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.

You might be thinking, why would I want to play amidst a sea of local regs? Aren’t the tourists the ones who make the games playable and beatable? In Vegas, yes. In other parts, that just isn’t the case. In fact, if I could replace all the tourists in Vegas with the current makeup of players in the LA cardrooms, I would probably do it. Of course, who knows if they would play the same way if they didn’t have to drive through LA traffic on their way to the poker room. (I’m serious, I think this has something to do with it. It’s impossible to travel two miles in LA without experiencing at least some level of tilt.) But in any case, there is unbelievable, inexplicable poker action in LA. I often wonder why my friends who play 5/10 regularly live in Vegas because if it were me, I’d probably spend the majority of my time elsewhere. The cost of living in Las Vegas is nearly unbeatable, but if I were earning enough to support a comfortable lifestyle in, say, Manhattan Beach, I would have to jump on it.

That all being said, you still have to run good. Not only that, there is an adjustment period when playing these manic California poker games coming from Las Vegas. I’m pretty sure you should be nitting it up, because when people finally arrive at their LA cardroom of choice, they aren’t in a folding mood. You should raise bigger for value and then just pound away for more value. After that, it’s in the gods’ hands as always. And the gods were not smiling upon me on this trip. I will spare you the bad beat stories (all in on the turn 3 ways 82% favorite $800 pot wtfffff!) and give the cliff noted summary of: it was a losing trip. However, it is always good to be back in LA. I absolutely love it there. I hiked Runyon Canyon with my brother, made it to some bars in Silverlake, and came back to Vegas recharged.

I drove back into the desert the night before St. Patrick’s Day. I really wanted to come back by then because I had an idea for one of my ChipTracker session reports, which you can find here. For me, especially lately, it’s been much more enjoyable playing with more of a purpose than simply winning money. Whether it’s writing one of the session reports, or doing longer write-ups in blog form, I’ve been a lot more inspired to work when I know there will be more to my efforts away from the grind itself. I’m starting to get more heavily into what I guess I could call “other project” mode. I’m really trying to find ways to use poker (both my playing and the time that my profession provides me) to fuel other endeavors, whether they are artistic or business minded.

I played a few sessions, did some writing, and mostly broke even in the cash games upon my return to Vegas. I played a PLO tournament with no results but I didn’t have high hopes, as I left my chips on the cash game table to return to post-bustout. There was another tournament I had my eye on: the $130 heads-up NL, 64 player max at Caesars. I had actually won this tournament before, and it stood as my only title on my official poker resume. So I bought my way in the night before the tournament to make sure I was in under the player cap.

It’s so fun playing a heads-up tournament. You get to play every hand… what more needs to be said? Each player starts with 15k in chips at the 100/200 level, which means not an incredible amount of play but not completely horrendous by any means. My first match went relatively smoothly. My opponent took an early lead and was actually ahead 2/1 in chips, but he found an unwillingness to fold QJo twice all-in preflop vs. my A10, and I was able to hold both times for the win. My second match was a blur, but my third match was interesting. Heads-up is easily, for me, the most interesting poker format. I’ve played more heads-up PLO hands online than any of my friends by far, and had pretty good results. You start out making small jabs to get your oppenent to reveal him or herself. Heads-up play forces your opponent’s poker soul to be on display, and the trick is to simply adjust accordingly vs. that player type. It’s very similar to ring games where you adjust to the table dynamics and then to your opponent(s) in a specific pot, but you have to try and find out what type of player you’re up against quickly and only with your own chips, whereas at a full table you can gather info by observing other players battling each other. Add to this the aspects of how your opponent is handling winning/losing, and then tells on top of that, and you have layers upon layers of a poker match.

The really fun part comes when trying to figure out how thinly to value bet and when to call off with A high. Some players make it extremely easy, bombing away with their strong hands and checking no-pair type hands. Such was my third opponent, raising to 500 preflop and c-betting 5000 on the flop for fear of getting outdrawn. My fourth opponent was the opposite type, playing far too weakly, limping in too often, never floating c-bets and allowing himself to get run over. My final two opponents were good players. They both played unpredictably and didn’t give too much away. I ran good in the semifinals, grinded my opponent down below 10bb’s, then shipped a suited connector and was able to get there for the win.

