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.
NBC Heads-Up Championship was on today. Did anyone see it? I saw about 10 minutes of it — but I blinked so I missed Tom.
However, interestingly, I was watching it with a non-poker-player … and he was a little confused, thinking it was live. He seemed a little disturbed when I explained it was shot like 6 weeks ago or so. Then, unsolicited from me, he said, “Why don’t they show poker live? That would totally be sick. I would really get into it if it [were] live.”
“What you are saying is more interesting than you realize,” I said. “It’s kinda a hot topic right now.”
“So you already know the winner of this?” I nodded and he changed the channel to hockey.
Tomorrow be sure to watch the World Poker Tour on GSN. Tom is back to his old tricks finishing in fourth place and getting a full 10 seconds of TV time.
I can only speculate on all the stuff that is going on at the WSOP regarding the discussion of changing the final table format, but here are my thoughts on what has already been discussed.
Given the same payout structure, would you rather make a final table last year or this year? If you say last year, STOP! PROCEED DIRECTLY TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. Think about this. How many people outside of poker know Jerry Yang? Answer = 0. How many people outside of poker know the guy who finished 7th? 0! Did someone actually come in 7th? I don’t remember.
Can you imagine making the final table under this potential change? Many people outside of poker will recognize all the players that make the final table. Before the final table takes place, all players are the same. In essence, all of them are winners, and why shouldn’t they be? They beat 6,000 players. This is amazing. It really is too bad that we only have one winner out of 6,000. A final table at the main event is one of the most impressive accomplishments in poker.
Have done a little semi-investigative drinking digging, and here are a few more quasi-confirmed “facts” regarding a major potential schedule change mid-main event:
No decision is final yet, but on the big pro-con list, the left side of the board has it all but locked up.
Television ratings are the driving force behind this idea.
It was essential, however, that the integrity of the game be protected and blind structures unaltered, no matter what ESPN says.
“Plausibly live” is the buzzphrase for what they’re trying to create. (Pokerati applauds the linguistic choice, btw, and would like to suggest “presumably non-rigged” as well.)
The final table will be played over two days — from the final 9 to 2, and then heads-up the next day. Very Sangy.
Timing will be carefully coordinated so most people will be watching to see who will win, not how one wins (the Olympics broadcast model)
All final tableists will be paid 9th place money in July and will have their return trips to Vegas comped.
In what could well be the biggest change to the main event since playing outside on Fremont Street with a sheet of heavy plastic to hold down the flop … the WSOP reportedly has serious intention of playing the 2008 $10k NLH Championship down to a final table in July, then reconvening three months later as these nine new millionaires play down to a winner. The intent being lots of build-up to a near-live final table on ESPN.
This unconfirmed decision came with careful consideration from what I can tell — many months of discussion, multitable input, and committeeizing. Harrah’s/WSOP authorities were well aware of potential grumbling as they sorted through the logistical details. More TK on this, you can be sure. Reliable sources tell Pokerati that one hold-up was what to do if someone dies or becomes incapacitated/incarcerated in the off-tourney interim … and though this, too, isn’t confirmed, I think they decided to go with blinding off the stack instead of letting poker players designate a substitute in their wills.
We discussed a poorly received tourney idea on Beyond the Table a year ago — the concept being a “men’s minority event.” I loved the idea because we’ve all played dudes-only before and women have ladies tourneys … but while all women players have been the only representative of their gender at a table before, that’s a dynamic that guys simply don’t get to experience.
Psychology would be fun, results would be interesting …Logistics was the tough part — how to limit the field to 10 (or 15) percent men and still attract the necessary entries. But one thing we never considered was a simple invitational sit-n-go.
So much to my delight, the new episode of Poker after Dark just came on and lo and behold the players this week are Gus Hansen, Vanessa Rousso, J.J. Liu, Clonie Gowen, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg. Very cool — well cast with Gus, who knows they know he knows they know he can be a tad horny influenced by his respect for the ladies.
