Playing under our little satanic-spade banner … David Pflaster. Some of you may recall … he got his start playing at the Lodge and before you knew it was getting aces tattooed on his forearms, dealing in Dallas, and about a year ago moved to Las Vegas to make it as a low-stakes pro.

He actually seems to be doing it — says he’s just slightly better than breaking even in cash games while hitting some “big” scores in tourneys. More than $20k in the past few months in Caesar’s freerolls, another $10k win online … today he’s playing in the $2,000 NLH event … and with about half the field eliminated just before dinner break, he’s a pretty-big stack with about 18,000 chips (more than double the avg.). Seen here after just having taken out a player who moved all-in on his big blind in a hand where he woke up with pocket kings.

NOTE TO SELF: Satanic Spade … good name for a new death metal band!

UPDATE: According to Pflaster: “Dude, my Aces ran into Jacks.” His opponent was apparently a relative big-stack … so he’s now down to 3600, with blinds at 300/600 … and Pflaster in the big blind on the next hand after dinner break.

Yikes. But at the same time, on the previous break he and I talked about this exact situation, and how he’s learned his way out of it. We’ll see, no?

Some WSOP thoughts as you watch this guy work his opponent.

Today is day 1 for the hordes of amateurs ready to begin their World Series of Poker, as its day 1a of the $1,500 NL Holdem event. This weekend we’ll find out if the field will break the record for the largest field in a non-Main Event tournament (3,151 at event #49 last year).

According to BJ Nemeth over at Pokernews, as of 1:30a PT, over 3000 have registered. The fact that this will be the only event, besides the Main Event, to have multiple day 1’s also will help make this possible. It’s been mentioned that there will be no alternates this year, but with one room (Brasilia and its 650 seats) not available until mid-June, how many people will be shut out of a seat? From all reports, things did run much smoother than last year’s day 1 (save for the random clock malfunction); will the same hold true for those attempting to register at the last minute today?

What happened yesterday:
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Pettigrew Poker-not-dot-com, via cellphone-cam.

Before leaving Dallas, I traveled to West Fort Worth for the unveiling of a fancy new poker room — at the home of Good Chuck, one of the many good poker friends I’ve corrupted and left behind made in recent years. His family members had bought him a sparkling new handcrafted custom table, personalized casino chips, Kem cards … the whole luxury poker shebang … and to break it all in, the Pettigrew clan got together on the night before Christmas Eve for some tasty Texas barbecue and an inaugural $10+0 no-limit hold’em tourney. (Pokerati got exclusive coverage rights.)

It was a 14-player field comprised of serious amateurs and recreational kinfolk alike — with 4,000 starting chips, 15-minute levels, and a skill-friendly blind structure — enjoying good fun, intense competition, and some sibling rivalry to boot. For me, it was a chance to play with a cool new Kem color scheme and a salient reminder about the importance of the “little people” who make for good fleecing this game special.

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Pokerati limo driver Bob Haney, headed to Vegas where he will join nearly a dozen other Rounder Club expats in pursuit of a better poker life.

STATE HWY 287 (Somewhere in the Texas Panhandle)–Call it a whim if you will, but Pokerati has decided to relocate … to Las Vegas. And we’re en route right now. Like literally — as I type we’re slowing down for the junction with Farm Road 2530 as we head in to Childress. As far as I know, there’s no law against blogging while driving, right?

OK, that’s kinda a joke … we’re not stupid, and Pokerati likes to roll in style, which is why we have a chauffeur handling some of the commute. Meet Bob (pictured). Bob was one of the first Lodge Amateur Poker players … who would go on to win the LAP Player of the Year, earning him a seat in last year’s WSOP Seniors event. He woulda cashed, too, had he not gotten it all-in pre-flop with AA against 55 … only to see a flop of 10-5-5. Ah, yes, the 21+ hour drive from Dallas to Las Vegas will clearly be much more enjoyable as we get to trade bad-beat stories all along the way!

Anyhow, Bob is headed to Vegas, he says, “to pursue my new love, which is cards.” And apparently he gives me some sort of credit blame for his addiction playing poker cupid. So after recently getting fired from his job as a security guard under legally nefarious circumstances (two-time whistleblower vs. an allegedly embezzly boss), he said “fuggit!” and decided to hitch a ride with Pokerati to the Nevada desert, where he plans to go to dealer school and start a new chapter in his life.

Hmm, sounds good to us.

This post is not for 99.997 percent of the readers out there.

But for the guys in the Batface home game … they might find it hardly surprising to know that on Sept. 12 — or right around that day — “sangy farha” started playing (for play money) on Full Tilt. That was the same day of the tournament on Absolute Poker that has since thrown the online poker world into a tizzy. The hand being played that sparked it all: Yep, you guessed it … 9-2 offsuit, aka The Sang, which we all know is kinda like the hammer, only a little bit more powerful.

Because of his connection to the scandal, Drinky Sang may or may not be making future appearances on Beyond the Table as our strategy and psychology correspondent. Click below to listen to Sang’s screen test, recorded on a drive home from The Lodge in a pouring rainstorm.

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You’ll hear him talk a little final table strategy, discount his monster play-money bankroll online, threaten to kill people, lose his online chat priveliges, question the presence of Tom Schneider’s genitalia, threaten to kill the guys at Ante Up, and fall in love with a wet puppy.

So be sure to tune in to current and future episodes.

In a sign of how hard it is to convince non-poker people how different types of poker work … the Illinois liquor police are shutting down the amateur bar tournaments that so many of us (nationwide) know and love:

Rather than trying to sort out those playing poker for fun from those playing poker for money, they say it makes more sense to simply prohibit poker tournaments in liquor establishments.

“Usually when you’re playing poker, you’re gambling,” says Ted Penesis, a spokesman for the liquor commission.

Yeow, nice enforcement standards. Apparently there’s no need to send in an undercover agent when you’re not gonna find what you’re looking for.

After much legal sparring and delay, a curious, first-of-its-kind poker room just opened up in Little Rock that publicly challenges the laws — or at least the standing interpretation of them — by running free tournaments that award money prizes. OK, sounds like any legal amateur tourney we’ve got going here … but there’s a catch.

The difference: if you so choose, you can pay $100 a month to be tracked and ranked. Cool! Hmm, is that a legitimate premium service or a cover for a buy-in? Hard to say … I suspect it will be up to the courts to decide. I’m not familiar with the details and nuance of Arkansas gambling laws … but listening to the Little Rock city attorney, I’m not so sure he’s making a strong case, which is probably why the dudes behind Arkansas’ “first ever dedicated poker lounge” came over the top.

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