photo: Jim Schutze / Dallas Observer

Longtime friend of Pokerati and poker pro Gregg Merkow took a rough beat early yesterday morning when fire engulfed two of his restaurants in Dallas. A four-alarm blaze destroyed The Hurricane Grill and the Greenville Bar & Grill, owned by Merkow, along with Mick’s bar and Terilli’s, the Italian restaurant where the fire reportedly started. It’s one of the most historic blocks of Dallas nightlife on Greenville Avenue — and thus citizens are concerned about saving what they can of the buildings even after they burnt virtually to the ground.

More on the fire and its aftermath here.

Because we care about poker players, and due diligence, we’d throw our friends under the bus in a second for a scandalous hedline + Google juice, we couldn’t help but ask whether or not perhaps he’d been running bad lately and this fire, started at a time when the structure was safely empty, might not have been a nefarious play for insurance dollars. Turns out that Merkow didn’t even have insurance on these legendary properties that may or may not have helped launch a poker career.

While non-poker people in Dallas debate how that could be (and who should ultimately be responsible), one of the players in his regular 10/25/50 NLH/PLO game explained, “It’s Merkow. He’s a gambler.”

Our sympathy for his loss … sucks, dude. Merkow speaks with the Associated Press shortly after the fire that had nothing to do with poker here:

Speaking of the M Resort … Wow, not sure how all the #WPBT bloggers in town missed this (ha!) … the lighting this weekend of the biggest (cut) Christmas tree in the USA. Seriously, it was going on right down the street and yet the idea of going South for free hot chocolate and Christmas caroling never came up once!

The 109-feet-tall, 11-ton White Fir from Oregon may be the biggest bush in town, but I guess it’s still not large enough to be seen from inside the Imperial Palace Geisha bar.

See how this recent addition at the very bottom of the Las Vegas Strip stacks compares to other arboreal monster stacks here.

That’s not really the point of this video, but hey, when Lacey Jones talks for 15 seconds about the business of getting naked, people listen.*

The Absolute Poker/Zizzazz girl’s latest spokesmodel gig is with Ksino.com (a gambling-themed clothing line by the people who helped set standards for douchebag- club-culture fashion with Caffeine).

The vid gives a little behind-the-scenes peek at her signing the deal, and then follows her as she hits the streets of Manhattan, where she runs across at least one New York City underground player who offers a glimpse of how the games work there. She also explains how above-ground casinos handle the shark-whale relationship, and eventually starts dressing dudes she meets on the streets … which is kinda like undressing them, but not quite. Special appearance by Spongebob Squarepants.

* listening props: @AlCantHang

Wait, you mean poker pros aren’t the only ones who go broke? Apparently not … according to Brian Cuban (Mark’s brother) 60 percent of all pro athletes go belly-up after retirement. Likewise for Hollywood-types. So much for our theories on poker players being inherently more degenerate … they’ve hardly got the market cornered when it comes to pissing money away.

Though I question Cuban’s numbers, I don’t doubt so much his concept. He will be talking about it — pro athletes specifically — on his podcast (radio show?) tomorrow at 11:15 central.

… for USA vs. Mexico!

It’s 1-1 in the second half. Great game, from Estadia Azteca, where the Americans have never one. Supposedly Pauly put some big money against the Americans when we were bigger favorites. Click here for info on watching the game live online (en Espanol). And here for info on real television viewing. And, of course, @Soccerati @Pokerati has some micro-coverage, too. We will be back to regular programming shortly.

You should be taking this same brief pause from poker, too. It’s good for you.

Hey, I coined a phrase!

http://wordlust.blogspot.com/2009/04/politi-dude.html

Glad to see that all these years of compensating for my limited vocabulary with hyphens has finally paid off. High on the glory and power of being recognized for my creative typing by non-poker strangers, expect many failed attempts to repeat myself to ensue.

In the meantime, enjoy all sorts of useful yet unScrabbleable words here.

Every once in a while we come across something in Las Vegas that has nothing to do with poker, but still, every poker player should know about it … (and when we happen to learn about it from a writer for PokerNews — thanks, Garry! — all the better).

