Source: Washington Post

So who knew … seems like we mighta had two poker players running for president in ’08. (Yet somehow federal legislation always seems to stagnate?)

Sen. John McCain got “busted” playing online poker on his mobile phone Tuesday, during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing to assess the merits of military action against Syria. Here’s the original source, and read here to see the Twitter firestorm around senior senator from Arizona’s on-duty online poker play. McCain tried to brush off the “scandal” with some LOL < 140 … and, hey, what’s there to consider when you have already know your vote is gonna be based on a rather clear position of “More War Always Better”.

As for the brand of poker McCain was playing on his iPhone … VIP Poker. Ever heard of ’em? Yeah, me neither. I suppose it’s possible I’ve ignored a Facebook ad from them offering $120 Jillion in free chips … but then it’s also possible that the fake-sounding “VIP poker” is really just an NSA shell for financing covert missions and McCain was trying to dump chips before the next committee hearing.

VIP Poker LOL.

Doyle Brunson is on the grid, that’s for sure. In his latest blog post, which I read via Facebook, he tells us he’s really getting into Twitter. Here’s his address if you want to follow him: twitter.com/texdolly

In doing so, you’ll learn why he’s not playing in the WPT Championship, and that Phil Ivey lost $1 million in Bobby’s Room last night.

And then, back to his blog, he explains to all the Teabaggers out there why he thinks they should STFU!

I headed over to my CPA to get my taxes done and ran into a traffic jam. Hundreds of people were blocking the streets having what they called a “tea party”. I think they were protesting the current financial crisis our nation is going through, but some of the signs were ridiculous. “Impeach Obama”, “What comes after trillions”, “Stop spending our money” and other statements blaming our president. For Pete’s sake, let’s give the guy a chance to straighten this mess up. I got a lot of heat for voting for McCain, but I knew when I cast a late vote, John didn’t have a chance to win. I was just being loyal to the Republican Party. But now that the nation has spoken that they wanted Obama, we should all support him.

If you haven’t voted a few times already, there’s a poll right over there ( –> ) asking you what’s your favorite poker blog by a bona fide poker pro. Daniel Negreanu is running away with it, as he probably should be. My personal fave: Doyle Brunson’s blog.

Not only do I enjoy the Doylism of the Day, but also, Big Poppa can write! In his most recent post, he explains why having backed John McCain doesn’t make him anti-poker any more than it makes him a racist:

First, I’m about as far away from being a racist as you can get. I’ve had black friends all my life, and I mean really good friends. That was back before it was “fashionable” to have blacks as friends.

Hmm, that might be a dig at anyone like me who has specifically been courting black girls, thinking interracial intercourse is about to become all the rage (just kidding LaTasjia — you’re still my #1 shorty). But seriously … check it out — not only does Doyle’s blog have other good blogstuff such as a relatively personal Flickr gallery, but also he was able to make a solid point for voting McCain in four paragrafs that neither Tom nor my dad could do in four weeks of email manifestos and belligerent phone calls. It’s the kinda writing I’ve grown to expect from Brunson, who clearly has refined his skills in the 36 years since authoring Super/System.

Another pretty good one comes from Annette 15. Even though the Michelle Wie of Poker (?) says she’s really more of a forum girl, Annette Obrestad’s blog (added to the poll by a reader) is filled with worthwhile reads from a young pro making her way through the high-stakes world, live and online. I really dug her post introducing “set mining” to me (the phrase, if not the concept), with a simple, straightforward math-based explanation of when it’s worth seeing if you’re pocket pair can trip up.

Anyhow, just a couple that I’ve found worth the clicks and eyeball time, and possibly a few votes.

Phew … I was a little worried about asking the only Beyond the Table co-host to ever drop an N-bomb in an episode where he stood on my prop bet with Tom the election. But he lets me and others know by forwarding an email that gives a little hint about his views/vote — and more proof that one side’s lack of internet understanding (and respect for the laws governing it) hasn’t really helped his cause. A technical mistake, most likely, but still … telling:

If you ever wanted to know where McCain stands on SPAM…..

This email, below, not only disregards industry best-practices and standards, but is in clear violation of the CAN SPAM Act of ’03.

He’s already holding himself to a different standard.

Begin forwarded message:

More…

Though they don’t have a point spread on the popular vote, Ladbrokes is taking bets from non-American players on the presidential election.

