After spending the majority of the past 3 weeks in Detroit, Columbus, and Carlsbad attending weddings, I’m back in my one-bedroom apartment at the intersection of Flamingo and Maryland in Las Vegas. Maybe it’s just the annoyingly vast amounts of construction and “improvements” they’re doing on my building, but there seems to be higher than standard levels of particles and dust in the Vegas air. People are excited, poker players are selling pieces, and Phil Hellmuth moved into the Aria penthouse for 2 months. That electric feeling can mean only one thing… the World Series of Poker is almost here.

I’ve never sold on the open marketplace, so bear with me as I figure this process out. I’m not a high volume tournament player, but I agree with Phil Galfond when he says that strong cash game players can find success in tournaments if they take them seriously.

Poker rooms across town (well, those in Caesars-owned properties anyway) are ramping up their promotion efforts for the series, offering a plethora of ways to win a seat into various events. On top of that, you can step into one of many rooms to pick up a flier for their own mini-series which will run concurrently; events with smaller buy ins but still impressively sized fields and prizes can be found up and down the strip as well as downtown. WSOP time in Las Vegas is awesome. If you like poker, you simply need to see the sheer size of the production that takes place inside the Rio Convention Center. Rows and rows, hundreds of tables (in use, no less…). Strip poker rooms overflowing with players. So many hopefuls, so many fans of the game, all the superstars and several soon-to-be poker-famous players descending on one spot. And let’s not forget… so many fish!

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With April 15 right around the corner, poker players are undoubtedly thinking about Black Friday Anniversary Parties remembering in the normal-people world that the real “Black Friday” isn’t until November, and oh crap, you mean federal income taxes weren’t just part of the tournament entry fee!?! And while there isn’t a blank specifically on a 1040 for seized funds or PokerStars T$, poker players (particularly those with online money in play) might-should presume they are being looked at more closely than ever for Fiscal 2011 — assuming, of course, you haven’t already been under full investigation and/or negotiated an IRS settlement as part of turning state’s evidence in the cases against your former poker-mates.

OK, before I over-insinuate: some news-you-can-use for poker players looking to play it straight with the Feds:

Attorney Brad Polizzano (aka @taxdood) has a series on PokerFuse about various tax matters pertinent to poker players — such as rakeback, staking agreements, and Form 8-Ben Lamb, I think it’s called?

And Theresa Fox (@TfoxCPAinc) talks taxable income on Strategy with Kristy n — tackling matters for anyone with gambling winnings in play, especially those that may have transpired in some capacity across international borders:

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The always-controversial WSOP Ladies event got underway this weekend … with 1,055 players, up from last year’s total of 1,054. At least 10 entrants were men, one of whom showed up in drag. While the WSOP can’t legally require players to show their vaginas to the dealer before receiving a hand, the presence of Y-chromosomes in the field suggests that with Shaun Deeb’s breaking through the gender barrier in 2010, it may well become WSOP tradition for this special tournament to appeal to dudes who clearly have issues with their mothers and/or painful memories of oppression at the hands of East German Olympic coaches during the Cold War.

Click here for BJ’s photo gallery from the 2011 WSOP Ladies event … and here for WhoJedi’s … and here for coverage from Wicked Chops … and here to follow the actual tournament, which is currently at the final table and streaming live with only women left and a $192k first prize up for grabs. (The “last man standing” finished 9th.)

Marie-Lizette (left, brunette) and Annie LePage (right, blonde) share with Pokerati the secrets of forging a successful relationship with backers who may or may not want to sleep with you.

But beyond the inevitable spotlight stealing by a flash mob of penis-wielding hooligans … the WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship is also where many players experience their first shot at being backed in a bracelet event. The low buy-in ($1k) and proportion of men who believe putting a woman in a tournament might some day help them get in her pants makes the hustle for support another ubiquitous part of the ladies event every year … and to that extent, I wanted to know, from the ladies, how they handle it when a guy wanting to give them money might have a different expectation about what it means to book a big score by going deep.

(Men can be so crass and dumb.)

Have a listen as I sit down with Mike Matusow’s girlfriend Annie LePage and Pokerati editrix Marie-Lizette (at the Peppermill in Reno last month, at the party for Jen Harman’s charity event before the HPT’s $1,600 Nevada State Championship) … to learn how it works for women who may want backing but have to be sure all involved — including themselves? — understand that the benefactor really is interested in their potential skills on the table, not under it.

