Throughout the course of the weekend, PPA Executive Director John Pappas, PPA lobbyists, and the Fossilman interacted with lawmakers and explained the merits of online poker licensing and regulation. We were pleased that Congressional champions of poker rights Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) were on hand to help make the case to their House colleagues for a regulatory framework that would provide strong consumer protections, bring in revenue without raising taxes, and restore personal freedoms.

Greg was a huge hit with all the attendees. He gave a poker tutorial to a crowded table of novices who were excited to learn from one of the world’s best players. The weekend event was an excellent and unique opportunity for us to bring your issues to the forefront. We succeeded in educating these lawmakers on the policy, and they had a lot of fun learning more about the great game of poker.

John Pappas, Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH), and Greg Raymer

Greg instructs a table of poker beginners on the finer points of Texas Hold’em

Last Thursday, I attended the Derby Poker Championship tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. As the PPA Kentucky State Director, I enjoy getting out to meet with the poker community as often as possible to hear everyone’s concerns and to share all that PPA is doing.

It was a great time and a great event that benefited a great charity – Blessings in a Backpack.

G. Douglas Dreisbach, General Manager of Southern Gaming Magazine, and me at the event

John Taylor of the Louisville Poker Tour and me

Here’s a best-of list of links, tweets and general brooding from over the weekend:

The cold anniversary was, of course, trending on Twitter Twitter hashtag #BlackFriday … From Ben Lamb wondering if anyone would tweet about it to Dan Fleyshman posting this sad picture http://instagr.am/p/JcjU9BJT1C/

The legal landscape

Reminding people they really do represent the players (especially since Black Friday) the PPA urged them to continue to contact their political representatives. http://www.lvrj.com/business/poker-lobbying-group-marks-black-friday-anniversary-147424325.html

As legislators grapple with the future of online poker, Nevada officials want to host the first legal sites. http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/13127-black-friday-the-day-that-changed-online-poker

Poker affiliates reflected on lessons learned since being forced to admit that the whims of authorities are a legitimate risk for anyone doing business in a legally gray world. http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com/blog/black-friday-lessons-learned/

On the casino side, Frank Fahrenkopf, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, pushed for amendments to the Wire Act and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that would “unambiguously eliminate illegal Internet gambling.” http://www.americangaming.org/newsroom/press-releases/statement-on-the-anniversary-of-black-friday

And FairPlay USA has Greg Raymer reminding you to sign their petition while former FBI Director Louis Freeh cites the anniversary of Black Friday as a call for federal action and continue the fine worl of the DOJ. http://fairplayusa.com/blog/fairplayusa%E2%80%99s-judge-louis-freeh-statement-black-friday-anniversary

Meanwhile, lawyers of all stripes took note, with a new class-action lawsuit filed against Full Tilt filed just before any anniversary parties. 
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/04/13/45602.htm

Thanks for the memories, DOJ

QuadJacks.com did a special anniversary live podcast, which included “original Black Friday audio.” Ah, the memories.
http://quadjacks.com/poker-radio/

Short-stacked Shamus gives a thorough write-up of the drama to that would befall so many in different ways. http://betting.betfair.com/poker/poker-news/black-friday-one-year-later-130412.html

Wicked Chops Insider talked with poker industry leaders about where they were when they heard the news for an oral history of that fateful day (worthy of free distribution). http://insider.wickedchopspoker.com/543/an-oral-history-of-black-friday/

Many pros, like Shane Schleger here, had to share their thoughts and perspective from a day they won’t forget. http://shaniaconline.blogspot.com/2012/04/black-friday-one-year-later.html

Like a moment frozen in time, here’s the original 2+2 Black Friday thread, which received more than 6,000 replies in the first 3 days: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/reuters-full-tilt-poker-pokerstars-absolute-poker-charged-illegal-gambling-1020606/#post26050483

The guys at pokerfuse.com produced a bomb-ass timeline, tracking all the major events since that dark day, including their own birth. http://pokerfuse.com/features/in-depth/one-month-black-friday-timeline/

Michael Gentile, a former online pro, interviewed Poker Players Alliance board member Patrick Fleming to (re)assess the online poker legal landscape in the US. http://pokerfuse.com/features/in-depth/us-legal-landscape-one-year-after-black-friday/