“We should make all the guys play this format one time,” Clonie just said. Barack Obama presumably agrees, as he just sat down for a very similar 6-handed sit-n-go on The View:
(L to R) Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen, Gus Hansen, J.J. Liu, Beth Shak, and Erica Schoenberg appear this week on Poker after Dark.
Dr. Chris Ferguson and his support-posse rejoice behind a trophy, a watch (or is it a bracelet?), and a plateful of half-a-mil. Fabolosa on his lap.
He pushes all-in on a board of . (He’s holding .) The audience — fewer than 80 people, but crammed together to make them look like more — jumps from their seats when Jordan announces the all-in and crowds around the mini-table. Andy Bloch thinks and thinks for several minutes, flips a two-headed quarter and calls with his .
River is .
People are wondering about the call. I contend it woulda been the right decision had he gotten a better river.
Chris Ferguson beat Phil Ivey when his pocket 8s held up against Ivey’s pocket 6s (who was drawing to a 6, 2, or 7 when they got it all in).
This makes it three-out-of-four years in the history of this event that Ferguson has made the finals, and puts him position to arguably claim to be the best heads-up player out there — though being Jesus-like he probably wouldn’t ever claim to be king of anything … as he tends to leave that sorta boasting to Hellmuth … who right now happens to be sitting between Ferguson and Orel Hersheiser, apparently relaying the story to Orel about how he crashed the race car into that pole that pole got in the way of his malfunctioning race car.
Andy Bloch and Huck Seed, meanwhile, are still engaged in a pretty sedate-but-heated battle that NBC may or may not realize is fascinating to the poker geeks out there even without the long hair, big mouths, and all-ins.
We’ll see if we can’t get a photo up here before it’s too late to be relevant so you know who I am talking about. I think he has been on TV once before.
Seriously, I wasn’t trying to pick too hard — a gig is a gig and we all want to do well, especially when the HD cameras are rolling — but this event, for all the excitement around it, is reportedly struggling in the eyes of NBC. And that has me thinkin’-bout soccer, which any real fan can tell you hasn’t quite taken off in America not because the sport isn’t exciting enough, but because the broadcasters and commentators don’t know how to cover it like not-basketball, or in this case not-golf.
6:45 — Johnathan Little d. Erik Seidel. “Plenty of awfully good players are going down,” says TJ Cloutier to Seidel.
6:46 — “Gavin Smith has moved all-in” [to quote the NBC announcer. “Gavin Smith with about 10,000. 10,300. Tom Schneider has the rest, Gavin smith moved in on the button, Tom Schneider makes a quick call.”
6:47 — TJ Cloutier, to friend: “Heh-heh, I got to go to a make-up appointment!”
6:51 — We’re still waiting for a flop. Robert Goldfarb can be seen across the room reading my text and not responding. I guess we both know the situation.
6:52 — Still waiting for the flop. Joe Hachem has come over to read Gavin’s copy of Tom’s book before Smith gets eliminated. Tom has AJ vs. Gavin Smith’s KJ. Flop is 2-3-4. Crowd is screaming for a king. “Only a king can help,” announcer says. “That’s not true,” a few of us think. 6 on the turn.
6:53 — 5 on the river. Chop-chop. Gavin Smith stays alive.
6:54 — Pokerati can’t stop thinking about how unexciting and technically inaccurate this announcer is and wondering what his presence might have to do with this events falling ratings last year (which were 15 percent smaller than the previous year’s showing).
6:55 — Pokerati removes its jump-to-conclusions subhed, which read “Tom moves on.”
6:57 — Gavin Smith all-in again, with 7-8o against Tom’s Q-Q. “He’s a lot more behind,” says the announcer. “A Gavin Smith race,” says Michael Craig. Flop comes K-5-6. Turn is a 9. Gavin takes the lead.
7:00 — Tom is all-in with 9-9 against Gavin’s Ac-10c. Flop is K-10-J. 8 on the turn. River is 5h.
