WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

11.11.09

JOE CADA IS THE NEW WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT CHAMPION. The Kid (clever nickname for the youngest champion ever) bested Darvin Moon in heads up action.  While Moon was supposedly dozing off during three handed play and simply shoving preflop, the wily "bumpkin" actually gave the kid a battle when it got to one-on-one.  Chip deficit be damned, Moon flipped the script and had the kid on the ropes.

One huge call with second pair against Moon's draw that never materialized and the lead was Cada's again, and the kid was minutes away from the World Championship.  Moon, who was caught on tape lying to his wife about one of his hands (hey, maybe his opponents friends were within earshot) was a confounding opponent for the online pro. 

By the way, Phil Ivey went out 7th.  The telecast showed one hand where he played probably a bit too cautiously when Antoine Saout popped his preflop raise back with pocket 7s.  Ivey laid down pocket Jacks from under the gun.  What the telecast didn't really show was the Frenchman barely played a hand at the start of the final table.  Many observers rated Saout and Eric Buchman the best two players throughout the final table.

Cada and Moon both showed why sometimes in poker it is better to be lucky than good getting their money in bad, time and time again, and coming back to win.  Cada at one point dropped to 2 million in chips, the shortest anybody at the final table got without being eliminated, and battled all the way back to the bracelet.  We'll have more WSOP coverage later today.

WIDE WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

11.10.09

NEW WORLD SERIES OF POKER CHAMPION. The episode airs tonight so no spoilers.  Some generic factoids, the winner already a millionaire, is now a millionaire many times over.  The winner pocketed over 8 million and second got over 5 million so there are no losers.  Course everybody that made the final nine already received over a million dollars (the money that ninth place was guaranteed).  Harrahs pocketed who knows how much.

This is the first WSOP Main Event bracelet for the winner.  The winner ran better than any other player.  Norman Chad will reference one of his divorces in his telecast. The winner was neither a woman nor a South African hermaphrodite marathon runner.  It is not known if the winner was wearing woman's underpants.

If you want spoilers, this guy was an embedded reporter in one of the players camp who watched first hand as things went down.  Here's his twitter feed with some good nuggets.  Follow the link at your own risk.

MY NAME IS LARRY DAVID AND I HAPPEN TO ENJOY WEARING WOMEN'S UNDERPANTS.  Larry David is the person George from Seinfeld is based on.  We are confused, was it George or Jason Alexander that went deep in this years WSOP.  In his show Curb Your Enthusiasm they are putting together a Seinfeld reunion.  In last night's episode who happens to show up?  Eric Seidel.  Weird. 

The rumor that Seidel is the missing chromosomal link between Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld is unconfirmed.  Also on the show, poker players Ben Affleck (another cameo and maybe his best acting performance ever--no speaking parts) and Cheryl Hines. 

Can we please have a cameo of Larry David at next year's world series at his curmudgeonly best?  Maybe put him on Lisandro's left during the antes stage or in between the Mouth and Humberto Brenes. 

You know what's strange about Eric Seidel, somebody started calling him the crown prince of poker, ironically, and then the guy, ironically, became funny.    Lesson learned do not mess with New York hipsters and irony.  In retrospect it all makes sense.  Seidel with his hat askew in his world series moment with Johnny Chan wasn't an awkward dresser he was just preemptively making ironic fun at the flood of douchebags that were about to invade the sport.  The guy is clairvoyant, ironic and funny.

WIDE WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

11.09.09

THE NOVEMBER NINE IS NOW 2.   Don't want  to spoil tomorrow's ESPN broadcast, but first things first.  If you want to be spoiled for half the action, with great analysis from a GCPer who both coached a player in it and was there first hand you have to read Jonathan Little's blog.  Remember he does reveal details about the outcome of that tournament.  Go here: LITTLE THOUGHTS to read Little's account.  Great read.

Okay howabout some spoilers.  Arguably, there were three big names Phil Ivey, Jeff Shulman, and Darvin Moon (the Saints hat wearing lovable logger chipleader to start the N9).  Then there were some vanilla guys:  Steve Begleiter, Kevin Schaffel, and Antoine Saout (only because he's French and that's boring).  The third three you could call new blood:  Eric Buchman (lots of tournament experience), Joe Cada (young whiz-kid) and James Akenhead (British young whiz kid).  

So, there was one guy from the first group and one guy from the third group that will be playing heads up.  One guy from the middle group arguably played the best and bubbled the heads up play.  So there... it doesn't answer the big question, but it gives you a little bit of information to work with.

One of the GCP partners was listening to the radio cast of the final table, and you'd think the action would be slow in that format but with a rotating cast of every single TV pro you've ever seen it was actually quite interesting.  And by the way, put your seatbelt on this should be a great chunk of poker programming for ESPN.  A great one.   This tv table will deliver the drama.  Borderline epic.

