The poker room at the MGM Mirage opened on Monday with 23 tables, a waiting player pager system and special parking for poker players. Patrons visiting the MGM's state of the art poker facility will find a well thought out room designed to provide the utmost in player comfort and convenience. Now, the MGM is not only the largest hotel in the world; but, it can also boost about operating the most technically equipped poker anywhere. Early customer response is quite favorable and the room has done a brisk business. The real test of a poker room is the length of the waiting list. Most players want to sit in full games; especially, those with a good mix of tourists. I will review the room in the near future and fill in more of the details.

Concerning the article below covering the Las Vegas Review-Journal's "2005 Best of Las Vegas" and the "Best of the Worst," I can now offer a personal experience why one of the runner-ups received so many votes. The readers voted Sprint Corp., my cell phone carrier, as the second place finisher in the "Worst Customer Service" category. So bad, Sprint almost unseated the perennial winner, the Nevada DMV. Only a 5 vote difference. I now understand how Sprint got this dubious honor. I have a Sprint cell phone, only a few months old, that has never really worked as designed or advertised. I tried to replace it at the Sprint office where I signed up, even offering to pay any difference, since the phone has a nasty habit of randomly turning itself off, a battery that may hold a charge for a couple of days or a couple of hours, you never know; but, I was told I would have to select from one of the sprint service center on the map they handed me complete with a "have a nice day!" Of course, I choose the office closest to my residence, checked the hours of operation and drove there the following day only to be greeted by the "greeter" and informed that their only tech had left early and would not return until Monday morning. I again tried to trade my worthless phone for something that might work and again offering to pay any cost difference; but, to no avail. Nothing could be done until the "Lord God Sprint Techie," had personally verified that I wasn't making this stuff up. I returned on Monday and, yep, no tech. The greeter told me the "tech" was sick and would not be there for the entire week. When I complained, he pointed out the store Manager and told me to take my complaints over there; which, I did. The young manager told me to come back tomorrow. I pointed out that his employee had just told me no tech until the following week so the manager said I could go to another location and they may have a tech. While the the two huddled I quietly slipped out the door. I'm thinking I need to find another carrier so will probably go with Verizon since they have a customer satisfaction rate four times better than Sprint. BTW, if anyone from Sprint reads this, I am a vested former staff employee of AT&T Bell labs, I have degrees in engineering and am probably qualified to determine if my cell phone is or is not working.

Sorry for the venting but I've had it with no-service, service people and I must warn anyone that is considering Sprint Cellular to look elsewhere if you consider your time valuable. Furthering my agitation with this cell phone thing, everytime I say I'm leaving to get the phone problem resolved the Prof gives me an over/under line on my being successful. The score so far is Sprint 5, me 0 so he now reminds me that the definition of a stupid person is one that continues to do the same thing over and over, each time expecting a different result. I'm beginning to believe he might be wise beyound his years. As far as the sprint phone goes, I'm thinking I may offer it as one of the bounty prizes at the next Blogger tournament, knock out the Prof and you get to throw it into the Volcano at the Mirage in a rather well promoted and reported public celebration. Hell, maybe a live web cast of the event.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The local newspaper here in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, offers newspaper readers an opportunity to vote on the "Best of Vegas." Categories range from the expected (Best mall, Best Hotel, Best Tourist Attraction) to the unexpected (Best of the Worst Awards). Many of the winners are perennial repeats, i.e. best strip hotel-The Bellagio, while some are not only a surprise, but how they won is a complete mystery, i.e. best tacos-Taco Bell? Click on over to the Review-Journal for some laughs and an insight into how the locals view their town.

The Wynn Resort is counting down the final days to the grand opening scheduled for April 28th. The public will finally be admitted to the property at midnight after a previous week of exclusive coverage by Vanity Fair Magazine. Steve Wynn followed this same scheme for the opening of the Bellagio. Vanity Fair, in exchange for the exclusive first look, will publish a Steve Wynn profile this summer as the feature lead-in to the Wynn Las Vegas issue. We will not have photos of the joint until the media is allowed on the premises. Rumors in the street are saying the new joint easily outclasses anything Vegas has ever offered.

Don't forget that we have the photo gallery of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio Resort available. Our photographer covered every event, every day of the 12 day tournament. Our poker photo library grew by more than fifteen hundred photos taken at the Rio. It also provided LasVegasVegas.com with a dress rehearsal for the upcoming 2005 World Series of Poker. I've lived in Las Vegas for more than thirty years and there isn't much short of the nut flush that gets the adrenalin flowing; but, the World Series of Poker never fails. Those that have never been to the big show should do themselves a favor and make it to Vegas for some of the events. Most of the stars of poker are easily accessible to their fans, never failing to pose for a photo or sign an autograph. The twenty-four hour festive atmosphere of the WSOP is worth the trip.

I will continue to remind everyone to check out our latest project, PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

A final sad note: las Vegas is mourning the loss of local TV news anchor person, Polly Gonzalez. Polly died in an automobile accident on Monday. Polly has been a member of the Las Vegas media and an anchor person on Television Channel 8 for more than a decade.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another day, another poker article, and this one, surprisingly, is positive. I came across this article from the LA Canyon News describing the collegiate poker championships for 2005. The nationwide series of tournaments will pit college against college and conference against conference in the Open Poker Championship; until, they have the "National Nine (tm)." The final table showdown will be held right here in the poker capital of the universe, Las Vegas. The idea of a College Poker Championship series was the brainchild of Craig Tapscott and Chadwick Pelletier, founders of the U. S. Collegiate Poker League. Click on over for details to register and compete in the 2005 Collegiate Open Championship. Play good poker, catch a little luck and you'll be looking at the lens of my camera when you are crowned the Collegiate Poker Champion on national TV.

The event has attracted corporate sponsors so players will have an opportunity to collect additional prizes such as scholarships, computer systems, electronics, clothing and much more. The Canyon News' article had the following paragraph that I found quite positive to the sport of poker and its effect on the young players learning and playing the game. I quote from the Canyon News:

"No college-mom ever thought poker would be such a great influence--teaching their kids how to strategize, plan, manage money and solve complex problems, not to mention the psychology involved while playing the player and not just your cards. Sounds like the day-to-day challenges of running a business and every day life."

Dr. Pauly, Tao of Poker, is in Vegas taking in all the college basketball action and some poker. We had a fun time and a great dinner at the Palm Steakhouse in the Forum Shops at Caesars. Included in the dinner mix was Poker Grub, Pauly, the Senor, the Poker Prof and myself. Everyone gave Dr. Pauly a hard time about ordering a 'burned' prime filet. I lugged the camera around all night so got a photo of the blogger ensemble posing outside the restaurant.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First off, Dr. Pauly is in town and I had an opportunity to spend some quality time bar-hopping with him on the Strip. I'm sure he'll have a write-up that will far exceed anything I could produce so watch Tao of Poker for the lowdown. A detail of note: beer at the Excalibur bar is 25 cents cheaper then at the Caesar's Palace Sports Book bar.

I ran across...EV's massive post which includes a look at table selection and a very cool photo of the Borgata to boot. Badblood has a philosophical look at success, inspired by Iggy and Maudie. If you want more information on Flipchip's legal witch-hunt post below, check out liquor in front, poker in the rear for a massive post of the topic. Linda is always adding quality content posts and I want to give another thank you to bloggers linking to PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The poker tournament schedule for Las Vegas is filled right through the 2005 World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel and Resort. The tournamnet action is everywhere in Vegas, the strip, off-strip and downtown. The tournaments bring all the professional players into town so we will be there with our coverage from the first, "put the cards in the air," to the final all-in.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday odds and ends while I rest from the 12 straight days of long hours at the WSOP Circuit tournament at the Rio. I shot more than a thousand photographs of the event and the best are now available in the 2005 WSOP Circuit at the Rio Gallery.

Congratulations to Gary Thompson for his promotion to director of the World Series of Poker. He has been with Harrah's for five years and his new duties include managing all operations and communications for the WSOP. He will be the liaison for ESPN, the broadcaster of the series. Thompson is a former writer and editor for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

We continue to put in long hours with our newest project, PokerPlayerNewspaper.com. Click on over for all the poker news and information one could want. The new website is the latest addition to the poker publishing empire of Stanley Sludikoff. PokerPlayerNewspaper.com joins with Poker Player Magazine and the Gambling Times website. Stanley was the first to publish a magazine dedicated to the gaming industry and poker when he introduced Gambling Times in the early seventies and he has published a poker dedicated publication ever since.

While catching up on my reading I ran across this article detailing the evils of allowing poker to be legally played in a private business establishment. I guess the Salem trials continue even today. The local brain trust, Police Chief Walt Meyers, says that allowing this despicable practice to become legal would "potentially" fuel an increase in police calls for, and I quote the Salem Statesman Journal.com article, "cheating, robberies, license violations, fighting, or illegal forms of gambling activities." Additionally, he warned," high-stakes poker games could attract robbers, professional cheaters and organized crime." I would like to help out the Chief so I did a little research and have to add the following to his list of people atttracted to high-stakes poker: professional poker players, ESPN, WPT, NBC, WSOP and Hollywood 'A'-list celebrities. Although the Chief did not indicate how he would handle the crime wave if they allow businesses to host poker games I wonder if he is considering bringing back the infamous ducking chair to determine if someone has become evil as a result of playing poker?

I have pondered what Chief Wiggams Meyers is presenting as fact and applied it to Las Vegas. The Nines this week list the advantages of making poker illegal in Vegas. This week's Nines...

The top nine benefits realized from outlawing poker in Las Vegas.

9. No more 911 calls for nasty paper cuts from playing cards.
8. Clean air...sales of evil poker books goes to zero, so no need for book burnings polluting the air.
7. All those criminal professional poker players will have to get a real job.
6. Convert poker rooms to "Cop Shops."
5. More money for FOP bingo.
4. No more robbers.
3. No more organized crime.
2. Smaller jails.
1. And the biggest benefit, No More Crew!

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Photo Gallery is up and available for the World Series of Poker Circuit tournament at the Rio. We have selected more than a hundred photos from the twelve days of the event and placed them into the gallery. We are now planning our coverage of the next major tournament in Las Vegas, the Third Annual 5-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio. This WPT sanctioned event will start on March 31 and continue through April 24. I always enjoy covering tournaments at the Bellagio.

Barrick Gaming's Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas will host the Plaza World Poker Classic tournament beginning April 20th and running through May 17th. The final event will be a $50,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em affair. I will be most interested in the number of entrants this ultra high buy-in tournament attracts. Will the stars of poker fill the room? Guess we will have to wait and see if they make this a success. Downtown is always a fun change of pace from the Vegas Strip. Seems to have some of the old style Vegas character mixed into the oft' gritty Fremont Street crowd.

And fianlly, the grand daddy of all poker tournaments, the 2005 World Series of Poker, will kick off at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Resort on June 3 and continue everyday through July 15. The 2005 WSOP promises to be a record setting affair for entrants, money and fans. The facility at the Rio will be much larger and capable of accomodating the large crowds of spectators, players and media that attend. Much nicer than the old, nostalgic home of the WSOP, Binion's Horseshoe (Binion's) in downtown Las Vegas. The final two days of the Championship event will move to the Horseshoe for a final time in celebration of centennial of Las Vegas. Make your plans now to attend this most colorful of all poker events.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas crowned its latest champion on Wednesday evening. The Canadian Super Bomber, Doug Lee, of Calgary, Alberta bested the field of 222 entrants to claim the championship and first prize of $695,970 plus the gold WSOP Championship ring. Coming into the final table Doug was seventh in the chip count with $166,000 and started the final table with a rush, winning the first two pots. He built his chips then took the chip lead when he went all-in and with J,J and was called by Grant Lang, final table chip leader, holding 10,10. Doug's pair of Jacks held up and he doubled up while Grant was severely crippled. The only large pot Doug lost was to Gabriel Thaler who made Nines full to Doug's Sixes full. Even though he doubled up Gabriel he remained the chip leader.