Check out the Big Dig Adventure — which might even be better than shooting off machine guns (a popular offering here in LV) when it comes to shaking off a bad beat or plotting vigilante justice for Russ Hamilton and slowrollers. It’s basically a one-of-its-kind Brobdingnagian sandbox where, for less than $100, you get two hours of moving dirt with heavy Caterpillar-brand construction equipment — bulldozers, skid-loaders, and hydraulic claw-arm excavators. They also have “dozer races” and a high-roller option where you can run over, flip, and crush cars. I gotta think that’s a little more fun than taking out your frustrations by raising with 4-7 in middle position … and it’s good to see something pop up in these tough economic times to fill the entertainment void left by the after-poker shutdown of The Real Deal.

More details from our old pals at Thrillist here.

I’ve been thinking more and more about the current economic conditions … I hear more stories of old friends getting laid off — especially those who worked for newspapers — and it occurred to me that the frequency is resembling the Vegas foreclosure scene a year ago. And with that in mind, yikes, like they’ve been telling us, things are gonna get worse. My newly un self-employed friends are all enjoying the days off now, but we all know the status of most Americans’ savings … it ain’t gonna last long, and when these folks suddenly have no more money to spend … ouch.

Anyhow, it’s all about more than poker, and yet at the same time, this has me feeling so good about various poker bills’ prospects, specifically in 2009. I mean really, how will any non-zeaot be able to say no to the money? And to that extent, as much of a semi-crazy coot as he is … you gotta love having Barney Frank (D-MA) on our side. From a Huffington Post on bailed-out bankers (the folks currently charged with enforcing the UIGEA, btw) being called to the Congressional woodshed (emph. added):

For Frank and other backers of the bailout, known as TARP, or the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the problem is that its purpose is to prevent a total collapse of the global financial system. Because of the way politics works, it’s difficult to get credit for preventing harm rather than doing good.

“It’s like wearing dark pants and pissing down your leg,” Frank said before the bailout vote in October. “It gives you a warm feeling, but no one knows you did it.”

Are we sure this Massachusetts flaming liberal isn’t a good-ole-boy from Texas?

… from all the poker and politics to watch a poker player talk about politics America’s future:

… even though the dudes from PokerListings think so when they drink. If competitive eating were to become the next poker, though, it would probably be fun to see the field whittled down to a “final table”.

For those interested in seeing a real competitive eater at work, I interviewed Rich LeFevre, aka “The Locust”, as he successfully gulped down The Ultimate Steak at Brand (nice, fancy-ish steakhouse at the Monte Carlo) — a 120oz porterhouse (with sides) that usually feeds six, but is free if it feeds one and you clean your plate.

It took LeFevre 40 minutes, and that was with me peppering him with questions all the while:

As far as life on the competitive eating circuit goes, LeFevre looks back to the golden days of 2005, when he competed in 26 events and won $35,000. Clearly this dude could make way more money via prop bets as a competitive-eating hustler … but considering that he asked for ice cream after he finished devouring 8 pounds of steak, a pound of potatoes, and an similar volume of creamed spinach, you can tell he does it just for the love of the “sport”.

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Sorry I’ve been a little out of pocket in recent days weeks months. But I got kinda hooked on election coverage. Dammit, promised myself four years ago that I wouldn’t get caught up in the BS-laden pre-election horse race coverage, but instead ended up making the biggest prop bet of my life about a month ago — $1,000 on Barack Obama.

Since then, I’ve spent my days and nights flipping news channels and scouring YouTube for funny/insightful political vids to send to that great online Deuce-to-Seven player, luvgamble, aka Donkey Bomber, aka Tom the Plumber. My original offer was $500 +3 points, and when given the opportunity for better odds without the points, I had to double my wager. (That’s just smart gambling, right?) So when the pundits are saying there’s a lot at stake this election … they ain’t kidding!

Tom’s an Arizona homer for McCain who’s been mass-forwarding easily disprovable, often hypocritical right-wing propaganda for about a year-and-a-half now — the sort that screams, imho, “Holy shit, is America really gonna put Hillary Clinton a black guy in there!?!” To be clear: I’m not saying luvgamble nor any of his email distro cronies are racists or sexists. I’m just saying they’re white … and probably don’t own any Dr. Dre.

And that’s why I felt (and still feel) that I had a better read on the election than he did.

