The Prevent Cancer Foundation presented its 2nd Annual “Cancer Champion” award this weekend in Washington DC to two Full Tilt poker pros — Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon.

You be the judge … good poker face on Spencer Bachus (R-AL) as he and his wife congratulate Rafe and Phil for their good great work fighting cancer?

Perhaps one of poker’s staunchest political opponents is softening … Either that or it’s hard to oppose money for cancer, especially at an event sponsored by Pfizer.

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Boycotting may be too strong a word … “avoiding” could work, as could “snubbing”, as could “pissing off its own players by telling them they can’t go.”

Supposedly, highly reliable sources are saying, Full Tilt brass in Ireland are telling Full Tilt-branded American (and non-American) pros that they are not allowed to play in the Venetian Deep Stacks main event … as it is part of the newly launched NAPT, presented by PokerStars.net. What, are you guys not buying their claim that Stars-dot-net is different than Stars-dot-com? Interesting …

We hinted that something was coming on The Poker Beat a couple weeks ago. Kudos to ESPN’s @GaryWise1 for digging up the confirmation on the above. Listen below to a 5-minute excerpt of the bubbling under.
TPB2510-excerpt

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Apparently, Howard Lederer really has stepped away from calling the operational shots at Tilt, and it’s totally news to Bitar & Co. that Full Tilt pros were ever stepping foot in non-Tilt branded events, such as the PCA (PokerStars) and Aruba (UB). Sure enough, the Hollywood snub at the Sharon Osborne Trash Talk Championship of the World (at the Hard Rock) charity tournament was a sign of more serious fissures in the poker world to come.

Kinda funny … because these sites have been so worried how a new Harrah’s-branded online gaming presence would negatively affect other online sites branding opportunities at the World Series of Poker, and now their reaction to the threat seems on track to becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy.

UPDATE: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4921898&name=poker

We know little because we’re thousands of miles away, but why am I not shocked that what coulda been the greatest thing ever — poker that helps a bunch of kids on Super Bowl Sunday — has left at least a few people with a sour taste in their mouths?

I sent an email trying to find out how many people played, how much money was raised, and what celebs if any may have gone deep in the biggest freeroll in Texas history … but instead learned from Dallas CAN!, the charity who helped make it happen:

Went ok the poker company we partnered with did some things that were not right to help our charity and although we packed the place and paid up front for everything, we never saw a dime last night.

There could be 1,000 players or more gathered in South Dallas this Sunday, just a few blocks from Dallas Police Headquarters btw, competing for a WSOP main event seat in what’s being advertised as the biggest “True Freeroll Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament” in history

The event is technically a charity fundraiser for the much-respected DallasCAN! Academies around a Super Bowl viewing party. Tons of non-poker stuff and prize giveaways going on — and the freeroll poker tournement just happens to be part of it.

It took them like 6 years to figure out how to pull this off in a fully legal way, Big ups to all things Texas poker for this. Though like a McDonald’s Monopoly game, no purchase is necessary, they do offer a VIP upgrade that includes, among many things, extra chips for players in the tournament.

It all goes down at Gilley’s, which has much experience pulling off large poker events, though possibly never one this size before, featuring current Dallas Cowboy stars and tea legends:

Join celebrity athlete hosts and Dallas Can! Academy the 2010 DFW Big Game Watching Party!

Door prizes, spirits, food and legendary athletes all come together for the kids at the Can! Academies.

Hosted by:
Jason Witten,
Randy White,
Drew Pearson,
Stephen McGee and
Jay Novacek.

Sunday – February 7, 2010
Gilley’s – 1135 S Lamar St
Dallas, TX 75215

Fan Fest: Noon – 4PM
Game Watching Party: 3 – 10PM
Doors open to VIP at 3PM

Click here for the official website:DFWBigGame.com

Click below for details on the poker tournament itself — going around my old hometown stomping grounds via email. Should be a pretty fascinating mix of amateur poker types and major players in the Dallas area trying to win their way (via an arguably soft field in a challenging blind structure) into the other Big Game this summer:

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The entire world got a reminder about life, death, and nature this week … the Haiti earthquake gave us all at least a bit of pause to find ourselves, at least momentarily, caring about people we didn’t think we cared about.

We know how charitable poker players can be — it’s our one saving grace — and I’m sure at least a few of you have made donations already toward some humanitarian relief. PokerStars has set up “dummy tournaments” and accounts where players can transfer money to help the cause … funds the online poker site will match and send to the Red Cross. Likewise, Calvin Ayre has issued a $1 million matching-donation challenge to the entire online gambling industry.

With all the donating options out there — and the ever-present uncertainty over the difference between efficient humanitarian aid and exploitive charitable graft — I just wanted to weigh in and give a thumbs-up to one specific Haitian charity that I personally know does meaningful work AND has a little poker in its blood.

It’s called Project Medishare. They’re a bunch of doctors and volunteers who since 1995 have provided medical services, equipment, and training to some of the poorest villages in Haiti. Currently, they’re flying in trauma surgeons while helping coordinate relief with Haitian officials. And their chief blogger chronicling these efforts and helping drive online donations got her web-media start in poker.

photo: Jennifer Browning / 2006

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In Washington state, this video would be grounds for a criminal prosecution on par with with child molesting. But down south, in Portland, Oregon, it’s a super-feelgood story with online poker pro Dusty Schmidt (aka “Leatherass”) gambling for the homeless.

His schtick is playing for rent for the underprivileged, and ends up making $20k for the folks in the process:

Lisa Wheeler, president of Greasie Wheels, a poker consultancy that specializes in charity events, says that actually, numbers are not up across the board at charity tourneys in Las Vegas and elsewhere, though thanks to a handful of players, they aren’t hurting like all get-out:

Though attendance is down, and charity poker tournament coordinators are constantly looking for creative ways to stimulate participation, poker players continue to be extremely charitable. Many who have experienced success over the years have often donated even more. It balances out the ones who are less able.