Jennifer Harman eliminated Grant when she called his all-in and made a full house when her pocket deuces tripped up on the river. Second in chip count coming into the final table was Jean-Robert Bellande, an aggressive, verbal player. He enjoyed playing a large stack of chips right up to being eliminated in third when he went all-in after the flop and was called by Doug Lee holding the nut straight. A bit of poetic justice for Lee since Jean-Robert had chosen Lee as his target in a one sided verbal sparring match that continued for most of the evening. Jean-Robert was eliminated in the third spot and received $210,900. The final two players, Doug Lee and Jennifer Harman, went heads-up for the championship. Doug had a commanding chip lead with $1,694,000 to Jennifer's $527,000. Jennifer did manage to double up but couldn't overcome Lee's lead. The crowd having been quiet and subdued for most of the day, finally showed life signs during the heads-up play and loudly cheered each hand. Jennifer was the obvious crowd favorite. The diminutive lady played like a giant until the final hand. She went all-in with pocket Queens and was called by Doug Lee, holding a 9,10. The flop was 10,K,2 giving Doug a pair of Tens to Jennifer's Queens. The turn brought a 4, no help to either player. The river was another Ten giving Doug Lee a set of tens and the championship. Jennifer Harman finished second and wins $383,840. The final hand was dealt at 10:30 pm.

Doug Lee said during the WSOP interview following the awarding of the championship that he had worn the same "lucky" shirt for the four days of the final event. When asked about some of his bold calls he replied, "That's why they call me the super bomber, I have an unpredictable, aggressive style of play that's hard to read." Jennifer said he was the most difficult to read player at teh final table.

A complete list of the final table finishers and the prize money can be found at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com. The World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio has concluded. The events are finished with winners determined. The $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Event has its champion, Canadian Super Bomber, Doug Lee. The WSOP Circuit tour moves on to its next stop in Reno. We had a great time covering this event and appreciate the accommodations and courtesies extended to the media. Many thanks to Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, and all the staff of the Rio, the WSOP and the ESPN crew.

Finally, be sure to check the ESPN schedule for the telecast dates of this event. It will good poker with some of the more colorful professionals of the game. Anytime you have an event with Jean-Robert "Action Bob" Bellande at the table you get your money's worth.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UPDATE: I'm entering the finishers from the WSOP Circuit Main event into the PokerPlayer Newspaper Tournament Results as they are eliminated. [-Prof]

The final table is set for the World Series of Poker Circuit to crown a champion tomorrow at the Rio. I stated in the previous article that the third day of play would continue until six players remained for the TV table. Wrong! The play was to continue until nine players remained. Wrong again! The play was stopped when ten player were left after tournament management agreed to allow ten players to make the TV show.

The 27 players from the second day began Tuesday at noon and shortly after the players returned at 8:30 from a hour and a half dinner break before 9:00 pm we had our final table. The following list of ten players will start play on Wednesday at 2:00 pm before a live audience and the cameras of ESPN. The action will continue until only one player remains with all the chips and a chair:

Player/final table seat number/final table starting chip count

1. Grant Lang, seat 4, $436,500

2. Jean-Robert Bellande, seat 6, $315,500

3. Gabriel Thaler, seat 2, $278,900

4. Kevin Keller, seat 7, $221,000

5. Tony Macey, seat 5, $201,000

6. Jennifer Harman, seat 3, $174,000

7. Doug Lee, seat 1, $166,000

8. Phil Ivey, seat 10, $142,500

9. Tony Ma, seat 8, $126,000

10. Dennis Perry, seat 9, $91,000

The winner will receive $695,970, second place gets $383,840 and third place receives $210,900. The Chip leader coming into the third day, Tom Schneider, was eliminated early in the third round. T.J Cloutier was eliminated when his pocket Queens were over-paired on the flop by the A,Ko of Canadian Super Bomber, Doug Lee. Jennifer Harman, the only female professional to survive to the final table, added to her stacks of chips throughout the day with consistently tough play. Phil Ivey survived some close all-ins to make the final table under the watchful eye of his father, Phil Ivey Sr. John-Robert Bellande was up and down most of the day until he finally pulled away with some gutsy bluff raises and a couple of lucky catches. His table banter provided the fans with plenty of entertainment, even though it probably gave his opponents a headache. Rene Angelil, Celine Dion's husband, went out on the TV table bubble after going all-in with his big slick and losing to Thaler's 7,10o when the flop paired the tens and Rene got no help.

Tomorrow promises to be a great day for some exciting big-money poker. I previewed the ESPN WSOP Circuit set and can report that it is first rate. The table is improved over the 2004 WSOP TV table and features a suede armrail, hidden rail cameras and the popular rabbit cam. The show is free and the public is invited to sit in the audience and watch all the action close-up and live. Seating is limited so plan to come early for the 2:00 pm start time in the Pavilion at the Rio Hotel.

Click the continue reading below for an action shot of the players making the final table.

Additional photos of the Championship final table of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second day of the WSOP Championship event at the Rio finished this evening after 27 players remained from today's starting field of 72. Play completed early in the evening shortly before 9:00 pm. The 27 surviving players will return on Tuesday for a noon start to determine the lucky six that will make the TV table. ESPN will film the final table play on Wednesday for later broadcast on the sports network. The three tables of players include professional's T.J. Cloutier, Jennifer Harman and Phil Ivey. Another familiar face at the tables was Rene Angelil, husband of singer Celine Dion.

The end of day #2 had chip leader, Tom Schneider, with $239,000 followed by Grant Lang holding $184,300. T.J. Cloutier is third in the chip count with $175,300. Professional player, Tony Ma, had amassed a stack of $172,900 and the Canadian Super Bomber, Doug Lee, had $94,300 after going all the way down to $1,500 on the first day before clawing his way back into contention. Well known player, Phil Ivey, continuously massaged during today's play, remains in the hunt with $81,500. Rene Angelil ended the day with $71,300; while Jennifer Harman, the sole surviving female, was holding $48,800 in chips.

The event will pay the top eighteen players as follows:

PRIZE MONEY:

1. $695,970
2. 383,840
3. 210,900
4. 168,720
5. 126,540
6. 105,450
7. 84,360
8. 63,270
9. 42,180
10. 29,525
11. 29,525
12. 29,525
13. 25,310
14. 25,310
15. 25,310
16. 21,090
17. 21,090
18. 21,090

Tuesday will see the twenty-seven players seated and the cards in the air at noon. Play continues on Tuesday until only six players remain. The action will probably be fast and aggressive, if today was any indication. Late in the evening on Monday the play became much more aggressive and bold with someone all-in most of the time. The players do tend to tighten up once they are close enough to smell the money; but play aggressively to get one of the final table seats.

Those wanting watch some exciting poker from close-up should make their way to the Rio on Tuesday or Wednesday. See all of the action as the players compete to win the money and a seat on TV.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The final event of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Resort began Sunday at noon with 222 hopefuls sitting down to play No-Limit Hold'em Poker. Many of Poker's best known professional players and certainly some of the more colorful characters put up the $10,000 buy-in money for a chance at the first place prize money of $695,970. The first day of play saw the field cut to 72 players after six levels of blinds were played. The survivors will return on Monday at noon for the next round of play. Many of the professionals that began the Championship round were chipless, chairless and gone at the end of day #1. Conspicuous by their absence are the following professional players...Jeff Shulman, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Miami John Cernutto, Scotty Nyugen, Paul Phillips, Men Nyugen and Joe Awada. The day's play was completed before 10:00 pm.

A selection of photos from day #1 are available in the continue reading section below. A gallery of photos from the tournament will be available soon after the conclusion of the Championship event on Wednesday.

More photos from Day #1 of the $10,000 Championship Event.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First a big thank-you to my fellow bloggers that have already linked up Poker Player Newspaper. Hank has a another strategy post up, this time on the theory of sucking-out. Next up Max has a short post up about Hussler's poker pictorial's:

After Playboy, it's Hustler's turn to have a feature article about poker. In the March 2005 issue, Hustler tells the story of some of the most popular women of poker. Jennifer Harman, Evelyn Ng, Mimi Tran, Marsha Wagonner, all answered few questions. There are also few nice words about Jill Ann Spaulding, familiar to many poker players because she will show at many tournaments as the Playboy Playmate. In the pictures there is also featured Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert and Clonie Gowen. All of them with clothes on.
Evelyn said in the article: "I know people try to label me as an Anna Kournikova type," Ng acknowledges, "but I'm not trying to whore myself out. I don't care about fame. I want to win at poker and make money."
That is real funny stuff. The real question is: when is she going to be featured on the cover of Playboy? It would the best seller issue in the history of nude magazines. How many poker players would buy that? Very close to all of us.
C'mon Evelyn there is nothing wrong of selling yourself and it seems you are doing a great job at it. I do not blame you either. Life is short and you need to grab every opportunity that you can. If Playboy or Hustler offers you 100k or more, go for it you may become the new Paris Hilton.

This was of special interest to me, check out page 13 of the April 2005 issue of Playboy to get the details on why.
My thoughts this week are with Felicia, get well soon.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Saturday in Vegas, town crowded with tourist, the eve of the WSOP Circuit Championshiop event over at the Rio. The last day of super satellites for seats in the main event. A major local tournament at Texas Station Casino. A freeroll $200,000 tournament with 2080 entrants who qualified by playing fifty hours in a Station property card room. Four shifts of 520 players vying for the $50,000 first place money. Second place will receive $20,000, third gets $10,000, fourth $7,500, fifth $5,000, sixth $4,000, seventh $3,000, eighth $2,500, ninth $2,000and tenth $1,500. One thousand dollars goes to 11th through 20th place and the remainder of the money pays down to $100 for 300th. Everyone that qualified for the event received $25 and a hat. Chip leaders of each of the four groups after the first day split up $5,000. Not bad free money for fifty hours of poker play. The tournament will conclude tomorrow after a final table is determined and will then play until a champion is crowned. Texas Station poker room manager, Mike Doe, is the tournament Director. Tomorrow's finish begins at noon in the Dallas conference room.

The Ladies' International Poker Series in association with the WSOP Circuit tournament held its event Saturday at the Rio. The $200 Buy-In No-Limit tournament attracted 153 players. The one day event lasted just over ten hours before the last hand was dealt. Teresa Getti of Denver, Colorado won the $9,300 first place money when she called Irene Diaz’s all-in bet. Irene of Miami, Florida showed an A,3c to Teresa's K,6s. The flop was 7,2,3 all red giving Irene a pair of Treys. The turn was a Queen and the river was a Six giving Teresa a pair of Sixes and the win. In addition to the prize money she also received a paid entry into the 2005 $1,000 Buy-In Ladies WSOP Event on June 26th at Harrah's Rio Casino in Las Vegas, NV plus a trophy and WSOP Circuit necklace. Second place finisher, Irene Diaz received $5,130. The top three was rounded out by Rachel Morris of Lakewood, California in third and taking home $2,820.

The LIPS final table order of finish follows:

1. Teresa Getti Denver, CO $9,300

2. Irene Diaz, Miami, FL $5,130

3. Rachel Morris, Lakewood, CA $2,820

4. Cedra Reskourc, Las Vegas $2,255

5. Debbie Burkhead, Las Vegas $1,690

6. Karla McKelson, Las Vegas $1,410

7. Maureen Blatter, Helena, MT $1,125

8. Ann Zigler, Oakdale, PA $845

9. Christy Combs, Charsworth, CA $565

Sunday is the first day of the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em World Series of Poker Circuit Championship event. The tournament will be played over three days with the final table filmed by ESPN for TV broadcast. Got time on your hands and need something to do then come to the Rio before the noon starting time and register for the event. A great opportunity to get some face time on national television and maybe take home the prize money expected to be in excess of a million dollars for first place.

