WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (6/25/08)

Fred Berger, New Orleans' Mardi Gras King, takes 5th place in the seniors event. 

He wins $106,974.  A number of the GCP bloggers have shared the felt with Berger and he's a true gentleman of the game.  Congrats, Fred.  This is Berger's 9th WSOP cash and second this year.  He has cashed in 6 out of the last 7 WSOP's and has won one bracelet.  This is his third largest cash behind his bracelet win in 2002 and another 5th place finish last year.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (6/23/08)

Charles Barkley is gambling again.  Wild Bill saw him in the airport in Philly, and doubts CB will be able to hide the strength of his hands any better than the his celebrity.  Why?  He was so easy to spot, though he's lost weight since he quit gambling his efforts to hide only made him more obvious.  He was the only dufus with his hat so low on his head he had to tilt his head way back walk and still almost ran into Wild Bill.  Everybody knew it was him.  Good disguise Round Mound of Rebound.  Anyway he'll be playing poker for charity in the WSOP Ante for Africa.  Barkley on the felt.

Captain Tom Franklin is killing the seniors event.  No, he's not stepping on breathing tubes or pick-pocketing medication, the Gulf Coast's own is big stacking the event:. Wicked Chops on Cap'n Tom

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE (6/21/08)

Please be sure to check out Tom's WSOP Blog. He won the seat through our Dead Money Satellite Tournament

-THE GULF COAST PLAYERS ARE MAKING A PUSH          

Tim "Raising Cajun" Hebert cracks the five digits with a nice take down in Event 32. He pocketed right above 15 large. Tim tells me he hovered at barely above the chip average for most of the tourney and lost a key coin flip to put him short stacked. From there the blinds ate him up.

Gabe Costner is also having a solid WSOP 2008 as he has cashed in 3 events...so far.

• Event 11: He takes down 17k after getting 18th in a shootout

• Event 24: He follows up with another deep run for $7300.00 in a mixed game PLO/PLHE

• Event 31: Stays on fire in the 6 handed tourney where he adds another $5100.00 to the bankroll

-Other cashes...Cub gets $1300.00 for taking 27th in Event 10...and swinging through the trees over to the Venetian, Monkey gets 14th in a $300.00 buy-in for a cool $1080.00

A SMALL PLUG TO JOE S. AND THE WWW.POKERROAD.COM FAMILY

-THE LIFE OF IVEY  The most private "Mad Gambling" genius in the world lets the cameras follow him around. Greenstein even got footage of him in a high stakes dice game...I thought there were no cameras in casinos????...Not if you're Phil Ivey

-THE SMOKE BREAK  Eugene Todd is an animal. Dude is hilarious.

-THE BROTHER BRING HOME THE GOLD

Mrs. Hinkle was a proud mom when she got to witness her son Grant win a Bracelet in the 2nd event of this years WSOP...She must be twice as happy because the other...more known son Blair...followed in his big bro's footsteps snapping off the 23rd event...$2000.00 NLH.

POKER  MONKEY INTERVIEW

Will Souther has been one of the hottest players on the coast this year.  He's always been one of the most recognizable because of his playful table banter and his love of the game.  We got a peak inside his mind recently, 

How effective is table talk in putting an opponent on a hand?
Oh my gosh, it might be the most important feature of my game. I have refined it too...  used to be in the past there were times when my talking not only figured out what they had,..

  Read the full interview here:

Poker Monkey Speaks No Evil

BEAU RIVAGE ANNOUNCES DATES FOR GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP

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.

There will also be a regularly scheduled nooner on 8/30/08 for $1000+$70. All the other events are either $300 or $500. Be sure to check out our Sponsors for a great deal on a condo for the event at Gulf Coast Rentals ..tell them you saw here on GULF COAST POKER.NET !!!!!!!

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

-GABE COSTNER JUST FALLS SHORT OF WSOP FINAL TABLE.  In shoot out play he won his first table, to get matched up with Eric Seidel and John Juanda at his second.  His pocket 10s were best when his opponent caught an Ace and he went out three places away.

-SHANNON SHORR TAKES 2nd PLACE. Once again Tuscaloosa's finest got deep but he came up just a little short this time.  Read his blog for his world series of poker updates...

  http://shannonshorr.com/myblog/noscript.php

-PHIL IVEY AND ALLEN CUNNINGHAM STILL HAVEN'T WON A BRACELET.  Why is that important?  Because if they don't Ivy will lose 600k in prop bets. 