The final was best two-out-of-three. Earlier in the day, my buddy Jaymes thought it would be humorous to tweet his prediction that I would take second place in the event. I was feeling great after winning the first of our finals matches, and feeling pretty annoyed after losing the second when I flopped top two pair vs. my opponent’s flopped straight. I was pretty exhausted at that point. If you think playing poker for 10 straight hours is draining, try playing a heads-up tournament for that long where your attention is demanded every single hand. I forced myself to bear down and took an early lead in the third match, and committed myself to grinding my opponent down without giving anything away. I had a bigger than 2-1 chip advantage and had my opponent below 10 bb’s again when I limped A5 on the button to induce a shove. He had done so a couple of times previously where I probably shouldn’t have limped in the first place and was forced to fold. My opponent obliged with another shove from the big blind and the A5 held up for the tournament title.

It’s always gratifying to be the last man standing at the end of a tournament. This win was especially gratifying for me because of my previous HU tourney title. Any one person can win a single no limit tournament, and you only need to look at the countless number of amateurs to bink a bracelet or other big score and to never find another win on their resume. Having booked a second win in the same tournament format really felt like it legitimized my first win.

This week we again visit the regulated online poker situation in both California and New Jersey, plus big news for Internet gambling from Manitoba, Canada. Also, a look ahead to what’s coming up over the next several weeks.

2011 Rincon recap:

There was no event at the bicycle casino last year, but the Texas crew cleaned up at Rincon in 2011. Seneca Easley (@6ovspades), Mstr Lynch, and Justin “Choctaw” Kruger (@ChoctawKruger) grabbed four rings from the circuit stop, including a main event win by Mr. Easley.

2011 Texas Rincon winners:

Mstr Lynch, Seneca Easley, Justin Kruger

Starting strong in 2012:

La Sengphet (@lasengphet) continued the Texas west coast ring run in 2012 winning an open event at the Bike’s first wsop circuit in January. She made history with that win becoming the first woman to win 3 open wsopc events. Read more about that trip here: http://whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/lala-land/

LaLa Land:

Picture by Eric Butler of Image Masters

Different paths to the prize:

The two new ring winners both got their start in Dallas poker, but they took very different routes to their Rincon victories. Josh Evans continued his poker progression by moving into online mtts. According to pocketfives.com Josh “pairDboard21? Evans amassed 1.6 million in online cashes across the sites before the DOJ shuttered them. After black Friday Josh was forced to relocate to Vegas to continue his career as a live grinder.

John Harris transitioned from Dallas poker to a dealing job on the wsop circuit. He also dealt at the Venetian and would eventually take a floor position there. After his time in Vegas John moved to Bakersfield California to help open the Aviator casino. Recently he decided to hang up his suit and join the ranks of circuit grinders following the wsopc, a decision that has certainly started off on the right foot.

Josh Evans turns his last two antes into a ring:

Josh, like many pros, showed up to Rincon hunting points more than rings. He had a few deep runs in his limited circuit schedule, including a 2nd in the re-entry at the Bicycle Casino, and made the trip to take advantage of the short fields to try and lock up 10k in free roll equity. Of course the best way to get points is to win a tournament, and Josh showed his mental toughness recovering from a crippling loss AK vs. AK aipf to do just that.

After getting flushed out on, Josh was left with 2 500 ante chips late in day one. With some run good, solid game theory, and a never quit attitude he was able to parlay his last 1k into 120k by the end of the day. After turning 1k into 120k, turning 120k into 1.9 million chips didn’t seem so unreasonable. He came to the final table of the 6-max event with around 250k and never looked back.

Another day at the office for Josh Evans:

Josh has made multiple TV appearances, including the final table of the Million dollar free roll in 2011 where he and La spent some quality time together. His low key style and a string of 2nds and 3rds have kept him under the radar, but that trend is unlikely to continue. Titles and bravado get you publicity, but skill and consistency gets you respect in the community and Josh has earned his stripes with solid results year after year.

John Harris (@85nutz) gets off to a great start:

A few months back our good friend John Harris called me and told me he was thinking about quitting his current job and taking a shot at grinding the circuit. He asked me about the ins and outs of the circuit life and I was happy to share my thoughts. Hopefully our conversation was some of his inspiration for taking an extended leave from the floor gig and dipping his toes in the West Palm Beach circuit waters.

