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A WEEK TO GO: We are under a week from the first 100k guarantee at Pear River's Spring Poker Classic. Outside of Philadelphia, MS they've gone all in on this event. The schedule is here. Want to get outside and explore a bit? We recently asked Tee to the Green Magazine about the golf courses at Pearl River and they gave an enthuisastic thumbs up.  So play a bit after playing a bit. Time to book your room if you haven't yet as they are going fast. HALL DENTALE THE GRUDGE MATCH NOBODY WILL ADMIT TO CARING ABOUT: For two polarizing figures, who probably garner more dislikes than likes, and a poker community feigning apathy, there is a lot of twitter attention, bets being made, and interest for their heads up match on March 19th. Most casual fans probably have no idea who these two are. Dentale is most well known for trying to fold a big blind when his friend was all in for less. Cate Hall received an award for the best female poker player last year. Just guessing here, but we believe more people will be watching hoping to see an outburst or two than to really watch some poker. It's not often you root for bad beats and craziness but the only entertainment from this event will be the two malcontents acting up.  If you are looking to bet Hall is a 1.35 favorite as it stands. SPEAKING OF LADIES WINNING: Here's a good write up of the first female WPT winner Ema Zajmovic. Go here for more.

HOLLEY CASHING MACHINE: At the GPI American Poker Awards, Destin's John Holley received acclaim for leading the country for Hendon Mob worthy cashes for 2016. We counted 52 trips to the cashiers cage (almost once a week!)  He joined Ari Engel (tournament performance of the year), Maurice Hawkins (Breakout Performance), and David Peters (GPI POY) in the spotlight for poker accomplishments. Congrats John! BIERMAN NO FEAR-MAN: Steve Bierman finished day 1 of the Venetian Main 13th in chips. Day 2 he finished third in chips out of 34 left with 1.1 million. Already in the money the 34 players came back from a starting field of 676. Andy Philachack bagged 750k (10th), other notables that made it through included Jared Jaffee, Sorel Mizzi, Jeff Fielder, Ravi Raghavan, and Kevin Stammen. Unfortunately the dream came to an end in 20th place. Bierman won over 7k for his effort. Great job Steve!

PEARL RIVER: Sister Casinos,  Golden Moon and Silver Star, make up Pearl River resorts.  It's almost smack dab in the middle of the major poker population centers.  Pensacola, New Orleans, Biloxi, Birmingham, Shreveport, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Atlanta all reasonable drives away. Lots to like on the Pearl River 2017 Spring Poker Classic schedule.  Early on at least four satellites with seats added to the 100k Reentry event and the 100k Main Event.  Not to mention four separate flights for each.  There is a hole in the schedule this year with one of the big boys on the coast taking a year off from one of their mainstays, so it's time to head north... south... west... or east.

SAGER FINISHES FOURTH: Jeff Sager continued his torrid 2017 with a final four appearence at the Rio's WSOPC Reentryevent in Las Vegas. The Harrahs NOLA reg battled through most of the late stages of the tournament with short stack. He came to the final table with the shortest stack and two eliminations later had the big stack. Then he ran his pocket Aces into 88s all in preflop and the 8s got there. But he battled back again. He outlasted the universe's greatest player (link) Doug Lee but finally got eliminated when his AQ didn't improve v. AK.  Jeff won 27k for his effort.

DEARDORFF DOES IT: Former Gulfport native Kristen Deardorff won the belt at the RunGood Tulsa Main Event and 35k. This marked her first five figure score and poker series Main Event win. Deardorff won the event when her pocket 8s binked a set against Greg Jennings AK (all in preflop).

