Instapoker

I left out all the political stuff you should be reading — trust me, lots of casino-y biz and law going on — and instead am emptying out my frivolous notebook (some of it) and giving you a good-ole-fashioned link dump … full of random timely poker buzz that, imo, is def click-worthy.

The LAPC and NAPT/Venetian Deep Stacks may be on-hype right now … but some of the most fearsome high-stakes competition going on in Vegas is shaking down at the M Resort. You can follow the quirky, made-for-TV Premier League on PokerNews.

From the Dept. of: That\’s Different

The PokerNews hand reporters have been allowed to see the hole cards and whisper them in Tony G\’s ear write about them. (Usually, if reporters are so privileged to see inside the security truck, they usually do so with a promise not to divulge hole-card info.) It didn\’t take long for the players — who are stripped of their cell phones and PDAs upon entering the set — to check laptops for the revealing live updates while on breaks or out of a hand/scene.

PartyPoker is clearly trying to pump up Luke Schwartz\’s badboy image — taunting him for his ineffectual come-ons of Kara Scott. Here he is on the tricycle Tony G brought for him to ride out on:

Also, btw, check out the PartyPoker blog … where Warren from Party is shedding some of his corporate stick-ness to share some real life-on-the-PartyPoker-trail shtick. AKA Warren \”the\” Lush and \”Fun Warren\”.

Pokerati Restaurant Review

M Resort Buffet

It\’s not quite Wynn or Bellagio-level … but it\’s pretty close. And for a $14.95 lunch/$22.95 dinner, the extra touches — beer and wine available buffet-style, too, and a cappuccino bar — make the pig-it-up-dude! offerings worth wading through the hordes of senior-citizen locals who show up en force to let clever packs of bikers know, hey, this is our joint!\” They also do the Tina Martini live cooking show there, which makes the M Resort\’s Studio B like the Steel Panther of Buffets.

Price: Freeroll
Food: A-Q
Atmosphere: set of 4s
Service: 9-9

Another new-to-me blog I\’ve been enjoying of late: crAAKKer
I am become Death, destroyer of Aces, slayer of Kings, tilter of D-bags

PokerListings has a solid (and controversial amongst people who think they know such things) list of Top 10 Players to Watch in 2010. I don\’t think the haters get it … That is who Matt Showell and his people will be watching — whether you like it or not, bitch.

Spoiler Alert:

1. Phil Ivey
2. Cole South
3. Yvgeniy Timoshenko
4. Annette Obrestad
5. Jason Mercier
6. Matt \”ADZ124\” Marafioti
7. Isildur
8. Nanonoko
9. Jeff Madsen
10. Lex Veldhuis

Tao of Changerati

Start listening to Lost Vegas: The Podcast, with Pauly and Change100, around the premise of pimping his forthcoming Lost Vegas book. It\’s about a blogger living with his blogger girlfriend while he endeavors to spread his poker genius worldwide. She has a way of laughing at him like no one else can, as if she\’s seen his junk or something.

[audio:http://bit.ly/a8eY9D]

ALT HED: The Sonny and Cher of Poker?

Rumorati

From our secret sources on the ground at the LAPC: \”Amanda leatherman out at wpt. will be the new hosetess for napt on espn2. Wpt will have a temporary hostess at celeb invitational and is looking for a full time hostess\”

If you want to follow the real, non-poker Premier League, you should be getting into Soccerati.com. Especially if you want to bet on soccer. UEFA Champions League getting underway.

We wouldn\’t mind more followers @Soccerati on twitter, too. Might even start to send out some tweets as important games kick into high gear.

The Soccerati roster currently includes AlCantHang and JoeSpeaker … with The Rooster headed to South Africa for World Cup 2010 and thus still in negotiations over starting minutes with SangyFarha and DA Hasselbaink.

And, poker blogger creative success story …Chris Hanel — aka Pokergeek and one of some 30something bloggers who over the years have graced these not-so-hallowed Pokerati pages, btw, albeit briefly — is getting big internet kudos for his Hitler video of all Hitler videos, as featured on the ever-viral boing-boing:

via Mean Gene