Anyhow, check out Adidas’s new ad campaign on display around the rails at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany — targeting fans of international women’s soccer with phrasing that may or may not have been grifted from poker:

“adidas is all in”

BTW, go USA still, but really, seriously, gg Japan.

UPDATE: Apparently the “adidas is all in” campaign launched back in March. Click here to see the multimillion-dollar YouTube commercials wrapped around a distinctly poker phrase … as interpreted by the world of sports.

Click here to check up on where you stand, click here to see Wicked Chops teaching us the power of WAGs, and click here to check in on Soccerati … which kinda sorta might need someone out there to design us a T-shirt.

The BIG event of the summer is about to get underway. No, not the Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-Better World Championship … we’re talking about the World Cup. I’ll just betcha a few poker players are kinda into soccer, or football, or fútbol … whatever you wanna call it (just please not “footie”).

With South Africa 2010 just days away — our sister-site Soccerati has partnered with our poker allies at Wicked Chops for some World Cup bracketology. Together we’ve got “awesome” prizes in store for the winners. What exactly they’ll be … well, just play along, and we’ll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. (Hint: I still have a few red and yellow cut cards left, which theoretically could work for soccer, too.)

Here’s how you can join in the fun while showing your Euro-friends that, believe it or not, you know your Totti from your Eto’o, and really are a bit more than just an American wanker:

First select which two teams will advance out of each the eight groups. The order you select them – 1st or 2nd – determines where they are placed in the 16-team bracket. Then predict the winner of the 15 bracket matches throughout the Finals. All picks lock with the first kickoff on Friday, June 11, 2010. Good luck!

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en-us/group?groupID=19078

Group: Wicked Chops FC
Password: wickedchops

Kinda funny to see the new-and-improved, PartyPokerfied Tony G becoming an etiquette ambassador instructing poker bad-boys on how to behave at the tables.

Meanwhile, as WPT-Bucharest continues … the WPT is hyping a pretty competitive field for a relatively small (161 players, €3,000+300) new WPT event:

Amongst the players taking part include recent WPT Hollywood Poker Open champion Carlos Mortensen, Sorel Mizzi, Pascal Perrault, Praz Bansi, Team http://www.partypoker.com/ pro Dragan Galic, Casey Kastle, EPT Snowfest final tablists Russell Carson and Alain Medesan, 2009 WPT Championship runner-up Ran Azor and France‘s Nicolas Levi. The local charge is led by Cristian Dragomir, Cristian Dumitrescu and Mihai Manole.

Interesting crop of pros making the trek to the other side of the Iron Curtain. With a decent (but different) WPT Player of the Year race taking shape … I wonder if this suggests more competition amongst tours trying to get players to chase their big prize and any stature that may go with it.

It’s starting to occur to us that a lot of poker players out there might have a keen interest to bet some international football gamesin the coming months. Bear with us, and we’ll see if we don’t know anyone who can help that cause.

ALT HED: Phil Ivey, the Ronaldinho of Poker?

Meanwhile, Nick Geber, formerly the multimedia guru at Bluff and a Sirius Radio soccer analyst, is back in public action … just in time for the World Cup — over at The Ref’s a Wanker.

From Dow Jones via NASDAQ:

The Argentine government is working on plans to allow online gambling throughout the country, presidential Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez said Wednesday.

“We’re working so that this will become law within two or three months,” Fernandez said, adding that it could take notably longer and possibly up to two years.

Fernandez said the main aim behind the project is to combat illicit gambling that’s already occurring.

Wow, just a year ago Argentina was looking to ban online gambling — looking to force ISPs to block citizen access, threatening jail time for offenders, and shutting down a site run out of Buenos Aires ( FormoApuestas.com.ar ). So why the change of heart? Common sense, and money of course. But supposedly also soccer.

In what was a controversial Argentinean political issue this year, the government basically ran a hostile takeover of soccer broadcast rights from private cable operators (to the tune of $154 million) in an effort to bail out the AFA (their version of the NFL), which had several major clubs owing tons of back taxes and unable to pay their players. Though the government will neither confirm nor deny the connection, conventional wisdom south of the equator says that online gambling is what will bring in the revenue to pay for that.

Last November, Argentinean futbol got a taste of what the sites they want to regulate could bring to the table, when PokerStars (dot-net variety) — as part of its aggressive move into Latin America — signed on as a (very warmly received) sponsor for River Plate (pictured above).

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.

