Posts Tagged ‘Mean Gene’

November 25, 2008

Cereus Launches Today

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Reminded via a Tiffany Michelle MySpace status update — “Excited about the Cereus launch this week!”:

The player pools, tables, tourneys, etc. from Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet magically merge today.

Trying to keep an open mind … because theoretically it is possible that the combination of two sites caught in the biggest cheating scandals in the nascent history of the online poker industry — having learned painful lessons firsthand — could become a paragon of integrity and security, a model for fully legal American online poker in the future.

But I just can’t help to think back to the Dallas underground … when a saturated market had rooms and games beginning to merge, two shady operators joining forces seldom led to anything good (save for some pretty juicy opening-weekend tourneys).

That’s my bias, I suppose … but with that in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think of how one of these sites seemed rotten at the core (with the exception of Mark Seif, I’ve yet to hear any former employee say anything good about Absolute), and the other … well, sure, they’ve changed management and have plenty of good peeps working for them (Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Mean Gene, et al.) … but the top of the pyramid hasn’t really changed as far as we can tell. And with all due respect to those who are just trying to throw good poker times … the mysterious, closely-guarded nature of Tokwiro+Kahnawake+UB+Chief Joe operating on the protected lands of the Mohawk Nation (with offices in Costa Rica) … that’s the definition of shady! Sorry, it just is.

Still, with $22 million in refunds, the action’s gotta be good.

Posted by DanM at 6:23 am

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September 29, 2008

Poker Odds…and Ends

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While the poker community focuses a great deal of attention on the Kentucky governor’s attempt at censorship and the potential for Rep. Barney Frank to do something with H.R. 6870 after it recently passed in the House Financial Services Committee, there are a few other poker news nuggets to pass on.

~Without so much as a press release to announce it, it seems that UltimateBet has signed Michael Binger as one of its newest team members. Oh, Michael, you too? Adam Levy has also joined the team, again with no official notice from the UB staff. The news came via Mean Gene’s UB Aruba blog and a picture posted from the welcome party.

~Short-Stacked Shamus gave his take on the recent issue of CardPlayer magazine in which Jeff Shulman said that CP was unaware of Scotty Nguyen’s unsportsmanlike behavior at the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE event because of restricted media access at the final table. Disingenuous was the word over at Hard-Boiled Poker.

~It seems that the Eastern Europeans love them some internet gambling, and no recession will get in their way. A researcher with Global Betting and Gaming Consultants shows that a steady increase will continue because of favorable broadband and law changes, not to mention the Eastern Europeans’ “propensity to gamble.”

~Evidently, Senator John McCain likes him some gambling, specifically high-limit craps. How negative EV… The New York Times has looked into McCain’s ties to Indian gaming, and the gaming industry in general, and dug up some interesting info about lobbyists and McCain’s connections to them.

~The more I hear about WSOP “November Nine” chipleader Dennis Phillips, the more he seems like a great guy whose inner philanthropist has been able to shine with his $900K take-home money and potential for the $9.1 million first prize. In this episode of PokerRoad Radio released during the Borgata Poker Classic earlier this month, the guys sat down with Phillips and coach Roy Winston (huh?) where he explains that decision and his future plans.

Posted by California Jen at 2:47 pm

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August 21, 2008

The Best Rest of Tao of Pokerati

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The 2008 World Series has come and gone and will most likely, in a little less than three months, will come again. In the meantime, while cleaning out the computer(s) we’ve come across these “lost” episodes … recorded in the tail days of the main event. But this is everything … there’s no more, OK? At least not for now. So if you’d like to step back into the WSOP for just a few minutes at a time to the vocal stylings of yours truly and Dr. Pauly, by all means, have a listen/download. Some of it actually seems a little extra interesting with the benefit of a month-or-so of hindsight.

For the entire WSOP season click here.

The heretofore unheard old-new episodes, salvaged from the cut-and-pasting room floor:

Episode 30: The Cost of Donuts
Grubby joins the media to talk main event numbers and the price of trendy donuts in today’s oil economy. (3:19)

Episode 31: Scotchy Poker
Dan+scotch early in the WSOP day=talk of Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. (4:02)

Episode 32: French Warfare
Benjo takes over the mic when Dan calls in drunk, and he and Pauly talk more about Isabelle Mercier live from the Day 2 killing fields. (5:14)

Episode 33: New York & Texas
Michele Lewis joins in as Dan and Pauly break down the difference between Texas and New York humor, or at least the difference between Pauly and Dan. (2:40)

Episode 34: Go Team!
Dallas’ Raj Kattamuri is going deep, and Pauly tracks down Dan in the poker kitchen to find out what it takes to be patched up on Team Pokerati. (2:37)

Episode 35: No Wiener
Benjo is not his usual jovial self as the main event comes to a close and he bids farewell to his American friends in the penultimate WSOP episode of Tao of Pokerati. (4:41)

Episode 36: Unhookered
The traditional late-late night poker-blogger farewell binge drinking at the Rio’s Hooker Bar, with guest appearances by Otis and Mean Gene. (3:29)

Posted by DanM at 4:28 pm

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