As the Duke of Fremont gets ready for trial, Andrew and Dan are among a field of 200 playing $135 No-Limit Hold’em in the Golden Nugget’s $25,000 guaranteed weekender event. Dave meanwhile hooks it to Planet Hollywood in chase of the Caesars Megabeat (which pays better on a Wednesday afternoon) and damn, that’s a pretty good promo when coupled with their new 20 for 20 freeroll.

At Mandalay Bay this weekend it’s the $10,000 Tiger Jam, and is Wikipedia racist for thinking Phil Ivey = Tiger Woods? The WSOP lays out their summer plan with their annual media conference call. And we check in with David Clark, aka DC n La, from New Orleans, where the WSOP-NOLA circuit event is happening and the WSOP Circuit national championship takes place next week. And when a showdown reveals Dan’s 5c8c < 4s6s … he’s left asking Andrew if it was just an unfortunate river in the midst of sneaky button play or really, against a fellow Texan, just a late-position cliche …

Vegas Grinders 1.14: Going Continental
[audio: http://pokerati.com/podcast/VegasGrinders/VG1point14.mp3]

Resource Links

Crap. Free hotel room on the Las Vegas Strip, and I left my bathing suit at home.

The Wynn Classic wraps up, and so does Erick Lindgren’s brief flirtation with redemption. (LOL-ouch on the bubble.) Likewise, Multi Action Poker is out @AriaPoker (like we knew it would be) but Phil Ivey is in — making a not-so-regular stop to play behind his namesake glass walls. Meanwhile, as Nevadans, we begin to think about playing online again, starting with some online satellite freerolls at GoldenNuggetPoker.com … while Dave enjoys a free room at Bally’s — a nice perk for a man hoping to hit it with a bad beat jackpot!

Over @CLVPoker, Hoops and Hold’em is underway; Andrew laments that the one tournament he won has been discontinued. While there may or may not be an upside to being forcibly undefeated, seriously, how-TF do you remove a heads-up bracket tourney from a seasonal series created around March Madness?

Semi-related … can you believe it’s almost pool season?

All that and more in another jam-packed, rip-roarin’ episode of every Vegas local’s favoritisimo new podcast …

Vegas Grinders 1.6
[audio: /VegasGrinders/VG20130320.mp3]

Atlantic City can’t catch a break.

The gaming market has seemingly been covered by dark clouds for much of the past six years. Last week’s announcement that Revel, the Boardwalk’s newest resort, was filing for bankruptcy less than a year after opening, didn’t shock anyone.

Bad news has become expected.

Atlantic City gaming revenues have declined more than 40 percent over the last six years. The Boardwalk suffered through labor strife, competition from resorts in neighboring states, casino closures, stalled investments and the recession.

When Hurricane Sandy washed ashore in October, shutting down portions of the Boardwalk for as long as to a week, several analysts quietly wondered whether the freakish storm was a warning sign from above.

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Every so often poker players should give something back to ease the take take take mentality. I’m pretty sure that’s why the charity tournament was invented.

So if you’re in an altruistic mood this weekend and looking to feel good about your game, there’s the $125 buy-in Ante 4 Autism event at Golden Nugget this Sunday, January 27. Cards go in the air at 7 p.m. 

The tournament benefits Autism Speaks, a real charity that preeminent Vegas poker hostess Karina Jett says is “very dear to my heart.”

“In the United States, autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed now in one in 88 children and one in 54 boys,” says Doug Krinsky, the event founder.

The first 100 players will receive an free T-shirt and Autism Speaks pin. The top five finishers receive special prizes — including a queen-size gel-infused memory foam bed set, and a leather recliner — while the winner gets a plaque, cash prize (which he may or may not choose to donate back to the charity) and warmth around his heart.

“The Golden Nugget has welcomed our event with open arms and we hope to announce shortly other professional poker players that will be joining us as well,” co-host Scott Graham said.

