Chris Reslock
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Chris Reslock $18,200 – WSOP-C Harrah’s Philly $580 NLH
Chris Reslock $8,820 – WSOP-C Harrah’s Philly $365 NLH
Jae Kyung Sim $98,700 – APPT Cebu Main Event

Chris Reslock is having a good week at the WSOP Circuit series in “Philly”. The Atlantic City regular tied Alex Masek for Circuit victories with his 6th ring on Thursday and then took the overall lead early this morning with his 7th title in the short-field $365 NLH tournament. On top of his seven WSOP-C rings, Reslock also has nine other Circuit final tables on his resume, including two runner-up finishes, and a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007.

In the online world, Ultimate Poker held it’s first “major” tournament with the regularly scheduled Sunday $10,000 guarantee event. The field hit it’s 200 player cap and the first big winner on the site was “d4heals” for just over $4,000. Meanwhile on PokerStars, “friend of Pokerati” Katie Dozier scored her biggest online title for $10,624 (and a soft drink) in their $30,000 2x-Turbo.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Good to see Marafioti is staying well grounded heading into his summer at the WSOP including some weird bet with Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Can’t wait for the 2013 version of the Adzizzy Bunny Hop.

People on 2+2 talk about me non stop. I’m the most talked about, hated, + imitated player in the game. #QuietInPerson+JealousOnline! #UMad?

— Matthew Marafioti (@Adzizzy) May 4, 2013

PokerStars Files Suit Against Atlantic Club, Cites “Bad Faith” and Requests TRO – Things are heating up in the PokerStars/Atlantic Club saga with The Rational Group filing suit against the casino after it terminated the sale contract. I’ll leave the legal analysis up to those with bigger brains than myself.

Lock Poker Shadiness 101 – Lock poker did not have the Best Week Ever. Never a big fan on linking up a 2+2 post because I’m afraid it won’t wash it off the Silkwood shower, but this seems to be the most comprehensive list of things going south for Lock Poker, player cashouts, and the pros who support it via Todd Witless and h/t to @Kevmath.

Delaware names vendor for online casino gambling system – With Ultimate Poker leading Nevada into the online poker world first, Delaware picked 888 Holdings to launch that state into the market.

The British poker ace, the ‘perfect’ murder he got away with for 16 years – and how his luck finally ran out – The interesting story of Marcus Bebb-Jones, the UK poker player who enjoyed himself with the occasional hooker and blow, and how he managed to get away with murder for 16 years until he was finally caught.

Speeding through Monaco like a race car – The EPT Grand Final is underway in beautiful Monaco and Sarah Grant takes a close look at the legendary race course for the PokerStars Blog.

As the legal battle involving sports gambling moves to the next round in New Jersey, Delaware continues to experience a payoff from its decision to expand its limited sports lottery involving professional football games.

Now gamblers can bet not only in the state’s three racetrack casinos, but also in 31 restaurants, bars and nightclubs throughout Delaware.

Through 20 weeks, including the National Football League preseason, business is up 42.4 percent for the lottery to $22 million, compared with $15.4 million through the same period last year. And the expansion is not hurting its existing casino business, according to a state lottery official.

“The three casinos are showing no cannibalization and are up an aggregate of $1.2 million themselves, an increase of almost 8 percent,” said Vernon Kirk, director of the Delaware Lottery.

More…

Not a story about poker, but an interesting op-ed nonetheless about a bipartisan effort in the US Senate to clarify financing options for college loans, grants, scholarships, etc …  In the piece, Times columnist Gail Collins uses the newly not-released Reid online poker bill as a comparative benchmark for a bill that everyone might want in principal yet still stalls at the peak of election season.

She explains:

Franken is hoping the Senate might take up his proposal next year. I presume you weren’t expecting anything sooner. Congress can’t even get it together to keep the Postal Service from defaulting. And the Senate leaders admitted the other day that they’re not going to be able to pass a bipartisan bill to legalize Internet gambling on poker, which seems to be a really high priority for some important people. If they can’t do poker, they are not going to get to student loan transparency.

So OMG did they just call the PPA Harry Reid Big Casinos the 2+2 community poker players “important people”?  Whoop-whoop! Wait your turn whiney college bitchez! And yet with the online poker bill(s) … well, the implication is that any stalemates in Washington DC are now all but official.  (Or at least that’s what our Senate Majority Leader would like us to believe!) So bummer, but not a shocker going into the Presidential debates … hope may still be alive, but no matter what your special interest, it’s gonna have to wait until at least 2013.

Of course for poker being #1 at the gate probably means we can expect an artificial bubble of opportunity in states looking to move forward with their own online gambling legislation a la Nevada and/or Delaware …

ALT HED: Four More Years?

Online Gambling has been legalized in the state of Delaware, nearly six years after the passage of the UIGEA. Not only that, but Nevada has started to issues online poker licenses to gaming companies in the state! What a week!

While New Jersey pushes forward, California debates, and Iowa considers, Delaware decides to get in the race. And with so many states moving toward legal online gambling, is it any wonder predictions are they will lead the way in American gaming?

Not so pokery but when you think about kinda-sorta it really is … Nevada Gaming put out their latest sports betting data on Super Bowl wagers, showing $94 million bet in Nevada’s 184 sportsbooks — significant growth over previous year(s) … with the house actually finishing $5 million on the upside (suckers) this go-round. Though GOPers who just rolled through Las Vegas might want to believe otherwise … some economists (aka my old roommate Sang, who happens to be uber-conservative but otherwise really smart) believe this could be yet another indicator of Vegas recovery, fortuitous for a national economy likely to follow.

