Some of us know this type at the tables all too well … my read:

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.

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’.

More…

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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Nope, nope, nothing’s changing, there’s nothing to see here … all in poker who are insisting that their lives didn’t just change dramatically are friggin’ idiots can just keep their heads in the sand reading Pokerati to see what the crazy people are talking about when not pimping 1/2 NL/PLO @hardrockpoker.

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.

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a L.A. County Superior Court Judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by two poker players against five L.A. County casinos in which the players had contended the casinos falsely advertised their jackpot games in which a buck was taken from pots for the jackpot as being “no purchase necessary.”

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.

The PPA was in Massachusetts this week, testifying before a joint committee on behalf of H4069, which would classify poker as a game of skill — apparently important as that state considers a variety of casino-related legislation.

Go Massachusetts Skillaments, but elsewhere, far more is at stake for states that could care less about the nuances of what is and is not technically gambling amongst avowed gamblers. Thus, PPA Executive Director John Pappas has been crisscrossing the country addressing states considering intrastate online poker, trying to persuade them not to muddy the online semi-gambling waters with legislation that comes to the table inherently flawed, legally and from a competitive market standpoint.

Pappas was in Florida last week, addressing a Senate committee on regulated industries. Florida, as we know, has been working on more and more legal poker for the past five or six years with much success, so why not extend that to the internet? Well, Pappas explains, because problems needing fixin’ at the federal level first. Without it, anything any one state creates, he says, automatically will exist in a a legal gray area that could be challenged in a variety of federal ways. And because of this gray area, and the way poker works, regulated “state monopoly” sites will struggle to compete against the unregulated likes of Full Tilt and PokerStars. (He doesn’t mention those sites by name, but players know that’s who he’s talking about.)

It’s an important argument to begin honing, because right now we have California and Florida moving aggressively in the intrastate direction — supposedly with Iowa and Wyoming about to jump on the bandwagon. Legislation can be a rather cut-and-paste enterprise these days, so if those four states go, then it’s only a matter of time before some 40+ others follow suit, which could undermine, or at least complicate, years of work on by poker’s favorite grassroots advocacy group.

Have a listen. In addition to bringing the California arguments to Florida, for the first time we hear the PPA start to lay out some of the details on how internet poker taxation would work under either the Frank or Menendez bills — with provisions included for individual states to receive their revenue share from the federal regulatory system. We also learn of a new organization — the Poker Voters of America — that has effectively brought the idea of intrastate online poker to the Florida legislature. On its surface, the PVA doesn’t look too different from the PPA. But strategically, they’re fighting the UIGEA in a much different way. Well-meaning but misguided is the gist; can we have your donor list?

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Even though I’ve gotten hooked on two-minute video interviews and have kinda taken a personal change-of-interest-pace and started paying attention to actual tournaments … big names are starting to win at the LAPC, WSOP-Circuit Tunica is kicking it old school, everyone wants to know how the Venetian Deep Stacks is gonna shape up with PokerStars heading to town, and I really gotta make it over to the M Resort to check out this whole PartyPoker Premier League thing … I still tune in almost-weekly to APCW Perspectives Weekly for a little catch-up on the international poker and online-gambling-related political scene for 10 minutes at a pop:

This week J Todd keeps us abreast of California and New Jersey’ desires to get in on the online gambling game from a state-size perspective, updates us on the online gambling fund-transfer cat-and-mouse game with MasterCard and Visa getting more serious (just three months before they are legally required to do exactly what they are trying to do), fingers the Eldorado Casino as a potentially shady site to avoid, and tease me with some affiliate business stuff that I don’t really care about but am interested to watch because of the hidden-camera + foreign-accent nature of the upcoming interview.

Here are a few other semi-related newsy links about how things are going elsewhere in the poker world:

The Mayor of Baltimore is pushing for poker+table games despite the governor of Maryland having less of an interest in making expanded gambling a priority.

Michael Barnier, the newly appointed EU Internal Markets Commissioner, promises to straighten out inconsistencies in European online gambling laws.

Police in suburban Alabama are cracking down on / raiding the real-money tournament scene there.

The California Nations Indian Gaming Association’s 15th Annual Western Indian Gaming Conference got underway yesterday, in Palm Springs … and one hot topic of discussion seems to be dominating all others: Internet poker.

As is always the case in regulatory debates, it’s about who gets what cut. And the California Indians are split over what their involvement in it all should be, if any.