While watching the ladies play while husbands and boyfriends cheered them on I realized how exciting it would be if your girlfriend made the final table and also how disappointing if she got eliminated early. The Nines covers the ways to know your girlfriend is probably not going to win the tournament. This Week's Nines...

Note: I am aware that any one of the professional lady players are quite capable of winning in any competition, male of female. Just ask those all those tough playing guys that fell to the aggressive genius of Annie Duke.

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The last scheduled event before the $10,000 Championship of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio in Las Vegas ended this evening with Keith Naughton of Lemoyne, PA defeating David Knauff of Evansville, IL for the championship. The final hand between the two players was dealt at about a quarter of ten this evening. Winner Naughton called Knauff's all-in bet. Naughton showed a 9-10d while knauff had pocket Treys. The flop was A-10-7 giving Naughton a pair of Tens, the turn was a Q and the river was another Seven. Keith Naughton collected $115,880 for the win and David takes $63,905 second place money back to Illinois. Scott Williams finished third after continually using his cell phone to call the poker God and ask for just one more favor. He received $35,115 for his efforts after apparently using up all his lifelines. The complete listing of the final table follows with the starting chip count ranking of each player coming into today's action is in parenthesis after the names.

A complete listing of the event can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.com.
1. Keith Naughton (4) Lemoyne, PA $119,700

2. David Knauff (7) Evansville, IL $63,905

3. Scott Williams (2) N. Las Vegas $35,115

4. James Van Alstyne (3) Las Vegas $28,090

5. Jeff Wilson (5) Colombu, OH $21,070

6. Steve Schlotterbeck (10) Pittsburg, PA $17,555

7. Wooyang Lin (1)Morristown, NJ $14,045

8. Connie Kim (8) Las Vegas $10,535

9. Tex Morgan (6) Ocean Park TX $7,025

10. Eric Hicks (9) Scottsdale, AZ $4,915

James Van Alstyne left in the fourth spot after his Ace paired with the flop; unfortunately, for James the caller was also holding an ace with a bigger kicker. I had an opportunity to chat with James for a few moments after his departure from the final table. He is a very private person and one of the best mannered, laid back professional players on the circuit today. Of note, his poker specialty is Omaha H/L Split and when I asked him who he considers to be the world's best Omaha H/L Split player he quickly replied, "I am." Many people would agree with him.

Saturday is more $200 + $25 buy-in Super Satellites with unlimited rebuys the first three levels starting at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm for seats in the $10,000 buy-in Championship event on Sunday. In addition to the satellites there is a ladies only Hold'em no limit tournament on Saturday with a start time of 11:00 am. Play will continue until one player remains in this one day event.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, Bill an ever demanding fellow blogger wanted an RSS for poker player. Well, yours to demand mine to provide I always say, so here is my first Poker Player RSS Feed which according to this feed validation site is totally error free.

This is a very basic feed, but I'll build on it. It's beginning to feel like I'm writing my own blog software... which makes me wish I'd asked a fellow blogger for his :)

Posted by pokerprof at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The fifth event of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Resort here in Las Vegas has concluded and the winner is J.C. Tran, professional poker player from Los Angeles, CA. He beat Dustin Sitar of Ft Worth, TX for the first place money of $97,470 and the WSOP Circuit gold championship ring. Dustin is forced to accept the second place Prize of $53,755.

J.C. enjoyed the final table chip lead for most of the evening after arriving at the final table in the number 5 chip count spot. Rookie, Dustin Sitar, a Las Vegas native now living in Ft Worth, Texas held the chip lead briefly before finally succumbing to the aggressive play of Tran. Jeffrey King finished in the third spot and received $29,535 in prize money. A complete listing of today's event #5 and all the events of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio can be found at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The $1,500 + $70 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament attracted a field of 203 players and collected a prize pool of $295,365. David Plastik arrived at the final table in the number four chip count spot and finished in ninth place.

The sixth event of the tournament, $2,000 + $80 buy-in No Limit Hold'em, got underway today at noon and will conclude with the final table on Friday, March 18th. James Van Alstyne had the chip lead with 22 players remaining. Tom McEvoy, 1983 WSOP Champion, remained in the hunt wearing a daring green shirt for St. Patrick's Day. At the same table was Ron Rose, the first WPT Champion of Champions winner. Friday and Saturday are Super Satellite Days with satellites for a seat in the $10,000 Championship event to be filmed by ESPN. The satellites will begin each day at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Saturday will also feature a Ladies No Limit event with a $200 + $30 buy-in starting at 11:00am and continuing until a winner is decided.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Todays the day! The welcome sign is out! It's finally time to let the cat out of the bag!

Drum Roll Please...

LasVegasVegas and the Poker Prof's Las Vegas and Poker Blog in association with Poker Player Magazine take great pleasure and pride in announcing the roll out of our latest project. An all new, all poker website...

The Poker Player Newspaper website offers everything you want to know about the exciting world of Poker...real time, all the time. Daily feature articles from Poker Player's staff writers, Articles from the Poker Player's columnist, instant reports posted directly from the tournament floor, the same great photographs you have come to expect from the Poker Prof's Blog giving you an in-your-face ringside seat to all the action, historical poker archives as only Poker Player can provide (remember Poker Player has been providing coverage of the poker industry for a quarter of a century), professional player profiles, card room directory, tournament results data base, live video feed from the Bicycle Club and a very special section, the Player's Compendium of Poker Lore will be filled with anything of interest from the world of poker...stories, anecdotes, little known facts, whatever. The project was designed from day 1 to provide easy navigation while retaining the look and feel of Poker Player Magazine. A Simple click of your mouse will take you to all the poker information you'll probably ever need. Projects of this magnitude are by their very nature never finished and are forever morphing to the next level, so I wish to extend a most cordial welcome to everyone to visit Poker Player Newspaper today and everyday for all the latest in the world of poker. The Poker Prof continues this welcome with the following description of site features and some of the more technical backend details driving everything, so read on...

I've been busy the past couple of months on a new web site, which I hope will be worthy of my fellow bloggers links and support. The site is for the venerable publication Poker Player Newspaper, and is 100% lovingly hand-coded, right down to the crown-molding electrons and filigree pixels. So, here is a brief walk-through on my latest project.

Section 1: The Poker Player Online Overview

• The Header...Features
  
  
  
  • Back-link Breadcrumb trail (shows you exactly where you are with links to higher levels in the hierarchy)
    
  • Navigation menu  - Links to all the primary sections of PPNP
  
  
  
  
• The Left Column...Features
  
  
  
  • Download for the current issue of Poker Player
    
  • Navigation for:
  • i. Columnists
  
  
  • ii. Articles
  
  
  • iii. Player Profiles (Biographies)
  
  
  • iv. Contact Poker Player
  
  
  • v. Advertising Rates
  
  
  • vi. Poker Link Directory
  
  
  • vii. Live Video Feed (The Bike)
  
  
  • Tournament Calendar
    
  • Select a City for poker tournaments
    
  • Top three finishers from the 3 most recent events in the database (all events are hyperlinks to the complete listing)
    
  • Poker Lore of the Day (a random selection from the Player's Compendium of Poker Lore, refreshed daily.
    
  • Player Profile of the Day...A Player Biography Refreshed Daily
    
  • Card Room of the Day...A Card Room from the database, refreshed daily
  
  
  
  
• The Right Column
  
  
  
  • Advertisements
  
  
  
  
• The Footer
  
  
  
  • Site Navigation
    
  • Fine Print
  
  
  
  
• The Main Body
  
  
  
  • Changes Based on the Module
  
  
  
  

Section 2. The Modules

Section 3. The Article / Columnist module

Section 4. Poker Tournament Results

Section 5: Upcoming Tournaments and Events

From this section there are two basic areas, the listing directory and the tournament calendar. 

1. The Poker Tournament Listings module...This section will ask for a city, once the city is selected then you can customize the tournaments shown by buy-in, card room, game and dates. A list will be displayed with every event found that meets your criteria.

2. The Poker Tournament Calendar...This Section asks for a city then a month and year.  Once selected, you can refine the display to only show those events that meet your criteria as outline above for the tournament listings.  Dates on the calendar can be clicked on to get the complete tournament listing for that page.

Section 6. Player's Compendium of Poker Lore

a. The Poker Lore area has two primary navigation bars, a top bar to display only lore beginning with a certain letter and a side-bar to display lore by topic.  Each lore item has an option to display the complete record for that entry, which will display all the accepted submissions for that entry.  The individual poker lore entries also have an option to submit a revision which will take you directly to the poker lore update form for that lore item.

b. While in the poker lore section every page has a link in the up left hand corner of the main content section to Submit new Lore.  This opens the poker lore submission page where you can either select an existing lore entry or create a new lore item by typing it in.

NOTE: Typed text overrides any selected entry, so if you intend to update an existing lore entry make certain the new lore field is empty, or select the lore item you wish to update from its display entry as noted above.  Once you've selected or created your lore name, just provide the entry text, a photo if you have one and you name and email if you would like to be credited and notified of the status of your submission.  An editor will review each submission and the approved selections forever become a part of the Player's Compendium of Poker Lore.

Section 7. Poker Player Profiles

Section 8. Card Room Directory

Section 9.Poker Links

Posted by pokerprof at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

A marathon final table finally ended event #4 of the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit Tournament just before midnight when Andy Bloch defeated David Sternbaum to take down the $1,000 + $60 Limit Hold'em event. Andy picked up $25,495 for his win and his first WSOP Circuit champion's gold ring. David goes away with $14,162 second place money. The final table began at 4:00 pm and was soon down to three players. The three remaining players went at each other for three hours with the chip lead often changing on every hand. Aitan Hillel, the chip leader coming into the final table, was eliminated in third place and received $7,789. This left Andy Bloch and David Sternbaum heads up for the championship. The event attracted 73 entrants and we were now down to the final two.

The final hand saw chip leader, Andy Bloch, with a Qh-3h against David's J-9o. Andy raised David all-in before the flop. The flop showed a 10-Q-2 giving Andy a pair of Queens. The turn brought a 9 to pair David and the river was a 6. Andy's pair of Queens bested David's Nines and gave the tournament victory to Mr. Bloch.

The final table results complete with the starting chip position indicated by the number in parenthesis following the name is shown below.

1. Andrew Bloch (2) Las Vegas $25,492

2. David A. Sternbaum (3) Houston, TX $14,162

3. Aitan Hillel (1) Los Angeles $7,789

4. P.T. Hayes (4) Las Vegas $5,665

5. Minneapolis Jim (7) St Paul, MN $4,955

6. Paul Kroh (9) Battle Mtn, NV $4,250

7. Naresh Gahi (6) New York $3,540

8. J.J. Liu (5) Palo Alto, CA $2,830

9. Sam Lewis (8) Las Vegas $2,125

Event #5, $1,500 + $70 buy in No limit Hold'em, was under way in the tournament area at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Resort. Notable professionals playing in the event included Ron Rose, Men 'Master' Nguyen, David Plastik and Scotty Nguyen. The final table for event #5 will start on Thursday, March 17th, at 4:00 pm.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The third event of the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Resort played the final table this evening, March 15. The final hand was won by Asher Derei of Las Vegas when his pocket Ace paired on the flop and defeated an all in John Barbieri of Runnymead, New Jersey. The two players had been going heads-up for more than an hour before the last hand was dealt. Las Vegas professional player, James Van Alstyne, finished in third place after he lost the lead and most of his chips when a river eight made a straight for Asher to beat Van Alstyne's flop paired King.

The following list of the final nine players includes their chip position (indicated by the number in the parenthesis following the name) coming into the final table along with the prize money won.

