Another weekend with little activity in the poker world except for the WPT Championship, the WPT Championship’s low turnout, Shaun Deeb acting a greedy player by winning again, and players whining about expired Diamond Cards. I’ll take the slow times this week as next weekend brings about a daily overload of WSOP events and before the degens go broke.

Shaun Deeb is just showing off now. Gave him props last week and I guess it was a little too early as he went one louder by winning the $2,100 H.O.R.S.E. for another $46,000 and change. With his other three titles this SCOOP series coming in Stud events, I’ll just make the assumption that he sat out during the Hold’em and Omaha portions of the tournament just to keep it fair.

The only other events of note leading to the WPT Championship this weekend were the Cal State Poker Championship and Heartland Poker Tour Main Events. 316 players entered the Matt Savage operated Cal State Main Event and Nathan Bjerno won the Big Bear trophy and $133,075 after a heads up chop. Just missing out on the final table were David “The Dragon” Pham*, Allen Cunningham, and Gavin Griffin.

The latest Heartland Poker Tour stop was at the Majestic Star Casino located in lovely Gary, Indiana (aka East Chicago). HPT has been running hot this season and just missed a record field at this event, although they topped their numbers from 2011. Daniel Acevedo was the last player standing at the televised final table and picked up $133,081.

* – Not a real dragon

Photo: WhoJedi

This Week’s Boxscore

Shaun Deeb $46,325 PokerStars SCOOP $2,100 H.O.R.S.E.
Nathan Bjerno $133,075 Cal State Poker Championship
Daniel Acevedo $133,081 HPT Majestic Star

Link Dump

White House Responds to Online Poker Petition – Thousands of poker players (but not tens of thousands) signed a capitlization-challenged petition calling on the US Government to licence and regulate online poker. Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, responded with a 339 word “thanks but no thanks”. I’m sure Gaming Counsel might have a more articulate read than mine.

New World Series of Poker Bracelet – The WSOP unveiled their newest champion’s bracelet, which apparently diminishes the accomplishements of THE previous Main Event winners.

Wait until you guys see the WSOP Main Event bracelet.Let’s just say this is THE year to win the Main Event. #blingerisbetter

— WSOP(@WSOP) May 17, 2012

I realize it’s just a marketing blurb meant to pump up the excitement, but I imagine the bracelet could be the most hideous piece of jewelry in the world and it wouldn’t stop players from trying to win the Main Event.

WPT Championship Numbers Down – I meant to write a few words on the significant decrease in the WPT Championship field size but ESPN Poker’s Andrew Feldman 1) beat me to it and 2) is a better writer than this hack. He lays out several reasons for the decline including SCOOP, Black Friday, and the Bellagio treating the event like crap. It will be interesting to see the numbers from the WSOP this summer.

The Micros are back! – A kind of back. The brilliant minds behind the popular web series released a comic the other day to which we can all relate. Enjoy.

Click image to embiggen

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

Jeff has a great show tonight, we are lucky to speak with Shaun Deeb who has won 3 Pokerstars SCOOP events already this series. Shaun talks to JW about his victories and what is in store with him this summer at the WSOP. Next up we speak to Dave Ferrara who is a Las Vegas poker player and blogger for Pokerati.com.

Download show (right click and save)

With online lottery sales successful, Illinois may consider expanding to online poker. This while polls in New Jersey gives conflicting information about internet gambling. Also, our interview with the Lotos Affiliate Program.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of online poker’s Black Friday. Anyone who ever clicked a raise button remembers the fateful day, and many are reminiscing about how their world changed on April 15, 2011.

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/

I wrote a blog post a week ago suggesting that Brent Beckley, who pleaded guilty on December 20th to two federal counts in the Black Friday indictments, may not be a co-operating witness for the government. This was based on a reading of the press release issued by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (the USAO) and a comparison of what we know of Mr. Beckley’s situation with what we know of Bradley Franzen’s circumstances. Recall that Mr. Franzen pled guilty this past May to three counts associated with the same superseding indictment. Last week’s post was not based on a review of Mr. Beckley’s plea agreement, a copy of which was posted at the Association of Players, Casinos, and Webmasters’ website.

