Rise — those clothing makers who you may recall came onto the scene a while back as the people trying to remove the d-bagginess from poker fashion — has partnered with Poker Royalty, the pre-eminent poker representative agency, to launch a new fully legal play-for-free online poker site with real cash prizes. Though I do have to wonder when they say their new poker team will include “some of the most recognizable poker players in the world” … are they talking about pros who may or may not have deals currently with dot-net (lol) online sites or the likes of @kevmath?

ZEN Entertainment, the operation powering the new Rise Poker room, is the group that recently launched the Hustler Casino’s online poker site. Though we weren’t necessarily anticipating a clothing line getting in on the action before more casinos … and two doesn’t necessarily make for a statistical trend … Pokerati is feeling good about our newsy speculation that the upcoming 2011 WSOP may indeed be full of free online qualifiers, which would be kinda different from WSOP’s past.

Read below for the official announcement:

RISE Poker Launches Rake-Free Legal US Online Poker Site
For Displaced Online Poker Players

May 19, 2011 (Las Vegas, NV) – It is a new day for online poker. RISE Poker (www.risepoker.com) today announced the upcoming launch of a U.S. legal, rake-free poker site where players can compete for up to $100,000 in monthly cash and prizes.

RISE Poker is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. In addition to $100,000 in cash and prizes, RISE Poker members will have the opportunity to compete for a $10,000 Main Event championship seat at the World Series, a $5,000 kick-off bounty tournament, and other specialty events.

The RISE Poker team will include some of the most recognizable professional poker players in the world. The site will foster a community environment so members can interact with each other and the pros. RISE Poker members will also have access to strategies and tips from the world’s top poker pros and be eligible to receive other valuable benefits and rewards.

“The market could not be better for a new, innovative rake-free site to fill the massive void created by the recent U.S. departures of the largest offshore online gambling sites. RISE Poker will offer these players a safe, secure, U.S. legal option that still offers the thrill of competing for real money cash and prizes,” said Steve “Chops” Preiss, RISE
Poker Executive Vice President of Business Development.

“We plan on changing the way people perceive traditional subscription poker sites and build a brand with long-lasting value for our members,” continued Preiss. “Members can regularly play against and connect with some of the best professionals in the world, improve their game through strategy and training, and be eligible for tangible short- and long-term benefits and rewards.”

Other key highlights of the RISE Poker launch include:

• Tiered membership levels: Members can play for free or pay a $19.99 monthly “Grinder” membership fee for additional benefits. There is also a free Alternative Means of Entry option associate with each membership level.
• Cash and prizes: At launch, RISE Poker will offer members up to $100,000 in real cash prizes, plus opportunities to win entry into premier live poker tournaments.
• Access to top poker personalities: RISE Poker is building a roster of pros who will actively play on the site through bounty and other special tournaments, as well as interact with members.
• Ability to improve your game: Members will have access to training content provided by PokerVT, as well as RISE Poker Team Pros.
• Legal & Secure: RISE Poker is available to customers in 48 U.S. states and additional eligible international markets.
Strategic partners for RISE Poker include:
• ZEN Entertainment, Inc. – The site will reside on the ZEN Entertainment Network®, the leading free-to-play online game network in the industry.
• Poker Royalty – As the industry’s premier talent agency, Poker Royalty will exclusively handle pro sponsorships for RISE Poker.
• RISE Clothing – The poker-inspired lifestyle apparel company will license its brand to the platform and supply VIP club members with gear and other benefits.

ZEN Entertainment CEO Craig Billings said of the venture: “The RISE Poker group is comprised of the preeminent minds in poker today. Working with them represents an exciting endeavor for ZEN. We are impressed with how RISE Poker is going about building its brand and a unique, player-centric approach to its customers. ZEN looks forward to providing best-of-breed, rake-free poker software to power RISE Poker.”

RISE Poker will announce the first Team Pro members in the coming weeks. Register early and be eligible for a $1,000 kick-off free-roll and receive special promotional offers by visiting risepoker.com and entering your email address.

To learn more about RISE Poker, visit www.risepoker.com.
To learn more about RISE Clothing, visit www.riseclothing.com.
To learn more about Zen Entertainment, visit www.zenentertainment.com.

The DOJ dropped an A-bomb on the online poker industry Friday, and, as you’d expect, the impact was devastating. Within hours of the DOJ’s indictments, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker had shut down real money gaming in the US, effectively killing online poker and leaving millions of customers with nowhere to play.

And while the sites are scrambling to readjust to a world where approximately 40 percent or more of their business just disappeared and mount legal defenses for themselves and their executives, the fallout from Friday’s bombshells continues to spread far and wide from its epicenters in Dublin and the Isle of Man.

I could go on, but I’ll just end up depressing myself and that’s no fun.

While Full Tilt and Stars were certainly the two biggest poker sites operating in the states, their reach extends far beyond the virtual felt. Until Friday, these sites were the drivers of a whole industry that revolved around their players, television programs and live tournaments around the world. With the sites gone, the poker economy they supported is sure to follow.