The All In for Cerebral Palsy charity tourney ran last weekend at the Hard Rock … and as any event-planning fundraiser can tell you, it’s been a little unnerving in 2009 wondering if people will actually show up to support your cause.

This was a $500 buy-in event (with $200 rebuys, an auction, and silent auction to boot) … and in the end turned out to be an arguably successful second-annual event — raising more than $58k for the One Step Closer Foundation while bettering its inaugural bar of $44k. Some 91 players competed for an $18,500 prize pool — including yours truly, who was in on a freeroll, but couldn’t resist making a tax-deductible, charitable donation to keep playing at a fun table with a PPA friend, Dennis Phillips, a CP-suffering beneficiary, and Ken Davitian (the fat naked guy from Borat) … especially with Davitian and another actor (whom I recognized but couldn’t name) being the weakest players yet having the biggest stacks as the rebuy period was coming to a close.

Alas, QQ sometimes is < AK just minutes before the break. I shook off the tilt by wandering around with a (shaky) camera to give you a glimpse of All In for CP and the Las Vegas rounders who seem to continuously show up and spur donations via fun-times feelgood poker when called upon:

The charity poker season here in Vegas is in full holiday swing. And one of the bigger tournaments (celebrity-wise) is this Saturday — the second annual All In for CP at the Hard Rock. (More info here via Facebook.)

It has a $550 buy-in (with $200 rebuys through the first hour). Early RSVPs include the likes of Doyle Brunson and the usual crew of high-stakes Las Vegas charity-circuit rounders, along with Phil Laak, Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, and others. Here’s a video invitation from Tilly, with more details about the tournament itself.

This event is put on by everybody’s favorite omnipresent scooter-rider at the WSOP, Jacob Zalewski, and raises money for his One Step Closer Foundation’s fight to make life easier for Cerebral Palsey sufferers like Terrance, featured in the video below:

Bumping as a reminder of tonight’s tournament:

Tournament ID: 121607994
Title: Justin Shronk Memorial Tourney
Game: NLHE
Buy-In: $5+$5
Starts: Sunday, December 6 at 18:00 server time (6 p.m. EST, 3 p.m PST)
Password: Justin Shronk

Half of the buyin goes towards the Justin Shronk Memorial Fund at the Temple University School of Communications And Theater (SCT).

I gotta say, @Phil_Hellmuth really is turning into one of the best poker reporters out there … I read his blog, follow his tweets and generally occasionally love his vids; you can tell he is actively working on his 21st-century media game.

Most recently, at his own TASER Foundation charity tourney in Phoenix — the biggest high-society charity poker shindig of the year in Arizona — he was there to report on Brandon Cantu’s being shot with a taser gun … Cantu was paying off a prop-bet he lost at last year’s event with Clonie Gowen.

Damn, ouch … but cool … didn’t realize you could bounce back so quickly from those things.

BTW, an extra-funny … @DonkeyBomber was there as one of the “star poker players” who help make the event extra fun for the Big Charity donors who play … but even on his home turf, our favorite business-exec-turned-author-turned-2007-WSOP-POY-turned-struggling-poker-pro is no Layne Flack or even Roy Winston:

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Nicole Rowe, fighting cancer and rallying poker players for a good cause with rebuys.

Pokerati loves charity poker and, of course, healthy breasts … which is why it’s our pleasure to contribute to the grab-bag of prizes for the upcoming Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Challenge, to be held Nov. 12 on PokerStars.

It’s a simple concept — a $10 tourney with rebuys where all the money minus shipping and handling goes to Bad Beat on Cancer … all on behalf of Nicole Rowe and her own fight against the disease. The donated prizes range from a lifetime subscription to DeucesCracked (the 2 Months 2 Million guys’ poker school) to all sorts of other coaching, boot camp, and lifestyle experiences (like drinking with Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok) to signed books to Skullcandy headphones to … for those oh-so-lucky 44th-49th place finishers … Pokerati T-shirts. The top 50 all get something, and that’s what should make this low-stakes fundraiser pretty fun.

Rowe, if you don’t remember, is the player who finished 2nd in a Borgata Ladies event in September, losing to Abraham Korotki, not a lady, who also turned down a chop offer when the two were heads-up and virtually even in chips. “You bastard!” screamed the poker masses, though Rowe herself insists she holds no animosity for her worthy, breastless opponent.

Rowe says she plays poker to escape from her daily battle with cancer, but is also using her winnings to help pay for uncovered expenses related to multiple surgeries and treatments.

Mark your calendars, and click here for a complete list of prizes and other tournament details.

OK, maybe I’m stretching his definition a bit, but still … gotta like the message Factor viewers are getting when Bill O gives a big American thumbs-up to Eva Longoria for hosting her big charity poker tournament in San Antonio this evening:

This tournament, btw, part of the Second Annual Tony and Eva Parker Celebrity Casino Night, is now, I’m almost certain, the biggest charity event in Texas — one of a few, if not the only one, that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars at a pop.

Awesome, and good for the beneficiary, Eva’s Heroes.

The guy instrumental in making this event happen, btw: Phil Hellmuth

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MMA bad-asses Randy Couture, Frank Trigg, Phil Baroni, and others will be joining poker pros Todd Brunson, Lee Watkinson, Chip Jett, David Williams, and others to raise money for wounded vets this Sunday at the Golden Nugget. It’s a $330 buy-in (w/ $100 rebuys) … first prize is a $10k seat (+$2k travel) to the upcoming Sports Legends Challenge in the Bahamas. Karina Jett is the hostess — and if we’re lucky, we’ll get to hear Todd Brunson talk politics.

Come play if you’re in town. Good times, good cause, all that stuff … open to the public and no funky, disputable, optional-donation prize pool — just charitable poker the way it’s supposed to be. Click the image to enlarge the flyer, and below for official details.

