HARRAHS NEW ORLEANS "WINTER BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE" UPDATE  (12/08/08)

THE MAIN EVENT IS ABOUT TO SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL.   The prelims are all over but we have the last of the winners here. 

Bob Crawford (pictured) of Houston, Texas, outlasted a field of 177 and won $55,627.  Ray Zeringue of Houma, LA and James Arruebarrena of New Orleans finished 4th and 5th respectively.  This was Crawford's first cash and since most tournaments pay the guys that comes in first place, you can figure out it was also his first first place finish.

Trish Macks, of Mandeville, smacked down the Ladies final table winning $7102.   She beat an all gulf coast final 5 including Nacy Decuers of New Orleans, Joanna of Ketch of Katy, TX, Peggy Ledman of Gallatin, TN (okay that's a bit of a stretch) and Judy Rhodes of Houma, LA.  113 women entered the $200 buy-in event.

HARRAHS NEW ORLEANS "WINTER BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE" UPDATE  (12/07/08)

DR. PRACTICES PATIENCE AND HOWZER IS SEVEN CARD STUD.

In the $300 7 Card Stud event Eliot D. Howzer of Pine Grove, LA beat 47 opponents to win $5,892.  Charles Wood Moore of Dallas Texas finished 4th for $1,310 and Kell Bosargg of Denham Springs, LA just made the money in 5th.

The Doctor was in fine form in event six $500 buy-in.  Dr. Mark Burtman (pictured) billed the field $33,058 for coming in first.  It's his 18th cash in Live Tournaments.  Casey Troell of Kingwood Texas finished second for $18,182.  Kevin Kaylor of Houston also made the final table.  Mark Edelman represented the home of  Pig Sooey, Fayetteville, Arkansas with a 5th place finished.  Bill Hobbs (New Iberia) popped up in sixth place and Stanley Seelig of Metairie, LA was 7th.

HARRAHS NEW ORLEANS "WINTER BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE" UPDATE  (12/06/08)

LIPPY NEW YORKER STEALS FROM THE COAST AND GRINNING KATZ OF TEXAS REFUSES CHOP.

In the second $300 event;  "Lippy" an interloper from Brooklyn New York, won $15,934.  Adam Lippert bested three Texans at his final table, 2nd place Mo Arani (Dallas) 3rd place K. Steve Irwin (Gonzalez), and 4th place Dennis Crowley (Pearland).  Andrew Morrison of Hattiesburg, MS came in 7th, followed by Ameed Saelm of New Orleans, Kris Kent of Biloxi, and Ron Jeandron of Gretna.  Just outside the final table was Tampa pro George Bronstein (pictured).

The first $500 event was won by Mark S. Katz of Bellaire Texas.  Mark played for the ring turning down numerous chops despite being short stacked.  He won $29,385.  Mark Wilds of Biloxi finished third for his second cash of the week.  Chester Gwin of Houston finished fourth.  Don Yaughn of Fort Valley, GA, came in 5th just ahead of Robert Samson of Paquemine, LA.  Direct from our Who's Who page  Rodney Shows AKA Coach got another final table finishing 8th.  Peng Zheng of Metairie, was 10th.

HARRAHS NEW ORLEANS "WINTER BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE" UPDATE  (12/05/08)

WAITER COOPER AND PRO O'CONNER GIVE THE GULF COAST TWO FIRST PLACES.

In the $200 event;  Kevin Cooper, a waiter from Lafayette, LA took home a mammoth tip of $11,504.  His final table included Biloxi pro Mark Wilds (pictured), who had multiple cashes this year,  Herb Bollinger of New Orleans, Benjamin Davis and Janice Randall of Metairie, and Joe Phelps of Diamondhead MS.

In the first $300 event, Luke O'Conner of Bay St. Louis, MS won $16,499.  He beat an all Gulf Coast table including three Baton Rouge players, Thomas Boone, Devin Jarreau and Wendell Welch.  BJ McBrayer of Tuscaloosa, AL continued his mini heater with a 6th place finish.  Texas got a sweat with Jason Mann (San Antonio) and Chris Gonzalez (Houston) going deep.  Dino Tedesco of Metairie, and Jonathan Greer of Harvy, LA rounded out the top 9.  10th place was Robert Mayfield, of Lafitte, LA. 

