First, a link from the San Antonio Express-News showing that our efforts to legalize poker in Texas are taking hold:

Legalized poker rooms in Texas closer to a reality

And in Florida, which is in the midst of its own mini-poker boom after legalizing the game a couple years ago, is continuing to improve the game, pushing forth legislation to raise cash-game limits and allow for bigger buy-in tourneys:

Florida House plan raises poker stakes

What’s particularly interesting about Florida isn’t so much the poker, but the tax-tweaking related to it. And with that, the ussual opposition seems to be taking a different tack:

The House plans to expand poker and lower the tax rate are paired with an effort to shut down blackjack tables at Seminole resorts.

Fellow Republicans in the state Senate, though, have a different vision. To maximize revenues, senators want to authorize full casinos at Seminole resorts, complete with craps and roulette, as well as blackjack at South Florida tracks and bingo-style slots at facilities across the state. The Senate goes even farther than the House, allowing no-limit poker wagering.

Meanwhile, a pretty good summary of gambling-related initiatives in Texas comes from an email sent out by our opposition in the Christian Life Coalition. And the poli-blogger who subscribes acknowledges that while he is plausibly opposed to much that has to do with expanded gambling in the state, he still endorses Jose Menendez’s HB 222:

Of all the various gambling expansion options I’ve seen, allowing for poker seems to me to be the most sensible and least potentially harmful. Plus, as a bridge player who has had the chance to play for money legally, I think poker is a legitimate game of skill and should be treated as such. In fact, poker players in Pennsylvania and South Carolina recently won court rulings that agreed poker is a game of skill. As such, it’s not clear to me that the AG’s opinion would agree with the CLC about the inherent level of chance here. Of course, I Am Not A Lawyer, and Lord only knows what Greg Abbott will do.

Yeah. People are starting to get it. Go Poker!

Coming soon, at least in theory …

Poker Face Wine — my guess: an Australian Shiraz.

Bingo Poker – some silly card game. Knowing nothing about it, I give it no chance of catching on … with anyone.

Multiple Round Pokers — a casino-game variant of poker, played against the house and without shuffling? Plural? I don’t really get it, but I kinda like the bad beat bonus circle!

UPDATE: Oops, the above is from 2006. I guess it didn’t catch on …

Round Card Poker — either poker baseball cards or maybe a Magic: The Gathering-style game? Possibly just cards cut in circles?

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.

A few people have asked me WTF I’m talking about saying that November 2008 will go down as an historical month where everything changes/d. To spell it out, you have:

The November Nine — historic simply as it pertains to the conclusion of a single not-so-little tournament that seems to be the barometer for all things related to the poker industry.

Midnight Rule-push for UIGEA Regs — we’re just one of 100 single-issues affected by the Bush administration’s attempts to party it up like frat boys and trash the joint before checking out … but regardless, it means we have a whole bunch of additional clean-up to do.

60 Minutes/Washington Post Exposés — whether it’s determined to be fair-and-balanced good-for-poker coverage or a damning hatchet job hacked with a double-edged blade of lies … the Thanksgiving weekend stories represent the official exposure of the online poker biz, hairy warts and all, to the non-poker world.

Clonie Gowen vs. Full Tilt Lawsuit — a loyal soldier turns on her poker-biz commanders, with attempts to air grievances in American court threatening to bring the multibillion-dollar operations of a super-private jurisdictionally challenged business into the public domain. While FTP reps actively petition the Feds to let them open these books but only if they can pay extra taxes, the former Full Tilt covergirl arms herself with a taser gun and takes aiming at a Red Pro.

Formation of Cereus — the two most scandal-ridden online poker sites officially join forces to create a recovering cheater supersite, flooding their own tables with “refund” money to keep the action moving.

Plug Pulled on PokerBlog.com — hardly the biggest deal in the bigger picture … but PartyPoker’s apologetic canning of Dr. Tim represents a new fiscal reality facing even the most legitimate of online poker sites and their workers.

Introduction of HB 222 in Texas — Take 2 on trying to bring the game that had everything to do with the creation of an $18 billion industry (subject to all the hubbub above) back home where it belongs.