Here’s another sharp timeline at PokerStrategy.com. http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/One-Year-Since-Black-Friday:-The-Complete-Timeline_58551/

And another by-the-minute timeline at PokerNews.com. http://www.pokernews.com/news/2012/04/the-black-friday-timeline-one-year-without-online-poker-12445.htm

Poker still has a future

A bunch of pros, like Matt Waxman, told PokerStrategy.com that this year’s WSOP Main Event should hold steady. “It’s like so prestigious and like world renowned, you know, so everybody’s gonna just make it out cause this is the one tournament that like if you’re the guy who plays the nightly home game for 100 bucks, you’re gonna splurge your 10k just so you can play in the main event,” he said. Like riiiight. http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/Daily-Rewind-Black-Friday-Anniversary,-New-Gambling-Film,-WSOP-2012-Thoughts_58570/

CalvinAyre.com looked at the companies “making noise” about bringing online poker back to the United States. http://calvinayre.com/2012/04/15/poker/how-to-make-it-in-america/

QuadJacks put out a new music video by Sonny Caine and Dennis Rybaczewski (DRybes) to inspire a little hope for the future.

And our own Dan Michalski summarizes it all as simply a “big, industry changing day” in All In – The Poker Movie, which is available April 24, 2012, on iTunes. http://mashable.com/2012/04/13/online-poker-black-friday/

For now, play it by ear …

2011 WSOP – Episode 25: Sit and Go Pro
A group of prolific tweeters play in a satellite to the FS+G Epic Poker League $1500 pro-am — a tournament series taking shape that few know what to make of yet. None other than Bluff correspondent Kevin Mathers shows up to provide a comparative assessment of what he just witnessed — as somehow Dan ends up winning, beating @Alcanthang, @JoeUgly, @Hollywood_Dave, and others with questionable play. A rather large rail developed to hear Kevmath laughing heartily on the inside. Whatev, says Dan, who won a seat, took home some cash, and now apparently thinks he’s a pro.

#
For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives or subscribe to the feed .

Ahh, now I get it! Concept behind Federated’s Epic Pro-Am series starting to make sense.

This tournament has grown and grown into one of the biggest of the year in the country … and not that it would be all Ho and Fossilman’s doing … but I have a feeling this year people outside of Texas and Oklahoma will start to take note.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes vid of Maria’s commercial shoot with the Chickasaw … who by the way, just officially bought Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, presumably changing the dynamic of Texas gambling legislation, but that’s a story for another time … right now it’s all about the value of Asian poker hotties playing the role of high-stakes cash game player. That and/or being a WSOP main event champion still seem to play well in the poker endorsement world.

But it should make for vigorous discourse providing valuable information … kinda like a think-tank for couch-based researchers and analysts. Details on the academic equivalent to a call-in show:

Toll-free Dial-In Number: (866) 951-1151

International Dial-In Number: (201) 590-2255

United Kingdom +44 08003581576

Conference # : 4999006

Join us for this roundtable teleconference on Wednesday May 18, 2011 at 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET to learn more about the economics of the multi-billion online gambling market and recent US government gaming legislation.

Topics include:

1. The history of today’s online gaming market
2. How Las Vegas feels about online gaming
3. “Black Friday” and its meaning for the online gaming business
4. What the online gaming business will look like in 2012

Moderator:

Michael Damphousse, CEO/CMO, Green Leads

Panelists:

David G. Schwartz, Director of Center for Gambling Research-UNLV
Dan Michalski, Founder/Editor, Pokerati.com
John Pappas, Executive Director, PPA (Poker Players Alliance)
Greg Raymer, 2004 WSOP Champion and Lawyer

Vinnie Vinh Makes Day 2, Shows Up, Wins
LAPC – Los Angeles, California
Vinny Vinh is an enigma in the poker world over the last several years, and rumored debts and drug issues have caused some well-publicized incidents at the World Series of Poker. On two separate occasions, Vinh made Day 2 of a WSOP event, only to no-show under mysterious circumstances. This year’s LAPC is a different story, though, as Vinh decided playing a tournament to completion might be a novel idea, and it worked out pretty well for him. Vinh took down Event 29 last week for a cool $12,000. If you still don’t believe that Vinnie Vinh is anything beyond a figment of your imagination, here he is taking with the great Matt Savage.

