The previous post below lists my thoughts on players that I consider having a legitimate shot at winning the 2005 WSOP championship. When I read through the article this morning I realized I left out dozens of working professional players with the skills and demonstrated track record to win. Ron Rose, Charlie Shoten, Scotty Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, Hassan Habib, Men Nguyen, Gus Hansen, Barry Greenstein, Carlos Mortensen, Joe Beever or just a few that have demonstrated their ability to play winning poker. We can't forget that a complete unknown can rise from the huge field, collect all of the chips and go home the 2005 World Champion Poker Player.

I put together a list of players that could be longshots to win and included the reason they are on the list. The Nines list this week covers the players that may not win the 2005 WSOP championship and why. This week's Nines...

9. Jerry Buss...Fouled out for coming over the top of Evelyn Ng.
8. Phil Laak...Put trademark hooded sweatshirt on backwards, couldn't see cards.
7. Men "Master" Nguyen...Taken away by paramedics after consuming 26 Coronas during level 12.
6. Phil Hellmuth...Showed up so late his chips had been blinded away.
5. Jean Robert Bellande...Penalized so many minutes for table trash talk he can't return to play until the 2007 WSOP.
4. Any dog playing poker...self explanatory.
3. Anyone from Celebrity Poker...except Bret Maverick.
2. Doyle Brunson...Didn't show, too big of a pay cut if he left "his game."
1. Johnny Moss...He's dead.

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

Posted by flipchipro at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am continuing to catch up on everything poker and today was a read everything poker day. Scanning some of the news feeds I quickly spotted this article from Rolling Stone titled, Aces and Kings, The New Superstars of Poker. Writers, Michael Kaplan and Brad Regan, profiled three of poker's hottest young stars. Daniel Negreanu, 2004 player of the year; Eric Lindgren, 2003 player of the year and Phil Ivey. I noticed that the article touched on a thread that runs through each players game. They all have developed and fine tuned a game plan that includes much more aggression than the older professional player's "A" game. I have been hanging around tournament poker tables with camera in hand for a number of decades, close enough to capture the game faces, so I have seen the evolution in poker playing styles up close.

I believed these new young guns would be nothing more than flash in the pan when going against the likes of Brunson, Reese, Chan or Hellmuth. How can a kid whose experience is measured in months bulldoze someone with experience expressed in fractions of a century? Of course, some of these instant poker celebrities are indeed flash in the pan and just happened to sit in the lucky seat that magic day during the world's greatest poker tournament. Does Moneymaker come to mind? None of the three superstars that are the focus of the article have bagged the big one yet; but, maybe this will be the year that Negreanu, Ivey or Lingdren goes home with the title of world's best and the coveted platinum bracelet. Of the three, my money will be on Phil Ivey outlasting the predicted field of more than six thousand hopefuls at the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. The Poker Prof assured me that the smart money, his included, will be down on Daniel Negreanu.

Which professional player would I make the overall favorite in the 2005 WSOP? It would have to be Phil Hellmuth. I think he brings to the table the best of the old school ideas and the latest Internet spawned ultra-aggressive style. I am aware he is not the most popular guy around and is better known to the millions of television viewers for his tantrums and abusive behavior than his poker skills; but, tournament poker is not a popularity contest. Phil shares the record of most WSOP bracelets (nine) with Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. He has won the big one. He retains enough youth (some say he never grew up) to match any young star, stamina for stamina; and remember, this is the player that will quickly tell you he would win every tournament he enters if it were not for bad luck. There is a degree of truth in this ego driven statement since you never see Phil all-in without a winning out, the guy stays out of the traps and is never drawing dead. Phil has no doubts about his poker playing abilities and the motivation to become the first player to hold ten gold bracelets has to be a big contributing factor. I was there in 1989 when he won the WSOP championship event and I have watched him evolve into a most formidable force. Hellmuth's recent win at the NBC National Heads-Up Championship proves he is at the top of his game.

Tuan Le, winner of the recent WPT $25,000 buy-in championship is certainly a contender. Tuan has demonstrated on two occasions he can come back from the brink of disaster and win it all so he is on the list. How about defending champion, Greg Raymer? He is lawyer smart and brings years of concentrated Internet experience in surviving large tournament fields. He knows how to win. Maybe Mike Matusow will be there at the end. Mike is loaded with natural talent and perhaps he has matured enough to avoid self-destruction at the end game. TJ Cloutier is probably the toughest professional player to never win the Championship. TJ is way overdue to take this one home. Tom McEvoy, 1983 champion and the first ever champion to come in from a satellite, has found his winning ways again. Let us not forget Dan Harrington, the 1995 WSOP champion that always seems to be at the WSOP main event final table.

There is also a list of females that have the ability and skill to become the first woman champion in the history of the WSOP. Jennifer Harman can play with anyone at any level. Jennifer is one of the best players, male or female, playing poker today. Annie Duke knows how to win the big ones and could certainly be there at the end.

This post began with the Rolling Stone article about the new superstars of poker and I have to agree, they are definitely superstars. The fact that they are featured in an article in Rolling Stone qualifies them as superstars. Anyone remember Dr Hook and the Medicine Show?

Posted by flipchipro at 3:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The slack time I'm enjoying between major poker tournaments here in Las Vegas has allowed me to catch up on the industry buzz. Of course, all the news right now is the opening of the Wynn joint, a $2.8 billion project that originated within the imagination of Steve Wynn. Hiking around the place and listening to the comments of visitors seeing Las Vegas for the first time indicates the place will be a smashing success. Even though the interest on the mortgage would choke a field full of oil wells, the Wynn will suck up a majority share of the tourist dollar, more than ample money to satisfy all those investment bankers; even enough left over spare change to feed the stock holders. This is a given, considering the competition has to play with second best. This is the equivalent of going to the Indy 500 with the only bright, shiny new race car while everyone else has to drive your old, discarded race cars. So who do you think is going to come out on top?

The Wynn stock (WYNN on the NASDAQ) took an as expected hit today and closed at 53.50, down 1.19 or 2.17%. Guess the smart money crowds finally figured out the numbers are with the big "B" instead of the more sedate "M" and they got a case of the postpartum project jitters. As they like to say on the hill, "A Billion here and a Billion there and pretty soon you're talking some serious money." Once the traffic jams in the streets outside the great curved copper blade settle down with a degree of organization and all the rubberneckers quit blocking the slot machines and table games the latest Wynn money tree forest will go into the books as one of the world's most productive monetary printing presses. All of this to the delight of stockholders; and remember, for the rest of us it is a damn fine place to buy a Ferrari, eat a thousand dollars worth of foo-foo food, look at $130 million worth of oversize house plants stacked on a steel reinforced concrete Matterhorn, pick up the Hope diamond for the little lady or get so close to a canvas that is so beautiful you can smell the lingering sweat left by the long dead great master. Oh yeah, did I mention that the Wynn is also a great vacation destination? Drink some suds, soak up some rays, fantasize about all that silicone and maybe get lucky.

How long will the Wynn remain on the top of the heap? Certainly for a couple of years or more. At least until the massive $7 billion plus MGM/Mirage City Center, to be built on 64 acres of prime Vegas Strip frontage, comes online. Defined as a city-within-a-city this project promises to take the vacation resort offerings to a whole new plateau. It will be the first to offer permanent residences to those well-heeled inhabitants of the finer side of life. What will come after the City Center project? I can only imagine; but, if I had to bet, I would say that it is already beginning to take on form somewhere on those drafting tables in the recesses of Steve Wynn's imagination. What will it be? A larger, more beautiful city-within-a-city that resides under its own enclosed bubble; where, even the afternoon clouds and rainstorms are controlled from a computer keyboard? Imagine sitting in a poker room on an outdoor terrace on the hundredth floor with always perfect weather. Now, that's a thought; but wait, how can we talk about the future of Las Vegas without adding another major player, the Donald? He just may be holding the trump card of the future.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wynn resort opens tonight at 12:01 am. Anxious gamblers are waiting outside the property to rush into this newest of mega-resorts when the doors finally open. A party atmosphere pervades the crowded sidewalks where the people began lining up in the early afternoon for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the first to gamble in the latest Steve Wynn fantasy. The casino is large at 110,000 square feet. The copper tinted glass sheathed blade hotel houses 2716 guest rooms. The 2,087 seat showroom in the round is home to a Franco Dragone produced, water-themed stage spectacular titled Le Reve. No seat is further than forty-two feet from the one million gallon pool/stage. All of this is neatly tucked behind a $130 million man-made mountain surrounding a multi-level three acre lake complete with waterfalls, some as high as one hundred feet.

Steve Wynn has been absent from the Las Vegas strip for five years after selling his signature properties, Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island Resorts, to MGM Mirage. The opening of the new Wynn Resort marks his much anticipated return to the Vegas scene. The Wynn was designed and created by Mr. Wynn with his usual attention to even the smallest detail. Wynn's partner, Kazuu Okada, CEO of Azure Corporation, has maintained a silent presence in the project, having spent most of his time managing his world wide business interest.

Wynn describes his latest work as the first Las Vegas project designed from the inside out. The primary design consideration is through the eyes of a hotel guest rather than giving people on the strip the best view of the property. Wynn went on to say he could not have created the Wynn Resort without having designed the other properties and his experiences allowed him to incorporate ideas never before considered for a resort. Steve Wynn said, "The Wynn resort offers the highest level of excellence available anywhere." Tonight, the three year project will open its doors and welcome the general public to share the most complex resort ever built on this earth. Steve Wynn recently announced plans to begin construction on a second tower on the north side of the property aptly named, "Encore."