-THE POKER MONKEY HAS RESPONDED.  He and several other Gulf Coast Players have rented a house for the World Series.  We'll have his interview up shortly.

LEIF FORCES HIS WAY IN

Lief Force from Tallahassee, Fl  has chalked up another "1st place" notch in his fuselage as he took down the 2nd event in the Venetian Deep Stack tourney that is running parallel to this years WSOP. This follows up Leif's 1st place in Tunica last January. He picked up a smooth 40k...but that's just enough for tips at Scores compared to New Orleanian Mike Ngo. Mike picked up over a Quarter of a Million in the 2nd event of this years WSOP. He came in fifth right behind Theo Tran and Jesus on the final table. I am sure we will all get to see him on TV as the final table was a TV final table.

SHORTY'S AT CYPRESS BAYOU ANNOUNCES 10K FREEROLL

Shorty’s $10,000 Freeroll starting

Shorty's Poker Room inside Cypress Bayou Casino has announced a 10k freeroll for their valued customers. Customer must play a set amount of live poker play to qualify beginning in June, and you can actually get "Double Time" on certain days. We are trying to get all the logistics about the tournament itself. We will bring you more info as we get it here at GCP.net. We feel that Ken Foreman and team are really stepping up here in South Louisiana to let their players know they are appreciated. More to Come from Shorty's...Stay Tuned. You can see the prize breakdown in a flyer HERE

 For more info and rules please call the Poker Room at 18002844386 x4788 or 3379242248

Ultimate Bet Comes out with Press Release concerning cheating scandal and "Superuser" Accounts

Everyone's talking about it...you can read about it on 2+2...Cardplayer...Poker.com....even GCP.net's own Wild Bill jumped into the fray in his recent blog. Yes, there was cheating going on at UB, and they have finally came out and admitted it in the press release. This is a nightmare for every online pro or aspiring pros as this will definitely keep more fish out of the water. First Absolute and now UB...I will have to eat crow on all those conversations I had over the live tables defending the online sites even though, coming from a computer/technical background, I knew that is was possible to hack these sites and it is really not that difficult. I am just amazed that these knuckleheads got caught...can't even cheat good.

Gulfcoastpoker.net adopts The FullTiltForum as the "Official Forum" of GCP.Net

That's right folks, we will finally have a forum on gulfcoastpoker.net. come one... come all as we welcome all new comers. The URL for the site is www.fulltiltforum.com. You can also click on the logo, and it will take you directly to the forum. They have several local players that post on the site, and the site is full of well known internet pros that offer tons of advice, analysis and logic concerning the game we all love. The forum was started in March of '07 which make it a year old. We currently have over 700 members with an average of  10-20 post per day. Some of the known pros that post here include Virge (GCP Blogger), DirteAA, ComptonMasta, DannyMac31 as well as many others. My advice would be to first register and introduce yourself (Be sure to mention GCP in your introductory post) to the forum, and then "Lurk" for awhile to get a feel for the site. See Ya there!!!!

BAYOU CLASSIC MAIN EVENT WINNER CROWNED

UPDATE:  ALL THE REST OF THE NEWS HERE

We will have pics, some video and a complete update later today.  Most importantly Nick Ceci took first for $382,928 (including the $11,000 for the WSOP Main Event). 

The big money went to Tim 'TK' Miles, 2nd, $210,610, Floyd Vanderford 3rd, short-stacked all day who folded his way to $107,699, and Gabe Costner $83,766.  Jeff Tims, defending champ Lou Esposito, Charles Kelly, Ed Jatho, and Marc Fratter rounded it out.  Vanderford's strategy (or bad run of cards and incredible patience), considering he was short from the get go, rewarded him with an 83k profit as Fratter only won about $24k.  Congrats to all the players and check back here later today for more coverage.

VIEW ALL THE MPEGs FROM FINAL TABLE HERE

WILL SOUTHER aka "THE MONKEY" FEATURED PLAYER ON POKER PAGES

Congrats Monkey. Here's the featured profile  Poker Pages.  In it, Will calls himself the Buffalo Bills of Poker.  We first thought that was because his fans brave the icy air conditioning of a casino and show their support by going bare-chested and drunkenly celebrating his Thurman Thomas-esque celebrations but we were mistaken. 

