Antonio at the WPT press conference

A few impressions from the press conference with Antonio Esfandiari and Steve Lipscomb:

~Antonio is immensely happy about this deal. He has a deep respect and fondness for the WPT. Though he was being cool, as always, he was close to just bubbling over.

~Antonio is going to be representing the WPT on television, in advertising, with Club WPT, and with anything they do in the global market, including WPT Online.

~Steve seems to have a lot of respect for Antonio as well. He feels that Antonio represents players from every background and culture, but he is one of the classy players who doesn’t insult others, has an incredible passion for the game, and will represent the WPT well. Steve mentioned more than once that when Antonio won his WPT title, he went straight to his dad’s place to surprise him with a huge chunk of $$$ and told him to retire; he was particularly struck by that.

And click below for a few quotes from today’s conference:

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That’s what it seems like they’re banking on — you know, along with restructuring tournament operations and slimming down staff. Steve Lipscomb just announced today at a press conference (at the Commerce in LA?) that Antonio the WPT-Made Millionaire will be the new face of the World Poker Tour.

And despite the reduced schedule, the WPT also apparently has a WPT-Europe in the works. Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out over the course of 2008. My prediction is that the WPT will, several years from now, be seen as the AFL* of Poker.

* And by AFL I mean American Football League, not the other AFL that looks out for the hard-workin’ little guy.

The Season 7 sked is out … and sure enough, the Mirage and Mandalay Bay tourneys have been axed — along with five other events. So the WPT is now more like the North American Poker Tour, with 14 events instead of 21.

Also interesting is that they have scrapped Ladies Night. Gotta wonder if that has something to do with California’s new ruling on gender-stacking tournaments.

Bob at CardPlayer has a pretty good article breaking down the Rise and Fall of the WPT.

Players have spoken and Steve Lipscomb has apparently listened. As the WPT tries to recover from the fiscal beating it’s taken for the last couple years of generally crappy programming ratings at a time when High Stakes Poker was just finding its stride and the online poker world was in a tailspin … (why did the PPT collapse again? Those shows were great!) … a simple adjustment to a Berman-Lipscomb-Corp. policy stands to put a little more money into players’ pockets. An email sent out a month ago:

Dear WPT Player,

This is a quick email to announce that we are revising the rules for WPT Final Table Player Sponsorship. In previous seasons, pre-approved sponsors were required to send WPT a list of their players prior to the start of each event. If one of the listed players made the Main Event Final Table, the Player would be able to wear the sponsor’s pre-approved logo. No other logos were accepted for that player.

NEW RULES TO WEAR A LOGO:

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Just clicked over to the WPT website to see if there was any word yet about the Season 7 sked (there isn’t) and what tourneys if any have been axed/rescheduled.

However, I did notice one interesting thing — that Abraham Gray is the leader for “Highest Cash Percentage” [WPT profile]… finishing in the WPT money 57.14 percent of the time. Nice job. You may recall, however, that Not-So-Honest Abe was the dude reportedly arrested in October 2006 by the Nevada Gaming Commission at the Wynn poker tables for allegedly marking cards.

I use all those disclaimers because I don’t know whatever became of his case, and haven’t yet figured out how to check the status of NGC-wrought charges. But still …

From the looks of the press release that just came in, all is well in WPTville. At first glance I thought I was gonna have to do an, “Oops, we were wrong!” post … but then I realized this is simply announcing the TV schedule for Season 6 — on GSN instead of the Travel Channel — and not anything about upcoming events for Season 7.

Will be interesting to see what effect the move to GSN has on WPT ratings and revenues … and can only guess that the bosses at WPT are thinking the same thing. At a minimum they have made it easy to compare, as last year’s sked seems rather robust:

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The World Poker Tour will be announcing its Season 7 schedule next week, and according to some recent banter around the high-stakes tournament tables, at least two (not-so?) major events will be, er, disappeared — the WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship and the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown.

A company spokeswoman could neither confirm nor deny, but did say that WPT Enterprises has “really looked at the market and listened closely to feedback from players.” So I suppose we’ll see next week when the official press release comes out.

In the meantime, here’s Pokerati’s super-undercover investigative reporter Tom Schneider with the report:

[display_podcast]

It seems that the California Bureau of Gaming Control doesn’t take too kindly to discrimination.

On January 18, the Bureau released a statement that rejected “ladies only” poker tournaments because they violate the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Not only will such events not be allowed to discriminate in admittance prices or services offered, but they can no longer advertise tournaments as ladies only, since men must be admitted.

PokerNews ran an article about it, noting that the Bicycle Casino and Commerce Casino do allow men to enter the events and will change their advertisements to remove the word “only” when referring to the ladies tournaments.

The WPT, which recently launched its Ladies League, said, “The intention of WPT Ladies is not to prohibit or promote against male players from joining, playing or receiving equal prizing in WPTL tournaments, but rather to encourage the growth of women in poker and provide opportunities to test their skills in the tournament environment.”