Not enough spoilers for you?  Alright have at this USAToday piece.

TOM DWAN JOINS TEAM FULL TILT.  Howard Lederer sez "Full Tilt doesn't take adding a team member lightly," and Jimmy GoboBoy Fricke can attest to that.  Clonie Gowen can too, or maybe to her it's "Full Tilt doesn't remember adding a team member lightly."  Anyway, the Durrrr Challenge takes place on Full Tilt probably already should have been a member.

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE.  Oy, Oy, Oy.  Pass the Sugar and all that Shrimp on the Barbie stuff.  Bwin has a slew of ways to get down under.  Go here for more information.

WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT AT THE IP

11.08.09

We promised you results:  Click Here for complete results up until now.

WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT AT THE IP IN BILOXI IN FULL SWING

11/07/09

RACELAND, LA NATIVE CRAIG "SPARKY" GULLUNG SNAPS OFF EVENT #14 WITH A $230.00 BUY IN FOR OVER $5k: GeneD got to sweat this final table and Sparky took it down. The all in hand was close as they were tit for tat heads-up. Sparky only had Vincent covered by a couple of thousand once the chips were counted out.

 

GCP's OWN BILL "WILDBILL" PHILLIPS MAKES 2 FINAL TABLES APPEARANCES ON THE RED AND BLUE LIGHTED STAGE: He got credit for a 3rd and 5th place although I think both FT's worked some kind of chop. He had "BB" (Back 2 Back) at one FT...and Mark Wilds, Corrie "Big Slim" Wunstel and Ricky King at the other.

OTHER NOTABLES:   Kenny "Trucker Kenny" Milam outlast Capt. Tom Franklin in event #21 (6 handed) for over 3k...Martin "MMZentner" Zentner, who is ranked #3 in the State of Mississippi on Pocket5's, Takes 2nd place for close to 4K

We finally have a another tournament series at the best casino and poker room on the gulf coast. We have media rights thru the WSOP with the Gulf Coast Poker Magazine, and you may see GCPM photographers roaming the event snapping photos. You can also pick up copies of the new Magazine in the poker room at the IP...as well as lots of other places on the Gulf Coast. You can see all the event at the link here: IP WSOP SATELLITE EVENT.

WIDE WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

11.06.09

IP COVERAGE   Sorry for the lack of updates this week.  One of the partners has been playing all week at the IP, and the other is on the cusp of welcoming a new addition to his family.  Good luck with it Gene D.  We'll have some updates about some notable cashes like Dan Walsh winning a second chance tournament, Keith "The Angle" going deep again, and plenty of Gulf Coasters like Kenny Milan (senior event winner) representing.

IP CLASSIC EVENTS FOR THIS WEEKEND.  Want to play a main event?  Today there are some megas and tomorrow is an all day affair to get into the Main Event.  Two freerolls offering the winner a 10k seat to the WSOP main event plus the first freeroll is offering a slew of mega satellite seats.  Course to get into the freerolls you had to final table an event or for the second one, win one outright.  Still, with all the mega action all day the championship event should have a solid turnout.

THE NOVEMBER NINE IS SO NEAR WE CAN TASTE IT.  One channel doing some promoting is ESPN with a cover story on their magazine of Phil Ivey and a behind the scenes E60 story on his life.  If somehow you missed this video... shame on you.  Here's a link.  However, outside of ESPN arguably doing about the least amount possible to promote their own programming in the ramp up to the biggest final table in years (Ivey's presence alone insures that), there has been spotty mainstream media coverage.  CNBC of all places, with NBC a friend to poker, had a piece recently, which you can see here on Pokerati.

STEVE BEGLEITER NOVEMBER NINER WITH GULF COAST CONNECTION.  Want a coach for the ultimate sit 'n go, only need to fade eight people to be the world champion, what's a former Bears Sterns exec to do but hire the sit 'n go king, GCP's own Jonathan Little.  Wicked Chops is reporting it so it must be true.  Jonathan where was the memo?  Actually, Gary Wise may have been the first to report it, and his source is Phil Hellmuth.  He has a great write up of the November Nine:  here. 

Granted Begleiter might have come off as one of the less likable guys in the ESPN telecasts but now we may have to pull for him.  Norman Chad obviously isn't going to let any Wall Streeter have an easy go when he's a ready made villain and Begs has done little to endear himself to the viewer by reminding Ivey of the famous Moneymaker suck-out and nearly punching a guy for bluffing him, but there is no denying this is a guy who isn't afraid to mix it up and with the right amount of luck has to be one of the favorites to win it.  

