Rocco Palumbo
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Rocco Palumbo $180,097 – 2013 WPT Venice Main Event
Zachary Donovan $48,112 – WSOP-C Foxwoods Re-entry
Daniel Chan $48,521 – WSOP-C Foxwoods Prelim

With that subhead above, thus concludes the only attempt on my part to do anything for April Fools’ Day. Carry on.

There was plenty of potential for a first-class WPT Venice final table but instead it was just relatively historic. With just two tables remaining, the field still included WSOP bracelet winner Mike Sexton, former November Niner Martin Staszko, former EPT Champion Ludovic Lacay, poker player/producer/writer extraordinaire Matt Salsberg, and our bestie Kara Scott.

Unfortunately for televised poker history, all of them would be eliminated before the official final table except for Mike Sexton. This was the 2nd final table for the WPT commentator on their tour after his 2011 Bay 101 appearance. He collected just shy of $70,000 for his 3rd place result with the victory ultimately going to Italian Rocco Palumbo.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – I feel bad for poor Geno, friend of Pokerati and former professional poker writer. Not only is he stuck living in Pennsyltucky but he also fell for a prank on this of all days.

Just fell for an online April Fool’s joke. Want to burn the Internet to the ground, salt its fields, foul its wells, etc.

— Gene Bromberg (@genebromberg) April 1, 2013

‘Ship It Holla Ballas!’ … Tracing The Rise And Fall Of Internet Poker And Its Most Unlikely Stars – Considering the date, and this was published on a Yahoo! Sports pages, I could be forgiven in thinking this was an internet April Fools’ Day gag. I seemed to have missed the news about a book coming out named (cringe) “Ship It Holla Ballas!” about the young guns of online poker back in the golden days just a few short years ago.

Apple’s poker app may be illegal here – News from Australia isn’t all sunbeams and wallabies. Word from Down Under that some bigwigs in government aren’t too happy with Apple and PokerStars since their mobile app is available for download in Australia complete with real money deposits and games.

Digging into the AGA / PokerStars New Jersey War – Missed this link a few weeks ago but worth a spot in the link dump. Haley Hintze gives her opinion on the battle in New Jersey between the American Gaming Association and PokerStars. Nothing is ever clear cut when it comes to all the players involved.

Google Glass At the Poker Table? – There’s been some interesting oh-god-we-are-living-in-the-future talk about Google Glass, headgear which looks/acts like something out of Star Trek. The gang over at CardChat took an amusing look at what it would be like have Google Glass at the poker table.

Shooting Star Champion Kai Chang
Photo: Bay101News/WhoJedi

Today’s Boxscore

Kai Chang $1,138,350 – Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event
Nick Schulman $270,480 – Bay 101 Shooting Star High Roller

Another big WPT event finished up, this time in North Cali at the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament. The price reduction from $10,000 buyin to $7,500 had a double positive impact with both an increased field and prizepool. Paul “paulgees81” Volpe (West Chester, PA represent) continued his hot streak with his 2nd straight WPT final table and 3rd place finish for $435,610. That puts him just over $1,000,000 in tournament earnings for $17,500 worth of buyins for the last two WPT events, not a bad ROI.

Kai Chang won the tournament for $1,138,350 plus a seat in the WPT Championship for topping the 643 entrants. No word on how many bounties he collected during the event but it probably was a decent addition as well.

Some big results expected in the next few days from the Heartland Poker Tour and WSOP-C. The HPT had another successful event at Black Hawk with over a $1,000,000 prizepool and the WSOP-C Caeasers Atlantic City Main Event will give away another ring within days.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Euro-Schecky tweets from the completely spontaneous, not-at-all corporate set up, Full Tilt Poker versus PokerStars Heads Up competition. Rumor has it PokerStars stars won the day.

The winners are Tweeting!Spot the guy who didn’t win… #TiltVsStars twitter.com/ScheckTwit/sta…

— John Caldwell (@ScheckTwit) March 10, 2013

My Choice Center Experience – Daniel Negreanu responds to the article from Bryan Micon about the Choice Center. It’s totally not a cult and completely legit, guys, because he said so. I was finally convinced after he also told me I inherited a million dollars from some guy in Nigerian.

Illinois Bill Would Legalize Online Poker – Another state trying to get into the online poker business. Keep expanding and maybe we’ll all be back in business before too long.