John’s first circuit outing was a success. He booked a 3rd place finish in a 555 prelim and cashed in the large Florida main event field making a solid profit for the trip. His opening expedition gave him enough confidence to make his extended leave a permanent one. With a backing arrangement in place with his Dad, he packed up his apartment and made plans to bunk with La and I at Rincon for his second outing.

John is a great guy. Even though he had an event to play at noon the next day, he stayed up and railed my final table at Rincon until the HU match was over at 6am. I couldn’t be happier that I quickly got a chance to return the favor and rail his final table and first ring! The story of how it happened has already been told, but I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate him again on an excellent start to his new career.

Harris ships his first ring:

___

Originally published April 1, 2012 at whoisdavidclark.wordpress.com.

This was THE nit festival of all nit festivals. Your normal hourly rate simply does not translate when you remove the fun-loving, didn’t-come-to-fold tourist factor and replace it with the game-has-obv-passed-me-by-but-I’ll-still-sit-here-and-fold-for-$10/hr-zomg-dreams-do-come-true jaded older Vegas reg. I mean, it was truly miserable.

Las Vegas is awesome. We all know about the availability of booze and gambling 24/7, and the ability to keep whatever sleep schedule you desire. As cash game poker players, we never have to endure the pain of an alarm clock’s rouse, as Vegas embraces daywalkers and nightowls alike. The cost of living is relatively low, especially considering the quantity and quality of entertainment options available as compared to other cities with similar offerings, such as LA, San Francisco, Miami. If outdoor adventure is your thing, you can find plenty of that at places like Red Rock Canyon; hikes such as the Gold Strike near Hoover Dam, which takes you all the way down into the Colorado River; and weird natural beauty like the Valley of Fire. And for those less willing to leave Clark County, there’s the peaceful Summerlin suburbs, and the increasingly interesting downtown Vegas scene.

But as much as I love Las Vegas and as great a fit certain aspects of this city are for my personality, I can only go so long before an excursion out of town becomes necessary. I’ll be heading to California for a good couple of weeks and am really looking forward to it. As a low stakes grinder I can’t really afford to just take an entire month off from playing. Well, maybe I could, but it would be a guaranteed whack to my bankroll and I don’t think I need a vacation that much. I just want a change of scenery for a bit … so San Diego and Los Angeles, here I come. I’ll be doing more of the ChipTracker session reports while in CA and should have plenty to write about from the LA cardrooms.

As for my poker results since my last full blog post, I can happily report that things took a nice turn for the better around the middle of January. The night that I wrote that update was definitely a low point. Seeing as such, I decided to change my gameplan, which at the time was (as it is now) to play cash games wherever I felt like playing that particular day. I took a day off to make sure I was composed mentally, and then, at 11am the following day, parked myself in what I would discover were the most miserable $1/2NL games I’ve ever played in: the Tropicana day shift.

You may have heard about a few of the poker rooms around Las Vegas that have started offering cash back to players who play a certain number of hours per day or per week. At the time the Trop was giving $10/hr if you played all 8 hours between 11am and 7pm. When you’re losing every single day for almost two weeks straight, this seems like a fantastic deal. I knew I was running bad, but I still had a decent hourly rate overall and figured if I added $80 per day, well hell, how could I go wrong? The problem is that these games take away the number one weapon a professional poker player living in Las Vegas has in their arsenal, in my opinion, and that is game selection. This was THE nit festival of all nit festivals. Your normal hourly rate simply does not translate when you remove the fun-loving, didn’t-come-to-fold tourist factor and replace it with the game-has-obv-passed-me-by-but-I’ll-still-sit-here-and-fold-for-$10/hr-zomg-dreams-do-come-true jaded older Vegas reg. I mean, it was truly miserable.

However, there was one very important lesson that I needed to be reminded of while grinding out the Tropicana games. It was that I’m not doing this to make fancy plays to keep myself entertained at the table, or because it’s some glamorous job like a lot of people who don’t play poker might be led to believe. It’s to sit down and grind out a paycheck at the end of the day, so that I can drop it into my bank account, so that I can pay my bills. And that’s done by playing solid, don’t-get-out-of-line poker. I played a handful of days at the Trop booking very modest wins, but more importantly, tightening up some screws in my game that were coming loose. I branched back out and into my other regular rooms around town and from the middle of January and for at least a month straight, keeping that lesson in mind every single day, it resulted in booking a solid win at the tables almost every single day. Yes I was definitely running better but I was playing much more disciplined poker–the kind that keeps variance minimized and decision-making simpler. I put together a great string of wins and moved back up to $2/$5NL at the Bellagio, where I continued my rungood for a few sessions.

