There’s a corporate rush like something that hasn’t been seen for a while in the casino industry — to secure and develop poker-related assets. After the Department of Justice’s quiet reinterpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, and subsequent political buzz it created , corporate gaming partners jumped into bed together faster than you can change a relationship status on Facebook.

• Kentucky-based horse racing and casino company Churchill Downs acquires the assets of Bluff Media.

• Caesars Entertainment extends its partnership with 888 Holdings.

• MGM, Boyd Gaming, and BwinParty looking for a wild poker three-way.

• Vegas-based ShuffleMaster dangling diamonds in front of OnGame Network.

• Pinnacle Entertainment in acquisition talks with newly formed Epic Poker League.

• Golden Nugget partners up with ChiliGaming for online poker.

What’s next? Will Pokerati be getting a bid from Palms Casino Resort?

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In the midst of a so-far unprofitable weeklong stretch of daily tournaments around Las Vegas, I decided to try my luck+skill next at the Orleans (a grizzled locals favorite), the Golden Nugget (for a tourist-packed short-stack event), and the Venetian for a little Deep Stacks Extravaganza with hoodie-and-headphones set. Each tournament has its own appeal, and gave me quite a taste of the broad range of game selection across town.

Friday night’s 12,500-chip starting stack at The Orleans.

Ragin’ Cajun: Friday Nights at the Orleans

Those on the lower-stakes Vegas grind often rave about Friday night at The Orleans. Large field, good structure, big prize pool. A friend advised that I arrive early because the event fills up so quickly. I parked around back almost an hour before the 7pm start time, and after securing my $125 entry, sat at a bar near the food court with T.G.I. Fridays, Fuddruckers, Baskin Robbins, Sbarro, Subway — yeah, real Cajun cuisine.

On this night there would be 270 players, with first place paying about $8,000. The floor supervisor said re-entries were possible but improbable because of a long list of alternates. As we got underway, two locals spoke conspicuously about a mutual friend who was playing a $250k buy-in event in Australia (the Aussie Millions high-roller event, won by Phil Ivey).

Of The Orleans’s comparably tiny entry fee, $100 goes to the prize pool, $2 goes to tournament “players of the month,” $13 goes to the house and $10 goes to staff. The tournament can often last until mid morning, but my run in the event would be a quick one, as I never dragged a pot and busted 5 minutes before the first break.

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Some familiar faces and players worth looking up in the charity NLH mix … er … mixed martial arts.

One of my favorite charity tourneys of the year is this Saturday — Operation All In … Randy Couture’s  poker tournament and charity auction benefitting his Xtreme Couture GI Foundation. Karina Jett hosts the event, so you can expect her usual brand of fun and merry band of Full Tilt Red Pros in exile. And because OAI is more MMAish than pokery … well, let’s just say you can be sure to see some rather douchetastic! unique table interaction. And with a reasonable buy-in ($220 w $100 rebuys), you stand to get a fair share of genuine downtown tourists, too — excited by their chance to play with the fighters more so than the poker pros.

The winner gets $10k in cold American cash this year, too … no fancy qualifiers for some future maybe-cool new event in some other country. And though I haven’t personally looked into how legit Randy Couture’s foundation is, I do get a sense he takes the effort kinda personally and isn’t going to let the funds raised here get squandered en route to the beneficiaries. For many soldiers, the war isn’t over just because they are starting to come home.

It’s been an interesting relationship in Vegas between mixed martial arts and poker over the past 12 or so years … the state of which will be on display in the form of tax-deductible feelgood poker … this weekend at the Golden Nugget.

Read below for official deets on what’s going down.

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The Duke of Fremont, that colorful, uniquely Vegassy character who likes to buy in to 1/2 games with no max and sit behind stacks of $100k in bills (which he carries around downtown in a violin case) returns to the felt for a tourney at the Golden Nugget this Friday — raising money for the Clark County Museum Guild, a non-profit philanthropic group dedicated to preserving Las Vegas culture.

The event comes with the Duke fully recovered from multiple broken bones and flesh wounds suffered in a violent robbery in August 2010. The trial against his accused assailants was supposed to start this week — just down the street from the Nugget — but was delayed on Monday.

Who: The Duke of Fremont presents “Pinstripes & Polka Dots”
What: $100 NLH (w $20 rebuys)
When: Friday, Oct 28, 6pm (red carpet cocktails begin at 5pm)
Where: Golden Nugget, Downtown Las Vegas
Why: Fundraiser for Clark County Museum Guild

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Low temperatures in Las Vegas have crossed into the high-50s (ºF) … which means it’s holiday charity season in the Valley, and some in LA.