Curious to see how this all plays out – if men will start entering these ladies events to make a point or if they will leave the ladies alone.

See the entire Bureau of Gambling Control press release by clicking below:

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Gavin & Kristen

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, tonight, Gavin Griffin won the WPT Borgata Poker Classic, making him the first player to win a WPT title, EPT title, and WSOP bracelet.

The final table set out to be a good one with names like Lee Watkinson, David Tran, Noah Schwartz, and Griffin. When it was all said and done, Griffin won a tough heads-up battle against Tran (the final hand detailed here by WPT Live Updates) to win the title, along with the $1,401,109 prize, a Tag Heuer watch, and a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Griffin won his first major title in 2004 by capturing a WSOP bracelet in the $3000 Pot Limit Hold’em event, then took the poker world by storm with the 2007 EPT Grand Final win at Monte Carlo less than a year ago. Tonight, he took his first WPT title and solidified his place in the game’s history.

On a personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting Gavin and his girlfriend Kristen several months ago in L.A., and I had drinks with Kristen just a few days ago in Las Vegas. They are both incredibly kind, charitable, and fun people. And today is Kristen’s birthday - I can confirm that a major celebration of many sorts is going on at the Borgata tonight.

Congrats, Gavin!

I had a good time in Tunica. I came in 8th at the WSOP circuit event and didn’t play the WPT. I had an opportunity to play the WPT because the circuit event had a day off between day 2 and the final table, but I would have had to accumulate a ton of chips in order not to get blinded out on day 2 while I was playing at the final table.

Had I known that I would come in 8th, I definitely would have taken a shot at it. Had I tried to do it and made it through the first day of the WPT, I would have been able to blame my 8th place finish on being distracted, or at least Angry Julie would have reminded me many times.

I like Tunica because of its friendly environment, loads of PLO and the food. The food is pretty good but very fattening. I did happen to lose weight on this trip because I have totally changed my eating habits. I am now eating a very balanced diet with big emphasis on vegetables. I hate them, but I do like the way I’m starting to feel.

Late in December of ‘07 I declared that ‘08 is going to be the year of health. I weighed more than I ever have, and I was starting to feel it. In the past, I have always lost weight by working out hard and always being hungry. I haven’t been hungry once and have lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. I have changed my ways of eating to something I think I can sustain for the rest of my life, at least that’s the plan.

A few comments about Tunica …

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The WPT, perhaps in response to years of hubbub over the arbitrary selection process for WPT Ladies Night, has added a $1,500 Ladies Championship event to its line-up, which should prove to be quite the hit. (I like the low buy-in to encourage as many ladies to play as possible.)

Michele Lewis has a good post up with more details, and an insightful list of reasons why she loves these gender-biased tourneys.

Two years ago, poker items were the hottest holiday shizznit in the retail stores. It didn’t matter if you were shopping at Oshman’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, or CVS … the poker goodies were on prominent display and selling like proverbial hotcakes. Then last year, you saw some of these same items — only they were marked down on clearance, as their didn’t seem to be too much demand for the crappy variety of poker supplies. I’m guessing the real poker merchants still did fine, but don’t know for sure.

This year, I again took note of poker’s place amongst the Christmas merchandise … and here’s what I found:

Who knew that Popeye the Sailor Man played poker? This t-shirt did, and it was the only poker-related apparel I saw in the whole mall.

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The Five Diamond World Poker Classic brings the best in the poker world to the Bellagio each year, and 2007 was no exception. The preliminary events began in late November, and here are some of the better-known winners:

• Event #3 - $2,500 NLHE – 247 entrants, Dutch Boyd won $237,685
• Event #6 - $1,500 NLHE – 508 entrants, Chris McCormack won $239,590
• Event #7 - $2,000 NLHE – 362 entrants, Roy Winston won $230,365
• Event #8 - $2,500 NLHE – 319 entrants, David Pham won $279,845
• Event #12 - $5,000 NLHE – 307 entrants, JC Tran won $523,075

It should be noted that Tom Schneider came in fourth place in Event #3, and Courtney Harrington of PocketFives and PokerRoad made two final tables. Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack, came in second to JC in Event #12. Other notables who made final tables included Theo Tran, Kevin Saul, Jared Hamby, Nick Binger, Amnon Filippi, Dan Alspach, Marco Johnson, Shannon Shorr, and David Williams.

David Pham also sealed his status as the CardPlayer Player of the Year.

Next up was the $15,000 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic main event. The total number of players was 664, and the prize pool was $9,661,200 – the biggest prize pool ever outside of the WSOP main event and WPT World Championship.

Hopes were high that several big names would make the final table, but many of them just couldn’t get there. Phil Ivey was the Day 1 and Day 2 chip leader but imploded on Day 3 to be eliminated. Gus Hansen was doing well for days until he busted in 22nd place, and Daniel Negreanu took a chip lead into Day 5 but was sent home in 14th. Other bustouts included Erick Lindgren in 10th, Jimmy Tran in 8th, and Raymond Davis in 7th.