SPRING IS COMING: PEARL RIVER SPRING POKER CLASSIC: There is a new mainstay to your Spring calendar.  You don't just have  March Madness, Spring Training, and the Masters to look forward to every year now.  Also, a short road trip to the Spring Poker Classic at Pearl River Resorts.  It's back (and better).  Still two 100k Guarantees..  But now, satellites to almost every event and most with seats added to the prize pool.  Satties to the Main have already started.  Yum. This year features Pot Limit Omaha, Big O, Green Chip Bounty, an d Deepstack No Limit events.  Paul Dutsch and his crew have put together a great schedule and variety of events through the Classic.  The opener is $340 Reentry with four flights and the 100k guarantee.  If you are planning on winning their Main Event you better get here for this because that last two players to win the Main Event at Pearl River also won the reentry. Chris Davis <pictured> and Bryne Wilson" we are talking about you.  The Main Event also 100k guaranteed has an $800 buyin and four flights of action.  Complete schedule here. Also, why just watch the Masters when you can play golf at a course like Dancing Rabbit?  Rooms are available now call 601.663.1040.

BOOMTOWN HEARTLAND POKER TOUR RESULTS: FOSTER WINS: In the Boomtown Main Event, we had a number of friends deep in the tournament and at the final table.  One player we've shared time on the felt with, and heard good things about Seth Foster, prevailed for a well deserved title.  He bested Allen "the Chainsaw" Kessler in heads up action when his pocket nines faded Kessler's speed-checking pocket fives. Foster earned almost 60k for the win. He also adds the HPT bracelet to his WSOPC ring for his trophy case. Kessler pocketed a little under 40k for second (and 7 points toward the HPT POY race). Our rooting interests peaked with the 4th place finish of Jonathan Hart (Jackson, MS) who earned 18k. "Big Phil" Philip Treaudo of NOLA won 13k for 5th. Jeff Sager, also of NOLA, won 10.9k for sixth and Jason "Turk" Dursun of Biloxi won 7.5k for 8th. Great run guys. "Generous" Ed Sebesta of Richmond, TX donated all of his 25k for third to charity. Eugene Cavaceci of Ohio won 9k for seventh, and Philip Placzek of Houston won 6.5k for ninth. Hiep Doan tussled with big Phil to close out the night before the final table in a huge pot and ended up 10th. He and Ben Thomas of Baton Rouge each won 5k. Alex Dmytraczenko of NOLA and Eugene "Gene D" Dudek of GCP both won 3.7k for 13th and 15th respectively.   Even though he probably wouldn't want us to share it, we will, Gene battled through illness on day two just to play.  His first stop was to Urgent Care that morning.  He put together a great performance even if he were fully healthy.  Also cashing, Josh Mancuso (14th), Joshua Lowing (Crestview, FL 18th), John Dollinger (Gulf Breeze 21st), Dan Holmes (Lafayette 22nd), Steve Meyers (Mandeville, LA 26th), and Ky McPherson (Austin 27th). Congrats also to Judge Leo Booth, Blake Barousse, Caufman Talley, and Denis Arnault for the min-cash. (Thanks to Dan Ross of Hold'em Radio for the HPT live updates available here and for the photo above). Also, want to say a big thanks to Boomtown Casino, the HPT, the staff and dealers for putting on a first class event.  Not to mention all the GCP readers who came out to support this first time effort.  It's been a long time coming for New Orleans to have another Poker tournament and we suspect the HPT will be back.  Looking forward to it Boomtown!

BOOMTOWN RESULTS: DOAN!  MONSTER STACK ON DAY 1A: (Thanks to Dan Ross of Hold'em Radio for the HPT live updates available here and for the photo of Hiep Doan above). Day 1A had its share of brutal bustouts as 60ish players pared down to 9. The most notable elimination had to be former Main Event champion Greg Raymer bluffing off a 70bb stack to Hiep Doan just before the end of the night. The two chipleaders clashed for a gigantic pot. Raymer missed and got it all in on the river applying max pressure. Doan sitting on pocket Aces made the hero call (at that point for those stakes it's a hero call even  with Aces).  It enabled Doan to bag chip skyscrapers at a total of 564k. Jure Slavic sits in second with 177k (not good at math but looks like under a third of Hiep's total). Stephen Hastings bagged the short stack with 69.5k. Colossus champion Ben Keeline bagged 174k. Also headed to day 2, Robert Geith, Ed Sebesta, James Cain, Ky MacPherson, and Jason Dursun. WANT IN? Two more flights to be played.  $1100 buy-in Friday and Saturday at 2 pm.  Still time to jump in one of the satellites being played to get in on the cheap.  They have a couple Friday and one in the am Saturday.  Anticipating 200 to 300 players in this for a juicy prize pool.  Also, Sunday is another bounty tournament with a $300 buyin.

