It’s already starting to pain me not to have The Poker Beat to re-speculate wildly with limited knowledge on real people’s lives. Not sure who said what on previous episodes, but I can almost guarantee you one of us said this retirement would never stick, one said yes it would forever because we just know, and another panelist probably went “meh”. Oops, now the secret formula to award-quality podcasting is out …

Surely a newsbrief for the next episode … words coming directly from the WSOP champ himself via his PokerStars keepers … Peter Eastgate is Isildur1 back on some sort of probationary re-entry deal, obv. Rumor has it from unconfirmed unverifiable sources that he turned down inclusion of a WSOP ’11 main event buy-in in exchange for starting a Danish “home game”:

“Sometimes in life a person can feel lost and wake up one morning not recognizing who he is. Last summer that was how I felt. Prior to winning the WSOP in 2008, my life was very much a good solid routine of playing online poker and hanging out with my friends and family. Winning the WSOP changed that. I relocated to London and started a new life, the life of a high profile poker pro. For almost 2 years I was in a constant spotlight, travelling from poker tournament to poker tournament, doing thousands of interviews and never had a chance to catch my breath. In the whirlwind that followed winning the WSOP I lost track of the most importing thing in my life, myself.

Last summer I decided that I wanted to stop playing poker and catch my breath and find out who I am and what I want to do with my life. Over the last 8 months I have had a chance to reconnect with my friends and most important, my family. I have spent quality time with my family and really had an opportunity to figure out who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life. When there is no financial pressure it can sometimes be hard to get motivated to move forward as a person.

I truly enjoy playing poker. I love the competitive element and the mental challenges of tournament poker. I feel it is important to constantly grow as a person and for a while I didn’t feel I was moving in the right direction. Having had time to think about my life and future I feel I have figured out how I can combine playing poker with a healthy life outside of poker.

I do not consider this a comeback, as I always knew there was a good chance I would play poker again. During my hiatus from poker, PokerStars have been very supportive. Therefore, I am pleased that I will start out with playing two events where I will be sponsored by PokerStars. First, I will be playing the PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen which of course means a lot to me, since it is on my home ground. Then I will play the NBC Heads Up Championship. I am fortunate that PokerStars have the best online tournaments, so I have an opportunity to get back in tournament shape.

There have been some questions about the sale of my WSOP bracelet. I was not trying to devaluate the WSOP name. It was not sold to make any kind of statement. It was sold to raise money for UNICEF and I am very proud and thankful that the sale raised £100,000 to UNICEF.”

– Peter Eastgate

Interesting + cool … now the first ever November Nine winner can be more like all the rest who have come since then, but different because two months ago he became the only November Nine-era champion old enough to rent a car in Vegas.

NOTE: Turns out “devaluate” is a real word. Who knew?

Check it out … a new show from Jay Rosenkrantz and John Wray, aka KRANTZ of 2 Months 2 Million “fame” and JimmyLegs, CardRunners’ chief filmmaker. Their web-video series promises “high stakes, low comedy” … and as seen in the pilot episode here, it may be the most accurate (and funny) look at the degenerate side of online poker yet.

Seriously, LOLed for real multiple times. And more than 90,000 views after being up for just a couple weeks? Not even Durrrr and Jungleman draw those kinda numbers right out the gate. Might this be the show about poker (online poker specifically) that transcends Norman Chad and 2+2?

If so, you may wanna (finally!) start improving your game with poker training videos from CardRunners.

CR is a finalist for “favorite poker resource” in the 2010 Bluff Readers Choice Awards, too. Vote here!

Matthew Wheat, mindcirkus, PLO

Everybody’s getting ready for the Pokerati NLH/PLO tournament … Championship! at the Detox Series. Excited, of course, to be playing my first ever tournament session of half-pot-limit Omaha. So naturally, I went to my coaches at CardRunners for some quick pointers … and they sent me to Mindcirkus … aka Matthew Wheat.

He’s made his name amongst the online kids for dominance in 6-max PLO cash games. Now I get what they’re doing with all this wax-on-wax-off paint-the-fence shit they keep serving me … but not really what I’m looking for when I’ve got a tournament in just a week to prepare for. I already know how to play PLO cash games, obv!

“Now you don’t, Dan,” my chief keeper at CardRunners said.

powered by

He pointed out that these are important skills to understand, and they helped mindcirkus make his way to the final table in the $10k WSOP PLO Championship this summer. Fair enough, but my game is really more half-and-half. Still, they say there’s stuff I’ll be able to use from this lesson about online tells in 6-max PLO — as seen primarily in bet sizes and bet speed.