All this, of course, is going on in the midst of a major lawsuit related to internet authority in Kentucky — where unprecedented government action has shaken up/down the online poker industry, forcing noticeable shifts in business ops and resource allocation. Clearly:

Just got back on the grid and playing electronic catch-up … here are some of the things that are making good browser viewing, but not quite stimulating a full-fledged post:

Jay Busbee (from Bluff) has a good State of the Poker Union address on ESPN.com, where he officially declares the poker boom dead. Also interesting to see ESPN, for the first time I remember in a long-long while, running (non-affiliate) PokerStars ads. [ESPN.com]

Poker Shrink Cranky Olde Coot has a good post wondering why FIDPA still hasn’t made the “new rules” they’ve long ballyhooed public. [PokerBlog.com]

Full Disclosure: FIDPA is one of my MySpace friends. [MySpace.com]

Liberal columnist Michael Kinsley shares a story about John McCain going on some extremely unpresidential tilt at the craps table. (The TJ Cloutier of Politics? Tons of success, a sometimes dangerous love of craps, and never quite able to win the Big One?) [The Daily Beast, via Huffington Post, via Short-Stacked Shamus]

Beyond the Table has a new home online. [Podcast.com]

I think Dr. Pauly’s starting to get a little miffed at me for not working out some production kinks and posting our re-constituted incarnation of Tao of Pokerati, but I think I can make him feel better by simply reading his blog. [Tao of Poker]

With all the talk of what really goes into a world-record endurance poker session, I forgot to send y’all to live-forum coverage of The Poker Den 3 — PartyPoker’s 36-hour high-stakes televised cash game. [MatchroomPoker.com]

Dutch Boyd apparently bought Steve Hall’s Pokerfolio in a semi-hostile takeover. Poor Steve … but he has found a new home for his poker updates/pictures of attractive Asian female dealers. [Pokerfolio.Spruz.com]

Also, the X-10 electronic table — a knock-off of the PokerTek PokerPro popping up in so many places — sharing the same name as a hidden camera used by so many pervy peeping toms before a few lawsuits encouraged them to re-market themselves as a security device. [SlipperyBrick.com]

And long overdue, here’s a great tale of a totally degenerate poker blogger/gambler rescuing his bankroll by poetically chasing/hitting the Station Casinos bad-beat jackpot. [TheTrooper97, via Up for Poker]

There’s more, too, coagulating in my bookmarks and inbox. News stories, forum threads, tourney results … Who knows … maybe I’ll get to them for your reading pleasure, but as is always the case from Head Slacker at this Little-Ole Poker Blog, no promises. It’s good to be back with you all.

LATE ADDITIONS:

Lacey Jones is getting ready for her co-hosting duties of Real Deal, the pokery interactive musical at The Venetian, which kicks off next week. [PokerListings.com via LasVegasAdvisor.com]

She also hosted an interesting event at Cathouse (as simply Lacey J) where women showed up for a seductive-attire contest where the winner got a boob job. [Photobucket.com]

Meanwhile, there was a hardcore SWAT-team poker raid in Fayetteville, NC. A firsthand account as well as some non-poker media coverage here and here. [Triangle Poker Journal]

Ahh, remember the good-ole-days when there were only like three stories at a time coming in on the Google News Alerts for “poker”, and only like three bloggers who had signed up for them? Me neither … it was never quite like that (but close) … and though I make no promises to keep this up on a daily basis, in an effort to inform the poker-news-hungry to the best of my abilities keep my open browser tabs to a minimum and my email backlog < 500, I will try to provide you some basic links to the plausibly worthwhile shizznit shaking down:

CardRunners and StoxPoker have joined forces to create a poker-training supersite. [PokerOnAMac.com]

Original PartyGaming honcho Anurag Dikshit — creator of some of the earliest online poker software — is one of three Indians to make Forbes’ list of 34 web-innovator billionaires … as well he should be. [MSNBC]

More on the Fed’s aggressive pursuit of Bodog — including criminal investigations on the company and Calvin Ayre. [Forbes.com]

Barney Frank has re-introduced the Payments System Protection Act, a revised version of HR 5767, which was shot down in his own committee earlier this year. [PokerNewsDaily]

Las Vegas visitation is down — to its lowest point since the start of the Iraq war. [Las Vegas Advisor]

And thus it only makes sense that LV gaming revenue is down — 14 percent this time — for the 7th consecutive month. [Forbes.com]

You know those new poker rooms popping up in Arizona? Well the Pascua Yaqui tribe doesn’t like them and is trying to get them shut down. (Funny: the mayor of Phoenix is named Phil Gordon.) [Zonie Report]

Poker parties and poker school are all the rage in Croatia. [CroatianVillas.com]

