download

Tao of Fear — Pauly steps away from poker and Phish to take on the real world, a place that turns out to be filled with (very real) mayhem, foreigners, and death … and that’s just Wall Street pre-Libya! There’s a fine line between current events and conspiracy theory … a few pills and maybe a shot of whiskey, too.

Bill’s Blog and Hardboiled Poker — two of the more thoughtful poker blogs out there … well-informed, and always adding something new to the conversation. I never link to Bill Rini or Shamus enough … but hey, following either of these guys is kinda like a subscription to the New Yorker … so much good stuff, just near-impossible to keep up. I have about eight specific posts from each of them waiting to be written up, but usually about 2/3 through, one of them produces a missive that makes me realize the pedantic flaws in whatever I was originally thinking.

Poro Report 2011 — kinda like Drudge, or actually a lot like Drudge … a well-culled link-dump directing you to the most current and relevant bits of poker news and industry convo harvested from around the internet.

LV Fashion Report — Some new sassy blogger chick’s take on Vegas people and all their outerwear is trying to suggest. (With a few sneak peaks at new Vegas properties, too.) I’m pretty sure “Kate Couture” isn’t her real name, but I think I’ve seen her running around Panorama Towers … so obviously she’s got insight into the most pea-cocky of poker players.

J Gary Wise — my fellow 2x award-winning Poker Beat sparring partner seems to be swimming with craziness these days without TPB to give him a wild-rant fix — (I know the feeling) — and thus the ESPN columnist has been spewing out original, semi-intelligent content rather fierce. Sometimes pokery, sometimes not, but either way, Gary is still Gary, and therefore sure to at some point make you wanna punch him.

A Year of Culinary Curiousity — Former Pokerati contrib Jen Newell has a new non-poker blog … about food and cooking and edible bad beats. In a way, it is kinda like a poker blog, as Jen tries to move up in stakes and hone her kitchen game — skill and luck determining results. Glad she decided against calling the site All You Can Eat, Baby!

The Maven Training — If you’re not maximizing your return at the tables, you’re playing suboptimal poker, leaving profits behind. Whether you prefer cash games or tournaments, live or online, be the best at your table by training with accomplished pros. Next boot camp: March 4-6. 10% Pokerati discount here.

Both Gus Hansen and Jim Collopy, who have one match remaining in the 10k NL HU final, still have chips in the Main Event. There has been no word on when the deciding match will take place.

Elsewhere …

PokerStars LAPT – Rosario, Argentina :: 24 players remain in their main event, playing down to their final table on Saturday. PokerStars Blog and PokerNews

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, Oklahoma :: $1,600 Main Event starts Saturday, Cloutier, Scotty Nguyen, Tom McEvoy scheduled to appear. Rounders’ Radio appears to be handling live streaming of the tournament this weekend.

PokerStars EPT London :: The final major poker series to hit London starts Sept. 28th – EPT London details

Finally, Dan Michalski appeared on episode #2 of Gary Wise vs the World at PokerStatic.com with Shaun Deeb, Daniel “Jungleman12″ Cates, and Tim West.

It’s a voting thing (give your email address to everyone!) … and you can cast your vote online here.

Special props and encouraged ballot-stuffing on behalf of former Pokerati contrib Jen Newell and current Poker Beat cohort Gary Wise, who is the only male nominee in the whole contest. (How pissed must BJ be to not get that nod?) They are duking it out in the Favorite Blogger or Author category, while our pals at LuvinPoker and CardRunners are also facing off for the Most Encouraging Poker Forum Award.

Click below for more deets about the honours — what, no special Courage Award for Clonie? — and a full list of contenders in what some might call a great big catfight on behalf of poker grace.

Voting Starts for Poker Maven Awards

Woman Poker Player Magazine is pleased to announce the official nominees for the Maven Awards 2010. The Maven Awards were announced in February this year and were created to recognize the achievements of women in poker both on and off the felt on a global scale. This is the inaugural year of the awards.

“I would like to congratulate everyone who was nominated for an award, and to thank everyone who spent time and their thoughts to enter their nominations.” said Maryann Morrison, Managing Editor of Woman Poker Player Magazine. “I found it interesting that the comments on the category for the most appealing marketing campaign to women were that many found current marketing campaigns derogatory and condescending to women. I hope that the Maven Awards will assist in turning that around.”