In the previous four years, this tournament has raised a total of $46,014, including a record $22,239 last year. Find more information about Ante 4 Autism at the Golden Nugget here.

Or on Facebook here.

Texas lawmakers will again take up the issue of gaming expansion during the state’s biannual legislative session that begins next week.

And, as in previous years, a gaming bill has as much chance of passing through both Lone Star State legislative houses as the Dallas Cowboys have of winning the Super Bowl with Tony Romo at quarterback.

Slim and none.

“There are a host of detractors and hurdles standing in the way of Texas passing gaming expansion anytime soon, from religious groups, out-of-state gaming interests, a conservative Legislature, and animal rights groups,” Union Gaming Group managing director Bill Lerner told investors.

National gaming expansion talks always focus on Texas when that state’s Legislature convenes for roughly five months in odd-numbered years.

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October was one those “mixed bags” for the gaming industry.

Compared with a year ago, that average daily stock prices for 12 publicly traded gaming companies are down collectively 8.5 percent.

However, more than half of the companies followed by Las Vegas-based financial adviser Applied Analysis for the firm’s monthly gaming index, experienced moderate increases in their average daily price.

The index, which tracks some 300 market variables, grew 10.5 percent.

“The sector’s annual performance moved in an opposite direction compared to the broader equities market,” Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon told the firm’s clients in a research report. “Gaming stocks appear to be making up ground.”

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Three companies were granted interactive gaming licenses by the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday as the lineup for the state’s potential online poker market grew more crowded.

Commissioners licensed Boyd Gaming Corp. the Golden Nugget ownership and Fertitta Interactive – which includes the owners of Station Casinos and operators of Ultimate Fighting Championship – to launch online poker websites as soon as the technology is approved.

The website can be accessed only by people age 21 and older playing on computers or mobile devices within Nevada.

Boyd Gaming Executive Vice President Bob Boughner told gaming commissioners the company believes online poker in Nevada will be a $180 million a year business and would damage the state’s live poker business.

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Aaron Massey
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s Boxscore

Aaron Massey $651,559 – WinStar River Poker Main Event
Justin Ouimette C$66,000 – Canadian Poker Classic Main
Samad Razavi A$326,125 – ANZPT IV Grand Final

It’s been a crazy time over in Cannes this week at the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event. There was a much publicized €5,000,000 guarantee which wasn’t reached, the founder coming out to deny the evidence of a guarantee and then set his blasters on the “young ego-driven players” who had the stones to call him out. And then Patrick Partouche picked up his ball and went home, saying this would be the last PPT event after a 5 year run.

In the end it might have just turned out to be a misunderstanding/language barrier/marketing strategy gone awry as cooler heads prevailed overnight. Partouche came back Friday morning saying they would add more than €700,000 to cover the “guaranteed” prizepool but still saying this would be the final event of the tour.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day 1 – Because the first thing I consider when determining who gets my vote for POTUS is the opinion of non-American poker players. I wonder if Negreanu has an opinion. At least we know half the U.S. population will be moving out of the country after the election, we just don’t know who those people will be yet.

Delighted to be playing WSOP Cannes.Could be my last ever.I love America with all my heart but if you guys elect Romney Im out

— Padraig Parkinson (@padraig888) September 5, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – It seems golden Olympian Michael Phelps had a little something to say about TMZ’s reporting he won $100k playing poker.

I wish I won a 100k…. Haha not true tho:(

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) September 2, 2012

A.C.’s Golden Nugget in legal war with $1.5 million winners – The story has been going around the last few week’s about the gamblers at the Atlantic City Golden Nugget who noticed a pattern and took advantage of their edge and then had the casino come after them. A judge ordered the casino to pay, at which time the casino owner said “hey, we’re going to be the good guys and pay” not at all because the judge told them.

Will Zynga’s New Hire Exploit Gambling or Consumers? – Online gaming company (and stock market boat anchor) Zynga recently hired former 888 Holdings VP Maytal Ginzburg and that has the financial world wondering how this will steer them as they expand into online gaming.

