Me in Oceanside, CA

Ahhh, California...

My brother Chris and I, hiking Runyon Canyon above LA

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably either a poker player or fan of the game in some fashion. You know that the games in Las Vegas are plentiful on any day of the week. The weekend crowd consists of tourists from all parts of the US escaping their routine lives for a few days in the desert. During the week, the player ratio skews more towards Europeans on extended holiday, mixed with the company conference crowd and conventioneers. There are always locals in the game and during the daytime, they can represent 50 percent or more of the table lineup, even at Strip properties.

At nighttime the ratio shifts more towards the out-of-towners, but where the tourists are, there will always be local regs scattered about.

It’s so fun playing a heads-up tournament. You get to play every hand… what more needs to be said?

As a poker player and/or fan, you might’ve heard that while Las Vegas is the gambling epicenter of the US, when it comes to poker, the true Mecca is actually located in Los Angeles. And after a recent return visit to my old stomping grounds, I was quickly reminded of that fact. The LA cardrooms are different in so many ways from their Vegas counterparts in everything from the atmosphere to the feel of the cards to the player makeup to what’s comped and what isn’t. At any one time in the Commerce, Bicycle, Hustler or any other casinos that occupy very non-glitzy East LA districts, you won’t find more than 1 percent of the player pool designated as “tourists”. No tourist is going to take time out of enjoying gorgeous Malibu or exploring the weirdness of Venice Beach to grind Commerce Casino. These places are packed with locals who love poker, love gambling, and very much love action. They absolutely have to… how else could you explain these folks braving horrific Los Angeles traffic to get to Bell Gardens to play $2/$3NL midweek? It’s true, you do get comped food from a rather impressive menu at the Bike, as opposed to free cocktails a la Las Vegas. But I have to assume it’s more than that. Poker has become a real part of several cultures that make up Los Angeles’ diverse demographics. It’s been that way for decades now, before the no-limit era and now well into it.

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Well, the buck torch has been passed and it has fallen upon me to summarize the latest and greatest happenings in tournament poker. Seeing as how the last entry was pre-WSOP, I will take it upon myself not to pick-up we Pokerati left off, choosing instead to focus on the past few days…during which time millions were pocketed in prize money.

The Australian Poker Hall of Fame Adds a T.D.
Casino Grand Lisboa, Macau, China

Danny McDonagh

At the commencement of the Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon, it was announced that Danny McDonagh had been inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.

Ok, so he didn’t win big bucks in a grueling tournament, but being the the first non-player to be inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame is a big win in my book. McDonagh is considered the leading Tournament Director authority in the Asia-Pacific region and works officially as the PokerStars Director of Live Operations. This man makes it happen and is credited for having one hell of an impact on poker tournaments worldwide. What has he done, you ask? Just the biggest events in the region, including the Aussie Millions, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, and Macau Poker Cup series at PokerStars Macau. Well played, Sir.

Operation USA Scores $53,800 in an Epic Show of Generosity
Epic Poker Charity Event – The Palms Las Vegas, Las Vegas NV

On August 7th, Epic Poker held its first charity poker tournament as part of its Inaugural Event. While Andy Frankenberger mowed down the likes of Gavin Griffin, Dwyte Pilgrim, Justin Young, and Mike McDonald, the big winner of the evening was Operation USA, through whom 100% of the $53,800 raised will benefit the victims of the tornadoes that devastated Joplin, Missouri.

While I’m not really sure exactly how many people played in the charitable event, I have it on pretty good information (I read it on the Epic Poker website) that the total funds raised included all of the $200 buy-ins and rebuys and an additional $2,000 that Frankenberger donated to the the cause out of his $2,500 First Place prize money. Way to raise the bar, Andy!!! I hope others follow the example you have set. Frankenberger didn’t walk away empty handed though, he was the first person to ever receive the Epic Poker Champion’s bracelet and Champion’s Ring.

You again!!! Crane Ships it at Borgata a Second Time
$300K Guaranteed Deep Stack Double Play- Borgata, Atlantic City NJ

Russell Crane - March 30, 2011 | Photo by Jay WhoJedi Newnum

Borgata’s Deep Stack Double Play was a scheduled 4-day No Limit Hold’em poker tournament that began on August 7, 2011. Even in these lean times, Borgata managed to attract 400 players to pay the $1,650 buy-in during the course of the double day entry period for a shot at the $300,000 guarantee, doubling the prize pool to a whopping $600,000.

