We know we’re entering into that final phase of the Series … with One Drop, the $50k Players Championship, and holiday barbecue plans taking shape … Cue the fireworks: the Main Event is right around the corner, marking the next new year for poker!

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1. Nolan Dalla calling for Venetian boycott

Marco riles up an impassioned plea from the WSOP media director for poker players to unite in meaningful opposition to Sheldon Adelson. [source: YouTube/QuadJacks]

More…

“That’s stupid. Why should I get a job when I’ve got no-limit Texas Hold’em?”

Tom Schneider may have downgraded his status to semi-pro, but that hasn’t kept him from a sickening, multi-bracelet run in Hold’em-Omaha-Razz-Seven-stud-Eight-or-better. And though she’s having a WSOP of her own (with one final table so far), semi-angry Julie jumps on-call to enlighten us about how she’s managing the family bankroll, particularly as degenerate poker urchins gravitate toward her husband, wanting satellite buy-ins but not his advice to “Get a job!”

Meanwhile, Tom advises Andrew on how one might go about moving through the mixed game ranks — which is great and all, but are things going so un-awesomely for Andrew this summer that he’s been relegated to sleeping in his car?

In other-people’s WSOP business … were chips that went missing from a winner’s photo shoot indicative of ubiquitous cheating at the WSOP or just a case of rogue souvenir hunters before tournament officials had a procedure in place to keep better track of photo props? Also the Rio Deepstack fields keep getting more massive. Who knew old-school, underground blind structures and substantive-but-affordable buy-ins would come back in fashion? And secrets to a locals discount that might be one of the best kept secrets at the Rio. And by “best kept secrets” we mean things advertised on billboards, but hey …

It’s EDC weekend — Electric Daisy Carnival — which may or may not bring glowsticks and furry boots to the table. Oh, and don’t forget @KevMath! He’s on this episode, too, at the premiere of Bet Raise Fold afterparty. It’s all so clear now: Andrew hearts Kevmath, Dan hearts Donkeybomber, and Dave’s still lookin’ for a flush-draw to chase.

Vegas Grinders 1.19
[audio: https://pokerati.com/podcast/VegasGrinders/VG1point19.mp3]

Episode Resources

• Electric Daisy Carnival
• Bet Raise Fold
• Barcelona Gypsies 1, Tom Minus $450

Kevin Eyster
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Kevin Eyster $660,395 – WPT Seminole Hard Rock Shootout
Joseph Cheong $1,343,370 – HK$1,000,000 Manila Millions
Pieter De-Korver $190,594 – EPT Berlin Cup

Joseph “subiime” Cheong had one heck of a time this last week with a couple big pops to his bankroll. He started off finishing second to Philipp Gruissem in the A$50,000 WSOP APAC High Roller rebuy event for $534,776 and followed up with by winning the Manila Millions for HK$10,428,000 ($1.3million and change, thank you exchange rate). Not a bad way to make his way through Asia.

Kevin Eyster is the latest WPT champion after winning the Seminole Hard Rock Shootout in Hollywood, FLA. Several big names made the Sunshine State trip including Jeff Madsen making his 2nd WPT final table with Faraz Jaka, Matt Giannetti, Doug Lee, and Dan Suied just missing the TV action. The top two in the race for WPT Player of the Year made the money but Matt Salsberg outlasted Paul Volpe to take over the lead with just a few events remaining. Next stop for the WPT is the bestbet Open in scenic, never boring Jacksonville, FLA.

Tweet of the Day – It has nothing to do with poker, instead it’s the rather quick TV career of sports reporter AJ Clemente. Plus I will take every chance to show Kevmath cursing.

In the words of @clementeaj, I start off my today with – “Fucking shit!”

— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) April 22, 2013

QuadJacks to Relaunch Under New Management – Marco leaves QuadJacks for GPI, QuadJacks goes in the crapper, Marco jumps ship back to run QuadJacks to assemble the Avengers of Poker (or that’s what I’m going to call it until he comes up with a proper name).

Online Poker Choking in the Grey Fog of Legislative Uncertainty in Europe – The UK version of the Huffington Post takes a look at the world of online poker in Europe. I’m mostly adding the link dump for the awesome headline.