Based on a comparison of Mr. Beckley’s plea agreement with Mr. Franzen’s plea agreement, I’m even more convinced that Mr. Beckley is not a co-operator.

More…

J Todd returns from the Barcelona Affiliate Conference where he mingled with online gambling executives, operators, and webmasters. Plus, he has an update on the US Department of Justice amending its indictment against online poker site Full Tilt to include running a Ponzi scheme:

I can already call it … 2012 will be the year of poker documentaries. The desire to tell true-life tales about the rise and fall of online poker in the USA should reach fever pitch as a classic story of crime and punishment plays out on Court TV. Ooh, that’s just in theory, of course, as we don’t yet know what’s on the docket for 2012 in the Southern District of New York nor Court TV’s programming schedule for next year. But it’s almost enough to get my conspiracy bells ringing over WSOP-Europe’s move to Cannes and/or the trend of using ALL CAPS in titles.

A lot of you already know about BOOM: The Incredible True Story of Online Poker, produced by Cardrunners icons Taylor Caby and Jay Rosenkrantz. Now, also coming soon, we have ALL IN: The Poker Movie, produced by the relatively big-time 4th Row Films.

Apparently both Boom and All In were all (or almost) ready to go right before Black Friday … which kinda caused a narrative breakdown in their endings.

I sat for both these films (as a talking head) … but have no idea whether or not my parts ended up on the cutting room floor. Kinda bummed I didn’t end up in the teaser below for All In … but hey, I guess I can understand appearing lower in the credits than Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.

(Can only imagine how excited producers must have gotten over Bernie Madoff-level allegations against one of their “stars”!)

Release date (and New York premiere party?) scheduled for February 2012. I really can’t wait to see how it all ends … on the big screen as well as in real life.

LONDON — I am sat here, closeted in a London cafe, writing. Across the street, in the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel, Full Tilt’s lawyers are arguing forcefully to have their hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission adjourned. I would be there, along with the assembled media, public, and business representatives, but we were all thrown out.

Full Tilt’s lawyers, lead by Martin Heslop QC of Jeffrey Green Russell, began proceedings by announcing that they would like the hearing to be adjourned. He then launched into a precise run down of why that application for an adjournment should be held in private. Never mind the application for a delay, Full Tilt’s lawyers wanted to prohibit all onlookers before the hearing got anywhere close to starting.

I’ll delve deeper into their arguments later on, but highlights involved Heslop claiming that the “publicity would be prejudicial to the interest of justice,” and that a secret hearing was in the best interests of Full Tilt’s customers. He even went on to invoke the Human Rights Act.

The meek pair of Alderney lawyers made a brief response, indicating that they would neither support or oppose any motion to adjourn. With that sentiment lingering in the air, the three Commissioners retired to a back room to consider Full Tilt’s proposal.

The Alderney posse did raise the interesting issue of $250,000 in unpaid licensing payments. Although enforced secrecy means I can’t access all the information, it was interesting to hear Martin Heslop reply that Full Tilt did not fork over the cash, because they saw no value in paying for a license that was going to be revoked.

When the AGCC reps returned, their approval of Heslop’s request was not met with overwhelming support. Veteran UK pro Harry Demetriou was so outraged that he stormed from the room, accusing Full Tilt of corruption. After a round of applause from the disgruntled onlookers, we trudged demurely for the exit as Heslop and co. looked on triumphant.

The panel are expected to announce their decision regarding an adjournment in the next hour. While there’s still room for a surprise, the forecast is grim.

LONDON–There’s nothing more exciting than mysterious European investors. The kind of people who turn up in blurry photographs, wearing sunglasses while looking into the middle distance.

At least that’s how I imagine the potential saviours of Full Tilt Poker must look. The beleaguered online poker provider is currently locked in negotiations with a secretive group of moneymen, who have designs on a portion of Full Tilt’s Euro operation. Ahead of next week’s landmark hearing in London, these briefcase wielding millionaires could be the last hope for the ‘Home of the Pros’.