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A $200 charity tourney in Florida is hardly big news, but I find it interesting when it’s a fundraiser put on by police, to raise money for a fellow officer (who has ALS).

First off, I just get pissy — because why can’t Texas see what we are missing by being so anti-poker. I mean sheeot, the state of Texas is building what may well become one of the biggest non-Vegas casinos in all of America right across the border in Oklahoma … because of the belief that poker offends Republican primary voters’ moral sensibilities. I mean either we don’t believe that, and just are stupid for letting OK make all the $$, or we do believe that, and therefore are being pretty unneighborly (at least from a Christian perspective) by letting our good friends to the north destroy themselves — and our people — with poker.

But I digress … this tournament reminds me why poker is different from so many other similar political issues — and it’s stuff “our side” should remember when trying to push through our political agenda.

As far as “alternative” political issues … the one most in line with poker right now would seem to be marijuana. They too are flooding Washington DC with supportive letters — and are making essentially the same plea: regulate and tax us, please!

While I’m not so sure potheads are the best company to be in, politically — they’re making moves, but it’s taking decades, because you know, potheads are seldom in a hurry — there is such a clear difference here. And that is you would never see a group of cops hosting a “bake” sale to raise money for a comrade-in-need … as good of an idea as that may be.

Though a few cops playing cards certainly isn’t any deal-maker on the political front, separating poker from other forms of “vice” seems to me would be an essential part of any plan to legitimize the game … so this helps. Save Captain Sargent!

Many of you often give me a hard time because of my aversion to “statistics” and “data” … and though generally I don’t care about appeasing the peons “readers”, I found some of this info below on the “interesting” and “informative” side.

So let’s kick it Harper’s Index-style, shall we?

Poker-related letters sent to members of Congress in July 2009: > 150,000
Poker-related letters sent to Congress in 2008: 77,000
Issues other than health care reform that have generated more letters to Congress in 2009 (including war in Iraq, recession, and gas prices): 0
Meetings scheduled between PPA representatives and Congressional offices in a two-day period: 110
Meetings missed by either PPA reps or Congressional staffers: 6
Number of lobbyists engaged in National Poker Week initiative: about 40
Number of consulting firms retained: 7, I think
Number of Players in the PPA tournament benefitting the USO: 180ish
Wounded vets competing: 31
Patients who qualified for seats via semi-regular tournaments at Walter Reed Hospital: 25
Money donated by the PPA to the USO up front: $25,000
Amount added to donation from $100 rebuys: $10,000
Rebuys from Annie Duke: 15
Rebuys from Howard Lederer: > 10
Rebuys for veterans put up by the Interactive Gaming Council: 10
Noted poker pros competing: Not totally sure, but probably about 10-15
Members of Congress competing: 7
Highest finish by a wounded Iraq war veteran: 1st

Had a brief little run-in with Ivan Neville (of the Neville Brothers, and now Dumpstaphunk), who’s a low-stakes poker regular at Harrah’s New Orleans, any casino town he plays music in, and online. Not only did he sing the National Anthem at the USO/PPA charity event last night, but also he’s gone to some meetings with Congresspeople representing Louisiana and Texas … and in at least one case, his presence helped poker win out on a double-booked sked. Oh, and in addition to inspiration for further political involvement, he got an education on how the rebuy period really changes tournament action.

Says Neville: “Poker’s a friggin’ American pastime!”

Neville Brother on Poker+Politics

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Click below for Nolan’s official report — all the data you could want, complete with quotes from celebrity players, information on who exactly played (and won), and info about the fundraising component. A few things that stand out to me:

• 138 entries. Up from 88 last year, which was way down from 167 in 2007. Wonder what’s up with that — The economy? Celebrity Apprentice?
• The Scheinbergs played? I was under the impression that the family atop the PokerStars pyramid was taking a long vacation from the United States, particularly in light of the payment processor crackdown … but maybe not? Different Scheinberg family from New York?
• Philip Tom, dad of accused online-poker bad guy, cashed, finishing in 10th place. Charity makes everything good.
• Belorussian wins. (Should this event be included in the Pokerati World Standings?)
• Who was the one player who didn’t play ball with the donation process?

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Richardson, accused of taking a less-than-charitable payout option.

Kinda bummed I missed Ante-Up for Africa yesterday … Hollywood A-list celebrity-related traffic aside (and pictures of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Charles Barkley, Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, Dean Cain, Brad Garret, Herschel Walker, and Sarah Silverman playing poker) … this is arguably the biggest charity poker tournament of the year (in the world) … and I was curious how the money worked. It was my understanding that originally, 50 percent of the prize pool went to Refugees International a charity* … and the big winners, being already-rich folks moved by the excitement of no-limit hold’em and thoughts of a tax-deductible feel-good gesture, often chose to give their cash prize over to the honorary good cause as well.

But this year people were telling me it was a mere request for generosity — that winners give at least 50 percent of their prize payout to AUFA, which would be shipping the money to the Sudanese cause via the Enough Project (and the IRC?). That seemed a little odd to me, because hey, if the wrong person wins, there could be a problem. Sure enough, an email just came in over the transom — skewering a player named Adam Richardson, who most recently finished in 143rd place in a $1,500 NLH at this year’s WSOP, and 624th in last year’s main event — with the subject line, “What a Prick!”:

Not sure if you got this news. But the prick who won second place in the World Series of Poker charity event which is Ante Up For Africa, completely stiffed the charity.

Players do not have to give any money, according to the rules. But all the players know this is an important event set up to help a very good cause.

Many witnesses said the player was approached afterward by some of the organizers. He was asked politely if he cared to leave a donation, and replied that no one could do anything to stop him and that he was leaving with all the prize money. He walked out the door with like over $100,000.

The player was rude during the tournament and obviously had his own agenda, which was not in the spirit of helping the Ante Up for Africa cause. He likely saw a softer than usual field and took advantage. He had every intention of enriching himself at the expense of the charity.

The player’s name is Adam Richardson, from Poway, California.

