A little less douchey different than the UB Party … the Bodog Party took place at the Palms Kingpin Suite, and Jean-Robert Bellande was there to bring-it so you could share in the joys of a sponsored online pokery Las Vegas drink-fest. In the process, he makes an interesting prediction that with the deeper-stacks structure in play, we should be seeing a lot more pros go deep in the 2009 WSOP main event — and if ever there’s a year for it, this could be the one where the field of bona fide pros stand a statistically real chance of loading up the final table and seeing one of their own potentially win it all:

Watch Jean-Robert Bellande and the Amazing Bowling Bodog Girls on RawVegas.tv

Your favorite intrepid degen journos are back for the 40th WSOP — and what better way to get poker’s version of summer camp started than with some festive prop-betting over a friendly game of bowls at the South Point Casino? Of course it doesn’t take long for old grievances to re-emerge, and by the 9th frame of the second game, Pauly and Dan engage in a battle of dirty tactics that serves as perfect preparation for the world of excuse-making, tilt-induction, substance abuse, and repressed homosexuality that they’re about to step into.

Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV

Episode 11.1: How We Roll
2:42
[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_WSOP_SouthPoint_01.mp3]

Episode 11.2: Questionable Tactics
2:57
[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_WSOP_SouthPoint_02.mp3]

See the video here.

I hate this video … but it is what it is — bowling for dollars with Pauly and Jen:

Just to keep track of the prop betting that we’re willing to publicly acknowledge here’s how it’s broken down so far:

$60 from Dan -> Jen (for G’s to Gents payoff)
$30 from Jen -> Dan (for bowling, two games at $15 each)
$40 from Dan -> Pauly (for bowling, two games at $20 each)

Pending
Dan <-> Jen: $20 over/under on 300 teams at the Dream Team Poker event
Dan <-> Kevin: $100 that his team of ESPN fantasy scrubs can beat 6 of the 11 official selections

I blame it all on a text that put me on tilt for about four critical frames … regardless, to close out his most recent visit to Vegas, Pauly and I went bowling at the South Point casino for an intense heads-up match and some prop-betting education … and because he’s not on Facebook and we couldn’t wager status-update control, we had to play for cash:

Go Team (cont.)
Episode 10.7: Bowling for Dollars

[audio:tao/TaoPokerati_BowlingSC.mp3]

Mildly amusing column in the Washington Post today … it’s actually about bowling, from a dude who calls himself the Couch Slouch, and he’s writing an open letter to Barack Obama on behalf of all middle Americans. What caught me was an aside … so good to know that the message is appropriately out there in the Beltway:

(By the way, Mr. President, let’s talk cards for a moment. The government’s got a deficit, no? Well, Internet poker is a cash cow that you should exploit: Legalize it, regulate it and levy it. Heck, you love playing poker — it’s your duty as the nation’s check-raiser-in-chief to open up this revenue stream and add big chips to the public’s coffers. Shuffle up and tax!)

(P.S. on poker: Besides the fact you shouldn’t play too much of it online — it’s dangerously addictive; just imagine Bill Clinton’s White House years if he had been playing no-limit Texas hold ’em under the handle “slickwillie” — can you make sure it’s legit? With government regulation should come government safeguards to prevent software schemes and shenanigans that are inevitable with that much money on the virtual table.)

Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling like if we can’t get poker laws corrected in 2009, then we probably never can. I mean this both on a federal and state (Texas) level. We’ve got courts ruling in our favor left and right, we’ve got a strong desire for new and reliable revenue streams, public opinion is on our side, our opponents seem stuck in the 20th century … and in Washington DC, our leading torchbearer — Barney Frank — has his hands all over everything to do with banks. If you haven’t heard, this country’s dealing with some major banking issues these days … conditions couldn’t be riper, which has me thinking it really is just a matter of doing the nuts and bolts heavy lifting hard work hammering through procedural kinda stuff during a particularly crazy and hectic time, which could work both for or against us, depending on how we play it.

UPDATE: LOL, I’m an idiot. I just realized The Couch Slouch is Norman Chad. I knew that. But still.