As I write this, a number of my friends are getting trashed on Pisco Sours down in Peru, where they’re covering the end of an LAPT event for PokerStars and PokerNews. The sad fact is, though, this may be the end of poker reporting as we know it.

Providing live tournament coverage is expensive and resource-intensive, and sites like PokerNews can’t exist without financial underwriting provided by sites like Stars and Tilt. With those players now out of the US market, there’s no reason for them to be spending resources on tournament reporting when that money can be better spent on the high-priced legal teams they’re undoubtedly going to need to put in place. Bottom line – that WSOP coverage that everyone has been gearing up for next month probably isn’t going to happen.

Of course, that may not be the worst thing in the world as today’s crackdown will surely impact the size of this year’s WSOP. All those online qualifiers that send thousands of hopefuls to Vegas every summer? Yeah, they’re gone. And online players who were thinking of raiding their bankrolls to finance this summer’s live shenanigans in Vegas? They’re not going to be seeing that money anytime soon.

Who else will fell the impact of Friday’s bombshell? How about the folks who produce all of the great poker programming we like to watch? Do you really think there will be any new episodes of Poker After Dark or The Big Game? Don’t you think that ESPN is suddenly rethinking their plans for their coverage of this year’s Main Event? You can bet that the production companies and TV networks are all going to be hedging their bets and looking for new programs to fill their production and broadcast schedules.

Let’s not forget the poker mags like Bluff and CardPlayer who live on advertising revenue provided by the big online sites. With no US players, there’s reason for the sites to spend money on new ad buys, which means those publications will probably make it to press a few more times before their money runs out.

Other folks who will probably be scrambling for new revenue streams are the people who run online poker training sites like CardRunners, PokerVT and the like. Their US customer base just disappeared along with the ability to sit at real money tables. While I’m at it, I should probably mention folks like the agents at PokerRoyalty who just saw their commissions go down the drain. And the players who make their living by spending their days grinding online all day. I’m sure there’s a whole group of 20-somethings in Panorama Towers who are all learning how to say “Would you like fries with that?”

I could go on, but I’ll just end up depressing myself and that’s no fun. So, I’ll leave you all with this thought; What happened [Friday] was most definitely bad for poker in the short term, but if it prompts Congress to finally take a serious look at the regulation of online poker, then there may be some long-term benefits.

Not to be a spoiler, but the closing line features a sound clip from Darvin Moon, with weekend host Guy Raz saying, “That is Darvin Moon, and he’s about as far away as you can get from poker royalty.” That is a funnier line than Raz even realizes, considering Moon’s resistance to all things sponsorship.

Raz does a follow-up the next day, just on Darvin Moon:

For more academic intellect surrounding Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, check out our favorite new older-than-25 Betfair blogger Shamus’ interview with McManus here.

And for a little low-brow historical perspective on McManus from a pre-Darvin Moon era, here’s my interview with the author of Positively Fifth Street from 2004.

(Yikes, 2004!?!)

So fine. I didn’t. And in returning the favor, The Big Randy gave me confirmation that people who are superstitious are measurably less likely to win the main event. He had one guy to be really careful of today, sitting to his left, and on the third hand he got it all-in on a race … and lost … QQ < AK.

OK, I swear I feel bad. But this really is what today's all about -- the crushing of hopes and dreams.

And unless Team Pokerati can sneak up on some remaining big stacks to slap a patch on them -- which I'm pretty sure is near impossible with all the Poker Royalty agents circling healthy-chipped unknowns -- that means it's up to Tom "1-for-20" Schneider to survive past the bubble, go really deep to re-save the family farm his 2009 WSOP, and hopefully make a final table for my personal branding benefit.

Go @DonkeyBomber!

UPDATE: What I meant to say was good game, Randy. You played very well and gave it a valiant effort. Sometimes you just get unlucky. Better luck next year. You always have our encouragement and support. lol.

(Actually, I suspect a few midwestern papers, at least, will be able to get something in at the last moment — or they’ll just use the internet … bummer that it didn’t go a bit longer?)

A few notes from the coronation:

The Poker Royalty agents exchanged little smiley fist bumps upon Eastgate’s victory. Not sure what that means — but I gotta think a young online Scandi pro has got to be relatively marketable.

Where’s Norman Chad? Nick Geber is taking on the role as post-game interviewer.

Eastgate doesn’t speak fantastic English, and though the Danes will likely be taking some hefty tax (an issue broached by Geber), he can still probably afford a lot of Rosetta Stone. The Danish early-career Dirk Nowitzki of Poker? OK, bad comparison … but it’s late, people are tired, and, frankly, there’s kinda an eerie calm in the Penn & Teller Theater, as the enormity of Eastgate’s achievement still seems to be setting in.

But hey, numbers are numbers, and investigative math leads us to some pretty damning evidence:

$1,500 NLH x 1% of Satan = $10k main event.

Now factor in all the skulls seen in 2008 poker apparel … uh-huh, exactly. So it’s all on Matusow now, obviously, to be the Charlie Daniels of Poker.

Meanwhile, hallway rumors are that Poker Royalty is trying to negotiate a deal to represent the Antichrist as we get closer to the final table.