Marcel Luske and Michelle Lau formally announced that their organization is up, running, and ready to introduce “The International Poker Rules” in the near future. According to the press release, the goal of FIDPA and the set of rules is to organize and promote tournament poker as a sport and “unite the industry on a global level.”

Hmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, never mind…

The IP Rules have been created in cooperation with the Tournament Directors Association, Bob Ciaffone’s Robert’s Rules of Poker, and Jack McClelland and Doug Dalton of Bellagio, among others. There are a total of 80 rules, procedures, and policies that will be announced at a later date.

Note to self: This sounds an awful lot like the World Poker Association (WPA)!

Click the “more” button to see the entire press release:

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Michael Binger said she was due … and sure enough, Clonie Gowen got it good — not at the WSOP, but across I-15 at the Bellagio Cup IV, in a $5,000 NLH event that drew 235 runners.

Kinda like a high-stakes second-chance tourney for early main-event busters and pros callously accused of being in a drug-addled downward spiral. Her payday for winning: $437,775

Awesome. Congrats, Clonie! I knew you had it in you, regardless of your status with Full Tilt … Seriously, we should be like best friends again and hang out all the time.

The Daily Show had its Stephen Colbert and Happy Days gave us Mork from Ork. At Tao of Pokerati we’ve got Benjo, the sometimes Angry, sometimes -orny Frenchman. While a little drinky at the Gold Coast, the top blogger in all of Europoker stepped up to the mike for the betterment of American and non-American listeners alike. In these episode add-ons, Benjo reports on what you learn from watching poker on a colleague’s computer; Bellagio tournament chips being used to pay (stupid) hookers; and the under-the-table pressures on a grown-up French schoolboy working the WSOP …

Episode 17.1: Barely Legal

Episode 17.2: Tournament Hooker Chips

Episode 17.3: Le Masturbe

It is common knowledge that poker players in Las Vegas flock to Bellagio for cash game action, primarily on the higher end of the buy-in scale. While there seem to be a plethora of cash games going on at the Rio around the clock during the WSOP, anyone looking for games higher than $10-$20 usually heads over to Bellagio. Since I am such a high-stakes player can always use a change of scenery from the Rio, I took a trip on over on Monday night around 10pm to see what was happenin’.

Craziness.

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Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers … apparently people are pretty excited about this upcoming NBA finals. And while quite a few poker players have been known to place some sports bets, they’re gonna have to leave the Rio to do so this year…

Harrah’s Chairman and CEO Gary Loveman owns 2.4 percent of the Celtics, and that may or may not be a conflict of interest. The directive reportedly comes straight from David Stern the NBA, and thus no Harrah’s properties will be taking bets on the NBA finals. Talk about a hit for Harrah’s, the Rio, Caesar’s Palace, Paris, Bally’s, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, Bills, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Reno, Harrah’s Laughlin … perhaps a mini-boon for Bellagio.

The Palms and Silverton also won’t be taking bets on the NBA finals, as their owners also have ownership stakes in other NBA teams. I find this pretty darn interesting … because if the NBA can remove betting on the finals at these casinos, why wouldn’t they want to maintain the same level of “integrity” throughout the regular season?

Oy ve. This is complicated stuff! For the first time, the WSOP has added the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, which boasts of 8 different games. Not an event for the casual player. Must be why there is hardly an anonymous face in the crowd.

The tournament was 1/2 hour late to start as the dealers, tournament staff, and players tried to get settled. With the event drawing such an elite group of notable players, they wanted to have everything right. “We have the best dealers in this event,” said TD Jack Effel, after admitting this is the first time trying this many games in one event.

And not 5 minutes into the game there was a tiff between Eli Elezra and the dealer regarding the way something happened in 2-7 Triple Draw. If I had any idea what the rules of the game were, I’d let you know about the disagreement, but… All I can tell you is that the two people in front of the button will sit out on 2-7 games. (Hope that makes sense to someone!) In the end, tournament staff came over and cleared up the misunderstanding, which there was bound to be when Effel noted, “These are not the same rules that you play at Bellagio.”