7:01 — Tom is out after getting it all-in with the best hand three times in a row. Gotta love heads-up, especially for $20k!
7:03 — Matusow is all-in against Hachem, the announcer says “has to get a 4″ … and the audience and media start calling out a bunch of other turns and rivers that could help.
6:02 — Who is this announcer guy? Not too exciting nor comprehensive.
6:03 — Funny, he just made it over to the Tom vs. Gavin table … pointed out that Tom was trailing by “a little more than a few thousand chips.” He then seem confused by why Gavin had some book on the table. “Oops! I Won Too Much Money,” he said over the microphone, surprised to discover the author was right in front of him.
6:05 — “Gavin Smith takes down another nice pot. No one at this table is very afraid,” he said, presumably referring to Tom’s questionable call.
6:06 — Robert Goldfarb is on the other side of the room, not responding to my texts inquiring about what is going on over at his end.
6:09 — Chris Ferguson hits a three-outer on the river … I know see a hot blonde girl standing up and clapping, and am pretty sure that is his modeltastic Brazilian girlfriend.
6:13 — TJ Cloutier shows up and is laughing tickled upon hearing the report from Robert Williamson’s little sister (and favorite Pokerati stalking victim) who informs him that indeed, Hellmuth went out on the third hand. “Heh-heh-ha,” says Cloutier in his Hank-Hill chortle.
6:14 — Oh no! My personal sleeper pick and Arizona Posse-ite Hooman Nikzad is out. He got it all-in with the best, but Greg Raymer turned a set to advance.
6:20 — Tom pushes all-in, Gavin folds … to give the Donkey Bomber a 24k-16k lead. Last time these two played heads-up at the same time, both were competing for WSOP bracelets (in different events). Tom won his match, and Gavin lost his. Just sayin’ …
6:22 — At least two very Hammery flops have come in this 8-match quadrant of first round action. Both 7-7-2 flops have resulted in bets followed by folds. Very interesting.
6:30 — There are seats for about 90 spectators in this makeshift Caesar’s viewing coliseum. Twelve media spots (not counting the dozen or so NBC folks who have the run of the floor.
6:31 — Kenny Tran doubles up against Scott Clements thanks to running clubs. “The turn always gives you extra outs,” the announcer said. No it doesn’t, at least four of us in the room are thinking.
6:33 — Back to counting … there’s standing room only for about a dozen squeezed in around the rails.
6:34 — Greg Raymer can’t seem to leave, even though he’s already one. It’s clear (imho) he’s looking for camera time … not Phil Hellmuth-style for ego … but presumably to get some HD-pixel time for his patch-friends at PokerStars.
6:36 — As Raymer loudly mentioned PokerStars, a headphone-wearing producer woman just informed Fossilman that he was getting in the camera’s way and needed to leave. “Aww, c’mon,” Raymer unsuccessfully plead.
6:40 — Scott Clements’ AK holds up against A7, and California Jen’s pick to win it all moves on.
Damn, with all the poker media showing up, I gotta be wondering how on earth everyone’s fitting in. The entire tournament room at Caesar’s Palace is taken for the NBC Heads-up Poker Championship stage … though probably less than 20 percent of that spacious area is allotted for actual seats and non-gaming tables.
Check it out: I shot this last night, around midnight, after the drawing party at Pure:
Dealers, chip runners, and cocktail waitresses were all talking about what a madhouse it was gonna be today. The action was kinda amped up. Though no one tried to make much of it, Jason Alexander had slipped away after the drawing party to play a little 2/5 NLH.
NOTE: There are so far four of us with brackets filled out. Actually Kevin hasn’t completed his, but he has started it. Not sure I have made it, however, where you can’t change your picks after these match-ups have started — this bracketmaker site is new to me. So honor-system … no cheating, OK?
Jen and I have $20 riding on the results. TBR, you want in on this action?
The 64-player field competing for $500,000 (on a $20k buy-in) this weekend has been set (up) — with pairings drawn last night at a kick-off party at Pure.