FUN RUMORS: Apparently Johnny Depp is quite the poker player, but he’s having a hard time getting alt/indie band We Were Scientists to pay up the $28k he beat them out of. (But all debts have been settled with Orlando Bloom, whom he supposedly beat out of $800k during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean.) [Online Casino Advisory]

And in hardly related non-poker news … Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter‘s pregnancy … do we want to start this century off in a world where teens (sometimes) use birth control and occasionally have an abortion or one where we preach abstinence and then glorify/celebrate the shotgun wedding? The MySpace page of the potential VPson-in-law Levi Johnston: [NYPost via HuffingtonPost via Kevin Allen/Sun Times]

“I’m a fuckin’ redneck” who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.

“But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin’ chillin’ I guess.”

“Ya fuck with me I’ll kick [your] ass,” he added.

He also claims to be “in a relationship,” but states, “I don’t want kids.”

Perhaps we all have something to learn from a billion (Non-American) Indians. Not only did “these people” give us one of the founders of PartyPoker and hundreds if not thousands of terrible customer service reps, but also they made what is arguably the best condom commercial ever:

Good morning. I hope you are having a wonderful day. I am here at the WSOP in the post-wee hours … pretty much just to show up Pauly. And to that extent, I’m gonna bounce around the room a bit, saving and posting as I go along …

Speaking of … funny coincidence. As I was writing this, I had my iTunes on random, and this dueling-recorders interview between me and Pauly in 2005 just happened to come up. Good stuff-ish:

Stupid interviewing

OK, so anyhow, yes … the early hours at the WSOP … things never stop here in the Amazon room, but they do slow down dramatically — no tourneys going on, just five tables of cash action, ranging from a 2/5 NL game where the tired players are mostly just trading chips for the benefit of the rake … to a $25 7-stud game where stacks are in the thousands.

As much as I generally don’t like mornings, the pace here during this time is much more my speed.

The media room at this time:

dscf1162

While just about every change at the WSOP this year has been an “improvement,” one terrible thing — no more free coffee for the media 24/7. Making matters more difficult pre-poker times: the kitchen is closed.

The added bathrooms for the WSOP are a reminder of poker’s trailer-park roots (and its outhouse present).

But poker players expect certain niceties, so where else but the WSOP can you expect to see a port-a-pot with hardwood floors?

UPDATE: The slow period must be over … a sixth table just opened up in the cash area — it’s either a 2/5 or 5/10 game. That’s kinda funny, btw, to think how slow five tables is here — and yet how thrilled any poker room I know would be to be spreading 5 tables of NL (ranging from 2/5 to 10/20), some Omaha, and a big game of 7-stud hi/lo?

6:25pm Edit: Unfortunately Tom’s out, he took AcKc against 3s3c and the board ran out 7 high.

9:20 Edit: Current chip leader is Tony LiCastro. He took down a huge pot with 10-10 v AA and KK to take his stack to over 310k. When he was last seen at the WPT Foxwoods in 2006, finishing 2nd to Nick Shulman, his standard play was to move all-in (which is more difficult in pot-limit) expect him either to keep building his stack or busting short of the money.

Here’s some links from around the WSOP, wishing I had a whiff of Tom’s POY banner:

Daniel Negreanu’s provided his own live updates, including news that Phil Ivey’s offering was offering 1.8-1 odds to anyone interested that he’ll win a bracelet this year.
More…

I probably should have posted this first, but since Dan twisted my arm encouraged me to do some posting here on Pokerati while he’s busy with the WSOP, I figured I’ll give it a shot.

On the heels of UB’s press release (found below): The CBC radio show Search Engine did a report on the Mohawk Internet Technologies server farm on the Kahnawake reservation. Not surprisingly, it took quite a bit of time and effort to be allowed in.

Now for some WSOP stuff:

The poker room opened yesterday, and here’s a soft opening report as well as some pictures from LasVegasVegas’ own FlipChip.

Taking place right now is the $500 WPA Poker super-satellite and seminar with Mike Caro.

For those hoping to get a seat at Saturday/Sunday’s $1,500 NL event, there’s rumors that the event will be capped at 4,000. Brasilia (which has 65 tables) is being used for other purposes until June 12, which would explain why you’re not seeing as many $1,500 events until after June 14.

ESPN.com’s poker staff held their 3rd annual WSOP Fantasy draft and the crew over at Wicked Chops Poker attempted to live blog it. Gary Wise provides a preview with his 2008 WSOP storylines.