One of the more fun events gets started in a couple hours at the Golden Nugget (which seems poised to take over from the Hard Rock as the primary LV charity destination) … so if you’ve got nothing better to do this afternoon than get warmed up for some Vegas Halloweening, why not help out the soldiers while mingling with some big-time MMA, small-time Hollywood, and mid-tier poker world:

Operation All-In
benefitting Xtreme Couture GI Foundation
organized by Randy Couture and Karina Jett
2 pm

$225 buy-in, $100 rebuys
1st prize $10k

I had a blast at this event last year, not because I “moneyed” to score a Full tilt swag bag for my 30somethingth-place finish … but just because it was just more fun than the usual charity show. For the more casual player, it’s the only time you’ll see MMA strongmen somewhat intimidated by scrawny poker geeks while entertaining the festive-drinky feelgood tourists … many who can’t seem to believe they are “in the ring” with so many people they’ve watched on TV — all for a tax-deductible donation less than they were planning to drop on a single sitting at a smokey $5 blackjack table.

A buy-in to this event also gets you in to Randy Couture’s Halloween Bash this evening at the Golden Nugget’s surprisingly undouchey nightclub Gold Diggers.

More info here.

Post to be continued … so check back later, but wanted to get the word out in time for Vegas peeps to head downtown before the end of the rebuy period.

Phil Ivey was at the Golden Nugget enjoying barbecue last night — at Howard Lederer’s World Series of BBQ — when he learned that Tom Dwan was making another serious run for a bracelet, in $10k PLO.

pic: Melissa Hayden

Durrrr in the headlights: Please, Melissa, I’m trying to eat …Who Tom Dwan what? How many chips? I need more sauce.

Play ended last night with 33 left and Durrrr the chip leader … by like a lot. (36 got paid.) Phil Hellmuth is 13th in chips, with 330k to Dwan’s 910k.

Here’s the event coverage Ivey and just about everyone will be sweating on Saturday: $10k Pot-Limit Omaha. Sigh. If only ESPN knew what Euros (and players in my 1/2 NL/PLO game at the Hard Rock) already do … that Omaha is hold’em, and thus can make for some great TV.

Others still alive include:

Jason Mercier
Devilfish
Ludovic Lacay (Benjo’s friend/French bad-ass)
Fabrice Soulier
Michael Binger
Daniel Alaeai
Tony Cousineau
Jason Lester (for viewers still insisting on familiar ’03-’04 faces)

Interestingly enough, the last man out for the night (winning $19.8k) was EPT Tournament Director Thomas Kremser … essentially the Matt Savage of Europe. Alexander Kravchenko, another pretty good-TV name, busted him.

But hey, this is PLO, so all sorts of card craziness can happen. Let’s reconvene when they get to the final table and see if indeed, poker geeks and uber-high-stakes prop-bettors everywhere will be clamoring about Dwan (and maybe Hellmuth) closing out the WSOP with a multimillion-dollar bang.

Friday, June 4
6 pm
Golden Nugget
Las Vegas

Buy-in: $220
Rebuys: $100

First place:
$10,000

As you know, I’m not really watching much poker this summer; however, I am rather excited about finally getting to play a little, tournament-style — and Friday I’ll be doing just that in Karina Jett’s All-In 4 Autism Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. There’s just something about a tax-deductible underlay that makes ridiculously fast and luck-based blind structures appealing.

I played last year, and with just a single rebuy, I actually cashed. Got a really nice gift bag with some coupons and not one, but two Full Tilt swag t-shirts. (I think I finished something like 30th place out of maybe 150?

But the awesomeness of the Vegas charity scene became clearly apparent to me not from any “celebs” at my table, but from a very drinky maniac a few seats to my left. He was playing terribly but without fear, putting in rebuy after rebuy and playing any two cards, which sometimes got there allowing him to take down a big pot.

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World Team Poker is the next “big event” in Las Vegas … gets underway at the Golden Nugget with a party tonight (of course) and cards in the air on Wednesday. The WTP will be the third big-dollar, made-for-TV attempt to bring team poker to Las Vegas (fourth if you include one that was canceled the weekend of) … and like all the rest, as the WTP teams came together, the usual on-camera stars lined up to get their airtime register. We can tell there is a definitive desire for team poker somewhere — why else would the pros keep showing up? — and everyone who ever plays in these events reports having an absolute blast. But for some reason or another, they often tend to falter.