Click here to see the full bracket and make your picks. (This bracket-maker is kinda new to me, so not sure whether or not you can see my predictions here.)
Some of the more interesting pairings to me:
Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Clonie Gowen vs. Jennifer Tilly
Sammy Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Hooman Nikzad vs. Greg Raymer
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
Jean Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle
Norm Clarke — kinda like the Alan Peppard of Las Vegas, with an eyepatch — has the inside poop on the IRS shakedown of Pure. Does this sound familiar … an industry making ridiculous amounts of money, tons of it going untaxed … so the Feds rough up one of the big ones to get the model of how things really work? What happens from there I’m not so sure. But it’s kinda like Neteller, right? Either that or a mid-level agent got turned away at the door and was pissed! Evidentiary text messages between door guys and unthankful bottle-whales included … can’t wait ’til a little Paris Hilton-sex-and-drugs emerges somewhere in the records.
Players have spoken and Steve Lipscomb has apparently listened. As the WPT tries to recover from the fiscal beating it’s taken for the last couple years of generally crappy programming ratings at a time when High Stakes Poker was just finding its stride and the online poker world was in a tailspin … (why did the PPT collapse again? Those shows were great!) … a simple adjustment to a Berman-Lipscomb-Corp. policy stands to put a little more money into players’ pockets. An email sent out a month ago:
Dear WPT Player,
This is a quick email to announce that we are revising the rules for WPT Final Table Player Sponsorship. In previous seasons, pre-approved sponsors were required to send WPT a list of their players prior to the start of each event. If one of the listed players made the Main Event Final Table, the Player would be able to wear the sponsor’s pre-approved logo. No other logos were accepted for that player.
This new 1-minute webisode on RawVegas – Poker Night — is basically like a live-action stick-figure interpretation of DuggleBogey, maybe with a little more sex:
From the looks of the press release that just came in, all is well in WPTville. At first glance I thought I was gonna have to do an, “Oops, we were wrong!” post … but then I realized this is simply announcing the TV schedule for Season 6 — on GSN instead of the Travel Channel — and not anything about upcoming events for Season 7.
Will be interesting to see what effect the move to GSN has on WPT ratings and revenues … and can only guess that the bosses at WPT are thinking the same thing. At a minimum they have made it easy to compare, as last year’s sked seems rather robust:
The World Poker Tour will be announcing its Season 7 schedule next week, and according to some recent banter around the high-stakes tournament tables, at least two (not-so?) major events will be, er, disappeared — the WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship and the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown.
A company spokeswoman could neither confirm nor deny, but did say that WPT Enterprises has “really looked at the market and listened closely to feedback from players.” So I suppose we’ll see next week when the official press release comes out.
In the meantime, here’s Pokerati’s super-undercover investigative reporter Tom Schneider with the report:
Slowly but surely, the fate of the US PokerBowl becomes clear-ish …
Another semi-private email went out this weekend to the winners who are still awaiting to be paid out. It says cash is ready to be handed over to its rightful owners — so long as they promise not to sue after they collect. Fair enough … (Presumably reliable super-secret inside sources say the unpaid PokerBowl prize money totals more than $400,000) … Step 2 will be to make-good with team managers and vendors (who might-should-wanna get in touch with this help@pokerbusinessenterprises.com guy so they can square up some invoices).
Sounds plausibly legit, and I happen to fall in this category, so we’ll see …
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 readersviewers listeners.
There ya have it — take-it-or-leave-it-advice because Pokerati cares the internet happens to be slow today.
Leave it to Tom to turn lemons into lemonade … a $400,000 glass of lemonade to be more specific, but still. He may be out of the WSOP Circuit Tunica main championship event, but if you can’t get enough Tom on, near, or — ahem — beyond the table, he has joined Nick Geber to do the semi-live video webcast of the remaining players.
