Insta-wsop (in Color!)

LAS VEGAS–The craziness continues to build. We\’re just two weeks away from when the real carnival begins. Whatever you do, please don\’t take the brown acid:

There are MARKED CARDS all over the place at the WSOP. I\’ve seen them in every cash game I played. ANDY BLOCH got a 10-minute penalty at the start of the HORSE event for raising a stink about the easily dented COPAGS. Even DOYLE BRUNSON voiced his disgust — no new decks for the biggest tourney buy-in in history? — as did ANNIE DUKE.

Click here to follow the action today, as they get to a final table, and maybe a winner. DOYLE is still alive, along with many other big names. ROBERT WILLIAMSON is the lone DALLAS guy.

In the big $50k HORSE event, RODEEN TALEBI learns that prayer is not always the best strategy.

TEXAS DOLLY seems to be a little on edge (with HARRAH\’S?). He reportedly was also screaming (several days ago) at a diminutive bathroom-attendant lady who wouldn\’t let him use the indoor men\’s room — holding up his crutch while balking at her suggestion that he walk the 200 yards to the outdoor facilities.

A scene from the MILWAUKEE\’S BEST LIGHT GARAGE (which is just before the bathrooms). You can see why I don\’t mind the walk.

Here is another shot.

An intelligent poker-playing attorney with GAMING INDUSTRY insight pointed out to me yesterday that the AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT could be used to defeat the GOODLATTE BILL … denying online poker could be denying certain citizens their right to comfortably play the game.

ALLYN JAFFREY SHULMAN (Barry\’s wife) offers a solid explanation of legally unenforceable problems the bill faces.

Last week\’s issue of CardPlayer featured DOYLE BRUNSON on the cover wearing his 10 bracelets. Brilliant idea — presumably taken from FULL TILT\’s ad campaign launched about a month earlier. Only problem … Doyle has given nine of his away. Look closely at the cover and you will see one of those bracelets belongs to JOHNNY CHAN. And seven other were borrowed from BILLY BAXTER for the photo shoot.

THUNDER KELLER has a forum post for people to mock CardPlayer\’s live coverage.

But gotta say, as much as bloggers love to hate CardPlayer this year, they really are doing a nice job getting their site back in working order. Chip counts and prize payouts and individual players are easier to follow now (wait til they start getting into the money), and the CHIP-STACK HISTORY feature is actually pretty cool.

GREG MERKOW is kicking butt in the $2,500 6-max NLHE event. GLYNN BEEBE from AUSTIN is too — showing he\’s an upwardly mobile Texan that shan\’t be ignored. Visors are apparently back in poker style.

HARRY DEMETRIOU has a significant open-letter outlining his BEEFS with the WSOP — and specifically why he didn\’t play in the HORSE event. A $2k juice does seem a bit extreme.

Even MIKE SEXTON is (diplomatically) pointing out the important issues poker faces in its immediate future.

POKERBLUE is addressing one potential problem head-on — publicly announcing the stake that each of its players will have in each other at the main event. Wonder if FULL TILT will do the same. Their private-company money breakdown — complete with $120k \”buy-ins\” seems a bit \”mysterious.\”

I haven\’t watched TV — save for a little poker on in various bars — for two weeks. From what I understand, the world may or may not be blowing up. It kinda doesn\’t make sense to me, because here at the WSOP, there are tons of Arabs, Jews, Degos, Polacks, Blackies, and Bumpkins — and everyone seems to get along. Where else can you find such a diversity of people sitting around playing a game?

To the driver of the elegantly pimped ROLLS ROYCE parked in PHIL IVEY\’S spot … your alarm is going off. It may or may not have something to do with a certain BLOGGER trying to look inside.

My personal LAS VEGAS/WSOP roller coaster bankroll-impact log. (Current.)

JUSTIN WEST writes a great recap of day 1 of the HORSE event. He\’s an out-of-nowhere aspiring ANDY GLAZER with a refreshingly real voice, and he\’s got solid blogger chops whether he wants to admit it or not.

A little more than two years ago, ANDY GLAZER committed suicide. It took a while for the poker world to admit as much publicly. The game seems past the point where sugar-coating was the standard. (Andy would have wanted it that way, right?)

Frightening resemblance: JUSTIN and MIKE PAULLE.

JENNIFER TILLY has been good to poker — credit her for significantly improving the hotness of women in the ladies event (and, of course, the quality of all x-chromosome play).

Her belt buckle. The bottom reads \”will kick your ass!\” No wonder the UNABOMBER\’s in love.

LORI the DEALER may not have gotten married in Vegas, but one couple did — in the Rio poker room at the WSOP.

Elsewhere but relevant:

THE FAT GUY has re-done his website. (It was my privelige being his GUINEA PIG.) On it he brings up a really good point about the ridiculousness — and legal questionability — of a SWAT TEAM being used to bust-up a poker game.

GRUBBY has gotten a sweet gig designing slot machines.

Don\’t forget to check out the Vegas Vacation recap fun at THE BATFACES.