In other LAPC news, Tony Ma took down the Tag Team Championship with Restituto Bagaygay, defeating the Road Warriors with a double powerbomb 82 other teams in the process. Jamie Shaevel is on fire, winning three different events at LAPC to lead the Player of the Series race, overtaking Brian Brubaker and David Levi, who won a PLO8 event this week, at two wins each.

Pokerati Player Gets a Ring, too … Circuit Ring, That Is
WSOP Circuit – Tunica, Mississippi
Team Pokerati juggernaut La Sengphet got matching rings this Valentine’s Day weekend, but La earned it on the felt. After her boyfriend David Clark won a WSOP Circuit event in Choctaw a few weeks ago, La won Ring Event #8 in Tunica, pocketing more than $30,000 and becoming the first woman in nine months to win an open WSOPC ring event. La also ran deep in the Tunica main event, finishing 10th — just a bad beat away (A10 < K10) from another final table and a chance to lock up her seat in the WSOPC million-dollar freeroll.

Fossilman Beats DC Politicos
Washington, D.C.
Most of the attention that Greg Raymer has received in the last few weeks has been about his departure from PokerStars, but it hasn’t stopped him from continuing the cause for the legalization of online poker. At last week’s CPAC conference, the PPA ran a charity event to help raise awareness and preach limited government to conservatives. It remains to be seen how effective this message was, but Raymer, as per usual, just seems to keep on winning, no matter what he plays.

Gareth Walker Steals From Rich, Gives to Self in Nottingham
UKIPT – Nottingham, England
This UKIPT £500 Main Event set a record with 1,058 players, the biggest field ever for a tournament on British shores. There were no Robin Hood sightings, but there was quite a bounty for Gareth Walker, who walked away with £109,000, the biggest prize in the history of the UKIPT.

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Draws Big Names
Las Vegas, Nevada
At the moment, the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza is the biggest game in town when it comes to tournaments, and some big names have made some deep runs in these events. James Van Alstyne finished second in a $1,000 event for just under $20,000, with Dennis Phillips finishing in the money in 13th place in the same event. Joanne “JJ” Liu seems to cash wherever she goes, finishing third in an Omaha 8//b event for over $4,000.

I found some footage y’all might be interested on this election-day-eve as I posed to a couple burning poli-poker questions to the pstars-patched host, Greg Raymer, asking:

Question 1: What does the PPA front man think of his sponsor blocking players in Washington State?

Question 2: Does libertarian @FossilMan think that internet gambling be allowed for poker-only, or does he feel that all games should be permitted in HR 2267?

Question 3: In Raymer’s opinion, should Indian Reservation casinos, such as the Shooting Star, feel threatened by legalized internet gambling?

Check it out.

Registration opened @ 2pm CT (noon Vegas-time).  Cards get in the air shortly @ 4pm CST/2pm LV.

Play starts with a chip stack of 15000, with blinds at 100-100.  Levels are 40 minutes.

Day 1 will play to the completion of 12 levels or after the bubble breaks, whichever comes first.  Day 2 will begin @ 10am CST/8am LV.  The final table will be televised.

Follow me on my cross-country poker road trip @scarlet_lv, with live-tweeting  from @HPTpokertour‘s Shooting Star Casino main event.

I’m en route from Las Vegas to DC, taking the long way I guess you could say, and was driving over the state line of Wyoming => South Dakota when I got the following DM tweet:

@Pokerati to @scarlet_lv:  “10/15 is Heartland’s 5th anniversary bash near Fargo ND.  Think about going.  I can hook u up.”

Fargo?, I thought.  Really, DanM? It was about 600 miles in a completely different direction from where I was heading, but free booze …a party?  I quickly rerouted the Prius GPS to head northeast, and arrived in the city-of-the-distinct-accent late Monday night.