More to come later tonight (if I’ve figured all this stuff out).

I like to troll Craigslist every so often for some hot, anonymous NSA poker action. Not looking for games — there’s no shortage of ‘em here in LV — just wanting to take the pulse of what people are pushing related to poker. Look at the ads all together and you get some interesting tells on the state of the poker world and its semi-anonymous inhabitants:

There are a lot of chips , tables, fancy custom tables and chips and tables for sale, of course, and for $15 a made-for-TV WPT video game. WSOP: Tournament of Champions for the Playstation goes for $8

For $150k you can have documentary footage of the rise and fall of Jamie Gold.

A WSOP baby’s blanket.

More chips, from the Aladdin, and from the Atlantic City Playboy Club. “Omaha Table” from Sante Fe Station.

Perhaps frighteningly, there are even poker bots for sale. At least one suspicious reader is questioning whether or not this is legal.

More…

Some interesting developments in the off-the-table workings of the online poker world. Millions of votes and billions of dollars at stake:

BARNEY FRANK’s bill is picking up steam — with 44 cosponsors. Not sure of the party breakdown, but the willingness of others to sign on suggests undoing the UIGEA could be a good “sensible government” issue that, frankly, is easier to deal with than so many other pressing political concerns.

Meanwhile, the conservative anti-gambling forces are starting to organize their troops and take fighting against us a little more seriously. Poker enemy FOCUS ON THE FAMILY is calling gambling “out of control” (via Citizen magazine) — possibly because our political successes are a chance for them to raise funds regardless of the results.

They do, however, remind everybody that you have until DECEMBER 12 to let the feds know what you think about the online gambling issue. (Anyone got a link to a email-your-rep thingy?)

And here’s an interesting article from a decidedly non-poker source about how the UIGEA has been responsible for getting rid of spam. While ZDNet’s RYAN NARAINE guest-posting expert on INTERNET SECURITY makes some good points about how some semblance of internet regulation was able to put poker spammers temporarily? out of business, he carries on to show he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about:

[The UIGEA] effectively caused the death of numerous black hat SEO companies–comment spammers. Perhaps the UIGEA measure against processing of payments proved too difficult to overcome. Not being a lawyer I can’t say exactly how UIGEA caused this death. No matter, US online gambling operations were effectively destroyed.

Spam decreased. The underlying cause for that was that the clients weren’t there due to the inability to process payments because of the online Casinos law.

Not only black hat SEO companies suffered, many spam operations lost clients. There is nearly no more Casino spam in our mail inboxes. Isn’t that grand?

Um, yeah. Wanna make a wager about the casino spam? It just took a break … the pathetic side of the industry shifted around about, that’s all. But by his grand logic, we could get rid of all spam by banning all sorts of stuff on the internet. This is semi-true, but would require the U.S. enforcing its laws beyond its borders … which is part of the problem we currently face.

Anyhow, his GADI EVRON’s semi-informed ignorance is indicative of the types of landmines the poker politicos will have to avoid this year.

A few click-worthy items populating browsers throughout the poker world this week:

The WSOP-Europe is kicking off right about now — with a £2,500 HORSE event. Click here to follow that action. Then comes £5,000 PLO and £10,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Remember, that’s $20,000 to US Americans.

And click here to see Gavin Smith topless pictures from the LAUNCH PARTY for the WSOP-E, held at PURE in Caesar’s the day after the end of WSOP-LV.

PAULY will clearly be having a terrible time covering the three bracelet events in LONDON:

Ahh, London …

PARTYGAMING’S stock has been sinking. And upon reporting half-year earnings last week, the company that was minting more money than they knew what to do with a year ago is operating in the red.

PartyGaming also made a pretax loss of $32 million on revenue of $212.5 million, down from revenue of $662 million before the U.S. clampdown a year ago.

Maybe we just miss the good-ole-days with some good-ole-friends (half of whom no longer work for Party), but Pokerati says Party is still a BUY! (The Motley Fool agrees.) We first thought that, of course, shortly after the stock plummeted to 26. We acted on it at 36, then thought it again at 56. Currently trading at about 28.5.

Meanwhile, PartyGaming continues to seek retroactive amnesty from the US DOJ for its execs.

The BRITS are having to come up with corporate policies these days to deal with online gambling in the workplace. Uncertain waters … but depending on how the cards fall, its theoretically possible that multitabling while on the clock could get you some paid leave.

