Pokery Domains I own… And, yes, would consider selling

*** Oklahoma Poker ***
REDRIVERROUNDUP.COM/.NET – I don’t think Winstar abandoned this one after the rebranding. I’m thinking they never thought to buy it.
WINSTARBLOG.COM – Not bad. I actually know the guy who bought WinstarPoker.com,.net, etc. He’s somewhat to blame for my addiction.
OKIEPOKER.COM
OKPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
CHEROKEEPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
CHOCTAWBLOG.COM,.NET
CHOCTAWLIVE.COM,.NET
INDIANPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
INDIANPOKERNEWS.COM,.NET

*** WSOP/Harrahs ***
THENOVEMBERNINE.NET,.CO.UK,.INFO,.ORG,.TV – Not sure why somebody doesn’t buy all versions of the domain. Didn’t they learn anything from the WSOP.com ownership battles?
THENOVEMBER9.NET,.CO.UK,.INFO,.ORG,.TV
THENOVNINE.COM,.NET,.INFO
THENOV9.COM,.NET,.INFO

*** Texas Poker ***
TXPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
TEXASPOKERBLOG.COM,.NET
NORTHTEXASPOKER.COM

*** Misc Poker ***
BACKERTRACKER.COM
ANTEESTABLISHMENT.COM,.NET,.ORG
ANTEEST.COM,.NET,.ORG
BANKROLL101.COM
HOWIWIN.COM
HOWUWIN.COM

*** Poker People ***
DAVEBENEFIELD.COM
HOTCHIPSPOKER.COM
TIFFANY-HOTCHIPS-MICHELLE.COM
TIFFANYHOTCHIPS.COM
TIFFMICHELLE.COM

So what do you do after beating TJ Cloutier to win $230k? That’s not exactly lottery money, after all — especially after taxes — but it was enough to (kinda) change the life of Vik Vijay, the Oklahoma poker dealer who won the 2007 Red River Roundup (now called, more elegantly Oklahoma-y, The River) and then delivered on his post-victory promise to quit his job and move to Las Vegas with highly energized bankroll in hand. Since then:

hey dan -
yeah, im headed down to winstar next week to defend – ive got the last starting day – thursday the 21st. hopefully it will go well. the last year has been interesting – i moved to vegas and have mostly been playing. i worked at the venetian this summer, dealing poker for their summer tournament set, but they didnt keep any of us on for anything regular. the poker has been going well, but i really got to lay off the blackjack. other than that, life is pretty good.

-vik vijay.

Though this is not yet confirmed, we think with 1,500, a $2,000 buy-in, and a guaranteed $3 million prize pool that this might-well be the biggest non-WSOP event at $2,000 or more in the history of ever. At a minimum, it’s the biggest event of the year for Texas poker — and Oklahoma poker, too, of course. Was hoping I’d be able to make it back to glorious Thackerville to bring you some WSOP-style coverage of this biggity poker hoedown, but it just doesn’t seem likely.

Last year’s runner-up TJ Cloutier starts today. I’m sure lots of other players we know and love are also there — in fact, if anyone has any updates, be sure to let us know. (Send me an email if you want me Ed to set you up to CSR from the felt/rail.)

Also, last I heard, today is sold out, but 140 seats overall remain. I gotta imagine they’ll fill up if the WinStar is still running single-table satellites … and I know at least two Dallas poker rooms are running sats, so …

As for the River tourney, I’ve been up several times during the months of “qualifying,” and it has been fairly impressive. More impressive is the price you can get for your seats, nearly full price. I won a single table satellite and was able to sell the chip on Craig’s List for $1900 (buyin is $2100). The rake they’ve been able to steal on many satellites has been most impressive- they have been running big tournaments each month ($400+40) for seats, which isn’t too obscene at 10%, but they have been been running $55 single table sat’s to those tournaments, 10 to a table, with winner taking a seat ($440 value) and the house keeping the other $110. And yet people keep playing them.

Not sure if you’ve been kept abreast of the Winstar goings-on, but they did start serving liquor during the summer, and it has changed weekend play considerably. Many tables running 24 hours from Thursday to Monday morning each week. Squishy soft.

Wow. Damn. I did not know. Go WinStar! Should be interesting to see how this $3 million tourney plays out. Would expect to see a virtual who’s who of Texas poker contending.

(Last year, you may recall, this event was called the Red River Roundup and had a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million, in which Vikram Vijay of Oklahoma defeated TJ Cloutier heads-up, making it seem a little bit like an old-fashioned version of the WSOP main event for both of them.)