He is bad for poker and needs to be called out for taking an angle shot in this event. I hope you will agree this is despicable behavior. The guy is a total prick. Roast his fucking ass.

Hunter

Hmm, if this is true, indeed, arguably poor form. We have not confirmed any of this (and I wasn’t there for the actual event), but the above is the email that’s circulating, and it at least raises the question why a certain chunk of the prize pool isn’t automatically taken out for the charity itself (as it is with most charity poker events).

* Ante Up for Africa “designated charities” have included the Enough Project, Not on Our Watch, and the International Rescue Committee. Refugees International was the recipient of Annie Duke’s Celebrity Apprentice fundraisers.

NOTE: Adam Richardson (unconfirmed) responds to “Hunter’s” accusations in the comments below.

That’s what’s happening here … new faces showing up, old faces showing up, events coming to a close, PokerPalooza getting set up, parties every night … all in preparation for what the rest of the world calls “the World Series” … and what we call “the main event”.

Oh, my, and I almost forgot about Ante Up for Africa … plausibly the biggest charity event in all of poker for the entire year — with tons of Hollywood celebs and presumably real bona-fide non-poker paparazzi and an after-party that lots of people want to get into.

We’ll be sure to bring you coverage of something, in some way … but what, I’m not so sure. As you may or may not have heard, I’ve suffered an injury, which you can see below (watch the guy on the right):

The ESPN feature table has been transformed all hockey-y for today’s special tourney. If fans are lucky, there’ll be a fight!

NHLers are all over Vegas this week — mostly for tomorrow night’s NHL Awards, which guys like Daniel Negreanu plan to attend regardless of what tournament he’s missing. And today they’ll be all over the WSOP — along with the Stanley Cup, which will be on stage as JC Tran receives his bracelet to the tune of the Star-Spangled Banner. Should be pretty cool, as nonsensical as it may seem.

I touched the Stanley Cup in ‘99 (Stars!), and at least one Canadian tells me his people are none-too-happy with my ignorant yankee soilage of the ice people’s grail. In their eyes, apparently, you’re not supposed to touch it, even if your team wins, unless you played an active role in winning it. I suppose it’s like taking communion at a Catholic church if you haven’t received the sacrament and cleared your soul of mortal sins. But whatever … Pantera got to dent it.

Anyhow, there’s a special hockey-themed tournament at the WSOP today — The NHL Charity Shootout Presented by Pokerstars.net — a 5th televised event that non-PokerStars players have no chance of getting in on, as much fun as it would be to send Matusow or Hellmuth to the penalty box:

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A bunch of PPA state directors and politically involved pros are already booking their plans for after the WSOP — they’re headed to Washington DC for an aggressive play by the PPA supposedly dubbed National Poker Week.

Should be a most interesting gathering — different from previous pokery political collectives in that there are so many legal issues playing out in real ways right now (Kentucky, Minnesota, Pokerstarzistan, etc.) … and all this with a pretty important-looking nuts-and-bolts online banking regulation bill in play … with non-pokery representatives finally aware of the online poker murmurs, and public opinion clearly leaning in our favor.

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Cool event went down this week in Washington DC — a fundraiser for Put a Bad Beat on Cancer, where a bunch of politicos got together with Team Full Tilt Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, and Rafe Furst to experience the joys of getting beginner poker lessons and playing in a terrible an exciting, luck-friendly blind-structure tournament (with rebuys!) … all for a good cause.

Check out the video coverage from Politico.com:

My observations:

• Had Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) read Joe Navarro, he’d know that we know he’s probably not being truthful when he says he’s happy to be there … unless, of course, that’s just his baseline response.
• Multiple politicians admit to experimenting with poker “when I was in college.”
• Barney Frank (D-MA) says he doesn’t play poker because he doesn’t enjoy it … but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to “repeal the foolish law that makes it illegal for people who want to gamble to gamble over the internet.” (So we can say “illegal” now?)
• Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) gets credited with having the best poker face … and I hope state legislators back home take note that even some gray-haired, vote-conscious conservatives are totally cool with poker.
• Nice closing line by Lederer about politics being just another form of poker.

photo: Stephanie Moore/NBC Sports

Fresh off her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover advertorial, followed by her GoDaddy spokesmodel deal (and Danica Patrick commercial), followed by her impressive run to a $250k televised cash at the NHUPC final-final table … Vanessa Rousso is back at her old stomping grounds, doing a monthlong, seven-stop, three-casino run through Florida — with lectures, seminars, charity tourneys, and a “series of instructional workshops grounded in ‘Game Theory’ and Sun Tzu’s teachings about The Art of War”.

Ahh, now I see, her master plan kicked into gear with the PokerStars bikini shoot is all starting to make sense … she’s now got documented cred in looks, personality, skill … if only she could share her grasp of high-level contemporary mathematics and ancient eastern military philosophy with the troubled kids in her old hood!

(Isn’t 26 such a fun age?)

Click below for Vanessa’s Florida pokery homecoming itinerary:

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Some of you may know Walter Whitehead, a Dallas player and semi-regular at the still-going Lodge Amateur Poker tourneys. He’s one of those super-nice friendly Cowboy-hat-wearing tablemates who always seems to have a good time while working on his game. Well, his son, John, was murdered last week in Plano, and he’s having trouble paying for the burial. Meanwhile, Walt’s grandsons — Grayson, age 5, and Jonathan, who turned 8 yesterday — are left without a father and face a future less certain than they can understand … and a difficult one for their dad’s dad to deal with.

Sorry for being the bearer of rough news, but I thought a few of you specifically might want to know. Any financial assistance would be greatly appreciated and can be sent to:

Jonathan B Dwayne Whitehead Memorial at American National Bank of Texas

Here is the bank’s info … funds can be snail-mailed or wire-transferred to any branch. And if you’d like to offer any other assistance, don’t hesitate to contact Jay Wagoner (aka “Cowboy” or “Gandalf” to Lodge players), who can put you directly in touch with the Whitehead family.

