Photo: PokerNews

Buss, who died Monday at 80, was an active poker player in Las Vegas, especially at the World Series of Poker, where he was a participant for decades.

Buss had four career cashes at the World Series of Poker, including a third-place finish in 1991 in a seven-card stud limit event. His total earnings at the WSOP came to $45,926.

In 2011 Buss played in 22 events, World Series of Poker spokesman Seth Palansky said.

In a statement, he said players enjoyed interacting with Buss.

“Jerry epitomizes what makes the game of poker so great,” Palansky said. “Everyone is on equal footing when you enter a poker tournament. And Jerry Buss acted and carried himself as a dignified gentlemen throughout.”

According to PokerNews.com, Buss played in big-money cash games in California and appeared on the television show, “High Stakes Poker.” The website reposted a 2011 podcast interview with Buss.

Buss told ESPN in 2010 that he thought about playing poker professionally.

More…

Andy Bloch

Today’s WSOP Boxscore

Aubin Cazals $480,563 – Event #6 $5,000 Mix-Max
Andy Bloch $126,363 – Event #7 $1,500 7-Card Stud
Herbert Tapscott $264,400 – Event #8 $1,500 Omaha/8
Ashkan Razavi $781,398 – Event #9 $1.5k NLHE w/Re-entry
John Monnette $190,826 – Event #10 $5,000 7-Card Stud
Vincent Van Der Fluit $265,211 – Event #11 $1,500 PLO

Score one for the good guys. Andy Bloch was atop a list of the best poker players to have not won a WSOP bracelet but he took care of that Saturday night. Bloch had 27 WSOP cashes in his career including a famous runner up finish to Chip Reese in the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. This time he beat Barry Greenstein heads up for the $1,500 Seven Card Stud bracelet and will never have to hear people ask when he was going to win one.

It looks like Michael Binger and Shawn Buchanan are now on the clock as ESPN’s Andrew Feldman points out both have 20+ WSOP cashes and over $2,000,000 in career earnings.

Link Dump

Tournament Tips with Will Reynolds – PokerNews caught up with Will Reynolds for some poker strategy tips. “Tighten up early, lossen up late” is his advice. In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue.

ESPN Poker is The Nuts – Andrew Feldman has their latest poker rankings based on a voting panel of 10. Steve O’Dwyer finally makes an appearance after running over the Euro events. But somehow Phil Ivey is still sitting in 2nd.

BLUFF WSOP Photo Blog – Everybody likes pretty picture and shiny things. Heather Borowinski always does great work and this post has just a few of her pics, worth tracking down the others.

The WSOP Daily Shuffle – Nolan Dalla has been documenting the game longer than most others. Easy morning he posts an article about what happened and what is going to happen.

Ty Stewart Responds on QuadJacks – After the long weekend of problems at the Rio, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart sat down with QuadJacks to discuss the issues.

Getting caught up and back in the swing of things — slowly but surely — so what better way than to listen to the most recent episode of The Poker Beat?

The Poker Beat: July 22, 2010
[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:74]

Rookie twitterer @GaryWise1 took his turn in Capt. Huff’s chair as @BJNemeth and @JessWelman panel-bantered about:

• The pre-markup hearing in DC with Annie Duke
• Make-up of the 2010 November Nine
• The value, if any, of poker agents — and how the WSOP accommodates them during the main event
• BJ’s philosophical non-dilemma over coverage of Matt Affleck’s emotional bustout *
• The difference between poker media and poker journalism
• The Year of Mizrachi and the accidental WTF? of the current WSOP Player of the Year scoring system
• Annette Obrestad’s B- performance
• The 3-headed Monster of Team WSOP without @JeffreyPollack
• WSOP numbers and final table times

* great explanation, BJ. But question … Is there any discernable line where the “field of play” in poker begins, and ends?

Other episode-relevant links:

The Redemption of Matt Affleck by Gary Wise
The Long, Lonely Walk of Matt Affleck by Howard Swains (with photos by Joe Giron)

Next ep coming tomorrow. Play along in the PokerRoad forums.

