For those who missed our debut special-for-the-WSOP Monday episode live, here’s the podcast … where The Poker Beat crew waxes poetic about Phil Ivey’s bracelet, Daniel Negreanu’s non-bracelet, non-Finnish national anthems, Ladies events, what makes an “online” player, and Joe Sebok’s lie detector prop bet over his knowledge of Beth Shak’s marital status or lack thereof. Also, Chops shows up to declare this World Series the “Year of the Brother” … or maybe it’s the Year of “tha Brothah” … but either way, leave it to the Entities to celebrate poker in all its multicultural greatness.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Caldwell, Michalski, Nemeth, Chops, Stapleton
6/08/09

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This episode, btw, marks my personal umpteenth appearance on The Poker Beat — making me the “last man standing” amongst hosts and panelists (Go free labor!) and the only guy to appear on every episode since the show’s inception. While that factoid may mark a certain pathos, I’d also like to point out that I am the only one — even with all those extra minutes — who has yet to be called out by the Insider for a factual misstatement.

That’s not to say I haven’t made any errors — made a big one about something really important a month ago, but I guess it just slipped by our wheezey, phlegmy ombudsman.

The implementation of this year’s WSOP bracelet ceremonies have been a hit thus far, as play is stopped in the Amazon Room for Jack Effel and Jeffrey Pollack to announce the previous day’s bracelet winners, award them the bracelets and Harrah’s Diamond Rewards cards, and play the national anthem(s) of the newest WSOP winners. In general, it seems to go over well each day with players, fans, and media alike. Today? Not so much.

Ville Wahlbeck is a Finnish player, and his ceremony culminated in the playing of the Finnish anthem. Not sure what the song actually was, but Benjo reported that Finnish players seemed perplexed. And according to Benjo‘s conversation with Wahlbeck, it was NOT the Finnish anthem. Whoops.

Yesterday, media row received a visit from Dan Frank, owner of a relatively new player representation company called Top Set. He announced that there would be a “can’t miss” formal introduction of the company just after the start of today’s ladies event.

We watched from media row as a line of people marched into the Amazon Room with a bright-lighted camera filmed the entrance. Led by a petite woman, Frank followed, as did a string of rented ladies in Top Set logo’ed skimpy-ish t-shirts and tight pants, and they all paraded around the room. After taking the long route and finally ending up at a table, the lead woman sat down to play in the event, and the rest of the crew took places on the rail to cheer her on. Who was this woman? No one knows. And the Top Set website said nothing whatsoever about her, as there is no woman even listed as one of their clients. None of the media recognized her. And, she was out of the tournament by the end of the first level. Serious flop.

It was two years ago that I wrote my first opinion piece about the WSOP ladies-only tournament. After I received a sufficient amount of hate mail, I wrote a follow-up piece. I skipped the subject at the 2008 WSOP except for a few snarky comments, and now it slaps me in the face yet again as I sit on media row in front of a sea of women. In lieu of a rant or reiteration of my previously-stated feelings on the issue, I’ll just relay a few notes.

• When your practice game isn’t at a casino but in a home game with your husband and your dad, you might be in trouble at the WSOP.

• When your first instinct at the table is to introduce yourself to everyone and ask where they’re from instead of sizing them up and concentrating on your own strategy, you’re giving off a big tell.

• If you have to apologize for knocking another player out of the tournament, you’re not cut out for tournament poker.

• When the floor staff is openly yawning while observing the tables, the play is not exactly top-notch.

• When tables full of women squeal at every mention of finishing a level or moving to a new table, this is clearly not a room full of pros.

• When the tournament announcer says that another event’s restart will be in the other room to “make room for all these beautiful ladies,” they’re talking to you like you’re “special people” and you shouldn’t smile about that.

Media row is half empty today and will be until the 5pm start of the World Championship O8 tournament. And those of us who are here are praying for the men to arrive for other events so it evens out a bit. For me, add some women-tilt that came from a phone call attempting to convince me not to write anything negative about the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, and I’m simply trying not to write something that will get me bitch-slapped I may regret later. I’ll be staying out of the hallways on breaks, that’s for sure.

A recap of the events from earlier this morning, trying something new to avoid the wall of text my morning reports have become:

Harb-oring a bracelet

Congratulations go out to Anthony Harb who took down the $2,000 NL Holdem event for $569,254 earlier this morning, outlasting Peter Rho and Jim Geary. All three players had cashed in earlier events in the WSOP as Harb and Rho cashed in the $1k NL Stimulus Special), while Geary finished 7th in the $1,500 OHL event.