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The anti-old-rich-white-guy filmmaker appeared on Larry King today … and as we’re now just some two weeks away from the presidential election WSOP main event final table, he was busy educating the non-poker public on why the little guy doesn’t stand a chance against the big guy relative stack sizes and the importance of game selection.

Check it out … the poker talk begins at about 1:45, and is used to explain something about the evil ways of Wall Street and their control of the rake.

He made his appearance in part to promote his new net-distro film, Slacker Uprising, about rallying the next generation of voters online poker players.

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I’ve never placed a sports bet in a casino. Horse racing, yes … but football, baseball, basketball, soccer … nope. Have come close a few times to betting on Wigan, but in the end decided to just “pretend bet” … and I went on to lose a pretend few hundred dollars. I guess it’s for the same reason I’ve never tried heroin. From what I understand, heroin feels great, but I suppose I fear I’d like it too much and/or would find my new junkie friends far more appealing than anyone I know from poker. But now I am starting to reconsider …

I play in a little free NFL pick’em league with my family each year — hosted online by the Las Vegas Review Journal with 7-Eleven gift certificates and Fatheads for prizes — and this year, seven weeks into the season, I’m kinda kicking butt.

Having correctly picked 71 of 102 winners, I’m in the top 1 percent: 21st out of 9,379 in Las Vegas, and 155th out of 131,525 nationwide.

Among the 13 people in the Michalski group, I am in first place. While I’m proud of that, you should realize that competition includes my 1-year-old nephew who always picks teams named after animals, Uncle Ray who writes in “Ditka” for every pick, and my cousin-in-law Phil the Filmmaker:

There’s also a cool little “Survivor” sidegame, where you have to pick one team that will be a certain winner each week — you get to use each team once. I’m still alive in that, too … 400 of us are in LV, and about 3,400 nationwide. I think winning that comes with some real prizes actually … man, if/when I go out in that, I know I’ll be feeling some serious withdrawal.

OK, sorry, back to poker …

Hmm, I tend to think poker players should try to step out of their little-big poker worlds every so often, if only to keep a check on reality. But yikes, maybe not … when a Seattle columnist stepped into a game to get some old-white-men takes on the presidential election … well let’s just say at least a few players behaved like jive-ass crackas weren’t exactly great ambassadors for the game.

(But hey, real people, real life, right? Isn’t being able to take money from the sketchy part of why we play?)

Play with the pros for free on FullTiltPoker.net.

It was a tragedy earlier this week when a small plane crashed into a North Las Vegas home, killing three people. Another one fell out of the sky yesterday, killing the pilot. This one crashed into a home near Jones and Cheyenne (a few blocks from where the Michalski grandparents used to live) and also took off from the North Las Vegas Airport. Seriously, two small-aircraft crashes (into homes) in one week, both flights originating from the 63rd busiest airport in America? That’s just not right.

More here and here.

Soccer is more dramatic/difficult/painful (to watch) than poker. Sigh.

Drove up to my secret shaded, multi-convenient parking spot today … and I noticed something burning:

Hmm, Jen said it was hot out here, and we know flammables blow up in the heat. But the funny part was the one Rio junior suit running over with a single fire extinguisher to put it out. Nice read, dude. Naturally, of course, the fire department would eventually be called and successfully put out the blaze before it turned the 2008 WSOP into a major newsworthy disaster:

Stumbled across this billboard the other day just a couple blocks away from the Rio.

Interesting to see a poker pro 1) with Mike Tyson-esque tats running up his face; and 2) with no reference to his pokering nor a Full Tilt logo anywhere in sight. Of course probably not a bad idea for anyone in the poker biz to diversify their life portfolio … but I can’t help but wonder if last year’s main-event final tableist doesn’t want anyone in the poker world to actually see his Sigfried and Roy side exposed. Actually, I guess it would be bizzaro Sigfried and Roy, or Roy’s evil brother … regardless … who knew Lee Watkinson wanted to sell you knives and skulls to wear at your next formal dinner?

The recent CardPlayer coverboy’s billboard is located just south of the Rio on Dean Martin Dr. (Industrial) facing to the northeast. That means anyone driving in from the south won’t see it, because it will be behind them; but nor will anyone heading to the WSOP from the north … because they would exit I-15 on Flamingo about a third-mile before Lee Watkinson’s topless torso graces their field of view. The only way a poker player might see this sign is if he were leaving the Rio to grab a quick bite at the In-n-Out Burger.