Rough times, to say the least. But it’s good to know he’s got family, church support, and poker friends to help make it all a little better.

There’s a big deal pending with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott right now, and though his opinion is technically not be legally binding, his decision will set a standard that impacts thousands and thousands of players in Texas … and will affect the state’s ability to raise millions of dollars for charity via poker.

The Kerr County Attorney has asked for an opinion on charity poker galas. He wants to know if hosting a pricey dinner that happens to include an optional poker tournament violates Texas gambling laws if the winners are awarded prizes. Likewise he wants to know if leasing a ballroom or banquet hall for such an event constitutes a “private place” defense.

Click here to read the specific and official pending opinion request.

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With a cold coming on, I juiced up on cold medicine and headed down to Commerce Casino last night for the pre-tournament WPT Invitational cocktail party. In more of a stuffy-headed fog now, I give you a few observations from the festivities:

photo: pokergossip

William Hung was the first “celebrity” I noticed, as he arrived as soon as the red carpet was ready for action. And the poor guy was the only one from the red carpet featured by Perez Hilton today, and not featured in a particularly good way.

Food was excellent as usual, with a random assortment of Asian and Greek set-ups, along with the yum-yum appetizers floating around the room on waiters’ trays.

No DJ in the outdoor area like last year’s event, but it actually made for a more conversation-friendly atmosphere on the patio.

Wicked Chops scored seats in the tournament. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how that happened.

photo: pokergossip

Reports of the demise of the Phil Laak/Jennifer Tilly relationship were evidently untrue, as the two looked typically couple-y as usual – Jennifer in a beautiful outfit, Phil in saggy jeans and a hoodie.

Some celebrities on the “confirmed” list were no-shows, such as Camryn Manheim, Montel Williams, and Nelly. (Yes, I was more than disappointed about one of those absences!)

CORRECTION: Manheim was there, and Jen was still disappointed. -DM

Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough are still a couple and just as adorable as ever, with Shannon checking on Derek and his amateur poker experiences throughout the evening.

Contrary to all reports from the tournament, Antonio Esfandiari was not the first person eliminated from the tournament, as Mike “SirWatts” Watson (former WPT champion) was out of the tournament and standing with us at the bar when that announcement was made. Ouch.

New to my social radar were Mike Watson and Shane Schleger, both of whom were introduced to me by Gavin Griffin and Kristin Roberts and very nice to chat with.

Also met Jamie Gold for the first time, who was extremely friendly and psyched about his Aced Poker affiliation, though my question about his possible ownership in the company was met with the standard “details of the contract cannot be disclosed” line. Good brief chat anyway. (His calling card gives him the title “Poker Philanthropist.”)

Mekhi Phifer took the reigns during the rebuy period, grabbing the mic and encouraging players to rebuy (or even just donate) to his charity, The Vine Group, to help educational efforts in Africa. He was a great spokesperson for the organization and raised $78,270 for it, while managing to maintain his usual humble but outrageously sexy demeanor.

Interesting story out of Detroit, about a struggling horse track (and thriving bowling alleys) suddenly offering No-Limit Texas Hold’em … thanks to a little legally creative finagling that allows third-party fundraisers to run poker games to benefit properly accredited tax-exempt endeavors.

You follow? Basically they’re taking something akin to the old Red Men’s model … run a game, make sure some charity really does get a cut … and making it fit within Michigan law. Presumably inspired by the recent success in Florida with poker rooms in race tracks.

They’re limited to running games four days at a stretch, so each week is technically a different event, with a different charitable recipient. The first beneficiary was a high school theater club. Should be interesting to see who lines up to get in on the action.

UPDATE: Though the above news article is only a couple hours old, according to the Northville Downs website, they’ll be running games 7 days a week starting, um, tomorrow.

Here’re more specifics about the charity hold’em set-up in Northville, and for folks in Texas and other states fighting to play the game above-ground … a glimpse of what even barely legal poker could look like. You’ll NOTE: It’s not just NLH … they’ve got a $1/$2 Hold’em/Omaha round-of-each game, and $3/$6 Omaha Hi-Lo.

NEATO: Northville is an outer Detroit suburb, and the new poker room is located right off 8 Mile road — Eminem’s hood! (Or at least his street.)

UPDATE UPDATE: OK, really, I had no idea how much charity poker action there was in Michigan. Check it out. So I guess what’s new is just that the horse tracks are finally getting on board, realizing the slot machines and/or “video lottery terminals” they’ve been fighting for just may never come. Lesson for Texas horse tracks?

One-time Pokerati contributor (and my hunting coach) Nick in Dallas writes in with a request for some charity theatrical poker tourney assistance:

Hey Dan,

So some friends and I are going to throw a poker tournament in February here in Dallas as a fundraiser for a theater production company that we started this fall (www.UpstartTheater.com). Blue Mesa Grill is going to host the games (free appetizers and happy-hour-priced drinks) and we are going to have a $20 per player donation buyin with rebuys. I was wondering if you had any advice/suggestions:

– How often should we up the blinds so that a game starting around 3 on a Sunday will be over by 8 or 9 at the latest?
– Do you know any poker company/group willing to lend/donate us enough chips and cards for 100 people or so?
– Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in donating a prize?
– Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in financially sponsoring the event (we’re tax deductible) in exchange for publicity on our event fliers, website, and performance playbills?
– Do you know ways to publicize this to the Dallas poker-playing community?
– Anything else you think would be helpful?

thanks a lot,
Nick

Nick, as always, good to hear from you. One of these days you will find purpose in your life and ditch the restaurant-service/medical-technology career combo, as well as your passion for the arts and philanthropy, to discover your true calling as a poker blogger. Either that, or you are clearly nothing without Markus and Andy.

In the meantime, click below for answers to your questions:

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An interesting prop bet reportedly went down this weekend … good, clean, generally non-lethal fun between Clonie Gowen and Brandon Cantu.