Gah, you just gotta love the LIMEYS. Their government is also funding a program to teach tight play and bankroll management — “responsible gambling” they call it.

All this coincides with some new gambling laws that went into effect September 1 across the UK.

With companies from GIBRALTAR now allowed to advertise in England, PARTYPOKER (and PARTYBETS) will be turning 70 official UK soccer clubs’ websites into affilliates. But footballers better not be punters … an unusually bad game could land players who bet on their own action in jail for two years.

The latest from J TODD and the Affilliate Wolverines at APCW:

In and outside of TORONTO, police seem to be in the midst of a POKER CRACKDOWN that seems all too familiar ’round these parts. NEW JERSEY police doing the same thing.

Only difference was in DALLAS it made for good TV. (Old article, but one I just stumbled across, and found interesting in light of the Dallas SWAT poker raids.)

In MISSOURI, where what appears to be a $20 (w/ rebuys) barbershop tourney has the barber headed to an actual trial, facing felony jail time.

USA TODAY has an article about how fraudsters are using bots at online poker sites not to beat the game, but to launder money by programming them to PLAY badly. A little confusing, but read the comments for how poker players respond to any anti-poker propaganda written by someone who may or may not understand how internet poker works.

An editorial in NEW YORK NEWSDAY about how it’s time to regulate online poker. This viewpoint has little to do with your rights to play, but the legitimacy of the WTO if the United States doesn’t either re-legitimize online poker or ban all forms of online gambling, including what’s currently allowed under the UIGEA.

The claims against the US from the European Union and Antigua and Barbuda exceed $22 billion. Japan, Canada, Macau, Costa Rica and India will each be asking for a few billion as well. So far the US hasn’t put up much a defense beyond “not paying.”

In other legal issues, Bodog lost a PATENT INFRINGEMENT lawsuit … and their domain! Try it yourself … Bodog.com no longer exists. Now you gotta go to newbodog.com.

Apparently the HOLLYWOOD Set is still learning to love poker — as actress JESSICA BIEL found herself pulled into a game — reportedly with pros, but whom I don’t know — at the opening of the Ivy Hotel in SAN DIEGO. The girlfriend of JUSTN TIMBERLAKE is new to poker, and started out doing really well before she lost all her chips.

Did you know Jennifer Tilly is 48-years-old? Never woulda guessed it. She’s about to turn 49.

Oh, speaking of Hollywood … almost forgot to drop a name. Robert Wilonsky — the only Batface home gamer with his own Wikipedia entry — has started a new gig on national TV, filling in for Roger Ebert on Ebert & Roeper for the rest of 2007. Very cool! Congrats, Big Bob. With all his exposure to C B A-list actors, I wonder why he hasn’t learned how to pretend he doesn’t have a really big hand sometimes when he does. Click the pic for a funny-ish Robert Wilonsky highlight reel.

One year after the poker laws in this country changed … TODD BRUNSON gets on the anti-UIGEA soapbox. From his efforts to be an ambassador:

By the way, if you work for the Treasury or Justice Department, or any gaming control commission, please disregard that comment about “anyone with a brain.” I realize that it’s the politicians who are passing the laws, and you guys are just doing your jobs (and doing them well) by enforcing them. I also realize that you guys are much more powerful than a poker player, and could crush me like a bug. Please don’t hurt me.

LAS VEGAS–Just like old times … I’ve got so many super-fascinating browser tabs open I can’t keep up with them all. So please, allow me to unload:

The major tournament action underway is the LEGENDS of POKER at the BIKE in CALIFORNIA. Perhaps we’ll swing by …

MIKE MATUSOW, with his second-place finish in the main event of the BELLAGIO CUP III, is no longer broke. Apparently his $670k payday left him with 50 grand all to himself. In the real world this means he now qualifies for a loan. In the poker world it means he no longer does, unless he goes broke again.

DANIEL NEGREANU’s got a pretty good skill column this week, talking about manipulating table image to better reap the rewards of shifting gears. Hmm, something to think about?

From the Dept. of: Awesome … PHIL HELLMUTH will appear on The Surreal Life. Might an ass-kicking be inevitable, as he moves into a house with RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE, MISS CLEO, NANCY MCKIBBEN (who?), DABNEY COLEMAN, and the uber-pumped CARROT TOP.