Yesterday afternoon, I ate some Thai with Jen Mastrud, GM and Director of PR for the Heartland Poker Tour, based here in Fargo, ND.  Waiting for the mint-leaf spring rolls appetizer, we chatted about the festivities, upcoming Season VI and VII events, and some poker poli-biz topics as they relate to a nationwide, smaller-stakes operation such as the HPT. 

Heartland’s currently in the middle of their Season VI Shooting Star Casino event in Mahnomen, MN (just across the North Dakota border), and Friday will be celebrating their 5th anniversary with a party hosted by Greg Raymer. @FossilMan will also be on hand playing some cash, and will compete in the 2-day $1100 Main Event, which final-tables on Sunday.

All throughout the week, they’ve got two different satellite options for the budget-minded seeking a seat in the Shooting Star main event. 

Option 1: $35 SNG (2 players advance) -> $130 Super Qualifier SNG (10% Advance) -> $1100 Main Event Entry

Option 2: $85 SNG (3 players advance) -> $250 Qualifier SNG (20% Advance) -> $1100 Main Event Entry

Jen and the HPT were kind enough to sport me a #mediafreeroll right into $250 qualifier. (So watch out, Raymer, I’m chasing my fossil!)

HPT across the Interstate
By cosmic weirdness, while en route to the HPT’s anniversary bash in Fargo, N. Dakota, I stopped at a Denny’s truckstop in Sioux Falls, S. Dakota, to find HPT’s TV production crew gassing up.

Last week, Scotty Nguyen announced plans to make his HPT debut at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino in Iowa (Oct 31-Nov 7).  Jen tells me that  he also plans to be at the final TV taping of Season VI, during the Champ Open at Soaring Eagle in Michigan (Nov 12-21). When not playing, the expectation is you’ll be able to find @TheScottyNguyen (and chat with him) at the bar.

With all due respect to Montgomery’s 5th place WSOP main-event finish and his donkament bracelet this summer, he’s clearly no Greg Raymer. Montgomery declined his assailant’s implied invitation to brawl for money, and instead simply handed him $2,000 in cash (mo chips?) … yeow, what does it say about the economy when Bellagio doesn’t have armed shoe-shine guys on duty?

From the Cake Poker blog:

Montgomery was at Bellagio to play in a Festa al Lago preliminary event and went to the bathroom on a break from the tournament. As he described it on his Twitter account, “Got mugged today at Bellagio. Black guy pulled a knife on me in the restroom. I gave him the $2k in my wallet and he left.”

“I called security, but they took like 15 mins so they didn’t catch him. They are useless twits. Didn’t even ask me to look at camera footage,” Montgomery continued. “Security pretty much just said oh well, life sucks, have a nice day. I’m pretty annoyed.”

Bellagio Poker ≈ Binion’s Self Park?

Though two instances (that we heard about) over the span of nearly 6 years hardly constitute a trend, you just don’t expect certain kinds of violence in luxe resorts with multiple guards outside the parking garage looking for casually waving through possible Al Qaeda terrorists. I mean what is center-Strip, not dark-alley downtown Vegas or daytime Berlin!

But it was indeed at Bellagio — during the 5-diamond — where armed robbers discovered not all bracelet-winning poker players were easy marks. In that situation, December 2004, Greg Raymer, poker’s newest big world champ, fought off two attackers with guns. According to reports, they got away, too (as security let them pass) … however, were caught some five months later in California, and brought back to Las Vegas for trial. (I believe sentenced to something like 3 years, not sure though …)

Pokerati PSA: Remember, next time you’re being attacked in the Bellagio or anywhere in Vegas really, you can tweet for help @LVMPD, hashtag #911.

WPT London :: 21-year old Jake Cody wins his 2nd major of 2010, WSOP win away from Triple Crown. PartyPoker million dollar man denied. PartyPoker Blog

WPT London High Roller :: Justin “Boosted J” Smith defeats Tony G heads-up in marathon final table, earning £141,000 WPT High Roller report

Partouche Poker Tour, Cannes :: Vanessa Selbst, Fabrice Soulier and Phil Laak near top of leaderboard as field plays down to final 18.