Game Theory Pilot Episode – A new web based series about poker that I only know about because Tatjana keeps telling the world about it. Hint: give her a role.

What seemed like a tremendous decision for the gaming industry nine months ago – the re-evaluation of the Federal Wire Act of 1961 – may not be so advantageous for Nevada unless Congress takes steps to enact Internet poker legislation.

A window of opportunity that could place Nevada at the center of the potential U.S. Internet gaming market is closing quickly, and some in the gaming industry worry that lack of federal action could cost the state tax revenues and casino customers, while making Nevada subservient to less-regulated states.

“There are different standards for gaming regulation in one state versus another,” Station Casinos Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta said. “We know some companies will shop for the lowest common denominator. We could start seeing bets being taken away from Nevada.”

The U.S. Department of Justice on Dec. 23 reversed a 50-year-old interpretation of the Wire Act, saying the law covers only sports wagering. Legal experts said the decision frees individual states to let online operators offer poker and traditional casino games such as slot machines and blackjack if the play doesn’t cross state lines.

It’s been estimated that U.S. gamblers spent as much as $26 billion annually gambling online before federal prosecutors indicted the operators of three of the largest Internet poker websites in April 2011. Closing those sites, which had violated federal law by accepting wagers from the U.S., effectively walled Americans off from the online gaming universe.

Now, states dealing with tight budgets are looking at that huge, untapped Internet market and are increasingly open to allowing – and taxing – it. Lawmakers in several states are in various stages of adopting regulations to allow full-scale online gaming.

Several Nevada gaming companies are on the verge of offering in-state online poker, but they foresee trouble ahead if their market is limited only to players in the sparsely populated Silver State.

And not only are they concerned about missing out on poker profits, they fear gamblers who can play online at home won’t bother traveling to Las Vegas’s tourist-dependent resorts.

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A drunken fish plopped down in the uncapped $1-$2 NL game at Golden Nugget on a recent Saturday night, and before long, playing maybe 98 percent of his starting hands, he scooped an $800 pot thanks to an extremely fortunate flop. He threw the dealer a $100 bill for a tip.

The other players’ eyes widened, and the dealer even seemed reluctant to accept the 12.5 percent gratuity. But considering that I got to be the one who eventually stacked him (KK > TT) I couldn’t help but think that the dealer’s good fortune ultimately cut into my own profits!

Call me a life-nit or just a guy who chooses self-park over valet, but here in Las Vegas too many people want a piece of your bankroll. You can see it almost everywhere at the WSOP, and after awhile all that extra “optional” money can really add up.

We spoke to dozens of seasonal WSOP workers to find out what they really expect from decent players, along with the likelihood that you are going to stiff them.

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The WSOP isn’t just about the WSOP … you have tournament options of notable field sizes and different game varieties all across town. While Aria has opened an entire new section for dailies, Bellagio cleared a section for tournaments and TV cameras and Binions made way for more tables, too. There’s a summer “classic” at Wynn and the Deep Stacks Extravaganza is back at Venetian, while Golden Nugget and Caesars Palace gear up for the Grand Poker and Mega Stack series’ respectively.

Need help deciding what, when, and where to play throughout the summer? This handy spreadsheet breaks down all the big tournament action — with details on buy-in, blind structures, and rake so you can choose the best brick-and-mortar MTT.

There’s a corporate rush like something that hasn’t been seen for a while in the casino industry — to secure and develop poker-related assets. After the Department of Justice’s quiet reinterpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, and subsequent political buzz it created , corporate gaming partners jumped into bed together faster than you can change a relationship status on Facebook.

• Kentucky-based horse racing and casino company Churchill Downs acquires the assets of Bluff Media.

• Caesars Entertainment extends its partnership with 888 Holdings.

• MGM, Boyd Gaming, and BwinParty looking for a wild poker three-way.

• Vegas-based ShuffleMaster dangling diamonds in front of OnGame Network.