BOOMTOWN RESULTS: FULL MOON OVER BOOMTOWN: Andy Moon chopped the reentry event with Christopher Minton of Alvin, TX. Both players got a bit over 22k for their efforts. Michael Dunn of Katy, TX earned 11k for third. Also making the final table good buds Ashly Butler and James Arruebarrena. Butler got the bragging rights with a 4th place finish for just under 8k and Arruebarrena won 3.8k for seventh. Jovan Williams of Gretna LA won 3.1k for 8th.  Stephen OFlarity of Slidell, just missed the final table winning over 2k for 10th. Joey Wideman, another local rounder won 2k for 11th. Loads of locals and friends of GCP also cashed including Pablo Garcia-Salas of Baton Rouge, Nicholas Graphia, Philip Weinberg of Gulfport, Logan Hewett of Basile, LA, Jeff Sager of NOLA, Robbie Matthews (Baton Rouge), Chris Dupuy (Baton Rouge), John Durio and Denis Arnaut (Metairie), Chris Baudean of NOLA, Steve Meyers of Mandeville, Lacey Coffey of Biloxi, John Anderson of Dulac, Hiep Doan of Marroero, John Weems of Denham Springs, Josh Mancuso of Mandeville, Ian Crozier of Metaire, Jerry Giroir and Bruce Solieau of Lafayette LA. SENIORS CHOP: In a very young seniors field we saw a chop at the final table with 10 players getting 2k each.  Some of those young seniors who went home with 20 $100 bills; Pat McNamara, Todd Skinner (pictured with his wife and fellow poker player Renee), Jerry Giroir, Robbie Matthews, Ron Held, and Bruce Little. Robert Veazey, Stephen Hastings, Erik Sturm of Katy, TX, and James Whitaker of Destrehan also split the spoils. BOUNTY CHOP: The $200 NLHE with Bounties tournament also went to the chopping block. Nick Prejeant of Mandeville won 1500 after the chop. Doug Claybrook of Vidor, TX, John Emmet of NOLA, Mike Monaghan of Yazoo City, MS, Philip Treaudo of NOLA and Lucas Cuccia of Metairie all got a little over 1k in the deal. Wayne Krantz of Terrytown won $500 for seventh. BEERS ON HIM AS BIERMAN WINS AGAIN: The second seniors event got chopped a little different than the first. Steve Bierman won almost 3k for first. Then seven players each won a little under 1k. Captain Ron Hope orchastrated the deal and shared in the spoils with Kenneth Hughes, Lise Vige and Richard Miller all of Baton Rouge. Rozan Pitre of Cut Off, LA, David Coolman of Harvey and Tom JOnes of New Bruanfels, TX also got in the chop. Ambrose Brown of Destrehan, LA won 380 for 9th.