Off to a Flying Finn-ish start

Onnittelu to the first Finn to win a WSOP bracelet, as Ville Wahlbeck, who had an earlier 3rd place finish in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship bested David Chiu in heads-up play to take home the bracelet that eluded him earlier in the week, collecting nearly $500,000. He also moves into the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race with 160 points, ahead of Phil Ivey and Vitaly Lunkin’s 110 points.

Another Finn looking for some glory of his own will be Tommi Horkko, who is the chip leader (509,000) with 11 left when the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event gets underway at 1pm today. Daniel Negreanu (470,000) is close behind in 2nd place. Barry Shulman, Brock Parker, Shawn Buchanan and Nikolay Losev are the more notable names remaining in the compact field.

NAFTA: $2,500 NL version

The $2,500 NL Holdem event will also return at 1pm today with 20 players returning to play down to a winner. It”ll be like the Ross Perot v Al Gore debate all over again as Texan Gregg Merkow starts play as the chip leader (932,000), with Mexico’s Angel Guillen (860,000) and Canada’s Bahador Ahmadi (800,000) are the top three stacks fighting it out in the name of free trade and poker supremacy. Other international invaders who’ll be trying to take the bracelet to their own trade zone includes the UK’s Roland de Wolfe (400,000) and Russia’s Kirill Gerasimov (390,000).

Brazilian waxing 5k NL holdem

Brazilian Clemencau Calixto, not to be confused with the New Mexico band Calexico, is the chip leader (186,300) at the end of day 1, as 164 players will return at 2pm. Frere Jacques Faraz Jaka is 3rd in chips at 172,200. Other notables who are in the top half of the field: defending champion Scott Seiver (118,600), Jimmy “Gobbo” Fricke (112,200), Isaac Baron (101,300), David Benefield (85,200), Gavin Griffin (69,100), Erik Seidel (65,900), and Dan Heimiller (56,200).

$1,500 7 Card Studs

From a field of 359, only 97 will make their way back into the Rio at 2pm to attempt to reach a final table. The day 1 chip leader is David Levi (49,600). Among those in the top 10: Dutch Boyd (47,700), Jeff Lisandro (40,700), Jason Mercier (35,000), and Eli Elezra (31,100). Other notables include: Sam Grizzle, Nick Frangos, Pokerati’s own Robert Goldfarb, and Barbara Enright.

Hey Ladies!

Today’s event at 12 noon is the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies’ World Championship, which was won last year by professional Svetlana Gromenskova in a field of 1,190 to collect just over $220,000 in cash. It remains to be seen if any guys will attempt to enter the field like last year, but it’ll surely make a great photo op for someone bold enough to give it a try.

Omaha, 8? You better!

The 5pm event today will be the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship which was won last year by David Benyamine in a field of 235 to add over $535,000 to his tournament stats.

Projections

$1,000 Ladies World Championship – 1,190 (take the over, saying 1,254)
$10,000 OHL World Championship – 247 (take the under, guessing 231)

Follow the updates at www.worldseriesofpoker.com and Pokerati for the other stuff.

I never woulda expected to find such a thoughtful commentary on the role and position of women in the pervy world of poker (as discovered via Google image searches) on a porn blog:

http://asses.fucking4utoo.com/?p=242

Believe it or not, the above link is pretty close to SFW … if you excuse the blog’s subtitle.

Wow that YouTube, I’ll-tell-you-what …

So yeah, the song PokerFace by Lady Gaga … it’s at the top of the charts these days. It hit #1 for UK Singles this week, it’s #3 on the “Hot 100″, #2 on the “Pop 100″, and #9 on the Mainstream Top 40. And … it’s all over YouTube.

Apparently teen (and pre-teen) girls across the country world are flocking to webcams while dancing to a song that shamelessly glorifies Texas Hold’em. Whether we might be seeing the next tough female pros or gold-digging railbirds, I’m not so sure … but either way, surely it’s got to be “good for poker” when a pop song about a brash sexy-chick beatin’ a gamblin’ man at his own game inspires a generation young, impressionable lip-syncers to vocally embrace the concept of “bluffin’ with my muffin.”

Click through and around “related videos” for a sense of just how rampantly this song is spreading the poker word. Technically all the vids are SFW because they’re on YouTube … but WARNING: you may feel a little weird looking at so many perky schoolgirls bouncing around in tight clothes and short skirts to a song about poker: I know I did after watching like 80 of ‘em … including:

Umm …
Uhh, poker?
Ooh So wrong
Clearly wronger

Also:

Russians
Gay
Karaoke
Kristy Gazes?