WIDE WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

11.02.09

WALKEN DOES POKER FACE.  One of the GCPers dressed their kid up as a pumpkin and annoyed Halloween party guests with a rendition of "Can't read my p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-umkin face."  Only funny because it was repeated ad naseum.  Walken does it a little better here:

WOULD PHIL IVEY STILL BE FAVORED IF HE HAD NO CHIPS?  According to the popular blog Poker King who is posting the results of the WSOP.com poll Phil Ivey despite being a chip dwarf is the overwhelming favorite to win this years main event.  Ivey has 78.05% of the votes, the next closet is overwhelming chip leader and Saints hat wearer Darvin Moon who was but 6.57% of the votes.

 Kevin Schaffel in most peoples minds has barely a better shot than you do to win it at 0.75%.  Remember you aren't sitting at the final table, well, all but nine of our readers aren't sitting at the final table ( :) ),  To say the same thing in an only slightly different way Joan Rivers is barely a dog to the guy and she hates poker players.  Schaffel can console himself with the fact Steven Begleiter is barely a bigger favorite with 1.1% of the vote. 

IP RESULTS COMING.  Our bad, turns out we had them in our inbox all along.  Thanks to Jim Sterling and Bill Bruce for getting them to us.  We'll get them out to ya'll in the next couple of days.  Congrats on the success of everybody that has cashed so far.

MANDALAY MAKES LATE HUGE BID FOR WPT.  Despite the late bid, the WPT took up Peerless Media's bid, which had more upside on the back-end despite what appeared to be a lower buy price.  Confused?  Us too.  Wicked Chops has pretty girls and the story.

TIFFANY MICHELLE AND MARIA HO ELIMINATED ON AMAZING RACE.  We didn't watch it.  We did watch last week's episode where one player's refusal to go down a water slide... yes, a water slide... cost her team a chance at a million dollars and allowed the Harlem Globetrotters with local player "Big Easy" to survive.  A water slide.  Surprised we didn't watch this week's episode?  It bears repeating...  A water slide.  Sesame Street has tougher challenges.

WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT AT THE IP IN BILOXI  IN FULL SWING

10/31/09

WILL "POKERMONKEY" SOUTHER SNAPS OFF HIS 1ST TOURNAMENT OF THE SERIES IN A 4PM OMAHA LIMIT/8 OR BETTER: Congrats Big Guy!!!...you guys can read more about the win at his blog below to the right

COME OUT AND SUPPORT THE IP AND THEIR NEW POKER ROOM IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.  We finally have a another tournament series at the best casino and poker room on the gulf coast. We have media rights thru the WSOP with the Gulf Coast Poker Magazine, and you may see GCPM photographers roaming the event snapping photos. You can also pick up copies of the new Magazine in the poker room at the IP...as well as lots of other places on the Gulf Coast. You can see all the event at the link here: IP WSOP SATELLITE EVENT.

WORLD BEST PLAYERS POKER UPDATE

10.29.09

PHIL IVEY MUCKS WINNING HAND.  If you've ever read the 2+2 forums you'd think Phil turned straights in to flushes  as needed, rivered quads with a twitch of his nose, and basically walked on water.  Turns out the guy is human.  On last nights WSOP telecast he mucked the winning hand, a pair of 8s when he had a spade in it giving him a flush.  This will be known as the year that every university has the mascot of the Ragin' Cajuns (replacing the Demon Deacons in Norman Chad's paint by numbers heavily repeat the same joke style of broadcasting) and also the year, Phil Ivey mucked the winning hand...  even if he wins the Main Event.  Maybe this will be great for poker and every lunchbox that thought they could pull a Moneymaker years ago, who then tried and failed and never came back, will try again as even the world's best can make the same boneheaded plays they make in their home games.

The river gave his opponent top pair of aces but also put four spades on board.  His opponent had none and Phil mucked without even rechecking to see if he had a spade.  Clearly he didn't even process the four spades on board.  We know he was in Bobby's Room every night after the Main Event action stopped and maybe at some point his lack of sleep had to catch up to him.  On the other hand he looked alert all episode.  This was his worst day in the main event when his chip stack took a nose dive.  If this brain fart, was any indication even the great Phil Ivey wasn't just running bad he was also not playing his best.

Shockingly, the internet has not cracked in half with the news but there is still time for that to happen.  Here's the video (go to five minute mark).

TOMMY VEDES WINS FESTA AL LAGO.  The party at the Lake was a party for Vedes who won 1.2 million for his trouble.  He bested Jason Lavallee in heads up play.  Incidentally in the above video you can also see Vedes shove on James Akenhead with AQ preflop and Akenhead call the all-in with QQ.  For Vedes to go that deep in the Main Event means the guy is running good this year.  For the latest results go to our friends at Bet and Win poker.