Five Diamond Final Table - Courtesy of the World Poker Tour

The best known player at the final table was David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Ryan Daut is a young player who won a WPT title in January, and Jordan Rich and Eugene Katchalov are young pro players. Ken Rosen is a virtual unknown, and Ted Kearly is a 75-year old former college football coach.

In the fastest WPT final table on record, Eugene Katchalov took his final table chip lead to victory for a $2,482,605 payday. All of the action was summed up here.

WinStar: November 25th $300+30 Event
THACKERVILLE, OK - WinStar Casino Poker Room is throwing a 200 player max. $300+30 No-Limit Hold’em tournament on Sunday, November 25th, starting at 1pm. This tournament will have 30 minute levels and players will start with 3000 in chips. Registration begins at 9am day of the tournament. Contact the WinStar Poker Room for more details at 800-622-6317.

Borgata: Illegal Sports Betting in the High Stakes Poker Room
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - 18 people were arrested this week for participating in an illegal sports gambling ring in the high stakes poker room at the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City. Of those arrested, 6 were casino employees and 4 have ties to the Philadelphia mob.

Foxwoods: World Poker Finals Winner
LEDYARD, CT - Mike Vela won the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Casino earning $1,704,986, and a $25,500 seat into the Season 6 WPT World Championship in April, 2008. Second place went to Season 4 WPT Foxwoods champion Nick Schulman for $864,652.

Mohegan Sun: Brings Poker Back
UNCASVILLE, CT - Mohegan Sun in has returned to the poker arena by installing 12 new automated PokerPro tables from PokerTek, a precursor to their Summer 2008 grand opening when Mohegan Sun will unveil its $740 million hotel/casino expansion which includes a new live poker room.

South Central Kansas: Destination Casino To Come
MGM Mirage and Foxwoods Development Company submitted an application this week on behalf of their Unity Gaming partnership to the Kansas Lottery Commission to develop and manage the Chisholm Creek Casino Resort.

read daily: Poker Room News

Not to toot my own horn here, but sometimes I come across players who seem to have “it.” When I first read about Scott Clements winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2006, I knew that was only the beginning. He has been on my CJF (Cali Jen’s Favorites) list for awhile.

Last month, I interviewed Scott for a Poker Pro Magazine article, which is now going to be the cover story for the December issue. At the time, we discussed his achievements to date, some of which were:

• 2006 WSOP $3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo victory
• 2006 WPT $2,500 North American Poker Championship victory
• 2007 WSOP $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha victory
• 2007 WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event final table – fifth place finish
• 2007 $500 Legends of Poker No-Limit Hold’em victory

Then he goes and wins the big WPT North American Championship $10k event last week for over $1.3 million! And he signs a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt. It has not been a bad year for Mr. Clements.

In the interview, I also discovered that Scott is a very grounded person. He doesn’t get caught up in the wild ways of some of the young pros on the circuit – no prop betting, no extravagant bottle-service nights at the Vegas nightclubs. He travels with his wife who exercises with him daily, encourages a healthy diet, and makes him quite happy. He consistently tries to examine and improve his Omaha and hold’em games, and he thrives on the competition he finds on the tournament circuit.

And in only two and a half years, he has racked up over $2.6 million in tournament earnings.

Maybe I should start betting on players instead of bowling and other random prop bets. Yeah, that’s a post for another day…

OK, so I already talked about how the Barcelona gypsies took my money, and you may have read about how I busted out early in the WPT Spanish Championship – I should have re-raised with Aces instead of calling a raise with them – but what about the rest of the trip?

I’m normally not much of a complainer, but I want the people that aspire to be a professional tournament poker player to get a realistic idea of what that grind can really entail. Winning sure is fun, but traveling 50 hours in total, flight delays, losing your luggage and most all your C-notes is what it’s all about sometimes.

We arrived in Barcelona at noon on Wednesday. Julie got her luggage at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Let’s just say this would have been a good time for an “Angry Julie” segment on Beyond the Table. The good news for her though is that she had packed her very special curling-iron-blow-dryer-brush in my suitcase, so she didn’t have to go without that until I blew it up by plugging it into the wrong electrical converter. I wish I had recorded that. Then she gets into the shower and I hear, “To-oo-mmm!” Oh shit, what now? The shower’s not draining and water’s getting all over the bathroom floor. Just as we unpacked all our clothes we had to switch rooms.

Our new abode had a 4-foot obstruction right across our whole window. Excellent. And it had a similar problem with the plumbing.
Julie and I did play some cash games, and some even stranger things happened at Casino Barcelona.

First off, if you leave a cash table without picking up your chips, you will be blinded off just like in a tournament. This rule seemed to keep people from taking extended walks and leaving games short-handed, however, I don’t believe that the rule encouraged hand washing after relieving oneself – don’t want to take a 30 Euro dump.

