To keep you entertained in the 15 minutes of interim before what’s going on here in the Penn and Teller Theater makes it into the WSOP cloud … enjoy the Brett Richey rap song about Ben Lamb, with a line inspired by Team Pokerati’s favorite crazy DonkeyBomber spouse, Julie Schneider, in “Stack ‘em to the Top”:
UPDATE: Ben Lamb all-in on first hand! 35bb v 22bb … No suckout …
Ahhh … though Vegas is crawling with poker-related license-plate culture on any given day, the World Series is when the finest work from the Nevada Department of Corrections really comes out.
Seen outside the Rio today, this high-performance Mustang either being offered up as a gift by someone trying to recruit WSOP exec Ty Stewart over to the WPT or it’s probably the ride of an appreciative WPT champion at the WSOP going after a different brand of bracelet.
This Week:
Ty Stewart — new WSOP stuff, Poker Hall of Fame, more WSOPE bracelet debate.
Matt Savage — WPT-Bellagio/Festa al Lago.
Matt Affleck — more WPT-Bellagio/Festa, Washington State, 15th place at WSOP.
Trishelle Canatella — beauty quiz + poker.
Watch the show, and readmore here.
Getting caught up and back in the swing of things — slowly but surely — so what better way than to listen to the most recent episode of The Poker Beat?
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Rookie twitterer @GaryWise1 took his turn in Capt. Huff’s chair as @BJNemeth and @JessWelman panel-bantered about:
* great explanation, BJ. But question … Is there any discernable line where the “field of play” in poker begins, and ends?
Other episode-relevant links:
The Redemption of Matt Affleck by Gary Wise
The Long, Lonely Walk of Matt Affleck by Howard Swains (with photos by Joe Giron)
Next ep coming tomorrow. Play along in the PokerRoad forums.
Not sure what really happened yesterday, but I guess I started paying attention to the poker tournaments … or at least wandered near them. And it just so happened to be on a day when the 2010 WSOP faced its first brushes with meltdown.
First probs came with PokerNews’ suffering extended downtime … You’d expect the Lithuanians to have it all fixed by Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 … With hand reports and chip counts hard to find, the big story of the day was supposed to be the $50k Mix, whittling its way down toward the money. However, it was the first of six $1k NLs getting too close to the money too quickly that had Ty Stewart potentially facing his own Day 1-Donkulus. And it apparently came at a time when Nevada Gaming regulators were supposedly on premises breathing down necks while studying payout structures. Perhaps to his chagrin, Stewart had little choice but to give an unrehearsed, impromptu press conference in the face of a Tao/Pokerati ambush, complete with cussing and follow-up questions.
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It seems as those tech issues have been plaguing the poker media from Poker News to the Tao of Pokerati. Dan quizzes Pauly about what really goes on behind the scenes at Poker News.
Episode 7: Ty Sweat
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While “brainstorming” for future episodes of Tao of Pokerati, Dan and Pauly encounter WSOP VP Ty Stewart, who is returning to the Rio around Midnight to keep an eye on a potential disaster, as he sweats the thinning field in the last level of Day 1B of the $1k Donkulus.
Click below for the first thing that comes up, from Urban Dictionary, when you do a Google search for “donkulus”:
A shocker but not really … Jeffrey Pollack and Harrah’s are breaking up.
The WSOP Commissioner, President, and Twitterer in Chief‘s last day with Harrah’s and the World Series is today.
“I’ve made the decision after four years of successfully leading the WSOP as a global sports and entertainment property,” he says. “[Today] is my last day. Friday the 13th.”
Pollack — who has never played a poker tournament — took over the reigns shortly after the 2005 WSOP, the first year Harrah’s ran the 35-year-old tournament series bought from Binion’s.