Anyway, eight hands of each game will be played before switching. The games are: 2-7 triple draw lowball, limit hold’em, Omaha hi-o split 8-or-better, seven card razz, seven card stud, seven card stud hi-lo split 8-or-better, no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha.

Whew! I’m tired. And confused.

P.S. - Had my first Gus Hansen and Sammy Farha sightings of the 2008 WSOP.

Just flipping channels while changing Pokerati’s spark plugs … and Lucky You is on HBO. I’m Tivo’ing it. It’s only fair that if we’re gonna continue to look at this movie as the Greek Tragedy that poker has become, I should actually watch it.

5 minutes in — Dude’s in a pawn shop muttering … losing interest.
7 minutes in — Fontana Room, Sammy Farha saying “raisey daisey” … don’t care … ooh, wait, it’s the fat guy from Borat? At-the-table hand analysis and Andy Bloch’s hat … hmmm.
11 minutes in — Horatio Sanz as Robert Goldfarb?

18 minutes in — OK, tuning out for now. Got better things to do. Online poker joke, ha. Flush got there, damn.

Tommy-boy started the day as one of the shortest stacks in the WPT World Championship at Bellagio, and with 55 players left, he managed to squeak out an extra $13k for himself by finishing 50th. Nice job, Tom, way to represent.

Click here to follow the action as the remaining players fight for position in competing for the bigger money and real paydays.

UPDATE: I could be totally wrong … it’s possible Tom was the artificial bubble boy going out in 51st place. Will let you know …

They’re into the money in the $25k WPT World Championship Event. Every remaining player is guaranteed $39,570 (a $14.5k payday) while they compete for the $3.4 million first prize.

As of this moment, there are 85 players left — Anna Wroblewski just went out … she was looking strong all tourney long. Our best friend Tom Schneider is still alive with a slightly above average stack. (Notice he’s our best friend as opposed to just a friend or Pokerati contributor now that he’s secured the money. If he can make the final table, he’ll be our super-best-very-best friend … and I’m sure that’s what’s motivating him.)

Other names of note (to me) that are still live include Carlos Mortenson (defending champ), Rhynie Campbell (met him last night, he seems funny and cool), Mark Seif (who’s been keeping people posted about the condition of his wife’s cervix), Isabelle Mercier and Kristy Gazes (attractive women), Jared Hamby (Go Texas!), Tommy Le (one of my MySpace friends with a really cool name), Steve and Danny Wong (Go 2007 Fantasy Team!), and TJ Cloutier (Go same Dallas flight!)

Cards go in the air for the 2008 World Poker Tour World Championship at noon pacific … 188 out of 545 remain … Our boy (when he’s winning) Tom laid low with about 20k in chips pretty much all day yesterday, only to finish super-strong. (I liked his push with 3-4 suited, which “got there” on the turn.)

Click below to see the official chip counts going into Day 3, and click here to follow the action as the remaining players fight for the money — top 100 get paid.

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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.

This just in on the Pokerati newswire:

[Johnny chans girlfriend arrested at bellagio for holding out aces]

Hmm. Wow. We’ll give it semi-confirmed rumor status for now …

That’s the not-so-quiet buzz around some of the bigger tables at Bellagio … that Chan’s known ladyfriend Anna was (reportedly) taken out of the room in handcuffs “recently” for (allegedly) bringing some of her own aces into the $100/$200 limit game. More TK, I am sure.

For the last few years, the biggest game in Vegas has been at Bobby’s Room — a glass enclosed high-high stakes area at Bellagio, complete with fine oil paintings of its most regular players … Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Sammy Farha et al. But the action there has dwindled, and according to Doyle’s Blog (scroll down to the Jan. 7 entry) has moved, at least temporarily:

We moved the ‘Big Game’ down to the Venetian Cardroom this weekend. Not that we had a problem with the Bellagio, but just to have a change in scenery. The Venetian is a beautiful place and they treat us very well so they may get some of our business. I really liked it because I had a nice win there.

