As you may or may not know, Dr. Pauly skipped town for a few days to go “see a band” (WTF?) … That left Benjo and me to report on the final table of the Champions Invitational: Tom McEvoy beats Dan Harrington and Robert Varkonyi to win himself a Corvette and, of course, the plausibly coveted Binion Cup … providing him sellable items should he ever need a little bankroll stimulus. And we hear about Phil Hellmuth’s oddly graceful 10:1 hands-shaken to hands-played ratio as he, like Pauly, makes an early but not-so-unexpected exit at the WSOP … temporarily derailing an Angry Frenchman’s plans to stage a potentially violent coup.

Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV

Episode 11.14: Early Exits
5:00

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Brought to you by Phish Coventry and psilocybin.

Our Tao of Pokerati mobile studio made BJ’s PokerRoad Nation photoblog … which clearly, you can now see, totally ups the quality of poker photography:

Says BJ:

Two of poker’s most experienced WSOP reporters, Dan Michalski (left) and Dr. Pauly McGuire, record an episode of their joint podcast, The Tao of Pokerati, from media row on Sunday night. Michalski has been blogging from the WSOP at Pokerati.com since 2004, and McGuire at TaoOfPoker.com since 2005. While some media outlets see the others as competition, bloggers like Michalski and McGuire see themselves more as coworkers and peers — working together improves everyone’s coverage.

Meanwhile, a Tao photographer using a hidden camera smuggled into Pokerati headquarters reveals our secret to podcasting success:

view on flickr

There’s a lot of interesting action going on tonight. The $40k NLH seems to have quite the storylines developing … Chris Moneymaker (@cmoneymaker) is still alive and strong, but the chip leader is now his new-poker-era successor, Greg Raymer. Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) is still proving to be a big threat … all these boomtime champions, yet plenty of old dogs there, too — Steven Zolotow, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, e.g. — representin’ those pre-boom big-time days.

There are currently 38 players remaining, with 27 making the money. Click here to follow the official chip counts – and Dr. Pauly is all over this one, too.

UPDATE: Moneymaker just took a huge hit, losing 2/3 of his stack.

RE-UPDATE: Pauly is ahead of the official counters — Moneymaker is out. So is Zolotow.

There’s also some potential excitement brewing in the ESPN Fantasy Pool, with Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz, one of my guys) way up near the top of the chip counts; and Mathers has Neil Channing hanging on for his team of fantasy scabs.

Vanessa Rousso (@VanessaRousso) is also still alive, though barely. Wouldn’t it be something …

Last but definitely not least, Dallas/Shreveport baller Keith Lehr (pictured) is currently 5th in chips.

The WSOP unofficially starts at 9am today as the Amazon Room at the Rio opens for registration, cash games and satellites before the tournaments begin Wednesday with Event #1, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. That’s as good a reason as any to do the preview for this year’s World Series of Poker, so here’s some things to look out for during the Series:

More…

A slightly different take from Pauly. I intellectually don’t agree with his boisterously pessimistic outlook, yet he seems to have a read on many in the poker world’s gut … from Tao of Poker:

God bless Ty Stewart for saving the WSOP. I mean, this guy should get Salesman of the Century Award for finding someone stupid enough to shell out millions of dollars to sponsor a stagnant product in an industry with a murky future.

Pope Benedict should make Ty a saint for providing the WSOP a secure financial future and also giving me and the rest of the derelicts in the poker media an endless amount of material to work with this year. As one of my Canadian colleagues noted, “Premium meat snacks at this year’s WSOP. The jokes, they write themselves.”

I haven’t seen a deal that bad since the Ruskies signed away Alaska in 1867 to Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million. If that Seward’s deal never happened, Sarah Palin would be speaking Russian.

Everybody and their dogma seems to be jumping on the Twitter bandwagon these days. Whether texting your whereabouts will prove to be fad or societal fabric a few years from now remains to be seen. In the meantime …

Doyle Brunson’s loving it as a way to share what’s going on in Bobby’s Room.
Annie Duke will let you eavesdrop on semi-private convos with her boyfriend and her catfight with Joan Rivers.
And now Jeffrey Pollack says Twitter is the way he’ll remain accessible to the people during his ever-hectic WSOP.

UPDATE: Interesting … Pollack is with Joan Rivers today in BH (Beverly Hills) … funny coincidence or evil WSOP ratings plot being hatched?

