But what about the rest of ‘em?

You can currently find Jerry Yang, the 2007 WSOP’s biggest winner and #20 on the all-time poker tournament money list, bussing tables while commanding an otherwise lackadaisical staff (according to Yelp) at Pocket 8s Sushi & Grill in central California. Um, pass the yum-yum sauce?

Via Pokerati’s resident Vegas grinder-thug @AndrewNeeme:

Poker Fish: You wouldn’t believe how many of Jerry Yang’s relatives are always hitting him up for free sushi.

The LAPC and NAPT/Venetian Deep Stacks may be on-hype right now … but some of the most fearsome high-stakes competition going on in Vegas is shaking down at the M Resort. You can follow the quirky, made-for-TV Premier League on PokerNews.

From the Dept. of: That’s Different

The PokerNews hand reporters have been allowed to see the hole cards and whisper them in Tony G’s ear write about them. (Usually, if reporters are so privileged to see inside the security truck, they usually do so with a promise not to divulge hole-card info.) It didn’t take long for the players — who are stripped of their cell phones and PDAs upon entering the set — to check laptops for the revealing live updates while on breaks or out of a hand/scene.

PartyPoker is clearly trying to pump up Luke Schwartz’s badboy image — taunting him for his ineffectual come-ons of Kara Scott. Here he is on the tricycle Tony G brought for him to ride out on:

Also, btw, check out the PartyPoker blog … where Warren from Party is shedding some of his corporate stick-ness to share some real life-on-the-PartyPoker-trail shtick. AKA Warren “the” Lush and “Fun Warren“.

Pokerati Restaurant Review

M Resort Buffet

It’s not quite Wynn or Bellagio-level … but it’s pretty close. And for a $14.95 lunch/$22.95 dinner, the extra touches — beer and wine available buffet-style, too, and a cappuccino bar — make the pig-it-up-dude! offerings worth wading through the hordes of senior-citizen locals who show up en force to let clever packs of bikers know, hey, this is our joint!” They also do the Tina Martini live cooking show there, which makes the M Resort’s Studio B like the Steel Panther of Buffets.

Price: Freeroll
Food: A-Q
Atmosphere: set of 4s
Service: 9-9

Another new-to-me blog I’ve been enjoying of late: crAAKKer
I am become Death, destroyer of Aces, slayer of Kings, tilter of D-bags

PokerListings has a solid (and controversial amongst people who think they know such things) list of Top 10 Players to Watch in 2010. I don’t think the haters get it … That is who Matt Showell and his people will be watching — whether you like it or not, bitch.

Spoiler Alert:

1. Phil Ivey
2. Cole South
3. Yvgeniy Timoshenko
4. Annette Obrestad
5. Jason Mercier
6. Matt “ADZ124″ Marafioti
7. Isildur
8. Nanonoko
9. Jeff Madsen
10. Lex Veldhuis

Tao of Changerati

Start listening to Lost Vegas: The Podcast, with Pauly and Change100, around the premise of pimping his forthcoming Lost Vegas book. It’s about a blogger living with his blogger girlfriend while he endeavors to spread his poker genius worldwide. She has a way of laughing at him like no one else can, as if she’s seen his junk or something.

ALT HED: The Sonny and Cher of Poker?

Rumorati

From our secret sources on the ground at the LAPC: “Amanda leatherman out at wpt. will be the new hosetess for napt on espn2. Wpt will have a temporary hostess at celeb invitational and is looking for a full time hostess”

If you want to follow the real, non-poker Premier League, you should be getting into Soccerati.com. Especially if you want to bet on soccer. UEFA Champions League getting underway.

We wouldn’t mind more followers @Soccerati on twitter, too. Might even start to send out some tweets as important games kick into high gear.

The Soccerati roster currently includes AlCantHang and JoeSpeaker … with The Rooster headed to South Africa for World Cup 2010 and thus still in negotiations over starting minutes with SangyFarha and DA Hasselbaink.