Cameras and other recording devices are not allowed on the property until the release of Vanity Fair magazine next week. I did manage to get some shots of the crowds outside the property. The Poker Prof was invited to spend a couple of days at the Wynn resort prior to the official opening and was kind enough to share his experience with us. The Prof, in his own words...

Imagine heaven...Well, the Wynn is where people in heaven will book their vacations.

A few days ago I had an opportunity to experience the Wynn Resort first hand and this is my first impression.

Casino: The staple of any Las Vegas resort is it's casino floor, this is the area of a casino that must be successful and Wynn has listened to the experts and designed a casino floor with an intimate, comfortable feel. Gone is the impression of being in a massive space, the Wynn has replaced it with a lower ceiling, warm wood tones and lighting that welcomes and invites. The Wynn casino floor is as inviting as it is opulent. The games are the usual Vegas fare with slot and video poker machine banks dominating the majority of the casino space. The table games line the main walkway that circles the casino. Only two considerations merit their own separate sections; the massive high-roller pit complete with an elegant lounge and, of course, the poker room.

Poker Room: For those who have been to Vegas, think of the poker room at the Mirage or Bellagio, only a smidgen nicer and you'll have the Wynn's 27 table poker room. The room will spread the usual fare of popular games including low limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em, Stud, Omaha and, of course, a high limit area in the back of the room on a raised dais, which will be the only place Daniel Negreanu will be found in cash games since he has a exclusive agreement with the Wynn. The poker room is out of the way without being difficult to reach and affords the same inviting and intimate feel as does all of the casino floor. Of course, the poker room is non-smoking.

Shopping: The shops will soon open their doors and join the latest Vegas Strip offerings of trendy, top-tier designer boutiques with familiar names such as Dior, Chanel and Cartier. A Ferrari-Maserati dealership with direct access to the Vegas strip for an easy test drive of the exotic machines and super exclusive Graff Jewelers offerings big-dollar trinkets unique to the Wynn.

Dining: Even the coffee shop, Tableau, has gourmet offerings including a delightful French Onion Soup, Grilled Lamb Chops and a fabulous dessert Cappuccino. The Wynn offers cuisine from the world over including his favorite restaurant, the Japanese based Okada (named after his partner Kazuu Okada), Asian at the Red 8 Asian Bistro, Italian at Cartolotta Ristorante Di Mare all the way up to the extreme of dining delight, Alex, which serves French Rivera flavors created by Master Chef, Alessandro Stratta. With so many great restaurants even the most finicky pallet is sure to be pleased.

Entertainment: I've only had a chance to see Le Reve, but I must say it's a real treat, with intriguing choreography and mind-blowing acrobatic feats making it a must-see show; however, the real star of this production is the stage itself. A massive circular area in the center of the auditorium, the stage is completely surrounded by the audience and it goes from being immersed in water to rising high above, with a series of circular dais in an ever changing configuration. Truly, no bad seats in this spherical house.

Unfortunatly, this is the extent of my personal experiences during my overnight visit to the Wynn; but rest assured, the architect of modern Las Vegas, Steve Wynn, has outdone himself this time. The Wynn Resort takes luxury to a whole new level and anyone who visits Las Vegas will have their own opportunity to enjoy the new crown jewel of destination resorts.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a day away from the casinos, poker tournaments and professional players after the non-stop three weeks of events at the Five-Star. I almost stopped by the downtown Plaza Hotel this evening but decided to stay in and catch up on Internet related chores so the post will be a collection of odds and ends from the past few days. I was most pleased to find our photos in a gallery on the FOXSports website. First time readers may need to know that we have an extensive Five Star Photo Gallery and new photos are added daily.

The PPT final table proved to be some of the best poker of the 5-Star. The heads-up between Lee Markholdt and Barry Shulman was mistake free and ended when both were dealt strong short-handed-game pocket pairs. The end came when the Poker Gods chose to send Lee a Queen instead of a winning Seven for Barry. QED.

Update: Check out Paul Phillips for the hand that is the source of these rumors. And visit this thread on fullcontactpoker for some of the debate.
I listened in on some controversial rumors floating around about the WPT $25,000 buy-in Championship event final table. A few of the players are questioning some of the calls or lack of calls from chip leader, Hasan Habib. They are mystified as to how an overwhelming chip favorite could loose all of his massive stack of more than $14 million, approximately two thirds of the total chips in play, while the shortest stack, about $100K, went on to win. Haven't they heard the cliche, "A chip an a chair?" I can't offer anything more to this dark tale, except to say that almost every tournament, especially the top money championships, have a group (disgruntled losers?) that questions some or even all of the plays and the outcome. I remind myself that this is poker and, as such, it does not follow the defined statistical path we predict or expect, more like predicting the weather, too many variables to be exact. It was all recorded for national television broadcast so the viewers can watch the show and decide for themselves if there may have been any funny business. More on this later if new information becomes available and can be substantiated.

Even though the typical tournament schedule is grueling, I always enjoy covering major tournaments. An opportunity to visit with the fans and players and learn whats happening in the industry. It is a pleasure to see new, young talent coming into these events with a strong game developed from dedicated study and concentrated experience often combined with play lessons from a reputable professional. The days of the smoky backrooms filled with the enlarged prostrate crowd has been replaced with energetic, sophisticated, well educated, aggressive young players. Every tournament finds more women entering and playing well. Players from all over the globe representing practically every nationality has made today's poker tournaments an international affair. The top European player, Marcel Luske, has been working closely with the IPF to develop and implement a standardized set of rules that will offer the professional poker player the same familiarity and atmosphere regardless of the global location of the poker room (more on this in a future post).

Tomorrow is another day of poker action here in Las Vegas and, of course, another poker tournament needs to be photographed. I did enjoy my day off, even watched a movie on the tele, The Rounders.

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

The, 2005 Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas strip is positively, absolutely over. The final event, a scheduled stop of the Professional Poker Tour played the final table today. Today's finale of a PPT event that began on the 15th of April and played down to 45 survivors that returned the next day and play until only six remained. The event was then placed on hold until the 5-Star completed it's scheduled events including the WPT season three $25,000 buy-in Championship. The six players qualified for the PPT final table and their respective chip counts follow:

Lee Markholdt $890K
Barry Shulman $400K
Erick Lindgren $380K
Doyle Brunson $324K
Chris Bjorin $214K
Dan Heimiller $85K

The finish to the $500,000 freeroll, invitation only event began today, Monday, a little after 4:00 pm. A PPT television production crew was on hand recording everything for a later broadcast on the Travel Channel. Four hands into today's match Erich Lindgren goes all-in and chip leader, Lee Markholdt, calls and wins the hand. Erich is the sixth place finisher and collects $25,000. Lee adds to his chip lead and knows his good fortune is continuing into today. Next out is Dan Heimiller taking $35,000. Chris Bjorin leaves in fourth place and receives $45,000. The legendary Doyle Brunson falls to Markholdt's card luck and collects third place money of $60,000. Heads-up will be between the chip leader, Lee Markholdt and Barry Shulman.

The chip count going into the two-way match shows Lee with a comfortable 3 to 1 lead over Barry Shulman. The two professionals cautiously trade chips back and forth without much of a change in the ratio. Lee continues to guard and maintain his lead. The final hand was about 7:30 this evening after less than an hour of play. Lee opened for $60K and Barry called. The flop came 10,2,2 rainbow. Barry bet out $100K. Lee immediately raised it to $300K. Barry called all-in and without any consideration Lee called. Lee turned over two black Queens and a dejected Barry stood up and showed his two black Sevens. The turn card was all that was needed to end the match when a red Queen painted the board giving Lee Queens full to Barry's two pair. For the record the river was another deuce so Barry ended with a full house only to lose to Lee's bigger full house.

Barry goes away with $100,000 for his second place finish; while Lee garners the top prize of $200,000 plus a $25,000 seat and a very shiny large trophy. Throughout the match stadium seats surrounding the final table television set was filled with fans and family members providing support to their favorite player. A few of the hold-over pros from the WPT wandered in and out of the room. The crew was disassembling the set as the prize presentations were being made. Professional tournament poker will move to Lake Tahoe and then return to the Mirage Resort in Las Vegas for the final poker tourney show before the 2005 WSOP begins its run at the Rio Hotel and Casino. I'm going to take a couple of at-home days to catch up on everything and then I will check out the action downtown at the Plaza. The latest photos will be posted to the Five-Star Photo Gallery and complete tournament results are available at Poker Player Newspaper. Experience the very best in Internet Poker Rooms at Noble Poker.

Anyone wondering about the Poker Prof should look around the new Wynn Resort. The Prof got himself an invite to see the place before the general public grand opening on Thursday, talk about good luck!

