GULF COAST UPDATES (7/31/08)

Who wears the Poker Hoodie in this Family?  Beautiful couple Tony Parker and Eva Longoria get harassed-by- an-ass-we- might-know who was in Vegas on his bachelor party.  More details in Wild Bill's DINE ON THE WHALES. 

Their patience proved they are good people.  GCP.net desperately wants to be there for a heads up game between Parker and Chris Paul.  Who is the Gulf Coast's best poker playing point guard?

Memoriam

Marvin Davis R.I.P

We wanted to post something up on the site about a good friend of ours that has passed away recently. He was a great guy that many of us that read this site have known for some time, and he was also a solid poker player. He has played in numerous tournaments in his poker career and the cardplayer database has him winning $14,000 in a first place win at Sam's in Vegas in 1999. He traveled with the rest of us when tourneys would pop-up and made numerous pilgrimages to Vegas to pursue his dream. At the Mirage Poker Showdown in 2005 we sweated him from Louisiana as he finished day 1 in the top 30 with close to 40k in chips. Him and his wife Stacy, who is known as a very solid limit poker specialist, decided to go for their dreams and moved to Sin City a few years ago to follow their dreams to play poker for living. Many of us always kept in touch with him, and I kind of feel bad as last year after my 3rd place finish at Binion's, we were all suppose to get together for dinner in Vegas...and I backed out as something had come up. How I wish I would have went.

 Marvin, I know you are up there bluffing at the poker gods and stealing some pots...your playing your pocket Aces strong, catching all your draws and smiling down on the rest of us knuckleheads suffering through another long session. ...may God Bless you...and may peace be with you...and see if you can convince the poker gods to let one of us down here get a run of cards that we all dream about...  ;-)   You will be remembered!!!

If anyone would have any pics of Marvin please e-mail them to me at gened@gulfcoastpoker.net

GULF COAST UPDATES  (7/23/08)

BEAU RIVAGE ANNOUNCES DATES FOR GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP 2008.  The Beau, Ken Lambert, Johnny Grooms and Poker Tournament Director Jessica Barratt have announced the dates for the 2nd Gulf Coast Championship to be held in Late August and Early September. The exact dates are 8/26/08 thru 9/6/08 with the 5k, 3 day Main Event scheduled for 9/4/08. All of the events will be No-Limit Hold'em, and there will be a LIPS event that is scheduled for 8/30/08 that will start at 10am which is a Sunday.

GULF COAST UPDATES  (7/31/08)

Cereus?  Seriously?  In an attempt to form the largest online poker cheating conglomerate ever Absoulte Poker and Ultimate Bet have merged and will be called Cereus.  Cereus, as in they are going to cereusly cheat you.  Apparently, not content to just be  dumb enough to f with golden goose they are also dumb enough to name their poker site... Cereus.  Sounds as good as Edsel or New Coke.  However, we are sure morons will still play on there, so whose really the stupid ones?  Oh, and the scuttlebutt is that Nat Arem, the guy who has exposed both these sites to some degree, received a physical threat recently.  Please don't give these thugs another dime from your bankroll.

You CAN get what you wish for...  New Orleans own Mike Ngo found that out last night on ESPN's coverage of the WSOP.  If you haven't seen the episode, which will be re-run on a practical loop this week we won't spoil it for you.  Though really unless you are an idiot (ie as defined by being dumb enough to play on Cereus) we kind of already spoiled it.  Sorry. 

Yes, but will they want a cut of your action if you win there?  PokerNews recently took time out from pondering whether or not to continue raking Tiffany 'Hot Chips' Michelle over the coals did a room review of Lucky's, Tampa Greyhound Track.  Check it out, next time you are heading to that area of the state and not looking to play at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.  Here's the review:  Poker News Room Review.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT TODAY IS NEW ORLEANS OWN MATT GRAHAM.  

Also known through out the online world as Mattg83, Matt Graham has made a name for himself in the "Brick and Mortar" world as well with his first World Series of Poker Bracelet.

