Let me start out by saying that the Ante Up for Africa tournament is a stellar effort to raise money for Darfur refugees and awareness of the mass atrocities taking place in Africa and around the world. The ENOUGH and Not On Our Watch projects are doing wonderful things, and I hope this tournament raises a great deal of money for the causes.

The tournament was held in the Brasilia room here at the Rio. That’s all I know. How many players? Didn’t have time to count because the media was given 15 minutes for photos before we were kicked out. Names of all the celebrities and poker pros? Again, not enough time to write them down. Hopefully, a press release will be issued with all of the information at some point.

Good news? Mekhi Phifer was playing in the tournament.

Bad news? I’m not sure where to begin.

Blanket statement: The media aspect of this day was handled poorly. Very poorly.

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Check it out, look to your right and give us some honest feedback, so theoretically, just in case, you know, we could go Nancy Kerrigan on someone’s ass.

Not that we need to do extra pimping for Pauly here on Pokerati, but really, this $50k HORSE event is the one tournament that he theoretically could be providing better up-to-the-hour coverage than PokerNews. The event itself is exciting, of course, and it’s happening right below the press-box, so he can keep an eye on it without being on the floor. Now mix in the fact that there really aren’t that many tables … and presto, you’ve got something a single dude who has been preparing for this one event for months can cover old school — like it’s 2005 — with the skills and wisdom gained from three years of covering tourneys around the world. I mean he can’t keep up with the chip-for-chip hand stuff — and really, how pathetic are any the tens of thousands of you who really care about the finer details of an 8-or-better hand that may or may not be reported in full anyhow — but what Pauly can do that the frontline reporters can’t is see the poker forest through the $50,000 trees. Being hopped up on pharmies while observing from his slightly elevated press-box perch can lead to some interesting perspective(s) … add three weeks worth of repressed violence yet unleashed on fellow WSOPers, a general disregard for the opinions of anyone who doesn’t read his shit, and a little inspirational spark from the recent arrival of Otis, and I think and you’ve got a winner. My best move yet was hooking him up with a piece of the Donkey Bomber, because now , with all my hopes and dreams invested in 1 percent of Tom, I’ve guaranteed my ability to follow my horse in the HORSE start to finish. Seriously, with the hours the dude puts in, he must be on something …

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be following more detailed chip updates here and maybe even on PokerNews where I can chime in on their nifty Shoutbox. Heck, I might even pop in on the action myself on occasion … and California Jen can’t help but give you a few updates and a little extra insight while doing her real WSOP work … but in the interim, just thought Pokerati readers should know that even when sitting right next to Pauly I’ll probably be looking over his shoulder to see what’s really going on.

It seems that the 2008 WSOP is at the halfway point. If judging by days, we are almost there, but if looking at events, more than half of them have concluded and we’re in the second half.

Thus far, bits of poker history have been made – the first set of siblings to each win a bracelet in the same year and only the second set of brothers to every accomplish the feat, and the fourth largest poker tournament ever held (Event #2). Professional poker players have absolutely dominated the Series, with numerous players like Lindgren and Singer finally taking home the gold. And through the end of the day June 17th, the totals were as follows:

30 WSOP bracelets awarded
28,223 players registered in tournaments
2,705 players finished in the money
$66,514,615 prize pools combined

There is also an interesting and notable change that takes place at the WSOP near the halfway mark.

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In this installment:

Dan pursues diplomatic ties with the nation of Hungary, why Pauly is the David Hasselhoff of poker blogging, and how it’s so nice to see the French and Germans working the poker beat in Euroharmony.

Episode 10: Eurotarded

Semi-related … do you know how much the WSOP spent on media food and water last year? Reportedly $440,000. Yeow! That means collectively, we sandwich-eating, water-and-Pepsi-product-slugging hacks grossed more than Tom won en route to becoming POY.

The key word in that sentence, of course, is “gross.”

All of the tables in the PLO w/rebuys tournament are sick. The field isn’t enormous, but it consists of so many notable players that it’s hard to look away.

One table in particular, Table 15 in the Orange section has an impressive line-up: Robert Williamson III, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Sirous Jamshidi, Daniel Negreanu, and Daniel Alaei. And as I’m typing, Alex Kravchenko was moved to that table as well.

The players are having a good time with the set-up, and it’s a couple tables away from the spectator rail, so railbirds aren’t hovering. Strange thing happened, though. A non-ESPN-credentialed person came up to the table with a video camera, which is typically good enough to get you and your media credential kicked out on your ass, and filmed some of the action, even commenting to the players and looking for reactions. Hellmuth started to get annoyed, and that’s when a certain Harrah’s big-wig came over and monitored the filming; by his mere presence, he sanctioned it.