It’s a pretty fancy URL you need to click to make things right in the poker blogoverse once again:

http://pokerati.com/feed/

If that doesn’t work, try this: http://pokerati.com/feed/rss2

(I admittedly don’t understand the difference, but also get the same results when I click either, so …)

And if you like soccer and/or Sangyfarha, click this: http://soccerati.com/feed/

In fact … check this out … you have very major teams across the pond (and a few minor ones) that have direct links and betting pages on their official sites. The Spurs, for example, are supposedly working with their sponsor Mansion to develop a Tottenham skin, and already host weekly freerolls for game tickets.

The people making money off Peyton Manning jerseys hate online poker; meanwhile the other kind of football teams proudly support it — or are being supported by it.

Now you know I’m not much of a boycotter — really, I generally think they’re stupid and ineffective — but it does occur to irk me how much “free advertising” poker players give NFL teams by wearing their jerseys. Considering that American football gives nothing back to poker, and in fact subtracts from it … maybe it might be time for poker players to hang up their lucky Tony Romo jerseys, ya know? Just sayin’ … all it takes is watching a little soccer to realize how wearing any NFL promotion at the WSOP wouldn’t be too different from wearing a Bill Frist or Jim Leach campaign button un-ironically.

It’s becoming less and less of a secret that I get excited about most things soccer-y … and since moving to Nevada from Texas I really miss Mexicans. (We have Latinos here in Las Vegas, but the food, the music, the lawn care … not the same.) So you can imagine I was quite delighted to see PokerStars getting in bed with Mexican Futbol’s Primera Division.

This development actually probably has more to do with recent WPT World Championship-casher Boris Becker and “sports” in general than it does poker-and-soccer specifically, but still … here’s a sample of the ads they’re running on Mexican TV, this one featuring CD Chivas’ Luis Michel:

More at 2+2.

The deeper he goes, the better I gotta think it is for (European) poker.

Thanks, Craig, for the link!

Perhaps Fox got the funds to outbid ESPN from all those Season 7 World Poker Tour/Full Tilt infomercials they’ve been running? And what do you think the odds are that this could mean raises for Norman Chad and Lon McEachern more poker on TV?

Our topics will be the WSOP final table and November Nine in Las Vegas and if we have time, we’ll chat about my experiences in London and Budapest.

There’s also a call in number if you want to ask any questions…. 810-496-3428.

Usually I don’t listen to these things live — I generally let Shamus direct me to the best episodes and download the podcast. But I happen to be in front of the computer right now, and the Chicago-Columbus MLS Cup playoff game is plenty exciting with just the video, little sound. (Currently 1-0 Chicago in the 40th minute; great uniform match-up, too — bright red vs. bright yellow.)

If you are seeing this after the fact, you’ll be able to find the full episode for your podcast pleasure here a couple days from now.

UPDATE: Chicago 1 – 2 Columbus in stoppage time. Great game — so many beautiful shots and tackles — but doh!

Go Owen Hargreaves!

Click below for all the official details after the jump. I’ll be paying attention to Marc Fratter, from Clonie’s hometown of Murphy, TX. (Kinda near where my folks live, too.) He seems to have his game on these days, and if so seems well-seated with a medium stack:

Fratter

SEAT 7: Marc Fratter
HOMETOWN: Murphy, TX
CHIP COUNT: 311,000
Marc Fratter is a 36-year-old attorney from Murphy, TX. He has a three-year-old daughter named Kate who loves to play poker with her dad. Fratter was the co-champion of the 2007 Caesars Indiana Poker Championship. He won $117,000 in that tournament. He also cashed in the 2007 Red River Roundup. This is his third time to cash in a major tournament.

Miles

Go Mark! I mean Marc!

He’s going up against Timothy “TK” Miles, who won a $1,000 WSOP-Circuit event in New Orleans this past winter and has the chip lead.

Drogba

The WSOP-Circuit final table, however, is in a tough time slot tomorrow — going up against the UEFA Cup finals, being broadcast live from Moscow. (Bluff Media video honcho and former Fox Football Fone-in host Nick Geber is presumably ocnflicted.) Honestly, the soccer game will probably get most of my attention even though I’m not sure whom to root for — Chelsea vs. Manchester Utd. — since I usually just root against those two teams. (Go Liverpool/Wigan/Blackburn Rovers!)

Rooney

Chelsea, of course, is are the bad-ass team from the yuppity side of London, loaded with great players, most notably Drogba from the Ivory Coast. Man-U are the working-class faves from Britain’s Second City, with bratty high-paid hotshot Wayne Rooney … who likes to gamble (badly) and used to play Texas Hold’em in a rough-and-tumble Man-U home game.