Each category of the Maven Awards has three official nominees named. These nominees were chosen based on number of nominations received from the over 3,000 nominations made. Voting begins the afternoon of June 1 and can be made at mavenawards.com until September 30th, 2010. Further details on the presentations of the awards will be made public once they are available.

“I am very excited about the potential of the awards to heighten the profile of women in poker, as well as having the industry start thinking about making additional efforts to cater to the women who enjoy poker. As we have seen already this year, more women are winning major tournaments then ever before. I hope many people submit their votes to show their support for the accomplishments of the nominees.”

Some categories of the Maven Awards are based on answers that are female only, other categories were for mixed venues, portals, or people with the goal of recognizing those who went out of their way to make women feel comfortable in poker, or that helped women to excel in poker.

Gary Wise, who is the sole male nominee this year, had this to say about his Maven Award nomination. “”It’s such a privilege to be nominated. I’ve always felt that women have a more prominent place at the table awaiting them in the future and I’m hopeful that this nomination is a reflection of that attitude coming through in my work. Thanks to everyone who nominated me!”

Maven Awards 2010 Official Nominee List in no particular order

Best Role Model for Women in Poker Award
Jennifer Harman
Kathy Liebert
Annie Duke

Woman in the Poker Industry Who Has Excelled in Encouraging or Promoting Women in Poker Award
Linda Johnson
Kathy Raymond
Lupe Soto

Most Female Friendly Online Poker Room Award
Full Tilt Poker
PokerStars
Maria Poker

Most Female Friendly Poker Room Award
The Venetian, Las Vegas
The Borgata, Atlantic City
The Bicycle, California

Overall Best Tournament Series Award
World Series of Poker
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
The Borgata Open

Best Ladies Only Poker Tournament or Series Award
High Heels PokerTour
WSOP Ladies Tournament
Pokerstars EPT Ladies Events

Most Appealing Poker Marketing Campaign to Women Award
Australian Poker League
Vanessa Rousso Bootcamps
Pokerica Ladies Team

Most Encouraging Poker Forum Award
Twoplustwo.com
Cardrunners.com
LuvinPoker.com

Favorite Blogger or Author Award
Kate Dozier
Gary Wise
Jennifer Newell

Humanitarian Award
Liz Lieu
Annie Duke
Linda Johnson

Most Notable Performance of 2009 Award
Annette Obrestad
Kathy Liebert
Vanessa Rousso

Top Female Media Personality Award
Kara Scott
Michelle Orpe
Linda Johnson

Notable Upcoming Female Poker Player of 2009 Award
Annette Obrestad
Amanda de Cesare
Vanessa Selbst

Outstanding Professional Player of 2009 Award
Vanessa Rousso
Kathy Liebert
Liz Lieu

For more information, please see http://www.mavenawards.com. Sponsorship opportunities available.

-30-

Eric Baldwin
Lance Bradley – Editor at Bluff Magazine
Andrew Feldman – Poker Editor at ESPN.com
Chad Holloway – Poker Pro Magazine
Howard Lederer
Bernard Lee
Daniel Negreanu – Defending champion
Dennis Phillips
Steve “Chops” Preiss – Wicked Chops Poker
Mark Seif
Gavin Smith
Gary Wise

Each participant made eight picks in the draft and the handy chart below displays their selections by round:

A detailed analysis from Feldman on the selections can be found at www.espn.com/poker

Page 2 features how points are earned and my selections:

Here’s how points will be earned:

1st – 50
2nd – 40
3rd – 30
4th – 25
5th – 20
6th – 16
7th – 14
8th – 12
9th – 11
10th – 10
Top 20 – 5
Top 50 – 2
Cashing – 1

Bonus points:

Points are doubled for all $10k+ buy-in events
1 additional point awarded for every 100 players in the field, starting at 200

Last year I figured I could pick a better lineup than at least 6 of the “experts” out of players who weren’t selected. I didn’t do as well as hoped, but I’ll surely give it another try.