From the Palm Springs Desert Sun:

Jacob Appelsmith, bureau chief of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Gambling Control, called the Internet poker initiative that could resurface in 2010 a complex, difficult issue for tribes.

It goes to the heart of tribal sovereignty, Appelsmith said. Tribal involvement in intrastate poker legislation with California card rooms also holds potential to jeopardize the exclusivity rights that tribes have to conduct gaming, he said.

The initiative already has polarized tribes, among them the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, which has not wavered in its objection to intrastate online poker with tribes and California card rooms.

And how ’bout this kicker:

Daniel Tucker, chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and newly elected chair of CNIGA, the nonprofit association comprised of federally recognized tribal governments, told tribal leaders in a letter last week that the drive by members of Congress to legalize Internet gaming nationwide represents the greatest threat to Indian gaming in the past 20 years.

Reminds me of Texas vs. Oklahoma legal battles … and the Californindians are still deciding which side to fight for.

Two players in California have sued presumable principals of Full Tilt Poker in LA Superior Court. Lary Kennedy (aka Poker Girl) and Greg Omotoy (a Vegas-reared LA nightclub manager) claim that Full Tilt confiscated $80,000 from their accounts, believing they were bots.

We haven’t seen the legal docs yet, but named in the lawsuit: Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, and Phil Ivey (a November Niner).

From TMZ.com:

Poker Legends Sued for Robot Fraud

For all the obvious attempted shakedowns and plausibly legit payment beefs, this one (not sure how much they are seeking in damages) could be downright fascinating — on its surface at least — because it cuts to some key issues that are super-relevant to the past, present, and future of online poker … where the decisions any court renders (assuming there’s at least a smidgen of factual basis for the claim) affect not just the plaintiffs and defendants, but 10s of thousands if not millions of players.

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Just to be clear … even with tribal casinos ready to get in on the action, California’s efforts to create it’s own little bubble of online poker freedom — the anti-Kentucky if you will — are done … at least for now.

According to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (who has the power to decide which bills get considered) last week:

With the state hurting for cash — and Democrats desperate for revenues to soften cuts to social service programs and schools — Steinberg said he essentially has one thing to say to proponents of online poker: Show me the money.

“I think it is a legitimate idea for consideration,” Steinberg said today in a press conference. “I only have one question when I hear a proposal like that: how much money for the state General Fund? It’s all I want to know. You know, is it two, three hundred million dollars? If it is, I’d consider it. But I think it’s going to take more than four weeks to analyze that kind of proposal and the potential economic benefits.”

Fair enough … maybe next time (two years from now) … maybe not.

The issue of legalizing intrastate online poker in California seemed like a longshot for quite awhile, as AB 2026 was introduced in February of 2008 and not much has happened since. Though there is no question that Cali could use some extra revenue, the tribal casinos seemed to be the biggest barrier to moving this initiative forward. No more! Morongo recently took the initiative to reach out to legislators and even promised to advance 1/2 of the $10 million it would take to establish the online poker network.

According to the Sacramento Bee:

A proposal being circulated among gambling interests calls for a management structure with two representatives from card clubs and two from tribes, including a permanent representative from the Morongo band.

The plan was discussed at a recent gathering of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations. The group includes Morongo and powerful casino tribes including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Temecula.

Morongo also circulated an e-mail inviting dozens of tribes for a conference call in which Forman and tribal councilman Damon Sandoval were to outline the “Morongo Initiative – Tribal Intrastate Poker Consortium.”

So wow, look at that California vs. Nevada battle … tight tight tight! And for real, where is the Poker Capitol of the World? So much taxable difference between Daniel Alaei and Daniel Negreanu.

California is the only region, btw, with someone to cash in every single event so far. Nevada players (mostly Las Vegans) have cashed in every tournament but one — the $1,500 7cs that Jeff Lisandro won (representing Italy).

“Europe” has cashed in every single event.

One of the biggest surprise shifts has taken place at the bottom of the table — could you theoretically have relegation in poker? — where the Latin Americans have come on strong to surpass the Asia-Pacifickers in bringing home the most skrilla. Most of this comes on the backs of Mexicans, specifically Angel Guillen’s $318k 2nd place score in $2,500 NLH, which a dozen Aussie ITM finishers and a Korean have not been able to match.

Click here to view the complete Pokerati’s complete 2009 WSOP World Standings.