A lot of people have been clamoring about my TV poker hosting debut wondering what has happened with the U.S. PokerBowl. Indeed, this inaugural team poker concept tourney was supposed to be airing this month on FoxSports. But I don’t think it will be — despite the arguable success of the event. Sure enough, everyone there seemed to be having a really good time … the televised images looked different than what has previously been seen on Poker TV … and amid an interesting re-interpretation of important poker rules, there was all sorts of heartwarming emotional drama with potential controversy (would Marc Seif’s Absolute team insist on wearing their be-logo-ed hats so visibly?) to give us announcers — and presumably the blogging television audience — much to talk about.
But perhaps everyone knew something was amiss when the only two people not smiling in the Key West ballroom at the Palms were the guy organizing the whole thing and John-Robert Bellande (who wasn’t even playing).
“Hey, congratulations on pulling off something really cool,” I said to John Nightingale at the start of the final-final table.
“Well, it was until about 30 minutes ago when the shit really started to hit the fan,” he responded before walking away all exasperated. I guess maybe we shouldn’t be surprised when a tournament that relies on too many freerolls and forgets to take any juice runs into a financial clusterflubbing. Bummer if it can’t be resurrected. Just ask anyone who participated … it really was pretty cool.
Click here to see my photos from the PokerBowl (kicking myself for not taking more of the real behind-the-scenes stuff) … and/or click below to read an email that went out last week updating those with a vested interest in the success (or failure) of the PokerBowl on where things currently stand and what the money situation is:
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 23:29:35 +0000
From: help[-at-]pokerbusinessenterprises.com
To: help[-at-]pokerbusinessenterprises.com
Subject: POKERBOWL MONEY OWED URGENT UPDATE
Huh, maybe I’m wrong about poker’s decline … maybe Lycos is right and poker is just starting to boom. Was checking out YouTube early this AM, and with so much important stuff going on in the world — the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Ron Paul’s squelching by Fox News, the New England Patriots yadda yadda — what’s the number one spotlight video?How to play Texas Hold’em. “The fifth and final card dealt is called the river.”
On the upside, it led me to a related video with Oliver Tse at a final table. Southern California Poker Tour announcer Matthew Dodd rips into the O-man for leading out from early position when he flops two pair … and I just gotta say, Doddo, you are dead wrong in your analysis — despite your Tom Schneider looks emphatic delivery of it! But hey, I guess that sorta expertise should be expected from the people who bring us the video above?
Evidently, MTV is seeking online poker players for a reality/documentary series to air on the network. “True Life” is a series that has been running since 1998, featuring stories on everything from interfaith relationships to drug addictions to wannabe superstars.
In the producer’s quest for online players, the company posted a request on the 2+2 forums looking for online players ranging from 18-28 who lead interesting lives.
Ummm, can you imagine the kinds of responses they’re getting?
Well, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. If you’re not a world-famous poker pro, this might be your chance.
After catching up on the week’s Poker After Dark episodes, I want to jump out of a window.
This week featured Jamie Gold, Mike Sexton, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Paul Wasicka, and Alan Boston. For those who don’t know Boston, he is evidently a well-known seven-card stud player and college basketball handicapper.
Matusow is known for his self-deprecating talk at the tables, but he somehow balances it with some humor and friendly conversation. Never thought I’d say this, but he was pleasant to watch as compared to one of his competitors.
Boston’s constant negative yapping caused the other players to roll their eyes, laugh (at him), and seemingly restrain themselves from telling him to shut up. Time and time again, he lamented that he never got a hand, couldn’t figure out the hole card camera, didn’t have his chips in the right place, couldn’t drink what he wanted, and desperately wanted to go home. As a viewer, I wanted to turn off the TV but wanted more to see who would suck out on him to send him away.
And this guy is a Full Tilt pro? I bet he hates that, too.
I’m sure Boston is a nice guy in real life. Let’s keep him there and off my television.
From Boston to Cali to Las Vegas to Washington DC … it’s all about poker-poker-poker ’til the cows come home.
