Ari Engel
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Ari Engel $55,503 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Eddie Ochana $44,281 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Matthew Weber $135,475 – Punta Cana Poker Classic

Another week in the books and players are scattered around the globe 5-bet shoving their way to glory. The World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event is underway with an impressive showing while a several hundred players have taken the long flight to Johannesburg, South Africa for their first World Poker Tour event. Players in Hammond have to worry about less than stellar facilities/rulings while those in South Africa are going on safaris and dodging wild animals.

Coin flip if you ask me.

After these festivals are done, players will blast off to populate other tournaments in Florida (WPT), Barcelona (WPTN), Albuquerque (HPT), and Iowa (MSPT) for the next in eternal search of temporary glory.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – So the oldest kid in poker would not kick Howard Lederer out of his game but probably forgets telling his fanboys that he deserved “few swift baseball bat swings to the groin area”.

To answer other questions: if HL sat down in my game I would not run him off. The other players want him in the game for obvious reasons.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 19, 2012

Poker Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2012 – After the public and media rounds of voting, the WSOP announced Eric Drache and Brian “Sailor” Roberts as the latest inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame. Disappointed to not see Scotty Nguyen or Chris Bjorin on the list but these two are worthy. The induction ceremony will once again take place during the Main Event final table circus.

Its problem! PokerStars announces it will not pay Full Tilt Poker affiliates – They still don’t know how to write a damned headline, but an interesting look at some possible snags in the FTP repayment situation. I think it’s pretty close to tin-foil hat time, but still worth the read.

PokerNews Op-Ed: What Happened To Poker? – Donnie Peters penned an Op-Ed lamenting the demise of fun at the poker tables. As someone usually having too much fun at the tables, I generally agree with him. Although if serious money were on the line, I’d likely be up on assault charges when Ted Bort barked in my ear.

Liv Boeree @ WSOPE Cannes 2012 – This video runs a lot longer than most videos but since it involved Liv Boeree, metal, and Liv Boeree playing metal I deem it worthy of your attention. Fast forward to around the 3:30 mark if you just want girl on guitar action.

Liv Boeree playing Fade to Black (Metallica) -… by poker52

Jon Aguiar
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s Boxscore

Roger Hairabedian €142,590 – WSOPE €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha
Giovanni Rosadoni €107,614 – WSOPE €3,250 NLH Shootout
Jon Aguiar €258,047 – WSOPE €10,450 Mixed Max NLH
Francisco Da Costa Santos €83,275 – WSOPE €1,650 PLO

Never a dull moment across the Atlantic at the World Series of Poker Europe, this time it was a bizarre ending to the €10,450 Mixed Max Event following a perfect storm of silliness. The tournament began it’s final heads up matches two days ago but was forced to pause the action when Brandon Cantu complained his way through a 9 hour match and then the final between Cantu and Jon Aguiar was paused because the casino was closing. I thought last call in a casino was silly, but closing it all down?

The match had to wait while both players were in the Main Event but both were knocked out on Day 1. Aguiar finally put this one to bed with his first career WSOP bracelet but there is no truth to the rumor he blamed Joe Sebok for the delayed victory. Cantu stayed true to form and spent several spastic minutes in front of the PokerNews video camera (video below).

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Tweet of the Day – Jon Aguiar dedicates his WSOPE victory.

I did it! That was for you grandpa!!!

— Jonathan Aguiar (@JonAguiar) October 1, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – There are just far too many golden tweets from Mister Cantu so I picked just one. If you need a chuckle, check out his timeline.

God I was fucked that bracelet should have an asterisk next to it

— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) October 1, 2012

PokerCast Episode 239 – Howard Lederer – TwoPlusTwo has a followup podcast with Lederer after his 7 hour PokerNews marathon. I haven’t had the time, or fortitude, to endure another 3 hours so I’ll wait until someone writes a recap.

Lederer backs out of scheduled interview, cites hardship on himself and his family – And then Lederer backed out of a scheduled interview with Diamond Flush Poker. After the soft serve given to Andy Bloch, not sure exactly how much more information would have be gained.

bwin.party Sells Ongame Poker Network For Up To €25 Million – “Amaya looks forward to unleashing Ongame’s technology to its full potential”, kind of sounds like an evil genius trying to take over the world instead of a small B2B poker network.

Obama’s poker tells – So we can’t play online poker here in the States but we can use badly thought out poker metaphors when writing an op/ed about the Presidential election.