Posted by flipchipro at 1:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The final event of the third season of the World Poker Tour ended a few minutes before midnight at the Bellagio resort here in Las Vegas. The $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event played the final table Sunday at 4:00 pm and played on and on until only one was left. Tuan Le survived the field of 452 players and seven days later was crowned the WPT Champion. The six players going into tonight's final table was a representation of some of poker's toughest competitors, so the action was top rate. Phil Ivey was the first to go out in sixth place collecting $264,195 on the way to the door. Rob Hollink was next to leave the party and received $377,420 followed closely by John Phan, out in fourth place with $518,920. The three handed play lasted into the night with Tuan hovering on the brink of elimination while Hasan Habib and Paul Maxfield continued to have a go at each other. Tuan got all the way down to $100K while the other two players had over $10 million each and appeared to have no hope; but, as he did at Foxwoods he never gave up and he didn't wait for pocket rockts before making a move to collect some of the chips. And collect he did, until he finally took out Hasan Habib, who collected $896,375 for third. The heads up play began after the money was brought to the final table by Shana Hiatt completing her final duty before leaving the WPT for good.

Paul Maxfield and Tuan Le traded chips for the better part of an hour and a half. During this period Paul had Tuan all-in and on the ropes needing a miracle card on the river. Both times he pulled off the suck-out. Finally, Paul went all-in with his K,5o and was immediately called by Tuan showing Kd,Jd. The flop came J,10,3 giving Tuan a pair of Jacks and the lead. The Queen on the turn was no help to Paul and the 7 on the river gave Tuan his second WPT victory of the season. He collected $2,856,150 plus a $25,000 seat in next season's championship. Paul had to settle for the consolation money of $1,698,390.

The crowd tonight was great; cheering for their favorite and having a great time. At the presentation of the trophy and prize money, Daniel Negreanu was presented with his WPT Player of the Year jacket (no, it wasn't green) and trophy. Complete results of the final table are available at Poker Player Newspaper. Photos are being added to our Five-Star Photo Gallery daily so be sure to browse through the hundreds of photos.

The PPT, Professional Poker Tour, plays its final table at 4:00 pm tomorrow at the Bellagio. Stop in to see the Grand Master of Poker, Doyle Brunson, work his table magic.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Let's start off with the good news, Felicia posted, I pray the news only gets better. Be sure to check out the latest from Otis, the official Poker Stars Blog. Bad Blood put up a creative writing contest for a write-up on winning a WSOP event and Pauly has posted his write-up. Hank has an interesting post up about Self Affirmation, while Poker Grub takes a look at some of the lesser known attractions, such as 10 minute plays here in Vegas. Bob celebrated his birthday on April 22nd and his present was winning the WSOP event seat tonight, way to go Bob. Poker Nerd got one heck of a present from Poker Stars as well. The Poker Geek is trying to offer some cool T-shirts and Wil has posted a bit more on his Five-Star excursion. Finally, be sure to watch Iggy for the WSOP qualifier tournament events.

The past three weeks have been spent mostly at the Bellagio covering the Five-Star World Poker Classic tournament. All of the poker pros have been spotted at the 5-Star, the second largest show in poker. Hanging out with the movers and shakers of poker has provided some insights into subjects of current interest. One of the major topics is what effect the opening of the Wynn will have on existing poker rooms here in Vegas. Will the players in the high limit games go to the Wynn instead of the Bellagio? I guess the Bellagio is concerned and decided to remodel their room, then get it reopened before the super-joint behind the mountain opens to the general public on Thursday. We will provide news and photos from the Wynn as soon as possible.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Day six of the WPT $25K Championship played down to the final TV table six. Today's play began at noon with 17 players and 11 had been eliminated a few minutes before 6:00 pm. Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob went out on the TV table bubble and play stopped until tomorrow's 4:00 pm start time. The chip leader going into tomorrow's final table is Hasan Habib with $7,795,000 in tournament chips, well ahead of Rob Hollink's $4,430,000. Phil Ivey is third in the chip count with $3,365,000 followed by Paul Maxfield holding $2,885,000. Tuan Le has $2,680,000 and John Phan is the short stack with $1,405,000.

Joseph Cordi left in the eight spot and collected $150,970 while Chris Ferguson received $132,025 for ninth. Juna Helppi was eliminated tenth and got paid $113,225. The Fontana room was crowded with fans and media gathered around the tables watching and reacting to every hand. Tomorrow promises to be a great final table with some of the toughest professionals on the tour playing their best game to grab the WPT Championship and the $2,856,150 first place money. Second place will go home a millionaire with $1,698,390 and third takes $896,375. Even the first player to be eliminated will leave with $264,195.

The Fontana Room has taken on the party atmosphere of any other big time sporting event involving professionals vying for millions of dollars, fans cheering for their favorite players and poker industry movers and shakers practicing the art of the deal. Combine all of this with a Saturday in the entertainment capitol of the world, Las Vegas, and then add in the Bellagio setting and you would have to work at not having a wonderful time. The Bellagio's regular poker room is jammed with players in cash games that range from $4-$8 Hold'em all the way up to "My God, it's how much?" Just walk around the facility and you will see all of those poker stars you watch every week on television. It's not just the who's who of poker, it is total poker. The WPT Championship will be decided tomorrow and the 2005 champion will be crowned; but, that's not the end of this event. Monday will be another "filmed for television final table" in the form of the Professional Poker Tour. The PPT tour stop that began on April 15th will play down to a champion. If you have the time then come on down to Vegas and watch some poker history being made; or better yet, make some poker history of your own.
The complete results of the WPT Championship event can be found on Poker Player Newspaper. More photos have been added to the Five Star photo gallery so click on over and for the very best Internet Poker experience don't forget our sponsor, Noble Poker.

Sitting on the veranda outside the Fontana Room the other day I watched some wet suited scuba divers doing maintenance on the Bellagio's fountains and wondered how you get one of these cushy jobs. I've done some research and determined some of the other great Vegas jobs. This week's Nines...

9. Stratosphere ride tester (except that Insanity thing).
8. Monorail inspector (you do even less than the Maytag man).
7. Anything at the new Wynn joint.
6. Bellagio terrorist detector inspecting incoming cars (the only thing they have created found is irate motorist)
5. Girls of Glitter Gulch wardrobe malfunction fixer (what wardrobe?).
4. City Historian (really easy, we have no history older than an hour and a half)
3. Traffic signal coordinator (unsure how easy this job is since it's never been filled).
2. Mayor (includes all the gin you can drink).
1. Bunny Ranch product tester.

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

Posted by flipchipro at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fifth day of the WPT $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship event finished this evening a few minutes before 8:00 pm when Tuan Le took out two players, Bo Sehlstedt and Mark Rose, to trim the field to seventeen. Both Bo and Mark received $75,465 in prize money. My long shot pick to win the event, Isabelle Mercier, collected $56,615 for her 28th place finish. Isabelle played a solid game, held her own with the guys and was the last surviving female so I expect to see her finishing in the money in many future tournaments.

The chip leader going into Saturday's action is professional Phil Ivey with $3,884,000 in tournament chips followed closely by Tuan Le with $3,730,000. Hassan Habib is third in the count with $3,255,000, Rob Hollink has $1,584,000 placing him in the fourth spot and Chris Ferguson completes the top five with $1,411,000. Joe Beevers remains with $1,162,000, Juha Helppi has $493,000, Tony Ma starts Saturday on the short side with $287,000, Las Vegas pro David Slansky has even less at $200,000 and the short stack honors goes to Paul Testud. Friday's chip leader, John Smith, is a newcomer to tournament play and lost his chips and his seat going out in the 20th position and collecting $75,485. The two remaining tables will begin on Saturday at noon in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio. The play will continue until the field is cut to six players. The final table will be played on the WPT television production set beginning at 4:00 pm on Sunday and will continue until one player has all of the chips and the Championship.

The Five-Star World Poker Classic is winding down to the big finish on Sunday. Many of the professionals will be headed for Lake Tahoe to play in the Harvey's Lake Tahoe Poker Tournament at Harvey's Resort Casino from April 26th to May 17th. The action will the return to Las Vegas for the Mirage Poker Showdown at the Mirage Resort on May 23-26th and is the final major tournament scheduled before the big one, The 2005 World Series of Poker, at the Rio Resort beginning June 3 and continuing daily through July 15th when the $10,000 Championship event final table is played to determine the poker champion of the world.

Remember to click over to Poker Player Newspaper for the complete results of the Five-Star tournament daily events. Spend some time browsing our 5-Star photo gallery to experience views of the action straight from the tournament floor. We are adding photos daily.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fourth day of the Five-Star World Poker Classic's WPT $25,000 Championship ended this evening with 45 players remaining in the tournament. The play began at noon today with 164 finalists attempting to last into the top 100 positions that receive some of the prize money. Yesterday I detailed the dinner conservation with the professionals saying what time today they believed the final 100 would be reached. The 4:00 pm guess was the most accurate; the actual time was 4:59 this afternoon. Danny Dang was the bubble boy today. He went out with pocket Jacks after being called all-in by Tam Nguyen holding J,Q and catching another Queen to end Danny's day. The hand-by-hand started at a few minutes past four and continued until one minute before five, a considerable length of time. All of the remaining 100 players will receive at least $30,000. Play today continued though level #13 before ending for the night. Tomorrow the 45 lucky players that are left will return and play until 27 remain so I expect Friday will be an abbreviated session.