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I made the trip to Barcelona to play in the WPT Spanish Championship. This trip was a big mistake in so many ways, but for this particular post, I’m going to reveal what a true dumbass I really am.

My friend John lives in Barcelona and has for several years. He takes Julie and I down to this famous street called the Ramblas…don’t know if that’s the right spelling, and I don’t give a shit either. He looks at Julie’s wedding ring and suggests she not wear it and says that the only real crime in Barcelona is pick pocketers, so watch your purse and your wallet. I’m guarding my wallet like a pit bull and watching Julie’s purse like a trained assassin.

We are walking down the street and we see statue people. They dress up in unusual costumes and people pay them for this. We stumble onto this group of people in a circle making a lot of noise. I always like to see what’s going on so Julie, John and I squeeze in. The guy has 3 tops of match boxes which he rotates and scrambles while hiding a pea underneath one of them… in essence a shell game. The strange thing about this shell game is that people are winning at it and the pea is actually easy to spot in many cases. Enter dumbass.

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Like the US Poker Championship, the Ultimate Bet Aruba Classic lost its TV deal (with the WPT) … Have a look at how its field size has changed over the years:

2002 - ??
2003 - ??
2004 - 647 players (Eric Brenes d. Layne Flack)
2005 - 647 players (Freddy Deeb d. Josh Schlein)
2006 - 512 players (Devin Miller d. “JohnnyBax”)
2007 - 548 players (”TravestyFund” d. Jim Mordue)

While the WPT has been lounging working to host a tournament in Turks & Caicos this past week, they’ve also been documenting some prop bets through the live updates and video updates.

Side note: Kimberly Lansing has been in better form during this tournament – no rapping or other embarrassing less-than-professional antics. And so far, Layla Kayleigh has stayed away from the video camera and Kimberly while she’s schmoozing flirting working.

The prop bets, while common amongst poker players, are normally silly but not life-threatening… until now. Sean McCabe willing to pal around with sharks, even entice them with “chum” to increase the danger level, is swimming in the danger zone. I think they’ve gone too far.

The first big bet recorded (thanks to BJ Nemeth) in Turks took place yesterday, during a day off before the WPT final table. Matt Gianetti, a player from Austin, TX, took a $15k bet that was based on being able to stand in the deep end of the pool for 12 straight hours. He came out severely pruned but alive and well. No harm, no foul.

The second bet didn’t take place… yet. But the details of it are a bit disturbing. Mark Seif challenged Sean McCabe to stand shoulder-deep in the ocean for 24 hours. The bet was supposed to be for $100,000, but after discussing the risk of sharks and other dangerous ocean creatures, Mark was willing to place odds at 2-1 if he could toss blood and fish guts in the water surrounding Sean. Sean claimed to have the upper hand as a certified rescue diver, but they were arranging for a local doctor to be on call during the bet because of the dangers of the situation.

The bet actually fell apart because Mark finally became concerned about the safety issues involved, though Sean claims he is willing to take the bet if someone will put up the money.

Boys, boys, boys. Putting lives in danger? I understand the appeal of the money, but are these guys so hungry for action that they’ll step over that line? I may sound like their mother telling them not to run with those scissors, but someone is going to come close to death (or actually die) in one of these prop bets, and then they’ll be sorry.

Being a former WPT employee has its perks, like having friends who still work there and give up the inside information. This news isn’t the kind we like to report, but late on Thursday, September 6, the World Poker Tour semi that is decorated with the WPT logo was on its way to the tour stop in Biloxi, Mississippi when it crashed into another semi. In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, the collision occurred and injured both truck drivers. Sadly, the driving trainee, along for the ride and taking a nap in the back of the WPT truck, was ejected upon impact and died.

The truck contained the entire WPT television production set, and a source said it was “trashed.” By the time the final table took place in Biloxi only a few days later, Kevin King, WPT Art Director, and his crew were able to reconstruct about 50 percent of the set, but there was reportedly a bit of a solemn air behind the scenes as the production staff was informed of the accident.

WPT has not released an official statement yet but is planning to do so.

UPDATE: The following statement was sent from WPT Enterprises:

While traveling though Texas in the early hours on Thursday, September 6th, the World Poker Tour semi truck that transports our set for WPT final tables was involved in an accident that tragically claimed the life of one of the drivers. The accident also damaged the final table set, which WPT is currently working to rebuild and restore to its original design. We hope to have it back on the road for the North American Poker Championship at the Fallsview Casino in Canada next month. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in the accident and the family of the driver who lost his life.

For starters, here is a video of WPT video hostess Kimberly Lansing and WPT show hostess Layla Kayleigh from the recent WPT tournament in Biloxi:

Now, go to Wicked Chops and watch the two videos of Kimberly and Layla putting on a show specifically for the Wicked Chops boys. Seriously, I would love to bitch-slap both of them (and not in a sexy way), but that’s beside the point. The videos are ridiculously embarrassing, admit it.

