All of the tables in the PLO w/rebuys tournament are sick. The field isn’t enormous, but it consists of so many notable players that it’s hard to look away.

One table in particular, Table 15 in the Orange section has an impressive line-up: Robert Williamson III, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Sirous Jamshidi, Daniel Negreanu, and Daniel Alaei. And as I’m typing, Alex Kravchenko was moved to that table as well.

The players are having a good time with the set-up, and it’s a couple tables away from the spectator rail, so railbirds aren’t hovering. Strange thing happened, though. A non-ESPN-credentialed person came up to the table with a video camera, which is typically good enough to get you and your media credential kicked out on your ass, and filmed some of the action, even commenting to the players and looking for reactions. Hellmuth started to get annoyed, and that’s when a certain Harrah’s big-wig came over and monitored the filming; by his mere presence, he sanctioned it.

As a few fans found their way through the tables and security to get closer to the table, they were shooed away and told to get out of the area. Yet, the rogue videographer was able to stay and continue filming for quite awhile before leaving upon obtaining the footage he desired. Interesting exception to the media rules. I’m sure there was a good reason…

One of the other major tournaments going on this weekend took place in Aruba — a slightly more scenic destination than New Jersey. The $5,500 buy-in event drew 548 players, and in the end, after enduring a semi-difficult outdoor final table (complete with sun, wind, and bugs) Fort Worth’s Travis Rice was the last player standing — winning $800,000 and providing further proof of the old adage about the success of the Dallas Cowboys being tied to the Ultimate Bet Aruba Classic.

Mean Gene was there ogling the bikini-clad following the official action, as was PocketFives. While a handful of big-name pros competed (Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Robert Williamson, Mike Matusow, Kristy Gazes, et al.), by the time this thing got to the money, the online qualifiers were clearly dominating.

Online players know Travis as “TravestyFund” … but some of you may remember him as a dealer at the now defunct Sixth Street. He has since turned pro, and thus far in 2007 banked nearly $1.2 million in tournament winnings. He celebrated his most recent victory by jumping in a pool.

More photos here.

Congress is bucking up for a new legislative season — in a presidential election year, no less — and our representatives have to make calculated principled educated decisions about which bills to stand behind. On Monday, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) signed on to cosponsor HR 2610, aka the Wexler bill or Skill Game Protection Act, which would effectively remove poker (along with bridge, chess, backgammon, and mah jongg) from the aegis of the UIGEA.

Sessions is the second Republican to align himself with this bill, and he promises to lend more than just his signature to the poker cause. “If we decide to get in this thing, it’s not because we’re [just] gonna use my name,” Sessions explained, “we’re doin’ it to get it done. Otherwise it’s like a warm bucket of spit — it’s no good.”

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Before saying yea or nay, he wanted to hear more about the issues behind the legislation from the people it affects. So with the help of Lavigne in Austin, a small group of concerned constituents — including pros Clonie Gowen and Robert Williamson — joined lobbyists from the Poker Players Alliance in Sessions’ Dallas office last month for a roundtable discussion about this bill and online poker in general.

This was a real opportunity to inform an influential congressman in greater detail about the horrors impact of the UIGEA and plea for emergency humanitarian aid a federal bailout sensible government intervention. It also provided a privileged glimpse into how our system really works and a chance to see the new leadership of the PPA in action … But yeesh, 9 am is a little early, no?!?

More…

LAS VEGAS–One of the key themes emerging at the 2007 WSOP is the quest for corporate sponsorships — of the non-online-poker variety. These relationships were possibly neglected in previous years, because the PartyPoker/PokerStars/Full Tilt cash was so easy to come by. Now, not so much … and in the long run, it’s probably a good thing … if poker indeed wants to evolve into something more akin to NASCAR or the PGA.

With that said, Pokerati, you know, likes to sell out be on the journalistic front lines, and thus we’ve partnered up with Milwaukee’s Best Light. On our team of players we have one blogger (me), one pro (Robert Williamson), and one Hollywooder … Rob Mariano. Today is Rob’s day to play under an MBL banner … he’s in the Event #15 — $1,500 NLHE. We just had a little introductory get-together at the Rio Starbuck’s (seen here) because that’s how sponsorships roll.

“Boston Rob” reminds me a lot of Gonz. Except that he seems nice. Last Pokerati checked on him, his starting stack was unchanged, and he had folded a bunch of hands.

UPDATE: He has a few more chips than before, but still isn’t sitting in a way conducive to my “casually” capturing the MBL logo. But I did manage to get this shot in the interim:

LAS VEGAS–Right now the final table of an Omaha Hi-Lo event is underway. And two other Omaha tourneys just got started today. But it’s kinda weird, because one of the events wasn’t on the schedule. In a nutshell, the plan was for a $1,500 PLO event. But then the Europeans started complaining that there should be rebuys. WSOP officials relented, and outta nowhere declared, OK, rebuys it is!

Well that didn’t leave a lot of people who registered for the event — thinking it would cost them $1,500 instead of, say, $6k — very happy, and they started withdrawing. So the poker gods decided to go back to the original plan, and then to appease the Europeans, added a $1,500 PLO (w/ rebuys) … which got started at 4 pm today.

The ever-Dallasy Robert Williamson is currently playing in both. He’s seated next to David Williams in one event, and Greg Raymer in the other.