Vinnie Vinh Makes Day 2, Shows Up, Wins
LAPC – Los Angeles, California
Vinny Vinh is an enigma in the poker world over the last several years, and rumored debts and drug issues have caused some well-publicized incidents at the World Series of Poker. On two separate occasions, Vinh made Day 2 of a WSOP event, only to no-show under mysterious circumstances. This year’s LAPC is a different story, though, as Vinh decided playing a tournament to completion might be a novel idea, and it worked out pretty well for him. Vinh took down Event 29 last week for a cool $12,000. If you still don’t believe that Vinnie Vinh is anything beyond a figment of your imagination, here he is taking with the great Matt Savage.

In other LAPC news, Tony Ma took down the Tag Team Championship with Restituto Bagaygay, defeating the Road Warriors with a double powerbomb 82 other teams in the process. Jamie Shaevel is on fire, winning three different events at LAPC to lead the Player of the Series race, overtaking Brian Brubaker and David Levi, who won a PLO8 event this week, at two wins each.

Pokerati Player Gets a Ring, too … Circuit Ring, That Is
WSOP Circuit – Tunica, Mississippi
Team Pokerati juggernaut La Sengphet got matching rings this Valentine’s Day weekend, but La earned it on the felt. After her boyfriend David Clark won a WSOP Circuit event in Choctaw a few weeks ago, La won Ring Event #8 in Tunica, pocketing more than $30,000 and becoming the first woman in nine months to win an open WSOPC ring event. La also ran deep in the Tunica main event, finishing 10th — just a bad beat away (A10 < K10) from another final table and a chance to lock up her seat in the WSOPC million-dollar freeroll.

Fossilman Beats DC Politicos
Washington, D.C.
Most of the attention that Greg Raymer has received in the last few weeks has been about his departure from PokerStars, but it hasn’t stopped him from continuing the cause for the legalization of online poker. At last week’s CPAC conference, the PPA ran a charity event to help raise awareness and preach limited government to conservatives. It remains to be seen how effective this message was, but Raymer, as per usual, just seems to keep on winning, no matter what he plays.

Gareth Walker Steals From Rich, Gives to Self in Nottingham
UKIPT – Nottingham, England
This UKIPT £500 Main Event set a record with 1,058 players, the biggest field ever for a tournament on British shores. There were no Robin Hood sightings, but there was quite a bounty for Gareth Walker, who walked away with £109,000, the biggest prize in the history of the UKIPT.

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Draws Big Names
Las Vegas, Nevada
At the moment, the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza is the biggest game in town when it comes to tournaments, and some big names have made some deep runs in these events. James Van Alstyne finished second in a $1,000 event for just under $20,000, with Dennis Phillips finishing in the money in 13th place in the same event. Joanne “JJ” Liu seems to cash wherever she goes, finishing third in an Omaha 8//b event for over $4,000.

Craziness.

First of all, the entire casino was packed, as was the Strip on the way over there. After plowing through the tourists and slot machines, I arrived at the poker room, which was just overflowing with players. At least 20-30 people were milling about near the front of the poker room, the majority of whom were waiting for seats to open up. Among them were David Pham and Padraig Parkinson. And Davood Merhmand was looking for a love connection was enjoying a glass of wine.

As I shuffled past and made my way into the upper level/back room, there wasn’t much room to move around, but I immediately saw Antonio Esfandiari, along with many unrecognizable faces. I was told that those tables were playing $600-$1200 and higher, but I didn’t see anyone I knew well enough to ask for specifics. The intensity of the players was obvious in their faces, though; these were some serious games at relatively high stakes.

And on to the Big Game in Bobby’s Room. There was a small crowd gathered around the door and windows to the room to catch a glimpse of some of poker’s biggest names. Sammy Farha and Minh Ly were at one table with several young internet-ish-looking players, and Sammy looked happy to have the fresh meat. The other table included such names as Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, David Oppenheim, and Johnny Chan. I was told they were playing $3000-$6000 mixed games. (What better way to prepare for the upcoming $50K H.O.R.S.E. event at the Bellagio in two days?)

According to one source who is a regular in the Bellagio $400-$800 mixed games, it has been a tough road this year. Since coming to Vegas for the WSOP, he has noticed a marked change in the caliber of player in all of the higher limit mixed games. The fields are very tough, much tougher than last year, as if the high stakes players made a concerted effort of late to step up their games. He said there are very few soft spots, and every game is a struggle. When asked about taking the limits down a notch to $200-$400 or lower, he said with certainty that it wouldn’t make a difference. He has friends at those levels, and it is the same story; there isn’t as much money to be made in cash games this year. Standard no-limit hold’em and other games might be different, but the mixed game players have brought, played, and mastered their A-games.

Nevertheless, those who crave the high-limit action go to Bellagio, despite the difficulty of the tables or the wait to get on one. There is no other casino in Vegas that spreads such a wide range of games at such a variety of limits, and Bellagio has a reputation for running one of the best poker rooms around. No matter the hard economic times or bad runs at the WSOP, the Bellagio poker room is bumpin’.