From Online Casino Reports:

Obama now stands at 1.07 at Ladbrokes, against McCain’s 7.5. The odds on Obama winning more than 370 of the 568 seats on offer have shortened to 2.62, with the Democrat candidate favored to win most of the battleground states.

British bookmakers are also taking bets on who’s gonna be the next Secretary of State. (Wow.) I think we should give the next president authority to take the entire national Treasury and place a wager.

Just curious. We all know the presidential election has been a boom for Saturday Night Live’s ratings … tonight I was watching to see John McCain’s guest appearance. Gotta say, he was pretty damn good:

The host was Ben Affleck — real poker player — and in the group farewell, it was like a sincere, conciliatory ovation to the honorable senator. Majillions had to be watching … and from that scene, at least here on Cox cable in Las Vegas, it went right to Poker after Dark. (And a good episode, too! Mike Matusow vs. all previous champs, director’s cut.)

Certainly at least a few folks (thousand? hundreds of thousands?) had to be drawn into poker for their first time in a while with that fortunate positioning, right?

More…

Sorry I’ve been a little out of pocket in recent days weeks months. But I got kinda hooked on election coverage. Dammit, promised myself four years ago that I wouldn’t get caught up in the BS-laden pre-election horse race coverage, but instead ended up making the biggest prop bet of my life about a month ago — $1,000 on Barack Obama.

Since then, I’ve spent my days and nights flipping news channels and scouring YouTube for funny/insightful political vids to send to that great online Deuce-to-Seven player, luvgamble, aka Donkey Bomber, aka Tom the Plumber. My original offer was $500 +3 points, and when given the opportunity for better odds without the points, I had to double my wager. (That’s just smart gambling, right?) So when the pundits are saying there’s a lot at stake this election … they ain’t kidding!

Tom’s an Arizona homer for McCain who’s been mass-forwarding easily disprovable, often hypocritical right-wing propaganda for about a year-and-a-half now — the sort that screams, imho, “Holy shit, is America really gonna put Hillary Clinton a black guy in there!?!” To be clear: I’m not saying luvgamble nor any of his email distro cronies are racists or sexists. I’m just saying they’re white … and probably don’t own any Dr. Dre.

And that’s why I felt (and still feel) that I had a better read on the election than he did.

More…

I attended the grand opening/premiere/LV poker mixer for The Real Deal at the Venetian on Tuesday. I’m still processing what I witnessed — but I am pretty sure it was the official jumping of the shark for poker, as some 500 poker fans (including Tim Conway, Robert Wagner, Bob Newhart, multiple poker agents, WSOP officials, and the owner of the Venetian and president of the Sands, who walked out after 25 minutes) witnessed painfully how getting lots of airtime on ESPN, GSN, and Fox Sports comes nowhere close to making you a Vegas entertainer worthy of a $100 ticket twice a night, let alone twice a lifetime.*

*Exceptions: Lacey Jones and Vinnie Favorito were great.

Wicked Chops and RawVegas were there, too. And they took advantage of the red carpet to poll a few well known poker players on who they’re backing in the presidential election:

The breakdown:

Daniel Negreanu — Obama
Scotty Nguyen — McCain
Doyle Brunson — Diplomatic: likes McCain but “Obama is better for poker” (?)
Todd Brunson — McCain
Lacey Jones — Undecided: Worked in previous McCain campaigns, but “on the fence”
Eli Elezra — Filibuster: Obama “right guy for poker … but I’m a businessman also”
Gavin Smith — Obama
Dennis Phillips — Diplomatic Filibuster: House and Senate elections matter more

Well, to be truthful, it coulda been a lot worse! On first glance, it may look like Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has won this court case… but not so fast. While it’s true that the court upheld the state’s right to seize the domain names, the did give online gambling company’s an out! Tune in to see!

We also release the results of our Bodog cash out audits to see how long it really takes for players to get their money… plus ask why so many online gamblers seem to be in favor of electing John McCain!

From APCW.org:

From APCW.org:

Exposing John McCain! How deeply is he tied to the gambling industry? Does he want to criminalize online gambling? Why are Washington ethics groups calling for an investigation of his gambling activity? It’s certainly not our job to tell Americans whom to vote for this November, but it is our job to make sure people make the most informed decisions that they can. To that end, we have been doing some digging this week on what John McCain says and what John McCain does… and they don’t always seem to agree when it comes to gambling! Plus an in-depth look at the Kentucky domain name game.