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Chris Bell and WPT champion Michael Gracz were playing what appears to be a $1,000 tournament with about 70 players when police rolled in and stopped the action. Ahh, reminds me of the good-ole-days of the Dallas poker scene (which is now a shell of its old self, for better or for worse).

According to CardPlayer:

The misdemeanor gambling charge is akin to a speeding ticket, which Gracz said we would probably just pay. All of those charged were free to go home and the whole process took about four hours.

C’mon, Gracz, fight the power! Make an issue out of this you pussy! distinguished poker ambassador. Sure, it’s only chump change to you, but fighting your ticket to the fullest (like the gentleman you are) could mean a lot more to all those other players in North Carolina.

RELATED: Other poker cases moving through the system in New Jersey and Kansas. It’s kinda understandable why the cops running one of these poker rooms had to plea guilty, but the barber should be in good shape to claim otherwise.

Legendary Batface, Darling Phillips, made a ridiculously poor snap decision and is playing in today’s WPT event at Beau Rivage in Biloxi. Heaven help us, and Heaven help those who try to push him off a flush draw.

UPDATE: He did not win.

OK, now I feel bad. From worldpokertour.com:

Hand #80: Tom Schneider Eliminated in 4th Place ($228,625)
Thursday, August 30, 2007 09:33 PM PDT

Hand #80 - Thu Nguyen has the button in seat 4, Schneider moves all in under the gun for 1,070,000, and David Pham calls from the small blind with KK. Schneider shows A9, and he’ll need to improve to stay alive.

The flop comes J-10-9, and Schneider picks up additional outs with a pair of nines. He’s looking for an ace or a nine, and he’ll also need to avoid kings and queens.

The turn card is [a] 10, and the river card is [a] 6. David Pham wins the pot with two pair, kings and tens.

Tom Schneider is eliminated in fourth place, earning $228,625. The final three players are guaranteed at least $388,660.

Nice job, Tom. Seriously. But really, you didn’t need to give Karridy and me our old material back by busting out so close to the real shizznit. Better cards next time.

Follow the remaining action — you know, the part where they play cards to divvy up almost $3 million the other players left behind — here.

There are four players left in the WPT Legends tourney — anyone’s game — and Tom Schneider is guaranteed anywhere from $228k to $1.6 million. Not a bad paycheck, but Tom … we have to talk! Is that really enough for you to be blogging for the World Poker Tour and CardPlayer?

Check out Tom’s new gig here, and here. Or, to quote from the official WPT site:

Tom Schneider - Pro Blog
Thursday, August 30, 2007 06:43 PM PDT

That was a fast and furious level. David Pham and Mike McClain both doubled up quickly through Shi, and Shi was pretty short when he made a move. He went out in sixth and McClain followed in fifth.

I didn’t really play many hands and only lost about 300,000 on the hand I did play. Things showed open up a bit more now that we are four handed. Out of the four remaining only David is really short stacked.

- Tom

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Tom Schneider - Pro Blog
Thursday, August 30, 2007 05:25 PM PDT

So far my experience at the World Poker Tour final table has been a bit chaotic. This is nothing like my World Series of Poker final tables. Those weren’t televised and things are a bit different under the hot lights.
There’s also a lot more money at stake than when I won my two bracelets this year. The media has been crazy with interviews all day long and now they are putting make-up on me so that I can look good for the camera.
They are getting ready to start, so we’ll see how it all turns out.

- Tom

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Interestingly enough, since Tom has started working for the WPT-CardPlayer Trust, he has dropped from second in chips to the short stack.

UPDATE: Robert sends word from the rail:

Tom just doubled u[p]

How could they not? But still … with Tom holding the chip lead at the final table of the WPT Legends tourney … this seems as good a time as any to pimp out some recent interviews with Tom Schneider and stories about him. One comes from our very own Fresh Princess (Michele loves that name about as much as Tom loves “Donkey Bomber”) and the other from our new-good-friend California Jen.

Good stuff, ladies. Your work also provides me a perfect excuse to rerun a photo of Tom dressing to win. Wanna know a secret? He’s always wearing that goofy “Oops! I Won Too Much Money” hat not to conceal his baldness, but to cover up his good-luck tiara.

UPDATE: BJ Nemeth also seems pretty fond of Tom. In addition to giving credit to me and Karridy for all of Tom’s success, he says:

Tom Schneider is probably the hottest player in the poker world right now.

[...]

If Schneider was on fire before this tournament, he’s about to go nuclear.

Tom goes to bed with 27 percent of the chips in play at the Legends of Poker WPT Event. In an phone interview from last year’s WPT Reno event, Tom said,

“I wish everybody could go to bed as the chip leader in an event like this at least once in their life.”

Ok. But twice? Hold on, wait a minute…. Two WSOP bracelets. Two WPT Final Tables. What’s next? Two Player of the Year’s?

http://www.worldpokertour.com/tournament/?x=updateschips

Robert and Tom have both made it to another pay level … with 15 players left, the worst either can do is cash out with 44k. Tom’s stack is still healthy … Robert’s is still tiny … just like he likes it.