LOCAL PLAYER ONLINE UPDATE (12/04/08)

NICK "THE GREEK" GELLEPIS FROM TALLAHASSEE, FL MAKES A NICE SCORE ONLINE FOR CLOSE TO 18K.    Nick Gellepis that plays under the online name of "MVP OF LIFE" made a huge score recently in the "Daily 80k" on Stars that has a buy-in of $55.00. Nick took home a litle over 16k.

t seems that Nick has been doing the grind online lately and working it up...and doing a hell of a job at that. Word has it that he was heads up with USCPhildo who is known in the online circles as a top notch player. Way to Go Nick!!!!!!  Keep it up Buddy.

HARRAHS NEW ORLEANS "WINTER BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE" STARTS   (12/03/08)

HARRAHS BRINGS THE WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT BACK TO NEW ORLEANS AGAIN .   We are all over this with almost every blog updated.  Course as we are playing so much fewer updates to be given.  We'll have more coverage soon. You can get all the details from "Juicey's" blog below left. he has also put up the structure for the "Mega" event that they are running this Sunday that will allow players to get a jump start on collecting tourney chips. See Juicey's blog form more details and drop him some questions in the comments section.

COAST to COAST to COAST UPDATE (11/24/08)

TIM "RAISING CAJUN" HEBERT, FINISHES 4th. He had the misfortune of running his pocket Aces into his opponents A6 preflop. 66x Ouch!  Great job Tim.

ULTIMATE BET PLAYER HEARTS13 GOES ON A MEGA RUSH.  Dude wins the bad beat jackpot at the smallest of the micro stakes and instead of grinding a level or two over that jumps into the deep end of the pool and continues his heater vs. name pros like Prahlad Friedman.  And is still winning Hmmm... Cinderella stories bring a lot of publicity.  Ultimate Bet is in dire need of some positive publicity.  Hmmm...  PokerKing has the details here.

WALL STREET DESPITE ALL THE DOOM AND GLOOM STILL HAS TIME TO PLAY SOME CARDS FOR THE LITTLE GUY.  A nice article on Bloomberg.com, first cited by Wicked Chops, does a piece on the good guys in the 1k suits, who aren't afraid to ante up for a good cause.  Basically the cause is one where they mentor the underprivileged and help them find a job.  Sure the unemployed underprivileged used to be the guys that worked in the cubicle next to them but it is still an example of poker doing good.  It's also one of your only chances to read Bloomberg.com for some good news, which is a rarity these days, here.

GCP BLOGGERS MONKEY AND REID G CASH FOR OVER 2k ON DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE COUNTRY.  Check out Reid's succes at the Beau on his blog;  IF YOU'RE TOO CAREFUL and Monkey's score in his blog; THE POKER MONKEY.

LOCAL PLAYER UPDATE (11/20/08)

TIM "RAISING CAJUN" HEBERT GOES DEEP IN MEGA STACK MAIN EVENT AT CAESARS PALACE.   No word if he likes deep dish pizza or deep emo music or if swims in the deep end, but the guy certainly does go deep.  Thanks to the Tiltin' Texan for the heads up that Hebert final tabled the 1k buy-in  Main Event last night.  Texan, your commission of one GCP hoodie has been paid.  Final results for the event not posted yet but we will let you know how deep Hebert went.  This is the third cash in Las Vegas for Hebert in the last week.  He already has a 4th and a 11th place finish.

JONATHAN LITTLE DISHES TO CARDPLAYER AFTER HIS WPT TITLE WIN :   In his own, third person words, "Jonathan Little nits it up when he has to. Of course, he also lag-tards it up when it’s necessary, as well..."  Go to Card Player for the rest of the interview.

SHANNON SHORR GETS THROWN DOWN A WELL ON 2+2 FORUMS... KIND OF.  He answers all kinds of questions and reveals what was the biggest ace he ever rivered in his life. For the complete and near exhaustive Q and A go to The Well at 2+2. 