1. Asher Derei(3) Las Vegas $93,120

2. John Barberi(1) Runnymeade, NJ $51,216

3. James Van Alstyne(2) Las Vegas $26,390

4. Blair Rodman(4) n/a $20,370

5. K D Adams(6) Las Vegas $17,460

6. Leon Kunkel(5) Miami, FL $14,550

7. David Levi(7) Las Vegas $11,640

8. Johnny Landreth(8) n/a $8,730

9. Sam Grizzle(9) Las Vegas $5,820

Today's victory was the first WSOP Circuit event for Asher Derei. Along with the cash he receives the gold championship ring. The final table began at 4:00 pm and play continued for more than 4 hours before the winner was crowned.

Event #4, $1,000 + $60 buy in Limit Hold'em, got under way at noon today with the final table scheduled for 4:00 pm tomorrow. Among the notable professional players spotted in this event was Max Pescatori, Minneapolis Jim, Dan Alspach and Andy Bloch.

The following 'official report' from World Series of Poker Media Director, Nolan Dalla, covers the details of the final table and the official order of finish for event #3.

2005 World Series of Poker
Las Vegas Circuit Event
Rio All-Suites Casino and Resort
Daily Report

After many years and several other tournament wins, Israeli-born poker pro wins Rio's Limit Hold'em championship

Every poker player has a unique story, all his own. Behind every poker face, there are distinctive human characteristics that make every poker decision the appendage of a long chain of life's experiences. But there are players who truly stand out. Asher Derei's story is just as captivating as it is unique.

"I started playing poker in Israel," Derei said. "There were house games every Friday night. There were so many games. I came from a kibbutz and we didn't get a lot of money. Our parents would send us money, but it wasn't very much. So, I was helping my allowance from the kibbutz by playing poker."

Derei's fascination with the game continued when he joined the Israeli Army. "We used to play no-limit and five card draw between attacks," he said. "The (enemy) would attack us every day at certain times, and when we weren't fighting...we were playing poker. You wait for hours between attacks. You have to do something...otherwise get bored to death. This is how I became experienced and learned how to play poker."

Derei moved from Israel to Europe and enjoyed several tournament successes, including championship wins in Holland, England, and elsewhere. But bigger pots were to be found across the Atlantic. Derei came to the United States primarily for one reason...to play poker. Since most of the biggest tournaments, including the World Series of Poker, took place in the U.S., it was natural for Derei to relocate. He settled down in Los Angeles and continued to achieve success at the tables.

Yet, for all of his cashes and final tables, the one thing that had eluded the 52-year-old poker pro had been a title at the World Series of Poker. When play commenced at Event #3 at the Rio Las Vegas WSOP Circuit, Derei was the clear crowd favorite. He came to the final table third in chips, but he was outgunned by formidable chip-leader John Barbieri by almost 4 to 1.

On Day One, 291 players were eliminated. Places 10 through 27 were paid prize money in amounts ranging from $1,745 up to $3,490. On Day Two, nine players returned for the final table and were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place...It didn't take long for the action to start. On the very first hand, two players were eliminated. Lovable Sam Grizzle was low on chips and moved 'all in' with 9-6 (top pair) after the flop came 9-5-3. Johnny Landreth (second lowest in chips) thought he had a monster, since he had 3-3 and flopped a set. Trouble was...the chip leader John Barbieri had 5-5 and flopped a bigger set. It was a nightmare start for both Grizzle and Landreth. Blanks fell on the turn and river and, before anyone had settled in their seats, two players were eliminated and it was down to the final seven. South Carolina-born Grizzle walked away in a daze with $5,820 for 9th place.

8th Place...John Landreth suffered one of poker's worst indignities. Losing with 'set over set' is as painful as it is disheartening. Instead of tripling up and becoming a force at the final table, Landreth instead was forced to hit the rail. Landreth, from Alabama won a tournament in Tunica, MS last year and will certainly be someone to watch in future WSOP Circuit events. He collected $8,730 for 8th place.

7th Place...The quick win gave John Barbieri an even bigger chip lead. He crossed the $300,000 mark before the next player was eliminated. Another Israeli-born poker pro, David Levi came in third lowest in chips...and was knocked out in sequential order. Levi was playing with few chips and made a raise from the small blind with K-8 hoping to steal the blinds and survive another round. Fellow former-countryman Asher Derei had Q-9 called and flopped a Queen. Levi was gone before you could say 'Lehitraot.' He received $11,640.

6th Place...Leon Kunkle, from Miami, Fla., went out next. Kunkle who plays mostly online and has won a few local tournaments, was short on chips and made his final stand with 8-9 suited. James Van Alstyne had an Ace and called the modest sized raise and picked up an Ace on the turn which left Kunkle crackled and drawing dead. Kunkle earned $14,550 as the 6th-place finisher...not bad for two days of poker playing.

5th Place...K.D, Adams made a nice run. Out-chipped by the table captain Barbieri by nearly 10 to 1 throughout, Adam survived two hours before being bounced out of the finale. Adams picked up A-5 and tried to take the blinds with a raise but was covered by Barbieri with 9-9. An unnecessary Nine fell on the turn for a full-house, destroying Adams' final hopes of a comeback. A Las Vegas local, Adams made $17,460 for 5th place.

4th Place...This was Blair Rodman's second final table at the Rio. He appeared in Event #1, making him the only player to make two final tables. Rodman was cheered on by supporters but failed to bring home a crowd-pleasing victory. He finally ran out of steam when he was short on chips and was hammered by James Van Alstyne's pocket Aces. Rodman picked up a draw on the river but failed to hit, so he was out. Rodman collected $20,370 for 4th place.

3rd Place...The final table essentially took place in two distinct phases. The first phase consisted of the elimination of the first six players. Stage two was the three-way battle between Barbieri, Derei, and Van Alstyne. The chips went back and forth for over an hour, with Barbieri maintaining his chip lead most of the way. He started with $266K against Derei with $177K and Van Alstyne with $167K. Van Alstyne nearly broke Derei when his Q-8 paired on the turn against Derei's flopped top pair (Nines). Derei was left with a paltry $40K and looked to be the next elimination. But Derei is certainly resilient. Twenty minutes later, he doubled up twice and put Van Alstyne back into third chip position. A key hand took place when Derei had 10-9 of hearts and moved 'all in' after the flop came Kh-Jh-7. Van ALsyne had top pair with Kings. Derei missed his flush but spiked an Eight on the river, good for a straight. That was perhaps the key hand of the tournament. Van Alstyne went out a short time later with K-J of diamonds after two diamonds flopped. John Barbieri had pocket Nines, which held up. James Van Alstyne, who has made three WSOP final tables and other tournament wins, received $26,194 for third place.

The heads-up duel between John Barbieri and Asher Derei lasted about 15 minutes. Barbieri, a high-stakes player from Atlantic City was not as widely known in tournament circles as the more experienced Derei. Nevertheless, Barbieri was in control of the final table until the very end, when his chip lead vanished and he ended up short on chips. On Hand #139 of the final table the last chapter was closed when Barbieri was dealt Q-9 against Derei's A-9. The final board was massive overkill, showing A-7-4-9-x...good for two pair for the winner. As runner up, Barbieri received $51,215.

Asher Derei caught one big break at the final table (making the straight when play was three-handed) but also demonstrated the depths of his experience and game knowledge. Analogies between 'poker and life' and 'poker and war' may be cliched and overused, but Derei clearly won the battle on this day. The spoils of victory included $93,120 in prize money and the gold ring, awarded to every WSOP Circuit event winner.

Mazal Tov, Asher!

Report by Nolan Dalla...World Series of Poker Media Director

Rio Poker Room Manager...Michael Matts

Posted by flipchipro at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The second event at the World Series of Poker Circuit tournament is complete and we have our winner. Yohahes Muruz was the chip leader coming into today's final table and he never looked back He defeated Steve Rosling for the win in the $1,000 + $60 buy-in Limit Hold'em event. Yohares receives $40,855 from the prize pool of $113,490 while Steve Rosling leaves with $22,700 for second. J.J. Liu rounds out the top three with her third place effort and takes down $12,485.

Today's final table began at 4:00 pm and was over in less than three hours. A complete list of the final table players (chip count rank coming into the final table is indicated by the number in parenthesis following the name) is in the order of finish.

1. Yohahes Muruz(1) $40,855

2. Steve Rosling(7) $22,700

3. J.J. Liu(5) $12,485

4. Mike "Shoes" Gambony(3) $9,080

5. Rod Brown(2) $7,945

6. Frank Ryan(4) $6,810

7. Gavin Smith(6) $5,675

8. Mark Gregorich(9) $4,540

9. Frank S Fein(8) $3,405

The win today is the first WSOP Circuit Championship taken by Yohahes Muruz. In addition to the prize money he receives one of the WSOP Circuit Gold championship rings. We will post the complete listing and play-by-play from Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, once available.

Today's event #3 is a $1,000 + $60 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament. Three hundred players began at noon today and will play down to the final table nine, then return tomorrow, March 15, for the final table starting at 4:00 pm.

The following 'official report' from World Series of Poker Media Director, Nolan Dalla, covers the details of the final table and the official order of finish for event #2.

2005 World Series of Poker
Las Vegas Circuit Event
Rio All-Suites Casino and Resort
Daily Report
March 13, 2005

Event #2
Limit Hold'em
Buy-in: $1,000 (+60)
Number of Entries: 117
Total Prize Money: $113,490

Official Results:

1. Yohanes Muruz Las Vegas, NV $40,855
2. Steve Rosling Portland, OR 22,700
3. J.J. Liu Palo Alto, CA 12,485
4. Mike "Shoes" Gambony Scottsdale, AZ 9,080
5. Rod Brown Lubbock, TX 7,945
6. Frank Ryan Sag Harbor, NY 6,810
7. Gavin Smith Guelph, ONT (Canada) 5,675
8. Mark Gregorich Las Vegas, NV 4,540
9. Francois Sfeir Canyon Country, CA 3,405

Yohanes Muruz Torches Foes in Final Table Finale

One of poker's most alluring qualities is that the game manages to attract players of all creeds and colors, of all backgrounds and ethnicities, and people from the most diverse geographic range imaginable. Players born in Vietnam, Armenia, Iran, Spain, Indonesia, Canada, Costa Rica, Korea, Switzerland, France, England, Germany, Norway, Holland, Ireland, China, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Greece, Pakistan, India, Denmark, and Sweden have succeeded on the American poker scene and have even won World Series of Poker championships. Now, the long legacy of international poker superstars adds a player born in a small country in northeastern Africa that was once part of Ethiopia, called Eritrea.

Yohanes Muruz, a native of Eritrea, now lives in Las Vegas. He topped a challenging field of 117 players in the second event of the Rio's World Series of Poker Circuit. Muruz won first prize in the $1,000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event, which included $40,855 in cash and a gold ring, which is given to each WSOP Circuit event winner. Muruz, who plays mostly in cash games, has enjoyed several big wins during his impressive poker career, including paydays in excess of $100,000. But this was his first victory in a WSOP event.

Judging by the throngs of onlookers inside the Rio, Muruz was the clear crowd favorite. He came to the final table with the chip lead, lost it momentarily, and then regained his advantage en route to his victory. On Day Two, nine players returned for the final table and were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place Francois 'Frank' Sfeir came in with one of the lowest stacks and couldn't generate any momentum during his short stay. Desperate to double up, Sfeir made his final stand with K-6 suited and watched with disappointment as Steve Rosling faded his last bet and made a pair with 10-9. Sfeir, a 49-year-old salesman from California who routinely plays $100-200 Limit Hold'em and higher, said he has aspirations to "win the big one." Ninth place was the best he could do on this day...worth $3,405 in prize money.