You can get free membership to CardRunners simply by letting them track your Full Tilt play with Truly Free Poker Training.

Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen

I swear I told’em it wasn’t necessary, but my good pals at CardRunners insisted …

Knowing I’ve been actively working on my PLO game, and that I have my first such “beginners” PLO tournament coming up Aug. 18 @detoxpoker, CR has signed Andreas Torbergsen (aka “Skjervøy”) as a dedicated PLO instructor and team pro. (He’s also been recently added as a Full Tilt Red Pro.)

Here’s an interview with the Norwegian grinder made extra-good … about taking his 1/2 PLO game to Vegas in 2005 and eventually juicing it up to a seven-figure bankroll. And kudos to the dude for not dropping out of university, apparently seeing the value of a marketing degree even though his current winnings could be enough to make most poker players say skøøl schmjool.

To get Andreas’ forthcoming instructional vids (for free) you can sign up for Truly Free Poker Training.

Unless, of course, you happen to play in the Pokerati game. If you do, then just ignore all this and continue to get it all-in with a weak pair and non-nut draw!

Our good friends at CardRunners want you to know about a contest they’ve got going … the CardRunners Video Challenge … where you’ve got a chance to show your educational mettle in an effort to win cash and possible side-work.

We’re more than happy to pass on the info, and encourage you to follow your dreams of becoming a Hollywood an internet star by teaching online poker geeks to mathematically extract more money from their less-educated opponents.

CardRunners Is Giving Away Almost 10k In Prizes

CardRunners is going to pony up $5,000 for the best poker video, so if you ever wondered how your poker training teaching skills match up against the competition, now’s your chance.  We’re inviting you to submit the best poker training video at http://www.cardrunnersvideochallenge.com before 11am PT on July 1, 2010 to be eligible for the big payday and an offer to become a CardRunners instructor.

Spielberg. Coppola. You.

Visit CardRunners Video Challenge and submit your soon-to-be famous poker instructional video by following the stated instructions.  Don’t forget to review Tech Support 101 and Lee Pryztula’s Crash Course on Video Making.  It’s gonna be magic, baby.

“First Prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third Prize is you’re fired.” Actually, the real prizes are:

Grand Prize: $5,000 and an offer to become a CardRunners instuctor
Second Place: $2,500
Third Place: $1,000
Fourth Place: $500
Fifth Place: A deluxe poker chip set valued at $175

Cool. Sign up to submit your video here.

Even Superman eventually gave birth to Superboy (or somehow existed in a parallel universe with him) and likewise, Full Tilt is welcoming their newest Team Pro, Tom Dwan, with a soon-to-be-released poker-noir TV commercial all about the self-discovery of Durrrr.

The new advert came up in our Poker Beat pre-game discussion, and @GaryWise1 offered a solid explanation of its significance:

it’s really the first time any post-2003 face has appeared in a commercial for any of the big brands. It may be a topic for a different show, but dwan has proved it’s possible to take one’s place beside the old guard

Here’s the ad itself:

You can find a more thorough and detailed analysis of the business behind this pre-release sneak preview at Wicked Chops here.

A lot of people in the poker industry claim they know who Isildur1 is. I don’t buy any of it (yet) … because when you trace back who said what and how they knew who made who on 2+2, you realize there’s a 50-50 shot that the historic player on Full Tilt was probably in a movie with Kevin Bacon.

But PokerNews ed-honcho Matt Parvis did speak with a heavily accented Isildur1 on the phone recently, for a limited two-part interview:

In Part 1 they address the controversial session against Cardrunners Pro Brian Hastings. And though hardly seeming upset, Isildur does say he intends to file a complaint against presumed datamining violations.

In Part 2 Isildur reveals that he had been playing $200/$400 NL on different sites before coming to Full Tilt in October; he isn’t the other mysterious Swedish nosebleeder Martonas (“Martonas is honestly my enemy in poker”); he learned to play PLO only 8 months ago; durrr is good, Ivey tough; and yes, he’ll be back.

The folks at G4 have put out some revised bios (below) on the stars of the online-poker-geek reality TV show, which debuts this Sunday (9 pm ET/PT) and runs for 10 weeks.

Wow, so that’s a lot of new poker on TV. Seriously — 2005 again? At least the shows are getting a bit creative and trying new approaches. But will some of this appeal to the non-poker masses, or will they get just downright sick of our kind?