WSOPE 2012: Brandon Cantu Speaks his Mind – PokerNews has perhaps the single greatest stream-of-consciousness, whiny interview since the last time someone stuck a camera in Hellmuth’s face. God bless you Brandon Cantu, never change.

Matt Salsberg
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Matt Salsberg €380,000 – WPT Rendez-Vous à Paris
Pratik Ghatge £71,700- UKIPT London Main Event
Matthew Colvin $21,097 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #1
William Byrnes $20,440 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #2
Tom Franklin $11,930 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #3

It’s fun when something interesting happens in poker, especially when it’s on the results page. Something to temporarily make us forget the muddled, confused state of poker in the world. This week it was one of the fun guys in the game winning a big tournament across the Atlantic Ocean after grinding his way along for several years.

Matt Salsberg is better known as the man behind the scenes as a writer/producer for popular cable shows Entourage and Weeds. He is a regular at the Commerce Casino and a favorite among many of the professionals (especially Matt Stout, but I can’t imagine that has anything to do with “Weeds”). This weekend he put himself firmly on the poker map by winning the WPT Rendez-Vous à Paris at the Aviation Club beating a tough final table including Philipp Gruissem, Tim “Tim0thee” Adams, Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania, and Fabian Quoss. He defeated Theo Jorgensen heads up to grab the title and €380,000.

He then immediately hopped a plane to the States in enough time to catch Day 1B of the WPT Borgata Poker Open.

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Tweet of the Day – While Salsberg was busy winning his WPT event, the folks at the Commerce put the live stream up on the big screens. Here Matt Savage checks it out while WhoJedi does the grunt work.

Photo: The LAPC Sweats Matt @msalsberg Salsberg Heads-Up in Paris bit.ly/QhENNX

— Commerce Hold ’em (@LAPC) September 15, 2012

Exclusive: FTP Former Shareholder Speaks Out, Interview with Andy Bloch – The poker world has been waiting for some of the former Tilt owners to tell their side and first up is Andy Bloch. My favorite line from the interview is about the GBT offer on the table with a little jab at the PPT debacle, “I was in favor if the players had been “made whole”. But their version of ‘make whole’ is like the french definition of ‘guarantee’.”

The Lederer Files: An Introduction – The Bloch interview was a big deal for a few days but there comes word today from PokerNews about an interview with none other than Howard Lederer. That is a blockbuster scoop which every media outlet would have killed to nab. PokerNews has over 7 hours on video and will release them over a series of time. I suspect they will see a spike in viewers.

Feds eye poker champ’s assets – Of course that Lederer interview occurred on September 8th, before the DOJ filed a second amended complaint against him. Howard Stutz has a look at exactly what Lederer purchased with his ill-gotten gains including a few interesting looking automobiles.

Season XI WPT Grand Prix de Paris: Champion Matt Salsberg – The fun loving Kristy Arnett interviews Matt Salsberg, where the video just happens to last exactly 4:20.

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.

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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.

Josh Hale
Photo: WorldPokerTour.com

Today’s Boxscore

Josh Hale $500,000 – WPT Legends Main Event
Terrence Chan $34,437 – Canada Poker Open Heads Up
Marc Wilson $24,511 – $1,000 Canada Poker Open NLH
Michael Frazin $130,505 – Summer Splash Main Event

The WPT Legends final table at the Bicycle Casino should make for some fun TV with Jeff Madsen, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Max Steinberg, and Ali Eslami all in the mix. More so if Madsen brought up some of his nutball opinions, even if he was only there for a little while. Madsen out in 6th, Full Blown Tilt out in 5th, Ali Eslami out in 4th, so thank the heavens Max Steinberg stayed alive long enough to make it a little entertaining.

It still lacked the greatest of the Will Failla final table/win at last year’s event.

On the other side of the country, Michael Frazin was the last player standing at the end of the Hard Rock Seminole Summer Smash main event. The delayed, moved, un-guaranteed tournament drew a respectable 198 entries despite Tropical Storm Isaac threatening the state.

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Defense Request for Status Conference – It seems the lawyers for Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst also noticed the court ruling last week saying poker is a game of skill. They are now jumping up and down saying “look, look, look!”.

2012 Republican Platform (PDF format) – I rarely mix politics and poker, the game doesn’t rate very high in getting my vote aside from freedom infringement. I prefer to concentrate on pressing issues such as the economy, healthcare, etc but it’s worth noting the GOP’s Platform statement includes “We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet” hidden among it’s 50 odd pages.