As States Embrace Online Gambling, Questions Arise – But somebody has to be Chicken Little during the online poker discussion and NPR presents their “questions” in a short, relatively benign article.

Dusk Till Dawn to Guarantee €1 Million to the Winner of ISPT Wembley! – More news from the International Stadiums Poker Tour, now with a €1,000,000 guarantee for first place. Points taken away from PokerNews by our impartial judges for using @#$^@$ exclamation point in a headline.

Poker Terms IRL-London Edition – PokerNews and Sarah Grant with a fun video from the EPT London.

Paul Klann, WPT LAPC Champion
Photo: LAPCNews.com/WhoJedi

Today’s Boxscore

Paul Klann $1,004,090 – 2013 WPT LA Poker Classic
Jonathan Tamayo $206,020 – WSOPC Palm Beach Kennel Club
Rodger Johnson $182,315 – 2013 LAPC High Roller
Jon Turner $27,750 – 2013 LAPC 6-Handed PLO with rebuys

The 2013 LA Poker Classic wrapped up it’s Main Event last night with Paul Klann overcoming a big chip deficit against Paul Vople. The WPT LAPC drew 517 entrants this year which is another annual drop, from 549 a year ago, at one of the biggest stops on the tour. Klann collected over $1,000,000 for the win which includes the WPT Championship buyin, but 7-digits is much prettier than 6.

Next big tournaments on the schedule include the popular WTP Bay101 Shooting Stars event, the WSOP-C series at Caesars in Atlantic City, and the always huge Heartland Poker Tour in Blackhawk, Colorado.

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Tweet(s) of the Day – Not everybody is in love with the Commerce Casino, David Bach is isn’t the first or last player to comment on some of the shadier aspects of playing there. I still standby the breakfast burritos at the Cafe.

I say this with reservation: because of course there are plenty of honorable people in poker. But…. This Commerce Casino is the:

— david bach (@gunslingerbach) February 28, 2013

Scumbag capital of Poker. I cannot count how many angles and examples of dishonesty I have seen here in my 3 week stay. Just Disgusted.

— david bach (@gunslingerbach) February 28, 2013

Epic Anniversary – One year ago FS+G filed for bankruptcy killing Epic Poker along the way with a bunch of unpaid invoices (yours truly included). It’s still a touchy subject with some of us but Short-stacked Shamus has a nice recap. Check back to his site later for some of his article I published on the Epic website

A Look at Poker’s Falling Fortune in Las Vegas – The sky is falling, the sky is falling! It’s either that or the Vegas poker rooms are feeling the crunch of the online poker crackdown. We’ll see what happens when new players can be pulled in via online poker when it returns.

Team PokerStars v Team Full Tilt: Don’t Believe the Hype – Daniel Negreanu “called out” Gus Hansen, now there will be a HU battle in London. Not nearly the big brouhaha as it would have been prior to Black Friday and the PS/FTP buyout.

Pretty Broad Podcast – Three favorites from PokerNews (Kristy Arnett, Lynn Gilmartin, and Sarah Grant) started their own website PrettyBroad.com. It’s a fun concept from a fun group who get to travel to great places around the globe. Give them a look and listen to their first full podcast.

Christina Lindley
Photo: Venetian Poker Room

Today’s Boxscore

Christina Lindley $4,920 – Venetian DSE Ladies Event
Matt Giannetti $298,304 – WPT Lucky Heart Poker Open
John Dolan $19,200 – 2013 LAPC $1,600 Bounty Event

Nothing like a little friendly competition to get legislation on the fast track. With New Jersey governor Christie getting close to putting his state in the market, Nevada moved quickly yesterday to pass an online gambling bill and get it signed into law putting them ahead in the game.

Amazing how fast the system can work when they want it.

Opinions vary about the impact of the new law including how soon and how effective the systems will be without opening up their games to other states. Success will depend on the size, diversity, etc of the player base and this law allows Nevada to negotiate with other states to offer internet poker. Even more companies are now lining up in Nevada to get in the game and hopefully other states follow along.

Smarter people than myself will be posting here soon with their thoughts.

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Tweet of the Day

.@briansandoval signing Assembly Bill 114, internet gaming legislation. twitter.com/BrianSandoval/…

— Brian Sandoval (@BrianSandoval) February 22, 2013

Dusty Schmidt: This Is My Brain, This Is My Brain On Poker – Who knows what any of this CardPlayer post means for all the other players, but Dusty Schmidt thinks online poker is frying his brain and willing to use an old drug commercial catch phrase to get your attention.