And, poker blogger creative success story …Chris Hanel — aka Pokergeek and one of some 30something bloggers who over the years have graced these not-so-hallowed Pokerati pages, btw, albeit briefly — is getting big internet kudos for his Hitler video of all Hitler videos, as featured on the ever-viral boing-boing:

via Mean Gene

This in from our Palms spy earlier today/yesterday:

Greetings,

Poker legend Phil Hellmuth dined at N9NE Steakhouse inside Palms Casino Resort Thursday night (11.12.09). Accompanied by three friends, Hellmuth enjoyed a rib eye and a beer.

That’s it, he was the only notable person there on Thursday. We can only imagine how disappointing it musta been for Phil to find no pro athletes or music stars to exchange cell phone numbers with. Things were different about three weeks ago (sorry, leftover sighting) when, according to our embed, “Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas was dining downstairs at N9NE, as were former Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer and “Glee” actor Mark Salling, who ordered lobster potstickers and a kobe burger.”

+Devilfish palling around with (aging) British boy-bander

That same night:

In Playboy Club English professional gambler and poker player David Ulliott (known by the nickname Devilfish), was joined by six guests including entertainer Matt Goss who arrived later in the evening with 15 other guests. The group was drinking Ketel One cocktails.

Devilfish’s mate (in the British sense) Matt Goss is, according to an LA Times blog, “the hottest Vegas act you haven’t heard of” … and the newest musician in residence at the Palms. (He sold nearly 20 million albums 20 years ago.)

In lieu of our semi-regular Friday Night Video(s), here’s Goss’ new single, which features writhing chicks in lingerie amidst plenty of poker action:

As you know, poker players gotta eat …

From the official non-gaming pimpers for the Palms, on Friday night:

Phil Gordon, professional poker player, author and commentator, had dinner at N9NE Steakhouse with five friends on Friday evening (11.6.09). He enjoyed a Tomato Salad and 12oz Filet accompanied by Mushrooms and Asparagus. Also at N9NE Steakhouse was Gary Sheffield, MLB outfielder for the New York Mets, who was joined by two friends for dinner. Sheffield enjoyed the Lobster Bisque followed by Surf n’ Turf.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, through the connecting “skytube” over to Palm’s Place, the PPA was hosting a very private dinner with some of their biggest supporters at Simon. There wasn’t much tweeting about it from those in attendance — including Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Mori Eskandani, Erick Lindgren, or even @PPAPoker — but we can deduce that this had something to do with the PokerPAC arm of things … and @RealAnnieDuke was kind enough to give us a little peek of Lindgren multitasking during the meal … though we’re not sure what the poker political big-wigs + Joe Reitman were chewing on.

Headed your way for the weekend, was hoping at the last second to get your recommendations on 1) tournaments and 2) sushi places to take guest/client. As for tournaments, playing one Friday somewhere during the day, not sure where yet- thoughts? Used to play the Caesars noon $330, didn’t like it last time so thought I’d branch out.

A slightly embellished version of my response to The Antiscouse:

1) Tournaments (Friday day)

Venetian $150 nooner
7,500 starting chips and 30-minute levels. It’s actually a daily event that usually draws 75-or-so runners throughout the week, but on Fridays it has been running closer to 150 players with first-place payouts around $8k.

Since you don’t dig the Caesar’s $330, you might also wanna check out the Bellagio daily events, and if you’re willing to go up against a smaller field with fewer prize payouts, the Hard Rock is in the last few days of their inaugual MegaStacks series — where all the events have been turned into $340s.

For a complete and semi-regularly updated list of Las Vegas daily and weekly tournaments + special events, go here.

2) Sushi

Nobu (at Hard Rock) is my personal favorite. Tasty. Sexy. Fun.

Simon (at Palms Place) is also one of my favorite restaurants in town … though it’s not pure sushi … it’s like Asian fusion with homegrown American steaks and stuff, and it’s away from the casino, which may be more appealing to me than you and your client.

Sushi Roku in Caesar’s Forum Shoppes is great food … but the price-to-portions ratio makes you feel like you’re at more of a French restaurant, and the long walk through a shopping mall to get there may be unappealing to smokers.

The sneaky, ooh, wouldn’t have thought of that place … Koi at Planet Hollywood.

UPDATE: 143 runners at Venetian today — Tagg finished 22nd (18 got paid). Hopefully better results TK for sushi.