Math, Game Theory Can Help A Gambler’s Strategy, Study Says – The Huffington Post is a pile of crap from both a technical and creative standpoint, but a lengthy game theory post which showed up in their science section grabbed my attention including a pre-theft interview with Chris Ferguson. I’m sure the author was paid a few pennies for the effort.

Inside Warren Buffett’s Private Poker Game – Poker found it’s way into another main stream publication, this time it’s an article on Forbes talking about mega-money manager Warren Buffett’s poker tournament with such cringe worthy lines like “Texas Hold ‘Em is nothing more than a betting and bluffing game, and tournaments like this appeal to the same primal instincts as in an ancient battle royale, combated via brains and daring” and “I flopped three sevens, with a pair hidden, enticing Mayers to throw in most of his pot”.

The Straddle: Special EPT Barcelona Edition – Kristy Arnett and a behind the scenes look at EPT Barcelona.

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Dan Smith
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s Boxscore

Dan Smith €962,925 – EPT Barcelona Super High Roller
Jonathan Taylor $12,434 – $365 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi
Ben Mintz $30,000 – $1,125 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi
Patrick Smith $13,689 – $365 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi
Kyle Cartwright $107,992 – WSOP Circuit Biloxi Main Event

Dan Smith is having himself one hell of a year and it continued this weekend when he won the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller. He has 7 final tables, 5 tournament wins, and now over $3,000,000 in tournament earnings in 2012.

He beat a small but distinguished field in the €50,000 Super High Roller during the EPT Barcelona festival including a final table featuring Erik Seidel, JC “PrtyPsux” Alvarado, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, and Mike “Timex” McDonald. Smith picked up €962,925 for the win.

The WSOP Circuit Main Event in Biloxi wrapped up on Monday with Kyle Cartwright continuing a fine year (plus a few months) of his own when he won the WSOP Circuit Champions Ring and a 6-digit payday. This is his 5th ring over just 16 months and ties him with Mark Smith for most titles. As Jess Welman points out, the math averages out to one WSOP-C victory every 96 days.

Not too shabby.

On an interesting research note, I’m wondering how many people could tell you who won the most cash in WSOP Circuit events.

Would anyone guess none other than Chris Ferguson?

Update: I’m obviously an idiot since Kevmath and Michalski both snapped off the answer.

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Tweet of the Day 1 – My favorite tweet of the weekend and it wasn’t even close.

ordered an egg mcmuffin.. fire up @pokerstars mobile to pay for egg mcmuffin.. lost 257 egg mcmuffins before first bite of egg mcmuffin

— William A. Reynolds (@ReynoldsXO) August 18, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – Right around the time I forget a fair number of pro players are narcissistic jackholes, I get another reminder.

I might come offdouchey in my Stars interviews, mainly because I didn’t want to do it. Fuck ’em they should be paying us for this shit.

— JC Alvarado(@JCAlvarado1) August 19, 2012

Mercier Sweats, Mercier Flames, Exposing Deals – The 3-Bet articles are always a bit of fun for the poker readers. This time around it has Mercier complaining (shocker) about the heat in Barcelona but correctly setting Jeff Pollack and Annie Duke on blast for Epic Poker. Perhaps he’ll aim his phasers at a few other nozzles around poker.

Poker Hall of Fame Nominations – Nominations are open for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2012. Check out the criteria, make your nominations, wait for the results. Those elected will be inducted in the Hall of Fame during the Main Event final table. Let’s get some overlooked European players in there.

Five Things We’ll Miss About Full Tilt Poker – Not the strongest article in the world, listed here more because I found it interesting there was something written (and posted) on the Yahoo Sports page.

I’m Such an Awesome Guy – It goes against my personal ethos to make light of those with mental illness. Unless it involves Matt Marafioti and then I’m all for it. Video magician SrslySirius takes his shots at Adzizzy this time around.

Marvin Rettenmaier
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Marvin Rettenmaier $287,784 – WPT Merit Cyprus Classic

It looks like Marvin Rettenmaier might have a pretty decent handle on this poker thing. On Thursday he became the first player to ever win back-to-back World Poker Tour events when he captured the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic title. This was the first tournament of the WPT Season XI but he picked up where he left off after winning the WPT World Championship to wrap up Season X. In between his two titles, he only cashed seven times during the WSOP including a final table in the Mix-Max tournament.

Rettenmaier grabbed $287,784 for his win and perhaps can now afford to dress like a grown man.

