Maybe you’re kinda like me (or not) and just getting into the 2013 Stanley Cup World Series of Poker? It’s a long haul, sure, but know the basics of these stories and you can feel confident about having a pretty good grasp on how the deal has gone down at the WSOP this summer, and at least won’t sound like a total poker dunce while hosting your next weekly homegame and/or podcast.

1. Chad Holloway Wins

Whoop-whoop all PokerNews-er-ati! Suck it dealers and floor staff! With Chad’s $85k win in Event #1 comes a) proof that just a few years in poker media can make a clean-cut golden boy look disheveled and scruffy … and b) inspiration for many wearing a badge to think that maybe we shouldn’t give up our on-the-felt dreams just quite yet. [ESPN]

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Kevmath 2.0

Kevmath

Kevin Mathers, the venerable 2+2 moderator and longtime blogger-editor at Pokerati, will not be posting here for the foreseeable future.

No joke … he has been relieved indefinitely from Pokerati blogging duties. Technically, we had to “let him go”. Sucks, but we just couldn’t afford the increasingly valuable services of the hottest independent info-tweeter in poker. Here is a copy of his termination papers:

Kevin, I saw your interview on TWIP. Good job. I also just read Can you send me relevant threads from 2+2?

Hey, so, you are fired. Sorry. Hard times.

I really wanted to believe you were a bot.

See you on Twitter or something?

Rumor is Kevmath is headed to the minor leagues Bluff, where he and Jess Welman would form quite the menacingly mighty poker-reportage duo. Of course without Kevmath, Pokerati will change … we’ve got Gahagan to work double time and some other changes in store, but we might have to cut back on some previously standard coverage elements, such as “facts”.

But @Kevmath did leave behnd a Pokerati farewell … after 30 months, 579 posts, and 1,642 comments, all of which helped make this a better place … seriously, how lucky were we to have him as long as we did? Glad the “for hire” media finally came around.

Check back to read what hopefully won’t be the last time we see @Kevmath around these parts.

Everybody seems to want more of him … especially in Europe, where he’s arguably the most famous faceless person in poker since Isildur1/Viktor Blom.

The Dutch contingent of PokerNews Radio tracked down Kevmath — the great Googler from 2+2, Pokerati, and PokerStarsBlog — to discuss the latest in the ongoing UB Scandal (as per the recent feature from Wicked Chops).

Always providing reader-service … for those who may not have more than a few minutes to get caught up on the scandal they long got too confused about to follow … Kevmath gives the quick essentials of the current situation as seen through his insightful culling of the internet.

Check him out with @webjoker and @happyfreaked:

And if you haven’t seen it already, while listening be sure to check out the lol-laden thread on 2+2, Who/What is Kevmath?

KM says: 2+2=4, bitchez

I think we all know how much Congress’s approval would soar if they had more @KevMath. While many legal- and poli-minded folks have been waiting for a “red-line” version of a marked-up HR 2267 — with properly inserted and deleted amendments, as per voice votes and roll call — Kevin Mathers took it upon himself to do what Congressional staff couldn’t … or at least hadn’t yet.

He makes no promise of 100-percent accuracy, but based on his reads, clicks, cuts and pastes … Here is a cleaned up version of what Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee overwhelmingly agreed to send to the floor of the House of Representatives for further legislative action — the new-and-improved HR 2267 according to Kevmath.

ALT HED: (Way) Outside Washington DC

None other than KevMath stepped into a new dimension across the pond last week, appearing on The Poker Show with Jesse May. Our favorite 2+2 moderator — and arguably the second or third most mysterious man in poker — shares his refreshingly sober analytics from what May calls “the best AND worst journalism about poker”. Check it out … there’s a lot to be learned from the guy charged with shepherding ducks on NVG (and cleaning up their mess).

They also get into the personalities at the NBC Heads-Up Championship for a bit, and talk about the peculiar appeal of Luke Schwartz — what’s behind FullFlush’s rising star in the UK, and why is he more than just a 2+2 blowhard?

Really good stuff from a new (to audio) voice serving a necessary role in the poker world. He clearly does it all for the glamour:

KevMath on The Poker Show
[audio:http://pokerati.com/podcast/kevmath-ThePokerShow.mp3]

Kevin Mathers — super-moderator at 2+2, valued contributor who likes to call me out on errors here at Pokerati, and Poker News fact-checker extraordinaire — speaks with Shamus about the uber-glamorous life as a poker forum moderator and gives some insight into how 2+2 ticks. Click here for more on the process from one of the most mysterious men in poker this side of Isildur.