An official announcement on the deal was expected late last week. No such missive emerged, but the news hounds at EGR Magazine did manage to rustle up a ‘source connected to the suspended poker company.’

Most important, the insider indicates that the buyout will have “nothing to do with [Full Tilt’s] stateside activities.” That would leave thousands of U.S. players waiting for Howard Lederer to refund their frozen bankrolls weeping on the sidelines.

The linchpin of the sale could be Pocket Kings, the company responsible for Full Tilt Poker’s software and marketing. The value of the actual Full Tilt brand is amorphous at best and will depend heavily on the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing.

The former online poker behemoths are being held to account by the gambling commission of Alderney, a small island off the coast of France, where their gambling operations are licensed. Following the events of Black Friday, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked their license, effectively shutting down the entire network.

As a member of the Channel Islands, Alderney is governed by UK law, so the AGCC are taking a short plane trip to London to present their evidence in public. I’ll be entrenched on location, sneaking out morse code transmissions tweets (@JoeOE18) to keep you in the loop. Keep your eyeballs glued to Pokerati for hard hitting analysis as the hearing continues.

Something in the Pokerati Twitter feed made me pause earlier today … huh … who woulda thought we’d ever see the day where a Full Tilt Mini Series of Poker PLO Event would be hyped with just a $10k guarantee?

FullTiltPoker 

Mini Series of Poker Event 31 starts at 15:20 ET. $30+$3 Pot Limit Omaha. $10,000 guaranteed. - http://ow.ly/5e5mF - 3 hours ago

Whether or not they crush the guarantee or there’s an overlay doesn’t really matter. But it does reveal something about Full Tilt’s confidence level, and imho shows a once-powerful entity crippled, having lost a few previous zeroes.

The World Series of Panel-discussions continues with what I like to think of as a circuit event on Wednesday. The Focus group has invited me and three others for a moderated roundtable that you could call Meet the Poker if David Gregory’s show were relegated to ESPN3.

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

It should be no surprise what the focus of this weeks Roundup will be with all that happened last Friday. Since the indictments were unsealed a week ago today everyone is hitting the airwaves to give their take on what has transpired with the DonkDown guys being the first group to hit the airwaves shortly followed by Marco on Quad Jacks.

Pregame.com

The team over at Pregame.com not only addressed how poker players have been affected by the indictments but also got some insight of how other people in the poker industry are being affected thanks to their guest Kristen Bihr. Bihr, who is a writer for PokerStarsBlog.com as well as being the PCA Ladies Event Champion, discusses how the poker media industry is being affected along with her current predicament of having the majority of her Ladies Event winnings tied up online. You can listen to the show in its entirety on the Pregame.com site

Quad Jacks Interviews

Already running 6 days consecutively with numerous host the show is going to come to an end shortly after reaching the 7 day mark for some rest. Numerous guest have joined over the past week, including Shaun Deeb, Katy Leibert, Daniel Negreanu, Gary Wise, BJ Nemeth, Kevin “KevMath” Mathers, and our very own Dan Michalski to break down what the indictments mean to not only the poker community but also personally to themselves.

Along with being a part of the show this past week KevMath also took a few of the interviews from the past 6 days and made them available for download. These are not in iTunes but they are indeed safe files.

Chuck Kidd Interview
Shaun Deeb Interview
Daniel Negrenu Surprise call into the show

On a side note a few of our favorite podcast have different host this week due to the regular host choosing to step aside either due to honoring the request to not speak or out of fear of causing problems due to their affiliation. This week ESPN’s The Poker Edge went on without Phil Gordon, though he did provide a short message to listeners that was played at the beginning of the show. The other pro to step aside this week is Dennis Phillips, who also spoke briefly at the beginning of the show to give a brief statement before stepping aside for the rest of the show to go on.