Unfortunately, over the last week or so, my upswing has hit the breaks somewhat. But it has to be expected at some point I suppose. Even though I think I have less ego than a lot of other full-time players, it’s always tough to go back down to smaller limits. It makes it twice as hard to stay disciplined when you’re playing for about half the stakes, but it’s always vital because the lower you are on the ladder, the more important it is to just play an ABC-style game. It is what it is though. Once I string together a few wins at $1/$3NL I’ll take another shot at the next level. Hopefully I’ll find that next uptrend in California.

But what stands out most to me is a line from one of the opponents of any measures for California to finally get serious about regulating online games within their own borders:

“We don’t want to see any of it,” said pastor James Butler from the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. “Pretty soon they’ll have an app that will allow you to connect instantly to a casino or a gambling site. Want to lose your home? We have an app for that,” Butler said.

Emphasis added. Not sure if we should tell the fine pastor that they already do have such an app — all over the UK to be sure, and in Nevada you can bet sports for real money anywhere you want using your Droid or iPhone with Leroy’s App. (It just turns off when you get to the California border — amazing that crazy technology these days!)

OK, I shouldn’t mock … because we all remember the saying from the days leading up to the UIGEA: “click a mouse, lose your house.” That language stuck in the anti-gambling forces rhetoric for years, pretty much until Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) tried to take it to a new level by claiming 1/3 of all college students who tried online gambling attempted suicide. That, of course, didn’t stick … and since then pro-online gambling forces have made tremendous inroads, with a message that has been quite refined since online poker’s post UIGEA starting point, which pretty much was: WTF?

But don’t expect the opposition to remain stagnant. The closer we get, the more you can expect them to up their game, if not simply because mainstream media often call various sources to get more than one side of a story … and because election years generally tend to be good fundraising periods for people in the morality business.

You can tell Mr. Butler is currently workshopping the opposing message:

“Is there going to be a guarantee that anyone in California who receives social assistance will be banned from those sites? Or will basically the California citizens be subsidizing somebody else’s gambling behavior?” said Butler.

Fascinating point, actually. We are talking more than 2 million people in California, mind you, receiving some sort of government aid. So should we strengthen online gambling bans (against all) to make sure those on the public dole can only play games meeting standards of appropriate bankroll management?

PokerStars did not comment on plans for what could’ve been had the US government allowed them to make food stamps redeemable for T$ and/or VIP swag.

But what about the rest of ‘em?

You can currently find Jerry Yang, the 2007 WSOP’s biggest winner and #20 on the all-time poker tournament money list, bussing tables while commanding an otherwise lackadaisical staff (according to Yelp) at Pocket 8s Sushi & Grill in central California. Um, pass the yum-yum sauce?

Via Pokerati’s resident Vegas grinder-thug @AndrewNeeme:

Poker Fish: You wouldn’t believe how many of Jerry Yang’s relatives are always hitting him up for free sushi.

That’s the whole theme of the Aviator Casino … airplanes, airports, and pai gow. That’s why at least some non-poker people see this creation of an info station at a California poker room as less about tourney registration but not too much less because it is still “functional art”:

More about this awesome little poker room — the coolest I’ve ever seen in the area — at TheAviatorCasino.com.

This notice stood out to me as I was listening to Donkdown Radio live yesterday — where the troublemakers at DD apparently got Russ Hamilton on his private cell phone for a good ole fashioned radio prank call. Russ, of course, has never been prosecuted for egregious crimes he hasn’t even been formally accused of committing at an online “casino”. Hey, karma … living an OJ Simpson existence between Las Vegas and Florida.

Not to get off topic — because really, it’s just an amusing sign — but one thing I didn’t believe from UB and Annie Duke upon fingering the 1994 WSOP champ as the lone gunman in the biggest cheating scandal in gaming history was that they tried to prosecute Russ Hamilton but were unable to because of jurisdictional limitations. I don’t buy it because I’m pretty sure had they tried they’d have a letter from someone official stating just that — you know, like sorry, we’d love to help, but this alleged offense is beyond our ability to investigate. Think about it … the Neteller guys got tagged, as did others, even though they were in Canada and their servers were somewhere outside the US. Rapists have been extradited across state and even international lines for crimes committed in many different places. If anything, you’d think there’d be a fight over who gets to prosecute such people, not who can’t. All authorities would need is some respected agency to cooperate.