I never thought I’d say this … but you might want to set your Tivo for Lifetime, on October 25.

Sex and Lies in Sin City: The Ted Binion Scandal
(starring Matthew Modine, Mena Suvari, and Marcia Gay Harden)

[Annoying autoplay video removed]

Not sure what Jim McManus thinks of this (lady-friendly) television adaptation of the story of Ted Binion, Becky Behnen, Sandy Murphy, and Rick Tabish. But it’s the drama-filled tale of Texas gamblers, Vegas strippers, mobs, murder, and so much money … and the one that in some ways surrounded the birth of the WSOP. Perfect television for 31-45-year-old women, no?

I know it’s been discussed before, but a recent California “ladies” event held at the Bicycle Casino brings back that discussion. I was looking at Pokerpages on Monday and decided had a look at the Legends of Poker series of tournaments to see the latest results. Barbara Enright took down the title, but if you looked at who finished in 7th place (which has been removed) you would have seen poker author John Vorhaus listed. Fortunately the tournament reporter mentioned that Vorhaus, the chip leader going into the final table, “dressed appropriately for the ladies event wearing a red-haired wig and a dress”. Is this how “Killer Poker” is supposed to be played?

I personally don’t understand why men would want to play in a ladies’ event unless they’re either looking for attention, or that they’re so bad at poker they feel their best chance at winning is to play the “weaker” sex. Maybe it was done for a more noble purpose, so I hope the $725 was worth it.

Update: Vorhaus talks about his experience in the event on his blog.

Facts and Figures from the WSOP so far, at the end of play early Friday morning:

Number of entrants: 20,141
Bracelets awarded: 20
Most cashes: Nikolay Evdakov – 5
Most final tables: Theo Tran, Erick Lindgren – 2
Current ESPN POY: Erick Lindgren 175 points
Leading money earner: Grant Hinkle – $831,462

A review of the week 2 action at the World Series of Poker:

More…

I’ll make this one brief:

Svetlana Gromenkova wins Ladies’ Event.

Ted Forrest chip leader at $2,000 Omaha 8 final table (7 left).

Jason Young leader with 3 left in the $1,500 NL Shootout.

Tom Dwan chip leader with 570k in $5,000 2-7 KC Lowball Event, Tom Schneider 5th with 270K. 17 left, 14 get paid.

Carter Gill chip leader at $1,500 PLO Event, under 100 left.

480 signed up for the $2,000 Limit Holdem Event, Ayaz Mahmood chip leader, 400 left.

More from me tomorrow…

Happenings at the WSOP while awaiting the inevitable Gary Wise article tomorrow on the Ladies’ final table:

More…

What’s happening at the WSOP while GSN considers picking up a new show, High Stakes Dice.

Speaking of Ivey, he’s currently in the top 10 at the $5,000 NL 2-7 KC Lowball event. Tom Dwan currently is chip leader at 238,900 with about half of the field remaining. In third is Pokerati’s own Tom Schneider with 153,500. Play resumes at 3pm this afternoon as they’ll play down to their final table of 7.

Final tables and what starts today after the jump:

More…

In a final table filled with high-stakes players and bracelet winners, Eric Brooks ($0 in tournament cashes) beats Fu Wong ($110,000 in tournament cashes) in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship. Alexander Kostritsyn, who at one point had a 1,000,000 chip lead over his nearest competitor, finished in 3rd. High stakes regulars Minh Ly and David Oppenheim finished in 4th and 8th respectively. 8-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel finishes in 5th.

More…

What’s happening today at the WSOP:

The $2,500 NL Holdem final table is already at heads-up, after a whirlwind of eliminations. Steve Merrifield currently has had a commanding lead over Duncan Bell. Bell then doubled up off of Merrifield with A9 v 55. The final hand was a cooler for Merrifield, on a flop of 8-6-2, Bell went allin, Merrifield would call with 10-10. Unfortunately for him, Bell had AA, Steve couldn’t catch another 10 and Bell gets to take home $666,777, Merrifield will have the consolation of taking $428,948 for 2nd.

More…

The ladies event is always, um, special. In this episode Pauly and I scope out potential sugarmamas from the remaining $1,000 no-limit hold’em field as the female players fight to get deeper into the money.

Episode 4: Late-Night Piladies

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