SCANDAL UPDATES (11/18/08)

CYCALONA GOWEN, YES CYCALONA IS HER REAL NAME, SUES FULL TILT FOR THE ONE PER CENT OWNERSHIP STAKE SHE CLAIMS THEY PROMISED HER YEARS AGO.  This suit is a mess.  Message boards are claiming Cycalona is a meth head (we do not) and burning all her bridges to make a little cash now that times are tough.  She did just win a tournament in Tunica, so times aren't that tough.  However, Full Tilt just dropped her.

 In her suit, she says Full Tilt is worth billions and she just wants what is owed to her.  Apparently, all the reps of Full Tilt only have verbal contracts.  Her being dropped as a representative is close to impossible because she is an owner.  This could be bad news for poker as these things tend to unearth a good bit about these pseudo-legal companies that may not want to come to light. Course Full Tilt is in between a rock and a nit, they settle and who knows how many Full Tilt "owners" come out of the wood work.  I've worn Full Tilt gear in a tournament--does that make me a 1%er?

GATOR HOOPSTER A FISH.  Nick Calathes, a Florida Gator basketball star, ran up $600 in online poker debt.  The NCAA is not taking action.  They only care about sports-betting.  Online poker is okay by them.   One of the only times the NCAA has been ahead of the curve.

TAXES  AIN'T THEY A B***H(11/16/08)

PETER EASTGATE OWES DENMARK 6.6 MILLION OF HIS 9.2 MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE, AIN'T THAT A  ...   All told governments are owed almost half of the WSOP prize pool of 32 million with players on the hook for 14 million or so.  Read www.taxabletalk.com for more details. 

Eastgate apparently recently moved to the UK.  Maybe to get out of the disgusting tax rate the Danes put on gambling winnings.  45% of the first 4 million Kronas won, and after that 75%.  Yes... 75%.  How can Denmark be the happiest place on the Earth if anything you win there you have to give 3/4s to the government.

 In the UK, Eastgate would owe nothing on his winnings, however, it is unlikely the Danish version of the IRS will accept the move as anything but an attempt to get out of paying his taxes.  Should he pay Denmark everything he owes, he'd move down the takehome pay-ladder considerably.

LOCAL POKER NEWS (11/14/08)

PENSACOLA'S JON "FIERYJUSICE'" LITTLE SNAPS OFF FOXWOODS MAIN EVENT.   The Gulf Coast's own Jon Little wins another WPT title.  He bested a table that including Mike Matasow and David the Dragon Pham. 

OUR WHO'S WHO HAS BEEN UPDATED.  New profiles include Jonathan Little's and Charles Chan.  More to come.  If you want to see your name in lights email: Wild Bill with a pic and some of your accomplishments.

ALSO, JASON LIPSCOMB JOINS OUR COLUMN WALL.  Big Event coming up at Harrahs. if you got any questions ask the tournament director on his blog Juicey Poker.

PETER EASTGATE YOUR 2008 WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT CHAMPION (11/12/08)

EASY EASTGATE NIPPED RUSKIE IVAN DEMIDOV TO WIN THIS YEARS MAIN EVENT.  He's Danish.  Which is a donut without the hole.  Gus Hansen now has company as a great player from the country of Denmark.  Along with Claire and the Greats they are the most famous Danes in the world  What's Denmark known for?  Tivoli (a Euro-Disneyland without the annoying Disney characters), the Little Mermaid (a story written by Hans Christien Anderson and later made into a Disney movie), they own Greenland (which is icy and iceland is... green, weird, like drive on a parkway, park on a driveway weird), it is also home to the original Zealand (you know there is a new one), and has been judged the happiest place in the world.  Oh yeah, the all time leading scorer in the NFL is from Denmark too, a Gulf Coaster, former Saint Morten Anderson. 

LOCAL TOURNAMENT UPDATE/IP POKER CLASSIC MAIN EVENT (11/09/08)

UPDATED (11/10/08)

BRANDON JARRET OF CARTERSVILLE, GA WINS IT ALL. BJ McBrayer of Duncanville, AL was second and Keepin' the Faith Giordano of Gretna, LA was 4th. 