This is not Matt first win in a live tourney as he also has a 1st place finish in a WPT preliminary event for close to 50k. It looks like he may have followed most of the other successful online poker players by moving out to Sin City, but I am sure that the Gulf Coast will always be considered home for Matt.

GULF COAST UPDATES (7/28/08)

Gulfcoastpoker.net misses some key cashes.  Looks like we may have overlooked several cashes from some of our top players here on the Gulf Coast, and we truly want to apologize.

The first one we want to mention is that Jeremy "thechemist83" Gaubert almost outlasted Clint Shaefer in the main event. He was bounced by "The Mouth" in the 58th place when Jeremy held A-Ko (Big Slick) against Mouths pocket Jacks...typical coinflip situation. Looks like he was decked out in Full-Tilt gear also. Jeremy is part owner of mttbacking.com which back players online in mid-sized MTT's on numerous sites. We need to come up with a nickname for this Cajun mad genius...Maybe we will start a poll to give Jeremy a nickname  ;-)

The 2nd one is no stranger to GCP.Net also as Tim "Rasin Cajun" Hebert played in the $2000.00 main event in the 2008 Orleans Open in Las Vegas. I think Monkey had commented that Gabe C and Claudia were also going to play that event. Tim wound up making the final table, and then taking 5th for right at 10,000 bones. Tim had some stiff competition as David Levy, Ben Fineman and a host of others were also at this table. I also think that Shannon Shorr bubbled this event where he came out in 10th right out the money.

BELLAGIO CUP UPDATE, HOT CHIPS FIGHT AND MORE (07/18/08)

Mike "SirWatts"  Watson takes down the Bellagio Cup.  SirWatts an online pro earns more than 1.6 million.  David Benyamine came in second.  John Phan and Gabe Thaler fifth and sixth.  Luke Staudenmaeir, known as Staudenmaier to his family and "IWearGoggles" to the online community was fourth.  The big question is does he really wear goggles. Ralph Perry third.  Good news is you'll be able to watch this final table on TV.  More on that below.

In the continuing saga between "Hot Chips" and Pokernews which has only kept Pokernews in the forefront of... poker news, Tiffany Michelle lashes back at site owner and backerTony G.  Check out her myspace page for the complete statement and if you are interested some riveting vocal stylings of Justin Timberlake.  And become her FRIEND!   The crux of her viewpoint is "it was never said to me verbally until after the fact that there was an expectation of exclusivity."  Read more from hotchips here.    This was in response to TonyG's blog post here.  A good read especially as he seems to call out her questionable skills time and time again.

Poker is a sport?  FSN agrees to broadcast the WPT Season VII.  Despite being the Travel Channel's number 1 show and then the Game Show Network's number 1 show, the WPT the last few months didn't have a broadcaster.  Fox Sports Network, deciding the World Poker Tour was more about the Poker than the World Tour (which conspiracy theorists reason is why execs at the Travel Channel bought it because they thought it was a World Tour show) and rationalizing that poker is as much a sport as a spelling bee, dominos mothafogger, and Connect Four Championships aired by the their rivals.   For more on this go here: Business Wire.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (07/22/08)

The first set of odds for the WSOP final table have been  released.  Adopted Gulf Coasters (with duly noted reservations), "Chino" Rheem and Craig Marquis (of Florida and Texas respectively) are both 10 to 1.  Dennis Phillips of St. Louis and the Ruskie Ivan Demidov are 4 to 1 co-favorites.  See www.paddypower.com for more information. 

Pokerati is reporting that High Stakes Poker is coming back to the Game Show Network.  Those execs seem to treat poker shows like a 16 year old learning how to drive a stick shift treats your cherry mustang.  For a while the story was a new exec didn't think poker meshed with their game shows and it being the game show network afterall, so despite it being their number 1 show it was kicked to the curb.  Now, apparently it's just the WPT that doesn't mesh as High Stakes is back on and the WPT has moved to FSN.  If you don't get Game Show Network and haven't watched High Stakes Youtube it.  There are some classic giant pots there and it's our favorite poker show on tv. 