Just thought a few hardworking bloggers/already-broke poker players might wanna know … free Foster’s at the Lucky Strike Lanes this evening from 6-9 pm. Not sure if you’re supposed to be there or not, but really, does it matter? No gambling/MBL required.

With Pokerati contributors descending upon Vegas for the 2008 WSOP, it only makes sense that hijinks ensue. Thus, we present the 2008 PBS – Pokerati Bowling Series.

The inaugural and somewhat impromptu and unofficial match-up took place last night at the Gold Coast bowling alley. What started off as a friendly game morphed into a bet on the second and last game of the evening; loser between Dan and I pays for the next match-up. One unnamed part of the duo was so sure that he was bowling a superb game that the final score was that much more special. Final score: Jen 128, Dan 127.

Short-Stacked Shamus was on hand, and for not having bowled in quite some time, he showed he’s got game. Whether his WSOP schedule will permit regular bowling outings remains to be seen…

The 2008 PBS still has to work out the terms of the series, as little details like stakes and list of participants has yet to be determined. Minor snag.

Side note: Drinks at the Gold Coast bowling alley bar are cheap! Two bottles of beer and a mixed drink were $9.50, and the bar was spacious with wallpaper that looked eerily like the new Pokerati site’s wallpaper. And it’s just across the street from the Rio. Enough said.

Sorry if I’ve seemed a little non-posty since setting up shop in LV. I’ve been going to too many porn parties playing too much poker busy helping get a new web service off the ground: Thrillist Las Vegas.

Basically, Thrillist will be sending an easy-click email once a week to subscribers about some of the cooler shizznit going down in V-town … only I won’t be using phrases like “shizznit.” In the first edition, we talk about the VIP Suite at Red Rock Lanes (just in time for the PBA Tournament of Champions), the opening of a new restaurant, a more-than-beef-jerky jackpot, a fancy shoe store in the new Palazzo, and how swingers can tell when it’s time for a threesome. All very important to know, of course, whether you’re a local or a semi-regular visitor looking to indulge in ways most can’t find at home.

The premiere non-spam just showed up in subscribers’ inboxes early this AM … and their lives are presumably far better as a result. Did you get it? If not, sign up here.

LAS VEGAS–Funny how being in Las Vegas has put me so out of touch with all the poker news. I think there are some big tournaments going on, online poker execs in the courts, business deals shaking down, but I’ve got little to report other than poker being played. Still, it’s been kinda interesting to see who you run into at the tables around this town:

The first notable I ran into was OREL HERSHEISER, who apparently just moved here to Las Vegas and sat to my left in a 1/2 NLH game at RED ROCK — fresh after being denied selection into the baseball HALL OF FAME. I tried to play the not-knowing-who-he-is thing — “You lost a vote? Were you running for city council or congress or something?” — but he would end up busting me out when I tried to run a little STOP-N-GO. As I pushed all-in, he asked, “How much money do you have?”

“Um, I’m all-in. About $140 more,” I said, pointing to my stacks.

“No, I mean other money. Because we can make a little side-bet away from the table,” he said, upon showing me THE NUTS.

Red Rock seems to be the OFF-STRIP place to be. On my second post-WSOP outing there, I ran into GARY THOMPSON — World Series of Poker media master and tournament overlord. He was wearing comfortable jeans, loafers, and a button-down shirt while playing 2/5 NLH. With about $800 in front of him, he said he was “down a couple hundred.” But it wouldn’t take long for him to grow his stacks, and a few hours later, he had moved up to the 5/10 game and had what looked to be about $2k.

On that same day, I saw A GUY I BUSTED at the Rio. He was a good player who went with the whole BLACK HOODIE and SUNGLASSES kinda thing, while saying almost nothing and acting with stoic (but angry) CHRIS FERGUSON-like motions. He was playing 1/2 NLH and nursing about $200.

Over at THE VENETIAN in the 2/5 game, I found myself up against a WSOP Dealer — SHAI the ISRAELI GUY. He was sick when I pushed all-in and convinced him to fold his top-pair-top-kicker that would turn into TOP BOAT … only to see the guy who took down the pot from me win with KING-HIGH. A couple hours later I was playing a goofy hand with K-6 offsuit in late position, the flop came K-7-K … he checks, I bet, he raises big, I call. Turn is a 6, he pushes all-in, I call … at which point he shows his POCKET 7s. The table cheers for a FOURTH SEVEN, but it doesn’t come and I send him to the ATM.