As a few fans found their way through the tables and security to get closer to the table, they were shooed away and told to get out of the area. Yet, the rogue videographer was able to stay and continue filming for quite awhile before leaving upon obtaining the footage he desired. Interesting exception to the media rules. I’m sure there was a good reason…

I’m about to head over to the Rio — I think I might actually play a bit today — but before I shut my computer lid (about as difficult for me as stepping away from a table when I’m still up) I wanted to share with you some blogs other than Pauly, LVV, and Wicked Chops that make for good reading during the WSOP. Most of these folks have real jobs here in the poker media, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t have interesting things to say:

Poker Shrink — he runs the show now at my old PokerBlog stomping grounds, and though I haven’t yet seen his shiny orb around these parts, he always has something informative to say, and a cutting way to say it.

Change100 — A friend with weed is a friend indeed … and this PokerNews reporter always has the good Hollywood insight to share.

Benjo — aka the Angry Frenchman; I have no idea what his blog says, but it’s often fun to read the Google translation of it.

Gary Wise — Gary knows everything about poker (just ask him) … but really, the Bluff/ESPN correspondo does know a lot, and has better player connections than anyone else in media row.

Snoopy — This limey mate has a great take on the game, and new hair to boot — capable of fourth-level thinking and comes up with hedlines like “Throw Juanda down the Well.”

Michele Lewis — Wicked Chops probably got the best of it in our trade of Fresh Princess and a blogger to be named later for, um, nothing … but that doesn’t mean we don’t still love her sassy-mom takes on the game.

Pokerfolio — Steve Hall doesn’t need a big camera to scope out the WSOP hotties, but he may need a new webhost.

Spaceman – Jason Kirk can’t seem to leave the poker world no matter how hard he tries, and while he’s not blogging for PokerListings this year, he occasionally keeps us posted on real life.

Hardboiled Poker – Short-stacked Shamus is an absolute must-read; he’s a rookie on the PokerNews WSOP reporting scene, but as he’s proved with his own blog since getting on the blogging train late in the game, sometimes new=fresh, and he gives more to really think about per word than just about anyone else out there.

Haley – The managing editrix of PokerNews is 0-and-1 on prop bets with Dan this year, but that doesn’t mean she’s still not a smartaholic; heck, she even knows who The Batfaces are.

Mean Gene — The most celebrated poker blogger in all of Pittsburgh makes the annual pilgrimage to the WSOP again, and nobody knows how to have more All-American fun while doing a top-quality job than this PokerNews tourney reporter.

I’m sure I’m missing a few — apologize for that — so send me an email and I will update accordingly. But these are the ones I have been checking out with the most semi-regularity, and often giving thought to.

And for a list of players who are also blogging their experiences, check out Up for Poker’s WSOP blog-guide.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back eventually. But this should keep you informed/entertained/busy for at least a little while.

We’re ready to roll here for a good day of poker. It occurs to me that the hours are kinda funny, because as the WSOP day gets started here in the pacific time zone, you folks in NYC and DFW are just about calling it a day. But don’t worry, you can still read Pokerati, Tao of Poker, Wicked Chops, and Las Vegas Vegas from home and/or mobile device, assuming you don’t have poker-related sites firewalled to protect the children. Oh, and Pokernews, if you want to follow chip counts from a site whose employees refer to their big bosses as “the Lithuanian Mafia.” Speaking of … just saw Tony G for the first time this Series. Waved to him as he walked by media row … and he waved back, looking very confused. You might also want to check out Cardplayer.com … apparently they have figured out how to work pretty well within the crappy play-by-play update limitations that they created way back when.

As you probably know, Tom is the chip leader going into Day 2 of the $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship. Wow, nice job tom. Good to have you back — I didn’t get it up in time, but I had a post working … according to my notes:

Tom, stop fucking around and get your shit together. Energy up!

When I had last spoken to him, he wasn’t even going to play this event — he was more interested in trying to repeat in the $2,500 7-Stud/O-8 event, which he won last year and started today. I liked that plan, as he’s been having a pretty bad Series from the gitty — doing nothing of note in any events he’s bought into and getting his butt kicked in the cash games. Julie, Karridy, and I were discussing possible new nicknames: It was a toss-up between Donkey Grizzle and Eskimo Schneider.

More TK, of course … and be sure to keep an eye on the ticker above if you want to peak in on the text updates Tom sends his friends and family, as well as mystery updates not from me, but a random friend to whom I might loan my phone to while he sits at the rail (in theory). You can also follow along the texting trail here.

Day 2 is underway … and being the chip leader now means jack shit if you don’t get it up and keep it up! Just ask Angry Julie!