Speaking of monster pots, according to Poker King Blog Patrik Antonius and Jason "pr1nnyraid" Rosenkrantz (but not Gildenstern) played a pot for $438,000 online.  The "Bald Brad Pitt of Poker" won the hand with AK topping Jason's K9 with a board of JK527.   The blinds for anybody interested in playing Full Tilt's new ultra high limit are a meager $500/$1000 with a max buy-in or $200,000.  You can get in cheap for $50,000.  Paupers.

The Read Deal! is coming to the Venetian.  Ladies and Gentlemen strap into your seats as the second Poker themed stage show to be announced in the last two months has been... announced.  "If You're in the room, you're in the game," the collateral promises.  With technology rivaling anything you've ever seen--if you've ever been to a bar with that internet triva game, this show let's you play along.  If you haven't seen that game, it is new technology to you which means you need to get out more.

The producers are not only wowing confused-by-a-VCR-bluehairs with "remote calculators" but also promise Dolye Brunson, Daniel Negeanu, Phil Laak, Gavin Smith, and Phil Hellmuth in the roles they were born to play.  With a cast of tens, you too can match wits with the best.  We'd advise watching this in the first week because there may not be a second week.  For more info check out the The Real Deal.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (07/19/08)

Shannon Shorr in the thick of things for Player of the Year. After a stellar showing at the Bellagio Cup, our favorite player from Alabama (sorry Hoyt Corkins), is now seventh in the rankings and within hailing distance of Eric Seidel and John Phan.  Read more about in Card Player's POY Update.

Daniel Negreanu on the WPT to FSN:  "Congrats to Steve Lipscomb and everyone else involved with getting the WPT a deal with FSN. Considering the negative buzz in the forums questioning whether there would even be a deal in place, I think all of us can not only breath a sigh of relief, but also feel an energetic kick start to a potentially perfect relationship."  Read his blog for more: Full Contact Poker

A Ho Fo' Sho, Maria Ho's Illustrated WSOP wrapup:  "My sister and my best girlfriends from LA all came out to watch me play day 1, and they came up with the great idea of being my official entourage under their self given moniker, “Maria’s Hoe’s”. They made shirts that said I <3 Maria Ho on the front, which I promptly cut up and slashed up in the booby area and the back, and they made one for me which said, 'Look for Maria’s Hoe’s” on the back.'"  Read the rest of the blog on Poker Pages and check out the Ho pictures and more on Maria's Hos.

BELLAGIO CUP UPDATE, WSOP CROOK AND MORE (07/17/08)

The July Six (hmm not so catchy) is set at the Bellagio Cup.  Canuck Michael Watson is the big stack,  Gabe Thaler (somewhat known) and (somewhat more known) John Phan are also in the mix.  French man David Benyamine is second in chips but first at the buffet.  Ralph Perry of Vegas, and Luke Staudenmaier of Pittsburgh also are at the table, we are told people know who they are too.  The Staudenmaiers are probably very proud.

Half man-half suffocating hugging machine, John Gale, barely missed the final table, and petite Gabe Thaler is especially thankful to avoid being engulfed by a sweaty empathetic John Gale during any final table bad beats.   When we say Gabe "is" thankful, we assume he is, but maybe he likes the scent of Old Spice and Spotted Dick, so maybe not.   Also, David the Dragon Pham, who is not Young Phan despite one of us thinking Young Phan was David Pham, just missed the final table.

Tiffany Michelle and Pokernews may be headed to court to settle the battle for her breasts.  She worked for Pokernews, they bought her into the tournament, and then got incensed when she decked herself out in UB (Ultimate Bet garb).  Read Pokernews official statement and Poker-King's take on it. 