PokerRoom.com Closing – End of an Era? – They gone.

The Poker World Reacts to the Passing of Jerry Buss – This week saw the passing of LA Lakers owner and legendary poker player Jerry Buss. TimTern pulled together a fine list of the statements from around poker.

Meet the world’s top NBA gambler – ESPN the Magazine with an excellent (and lengthy) article on gambler/poker player/handicapper Haralabos Voulgaris.. Despite it’s length, only one mention of poker

WPT Baden – Day 1B : Sledding and Snowboarding – Kara Scott (and company) on the slopes during WPT Baden. Yes please, and thank you.

Adam Teasdale
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Adam Teasdale $194,040 – WSOP-C Atlantic City
Marcin Wydrowski €318,295 – WPT Prague
Ramzi Jelassi €835,000 – EPT Prague
Marvin Rettenmaier €365,300 – EPT Prague HR

It’s been a rough few days in the States but life goes on and the poker games keep flying. The latest stop on the World Series of Poker Circuit passed through scenic Atlantic City just a few weeks after Hurricane Sandy tore it up. Adam Teasdale is the latest WSOP-C Main Event champion and picked up nearly $200,000 along with a seat in the National Championship.

The powers that be in Prague finally had a brainstorm which hopefully spreads to the rest of Europe. The city held a World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, and other events throughout most of December. This kept a lot of top poker players within their city for much longer than a hit and run. Marvin Rettenmaier, Ramzi Jelassi, and Marcin Wydrowski were just a few of the big winners.

# Learn to play the pokies! Secrets to winning at Australia’s national pastime. #

Link dump

NJ Assembly passes online gaming bill – New Jersey tries again to get online gaming in state when the Assembly passed another online gaming bill earlier today. Governor Christie took time away from his meat lovers pizza last year to veto the previous effort.

Internet poker bill effort dead, Reid says – The other side of the coin show the Reid/Kyl effort to legalize online poker has reached the predictable end of it’s run for 2012. Soon the U.S. Congress will go on their hardly earned, lengthy holiday.

Mass. Treasurer: Internet Gambling On Horizon – Massachusetts throws their name into the mix as the state Treasurer says their state in looking into the possibility of offering online gambling within the state.

WSOP Europe on the Move – Poker players are never completely happy with an event or festival, WSOP-E in Cannes was no different. Next year they’ll have a chance to check out a new venue as they move the series to Casino Barrière Enghien-les-Bains in Paris.

Happy Anniversary Bovada!! – If you don’t love Melissa Costello, you haven’t met Melissa Costello or you just don’t like to have fun. Here’s her attempt to earn a gig with Bovada and shows off her sick/crazy/twisted sense of humor. Team Trainwreck! Click here to vote for Melissa.

Ravi Raghavan
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Ravi Raghavan $1,268,571 – WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Marcin Wydrowski €325,000 – WPT Prague Main Event
Paul Berende €119,974 – PokerStars Hold’em Challenge
Dan Murariu €110,000 – Unibet Open St Maarten

The World Poker Tour and all those who call the shots must have been really happy as the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic field played down to its final table and saw the names remaining. Just missing out on the TV table were Jon Aguiar, Jason Somerville, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Freddy Deeb, Greg Mueller, Andrew Robl, and Scott Clements. They all crashed out on the final two tables but Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Shawn Buchanan will once again see themselves on the small screen.

Ravi Raghavan, recently of the Borgata Fall Open Main Event final table, was the last player standing as he knocked out Buchanan in 2nd place to increase his bankroll by nearly $1.3 million. Thanks to some structure tweaking and reasonable PR by the Bellagio staff, there was far less complaining about this year’s Five Diamond event as last year. Baby steps.

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Maria Ho Joins Heartland Poker Tour Broadcast Team for Season 9 – Good move by HPT because everybody loves Maria Ho. Those poor fanboy souls hiding in Iowa and Minnesota are going to lose their minds when she shows up in the their local poker room.

‘Isildur1’ Bests Dwan in $400k HU Match – Full Tilt Poker is back which means we now have the platform to witness huge HU matches between the biggest names in poker. This weekend it was Viktor Blom slicing off a piece of Tom Dwan.