GCP BLOGGER REID G MAKES THE FINAL 9 AND TAKES 6TH.  Local poker pro Reid Gilbert played solid the whole tournament and makes the Final Table. He takes home a cool $6500.00. We were able to get a couple of Pics from the final event before the "Grinch" Security Guard shut me down. Don't forget to checkout Reid's blog, "If your too careful..." below on the left

There were several other poker pros in the event. The line-up looked like this...Claudia "The Claw" Crawford was sitting next to Captain Tom Franklin...Brandon Jarret from Atlanta and BJ McBrayer, who took 2nd place in this years WPO behind Clonie Gowen, were both still in it the M.E. when Reid got bounced. Leif Force made it down from Tallahassee...Eskimo Clark was wondering around there, and believe me..."The seas would part" when he came walking through. Eskimo...you need to keep a can of Axe with you brother....Who else...David Robbins got away from his construction company to make an appearance...and our own "Wild Bill" got bounced sitting next to Monkey...this was the last pic I got and you can tell I had to take it with no flash.

JON "FIERY JUSTICE" LITTLE RUNNING HOT IN THE WORLD POKER FINALS. Pensacola's own Jon "Fiery Justice" Little is burning up the Main Event up North at Foxwoods. There are 10 players remaining, and they will be playing down to 7 tomorrow. Why they are are playing down 3 players in one day is beyond me, but lets hope that Jon will be able to make it to the TV Final Table as he is 2nd in chips right behind the Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. Lets hope that Jon will bring home the WPT Title to Gulf Coast.

GCP NEWS UPDATE (11/07/08)

NEW BLOGGERS...  The "Honest" Player gives a perspective of a rounder coming back to the game.  He's got a distinctive take on the cash games on the gulf coast.  He is also a successful tournament player.  His current post deals with friends or allies at the table.  Joining him is Pobody's Nerfect, a local player with ton of talent.  He reports back from a deep run at the IP Poker Classic.  Both up and comers are detailing their travails and will get a permanent spot on our columns list soon.  Also, don't forget to check out Harrahs Tournament Director Juicey Jason Limpscomb's blog "JUICEYPOKER".

GENE D BUBBLES...  Poker IS war and Gene D became a casualty of it two spots from a cash yesterday at the IP Poker Classic.  Despite his late demise it was a great job by Gene.  Sounded like he took a lot of coolers and bad beats and still battled almost all the way to the final nine.

MONKEY TAKES 2ND AGAIN...  At the same tournament Monkey added his 12th final table to his resume this year and his fifth 2nd place finish on the year. 

POKER NEWS UPDATE (11/06/08)

ANNIE DUKE NEWS...  She's an apprentice, a celebrity apprentice, and rumor has it she goes deep in the event.  Wicked Chops has plenty of Annie news including another rumor that she might be leaving Ultimate Bet. 

No word if she is still playing shoeless or over the bad TV that she participated in during the Best Damn Poker Show.  For more info follow the link...  Wicked Chops.

POKER TOURNAMENT UPDATE (11/05/08)

IP POKER CLASSIC IN FULL SWING!!! You guys have read about Monkey getting 3 final tables so far in his blog...Well it is my understanding that Wild Bill had 2 final tables yesterday in the nooner and the 6pm. Also Claudia "The Claw" Crawford final tabled a nooner and her other half, Gabe Costner, also made a Final Table in Oklahoma. 

FTOPS X (10) STARTS ON 11/05. For those of you stuck in an area where you can't get to one of the live events going on, you need go no further than your computer for some poker tournament action. Full Tilt Poker is running their latest FTOPs event. There are 25 events ranging in buy-ins as high as $5000.00 to as low as $120.00. The Main event is a $500.00 buy-in with 2.5 million gauranteed.

MONKEY BUSINESS UPDATE (11/01/08)

A VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN.   Monkey, seen as a Monkey or a gorilla, wins his first tournament with pocket Jacks.  His final table moved him into a tie with two regional players Gabe Costner, Matt "Cub" Culberson, and interloper Men "The Master" for most final tables for the year.  More importantly, Monkey gets the monkey off his back and doesn't finish second!  Big win for the big guy.  Well done, Will! 

Also, you'll notice he honored the request of a Halloween costume pic, anybody else out there with one? 

HALLOWEEN POKER NEWS UPDATE (10/31/08)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.   Will you be in costume tonight playing poker?  Pictures welcome.  Send them to Wild Bill.

