When poker was super hot - like the weather in L.A. this weekend - players couldn’t get enough of it. It wasn’t enough to watch the plethora of poker TV shows and listen to podcasts; poker fans wanted to see the real deal. And Live at the Bike gave it to them with live webcasts of cash games from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

Live at the Bike ran from early 2005 to the spring of 2007, and for fans of the shows, they are archived and available at a site called Poker Netcast. The site not only offers those webcasts but quite of bit of other instructional tools, some of which are still in the works. Though there is a small monthly fee to access all of the videos, players and poker fans can log on to get a preview of the site and see what it has to offer.

It seems that the California Bureau of Gaming Control doesn’t take too kindly to discrimination.

On January 18, the Bureau released a statement that rejected “ladies only” poker tournaments because they violate the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Not only will such events not be allowed to discriminate in admittance prices or services offered, but they can no longer advertise tournaments as ladies only, since men must be admitted.

PokerNews ran an article about it, noting that the Bicycle Casino and Commerce Casino do allow men to enter the events and will change their advertisements to remove the word “only” when referring to the ladies tournaments.

The WPT, which recently launched its Ladies League, said, “The intention of WPT Ladies is not to prohibit or promote against male players from joining, playing or receiving equal prizing in WPTL tournaments, but rather to encourage the growth of women in poker and provide opportunities to test their skills in the tournament environment.”

Curious to see how this all plays out – if men will start entering these ladies events to make a point or if they will leave the ladies alone.

See the entire Bureau of Gambling Control press release by clicking below:

More…

The L.A. Poker Classic begins its month of preliminary tournaments tomorrow (January 24) at Commerce Casino. In fact, it is actualy in Commerce, California, but L.A. - City of Dreams, Hollywood, City of Angels, LaLa Land - sounds so much more appealing.

Prelim events range from $300 buy-ins to the $10k main event, and there are tournaments in limit & no-limit hold’em, stud, Omaha, six-handed and tag team hold’em, and shootouts, so there’s something for every donkey sucker player.

It all wraps up with the WPT $10k championship event that begins on February 23 with the final table on February 28. And the star-studded Celebrity Invitational runs from March 1 - 3.

Click here for a complete schedule.

Since Dan everybody calls me Cali Jen, I will be there when I can to get the inside scoop on who’s in the house, who’s winning and losing, any drama that ensues (did someone mention Brandi?), and which players and celebrities I have crushes on respect and admire.

In this week’s episode:

New year… New music… New Graphics…
…and the same ol’ host, J. Todd. To celebrate the start of 2008 he makes a resolution to clean-up his potty mouth. Then, he tries to give away some cash! Watch and win with this weeks show!

Hollywood the Latest Victim of UIGEA?…
When the WTO gave Antigua the rights to profit $21 million a year at the expense of American intellectual property rights, a collective chill could be felt sweeping over Silicone Valley and the Hollywood Hills. There are some out there who believe that — if Hollywood suffers — they are getting just what they deserve!

What are those damned Germans up to Now?!
Last week we told you that Germany has decided to ban internet gambling as of January 1st, 2008. In a no shame attempt to protect their state monopoly, they don’t seem to care what the EU Court of Justice thinks. Now, they may have issues mounting from within, as several online gaming companies may be teaming up to go after them civilly. Where the hell where these guys and the will to fight when UIGEA rolled out?

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The second day of the conference began with an appearance by Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. He gave some insight into the 2008 WSOP that hasn’t been released to the press officially, as follows:

• There will be no tent. (The audience applauded.)
• A concierge, possibly a team of people, will be available for those with questions throughout the series.
• There will be no more than 55 events.
• The exact list of events will be announced in December or January.
• He is in the process of trying to arrange a way for players to begin buying into the events at any Harrah’s property as soon as the events are announced.
• Since 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of the WSOP, 2008 will host some events to kick off a year of tributes and celebrations.
• New WSOP ads will air soon that feature the voice of Don Cheadle.
• Close to $1 million was raised for various charities at the 2007 WSOP. There will be affiliations with charities again in 2008, including Ante Up for Africa.

Mr. Pollack went on to say that they meet with members of the player’s council almost weekly in order to make the 2008 better than in years past. He admitted, “We are never going to get it exactly right,” but they will continue to do the best they can.

More…

From Boston to Cali to Las Vegas to Washington DC … it’s all about poker-poker-poker ’til the cows come home.

So wow, so much is going on right about now. A lot of smart people doing a little bit more than just geeking out about poker and the industry’s/game’s/lifestyle’s future. Wish I could be everywhere:

We’ve got the Global Poker Thinking Society getting together at Harvard — featuring Howard Lederer, Charles Nesson, and Crandall Addington.

And then this weekend is the California Poker Conference — where speakers include WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, PPA Executive Director John Pappas, and some influential old-timers such as Mike Caro, Lou Kreiger, Barbara Enright, and many others.

And then on the next day, Pappas heads back to Washington DC, where he’ll be hosting the Poker Player’s Alliance DC Fly-in — a little Beltway lobbying fest on behalf of pro-poker legislation. This is the one I really want to be at — and we’ll try to stay on top of things from afar — because twisting Congressional arms enlightening our representatives is a lot of fun. I gotta say, it also kinda makes me proud to know that our success wooing Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) as a co-sponsor to HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act, kinda inspired it.

From CardPlayer:

JP: We had a really great meeting in August with Congressmen Pete Sessions in his Dallas, Texas, office. It was myself and a number of our local PPA members, including Clonie Gowen, who’s a Dallas, Texan, and Robert Williamson III, another Dallas, Texan. We went in and sat down with him and talked to him about the Wexler bill and why it just didn’t make sense that a game of skill is being outlawed on the Internet. And it really resonated and it really came through and what I saw was, wow, this is something we need to replicate, this is something we needed to do more of. Based on that meeting, I thought we needed to get people out to Washington. Whether we make 20 meetings or 200 meetings, I think it’s going to be a worthwhile event.

Very cool! (And well done, Pokeratizen politicos!) Good times, all around. And indeed, we should do more of that.

I’ll be in Vegas … assuming I make my flight, which leaves in — yeow! — four hours, to do the TV Co-hosting thing with Tom Schneider for the inaugural Poker Bowl. This should be a pro-studded affair … even Doyle Brunson will be playing, along with Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen, reformed self-colluder ZeeJustin … and Absolute spokesman Mark Seif. Like seriously, we have so much to talk about!

And so little of it to do with how to play in middle position.