BOOMTOWN STARTS THURSDAY, WSOPC RESULTS: BOOMTOWN ALL IN WITH HPT EVENT: We had a chance to speak with Larry Barrett about the upcoming (THURSDAY 26th!) Heartland Poker Tour event. Hard not to get excited with the effort Boomtown is putting into this event.  Read the full interview here. Complete Schedule here. RING IS THE THING FOR JETER BROCK: Jeter Brock, one of the good guys in poker, always there with a wry and witty remark, no matter the beat he's just taken, finally got the ring he's long deserved.  He quipped to WSOP.com , "serial-min casher finally wins a ring," because... of course he did. The humble grinder just as humble in victory as defeat. Big congrats from GCP to Jeter! Very happy for you. HOLLEY NEEDS A SECOND HAND FOR RINGS AFTER VICTORY: John Holley, another good guy, won his sixth ring. The Destin pro prevailed in Event 7 to win just north of 15k. Austin Reilly of Gulf Shores, AL fell in 7th. David Knuckles of Merfeesboro, TN going for his second ring of the series went down in 5th. In the end only the competitive family man from Destin was left with chips. Congrats John! HINKLE KING OF CHOCTAW: Grant Hinkle won the massive Choctaw Circuit Main Event winning 375k in the process. Marco Palacios was one of many Texans to cash. The Austin native finished 54th joining Bob Talbot at the cashier's cage. Brennan Benglis of Lake Charles, David Baker and Steve Bierman also cashed. CASHING IN TUNICA: Congrats to Tim Burt, Captain Ronnie Hope, Josh Lowing, Tom Doussan, Ed Chevallier, Tai Cao, and the slew of Gulf Coasters who have cashed so far.

BOOMTOWN FREEBIE: The first ever Heartland Poker Tour stop in New Orleans is almost upon us.  Starts on the 26th with the first flight of a 100k guarantee. Want some more good news, they are giving away a seat into a satellite.  Want to win your way in for free?  Go here for the HPT giveaway. Hearing very good buzz about this event.  We will see you there! MILLION DOLLAR HEATER RESULTS: MLK DAY A SNOW DAY IN THE MAIN: Tara Snow of Tuscaloosa, AL bested Kyle Cartwright and John Dollinger after returning from a late night to play for the Million Dollar Heater Main Event title and 150k to first. Considering the career resumes of the three players it's not a slight to Tara to say the underdog won.  Dollinger went down first winning 50k for third, and then the mighty Cartwright fell next winning just under 79k. The night previous, local legend and motel mogul Moe Moeini was the last to fall winning 36k. A slew of traveling pros made the money, with Seth Berger, Jacob Bazeley, and Aaron Massey reaching the final table. Houston Baker of Tallahassee (6th) and Joe Laro of Opelika, AL (8th) also final tabled winning 22k and 13k respectively. John Dolan, BJ McBrayer, Tom Franklin, Jerry Giroir, Seville Hale and Josh Lowing were locals that made the final two tables. Steve Bierman and Will "Monkey" Souther both busted just shy of the money. MINI MAIN: Nussrallah a balla again. Steve Nussrallah of Alpharetta, GA won 5.8k for first place in the $1100 Mini-Main. He beat Ryan Campbell of Sebastian, FL heads up. Robert Gunter of Salem, AL finished 3rd. EVENT 13: Nick Prejean of Mandeville, LA won the event and 5.2k for first. Andrew Rust of Scott, LA finished in second for 2.7k.