Perhaps in the future the WSOP could take a note from Facebook, allowing players to enter both a current city and a hometown … so say a guy like Daniel Negreanu were to win, he would be tallied for both Canada and the USA, and would have a choice over what anthem he wants to play at his bracelet ceremony. Lots of potential “fun” controversy in that … and we’d finally get to see how good all those California-centric (but US-scattered) Vietnamese really are.

Some newcomers to the 2009 WSOP money:

Both Slovenia and Slovakia booked a cash.

Also … Rhode Island
Nebraska
Washington DC
Puerto Rico
Delaware

The UK is making a charge to challenge the Russians.

And where’s Denmark, who were certainly more than just Peter Eastgate last year? The Scandis would be doing little if it were not for a few Finns this year.

Texas is the top money-winner without a bracelet.

Mad props to the Hawaiians, who thanks to Lisa Hamilton’s bracelet in the Ladies event, silenced the Alaskans who briefly looked like they were gonna stake a claim to extra-continental American poker supremacy.

With just a few hundred dollars of separation, Maine and Spain are also in a kinda tight race money-wise. They rhyme.

Through 11 events, there’s only one battle that seems particularly ferocious: California vs. Nevada.

Californians, of course, are pissed, because last year they had the Pre-eminent Poker Powerhouse title — and claims to being the Poker Capitol of the World — all wrapped up until the Nevadans made a strong showing at WSOP Europe and the Californians choked in the November Nine. This year, it’s shaping up to be as tight a battle as ever, with Cali holding a slight but at this point meaningless edge.

The Euros finally arrived once PLO came into play. So far it’s been a disappointing series for the EU, at least compared to last year, when they won 19 of 59 WSOP bracelet events. This year, a Russian took down the big prize in event #2, but since then … very little from the Europeans.

NOTE: A Finnish player won Event #12 (the $10k Mix event) though this event has not yet been added to the standings.

Pauly insists this will be the Year of the Russians. I’m not so sure … it’s clear they are the only country right now that can come close challenging the likes of Caifornia and Nevada, but take away Vitaly Lunkin’s $2million bracelet, and what have they done for me lately, yo?

Some interesting newcomers to the cash-out leaderboard:

Lichtenstein*
Dominican Republic
South Korea
Cayman Islands
Turkey
Virgin Islands

* Is that a country? I thought it was a beer.

You’ll also notice that we’ve added non-American continental regions …

Europe    1    13    118    $3,820,049
Asia-Pacific    0    0    11    $213,967
Latin America    0    0    7    $59,577
Africa / Mideast    0    0    3    $17,428

Click here for complete WSOP World Standings.

As we now reach a point in the WSOP where tournaments will be finishing every day, Pokerati’s WSOP World Standings will be back … tracking which nation-states are kicking the most arse. While we can expect the USA to dominate simply because of sheer numbers and home-field advantage, it should be interesting to see which other countries are here to show that poker in their motherlands has fully arrived. The UK, for example — with 26 final tables, 248 cashes, and $6.5million in take-home pay in 2008 — clearly knows what they’re doing, but they couldn’t close anything out to bring home a bracelet for the Queen. It was the Russians and Germans who made the most noticeable claims to poker dominance … but not before the Danes, exclamated by Peter Eastgate’s main event victory, stepped over all of them to say, “Our small socialist utopia will leave you drawing dead on the fjord. Fůgck the G-8 powers in poker!”

On the stateside front, Pokerati declared California the unofficial capitol of the poker world … but Cali blanked at the main event final table and Nevada had a redraw with WSOP-E — and sure enough, John Juanda et al successfully wrestled away the claim.

The final 2008 WSOP World Standings:

Watching this almost makes me wanna cry. Do you realize how close we were to turning Texas race tracks into full-fledged poker rooms? I don’t think you do! But alas, in the end we were killed by something akin to an inverse filibuster … and all in the same week that Annie Duke got slowrolled on Celebrity Apprentice …

In what is arguably nearly as compelling drama, in the above vid Rep. Jose Menendez delivers last rites to HB 222 — but not before being ridiculed and taunted with terrible poker metaphors (delivered in practically Corky-like fashion) from the representatives who were ready to lead the fight against this bill on the floor.

While Texas poker players pushing for fully legal Texas Hold’em did not get the House vote they were looking for, Menendez’s address does mark the first time the game was ever made a real issue in the Texas Legislature. Having achieved such footnote status in the historical almanac, the insinuation on where we go from here is that next time both sides should gear up for a full-on battle spirited debate over a bill looking to create California-style card rooms … in a year where the threat of a veto carries less weight, no less.