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?

I can already tell one of the top-quality media sources during the WSOP will be RawVegas.TV.

Check out how their red-carpet vid of a Bluff Magazine pre-WSOP kickoff party at Tao (the nightclub, not “of Poker“) gets a better interview about poker and the fun side of poker lifestyles than anything you see shot in the Amazon room hallways, and even probably what will end up on ESPN:

In this vid not only will guys like Ed get to see a boppity, cleavacious Jennifer Tilly talk about how and why poker players talk about quitting but don’t really mean it, but also they get to hear about Phil Laak’s freak-of-naturely impressive sperm count and how that may or may not lead to strategy-based pillow talk with a cougar.

I’ll also be interested in following RV’s WSOP video blogs from Patrik Antonius, David Williams, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu. These sorts of things have been tried before with moderate success (Negreanu’s were always good), and now that there’s one place where you can find a handful of them regularly with a little party-hearty mixed in — in high-quality video that always seems to work — how could this channel not become Must-See Internet for any serious poker geek following the World Series every summer? [via Wicked Chops]

Some WSOP thoughts as you watch this guy work his opponent.

Today is day 1 for the hordes of amateurs ready to begin their World Series of Poker, as its day 1a of the $1,500 NL Holdem event. This weekend we’ll find out if the field will break the record for the largest field in a non-Main Event tournament (3,151 at event #49 last year).

According to BJ Nemeth over at Pokernews, as of 1:30a PT, over 3000 have registered. The fact that this will be the only event, besides the Main Event, to have multiple day 1’s also will help make this possible. It’s been mentioned that there will be no alternates this year, but with one room (Brasilia and its 650 seats) not available until mid-June, how many people will be shut out of a seat? From all reports, things did run much smoother than last year’s day 1 (save for the random clock malfunction); will the same hold true for those attempting to register at the last minute today?

What happened yesterday:
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A lot of us WSOP media veterans (this will be Pokerati’s 5th year in attendance, which I think is longer than any other blog) see the World Series as Christmas season for poker. Think about it … right now we’re at about Thanksgiving, and a month from now, the hardcore holidays begin — with the Gaming Expo and main event … and then time to celebrate a new poker year. (Will be a bit different this year, however, without a new champion to ring it in.) It really is pretty impressive when you realize that the WSOP is just another poker brand … and yet poker players all over the world get excited about it. The clicks and shuffles of chips begin this week, and that ever-pokery rattle and hum in the Amazon room won’t stop for nearly 1,100 hours.

What’s new for Pokerati this go-round is that we’re already here. Usually about this time, my personal scramble to get out of Dallas is just beginning, and I’m hoping to arrive before Event #10 while steering clear of the New Mexico and Arizona Highway 5-0. But having crossed the Hoover Dam nearly six months ago … I’m here … yippee. Not sure what to do with myself. I guess I’ll start by reading the official WSOP preview press release — which you can do, too, by clicking below:

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Found this vid, shot at the EPT Championship last month in Monte Carlo … where Daniel Negreanu pwns a Scandi reporter (new word for me!), or maybe it’s the other way around:

There’s question whether or not it was staged. In Las Vegas I am pretty sure his shove would be considered assault, but maybe not so in Monaco? Either way, my experience at the tables tells me that 2 in 12 to 14 Scandis are slowrollers … so that suggests it’s statistically possible it was an authentic provocation.

Here’s the audio of the hour-long media conference call today.

WSOP Media Call 5/1/2008

I didn’t think about pressing my mute button for much of it, so apologies for the heavy breathing/typing/petting. Audio hindsight says I shoulda been giving running commentary. Fortunately Wicked Chops live-blogged it for a witty-but-real take as the teleconf action went down. And CC has a very thorough recap of everything discussed, point-by-point, voice-by-voice.

Craig runs with an interesting hedline, too — deciding added money to the prize pool was the real big news here. It’s an interesting thought — because while you can break down the numbers however, establishing a process for injecting additional funds into the prize pool has gotta be a good thing to start.

Part of my master plan for covering the 2008 WSOP has already gone awry …

Last year, you could make a $1,000 charitable donation for access to a VIP Players lounge across the hall from the Amazon Room. Inside was a pool table, putting green (where Phil Ivey $5,000 putts became a semi-regular occurrence) and food catered by Del Frisco’s. Oh, and free booze, too, I think. Yum. So this year, Pauly and I were gonna pony up the G. After all, we spend nearly a thousand bucks on food being at the Rio for 6+ weeks anyhow, so why not do it in a feel-good, tax-deductible way that would provide extra-comfortable seating, superior meals, and super-premium access to top players shooting the poker and non-poker shizznit … off-the-cuff but plausibly on-the-record while the rest of the media is locked down in the media kennel being fed terrible $8 hamburgers and occasional free sandwiches that lose their flavor after about Day 2.

