Headed to AUSTIN in a few hours … cards go in the air on Tuesday for a high-stakes political game that I sure-as-heck don\’t wanna miss … $1 billion and the future of Texas Texas Hold\’em is on the line. Like seriously. No April foolin\’.
LYLE BERMAN, CRANDELL ADDINGTON, MICHAEL BOLCEREK, ERICK LINDGREN, Dallas DA CRAIG WATKINS, CLONIE GOWEN, Pokerati, et al. will be making the push for [tag]HB 3186[/tag] in front of the Licensing and Administrative Procedures committee.
Poker we know can make good TV, and you can find the live House video stream here. I get roughly THREE MINUTES to state my name for the record, tell bad beat stories, and scream \”Go Batfaces!\”
Hold\’em Radio (which started in Austin) has moved into a NEW STUDIO in Las Vegas — at Binion\’s, right by the poker room. Very cool! Live poker radio 24/7 and subsequent podcastable shenanigans just got more interesting.
Check this out … seen on I-20, en route to SHREVEPORT … a BAPTIST CHURCH dropping [tag]the hammer[/tag] in a cyber-evangelical effort to save degenerate gambling souls:
Apropos? I\’m thinking of signing up to be a affiliate at PartySalvation.
Had to check to make sure this one wasn\’t an April Fool\’s story … it isn\’t … police in SWEDEN broke up a 700-player tourney and arrested the operators, who face up to four years in jail.
Two weeks ago, the GARDAI in NORTHERN IRELAND forced the cancellation of a similar not-so-underground event.
ONLINE GAMBLING is running into some problems in the CZECH REPUBLIC. But the companies behind the betting industry there are circumventing the legal nuisances by setting up shop in MALTA.
OK, circling back the globe … here\’s the article (scroll down to the very bottom) … they are now running SATELLITES to the PPT (emphasis added):
Airport Casino Filipino Parañaque will host the first Metro Manila satellite/qualifying tournament for the 3rd Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) Million-Peso Hold’em Championship on March 31, 2007. Registration starts at 1 p.m., and tournament at 2 p.m.
[…]
Details of prize structure and tournament rules for the 3rd PPT Million-Peso Hold’em Championship are posted in the official PPT website, www.PhilippinePokerTour.com.
Meanwhile, POLAND is joining forces with ENGLAND, and I think ITALY … taking steps to officially legalize and regulate online gambling.
Speaking of ENGLAND, they\’re getting on the charity poker kick there, too, raising tens of thousands of pounds for kids with learning disabilities via a PARTYPOKER televised event.
In CONNECTICUT, they\’re using poker to send Pee Wee baseball players to COOPERSTOWN.
PHIL HELLMUTH is breaking new ground in non-pokery poker marketing … having just signed an ENDORSEMENT DEAL with an energy drink called \”Pro Player.\”
Could ENERGY DRINKS be the next poker? They\’re exploding like online poker rooms in 2005, and there\’s too much unregulated profit margin in these arguably addictive chemical products (that teens love!) for the Feds not to eventually take note/want their cut.