8th Place Mark Gregorich was the other short-stacked player coming into the finale. The Card Player magazine columnist and master strategist who is widely respected for his game knowledge played A-Q on his final hand, but ran into Gavin Smith's pocket Kings. Gregorich had outs drawing to the Ace overcard, but it failed to materialize. Gregorich, who has made numerous final tables and routinely beats some of the toughest games in Las Vegas, had to settle for 8th place and $4,540.

7th Place Gavin Smith is easy to find inside any public card room. All you have to do is listen for him. In the middle of Day One, the brassy Canadian could be heard complaining to anyone who would listen that he was desperately short on chips and did not expect to last. But he not only lasted, he made it to the final table with a decent number of chips. Then, after his only highlight (busting Gregorich), Smith faded out like a burnt match. He was 'all in' with A-Q and went up against the chip leader...Yohanes Muruz, holding K-7. A King fell on the turn, knocking out Smith, who made it into the money at last year's WSOP main event. For his 7th place finish at the Rio, Smith collected $5,675.

6th Place Frank Ryan, a building contractor from New York State, was working on constructing a chip castle...which eventually was hit by the wrecking ball. Ryan had a dismal last half-hour at the final table, unable to win a pot of any significance. His worst beat took place when he had pocket Kings and ended up losing to a straight. With the blinds and limits rising, Ryan tried to make a stand with Q-10 but ran into Rod Brown's A-Q. Ryan was drawing slim. The board gave neither player a pair, which meant the A-Q was good. Ryan, who plays mostly in home games, could certainly be proud of his performance in this event. He received $6,810 for 6th place.

5th Place One of the key hands of the tournament took place when Steve Rosling, Mike "Shoes" Gambony and Yohanes Muruz got involved in a huge three-way pot. There were four bets on the flop (a bet and three raises), three bets on the turn (a bet and two raises) and a bet and call on the river. Shoes Gambony showed down a 'wheel' (A-5 straight) and scooped the monster-sized pot. For an instant, Gambony was the chip leader. But all glory is fleeting. Texan Rod Brown found this out shortly thereafter when he was dealt A-K on his final hand, made a number of raises and was clobbered by Shoes Gambony's A-A. When an Ace fell on the turn, Gambony had Brown's last chip. Brown, who owns property in his hometown of Lubbock, earned $7,945 for 5th place.

4th Place However, the shoe would soon be on the other foot. "Shoes" lost a few key pots, saw his temporary chip lead vanish, and got kicked off the final table when he took A-10 up against Muruz's K-Q. Muruz made a pair of Kings on the turn, which ended Shoes' chance for victory. Mike "Shoes" Gambony, who has made two WSOP final tables in the past, added $9,080 to his poker bankroll.

3rd Place J.J. Liu became the highest woman finisher on the WSOP Circuit so far this year when she made it to third place. Liu, originally from Taiwan, now living in Palo Alto, Calif., maintained a moderate stack size throughout her three-hour stay in the finale. She picked her spots carefully and was always a force to seize the chip lead. However, Liu could not overcome the odds on her final hand when she was dealt 5-5 against Steve Rosling's A-8. Rosling made a pair of Aces, and Liu was eliminated. Liu, who sells real estate in the Bay Area, took home $12,485 for 3rd place.

When the heads-up duel between Yohanes Muruz and Steve Rosling began, Muruz enjoyed a decisive 6 to 1 chip lead. He never was in serious danger of losing his advantage. In fact, it took Muruz only about 15 minutes to close out the victory. On the final hand of the tournament, Muruz was dealt Q-10, which completely dominated Rosling's 10-8 suited. The situation went from bad to much worse for Rosling when the flop came K-9-2...giving Muruz not only a huge advantage but making it nearly hopeless for Rosling. A Jack on the turn and an Ace on the river ended the tournament, giving Muruz the nut straight.

Steve Rosling, the runner up, played very well and could be proud of his $22,700 in prize money. Rosling has previously cashed and won events at the Pot of Gold (Reno) and Spirit Mountain (Oregon). The 30-year-old poker player from Portland is certain to be someone to watch on the tournament trail in the months ahead.

But this night, from the very start, belonged to Yohanes Muruz. He arrived with the chip lead, survived a slight scare at one point late in the tournament, regained his advantage and ultimately deserved to triumph after many years in the trenches of poker.

Muruz, age 40, has a number of impressive performances on this poker resume. He won one of the largest tournaments in history (up to that point) when he conquered a field in excess of 1,000 players in 1999.

Report by Nolan Dalla...World Series of Poker Media Director

World Series of Poker Tournament Director...John Grooms
World Series of Poker Circuit Director...Ken Lambert
Rio Manager of Tournament Poker...Robert Daily
Rio Poker Room Manager...Michael Matts

Posted by flipchipro at 1:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The First event of the World Series of Poker Circuit event being hosted by the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Resort here in Las Vegas is in the book. Dave Taylor defeated final table chip leader, David Tran, for the win and his first WSOP Circuit champion ring. Dave Taylor of Aruelia, Ohio won $113,965 for his victory and David Tran from Los Angeles goes home with $58,821 second place money. Samuel Schenker of Las Vegas completed the top three and takes $29,410 for his efforts.

The event began at noon on Saturday, March 12th, with 379 entrants paying $1,000 + $60 for their seat. Play continued until approximately 6:00 am Monday morning when only nine players remained. After the all-nighter the players returned to the final table at 4:00 pm and within two hours we had a winner. Taylor was the chip leader by a 2-1 margin when heads up play began with David Tran. The final hand saw Tran go all-in with a K-10 and was called by Taylor's 10-4. The flop paired Taylor's 4 and offered Tran nothing. The turn brought a 10 giving Taylor two pair to Tran's pair of 10's. The river was a blank giving Taylor his first ever major tournament win.

The action continued on Sunday with the $1,000 + 60 buy-in Limit Hold'em event scheduled to play down to the final nine, then return today for the final table. Today's 3rd event is a $1,000 + $60 No Limit Hold'em event. The $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship event will begin play on Sunday, March 20, 2005.

Continue reading below for a complete list of players and a tournament play-by-play from the WSOP's Media Director, Nolan Dalla.

2005 World Series of Poker
Las Vegas Circuit Event
Rio All-Suites Casino and Resort
Daily Report
March 12, 2005

Event #1
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-in: $1,000 (+60)
Number of Entries: 379
Total Prize Money: $367,630

Official Results:

1. Dave Taylor Aruelia, OH $113,965
2. David Tran Los Angeles, CA 58,821
3. Sam Schenker Las Vegas, NV 29,410
4. Dan Pugliese N. Hollywood, CA 25,734
5. Sean Habibian Las Vegas, NV 22,058
6. Larry Tull Irvine, CA 18,382
7. Blair Rodman Las Vegas, NV 14,705
8. Robert Roter Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 11,029
9. Mitch Mitchener Bonner, KS 7,353
10. Jason Gillins 4,412
11. Mark Magazu 4,412
12. Wooyang Lin 4,412
13. Dan Alspach 3,676
14. Armando Fernandez 3,676
15. Airy Phanhyaseng 3,676
16. William Schmitz 2,941
17. Orlando Romero 2,941
18. Matt Weber 2,941
19. William Wetzel 2,206
20. Richard Gutierrez 2,206
21. Lance Allred 2,206
22. Greg Cash 2,206
23. Tom Stein 2,206
24. Aaron Sandusky 2,206
25. Dmitry Savelyev 2,206
26. Ron Campbell 2,206
27. Richard Kirchnavy 2,206
28. Thomas Pniak 1,471
29. John Waddell 1,471
30. Robert Farrell 1,471
31. Randy Trainer 1,471
32. Phillip Hayes 1,471
33. Scott Clements 1,471
34. Rene Medina 1,471
35. Glyn Banks 1,471
36. Larry Satterwhite 1,471

David Taylor Cements WSOP Victory:
Ohio concrete contractor attends Las Vegas convention, enters poker tournament, wins gold ring and $113,965

Most Las Vegas conventioneers leave town poorer than richer. In fact, only a small percentage of 'tourists' actually win money. The number of convention visitors who have come to the gambling capital of the world and have won a World Series of Poker event is likely zero...at least up until this day when a 35-year old concrete contractor stunned the poker world by winning his first-ever poker tournament.

David Taylor, who plays mostly $20-40 limit hold'em in charity games back in Ohio, arrived in Las Vegas over the weekend to attend the National Ready Mix Association National Convention. He couldn't help but notice that the WSOP Circuit was taking place at the Rio Casino. How convenient. Taylor bypassed the chance to spend Saturday afternoon milling around cement mixers and listening to sales pitches in favor of a far more glamorous form of amusement. That turned out to be a wide decision, indeed.

Taylor topped a highly-competitive field of 379 entries in the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event, which was the first WSOP circuit event to be played here in Las Vegas. Following two successful circuit stops in Atlantic City and San Diego, the Rio Las Vegas hosted WSOP Circuit number three. The final 36 players were paid, in amounts ranging from $1,471 up to $113,965 for first place. On Day Two, players returned for the final table and were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place Mitch Mitchener arrived at the final table with the lowest chip stack, just 15,000. With blinds at 2,000-4,000 he had to make a decision very quickly. Unfortunately, Mitchener didn't catch a break on his initial 'all in' raise and failed to double up. Mitchener, who won a limit hold'em tournament at the Legends of Poker recently in Los Angeles could do no better than 9th place in this event. He received $7,353.

8th Place Robert Roter, a 51-year-old poker pro from Southern California has a large number of impressive tournament finishes...including payouts at the California State Poker Championship, the Bellagio, and the Commerce. He arrived at the final table tied for third in chips, but was never able to gain enough momentum to be a force. On his biggest hand of the night Roter was dealt 10-10 and enjoyed a slight pre-flop lead against Dan Pugliese, holding two overcards...A-J. But the board went from bad to worse and finally showed A-J-K-J-A for any number of full-house combinations. Roter sure didn't like seeing five overcards and the board double-paired. It was massive overkill. Roter went out a short time later and collected $11,029 for 8th place.

7th Place Blair Rodman, a longtime poker pro and gambler (and soon to be poker author...he is writing a book on tournament strategy) has been at many final tables. Unfortunately, this one would turn out to be a disappointment. Rodman came in vulnerable in the chip count, and was desperate to make something happen. He tried to pull off a bluff from the blind with a re-raise (holding J-5) after Dan Pugliese made a standard raise from the button with A-K. This time Pugliese had the goods. The A-K held up and Rodman hit the rail as the 7th-place finisher...good for $14,705.

6th Place Larry Tull, who works in management from Irvine, CA, was eliminated about an hour into Day Two. He made his final stand with A-J which was steamrolled by David Taylor's A-K. A Jack was about the only card that could save Tull, which failed to make an appearance. Taylor's A-K played for high card and Tull was gone. He earned $18,382.

5th Place Iranian-born Sean Habibian, who now lives in Las Vegas, is a 33-year-old professional gambler. Habibian, mostly a middle-limit player, made a nice run by moving up four spots on the money list. Eighth in chips coming into the finale, Habibian looked to be in a good spot to move even higher when he was dealt A-Q suited and made an 'all in' raise. However, this proved to be a mistake as his hand was dominated by A-K. The life-saving Queen failed to appear for Habibian, who had to settle for 5th-plce prize money -- $22,058.

4th Place Brooklyn-born Dan Pugliese, now a Hollywood television producer, has been playing hold'em for only two years. He has certainly mastered the game very quickly. Pugliese now has several final tables at major poker events (eight, by his count). He was grinded down to the lowest stack and made his final stand of the night with K-J. When David Tran called the raise with J-J, Pugliese was essential down to just a few outs needing a King. Once gain, the underdog hand failed to bark, and another player was eliminated. Pugliese, who plans to retire soon and play poker full time, added $25,734 to his poker bankroll.