If Russ Hamilton did indeed steal $60 million … those crimes were committed arguably in the US against US citizens also in the US, and the Kahnawake would have evidence that the FBI would be very interested in. Sure, his defense counsel might be able to make a strong case around jurisdictional disqualifications … but that would still have the accused facing formal charges, and he would have a Constitutional right to challenge his accusers instead of just lashing out at his harassers in a low-stakes Florida game.

I’m no lawyer, so I could be wrong, but …

That’s what currently doesn’t exist with online poker in the US — the ability to prosecute what seems clearly a criminal act committed by an American in America against other Americans. Kinda bullshit when you think about it. Why can’t we? Why hasn’t anyone?

Not even a civil suit?

Curious, too, about the timing of Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth both leaving UB around the same time Russ Hamilton seems willing to make more appearances (where people might recognize him) and actually vocalize his distaste for efforts to brand him with a scarlet C.

(And btw, how did no one video this outburst if it really did happen? No one at a table nearby had an iphone at the ready?)

The arguments themselves are nothing new — for or against — but you will notice a slight shift on the “Gogogo online gambling FTW!” side that we’re all supposed to be a part of …

Here, Patrick Dorinson, spokesperson for the Coalition of California Card Clubs and Tribes, is clearly pushing for the intrastate model, with the California Gambling Control Commission setting the rules. He addresses that critical component so matter-of-factly that any new recruits to the online poker side would hardly know this is different from the federally regulated, interstate model pushed Barney Frank, the PPA, and others … you know, what we’ve all been supporting for a long time. That one, according to statements in Washington DC congressional debate, looks to rely on regulatory standards set by the Nevada Gaming Control Board … with maybe some input from New Jersey and the Indians.

We always knew the battle for the right to claim poker supremacy between Cali and Nevada was fierce … but now it seems to be hitting a new level of import.

Our good friends at the PPA, you know, weren’t too happy about how California was looking to do online poker in that state. But might we see a necessary shift in strategy? If cash-desperate California pushes through online gambling within its borders, they will do so with an intrastate set-up — as seen in this debate — and from there it’s only a matter of time before other states cut-and-paste Cali’s new taxable online poker framework and follow suit … literally changing the online game for everyone.

California state Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) — the legislator behind California’s aggressive efforts for intrastate online gambling and opponent to Barney Frank’s federal online gambling bills — is in some hot water. I couldn’t tell on quickest glance if he’s being hassled over some jurisdictional technicalities or if its indicative of some major shenanigans involving one of the biggest proponents for California’s French-like vision for online poker. But either way, somebody seems pretty pissed off at Wright, as a Los Angeles County grand Jury unsealed an 8-count felony indictment against him yesterday.

Wright is the sponsor of California’s SB 1485, a bill that would immediately kick off licensed and regulated online gambling for Californians in California. The bill has seemed on its last legs since this summer, but just won’t die as California desperately digs into its couch cushions looking for any way possible to to make up for extreme budget deficits supposedly driving the state toward insta-bankruptcy.

California’s legislative session ended weeks ago, but the Governor has called lawmakers, including Wright, back to work where SB 1485 is on a short-list of bills being given top attention because of its revenue-generating potential.

The Poker Players Alliance, the advocacy group championing a federal approach to licensed and regulated online gambling (and poker specifically), has publicly opposed Wright and SB 1485. They also, of course, have been spearheading an aggressive campaign against the Commerce and other California casinos for their opposition to their bills being considered in Washington DC.

The political advocacy group supporting Wright and Cali’s protectionist intrastate ways to a more-legal online poker means is Poker Voters of America, who have stated high hopes that Wright’s bill will indeed find its way into California law this year, which would set an intrastate precedent for other states to follow.

Wright faces up to 8.3 years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding elected office in California should he be convicted.

PPA Excutive Director John Pappas told PokerNews’ Matthew Kredell he will stop supporting Commerce events, but stopped short of calling for an all-out boycott:

“We didn’t think that was appropriate. Players will make that decision on their own. But you see the number of professional players who signed the letter. I know Commerce will be holding a lot of high-profile events in the future. Some pros might question whether to attend.”