DURRRR CHALLENGE.  Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius played some more of their challenge that just won't end.  After last night's action they've played 27,185 hands and Durrrr is just short of 780k.   Below is a Durrrr interview.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

10.27.09

MAGAZINE UPDATE.  We want to thank everybody for the tremendous feedback.  Apparently, a lot have been picked up and some of you have emailed about your poker room not having any copies.  Well, we are headed to the IP event so we'll get some more out on the Gulf Coast this week. In the meantime, ask your friendly poker room manager if they appear to be out.

SHANIA HYATT TO NOT BE HIGH STAKES POKER HOSTESS.  Kara Scott is supposedly the girl.  There have been a lot of twist and turns in the firing of AJ Benza and the hiring of his replacement.  The most interesting is the revelation that HSP is going to ape Poker After Dark with one host narrating the action and one female conducting the interviews. 

The fact that Poker After Dark has two demographics:  the people that watch it in the afternoon after TiVo'ing it and that other group of insomniacs that are put to sleep by the Ether like tones of Ali Nejad and the smooth jazz background, appears to be lost on the HSP producers who are copying an inferior product.  Since they produce both products it's surprising they can't recognize one is lively and the other is many people's counting sheep.  PokerNewsDaily has a decent story about it here.

KIDO PHAM JUST BARELY MISSES WPT FINAL TABLE.  The Gulf Coaster busted out in 8th at the Festa Al Lago good for almost 90k.  Freddy Deeb, the chip leader heading into the final table busted out 4th.  Deeb will console himself with a little over 278k.  Jason Lavallee and Tommy Vedes vie for the title in heads up play.

DOG AND PONY SHOW.  The PPA has partnered with the National Horse and Dog Racing Associations in an attempt to stop/delay the U.I.G.E.A. enforcement deadline.  This is basically the headline of story on Pokerati and they give this issue excellent coverage here.

WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT AT THE IP IN BILOXI STARTS THIS WEEK

10/26/09

COME OUT AND SUPPORT THE IP AND THEIR NEW POKER ROOM IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.  We finally have a another tournament series at the best casino and poker room on the gulf coast. We have media rights thru the WSOP with the Gulf Coast Poker Magazine, and you may see GCPM photographers roaming the event snapping photos. You can also pick up copies of the new Magazine in the poker room at the IP...as well as lots of other places on the Gulf Coast. You can see all the event at the link here: IP WSOP SATELLITE EVENT.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

WE STILL HAVE A MAGAZINE.  See below.  Read it and send us your thoughts either on our blogs or email us: wildbill(at)gulfcoastpoker.net and gened(at)gulfcoastpoker.net.

GCP BLOGGER AND MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTOR JONATHAN LITTLE FINISHED DAY 1 TOP 10 IN CHIPS.  The tournament at the Bellagio had a strange structure with the opportunity to buy in as late as level 6th in the middle of day 2.  Read this blog for some updates.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING POKER ROOM.  Ever seen an Ultimate Fighter play poker, like Chuck Lidell at the Main Event chasing gut shot draws, you'd think this would be a great place to play.  Plus, you'd be battling online far away from a 'roid rage and an ankle lock.  Go to the Ultimate Fighting website for more details.

FLOAT THE TURN, FLOAT YOUR HOUSE.  This doesn't have anything to do with poker but it does have a little to do with floating full (or empty) houses and the gulf coast.  Go here for more.

TWO MONTHS, TWO MILLION WRAPS UP.  Did the youngsters reach their goal of winning two million in two months in vegas around the World Series of Poker?  Pokernews has a write up here. 

DANIEL NEGREANU BREAKS DOWN THE STATS.  Again Jonathan Little represents well (number 2 player in earnings per event and number 3 based of Final Table percentage).  Negreanu's blog is a good read.  Go here to do so.

GULF COAST POKER UPDATE

WE HAVE A MAGAZINE.  As GeneD said, "The eagle has landed."  The best part of owning a magazine is right now we are already planning our swimsuit issue, compromising photos of Gavin Smith, Toomer Bienvenisto, Humberto Brenes, and the tiny nipples of Phil Hellmuth are being considered for that.  And, of course, we can't wait for our second issue which is a nostalgic look back at our first issue.  We want to say thanks to Deep South Publishing for partnering with us on this endeavor and we hope ya'll enjoy the print version.  Also, a big thanks to John Price, Brian Heptinstall, Jonathan Little and all our print contributors.  We want to also say thank you to USA Today for enabling us to get the first issue out. 