The Five Diamond World Poker Classic brings the best in the poker world to the Bellagio each year, and 2007 was no exception. The preliminary events began in late November, and here are some of the better-known winners:

• Event #3 - $2,500 NLHE – 247 entrants, Dutch Boyd won $237,685
• Event #6 - $1,500 NLHE – 508 entrants, Chris McCormack won $239,590
• Event #7 - $2,000 NLHE – 362 entrants, Roy Winston won $230,365
• Event #8 - $2,500 NLHE – 319 entrants, David Pham won $279,845
• Event #12 - $5,000 NLHE – 307 entrants, JC Tran won $523,075

It should be noted that Tom Schneider came in fourth place in Event #3, and Courtney Harrington of PocketFives and PokerRoad made two final tables. Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack, came in second to JC in Event #12. Other notables who made final tables included Theo Tran, Kevin Saul, Jared Hamby, Nick Binger, Amnon Filippi, Dan Alspach, Marco Johnson, Shannon Shorr, and David Williams.

David Pham also sealed his status as the CardPlayer Player of the Year.

Next up was the $15,000 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event. The total number of players was 664, and the prize pool was $9,661,200 – the biggest prize pool ever outside of the WSOP main event and WPT World Championship.

Hopes were high that several big names would make the final table, but many of them just couldn’t get there. Phil Ivey was the Day 1 and Day 2 chip leader but imploded on Day 3 to be eliminated. Gus Hansen was doing well for days until he busted in 22nd place, and Daniel Negreanu took a chip lead into Day 5 but was sent home in 14th. Other bustouts included Erick Lindgren in 10th, Jimmy Tran in 8th, and Raymond Davis in 7th.

Five Diamond Final Table - Courtesy of the World Poker Tour

The best known player at the final table was David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Ryan Daut is a young player who won a WPT title in January, and Jordan Rich and Eugene Katchalov are young pro players. Ken Rosen is a virtual unknown, and Ted Kearly is a 75-year old former college football coach.

In the fastest WPT final table on record, Eugene Katchalov took his final table chip lead to victory for a $2,482,605 payday. All of the action was summed up here.

Funeral services are set for Friday, December 7th at 2pm. This will take place at Palm Mortuary - 6701 North Jones Boulevard in Las Vegas. (Thanks to Michael Craig for the heads-up.)

There may also be a public memorial service of some sort held at the Bellagio next week, but no plans are confirmed at this time.

The Associated Press reports that not only was Chip home when he passed away, but his 18-year old son found him. Reese is survived by that son, Casey, as well as his 16-year old daughter Taylor, and a step-daughter (believed to be in her twenties) Brittney.

For some thoughts from Barry Greenstein, visit his audio blog on PokerRoad.com. He reflects a bit on his memories of Chip, some of Chip’s great qualities, and the wake-up call that his death should be for many people in the poker world to take better care of themselves.

UPDATE: In lieu of flowers or other gifts of condolence, the Reese family has asked that friends contribute to the Alzheimer’s Association in Chip’s name.

Itsoverjonny’s comment on the post below has me thinkin’bout nicknames for chips used in cash-game poker and as casino currency. I know they exist, and know most a few three of them, but not all. Perhaps some of you who have played more regularly with the different denominations can help me fill in the blanks? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

$1 -
$2 -
$3 -
$5 - Redbirds
$10 -
$20 -
$25 - Greenbirds
$100 - Blackbirds
$500 -
$1,000 -
$5,000 - Flags
$10,000 -
$25,000 - Cranberries / Pancakes
$100,000 -

LAS VEGAS–By the way, one of the things I suspect they’ll rethink for next year … they got rid of the $1,000 bracelet events being held after the main event started. While a good idea not to cheapen the bracelets, it really has sent all the action to Bellagio … and has turned the Amazon Room into 3/4 of a ghost town at what is essentially the most exciting poker being played yet.

LAS VEGAS–Just learned from listening to Chris’ podcast that Bellagio has instituted a new rule — 20 minute penalty for anyone who uses a cell phone (or Blackberry, or Treo, or Blackjack, or iPhone) at the table … whether they are in the hand or not.