Final Table Poker Radio Show:

The Final Table Poker Radio Show crew got kicked out of the poker room this week due to the start of the WSOP Circuit events in St. Louis. After discussing the recent happenings at the circuit event Dennis and Paul are joined by Pat Walsh who discusses his recent win at the Big Event Shootout. Mori Eskandami closes out the show discussing production of TV poker shows along with the host change for High Stakes Poker. You listen to the entire show or catch up on previous show by either visiting The Final Table site or on iTunes.

The Hardcore Poker Show:

This week’s show starts off with the guys talking about what they think Phil Ivey’s new site will be about and wether Ivey can teach the average Joe how to be like him. The show then moves on to a discussion about chopping tournaments before Jess Welman, who most will know from the two time award winning Poker Beat, joins the show. Welman discusses her recent second place finish at the Hollywood Poker Open and how she was one of the lone players that did not want to do a chop when the players were down to 18 players. After telling the stories of the names she was called because she did not want to chop Welman moves on to discuss recent poker news to close out the show. If you would like to listen to the show you can either download it via iTunes along with catching future shows every Monday from 8-9pm EST on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 98.

A Perspectives Weekly:

Coming out with a April Fools Day show this week the APCW crew come together discusses some new happenings at eCOGRA before moving on to discuss the deal between PokerStars and Wynn.

The Poker Edge:

Andrew Feldman and Phil Gordon are joined this week by Chad Brown. Before getting to Brown the two discuss recent poker news and lay out some details for Feldman Challenge will Feldman will take on someone in 25 to 250 hands at $0.01/$0.02. After finishing up the news Brown comes on to discuss his recent battle with cancer, including how it was found and the surgery to remove the tumor. He also breaks down what the future looks like and equates giving himself the best chance to stay cancer free to poker. You can listen to the entire podcast on ESPN.com, or download it directly via iTunes.

Two Plus Two Pokercast:

It’s been a while since these guys made it on the roundup but this week they were joined by Pokerati’s own Scarlet “scarlet_lv ” Robinson. Robinson follows Daniel Negreanu and Alan Boston this week to discuss online regulation (at the 1 hour 52 minute mark) breaking down the recent state bills that have been in the news. Robinson also gives her thoughts on where things go from here and what happens if these bills do not pass along with her thoughts on the recent alliances that some online sites are doing with some Las Vegas brick and mortar casinos. Listen to the show at the Two Plus Two Pokercast site or download it on iTunes.

DonkDown Radio:

Continuing on the legal front our very own Dan Michalski has been on a podcast tour since the cancelation of The Poker Beat. This week he returns to DonkDown for a new segment called the Poker Power Hour. Michalski comes on around the 32 minute mark to bring some of the recent legal news to the show. After he leaves the show the guys attempt to make some calls to those involved in the UB scandal before being joined by Shane “Shaniac” Schleger. You can listen to the show at the DonkDown site or subscribe and download it via iTunes.

Rabbit Hunt:

Our friends on the Rabbit Hunt podcast jump right into the middle of the Joe Sebok drama this week. The guys break down and criticize both sides of the drama, breaking down what both sides of did wrong. They also discuss why Paul Leggett will probably never agree to come to 2+2 to answer questions from the forum readers and how much work the moderators have had to do over the past few days. Take a listen to the show on either the Cardrunners site or download it directly from iTunes to listen to this interview.

The Bernard Lee Poker Show:

Making its first appearance in the roundup The Bernard Lee Poker Show welcomes mindset coach Sam Chauhan to their show. Chauhan speaks about being in the positive mindset in order to be successful. He also discusses about how he got started in the poker community with a short discussion that he had with Antonio Esfandiari in a restroom at the Rio. To close out the show the two discuss some of the tools that Chauhan uses with his students to keep them in the right mindset. If you would like to listen to this show you can either download it from Bernard’s site, listen to it directly on on Rounders Radio, or through iTunes.

I Am Nanonoko – Team Pokerstars Online Documentary:

OK, this is not a podcast but it was brought to our attention this week from our good friend Dr. Pauly from Tao of Poker. If you have ever wondered what it is like to be in the head of a Supernova Elite you definitely should check out this short documentary that was done on Randy “Nononoko” Lew. Also check out the brief blog that gives an introduction to the film.