The $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Championship drew a field of 1,054 entrants, but the major discussion has been about the 10-15 men who were part of the field. Because of anti-discrimination laws, the WSOP staff can not legally prevent men from entering a women-only tournament. In previous years, led by former WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, men have been discouraged from entering the Ladies’ event, with very few entering the past few years.

This year, their pleas fell on deaf ears as a group of players, most notably Shaun Deeb (appearing in drag), took their seats. Whatever reason they gave for entering the tournament (a lost prop bet, fighting for sexual equality, to get attention for themselves), their actions led Communications Director Seth Palansky to state in a CardPlayer interview that suspensions or bans from the WSOP would be handed out to the interlopers. There are several areas in the rules of the WSOP (especially in the Player Conduct and Tournament Integrity section) where the WSOP can decide what type of penalties to give to players for transgressions.

There’s been plenty of discussion about the on Twitter and the forums about today’s controversy with a discussion of women-only poker tournaments in general. Personally, I don’t see why men would want to enter a ladies’ tournament, as it gives the appearance that it’s being done for a selfish reason. Appearing in drag also doesn’t help your cause, even if it’s done with the hope of getting the ladies supporting your cause. F-Train did a good writeup about the topic this afternoon, with more opinions coming from the blogosphere and the WSOP over the weekend.

Interesting story in the Miami Herald about Joe Cada, Kevin Schaffel (Florida’s representative in the November Nine), skill vs. luck, and whether or not the game is good for you. My favorite line(s):

“We had 115 different countries have players represented this year,” said Seth Palansky, a World Series spokesman. “It’s just an astonishing amount — more than the Olympics.”

To be fair, that’s only more than the Winter Olympics. Poker still has a bit more work to catch the Summer games.

Ha ha. Burn on Palansky.

The story continues:

Not everyone is happy with the poker boom. Gambling critics like the Florida Family Policy Council say the game’s greater social acceptance is largely a result of aggressive PR efforts.

“It’s being promoted as something that’s sexy and adventurous and cool,” said council President John Stemberger. “All the big money is on the side of promoting it, not on the side of educating people as to why it’s not a smart thing.”

True enough, Mr. Stemberger, but the same thing could be said about religion, right? You think our activity can be harmful — and indeed it can — and I think your activity can be harmful … and indeed it can. But that’s where living in the wonderful US of A comes into play … As an American (and Floridians are Americans, even the ones who are Cuban) I have the personal freedom to pursue my happiness, just as you do … even though I can show you example after example of people pursuing the activities Big God money is pushing doing tremendous harm … usually with a lot more blood and death, in fact.

Trust me, when it comes to potentially addictive products, poker is much closer to Starbuck’s than Marlboro … even though financial advisors have shown time and time again how quitting a $5 a day Starbuck’s habit can equal millions of extra retirement dollars in the course of life.

Meanwhile, here’s another Herald story about Florida’s longtime wagering culture as the state considers it’s biggest expansion of gambling in history.

Posts on 2+2 earlier this morning mentioned a tentative 2010 WSOP schedule, but for those who take a look at it will note there’s still some work to be done.

For example, the first event on the list is dated May 10th, but it’s event #21 – $1,500 7 Card Stud. Also of note is that almost every tournament except the Main Event is a 2-day event. This doesn’t make much sense since most tournaments have been three-day events in recent years. Another notable change is that the “World Championship” of HORSE now has a $10,000 buy-in. There is however a $50,000 “Player’s Championship” on the schedule. So take the schedule with several grains of salt, and expect a corrected schedule in the very near future.

In related news, WSOP spokesman Seth Palansky talks with the Las Vegas Sun about what’s expected for next year’s WSOP. Among the newsworthy items, there will be no poker played on July 4, and expect more $1,000 buyin events (there’s six on the unofficial schedule).

UPDATE: The schedule has been taken offline for now.

photo: BJ Nemeth

A shocker but not really … Jeffrey Pollack and Harrah’s are breaking up.

The WSOP Commissioner, President, and Twitterer in Chief‘s last day with Harrah’s and the World Series is today.

“I’ve made the decision after four years of successfully leading the WSOP as a global sports and entertainment property,” he says. “[Today] is my last day. Friday the 13th.”