Follow coverage of the PPA’s crusade to get Commerce officials to change their minds here. Meanwhile, the Commerce Hold’em Series gets underway today,

Open letter from pros, PPA website target Commerce
Though Barney Frank’s online gambling bill made it out of committee last month relatively unscathed, one troublesome opponent came from the Commerce Casino in California. In an effort to squelch the impact of their dissent, the PPA sends its million-plus members word of an open letter to the Commerce (signed by a few dozen top-level pros) and launches PlayersBeforeProfits.com, making it easy for poker players to bombard the Commerce with tweets, emails, and phone calls voicing displeasure.

Commerce says PPA misguided, Frank bill will cost jobs and hurt poker
Commerce board member Tom Malkasian, who testified against HR 2267 last month, turned up his rhetoric against the PPA, saying they are ignoring key issues. The Commerce has a right to fight against unfair competition from offshore operations, he tells PokerNewsDaily, and its something they must do to protect California revenue, American jobs, and poker player interests, he says. At least Duke and Negreanu seem back on the same team, having both signed the initial letter and both tweeting to help get thousands of signatures for the PPA in just a couple days. Duke hints at plans for a boycott.

Bike, other California casinos lock step with Commerce
In what’s becoming an increasingly hostile back and forth, the PPA appears to be winning the PR battle, now with more than 6,000 signatures and countless tweets to Congress. The Commerce counters with even bigger numbers and a sign their side is growing, too. They mass-email a press release late Friday, announcing a unified front with other major California card rooms, including the Bicycle, Hawaiian Gardens, and Hollywood Park. These card rooms claim they collectively represent more than 20,000 California employees and handle $13.4 billion in wagers, all of which would be severely threatened by the Frank bill.

Industry Leaders Join Together with Commerce Casino in Opposing Frank Bill; “California Will Lose If Frank Bill Is Passed”

The letter suggests HR 2267 is too broad, and would be more acceptable if it tried to legalize poker-only, not all online gambling. It also says the Commerce welcomes the emails, but asks concerned players to use their new email address supportonlinepoker@commercecasino.net.

Boycott Commerce?
Twitter suggested lots of support for the idea, but few if any have thus far declared intent to cancel plans or skip the upcoming Commerce Hold’em Series, which kicks off Wednesday with a $500k Guarantee.

He comes to the table plenty-well bankrolled and plays what first appears to be a loose-aggressive game. But just when you think you’ve sniffed out a big bluff — hey, he doesn’t have a Porsche, that’s just a license plate frame! — turns out you were right, kinda. It’s not the nut Porsche as represented … but he does still have a Range Rover, which is better than your set of kings.

(Doh!)

Dude banks on lesser drivers letting him get there. Also knows how to run over a table.

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’.

“I’ve played at The Bike in the past and there is a strong local presence in LA,” comments poker legend and Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreaunu. “It’s always really important for a tournament’s success to have a strong core of local players as it gives even more incentive to travel to the events when you know there will be big money on the line. I’m looking forward to playing.”

Others scheduled to be on hand for the new stop include highly renowned Team PokerStars.net Pros such as Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, 2004 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer, plus returning WSOP champion; 2009 Main Event winner Joe Cada.

The festival will feature a five-day Main Event with a US$5,000 buy-in. There will also be a broad range of fun and exciting side events catering to players of all bankroll levels. Up-to-date information on the events and schedules will be posted on www.napt.com

Haig Kelegian, Managing Partner of The Bike, states, “We are very enthusiastic to secure the West Coast Tour stop. We clearly recognize the NAPT as the next major happening in the evolution of poker, and we have no doubt this Tour will entice and attract players from all over the world.”

Season 1 of the PokerStars.net NAPT has proven to be a resounding success. The NAPT’s first three festivals of Season 1 enjoyed tremendous support from players. Sixty different countries were represented in fields that numbered from 700 to 1,500.

The NAPT PokerStars.net Caribbean Adventure drew in a record-breaking 1,529 players with US based player Harrison Gimbel taking home $2.2 million for first prize. The NAPT Venetian title was won by 22-year-old online player Tom Marchese for $827,648 and the NAPT Mohegan Sun saw local Vanessa Selbst beat 716 players to win her biggest live tournament pay day to date of $750,000.

Players at all three events were treated to luxurious accommodation, amazing parties, and well-designed, professionally-run poker tournaments.