3rd Place Another east-coast transplant was Jersey City-born Sammy Schenker, who now lives in Las Vegas. Schenker won the $2,500 buy in Limit Hold'em event at the Bellagio's Five-Star Classic last year. Schenker arrived second in chips in this event and looked to be the main threat to seize the chip lead away from David Tran, who up to this point had the most chips at the table. But Schenker took a tough beat on his final hand and sormed away in disappointment. Schenker had Q-Q and was 'all in' against David Taylor, holding A-J of hearts. When two hearts flopped, the biggest pot of the night to that point was at stake. The turn helped neither played, but then a heart rained down on the river, a crushing blow to Schenker. The 29-year-old poker pro (he routinely plays $30-60 up to $80-160) walked away with $29,410.

One might assume that Dave Taylor's biggest break came when play became short-handed and he managed to win the remaining chips. But in reality, Taylor probably never should have made it so far. When the final table was eight-handed, Taylor was getting short-stacked and decided to make a bold stand with 6-6. That turned out to be nearly disastrous, as he ran head first into pocket Queens. Taylor was down to basically two outs, desperately needing one of the two remaining Sixes in the deck. Remarkably, a Six flopped and Taylor not only lived to see another day, he literally rose out of the ashes and destroyed everyone else in his way en route to his first tournament victory.

At three handed, Taylor then managed another miracle catching the third heart for the flush to eliminate Sam Schenker. By this time there was no stopping a roaring freight train. It was quite simply...Taylor's day.

When the heads-up duel between Taylor and David Tran began, Taylor enjoyed a 2 to 1 chip lead. He never was in serious danger of losing his advantage. Over the next few minutes, Taylor won a few more chips with more aggressive play and decided to call David Tran's 'all in' raise, a last desperate attempt to derail the 'Taylor express.' Tran was a huge favorite with K-10 against Taylor's 10-4. But, in this case '10-4' really did mean 'over and out.'

The final board showed A-5-4-10-Q...good for two pair (10s and 4s) by Taylor. Tran had come to the final table with the chip lead and played as well as possible under the circumstances. But in the end he was simply run over by a flurry of cards by Taylor. Vietnamese-born David Tran, tutored by one of poker's top pros, David 'Dragon' Pham could be proud of his performance. The LA-based player officially received $58,821 as the runner up.

Meanwhile, David Taylor was ecstatic about his first major tournament win. "I managed to catch a lot of cards today," he admitted afterward. "But I played great and this feels so good to win."

When asked what he plans to do with the prize money, Taylor said he has three daughters at home, "who will sure tell (him) what to do with the money."

Indeed, David Taylor came to Las Vegas to attend a cement convention and ended up with over a hundred grand in cash and a gold ring. While most of the tourists on his flight home later this week will lament losing a few hundreds dollars at the slots, Taylor can be proud that he has something concrete to show for his time in Vegas.

Report by Nolan Dalla...World Series of Poker Media Director

World Series of Poker Tournament Director...John Grooms
World Series of Poker Circuit Director...Ken Lambert
Rio Poker Room Manager...Robert Daily

Posted by flipchipro at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Poker season is official here in Vegas with the World Series of Poker Circuit over at the Rio underway and back to back major series and events from now until the end of the World Series of Poker World Championship Main Event in July. Now this week Felicia brings us a tureen filled with poker wisdom and some memorable images. Next Max has a new post up with his odds-making for the final table at the Bay 101, a quick excerpt:

Gus Hansen + 150 (3/2) Oops he did it again. But the final six is not his objective. Gus will have a big edge on the table especially if Men Master, short, is eliminated quickly. It will be very interesting to see if the novices players under the tv lights will let him dictate the pace of the table. I think this will happened and will give Gus the clear advantage to win another one. He has 24% of the chips in play.
The only one with 3 WPT titles, can he make it 4? Big favorite.

Men "Master" Nguyen + 700 (7-1) Here is one player that I have experience playing against (the closest I got to Gus as a opponent was in table tennis, and he beat me in a close match). Men is not afraid to gamble and he's also use to play under the lights. I truly believe Men plays much better under pressure and if he can double up and then steal few blinds he'll have a good shot to win.

$5 tourney
Sunday. March 13th
9pm EST
Name of tourney: WPBT HORSE Tournament

Wednesday, March 30th
$20 + $2 - No-Limit
Poker Stars - Private tournament tab

Be sure to hit Iggy's blog for bonus codes and passwords.
Now for the truly geeky (Badblood this means you)check out Linux and Poker for a look at poker software on the Linux platform.
Finally, the funniest post I've read in ages comes from the mind of Obituarium, read the play-by-play commentary from Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten on Obituarium's recent tournament experience and be prepared to bust a gut laughing.

Posted by pokerprof at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Binion's Horseshoe officially changed ownership on Thursday and the name Horseshoe for the first time in more than fifty years is no longer a part of downtown Las Vegas. The historic landmark casino was acquired from Becky Binion Behnen, daughter of Horseshoe founder Benny Benion, by Harrah's Entertainment and reopened April 1st, 2004. Harrah's then sold the property to MTR Gaming Group of Chester, WV. MTR also owns and operates the Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas. Harrah's had a contract to manage the property that expired at 12:01 am Thursday. Harrah's Entertainment retained the Horseshoe name and the World Series of Poker. They acquired Horseshoe Gaming Holding Company, owned by Benny's son Jack Binion, in 2004 for $1.45 billion giving Harrah's the exclusive rights to the Horseshoe trademark.

MTR Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Roger Slepelak, said the property, now named Binion's, would be revived in the style and spirit of the original 54 year old casino. One of the first things they will do is reopen the popular hamburger grill located near the poker room. Slepelak went on to say the property is planning poker tournaments to replace the departed WSOP and the tournaments will follow the rich tradition set by Benny Binion. The casino chips will be replaced with the new Binion's chips over the next few days and all of the table covers were replaced with the new Binion's logo covers Thursday morning. The exterior Horseshoe signage will be replaced over the next few months.

The World Series of Poker, a hallmark event for the downtown property for the last thirty-five years, has permanently relocated to Harrah's Rio Hotel and Casino just off the south Las Vegas Strip. Las Vegas major, Oscar Goodman, negotiated a return to the Horseshoe for the final two days of the 2005 WSOP Championship event as a part of the city's bicentennial celebration. This year's $10,000 championship hold'em event is anticipated to have a prize pool in excess of $60 million and rumor says the entries will be capped at 6600.

In other Las Vegas news the Gaming Control Board needed only two hours to unanimously vote for license recommendation for Steve Wynn's Wynn. property. Wynn has one final step remaining in the permit process, Approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission, which will take place later this month. The $2.5 billion strip resort complex is scheduled to open April 28th. One of the hotel's features is a 28 table poker room in the world's most palacious surroundings.

For anyone that is around Las Vegas this weekend and have not noticed the extra hundred thousand autos, three hundred thousand extra people, more motor homes than Winnebago, lines of people waiting to get into lines and the overpowering smell of burning rubber mixed with booze and need a reminder that this is NASCAR week at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. if all the above doesn't remind you then we have prepared a list of ways to know it is race week in Vegas. This week's Nines...

Top Nine ways to know it is NASCAR week in Las Vegas.

9. Service stations offering regular, premium or nitro.
8. All casino slot jackpot winners get a complimentary supercharger.
7. Coffee shop special, roasted roadkill.
6. Chewing tobacco sales are off the charts.
5. Most heard pickup line, "Yo baby, want me to tweek something under your hood?"
4. A Hard Rock stretched limo finishes in third place.
3. The guy in front of you in the fast food drive up line looks like Rusty Wallace; wait, it is Rusty Wallace.
2. Your neighbor paints his house to look exactly like Kurt Bush's race car.
1. Vegas hookers offering famous "burning rubber special."

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NASCAR crowd is crowding into Vegas for the big weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Estimates say three hundred thousand NASCAR fans will be here for Sunday's Diamler Chrysler 400 race. Saturday will be the Busch Series Sam's Town 300. Las Vegas roads, especially around the race track are already jammed with traffic. Hotels are full and card rooms have long waiting list. NASCAR is good for Las Vegas, so good we may be getting an additional event next season.

The Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas hosted the Mobile High Endurance Charity Poker Challenge this evening. The Speed Channel was on hand to film all the action. The fans quickly filled the available sets and a long line waited outside the tournament area hoping for entry. The event was well organized and managed by tournament director, David Lamb. Media was given access to everyone and everything connected with the production. Reps were continually asking if we needed anything and reminding us that they were there to help. A VIP area was set up with access limited to VIP's and media. The room had a couple of big screen TV's and a full buffet.

This tournament had about as much to do with poker tournaments as played by professional poker players as your morning commute has to do with NASCAR racing. In the first case they both use a standard 52 card deck and in the second, they both involve gasoline powered four wheeled vehicles. The tournament prize was a $50,000 donation to the winner's chosen charity. Leave it to those NASCAR guys to find a way to do anything fast and faster. The fun tournament played very short rounds at each blind level then moved into the "sudden death" segment. That's right, sudden death, meaning you are all in prior to the flop. Want to call? You must go all in. If this seems a bit strange then refer to the first sentence of this paragraph and remember that this was for fun and entertainment. The fans loved the event and were continually cheering and yelling suggestions. The players, NASCAR drivers and personnel, kept up a running conversation, much to the delight of the crowd. For many of the fans this was the closest they had ever been to the stars of NASCAR. I heard one lady tell her friend she had been trying to get Rusty Wallace's autograph for three years and finally not only did she get the autograph, She also got a photo with him.

The world of poker was represented by 2003 WSOP Champion, Chris Moneymaker, and Karina Jett. Both professional poker players were backstage offering introductory poker lessons. Chris spent most of his time with Rusty and even came onstage to help him during the tournament; but, it didn't help much. Rusty Wallace, the crowd favorite, finished fourth. The tournament was won by Kenny Wallace and a check for $50,000 goes to the Autism Society of America. Shane Wilson finished second. All of the participants received a custom poker chip set autographed by Chris Moneymaker.

It was a typical Vegas night complete with Show Girls, Mayor Oscar Goodman, celebrities, professional poker players, speed poker, television crews; even hair and make-up. The Golden Nugget has the celebrity poker tournament system down to a science. I had a great time visiting with the stars and taking photos of the event. Additional photos are in the continue reading section.

More Photos from the NASCAR poker tournament at the Golden Nugget.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I post on the health of the poker industry and track the trends that are fueling the incredible growth. Yesterday I followed the greed of those outside the business wanting a cut of the money. I place those individuals and groups into the same parasitic class of animal as the lawyers that insist they get a share of your doctor's income. Can the industry fend off the hordes of greedy people and continue to grow and prosper? Of course, poker players are accustomed to big dollar threats, hollow bluffs and smooth calls.

I found this article in the New York Post reporting the inking of an agreement between World Poker Tour Enterprises, the parent company of the WPT, and Take-2 Interactive Software to manufacture PlayStation and Nintendo compatible video poker games under the World Poker brand. The WPT has enjoyed tremendous success from their television series of poker tournaments and has recently gone public (WPTE on Nasdaq). Their stock rose to a high of $20.50, the highest since their August IPO, on news of the agreement. WPT Enterprises continue to add profit centers to its flagship TV show. They market poker and gaming related merchandise, you can buy WPT logoed gaming equipment at your local Wal-Mart. Take-2 Interactive Software is the number four producer of video games.

WPT and Take-2 will face the ESPN partnership with Electronic Arts in the poker game mass market. ESPN recently signed a 15 year agreement with Electronic Arts to produce interactive poker game software for game consoles, PCs and handheld devices. EA has been the number one producer of video games for a number of years and merged with many of the smaller game makers giving them the depth of talent and experience to be number one in the poker video game market. How long before the crown of the poker world, the WSOP, markets poker games under their very well known brand?

Should sales of poker games be restricted to buyers over eighteen? Should the game makers and license owners contribute a portion of their profits to the anti-gambling factions?