Right now you can follow the final table of the WPT Championship via Twitter, and the activities of their lead reporter, BJ, for a little unintentional real-life behind-the-scenes.

UPDATE: Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier just locked up WPT Player of the Year.

Pauly’s a little bummed I think … because last year Twitter was his semi-secret cybernook where he could relay the real WSOP dirty for his loyalist, most technologically advanced fans … but now this space is anything but “under the radar”.

UPDATE: @Pauly openfaced jerkchicken sandwich w/ jack cheese & dijonaise mustard …

Pokerati’s on the Twitter train now, too. Still trying to figure it all out — but so far definitely not “good for my poker”.

Feel free to add any peeps in the comments that you think we might-should pay attention to; and/or weigh in on whether or not you think this internet-texting convergence thing is “good for poker” will stick around.

Dr. Pauly joins the mix today … and he and I will be talking about the all-important topic of Celebrity Apprentice. Gary and BJ will be talking about the less important 38 percent drop in field size for the WPT Championship:

http://www.pokerroad.com/radio/the-poker-beat/

Another fine tribute — from Pauly … with links to other fine tributes, and a video of Shronk taking on a Vegemite prop-bet at the Aussie Millions:

Pauly, btw, has been in Argentina for the LAPT, where he’s been huffing paint and engaging in bar fights. True story — at least half of it.

Once upon a time, poker books were everywhere and everything. Then we found that saturation point, right around the time the poker boom was coming to an end … and it became harder and harder to really care about the latest poker tome … poker books stopped selling, the bookstores took down their dedicated poker racks, and uber-poker geeks like yours truly built up a pile of literature still collecting dust while waiting to be read. I swear I’ll move beyond page 26 of Bill Chen’s The Mathematics of Poker one of these days!

But probably not before reading two books that we can expect later this year: Lost Vegas, by Dr. Pauly … and Check-Raising the Devil, by Mike Matusow (with Tim Lavalli and Amy Calistri). Lost Vegas will be based on much of what we’ve been reading over the years on Tao of Poker, though I personally know the book is what Pauly’s been saving his best, so-far untold stuff for … so I’m confident every poker-industry douche insider will be eager to read what he’s been holding back.

Likewise, Matusow’s tale promises to be the kind of interesting auto-bio that even my grandmother could enjoy — lots of sex, drugs, and crime that just so happens to be set in the world of high-stakes casino gambling and/or prison — by a guy who has seen up-close-and-personal the good, the bad, and the really bad side of it all. Judging both these books by their recently completed covers (click to enlarge), I gotta think there might be something to these pokery stories, even though neither promise to tell you anything about how to play Ace-King.

For those that like to follow the live updates at poker tournaments, it can be frustrating waiting for your favorite player’s status in a tournament. You could be someone who’s upset that some kid hired off Craig”s List who can’t tell the difference between a straight and a flush messing up your bustout hand and making you look like stupid. The best way to combat this would be to be your own live updates reporter to get your side of the story out there. During last year’s WSOP, there was a site called FT Sweat was available for those who wanted to provide updates, but it was rarely utilized. Pokerati has it’s own CSR which works within the Pokerati community, whenever it gets updated. The hot application these days is Twitter, and the poker community is following the millions who’ve discovered Twitter.

Want to follow the shortened ramblings of an egomaniac, your favorite poker tournament reporter or blogger, or follow Pokerati (just don’t expect any updates).

Team Tao of Pokerati hits Caesar’s Palace (and Bellagio) for the first open-field running (second overall) of Dream Team Poker. Have a listen to join Pauly and Dan + Shaniac on our ventures to the registration and jersey-issue cocktail party … a pregame breakfast at Cafe Bellagio (where we declare ourselves the favorites, or at least a Top 10 team) … and then back to Caesar’s for the tournament itself. Along the way we analyze the intricacies of team play, formulate an alliance against TJ Cloutier, negotiate a deal to off Jerry Yang, and show you how big bets on March Madness might be the secret antidote to tilt. Intense strategy talk and hand breakdowns to boot …

Chapter 10: Go Team

Episode 10.1: Gel Time

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Episode 10.2: Shirts vs. Skins

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Episode 10.3: Spam and Eggs

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Episode 10.4: Karma, Villanova, and Thor

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Episode 10.5: Bustout Strategy

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Episode 10.6: Better Luck Next Time

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Pauly is a better faster writer than I am — so it’s always good to have him in town to make me work less. Read his detailed recap of Dream Team Poker weekend here and his less-detailed first impressions here.