Alas …

Informed sources tell us plans for the 2008 “V-VIP lounge” are still being finalized, but based on feedback from last year’s VIPs (those who got in before lounge access was sold out) that it wasn’t as exclusive a getaway as they had hoped for, this year the price of admission will be a $7,500 contribution to the Nevada Cancer Institute. Supposedly the whole experience will be much more high-end. Not sure yet about what that entails, but the big-dollar pros can at least be confident that it won’t include a couple of bloggers sitting with them drunk and shirtless begging for autographs.

There’s a media conference call tomorrow with WSOP honchos Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel. According to the invite:

WHAT: A preview of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light to discuss what is new for 2008.

Hmm, I wonder what new stuff the WSOP commish and man charged with making sure the tournaments maintain their poker purity might want to tell us about.

The email came with one of those red exclamation points attached to it, so they obviously think it’s important. More hints:

BACKGROUND: Continuing the trailblazing efforts that have made the WSOP the richest and most prestigious poker tournament in the world, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack will preview the 39th Annual World Series of Poker, presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light. The 2008 event begins on May 30th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the first statement I remember receiving from the WSOP that didn’t mention the end date. So no promises, but I just have a feeling we’ll have some new and official details on a delayed main event final table in about 13.5 hours. And it’s probably a good bet that elections and poker will be the big winners during TV’s November sweeps.

Trailblazing, indeed.

… at the World Poker Challenge at the Grand Sierra in Reno, finishing 28th out of 261. Ouch. But not all is lost for the Arizona Posse … Tom may have gone out early on Day 2, but the crew’s other double-bracelet holder Pat Poels is still alive and well — with a slightly below average stack.

Click here to follow the Day 3 action – where because of legally questionable exclusive media deals, you have no choice but to read coverage from a guy who clearly would rather write in a way that reveals he can’t wait to go home (or to the tables, or the bar) as opposed to figuring out the names of fewer than 30 players left in a field?

(If it’s fair to expect NFL television announcers to know every name on two rosters, is it really too much to ask that any “reporters” know every name once a tourney gets below four tables? There are breaks, after all, where you theoretically could go find out what you don’t know by asking someone. But whatever … it’s not Pokerati’s job to bitch about crappy, uninspired coverage just because we happened to have a conversation with someone else about whether or not we have a right to post numbers and letters like the ones below and/or haven’t had our coffee yet this morning.)

And click below to see the starting stacks going in:

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It seems that CBS’ 60 Minutes is in the process of putting together a story about the Absolute Poker cheating scandal. Nolan Dalla discussed it in his blog on PokerListings earlier this week.

Some of the key players in the drama - one that has been playing out in the poker media since the Fall of 2007 - will be interviewed, and the show’s team seems to be investigating it thoroughly.

I’ve been writing about the Absolute Poker scandal for some time as well. I continually bludgeoned the subject in my Poker Player Newspaper column and in any other outlet that would allow it. After the story lost its dazzle in the poker media, I kept it going as I felt it was never sufficiently investigated or resolved.

While I wholeheartedly wanted the poker community to take notice, take a stand, and take action against Absolute Poker, I’m not sure how I feel about a show like 60 Minutes bringing it to the general public. Part of me believes that such notoriety will bring the government closer to realizing that regulation is the key to preventing this in the future. The other part of me is afraid that this will put poker firmly in the “poker is gambling” and “gambling is immoral” category with the unreasonable powers-that-be.

Looking for opinions here… Please weigh in.

Barron Vangor Toth (right) with his Gutshot photog friend Jen B at the WSOP.

Barron Vangor Toth died last week, reportedly of cancer. He was an intelligent poster on 2+2 who would later go on to make his presence known around the WSOP writing for Gutshot … respected for his ability to capture the underlying excitement of limit hold’em and math in action. He was also the Connecticut state director for the Poker Players Alliance.

Prior to poker, Barron ran a shop selling comics and Magic the Gathering supplies … and from there became a game designer — most notably the co-creator of WWE Raw Deal (basically professional wrestling-meets-Magic) — which grew for seven years before being discontinued at the end of 2007. At the time of his death, he was site director for PlanetWWE.

Barron wrote a little about his health struggles here. He was 34.

Sincere regards.

So I’m kinda sorta enjoying the webcast of the WSOP Circuit Tunica final table. But I happen to be on a relatively low-bandwidth connection (courtesy of Las Vegas.net). Thus the stream is blipping out for five or ten seconds every 20 or so. Pesky to say the least. Here’s the thing … since the video is hardly exciting anyway (though it is mighty clear) … it would be nice to have an audio-only stream available of the Nick-and-Tom broadcast. I wanna be doing other things, ya know, while listening in the background.