CLONIE GOWEN WINS WORLD POKER OPEN.  She bests some regional players like BJ McBrayer of Tuscaloosa, AL, Barry Hatcher of Baton Rouge, LA and Blake Huff of Beebe, AR.  McBrayer finished second when his QT ran into Gowen's pocket Aces.  This is Gowen's second win of the year and gives her almost a million dollars in lifetime winnings.

BAD BEAT BOB BARES BOTTOM.  A Burnley soccer player in England wore bright red underpants with his nickname Bad Beat Bob emblazoned on his bum underneath his soccer kit.  After scoring winning goals in successive games, Bob, who earned his nickname because of his poker misfortune, pulled down his shorts revealing his "panties."  Now his knickers are selling like hot cakes.  We anticipate Wild Bill will do the same if he wins the IP Classic main event.  Anybody know how to emblazon underwear?

LOCAL PLAYER UPDATE (10/30/08)

FINAL TABLE MADNESS...  With two months left to go in the year, an IP Classic that has started, an impending Harrahs tournament in December and the 7 Clans classic at Coushatta things are heating up.  Right now, Men the Master and two of our local favorites Matt Culberson and Gabe Costner (pictured) are tied for most final tables made for the year.  Right behind them is our blogger Monkey. 

 The Gulf Coast has been making a statement all year long and three of our players are having some of the most live success in the country.   This race will be heating up as the year comes to a close. Speaking of local players, in the just aired episodes of the WSOP Main Event you can see Clint Schaffer going deep. 

LOCAL PLAYER UPDATE (10/28/08)

JEREMY "THECHEMIST" GAUBERT GETS 2ND PLACE IN THE 11TH EVENT AT THE GOLD STRIKE WORLD POKER OPEN.  Jeremy Gaubert from Lockport, Louisiana continues on his hot streak taking down 2nd place in the 11th event for over 11k. Congrats Jeremy!!

WORLD OF POKER  UPDATE (10/27/08)

THE RAISING CAJUN  TIM HEBERT TAKES FIRST AT THE GOLD STRIKE  WORLD POKER OPEN IN TUNICA AS THE GOOD RESULTS CONTINUE FOR THE GULF COASTERS.  Hebert took down his third first place in his career, besting an in the money field of Gulf Coasters that included Shawn Dustin of New Orleans, and Dustin Graves of Of Chalmette.  Chanel Ward of Walls Mississippi also cashed.  Hebert of Lafayette, LA now has 10 cashes for over $260k.  Congrats Tim.

WORLD OF POKER  UPDATE (10/22/08)

GAVIN SMITH TAKES 2ND PLACE.  Gavin, who played his heart out, wound up flipping a coin when he called a shove with 5-5 against Big Slick. The amateur snapped it off.

CLINT SCHAFER TAKES 6TH PLACE IN THE FIRST EVENT AT THE CAESARS PLACE CLASSIC...  Good for a cool 11k. Way to go Clint!!!!

 SOME OF THE GULF COAST POKER PLAYERS BURNING UP THE FESTA AL LAGO 15k MAIN EVENT GOING INTO DAY 3

JOHN "FIREYJUSTICE" LITTLE HAS ... Has 70k

ALLIE PRESCOTT.... Has 52k

MATT GRAHAM....has 31k+

FRED BERGER    ....Has right below 20k

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR JASON "JUICE" LIPSCOMB JOINS THE GCP.NET BLOG TEAM (10/05/08)

THE PRISON WORLD WILL GET THEIR "JUICE" WITH THE CONVICTION OF O.J. SIMPSON...AND WE WILL GET OURS.   

Harrah's TD, Jason Lipscomb, has joined our team with his "Juicey Poker" Blog. Jason has years of experience on the tournament circuit as a player and TD where he is known for his Final Table wit and humor, and he is also known for being fair and honest in his rulings. He has recently been promoted within the Harrah's organization to the Tournament Director of Harrah's in New Orleans and promises to bring some sick ass tournament structures in the coming circuit events. You will also see another feature that we will roll-out called "Ask the Tournament Director" where will have an e-mail address set up where you can send your questions to Jason directly on things that you run into in the Poker World. You can visit Jason here at his blog...."JUICEYPOKER"