By the way, regarding that marked ace Robert pointed out … very nice diversionary tactic tourney officials won’t notice the inevitable colluding that will should be going on between Robert and Tom.

I can’t stop following the action here.

UPDATE: After fighting long and hard, making it to the final two tables, Robert Goldfarb exits in a very respectable 15th place, taking home $43,440. Congrats on grinding that short stack! - Karridy

UPDATE: It’s TV table bubble time. Tom slowed a set of 5’s to let Thu Nguyen find false hope in a river King, building Tom’s stack to right at 3 Million. He is currently the chip leader, and is looking good enough for me to book a flight to Burbank. - Karridy

Here are the seating charts for the final two tables in Wednesday afternoon’s Legends main event. Below that are the payouts the players are fighting for. If Tom were a real friend, he would dump chips to his home-game buddy.

Table 13
Seat 1 – Mike Jung – 191,000
Seat 2 – Thu Nguyen – 490,000
Seat 3 – Franco Brunetti – 218,000
Seat 4 – Mike McClain – 684,000
Seat 5 – Lee Markholt – 873,000
Seat 6 – Raymond Davis – 539,000
Seat 7 – Brian Powell – 248,000
Seat 8 – Shi Jia Liu – 476,000
Seat 9 – Joe Sebok – 1,057,000

Table 17
Seat 1 – Peter Feldman – 853,000
Seat 2 – Dan Harrington – 370,000
Seat 3 – Robert Goldfarb – 296,000
Seat 4 – David Pham – 1,007,000
Seat 5 – Don Zewin – 378,000
Seat 6 – Sean McCabe – 183,000
Seat 7 – Wayne Chang – 281,000
Seat 8 – Tom Schneider – 803,000
Seat 9 – Billy Pilossoph –788,000

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OK, so maybe it’s not earth-shattering … but I take great pleasure in reporting the results of the WPT Legends tourney before CardPlayer did. No media badge needed, and I didn’t even pay a dime for the privilege! Woo-hoo, poker journalism is easy!

So anyways, yes, we they have moved on to Day 4 … with 18 people still in contention for the $1.6 million win. One of those players is our own Tom Schneider, who is 5th in chips with 803,000, and our newly beloved Robert Goldfarb, who has a little better than half the average stack with 296,000. That whole M=11ish thing again.

Blinds start tomorrow at 5k/10k + 1k.

All remaining players are guaranteed at least $34,000 (net: +$24,000) and the tournament resumes tomorrow as they play down to a 6-man final table.

The Legends of Poker tourney is at the money bubble, and Pokerati’s two Arizona bitches “main men” are still alive. Tom Schneider seems to have floundered a bit, but that’s probably just a ploy, as he claims to be in some sort of “zone.”

Robert Goldfarb is hanging on via my favorite strategy of getting the money in when you are behind and taking full advantage of a favorable board:

2nd to last hand of night I moved all in for 17,500 with QT. Dutch Boyd called me with TT. When the cards were turned up I said ‘im pretty good at these’ 44k.

Awesome. Can you see why I love this guy?And then most recently, today, as in like a few minutes ago:

Pushed 34k with 55, Ali [Sarkeshik] calls with KK. What was he thinking. 74k.

Click here to follow the action as they play down to 18(?) tonight.

UPDATE from ROBERT:

$

Can we get a Boo-yah?

NOTE: Condolences are in order for Arizona’s Mike Wattel, who obviously needs to work on his card-catching/dodging skills.

At the end of Day 2 of the WPT Legends of Poker tourney at the Bike, there are 53 players remaining … 45 of whom will make the money — $16,000 for crossing the bubble — and a few who will have a real chance at the $1.6 million first prize. Tom was a serious force all day, but ended up with 180k in chips … just below the average stack line. Robert (along with David Chiu) will start Day 3 with the smallest stack. Should be a real test of his critical bubble play. That or pocket queens on his first playable hand will or will not hold up.

Dallas underground expat Gavin Griffin is also alive and well, by the way.

Interesting thing in the official tournament wrap-up is the growing disparity between CardPlayer, now in partnership with the WPT, and the WSOP. I guess it’s kinda like Japan and Italy were technically allies in WW2, semi-united in their animosity toward the USA and its way of doing things:

Legends of Poker Day 2 Recap

In a quiet corner of the Bicycle Casino, day two of the Legends of Poker played out as the antithesis of the World Series of Poker. The first major tournament since hoards or poker fanatics descended upon the circuit, Legends produced a focused group of name professionals that batted until 53 were left standing. Flurries of action were set between long periods of calm, and numerous pros fell early.

I guess it shouldn’t surprise us that they are trying to put a positive spin on the “closed set” nature of their events. After all, it is quite different from the carnival atmosphere of the WSOP, and indeed, that’s their prerogative to run ‘em that way. It probably will work just fine — players will still play — but gotta say, I probably wouldn’t care as much about what’s going on behind closed curtains if I didn’t have a couple friends alive behind them.