BELLAGIO, LAS VEGAS–While feeling good about turning $600 into $2,300 playing 5-10 NLH last night, I caught the back of Phil Hellmuth’s head as he stepped into Bobby’s Room (the high stakes poker room). I was hoping to see him again so I could tell him he was my number one draft pick. However, my thoughts ran back to…One buy-in down, 53 more to go. That’s right, tomorrow starts the race for the WSOP gauntlet, the cash games in Vegas are already packed, and across the highway the Rio is getting ready (hopefully) for a big turn-out.

Tomorrow starts with the inaugural $5k mixed NL/Limit Holdem event at noon, followed by the $500 Casino Employees Event at 5 pm.

Saturday is the first $1500 NLH and people are already in line registering.

I played in the $25,000 Bellagio main event last week, qualifying via my second $2,500 satellite. What an event! Nearly all of the best players in the world played. Starting the third day, I had 227,000 chips, which was about 70,000 above average. I got busted out of the 639 player field with 150 players remaining. Upon busting, I asked the cocktail waitress for a glass of Drano, easy on the ice.

Here is where I went wrong: Before I started the day, I should have established that day’s goal. What should the goal have been? Oh, I don’t know…how about make the money idiot! You paid $5,000 to get in and 100th place paid $46,000. If I make the money, I can then change my strategy. I played too many hands and was trying to get a little too bluffy, kinda like when Dan gets a little drinky. Needless to say, the moral of the story is, decide what you want to have happen and work toward that goal.

My good friend Mike Wattel came in 6th in the event, cashing in about $300,000. What a joke! Here’s my beef:

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… is up. Have a listen (and if you’re a blogger who would like your own custom BTT jukebox like the one you see at the top-right of Pokerati and at Hard Boiled Poker, let us know and we may be able to hook you up.)

Can’t really tell you what Tom, Karridy, and I cover in this episode … mostly because I have yet to listen to it in full. However, I can assure you that you will get to hear:

• Devilfish expressing desires to bang people’s daughters while declaring us “his boys”
• Chau Giang working on his English-only
• Sean Sheikhan talking about “nappy ass players”

Beyond the Table - 4/18/07
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As always … awesome, right?

UPDATE: Oh yeah, right … in this episode we talk about Tom’s performance at the WPT 5-Star World Classic, Anna Wroblewski, Karridy’s early midlife crisis, crapping your pants while at the table, and calculating pot odds when it comes to giving a blow job. Hardcore intellect and aural pleasures to go.

The Fontana Room Race for the gold continues as the field of 639 players has now been reduced to 27 lucky little devils skilled men.

David Levi ended the first day without increasing his starting stack while Scott Fischman was in worse condition ending with only 17k in chips. Yet, Scott and David stepped up to bat on day two and hit several home runs placing them currently in 8th and 9th.

But they better not slack tomorrow because Phil Hellmuth, Carlos Mortensen, Paul Wasicka, Roland De Wolfe & Paul Lee are apparently wanting to win this little tournament.

Today’s notable eliminations were Lyle Berman (WPT Chairman of the board), Justin Bonomo and Dan’s crush.

As mentioned below, Tom is doing rather well in the WPT Championship after Day 2. (This could be the tournament my fantasy team needs! Don’t let me down, guys, I got $20 riding on your results!)

Here is some plausibly interesting raw audio of my two Beyond the Table cohorts recapping Day 1 — with intense, hardcore hand histories to boot:

Tom Schneider/Karridy Askenasy - 4/22/07
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Highlights below:

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I spoke with both David Levi and Steve Wong this evening for their updates which you can view on CardPlayer. David was not excited about ending day1 with 25k in chips but worked hard to finish today with 230,000k in chips and Steve Wong is rocking the Fontana in 4th with 476,000 bones! They both humbly said they were feeling good about their play but knew they had a long way to go. Two of my favorite Bellagio Sports Bar friends Amir Vahedi & Freddie Deeb are tied for 23rd with 240,000 in chips.

The Donkey Bomber is not only in 14th place tonight but CardPlayer even mentioned his name! Go Tom, more from you Dan/Karridy.