Let’s see, we’re gonna have:

Two Months. Two Million.
2009 WSOP
Face the Ace
Inside Deal (online)
Tiffany Michelle/Maria Ho on The Amazing Race
How’d You Get So Rich (single episode)
Sam’s Game (online)

High Stakes Poker?
WPT?
Poker After Dark?

Are we forgetting anything? Seems like we might be do for a new poll on which Poker TV sucks and which doesn’t. I give 2M2MM a 62 percent chance of being OK or better:

More…

It appears so. From an official WSOP report:

· The Event #11 winner Anthony Harb is to be classified as a pro player. He plays poker full-time (online). Accordingly, the “Pro-Am” gold bracelet scoreboard (excluding Event #1 – Casino Employees) currently reads:

Professionals — 6 wins
(Thang Luu, Steven Sung, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey, Rami Boukai, Anthony Harb)

Amateurs — 3 wins
(Freddie Ellis, Ken Aldridge, Travis Johnson)

Semi-Pros — 1 win
(Vitaly Lunkin)

I still don’t know who won the WPT World Championship over at the Bellagio OK, now I do … I’m too caught up in the main event of the Venetian Deep Stacks … where it really is kinda interesting seeing seasoned pro Doug Lee (wow, remember when a WSOP Circuit event used to pay more than half a million? Me neither!) duking it out with relatively unknown tournament pro Eric Baldwin (“Basebaldy” online). They’ve been playing heads-up for nearly two four hours, with their stacks relatively even and each having more than 70 60 big blinds. Very real poker being played here … with an extra sigh of WSOP buy-in relief going to the winner. ($198k for 1st, $115k for second.)

Such a big game going on in the back corner of the Venetian poker room, and yet so few people seem to have a clue about the action taking place. (Floor staff gave up on calling the hand-for-hand action a couple hours ago.) Meanwhile, the nightly $120 (where Pokerati fave Adam Schacter is still alive with 6 remaining) has more railbirds.

A few interesting tidbits about the Deep Stacks main event:

— The underdog, Baldwin, has a bigger crowd watching, with 4 to 5 viewers, compared to Lee’s 0 to 1.

— Michael Skomac, the winner of February’s Venetian Deep Stacks main event, finished 4th.

— “Known” pros in the money today included Sam Grizzle (23rd) and Michael Mizrachi (16th).

— The (plenty drinky) crew sweating Baldwin includes Cody Slaubaugh (on a tear of late), Adam Geyer from Austin, Justin Young (who finished 8th in the WPT World Championship this weekend), and Shannon Shorr (who finished 5th in the WPT Championship today). Needless to say, these guys are all having a good weekend and month … with nearly $1 million in winnings amongst them … probably more if you include their online tournament results.

OK, I just read Part 1 of the Washington Post story by Gilbert Gaul on cheating at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. I thought it was great and on target and technically correct to the letter when discussing legal matters. I learned a bunch of stuff I didn’t know, too.

Two-and-a-half specific things caught my eye:

(The name of the alleged cheater has circulated widely among poker players on the Internet. The Post is not publishing his name because, even though he purportedly confessed to AbsolutePoker, the company did not release its records and would not discuss the matter. The alleged cheater declined requests to be interviewed.)

Maybe I just haven’t been following it close enough on the forums, but I’m wondering whom they’re referring to here.

The story also doesn’t reference the new formation of Cereus, after acknowledging that UB would likely lose its license and be out of business soon. Hmmm. But that’s really new, and this story was possibly put to bed a few weeks ago?

The other thing is the last graf:

The Kahnawake now say they operate one of the most secure Internet gambling operations in the world. Tokwiro says it has “established cutting-edge security systems that make us the safest site in the industry.” But Catania said he does not expect cheating to stop: “I’m sure there are people out there right now figuring out, let’s say, ‘Here’s a way we can do it again.’

Yikes, that last sentence leaves it open-ended as to how part two of the story will fall when it comes to legalization efforts.

I really like poker’s chances (because I sincerely believe despite our internal battles with shadiness, our industry is on the right side of legal issues here) … and from what I’ve learned in my rookie dabblings in poker (and strip-club) politics, the treatment this story is getting in Washington DC — a big investigative feature spread out over two days with lots of informative sidebars — now guarantees (I’m like 86 percent sure) that our issue is on the 2009 political agenda. I’m not totally comfortable yet, of course. Current feeling in my gut is comparable to waiting for the river when all-in against an 8- or 9-outer. A little unsettling. But hey, that’s what we came here for, right?