This story was a little too much to be pushed down into the link dump and also an example why I continue to believe legalized online poker is a long ways off. Mister and Missus Smith still equate poker with those evil negative EV games sitting in the casino pits where the house has a huge edge.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com played the puppet for locked out NFL officials when he wrote a piece called Locked-out officials plan to point out replacement official’s poker past.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the locked-out officials will soon be making it known that Shannon Eastin, who will become the first female official to work an NFL game, has played in the World Series of Poker.

Multiple links containing reports from the 2007 event mention Eastin.

Holy crap, stop the presses! A person of legal age participated in a legal poker tournament so she must be willing to fix an NFL game for a Binion’s Daily buy-in and a corn dog. In 2007, East finished 17th in a $1,500 NLH event and also cashed in the 2006 Ladies Championship.

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FTPDoug returns to TwoPlusTwo – The infamous FTPDoug made his triumphant 2+2 return after taking his leave following the Full Tilt disaster. He is back and answering questions about the FTP relaunch after the PokerStars buyout. He also settles the question of whether it was actually Michele Clayborne posting as FTPDoug (told ya so).

Matt Marafioti Online Hacking Allegations – Marafioti is clearly off his rocker, that’s no big secret. But if these allegations of account hacking turn out to be true then he’s a blatant, delusional thief who is off his rocker.

Cantor Gaming launches Wi-Fi sports wagering in Nevada – And just like that, you can legally place a sports bet online in Nevada as long as you have a Cantor Gaming account and the ability to turn on your Wi-Fi adapter.

The British Poker Awards – Branded “the UK’s official poker awards” so it must be true. Award ceremonies for poker still seem a little odd because the ultimate award is cash in the hand and maybe a bracelet on the wrist. Now get off my lawn.

Best Poker Player Party ever? – I don’t know about the best party ever, I barely remember a PokerStars party at the WSOP with Mr. Snoop Dogg. But it still looks like a blast and Savage managed to once again find himself on camera.

Maxx Dansky
Photo: CardPlayer.com

Today’s Boxscore

Galen Kester $165,000 – Gold Strike World Poker Open
Maxx Dansky $152,008 – Card Player Choctaw Main Event

It’s not poker and it’s not in the States, but there are now a few games on Facebook where you can gamble with honest-to-god cash money. For now there’s just Bingo and Slots available for wagers and only if you are of legal age in the United Kingdom. The door is now open for people to lose their money while posting inane drivel for the rest of the world to see.

Still no word from the big C-level suits at Facebook or Zynga concerning their entry into the market though the latter has shown interest in the past and could use all the good news they can get. Zynga has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons including their stock taking a nosedive and getting sued by EA for copyright infringement.

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Colorado Club Fed for Absolute Poker’s Brent Beckley – Haley Hintze reports AP vice president Brent Beckley is scheduled to enter a minimum security prison in Colorado after his plea deal with the DoJ. Most disturbing part for me was finding out Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were held in a Club Fed during their trial for killing 168 people.

Bodog Poker to Exit 20 Countries by September 2012 – Per PokerNews, Bodog is saying goodbye, la revedere, ardievas, zbogom, ???????, and ?? ???????? (thank you Google Translate) to 20 countries by the end of the month per an email sent out to customers.

Zokay Entertainment Acquires Global Poker Index – Another part of the Epic mess put to rest with the fire sale of the GPI. No one thought Pinnacle was going to give a crap about a poker ranking system and they sold it off.

WPT Merit Cyprus Classic kicks off WPT Season XI in style – Lynn Gilmartin seems to be having a horrible time in Cyprus, can’t image why anyone would want to go there. Besides the perfect weather, lovely views, and bottomless bottles of booze.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

WPT Cyprus Merit Classic

Weekend Events

World Poker Tour Merit Cypris Classic
Gold Strike Tunica World Poker Open $500,000 Guarantee
CardPlayer Poker Tour Choctaw Casino $500,000 Guarantee

CardPlayer Poker Tour? Who knew? Seems it slipped my mind CardPlayer joined the ranks of those creating a series of events around the smaller casinos for the smaller buy-in crowd and a more acceptable schedule for Joe “Poker Player” Smith who has a real job. I barely remembered BLUFF Magazine bought the Mid-States Poker Tour. I guess everyone took a look at the Heartland Poker Tour model and will try to mirror their success.

Without letting the Pollack fox in the henhouse of course.

The World Poker Tour is also kicking off their 11 season in lovely Cyprus this weekend in a non-televised event but still drawing interest thanks to the Mediterranean atmosphere. The WPT returns to Cyprus for the first time since 2009 when the buy-in was $10,300 and drew 181 players. This time it’s only $4,400 but involves re-entries for those who bust (or low on chips) on Day 1A.