The website he’s pimping — www.leewatkinson.com — doesn’t seem to be fully converted yet for his fashion line … it’s actually about poker … but it does have some funny pictures of Lee taking on an orangutan as a poker protege.

Venerable journalist Tim Russert has died at age 58 of a heart attack. Russert, of course, was the Washington bureau chief of NBC News and the host of Meet the Press … and he liked, played, and respected poker. It was during the 2004 presidential campaign where he addressed the Democratic strategy of trying to win the Rust Belt states by saying that going after Ohio was “like drawing to an inside straight.”

Too true …

Back in the day, Russert played in a home game with Johnny Carson.

While Jen Newell was moving into her WSOP condo, some other folks were moving out … and from the way she tells it, they were in the process of abandoning their cat. Made her sad, because she’s a cat lover. Well now that cat has returned to her summer-home doorstep, semi-emaciated as the Las Vegas heat begins to pick up.

She tried calling the SPCA and some other no-kill animal refuge, but to her dismay, they weren’t open 24/7. Eventually she did find an all-night animal shelter … and now she’s got a couple days to consider that kitty’s future.

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Have a Building with Michael Jackson

In other Vegassy business partnership deals, for the sake of comparison, my fellow newbie Las Vegas local Michael Jackson just did a deal with Thomas Barrack of Colony Capital, which owns the Las Vegas Hilton and Station Casinos. It really was sorta one-sided … but quite a show of good-faith when a neighbor pays off your $23.5 million debt on Neverland Ranch.

Joe in New York writes in with some clarification about Kwari – the online shooting game played for money with full awareness of the relevance of the UIGEA, despite its not-so-pokery nature.

Hey Dan,

Hope all is well. I just checked out your column where you mentioned Kwari had launched services and want to provide a little more information so your readers do not get a bad experience. Currently, Kwari is only available in the U.K. The US version has not launched yet. While you could download the game and play for money in the US, Kwari does not encourage this. If you log in the United States, there will be some serious lag issues as the games are based in the UK. Kwari is expected to launch in the United States towards the end of the summer. Thank you for your interest in Kwari and if you have any questions, please let me know.

Best,

Joe

Thank you, Joe. Will be interesting to watch how the concept of professional online gaming develops. Hey, I noticed that Kwari is based in Gibraltar … Be sure to tell our good friends and your presumable neighbors at PartyPoker we say hi before you shoot them for fun and duckets!

Charles in Fort Worth writes in wanting to know how to donk off his bankroll without chasing straights and flushes:

Hi Dan,

I have an idea for a sports bet and since you are my connection to the world of gambling I thought you could give me some help on who and how to place it.

I want to place a $500 bet on Tiger Woods breaking the record for the most majors won. He currently has 13 and needs 6 more to break the record. I want to bet $500 on him breaking the record within the next 8 and 10 majors. Who could I contact to get the odds and place the bet with. Please let me know what you can find out or where I can go to make the bet. Thanks

GoodChuck

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Fidel Castro just resigned as el presidente de Cuba, and what better way to celebrate the conclusion of his 49 years of dominance than by playing poker and munching on a Montecristo #4 from Havana? That’s how they roll in Mexico, specifically if you’re an American expat in the Yucatan:

Poker Night at Mercer Cigars
Wednesday nights are poker nights at Mercer Cigars. Everyone who participates gets a free Cuban cigar. Buy-in is $500 pesos and First place takes 60% plus a Romeo & Juliet Churchill cigar. Complimentary refreshments will be served, and beer, wine, food and cigars are available. Call for more information or to reserve your spot!

Location : Mercer Cigars, Prolongacion Montejo 85-3, 15 y 17, Colonia Mexico (next to La Parilla )
Time : 8:30 P.M.
Phone : 944-3647

Sounds like smokey good times. Wish I could be there … top-heavy payout structure and all.

Fidel Castro as the .

Who says Las Vegas isn’t for kids? Check out these pictures (sent via a Myspace friend and also found here) … apparently from the Lego amusement park in Carlsbad, Ca.

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