Casino operators gearing up for online poker – Things are starting to move right along with online poker in Nevada. I’m still skeptical about how successful it will be but it’s better than moving backwards.

Women Business Execs Learn When to Hold and Fold ‘Em – Presented without comment, because I have no idea what to think about this article on ABCNews. I think I will wait until Amy Calistri straightens me out.

The Micros: The Lost Episode – They’re back! At least for one episode but tell me you didn’t miss the opening tune. Seems this episode has been steeping for awhile during the PokerStars/Full Tilt negotiations but it’s now ready for your viewing pleasure.

Giacomo Fundaro
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Giacomo Fundaro $166,704 – WPT Mazagan
Sam Grafton £102,700 – Grosvenor UKPT Grand Final
Jeremy Ausmus $78,572 – WPT Five Diamond Prelim
Dwyte Pilgrim $43,453 – WPT Five Diamond Prelim

It wasn’t the most exciting week in poker but there was a nice turnout for the Deepstacks tournament at Mohegan Sun and there were also a bunch of current/former/rockstar poker bloggers tearing around the bars in Las Vegas for the annual WPBT blogger drinkfest and tournament. While most of those fine folks were indulging their bacchanalian impulses at various bars, restaraunts, and games of chance, there were a few crazy people who ran in the Rock n’ Roll Vegas Marathon.

Things were also ramping up at the Bellagio this weekend as they prepare to host the full WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. A full roster of iffy structures, smokey tables set up in the casino, and various other legitimate complaints. It’s probably time to unfollow Allen Kessler on Twitter.

# Wherever you are, the game is 21. #
Get ready to play real blackjack online by playing free blackjack at onlineblackjack.com.

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Tweet(s) of the Day – Even though that whole Epic Poker Standards & Conduct thing went swirling down the drain, looks like Matt Glantz has kept up his role in the poker world and brought together David and Goliath.

Regardless of how @savagepoker feels about me right now, I still have the utmost respect for him as a TD & the impossible job he has.

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) December 1, 2012

While I do believe all of my points are still valid,I would like to apologize to my friend @savagepoker if I upset him in any way.

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) December 1, 2012

Thank You @allenkessler, I will speak to you @bellagiopoker and please know that your “concerns” were not ignored by me or @playgroundpoker.

— Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) December 1, 2012

Poker Pro Theo Jørgensen Shot Three Times in Home Invasion – Horrifying breaking news this morning about Danish PokerStar pro Theo Jørgensen. He was the victim of a home invasion, robbery, and shot several times in the leg. Injuries are said to not be life threatening and a full recovery is expected.

American Gaming Association ups the ante on online poker – Another day, another press release about freeing the world from the oppressive online poker prohibition. This time it’s the American Gaming Association saying let my people go.

Pokie headphones banned in Victoria – Before now I had never heard of video poker machines with headphone jacks built in so the player can fully concentrate on the action. The Canucks want to ban them and I imagine the Vegas hookers wouldn’t like them very much either. Tough to scam when the mark isn’t paying attention.

Ghaziabad man arrested for gambling wife – I hope this doesn’t become a trend in Las Vegas or there are going to be some very unhappy wives, or a whole new way of paying off gambling debts. There is a bad “makeup” joke about staking in there somewhere I’m just not willing to make.

TB5 “Poker Face” – I hate HATE the orginal version of this song by something called a Lady Gaga. Here’s a version I can sort of get behind because it isn’t her but mostly because it includes Clare Grant.

Jonathan Roy
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Jonathan Roy $779,710 – World Poker Tour Montreal
Brock Parker $372,568 – Borgata Fall Open
Geoff Smith NZ$80,502 – ANZPT Auckland

The World Poker Tour Montreal stop may not have been a televised event, but that didn’t stop it from drawing all kinds of interest over the weekend. Things started off well when it was obvious attendance was going to be great well before the first card was dealt. Nearly 1,200 players traveled to the Great White North and Playground Poker venue received plenty of kudos from the players.

That was until Allen “King of the Endless Needle” Kessler decided to have one of his first-class hissy fits, even going so far as post his complaints on Facebook, the home of cat videos and high school bullies. Kessler took issue with the 60-minute levels and voiced his complaints publicly on Twitter and once again made a joke out of a real issue.

This final table would have made for some great TV as Canada’s drunkest son Gavin Smith was there on the last day along with Jeff Gross and Pascal Lefrancois. Gross had easily the most famous rail birds in the room as his best friend, and most decorated Olympian ever, Michael Phelps make a surprise visit for support. Eventual winner Jonathan Roy’s rail wasn’t too shabby either with 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel among his supporters.