Including an audio stream isn’t hard computer-wise, and it would make following the event more enjoyable for the readers viewers listeners.

There ya have it — take-it-or-leave-it-advice because Pokerati cares the internet happens to be slow today.

We know that some head-honchos at Absolute Poker cheated at their own game, thereby stealing money from their players. Upon being unequivocally exposed, they have tried to apologize and make right … as if a carjacker who gets caught could also get off the hook by simply saying, “Oops, sorry about that … my bad,” and returning the stolen property.

Yet for some reason, thousands of real-money-players are still in action at Absolute. Hey, I know you! You’re that guy who stole my car! Thanks so much for giving it back. So wow … you’re a valet parker now. OK, here are my keys. But whatever … maybe the numbers have something to do with all the ad dollars being happily accepted by the poker news sites and print publications that supposedly insist on limiting their coverage to “what’s good for poker.”

Sorry, am getting off track. Personal rant against the machine. So yes, Absolute Poker scandal … California Jen has been covering it for Poker Player Newspaper, and she appeared on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces last night to discuss developments. I’m listening to it now … and it’s a pretty good show — especially when they get an unexpected call from Chuck Barnett, who you may remember is on the Board of Supervisors for Mohawk Internet Technologies / Kahnawake Territory. He engages Jen and Lou with all sorts of good information on the make-up of the ongoing investigation, a little bit of what they are uncovering, and some insight into who are the true owners of Absolute Poker.

Click here to listen to the show.

“Is it Joe Norton?” Kreiger asks directly at one point. And indeed it is. Apparently Norton is the sole owner of Tokwiro Enterprises, which owns Absolute … and perhaps like Dick Cheney is to Halliburton, Norton is also a former Grand Chief of the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. To be honest, I’m not sure what all these connections mean … but I’m pretty sure they are not “good for poker.”

Not to take any wind out of the sails of Beyond the Table, but I’m not on that one I have to plug another show.

I have been invited to be a guest on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces radio show tomorrow to discuss the Absolute Poker Scandal. After having written a series of columns on the subject for Poker Player Newspaper, Lou seems to think I know what I’m taking about. For the entire hour, we’ll discuss the scandal, specifically the fact that Absolute Poker hasn’t mentioned it in months and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission has yet to release its final audit report (though it was promised weeks ago).

The show just moved from Hold’em Radio to Rounders Radio and will be live starting at 6pm PST (9pm EST).

Hope so. January is packed with tournaments spanning the globe. But if you’re not traveling, you can still keep up with the main events via various websites and blogs.

• January 5, Bahamas: Where better for a tournament than a place called Paradise Island? The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) starts and ends with the main event, the final table of which will take place on the 10th. This is an 18-and-over tournament, so look out for the kiddies young, skilled online pros to turn out in force. Otis will be blogging from the event.

• January 5, Australia: A quick 14-hour flight or so away will be the Aussie Millions Poker Championship in Melbourne. This is a series that starts on the 5th with a $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, continues with a wide range of games and buy-ins (including the $100,000 no-limit event), and wraps up with the main event that begins on the 14th and runs for seven days. A plethora of reporters, including Dr. Pauly and Change100, will be covering it all for PokerNews.

• January 3, Tunica: The World Poker Open has already begun with its preliminary events at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. By the 20th, the main event will be underway and hosted by the World Poker Tour. Aaron Hendrix is there and will be providing daily coverage of all of the events for PokerWorks, and the WPT will be live blogging for the main event with BJ Nemeth at the helm.

• January 15, Atlantic City: The Borgata Winter Poker Open starts its preliminary events on the 15th, and the WPT main event (Borgata Poker Classic) begins on the 27th with a final table on the 31st. It doesn’t seem that any media outlet is covering the prelim events, but surely PokerListings will be there for the main event along with the WPT live bloggers.

I’d like to make a quick cheesy New Year’s toast to Pokerati for welcoming me to the site in the fall months of 2007. *Clink*

I also want to wish everyone a Happy New Year - much happiness, health, success, and all-around poker goodness in 2008!

As for Cali Jen’s New Year’s resolutions, let’s just say they include playing more poker, writing more about poker, learning to walk away from prop bets, and actually reading the 30-some-odd poker books that currently collect dust on my bookshelves. In my non-existent non-poker life, there are things on my resolution list like exercising, learning Italian for an upcoming trip, and studying world history. I know… Yawn.

Happy 2008, Everyone!