Wild Bill predicted in it in his November Nine story and it took all of a day for the dirt on the Nine to  be dug up.  Shocking one has a shady past.  "Chino" Rheem was convicted of dealing in stolen property and burglary, both felonies, and possession of marijuana."  He got four months in jail and 30 months probation.  He also has a warrant for his arrest out for failing to appear in court for a misdemeanor trespassing charge.   The good thing is all this happened in Florida, so therefore he's a gulf coaster.  Now do we root for the guy?  Hmmm.  Read the complete Sun Sentinel story.

BELLAGIO CUP UPDATE AND MORE (07/16/08)

DAVID THE DRAGON PHAM SECOND IN CHIPS.  The remainder of the field includes John Phan, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein and Hevad Kahn.  Monkey's horse Frank Kasella finished in 53rd.

Congrats to our blogger Virge and his roommate Poker Lusky.  Virge snapped off a big PokerStars MTT last week and yesterday Lusky joined him in the winner's circle by taking down a Full Tilt Razz MTT.

Poker Pages has an interesting article on Bar Poker in the USA and Louisiana, by Nelson Rose.  A taste:  "Meanwhile, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported this wonderful exchange, apparently on the floor of the House, after the bill was defeated:

Rep. Warren Triche, D-Thibodaux, the bill's author, was asked by Rep. Jack Smith, D-Stephensville, "if it would still be OK to have legislative poker games."

Triche replied that, yes, it would."

Read the full article at: Poker Pages.

New Florida Poker Magazine to be hitting the stands.  Congrats and good luck to the guys at Ante Up Magazine.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/15/08)

THE NOVEMBER NINE ARE SET!   Read Wild Bill's article on the soon to be Dismembered November Nine as well as chip counts and names of the last nine standing:  Halloween Nine.

Our latest "horse" is Craig Marquis, from Arlington, TX . Unlike our other horses, Tom Cahill, Will Souther, Brandon Adams, Chris Moneymaker, Clint Schafer, anybody else from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and other states bordering Gulf Coast states he's still alive.  We also will be pulling for Dennis Phillips from St. Louis.  He's big stacked heading into SuperTuesday and beyond. 

Oh yeah, the $15,000 buy-in Bellagio Cup continues.  Captain Tom Franklin busted out.  And we'll have more updates as the poker media commutes from the now empty Rio to the Bellagio.  Good video of a prop bet between Phil Laak and Gavin Smith up now on Poker Road.  No link, but it's easy to find.   We'll have more Cup details as they come.. 

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/14/08)

Clint Schafer of Baton Rouge, busts out at the end of the night.  Great job by Clint.  27 left today.  Matasow gone.  Hellmuth gone. They play down until just the November Nine are left.

Craig Marquis of Arlington, TX a 23 year old with just three cashes, is still alive and sitting on a huge stack of 11 million plus.   Dennis Phillips of St. Louis is also over 11 million.

Dr. Pauly has a great feature on the battle for Tiffany Michelle's chest here..  The last lady in the field has signed up with the shady Ultimate Bet, days after Nat Arem's latest bombshell about their growing cheating scandal here: Ultimate Bet and Russ Hamilton.

More updates as they happen...

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/13/08)

Clint Schafer of Baton Rouge, still surviving the shark infested waters of the WSOP Main Event with $1,123,000.  Today they play down to 27 and Clint has as much experience as anybody in the field short of Phil Hell-mouth and Mike the Mouth Matasow. 

Speaking of Hellmouth, Phil ended the day in a patented TV table blowup.  Strangely, the powers that be, at ESPN and the Rio and the WSOP and the Knights Templar and the burial crew of Jimmy Hoffa, managed to get the two Mouths side by side on their feature table. 

They finally got what they wanted as Phil on the last hand of the night put in a huge raise with AK.  His opponent called and they saw a 10 high flop.  His opponent led out and Phil Pholded (as he did earlier with a straight flush draw post-flop because he doesn't race donkeys). 