BILL RINI, whom I consider an expert in matters of online cheating, has up a video that I thought was informational warning about a new form of MARKED CARDS circulating. But upon closer look, turns out to be just an ad hawking the illicit poker gear (compliments of GOOGLE).

Interesting (biased?) article here on what Google supposedly does to keep online poker seekers away from the bad poker sites.

Speaking of cheating … has anyone heard word of who might have been the high-stakes players allegedly swindled in major cheating scam at the BORGATA? Famed cheating consultant STEVE FORTE, of course, was one of the guys busted, even though he uses the journalist’s beloved excuse of “I was just working on a story!” Suddenly scary: the notion of tapping into hole-card cams.

Suddenly needed: a big-time poker security accreditation system?

Check it out … DUGGLEBOGEY is back to his old tricks sticks:

Glad to see the return of some more friendly faces.

Here’s a great article on the rise and fall of an ONLINE PRO — how you can go from $10k to $1.5 million and back down again. It coincides with a semi-related story about KaiBuxxe / RealAndyBeal — a 22-year-old Austrian and former MAGIC player who is tearing up the world of POT-LIMIT OMAHA.

And BRIAN TOWNSEND (aka “sbrugby”) — an online superstar turning to live games — is in the midst of a $3 million downswing. This according to his own blog. [via PokerKingBlog]

Dude, tell me about it … I’ve been running similarly bad:

POKER IS HARD!

Looks kinda like a PARTYGAMING stock chart, no?

SHANNON ELIZABETH was unable to play in the Victoria Poker Championships in AUSTRALIA … because she got carded at the door and didn’t have her ID. The male contingent of Pokerati has always wondered why ladies go anywhere without their license/passport/prescription.

Speaking of Australia, it may have slipped under your radar that the AUSSIES, along with CANADA and MACAU, have joined the WTO dispute against the UNITED STATES over the UIGEA. The beef started by ANTIGUA and BARBUDA seems to be growing some teeth, as others fighting against the chief enemy of AL QAEDA include COSTA RICA, INDIA, and … the EUROPEAN UNION. Think this fight isn’t about the future of international online economies as much as it is about poker?

A group called IMEGA continues to challenge the controversial internet law in court, and have their fingers crossed that a federal judge in New Jersey will issue a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER in September.

Speaking of lawsuits and court actions in September, attorney and PPA representative LEE ROUSSO has a hearing set for his suit, which challenges the Constitutionality of WASHINGTON STATE’s law that makes playing online poker a felony on par with CHILD MOLESTATION.

A CARIBBEAN BUSINESS CONGLOMERATE will be entertaining a bunch of AMERICAN CONGRESSPEOPLE in November to explain Antigua’s WTO stance, among other things. In attendance will be CHARLIE RANGEL (D-NY-Taxes) and BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS-Homeland Security),

AMERICA ONLINE wants in on online poker. Or at least online SPORTS BETTING, as AOL has entered into an internet bookmaking contract with a GERMAN company, FLUXX, which will target punters in the UK.

A good article from the BRITISH PRESS here — describing the UIGEA as a “TROJAN HORSE” given to the European gambling industry.

Meanwhile, British online gaming company WILLIAM HILL says they are having a hard time keeping poker players, because the EUROS really want to take on the AMERICANS (at Bodog, for example).

Over in the PHILLIPINES, they have (finally) opened up a bar-and-grille with amateur Texas Hold’em tourneys (scroll down near the bottom).

The nightly non-wager Hold ‘Em tournaments at the Player’s Den hope to further sharpen the skills of the Pinoys in this ultimate mind game where we can eventually excel worldwide.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

You may notice a lot of linkage today from this PokerKing guy. He has a lot of good stuff to read, including this article on why JERRY YANG is bad for ONLINE poker. Maybe maybe not, but I tend to agree with the wisdom of LOU KRIEGER, who recognizes that poker is a long-term game, and Yang couldn’t have come at a better time.

Here’s one of the more balanced takes on the JERRY YANG FOR PRESIDENT campaign.

LAS VEGAS–Funny how being in Las Vegas has put me so out of touch with all the poker news. I think there are some big tournaments going on, online poker execs in the courts, business deals shaking down, but I’ve got little to report other than poker being played. Still, it’s been kinda interesting to see who you run into at the tables around this town:

The first notable I ran into was OREL HERSHEISER, who apparently just moved here to Las Vegas and sat to my left in a 1/2 NLH game at RED ROCK — fresh after being denied selection into the baseball HALL OF FAME. I tried to play the not-knowing-who-he-is thing — “You lost a vote? Were you running for city council or congress or something?” — but he would end up busting me out when I tried to run a little STOP-N-GO. As I pushed all-in, he asked, “How much money do you have?”