Pollack — who has never played a poker tournament — took over the reigns shortly after the 2005 WSOP, the first year Harrah’s ran the 35-year-old tournament series bought from Binion’s.

The list of accomplishments under his aegis include drawing more competitors from more countries (putting it on par with the Olympics in terms of numbers), supporting women in poker, helping Don Cheadle and Annie Duke build Ante Up for Africa into a Hollywood A-list charity event, and working closely with players (via the Players Advisory Council) to steadily improve what is undeniably the biggest and arguably the best annual festival of poker tournaments in the world. He credits his team for incorporating TV broadcasting (most recently securing a new long-term contract with ESPN), new media, sponsorship, licensing, and summer-time side events that have made the Rio a real home for the WSOP and part of sure-to-endure poker lore.

“I’ve achieved everything I set out to do and more,” Pollack says.

More…

The room was packed with players, who gathered on short notice to find out what Harrah’s would do with the hundreds (conservative number) of irate/disappointed/confused players who were denied entry to the 2009 WSOP Main Event because of their late arrivals to the sell-out event. Notables in the room included Mike Sexton, Mickey Appelman, and Melissa Hayden.

twitpic: @melissalvla

Between the tournament staff, Harrah’s staff, and security contingent, there were approximately 20 suits, lined in front of the room. Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack addressed the crowd with a prepared statement that began, “We are sorry and I am sorry.” He went on to say that the players would not be allowed to play, and that he understands that it is disappointing. “We wish we could accommodate you,” he said and added that he wished they would have played other starting days.

Questions were beamed at Pollack, many players talking over each other at times. Allegations of special treatment were aimed at Harrah’s, with some players asserting that well-known players were granted entry after others were shut out. Pollack’s response? “Absolutely not.”

Most questions revolved around the option of allowing players to begin play this evening and play through the night or somehow incorporating a Day 1E into the mix, but Pollack insisted that it would be logistically and operationally impossible to do. When someone pushed the subject, WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky jumped in with a question of his own directed at the player. “Why didn’t you show up earlier?” A collective “oooh” let Palansky know that he may have gone too far with the comment.

Pollack tried to cool the crowd with comments like, “We are not doing this happily today,” but it was clear that the players were not becoming any more satisfied with the comments. With Pollack promising that sell-out tournaments will be the number one topic to be discussed when planning the 2010 WSOP, he eventually ended the meeting with parting words “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Pollack, Palansky, and other executives went out a private side entrance protected by security.

One of Pokerati’s media eavesdroppers got the real skinny on what went wrong with the Finnish national anthem yesterday. Indeed, Jeffrey Pollack and Seth Palansky acknowledged to each other that the anthem played to honor $10k Mixed World Champion Ville Wahlbeck was not that of his native Finland — it was Sweden’s.

(Oops.)

During the ceremony Wahlbeck leaned over to Pollack and said, “This is a nice song, but it’s not the Finnish National Anthem.”

“Roll with it,” Pollack replied.

Palansky said that he got the song off the internet, and it was labeled as “Track #37: Finnish National Anthem.”

LOL, when are WSOP officials going to learn not to trust what they find on the internet?

You can read Wahlbeck’s blog (in Finnish) here.

And now that he’s won a bracelet, have a listen to the youngster Scandi pro talk about how he’s ready to retire from poker … save for the World Series, WSOP-Europe, the EPT, and maybe some other tournaments:

For those who missed it … or those who like to play the same song over and over again on CD or iPod … here’s the audio from today’s conference call — featuring WSOP Commissioner Chief Twitterer Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Media Honcho Seth Palansky, WSOP Top Dog Tourney Director Jack Effel, and ESPN’s Senior Director of Programming and Free Online Poker Pimping Doug White, letting us know what’s in store for the 2009 poker haj:

WSOP Media Conference Call
April 28, 2009

[audio:https://pokerati.com/podcast/wsop-media-call-2009.mp3]

Pollack, Palansky, Effel, White, reporters

For a scan of what this hour+ call covers, check the live-blogging from Wicked Chops.

The WSOP just sent out their 2009 Media Guide, and damn, gotta say … there’s a lot of stuff in there.