The Mouth begged for the donk to show his bluff.  He didn't, he showed a 10 to give him top pair.  Course he also showed a 4.  Phil went nuts.  Yes, he got called with 10-4.  The level ended and the night was over.  Oh, except Phil kept Phil-a-bustering (railing the lunchbox as only Helmuth can), so he starts tomorrow with a 10 hand penalty.  Phil is one of the shorter stacks at $721,000.  Matasow is at $1,169,000.

Pictured with The Mouth (above) is Tiffany Michelle, one of the chip-leaders in the Main Event.  She is one of the last women left and sitting large 4th in chips with $3,438,000.  She definitely has a face for TV and also a sense of humor.  She has been quoted as saying she wants to be the last "Ho" standing in reference to her friend Maria Ho, the woman who lasted the longest in last year's Main Event.  Check out Michele Lewis' blog for more on Tiffany Michelle and scroll down for a picture of Phil Laak as he played in disguise in the Main Event first day.  The Unabomber was an old man burn victim or something, maybe a Mustardgasbomber. 

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/12/08)

Clint Schafer of Baton Rouge, interestingly enough listed as both Clint Schafer and Robert Clint Schafer on pokerpages' profiles, at one point was a chip leader.  Clint you'll remember for his second place finish in the Bayou Classic, has since parlayed that showing into several more deep finishes.  

Phil Helmuth has been up and down chip-wise and volatility wise.   Word is he repeated that a guy can't even spell poker after a recent bad beat.  However, he's still alive as is Mike Matasow.  Survivor Jean-Robert Bellande survives no longer and joins Johnny Chan in heading to the rail.

Brandon Cantu, Gus Hansen and fellow swede, a bot maybe, David Saab are also atop the leader board.  The big stack at the moment is Jeremy Joseph, who we believe is not JJ Joseph from Gulfport, MS.

Also wanted to say hi to all of our new readers the main event has brought to the site.  Feel free to email us (Email:  wild bill) and let us know your thoughts.  If you want to be added to our who's who page include a picture, and bookmark us as we cover the slew of upcoming local events, AND THANKS for stopping by so often.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/10/08)

Brandon Adams originally of New Orleans (and pictured one row below) is featured in a story by Gary Wise on ESPN.com.  It's a good read.  Kenny Tran and him are boys, from the outside that appears a bit of an odd couple, but as one is a self-professed genius and the other professes geniuses I guess it makes sense. 

Monkey has survived Day 2.  His blog is up with the details.  He shared his last table with Jen Harman and got a little coverage from PokerPages yesterday including a pic.  Check out their coverage of Day2B.

Monkey tells us, Gabe Costner and Claudia Crawford are out.  Claudia running her A8 into 88 with a flop of A8 (ouch).  Gabe in a battle of the blinds for over 120k with AK vs. QQ.  Jena Delk is also still alive.  Also, Chris Moneymaker is in the mix to cash again.  Rick Rudloff cashed for $5600 in a 1000 player field where he finished 20th.  Congrats to Rick.

There are a ton of players left, and lots of big names all over the leader board.  Brian Schaedlich is still the massive chip leader with more than double all but his three closet followers.  There are 1307 players left and that means 1 out of every 2 players will make the money. 

Again, let us know if there are any Gulf Coast players we should be tracking that are still alive. 

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/09/08)

Brandon Adams of Pensacola, FL is one of the big stacks after the first day 2.  Brandon is also the author of a poker novel, though he is not the identity of our poker fiction writer, Player N.  Player N,  latest update to his serial story is up right now, here: Poker Fiction

The winner of the WSOP will earn the second biggest paycheck in the history of poker, $9,119,517.  When you consider that Jaime Gold had to split his, after he faced a losing court case and skyrocketing lawyer fees, this year's winner, if he is sans backers, actually will win the biggest prize in poker history.

The WSOP in its infinite wisdom and embracing the satanic origins of poker is paying 666 spots, with the minimum prize being $21,230.  There are already cults in Idaho using this as a sign the Apocalypse is upon us.  Something to do with Y2K VII.666.  That's probably entirely fiction, actually let's put it this way, if the cult part is true it's completely unintentional.  Still, 666?