Though I’m sure plenty will disagree with the above analysis, I’ll take the upward Super Bowl trend for Nevada sports books as a win.

Meanwhile, semi-related but not really, Delaware is looking into how the new DOJ Wire Act interpretation (heralded by online poker types) could actually help the state offer more-better sports betting options to the masses via the internet.

The WPT-Borgata Poker Open is underway … big action of the season for East Coast grinders and top pros willing to travel to New Jersey. New Jersey happens to be one of the most fascinating states on the online gambling legal fronts for many reasons — sports gambling, poker, and casino games all included — as their state lawmakers attack severe budget deficits at a time when Atlantic City took some of the biggest recessionary gambling hits.

But arguably the biggest and most immediate threats they’re facing are from neighboring states that have expanded gambling — with new tables, poker and otherwise, rapidly opening. Though it’s just a single anecdote and hardly statistical evidence of anything, I got this text message from a Pokerati player about new games in his home state of Delaware:

I’m back in DE. Playing @ DE Park right now. Casinos 15 mins from my house. 20 tables, separate tourney room, pretty nice. haven’t gone to AC since I’ve been here.

Yikes, if not indicative of likely continued economic woes for New Jersey, it seems to at least suggest something about the redistribution of gambling wealth currently going on in the Northeast corner of the United States.

Damn, that was quick. a few weeks ago Delaware considered the idea of legalizing table games at its casinos (which includes poker), the Senate voted on it yesterday, and the governor signed it into law. They expect to be playing by summer time.

ALT HED: Politics Is Easy

In other casino industry news:

Harrah’s is offering the state of Iowa $70 million to scrap greyhound racing.

And MGM/Mirage is looking to sell its 50 percent stake in the Borgata in an effort to avoid regulatory trouble over their association with Pansy Ho in China. Apparently they see more value in Macau than Atlantic City.

The Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania got fined for allowing underage players on their slot machines.

And a new study out of Australia found that handling a baby crocodile makes you more likely to chase straights and flushes.

… and other table games. If they move fast enough, they’ll be able to get cards in the air before Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile the state of Iowa thinks poker is booming, and though they already have legal poker there, they think it would be neato to have really big tournaments. And thus there is a new bill pending — and being pushed by the House Majority Leader — that would make room for more tables to accommodate big special poker events.

Their numbers and expectations however, may be a bit off:

“We have the people already playing poker in Iowa. We have a zillion poker players. Apparently, they’re just going someplace else to do it,” Hudson said.

We have two major news stories in online gambling. The first is that former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers has withdrawn his guilty plea in Missouri. And the second is the closing of Pitbull Poker, with rumors of criminal activity and arrests in Costa Rica. Those stories and other industry news.

The (American) football season is upon us … fantasy sports drafts and all that stuff. But more than that, some new NFL lottery tickets are hitting the 7-Elevens near you! $5 Eagles and Steelers scratch-off tickets (seen here) went on sale last week in Pennsylvania, and the New Jersey lottery will give the NFL a cut on Jets and Giants tickets sold … despite the fact that the super-duper majority of participants in this game of chance are guaranteed to lose.

UPDATE: A Dallas Cowboys scratch-off also went on sale last week.

In Massachusetts, Patriots lottery tickets are selling at a record pace, and have already awarded their first two million-dollar prizes. Wanna be a little disgusted by one of the poker industry’s biggest political opponents … check out the familiar pitch the NFL itself is using in promoting their rake game:

More…

We cover industry news from France to the United States, as professional sports leagues & governments have a dramatic affect on gambling. The NFL joining with others to sue the state of Delaware? Plus, an announcement about Bodog.

The Delaware legislature passed a bill allowing sports gambling to return to the state on Tuesday. Governor, Jack Markell will be signing the legislation later this week. Delaware is one of 4 states (Oregon, Nevada and Montana being the others) that were exempt from a 1992 federal law that banned gambling on sports.

The NFL, unsurprisingly, filed a brief with the Delaware Supreme Court against the bill. Their reasoning for blocking the bill is surprising; because they state that sports betting is a game of skill, while Delaware state law states that only games of chance are allowed. Could they be unknowingly opening the door to allow all sorts of gambling on games of skill, such as poker?

Just some early-morning semi-pokery stuff that’s caught my eye … actually, first part’s not so pokery, but I think a lot of poker fans might be curious about this upcoming ESPN piece on the governor’s efforts in Delaware to bring sports betting to that state:

(And no wonder Doyle Brunson loves it in Montana.)

E:60 Delaware Betting Preview

And this job ad, for a new position in London … Investigator – Poker Specialist. I don’t have much to say about the specific position (London usually means PartyPoker, but not always) … except that I’ve never seen such a title before. New.

Key Responsibilities:

• Fraud prevention, detection and investigation
• Understanding of international online payment methods
• Knowledge of Money Laundering detection and regulation
• Knowledge of foreign language/customs
• Experience of reading Poker hands in relation to chip dumping cases.

So what’s wrong if you want to have your friends over and take a little rake while your wife is pitching cards with boobs aflop?

(Thanks, Leigh, for the link!)

It’s an issue that is near-and-dear to my heart, because if you can’t play topless poker, really, are we still living in America!?!

Still, one anonymous Middleton gambler said, “They’re (the police) just angry because no taxes were collected. Nobody was harmed by Laurie’s boobs, and some of us were the better for it.”

Yeah! Though maybe Laurie shouldn’t have been accepting credit cards?