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Tweet of the Day – Matt Savage always knows how to rub it in, especially to those stuck back in the States with soaring temparatures and a closeup view of their neighbors (who should really keep their shirts on).

Merit @worldpokertour pool area 78 degrees at midnight. Getting ready for season XI opening event. twitpic.com/aepc1e

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) August 2, 2012

PPA Players Repayment Resource Center – The Poker Players Alliance set up a page with all the latest information for US player repayment following the PokerStars/Full Tilt settlement, which right now is a bunch of links with a big dash of hope.

Do we owe PokerStars our gratitude? – One of the interesting reactions to PokerStars buying Full Tilt is the almost universal genuflection at the feet of Stars. Because they did this out of the goodness of their heart and not because it was the best business decision.

Defending Dressage – It has very little (or anything at all) to do with poker, but a fun response from Short-Stacked Shamus to a recent Nolan Dalla post nicely titled “When Masturbation Becomes an Olympic Sport“.

Mizrachi: ‘I won $100K bet, but guy went bankrupt’ – Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi blasted away on Twitter after the WSOP about getting stiffed on a 5-to-1 WSOP bracelet prop bet. Mizrachi was owed $100,000 but the losing player filed for bankruptcy. While some guessed the bad debt was belonged to a former member of Team Full Tilt, turns out it was Giorgio Medici. The Sun Sentinel even managed a quote from Seth Palansky on the matter.

The Micros! – The gang returns with their take on the PokerStars/Full Tilt buyout.

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Photo: Heartland Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Greg Raymer $71,875 – HPT Route 66 Main Event
David Allan NZD$110,600 – ANZPT Snowfest Main Event
Dan Sun $77,103 – BLUFF MSPT Meskwaki Main Event

All hail our new PokerStars overlords. As Dan posted earlier (and you’d have to be living in a cave or passed out to not have noticed), PokerStars reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pick up Full Tilt assets in exchange for backing up a dump truck full of cash. This opens the door for Stars to pay out FTP bankrolls, reopen Full Tilt for play, and take over the online poker world.

Stars stated they will release bankrolls for non-US players within 90 days but US players will need to go through the DoJ to collect. This might open up a huge can of crap for players but it’s a step in the right direction.

Official DoJ document regarding US player funds: Regulations Governing the Remission or Mitigation of Civil and Criminal Forfeitures (PDF format)

With all the online news, the latest Heartland Poker Tour champion is pushed below the fold. They wrapped up their 200th episode and none other than 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer captured the title. HPT could not have asked for a better result coming through their Epic disaster and new ownership. Allen “Complainsaw” Kessler, Kathy Liebert, and former HPT champion Rob “veeRob” Perelman we also part of the 131 player field.

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Tweet of the Day 1 – Understated by Poker Stars

We’ve just announced the DOJ settlement. Please read here: psta.rs/NGA1tC for more information.

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) July 31, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – Todd Terry has lost his damn mind. Why stop at thanking the DoJ? Why not thank Bill Frist, Jon Kyl and everyone else who sat on their hands while UIGEA was rammed through Congress?

All thank yous should be directed to Preet Bharara and the DoJ. They’re basically distributing $ they could keep to FTP’s victims. — Todd Terry (@toddbterry) July 31, 2012

PokerStars FAQ for Full Tilt Players – Almost everything you want to know as a player on FTP including turning the lights back on within 90 days. Also, thanks but no thanks to France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium and Estonia.

A Statement by Nolan Dalla – It’s great to see Nolan Dalla back to writing on his site (plus using Twitter!) and here’s his take on the Full Tilt/Poker Stars news. Now if he would just change the white text/dark background format so my retinae don’t burn out.

Poker Community Reacts to PokerStars-Full Tilt Poker Deal – Thanks to BLUFF for saving me the time to collect the Twitter reactions to the news. They also have comment from Blair Hinkle, who has $1.15million locked up on Tilt, plus statements from the PPA and Ray Bitar.

U.S. Department of Justice Requests Settlement Agreement with Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet – Oh yeah, now what about the Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker fire sale and player funds? Lost in the big news seems to be the DoJ reaching a settlement agreement with UB/AP to dump their assets to pay back players. That should get them a solid $3.50 to divide between everyone.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

Another guilty plea related to “Black Friday” and another stint in jail. This time it was Ira Rubin finally hearing the wrath of U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan after pleading guilty in January to “money laundering, bank and wire fraud, and gambling offenses“. He was expected to receive 18-24 months in Federal lockup, but instead got the nice round number of 3 years.