Fellow Houstonians, Sammy Farha is 9th with 345,000 and John “whadayagonnado boys” Bonnetti is hanging in there with 30k.

Other notables still in are Joe Sebok, Phil Ivey, Lyle Berman, Andy Black, Tran and Chan and Barney Boatmaaaan. But leading the pack is one of the greatest players in the world, Phil Hellmuth with 528,100 (don’t lose that 100 dollar chip, Phil).

Sadly Marcel Luske, Gavin Smith, Joe Bartholdi (who told me Friday he was ready to play this tournament) and Doyle Brunson have been eliminated.

And last but not least…The Ladies or as Wicked Chops Poker would say…crazy bitches.
Newcomer Anna Wroblewski leads the women with 350,000 in 7th place with Vanessa Rousso behind her in 53rd stacking up 115,000. Other ladies holding their own are Isabelle Mercier, Melissa Hayden, Erica Schoenberg, Jennifer Harman, Liz Lieu (who won her seat in a satellite), Kathy Liebert and Kristy Gazes.

Good luck to all and to all a good night.

A quick update. Pokerati Blogmate, Tom Schneider, is sitting comfortably with 285,000 at the end of day 2 of the Five Star Poker Classic at the Bellagio. When I spoke to Tom yesterday, he was bagging 72,000. I would love to know how the other 215k came to be, but Tom still gets no love from CardPlayer’s live coverage.

***
Oops, my numbers were off … I was texting with Tom on Saturday about his performance in Day 1A of the main event of the 5-Star World Poker Classic (aka the WPT Championship). He finished with 72k in chips, which I figured should be good enough to get him to Day 3. However, I forgot that the WPT was starting people with double stacks now … so instead of tripling up in this $25k event, he actually only increased his stacks by 50 percent. Still pretty good, albeit five times less good than it initially seemed. I just hope Tom doesn’t erroneously alter his game plan based on my wireless mobile coaching.

Cards go in the air for Day 2 at 2 pm central, with 485 of 639 remaining. I’ll be following the action here — you can do the same. Some of the others still alive I’ll be watching include (in descending chip order) Marc Goodwin, Shannon Shorr, Steve Wong, Lyle Berman, Phil Hellmuth, Jamie Gold, Kido Pham, Doyle Brunson, Gregg Merkow, Phil Ivey, JC Tran, Jim McManus, Tex Barch, Bob Stupak, Chau Giang, ZeeJustin, Robert Williamson III, and Rodeen Talebi.

(First prize is nearly $4 million … which is more than Chris Moneymaker won way back when … if that means anything.)

UPDATE: Will also be following Anna Wroblewski (the button-cute chip leader) and the others over here — love how PokerNews includes the online poker teams sites players are dressing for in their stats. Leave it to the site being updated by bloggers to clue in to semi-relevant minutae. However, they haven’t yet realized Tom from Team Pokerati is even playing.

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LAS VEGAS–It was a late night Thursday at the WPT party (at Light, in the Bellagio) with Chops (Wicked Chops Poker) and Chris Porter (Poker Royalty). While I can’t say my appearance split The Red Sea, I can say I had a swell time.

Like, ohmygosh, who, was, like thaaare?

I’m sure all you fellas would have been happy to take my seat next to Karina Jett (now with Full Tilt) and Evelyn Ng. Evelyn will be missing the Bellagio main event today to honor appearance commitments in North Carolina and Virginia this week. Karina left early with some guy named Chip (also now with Full Tilt), and were quickly replaced by cigar-toting Amir Vahedi and girlfriend Christy. Amir was kind enough to show us some dance moves, but was challenged by Devilfish (who often mistakes me for Mimi Rogers). David Ulliot not only played guitar on his leg, but also did some thrusting dance moves on the table. This is hard for any man (except for these or maybe these) to beat.

Ever polite and sweet Thor Hansen had brought along a group of young guys with stars in their eyes. Evelyn graciously went over to say hello after Thor suggested her appearance would make the young men’s evening.