Just got back on the grid and playing electronic catch-up … here are some of the things that are making good browser viewing, but not quite stimulating a full-fledged post:

Jay Busbee (from Bluff) has a good State of the Poker Union address on ESPN.com, where he officially declares the poker boom dead. Also interesting to see ESPN, for the first time I remember in a long-long while, running (non-affiliate) PokerStars ads. [ESPN.com]

Poker Shrink Cranky Olde Coot has a good post wondering why FIDPA still hasn’t made the “new rules” they’ve long ballyhooed public. [PokerBlog.com]

Full Disclosure: FIDPA is one of my MySpace friends. [MySpace.com]

Liberal columnist Michael Kinsley shares a story about John McCain going on some extremely unpresidential tilt at the craps table. (The TJ Cloutier of Politics? Tons of success, a sometimes dangerous love of craps, and never quite able to win the Big One?) [The Daily Beast, via Huffington Post, via Short-Stacked Shamus]

Beyond the Table has a new home online. [Podcast.com]

I think Dr. Pauly’s starting to get a little miffed at me for not working out some production kinks and posting our re-constituted incarnation of Tao of Pokerati, but I think I can make him feel better by simply reading his blog. [Tao of Poker]

With all the talk of what really goes into a world-record endurance poker session, I forgot to send y’all to live-forum coverage of The Poker Den 3 — PartyPoker’s 36-hour high-stakes televised cash game. [MatchroomPoker.com]

Dutch Boyd apparently bought Steve Hall’s Pokerfolio in a semi-hostile takeover. Poor Steve … but he has found a new home for his poker updates/pictures of attractive Asian female dealers. [Pokerfolio.Spruz.com]

Also, the X-10 electronic table — a knock-off of the PokerTek PokerPro popping up in so many places — sharing the same name as a hidden camera used by so many pervy peeping toms before a few lawsuits encouraged them to re-market themselves as a security device. [SlipperyBrick.com]

And long overdue, here’s a great tale of a totally degenerate poker blogger/gambler rescuing his bankroll by poetically chasing/hitting the Station Casinos bad-beat jackpot. [TheTrooper97, via Up for Poker]

There’s more, too, coagulating in my bookmarks and inbox. News stories, forum threads, tourney results … Who knows … maybe I’ll get to them for your reading pleasure, but as is always the case from Head Slacker at this Little-Ole Poker Blog, no promises. It’s good to be back with you all.

LATE ADDITIONS:

Lacey Jones is getting ready for her co-hosting duties of Real Deal, the pokery interactive musical at The Venetian, which kicks off next week. [PokerListings.com via LasVegasAdvisor.com]

She also hosted an interesting event at Cathouse (as simply Lacey J) where women showed up for a seductive-attire contest where the winner got a boob job. [Photobucket.com]

Meanwhile, there was a hardcore SWAT-team poker raid in Fayetteville, NC. A firsthand account as well as some non-poker media coverage here and here. [Triangle Poker Journal]

It is no secret that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama plays poker. The subject was first brought to light in a September 2007 CNN article in which players in Senator Obama’s Illinois Legislature poker game were interviewed.

“By his poker buddies’ accounts, Obama is careful and focused. He’s not easily distracted and doesn’t give away his intentions unless it’s to his advantage. He’s not prone to taking risky chances, preferring to play it safe. But he’s also serious and competitive: when he plays, he plays to win.”

As Obama’s campaign led him to the nomination of his party, poker references popped up here and there, for geeks like me those who were paying attention. In June of 2008, Obama revealed a number of good luck trinkets given to him by supporters that he carried in his pocket, one of which was a poker chip. In July of 2008, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey took a break from the WSOP to attend an L.A. fundraiser for Obama, and Obama recognized the poker pros, as Negreanu discussed in this RawVegas.tv video:

Watch Daniel Negreanu Finds Himself in the 50K HORSE Event After a Meeting with Barack Obama on RawVegas.tv

Most recently, Obama made a little poker reference in his September 26th debate with Senator John McCain when addressing the economy, war, and dealing with the country’s problems, approximately 1:35 into the debate:

“So we have to put all chips in, right there, and nobody is talking about losing this war. What we’re talking about is recognizing the next president has to have a broader strategic vision about all the challenges that we face.”