As quoted by Bloomberg, Kaplan told Rubin “You are an unreformed conman and fraudster.”

Ray Bitar must be questioning why he didn’t follow the Scott Tom and Isai Scheinberg strategy of staying the hell out of Dodge. I hear Dublin is lovely this time of year. I’m far from an expert but I have to think if a payment processor received 3 years, then the bigwigs at FTP/UB/Stars would have to be looking at some decent time.

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Tweet of the Day – Must have been a slow (non)news day for the “entities” or they are just going to pick this carcass to the bone.

Does anyone know when the next Epic Poker event is?

— Wicked Chops Poker (@wickedchops) July 26, 2012

Opinion: PokerStars to Acquire PokerNews.com – Interesting Op/Ed from Matt Showell at PokerListings about a potential PokerNews/PokerStars buyout. He brings up some good points concerning one of the biggest poker “media” sites going from affiliate to shill. True unbiased poker reporting is a rare thing and this is a big test for those media sites who dined mostly on affiliate fees in the past.

Nevada Online Poker Affiliates Will Need Licenses – So you make a bunch of money as an affiliate for an online gaming site? If Nevada has it’s way, you’ll need a license to operate along with the $3,000 application fee and the ability to withstand an investigation from The Man. Or at least that’s how I read it.

Zynga: Closer to Real-Money Online Poker? – Zynga’s stock takes a dump and CNBC.com posts a story about the company investigating the possibility of real-money poker games on their platform. The most shocking part of the article? CNBC name checks Gambling911.

Pinnacle Entertainment Announces Positive Earnings, Plans to Expand Heartland Poker Tour – Pinnacle had a good second quarter but more importantly (for a lot of people I know), they have plans to expand rather than contract their newly purchased Heartland Poker Tour. No one wanted to see the HPT get completely jack just because they were introduced to Jeffery Pollack, and it now looks like they were bought by a company looking to help them improve. Pinnacle properties seem to fit nicely into the HPT philosophy.

Winstar Casino “Play Big” – Since the WSOP has wrapped up, it’s become tough to find interesting videos. When in doubt, put up something with Maria “SEOGold” Ho. This commercial has too much Raymer, not enough Ho.

Tomas Junek
1st WSOP bracelet for Czech Republic
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s WSOP Bracelet Boxscore

Tomas Junek $661,022 – Event #56 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
Greg Merson $1,136,197 – Event #57 $10,000 NLH 6-Max

The opening acts are just about done and we’re just one day away from kicking off the WSOP Main Event. The last open tournament started on Thursday with just the National Championship and Bracelet Bounty events to play out along with the $10k 2-7 No Limit and huge $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournaments.

That means the traditional pre-Main Event slow day no longer exists. Players and fans are packed in every room, the registration line is long and surly, there are more than a few hung over people staggering around.

It also means the WSOP party season rolled around. Plenty of opportunities to hangout one last time before “summer camp” ends or just get messed up and embarrass yourself in front of strangers. Frank Kassela always throws a great BBQ on July 4th complete with degenerate competitions and now a mechanical bull. QuadJacks took over BLUFF Magazine’s yearly open bar/lap dance festival at Sapphire. 2+2 will have their traditional whine and wine fest Friday night. Vanessa Ruosso/Maria Ho/Liv Boeree also hosted a blowout at their impressive mansion on July 4th.

Be safe out there and don’t let the first Tweet of the Day happen to you.

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Tweet of the Day 1 – Like I said, parties are popping up all over the place at this point in the WSOP. Occasionally something like this happens, pretty happy it wasn’t me.

Thanks all who came to our party yesterday… annnnd, does anyone wanna come claim the guy on our back porch? twitter.com/TiffnyMichelle…

— Tiffany Michelle (@TiffnyMichelle) July 5, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – I will never ever pass up a chance to rag on the poker forum jockeys. Proof the Infinite Monkey theorem is crap, look it up. @BrickLV provided my first laugh of the day.

The same people who went to Senior Prom by themselves.RT @scsuhockey10: Whose going to the 2+2 party ? — Don (@Bricklv) July 6, 2012

Sam Trickett Attacked – Details are still scarce other than what has been put out there on Twitter, but the 2nd place finisher in the Big One was jumped by 6 guys after a night at the club and he took a beating.

