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