It's a little thin for now, but we wanted to give our potential advertisers a taste of things to come.  If you support poker on the Gulf Coast help support this magazine (and our website) by advertising your business.  And do us a favor and support our advertisers they deserve it.  You can pick up the issue at your local casino, card room, OTBs, some bars and many hotels from Lake Charles all the way past Biloxi.  If they don't have it at your favorite casino ask for it because they probably went like hotcakes. 

THAT DIKSHIT IS CHARITABLE.  If we could we'd have an Anurag Dikshit headline everyday.  It's like those dam jokes in Vegas Vacation.  Anyway, perhaps burdened by a guilty conscience Dikshit is giving away the proceeds from his stock in PartyGaming.  Wicked Chops is where we read it, and they got it from Kid Dynamite.  The 350 million he's giving away (the dude is already a billionaire so it's not like he's jettisoning all his personal wealth) will got a charitable trust he runs that supports at risk children in India, the U.K. and Gibraltar ( ...at risk of falling off the rock?).  As inspiring as the generosity is, we disappointed to learn Dikshit is pronounced Dix-it.  Hmmm... now that we think about it, that's a bit like say Greg Focker RN is pronounced Greg Lumberg RN.  Nah, Dikshit has to be pronounced the way it is written only a Dikshit would say otherwise.

WANT TO KNOW WHY BEING A JERK WORKS?  Ever notice a lot of successful pros are jerks?  Sure you might ask yourself what would Jesus Ferguson do, but have you ever wondered why and how the Jerks act like jerks?  Bet and win the poker blog explains it here.  Ironically, during his deep Main Event run George Costanza er... Jason Alexander was considered a nice guy.  For our old interview of George go here.   And do yourself a favor, watch Curb Your Enthusiasm.  If you don't have HBO steal it, the Seinfeld "non" reunion is shaping up as great TV every Sunday.

DEEPER IS BETTER?  Maybe not opines Matt Savage tournament director extraordinaire.  If you want to learn a little bit about the thought that goes in to tournaments, that many of our capable local tournament directors like Johnny Grooms at the Beau Rivage do, you'll want to read this article at PokerNews.

WANT TO PLAY THE AUSSIE MILLIONS?  Bwin is offering 13.5k prizes to the 2010 Aussie Millions for playing the Big Bounty.  Go here for more information.  Melbourne is on the water.  The are also smack dab in the middle of their Grand Series of Poker.  Go here now.

WORLD POKER UPDATE

10/16/09

HALL OF FAME NAMES ONE AND ONLY ONE TO ITS HALLOWED HALLS.  Apparently only Mike Sexton (pictured at right he's the one in the blazer) garnered enough votes to meet the threshold and gain admittance this year.  Taking a page out of the baseball writers book the selection committee couldn't get anybody else in the door.  Probably, almost all the other nominees will make it someday (Phil Ivey, Erik "Clown Prince of Poker" Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen etc) but for now Sexton is going in alone.   Go to Cardplayer for more info on the vagaries of the vote.

PHIL HELLMUTH WANTS YOU TO KNOW HE IS A VIP, WORLD TRAVELER, AWESOME PARTIER AND POKER COACH.  That's what his latest blog is about.  Okay, that's what all his blogs are about, well, except for the poker coaching, unless you consider dressing down some sap unluckily  enough to beat him with a lesser starting hand coaching.  Anyway, the November Nine coaching is interesting enough to take a look here.

LATEST ON HIGH STAKES POKER RUMORS... Vanessa Ruosso debunked as Kaplan's flunky.  No, the new sweathog to be is likely Shanna Hiat, Amanda Leatherman (so says PokerKing) or somebody from the poker media.  Daniel Negreanu hints that it is someone you'll know and she'll just be working the mijke as an interivewer of sorts not doing commentary in the booth.

HOLLYWOOD DAVE LAMENTS COLLUSION RULING.  Have to admit the guy's got a point.   Problem is sometimes the person making the point overshadows the worthiness of a point.  You know Charles Manson espousing anything isn't going to do the cause much good.    Read his blog here.

PLAY POKER ONLINE?  Then you need to understand U.I.G.E.A.  Fortunately Gambling911 has the 411 right here.  If you want to play online poker you can subscribe to a poker club like the one below, or crush a poker site like this one.  We recommend doing either.

Power Poker Club offers a chance to win a Main Event seat this October and at least one every month until the WSOP.  To play, simply go to www.powerpokerclub.com and sign up.  Because it is a club with a monthly membership fee of $19.95, it is completely legal and based in the United States. 

All tournaments are essentially free rolls.  There are over 30 multi-table cash paying tournaments, including a $2000 leader board tournament, a Sunday $2500 tournament and Twin $500 tournaments on Saturday.  Check them out.