Who to Watch in WSOP National Championship – The National Championship begins on Friday featuring the top performers from the WSOP and WSOP Circuit Event. Paul Oresteen has a rundown of some players to watch.

Phil Hellmuth BIG ONE Q&A – PokerListings interviewed Phil Hellmuth following his 4th place finish in the Big One for One Drop. “No regrets” as $2.6 million has a way of comforting.

Phil Hellmuth Uses White Magic – Since I was watching the Big One from atop the Mothership, I missed the ESPN broadcast and this little gem from Mr. Phil Hellmuth. Screw you kids and your black magic.

Antonio Esfandiari wins The Big One for One Drop
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s WSOP Bracelet Boxscore

Neil Willerson $737,248 – Event #53 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
Will Jaffe $500,075 – Event #54 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Antonio Esfandiari $18,346,673 – $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop

It was a big day at the WSOP with huge crowds in the Mothership and on the rail to watch Antonio Esfandiari capture the biggest prize payout in poker history when he won the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop event. The loincloth guys were back in the room banging their drums and even some non-Elizabeth Berkley Showgirls came in time for the live launch on ESPN.

It took a while for the action to take off but picked up steam after Richard Yong was knocked out in 8th place. Guy Laliberté, brainchild behind the Big One, received one of the loudest ovations from the gathered crowd when he was eliminated in 5th place. The biggest cheer went up for The Magician when he defeated former chip leader Sam Trickett headsup for the bracelet, a $350,000 watch, and a huge pile of (mostly fake) cash worth $18,346,673. His friends hoisted him up in the air, he jumped up on the feature table, and then hugged it out with money.

I’ll reserve my opinion on throwing a $1,000,000 buyin tournament for later, but it was an exciting day around the room for the players, fans, and media. With just a few more days until the Main Event, the WSOP is hitting it’s stride at the right time.

I imagine this will generate a bunch of interest in Esfandiari’s Insta Poker Secrets to Winning Hand-Pack and the Instapoker mobile app. Some pretty good timing in addition to a dump truck full of money backing up to his house.

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Tweet of the Day – Idiot

Lol @jesswelman on a power trip. 3 of us from $3k plo8 watching one drop for 5 mins not in anyone’s way. She says “this is a press area.”

— allen kessler (@AllenKessler) July 4, 2012

Einhorn Set to Donate Millions to Charity After BIG ONE – If there was anyone worth cheering for during the $1,000,000 tournament, it was David Einhorn who stated before the event he would donate any money won to charity.

Full Tilt’s Ray Bitar in FBI custody – Vin Narayanan at Casino City Times has a more detailed rundown of all things Bitar. I wonder when I can start ignoring my Full Tilt NDA.

Off the Felt With Shaun the Dealer – Shaun (the Dealer) Harris is one of the more recognizable figures dealing at WSOP and has dealt some memorable hands in the past. PokerNews caught up with him for an interview.

Life as an Online MTT Pro by the Numbers (It’s Hard) – Yes, I realize it’s an old post but it began circulating again this week. NoahSD crunches some numbers and shows some math-porn to highlight the difficulties in grinding a large number of tournaments.

BLUFF Asks What’s the Best Poker Movie Ever Made? – Not very many surprises but there’s little doubt our Ms. Welman does not like Rounders.

• Ray Bitar in Federal Custody – PokerStars Deal Imminent?
• Delaware Becomes Second US State to Legalize Online Poker
• Colorado Considering an Online Poker Bill
• John Campos Sentenced to Three Months for Black Friday Role
• Superseding Indictment Contends Bitar Instructed Employees to Lie About Player Funds
• Shuffle Master Terminates Deal to Purchase Ongame Network

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman
Photo: PokerNews.com

Today’s WSOP Bracelet Boxscore

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman $603,713 – Event #29 $1,000 Seniors
Larry Wright $101,975 – Event #30 $1,500 NL Draw Lowball

To paraphase former President Gerald Ford, “our long poker nightmare is over.” After more than four years, a woman has won a non-Ladies Championship WSOP. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman won the 2012 WSOP Seniors Championship over one of the biggest fields in poker history hopefully putting to rest the gender issue for a while. Vanessa Selbst was the last to win a bracelet in 2008 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event.

The Seniors Championship featured the single biggest one day starting field tournament in poker history and Shulman, wife of WSOP bracelet winner Barry Shulman, had a battle at the final table with pros Hoyt Corkins and Dennis Phillips still vying for the title. 4,128 players began the tournament on Friday and it took into Monday afternoon to crown the latest champion to the delight of an entertained crowd. Shulman collected $603,713, the gold bracelet, and will have her name inscribed on a monstrous Eagle Trophy.