The current chip leader is Reza Payvar with $1,638,000 of the total. John Smith follows closely in second place with $1,611,000. Phil Ivey is in the fifth spot with $1,088,000 and David Williams sits in the sixth spot with $838,000. Joe Beevers of the Hendon Mob is in good shape with $562,000; while 2000 WSOP Champion, Chris Ferguson , has $492.000. The winner of the largest first place money of the 2005 5-Star, Tony Ma, will begin on Friday with $438,000. Well known Las Vegas professional, David Slansky, had accumulated $460,000 at the end of today's play; while Dewey Tomko is playing his usual solid game with $371,000. Thursday's chip leader, Al Boston, remains in the action with $358,000. Isabelle Mercier has accumulated $334,000 in chips and is my dark horse choice to win it all. 2004 WSOP champion, Greg Raymer, seated next to Isabelle also has $334,000 in chips. Bob Stupak will be there Friday with his $253,000. Professional Jesse Jones starts with $214,000 and Stuart Paterson will come into the day with the $107,000 and short stack honors.

Most of my early favorites are gone. Max Pescatori, the Italian Pirate, left with $37,740 for his 48th place finish. Jennifer Harman was eliminated 65th and received $30,000. Tom McEvoy goes away with $30,000 for 74th.

Check out the complete tournament results on Poker Player Newspaper. Additional photos are being added to the 5-Star gallery so click on over and don't forget our new sponsor, Noble Poker, for the finest in Internet Poker.

The twenty-seven will come back on Saturday and play down to the final television table slick six. The WPT filmed final table will be played on Sunday and crown this seasons WPT champion.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

LasVegasVegas is pleased to announce that our partner site, Poker Player Newspaper has entered into an agreement with Fox Sports Network to supply content for the new Fox Sports poker page. The new poker feature is live and available. Mike "Mad Genius" Caro's article, Know When to Shift Gears, is featured writer on today's debut of this new exciting Internet poker site. Additional poker articles from Poker Player Magazine's editorial staff provides readers with valuable insights into Basic Tells, Clueless Parade, First Out, Movin' on Up. The Fox Sports Poker Site will provide readers with poker information for everyone from the novice just learning the game to the seasoned pro maintaining an "A" game.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The third day of play of the 5-Star World Poker Classic WPT $25K Championship ended this evening at the Bellagio Resort. One hundred sixty-four players had chips at the end of level #10. The overall chip leader is Alan Boston with $493,300. Second is Dan Colclough with $381,100 in tournament chips. Third in the chip count is Paul Testud with $369,400 and Juna Helppi is in the fourth spot at $334,600. Other notables and their chip count includes Wednesday's chip leader, Scotty Nguyen at $312,100, Max Pescatori $223,400, David Williams $220,700, Greg Raymer $216,600, Barry Greenstein $190,000, Annie Duke 157,900, Antonio Esfandiari $155,200, Dewey Tomko $149,500, Chris Ferguson $140,100, Tony Ma $129,300, Jesse Jones $125,200, Isabelle Mercier $120,300, Tom McEvoy $91,300, Phil Hellnuth $85,200, Lyle Berman $82,200, Charlie Shoten $74,200, Kathy Liebert $70,300, Josh Arieh $22,000 and Thursday's short stack will be John Defrancis with $13,700 of the play money. The average chip count is $125,000. Play will begin at noon in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio Resort. Complete results of today's tournament action can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.

Wil Wheaton was into his second day of poker at the Five-Star and sitting comfortable behind a nice collection of chips until Annie Duke showed up at his table to fill an empty seat. Wil had just given up most of his $140,000 to a set of Queens that trumped his pocket Kings when for the second time he was the recipient of pocket Kings, shoved the remainder of his chips into the pot only to be called by Annie's Big Slick. Of course, she caught an Ace and Wil was eliminated. As J. Santos' Muckit Man would say, "Some days the invisible hand of the great poker God throws you a finger." A few minutes before Wheaton went out, Tobey Maquire was eliminated when his two pair all-in bet was called by a bigger two pair. Thursday action will get under way at noon without many of the professionals including James Van Alstyne, Paul Wolfe, Daniel Negreanu, Andy Bloch, Noel Furlong, Sam Farha, Paul Darden, Mel Judah, David Levi and Huck Seed.

I had dinner with some of the players still in the event and they were trying to predict the time the field would hit the "Top 100" that gets paid. The tournament will start up around noon tomorrow with the remaining 164 players bringing their average chip stacks of $125K and trying to survive into the money. Usually when they get close enough to smell the money the players become much more conservative and careful. The earliest predicted time was 4:00 pm while most of the group believed this was too early and the general consensus was between 6:30 and 7:00 pm before the field is trimmed to 100. Dinner was most interesting and the topics ranged across the full spectrum of professional poker. I will address some of the thoughts in future post. Today's tournament poker players are an intelligent, educated and responsible group that is concerned about the welfare, growth and future of their industry. They have concerns that need to be addressed and ideas that will make the sport even better. One of the topics centered on the time factor of players making decisions at the table. Most feel that some uniform method of controlling the amount of time a player is allowed to ponder a decision should be limited since they now spend an inordinate amount of playing time watching another player do the "TV chip shuffle," often for five minutes or more. Just one of the issues discussed.

Thursday will be another exciting day of big time tournament poker at the Bellagio. Additional photos from the Five-Star have been added to the gallery so click on over to see a close-up of Monkey with Mojo, Darwin.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The second group of players in the WPT $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship event played their first session today. The noon starting time saw 227 players seated for the second qualifying flight. The first flight of 225 entrants played on Monday and 178 remained after the $300-600 level was completed in the early evening. Today's second flight of 227 players began at noon and when the end of the $300-$600 level was reached 166 remained. Wednesday the two groups will be combined and all 344 players will start the second day of play at the $400-$800 blind, $100 ante level #6.

Early outs today included Jean Robert Bellande's pocket Nines losing to Sam Fahra's pocket Kings. Max Pescatori took out Matt Matros when he rivered the nut flush to beat Matt's turn-made nut straight. Mike Matusow went out when he failed to catch another club for the flush and Avery Cardoza's pocket Kings were victorious. Richard Brodie was eliminated by 1983 WSOP Champion, Tom McEvoy. The list of ousted professionals includes Marcel Luske, Scott Fischman, and Ram Vaswani.

Players returning to play on Wednesday include Daniel Negreanu, James Van Alstyne, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Josh Arieh, Dan Alspach, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstein, Andy Furlong, Juha Helppi, Gabriel Thaler, Devilfish Ulliott, Chris Ferguson, Hilbert Shirey, Max Pescatori, Phil Gorden, Annie Duke, Jesse Jones, Huck Seed, TJ Cloutier, Tobey Maquire, Mickey Appleman, Tom McEvoy, Phil Hellmuth, Wil Wheaton, Kathy Liebert, Mimi Tran, Ted Forrest, Men "Master" Nguyen, Paul Wolfe, Kenna James, Howard Lederer and Charlie Shoten, just to name a few.

Today's second flight chip leaders are Steve Stolzmann $200,625, Nikolas Frangos $189,775, John Esposito $173,600, Siagzar Payvar $157,050 and Sam Farha with $156,575 in touirnament chips. Scotty Nguyen comes into Wednesday as the overall chip leader. Gus Hansen loses his "shortest stack" position of $10,125 to Seymour Guiberson with $9,275 in play money. Check out all the results of the WPT's $25K Championship event at Poker Player Newspaper. We have added more photos to the 5-Star Photo gallery.

The action begins at noon on Wednesday in the Fontana Room and the main poker room at the Bellagio. Much great poker remains to be played before the final six are decided for the televised WPT final table.

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

The first day of the WPT $25,000 + $500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship. The day started off a bit confusing with no player list and different numbers given for the entrants. I believe 452 players paid the entry fee and 225 of them played in the first group today. Today's chip counts are in; and after today's play ended at about 8:00 pm this evening the first group's chip leader is Scotty Nguyen, the 1998 WSOP Champion, with $233,750 in tournament chips. Not bad considering everyone began the day with $50,000 in play money. Second in the chip count is Eric Wright at $231,450. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, 2004 WSOP $5 million Champion, was the chip leader for most of the afternoon and finished the day in the fifth chip count spot with $153,625. Apparently, forty-seven players were eliminated today and the list of goners included some pre-game favorites in the form of John Juanda, Martin de Knijff, Chip Reese, Freddy Deeb, Layne Flack and Dan Harrington. On a different note, Phil Hellmuth, in trademark Hellmuth style, showed up hours late and had lost only $3K of his $50K starting count which he quickly recovered and finished the day with $58,650. Of the 178 survivors, 112 of them finished the day with $50,000 or more in chips. Today's short stack survivor is Gus Hansen with $10,125. Complete results from each day of the event can be found on Poker Player Newspaper.

Tomorrow's second group of players will sit down to play at noon in the Fontana Room and follow the same format as today, playing until they complete the $300-600 blinds, $75 ante level. The action will pick up on Wednesday with survivors from both days combined. Considering the kill ratio from today the third day starting field will be approximately 350 players.

The prize pool for this WPT Championship event is $10,961,000. First place will receive $2,856,150, second gets $1,698,390 and third goes home with $896,375. The top 100 players will receive money from the prize pool with 51-100 receiving $30,000.

An interesting thought would be Greg Raymer winning this event and holding world's best titles in the two biggest poker tournaments. I guess this would put him on the fast track to be the 2005 Player of the year if he shows any championship style at this year's WSOP.

Tomorrow promises to be another great day of poker at the Bellagio. I'll be there watching all the action. I am certainly lucky to live here in Las Vegas and have the opportunity to see first hand poker history being made. I have been involved in the poker industry for many years and remember so very well when rooms were closing to make way for more slot machines; and now, another couple of poker millionaires are about to be created. Who would have ever believed? Thank you television! Thank you Internet!