Likewise, over at Wicked Chops, they’ve got the Hottie Beat covered … and PokerListings has manhandled the actual tournament action.

Tao of Pokerati Dream Team teammate Shaniac has some great music to listen to while you’re waiting for more.

Meanwhile, Team Aced did their thing to keep Aced.com in the public eye as a potentially legitimate newfangled online poker room with celeb-pro representative Jamie Gold, LV poker-room man Houston Waldie, and Gold-girlfriend Ashley Nataupsky — who is still alive for the individual championship — locking up the team title earlier today.

The vibe on Day 2 (final three tables) was quite distinct from Day 1 (field of 444 playing down to 27). From an informed source on the ground at Caesar’s:

It was great. People really had to watch the standings when making plays. They might have had pot odds on a few calls, but people were laying down hands to hold. It turned into one big last longer prop bet.

While I get some work done from home in sunny, springy Southern Cali, my Pokerati pals are actually looking for fortune and fame on the felt playing some tournament poker.

Dan is playing the much-hyped Dream Team Poker event at Caesars Palace. On his team? Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Dr. Pauly, playing as the Team Tao of Pokerati, also known as Tao of Pokerati’s 420 All Stars. Look for some Tao of Pokerati episodes to come as they record some of their intense strategy sessions and gossip about the other players. Sure, these three may be taking more breaks (certainly at 4:20pm today) than other players in the room, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be inspired to take it down.

Karridy is competing in the Texas Amateur Poker Championship. At last post, he was the chipleader with 50,000 chips in Level 4. After his recent visit to the WSOP Academy at Winstar, he might just have that extra insight that will take him all the way.

Go Guys!

Keep up with them both via CSR reports as the day progresses.

UPDATE: Karridy finished 12th in his event. 300something entries, so almost definitely in the money, but probably just short of the big money. –DanM

UPDATE: $1,190.

Pokerati’s own Dan Michalski took part in an “expert panel” for ESPN with Dr. Pauly, Chops of Wicked Chops Poker, Gary Wise, Bernard Lee, Lance Bradley of Bluff Magazine, and ESPN.com’s Andrew Feldman ranking the field of the NBC National Headsup Poker Championship, starting on Friday. Since I’m only able to write an article at one of these sites, let’s take a look at how Dan ranked the field:

More…

This has been out for a few weeks now, but I’m reading it for the first time … found via Pauly, who also let us know about John Caldwell’s unexpected-at-this-moment-in-time-but-not-surprising departure as editor in chief of PokerNews. I know most of you don’t really care about “Shecky’s” business, but you should, because he has been instrumental in shaping how you get to follow tournaments on the internet … and though I’ve had my beefs with PN’s claims of being the “independent” source of poker news (they recently changed that to “#1″), overall, PokerNews, under Caldwell’s leadership, developed into something that arguably made the game far more enjoyable for players and their friends … and isn’t that what all of this is about — the pursuit of better poker?

Before he left, Caldwell assembled a panel of informed and influential peeps in the poker world to hear their thoughts on key poker issues. The panel included Bluff editor-in-chief Matt Parvis, big-name agent Brian Balsbaugh, WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, Pauly, PokerDB founder and AP/UB scandal-solver Nat Arem, top-notch tourney director and Commerce Casino poker room honcho Matt Savage, and high-stakes pro and Team PokerStars guy Barry Greenstein and asked them all the following questions:

1. You’ve been sent back in time to Jan 1, 2003. If you could, what one thing that could be attributed to poker’s “boom” would you prevent or change?
2. Will we ever again see a regularly occurring, brick-and-mortar cash game that is bigger than the biggest games found online?
3. Will 2009 bring a formal regulation of online poker at the United States federal level?
4. What group within the poker world do you believe to be most affected by the global financial crisis?
5. If you could enact one change to the 2009 WSOP – what would it be?
6. Compared to the 2008 WSOP Main Event, will there be more or fewer participants in this year’s Main Event, and why?
7. Will poker grow overall in 2009? If so, what area is likely to show the greatest growth?
8. If there was one change that you would like to see specifically made to the online game or by major online sites in the coming year, what would it be?
   
9. Could a brand new online poker room storm to life in 2009 and somehow capture a major share of that market?
10. Can you think of something that doesn’t really exist in the poker world today that will be a given five years from now?