WORLD WIDE SCANTILY CLAD POKER UPDATE

10/13/09

WE LIKE OUR LOGO BUT THIS ONE IS PRETTY CLEVER TOO.  It's for a ladies night poker tournament in Australia--get it?  If you've ever been talked down to by a feminine studies major you might also know the heart shape means the same thing. .

BLUFFIN IN THE BUFF.  You might have seen the latest Body issue in ESPN the Magazine, if you were brave enough you might have checked out the physiques of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, and Jennifer Harman.  To read a little bit behind the scenes of the photo shoot go here.

BATHING SUITS COUNT AS SCANTILY CLAD, BRANDON HALL WINS 2009 ARUBA POKER CLASSIC.  Robert Mizrachi 2nd, Chase Steely 3rd (if that doesn't sound like the name of somebody making a living scantily clad you don't know enough scantily clad professionals), Eric Baldwin 4th, and two time bracelet winner Brock Parker came in 6th.  Supposedly there was a chop in Mizrachi's favor, so the official 750k payout to Brandon Hall may be official but isn't accurate. 

PRIEST WINS 100k IN MILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE.  He had to beat a clothed Daniel Negreanu, John Salley who was last seen cavorting half-nude on "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!", and also Sports Illustrated Swimsuiter Vanessa Ruosso.  If Father Andrew Trapp of South Carolina can beat  Daniel Negreanu again, he can win 1 million.  Read here for more.

SPEAKING OF RUOSSO, OUR ADOPTED GULF COASTER  RUMORED TO TAKE BENZA'S GIG.  High Stakes Poker is in search of a host and the scuttlebutt is it's Ruosso's job to lose.  Her husband has done commentating before so certainly can offer her some tips.  Wonder if he was up for the job too? 

THERE IS A NEW PLACE TO PLAY IN SOUTH FLORIDA: SEMINOLE CASINO COCONUT CREEK. 

WANT TO PLAY THE AUSSIE MILLIONS?  Bwin is offering 13.5k prizes to the 2010 Aussie Millions for playing the Big Bounty.  Go here for more information.  Melbourne is on the water.  The are also smack dab in the middle of their Grand Series of Poker.  Go here now.

WORLD WIDE POKER UPDATE

10/09/09

GULF COASTER JASON MERCIER THE ANONYMOUS STUD.  He might already be the career money leader for European Poker tournament earnings and he's barely legal.  He's already won more than many pros that regularly appear on TV and the general public might think are far superior.  This year he's added a WSOP bracelet and a soon to be televised TV table.  As an encore to finishing fourth at the WSOP-E Main Event he took down an EPT tournament.  Read more on Mercier here.

PETER EASTGATE COMES IN SECOND TO SCANDI-SOUNDING AMERICAN IN EPT MAIN EVENT.  Two years ago if you asked most people who was the American and who was the Dane when Peter Eastgate battled Aaron Gustavson in heads up  play most would give you the wrong answer.  Phil Hellmuth would say he didn't care one can't spell poker and the other is an idiot from Northern Europe.  And seriously, how many times is Hellmuth going to use that insult the first time was funny but the 20th time whatever. 

Anyway, Eastgate fell to Gustavson but padded his career earnings with a large second place score.  No word how many times he made the Eastgate face.  For tournament wrap-up go to PokerNews.  For Prahlad Friedman's Eastgate face rap watch below here: 

Also, November Niner Kevin Shaffel almost final tabled again, he's already done it once while on break.  It turns out the anonymous donks that will be on ESPN come November can play a little bit. 

JOE SEEBOK DISHES ON WHY UB HASN'T DISHED OUT THE CHEATERS YET.  Same old same old.  Stall, delay, stall, delay, stall, delay, now it's just coming from a friendlier mouth.  Let's hope our favorite son of Barry Greenstein isn't getting lied to and Ultimate Bet reveals everything soon enough.  For the latest rationale for the latest delay go here.

WORLD WIDE POKER UPDATE

10/06/09

SHANNON SHORR SOURCE IN NEW YORK TIMES STORY.  Okay maybe it's more a blog than a story, but it's still under the NY Times banner.  The story is about the perils of gambling and Shorr weighs in with some cautionary tales.  Go here to read it yourself.  Here's an old interview of the kid too.

DURRRR CHALLENGE IS TO FINISH CHALLENGE.  Tom "Durrrr" Dwan and Patrik Antonius had another session of the Durrrr Challenge recently.  They played 400 hands and Durrrr booked a winner taking him back in front overall.  His lead is now $235k.  400 hands seems like a lot but consider they started the challenge in early 09 and have to play 50,000 hands.  They've played less than 25k so far. 