River @ Winstar :: Greg Raymer has a very good week: Finishes 6th of 101 for $760 in $330 Jack and Jill tournament with his mom in her first time playing, returns for final day 3rd of 20 for main event. Winner takes down over $600,000 Day 3 lineup from 2+2 WinStar’s Twitter providing updates

Beau Rivage Gulf Coast Poker Championship, Biloxi, MS :: Chad Brown holds the chip lead at final table of their $5,000 main event. Winner earns over $177,000 and 2011 Southern Poker Championship seat. BeauPoker Twitter

Commerce Holdem Series :: Guarantees in weekend tournaments go 1 for 2 as series enters week 2. Commerce Tournaments

Also …

Controversy in side event of Partouche Poker Tour regarding floorman’s decision, tales of alleged bias against non-French players.

PokerStars’ WCOOP continues with three more events today. PokerStars Blog.

World Poker Open underway at London’s Palm Beach Casino. Phil Laak defending champion of made-for-TV event, 48 players vying for $200,000 first place money. World Poker Open updates

2009 twitpic: @EweE420 (now @EricMizrachi)

Today’s event, Event #3, happens to be $440 NLH/PLO with $40k Guaranteed. Wonder if they’re aware that Lev Serzhenko was recently crowned the World Champion of $230 NLH/PLO with a Single $200 Rebuy.

Since the main here will be more or less the regional championship in my old stomping grounds — in fact, thinking we might-should call it the North-North Texas Championship in future posts — I find myself wanting to follow these events uniquely as a fan. I’ve got tons of friends playing and would expect to see plenty of past opponents from the Dallas underground, presumably some Batfaces, lots of ole Lodge amateurs, and, I hope, a few Team Pokerati players. Also curious to see what type of pros show up.

But semi-live coverage of the River is hard to come by. Lots of future thoughts on why that is … but in the meantime, here’s where I’ll be checking for River buzz, for starters …

@WinStarWorld
@Fossilman
2+2 Tournament Circuit thread

And because Pokerati can’t be there this year (but kinda-sorta would like to be) here are some possible news stories I see shaking out, or at least stuff worth looking into for anyone who might wanna ask some questions or snap pics with their iPhone and send an email or an @reply on Twitter:

Opening Day Shutout Fiasco

Event #1 was a $330 $50k Guarantee. Supposedly without any pre-registration available, Tent management was unprepared for the flood of players who showed up. Held in the cash-game room, and not the usual auditorium? More than 100 alternates and more than 100 shut out eventually. At least that’s what I’m hearing. Not confirmed.

Guaranteed Ass-Coverage?

Last year they came up $580k short on the $3 million guarantee. So this year WinStar is promising only $2.5 million in the main event prize pool. The other $500k has been spread out across preliminary events. That’s all. Nifty. Clever. Seems like forever ago (5 years?) WinStar was getting grief for claiming “malfunction” whenever someone hit a super-big slots jackpot.

NLH/PLO Tournament

Event #3. Beautiful. Awesome. Let’s talk at length about this game. Do you guys need cut cards?

Some Players Go Deep, Others Bust

Who’s there? Any Mizrachis? November Niners? Batfaces? What about Clonie? I’m looking for my buddy John. He’s got short hair and probably a white shirt. Can you tell me how many chips he has?

Parking Lot Robberies + License Plates

I’ve heard rumors from multiple sources over the past few months (but with zero confirmation or simple police check) of high-stakes cash game players getting jacked in the WinStar parking lot. Definitely wanna find out more on this, as it was at The River a few years ago (then the Red River Roundup) where Pokerati pioneered the concept of parking-lot coverage. Also, any funny pokery license plates? Saw this one there in ’07:

Legal (Oklahoma) Poker Coming to Texas?

The Chickasaw — WinStar’s backers, essentially, in alliance with ultraChristians — have spent millions in recent years opposing any efforts to legalize poker or expand gambling in Texas. Their alliance with ultraChristians made for formidable opponents. But will they soon be officially switching teams?

In the past couple years, the Oklahoma tribe has spent well more than $150 million buying up beleaguered race tracks and other casino-minded plots of land, er, worldwide — most recently Lone Star Park, smack-dab between Dallas and Fort Worth, and next door (by car) to both Cowboys Stadium and the Ballpark in Arlington. (Go Rangers!).