Following a pattern established by arena faves Frampton, Kiss, and Cheap Trick, this episode of Beyond the Table captures the group in a rare live performance. With no edits, overdubs, or other studio gimmickry, “Live and Otherwise” finds BTT returning to its off-the-cuff, improvisational roots.

The set gets going with a raucous medley of blues-based numbers, including soon-to-be-classics “Queens Done Done Me In (Again)” — featuring a solo from Little Tommy Schneider — and the Askenasy-penned “I Think My Hair Has a Mind of Its Own.” The group then transitions into a surprisingly peppy version of “House Hoppin’ Blues” chronicling Dan’s recent move Vegas-ward.

From there the boys turn topical, with rockers “Flight of the Dragon” (noting David Pham’s having locked up Player of the Year), “Enjoying the Game” (an homage to Chip Reese), and “Guilt Trip” (regarding the Vaughn-Mizzi account-purchasing affair). As an encore, the group surprises the audience with a new title, “Fortune’s Steward,” a brief romp recognizing Falstaff, author of PokerStage and tireless organizer of the recent WPBT Winter Gathering.

Be sure to catch this important live document of the power trio’s development, circa late-2007. And be sure to email your feedback to theshow(at)beyondthetable(dot)com and/or call the listener line @ (888) 820-8091.

Bluff reports that “poker” was still the number one search phrase on Lycos for 2007 — and suggests it’s proof that poker’s popularity is hardly in decline. They fail to mention, however, that no one has used Lycos for search purposes since 2005.

The Top 10, according to a site that may or may not still exist doesn’t even acknowledge the relevance of Lindsay Lohan, Facebook, or the UFC:

1) Poker
2) MySpace
3) Britney Spears
4) Paris Hilton
5) Golf
6) YouTube
7) Naruto
Disney
9) Pokemon
10) WWE

I guess this means Iraq isn’t such a big deal anymore either.

Per the Bluff Media website, Chris Vaughn has been fired from his position as the Bluff Magazine’s Managing Editor due to his role in the Full Tilt cheating scandal with online pro Sorel Mizzi.

Bluff Media, publisher of Bluff Magazine, has made the decision to terminate Chris Vaughn as Managing Editor. In light of Chris’ involvement, recently admitted facts and the feedback obtained from industry professionals, it became apparent that the credibility required to perform the job functions of Managing Editor of Bluff Magazine at our company’s level of standards have become severely diminished. While we regret having to make this decision, we believe that it is the best alternative for all parties involved, including Chris, Bluff Media and the poker playing community at large. We wish Chris the best of luck.

The Absolute Poker scandal should have been enough. It remains unresolved, though most of the details of the cheating have been made clear, and the poker public still awaits the conclusion of the audit.

Back in early October, there was another mini-scandal on PokerStars. The winner of the WCOOP main event — the largest online poker tournament in history — was disqualified, and “TheV0id” was stripped of his title and $1,378,311 in winnings.

And we have another.

This time the allegations of nefarious online play revolve around Bluff Magazine’s managing editor Chris Vaughn. On 10/21, he took down the $1 Million Guarantee tournament on Full Tilt Poker for $197,984. The following Sunday, he won the Sunday Million tournament on PokerStars for $240,633. Well, it seems the first one didn’t stick.

According to the second place finisher in the Full Tilt event, Soren “Kongsgaard” Kongsgaard, he received an e-mail from FTP stating that Chris - screen name “BluffMagCV” - had been disqualified and “Kongsgaard” was awarded first place money.

Reportedly, though unconfirmed at this point, Chris’ backer, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, took over at some point in the tournament and played the remainder of it for him. Chris and Sorel have now been banned from Full Tilt. More details can be found on Sorel’s blog, though it’s not clear who is writing the posts.

Interestingly, Chris was just interviewed on 11/18 by Scott Huff and Haralabos Voulgaris on Big Poker Sundays, a radio show on PokerRoad.com. Haralabos asked him if he’s ever been accused of ghosting, where a person’s backer plays for them, and Chris said, “I’ve been accused of that. I think it’s going to come with the territory when someone relatively unknown wins two in a row… But as far as having someone take over, that’s ridiculous.”

Garth Brooks was once described as looking like “a thumb wearing a cowboy hat.” Here Tom can be seen trying to establish himself as the Garth Brooks of Poker.

The latest post about Donkey Bomber’s troubles on the Iberian Peninsula reminded me … he was also on the cover of CardPlayer magazine recently. Perhaps this honor is a curse? Three covers ago, CP featured Brian Townsend — and inside was an interview where he explained how one can go from a small-stakes online player to a monster buy-in new-guy on High Stakes Poker. Of course, at the same time, Townsend, known as SBRugby in the online world, was chronicling on his own blog how he had been in the midst of a multimillion-dollar downswing and was considering giving up poker altogether. Oops!