Posted by flipchipro at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Poker has officially hit the big time. Proof positive can be found in the following article from Newsday.com. New Jersey lawmaker, Joan Voss, has joined with anti-gambling advocates to demand a tax on cable channels carrying poker shows. She cited the fact that New Jersey casinos donate $600,000 a year for gambling addition programs and it is only fair that the channels televising poker shows give a portion of their profits to the same cause. If the cable channels don't contribute voluntarily she is proposing a tariff on the cable providers.

I found the following line quoted from the article to be of interest, "The broadcast media has been very irresponsible in the way they've broadcast gambling-related shows," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, in Washington, D.C. I am wondering how difficult it would be to get access to the facts this statement is based upon and I would also be curious to look at the back-up for the statistics he quotes in the article. I am not being cynical here; I have been around problem gamblers (none were poker players) within my family so I know first hand the devastation this addiction creates. A final question and I will move on, will Mr. Whyte's organization be one of the recipients of this windfall of cash and as executive Director is he not the chief fundraiser?

Joan goes on to offer the story of a sixteen year old losing $10,000 playing online poker. This teenager has spoken out on the evils of gambling and his plea for help with a gambling addition. If he had made a profit instead of racking up loses would he still have a gambling problem or would he be congratulated for being so smart and talented to develop skills that could lead to a professional poker player career? So, what does the kid need? A therapist or a few good strategy books and some playing lessons from a professional? I know which of these options cost less and has the best chance of succeeding.

I see all of this new-found interest in poker and especially the dark, downside of the sport to be just another part of the evolution of the game. The money has gotten so large that groups totally outside the industry want their slice off the top. Since lawmaker Joan chose to use the term "fair," I can also apply "fair" to other parallels. Should the food channel contribute a portion of its profits to anti-alcohol advocates? Everyday they tout the advantages of cooking with and consuming wine, beer and other forms of alcohol. Does this irresponsible portrayal of booze consumtion lead to problem drinking, especially among the youth? I had an aunt that was addicted to therapy. The treatment clinics would advertise on TV, she would see the ad and suddenly had to go for treatment. She parted with a considerable pile of money seeking treatment from most of the therapist in her home town. The only improvement any of us ever noticed over the years was she was always happiest when telling us of her latest addition problem that required therapy. One of the shrinks sent her to AA even though she didn't drink. Should anti-compulsion doctors contribute a part of their profits to anti-compulsive therapy advocates? If it works for poker then it has to work for most any other compulsive behavior. If these concerned lawmakers are truly looking out for the kids then how about smoking? What are the percentages with tobacco users? Should all the movies and TV shows that depict actors smoking contribute a part of the profits to the anti-tobacco advocates? After all, tobacco is one of the most damaging addictions a teenager can acquire.

I found it ironic that the newsday.com page with the poker article also has a photo of Michael Jackson. Should newsday.com contribute to anti-child endangerment help groups? If he is convicted should those channels that carry his videos and music also contribute to abused youth help groups? If we extrapolate this idea of the evil doers contributing to the anti-evil advocates we soon reach the boundaries of reason.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Las Vegas is without a major professional tournament today so I'm suffering from a form of pokerpartum depression. I always feel like this after the excitement of covering a major event. The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship crowned Phil Hellmuth early this morning and everyone packed up and left town. Congratulations to Phil for the come back win and to runner up, Chris Ferguson, for hanging tough to the final out; and least we forget, thanks Phil for the champagne. Phil and the rest of the pros that spent the weekend in Vegas to compete in the NBC event are back to San Jose for the conclusion of the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament, with the final day on the Friday, March 11, 2005. The traveling chip circus then moves back to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker Circuit Event scheduled for the Rio Hotel & Casino. The first day of tournaments will be Saturday, March 12th, and continue through the 22th. A complete listing of each of the events is available here.

The Rio Hotel is the place to be if you enjoy playing with or just watching the stars of professional poker. The final event will be filmed for broadcast by those WSOP production people, ESPN. I am looking forward to this event with eager anticipation and consider it to be a good warm up to the great one, the 2005 World Series of Poker, also hosted by Harrah's Rio Hotel. A short break from the action at the Rio then the Bellagio's 5 Star World Poker Classic begins on March 31st and continues through April 24th. Then eight days later, on April 28th, the much anticipated event of the year, the opening of the Wynn property, takes center stage.

The city is also priming itself for the influx of hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans coming to Las Vegas this weekend for the Busch Series Sam's Town 300 on Saturday, March 12th followed by the Diamler Chrysler 400 on Sunday, March 13th. The NASCAR folks fill up the town and the poker rooms. A great time to hang out in Vegas and play some cash games. The Saturday race will be televised on the FX channel and the Sunday event will can be seen on FOX. The Fremont Street Experience was the center of the NASCAR experience with drivers and crews available for fans. Current Driver of the Year, Kurt Bush, was there signing autographs and posing with fans.

A final note for all of our readers that watch the national news and saw the clip with our Mayor, the lovable Oscar Goodman, ex mobster mouthpiece, lawyer extraordinaire, alcohol field test unit and just all around fun guy was out doing PR work for the Las Vegas centennial celebration was giving students a Vegas history lesson. One of the future leaders asked the Mayor what he would want if stranded on a desert island. Without a moments hesitation Hizzoner replied, "A bottle of gin." So what did you expect him to say? Maybe, "The Mrs. Mayor?" Hey! This is Vegas, Baby!

The photo gallery for the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is available.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The final match between Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson got underway a little after midnight. Both players being very careful to avoid a fatal trap while they mapped each other from behind very dark reflective shades. Phil begins to take down Chris' stacks and soon had a commanding chip lead. Ferguson finally pushed all-in and Phil quickly called turning over a pair of nines to Ferguson's J,5 of spades. The flop came 10h, 4h, 8c giving Phil the lead with his nines and no help for Chris. The turn brought another 8h and the river was a 6c giving Phil the win.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship final table format is a best of three matches. The players start with $640K in chips and blinds of $4K-$8K in each match. The second match got under way after a short break while the table was set up. This time it was Chris' turn to quickly take all of Phil's chips when he caught a river nine for a full beating Phil's pat wheel. Needless to say the crowd exploded and so did Phil. This was only minutes into the match. Chris easily took the remainder of a dejected Phil's short stack and evened up the contest at 1 and 1. It all comes down to the third match to decide the winner of this first ever NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

The third and deciding match got under way after Phil took a few minutes to cool off and collect himself after watching the championship jerked away from his grasp with a river boat 9. He left the tournament area and did his match interview outside. Chris remained calm and confident and never strayed from his "A" game. It was evident that the bad beat had taken a heavy toll on Hellmuth and he struggled to regain and retain his composure. Phil finally settles down and makes a concentrated push to win the championship, even joking with the crowd as his confidence returns. Phil goes all-in and doubles up, then does it again to climb to just over a million in chips and a commanding lead over Ferguson's approximate $200K. A reversal of fortunes. Chris hangs tough and begins to rebuild his stack, then goes all-in with a K,6 suited and Phil Hellmuth finally
ends the marathon marathon match when his pocket Queens hold up. Phil Hellmuth is the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Champion. Remember, you can catch all the action and drama on the NBC show scheduled to begin airing on May 1st. This tournament should set the new standard for a professional poker tournament telecast.

More photos of tonight's action can be seen by continuing reading.

Additional photos of the final Heads-up match between Chris Ferguson and Phil Hellmuth.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The second day of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship begins with sixteen players remaining from the 64 that started the tournament on Saturday.

Today's match-ups follow with the winner of each match marked by (w):

Mimi Tran vs. Chris Ferguson(w)

Mike Sexton(w) vs. Hassan Habib

Barry Greenstein vs. John Juanda(w)

TJ Cloutier(w) vs. John Henningan

Lyle Berman(w) vs. Carlos Mortensen

Huck Seed vs. Phil Hellmuth(w)

Ted Forrest vs. Antonio Esfandiari(w)

David Sklansky vs. Scott Fischman(w)

The second round pairings follow with the winners marked with a (w):

Chris Ferguson(w) vs. Mike Sexton

John Juanda vs. TJ Cloutier(w)

Lyle Berman vs. Phil Hellmuth(w)

Antonio Esfandiari(w) vs. Scott Fischman

The crowds of fans stand in line waiting for seats to open so they may watch the professional players vying for the first prize money of $500,000. The excitement runs high and for some seeing these stars of poker was worth the trip to Vegas. The NBC Sports production crew continues to keep the event under control and running smoothly. I am impressed with their professionalism and efficiency. The set is one of the best I've seen while working televised poker tournaments. Should I expect anything less form a big network like NBC? I think they probably did make an error in estimating the time required to complete this tournament. Saturdays elimination continued into the small hours of the morning and today the players are consuming even more time because they become very cautious as they get closer to cashing in for the big money. Scott Fishman was the first out of the eight when he went all-in with an A,4o and was called by Antonio's A,Jo. The board didn't help either and Scott was eliminated when his four was outkicked by Antonio's jack.

Phil Hellmuth had moved out to a small chip lead over Lyle Berman and Chris Ferguson was ahead of Mike Sexton. John Juanda was playing solid poker with no mistakes and had control of his match with TJ Cloutier.

The final four have been determined. TJ mounted a great comeback and defeated John Juanda. Chris Ferguson outlasted Mike Sexton and Phil Helmuth sent Lyle Berman home. Antonio Esfandiari completes the group.

The pairings for the final four follow with the winner denoted by a (w):

TJ Cloutier vs. Chris Ferguson(w)

Phil Hellmuth(w) vs. Antonio Esfandiari

The stage is now set for the final Heads up match between two former world champions, Chris Ferguson vs. Phil Hellmuth. Between the two they have collected a total of 14 WSOP bracelets with each having won the WSOP Championship. Continue reading for additional photos.

More photos from the NBC National Heads-Up poker Championship at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Plenty of great content this week, starting with the updates on the WBPT website to RSVP your seat at the June tourney, head on over and make sure you register. Now, the big news this week, by far and away is the new pokertracker guide from Hank and Iggy. If you are not familiar with poker tracker, check out Ship It Poker for a sterling recommendation. I have not read the guide, but given the authors I expect it's well worth the $20. If your still waffling, let me paraphrase Tom McEvoy, "How could a player be so stupid that they won't spend money on a book that will pay for itself if they win just one or two more pots because of reading it." This brings me to the next blogger on-line tourney set for March 13 at 9pm EST on Full Tilt, the format is HORSE!

Glenn has a good read on his experience at the River Palms, Rick has a fresh new look and feel, Badblood was Moneymakered, Bill has a review of Poker Coaching and Snail Trax has a short and sweet post about inducing fish to bluff.

This week on Card Club I answered a reader e-mail on building a quality blog and getting readers (the quality blog topic was part of this post a while back). If you happen to listen to this program I want to make sure I clarify one point on posting your blog to groups/forums. I am NOT talking about dropping into a forum and leaving a post like, "Check out my blog". I am talking about dropping into a forum and leaving a post like "I've been reading posts here at XYZ and espically found the post on ABC insightful, including FGH's response. I wonder if anyone here could give me some feedback on my blog?". The point of posting your blog to a forum is two-fold, get people to look at it and get some constructive critism on it. On this self-promotion note, I've been having trouble updating my blog roll since Technorati seems to be whacked for the time being, so if you have a poker blog linking to me and I haven't seen it, drop me an e-mail and I'll get you added.

To wrap up this week, be sure to check out Al Can't Hang for a little Cow Bell Goodness.