Okay, obviously it's because he's been the bridesmaid of late, but as mentioned in Wild Bill's blog, DINE ON THE WHALES, that shows how great he's playing and one day the final race will go in his favor,  Will has always had the ability to achieve this level of success and will continue to do so if he focuses on the positive. We expect a first place profile pretty soon when he finally gets that monkey off his back and onto his cards where it belongs.  And somebody send Wild Bill his email, we'd like to do an interview:  wild bill.

MAIN EVENT DAY 3

Final 9 battling for the over 300K top prize

The Gulf Coast's own Tim "TK" Miles, pictured, is the monster chip leader with almost 1/3 of the chips in play at ~ $700,000. Fellow Gulf Coaster Gabe Costner is not far behind in 8th place with over $150,000. I (GeneD) am heading down there today to sweat TK. Other notable cashes include Daryll "Fish" Fish and Jonathan Little finished 17th and 18th respectfully. Hopefully we will get a small interview when TK and Gabe finish 1 and 2...either order... Good luck guys!!!! Take it down and congrats to Fish and Jonathan!!!!!

MAIN EVENT DAY 2

UPDATE

Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler goes bust in an entertaining hand...Read Kaelaile Minton's comments below and please check out her excellent running commentary live on Poker Pages here:

"Alan got his last chips in good with AK and got called by Ed Jatho holding T2 (according to Chainsaw, Ed was on tilt from the previous hand where he doubled up Tim Miles with JT (second pair) versus Tim's pocket Aces). Anywho, the flop was all blanks, but the turn and river produced running deuces and Allen was bounced.  Allen was not happy about this and words were exchanged.  Allen is recording his play and reporting it on his MySpace page, so you can check that out for all the gory details and his expert commentary"

MAIN EVENT DAY 2

  69 to be whittled to 10 today

Lou Esposito, whose run of cards in New Orleans,  makes him feel like it is a second home is tied for first in chips with David Fox.  Esposito is gunning for his second New Orleans Main Event ring.  The name pros aren't feeling too welcome as Ted Lawson, Josh Arieh, Gavin Smith, TJ Cloutier and Steve Danneman were all sent to the rail.

Notable gulf coast players still alive include:  Jonathan Little, TK Miles, and Clint Schaeffer.  69 players are preparing to duke it out until the final table as play is about to start today.  Poker pages has  official chip counts and a live blog. 

Local Chef Paul Prudhomme is hanging in with a tiny stack, and Herbie Montalbano is also on the short side of things.  Other New Orleans players include:  Brian Cospolich, Floyd Vanderford, and Ed Jatho (Abita Springs), with Jatho in the top 10 in chips.

Perhaps Jonathan Little of Pensacola has a posse, as Ben Gordon and Collier Merril remain alive from the jewel of the panhandle.  Baton Rouge also checks in with Devin Jerreau, and Dana Deiphouse who join Schaeffer on day two.

The populous Houston, TX has by far the most players remaining with rounders Robert Jones, Jason Brice, Cory Albertson, and Fatolla Shahen with below average stacks.  Houston also has Lee Wilson, Michael Cohen, Anita Vasquez, and Jeff Tims with healthier chips and in the thick of things.

GCP's horse, Tex, went out right before the end of last night.  Unfortunately, he went card dead all day and his patience was not rewarded.  The best hand he had was pocket Jacks which he folded preflop to a guy with Queens.  Still an impressive showing to last so long with nothing.  He spent a good amount of time with co-leader Esposito and can attest that at least someone at his table was getting hands.  More updates to come. 

MAIN EVENT DAY 1

Our Horse At The Bayou Poker Challenge... Update: Sent to the Glue Factory

The GCP.net family will have one of our own to sweat in the Main event this year as Jason "Tex" Henderson was able to pull out a win in one of the Mega's to secure his seat. Tex, pictured, has several nice cashes in big tournaments and this is his 2nd Main Event Entry. His first was in Tunica several years ago where it was actually $10,000 to get in the main event.  He is a savage on the "internets", and though he  doesn't give out his handle he is constantly "ker-rushing lunchboxes" live and online.  He mentioned he might do some blogging too.

We just missed having 2 of our players in the Main Event as the GCP.net Co-Founder, Wild Bill, bubbled that same Mega that Tex won his seat in...although he did get his money back in cash. Bill also fired a $500.00 bullet at the single table satellite along with 9 other players trying to get their seat. The notables at the table included local pro Gabe Costner. Bill got his money in with the best of it when they were 3 handed when his A-Jo open jam was called by K-brick...and the player spiked the brick. Look for Bill to break out big soon!!!