Never let it be said that Ty Stewart would turn down an opportunity for hyperbole, declaring the Shulmans as the “first family of poker”. There might be a few people from Texas who disagree.

In other poker news, BLUFF Magazine’s Eric Morris has decided to enter his wife into the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop tournament to counter the Shulmans.*

* – Not even remotely true.

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Tweet o’ the Day – Welcome to the Nanny State, Wretchy. Fight the power, stick it to the man.

Was just 86d for life from Venetian for smoking weed in my car in the parking lot by myself. Was also arrested. #dontsmokethere

— Daniel Martin (@Wretchy) June 15, 2012

Sam Trickett and Andrew Feldman Feuding – This one popped up on 2+2 before the WSOP when Sam Trickett posted he was owed money by another poker player but was not ready to out him to the public yet. Looks like it turns out to be Andrew Feldman (poker player, not king of ESPN Poker) for something like €25,000.

Dealers Complain Over Open Mic – Dealers complain, floorstaff complain, and players complain non-stop but it usually doesn’t happen over an open microphone at a live streamed final table. Someone mentioned this on 2+2 but no corroboration (yet*) and those sleuths over on the forums must have grabbed a recording if it truly happened.

* Kevmath confirms, tis true.

$25k Fantasy Poker Update – Just about halfway through the 2012 WSOP and Robert Mizrachi’s Fantasy Poker Team is leading the charge at this point with the big boosts coming from Brock Parker and Barry Greenstein. 11 teams poneyed up $25,000 for a little extra gamble and 1st place will pickup $178,750. Check the site for details and follow the action.

Calling the Clock: Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh – Last time it was Maria Ho, this time the gang at PokerNews grabbed Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh for a little conversation.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

Ylon Schwartz
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s WSOP Boxscore

Joe Cassidy $294,777 – Event #24 $5,000 Omaha/8
Brian Meinders $116,118 – Event #25 $1,500 LHE Shootout
Austin Scott $361,797 – Event #26 $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha
Ylon Schwartz $267,081 – Event #27 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
Timothy Adams $392,476 – Event #28 $2,500 NLH 4-Max

Ylon Schwartz was known best before yesterday as a member of the inaugural November Nine class when he when 4th place in the WSOP Main Event. Now he can also be called a WSOP Champion after winning the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. ahead of 888 other players and picking up $267,081. Schwartz was one of the more interesting players at the 2008 WSOP Main Event final table and the former Chess professional had to play more than 40 hours of the various games to outlast David Chiu for the title.

Sunday promises to be a big day at the Rio with the large field $1,000 NLH event kicking off, the Seniors Championship has plenty of big names on the last day, and the 2-7 NL Single Draw final table is stacked with big names including Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Brandon Cantu, Rep Porter, Erick “[snark redacted]” Lindgren, and Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger. Two more bracelets and a sea of lemurs.

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Tweet o’ the Day – Doyle Brunson rules all, my favorite response was “I can almost here(sic) the RIP Doyle starting up again.”

That’s an easy one! …DEATH RTJeff Lange @digijeff@TexDolly what would it take for you not to gamble for an entire year?

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) June 15, 2012

WTF Tweet o’ the Day – I hear Full Tilt may have some spots open

@EpicPoker How I can do to get sponsored? Because I seek sponsors to support me financially, I am a poker player. — sergio portillo (@serporcor) June 14, 2012

Record Smashing Friday at the Rio – Nothing major on Friday, just the single largest live poker starting day in this history of poker. 4,128 players showed up for the $1,000 Seniors Event, breaking the previous record set by the same event last year.

Tony G Bows Out of the Big One – The verbose Antanas “Tony G” Guoga has pulled out of the $1,000,000 buyin Big One for One Drop tournament this summer at the WSOP. Per PokerNews, he has decided to withdraw “due to his duties with the Lithuanian basketball team.”

There’s Something About Ivey – I understand, don’t necessarily agree with it, but understand most everyone is a big fanboy of Phil Ivey despite about 4 million rea$ons to feel otherwise. It might have something to do with still being the greatest player in the universe. PokerListings pulled together a nice twitter list of the poker world showing their Ivey love.

Video of the Day – PokerNews caught up with Maria Ho as part of their “Explain This” features. Top shelf grab because who doesn’t want to watch and hear Maria Ho.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.