Posted by pokerprof at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This event, NBC's National Heads-UP Championship, marks the first time a major television network has staged a professional poker tournament and the results appear to be very positive for the players and fans alike. The limited seating for fans was filled and a line of fans waiting outside the room to get in and see the many well known pros and stars. NBC will broadcast the event on Sunday mornings beginning May 1. Check your local listing for exact times in your area. The production is being filmed by a crack sports production unit so the standard of televised poker tournaments just went up. The set is high dollar and well thought out for both players and fans with a feature table in the center of the set and additional two player tables are set up in a 180 degree semicircle close to the fans. The film crew operates almost entirely in the front so the fans have an unlimited close-up view of all the action. I found everything about today's tournament quite impressive.

The NBC move into the world of Professional Poker is a major step up for the industry. Filming the action with a professional sports production team recognizes poker as a sport. The NBC National Heads-Up Championship will become an annual event and another jewel in the Las Vegas poker crown. If you believe you should have received an invitation to this event and didn't then maybe we can help you with some suggestions to get one next year. The Nines covers some of the things you might consider doing to get invited. This week's Nines...

9. Become a movie star and show your love for poker.
8. Marry the daughter of any NBC Executive.
7. Hack NBC's mail system.
6. Marry a famous singer.
5. Show up in a hooded sweatshirt and glasses claiming to be Phil "Unabomber" Laak.
4. Show up in a hooded sweatshirt with a bomb and be the Unabomber.
3. Become a billionaire and start your own poker tour television series.
2. Convince Doyle Brunson to adopt you.
1. Win the 2005 WSOP Championship!

That's it for today. Tomorrow has the Week in Review and J. Santos' "Muck It" cartoon. We will post the complete results from the tournament once available. Continue reading for a list of the players, pairings and additional photos.

The sixty-four professional players were divided into four groups named Spades, Clubs, Hearts & Diamonds. They were then randomly matched. The following table gives the match-ups and those winners at post time are denoted by a (w) beside their name. Sunday will see the final sixteen players return to decide the champion.

MATCH-UPS

SPADES

Eli Elezra
Chris Moneymaker(w)

Tom McEvoy
Mimi Tran(w)

Cindy Violette
Chris Ferguson(w)

Gus Hansen (w)
Curtis Bibbs

Yosh Nakano
Mike Sexton(w)

Todd Brunson
Erick Lindgren(w)

Prahlad Friedman
Sammy Farha(w)

CLUBS

Barry Greenstein
Lee Salem

Doyle Brunson
Billy Baxter(w)

John Juanda
Chau Giang

Amir Vahedi
John Myung

Nick Frangos
TJ Cloutier(w)

Scotty Nguyen
Mike Caro

John Hennigan
Layne Flack

Chip Reese
Henry Orenstein

DIAMONDS

Lyle Berman
Freddie Deeb

David Grey
Jennifer Harman

Bobby Baldwin
Evelyn Ng(w)

David Williams
Carlos Mortenson

Greg Raymer(w)
Kathy Liebert

David Pham
Huck Seed(w)

Dewey Tomko
Paul Phillips

Phil Hellmuth
Men Nguyen

HEARTS

Josh Arieh(w)
Rene Angelil

Ted Forrest
John Cernutto

Jerry Buss
Daniel Negreanu(w)

Howard Lederer
Antonio Esfandiari

Phil Ivey
David Sklansky

James Woods
Johnny Chan

Scott Fischman
Annie Duke

Dennis Wagner
Erik Seidel

More photos from today's Heads-Up action.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A big budget movie is scheduled to begin shooting in Las Vegas later this month. The story line is about a professional poker player, played by Eric Bana, getting mixed up with a struggling singer, played by Drew Barrymore, and then he must face his estranged father, played by Robert Duval, across the poker table at the World Series of Poker. The Warner Brothers' production is aptly titled Lucky You and should be ready for a December release. Curtis Hansen will direct the drama which he co-wrote with Eric Roth. Hansen's previous directing credits include the acclaimed 8 Mile starring Eminem. Roth's writing credits include Ali and Forrest Gump. It appears that everyone is jumping on the poker popularity ride. The all star cast and proven production team should make this movie a winner. Hopefully they will keep anyone associated with the ESPN television series, Tilt, far, far away from their production.

In other poker art world news two paintings from artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's 1903 series of dogs playing poker brought a record price of more than ten fold the pre-auction estimated sale price. The New York auction house, Doyle, believed the two paintings, Waterloo:Two and A Bold Bluff, would bring between thirty and fifty thousand dollars. The hammer price was $590,400. The previous record for a Coolidge painting was $74,000. The two paintings went to an unidentified bidder in New York City. Suddenly, you remember that you have one of the reproductions from the Coolidge Dog's Playing Poker series and you think it might be worth a bundle; so, what do you do? A good starting point would be the official dogs playing poker website. Doyle New York holds an annual "Dogs in Art" auction to coincide with the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Happy Friday! Sixty-four of poker's best will be at the Golden Nugget today for the first day of the National Poker Heads-Up Championship. NBC television sports will be filming the three day event. This may be NBC's first major effort to jump on the big time poker tournament popularity bandwagon as a prelude to bidding on the WSOP broadcast rights. Harrah's may open the bidding to the rights; which until now, has been the exclusive property of ESPN.

While on the subject of downtown Las Vegas, Mike Matusow should be released from the Clark County Detention Center very soon. Mike has paid his debt to society and can now get on with his life and professional poker career.

I read this article from North Dakota. Greg Raymer, 2005 WSOP Champion and $5 million man, will be visiting Bismark next week to lobby the North Dakota legislature to legalize Internet Poker. The sponsor of the bill, Fargo Representative Jim Kasper, believes the passage of the bill will be a money making opportunity for North Dakota. He hopes many of the off-shore Internet casinos will relocate to the state. Greg Raymer, former attorney and now a full time poker professional, will be conducting demonstrations of Texas Hold'em while in the state.

I have a question about Internet poker and the legality of locating web servers and other equipment in the United States. Last time I checked Internet poker rooms are still illegal per federal law. Could this be in the same interpretation of the law as California's legal medical marijuana fracas? Get written permission from a doctor to light up in the Southland to ease the pain of some terminal disease and the California police must leave you along since you are within the law. However, the Feds can and will arrest you and charge you with a felony since smoking pot is against Federal law. So, if North Dakota passes the Internet gaming bill will it be as empty as the California pot bill? Maybe Greg should make a lobbying stop in D C.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

People of Minnesota take note and re-elect these people. This St. Cloud Times article gives some hope to tournament poker becoming a legal reality in Minnesota. The bill, SF317/HF519, has received the go ahead from the Gaming Division of the House Regulated Industries committee and will be presented to the full committee. Texas Hold'em Poker tournaments will become legal with the passage of the bill and poker will be added to the list of existing legal tournament games including cribbage and bridge. The tournaments will be limited to a prize of $200 or less.

The NBC Sports crew is in town setting up to film the National Heads-up Poker Championship at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. We reported this event in an earlier post. Sixty-four invited professional Poker players will complete in the event scheduled for March 4,5 & 6. A major networksuch as NBC creating, filming and televising professional poker is more good news for the poker industry. The second and third tier cable channels that have carried any poker based series have been pleasantly surprised when it becomes the most watched show on the network. Are the other major networks far behind NBC in organizing a professional poker tournament? I'm sure they will be watching very closely when the NBC tournament is telecast on Sunday mornings in beginning May. I continue to hear rumors and street talk hinting at a large (possibly very big) poker tournament with a unique format being in the advanced planning stages.

Finally, a flare for the obvious describes the following article I read today. Seems as though someone in the know has taken the time to let the rest of us know that poker is now the most popular Internet casino game. Damn, there goes my keno and roulette stock. I did notice a discrepancy in the first paragraph. The author reported that poker has always been an immensely popular game at online and land based casinos. I'm not sure where this info came from and what land based casinos it is based on; but, it isn't any of the Las Vegas casinos. I remember when they were closing rooms and replacing them with video poker machines all over Vegas. Sometimes the only warning a poker room received that it was closing was when a new shift arrived and were handed pink slips--Golden Nugget, Four Queens, Las Vegas Hilton, Caesars... I even recall when the only poker room at Binion's Horseshoe downtown was a temporary one set up for a few days in April to host the WSOP. Always been immensely popular? Not really, but Vegas is now opening poker rooms faster than they once shut them down.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Kathy Liebert has teamed up with the Women's Poker Network (WPN) to promote the women only poker events staged by WPN and partner, Women's Poker Tour. Kathy Liebert is considered to be one of the top women players in the world of professional poker and she has the distinction of being the first female to win a million dollars prize. She won the first Party Poker Million Tournament. Kathy will be the spokesperson for the organization according to this article. The next event for the ladies is scheduled for April 2 & 3rd at the Reno Hilton. An added bonus for registered players will be a poker seminar hosted by Jan Fisher and Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker. The organization has is planning two aditional tournaments in the coming months. The WPN has been established to provide education, information and opportunity for women wanting to enter the organized poker world.

Another interesting article concerns Celebrity Poker Showdown host, Phil Gorden. He will be defending his World Poker Tour title in the Shooting Star/World Poker Tour Tournament at the Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, California. Accoring to the article, Phil has used his skills acquired during his computer program development years to fine tune algorithms he uses at the poker table when analyzing opponents. Yesterday's post (see below) detailing the poker playing bots for sale takes on a whole new challenge when faced with a carbon based poker bot. They may have a hard time competing with a human bot such as Phil. Kind of like a bot with super AI. Just a thought. The list of professional poker players contains a number of highly educated, successful former computer geeks. How many of these pros are employing algorithms they have developed to read opponents and cards?

In a follow up to our post about the arrest of 78 players in Texas City, Texas I found this article providing additional details of the fate of these criminals. Most of these working class poker players realized it is considerably less expensive to just pay the fine and not take time from their jobs to fight the arrest in court. Can't say that I blame them. Given a choice between defending your rights or eating, most of us choose the food. Perhaps a defense fund should be established for those wanting to speak out by challenging the laws making poker tournaments illegal. Just another thought.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've got to quit reading all the Internet poker news. Wandering around the fringes I found this article telling me everything I need to know to cheat online poker games and not only win every time I play; but, best of all, I don't even have to waste my time playing. I simply set-up my robot buddy to go forth into the electron simulated green felt world of online poker unaccompanied and unaided. All I need to do is check in once in a while to know how rich I am. Great and wonderful you say? I couldn't agree more. You can now purchase the source code for just such a bot for only $500. That's damn cheap for a guaranteed ticket to millionaire land. Much better than trying to develop your own code from scratch. Diehard do-it-yourselfers may want to start here. Good luck!

I found this article which sent me to this site where I read this insightful cheat sheet on poker collusion. The page is complete with how to proxy into an Internet poker room to avoid detection and even provides you another business that sells access to proxy servers. Seeing that all of this looked like a sure-fire road to a Malibu Colony beach house I visited the pricing page. There you have it, your very own roadmap to riches beyond your wildest expectations.

Has anyone tried this scheme? Anyone sent in their $500 for the source code. Is this technology genuine and out there taking unsuspected Internet poker player's money? One of our expert poker playing, computer geek friends says, "Bring them on. Nothing I would like better than to play against a piece of software that is using fixed algorithms." I personally would rather not play at a table where the other nine seats are occupied by one entity.

I especially liked the claim, "using a strategy advocated by a nine-time World Champion of Poker. No knowledge or experience of Poker is required." I'm not sure if this implies a nine-time WSOP champion; but that's one very short list, only three well known professional players. Two more selling points, "No knowledge of poker required" and the limited time availability of this collusion software, so those investing will not see the market saturated and profits eroded. One final selling point, Windows friendly!

Still want to risk your money playing online? Can online poker rooms detect this threat to their integrity? Do they really care if you are not offered a fair game? Probably not and this attitude will last until they see a substantial drop in their drop. Would any of the virtual rooms care to demonstrate the ability to detect this form of cheat in an independent trial?

If all of this worries you then come to Vegas and play live poker, although we are not collusion free it is limited to real live players.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)