In an attempt to show the true bigness of it all … Beyond the basics like schedules, past winners, etc. (complete with bar-graphs of bracelet winners so you can get a visual understanding of how Phil Hellmuth’s 11 bracelets compare to Doyle Brunson’s 10), this thing has: stats and factoids, history, info on the Hall of Fame and new HOF selection process, details about the PAC …

Click here to download and peruse the 45 pages for yourself.

. . . according to Harrah’s Sports and Entertainment Director of Communications Seth Palansky. Palansky appeared on Gary Wise’s podcast Wise Hand Poker (the 11/19/08 episode) to talk about various subjects, including doing a little post-mortem of the delayed WSOP Main Event final table and broadcast.

As the pair discussed various promotional opportunities — as well as the distractions of the economic crises and presidential election that punctuated those last couple of weeks prior to the final table — Palansky stated how he had some news to “break” on Wise’s show. Per Kevmath’s transcription:

SP: We had a player booked on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, they chose not to do it.

GW: Are we allowed to ask which player it was?

SP: I don’t want to name names and get into that for anyone. We also had the Ellen DeGeneres show booked with another player, who chose not to do it.

GW: Why were these players choosing not to do these shows?

SP: That’s something that the players and their agents and advisors, etc. that should be in the position to answer….

Palansky goes on to “express a concern” that the unnamed players didn’t seize the opportunities to appear on the mainstream shows. “They’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities that get presented to them,” said Palansky. “And it’s unfortunate that in situations where we had a successful pitch and an opportunity for our players to be on that national stage, they chose not to.”

Discussion has ensued on the 2+2 forum (where Kevmath’s transcription of the pertinent passages, unabridged, can be found).

Ed. Note: See Shamus’ own more detailed, existential thoughts on the making of a more-than-poker TV star here.

As the lone Pokerati participant in the annual WSOP media push fest, I tried to represent the best I could and made it through about half the field before succumbing to the blind onslaught (i.e. I ran 9-9 into A-A), but along the way there was fun.

I had hoped to take out Jason “Spaceman” Kirk since he crippled me in the event last year, and was fortunate enough to not only draw his table but also the seat to his immediate left. However, we never tangled in a large pot. Instead, I doubled up early with A-A against the 10-10 of the guy who won the 30-minute massage at a drawing before the tournament began.

“I still get the massage, right?” he asked before putting his chips into the pot against my all-in bet. (The action was 150 from me, 350 from him and all in from me…25-50 blinds and 2,000 starting stacks)

Anthony Holden was moved to my table and I had to take a shot at busting him. I limped for 100 with 10-J and Seth Palansky, the Harrah’s PR guy, made it 200 to go. Holden called in the BB and I called. After a flop of 10-3-2 I checked to Palansky and he only bet 300. Holden pushed in for 650 and I had to take a shot at a good story so I pushed. Palansky called for his last chips. I was ahead on the flop — K-5 for Holden and 4-6 for Palansky, but the 5 on the turn gave SP a big pot.

I then got crippled when Ali Nejad was moved to the table and shortly pushed with A-6. I called with 10-10 and the ace hit the flop. I doubled through Palansky on a coin flip and was able to push a few people around on blind steals when the stakes went to 200-400 with a 50 ante before running into aces.

According to Seth Palansky, Harrah’s Communications Director, the buzz is definitely all about the $50K H.O.R.S.E. event coming up on Wednesday, and pre-registration is up. Technically, I don’t know what that means because official numbers are not being released, but that might be a good sign. Seth isn’t sure if he’d bet on the number going up much from last year…

2006 $50K H.O.R.S.E. – 143 players, $6,864,000 prize pool
2007 $50K H.O.R.S.E. – 148 players, $7,104,000 prize pool

My personal estimation is that the number will rise again. According to the pros I’ve been asking, they all think the number will go up, but no one is willing to give a number. It might be a bit pie-in-the-sky, but with the increased realization that the $50K H.O.R.S.E. is the real gauge of a world champion poker player, along with the wicked prize pool and a greater number of players becoming skilled in mixed games, I’m predicting 175. (Flame away if you must.)