Marvin Rettenmaier
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Marvin Rettenmaier $287,784 – WPT Merit Cyprus Classic

It looks like Marvin Rettenmaier might have a pretty decent handle on this poker thing. On Thursday he became the first player to ever win back-to-back World Poker Tour events when he captured the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic title. This was the first tournament of the WPT Season XI but he picked up where he left off after winning the WPT World Championship to wrap up Season X. In between his two titles, he only cashed seven times during the WSOP including a final table in the Mix-Max tournament.

Rettenmaier grabbed $287,784 for his win and perhaps can now afford to dress like a grown man.

This story was a little too much to be pushed down into the link dump and also an example why I continue to believe legalized online poker is a long ways off. Mister and Missus Smith still equate poker with those evil negative EV games sitting in the casino pits where the house has a huge edge.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com played the puppet for locked out NFL officials when he wrote a piece called Locked-out officials plan to point out replacement official’s poker past.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the locked-out officials will soon be making it known that Shannon Eastin, who will become the first female official to work an NFL game, has played in the World Series of Poker.

Multiple links containing reports from the 2007 event mention Eastin.

Holy crap, stop the presses! A person of legal age participated in a legal poker tournament so she must be willing to fix an NFL game for a Binion’s Daily buy-in and a corn dog. In 2007, East finished 17th in a $1,500 NLH event and also cashed in the 2006 Ladies Championship.

Link Dump

FTPDoug returns to TwoPlusTwo – The infamous FTPDoug made his triumphant 2+2 return after taking his leave following the Full Tilt disaster. He is back and answering questions about the FTP relaunch after the PokerStars buyout. He also settles the question of whether it was actually Michele Clayborne posting as FTPDoug (told ya so).

Matt Marafioti Online Hacking Allegations – Marafioti is clearly off his rocker, that’s no big secret. But if these allegations of account hacking turn out to be true then he’s a blatant, delusional thief who is off his rocker.

Cantor Gaming launches Wi-Fi sports wagering in Nevada – And just like that, you can legally place a sports bet online in Nevada as long as you have a Cantor Gaming account and the ability to turn on your Wi-Fi adapter.

The British Poker Awards – Branded “the UK’s official poker awards” so it must be true. Award ceremonies for poker still seem a little odd because the ultimate award is cash in the hand and maybe a bracelet on the wrist. Now get off my lawn.

Best Poker Player Party ever? – I don’t know about the best party ever, I barely remember a PokerStars party at the WSOP with Mr. Snoop Dogg. But it still looks like a blast and Savage managed to once again find himself on camera.