In addition to the story itself, the WP’s got a bunch of goodies for those who want to dig deeper, or just check their work:

• Here’s a timeline titled “Internet Poker and the Law” — they get the UIGEA, imo.
• Paul Leggett’s defense (pdf)
• Video explaining Texas Hold’em — as in how to play … they clearly see poker as a fun skill game, not a dangerously addictive vice; if the investigation were about shady drug runners, after all, you wouldn’t see a similar vid on how to make good meth.

• Also: a video about David Paredes going from intelligent amateur to uber-skilled pro.
• A timeline about how the AP/UB/Cereus cheats got caught.
• And another timeline of the scandal, complete with cool Web 2.5-ish document pop-ups.
• “Reporter’s notebook” about The Mohawk Connection.
• And shoot, wish I had seen this one before linking to the above — an everything page chronicling the entire investigation, complete with fun little numbers about (taxable) online poker revenues.

So there you have it. It would hard to expect anything more thorough. Kudos to “special correspondent Gary Wise“, too, for playing poker-biz fixer for the WP investigative team turning over rocks.

I’m just askin’ … watchin’ a little WSOP, and after an hour-and-a-half of ZeeJustin, I see a dude who’s good — really good — and possibly due for an ass-kicking.

UPDATE: Erick Lindgren says Bonomo is “the future of poker.”

Once upon a time, we used to actually talk about hands on this here blog. Don’t worry, we still think it was a good idea to replace the important strategy talk with much easier to understand poker cartoons … But I did come across Daniel Negreanu’s video blog (via Wicked Chops), and in his latest update he talks about a really interesting Pot Limit Omaha hand against OMGClayAiken — aka Phil Galfond — one that leads Negreanu to the conclusion that the up-and-coming onliners are indeed threats … but not much more than that.

OMGClayAiken is currently the chip leader in the $5k PLO event with three players remaining. David Benyamine and Adam Hourani are the others … as all three have outlasted a final table that included Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, and others.

Lance Bradley wrote a prescient article in the current issue of Bluff highlighting five online young-guns to watch out for at the 2008 WSOP, and two weeks into it, all of them had cashed and then some. But at the same time, they’ve hardly dominated or taken the Series by storm. In this episode, Pauly attempts to educate me on who’s who when it comes to crossing over from online studliness to WSOP success. Durrr, Gobboboy, Yellowsub, and Good2cu, previously of the shipithollabolla crew, et al.

Episode 8: Online Sharks::WSOP Salmon

Actually, they’ve been in the air all day … but the hotly contested clubs bracket is now playing, and Pokerati managed to squeeze its way in to the last seat on a very tight but pleasantly elevated press row. So we’re gonna kick it old-school semilive-blog-style, at least for a little while:

5:28 — Mike Matusow is playing Joe Hachem, but talking trash to Gabe Kaplan, a table away … calling him a “washed-up old actor.”

5:30 — My view of Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith is blocked by the decorative Doric column cameras. Apparently the set designers aren’t aware that Caesar’s Palace harkens back to more of an Ionic era.

5:33 — Phil Hellmuth is all-in against arguably the weakest opponent in the field … he’s got aces, and the his opponent, Tom Dwan, aka online wunderkind “Durrr” has 10s.

5:36 — Ooh! Hellmuth on the turn! Hellmuth picks up a flush draw that doesn’t get there. Poker is fun!

5:39 — Hellmuth is talking about his brilliant show of weakness to get Durrr to push as they count up his chips … yep, they were even stacked and the greatest heads-up hold’em player in the world is out.

5:41 — They were on the feature table, which now is empty. The way the room is set up, there are four tables with whole cams, and four tables without. The players that will have to move on to get better TV coverage:

Tom Schneider / Gavin Smith
Hooman Nikzad / Greg Raymer
Erik Seidel / Johnathan Little
Kenny Tran / Scott Clements

5:50 — Tom and Gavin are still about even. Antonius has taken a lead on Kaplan. Matusow is all-in against Hachem, with both players on a draw. Phill Hellmuth would like people to know he is supposed to be hanging out with “Andretti” tomorrow. (It’s a Nascar weekend here in Vegas.)

5:53 — Mike is doing his best impression of that Full Tilt commercial where he’s bluffing … and just got sucked out on and crippled by Hachem. Mike is waving an Australian flag.

5:54 — Jamie Gold’s mom, btw, is playing 1/3 in the cash room. I can’t see her chip stacks however. She looks to neither be killing the game nor getting killed.