One table over, KARINA JETT’S MOTHER was playing — beyond her typical quiet game, she was practically falling asleep at the table (at 3 AM) while nursing about $400. She may not remember this, but she won a $15 PROP BET from me once over a RULES DISPUTE. (My bad … I thought I knew stuff.)

Back at RED ROCK a couple days later, I ran into ABRAHAM, and he really deserves his own post, because he tilted the table unlike anything I had ever seen — and even managed to invoke mockery from a cute young girl who wasn’t playing. Basically imagine the worst personality and poker characteristics of ME, TIM ROGERS and EON MARSHALL all wrapped up into an obnoxious kid who graduated from high school in 2003 and is well aware that he looks like STU UNGAR. Then give him a lot of chips. (His behavior and play was so table-altering it had me interrupting TOM SCHNEIDER’S vacation in ST. THOMAS for some emergency coaching … who advised me well until I played back without paying attention to a guy to my left who had pocket kings.)

I really wanted to KILL THIS KID, or at least make him cry. And so did everyone else — especially the old (presumably) gay man who he busted by calling a $260 raise pre-flop with 2-3 suited only to flop two threes. But he can’t be all that bad, because without provoking from me, he at one point shouted, “THE HAMMER!” with glee. Hey kid, if you are reading this, what I told you at the table after you “bluffed” me with pocket-5s and then taunted (it took me a good five minutes to lay down Ace-high) still applies: “I look forward to seeing you get your education.” Punk-ass. Like seriously, you had at least two of us at the table contemplating how one might go about rolling you in the parking lot.

One of the cool things about Red Rock is that when you need to shake off a bad beat or just step away from a dipshit the table to refocus, you can go BOWL A GAME 24 hours a day — for $3 +$3.50 for shoes. That seems like positive EV.

The picture above is from a day I didn’t actually play poker … but I did walk through the poker room just for funsies after bowling, and whom should I run into but NOLAN DALLA, longtime Dallas poker expat and WSOP media guru, legendary sports handicapper, and Stu Ungar biographer. He was wearing CARGO SHORTS, a frumpled shirt, and seemed pleasantly drinky while playing 5/10 NLH with a couple old friends from POKERSTARS.

“I’m stuck $800 but having a great time!” he screamed upon embracing me with a BEAR HUG. “Isn’t this a great casino!?! Hey everybody, it’s Dan from Pokerati!”

Murmur?

“Oh, right …” Nolan said. “Didn’t mean to blow your cover.”

I also ran into STEVE HALL one night at Red Rock, too. He was playing PENNY VIDEO SLOTS. He had a big hit of some sort of crazy picture combinations that won him about $60.

And then to top it all off, I went to CAESAR’S PALACE with DON JONES (of Rounder Club fame), LEIGH & BRIAN from the Poker Atlas , DOCTOR STEVE, and former Absolute Poker marketing chick JEN TIDWELL to play in their 50-player-max $65 tourney. We all had 10 percent of each other, which proved irrelevant as our top player would bubble.

I was the first to bust out (of the tournament) and would take a seat playing some 2/5. Of all the poker tables in Las Vegas … what are the chances that DAN BALLENGER (aka HONG KONG SUE, father of SON OF SUE) would get seated at my table? It would take more than a full orbit before he realized he was sitting with a fellow BATFACE. He bought in for $500 and cashed out a couple hours later for a little less than that. HKS got most of those chips from me … calling a $100 bluff with second-pair-no-kicker (what was I THINKING!?!) … and then bluffing me out of a $400+ pot on the river, getting me to lay down aces. He mucked at the time, but told me as he left that he pushed all-in for his remaining $135 with an underpair. Wish I hadn’t asked, because it had me semi-tilting for a good 30 minutes or more. I know he was just trying to be nice, but still …

Then JASON from JACKIE’S (in Dallas) and “RICKY ZILEM” showed up. They were just walking through checking out the action. Fancy running into these guys here. Chris/Ricky, said, “I did what nobody does when they first land in Vegas and took a nap.”

Ah, indeed.

Small world. Good times.