Russell Crane AKA “rcrane082985″ beat out 399 poker players to secure a repeat shoutout here on Pokerati and, in doing so, made a little extra pocket change to the tune of $148,704. This 23 year old is on a serious heater. This latest score marks his third 1st place finish in a row since winning $37,308 in $1,000 NLH Deepstack at the Foxwoods Poker Classic on March 30th. Keep an eye out for this one… I’m willing to lay odds that he on route to Connecticut.

Saucedo Gets Max EV for Pocket 3s in the Mega Millions
Legends of Poker Mega Millions Event – The Bicycle Casino, Bell Gardens CA

Fausto Saucedo | Photo by Marie-Lizette C. Acoba

The Bicycle Casino kicked off its annual Legends of Poker signature series with a $1,000,000 Guarantee for the mind-blowingly low buy-in of $250 (plus an $100 optional rebuy). It took 20-flights spread over ten days, but when all was said and done, a total of 7,239 players, including Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle, Cuong (Soi) Nguyen, Scott Clements, Frankie O’Dell, and Brent Carter took a shot (or two, or three, or more) at the guaranteed $300K for first.

With a record number of entries, bested only by the WSOP, and 5,939 rebuys, the prize pool bloated to an astronomical $1,453,811 (that’s a lotta bank for your buck). Former WSOPC Ladies Event Champ, Greg Sessler (invested for nine bullets) found himself heads-up against admitted Moneymaker Effect protégé Fausto Saucedo, and was poised for the biggest cash of his poker career. However, it was not meant to be. After a 4-hour long heads-up rollercoaster ride, Saucedo claimed the Wild Bill Hickok trophy and $340,191 worth of bragging rights when his pocket 3s bested Sessler’s A/J off, all-in pre.

Season One – Tournament Series One Goes to Chino Rheem
Epic Poker League Main Event – The Palms Las Vegas, Las Vegas NV

If you don’t know that David “Chino” Rheem won a Million Dollars in the 6-Max Epic Poker Inaugural Event, you may want to crawl out from under the rock you’re living under. If you didn’t follow along on Twitter, Facebook, or EpicPoker.com, poker-trivia whiz Kevin Mathers recapped the 4-day event from “Way Outside” right here on Pokerati.com.

David "Chino" Rheem | Photo by Marie-Lizette C. Acoba

The exclusive No Limit Hold’em tournament was only open only to Epic Poker League members and 9 Pro/Am Qualifier Main Event seat winners, but still drew an impressive 137 players to pay the $20,000 “no-rake” buy-in. Although it was disclosed that $400 from each buy-in would go to pay the dealers, the $400,000 added to the prize pool negated the expense guaranteeing that 18 finalists would get a minimum 5-figure piece of $3,085,200.

The star-studded final table began on Friday, August 12th with Hasan Habib in the lead, Erik Seidel, Chino Rheem, Gavin Smith, Jason Mercier, and short-stack Huck Seed rounded out the final 6. Seed did what he could to rally from behind, and after a third of the total final table hands had been dealt, he was back in the game until Mercier sent him packing in 6th place, followed by crowd favorite Smith in 5th. Early in the match Rheem crippled Habib’s stack, then dealt the final blow sending Habib to the rail in 4th place. Seidel, having won several high-roller events this year got Mercier out of the way and it was heads-up: Rheem vs. Seidel. The two traded the lead on more than one occasion, and both the grand-stand sweaters and twitter rail were kept on the edge of their seats while the button past back and forth like a ping-pong for 50 some-odd hands. Both Seidel and Rheem made exceptional showings, but in the end the $1,000,000 and Championship ring went to Rheem (and his eager creditors).

The Second Time is a Charm at Foxwoods
Mega Stack Challenge Poker – Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket, CT

Sal Morello | Photo by Jay WhoJedi Newnum

Salvatore Morello redeemed himself on August 14th, after coming in second place in the Foxwoods Spring into Summer Mega Poker Championship last month, by claiming first place in the Foxwoods $600 Mega Stack Challenge event. Morello beatout 499 players, and single-handedly eliminated 5 of the 9 final tableists (including runner-up Ronnie Pease, who maintained the chiplead for the majority of the 2-day event) to claim the trophy and the first place prize of $60,202.

Across the Pond, Fintan Gavin Won the UKIPT Edinburgh
UK & Ireland Tour – Edinburgh Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, GB

Fintan Gavin, Winner's Photo

The last, but not least of this week’s Big Winners, Fintan Gavin is the first Irish champion of the 2nd Season of the PokerStars UK & Ireland Tour. The UKIPT attracted a field of 519 poker players in the £500 Main Event, creating a prize pool of £251,715.