Any thoughts on this from you poker-geeky internet readers out there?

As Tom Schneider stays near the top of the field in the Legends tourney, our embedded reporter Robert Goldfarb picks his first spot as he tries to claw his way up the leaderboard:

All in for 6000…3 callers…cunningham raises 20..all fold…he has jj, i have kj…he never stood a chance. 30k.

Awesome. All he needs to do now is quadruple up and he’ll be an average stack!

UPDATE:

Moved in from c/o w/33 dutch called with aT. 58k.

Go Big Robert! I’m roo … er … you do what you gotta/know-how-to do. You are still small enough that they won’t even see you coming. Nine-touple up and you’ll be even with Tom!

UPDATE:

AA in the bb. 90k.

Ahh, welcome back. Maybe the CP-WPT crew will notice you now. It’s my lunch hour, so I gotta step away from the computer and drink.

NOTE: Actually just noticed the average stack is now 140k, and the leaderboard hasn’t been updated to include Danny Wong’s elimination … so it could be hire than that. Keep punching, Robert!

Day 2 of the $10k main event of the WPT Legends of Poker is well underway in California (aka the Oklahoma of Las Vegas).

Click here to follow the chip-by-chip coverage.

The Arizona contingent of Pokerati is representin’ … Donkey Bomber is second in chips right now (behind Dutch Boyd) and Big Robert is hanging on, trying to make it to Day 3. With 89 players left, he’s a shortish stack with 30k. Blinds are 800/1600 +200. Other Arizona peeps doing well/on fumes include Danny Fuhs and Mike Wattel.

Beyond all those guys, I’m watching the fake Todd Phillips and Batface fantasy-teamer Danny Wong — who’s got a plenty healthy stack as he guns for his third WPT final table in a row.

By the way, there’s also lots of crazy poker media stuff going — this being the first WPT event with semi-closed coverage after a legally questionable deal between Berman/Lipscomb Inc. and CardPlayer. California girl Jen Newell over at Wisehand should have some decent insight … as she used to work with the WPT, has covered their events before, and knows her way around the back-halls at The Bicycle Casino, unlike Gonz, who gets kicked out when he goes there.

Sent an encouraging message to Robert G (who is not being covered by the WPT-CardPlayer junta) while typing this post regarding his 30k: You are definitely good enough to work with that. M=11? Please.

His response: 15k.

I suggested he shift into panic-and-pray gear, but he tells me he’ll find a spot to 1-2 punch his way out. Alas, I also told him yesterday that I was “rooting for him.” Oops … kinda forgot, as plenty of old Lodge players can attest … that’s kinda the kiss of death.

Not in Oklahoma, but at the Bike in LA, where the main event of the WPT Legends of Poker just got underway. Tom is playing there, by the way, and for whatever it’s worth, he is an average stack and NOT my source on any of the info below. Let’s face it … Pokerati are everywhere, as they should be.

Anyhow, Vinnie Vinh is in da California hizzouse. Sources say:

Vinnie Vinh, aka the after guy, is alive and well, playing at the bike and looks remarkably healthy

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Get it? Catchy name, huh? - Well if it’s lost on you, click here to listen to the last latest episode of Beyond The Table to hear Tom talk about his hatred of the game he would soon win a bracelet in. Also included: Losing your nickname in poker? - Tom vs. the WPT - Players going broke at the WSOP.

Have comments, questions, rants/raves? Leave us a message and be on the next show!

Beyond The Table listener line: (888) 820-8091

There were three items that weren’t covered in Steve’s letter that are very important to me and some of my professional poker friends. Resolving these issues would make competing on the World Poker Tour more profitable, and therefore more enjoyable, for the players the WPT depends on.

1. Payout structure - In the WPT championship, the winner received $4 million. Sixth place got $300,000. This difference is not the only reason, but is one of the main reasons that people are complaining about the blind structures. If this difference were significantly smaller, players might not be as bothered by a crapshoot. I’m sure other people will comment on how to improve the blind structure, but I would like the payout structure narrowed. Viewers will be impressed if the winner gets $2 million or $4 million. Both numbers are amazing to people that watch poker. This top-heavy prize structure is one of the reasons so many poker players are going broke. Finishing 6th among 600 of the best players in the world should get paid better than 12to1.
2. Deal Making - The WSOP allows deal making and their shows are great to watch too. The viewers don’t know, and even if they did, they might find the negotiation process interesting to watch. The inability for players to make deals when the variation in prize money from first to sixth is so vast is another reason why the blind structure is so important. The final table is not real poker and is being played for more money than most people have ever seen, and we can’t make deals. If we could make deals, I wouldn’t care so much about the blind structure. In addition, if a deal was made, it would speed up the tournament reducing your production costs and would spread the prize money over a greater number of players.