Click here to read the really good interview with Tom. My favorite line from the first Pokerati blogger ever to grace these pages:

Over time, the one thing I learned is that I’m going to surround myself only with people who make me feel good. It’s amazing if you do that how much more successful you can be in everything.

Anthony in McKinney-ish writes in with more:

Ok, I swear I’m not an email attention whore, but the hits just keeepp ooonnnnnn coming with this Absolute thing.

http://www.pocketfives.com/06D9EA78-E38F-49D3-AFA1-2B4B128CE7E7.aspx

Not to make it all about blogging, but poker players should be proud of the “citizen journalism” at work in this case. When “former” chief operators of a company are allegedly the ones pegged as playing with “superaccounts” … that clearly can’t be a good thing. Absolute looks to have done themselves in here. Short-term greed catches up with the offenders. This page now seems like a sadly ironic case of Strong Means Weak.

So as the evidence against Absolute becomes more and more solid, it raises a lot of other questions, including:

1. Will anyone go to jail? In an unregulated environment can anyone go to jail?
2. What other sites might be engaging in similar activities?
3. How can we trust that any particular site is not?
4. Will politicians in the United States see this as an example of why online poker needs to be regulated, or will it be their case for why it needs to be more comprehensively banned?
5. Since Absolute is in bed with Ultimate Bet, what will become of that relationship? And how connected are they really?
6. Will UB pros — Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke specifically — speak out on the matter? And/or will they leave Ultimate Bet?
7. Will major online affiliates — such as CardPlayer, PokerNews, and PokerListings, for example — stop sending players to Absolute?

Big questions for online poker. How different folks with a vested interest in the answers react to this situation will tell us a lot about what kinda players we really are dealing with in this biz.

UPDATE: PokerListings is currently refusing to send players to Absolute and Ultimate Bet:

PokerListings.com has temporarily suspended the listing of the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet poker rooms as a result of serious problems with both historical and current payments due PokerListings for services rendered. We are aware that our decision not to list these two brands may be an inconvenience, but as a trusted guide and resource, we do not believe it is appropriate to continue listing them.

Sincerely,

The PokerListings.com Team

Good stuff from J Todd and friends, as is generally the case, to those of us interested in the socio-political-economic waves (and butterfly effects) of the poker biz.

• New British gambling laws go into effect. The moralists fear “normalisation.”
• APCW takes on NPR for their gambling-law coverage.
• New American tax on poker winnings chaps some hides.
• Brokeback Harbor.

Yeow. The tax thing is pretty big, I think. (It’s gotta be enough to make Eskimo Clark’s heart skip a beat, yo.) From what I can tell, it doesn’t seem to take into account losses. And the 25 percent … perhaps a tax-minded Pokeratizen can clarify for us … is this in addition to standard income tax that all poker players dutifully report on their W-2Gs?

I mean it’s hard enough for low-stakes players to beat the rake. Now high-stakes players face a juice that seems almost impossible to successfully swallow.

UPDATE: Found a little more good information via Lou Krieger. His take makes it seem just that all casinos have to be like Harrah’s now, and automatically withhold the taxes, that’s all. Sucks, sure, but understandable? Unacceptable? Undesirable?

There are four players left in the WPT Legends tourney — anyone’s game — and Tom Schneider is guaranteed anywhere from $228k to $1.6 million. Not a bad paycheck, but Tom … we have to talk! Is that really enough for you to be blogging for the World Poker Tour and CardPlayer?

Check out Tom’s new gig here, and here. Or, to quote from the official WPT site:

Tom Schneider - Pro Blog
Thursday, August 30, 2007 06:43 PM PDT

That was a fast and furious level. David Pham and Mike McClain both doubled up quickly through Shi, and Shi was pretty short when he made a move. He went out in sixth and McClain followed in fifth.

I didn’t really play many hands and only lost about 300,000 on the hand I did play. Things showed open up a bit more now that we are four handed. Out of the four remaining only David is really short stacked.

- Tom

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Tom Schneider - Pro Blog
Thursday, August 30, 2007 05:25 PM PDT

So far my experience at the World Poker Tour final table has been a bit chaotic. This is nothing like my World Series of Poker final tables. Those weren’t televised and things are a bit different under the hot lights.
There’s also a lot more money at stake than when I won my two bracelets this year. The media has been crazy with interviews all day long and now they are putting make-up on me so that I can look good for the camera.
They are getting ready to start, so we’ll see how it all turns out.