I wasn’t there nor have I spoken to either of the principals, but reliable sources say it was a simple lasts-longest bet (at a Phil Hellmuth charity event for the Taser Foundation for Fallen Officers, at Fort McDowell Casino in Arizona) with the winner getting to tase the loser.

Um, OK.

As you probably know, these high-society fundraiser tourneys don’t exactly have the best blind structures. But they do have great gift bags, which at this event apparently came with gift certificates for taser guns. At one point Cantu supposedly had Clonie out-chipped like 5:1 … and she was getting really nervous. But he took a few bad beats and soon was out. So now Clonie gets to zap Cantu with 50,000 volts at the time and place of her choosing.

UPDATE: The authenticity of this report has been confirmed.

ALSO: Tase-Mania … and award-winning story on the greatness of high-voltage, police-force shocking.

One of the patches on Dennis Phillips’ shirt (and the shirts of all his fans) — ThePokerLawyer.com.

TPL is actually The Schindler Firm, out of St. Louis … Josh Schindler being the main dude … he got that space via Dennis Phillips’ eBay auction, making a $19,350 donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in exchange for the space.

Schindler practices many areas of litigation, including some specialty in gaming law. We’ll have to add him to the list.

Meanwhile, a fourth spade just showed up on the turn … the crowd gasped (followed by shushes) … Ylon Schwartz pushed all-in, and Scott Montgomery folded.

In an effort to raise money for Eldorado Habitat for Humanity:

A related online auction will begin on Saturday, 25 October, on eBay, and will conclude on the day of the event. Items for bid may be viewed at http://donations.ebay.com/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=27688 and will include poker coaching sessions donated by 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event champion Jerry Yang, World Poker Tour (WPT) & WSOP bracelet winner J.C. Tran, WSOP bracelet winner and WPT’s first lady of poker Linda Johnson, WPT champion JJ Liu, and WPT Ladies Poker Party champion Kelli Griggs.

Donation products and services can be added to the eBay online auction with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the El Dorado County Habitat for Humanity.

OK, first thing to remember is that patience is important. And then when you find yourself way behind, the best strategy is to pray for runner-runner. Basically, you see, you want to get your chips in the middle when God is listening and rooting for you …

Say what you will about Phil Hellmuth, but he has helped raise more than $1 million for Texas charities, despite gov-connected haters who, for a brief while, tried to squelch his fundraising efforts.

Brian the commenter down below inquired about whether or not you could have charity tourneys with money prizes in Texas, and whether or not you could advertise and promote them. The answer, of course, is … hard to say.

But I definitely have noticed a change back to the older, better ways. Back in the day, tourneys like La Riata used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars by throwing a terrible-blind-structure event with lots of overpriced rebuys as wealthy Dallasites (and a few Batfaces) competed for a prize that generally consisted of a seat to the WSOP main event. But then the TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) started threatening event hosts with liquor license gankage if they gave away a prize with any money value to the tournament winner — only a raffle was allowed, they said … and this of course was coming at the same time TABC was arresting drunk people in bars.

Anyhow, all this — which really, was fueled by some shady business practices of non-underground tournament operators, not any clear interpretation of the law — led to the bigger events to remove any competition for a prize … Dale Hansen canceled his huge fundraiser at Lone Star Park, Phil Hellmuth had to cancel an event in Houston that stood to raise at least a quarter-mil for the Susan B. Komen Foundation, and big charity events that carried on, like La Riata, basically had to take away every incentive for rebuys, which crippled fundraising efforts.

But after laying low for a couple years, charity events and the lawyers counseling their organizers seemed to re-reinterpreting Texas charity laws, hosting (and promoting) their poker-for-good-causes nonetheless — with real prizes! The Boys & Girls Clubs, Bea’s Kids … they all went off without a hitch. And earlier this summer, probably the biggest such event took place in San Antonio, with Tony and Eva Parker hosting a star-studded red-carpet charity tourney (emceed by Phil Hellmuth, of course) — resetting a standard that suggests it is indeed OK to give away a $10k+ prize package to raise hundreds of k.

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Interesting charity event going on in Dallas this weekend … a $1,500+ buy-in with $1k going to the prize pool. The rest going toward medical expenses for internationally renowned Russian/American/Dallas artist Vladimir Gorsky, who is suffering from brain cancer. TJ Cloutier writes a little about him and the event here. Some of the other Vlad-loving pros supposed to attend include: Amir Vahedi, Tom McEvoy, Young Phan, Kido Pham, Jennicide, and Warren Karp.

The event takes place at the Westin City Center. Glad to see it. If they successfully pull off this event, it will be good to see charity poker getting back to what it could/should/used to be in Texas — though it does seem a little strange for a charity event to be going on in Dallas that doesn’t have anything to do with Pokerati or Clonie.

Fortunately, I will be able to follow the action on HoldEmRadio.com.

One other really interesting thing about this event: the support it’s getting from the Choctaw Nation. They’re running single-table satellites to this event 24/7 between now and then. And as a show of appreciation for helping out their friend Vlad, the pros slated to be in Dallas on Saturday will be in Oklahoma for Choctaw’s Friday night tourney, reportedly playing with bounties on their heads.

Click below to see the flyer and get more details about signing up:

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Poker is having an affair with politics and the mainstream media, and it seems to be one of those flings…not sure where it started or where it will end, or even what it means, but enjoying it nonetheless.

Sure, the UIGEA was the first to act, but it was the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) who bought the drinks and started the bigger conversation. Most recently, the poker lobbying organization did something that didn’t seem like a big move in the beginning but is turning out to be an ingenious one. They established two charity tournaments to benefit the Paralyzed Vets of America, one to be played at each of the political conventions. The Democratic National Convention was the stage for the first, where none other than Ben Affleck won it. The second event will take place tomorrow in Minnesota, close to the site of the Republican National Convention. Both events are getting wide mainstream media coverage, i.e. Bloomberg, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and The Denver Post.