Here’s my 8 selections:

Christian Harder
Sam Stein
Andy Seth
Jon Turner
Gavin Griffin
David “Bakes” Baker
Noah Schwartz
Mike Sowers

I’ll update the standings weekly here at Pokerati, or when I remember to do it, whichever comes first.

“Next year, you’re not going to have a Champions Invitational. You’re not going to have a $40K for the 40th-annual event,” said [WSOP Communications Director Seth] Palansky. “Both events probably come back 10 years from now, when we’re celebrating 50 years. We announced them and intended them as one-off specials.”

First off, I’m not sure I really understand the meaning of “one-off”. Have heard it bandied around for the past year and have even used it myself, but the above quote doesn’t fit in with my definition.

Secondly, wasn’t there talk — perhaps on Gary Wise’s radio show? — about there being a $41k next year, $42k the year following that, $43k, $44k … basically an event growing each year in accordance with an attached Super Bowl number?

Scrapping the Champions Invitational also seems an interesting move. I won’t miss it, to be sure, but interesting that they’ve apparently just decided to nix it all together instead of giving it a second made-for-TV go and trying to scrap it.

With these being two of the four televised events this year, ESPN clearly had to have some say in the matter.

Listen live.

Eventually you’ll be able to find the podcast here.

Some thoughts:

I assume Dan thinks Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies is some random Internet qualifier if he’s ranked lower than Jennifer Tilly.
Same goes for Bertrand “Elky” Grospelier, ranked lower than Phil Laak.
David Benyamine at #3?
Doyle Brunson at #5?
Clonie Gowen at #15? (Yes, she’s tied with Johnny Chan for the most PAD wins – 3).
Kenny Tran at #37? (Dan’s pick to win, and he admits this was too low).

In my humble opinion, I’d take players ranked 51-59 (with Jerry Yang and an online qualifier) over those ranked 21-29 (with Scott Fischman’s 4 NHUPC cashes).

But the thing with these rankings is to create debate, so let the debate begin!

The lineup:

John Caldwell (formerly of Pokernews)
Gary Wise of ESPN and WisehandPoker.com
Matt Parvis of Bluff Magazine
Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com
BJ Nemeth of World Poker Tour
and Joe Stapleton of PokerRoad.com with some closing thoughts.

Topics will include the Obama and the UIGEA, the Durrr Challenge, and the L.A. Poker Classic.

Assuming you understand others is a big mistake. Bypass the analysis and stick to your own work.

Oops, but oh well, too late now … The podcast is up.

Because Gary Wise relies on me to tell him and his listeners how to think Hevad Khan canceled … (right)click here to listen to/download the entire episode (including the opening segment with Dewey Tomko) or press the buttons below to hear my segment — where GW hems and haws as I analyze the 60 Minutes and Washington Post pieces, then speculate wildly on the cheating scandals and their relationship to the present business/legal/political landscape and what it all may or may not mean for the future of the entire world! poker industry.

Wise Hand Poker (feat. Dan from Pokerati) 42:08
RoundersRadio

Two-and-a-half specific things caught my eye:

(The name of the alleged cheater has circulated widely among poker players on the Internet. The Post is not publishing his name because, even though he purportedly confessed to AbsolutePoker, the company did not release its records and would not discuss the matter. The alleged cheater declined requests to be interviewed.)

Maybe I just haven’t been following it close enough on the forums, but I’m wondering whom they’re referring to here.

The story also doesn’t reference the new formation of Cereus, after acknowledging that UB would likely lose its license and be out of business soon. Hmmm. But that’s really new, and this story was possibly put to bed a few weeks ago?

The other thing is the last graf:

The Kahnawake now say they operate one of the most secure Internet gambling operations in the world. Tokwiro says it has “established cutting-edge security systems that make us the safest site in the industry.” But Catania said he does not expect cheating to stop: “I’m sure there are people out there right now figuring out, let’s say, ‘Here’s a way we can do it again.’

Yikes, that last sentence leaves it open-ended as to how part two of the story will fall when it comes to legalization efforts.