Again, click below for details on the poker event going up against what is essentially, worldwide, the Super Bowl:

The Fifth Annual Bayou Poker Challenge
Championship Event
Event #15
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $5,000 + $150
Number of Entries: 249
Total Prize Money: $1,196,650
May 19-21, 2008

The Final Table:

1. Floyd Vanderford New Orleans, LA 65,000
2. Check Kelley Staunton, VA 142,000
3. Lou Esposito Howard Beach, NY 116,000
4. Timothy “TK” Miles Tallahassee, FL 687,000
5. Jeff Tims Houston, TX 345,000
6, Ed Jatho Abita Springs, LA 406,000
7. Marc Fratter Murphy, TX 311,000
8. Gabe Costner Albertville, AL 166,000
9. Nick Ceci Peachtree City, GA 256,000
Player Profiles:

SEAT 1: Floyd Vanderford
HOMETOWN: New Orleans, LA
CHIP COUNT: 65,000
Floyd Vanderford is a 39-year-old general contractor from right here in New Orleans. This is his first-ever in-the-money finish in a major poker tournament. In fact, this is the first major tournament Vanderford has ever entered. He qualified to play in this championship event at a cost of just $50, which bought him into a satellite tournament held inside the Harrahs Poker Room last month. That won him a seat into another satellite tournament, which he won – and now here he is at the final table playing for nearly $400,000. Vanderford has a big challenge ahead today as the shortest stack. But, he would probably agree that he is already a “winner” no matter what happens.

SEAT 2: Chuck Kelley
HOMETOWN: Staunton, VA
CHIP COUNT: 142,000
Chuck Kelley is a 47-year-old real estate manager from Staunton, VA. He is an alumnus of Clemson University. With his cash in this tournament, Kelley is guaranteed to pass a personal poker milestone. He will now have over $1 million in career poker tournament winnings. Kelley’s best finish so far was second place at the Borgata Poker Classic in Atlantic City last year. Today, he hopes to achieve his first major victory.

SEAT 3: Lou “The Big Easy” Esposito
HOMETOWN: Howard Beach, NY
CHIP COUNT: 116,000
Lou Esposito is a 32-year-old professional poker player from Howard Beach, NY. If his name sounds familiar here at Harrahs, it’s because Esposito is the defending champion of this tournament, which he won last year. Esposito won the 2007 Bayou Poker Challenge championship, which earned him more than $516,000. If you wonder why Esposito is called “The Big Easy,” it’s because New Orleans has been very good to him. He not only won in 2007, he also made it to the final table of the Bayou Winter Challenge, held right here last December. This makes three straight final table appearances for Esposito here in New Orleans. He also has over $1 million in career tournament cashes. Here’s a scary fact – he only started playing poker in 2006.

SEAT 4: Thomas “TK” Miles
HOMETOWN: Tallahassee, FL
CHIP COUNT: 687,000
TK Miles is a 29-year-old professional gambler from Tallahassee, FL. He says he was “born a gambler, and will die a gambler.” Well, so far so good. Miles currently holds the chip lead at this final table. He has three major tournament victories, including winning a gold ring at the 2007 Bayou Winter Challenge. He was also named “Rounder of the Year” by a leading poker magazine last year.

SEAT 5: Jeff Tims
HOMETOWN: Houston, TX
CHIP COUNT: 345,000
Jeff Tims is a 25-year-old poker pro from Houston, TX. He won Event #12 at this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge, good for nearly $60,000 in prize money. Prior to turning pro, Tims was a small business owner. This is his fifth major poker tournament final table appearance. When he is not playing poker, Tims enjoys golfing, watching movies, and reading.

SEAT 6: Ed Jathro
HOMETOWN: Abita Springs, LA
CHIP COUNT: 406,000
Ed Jatho is a financial consultant from Abita Springs, LA. He says he is 59 years old, and counting. He is a former U.S. Marine helicopter pilot. In fact, his father, brother, son, and nephew are all former Marines – and he has a son on active duty as a Navy Lieutenant. He wants to say hello to his wife Sharon, and five sons and two daughters. This is Jathro’s first final table appearance at a major poker tournament.

SEAT 7: Marc Fratter
HOMETOWN: Murphy, TX
CHIP COUNT: 311,000
Marc Fratter is a 36-year-old attorney from Murphy, TX. He has a three-year-old daughter named Kate who loves to play poker with her dad. Fratter was the co-champion of the 2007 Caesars Indiana Poker Championship. He won $117,000 in that tournament. He also cashed in the 2007 Red River Roundup. This is his third time to cash in a major tournament.