The poker/politics affair goes even further, as poker has also become the analogy of choice for many writers and reporters well outside of the poker community. Terms like “poker face” and “all in” are finding their way into articles about Barack Obama and John McCain, either because Obama has been known to play poker or simply because poker is a good analogy. For example:

Chicago Sun Times: Does Barack Obama Really Have a Poker Face?

The Times Herald: America Needs a Decent Poker Player

Lastly, poker veteran Bob Ciaffone got a nice write-up in The Bay City Times when he recently traveled to Denver as an Obama delegate.

Just found this vid. There seems to be some sympathy for the fire dept., which has no desire to turn over their remaining $32k in poker gains to the cops — they’ve got an engine to pay for, after all!

I gotta think they’re gonna win their battle … because if they do have to turn it over and then for some reason something burns down that shouldn’t … well there would be hell to pay, you can be sure. We’ll see if I’m right. At a minimum, the poker case(s) against proprietors of the Seward VFD game seem to be the ones bringing the concept of poker revenues paying for civil services to light:

When it comes to charitable causes these days, paralyzed vets are better than kids with cancer … especially when trying to make a political statement with your fundraising. The politics of poker have gotten funky of late as the election season kicks into higher gear — so what better way to warm some electoral hearts than with a good-ole-fashioned charity tourney?

It’s gonna be a late-night event at Coors Field on Tuesday, Aug. 26. $500 a seat, with proceeds going to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Hosted by the PPA, with Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstein, and Ben Affleck serving as poker ambassadors. Sponsored tables available for businesses looking for a meaningful way to spend their charitable dollars.

This one will make Dan smile.

The first annual “All In for CP” charity poker tournament was held at Hollywood Park Casino in L.A. this past Sunday and is being hailed as a total success. More than $44,000 was raised for Jacob Zalewski’s One Step Closer Foundation, which helps ease the lives of those afflicted with cerebral palsy, as well as researchers seeking a cure.

Numerous celebrities and poker pros attended to make the event a success, names like Montel Williams, Shannon Elizabeth, Miguel Nunez, Jamie Gold, and Barry Greenstein. And in the end, it was The Simpsons creator and Hollywood writer/producer Dan’s man crush Sam Simon who won the tournament and donated all of the winnings back to the charity. Awww!

Congrats to Jacob for hosting his first charity tournament! Sorry I missed it, as I heard it was great fun, but hope to catch the next one…

There should be a big turnout for this one. The “All In for CP” tournament will be held on at noon Sunday, August 3rd (this weekend for the calendar-challenged) at the Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles. The event has been organized by Jacob Zalewski, pictured at right, who spent countless hours at the Rio during the WSOP gathering support for this tournament and his organization, the One Step Closer Foundation. The non-profit is his brainchild, and as a person who has dealt with cerebral palsy throughout his life, he hopes to raise funds to help others, as well as the researchers and scientists who are working toward a cure.

The $500 buy-in tournament (with $100 rebuys for the first 90 minutes) looks to have some famous names in the field, like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Mekhi Phifer, Montel Williams, Jennifer Tilly, and Norm MacDonald. It is open to the public. The only poker pro officially on board is Jamie Gold, but it is likely that others will attend, as they often do when charity events are held in the L.A. area.

A silent auction will accompany the festivities, where memorabilia will be up for bid, as well as prize packages donated by Ray Romano and Brad Garrett.

I have family (with two kids) in town this weekend, so I will not be able to attend, but my hope is that others in L.A. will go enjoy a day with the celebs for a good cause. (And if you see Mekhi there, take photos please.) For more info, visit the official website.

Pauly and I step into the Poker Kitchen to discuss Ante Up for Africa — essentially the We Are the World of poker tournaments — and in doing so chew on the difference between ’80s famine and Darfur genocide, life outside the WSOP bubble, the mindset of pros playing for a good cause with a tournament underlay, and a lack of charity signage in what’s supposed to be a charity WSOP VIP lounge.

Episode 21: Poker for Africa(feat. Otis)

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During this year’s WSOP main event, there haven’t been too many interesting or ridiculous costumes, and those that have appeared have been ho-hum. But today, coincidentally located just in front of the press box in the Amazon Room, the following scene occurred just after the cards got in the air.

The fanboy is Garry Gates, director of tournament reporting for PokerNews, and the object of his affection is obviously Evelyn Ng. It all started with a Guitar Hero bet, which technically consisted of two bets. The bigger bet was $1000 to the charity of the winner’s choice, and the side bet involved Ng wearing a PokerNews patch on her shirt during the main event if she lost and Gates being Ng’s fanboy – in full costume – for one hour of the main event.

Gates lost the Guitar Hero challenge, all of the three games, though he claimed the third one was close (he scored 99% and Ng scored 100%). Since PokerNews sponsored Gates in the event, they paid $1K to a Canadian hospital for sick children. And Gates proceeded to the costume store to get the outfit. He then showed up here to feed grapes to her and fan her during the first half hour of Day 1C of the main event, though the fanning had to stop when WSOP tournament director Jack Effel decided it was too distracting to other players. Ng then graciously stopped the fanboy activities after that period of time so Gates could get back to work.

Let me start out by saying that the Ante Up for Africa tournament is a stellar effort to raise money for Darfur refugees and awareness of the mass atrocities taking place in Africa and around the world. The ENOUGH and Not On Our Watch projects are doing wonderful things, and I hope this tournament raises a great deal of money for the causes.

The tournament was held in the Brasilia room here at the Rio. That’s all I know. How many players? Didn’t have time to count because the media was given 15 minutes for photos before we were kicked out. Names of all the celebrities and poker pros? Again, not enough time to write them down. Hopefully, a press release will be issued with all of the information at some point.

Good news? Mekhi Phifer was playing in the tournament.

Bad news? I’m not sure where to begin.

Blanket statement: The media aspect of this day was handled poorly. Very poorly.