I really like poker’s chances (because I sincerely believe despite our internal battles with shadiness, our industry is on the right side of legal issues here) … and from what I’ve learned in my rookie dabblings in poker (and strip-club) politics, the treatment this story is getting in Washington DC — a big investigative feature spread out over two days with lots of informative sidebars — now guarantees (I’m like 86 percent sure) that our issue is on the 2009 political agenda. I’m not totally comfortable yet, of course. Current feeling in my gut is comparable to waiting for the river when all-in against an 8- or 9-outer. A little unsettling. But hey, that’s what we came here for, right?

In addition to the story itself, the WP’s got a bunch of goodies for those who want to dig deeper, or just check their work:

• Here’s a timeline titled “Internet Poker and the Law” — they get the UIGEA, imo.
• Paul Leggett’s defense (pdf)
• Video explaining Texas Hold’em — as in how to play … they clearly see poker as a fun skill game, not a dangerously addictive vice; if the investigation were about shady drug runners, after all, you wouldn’t see a similar vid on how to make good meth.

• Also: a video about David Paredes going from intelligent amateur to uber-skilled pro.
• A timeline about how the AP/UB/Cereus cheats got caught.
• And another timeline of the scandal, complete with cool Web 2.5-ish document pop-ups.
• “Reporter’s notebook” about The Mohawk Connection.
• And shoot, wish I had seen this one before linking to the above — an everything page chronicling the entire investigation, complete with fun little numbers about (taxable) online poker revenues.

So there you have it. It would hard to expect anything more thorough. Kudos to “special correspondent Gary Wise“, too, for playing poker-biz fixer for the WP investigative team turning over rocks.

As the pair discussed various promotional opportunities — as well as the distractions of the economic crises and presidential election that punctuated those last couple of weeks prior to the final table — Palansky stated how he had some news to “break” on Wise’s show. Per Kevmath’s transcription:

SP: We had a player booked on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, they chose not to do it.

GW: Are we allowed to ask which player it was?

SP: I don’t want to name names and get into that for anyone. We also had the Ellen DeGeneres show booked with another player, who chose not to do it.

GW: Why were these players choosing not to do these shows?

SP: That’s something that the players and their agents and advisors, etc. that should be in the position to answer….

Palansky goes on to “express a concern” that the unnamed players didn’t seize the opportunities to appear on the mainstream shows. “They’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities that get presented to them,” said Palansky. “And it’s unfortunate that in situations where we had a successful pitch and an opportunity for our players to be on that national stage, they chose not to.”

Discussion has ensued on the 2+2 forum (where Kevmath’s transcription of the pertinent passages, unabridged, can be found).

Ed. Note: See Shamus’ own more detailed, existential thoughts on the making of a more-than-poker TV star here.

Poker Shrink — he runs the show now at my old PokerBlog stomping grounds, and though I haven’t yet seen his shiny orb around these parts, he always has something informative to say, and a cutting way to say it.

Change100 — A friend with weed is a friend indeed … and this PokerNews reporter always has the good Hollywood insight to share.

Benjo — aka the Angry Frenchman; I have no idea what his blog says, but it’s often fun to read the Google translation of it.

Gary Wise — Gary knows everything about poker (just ask him) … but really, the Bluff/ESPN correspondo does know a lot, and has better player connections than anyone else in media row.

Snoopy — This limey mate has a great take on the game, and new hair to boot — capable of fourth-level thinking and comes up with hedlines like “Throw Juanda down the Well.”

Michele Lewis — Wicked Chops probably got the best of it in our trade of Fresh Princess and a blogger to be named later for, um, nothing … but that doesn’t mean we don’t still love her sassy-mom takes on the game.

Pokerfolio — Steve Hall doesn’t need a big camera to scope out the WSOP hotties, but he may need a new webhost.

Spaceman – Jason Kirk can’t seem to leave the poker world no matter how hard he tries, and while he’s not blogging for PokerListings this year, he occasionally keeps us posted on real life.

Hardboiled Poker – Short-stacked Shamus is an absolute must-read; he’s a rookie on the PokerNews WSOP reporting scene, but as he’s proved with his own blog since getting on the blogging train late in the game, sometimes new=fresh, and he gives more to really think about per word than just about anyone else out there.