“Um, I’m all-in. About $140 more,” I said, pointing to my stacks.

“No, I mean other money. Because we can make a little side-bet away from the table,” he said, upon showing me THE NUTS.

Red Rock seems to be the OFF-STRIP place to be. On my second post-WSOP outing there, I ran into GARY THOMPSON — World Series of Poker media master and tournament overlord. He was wearing comfortable jeans, loafers, and a button-down shirt while playing 2/5 NLH. With about $800 in front of him, he said he was “down a couple hundred.” But it wouldn’t take long for him to grow his stacks, and a few hours later, he had moved up to the 5/10 game and had what looked to be about $2k.

On that same day, I saw A GUY I BUSTED at the Rio. He was a good player who went with the whole BLACK HOODIE and SUNGLASSES kinda thing, while saying almost nothing and acting with stoic (but angry) CHRIS FERGUSON-like motions. He was playing 1/2 NLH and nursing about $200.

Over at THE VENETIAN in the 2/5 game, I found myself up against a WSOP Dealer — SHAI the ISRAELI GUY. He was sick when I pushed all-in and convinced him to fold his top-pair-top-kicker that would turn into TOP BOAT … only to see the guy who took down the pot from me win with KING-HIGH. A couple hours later I was playing a goofy hand with K-6 offsuit in late position, the flop came K-7-K … he checks, I bet, he raises big, I call. Turn is a 6, he pushes all-in, I call … at which point he shows his POCKET 7s. The table cheers for a FOURTH SEVEN, but it doesn’t come and I send him to the ATM.

One table over, KARINA JETT’S MOTHER was playing — beyond her typical quiet game, she was practically falling asleep at the table (at 3 AM) while nursing about $400. She may not remember this, but she won a $15 PROP BET from me once over a RULES DISPUTE. (My bad … I thought I knew stuff.)

Back at RED ROCK a couple days later, I ran into ABRAHAM, and he really deserves his own post, because he tilted the table unlike anything I had ever seen — and even managed to invoke mockery from a cute young girl who wasn’t playing. Basically imagine the worst personality and poker characteristics of ME, TIM ROGERS and EON MARSHALL all wrapped up into an obnoxious kid who graduated from high school in 2003 and is well aware that he looks like STU UNGAR. Then give him a lot of chips. (His behavior and play was so table-altering it had me interrupting TOM SCHNEIDER’S vacation in ST. THOMAS for some emergency coaching … who advised me well until I played back without paying attention to a guy to my left who had pocket kings.)

I really wanted to KILL THIS KID, or at least make him cry. And so did everyone else — especially the old (presumably) gay man who he busted by calling a $260 raise pre-flop with 2-3 suited only to flop two threes. But he can’t be all that bad, because without provoking from me, he at one point shouted, “THE HAMMER!” with glee. Hey kid, if you are reading this, what I told you at the table after you “bluffed” me with pocket-5s and then taunted (it took me a good five minutes to lay down Ace-high) still applies: “I look forward to seeing you get your education.” Punk-ass. Like seriously, you had at least two of us at the table contemplating how one might go about rolling you in the parking lot.

One of the cool things about Red Rock is that when you need to shake off a bad beat or just step away from a dipshit the table to refocus, you can go BOWL A GAME 24 hours a day — for $3 +$3.50 for shoes. That seems like positive EV.

The picture above is from a day I didn’t actually play poker … but I did walk through the poker room just for funsies after bowling, and whom should I run into but NOLAN DALLA, longtime Dallas poker expat and WSOP media guru, legendary sports handicapper, and Stu Ungar biographer. He was wearing CARGO SHORTS, a frumpled shirt, and seemed pleasantly drinky while playing 5/10 NLH with a couple old friends from POKERSTARS.

“I’m stuck $800 but having a great time!” he screamed upon embracing me with a BEAR HUG. “Isn’t this a great casino!?! Hey everybody, it’s Dan from Pokerati!”

Murmur?

“Oh, right …” Nolan said. “Didn’t mean to blow your cover.”