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Tweet(s) of the Day – That’s what hell of a cheering section, beats Gavin Smith’s section which probably consisted of bartenders, drunkards, and off duty strippers.

Pumped for the kid today!! Just surprised him for the final 6 of the #wptmontreal @playgroundpoker !!!! #weeeeneedit

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) November 27, 2012

Man the kid!!! Can’t be more happy for what @jgross5 did!! Proud of u man!!!!

— Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) November 28, 2012

Could Online Poker Help Avert the Fiscal Cliff? – I find all kinds of interesting articles throughout the week in terms of poker, gambling, and people who should be nominated for the Darwin awards. This is good read questioning whether online poker, instead of raising taxes, is a valid way to avoid the “fiscal cliff”. It’s also an SEO bonanza. (Warning, they make you enter an email address to read the entire article.)

Will online poker fall off the fiscal cliff? – On the other side, a horseracing blogger asks if the “fiscal cliff” will kill the chances of online poker in the near future. I’ve officially hit my quota of using the term “fiscal cliff”.

Pro Poker Player Embraces #GivingTuesday – Faraz Jaka, one of the good guys in poker, has a nice bio piece on the Huffington Post about his charitable side. Nice to see poker players being in the news for something positive.

WPT Montreal: Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps – Jeanine (Freddy not Shaun) Deeb was the lucky one to grab an interview with the 18-time Olympic medalist while he was on the rail for his best friend.

James Carroll
Photo: Heartland Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Noah Schwartz $402,970 – WPT bestbet Jacksonville
James Carroll $104,253 – HPT Palms Las Vegas

It was a fine weekend for a couple of young poker veterans at tour stops swapping locations. The World Poker Tour not-televised event was playing a small room in Florida while the televised Heartland Poker Tour made it’s return to the Palms in Las Vegas. James Carroll shortstacked his way to the final table and worked his way up the board until he was the last player at the table. The HPT had a nice uptick since their last Vegas event, even after professional nit-monster Allen Kessler tweaked the structure.

Noah Schwartz began the WPT final table in Jacksonville in a different position than Carroll, holding more than half the chips in play at the 6-handed final table. He was playing his 4th World Poker Tour final table, the most recent being a 4th place finish at the LAPC, but nothing stopped him from picking up the elusive title to boost him near $3,000,000 in career earnings. Other notables at the final table included Lee Markholt, Hans Winzeler, and Byron Kaverman.

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Tweet(s) of the Day – PASSION TO WIN! (except in cases where I degen it up, lose some money, and slep through it)

People asking why @realkidpoker & I playing WPT-Jacksonville when long flight, no TV, & small prize pool: PASSION TO WIN! #Loveofthegame

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 9, 2012

Flew to Jacksonville to play WPT, BUT sadly I derailed myself. Took Big loss playing Open Face until 9:15AM, then slept through WPT, sigh

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 11, 2012

Reid/Kyl in the Lame Duck: What You Need to Know – Chris Grove at PokerFuse has a nice little writeup about the online poker bill over the next few months, none of it terribly positive.

One of China’s most ingenious bribery schemes: the professional poker loser – You mean to tell me poker in China isn’t completely on the up and up? Using the game as a convenient way to bribe corrupt officials. h/t Otis.

Co-CEO Of Nevada Online Poker Applicant Questioned By Belgian Authorities – Norbert Teufelberger (Norbert!) went to Belgium for a responsible gaming convention and ended up having a nice conversation with the authorities of bwin.Party business.

DOJ, PPA Meet to Address Remission Timeline, Player Points – In case you missed it yesterday, Dan posted a statement from the PPA after they met with the DOJ about Full Tilt U.S. player accounts.

The Final Table – Episode 6 – The last episode of an excellently produced series of web videos about Russell Thomas preparing for the WSOP Main Event final table.

Ari Engel
Photo: WSOP.com

Today’s Boxscore

Ari Engel $55,503 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Eddie Ochana $44,281 – WSOPC Hammond $1,125 NLHE
Matthew Weber $135,475 – Punta Cana Poker Classic

Another week in the books and players are scattered around the globe 5-bet shoving their way to glory. The World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event is underway with an impressive showing while a several hundred players have taken the long flight to Johannesburg, South Africa for their first World Poker Tour event. Players in Hammond have to worry about less than stellar facilities/rulings while those in South Africa are going on safaris and dodging wild animals.