Team Tao of Pokerati hits Caesar’s Palace (and Bellagio) for the first open-field running (second overall) of Dream Team Poker. Have a listen to join Pauly and Dan + Shaniac on our ventures to the registration and jersey-issue cocktail party … a pregame breakfast at Cafe Bellagio (where we declare ourselves the favorites, or at least a Top 10 team) … and then back to Caesar’s for the tournament itself. Along the way we analyze the intricacies of team play, formulate an alliance against TJ Cloutier, negotiate a deal to off Jerry Yang, and show you how big bets on March Madness might be the secret antidote to tilt. Intense strategy talk and hand breakdowns to boot …

Chapter 10: Go Team

Episode 10.1: Gel Time

Episode 10.2: Shirts vs. Skins

Episode 10.3: Spam and Eggs

Episode 10.4: Karma, Villanova, and Thor

Episode 10.5: Bustout Strategy

Episode 10.6: Better Luck Next Time

Yesterday I went to the ever-luxurious Sherwood Forest Cafe at Excalibur …

This is a 24/7 venue that has a pretty good reputation for its full menu available at all hours — whether you’re looking for greasy-eggs breakfasts, thick sandwiches, steaks, salmons … you name it … and it happens to be a few steps away from the Excalibur poker room, a past-its-prime little-game venue that still has plenty of low-stakes tourist action.

I could tell something must’ve been off on the day I visited — when the waitress tried to take my order even though I hadn’t been given a menu yet. My soup — baked-potato-cheddar — was rather tasty, until I found a hair in it. And even then it was still pretty good. They never brought me water, and my iced tea was left empty … for a good five minutes after my lasagna arrived without the breadsticks that were supposed to come with it. But the lasagna was still pretty damn good (just a notch below Antonio’s at the Rio). Service may have been weak, but the high-volume, angry screaming I could hear coming from back in the kitchen made for good entertainment. Woulda been even better were it 3:30 am, I am sure.

website

Pokerati Ratings
Food: 8-8
Atmosphere: A-6 offsuit
Price: $1/$3 NL
Service: J-4 offsuit

Without going into too many details, Gregg Merkow — the most successful Dallas pro at the 2006 WSOP (save for maybe TJ Cloutier and expat David Williams) — at some point decided that he was gonna stick to trying to make his money on the table; and he was gonna hedge his bets by moving those TVs into a business with a less predictable but more reliable rake. And considering he already had found great success with the Hurricane Grill, why not just step that up a notch … next door, at the site of the old Greenville Bar & Grill?

All that begat Merkow’s — a casual upscale steak and seafood joint. Former Scrolldowner Mark Stuertz has a review in the current Observer. Kinda funny, because Mark says the place has great seafood, and only so-so steaks. I found it to be the opposite. I loved my steak … and the lamb I had on a second visit was also magnifique. The Bahamian conch fritters were a welcome addition to the appetizer menu … but not quite as good as what I remember nibbling in the seaside slums of Nassau. The lobster was, well, lobster — awesome — but the sideways cut made it hard to eat. But hey … the seared tuna sashimi appetizer … I challenge you to find one better anywhere within a 500-mile radius.

Perhaps we had different experiences because when Stuertz goes into a restaurant, he does so undercover and without bias. When I went to Merkow’s, I kept muttering “poker-poker- [cough]-Pokerati(!)-poker” under my breath whenever staff walked by. For a while I thought I was getting the special treatment I deserve crave. But later I would learn the half-price bottles of wine under $100 were merely a special offered to all customers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Likewise, when I dropped my fork and the waiter brought me a new one, I’m not sure if I was disapointed or pleased to learn that such premium service is simply standard at pretty much all three-dollar-sign ($$$) establishments.

But regardless, still a really good restaurant … and particularly loved the wine list, with so many high-quality but reasonably priced bottles — but not so many that a non-oenophile poker geek would be overwhelmed by the selection. Great place to take a date (I went twice — once with Jen, once with Sang) … and a generally impressive operation set up by a guy who regularly does Dallas poker proud.

Google Map

Pokerati Restaurant Ratings
Food: A-Q
Atmosphere: A-J suited
Price: $2/$5 NL
Service: Q-Q