MILLION DOLLAR HEATER RESULTS 6-10 EVENT 6: In the seniors event Tom Knower (pictured) of Metairie, LA prevailed over a loaded final table. Knower earned over 20k. "Fast" Lane Leblanc of New Iberia finished ninth. Henry Bord of Gadsden, AL went out 6th and then the fireworks happened. Our hearts ache for Paul Hebert of Pierre Part, LA the 5th place finisher. Paul played one of the stranger hands in recent memory. Having recnetly borrowed somebody's headphones Paul got to the river in a multiway pot with a flush.  He bet a second player called and a third player shuffled his chips for some time and finally announced he was all in.   After a lengthy "tank" the clock was called on Hebert. They counted it down and then mucked his hand.  Hebert due to his headphones had no idea the clock had been called on him or that the other player had acted by saying "all in." Hebert assumed the clock was for the other player. Rumor has it Hebert would have eliminated or crippled the other two players and had almost all the chips left.  Instead, he was now crippled and busted soon after.  Captain Ron Hope finished 4th and also missed a couple of pay jumps due to this crazy hand. EVENT 7: Jeff Trudeau of Orlando best Dustin Stewart heads up to win the 6 Max tournament. Trudeau earned a smidge under 8k for his efforts. Terry Moore of Mobile, Lacey Coffey of Biloxi, Heath Pender of Hoover, AL, and Gladys Corbin of Sylacauga, AL all made the final table. Kirk Adams, William Scarsdale, Keith Ray, and Edwin Kenny all cashed. EVENT 8: Dustin Stewart might have lost in heads up play in the 6 Max, but he prevailed in the Monster Stack tournament winning 28k. Craig Boyd of Biloxi, finished second for 15k. Gladys Corbin of Sylacauga, AL added to her Heater winnings with 9k for third. Shane Bellanger of Thibodaux, LA won 7k for 4th. Robert Harwell earned 3.9k for 7th. Jerry Giroir of Lafayette, LA won 2.9k for 8th and Brian Mock of Metairie, LA won a touch under 2k in ninth. A who's who of local players also cashed: Seville Hale, Rebecca Campbell, Charles Carragher, Jeremy Eyer, Barron Whipple, Luther Tran, Grechen Holzhauser, Ken Christopher, Jerry Stumbo, Mike Horchoff, Tom Franklin and Larry White. EVENT 9: Nathin Meyvis of Melrose, MA won 17.777k for first in the Little Monster. He beat Milwood Motley of Columbus, GA (2nd 9.8k), Hanh Nguyen D'iverville, MS (4th 4.4k), Terry Moore Mobile, AL (6th 3.1k), "Grizzled" Sam Grizzle (7th 2.5k), Reese Vines of Cantonment, FL (8th), and Nick Bowen of Pensacola (9th) at the final table. Hiep Doan, Mike Horchoff, Josh Palmer, and Ken Christopher were also among the "In The Money" players who just missed the final table. Prissy Giroir, Judge Leo Booth, Juoe Hevert, Clint Yates, D. Joan Brown, also cashed. EVENT 10: Ronald Mapes of Miramar Beach, FL won 3.7k for first in the PLO event. He had to get by Matt Lansdon of D'Iberville (3rd), Shawn Thomas of Tallahassee, FL (4th), Josh Mancuso (5th), and Milton FL's Peter Feriozzi to prevail.

MILLION DOLLAR HEATER MAIN EVENT: BJ McBrayer leads all going back to day 2 with over $164k in chips: Lots of poker players will be celebrating MLK at The Beau grinding day 2 fighting for a $150k top prize twirling up top. For those that didnt make the cut there is a one day $200 event today. These chip counts below represent the "Real Main"...not the "Mini Main" that jumped off at 4pm yesterday for an $1100 entry. Will "Monkey" Souther  78k Brian Senie 82k Jacob Bazeley  18k Ashley Butler  29k Kyle Cartwright 110k (pic) John  Dolan  66.6k (yikes) "Capt" Tom Franklin   40k Jerry Giroir   46k Robert Harwell  33k Mike Horchoff  24k Aaron Massey  51k Tim "TK" Miles  95k Jeff Sager   28k Seville Hale   80k Steve Bierman 106k

MILLION DOLLAR HEATER RESULTS: EVENT 2: Lisa Price of Olive Branch, MS won Event 2, a No Limit Hold'em one day event. Price won a little over 18k for first. Philip Weinberg, Alex Dmytrazenko of NOLA, Ronnie George, Bobbi Bailey, Ken Christopher, Lee Jones and Joshua Floyd all made the money. EVENT 3: Matt Lansdon (pictured) has a habit of winning Omaha tournaments at the Beau. He did it again besting Doub Saab in heads up action to take 9.3k. Charles Witherspoon, Will "Monkey" Souther, John Holly and Ocean Springs Paul Campo alll made the money in the Omaha 8 or better event. EVENT 4: Speaking of habits Jerry Giroir has a habit of making final tables.  Spoiler alert he'll make our next update too. Craig Boyd of Biloxi won first place and a touch over 10k. Also in the money Prissy Giroir, Ken Allison, Tom Franklin, Tony Dobyns and Vance Silva all cashed too. EVENT 5: Peter Feriozzi of Milton, FL won the Big O tournament. He earned 4.4k for first. Michael Harrison, James Henderson, Terry Moore and Michael Ferguson of Shreveport all joined him in the money.