Coin flip if you ask me.

After these festivals are done, players will blast off to populate other tournaments in Florida (WPT), Barcelona (WPTN), Albuquerque (HPT), and Iowa (MSPT) for the next in eternal search of temporary glory.

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Tweet of the Day – So the oldest kid in poker would not kick Howard Lederer out of his game but probably forgets telling his fanboys that he deserved “few swift baseball bat swings to the groin area”.

To answer other questions: if HL sat down in my game I would not run him off. The other players want him in the game for obvious reasons.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 19, 2012

Poker Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2012 – After the public and media rounds of voting, the WSOP announced Eric Drache and Brian “Sailor” Roberts as the latest inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame. Disappointed to not see Scotty Nguyen or Chris Bjorin on the list but these two are worthy. The induction ceremony will once again take place during the Main Event final table circus.

Its problem! PokerStars announces it will not pay Full Tilt Poker affiliates – They still don’t know how to write a damned headline, but an interesting look at some possible snags in the FTP repayment situation. I think it’s pretty close to tin-foil hat time, but still worth the read.

PokerNews Op-Ed: What Happened To Poker? – Donnie Peters penned an Op-Ed lamenting the demise of fun at the poker tables. As someone usually having too much fun at the tables, I generally agree with him. Although if serious money were on the line, I’d likely be up on assault charges when Ted Bort barked in my ear.

Liv Boeree @ WSOPE Cannes 2012 – This video runs a lot longer than most videos but since it involved Liv Boeree, metal, and Liv Boeree playing metal I deem it worthy of your attention. Fast forward to around the 3:30 mark if you just want girl on guitar action.

Liv Boeree playing Fade to Black (Metallica) -… by poker52

Yorane Kerignard
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Yorane Kerignard $182,292 – World Poker Tour Malta
Daniel Chaky $40,773 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #4
Lance Garcia $18,449 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #5
Robin Vannucci $17,711 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #6
Jonathan Taylor $16,201 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #7
Walan Kite $16,350 – WSOPC Bossier City Event #8

Plenty of action around the poker world, both on and off the tables. This week has one new WPT winnner, a boatload of new WSOP Circuit ring owners, and a new WPT Borgata Poker Open champion at some point later today. That final table has an interesting cast of characters including Steve Brecher, David Diaz, and Tyler Patterson after fan favorite Matt Brady was eliminated on the TV table bubble after a nasty beat. They are playing for over $800,000 and a shiny trophy.

The big news is off the table as PokerNews released their 7-part interview with Howard Lederer talking about the Full Tilt implosion, Black Friday, and pointing fingers at the entire universe with barely a mention of his role in the mess. There is a lot of information to get through and it is sometimes tough to listen. The interview does not provide many new facts not known already inside the poker world but it does confirm some stories.

It also provides plenty of ammunition for those who refuse to blame everyone responsible. Lederer and Bitar deserve every ounce of venom spewed their way (except for the death threats, those are childish/dangerous) but there is a set of people unwilling to spread it around. Phil Ivey and his ridiculous lawsuit. The list of people who gladly took massive “loans” against the player funds. The board members who didn’t immediately remove Bitar the moment they realized the mess they were in. They all deserve to be put on blast.

You can catch all 7 parts on the PokerNews YouTube channel.

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Tweet of the Day – Sweet holy mother of collusion. And right there on the Twitter machine for everyone to see.

That’s annoying!!! My horse opens and I have AA so I can’t 3bet,cuz I don’t Wna bust him,haha! Then ignored my gut and stacked off on Q52 ss

— Sam Trickett (@Samtrickett1) September 20, 2012

Two legends speak out in support of “Sailor” Roberts’ nomination for Poker Hall of Fame – (All caps title rewritten to save mine eyes) Nolan Dalla has been pumping out all kinds of top notch content since relaunching his website covering everything from politics to poker to sports. This time around he gets the opinion of Doyle Brunson and Crandell Addington about why Brian “Sailor” Roberts should be inducted this year.

Canadian man pleads guilty to conspiracy and gambling charges in NY Internet poker crackdown – Another one of those indicted on Black Friday will be heading off to lovely white collar prison when former Full Tilt payment processor Nelson Burtnick plead guilty to conspiracy and gambling charges. What do you mean it’s illegal to make gambling transactions look like something other than gambling transactions?