When it got down to heads-up, I suspect people had their money on Gavin. A veteran at the felt, Gavin showed Hawksby (playing his first live tournament) how it’s done, grabbing the title and £61,500 in prize money. With $1.2 million in live cashes, Gavin is an old hand and is one of the organisers of Irish Poker Championships.

NAPT :: 256 players will not be coming back as Day 2 saw more people eliminated from play than on either day 1 day. They played about 6 levels today (down from 10 levels on day 1) and the blinds are now 3000/6000 with a 750 ante. Jimmie Guinther is the new chipleader, with 894,000 chips, but Travis Pearson (835,000) is not very far behind. A familar face from the Day 1B chip counts, Anh Van Nguyen, is also sitting pretty with 614,000, good enough for 3rd on the chip counts. With 81 players left going into day 3 and 22 of those players teetering in the dreaded ~20BB and below range, the action is sure to come fast and furious tomorrow.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts as well as some notables:

• Jimmie Guinther: 894,000
• Travis Pearson: 835,000
• Anh Van Nguyen: 614,000
• Bryn Kenney: 586,000
• Thomas Middleton: 519,000
• Micah Raskin: 515,500
• Tom Lee: 509,000
• Nicholas Verkaik 495,500
• James Sowers: 481,000
• Michael Binger: 474,000
• Phil Laak (whom Pokerstars has listed as from Ireland because birthplace is all that matters): 377,000
• Jason Mercier: 158,000
• Gavin Griffin 143,500

If anyone was missed from the notables, well, we can only fit so many in one go. Play resumes at 1PM PST.

The £10,000 + 350 Main Event has now reached the final table of nine, returning Tuesday afternoon at 12pm UK time/7 am ET/4 am PT to play down to a winner, who’ll earn a coveted WSOP gold bracelet and over £830,000 (~$1.3m US). Several big names fell short of reaching the final table, including Phil Ivey (19th), Viktor Blom (16th) and Barny Boatman (13th). Here’s how the final table will be situated, with just a few minutes remaining in level 20: 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante:

Seat 1: Roland de Wolfe – 1,377,000
Seat 2: Marc Inizan – 349,000
Seat 3: Nicolas Levi – 428,000
Seat 4: Fabrizio Baldassari – 697,000
Seat 5: Brian Powell – 842,000
Seat 6: Dan Steinberg – 1,520,000
Seat 7: James Bord – 1,331,000
Seat 8: Ronald Lee – 1,899,000
Seat 9: Dan Fleyshman – 1,946,000

Streaming of the final table, with hole cards, on a five-hour delay will be available at www.espn3.com and www.wsop.com for European viewers. For those looking to follow the action live, PokerNews and WSOP.com will constantly be providing live updates.

Elsewhere …

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, OK :: Sudhakara Kattamuri takes down the $1,500 + 100 Main Event for $73,127.

Big Poker Oktober – Bicycle Casino :: Small buy-in series of tournaments through Oct. 9, NAPT in November.

PokerStars WCOOP $5k Main Event: Under 125 players remaining, one of them tbvle, winner of hand 50,000,000,000 on PokerStars at a 2/5 cent table, which included a WCOOP Main Event ticket. He’s turned that into at least $17,711 and is looking for more. The PokerStars blog is providing live updates as they play down to a winner by Tuesday morning.

There’s been a lot of speculation about where the regulatory-challenged NAPT would head next, as it looks to spread across the US and/or Canada after a too awesome for its own good spectacular made-for-TV debut on American soil in Nevada at the Venetian.

Word was leaking to interested parties that it would indeed be at the Bike in California, with the Gold-Strike Tunica all but ready to be locked down, too. But now we know the plans for sure — the Bike it is, November 12-17, right after the November Nine — as does any else who might have an extreme stake in the future success and expansion of the North American Poker Tour presented by PokerStars.net.

THE POKERSTARS.NET NAPT ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING NEW STOP FOR SEASON 1

The PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour (NAPT) today announced the addition of a new stop to its Season 1 schedule. The NAPT will visit beautiful sunny Southern California for NAPT Los Angeles, a festival scheduled for November 12 – 17, 2010 at one of the largest poker rooms in the world, the incredible Bicycle Casino, aka ‘The Bike’.