CardPlayer was there with video on hand to catch all the action and I had to turn them down like 14 times for an interview. So, they reluctantly interviewed some other players named Gavin Smith, Layne Flack, Devilfish, Jeff Madsen, Mike Sexton, Evelyn and Clonie.

Thanks Choppy Poo and Chris. I had tons of fun.

UPDATE: Here’s the wild and crazy CardPlayer video report. Woo woo!

I’m off to Vegas in a few hours to play in Jen Harman’s charity event tomorrow. The Bellagio Main Event starts Saturday and I will head over to see what’s going on. I have to say…I’m looking forward to a stress-free trip with no tournament worries. Just good old fashioned cash play.

On a lighter note for Pauly, he will be on Holdem Radio tonight with Lou Krieger and Amy Calistri. Thanks for the update, Dan. And stay off of Pokerati’s myspace or you will never get anything done.

I was at the Bellagio the past four days or so. I came in 24th in one of the events … just 23 players away from more than $300,000…almost enough to get Dan some new sex toys a personality a haircut and a new wardrobe.

Anyway, I was playing in this $25/$50 no-limit hold’em cash game when it happened. The Bellagio’s poker tables have a yellow betting line. If while placing a bet, the chips or money do not cross this line, it is not considered part of the bet. That would have been nice to know. However, anyone who plays the game with good intentions doesn’t take advantage of such things and wouldn’t call it on another player when it’s obvious they intended to raise.

The guy to my right was in the big blind. This is a reference few people know, but he looked and dressed like Leon Redbone, a strange old singer. I picked up two $100 chips to raise, to make it $200 to go. I just happened to be sitting in the 2 seat. The line is much farther away from the end seats requiring the 2 and 8 seat players to lean way over to get the money within the line. (And who says poker players aren’t athletes?) It just happened that one chip made it inside the line and the other one was just low and outside. Immediately, the guy in the big blind says, “both chips didn’t go over the line, so that’s not $200”. I said, “Are you kidding me? I made a forward motion and intended to raise. Fine, then it’s only a call.”

The one seat said, “No, it’s a raise to $100.”

I was getting a little irritated and replied, “Listen, it’s either one chip or two chips, two chips is a raise, and everyone knows that one chip is only a call if I don’t announce raise.”

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A new episode of (the new and improved!) Beyond the Table is up. We’re still tinkering with the technology you see on the righthand sidebar and below … so any functional usability feedback will be totally ignored because you are probably not smart and we’re tired of fucking with shit warmly received and carefully considered.

Beyond the Table - 4/11/07[display_podcast]

This week, you’ll get the clickable privilege of hearing, Tom, Karridy, and Dan enlighten you about:

Segment 1

• Chris Moneymaker urinating during an interview
• Covering the WSOP as a blogger / “working” the WSOP as a player
• Getting stood up by Cash Poker, and other televised cardsy infomercials
• World Poker Tour moves from Travel Channel to GSN.
• Deal or No Deal strategy
• ZeeJustin kicking simultaneous ass online by playing two tourneys at once
• Criminal poker and the lack of recourse

Segment 2

• Tom heading to Bellagio for the 5-star WPT Championship
• The mathematics of buying in (or not) for $25k
• California players vs. Arizona players
• Poker strategy at The World Series of Golf
• Tom grows up, technologicially speaking

Segment 3

• One-name wonders in Poker (and Soccer)
• Googlefight.com while Tom takes a leak
• Annette_15 — underage online PokerStars phenom, top-ranked online player in the world, and not seeing Gavin Griffin’s penis
• Gavin Griffin wins the EPT Championship
• Teaching Tom to use google to stalk Annette Obrestead
• Males vs. Females online, and lack of interest in Dan’s proposed “Male Minority” tournament

While most of you probably know the standard rule differentials between cash and tournament play, it is important to know they vary not only between locations but also within the same room. For example, in the Bellagio 2-5 NL game you are required to turn over your hand when heads up with an all-in player. However, in the 5-10 NL Bellagio game you do not have to expose your hand in this same scenario. Seem strange? According to the Bellagio poker-room floor people, “It’s because 5-10 is a higher limit. The higher the limit, you don’t have to show your hand.”