Part 1: Inappropriate Offers
Part 2: Business Women

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It’s apparently all about not sending the wrong message for less than a $10k buy-in. While some may believe everyone has a price … I’m not sure if the service this audio really provides is essential listening for up-and-coming women players — on how to draw proper lines when dealing with a potentially horny backer — or more for men, on how to minimize the creepiness factor to be a better big-swinging-dick.

Here’s a question from a reader that I thought might be useful to answer for everyone, including me! Chuck in Fort Worth writes:

Hi Dan,

Jake and I will be in Vegas the week of June 13. A buddy of his will be staking him in event #26. Do you have access to any kind of staking agreement we could prepare prior to the event? Thanks.

Chuck

Hey Chuck! I’m not Dan, but I am Dan-ielle so … close enough!

There are no set-in-stone guidelines for backing players but the most common practice is a 50/50 split of winnings, after the backer has been paid back on his investment. (i.e. the buy-in.) The second most common is for the backer to get his investment back and 60 percent of the remaining winnings, with the player keeping what’s leftover after that. More…

Good video from WPT-London … with Neil Channing discussing the travails of backing James Akenhead and a more detailed explanation of what goes into staking players, from the guy Brits worldwide look to for bankroll assistance:

Here’s a story I heard the other night … like much of what we report here, I have no idea whether or not it’s true. My source on this is generally reliable, and he heard it once-removed from some “online pro” who was in a bathroom stall at the Rio to overhear the following …

(And even if it’s totally made up, I’m sure there’s a funny joke in here somewhere … and Sam and Eskimo can consider it a public service graciously provided by Pokerati to let them know what kinda trash people may or may not be saying.)

So supposedly, just a few days ago, Sam Grizzle and Eskimo Clark were in the indoor bathroom outside the Amazon Room taking a leak during a break. Eskimo apparently asked Sam how he was doing, and vice versa … both grunted.

Then Eskimo asked, “You wanna trade 10 percent in this event?” (I believe it was a $1,500 NL) and Sam apparently agreed, saying, “Sure, why not?”

Sam then washed his hands and left, at which point another player said to Eskimo, “Hey Paul, did you just swap with Sam on the $1,500? He just busted out 10 minutes ago!”

At which point Eskimo responded, “That’s OK. I never even registered.”

[Rimshot!]

As you may or may not have realized, I took it extra easy today (yesterday) … left KevMath in charge.

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Supposedly some 140,000 ballots came in during the first week of WSOP TOC fan voting. Our eligible pal Tom Schneider’s not in the Top 50 yet, let alone the all-important Top 20. As Harrah’s continues its First Annual Worldwide WSOP.com Email Harvest Tournament of Champions All-Star game, many pros are realizing that they may not get in just on the merits of being tied for 39th among all-time bracelet winners (with dozens of others holding two) and having a twitter account.

So DonkeyBomber is making a desperate unique attempt at getting himself on this uber-elite invite list … check it out … this just showed up in my inbox from everyone’s favorite 2007 Player of the Year:

This year, the World Series of Poker is having a Tournament of Champions. Only 27 players will play and 21 [sic.] of them must be voted in.

Here’s the deal.

You vote for me, Tom Schneider, and ONLY ME, and you will be part of the pool that will split half of what I win. First place pays $500,000. 50% of what I win will be split by people who have voted for me. If I win $500,000, $250,000 will be split by my voters. It’s that simple, and if I get voted in, I will be competing against only 27 players.

The site below is where you vote.

http://www.wsop.com/TOC/TOP50/

They will send you an email with a code in it. That code must be entered when voting.

After you have voted. Send this email to me and the verification email you receive from the WSOP site to tom@bigstackmedia.com and you will be part of the pool. I really would like to play in this tournament and your vote is very important to me. That’s why I’m paying for it.

One more important request. Please email this to any friends or family you have that you think might find it fun to own a piece of someone playing in the WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Please vote and then wish me luck.

Thanks again,

Tom Schneider
2007 WSOP Player of the Year

GL Tom! I will so laugh if you make it to #21 and think you’re in when you’re not. I kid, I kid — I haven’t even voted yet, nor decided how I will. If you win, I’m concerned about the cost of stamps eating away profits.

Click below for the current Top 50 (in random order):

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Joe Cada is no longer a 21-year-old — he turned 22 last week … and spent the weekend on the sidelines of the Michigan-Ohio State game (Wolverines < Buckeyes) after this recent (to me) appearance on ESPN's First Take. He breaks down his backer deal (again) ... and also says, as might be expected from a young online pro, that he doesn't put much stock in physical tells. Gotta wonder though what Joe Navarro might say about his comfort level when discussing the age when he got his start.