BOOMTOWN: We are two weeks out from the first Heartland Poker Tour stop in New Orleans. For those of you still with a bankroll after the Heater plenty of options to reinvest.  For those of you without a bankroll, we got good news!  They are giving away a seat into a satellite.  Want to win your way in for free?  Go here for the HPT giveaway. Hearing very good buzz about this event.  We will see you there!   MILLION DOLLAR HEATER MASSIVE REENTRY RESULTS: Almost 2800 entrants. Almost 800k in the prize pool. Definitely an 8 way chop.  Teddy Conner of New Orleans (pictured above), Ramsey Shawaa of Pass Christian, Tim Burt of D'Iberville, Dimitry Agracho of Delray Beach, FL, Thu Tran of Biloxi, MS, Holly Meliet of Baton Rouge, and Hiep Doan of New Orleans came to an agreement and split up the loot. Phil Treaudo of NOLA finished 9th. Chris Canan of New Orleans made it to 11th. Great job everyone.  Complete results available here.  We would have posted more but with 200+ cashing we just don't have the space.

A MOOMOO, A MONKEY, A BATMAN, AN ANGRY BIRD, AND A BACKWARDS WIG ALL MADE THE FIRST FLIGHTS OF THE 600K REENTRY A SHOW: We'll drop some pictures in this spot right here in the coming days, but even if you ran bad on day one hard not to enjoy the sights of the first event.  GCP blogger Will "Poker Monkey" Souther made his long awaited return to the Beau Rivage.  Kenny "Mega Master" Milam honored his Arkansas-LSU bet with Charlie Gelvin by playing in a dress (or a moo-moo whatever that is--looked like a dress to us).  Joe Hebert dressed as Batman and arrived with his friend John Durio who came as an Angry Bird.  Joe Phelps sitting near Kenny Milam sported a backwards wig as Milam went with a lady's wig.  Check back for photos.  Also if you got some good ones send them to us.  Thanks.

JANUARY TOURNAMENTS: STARTS AT THE BEAU: The HEATER ignites Friday Jan 6th. The four flight reentry event starts at 11am. You will be able to renter each flight within the first four levels. At the end of the flight you will be in the money. We have second hand word that means on Friday you will be guaranteed ~ $500. Let's say you have one chip or not many, they will allow you to forfeit your chips and enter another flight. Sounds like you'll get $500 for the min-cash for Friday forfeits. Curious to see exactly how this plays out.   Always fun to cash the same tournament twice. HPT BOOMTOWN: Here's a link to structures, schedule of qualifiers and lay of the land for the HPT's first event in New Orleans. Some other things jump out at us. Two senior guarantee events, a bounty tournament, and plenty of ways to get into their main event. JETSETTERS DREAM: If the idea of traveling local to play poker is too convienent for you. Perhaps, you need a break from the cold. The Pokerstars Championships commences in the Bahamas. No longer part of the defunct European Poker Tour, Pokerstars is attempting to totally rebrand the event. Which means the name PokerStars Carribbean Adventure has also been put in mothballs. They are offering 92 events over... nine days. An umlimited reentry super higher roller with 100k buy-in, a 25k highroller series, and plenty more big bankroll curiosities dot the schedule.  Guessing only a few of you will be booking travel to this one this year.