SEAT 8: Gabe Costner
HOMETOWN: Originally Albertville, AL and now Long Beach, MS
CHIP COUNT: 166,000
Gabe Costner is a 31-year-old professional poker player. He was a stock broker before turning pro. Costner has over $178,000 in career tournament winnings, but still is primarily known as a cash-game player. An interesting side note about Costner is that once when he was asked what he would like to see change in poker, he answered: “I would take the emphasis off tournament poker and give more credit to the cash players that play everyday and make up the group that consist of the best poker players.” Should Costner win this tournament today, we’ll be sure to ask him again what he thinks about tournament winners getting all the glory.

SEAT 9: Nick Ceci
HOMETOWN: Peachtree, GA
CHIP COUNT: 256,000
Nick Ceci is a 38-year-old demo contractor from Peachtree, GA. He has been happily married 12 years. He has three children – ages 13, 10, and 5. He says he took a few years off from playing poker because his wife was seriously ill. But things are better now and Ceci is back to playing poker. He has already made one final table at this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge. He took eighth place in the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event.

Blinds are 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante. There is 19:47 remaining in Level 14.

On Wednesday May 21st, the final table begins at 2 pm CST inside the Harrahs Theatre. Video coverage of the final table will be shown at the official WSOP website (www.worldseriesofpoker) and will be carried by Bluff Media starting at 3 pm CST.

Prize Money Payouts and In-the-Money Finishers:

1 $382,928
2 210,610
3 107,699
4 83,766
5 71,799
6 59,833
7 47,866
8 35,900
9 23,933
10 Sahen Fatolla Houston, TX 14,360
11 Jason Brice Houston, TX 14,360
12 Mike Browne Tampa, FL 14,360
13 Matthew Stout Atlantic City, NJ 11,967
14 Blakely Purvis Montgomery, AL 11,967
15 Cory Albertson NA 11,967
16 Suju Abraham NA 9,573
17 Darryll Fish Cape Coral, FL 9,573
18 Jonathan Little NA 9,573
19 Devin Jarreau Baton Rouge, LA 7,180
20 Charles White Houston, TX 7,180
21 Thurman L. Wilson Houston, TX 7,180
22 Richard Drury NA 7,180
23 Robert Quin NA 7,180
24 Johnathan Nathan Atlanta, GA 7,180
25 Michael Cohen Houston, TX 7,180
26 Gary Friedlander Bellaire, TX 7,180
27 Dana Diephouse Baton Rouge, LA 7,180

Former Bayou Poker Challenge Champions:

2007 (winter) – Andy Philachack
2007 (spring) – Lou Esposito
2006 – Peter Feldman
2005 – Walter Chambers
2004 – Boulos Estafanous

Dan,

I have a quick question for you… in your opinion what is the best for me to do w/no bank roll…. just able to spend about 200-300 every other week…

a. small (50-60) buy in tournys

b. play one larger tourney (say the venitian) once every two weeks

c. invest my 200 in a ring game some where

or d. none of the above and save my cash til i get enough

if the answer is d…. what is “enough” to play? I have a VERY hard time not playing, but, have been on the roller coaster of up down small amounts til i get felted in cash games (can’t seem to stay away from getting my money in w/the best and not fairing well…. or… when i do well in one session i don’t do well in the next two and get felted)

Just wondering your opinion… thanks!

Troy, you pose an interesting question, because I suspect a lot of folks are in your position, where they have money to spend on poker, but they don’t have a real bankroll. We all hear that you should have $2-3k to play 1/2 — and it doesn’t take long playing to realize those numbers might not be a load of shit — but how many 1/2 players actually have a few thousand bucks in a non-interest bearing poker account?

I know I don’t … and when I write about my play, that’s what you’re really witnessing – an OK player who generally knows what he’s doing but occasionally fugcks up big-time trying to build a bankroll while theoretically playing above it.

To answer your question, that’s really up to you … but I would recommend sticking to one option for at least four or five months, because cash games are about long-term numbers, and tourneys are like a soccer defense – something that a good opponent can eventually crack if they pepper it enough to figure their way through. Maybe not the best metaphor … but recurring tourneys have certain consistencies that regular players will pick up on each time they play, putting them at a distinct advantage over the continued influx of dead money and even a better player who comes in and is playing for the first time.