- Tom

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Interestingly enough, since Tom has started working for the WPT-CardPlayer Trust, he has dropped from second in chips to the short stack.

UPDATE: Robert sends word from the rail:

Tom just doubled u[p]

OK, so maybe it’s not earth-shattering … but I take great pleasure in reporting the results of the WPT Legends tourney before CardPlayer did. No media badge needed, and I didn’t even pay a dime for the privilege! Woo-hoo, poker journalism is easy!

So anyways, yes, we they have moved on to Day 4 … with 18 people still in contention for the $1.6 million win. One of those players is our own Tom Schneider, who is 5th in chips with 803,000, and our newly beloved Robert Goldfarb, who has a little better than half the average stack with 296,000. That whole M=11ish thing again.

Blinds start tomorrow at 5k/10k + 1k.

All remaining players are guaranteed at least $34,000 (net: +$24,000) and the tournament resumes tomorrow as they play down to a 6-man final table.

At the end of Day 2 of the WPT Legends of Poker tourney at the Bike, there are 53 players remaining … 45 of whom will make the money — $16,000 for crossing the bubble — and a few who will have a real chance at the $1.6 million first prize. Tom was a serious force all day, but ended up with 180k in chips … just below the average stack line. Robert (along with David Chiu) will start Day 3 with the smallest stack. Should be a real test of his critical bubble play. That or pocket queens on his first playable hand will or will not hold up.

Dallas underground expat Gavin Griffin is also alive and well, by the way.

Interesting thing in the official tournament wrap-up is the growing disparity between CardPlayer, now in partnership with the WPT, and the WSOP. I guess it’s kinda like Japan and Italy were technically allies in WW2, semi-united in their animosity toward the USA and its way of doing things:

Legends of Poker Day 2 Recap

In a quiet corner of the Bicycle Casino, day two of the Legends of Poker played out as the antithesis of the World Series of Poker. The first major tournament since hoards or poker fanatics descended upon the circuit, Legends produced a focused group of name professionals that batted until 53 were left standing. Flurries of action were set between long periods of calm, and numerous pros fell early.

I guess it shouldn’t surprise us that they are trying to put a positive spin on the “closed set” nature of their events. After all, it is quite different from the carnival atmosphere of the WSOP, and indeed, that’s their prerogative to run ‘em that way. It probably will work just fine — players will still play — but gotta say, I probably wouldn’t care as much about what’s going on behind closed curtains if I didn’t have a couple friends alive behind them.

Any thoughts on this from you poker-geeky internet readers out there?

Day 2 of the $10k main event of the WPT Legends of Poker is well underway in California (aka the Oklahoma of Las Vegas).

Click here to follow the chip-by-chip coverage.

The Arizona contingent of Pokerati is representin’ … Donkey Bomber is second in chips right now (behind Dutch Boyd) and Big Robert is hanging on, trying to make it to Day 3. With 89 players left, he’s a shortish stack with 30k. Blinds are 800/1600 +200. Other Arizona peeps doing well/on fumes include Danny Fuhs and Mike Wattel.

Beyond all those guys, I’m watching the fake Todd Phillips and Batface fantasy-teamer Danny Wong — who’s got a plenty healthy stack as he guns for his third WPT final table in a row.

By the way, there’s also lots of crazy poker media stuff going — this being the first WPT event with semi-closed coverage after a legally questionable deal between Berman/Lipscomb Inc. and CardPlayer. California girl Jen Newell over at Wisehand should have some decent insight … as she used to work with the WPT, has covered their events before, and knows her way around the back-halls at The Bicycle Casino, unlike Gonz, who gets kicked out when he goes there.

Sent an encouraging message to Robert G (who is not being covered by the WPT-CardPlayer junta) while typing this post regarding his 30k: You are definitely good enough to work with that. M=11? Please.

His response: 15k.

I suggested he shift into panic-and-pray gear, but he tells me he’ll find a spot to 1-2 punch his way out. Alas, I also told him yesterday that I was “rooting for him.” Oops … kinda forgot, as plenty of old Lodge players can attest … that’s kinda the kiss of death.

Hand-for-hand play at the bubble to see who will compete for the big money on Sunday at the WinStar Casino’s signature annual event.

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–Below is the list of Day 1-Day 1 Day 2 qualifiers. Names of those who advanced yesterday aren’t yet available, nor is any info on the 41 39 remaining players today. But hey, no sweat … after all, the entire prize pool for this $1 million tourney was just $50k two years ago … so a lot of this is new to the people running the show here, and I gotta say, speaking as a tournament directorial wonk guy who likes to tell people they are doing things wrong, they seem to be doing a really good job. They may not have figured out whether or not they’re gonna let media take pictures — seriously, dudes, it&