Will the WTP be a matter of someone finally getting it right, or is there something inherent to the game itself that makes team tournament poker a concept that just can’t stick?

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Not the most action-filled episode of High Stakes Poker, but you can still watch it anyways, right?:

Those following @Pokerati may recall an unusual situation I faced in a 1/2 game at the Golden Nugget last weekend — when this guy, “The Duke”, bought in for $100,000 … which he pulled from purple velvet Crown Royal baggies stuffed in a tattered violin case.

I had been trying to place him … was he related to the suit-wearing longhair we media types know as “the devil” (whom I had once sent into a tirade by stacking him at the Golden Nugget). No, no, not related (fingers crossed) … maybe he’s a performer in one a show around town? That would explain why he was playing in this game, but not why he would have $100k in cash (including some in out-of-circulation $500 and $1,000 bills). His business card says “Have Gun, Will Travel”, and lists his title as “Soldier of Fortune”.

Anyhow, it just hit me where I had seen him before, or at least why he looked so familiar. I was playing against not a real hitman, but quasi-legendary humorist Alibaster K. Abthernabther!

In the end, I’d get only about .009 percent of his stack, despite seeing AA, KK, KK, AK, and 77 twice (and flopping two sets) in our first three orbits … and then having him request a seat change and moving directly to my right. Turns out Mr. 50,000 Big Blinds was a ridiculously tight player … saw him (correctly) lay down a set of 4s to a $10 bet into a $25 pot, and chop the only all-in he faced with AKs vs. AKs.

I guess he liked to just sit there in front of money he knew he wasn’t going to lose?

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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Forget Jeff Madsen … Kristy Gazes is a dirty girl wet and naked:

She’s getting ready for the High Heels Poker Tour ladies boot camp at the Hard Rock, and then the Women in Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Golden Nugget … and as she points out, this is a very Ladies-y weekend. So not a bad way to start.

NBC is expanding their poker inventory with a brand new reality show, with the help of Poker PROductions and Full Tilt Poker called “Face the Ace” starting Saturday Aug. 1, according to Variety. The show debuts at 9pm Saturday for two weeks, then moves to Saturday afternoons for the rest of its seven episode run. The show will be hosted by Steven Schirripa of “The Sopranos” fame.

Qualifiers are now running at Full Tilt Poker, with 30 winners getting a trip to the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas to audition to be on the show. Those who pass the auditions will then have the opportunity to beat 3 Team Full Tilt Pros heads-up and win $1,000,000. If they beat one pro, they win a certain amount of money with the option to move forward. If they beat a second pro, they win a higher amount of money. If they beat the third pro, they win the grand prize, but if they lose at any time, they go home with nothing.

The bottom of the article notes that the other Poker PROductions program on NBC, Poker After Dark, is up 4% in the ratings, averaging over 800,000 viewers in its very late night time slot.

photo: Wicked Chops

He’s there right now … in Clark County City of Las Vegas Detention Center, charged with DUI, driving more than 21 mph over the speed limit, and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/information/17503.htm

CORRECTION: City of Las Vegas Detention Center, not Clark County. The city booking unit is a much drearier place — it’s where they take locals to be charged with misdemeanors, while the fancy new CCDC is for tourists and alleged felons.

A typical stay-time in this joint is usually about 13 hours (I think they legally have to keep you for 12 to sober up) … so not knowing what time Layne’s Drawing Party festivities ended, it’s hard to speculate on whether or not he was involved in an accident that required medical treatment. When he does get let out, the unit he’s in doesn’t allow direct releases into the industrial North Las Vegas neighborhood … so you don’t just walk out the door. They take a van-load of inmates downtown and drop them off right outside the Golden Nugget.

UPDATE: Flack has been released. Neverwin Poker confrms.

Interesting article about how the Golden Nugget is pushing forward with expansion — new tower and all — despite economic woes. I had forgotten GN was a Texas-run joint … no wonder it’s one of my favorite places in town. And though it’s my preferred downtown cash game venue, when someone recently asked me to put together a list of the 10 best most noteworthy poker rooms in Vegas, it didn’t make the cut. (Would come in #11 or 12.)

And lastly, speaking more generally about downtown and economy … though I haven’t seen any numbers, I was on Fremont St. on a recent Saturday night, and it was busier and more packed than I have ever seen it. Ever. And yet the Strip, different hotels and the street itself … noticeably quieter than in months and years past.

Take that for whatever it’s worth.