Haley – The managing editrix of PokerNews is 0-and-1 on prop bets with Dan this year, but that doesn’t mean she’s still not a smartaholic; heck, she even knows who The Batfaces are.

Mean Gene — The most celebrated poker blogger in all of Pittsburgh makes the annual pilgrimage to the WSOP again, and nobody knows how to have more All-American fun while doing a top-quality job than this PokerNews tourney reporter.

I’m sure I’m missing a few — apologize for that — so send me an email and I will update accordingly. But these are the ones I have been checking out with the most semi-regularity, and often giving thought to.

And for a list of players who are also blogging their experiences, check out Up for Poker’s WSOP blog-guide.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back eventually. But this should keep you informed/entertained/busy for at least a little while.

Update: Tom Schneider interview with Gary Wise at roundersradio.com sometime between 5 and 7pm PT

Things got underway at noon in event #7, $2,000 NL holdem, 1,593 put up the money in their chase for a bracelet. The $10k Mixed Event World Championship will get underway at 5pm. There’s been talk about how this will all turn out. Some have expressed their concerns about the structure. The WSOP structure sheet says that 8 hands of each game will be played. However, there’s no way they can get 64 hands dealt in an hour, so how will the rotation be dealt with the next increase in blind/ante level. With triple draw 2-7, will there be two players out of action in a hand while cards are dealt to the other 6? Imagine what David Singer would think of that!

Speaking of Singer, he’s currently at the $1,500 PL holdem final table, which is getting the cold shoulder from ESPN while they cover the more attractive to TV final table. The action at that table will start shortly.

The $1,000 NL/rebuys tournament is underway and in a shocking development, day 1 chip leader Phil Ivey is out before the money. Play is currently at hand-for hand, so expect a long 10-minute period of not-so agonizing bubble play. Also on their day 2 is the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better tournament, both tournaments should reach their respective final tables sometime early Thursday morning.

More later this evening…

Today brings another two tournaments to the starting line, first at noon is the $2,000 NL holdem event and another large field is expected. The event the pros may be swooning over is the $10,000 Mixed Event “World Championship”. This tournament will have it all for the big cash game specialists as they throw eight games into the mix. This grouping of players will play Triple Draw lowball Deuce to Seven, Limit Holdem, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha; playing each game for 8 hands before moving on to the next game in the rotation. Hopefully there won’t be many mixups between the players, dealers, and floor and this becomes a staple of the WSOP schedule.

Play finally finished earlier this morning in the marathon that was event #2, $1,500 NL Holdem. After over two hours of headsup play, Grant Hinkle made an aggressive move, raising and eventually going all in with 10d-4d against James Akenhead’s Ac-Kh. Things were looking good for James, but his was truly aching after the flop came down 10-4-10. A fourth 10 hit the turn and it was over, as Hinkle took the bracelet and over $800,000 in victory. Chris Ferguson finished 3rd, the full results can be found over at Pokernews.

What else happened yesterday:

Two final tables are scheduled for today, but most of the poker world (and ESPN’s) attention will be directed towards the $5,000 Mixed (Limit/No Limit) Holdem final table. Here’s that final table, starting at 3pm today:

Seat 3: David Rheem 885,000
Seat 6: David Williams 678,500
Seat 7: Justin Bonomo 517,500
Seat 9: Erick Lindgren 345,000
Seat 1: Howard Lederer 324,500
Seat 2: Roland de Wolfe 194,000
Seat 8: Andrew Robl 162,000
Seat 5: Isaac Haxton 115,500
Seat 4: Pat Pezzin 108,500

The $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem also has a final table, which will start at 2pm:

Seat 2: Joe Tehan 458,000
Seat 3: Jacobo Fernandez 428,000
Seat 9: Robert Lipkin 305,000
Seat 5: Al Barbieri 271,000
Seat 1: Russ Harriman 206,000
Seat 6: Gregory Alston 179,000
Seat 4: Zachary ‘Carter’ King 139,000
Seat 8: David Singer 83,000
Seat 7: Glen Bean 75,000