I’m sure she has almost nothing to do with this — most likely Greg told her it was a good tourney, she was happy to accept a check to show up, and the Winstar’s web people ganked an old PR image off the internet — but still, just found it interesting to see her out of UB uniform. Also interesting to see a Kahnawake squaw working with the Chickasaw. Historically these two nations never battled, but I don’t think you would ever see a Cherokee dude like Scotty Nguyen make the tribal crossover.

First, my tournament. I made it into level 7, a little more than halfway through the day. I had a good starting table, with several players limp-calling and nittily letting there chip stacks dwindle away. The only problem was that through the first break (after level 4) we hadn’t busted a single player at my table; at the same time, almost half the starting field on our day 1 was gone. As a result, there were not as many chips for the taking. Even still, I was at 8400 (average of 6200) and feeling pretty good. I have not played a MTT since the Main Event (subject of a to-be-written post entitled “Supernova, or, how to donk away a money finish in the Big One”), and I was a little loosey-goosey early, but I managed to level it out and felt pretty good with a pretty good table image.

After the break, the short stacks started busting, and we got some more chips in play. In the first orbit or two I got it up to 10K without seeing a turn card. Then, in successive hands, I was dealt QQ UTG, AK in the BB and AJs in the SB. I lost all three pots and was quickly down to 5500. The blinds then jumped to 200-400-50 (from 150-300-25), and I was suddenly pretty short. I moved in in consecutive pots in the SB and on the button to add 35% to my stack. I folded two orbits and was down to 6k or so again waiting for a hand to double through or go home. Sitting UTG+1, I found kings. UTG made it 900 to go, and I moved in immediately. It folded to UTG who had around 4200 total. He called in a shot with AJs. a MP player says he had AJ, too, so, of course, I know I’m dead. Door card is an ace. Down to 1800, I get it in on the next hand with K3 and lose to QQ. You have to win races.

As for the tournament, given the field size and the buy-in, I thought they did a very nice job. There was plenty of play, particulary in the first 5-6 levels. I thought it was better value than the 1500 WSOP events, and the field wasn’t as strong. I was also impressed with the dealers and tourney staff. We never had any issues at my table, but at the very least, it was clear they were trying to make this a great event. I was impressed and will play in this or other Winstar tournies again.

Finally, though I didn’t play any cash games, it looks like their new poker room is the real deal. It seems very nice, and they had a ton of action going when I checked it out (I assume much of that had to do with the tourney). I would definitely go back just to play some live poker.

Overall, I was impressed with Winstar and the tournament, and it will be in my future plans.

On the very next hand, they got it all-in … Cloutier had A-J, an Vijay called with 3-3. An ace came on the flop … no straight or flush draw on the turn … and congratulations to the New Yorker-cum-Oklahoman Vikram Vijay, who wins the 3rd annual Red River Roundup with a red 3 on the river.

Perhaps just as it should be?

Indeed, it should. (But will CP stop caring about events where they are not the exclusive semi-live coverage provider?)

UPDATE: Arnie, despite having the hugest cheering section (four people) chanting, “Ar-nie! Ar-nie!” went out in 10th place. $20,000.

Though as I’m typing there was already a huge 3-way all-in that created some dramatic shifts in chips, here’s who and how the final table started:

TK …

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–It’s getting kinda exciting … 21 players left, and into the real money. Average stack is 238k, and TJ Cloutier has about 300k.

UPDATE: TJ just knocked out someone and increased his stack to more than 500k

The chip leader is Vikram Vijay, who has 650k (after losing an AK vs. QQ all-in). Believe it or not, we’ve actually got pictures … or at least I do. But the duct-taped internet connection here means we may or may not be able to share them.

UPDATE: While all the action was going on above at TJ and Arnie’s table, Vikram accumulated an even bigger chip lead, with 1.4 million in chips. “Vik” is an Oklahoman, trying to do his nation-state proud … as he reportedly is a dealer at the Fire Lake Casino in Shawnee, OK, just east of Oklahoma City … in the Potawatomi Nation. Go Indians!

Eleven players left … and hand-for-hand action has begun.

10th – $20,000
11th – $19,000
12th – $17,000
13th – $15,000
14th – $14,000
15th – $12,500
16th – $11,700
17th – $9,500
18th – $8,000

19-27th – $6,500
28-36th – $4,900
37-45th – $4,000
46-54th – $3,000
55-63rd – $2,500
64-81st – $1,900
82-100th – $1,500

Sorry dude.

Looks like it’s up to Josh, Troy, and/or TJ to do the Dallas gamers (whose names Pokerati knows) proud.

UPDATE: Troy “Darling” Phillips is out. He got pocket jacks on the button and raised. The ever-aggressive big blind pushed all-in … Troy called … and would learn the sad news that he was up against aces. Ouch!

50th place. $3,000. Still, nice job by the Batfaces favorite sugar daddy curly haired representative. It’s only a matter of time before he runs out of money makes another final table.