COUSHATTA WINTER CLASSIC 2017: Alan Cramer from Beaumont, TX takes the "Cheese" in Kinder last weekend: The gang up in Kinder fired their last Tourney series during the Holiday week between Christmas and New Years. They ran multiple Day 1's for this one with the Day 2 being last Friday on the 12/30. At the end of then day Alan Cramer from Beaumont, TX took the score and headed back across the state line. Alan won $13k+ for 1st place...other winners are below: Logan Hewitt  $9660 Desmond Scott  $7726 JamesThomas $6569 Lain Mann $5410 Brennan Benglis $4230 Homer Hinson $3090 Dona Tacone $2300 Others who came away with a cash are: 12: Frank Nabors   $1350 15. Jeremy Tinsley $1150 20. Gerald Miller $960 23. Robert Cole  $770 30. Bruce Souileau  $580 Local Poker Couple and friends of GCP Jerry and Prissy Girior both score a min-cash for close to $400 Please check out a great article written by Ben Saxton about local Poker Player Ashley Butler: Great Read!

BOOMTOWN BABY! The Heartland Poker Tour is coming to New Orleans.  We hope this becomes a permanent stop on the schedule.  Looks like there is going to be a lot of reasonable buyins and some big prize pools.   Really excited Larry Barrett and the good folks at Boomtown are bringing the well regarded HPT to add to the options for tournament poker players in the region. Here's the schedule on the Heartland Poker Tour website. Boomtown is on the West Bank, a short 10 to 15 minute drive, uber ride or taxi from the French Quarter. They have a $20 million hotel that opened in 2015 with suites and a fitness center. During the tournament they are offering rooms Sunday-Thursday for $59 a night and $89 for Friday and Saturday night. Calll 504.366.7711 to book. Poker tournaments and promotions can be found here. They include freeroll tournaments, splash the pots, high hands, Aces cracked and more.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! A BANG, AND A BOOM TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2017: GCP wishes all of our readers the best possible close to the year. We hope you've enjoyed the holidays and if you got the chance to spend them with your family, we hoped you survived. Great things to come after the first.  The New Year starts out with a BANG as the Million Dollar Heater commences at the Beau Rivage. The massive multiflight reentry event is a low buyin bankroll booster. Big time cash up top in that first event and a lot of action and variety through the Main Event on the schedule.  See our facebook for the complete schedule.  Go here and give us a like while there. Word out of New Orleans is a new player has come to the table and there will be a big tournament at the end of the month. Hint: Heartland Poker Tour. Double Hint: BOOM-town! We'll have their schedule up and more details in the coming days.

YEAR END LINK DUMP: TRUMP CARD: Trump not Sheldon Adelson's chump? That's the hope in the online poker world. There is a chance the new President, despite his Vice-President elect's draconian stance on the matter, may be open to online poker and online gaming. It's a business he explored getting into himself recently and he used to host the U.S. Poker Championship at his Taj Mahal (a one time "major" tournament on the calendar). He's also had close ties to poker and poker players on his shows in the past. Pokernews tackles the speculation of where he will come down on this issue  here. While on the subject of Trump, let's not forget he delivered the ultimate slow roll to Annie Duke in the finals of Celebrity Apprentice, which is in retrospect given her involvement in numerous poker scandals is SUPER gratifying.  WSOP DATES: The schedule has been fully released but here's some information generally about the World Series next summer. Go to Cardplayer for more on the information that has been released. DRAMA BOMB: Earlier in the year we relayed a story about Mike Dentale trying to fold when his opponent (a friend) was all-in for less than his big blind. Seems like he's just one of those guys who "attracts" drama as now he's in a twitter beef with fellow social media hot taker Cate Hall. The end result?  A heads-up grudge match to be televised on Poker Night in America.  If you got some time to kill and are interested in how things got heated head over to 2+2 for the details. DON'T BEAT THE CASINOS AT THEIR OWN GAME: A federal judge has ruled against Phil Ivey in his edge sorting case. He and his companion will have to pay back nearly ten million to the Borgata. The debate can be made whether or not what he did constituted cheating, but what has to be troubling to "professional gamblers" was the wording of the decision affirming that any time a gambler gains an edge on the casino they are basically voiding a contract with the casino.     In effect the contract a gambler affirms when he steps foot inside a casino is that he will be playing at a disadvantage to the house and agrees to lose money either slowly or quickly. If you gain any sort of edge, you void the contract, and they don't have to pay you. Do the permutations in your head, and you can see the Pandora's Box of defenses this could open up to benefit the house not paying out. Perhaps, the most interesting aspect of this story, despite Phil Ivey being involved, is his companion "Kelly" Cheung Yin Sun's devotion to getting revenge on the casinos, leading her to find and exploit a defect in the cards. Go here for those details.