2011 Texas legislative session is right around the corner … can we expect WinStar checks to show up in the TexasPokerPAC’s paypal account? Is there a concern that a new poker room in North Texas would put WinStar’s current Tent City digs in North-North Texas out of business?

And as long as we’re going there, what about the Choctaw, the Chickasaw’s rival poker tribe down the river? Could these business enemies join forces to fight for gambling in Texas, or is that just ridiculous because you hate those guys? Is TJ Cloutier playing your events wearing their gear? He’s done well in The River main event in the past, and supposedly he’s got a deal now with Choctaw to represent at the tables in exchange for weekly buffet comps or something.

Tent City, Oklahoma

So really, what’s up with the tent? WinStar is supposedly the 3rd largest casino in the world (though that number is disputed, despite it coming from BusinessWeek) … you’ve got a hotel, restaurants, a spa, a golf course … seemingly a nice upgrade from the old Microtel for Texas’s poker refugees … yet technically you have to have your casino in a tent?

So all those walls are fake, and everything takes place under something akin to the WSOP’s poker kitchen but the size of five football fields? Is that by compact or something?

Not to be racist, but acknowledging some Okahomans who mighta had something to do with setting up Indian gambling in the area, is that based on some premise that you guys could do whatever you damn well please in your teepee? Is it the same way for the Choctaw — because their new building looks pretty fancy and made of stone — or are tent rules specific to your people?

And if it’s not WinStar, who holds the Guinness record for biggest tent in the world? Just curious …

Aren’t you guys scared of tornadoes?

Day1a recap

Day 1a of the Main Event got underway after Greg Raymer gave the command to “shuffle up and deal” shortly after 12pm on Monday to the 1,125 player throng, mostly seated in the Amazon room. The Pavilion room had a few tables at the start, but they were the first to be broken and moved into the Amazon room. Raymer was the first big name to be eliminated yesterday, crippled when he moved in with a flush draw against his opponent’s flopped set of tens. The flush didn’t get there, and he was gone a few hands later. During the day he would be followed out the door by notables such as T.J. Cloutier, Victor Ramdin, Isaac Haxton, Chino Rheem, Nick Schulman, Mike Caro, Ray Romano, Billy Baxter and Jimmy Fricke.

When play ended in the middle of level five, 762 players will return Friday afternoon for day 2a with the survivors from Wednesday’s day 1c field. The day 1a leader is British pro James Mitchell Corwin Cole with 241,075 228,200 in chips. Michael Mizrachi is 4th in chips with 142,650, with others near the top of the leaderboard including Barry Shulman (113,325), Chris Moneymaker (107,425), John Hennigan (95,050), Maria Ho (90,700), Scott Seiver (80,100), Vince Van Patten (75,450) Dwyte Pilgrim (68,775), Lacey Jones (67,600), Rene Angelil (52,275) and Matt Glantz (44,000) . The full list of chip counts is now available at wsop.com.

Day 1b preview

Today’s 1b field will bring another crowd of 1,000+ players to the Rio, each holding their $10,000 lottery ticket, hoping for a big payday. Follow all the updates, chip counts and other excitement over at wsop.com, or follow Dan’s lists of Twitterers.

Monday also meant the conclusion of the last two preliminary bracelet events:

Vonk valiant, wins 1000 NL bracelet

The final $1,000 No-Limit Holdem of this year’s WSOP was won by the Netherlands Marcel Vonk as he defeated David Peters heads-up, earning $570,960. Peters earned $350,803 for his runner-up finish, with England’s Paul Kerr in third for $255,076. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report at wsop.com.

Tomer wins final prelim bracelet

The $2,500 No-Limit Holdem came to an end earlier this morning with Tomer Berda with holding all the chips as he overcame a 2-1 chip deficit against Vladimir Kochelaevskiy heads-up, pocketing a cool $825,976. Kochelaevskiy will receive $510,939 for the second place finish. Full results and Dalla’s tournament report at wsop.com.

Long drive back home to Raleigh, I’d presume. (Think poker players honk at him along the way?)