UPDATE: Josh Evans also appears to be out. Turned away for a second and his table was gone … and he couldn’t be found elsewhere in the field.

Interestingly enough, while Kido Pham and Greg Raymer were brought out here (and presumably bought in) by WinStar … TJ Cloutier simply showed up on his own and plunked down $1,100. Definitely not a charity event for him. And to think, they don’t even have craps in Oklahoma. Can we say positive EV?

With 45 players left and blinds at 4k/8k+500, Cloutier has about 165,000 chips. Average stack is 111,000.

UPDATE: Just learned that Cloutier was bought into this event by a heretofore unnamed military-ish backer in Dallas … who has 50 percent of the poker hall-of-famer.

Texas – 184
Oklahoma – 14
Pennsylvania – 1
South Dakota – 1
Kansas – 1
Missouri – 1
Mexico D.F. – 1

Abteen Vaziri (the “dude” whose name I couldn’t remember on Friday) – 90k
Troy Phillips – 80ishk
Josh Evans – 60k
TJ Cloutier – 85k

Greg Raymer and Kido Pham are milling around. Raymer will be commentating as we move through the money.

UPDATE: TJ Cloutier just almost doubled up … got it all-in with QQ against AK. The lady with big slick would flop an ace, but by the river, TJ would make a spade flush. He is clearly becoming a stronger and stronger force.

Ladd Gibke 152,000
Brian Horton 149,500
Allen Striegler 140,000
Kenneth Blanton 131,000
Abteen Vaziri 126,400
Mike Dickson 116,000
Jeremy Vaughn 106,700
Vikram Vijay 105,700
Michael Brown 102,600
Stephen Goodrich 98,800

Kayvon Shahbaz 95,900
Stuart Hosen 93,600
Donaidsan Brown 89,600
Robney Bridge 84,900
Chul Kim 84,200
Marc Frattes 84,000
Royce Davis 83,400
Jeff Savage 83,000
Davis King 82,000
Gene Carder 81,000
Amar Chokshi 80,800
Jake Haller 79,900
Adrian Garuno 79,000
Milton Pul 77,700
Steve Wagner 70,400
James Cuellar 69,000
Shelby Scott Stevens 68,300
Pavan Bhatia 67,800
Phillip Gutar 66,300
Joseph Wonderlick 66,100
Dara Simpkins 64,100
Jace Margraf 62,900
Byron Griffith 62,200
Julian Salazar 58,700
Gerald McClendon 57,600
Joseph Southhorn 55,700
Jamie Delavega 54,400
Kenneth Shelton 52,600
Dale Ezzell 52,000
Tony Brooks 51,500
Howard Hill 51,000
John Larson 50,700
TJ Coutier 49,300
Wesley Marr 49,100
Troy Phillips 48,900
Gary Landmon 48,100
James Bullard 47,700
Eddie McKinsey 47,100
Alireza Eskandarlou 42,000
John Mike McDonald 41,100
Jason Perry 41,000
Josh Evans 41,000
Michael Kabilio 39,900
Ray Carter 39,500
JT Anderson 39,100
Dale McFarland 38,200
Kendall Copp 37,100
Dwayne Woodcock 35,100
Sammy Boyd 34,300
Kyle Baldwen 34,100
David Reichert 33,500
Lance Treu 32,800
Gary Widener 32,400
Larrie Hampton 32,100
Mike Walling 31,500
Jeff Early 30,900
Leonard 28,900
James Mandrell 28,500
Fac Abbot 28,300
Earl Bryant 27,900
Gary Schimschat 27,700
Todd Watson 27,700
Dustin Johnson 26,300
Greg Anthony 25,000
David Martin 24,900
Danita Fey 24,500
David Nathaniel 22,300
Andrew Farrar 20,700
Kevin Hayes 19,900
Randy Newell 19,300
Brooke Stephens 19,000
Sherri Wickline 18,700
Kirk Flom 18,300
Charles Stubblefield 17,700
Stephen Baldobino 17,300
Selwyn Rivkind 17,200
Billy Dodson 15,600
Michael Crone 15,300
Gene Dockery 12,600
Jeremy Wallish 12,400
Tracy Hibert 12,200
Johnny Standerfer 11,700
John Matthews 10,900
Ted Eberle 10,100
Joe Hewell 9,200
James Herning 7,200
Manuel Mejia 5,700
Mark Jones 5,000
Brian Green 4,900
Arnold Block 4,700

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’s cool … players like it … just be sure to remind us “no flash” — but they’ve for the most part got a smooth-running show going on here, with a player-friendly blind structure to boot. Priorities, right?