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Part 2 is coming … and parts 3 and 4 … and maybe even a Part 5 addendum. But damn, writing semi-investigative narrative non-fiction ain’t exactly easy, especially when the story doesn’t convert well continues to develop in the present tense.

On May 28, the same day we ran the first part of NAPT, Venetian Part Ways over Row in Carson City, the Nevada Gaming Control Board officially responded to a formal inquiry about the Stars-sponsored event at the Venetian from attorneys representing one of its other licensees. They then posted this letter on Nevada Gaming’s website on June 2. Though this correspondence in and of itself doesn’t constitute enforceable policy, it does serve as effective notice to all Nevada casinos about how the GCB, the “prosecutors” of Gaming violations, will be seeing relationships with the likes of PokerStars … dot-com or dot-net.

Click here to read this important letter.

(In a nutshell, they say don’t mess with Stars … too much trouble from the Feds with these guys, not to mention the Czechs, and getting into bed with any site doing biz with American players could violate other GCB policies about working with international thugs. Oh, and dot-net doesn’t make it OK.)

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UPDATE:

Prahlad Friedman Wins Million-Dollar Prize, Schaffel Takes Second

The final table of the $10,000 WPT Legends of Poker resumes at 4pm PT today, with November Niner Kevin Schaffel the chip leader at 2,234,000. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated:

1. Sam Stein – 743,000
2. Todd Terry – 2,219,000
3. Kevin Schaffel – 2,234,000
4. Prahlad Friedman – 1,476,000
5. Mike Krescanko – 1,209,000
6. Toto Leonidas – 580,000

Steven Begleiter, the other November Niner remaining from action on Tuesday, finished in 9th. Here’s what the final table is playing for:

1 $1,034,500
2 $471,670
3 $231,300
4 $144,600
5 $116,225
6 $89,220

BJ Nemeth and company will be providing hand by hand coverage of the final table on their live updates page.

Here’s the latest edition of PokerStars.net’s Inside Deal, with November Nine participant Eric Buchman:

In other November Nine news, Kevin Schaffel and Steve Begleiter are 2nd and 3rd with just 24 players remaining at the WPT Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California. Todd Terry is the current chip leader with 850,000. Follow the live updates starting at 3pm PT over at the WPT live updates page as they play down to the final six players.

Setting foot in a casino card room for the first time since the WSOP yesterday, I did so to support my local L.A. poker spot The Bicycle Casino. The lovely Marketing Director Kelley O’Hara invited me to play in the media tournament in the brand new Event Center to kick off the month of Legends of Poker tournaments. While I opted not to play and only observed for a short time, I must say the Event Center is a vast improvement over the tournament room of the past. The spacious room is bright, welcoming, and about as elegant as Bell Gardens, California can get. Players at Legends events will be very pleasantly surprised.

Seems that about 180-200 people turned out to play in the tournament, including players like Annie Duke, Joe Reitman, Men Nguyen, and Jamie Gold. Some of the celebs spotted were Camryn Manheim and Sara Rue, along with local TV newscasters like hottie Phillip Palmer. It was no surprise that Duke took it down, though, and donated the winnings to Ante Up for Africa. (I get the feeling she’s really dedicated to that there organization.)

This should be a semi-fascinating case should it not get insta-folded as frivolous: Two “recreational” California poker players, Dennis Chae and Jeff Kim, have sued the Bike, Commerce, Hustler, Hollywood Park, and Hawaiian Gardens casinos — alleging that the dollar-a-pot raked for bad beat jackpots makes them illegal lotteries.

In a 2005 advisory, then-Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer cautioned casinos that the promotions violated state law unless players were allowed to win the jackpots without paying the fee. It’s the same legal principle that requires McDonald’s to give away game pieces for its popular Monopoly game to consumers who ask for them, regardless of whether they buy anything.

On its surface, the lawsuit seems like a hustle. I’m not sure how much in damages are they’re seeking, but the suit requests class-action status and hopes to enlist 10s of thousands of poker players as plaintiffs. But at the same time, Chae and Kim may have a technical point, at least to the extent that casinos advertise these promotions. We’ll have to see about how the finer details of rakeage break down according to California law. Honestly, can’t see this getting too far … but then again, it’s hard to say how many people might jump at the chance to score some rebate and slightly improve their EV retroactively.

It seems that the United States economic depression recession has stayed out of the Los Angeles card clubs, at least that was the case in 2008.