So wow, so much is going on right about now. A lot of smart people doing a little bit more than just geeking out about poker and the industry’s/game’s/lifestyle’s future. Wish I could be everywhere:
And then this weekend is the California Poker Conference — where speakers include WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, PPA Executive Director John Pappas, and some influential old-timers such as Mike Caro, Lou Kreiger, Barbara Enright, and many others.
And then on the next day, Pappas heads back to Washington DC, where he’ll be hosting the Poker Player’s Alliance DC Fly-in — a little Beltway lobbying fest on behalf of pro-poker legislation. This is the one I really want to be at — and we’ll try to stay on top of things from afar — because twisting Congressional arms enlightening our representatives is a lot of fun. I gotta say, it also kinda makes me proud to know that our success wooing Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) as a co-sponsor to HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act, kinda inspired it.
JP: We had a really great meeting in August with Congressmen Pete Sessions in his Dallas, Texas, office. It was myself and a number of our local PPA members, including Clonie Gowen, who’s a Dallas, Texan, and Robert Williamson III, another Dallas, Texan. We went in and sat down with him and talked to him about the Wexler bill and why it just didn’t make sense that a game of skill is being outlawed on the Internet. And it really resonated and it really came through and what I saw was, wow, this is something we need to replicate, this is something we needed to do more of. Based on that meeting, I thought we needed to get people out to Washington. Whether we make 20 meetings or 200 meetings, I think it’s going to be a worthwhile event.
Very cool! (And well done, Pokeratizen politicos!) Good times, all around. And indeed, we should do more of that.
I’ll be in Vegas … assuming I make my flight, which leaves in — yeow! — four hours, to do the TV Co-hosting thing with Tom Schneider for the inaugural Poker Bowl. This should be a pro-studded affair … even Doyle Brunson will be playing, along with Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen, reformed self-colluder ZeeJustin … and Absolute spokesman Mark Seif. Like seriously, we have so much to talk about!
And so little of it to do with how to play in middle position.
Like the US Poker Championship, the Ultimate Bet Aruba Classic lost its TV deal (with the WPT) … Have a look at how its field size has changed over the years:
2002 - ??
2003 - ??
2004 - 647 players (Eric Brenes d. Layne Flack)
2005 - 647 players (Freddy Deeb d. Josh Schlein)
2006 - 512 players (Devin Miller d. “JohnnyBax”)
2007 - 548 players (”TravestyFund” d. Jim Mordue)
For those who are curious, here’s how the USPC has changed over the years, in terms of the size of the main event field, and thereby payouts:
(Top 2 finishers in parentheses)
2002 — 72 players* (John Hennigan beats Erik Seidel)
2003 — 99 players (Toto Leonidas beats Erik Seidel)
2004 — 177 players (John Aglialoro beats Joe Cassidy)
2005 — 226 players (James “Capo” Caporuscio beats Ralph Pecorale)
2006 — 261 players (Alex Jacob beats Jordan Morgan)
2007 — 164 players (Winner TBD / Not Gavin Smith)
Not sure what all this says about the level of competition or the poker world in general, but the numbers are telling of something. This tourney did lose its TV contract this year, which certainly alters the field. But what becomes of it from here remains to be seen.
And/or click here to dig into the history of this boldly named event. (Pre- and post-poker boom.) Do you think it’s possible that “struggling” tourneys like this one might change their payout structures to make them more appealing? Because while the 1st Place prize is plenty hefty, pros know how hard it is to actually win one of these things … and I gotta think if they knew a final table provided a bigger ROI it might be easier to put it on their schedule. Just a thought …
* Buy-in in 2002 was $7,500. Raised to $10,000 thereafter.
Poker must be the most boring activity in the world. Why else would the industry focus its cameras on the most ridiculous people?
We have spelling bees and Scrabble championships on TV and none of the competitors have little “charks†and make munching sounds then yell their name “HUMBERTO, HUMBERTOâ€. None of them spell a tough word and start making animal sounds while moving their bodies in hunchback dance moves. Could you imagine Humberto as a little kid competing in a spelling bee and yelling his name every time he spelled a word correctly, then getting out a little Power Ranger and acting like he is going to hit the little girl he is competing against?