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The RSVP’s for the Ante Up for Africa tournament (July 2) are coming in. Confirmed celebrity charity players so far:

Don Cheadle
Matt Damon
Ben Affleck
Adam Sandler
Ray Romano
Charles Barkley
Jason Kidd
Kevin Pollack
Cheryl Hines
George Lopez
Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy)

Sweet … as the song goes, “Ain’t no party like a J. Kidd party ‘cuz a J. Kidd party don’t stop!”

It’s a $5k buy-in for a luck-heavy blind structure. Remember when the concept of paparazzi-able celebs playing terrible poker used to make for good TV? Click here for a special registration form for Event #167.

The beneficiaries of this event (which raised $700k last year) are enoughproject.org and notonourwatchproject.org.

Hmm, as much sense as it makes to award bracelets only in open events, this sorta change apparently isn’t up for review, according to Michele (who played yesterday under the Queen of Hearts charity banner):

Last night at the Queens of Heart dinner, Jeffrey Pollack made two announcements:

1. As long as he is WSOP Commissioner there will be a Ladies Event awarding a bracelet
2. No man would be allowed to register for the Ladies Event today

The World Series isn’t the only poker going on in the world right now — and Karridy tried to remind us of that with Pokerati’s new Citizen Stack Reporter thingy (beta – come join the fun with our shiny new toy!). The text he sent in that didn’t quite make it on the first go-round (but will now and in the future):

3 of the BTT cast are at a charity tornament in Dallas vying to win a WSOP entry. The TD tells us that Home Depot donated a $100 (!?) hammer for any player who takes one down with Dan’s favorite hand. As its announced, a guy to my left says “sounds like one of Dan’s ideas”. Turns out that Whit is a pokerati reader and made me from the player list. A few moments later, SnG raises a limped pot with 72o and is rewarded with two pair on the flop. Here’s a pic of SnG just before he asked if there was a receipt.

If you’ve heard my permanent Wolfman Jack impression while listening to Beyond The Table, you might not be surprised to learn that my voice is not naturally this sexy. I had a little help from my friends. Actually, I had a LOT of help. Before the age of 6, I had undergone over 30something surgeries on my throat and vocal chords. Some of those were emergency surgeries to open my airway, and some were simply maintenance to avoid more emergencies. The end result would be a voice that only a mother could love. Well, her and a disproportionately large number of black women. Apparently, I sound like this guy. But unfortunately, they usually look like this girl, and never like my new chocolate crush, this girl.

The bottom line is that the good people at Cook Children’s Hospital saved my life more than once, and I couldn’t be more pleased to tell you about the Jeremy’s Friends Poker Tournament, coming up on Saturday, May 31st @ 6pm.

How’s this for quality charity poker – 1’st place wins a Main Event entry w/airfare and hotel! Runner up gets a phat entry into the upcoming $3,000,000 tournament at Winstar, which I hear is being televised. There won’t be much fight for 3rd to 9th place, as EVERYBODY else at the final table will win $440 Super Satellite entries for the same Winstar mega tournament. Not bad, guys! Too bad we all know that charity poker is rigged!

If you are in the North Texas area and would like to battle it out against me and a few other do-gooders, contact Jeremy’s Friends by emailing: jeremysfriendspoker@gmail.com

Last night, the Normandie Casino in L.A. hosted a poker tournament to benefit the Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN). The organization helps abused, neglected, and homeless adolescents become self-sufficient.

A local L.A. band performed to kick off the evening, and after a buffet was opened up, the tournament began. Fun times. The $40 buy-in was right up my alley, though the $20 rebuys got expensive! Strangely, Cali Jen did not represent well by winning or even making the final table, but hey… I did my part for a good cause.

Gavin Griffin and girlfriend Kristen came out to support LAYN and play in the tournament. Always a good sport, Gavin was gracious about the attention he received and photos being taken of him. Since Kristen and I busted early, we supported the bar quite nicely.

(Kristen was seated to the left of Gavin during the tournament, and they did anything but soft play each other. Note to Kristen: When he got you to fold your Q-5, he was bluffing with 8-4 off.)

Thanks to Dr. Lisa, Robert Turner, Ryan, Teissia, and everyone else for hosting a great event!

It’s usually when a charity tournament starts raising too much money that people try to stop it. And that’s what happened in North Carolina … as what is claimed to be the largest charity tournament in the nation just got canceled. The general counsel for UNC decided that with 1,000 people slated to compete for donated prizes that maybe just maybe the event — Hold’em for Hunger — was legally questionable.

Last year saw a field of more than 500 competing for a top prize of a big-screen TV to raise more than $12,500 for a group called Nourish International.

This anti-poker victory in North Carolina comes as poker-friendly forces in South Carolina appear to be making great strides with a bill in South Carolina that would’ve overturned a 200-year-old law to allow churches to raise charity money via poker got defeated.

DALLAS–The charity tourney for Bea’s Kids was Saturday night, and none other than your second-favorite host of Beyond the Table won it! No, I’m not talking about Tom … In a field of 80-someodd players — most of whom had little or no experience — Karridy took down first prize, winning a 52-inch HDTV for his efforts and charitable donation(s). Nice!

Karridy Askenasy, counting out his chips two at a time before making a call and sucking out on the river (four outer?) to win the 2nd Annual Bea’s Kid’s Texas Hold’em Tournament.

His victory was extra impressive not just because at one point he was the chip leader at the final table with an M=4, but also because he played taking a note from Gentle Shane and acted the whole time as if this were his very first time playing poker. “For a second there I thought that was Jamie Gold,” said one of his more knowledgeable competitors.

Even if Karridy hadn’t won it — along with my $20 in our lasts-longest bet — this was still a great event. Kudos to tourney organizers for kicking it old-school and insisting on giving non-raffle prizes to the winners, and to Eddie Deen’s for not letting legally questionable threats from anti-poker forces get in the way of raising money for a good cause.

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