N.J. Treasurer Estimates $1.2 Billion in First Year Internet Gambling Revenue, Legislators Divided – Not too shabby of a forecast from the state treasurer, I think that would make some people happy.

Foxwoods owner signs online gambling partnership – Everybody is gearing up for online gambling in the US. Opponents would be better off just stepping aside and sticking their hand out. Foxwoods sign a partnership agreement with London-based GameAccount Network.

Kevmath has arrived to play the $10k WSOP main event. He’s currently in the process of trying to collect his pledges, which is clearly a different game than funding a $235 deep stack stab via Twitter. Lets hope his rungood starts today for a final Day 1 buy-in tomorrow … because really, with a new era that doesn’t include Doyle Brunson in the WSOP main event upon us (he’s opting out this year for what I think is only like the third time) don’t we all really need a Kevmath to be properly funded, if not fully backed?

With these kinda arrangements in mind, Pokerati has been working on a basic legal boilerplate to cover typical poker staking arrangements. We’re still working on a few revisions, and customizable blanks to accommodate a variety of backing scenarios. It’s not official yet, and thus not certain to be admissible in court — hey, you get what you pay for — but let me know if you think there’s anything missing or superfluous, especially if you are a practicing attorney in Nevada.

Here is a generic document to solidify your monetary promises in poker, regardless of unfortunate rivers or acts of nature.

Now all we need, I think, is a proper legal disclaimer to make sure yours truly and Pokerati don’t end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit we facilitated.

ALT HED: LegalPokerZoom.com

UPDATE: Tax matters notwithstanding, please add, like the back of my first fake ID, “for entertainment purposes only.”

The guys bring you up to speed on all things 2012 WSOP with a 2-hour conference call about a one-hour conference call outlining what to expect from the World Series in Las Vegas this summer.

2001 WSOP – Episode 36: KevMath WSOP Exit Interview with KevMath (8:50) – Kevin “KevMath” Mathers is officially done with his WSOP assignment, but he stopped by the Rio to watch the action on Day 8. He bumped into Pauly, who sat him down to discuss his favorite moments (and least favorite) during his first ever WSOP. Pauly also quizzes him on any strange “fan” encounters along the way.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

The Epic Poker League still sounded more like a Sugar Bowl sponsor (as FS+G) when yours truly won his seat into their inaugural $1,500 event at the Palms last weekend. Excited to play … but also thinking ’bout selling it, as I’m pretty sure these seats are transferable, and I already had plans that weekend to learn the ways of a seasoned pro by going on a vision quest at the Poker Sweat Lodge with Greg Raymer and Tom Schneider.

For now, play it by ear …

2011 WSOP – Episode 25: Sit and Go Pro
A group of prolific tweeters play in a satellite to the FS+G Epic Poker League $1500 pro-am — a tournament series taking shape that few know what to make of yet. None other than Bluff correspondent Kevin Mathers shows up to provide a comparative assessment of what he just witnessed — as somehow Dan ends up winning, beating @Alcanthang, @JoeUgly, @Hollywood_Dave, and others with questionable play. A rather large rail developed to hear Kevmath laughing heartily on the inside. Whatev, says Dan, who won a seat, took home some cash, and now apparently thinks he’s a pro.
[audio: https://pokerati.com/podcast/tao/TOP_W11_25_SNGPro.mp3]
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For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives or subscribe to the feed .

Ahh, now I get it! Concept behind Federated’s Epic Pro-Am series starting to make sense.

Dr. Pauly finds KevMath at a dive bar playing video Keno…

2011 WSOP – Episode 19: KevMath Keno System with KevMath (6:31) – Pauly and KevMath hang out at the dive bar in a bowling alley at the Gold Coast. KevMath was in the middle of crushing a video Keno game, when Pauly asked him to share a couple of his big secrets to beating the game.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives or subscribe to the Tao of Pokerati feed.

A very special episode with Kevin “KevMath” Mathers and Dr. Pauly, as the two discuss an unusual topic.

2011 WSOP – Episode 17: Fake Fashion Report with Kev Math (5:10) – Pauly chats with Kev Math, who is a self-described “fashion expert.” The two compare and contrast the different styles of clothing worn by members of the media. KevMath also reveals why he won’t wear shorts.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives or subscribe to the Tao of Pokerati feed.

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.