The Los Angeles Business Journal reports that 2008 earnings were actually up 1.2% from the previous year. Those numbers come from a former executive of the California Gaming Association and include figures from the seven largest card clubs in the L.A. metro area, including Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino.

Speaking of Commerce, the L.A. Poker Classic is in full swing, and that ever-popular tournament has seen no sign of the depression recession either. The first event alone – $335 NLHE – drew a field of 1,592, which is a 401-player increase from the 2008 series. Maybe the U.S. government should host a $1000 NLHE event for the entire country, take a few hundred dollars in juice on each buy-in, and clear up that nasty zillion dollar debt.

Yeah, it’s about as exciting as the title of this post.

Some kidding aside, maybe a tournament with only 373 players is a bit of a downer from the massive tournaments at the WSOP this summer. And it should be noted that last year’s attendance at the WPT Legends main event was 485, which makes for a pretty significant drop-off in just one year. Sure, there were a few players who are on their way to Macau for the APT and APPT but not enough to make up the difference. Maybe people are just flat-ass broke from the WSOP.

The vibe at the Bicycle Casino was a positive one, though, as the big names rolled in and seemed genuinely happy to see each other. As Bryan Devonshire said, “It’s like a class reunion!” Most players seemed in good spirits, but more due to the juicy cash games going on at Commerce and possibly Hustler casinos. Freddy Deeb told me that the games were so good at Commerce that he’s been in L.A. for three weeks playing them and hesitated to even come over to the Bike for Legends. (He busted on Day 2 and was excited to get back to his deuce-to-seven single draw game.)

Going into Day 3 today, Adam Weinraub leads the pack of 79 players, after also leading after Day 1A. The name might sound familiar, as he took down the WPT Invitational two years ago at Commerce. He owns a company here in Orange County so doesn’t play on the circuit regularly, but he does like to get in a tournament in L.A. or Vegas when he can. And, I must say, that he is a fantastically friendly and humble guy. Go Adam!

Other big names in the top ten today include Matt Keikoan, Max Pescatori, Mark Seif, and Marco Johnson. Players will hit the money today – top 36 players get paid – and they should be down to 27 by the end of the night.

As a result of my last post about Men “The Master” Nguyen being on fire this year on the tournament circuit, albeit most of his victories are in smaller Los Angeles events, commenters raised several possible explanations, from the assistance of a Muse to chip dumping from his horses/friends. Believe me, if I have the chance to interview Men at the Legends of Poker main event, I won’t shy away from posing those questions.

But in the meantime, Men has done it again. After winning Event #13 in the Legends of Poker series, he went on to win Event #15, which was the $545 Omaha hi/lo tournament. Seriously. Either he is on an unbelievable run, or the Bike has unbelievably bad security and no one is watching the chips.

In a stunning development, one of the WSOP November Nine has cashed in a poker tournament. And it just happened to be Kelly Kim, the shortest stacked player waiting to head back to the Rio in Las Vegas to attempt an immediate double-up at the WSOP final table. But instead of stuntin’ around Los Angeles with his 9th place money, he’s honing his final table skills.

In Event #13 of the Legends of Poker tournament series at the Bicycle Casino in L.A., Kelly was one of the 252 players in the $335 NLHE w/rebuys. And he ended up finishing in 4th place for a $10,650 payday.

In other November Nine news, David “Chino” Rheem did make the trip last week to Uruguay for the LAPT Punta del Este, but he was busted early on Day 1 when his 9-6 ran into a 6-4 and a 4 flopped. (PokerStars reported the action here.) Chino, along with Ivan Demidov and Peter Eastgate, are scheduled to play the WSOP Europe next month, so it will be possible to see some results from them there.

I know it’s been discussed before, but a recent California “ladies” event held at the Bicycle Casino brings back that discussion. I was looking at Pokerpages on Monday and decided had a look at the Legends of Poker series of tournaments to see the latest results. Barbara Enright took down the title, but if you looked at who finished in 7th place (which has been removed) you would have seen poker author John Vorhaus listed. Fortunately the tournament reporter mentioned that Vorhaus, the chip leader going into the final table, “dressed appropriately for the ladies event wearing a red-haired wig and a dress”. Is this how “Killer Poker” is supposed to be played?

I personally don’t understand why men would want to play in a ladies’ event unless they’re either looking for attention, or that they’re so bad at poker they feel their best chance at winning is to play the “weaker” sex. Maybe it was done for a more noble purpose, so I hope the $725 was worth it.

Update: Vorhaus talks about his experience in the event on his blog.