Tons os news stories to blow through … John Caldwell can now say definitively that it takes the work of three men to replace him. But the poker news keeps beating. On this week’s docket :

— everyone’s abuzz about Rush Poker. Full Tilt seems to have come up with a catch-on concept that makes no bones about feeding the addiction in a way that seemingly takes multitabling to a whole new dimension. But will Hevad Khan ever be able to play?

— the new WSOP hygeine rule. Yuck. But does it affect strategy?

— and the Heartland Poker Tour flies in to town to pit Vegas locals against “heartland” tourists, bringing more action to Red Rock than Station Casinos coulda anticipated. My personal poker dreams re-crushed.

The Poker Beat
1/21/10

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Click here to weigh in on show topics on the Poker Road Forums.

NOTE: I plea the 5th against allegations that I may have been podcasting while intoxicated.

For those who missed it, on last week’s episode we bid farewell to co-host John Caldwell … then got to business discussing the PCA and the new breed of Tiger Beat PokerStars. And then we get into the first annual Poker Beat Awards … where the crew waxes gay about Phil Ivey and all his accomplishments or lack thereof in 2009. I woulda voted for him (maybe I did?) but he wasn’t even at the ceremony to accept his awards. What a jerk!

We also talk a little Clonie vs. Full Tilt lawsuit and say our goodbyes to those who left us in 2009.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
1/14/10

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The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.

Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.

More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.

We’re going on a little early … 12:30 pacific … as former PokerNews honcho John Caldwell officially joins the crew today. Tune in live or catch the podcast later on PokerRoad.com. Also on today’s episode there’s gonna be some Dan vs. BJ action, over the relevance, facts, and significance of Mitch Garber’s reported heading to Harrah’s. The important question is, of course, which one of us is Hannity, and which is Colmes?

Dannity and Bjolmes.

Highish-stakes pro David Plastik, looking to take down a $330 deep-stack tournament at the Venetian.

The 1st of four Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganzae got underway this week … and sure enough, the chance to play a skill-heavy event (deeper stacks, longer level times) for a low buy-in seems extra appealing (at least value-wise) in the current economic client.

I don’t have too many specifics, but I can say the fields seem to be bigger than last time, or at least are staying in the same ballpark. They definitely haven’t shrunk, relative to the world economy, that’s for sure. At this moment, the Venetian poker room and 30-something extra tables set up on the main casino floor aren’t packed, but they are full. Some familiar faces (on very quick glance) about five levels into today’s $550 NLH include Gobboboy Jimmy Fricke and PokerNews expat John Caldwell.

In a few minutes About an hour ago, the final table from yesterday’s $330 got underway. Bryan Micon from Neverwin was there, along with David Plastik, a couple other solid players, and a couple donks (according to Micon, who has since busted). First place: $28k.

To give you another example of the field sizes the Venetian’s 2009 DSE-1 is drawing, Event #1, on Monday, another $330, saw 447 players and a $129k total prize pool. 36 got paid …

1st – $40,117
2nd – $21,029
3rd – $10,353

Some other familiar faces who have been hanging at the Venetian this week: JJ Liu (she hasn’t missed a day), Kenna James, Susie Isaacs, Daniel Alspach, Adam Schoenfeld, and Lacey Jones. Some bloggers seem to be filtering through here, too … just ran into BWOP, and I hear Grubette is on her way.

UPDATE: Also in the $550 hizzouse — Haley Hintze and Mike Laing. Maybe this sorta turnout is nothing new, but it seems to me these events are being taken much more seriously than previous Deep Stacks.

Pokerati’s own Dan Michalski and an all-star cast of poker media will appear on the premier episode of “The Poker Beat” with Scott Huff at 1pm PT Thursday afternoon over at PokerRoad.

The lineup:

John Caldwell (formerly of Pokernews)
Gary Wise of ESPN and WisehandPoker.com
Matt Parvis of Bluff Magazine
Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com
BJ Nemeth of World Poker Tour
and Joe Stapleton of PokerRoad.com with some closing thoughts.

Topics will include the Obama and the UIGEA, the Durrr Challenge, and the L.A. Poker Classic.

This has been out for a few weeks now, but I’m reading it for the first time … found via Pauly, who also let us know about John Caldwell’s unexpected-at-this-moment-in-time-but-not-surprising departure as editor in chief of PokerNews. I know most of you don’t really care about “Shecky’s” business, but you should, because he has been instrumental in shaping how you get to follow tournaments on the internet … and though I’ve had my beefs with PN’s claims of being the “independent” source of poker news (they recently changed that to “#1”), overall, PokerNews, under Caldwell’s leadership, developed into something that arguably made the game far more enjoyable for players and their friends … and isn’t that what all of this is about — the pursuit of better poker?

Before he left, Caldwell assembled a panel of informed and influential peeps in the poker world to hear their thoughts on key poker issues. The panel included Bluff editor-in-chief Matt Parvis, big-name agent Brian Balsbaugh, WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, Pauly, PokerDB founder and AP/UB scandal-solver Nat Arem, top-notch tourney director and Commerce Casino poker room honcho Matt Savage, and high-stakes pro and Team PokerStars guy Barry Greenstein and asked them all the following questions:

1. You’ve been sent back in time to Jan 1, 2003. If you could, what one thing that could be attributed to poker’s “boom” would you prevent or change?
2. Will we ever again see a regularly occurring, brick-and-mortar cash game that is bigger than the biggest games found online?
3. Will 2009 bring a formal regulation of online poker at the United States federal level?
4. What group within the poker world do you believe to be most affected by the global financial crisis?
5. If you could enact one change to the 2009 WSOP – what would it be?
6. Compared to the 2008 WSOP Main Event, will there be more or fewer participants in this year’s Main Event, and why?
7. Will poker grow overall in 2009? If so, what area is likely to show the greatest growth?
8. If there was one change that you would like to see specifically made to the online game or by major online sites in the coming year, what would it be?
   
9. Could a brand new online poker room storm to life in 2009 and somehow capture a major share of that market?
10. Can you think of something that doesn’t really exist in the poker world today that will be a given five years from now?