MORE EUROS?  The EPT London is underway and besides a healthy dose of British summer teeth (some are here and some are there) there are a fair number of pros trying to win the the 850k (pounds prize).  Famous Euros with stacks include: Peter Eastgate, Annette Obrestad, and the sometimes Euro Jeffrey Lisandro.  Other names you might recognize surviving near the top of the leaderboard: John  Juanda, Justin Smith and Jesus Ferguson. 

None are in the top five, because the top five is a veritable who's who and by who's who we mean who the heck are they:  Tommy Vedes, Rui Milhomens, Jean Montury, Harri Suri, and Alex Wice.

POKERATI HAS FULL TILT BRIEFS.  Pretty good read, where the accused poker bots hired a lawyer.  No idea if a lawyer bot drafted this brief.  In it they assert Full Tilt has bots of their own, and knowingly accuse winners of being bots (when they aren't) as a profit stream.  Yeah, don't know about that last part either.  Go to Pokerati to read it.   

DARVIN MOON THE SAINTS FAN WITH THE BIGGEST STACK IN THE WSOP CAN'T WIN LOCAL TOURNAMENT.  The Washington Post does a piece on Darvin Moon, the Western Maryland Logger, who is the chip leader in the WSOP Main Event.  Interesting to note Moon ignored his father's advice to not play in the Main Event and just keep the 10k buy-in he won at a local casino.  We don't know if Moon's father also advised him to not invest in Microsoft 30 years ago or not.  Go here for the Post's story.

LOCAL POKER UPDATE

10/03/09

TUNICA ANYONE? THE HORSESHOES MAGNOLIA STATE POKER CLASSIC :

If you Gulf Coast Poker players cant wait until the IP tourney at the end of the month, you can head to everyone's favorite destination...Tunica, MS. The Horseshoe is having the Magnolia State Poker Tournament starting on 10/14/09. They look like some lower buy-ins with the Main Event being $1000.00. The starting stack sizes look OK on the website...not sure about the structures. They are having one of those "Cash Blast" tournaments also, where its a cross between a cash game and tournament...you start with $300.00...every chip has a Dollar-to-Dollar value...and you can cash out at any time. You can read more about it in the upcoming poker magazine that will hit the Gulf Coast soon. You can click the logo to go to the list of Tourneys

PHIL IVEY A  BOT ON FTP?  Nah...but FTP and Phil are being sued by some guys that were stripped of 80k on FTP after being accused of using a bot to accumulate the cash. You can read about here at FTP Sued

Now...that's the 2nd time FTP has been sued in the US. Clonie Gowan and now these guys. We don't understand why all these anti-UBers can't ban together and sue?...

BARRY SHULMAN SNAPS OF KID POKER HEADS UP TO WIN THE WSOP-E MAIN EVENT:  Wow!!!...What a story that would be for 2009 if Father and Son with both WSOP Main Events. I imagine that Jeff is now firmly planted up the Poker Brats butt trying to learn as much as he can. Jeff came out that the Poker Brat will be coaching him. Kid Poker has to be somewhat disappointed in not being able to close out T_Saprano for a bracelet in a Limit event in Vegas...now he loses what would have been his biggest accomplishment of his career. With the win...KP does become the all-time tournament money winner.

ULTIMATE DEAL IN ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENTS.   Power Poker Club, a new club site, will be offering a chance to win a Main Event seat this September and at least one every month until the WSOP.  To play, simply go to www.powerpokerclub.com and sign up.  Because it is a club with a monthly membership fee of $19.95, it is completely legal and based in the United States. 

All tournaments are essentially free rolls.  This weekend they are hosting a special $4000 tournament on Sunday.  There are over 30 multi-table cash paying tournaments, including a $2000 leader board tournament, a Sunday $2500 tournament and Twin $500 tournaments on Saturday.  Check them out.

EVERY OTHER STORY A EURO UPDATE

10/01/09

FLORIDA'S JASON MERCIER A MASSIVE CHIPLEADER AT WSOP-EUROPE.  You know Mercier the Gulf Coaster on the cover of Cardplayer.  Not, the Gulf Coaster on the cover of Bluff.  Or the Gulf Coaster who soon be on the cover of a new regional magazine coming out but the guy on Cardplayer with his sunnies halfway down his nose?  Well, he's crushing it again this time in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.  

WELCOME BACK KAPLAN BUT NOT SO FAST BENZA? AJ Benza, The High Stakes Poker co-host suggested he might be facing the axe on a couple of radio shows this week.  He hinted there maybe some estrogen partnering up with Gabe Kaplan. 