And in a speech just last week, Obama brought up his own penchant for poker as compared to McCain’s love of craps:

“I read the other day that Senator McCain likes to gamble. He likes to roll those dice. And that’s OK. I enjoy a little friendly game of poker myself every now and then. But one thing I know is this – we can’t afford to gamble on four more years of the same disastrous economic policies we’ve had for the last eight.”

While the poker community focuses a great deal of attention on the Kentucky governor’s attempt at censorship and the potential for Rep. Barney Frank to do something with H.R. 6870 after it recently passed in the House Financial Services Committee, there are a few other poker news nuggets to pass on.

~Without so much as a press release to announce it, it seems that UltimateBet has signed Michael Binger as one of its newest team members. Oh, Michael, you too? Adam Levy has also joined the team, again with no official notice from the UB staff. The news came via Mean Gene’s UB Aruba blog and a picture posted from the welcome party.

~Short-Stacked Shamus gave his take on the recent issue of CardPlayer magazine in which Jeff Shulman said that CP was unaware of Scotty Nguyen’s unsportsmanlike behavior at the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE event because of restricted media access at the final table. Disingenuous was the word over at Hard-Boiled Poker.

~It seems that the Eastern Europeans love them some internet gambling, and no recession will get in their way. A researcher with Global Betting and Gaming Consultants shows that a steady increase will continue because of favorable broadband and law changes, not to mention the Eastern Europeans’ “propensity to gamble.”

~Evidently, Senator John McCain likes him some gambling, specifically high-limit craps. How negative EV… The New York Times has looked into McCain’s ties to Indian gaming, and the gaming industry in general, and dug up some interesting info about lobbyists and McCain’s connections to them.

~The more I hear about WSOP “November Nine” chipleader Dennis Phillips, the more he seems like a great guy whose inner philanthropist has been able to shine with his $900K take-home money and potential for the $9.1 million first prize. In this episode of PokerRoad Radio released during the Borgata Poker Classic earlier this month, the guys sat down with Phillips and coach Roy Winston (huh?) where he explains that decision and his future plans.

OK, overstatement, I know … a potential collapse of the entire US economy (which George Bush is warning us about, upon request for a $700 billion semi-blank check to his buds in the banking industry) is far more important than poker.

But I gotta say, it was kinda interesting just now to see none other than Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, D-MA) step out with Spencer Bachus (Frank’s enemy in recent poker fights, R-AL), letting the public know that they are working with the hastily constructed bailout bill to massage it into good working must-passable shape. Frank is talking about provisions Congress will add to the bill, and Bachus is there by his side, assuring taxpayers whatever happens, they won’t get screwed.

(Fingers crossed!)

Seeing these guys working together toward compromise (as John McCain and Barack Obama huddle with President G-Dub) made me think a little more about how poker might fit in to America’s 21st Century economy … and why shouldn’t the poker sites have to/get to pay a fee to American banks for processing their electronic transactions? Not anything to do with actual bets across the table, of course … but paying the banks to secure the transfer of money for players making deposits and cashouts … that certainly seems fair enough to me.

Maybe a drop in the bucket toward helping out such a huge industry … but a push in the right direction for the banks’ bottom line.

The governor wants to erect a massive force field around the entire state to protect its citizens (and visitors) from electronically accessing the evils of untaxed gambling.

And we thought Washington state was bad for making it a felony to play online poker … now, in Kentucky, Governor Steve Beshear is trying to seize control of 141 gambling-related sites, blocking access to the likes of Full Tilt, PokerStars, Bodog, et al.

[Via AintLuck.com]

Yikes, this is some pathetic/scary shit. Not because he’s declaring sites we know and love as criminal enterprises, but because the guv wants to control its citizens’ private web access!

Um, hello, communism? What makes it worse is that he seems to be doing it on behalf of the brick-and-mortar casino industry … dude, I know you guys are slow in Kentucky, but the idea that online play hurts as opposed to helps casinos went dead in like 2006. No details on how one would actually block the internet within state lines … I suppose you can force your cable and phone providers to behave in certain ways … but, um, out-of-town cell phones maybe? Seriously, ‘Tucky-Guv-Dude, are you really that out of touch with the world/American Constitution?

[Non-topical, anti-Republican rant deleted] Stupid Democrat.