Phil Galfond Sues For Share Of Bluefire Poker Profits – I’ve often wondered what kind of traffic/business/signups these training sites pulled in and now we may have a little insight. Galfond was part of the Bluefire startup and made ~$400k over the first two years and now suing for his 2011 share.

BOOM documentary blog – After a few hiccups along the way, like a little government action on 15 April 2011, it looks like those behind the documentary BOOM are about ready to release their work product. I look forward to see it when released, below is the trailer they released over a year ago, and they have submitted the documentary to the Sundance Film Festival.

Ole Schemion
Photo: Partouche Poker

Ole Schemion €1,172,850 – Partouche Poker Tour Main Event
Chris Ferguson £87,640 – UKIPT Newcastle Main Event
Mark Edwards $107,730 – WPT Regional Jacksonville
David Benyamine €94,050 – WPT Rendez-Vous à Paris PLO

Chris Ferguson wins a poker tournament! Ridiculous use of an exclamation point (with apologies to Jess Welman) and it wasn’t the same Chris Ferguson who is currently under indictment by the Department of Justice. But it did give a small moment of humor during a time when there are few remotely chuckle-worthy things going on in the world of poker.

Chris “Not Jesus” Ferguson won the UKIPT Newcastle Main Event at the same time German Ole Schemion was busy winning the absolutely final Partouche Poker Tour Main Event. Schemion picked up €1,172,850 for his victory and defeated some of the hottest pros in the world right now including Dan Smith’s Nubs and Dan O’Brien. It was an unfortunate way to end a tour which had become a popular destination and was drawing many top players from the States.

In other news, the WSOP announced the ten finalists for the 2012 Poker Hall of Fame class. There are six new names on the list with four returning from last year in Scotty Nguyen, Jenn Harman, John Juanda, and Tom McEvoy. Two great new additions to the nomination list include a couple of top non-American players with Chris Bjorin and Thor Hansen. Ballots are being sent out to voters with results being reported at the beginning of October and the ceremony during the November Nine (refuse to call it October Nine) ceremonies.

You can check out the full list on the link above.

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Tweet of the Day – Doyle Brunson voiced his Hall of Fame support for old time gambler Brian “Sailor” Roberts as well as Juanda, Harman, and Drache

I’m going on record, Sailor Roberts is the most deserving player on the ballot. He lost credibility at the end of his life because of drugs.

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) September 12, 2012

But Sailor was the most complete player (outside of Chip) that ever lived.

— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) September 12, 2012

DOJ Files Second Amended Complaint; Alleges Lederer Funded Assets with Unlawful Proceeds – Looks like the DoJ isn’t quite done dropping the hammer on the FTP gang and would like a few dollars from them. A second amended complaint is looking for $137,000,000 in forfeitures from Lederer, Ferguson, Bitar, and Furst.

Reid poker bill would prohibit all interstate and intrastate online gambling except horse racing and online poker – QuadJacks has a nice breakdown of the Harry Reid/Jon Kyle online gaming bill floating around Congress. Interesting developments including States will need to Opt In instead of that being the default position. They also posted a transcript of the Reid/Kyl summary. (Can someone please teach the boys at QuadJacks how to write a goddamn headline?)

WCOOP Final Table Coverage – Since I’m writing about the out-spoken ones, QuadJacks has been getting some pretty decent traffic for their live WCOOP Final Table coverage online. There are few options for U.S. bound players to watch the World Championship of Online Poker but they are a good option.

WCOOP 2012: Inside the PokerStars Radio Studio – For a very entertaining listen during the WCOOP, you should check out PokerStars radio with the always jovial Joe Stapleton. Friend of the Pokerati Brad “Otis” Willis has a fun look behind the scenes.

PokerNews Weekly: Latest Tournament Winners, Partouche Controversy and WCOOP Radio – PokerNews Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant discuss the latest poker developments.

Josh Hale
Photo: WorldPokerTour.com

Today’s Boxscore

Josh Hale $500,000 – WPT Legends Main Event
Terrence Chan $34,437 – Canada Poker Open Heads Up
Marc Wilson $24,511 – $1,000 Canada Poker Open NLH
Michael Frazin $130,505 – Summer Splash Main Event

The WPT Legends final table at the Bicycle Casino should make for some fun TV with Jeff Madsen, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Max Steinberg, and Ali Eslami all in the mix. More so if Madsen brought up some of his nutball opinions, even if he was only there for a little while. Madsen out in 6th, Full Blown Tilt out in 5th, Ali Eslami out in 4th, so thank the heavens Max Steinberg stayed alive long enough to make it a little entertaining.