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You’ve heard my thoughts before here and on Beyond the Table about the problems with the blind structure and payouts at WPT final tables.

The World Poker Tour head honcho sent an email to the players about this matter just a few days ago:

Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 18:42:00 -0700
From: “Steve Lipscomb”
To: Tom Schneider
Subject: An Open Letter regarding Final Table Structure from WPT Founder Steven Lipscomb

An Open Letter regarding Final Table Structure from WPT Founder Steven Lipscomb:

Dear WPT family:

As we begin our historic Season VI of the World Poker Tour, we continue to strive to make World Poker Tour events the best possible experience for players, casinos and television audiences alike. To that end we are opening a forum today on our website (WorldPokerTour.com) to discuss the optimum final table structure for WPT events.

The structure we currently use at the final table was designed for us by players (Howard Lederer — in consultation with Jack McClelland, Chris Ferguson and others). I have included a copy of that structure on the forum. There are a number of factors that need to be considered as people try to help us identify any improvements:

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Lest we forget that poker is going on in places other than Texas, Harrah’s has revised its payout structure for WSOP bracelet events. Donkey Bomber was just bitching about the the disappointment of his buddy Mike Wattel’s $300k payday (for 6th place in the WPT Championship) … and less than a week later the WSOP steps forth with a pro-friendly plan to differentiate itself from its biggest brand-name competition.

I know the pros like to say they are always trying to win, but really … they are trying to get the max return on their investment of time and money. So if you have, say, an 80 percent chance of winning $100k and a 5 percent chance of winning $1 million, what’s the better prize to go for? This is simple Deal or No Deal math, even according to Sklansky. Making the payouts a little less top-heavy hass gotta change at least a few players’ near-bubble strategy, no?

Harrah’s explanation of how the new payout system would have applied to last year’s main event field:

Overall, 846 players last year would have won substantially more money – in some case, more than double – what they collected in 2006. The top 27 players would have received less, however.

For example, the 2006 Main Event would have paid $22,266 for 873rd through 775th places, up from $14,605 or $15,512. Places 82 through 73 would have paid $126,173, up from $66,010. First place would have paid $10,028,715, down from $12 million, while second place would have been worth $5,442,769, compared with $6,105,900.

By the way, semi-related … interesting to see all the PartyPoker ads all over the (new and improved) official WSOP website.

If you were thinking you needed to get some tournament play before heading out to the WSOP at The Rio then now is the time.

The Mirage Showdown and WSOP Circuit Event New Orleans are two perfect festivals to attend.

While The Mirage is the first of the WPT Season VI, the New Orleans Circuit Event is the last before poker pros start filling up The Amazon Room to play for a bracelet.

For those of you that have not played New Orleans you’re truly missing out. New Orleans is a fun city with amazing food and Phil Gordon will be there giving a seminar.

I highly recommend staying at the very swanky W Hotel as it is directly across from Harrahs. Furthermore, New Orleans rarely hosts legal poker tournaments and you (Texans) can drive!

Wicked Chops Poker reports that the World Poker Tour has decided to ditch Sabina Gadecki after only one season. Maybe they can get something going where they have one hostess an episode.

Oh oh…I have a suggestion for the next session! She has plenty of experience in front of the camera and she plays poker!

I played in the $25,000 Bellagio main event last week, qualifying via my second $2,500 satellite. What an event! Nearly all of the best players in the world played. Starting the third day, I had 227,000 chips, which was about 70,000 above average. I got busted out of the 639 player field with 150 players remaining. Upon busting, I asked the cocktail waitress for a glass of Drano, easy on the ice.

Here is where I went wrong: Before I started the day, I should have established that day’s goal. What should the goal have been? Oh, I don’t know…how about make the money idiot! You paid $5,000 to get in and 100th place paid $46,000. If I make the money, I can then change my strategy. I played too many hands and was trying to get a little too bluffy, kinda like when Dan gets a little drinky. Needless to say, the moral of the story is, decide what you want to have happen and work toward that goal.

My good friend Mike Wattel came in 6th in the event, cashing in about $300,000. What a joke! Here’s my beef:

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… is up. Have a listen (and if you’re a blogger who would like your own custom BTT jukebox like the one you see at the top-right of Pokerati and at Hard Boiled Poker, let us know and we may be able to hook you up.)

Can’t really tell you what Tom, Karridy, and I cover in this episode … mostly because I have yet to listen to it in full. However, I can assure you that you will get to hear:

• Devilfish expressing desires to bang people’s daughters while declaring us “his boys”
• Chau Giang working on his English-only
• Sean Sheikhan talking about “nappy ass players”

Beyond the Table - 4/18/07
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As always … awesome, right?

UPDATE: Oh yeah, right … in this episode we talk about Tom’s performance at the WPT 5-Star World Classic, Anna Wroblewski, Karridy’s early midlife crisis, crapping your pants while at the table, and calculating pot odds when it comes to giving a blow job. Hardcore intellect and aural pleasures to go.

The Fontana Room Race for the go