Greg Raymer, btw, delivered the opening shuffle-up-and-deal (scroll down to the 12:06 pm entry), and was gone (from the tournament, not necessarily Vegas) less than an hour-and-a-half later, before the first break.

John Gottlieb 1,200,000
Ben Lamb 725,000
Michael Chappus 470,000
Ryan Karp 400,000
Phil Hellmuth 270,000
Anders Taylor 266,000
Mandy Thomas 266,000
Steve Jelinek 220,000

UPDATE: Hellmuth finished in 7th place for $30,000.

The rest of Thursday’s tournament action in brief:

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has about 100 players remaining when they resume from dinner break. Mike Sowers leads the field with 632,000 in chips, follow the action and updates at PokerNews.

The $10,000 HORSE World Championship has about 75 players remaining as they try to reach the money when 24 remain. The current chip leader is Steve Bilirakis (205,000) followed by Greg Raymer (170,000), Annie Duke (167,000), Robert Mizrachi (145,000) and Matt Glantz (105,000). More updates and chip counts at wsop.com.

Six levels of play have taken place in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem, with 169 of the 507 players who started remaining as they take their dinner break. John Phan is the early leader with 55,000 in chips, followed by Dwyte Pilgrim (46,000), Andy Bloch (36,000), Brandon Cantu (25,000) and Justin Bonomo (20,200). More details to come at wsop.com.

It’s kinda a tough sell when you think about it … the buzzwords in influential conservative circles these days are all about less government, not more. So here we have poker’s Libertarian ambassador trying to persuade GOPers to: forget the moralists in favor of personal freedom (ok, probably doable), set up a new government bureaucracy to monitor our financial activity on the internet (what the …?), and tax him a lot more personally. (“OK, now we gotta hear this; hey Jeb get over here, I think the guy who showed up in your office this summer wearing shorts and sandals with socks is gonna tell a joke!)

Vanity Fair seemed to find it a little bit mockworthy. But according to Time magazine, what really matters is that poker players do know how to party:

But probably the coolest parties that first night at CPAC were secret ones — invite-only passes palmed to a select few. The first one was hosted by the Poker Player’s Alliance and included CPAC’s “It” kids, James O’Keefe of Acorn pimp fame and his three cohorts who were recently entangled with the law for messing with Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s phone lines; anti-tax champion Grover Norquist; conservative media personality Andrew Breitbart; and 2004 World Poker Champion Greg Raymer. The open bar at Medaterra got quite a workout with young conservatives ordering everything from beer to shots of Redheaded Sluts, a crimson concoction involving Jagermeister. (After some debate, no one was game enough to try a flaming Redheaded Slut.) Breitbart and the rest of the Louisiana Four — as they were fondly hailed by many at CPAC — then headed over to a party hosted by Mike Flynn, editor of the website Big Government, at Morton’s Steakhouse. Flynn not only had an open bar tab but stacks of fine cigars for guests to chuff on.

BTW, check out CPAC’s straw poll to see what issues matter most to people who consider themselves true conservatives in 2010. You’ll see on page 11 that the runaway favorite for president amongst these folks is Ron Paul (R-TX), who generally hates all things more-government, but as a co-sponsor to the Barney Frank bill, could prove a critical ally.

I gotta say, like the way the 2009 season is starting … I could see a few people getting hooked during a weekend marathon. Go ESPN. I think my reluctance to give a shit about first airings might say more about an evolving desire to watch TV podcast-style, at one’s own convenience, than it does about non-excitement for what is clearly a great poker show. Well shot, well edited.

MORE: The cutover to the Champions Invitational … with Raymer coming over after busting out in third, to take a seat amongst a bunch of recognizable-to-grandma champions … nice! Seriously, semi-interested in that tourney now. (If only it had more money at stake.)

Still, seems most of the curiosity is about card play itself:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/07/21/DI2009072102508.html

J ***** sent you a message.

Subject: WSOP

“You still in the main event? In the money yet?”

Hey, so if all you could play along … I’m thinking of telling him yeah, it’s Day 3, I’m good for like $160k and am thinking of cashing out before I lose it all. Cool? If he asks who’s winning we’ll say Greg Raymer, OK? Ooh, or even better, Phil Ivey … er …