Tao of Pokerati: December 9, 2010

[audio:https://pokerati.com/podcast/tao/TOP_DEC_01_Underage_Poker_Tour.mp3]

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Pauly pops in to Vegas for the WPBT as Dan prepares for another day of quasilive-blogging Harry Reid’s online poker hubbub. But when Dan reveals plans to corner the last untapped market in poker with something called Pokerati Underage Poker — PUP — Pauly has to consider his obligation to call Child Protective Services. However upon closer analysis, he begins to see the potential in a tour built on birthday freerolls for teenage girls — and going after the next generation of real-money players before they can drive. Alas, Dan says now it won’t happen thanks to Harry Reid?

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Love a good Twitter fight … but sometimes social media can hurt!

Was gettin’ all geared up for an exciting #FollowFriday when I got this reminder of how much things have changed. Alas …

But hey, I’ll always have this bit of inspiration — recorded during the 2006 WPBT Winter Classic, shortly after passage of the UIGEA … a time when Twitter hardly existed and I believed, along with Phil Hellmuth, that poker’s future was in ringtones:

Oliver Tse poker future

ALT HED: Oliver Tweetse

LAS VEGAS–The WSOP commish has entered the world of blogging.

Wonder if he’ll be able to play in tomorrow’s WPBT event at The Orleans. (I know a lot of the bloggers hustling in the Amazon trenches are wondering the same thing.)

Tulsa’s got a great story in the new issue of American Way about a bald man’s pathetic quest for poker greatness — one that includes a bloggerific stop at the WPBT Summertime Shindig:

It is to begin at 10 a.m. I peek inside the poker room at Caesars. The line of bloggers is huge and unkempt. Picture the kids who thought Anthony Michael Hall was a god in Sixteen Candles. Now picture them at age 23 and buying into a no-limit poker tourney. Right. Horrifying. I decide to pass. All agree except for Summertime, another Batface, who thinks this is his best chance at poker glory during the trip.

(Yours truly does his best to represent, and Change100 also makes an appearance as “Jane100.”)

Another fun excerpt:

This is the way it goes in Vegas — and in poker. It all seems to be going well, the bright lights and big chip stacks making you think you’re on your way to notoriety and sweet coin. Suddenly, it’s yanked from you, and you realize that the height of your experience involves random girls from Lubbock and men who call themselves the Master.

Finally, poker gets some of the real media coverage it deserves. So does poker bloggering.

All this, of course, via those delightful anti-bloggers, The Batfaces.

I’ve returned from Vegas, by the way, and in the spirit of responsible gaming, here’s the day-by-day rundown of my action at the tables:

Saturday
Caesar’s WPBT Winter Classic -$130
Caesar’s 1/2 NL -$200
Caesar’s 2/5 NL -$500

Sunday
Binion’s $5 Blackjack +$60
UPC Main Event -$340*
Binion’s $10 Blackjack +$105

Monday
Venetian 1/2 NL +$370

Tuesday
Red Rock 1/2 NL +$1,020
Bellagio $1 Video Poker +$10
Bellagio $25 Pai Gow -$275*

Total: +$715

* Played with backing from someone else

Hmm, OK, so interesting. Let’s see … overall a good trip. But is it a coincidence that I went bust repeatedly on Saturday, a day that started with about three hours of sleep and a mondo hangover from a night of Tuaca-and-scotchy blog-revelry that culminated in a supposed offer to tongue Pauly’s low-hanging sack? Duly noted.

Also, I gotta say … after the Como-love UPC tourney and a Tom Schneider investment in my Pai Gow … I can attest that playing on other people’s dime is fun! Seriously, it’s much better than risking your own bankroll. With that in mind, er, hmm … it seems like I might want to pay more attention to providing better returns if I want to entertain more backing in the future.

LAS VEGAS–It’s kinda funny sad seeing the people who are still at the Rio at this hour. Almost no pros I recognized … and no tourney action of course — just an odd assortment of really big stacks and really small stacks, all looking totally beat. Anyhow …

“AMARILLO” SHAWNEE BARTON (from Amarillo) had a commanding chip lead heads-up in the Ladies event. She’s the teaching assistant for JIM MCMANUS’ history-and-literature of poker class … but that didn’t stop her from being overtaken by MARY JONES, who wins the bracelet, about a quarter-mil, and a special watch.

MIMI ROGERS made the money in the Ladies event. So did ANJELA BRUNSON — daughter-in-law of DOYLE.

The $1,000 NLHE event kicked off yesterday — 2,800 entries, 600 of whom were alternates. All players started with 1,500 chips … further breaking the WSOP tradition of $1=$1 in TC.

The hot sauce used on the WINGS in the Poker Kitchen is FRANK’S RED HOT.

The cash games here allow the MISSISSIPPI STRADDLE, i.e. doubling the big blind on the button. And at least one dealer (followed by a floorman) says when that happens, the small blind — not UTG — is first to act pre-flop. Will have to ask LINDA JOHNSON if this is correct.

Between the satellite area and the Poker Kitchen is an enormous ICE MACHINE — three stacks (some 20 feet?) high. It has sprung some sort of leak … big huge puddle in a high-traffic area.

The two most recent bracelet winners from AUSTRALIA — JOE HACHEM and MARK VOS — apparently hate each other. And now they hate each other more. (Via Jen Leo.)

The pros have almost figured out how to play THE HAMMER. In a $50/$100 NL cash game, ANDY BLACK, seated between ANTONIO ESFANDIARI and a guy with huge bricks of Benjamins in his stacks, made a sizable raise into a pot with about $10-12k in it. Mr. BIG STACKS folds, and Black turns over the 2-7 … suited. He then jumps around and gloats … and two other players pay him $200 each because of some previous side action on the hand.

The pros are gettin’ there. Next-time unsuited.

Meanwhile, CLONIE drew a tough table in the $10k Omaha event. TEX BARCH was possibly her weakest opponent.

And down the hallway from the WSOP are a bunch of little TEEN DANCERS competing in leotards. My distorted position: the WSOP is not for kids. Or at least not kids in leotards.

Who knew? Well probably lots of folks, but not Pokerati … DAVID WILLIAMS’ MOTHER, SHIRLEY, competed in the WPBT Summer Classic at CAESAR’S PALACE.

Also check out:
RICK FULLER
BILL RINI
HOYAZO, aka HAMMER PLAYER