• Pinnacle Entertainment in acquisition talks with newly formed Epic Poker League.

• Golden Nugget partners up with ChiliGaming for online poker.

What’s next? Will Pokerati be getting a bid from Palms Casino Resort?

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In the midst of a so-far unprofitable weeklong stretch of daily tournaments around Las Vegas, I decided to try my luck+skill next at the Orleans (a grizzled locals favorite), the Golden Nugget (for a tourist-packed short-stack event), and the Venetian for a little Deep Stacks Extravaganza with hoodie-and-headphones set. Each tournament has its own appeal, and gave me quite a taste of the broad range of game selection across town.

Friday night’s 12,500-chip starting stack at The Orleans.

Ragin’ Cajun: Friday Nights at the Orleans

Those on the lower-stakes Vegas grind often rave about Friday night at The Orleans. Large field, good structure, big prize pool. A friend advised that I arrive early because the event fills up so quickly. I parked around back almost an hour before the 7pm start time, and after securing my $125 entry, sat at a bar near the food court with T.G.I. Fridays, Fuddruckers, Baskin Robbins, Sbarro, Subway — yeah, real Cajun cuisine.

On this night there would be 270 players, with first place paying about $8,000. The floor supervisor said re-entries were possible but improbable because of a long list of alternates. As we got underway, two locals spoke conspicuously about a mutual friend who was playing a $250k buy-in event in Australia (the Aussie Millions high-roller event, won by Phil Ivey).

Of The Orleans’s comparably tiny entry fee, $100 goes to the prize pool, $2 goes to tournament “players of the month,” $13 goes to the house and $10 goes to staff. The tournament can often last until mid morning, but my run in the event would be a quick one, as I never dragged a pot and busted 5 minutes before the first break.

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Some familiar faces and players worth looking up in the charity NLH mix … er … mixed martial arts.

One of my favorite charity tourneys of the year is this Saturday — Operation All In … Randy Couture’s  poker tournament and charity auction benefitting his Xtreme Couture GI Foundation. Karina Jett hosts the event, so you can expect her usual brand of fun and merry band of Full Tilt Red Pros in exile. And because OAI is more MMAish than pokery … well, let’s just say you can be sure to see some rather douchetastic! unique table interaction. And with a reasonable buy-in ($220 w $100 rebuys), you stand to get a fair share of genuine downtown tourists, too — excited by their chance to play with the fighters more so than the poker pros.

The winner gets $10k in cold American cash this year, too … no fancy qualifiers for some future maybe-cool new event in some other country. And though I haven’t personally looked into how legit Randy Couture’s foundation is, I do get a sense he takes the effort kinda personally and isn’t going to let the funds raised here get squandered en route to the beneficiaries. For many soldiers, the war isn’t over just because they are starting to come home.

It’s been an interesting relationship in Vegas between mixed martial arts and poker over the past 12 or so years … the state of which will be on display in the form of tax-deductible feelgood poker … this weekend at the Golden Nugget.

Read below for official deets on what’s going down.

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The Duke of Fremont, that colorful, uniquely Vegassy character who likes to buy in to 1/2 games with no max and sit behind stacks of $100k in bills (which he carries around downtown in a violin case) returns to the felt for a tourney at the Golden Nugget this Friday — raising money for the Clark County Museum Guild, a non-profit philanthropic group dedicated to preserving Las Vegas culture.

The event comes with the Duke fully recovered from multiple broken bones and flesh wounds suffered in a violent robbery in August 2010. The trial against his accused assailants was supposed to start this week — just down the street from the Nugget — but was delayed on Monday.

Who: The Duke of Fremont presents “Pinstripes & Polka Dots”
What: $100 NLH (w $20 rebuys)
When: Friday, Oct 28, 6pm (red carpet cocktails begin at 5pm)
Where: Golden Nugget, Downtown Las Vegas
Why: Fundraiser for Clark County Museum Guild

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