Continue to visit the 5-Star photo gallery as new photos are added daily.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first section of the Five-Star World Poker Classic photo gallery is now available with more than eighty photos straight from the tournament floor.

Our readers will notice that we now have ads running on the website and blog. We are pleased to introduce our new sponsor, Noble Poker. We believe online poker doesn't come any better than Noble Poker so click on over and take a look.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sitting down to write this week in review I can't help but reflect on the past year and everything that's happened. It really started with the 2004 WSOP and Nolan Dalla handing us our first media badge. From there it been a year of expansion and evolution, culminating in the sponsorship by Noble Poker (don't get too excited, it's basically covering the operating costs which Google stopped doing when we moved to RackSpace) and a full time gig building the Poker Player website. I suppose if I had to select the biggest highlights of the past year, they would be, in chronological order:

Covering the 2004 World Series of Poker
Meeting Hank (HDouble for the first time)
Meeting and getting to know some of the wonderful professional players.
Thanksgiving with Felicia (no I haven't mailed you yet!)
The highlight of the year, the 2004 WPBT Holiday Classic
The Al Can't Hang experience at the [casino never to be named on this blog].
Getting a sponsor.
Building the Poker Player Web Site with BG and Pauly writing for it.
And finally, thanks to our friends at Check, Raise or Muckit for their encouragement, criticism and help.

Now for the actual week in review.

Let's begin with the April 24th WSOP Blogger qualifier event on Poker Stars that Iggy and Otis put together. It's a blogger only event so e-mail Iggy for the password to register and may the best blogger win. Next up is BG's latest post to Poker Player... politburo jokes are funny indeed, eh comrade? Next check out Ship It Poker for a healthy dose of undiscovered Party Bonus Codes and sound poker advice. For some poker antics check out SirFWALGMan's suckout of the Poker Geek's flopped set. If you want a stomach churning tale of woe read 50 outs Vegas trip report. Finally check out Pauly's review of Harrington on Hold'em and Linda's blog for a perspective on the cash games running at the Bellagio.

Posted by pokerprof at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second day of the Professional Players Tour event at the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic began today at 2:00 pm with 45 players. Well after midnight we have the six professionals whom will return to play the final table on Monday, April 25th. The big slick six and their respective chip counts follow:

Lee Markholdt $890K
Barry Shulman $400K
Erick Lindgren $380K
Doyle Brunson $324K
Chris Bjorin $214K
Dan Heimiller $85K

The complete results of events at the Five-Star World Poker Classic are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

The grand master of poker, Doyle Brunson, will be at the PPT final table and so will Erick Lindgren. Lee Markholdt comes in as the chip leader with a two to one lead over second place. Dan Heimiller will represent the short stack crowd. The final hand saw Doyle's son, Todd Brunson, eliminated when his all-in bet with A,Q was called by Lee Markholdt showing an A,K. After the board was down the King played and Todd was eliminated.

Super Satellites for Monday's start of the $25,000 + $500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship kept the room full of hopefuls trying to secure a bargain priced seat in the event. The Super Satellites will continue on Sunday. Come on down, pay the $2,500 + $100 buy-in and just maybe you'll be taking your seat in the big show on Monday.

Walk across the strip to the Aladdin tomorrow at noon and play in the $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em "Jewel of the Desert Tournament" in the Aladdin's poker room located in the main casino. The Saturday $500 buy-in event attracted 70 players so Sunday's event may fill up. Call ahead for complete details at 702.785.9150.

I have taken note of all the different names for poker tournaments and I really like the sound of the "Jewel of the Desert." The name brings to mind an oasis in a far away exotic land with palm trees and colorful tents filled with harems of beautiful women. Very fitting for the Aladdin Resort's first poker tournament. The continued growth and popularity of poker and poker tournaments may create a shortage of good tournament names. I have put together a list of tournament names that have been rejected. This week's Nines...

9. Wacko Jacko Poker Classic
8. Folsum Prison Invitational
7. Large, Hairy Men Poker Championship
6. First Place $1 Million, Second Place Death Heads-Up Classic
5. Celebrities Being Cute with a Deck of Playing Cards and Some Chips.
4. International Must See Flop Players Final
3. Battle of the Dumbest
2. Poker Bots Showdown
1. The King Who Wished He Was a Queen Summer Classic

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

Posted by flipchipro at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The tenth and final regular scheduled event of the 2005 Five-Star World Poker Classic played the final table today at the Bellagio resort. The event continued heads-up into the night after Antonio Esfandiari was eliminated in the third spot. Left at the table was chip leader Joseph Grech of London, England facing Tony Ma of El Monte, California. Joseph had a commanding chip lead over professional Ma going into the heads-up play at about 8:00 pm. Over the course of the next two and a half hours Tony began his come back with the precision of a highly skilled surgeon slowly carving out chips from Joseph's stacks. The match played on with Tony taking two steps forward and one step back until he finally regained the lead for good and never looked back. The final hand Tony called all-in and after a brief pause with the customary chip rearrangements, Joseph pushed his remaining chips into the pot. Joseph turned over a J,6o while Tony showed a A,4 of diamonds. The flop came 3,10,A giving Tony a pair of bullets and the lead. The turn brought a deuce and the river was a seven. The tournament was over and Tony Ma was the winner of the $5,000 + $150 No Limit Hold'em event. He received the largest first place money to date at the 2005 Five-Star, $435,980 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event scheduled to begin on Monday. Joseph takes $244,070 from the $1,134,900 prize pool. Antonio Esfandiari received $122,035 for this third place effort. Thomas "Thunder" Keller of Henderson, Nevada finished fourth after blinding away his chips waiting for playable cards that never came. Winner of the first WPT Battle of Champions, Ron Rose, went out in seventh place after his A,Qo was called by a 5,6 that turned into the nut straight with a miracle 4 on the turn. Complete results of event #10 can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.

The Professional Poker Tour (PPT) event, a $500,000 Freeroll, began today with a room full of well known poker professionals playing in this invitation only tournament. Players must be pre-qualified and on the list to participate in this event. The event continued throughout the afternoon and into the early hours of the morning before the 45 players that will return on Saturday were left. The PPT will start on Saturday at 2:00 pm and continue until the final table is decided. Saturday and Sunday are Super Satellite days. Entrants pay $2,500 + $100 buy-in to win a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event that starts at noon on Monday and runs for seven days. And on the seventh day, the television cameras will be filming the final table for later broadcast on the Travel Channel.

Another tournament is scheduled for Saturday just across the Las Vegas strip at the Aladdin Resort. The Aladdin Poker Room is holding the Jewel of the Desert $500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament at noon and the event is open to everyone. Sunday will be another No Limit Hold'em event with a $1,000 buy-in also starting at noon. Additional details are available by calling the poker room for more information: 702.785.9150. The Aladdin poker room is managed by Edna Dalton.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The ninth event of the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic is now history and the winner is Matt Russell of Las Vegas. Matt made a remarkable comeback from near disaster in the heads-up play to defeat the final table starting chip leader, Farzad Bonyadi of Alisa Viejo, California. The final hand of the tournament saw Farzad go all-in with pocket fours and immediately Matt called and turned over pocket Aces. The flop was 10,10, 3 offering no help to Farzad, the turn brought a Queen and the river was a deuce. Matt wins with Aces up to receive the first place money of $274,075. Farzad collects $153,530 while third place finisher, Antony Lellouche of Paris, France will cross the pond with an additional $76,765. The complete results of event #9 can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.

The tenth event began today at noon and is the last scheduled tournament before the PPT tournament and the $25,000 Championship event. A $5,000 + $150 buy-in No Limit Hold'em affair attracted a field of 234 players. The prize pool is the largest of the 5-Star to date at $1,134,900. The winner of the tournament will receive $435,980 plus a seat in the WPT $25,000 Championship event. The top 18 players will go away with prize money. The field had been trimmed down to 41 players at midnight. Well known poker pros remaining at the tables included Antonio Esfandiari, Mike Sica, Paul Phillips, David Plastik, Benny Behnen Binion, Thomas Keller and chip leader, Ron Rose. The final table starts tomorrow afternoon.

The Professional Poker Tour will begin play tomorrow at noon. The television production set is being assembled and the table connected and tested for the PPT No Limit Hold'em $500,000 Freeroll. Qualified professional players are gathered in mass at the Bellagio for an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, win some free money and get some TV time. Saturday will see the second day of play for the PPT; which will continue until a final table is determined. A $2,500 + $100 Super Satellite will be played on Saturday and another is scheduled for Sunday. Monday will begin the seven day WPT $25,000 + $500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship. The event will be filmed for broadcast on the WPT Series broadcast on the Travel Channel. The PPT final table will be played and filmed on the day after the Championship event, Monday April, 25th. Many great days of poker remain at the Bellagio.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Event #8 of the 5-Star World Poker Classic declared a champion this evening. Ken Lennaard of Stockholm, Sweden gets the $241,920 first place money and a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. The tournament got down to heads up when Ken Lennaard defeated today's final table chip leader, Robert Mizzachi of Hollywood, Florida. Robert went out in third when Ken caught a river six to best his Ace high. He received $66,835 for third. The two remaining players, Ken Lennaard and Julian Studly of New York, New York walked away from the table as the tournament clock counted down to a scheduled break. A quick chip count showed Ken with almost all of the chips except for the small stack in front of Julian. A few minutes into the break Tournament Director, Jack McClelland, announced, "After a long and grueling battle Ken won." The two did not return to the table to play the match out and finally Ken came back for the winner's photo. I guess Julian decided his chip position was so weak that the adage, "A chip and a chair," didn't apply to him. He goes back home to NY, NY with $133,670. A complete list of the finish in this event can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.