The easiest path to NAPT Los Angeles is by winning a free tournament package on PokerStars.net. Packages for the festival will include the US$5,000 entry fee for the Main Event, accommodation for the duration of the festival and a stipend for travel expenses.

About PokerStars.net:

PokerStars.net is the world’s largest online poker school with over 36 million members. It’s the premier destination for the world’s top players – with numerous tournaments running every day. PokerStars.net is renowned for offering the best software and security in the online poker world.

PokerStars.net is the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour, PokerStars.net Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour and The World Cup of Poker. For more information please visit www.pokerstars.net

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.)

Meanwhile, longtime poker politico and legal consultant Wendeen Eolis writes a bit more about how February’s NAPT-Venetian led to the Board’s current stronger-than-ever opposition to the idea of its Nevada casinos partnering with American-friendly online poker sites.

Check out her story in the new Poker Player Newspaper:

By all accounts, throughout the tournament, both Venetian and Poker Stars honchos were aglow over the initial collaboration. Word around town was that they were rarin’ to do an encore this summer.

Yep, sounds familiar. But one important new piece of info she reveals is where the NAPT is supposedly headed next, after having been effectively deported from Nevada.

California. Specifically the Bike.

A well-informed gaming official asserts (on the condition of no attribution) that “Poker Stars has embraced the Bicycle Casino and Card Club for its next NAPT Festival.” He says it is slated for “wheels up” on or about August 1st.

But all of the above is irrelevant, right, when we are discussing state bills, as opposed to federal? Technically, yes. However, when you realize that government is like the worst offenders in internet content ganking, you can see why the bill California just officially introduced — SB 1485 — is so significant … as it could become the baseline from which other states would cut and paste without credit or even a linkback!.

And how quickly are they ready to move on this measure? According to eGaming Review:

Intrastate initiatives in California, New Jersey and Florida, [have] been designated as an urgency measure. This means [SB 1485] would go into effect immediately upon legislative passage and signature by the Governor. A non-urgency measure would not go into effect until 1 January 2011.

Wow, that’s fast! Should we be happy or sad about this? Very hard to say. While internet poker is supposed to be a good thing all-around (right?), would current online poker players believe so if they weren’t able to transfer FTP Points over to a new site, or have the option to buy a Ferrari with PokerStars Dollars? At the same time, who would care if securing buy-ins at the Commerce were suddenly as easy as purchasing White Widow Indo-kush top-quality marijuana in Cali? Well actually, right now the Indians would care; they don’t want this bill. Complex issues … to be handled immediately by people who may or may not understand the intricacies of rakeback and multitabling.

Still, regardless, how big might the next WSOP-Circuit event be at Harrah’s-Rincon?

The plan for California in State Sen. Rod Wright’s (D-Inglewood) bill is to have online poker ops bid for three state-sanctioned games. Pokerati.com would like to hereby officially start the bidding at $100 $150 … any takers? If we have to go much higher, we’re gonna need some backers, preferably those with superior eBay skills.

Now keep in mind that bills do change before they get to any governor’s or president’s desk. But because of the fast-track nature of SB 1485, there may not be time for too many more edits. Have a look at what they’re working with … here’s the actual marked-up bill, which could make California the first state in the US to have fully legal internet poker.

In May 2009, poker players Dennis Chae and Jeff Kim sued five L.A. County casinos — the Bicycle, the Commerce, Hawaiian Gardens, Hollywood Park, and the Hustler — arguing that the $1 taken from the pots in jackpot games didn’t jibe with the casinos’ claim the games did not require a purchase to play. Judge Emile H. Elias ruled both that players couldn’t sue to recover gambling losses, and that Chae and Kim “chose to play the games despite the knowledge that they would be charged” the jackpot fee.

In a state law dating back to 1989, jackpot games are considered “illegal lotteries” in California if they require a fee to win. Since the mid-1990s, casinos have therefore advertised poker games in which a jackpot is taken as “no purchase necessary,” a disclaimer which apparently includes a promise to deal jackpot games without a fee upon request.

Sounds sort of like those giveaways at McDonald’s in which one doesn’t technically have to buy a Big Mac and fries to play, but folks rarely ask to play without buying something. As Commerce Casino general counsel Andy Schneiderman explains, “there are very few players, if any” who request to play jackpot games without paying the fee. Schneiderman also notes that all the games the Commerce offers “are approved by the state, including jackpot games,” and so the casinos were confident they’d win the case.

Read the full article here.