The list of accomplishments under his aegis include drawing more competitors from more countries (putting it on par with the Olympics in terms of numbers), supporting women in poker, helping Don Cheadle and Annie Duke build Ante Up for Africa into a Hollywood A-list charity event, and working closely with players (via the Players Advisory Council) to steadily improve what is undeniably the biggest and arguably the best annual festival of poker tournaments in the world. He credits his team for incorporating TV broadcasting (most recently securing a new long-term contract with ESPN), new media, sponsorship, licensing, and summer-time side events that have made the Rio a real home for the WSOP and part of sure-to-endure poker lore.
“I’ve achieved everything I set out to do and more,” Pollack says.
OK, I swear we’re going to stop making this blog PhilHellmutherati. But here’s more of the Champ, speaking to the French media about his concerns that Harrah’s forthcoming online poker site could do damage to the WSOP.
You can find the whole show here.
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http://pokerati.com/podcast/benjo-hellmuth.mp3
(English starts once Hellmuth gets on the phone.)
Beyond his repeated request for more food and cheaper rooms (previously Hellmuth was seeking “free”), he actually raises some good points, which seem to tie in with his November Nine coaching client’s WSOP beefs.
What he states is fact when acknowledging that a Harrah’s online poker site potentially puts the WSOP in competition with money that has really supported the World Series since it became a Harrah’s property.
He also reiterates his love for Jeffrey Pollack and Ty Stewart, while sending a message plea to their corporate overlords:
“Don’t take us for granted, Harrah’s!
If they do, then they’re in for a fight …
A slightly different take from Pauly. I intellectually don’t agree with his boisterously pessimistic outlook, yet he seems to have a read on many in the poker world’s gut … from Tao of Poker:
God bless Ty Stewart for saving the WSOP. I mean, this guy should get Salesman of the Century Award for finding someone stupid enough to shell out millions of dollars to sponsor a stagnant product in an industry with a murky future.
Pope Benedict should make Ty a saint for providing the WSOP a secure financial future and also giving me and the rest of the derelicts in the poker media an endless amount of material to work with this year. As one of my Canadian colleagues noted, “Premium meat snacks at this year’s WSOP. The jokes, they write themselves.”
I haven’t seen a deal that bad since the Ruskies signed away Alaska in 1867 to Secretary of State William Seward for $7.2 million. If that Seward’s deal never happened, Sarah Palin would be speaking Russian.
As the 2008 WSOP was coming to a close a few days ago, Pauly and I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be no new sponsors that weren’t already around for in the summer. Disappointing, sure — but maybe it’s just the general economy?
I began to speculate that WSOP marketing honcho Tye Stewart must be in BIG trouble, dude! couldn’t have been too happy that the most celebrated deal inked between July and November was an extended contract with Johnny Chan’s All In Energy Drink. About 10 minutes later, though, Jeffrey Pollack was speaking to the crowd, giving specific thanks and extreme kudos to Stewart as the successful, hard-working architect of the The November Nine vision. And indeed, we now know the broadcast returned some admirable TV numbers; and even as players got eliminated, there were lines of people in the Rio hallways to fill the Penn & Teller Theater’s 1,200 seats. So maybe now, with something definitive to sell potential backers in the future, what looked a little disappointing while riding up and down the escalators is actually a sign of better things to come?
Below is a pictorial look at some added value for official WSOP banners (and inflatables) in action:
@GlobalGamingBiz generally speaking, of course. A reliable source? An imaginary source? The gov's maid's husband's poker buddy's dog sitter?
RT @VanessaRousso: My bathroom at The Seven Hotel in Paris has a chess board between two toilets! This place rocks! http://t.co/VRVtqAVQ
RT @PokerScar: Obv big news today in Nevada about GoldenNugget and Chili partnership for internet poker; link direct to PR -> http://t.co/y8ODEduu
@skputts the only difference between Madonna and Keith Richards is that I could interpret the words she was singing.
@PokerGrump lol you should stop by and see her sometime this weekend. She is awesome. I know @pinkladiespt wants to see her to. Maybe tmrw?