Shout out to Special Ed teachers, as one of them is a chip leader, according to Dr. Pauly: TaoPoker.  We assume he means Brian Schaedlich who is the big stack at $745,000.  We think the world of Special Ed teachers so hopefully another good guy can win the poker lottery if one of our Gulf Coast Players can't.  By the way, Dr. Pauly is also reporting 12 year old Dario "Ima-wearing-a-scarfo" was making out with a borderline hot older woman poker player Isabelle Mercier.  8th graders haven't been this happy since all those crazy teachers dated their students. 

465 players out of 1,251 survived the first day 2.    Today Gulf Coasters, Monkey, Claudia Crawford, Jena Delk, Clint Schaefer and Gabe Costner try to do the same, but against a much bigger field.  As day 2B has 2,378 players. 

Big names playing today include:  General Phil Hellmuth, Survivor Jean Robert Bellande, "Industry Creator" Chris Moneymaker, "The other Phil, no not Ivy, not Hellmuth, not the Unabomber Phil, the other Phil" Phil Gordon, Bulldozer Hevad Khan, and "worst player at Wild Bill's WSOP table and then Player of the Year for that WSOP" Jeff Madsen,

Also, It's Allen Cunningham, "So what if I got piles of tournament chips in my room" Men the Master, the boyfriend of Jennifer Tilly, David Williams, Sweet Lou Esposito (he kills the New Orleans tournaments though he's from New York), "I just shot Howard Lederer's dog" Steve Danneman, "In the name of all that's holy" Jerry Yang,  and no baloney it's Clonie Gowen.

Also, Congrats to Shannon Shorr.  He took down the Bellagio Cup, event #6 for $247,555.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/08/08)

A day of Rest.  Not really.  The WSOP took a day off for a media tournament, a dealers tournament, and a chance for everybody to catch their breath.  Wonder how the dealers are catching their breath if they are dealing one tournament and playing in another. 

How are the players resting, if most of them made like Gabe Costner and headed to another tournament?   He's busy big stacking it at the Venetian. After making it to the second day 2 at the WSOP he took his time off to play... can't say you blame him as he's headed for another cash.

Monkey made it through to day 2, yesterday.  So we got another horse in the race to sweat.

Shannon Shorr after getting knocked out of the Main Event, went to the Bellagio Cup and has made the money sitting with $101,500. 

Andy Philachack a Bayou Classic Ring winner, from Garland, TX, also has made the money in the same event. 

Philly Tom reflects back on his first world series main event as he is determined to make it back.  Read his updated blog here:  MY FIRST MAIN EVENT.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/06/08)

EVENING EDITION:

Some updated chips counts at the dinner break:

Ryan "No" Daut (really no Gulf Coast connection only that he went to the same school as one of us and it's a small one so we root for the guy):  $40,000

Leif Force:  $24,000 

Poker Monkey:  $17,000

UFC'ers take an early beating.  Fresh off his triumph over Rampage last night Forrest Griffin went to the hospital, an after party, slept for two hours and showed up for the WSOP bruised up.  In short order he and the Iceman Chuck Lidell hit the bricks.  Good video of Forrest giving an interview up on Wicked Chops for those interested.  They joined Jose Canseco, Jennifer Tilly, Eskimo Clark, Phil Ivy, and magic man Scott Lazar on the rails.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/06/08)

The Main Event last day of day 1 continues... today.  The Poker Monkey registered yesterday, and in a couple of hours takes his shot.  Read about it here: THE POKER MONKEY.  Hopefully, we'll get some updates throughout the tournament.

-Monkey is hoping to join fellow Gulf Coasters Gabe Costner and Claudia Crawford in advancing to Day 2.  Costner made it through yesterday, the 3rd day of Day 1, and will play day 2 on some later day.  He's sitting at $59,900.  Claudia Crawford is at $25,050

-Philly Tom's first main event ended late on the first night of the first day of day 1.  He flopped a set and a guy hit a four outer to send him packing.  His blog has all the gory details: MY FIRST MAIN EVENT.   Not quite as bad as the guy who made quad Aces, only to lose to the Royal Flush (where's the bad beat jackpot for that one) but still sick. 