I also ran into STEVE HALL one night at Red Rock, too. He was playing PENNY VIDEO SLOTS. He had a big hit of some sort of crazy picture combinations that won him about $60.

And then to top it all off, I went to CAESAR’S PALACE with DON JONES (of Rounder Club fame), LEIGH & BRIAN from the Poker Atlas , DOCTOR STEVE, and former Absolute Poker marketing chick JEN TIDWELL to play in their 50-player-max $65 tourney. We all had 10 percent of each other, which proved irrelevant as our top player would bubble.

I was the first to bust out (of the tournament) and would take a seat playing some 2/5. Of all the poker tables in Las Vegas … what are the chances that DAN BALLENGER (aka HONG KONG SUE, father of SON OF SUE) would get seated at my table? It would take more than a full orbit before he realized he was sitting with a fellow BATFACE. He bought in for $500 and cashed out a couple hours later for a little less than that. HKS got most of those chips from me … calling a $100 bluff with second-pair-no-kicker (what was I THINKING!?!) … and then bluffing me out of a $400+ pot on the river, getting me to lay down aces. He mucked at the time, but told me as he left that he pushed all-in for his remaining $135 with an underpair. Wish I hadn’t asked, because it had me semi-tilting for a good 30 minutes or more. I know he was just trying to be nice, but still …

Then JASON from JACKIE’S (in Dallas) and “RICKY ZILEM” showed up. They were just walking through checking out the action. Fancy running into these guys here. Chris/Ricky, said, “I did what nobody does when they first land in Vegas and took a nap.”

Ah, indeed.

Small world. Good times.

UPDATE: Players are headed to returning from dinner break. JOSH EVANS is up to roughly 360,000. JERRY RANDACK is hanging on with 50something-thousand. PRIMO appears to be out. Quite a few pros are thriving … over/under on the number of known names who make the final table: 1.9. (This unofficial line could move.) People to watch today include:

TODD BRUNSON, DANIEL NEGREANU, LUCKY LIU, THOR HANSEN, CHRIS FERGUSON, ROBERT VARKONYI, CHIP JETT, BILL EDLER, CARLOS MORTENSON, JC TRAN, TED FORREST, CHAD BROWN, JOHN MURPHY, MIKE LAING, FABRICE SOULIER, a bunch of other “ferriners,” CHRIS MONEYMAKER, LEIF FORCE, et al.

They look to join JOHN DUTHIE, HUCK SEED, Dallas guy VANDY KROUCH, JAN SORENSON, BERRY JOHNSTON, ROBERT MIZRACHI, TOBEY MAGUIRE, JASON LESTER, BILLY BAXTER, SCOTTY NGUYEN, and too many others to name. Still early, I guess … even though we’ve whittled through nearly 3/4 of the field.

Chris Moneymaker, against the wall, wondering who’s going to be the next … him.

LAS VEGAS–Even though the World Series has suddenly kicked into a serious, all-about-poker phase, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on off the tables that you might want to check out between refreshes for Day 2 main-event updates.

The Fresh Princess and I sat down for an interview yesterday on WSOP TV. It ran live but the archives aren’t up yet. We had some tough acts to follow, going on after former Sen. Al D’Amato of the PPA and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL):

Then, right before we were about to go on, JEFFREY POLLACK showed up wanting to chat a bit:

Speaking of … THE JEFFSTER has a new blog post up … always a worthwhile read, considering that he has more influence on the future of poker than just about anyone else.

According to USA TODAY, all is well in the poker world … in fact, better than expected based on the 2007 main event numbers. Can you imagine what this event woulda been if there wasn’t a UIGEA and PARTYPOKER pull-out? Logistical nightmare, to say the least.

An interesting article here about DAVID SINGER being denied his requested MAIN EVENT REFUND for theoretical inconsistencies in rules about cell phone and text messaging usage.

Meanwhile, poker media, players, and officials are abuzz about a CBS SPORTSLINE article about the INHERENT, OVERLOOKED EVILS of poker.

No worries. People said the same things about ROCK ‘N’ ROLL and JAZZ. Such are the archetypes of American culture. Hey, check out this neato “antique” book I just bought:

The USA TODAY reporter obviously doesn’t read blogs. For example, over on WiseHandPoker, MARK NEWHOUSE spells out why DUSTIN “Neverwin” WOOLF may or may not be a shyster — accusing him of owing lots and lots of money and calling his friend a SCUMBAG.

That’s good stuff, no!?! Kinda like sports/politics/business.