Phil Hellmuth off the Felt
SUB: He may be the busiest pro in poker, and that’s without even playing the game.

by Dan Michalski

Future poker hall-of-famer Phil Hellmuth was in town this past weekend—signing books and hosting La Riata, the biggest charity tournament of the year in Dallas. He stuck around long enough for a Monday round of golf with Troy Aikman (“Troy is a better golfer, but I’m a better gambler,” Phil reports) before having to jet off on the next leg of his current poker-pimping whirlwind.

I managed to catch the nine-time World Series champion via cell phone in New York City. He had a few minutes to talk before doing a shoot with ESPN, and offered his thoughts about the quality of Dallas players, his new book, his new DVD, amateur mistakes, and whether or not that’s really him you’re playing against online:

Great job this weekend. What exactly do you try to bring to a tournament you host?

Phil Hellmuth: This event in Dallas was craziness. 350 players—and they wouldn’t stop rebuying. The enthusiasm in that room was unbelievable. It was just nuts in there. I couldn’t believe it. Obviously in Dallas people just love poker. I think my schtick has become very popular, and uh … Hey Larry, how you doin’? What’s up man? You want me to sign that book for you? And the DVD? Take the plastic off … but it was absolutely insane, so what that tells me is that poker, Texas Hold’em in Texas is hot baby. It’s great to see.

So it’s keeping you busy these days …

PH: Yes, I’m very busy. Hold on, … Larry, who should I sign this to? Michael? How do you spell that? M-i-c-h … did he win a contest on your show? How ’bout “Good luck, you the winnah” or something? OK, Larry. Oh oh, yeah yeah, thank you thank you thank you. I would love to see it. Are you ready to go? Give me one second? … Go ahead, let’s get this one done.

OK

PH: OK, I’m with you.

How much of your work these days is off the tables, as opposed to on?

PH: These days I hardly even play poker. The other day a top professional said, “Phil do you even play any more?” Because you know, look, we have clothing lines and we have schools of poker and my book is on the bestseller list the last two weeks. I’ve got a new book that just came out, Bad Beats and Lucky Draws. That’s the tour I’m on.

And then we have Phil Hellmuth’s Million Dollar Poker System—that’s the new DVD—and those are just going like hotcakes too. We’ve got the Phil Hellmuth movie in Hollywood, and we’ve got Phil Hellmuth: The Reality Show. I could go on and on about all the projects I’m involved with, so it really keeps me away from the poker table right now. And yet my all-time goal is to become the greatest poker player of all time.

So right now you’re just hitting the big tournaments?

PH: Yeah, this a 17-day book tour I’m on, but for four days right in the middle I’m playing in the Foxwoods $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.

Good luck with that. Do I have like 30 seconds or do I have like …

PH: Yeah yeah …

… 3 minutes?

PH: You have another two minutes.

What do you think of the “poker brat” title or monicker for yourself now? Is that still the Phil Hellmuth …

PH: Well I try not to be the poker brat, but that’s just who I am, it’s the way I act. I try to improve myself, and I try to get better. But for some reason I just get really upset when I get really unlucky and I’m always saying something about it and I shouldn’t.

What’s the …

PH: And you know in my new book, Bad Beats and Lucky Draws, I talk … that’s a great book. Do you have a copy of that?

No, I don’t. I’d love to get one.

PH: I’ll give you a number. Are you ready?

Uh-huh.

PH: [Secret promotional book-getting hotline.]

Great.

PH: And I’m so proud of that book. It’s about 60 different hands, and some of the weirdest hands that I have seen, some of the World Series of Poker hands, some of the World Poker Tour hands, some of the hands from the European Poker Tour, and then a celebrity chapter. And then also it has a bunch of other hands written by other great players.

When you’re hosting tournaments like the one Sunday, I’m sure you see a lot of ridiculous play. What’s the most costly mistake that you see amateur and/or up-and-coming players make?

PH: Actually, I was surprised by how well they played in Dallas. There was some craziness, but there was also some really good play. But the ridiculous plays—people moving in with king-threes. And if they had top pair or second pair, you couldn’t bluff them. They’d just put all their chips in. In general people over-invest too much money with hands that aren’t strong enough. It’s a big amateur mistake.

Yeah that was my big mistake. I went all-in with a hand I shouldn’t have and lo and behold he didn’t lay down his top pair. Top pair, ace kicker, nut flush draw …

PH: Hold on one second …

… knocked me out.

PH: You guys are ready to roll, right? I don’t want to make you wait too long … OK, looks like they’re ready. You’ve got one last question for me?

Yeah, one of my blog readers was supposedly playing online against you at the same time you were also speaking at Barnes & Noble. What’s up with that? When people are playing against the pros online, are they really the pros?

PH: Yeah, they really are the pros. And that was stupid of me. We were playing online poker in the car on my UB (Ultimate Bet) account with a couple of friends. They didn’t have UB accounts, and I knew it was a bad idea, but we were right at the car and the event, and I had been playing—I was up $16 or something—we were just messing around and they said look, please let us play. They didn’t have online accounts set up and they’re new to the game and I thought it was terrific.

So they’re playing, and then about 12 minutes into it someone said [in the chat window], oh-my-God, Phil’s supposed to be [at a book signing right now] and my friend freaked out and left. You know, it’s one of these things. I felt like an idiot and it’s 100 percent my fault.

Fair enough. I appreciate the candid answer.

PH: It was stupid … OK, have a good one.

It’s not often that we see a comment on this blog that merits its own post. In fact, this is the first time … as a certain scoop-minded Grant in Dallas reports to us something that seems worthy of an appearance on Pokerati’s front page:

I always wondered if the Poker Pros really Play on Ulitmate Bet. It turns out at least one doesn’t. I was watching Phil Hellmuth play on UB when I remembered I was planning on going to go see him at the Barnes and Noble in Dallas tonight.

At 7:30pm CT I called Barnes and Noble, and to my surprise, he was there, speaking! The very moment he was playing a hand on Ultimate Bet.

I exposed the situation to the others in the Online card room, I even gave out the Phone number to Barns and Noble. Many players called and confirmed: IT WAS NOT Phil Hellmuth Playing under his UB screen name.

I play at UB and I am a big fan of the site. But having someone pretend to be a pro is a SCAM. People play against the pros for the thrill. Some even play looser than usual. Just to “beat the pro.” That is why I am so troubled by all this.

There is no proof UB is aware Phil does not play under his name. But I have the proof, on at least this nite, he does not.

I am a seasoned TV Journalist who knows how to nail down a story. And I know a Con when I see one. Those playing against the so called “Phil Hellmuth” on UB Sat Night at 7:30 were duped.

The question remains: How many other times have we been duped?

UPDATE: Phil Hellmuth responds directly to Grant’s big call-out here.