Other Notable Players: Gavin Smith, "Atlanta Josh" Arieh, Pham, Steve Dannaman, Fred Berger, Alan "Chainsaw" Kessler...along with the normal crowd of regulars from the coast...TK, Cub, Nick Gillespie, Gabe, ...etc

LOCAL PLO SPECIALIST TAKES 1st

Local Poker pro Jason Gladden wins the PLO tourney at the Harrah's New Orleans Bayou Poker Challenge. Jason is a former student of USM, and has lived in many places on the Gulf Coast. We have some mutual friends (GeneD), and Jason and I wound up watching Wide Spread Panic together at the Jazz fest several years ago. He is a really great guy, and a world class poker player. He has cashed in several big tournaments as is known on the coast as a tough ...High Limit Cash Game player....Congrats J !!!!!!!!

Other Updates

Local player from Thibodaux Teddy Trosclair wins 2nd place for a cool 20k...Local player David "Davey" Bourg gets over 4k for a 7th place finish in the $500 3pm tourney yesterday (I will get a pic of you one day)...Brandon Ruttley bubbles this same tourney, I just hope he didn't have Jacks...Famed Pro sightings...Fred Berger, Alan "Chainsaw" Kessler, Adeeb Harb, Herbie "Louisiana Lightning" Montalbano, Tim "Raisin Cajun" Hebert and a host of other local pros...Cub, TK, Tex, Fish, Monkey...see ya there                               

DR. DELL WALKER, FORMER LSU FOOTBALL PLAYER, WINS FIRST TOURNAMENT

Nipping Matt "Cub" Culberson by spiking a miracle 9 on the turn, Dell turned his pocket 9s into a set and prevailed over the top pair of queens for Cub.  Culberson finished second for the second time at a circuit event. Along with a fourth place finish he's getting close.

Dr. Dell is an orthopedic surgeon who practices in Houma, Louisiana.  This is the first tournament win and cash for the Harrrahs regular and good doctor.

BAYOU POKER CHALLENGE

Two days away from the big daddy local tournament.  We are curious to see how many turn out after the economic downturn, the rising prices of oil, and the news Norman Chad will not be in the building. 

Check back here for complete coverage of Harrahs WSOP Circuit Event; The Bayou Poker Challenge.  Most of team GCP and friends will be playing at least one of these donkaments.  

Action starts May 9th.  Complete Schedule Here: TOURNEY SCHEDULE

We are looking forward to welcoming all of ya'll to the big easy.   

WSOP along with ESPN announce a "Delayed" Final Table

Yes, That's right folks...looks like the "Media Pundits" have won out on this one. I am personally (GeneD) up in the air about what my thoughts are on this. One thing is for sure though, many pros, who will stand to make lots of cheese being hired as "Coaches" as 100% in favor of this. Kid Poker, Chan, Greenstein are all coming out saying how wonderful of an idea this is. Bill and I are planning on doing an editorial with a Pro/Con. You can read more about it in the USA Today article HERE

DAVID CHIU(s) UP GUS HANSEN TO WIN WPT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Yes, we know that's bad, and puns or double entendres like guns, should rarely be used.  David Chiu best known for laughing off a homeless poker player's jibes in an old ESPN WSOP rerun came back from a huge chip disadvantage to unseat Gus Hansen and take the championship.  His pair of Aces became trips to best Gus Hansen's two pair on a miracle river card.  David will now have an extra 3.3 mil to Chiu on.  Yes, that pun is still bad...  No need to Chiu us out--ugh did we really go there? 

LOUISIANA PRO POKERLUSKY (now Vegas Pro) TAKES 2nd 

"PokerLusky" hits Vegas with a Vengeance snapping off 2nd in a 2nd chance circuit event for over $2400.00

Online pro, new Vegas resident as of this week, and friend of GCP.Net, Lusky got some live action in and played in the WSOP circuit event #21 at Caesars Palace. He was joined at the final table by fellow Full Tilt Forum member "Bleu."  Bleu was featured as a chip leader in one of last years WSOP televised final tables. Lusky actually took out Bleu for 3rd place. Lusky then lost a race to get knocked out  with AKo vs. Villain's 33. We want to thank Virge for the photo. Good luck guys and see ya soon!!! (I went ahead and added another pic of Lusky with DirteAA.