Posts Tagged ‘Arizona’

January 19, 2008

The Rosa Parks of Poker?

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Poker books
Photo: Nick Oza / The Arizona Republic

Harold Lee may seem like a bit of a whack-job, but the retired Arizona judge is standing up for poker — beckoning authorities to take him to jail/court for running a legally questionable poker room. He’s convinced a jury won’t convict, and is ready to put to them the question of whether or not poker really is illegal in Arizona, the AZ Republic reports.

Now I know what you’re thinking … wait, don’t they have Indian casinos in AZ? And indeed they do … but he’s got a problem with that, too, claiming it to be an illegal state-granted monopoly. Interesting way to look at it. You can read more about Judge Lee’s Arizona Card Room in Sierra Vista and his poker manifesto here.

The commenters (and the raters of the commenters) overwhelmingly support the crazy-ole judge. And apparently the entire city of Tombstone is behind him and wants to follow suit. (Watch the news vid.) Despite what the state has to say … the city has looked through it’s law books and can’t find anything that says poker is illegal and they’re good with that.

Posted by DanM at 7:17 am

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November 30, 2007

Go Big Tom, Take 2!

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Donkey Bomber Pokerati Tom — my words, not his — is at another final table today. That’s about all we know. I think it’s in a $2,500 Venetian/NPL Vegas Open event — I know it’s not at one of the preliminary Bellagio 5-Diamond tourneys where most of the pros are playing — but can’t be sure because, frankly, Tom tends to slack off from his frontline tournament reporting duties whenever he’s playing well (or vice versa). Too bad Goldfarb’s not making more final tables, because even if he can’t post directly from the table, he loves to send me the suckout-by-suckout recaps.

Tom Schneider starts today third in chips … I do know that much. And yeah, looking again, it’s gotta be event #3, because that’s one that counts toward Player of the Year. He really wants to win it, and thinks he can. Personally, I don’t think he stands a chance — though I suppose technically it’s possible and the Arizona Cardinals could win the next Super Bowl, as neither have been mathematically eliminated from contention.

In the meantime, keep up the good work, Tom (6)! We’re rooting for you against David Pham, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Fox, James Van Alstyne, Jared Hamby, and Danny Wong! Actually, I’m kinda rooting for Danny Wong, too … because he’s on my fantasy team. And Travis Rice, who is Dallas Poker’s highest ranked player in the CardPlayer standings at #11 — 5 spots, and 680 points behind Tom.

UPDATE (from Tom):

Belagio 2500 started yesterday 247 players

Hmm, OK, so I guess it was not one of the Venetian tourneys … it was a 5-Diamonder. Oops! But can we say sic.?

CORRECTION: Despite his own reports to the contrary, Schneider starts the day second in chips, not third. Click below to see who’s at the final table …

More…

Posted by DanM at 2:11 pm

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November 6, 2007

Meet the Texas Champion of Poker

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Joe Wahlen
Joe Wahlen, from Austin, is technically and officially the best poker player in all of Texas right now.

What do you mean you haven’t heard of Joe “All In” Wahlen? He’s the reigning Texas state champion of poker!

Wahlen won the Texas State Poker Championship on Friday — an event put on in Austin by our good friends at the Texas Card Players Association and held at Radiator King.

It was a $200 buy-in (no rake) … 50 players total … making for a $10,000 prize pool. When they got down to the final table, the remaining players all decided to chop and finish up the tourney for the title and the trophy.

Not to take away from Joe’s accomplishment — his past successes at the table include taking second place in a freeroll at the Shoal Creek Saloon — but maybe the fact that a non-championship event in Oklahoma has a $1 million prize pool, and the Arizona State Championship paid out $250k for first place, will help persuade the people of Texas not to be pussies so small when it comes to state pride and poker. After all, that’s what the TCPA is working for.

Until then, big congrats to Joe, who as the world champion of Texas, is sure to be feared throughout the poker world.

Posted by DanM at 3:22 pm

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