The lone female at the final table, Connie Kim, was first out in the 9th position and received $10,185. Las Vegas professional, David Levi, was eliminated in the eight spot and takes $12,730. Another Las Vegas professional, Max Pescatori, left in 11th receiving $7,640. The $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event began Tuesday with a field of 273 players.

The $3,000 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event #9 that began today at noon will pay 27 players and was down to 27 players after Eric Seidel went out on the bubble just before eleven this evening. Play will continue until the final table is reached or the clock reaches 3:00 am. The event attracted a field of 260 players and collected a prize pool of $756,600. First place will receive $274,075 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. The top 27 finishers will get paid.

The tenth event will begin on Thursday at noon. The $5,000 + $150 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament will attract many of the top professional players and have a prize pool that may top a million dollars. The Professional Poker Tour Invitational will begin its run on Friday. Limited to qualified professionals only, the PPT is always exciting poker at its best. The PPT final table will be filmed on Monday, April 25th, for a later television broadcast.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Luxor Resort, the ancient Egyptian themed hotel & casino, located in the great black glass pyramid on the south end of the Las Vegas strip has the world's most powerful light beam. The light has such intensity that it can actually be seen from the California, Arizona and even by astronauts from low earth orbits. Every night it is a beacon that can be seen for many miles in the desert sky marking the cities exact location. During those rare overcast nights the intense beam can be seen piercing through the clouds.

The Poker Prof and I were driving home from the Bellagio last night when we noticed that although it was a clear, cloudless night the light at the Luxor appeared to be shining through a cloud of something...dust, smoke or whatever. We decided to drive by for a closer look and found the top of the Luxor to be the base of a huge cloud of moths. That's right, hundreds of millions of the silvery winged creatures were swarming about the light beam at the top of the pyramid. A huge biomass column that stretched hundreds of feet into the night sky. The sight of this living phenomenon was quite remarkable and just a little un-nerving. This gigantic creature was composed entirely of tiny moths. The very wet spring Las Vegas had this year apparently produced moths in record numbers and all of them are over at the Luxor.

Driving away we noticed that the street lights were moth free and we wondered about why? How did the moths know to go to the Luxor since the light at the top of the pyramid is above the service ceiling of a typical moth? Why does the column of moths rotate counter-clockwise? Although we couldn't hear any moth sounds due to city noise do the millions of flapping wings produce audible sound? Watching the little creatures zooming about and colliding with each other probably produces moth dust; so if you were to light a match would the moth column explode as in dust explosion? How many metric tons does the column weight? Does all that movement produce a potential electrical charge so a bolt of lighting could originate from within the column?

Oh well, just some thoughts. By the way, the moths are not there tonight so where did they go?

Posted by flipchipro at 5:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The $2,000 + $80 buy-in No Limit Hold'em seventh event of the 5-Star World Poker Classic finished early this evening at the Bellagio Resort located center strip here in Las Vegas. The end of the heads-up play between Jean Robert Bellande of Hollywood, California and Mack Lee from San Bruno, California quickly ended when Mack Lee called Jean Robert's all-in bet of $200K. Lee was holding A,8 of clubs and Jean Robert turned over a K,6o. The flop brought an A,10,7 giving Mack the lead, the turn showed another 7, giving Mack Lee two pair to win the hand and the tournament. He collected first place money, $225,265, plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT championship event. Jean Robert Bellande received $123,385 for his efforts. The third place finisher, John Luu, goes home to Los Angeles with $61,690. The complete results of the event can be found on Poker Player.

Jean Robert Bellande is known for his constant stream of banter at the poker table; which is ignored by most, funny to some and close to the line of acceptable behavior to others. I enjoy watching Jean Robert and all of his table antics. He is reminiscent of a once younger poker champion, Puggy Pearson. Jean has the ability to add considerable spice to an otherwise boring table and he's great for getting the crowd involved in the action. Jean Robert Bellande is good for the game of poker and good for the future growth of poker. He not only plays a good game but entertains while he's doing it. The current overwhelming popularity of poker is directly related to poker being broadcast primetime on TV and to a lesser degree the Internet poker rooms. TV audiences demand to be entertained and a controversial player does just that; which is good for ratings and ratings are good for poker. Instead of trying to suppress Jean Robert, I would encourage him, within the boundaries of accepted table etiquette, of course. If I were responsible for putting together a poker TV show with high ratings I would pay to have Jean Robert or someone with his style at the table.

Today's event #8, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament, was down to 70 players at 6:30 when I took an early out. The event drew 273 players and collected a prize pool of $662,025. First place will receive $241,920 and the top 27 players will receive something from the pool. The remaining players include enough females so maybe we will have a lady or two at tomorrow's final table. That would be exciting to see two of the women going into the heads-up play.

The #9 event scheduled for noon tomorrow, Wednesday, will be a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em contest.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic event #6 is over much earlier this evening than the one last night. We have a winner and he is Scott Levy of Dallas,Texas. He outlasted the other 482 players that bought into this $1,500 buy-in No limit Hold'em tournament. Scott played heads up with second place finisher, Frank Kassela, of Memphis, Tennessee for just a few hands after third place was awarded to Sam Wasserkrug of Henderson, Neveda when he voluntarily elected to have his remaining chips picked up and accepted third place. The final hand of the match saw Frank go all-in and Scott calling with a pocket pair of black Queens, the same hand Marcel Luske held when he wpon the second event. The board didn't help either player and Scott was the winner. He received $228,680 and a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Frank Kassela takes home $121,910 for second and Sam Wasserkurg goes away with $64,340 in third place money. The complete list of finishers for this event can be found at Poker Player.

Scott Levy is the owner of an Internet marketing business based in Dallas and this is his first major tournament win. He has been playing poker for seventeen years and comes from a family long involved in the poker industry. His mother is a poker dealer at the Commerce Club in Los Angeles, California.

The seventh event of the 5-Star got underway today at noon with 316 entrants paying the $2,000 + $80 buy-in for the No Limit Hold'em event. The prize pool amounted to $613,040 and first place will receive $225,265 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship. The event will pay 27 places. Fifty-six players remained in the tournament at 8:00 this evening. The final table will be played on Tuesday beginning at 4:00 pm in the Fontana Room.

The eighth event scheduled to begin on Tuesday at noon is a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Event #5 of the Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic, a $5,000 + $150 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament, ended after a marathon final table session this evening just before 11:00 pm Vegas time. Dmitry Savelyev of Las Vegas called Emad Alabsi's all-in bet form his massive chip stack. Emad turned over pocket tens while Dmitry smiled as he flipped up his pocket Queens. The board brought no help for either and Dmitry raised his arms in victory taking down the largest first place money to date in the 2005 Five-Star. His share of the $945,750 prize pool amounted to $365,995 plus the bonus $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Emad Alabsi of Cleveland, Ohio takes $202,455 for his second place finish. Ram Vaswami of London, England finished third and received $101,230. Ram is one of the original four founding members of the Hendon Mob and he came into today's final table as the chip leader. Well known professional and 1998 WSOP Champion, Scotty Nguyen, finished in the eight spot. The complete results of this fifth 5-Star event can be found on Poker Player.

Dmitry Savelyev came to America a couple of decades ago from his native Russia. He began playing professional poker a few short months ago and today's event was only his second venture into a major poker tournament. He played textbook perfect right up to taking the win. His style is solid and methodical; so, we will see much more of Dmitry at final tables in the coming months.

The sixth event was down to 43 players at 11:00 this evening from a large starting field of 483 entrants. The $1,500 + $70 buy-in No limit Hold'em tournament collected a prize pool of $702,765 with the winner scheduled to receive $228,680 and a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Marcel Luske, winner of the second event, was the chip leader late this evening. The final table will be played tomorrow in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio.

The seventh event, a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No Limit Hold'em contest, will begin tomorrow at noon. Spotted in tonight's crowd of tournament and cash players at the Bellagio was Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, T. J. Cloutier, Gabriel Thaler, Kirril Gerasimov, Kenna James, David Williams, Gus Hansen, Men "The Master" Nguyen and Ron Rose.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks to Boy Genius and our World Series of Poker reporter we now have two bloggers added to the writer list over at Poker Player.

Iggy is planning a June 3rd Satellite to send a blogger to the $1500 Buy in WSOP No Limit Hold'em Event, which tends to have one of the best turn-outs and prize purses of the entire series. I read a great post by sweet Auntie Maudie, and if you think of her this way you really need to read it. Double A's qualified for the WPT Aruba; so, a big congratulations his way. Otis' Top Ten reasons to come to the WPBT are also worth a visit.

I'm finding that I have more and more things that need to be done and reading the entire blog-roll each week is taking a bigger slice of time, to the point that this week, I simply didn't make it all the way through. So, if you have a post, or a blog that you think needs to be here, e-mail me the link.