We as poker players should want nice people with lots of money to come play with us. Do you think when Bill Gates sees Hevad Kahn doing his monkey noises and strange gyrations he says to himself, “boy I want to play with that guy? Maybe I could get that guy to represent Microsoft.†I’m guessing not; however, I guess that’s exactly what Pokerstars says. He is now a face on Pokerstars. Why would any company want to associate with these embarrassing people? Answer, they get a lot of exposure on TV. Michael Vick is getting a ton of exposure, I hear he likes gambling too, and he’s available for about 5-10 years.
Poker is reaching the lowest common denominator, and it’s a joke. I am really tired of people having to exhibit ridiculous behavior in order to get noticed in poker. There was actually a guy at a featured table at the main event who made balloon animals for the other players at the table. Are people really this desperate to get on TV? The answer is clear. Therefore, I have compiled a list of things that I’m willing to do at a featured table next year.
Tom loves nothing more, I am sure, than getting a call from me late at night to relay a bad beat story. One of the things he’s been on my case about lately is the concept of running it twice and/or offering insurance. (Say I get it all in with a straight against another dude’s trips.)
“Did you ask, did you ask? Did you tell the dealer to stop dealing?”
The answer’s always the same … I did, and they said no … this always seems to baffle him, as if he doesn’t realize why a 2/5 game simply isn’t big enough for poker room management to overlook Chickasaw Nation gaming regulations that prohibit side bets.
Anyhow, I know and get how running-it-twice works and am still trying to get my hands around the insurance concept … and thus I was particularly interested in this episode of Premier League Poker (a British knock-off of Poker after Dark) in which Phil Hellmuth wins the hand but loses his $4,000 insurance bet, happily he contends:
The video’s kinda old, but hey, it’s new to me … and we haven’t paid much attention to what’s going on over at the PartyPoker tables ever since they bid us farewell. So unbelievable … crazy hands and crazy beats are still happening! Check it out below … this hand took place on one of Party’s many European infomercials televised events:
Wow, it’s like an underpair beats an overpair almost 20 percent of the time or something! Nice hand.
OK, upon further research — was looking for the exact percentages — this is not the first time this hand has come up. Something similar shook down in 2002. That, of course, is the year that PartyPoker officially launched. Um, can we say scripted? Obviously.
(But clever touch adding in the pocket 5s and 7s … it almost threw me off track.)
A few click-worthy items populating browsers throughout the poker world this week:
The WSOP-Europe is kicking off right about now — with a £2,500 HORSE event. Click here to follow that action. Then comes £5,000 PLO and £10,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Remember, that’s $20,000 to US Americans.
PAULY will clearly be having a terrible time covering the three bracelet events in LONDON:
Ahh, London …
PARTYGAMING’S stock has been sinking. And upon reporting half-year earnings last week, the company that was minting more money than they knew what to do with a year ago is operating in the red.
PartyGaming also made a pretax loss of $32 million on revenue of $212.5 million, down from revenue of $662 million before the U.S. clampdown a year ago.
Maybe we just miss the good-ole-days with some good-ole-friends (half of whom no longer work for Party), but Pokerati says Party is still a BUY! (The Motley Fool agrees.) We first thought that, of course, shortly after the stock plummeted to 26. We acted on it at 36, then thought it again at 56. Currently trading at about 28.5.
The BRITS are having to come up with corporate policies these days to deal with online gambling in the workplace. Uncertain waters … but depending on how the cards fall, its theoretically possible that multitabling while on the clock could get you some paid leave.
Only difference was in DALLAS it made for good TV. (Old article, but one I just stumbled across, and found interesting in light of the Dallas SWAT poker raids.)
In MISSOURI, where what appears to be a $20 (w/ rebuys) barbershop tourney has the barber headed to an actual trial, facing felony jail time.