(Meanwhile, while the lone person sitting at an unwatched table littered with stray media/player/staff badges, I am getting a lot of curious looks, along with some friendly “hello’s” from WinStar employees moving in a bit closer to size me up. Like why on earth would someone be typing so vigorously at a poker tournament!?! Is that a computer?)

We’ll see if we can’t have a list of the entire field of those who have made the money and are fighting for the $230k first prize up before cards go in the air tomorrow. In the meantime, we know that these 33 people will be there:

Adrian Garuno
Allen Striegler
Arnold Block
Billy Dodson
Charles Stubblefield
Dale Ezzell
Dale McFarland
David Martin
Davis King
Dwayne Woodcock
Earl Bryant
Eddie McKinsey
Gene Carder
Gene Dockery
Jace Margraf
Jaime De la Vega
Jason Perry
Jeremy Wallish
Josh Evans
John Larson
Joseph Southhorn
Joseph Wonderlick
Kendall Copp
Kirk Flom
Larry Hampton
Royce Davis
Stephen Goodrich
Stuart Hosen
TJ Cloutier
Tracy Hibert
Troy Phillips
Vikram Vijay
Wesley Marr

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–Woo-hoo, it works! Yep, it took some sore thumbs and a little extra money to Cingular to make things happen, but I am blogcasting semi-live from my laptop in the WinStar poker room. Still have a few kinks to deal with … for example, it’s hard to find a power outlet in this giant tent. (Quick aside … the WSOP might want to consult with the Chickasaws when it comes to building super-big, functional, well air-conditioned poker tents.) Anyhow, it’s a bit longer of a walk to the WinStar casino entrance on a Saturday evening. Our unscientific license-plate spot-check of the parking-lot action north of the Red River:

Texas – 124
Oklahoma – 3
Louisiana – 1
Ontario (Canada) – 1
Missouri – 1
Illinois – 1

They’re getting near the bubble in Day 3-Day 1 of the Red River Roundup. Forty-six players remain, and today they’re playing down to 34. Greg Raymer and Kido Pham both went out early. No other “big names” remain … but we’re about to take a walk on the other side of the ropes to see if we don’t recognize anyone.

UPDATE: Nope, hardly recognize a remaining soul. Across the way in the cash games, however, is another story, where dealers and players alike look familiar … almost like an old higher-stakes Rounder Club tourney at the old P-room! I’m sure there are some good players left in the field, it will just take us a bit to learn who they are. (And hey, one of these days, the Chickasaws may even let us take pictures!)

Better luck next time, sucker.

UPDATE: Chuck did have the pleasure of getting seated next to Kido Pham. That was presumably fun … at least for a few hours.

UPDATE: They are down to about 100 players, and Merkow, Randack, and Sanbob all appear to be out, too. Vandy Krouch is still alive but nursing a tiny stack.

One player still alive with about 20k I know I know but I can’t seem to place his name. He keeps saying, “Hi Dan,” when I walk by and asks me how “our guys” are doing.

“Dude, you’re the last man standing. Dude.”

Feel semi-assy for not knowing. And though I’m sure he’ll be only minorly bummed when he doesn’t see his name on the internet, I don’t want to disturb his game by saying, “Sorry, man … you look familiar, but no clue about your name … I used to smoke a lot of pot.”

For the record, by the way, it’s really tough to live-blog without the internet!

UPDATE: La Sengphat and her “honey” DC both busted out early today. Flopping two-pair to a set repeatedly can do that to you. Dallas poker seems to be getting its ass KICKED today!

TBR – 10k
Gregg Merkow – 20k
Webber Kang – 3500
Robert “Sanbob” Sanchez – 3k
Jerry Randack – 2500

UPDATE: Webber is out. Now playing 5/10 nlh.

Spot-check of license plates on my walk from the parking lot:

Texas – 92
Oklahoma – 9
Kansas – 1

In the cash room:

Omaha games running – 2/5 and 5/10 PLO
Full 5/10 NLH tables – 4
Number of players in the smoke room playing for their very first time – 2
Amount one of these players is up playing 4/8 – $840

Red River Roundup, Day 1 report:

- Event is sold out. 1,000 players. Double last year’s field.
- 333 played yesterday, of which 33 remain and will convene on the other side of the bubble on Sunday.
- Josh Evans and TJ Cloutier both advanced.
- So did Troy “Darling” Phillips. (Go Batfaces!)
- Marco Palacios went out near thw bubble.
- Avg. stack is 50k. Chip leader has about 150k.
- Media coverage is kinda new to WinStar. They haven’t figured out yet whether or not to allow photos.
- New poker room here is very nice.

Day 2-Day 1 has gotten underway. Favorites include Kido Pham and Randy “The Big Randy” Brown. Greg Raymer supposedly plays tomorrow.