In other action from yesterday, the noon tournament (Event #5, $1k NL/w rebuys) drew 766 entrants and their 2,258 rebuys to the table. Phil Ivey is the current chip leader with about another 100 players in the chase for a bracelet when play begins again at 2pm as they play down to their final 9. HEre’s the list of their payouts:
1 $ 636,736
2 $ 406,330
3 $ 245,997
4 $ 201,139
5 $ 164,963
6 $ 130,234
7 $ 101,293
8 $ 79,587
9 $ 57,881
10-12 $ 36,176
13-15 $ 28,940
16-18 $ 21,705
19-27 $ 16,496
28-36 $ 13,602
37-45 $ 10,708
46-54 $ 9,839
55-63 $ 8,971
64-72 $ 8,103

Meanwhile, the 5pm tournament (Event #6, $1,500 Omaha drew an amazing 833 participants (last year Alex Kravchenko won his bracelet in a field of 690), with 205 survivors on to day 2 at 3pm. They’ll try to whittle that down to their final table, but it could be a long night for this group. James Van Alstyne is the current leader, other known names include Scott Clements, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Richard “Chufty” Ashby, and Allen Kessler.

More to come later…

What’s going on at the WSOP today while reading Gary Wise’s new blog and Mean Gene’s latest post makes me wonder if I can claim to be a poker pro because I cashed in a $2.20 180-runner SNG on Stars.

Action is underway in the first of two bracelet events that begin today, the $1,500 PL Holdem event. 714 started play today, and just 5 hours in, less than 300 remain. (Payouts can be found after the jump). Play has also just begun in the $5,000 Mixed Holdem event, while day 2 of the $1,500 NL event has reached the money, with eliminations coming fast and furious now that the bubble burst.

Payouts for event #3:

1 $ 214,131
2 $ 136,643
3 $ 82,725
4 $ 67,640
5 $ 55,474
6 $ 43,796
7 $ 34,063
8 $ 26,764
9 $ 19,464
10-12 $ 12,165
13-15 $ 9,732
16-18 $ 7,299
19-27 $ 5,547
28-36 $ 4,574
37-45 $ 3,601
46-54 $ 3,309
55-63 $ 3,017
64-72 $ 2,725

Elsewhere, Australian David Saab won the first stop on this year’s Asian Poker Tour in Malina, Phillippines. More payouts can be found on their website .

Rumors this weekend said that Party Gaming may reach a settlement with the US Department of Justice to pay for past discretions. Rumor has it that it could be as much as $1 billion.

More coming soon…

Minh Ly (to the four of us up here): Hao ma.
Gary Wise: Blah blah blah, Ming?
Minh (still walking): Popa wow me wa.
Gary: Hep now hoo check?
Minh (shrugs): [unintelligible]
Dan (mocking): Moo wa fo ti.
Minh (almost out the door): Ya.
Gary: Did you guys understand any of that?
Pauly: Yeah, he said pocket queens beat by 3-7 offsuit.
Dan and Gary: Really?
Pauly: Really.

Some of you have been wondering, why no new episodes of Beyond the Table? Tom, Karridy, and I have been wondering the same thing. It’s been a good run, and with drinks in the air, three guys who clearly love/hate the sounds of their own voices are calling it podcast quits.

Back when we started, our show about poker but not really about poker stood out as revolutionary in a sea of lame poker interviewcasts with questionable audio quality. Soon after iPod sales were booming as more and more of the world got hooked on downloading poker audio with funny intros and Angry Julie cameos. But Tom couldn’t handle the celebrity and Karridy developed a crack addiction lives got busy and producers for Beyond the Table fared about as well as drummers for Spinal Tap. The show hired Shamus at a fraction of a Cambodian farmer’s wage to pump up our numbers — did he ever get his T-shirt? — but with a new generation of poker podcasts getting better and stronger (Lou Kreiger, Gary Wise, 2+2, Pocket Fives, Ante Up, Poker Road, et al) old-school payola wasn’t enough to save us from going out on the podcast bubble.

Listen below to a heretofore unpublished episode (recorded on 2-27, my dream flop) as your favorite semi-amateur yammerers phone it in for the last and final-ish time:

Beyond the Table: Fin

Thanks for listening via RSS, iTunes, play-in-popup, and direct download … we already miss ourselves.

You can still prank call Karridy on the Beyond the Table listener line at 888-820-8091.