It still lacked the greatest of the Will Failla final table/win at last year’s event.

On the other side of the country, Michael Frazin was the last player standing at the end of the Hard Rock Seminole Summer Smash main event. The delayed, moved, un-guaranteed tournament drew a respectable 198 entries despite Tropical Storm Isaac threatening the state.

Link Dump

Defense Request for Status Conference – It seems the lawyers for Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst also noticed the court ruling last week saying poker is a game of skill. They are now jumping up and down saying “look, look, look!”.

2012 Republican Platform (PDF format) – I rarely mix politics and poker, the game doesn’t rate very high in getting my vote aside from freedom infringement. I prefer to concentrate on pressing issues such as the economy, healthcare, etc but it’s worth noting the GOP’s Platform statement includes “We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet” hidden among it’s 50 odd pages.

Math, Game Theory Can Help A Gambler’s Strategy, Study Says – The Huffington Post is a pile of crap from both a technical and creative standpoint, but a lengthy game theory post which showed up in their science section grabbed my attention including a pre-theft interview with Chris Ferguson. I’m sure the author was paid a few pennies for the effort.

Inside Warren Buffett’s Private Poker Game – Poker found it’s way into another main stream publication, this time it’s an article on Forbes talking about mega-money manager Warren Buffett’s poker tournament with such cringe worthy lines like “Texas Hold ‘Em is nothing more than a betting and bluffing game, and tournaments like this appeal to the same primal instincts as in an ancient battle royale, combated via brains and daring” and “I flopped three sevens, with a pair hidden, enticing Mayers to throw in most of his pot”.

The Straddle: Special EPT Barcelona Edition – Kristy Arnett and a behind the scenes look at EPT Barcelona.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

Anthony Gregg
Photo: World Poker Tour

Today’s Boxscore

Anthony Gregg $416,127 – World Poker Tour Parx Open
Ashly Butler $13,850 – $365 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi
John Dolan $7,580 – $365 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi
Ronald Givens $11,675 – $365 NLH WSOP Circuit Biloxi

Anthony Gregg is no stranger to tournament success but he finally has his first major win after capturing the WPT Parx Poker Open title in Philadelphia. Even though this is his first win, it ranks as his 2nd biggest cash behind his $1,700,000 runner-up finish in the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Gregg is a regular east coast grinder and another top notch player from the state of Maryland, continuing his great run in 2012 as the win puts him over $1,000,000 earned for the year.

500 players registered for the first WPT event held at the Parx Casino in Philadelphia and the next stop is the Legends of Poker Main Event at the Bicycle Casino on August 24th. The defending champion at Legends is Will “The Thrill” Failla, who is responsible for my favorite winner’s picture ever.

Also having a good week was 2010 November Niner John Dolan who won his first WSOP Circuit event at the IP in Biloxi, MS. It wasn’t the biggest field in the history of poker but it does put a ring on his finger and has him in the early mix for the National Championship.

Link Dump

Macau Police Raid Casinos, Hotels After Deadly Attacks – Amy Calistri reported earlier that Macau whales seem to be leaving their Asian paradise for the desert. This may be why. Murder, assault, blackmail, bribes, good times in China.

Online gamblers handed four months in prison – Just a little reminder. No matter how bad we think we have it in the States, you could be living some place like Jakarta where these guys were sentenced to 4+ months and fined Rp 7 million (that’s a whole $735 US) for gambling on Facebook. (h/t @Kevmath)

Maryland General Assembly passes legislation for Prince George’s casino – Some good news for east coast grinders and the hotbed of poker in Maryland as their General Assembly passed legislation to allow casinos, real honest-to-god table gaming casinos, within the state. It still needs to get past the voters in during the November elections.

Mezrich’s Next New Project: Online Poker – A new book about online poker from the author who brought us Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, and other books with insanely long titles. Jess Welman looks forward to it, Haley Hintze not so much. I’m leaning Haley’s way if Mezrich’s premise is the AP/UB boys created online poker and are now being persecuted (not prosecuted) for it.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

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.