-GCP.NET is also sweating a past champion as he tries to recapture glory.  GeneD recently sat down with the man that started the movement, Chris Moneymaker, (Moneymaker is a Chill Guy) and we are pulling for this everyday Joe to return to the winner's circle.  Moneymaker has an impressive $68,525 after being a chip leader for most of the day.

-Some other names of note, Chris Benoit and his flying head-butt are back from the dead but on life support with $11,875.  Speaking of thin stacks, William Phillips' stack can barely look down on a piece of paper after day 1, with just $2,475 but he's into day 2.  Whose William Phillips?  We wish we could say he's one of us, bad sadly he's not. 

-And last but certainly not least Virge has some photos up from the Horse Final table here: Horse Final Table.

TILTED?  

Wild Bill's article examines strategies to implement to minimize donkfish luncacy induced Tilt damage...

The Influence of Arousal:  How to Learn on Tilt

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/03/08)

Evening Updates in RED

-AT $36,000 after the second break.The Main Event starts today.  Follow Philly Tom's first main event in his blog with live updates from his blackberry in between breaks, here:  MY FIRST MAIN EVENT 

 -Thanks readers for keeping us on our toes, because New Orleans own Matt Graham is taking home a bracelet and almost $280,000 to Louisiana after winning the $1,500 Event. outlasting, outwitting and out-surviving Jean-Robert Bellande in heads up play. 

The Poker Monkey has a blog just in time for the Main Event.  Get one of the Gulf Coast's most recognizable players Will Souther's insight on the action at Vegas, here:  THE POKER MONKEY

-Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, Don Cheadle, other celebrities and Poker pros Ante Up for Africa.  Wicked Chops has video and more here:  Wicked Chops

-Are there other Gulf Coasters we should be tracking in the Main Event?  Email us their story here:  Wild Bill

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (07/02/08)

"You call it's all over Baby."  Scotty "Win" sans Michelob reaches the summit.  He joins Chip Reese and Freddy Deeb as a HORSEman. 

Gulf Coast Performance at the WSOP:

Texas:  0 Bracelets, 21 Final Tables, 253 Cashes,

Louisiana:  1, 3, 22

and more at:

Pokerati's World Standings

 -Eric Lindgren takes the lead in the Player of the Year standings. 

-Philly Tom Cahill,  The Dead Money Champion and GCP.NET horse in the main event is en route to Vegas.  He'll be blogging from his blackberry during the breaks.  Keep up with him here:  MY FIRST MAIN EVENT

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (6/29/08)

Gabe Costner at final table of the $2000.00 NLH Event 48 starting NOW!!! 

GO GET EM GABE!!!! WE ARE ALL PULLING FOR YOU. That was a sickass call with A-5 last night.  Gabe comes to the final table 2nd in chips with right under 1.5 million.

Rick Rudloff (Sarasota, FL), Poker Monkey Will Souther, Robert Schulz (Southhaven MS) and Tim "misipimachine" Burt (Robinson, MS) finish 3, 6, 7, and 13 in the Venetian Deep Stack Event.  Rick takes home $15,093, Will wins $9,433, Robert snags $7,546, and Tim got $1,887.   

Also congrats to John Womack of Fort Lauderdale, Tim Frazin of Dallas Tx,  and Tyler Smith (pictured) of Smithsdale, MS for cashing in the same event.  Smith you'll remember from the Bayou Classic where he and Monkey went 1-2 in event 13.

We got some crazy stories from Will about him and his housemates in Vegas.  He'll be doing a bit of blog for us soon so we'll save those stories for him, but folks if you are going to Vegas, utilize the safety deposit boxes in the casinos and travel with very little cash.  More to come on that.  And congrats again to Will for his numerous cashes thus far.  Read our interview with Will here:  Poker Monkey Speaks No Evil.