U.S.-AMERICANS AND CANADIANS BUT NO MEXICANS GET CRUSHED IN CAESERS CUP BY EUROS.  The World Series of Europe debuted a new team event.  And it didn't go well for the North Americans who faced mostly Northern Europeans.  Only the mixed doubles team of Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman could manage a win in a made for TV poker event that will surely have all the drama of any made for TV sporting event. 

Anybody see that Peyton vs. Eli AFC-NFC Challenge dreck that was on ESPN a couple of summers ago that was basically the Superstars minus a rooting interest.  That's what this sounds like.  I'd rather watch the Mannings eat Oreos.  Anyway, the Euros crushed a 45 bracelet American team 4-1 in a best of seven series.  Read here for more results.

PATRIK ANTONIUS'S ONLINE HAND OF THE YEAR:  You've called with Ace high, but have you called with King high?  Have you done so for a pot worth  almost 500k?  Go to the Poker-King for the details here.

MORE WORLD SERIES OF EUROPE MAIN EVENT UPDATES:  Lots of storylines of interest...  A couple of November Niners had a shot to duplicate Ivan Demidov's final-table-during-the-break-before-his regular WSOP Main Event final table, English soccer player Teddy Sherringham showed American Athletes what a deep Main Event run really is (Jordan Farmar take notes), and Yevgeniy Timoshenko is this years Elky going deep here after winning the WCOOP Main Event and a Full Tilt tournament on the same day.   Go here for more details

FRANK HAS 58 POKER FRIENDS.  There is a rumor Frank and other dems would try to use Online Poker taxes to pay for Health Care.  Hmmm.  For more on the poker legislation that is picking up momentum like a sloth go here.

ULTIMATE POKER UPDATE

09/24/09

ULTIMATE BET ULTIMATE MEDIA CIRCUS.  The Joe Seebok UB signing saga continues with him promising the much promised Ultimate Bet Hand Histories... any day now.  We'll take the Boy Wonder's word for it.  Got to admit it sounds better coming from Joe than from one of the other shills so P.R. job well done U.B.  Seebok is pictured above in his alter ego.  Who knew Full Tilt sponsored Robin?

And speaking of UB, now this interesting tidbit, Phil Hellmuth on a radio show suggests the websites Pokerstars, FullTilt, and Ultimate Bet  (maybe bwin?) might band together and create their own World Series of Poker and throws the gauntlet down at Harrahs.  Pokerati has both stories here.  There is a funny suggestion that Hellmuth might be unhappy that he wasn't comped a room.

Hellmuth has also signed on to be November Niner Jeff Shulman's poker coach.  The old friends apparently share a dislike for Harrahs and the WSOP.  Wonder if Phil would throw any of his 11 bracelets in the trash as Shulman has threatened to do if he wins?

DANNY NEGREANU BLOGS ABOUT BLOGS.  Some good stuff there as he apes real blogs and fake blogs.  The shots at Hellmuth (as usual with Danny's schtick) are pitch perfect.   Read more of Daniel's thoughts here.

FLOAT THE TURN IS LIVE.  Jonathan Little's new training site is up and running.  Check out his blog for more details.  Go here if you are too lazy to move your cursor to the left. 

BET AND WIN PROFILES TWO UP AND COMERS FROM THE GULF COAST.  Tyler Dean and Darryll Fish get the looksy.  Those guys have had a couple of great years since turning 21.  Expect more big things to come.  Go here for more.

ULTIMATE DEAL IN ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENTS.   Power Poker Club, a new club site, will be offering a chance to win a Main Event seat this September and at least one every month until the WSOP.  To play, simply go to www.powerpokerclub.com and sign up.  Because it is a club with a monthly membership fee of $19.95, it is completely legal and based in the United States. 

All tournaments are essentially free rolls.  This weekend they are hosting a special $4000 tournament on Sunday.  There are over 30 multi-table cash paying tournaments, including a $2000 leader board tournament, a Sunday $2500 tournament and Twin $500 tournaments on Saturday.  Check them out.

TOURNAMENT POKER UPDATE

09/22/09

COUSHATTA 7 CLANS TOURNAMENT KICKS OFF WIT MEGA SATELLITE TODAY.  $200 Buy-in tomorrow, $300 buy-in Thursday, and Main Event Friday through Monday 1k buy-in.  Coushatta has a discounted room rate of $49 for poker players just whisper the secret password "7 Clans."

JOE SEBOK SIGNS WITH ULTIMATE BET, POKER ROAD RADIO TO DECREASE COVERAGE OF RUSS HAMILTON FIASCO (...SURELY).  Sebok, on the heels of a deep WSOP Main Event run, also took a position as a media consultant with the company.  Some more details about Joe's signing and the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal here.  Apparently, Sebok made a very informed decision in taking the sponsorship.