An editorial in NEW YORK NEWSDAY about how it’s time to regulate online poker. This viewpoint has little to do with your rights to play, but the legitimacy of the WTO if the United States doesn’t either re-legitimize online poker or ban all forms of online gambling, including what’s currently allowed under the UIGEA.
The claims against the US from the European Union and Antigua and Barbuda exceed $22 billion. Japan, Canada, Macau, Costa Rica and India will each be asking for a few billion as well. So far the US hasn’t put up much a defense beyond “not paying.”
In other legal issues, Bodog lost a PATENT INFRINGEMENT lawsuit … and their domain! Try it yourself … Bodog.com no longer exists. Now you gotta go to newbodog.com.
Apparently the HOLLYWOOD Set is still learning to love poker — as actress JESSICA BIEL found herself pulled into a game — reportedly with pros, but whom I don’t know — at the opening of the Ivy Hotel in SAN DIEGO. The girlfriend of JUSTN TIMBERLAKE is new to poker, and started out doing really well before she lost all her chips.
Did you know Jennifer Tilly is 48-years-old? Never woulda guessed it. She’s about to turn 49.
Oh, speaking of Hollywood … almost forgot to drop a name. Robert Wilonsky — the only Batface home gamer with his own Wikipedia entry — has started a new gig on national TV, filling in for Roger Ebert on Ebert & Roeper for the rest of 2007. Very cool! Congrats, Big Bob. With all his exposure to CB A-list actors, I wonder why he hasn’t learned how to pretend he doesn’t have a really big hand sometimes when he does. Click the pic for a funny-ish Robert Wilonsky highlight reel.
One year after the poker laws in this country changed … TODD BRUNSON gets on the anti-UIGEA soapbox. From his efforts to be an ambassador:
By the way, if you work for the Treasury or Justice Department, or any gaming control commission, please disregard that comment about “anyone with a brain.” I realize that it’s the politicians who are passing the laws, and you guys are just doing your jobs (and doing them well) by enforcing them. I also realize that you guys are much more powerful than a poker player, and could crush me like a bug. Please don’t hurt me.
Tom goes to bed with 27 percent of the chips in play at the Legends of Poker WPT Event. In an phone interview from last year’s WPT Reno event, Tom said,
“I wish everybody could go to bed as the chip leader in an event like this at least once in their life.”
Ok. But twice? Hold on, wait a minute…. Two WSOP bracelets. Two WPT Final Tables. What’s next? Two Player of the Year’s?
Depending on when you are reading this, you might be learning of the good news before they do. By “they”, I am referring to my partners in podcast crime, Tom Schneider and Dan Michalski. Just a little while ago, I received a welcomed email from Pokerpreneuer and PokerBowl creator, John Nightingale. It appears that the dick sucking negotiating that I did has paid off and Tom and Dan will be the on-screen commentators for the inaugural airing of the US PokerBowl.
While they do make up a charismatic 50% of Beyond The Table, it will be very interesting to see how the audience reacts to the brewsome twosome once they are presented visually. I, on the other hand, will be doing my best to raise the aesthetic average of the player field when I sit down with TJ Cloutier and the rest of the Dallas Kowboys on October 19th, in Vegas. I wonder if my BFF’s will find it in them to afford me a little favoritism kick-back come game day…
And before he was commentator on Fox Sports Prime-Time, he was getting his 3 minutes on ESPN.
P.S. - The latest episode of Beyond The Table is my all-time favorite. Nothing sexy, just fun pokery goodness.
. (He’s holding 
.) The audience — fewer than 80 people, but crammed together to make them look like more — jumps from their seats when Jordan announces the all-in and crowds around the mini-table. Andy Bloch thinks and thinks for several minutes, flips a two-headed quarter and calls with his 
.
. 
Evidently, MTV is seeking online poker players for a reality/documentary series to air on the network. “True Life” is a series that has been running since 1998, featuring 
in middle position.