So basically you’ve got $500/month to put towards poker … but I suspect were you to lose that much 6 months in a row you’d be pretty unhappy. The smart thing to do, of course, would be to buy a few books on poker (cash games specifically) and limit your play to micro-stakes online for four or five months and then go play 1/2. But I could never do that – holy friggin’ discipline that would require. Might as well go to med school if you can do that.

You definitely don’t want to do a cash game once a week with $200, I don’t think. It’s simply not enough to play with often. And knowing you might be loathe to rebuy in the face of a bad beat, that will negatively affect your play. Going this route would put you in a bad game in a bad stack position week-in and week-out.

I like your idea of playing the Friday Venetian tourney ($195) every other week, however. It’s got a good-size field and some nice four-figure payouts regularly … and play it consistently and surely you will eventually cash and possibly make a final table. But will that be enough to give you your fill? If so, go for it …

But in the most preferable alternative, I’d suggest playing the $65 Sahara tourney with regularity. The field is super-weak. The only problem is the payout structure is very top-heavy, so you don’t make any real money if you don’t finish in the Top 3. But even if you don’t make that much, it would provide you some great practice for that time you get, say, a $500 payday and decide to try your hand at a Venetian tourney a few days later.

The 1/2 cash games there are also delightfully pleasant. I’ve played once since my arrival, and had one of those turn $200 into $900 kinda nights, compliments of a couple drinky Swedes that were just having a blast playing any two cards. The other advantage of making this tourney your regular game – think of an old Rounder Club tourney in Addison – is that you do leave yourself a little something extra each month, so you can comfortably sit down for a cash session should you bust out early one of those times. Overall the Sahara is your best bet in terms of a manageable game, and one that leaves you other poker options in the process – especially when you’re running good.

But run bad and that’s OK too, because in this game you can handle the weekly tourney without cashing for a while and ultimately can make better poker decisions because at $280/month ($65×4) you’re playing below your budding, quasi-bankroll … and therefore stand the best chance of building a real one.

Online video game competitions for money are already in play — the Fifa Interactive World Cup, for example, awards $20k to the winner. And the shoot-em-up game Kwari has started offering real-money competition, where you win cash for kills and the house takes its cut by charging you for ammo. Bullets, chips … tomato, D’amato … Seriously, how familiar does this sound:

While King declined to give me specifics on the number of players, he did mention that a few weeks ago, their 50 millionth bullet was sold, and the game has had over 30,000 downloads. Out of those downloads, King said that they’re “well above 40% in terms of converting those downloads into actual accounts that have been paid into,” and Kwari Limited expects a spike in downloads once PayPal is enacted in the next few weeks.
[...]
Next up after America this year: the mecca of competitive gaming. “The plan is to roll out in Asia next year,” King said.

This is all very interesting, because while online multiplayer first-person shooters are clearly games of skill, the jackpots awarded arguably have a lot to do with luck.And yet they get to use PayPal?

ALT HED: PartyPlaystation

Somewhere along the way to posting six losing sessions out of eight and after receiving a severe tongue-lashing from Robert G (with echoes of Tulsa in my head) I abandoned my soccer-shootout tally and quest for five wins in a row. Hadn’t given it a thought since then, really, until today, upon seeing the results of my past four sessions:

DATE — VENUE — HRS — GAME — BUYIN(s) — CASHOUT — EXTRA — NET
15-Mar – venetian — 5.5 — 2/5 nlh — 600 (2) — 776 — 2 — 174
21-Mar – paris — .25 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 249 — 2 — 47
22-Mar – golden nugget — 3 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1709 — 0 — 1509
24-Mar – venetian – 2.25 – 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1262 — 2 — 1060

I swear I won’t be thinking about it next time I play.

The NBC heads-up announcer whom I was criticizing the other day for not acknowledging runner-runner possibilities and generally lacking a little excitement in his live play-by-play is Jordan Siegel, a semi-accomplished player in his own right, who seems to be runnin’ pretty good recently, too.

We’ll see if we can’t get a photo up here before it’s too late to be relevant so you know who I am talking about. I think he has been on TV once before.

Seriously, I wasn’t trying to pick too hard — a gig is a gig and we all want to do well, especially when the HD cameras are rolling — but this event, for all the excitement around it, is reportedly struggling in the eyes of NBC. And that has me thinkin’-bout soccer, which any real fan can tell you hasn’t quite taken off in America not because the sport isn’t exciting enough, but because the broadcasters and commentators don’t know how to cover it like not-basketball, or in this case not-golf.

ALT HED: I Hope He’s Not Related to Bugsy