THE HEATER IS ALMOST HERE: Highlights from schedule the Beau Rivage's biggest poker event of the year: The $355 No Limit Hold'Em reentry event has two flights Friday Jan. 6, and two flights Saturday Jan. 7. With a 600k guaranteed prize pool this will be a monster turnout. Expect them to smash the guarantee as they always seem to do. Also, look out for the seniors 50k guarantee, a Monster Stack 50k guarantee (with two flights), a four flight Little Monster event, and then a 300k $2700 Main Event with two flights. Complete Schedule Here.

PEARL RIVER MAIN EVENT: WILSON WINS... AGAIN: The Pearl River Main Event came down to three players and a familiar script. Last go around Chris "CD" Davis, a diehard Bama fan, won the Reentry event and then got a double by taking the Main Event after a chop. Chris Davis just missed the final table, but fellow Bama fan Bryne Wilson checked all those boxes (having won the reentry) to accomplish the same feat. Wilson who won the Ante Up magazine cover and an entry into their Championship event humbly deferred to his two competitors even in victory. After a long final table the three way action stalled. Certainly, the accomplishments of Jeremy "The Chemist" Gaubert and Russ Head seemed to indicate one of them would prevail. However, after an even money chop was offered by the chipleader, with Wilson getting the lagniappes ,the three struck a deal. Bryne Wilson, Tuscaloosa, AL $22,280 Jeremy Gaubert, Thibodeaux, LA $22,280 Russ Head, Rome, GA $22,279 Jonathan Wisbey, New Orleans, LA $10,925 Robbie Matthews, Baton Rouge, LA $9,344 Ralph Reid, Meridian, MS $7,906 Lyle Walker, Baton Rouge, LA $6,469 B.J. McBrayer, Tuscaloosa, AL $5,031 Chip Ervin, Tuscaloosa, AL $3,594 James “Mousey” Davis, Jackson, TN $2,731 Charles Davis $2,731 12. Perry Brown, Brandon, MS $2,731 13. Chris Canan, New Orleans, LA $2,300 14. Jonathan Hart, Jackson, MS $2,300 15. Chris Davis, New Orleans, LA $2,300 16. Anne Champlain, Jonesville, LA $1,869 17. Barry Schultz, Arlington, TN $1,869 18. Curtis Miller, Houston, TX $1,869 19. Richard Jentzsch, Norris, TN $1,438 20. Dilsad Mergler, Baton Rouge, LA $1,438 21. Amanda Hayes, Jackson, MS $1,438 22. Brook Swink, Columbus, MS $1,438 23. Thuy Djedjos, Jackson, MS $1,438 24. Steve Bierman, New Orleans, LA $1,438 25. Cody Pack, Cartersville, GA $14,38 26. Jerry Giroir, Lafayette, LA $1,438 27. David Chocheles, New Orleans, LA $1,438 While that was going one, the final one day event wrapped up with these results: PEARL RIVER POKER OPEN - Ante Up Poker Tour Event #9 - No-Limit Hold'em Buy-in: $160 Entries: 49 Prize Pool: $6,440 1. Epheium Shelton, Ridgland, MS $1,510 2. Lemuel Nix, Sylycaugha, AL, $1,510 3. Tara Snow, Piedmont, AL, $1,509 4. Lee Breeland, Canton, MS $1,509 5. Christopher Torres, New Orleans, LA $426 6. Jerry Girioir, Lafayette, LA $200 As always, a first class event run by Tournament Director Paul Dutsch, his crew and Pearl River Resorts. See you guys in the spring.