Posted by pokerprof at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fourth event of the 2005 Five-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio finished early this evening and the champion is David Pham of Cerritos, California. He defeated Jean Gaspard from Chicago, Illinois when his pocket eights included the eight of clubs. David made a club flush when the river brought the 9 of clubs giving him a victory over Gaspard's A,9. David collected $270,165 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event for his win. Gaspard takes away a respectable $145,475; while third place finisher, Sam Oliverio returns home to Bridgeport, West Virginia $72,740 richer. The complete list of all the money winners in this event is available at Poker Player.

David made short work of the final table players with the end coming before 6:00 pm Saturday evening. The last time I was photographing David he was enjoying another championship moment at the 2004 Bellagio's Five Diamond World poker Classic where he won $414,419 in event #12, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament.

The Saturday event was a $5,000 + $150 buy-in No limit Hold'em tournament that attracted 194 players and amassed a prize pool of $945,750. The winner of the event will receive $365,995 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Eighteen places will be paid. Midnight found thirty-three players remaining in the contest. Noted professionals still in the hunt included LA Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, Scotty Nguyen and Barry Greenstein. Tomorrow's final table should be another great one for the many fans that crowd into the room.

Sunday's event will be a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament. The tournament will start at 12:00 noon.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While cruising around the Internet trying to catch up on what's happening in the world of poker I ran across this article from MSNBC on the pros and cons of a casino opening, closing or expanding the card room. The old school, bottom line oriented pencil pushers tend to compare the return on square footage of an operation by the simplest of methods, directly. Comparing the slot drop with poker table drop always shows poker to be the short end of the stick and a poor producer of revenues. The article details the new attitude of gaming operations to look deeper into their margins and they by doing sothey have realized that poker and its recent popular resurgence is helping to not only fill the card rooms but poker is responsible for filling many of the slot seats as well. The drawing power of poker is bringing new patrons into the casino; people that would ordinarily not be there come because of the card room experience. They not only play poker; but, drop cash in slots, frequent the restaurants and fill the hotel rooms. The overall bottom line of the operation sees an increase in revenues, mostly due to hold'em poker.

I remember when Las Vegas was closing rooms weekly. I was once in a room that not only closed; but, they were carting away the poker tables while I was racking my chips. By the time I cashed out and had a sandwich in the coffee shop the maintenance crew was setting the video poker machines into the vacated space. I recall someone saying this was the modern form of the tired old card game. Video poker machines hit a marketing master stroke when the people were convinced they were a form of poker and even today they are referred to as poker machines instead of their correct name, slot machines. The height of this facade was a poker tournament one of the local casinos pitched that would become bigger than the WSOP and would be played only on "poker machines."

I have been considering what poker would be like if video poker machines had replaced live poker. The Nines list the advantage of just playing poker machines. This week's Nines...

9. Much easier to get a read on the electrons than Daniel Negreanu.
8. Heavy drinking doesn't seem to affect your win/loss rate.
7. Smoke all you like, machines don't have second hand smoke issues.
6. You don't have to read any of those damn poker books, the machines do all the work for you.
5. No more worrying about getting mugged since you never leave the casino with any money.
4. You never miss seeing the flop since you never fold.
3. Enjoying those great electronic sound effects.
2. The only twenty-five cent limit poker game that pushes a thousand dollar pot to you for a royal flush.
1. No more tipping the dealer!

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

Posted by flipchipro at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 5-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio completed the $2,000 + $80 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event #3 early Friday evening. Raja Kattamuri of Dallas, Texas was holding an 9,10 of diamonds when he called Can Hua's all-in bet. Can flopped a set of fives and Raja had four to the flush. The turn brought the fifth diamond giving Raja the winning hand and the bracelet. He collects $236,790 first place money plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Can Hua goes home to Rosemead, California with an additional $125,630 in his pocket for his second place finish. Can was the chip leader going into the head's-up and he hung on until the last few hands. Raja stormed into the lead and the win after winning five straight hands. Donald Delancy of Miami, Florida completed the top three and received $68, 815. Las Vegas professional David Levi went out in the fourth spot and collected $34,270. Complete event results can be found in Poker Player Newspaper.

The fourth event, $3,000 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em, was down to 23 players at midnight. The event attracted a field of 236 players and offered a prize pool of $686,760. First place will receive $270,165 plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Known professional players remaining at the tables include Freddy Deeb, David "Devilfish" Ulliott and Young Phan. The event will pay eighteen places so the remaining players had tightened up their play to avoid going out on a $6,615 bubble. The final table will be played tomorrow in the Fontana room at the Bellagio.

Saturday's tournament is a $5,000 + $150 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event that is expected to attract most of the professional players. Considering the anticipated large field and the $5K buy-in the first millionaire of this year's Five-Star World Poker Classic could be the winner of this event. Saturday promises to be another day of exciting poker at the Bellagio. If you enjoy watching the well known professionals going head-to-head for the big money; then, do yourself a favor and get to the Bellagio. What could be better than watching the action? Playing and being a part of the action, that's what. Maybe you'll be the next poker millionaire.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second event at the Five-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio was all 'Flying Dutchman.' Marcel Luske of Amsterdam, Holland never looked back after gaining the chip lead. He outchipped and outclassed the two remaining players after Joe Awada, of Las Vegas, was eliminated in the fourth spot. Third place finisher, Daniel Alaei from Santa Fe Springs, California, was soon eliminated after the three handed play began. Less than twenty minutes into heads-up, second place finisher, Nick Marsico of Bridgewater, New Jersey found himself chip and chairless under the relentless onslaught of the Singing Dutchman; while, Marcel was once again singing a song of victory. The final hand showed Nick Marsico with a K,6 going all-in and Marcel quickly calling, then turning over two black Queens. The flop was 6,8,9 giving Nick a pair of sixes to Marcel's Hilton Sisters. The turn was a 7 giving Nick a shot at a split pot if a straight card showed or a win with a river six. It was not to be when the river was another Queen giving Marcel game, set, match. Marcel received $212,070 and a $25,000 seat in the WPT championship. Second place money enriched Nick Marsico by $115,235 and Daniel Alaei had to settle for $57,620 for his third place finish. The complete results of this Five-Star World Poker Classic tournament can be found on Poker Player.

The final table this evening was lively and with the always entertaining likes of Marcel the fans had a fun watching the play. The Dutchman showed off the note he had made prior to the final table stating that he was going to win the event. He showed it to Joe Awada, who took the note and propped it against his drink glass so Marcel could easily see it. During the play Marcel would often show his hole cards to the spectators standing around the elevated podium where the final table is located. Immediately following Marcel's win, he was greeted by the many fans gathered around and the professional players from the in-progress event #3. I briefly chatted with him while shooting the photos and he told me,"From now on, only bracelets, no more bubbles. I have a closet full of bubbles, little ones, big ones...every kind of bubble. No more bubbles."

Event #3, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament got under way at noon today with 246 players vying for a piece of the $596,550 prize pool. First place will receive a respectable $236,790 and a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Mike Matusow made his first public appearance today when he entered the field. Of note, Mike was eliminated this afternoon by the winner of the First WPT Battle of Champions, Ron Rose. The final table for this event will be Friday in the Fontana Room.
Friday's event #4 is a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament starting at noon.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Full results from the Five Star Poker Classic event #1 are on Poker Player.
The first event of the Five-Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio Resort crowned a champion this evening. The heads-up play came down to two Europeans facing off across the felt. Netherlands native, Mark Boudewijn, and Englishman, Harry Demetriou, began heads-up play after third place finisher, Gary Abraham, was eliminated. Harry began the two handed session with a comfortable three-to-one chip lead over the less experienced Dutchman. Mark, whose best finish to date was fourteenth place, remained calm and played aggressively, often going all in and collecting the blinds when Demetriou no-called. Mark doubled his stack twice in a relatively short period leading up to the final hand. The final hand saw Harry Demetriou going all-in with Jd,7d and Boudewijn calling with K,Jo. The flop came A,K,8 giving Mark the lead with his pair of Kings. The turn was a 10 and the river showed another King. Mark's set of Kings ruled triumphant and he became the first champion crowned at the 2005 Five-Star World Poker Classic. Mark takes down the top prize of $222,570 and a $25,000 entry in the WPT Championship tournament. Harry settles for the $118,240 second place money, while third place finisher, Gary Abraham, takes home $62,405. John Juanda, my early pick to win the event, finished in the fifth spot winning $26,275. Derei Asher, recent winner of a WSOP Circuit event at the Rio, collected the sixth place money and always tough, Gabriel Thaler finished in the twelfth position and received $6,570.

Wednesday's event #2, $2,000 + $80 No-Limit Hold'em, had attracted a field of 296 players when play began at noon. The field was down to 44 players at 8:00 pm. Well known professionals remaining in the quest were the Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske, Scotty Nguyen, David Levi and Joe Awada. Among the professionals, Marcel Luske had the most chips. The event will continue play today until all but nine are eliminated or 3:00 am when a break is called for the day. Play will resume on Thursday at 4:00 pm in the Fontana Room overlooking the Bellagio's dancing fountains.

I noticed 1983 WSOP Champion, Tom McEvoy, in the room as I was preparing to leave. Outside the the room I ran into Amir Vahedi with the everpresent cigar and he assured us that he will be at a final table for tomorrow's event #3. The event will be a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament with a start time of 12:00 noon.

Additional photos of the today's poker action are in the continue reading text so click to it.

More Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic photographs.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I've added a little section to the top of the left column of this little blog that shows the five most recent article titles from Poker Player Newspaper and before I get around to added a page on PPNP I thought I'd announce it here. To add the headline doohickey to a page, just drop in this line of code:

<script src="http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/ppnprss.php?target=_blank"></script>

Comments, thoughts and feedback on critters like this are always welcome...

Posted by pokerprof at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The field has been cut to 28 players at approximately 12:30 am. It appears that the clock will get to 3:00 am before all but the final nine players are eliminated. Among the notable professionals remaining at the three tables early this morning are John Juanda and Gabriel Thaler. A Super Satellite was also being played in the Fontana Room. The room does have a great view of the Bellagio's dancing fountains so if you grow tired of watching the poker action it's easy to take a break and go out on the veranda overlooking the fountains. The room has a small stage that is used for the feature tournament table.

While I was there watching the run to the final table, David Williams was seen strolling through the room. Remember, the young Texan finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 WSOP Main Event and took away a cool $3.5 million. David was featured in a Playboy article in the January issue of the magazine. The Poker Prof wrote a response to the article that was published in the April issue.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Bellagio's Five-Star World Poker Classic got under way here in Las Vegas today. The field of 469 entrants paid $1,500 + $70 for a shot at the prize pool of $682,395. The winner will also receive a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Walking throught the room I recognized a number of the professionals in town to play in the tournament. Marcel Luske, Europe's number one player, was enjoying himself, as usual, with a nice stack of chips. Those playing at the table with the Flying Dutchman are always treated to some of his vocal styling along with his impeccable attire and trademark upside down sunglasses. Included in the mix was Gabriel Thaler coming off a main event final table appearance at the recent WSOP Circuit tournament at the Rio.

The field had been narrowed to 137 players just after five o'clock this afternoon. The play will continue until the final table nine are decided or 3:00 am is reached. Whoever is left will return at 4:00 pm tomorrow, Wednesday, April 06, to resume play and go until a winner is crowned.

The following prize payouts for event #1 follows:

1. $222,570
2. $118,240
3. $62,405
4. $36,105
5. $26,275
6. $18,395
7. $13,140
8. $10,510
9. $9,195
10. $7,885
11-15 $6,570
16-20 $5,255
21-30 $3,940
31-40 $3,285
41-50 $2,630

The Bellagio has chosen this time to close its poker room for a complete remodel and expansion so space is somewhat convoluted. The poker room cash games have moved into the casino space normally reserved for the tournament tables so the tournament is partly there and the rest in the Fontana room. Wednesday's event is a $2,000 + $80 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em contest. Play will begin at noon with another anticipated large field of players.

Posted by flipchipro at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three weeks of world class, exciting poker begins tomorrows at the Bellagio. The 5-Star World Poker Classic starts it's run with a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event. The winner of the event will receive, in addition to the large first place money, a $25,000 + $500 seat in the Championship tournament scheduled to start on April 18th. The 5-Star Poker Classic is fifteen events of No-Limit Hold'em climaxing with the big $25,000 Buy-In Championship. The World Poker Tour will be on hand to film the final event scheduled for broadcast on the WPT series on the Travel Channel. Most of the well known professional poker players are in town looking for a share of the big money and an opportunity to be on national Television.

The Super Satellites begin on Tuesday with a 7:15 pm start time. All of the Super Satellites are $1,000 + $60 Buy-In No-Limit Hold’em and will award as many seats as possible dependent upon the number of entrants. The satellites continue daily through April 17th.

Following the April 24th final day of the Championship event another final table championship PPT (Professional Player Tour) event will be played in front of the WPT cameras for broadcast on national television. The PPT $500K Freeroll Tournament is limited to invited pre-qualified professional poker players.

Our team and cameras will be there even if you're not, so get all of your 5-Star Poker Classic updates, information and in-your-face action photos right here. The last time we were at the Bellagio for a WPT sanction event it was the Bellagio's Five Diamond World Poker Classic just before Christmas. Poker Player of the year, Daniel Negreanu, won that one going away. Will he repeat and win this WPT event? I think Daniel has to be the favorite; he's playing solid poker and has been in the winner's circle so often he knows the way with his eyes closed. I'm making Daniel the favorite to take down the Championship.

Posted by flipchipro at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Addendum: Be sure to check out Pplayer.com, a poker blog with multiple updates everyday and tons of content, it's part of the Weblogsinc corporate network of blogs but, in my opinion, it’s the corporate approach to blogging done right.
Let's begin this week with a couple of neat April's Fools Day posts that cropped up on the blogger scene, one from Double A's and another from Badblood. Next if you're a limerick lover (and after enough alcohol who isn't?) Check out what Mr. Subliminal is up too. Felicia has up a cool post about her friends and hero's while Bill has a cool post about Felicia and Maudie is selling Felicia approved tank tops. To wrap up the general blogger scene I noticed Buy it in Vegas is back and posting again.

Now, even thought the posts went up on April 1st, the posts are true, Pauly will be heading out for the WSOP this year to cover the events for, among other places, Poker Player Online (Which is already publishing his fiction). In addition, to help out Lord Admiral with the bandwidth stress of hosting Card Club (as well as adding more content), there is now a Poker Radio page at Poker Player. Which is a nice segue into a quick thank you for the new Poker Player links.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A lazy Saturday here in paradise. The temperatures are already hinting that another blazing summer is just over the horizon. Close to eighty this week.

Billboards and press releases remind me that this is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the City of Las Vegas. Today, the official painting of the Centennial Celebration, Celebrating 100 Years in Neon was unveiled by local dignitaries and the artist, LeRoy Neiman. No stranger to Las Vegas and the gambling scene, Neiman has been painting his impressions of the city and its people for years. I remember seeing his exquisite impressionistic Vegas showgirl series in Playboy many years ago. His paintings of sporting events are considered to be the gold standard of sports art. We have enjoyed viewing his depictions of everything from the brutal blood sport of boxing to the ballet-like essence of the Olympiads. Quoting form the Las Vegas Centennial's press release:

"When it was suggested there should be a painting to celebrate the Centennial, I said immediately I was the man who should do it," Neiman said. "I was able to incorporate familiar and lasting images of Las Vegas into the painting, as well as my own memories of time spent there. There is no place in America, or anywhere else, like Las Vegas."

The public will have the opportunity to enjoy owning a copy of Celebrating 100 Years in Neon. Poster reproductions will be available to purchase for $45 on the Las Vegas Centennial's merchandise Web site. Pre-orders are now being accepted. Those interested in attending centennial functions can keep track of everything happening here in Las Vegas by going to www.lasvegas2005.org.

Driving around town you can't help but notice the new ride atop the Stratosphere, aptly named, Insanity. Riders are strapped into this large egg beater thingy, and then the huge overhead arm pivots out from the roof of the tower until the lucky people are suspended 1000 feet up with nothing between you and the ground but thin air. This alone would be considered enough of an adrenalin rush for most people, but the real fun hasn't even begun yet. The thing begins to rotate, finally reaching a speed of forty miles an hour, and the centripetal forces raise the arms until the riders are looking almost straight down while speeding in a circle. Surviving the stress of imminent death while hanging over the side of the tallest occupied tower west of the Mississippi just might be the ultimate "high fun." I think the reason for the name "Insanity" refers to the insane folk that pay good money to endure this trauma.

Many of the brave will have second thoughts after reaching the top of the Stratosphere and seeing first hand this monstrosity. We have prepared a list of excuses so you don't have to ride while maintaining your "tower of strength" image. This week's Nines...

9. My flying license expired last Thursday.
8. The cardiologist said no thrill rides for a whole month.
7. The ride was designed by those same competent Sprint cell phone engineers.
6. I would love to but my MGM poker room pager just went off.
5. Damn, the wind just blew away my ticket so go ahead without me.
4. If I want to do something dangerous I'll stand under the Vegas monorail.
3. Why do they have a Priest standing by just in case? In Case Of What?
2. It's against my religion...Devout Coward.
1. GET ON THAT THING? WHAT? ARE YOU INSANE?!

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

Posted by flipchipro at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"I can say gamecock but not asscock"
"Hey, I can say asscock!"...Dr. Pauly in reference to the Poker Stars' Chat filters.

OK, so the WPBT (World Poker Blogger Tour) tourney has come and gone. I finished a not too memorable, but distant 26th. Rather then re-hash this material when others are far better at it, I'll send you to Dr. Pauly's tournament report, John-Paul's blogger list/report and the WPBT website, which should have the leader-board scores updated soon. Go the event winner's site to pay homage to the current King of the WPBT, Pathetic Poker, and finally a toast of the Guinness to the event organizer, uber-poster and 4th place finisher, Iggy.

While I'm about it, Dr. Pauly just posted an original fiction work, Sad Amy, to Poker Player Newspaper. I just finshed building a dedicated World Series of Poker information section and a World Poker Tour information section.

A major bit of news here at the Prof's Blog can now be made public. Previous agreements are in place and we will have Dr. Pauly covering the 2005 WSOP. Really good news for the readers. I believe his unique views of this event will provide an indepth look into the world of big time poker. Last; but, certainly not least is the additional news that we now have a sponsor.

Following a year of covering everything poker, we recently decided to accept advertisements. Of the many that have contacted us we have made our selection of a sponsor for LasVegasVegas.com. Only those that have a defining interest in the sport of poker were considered. Long term quality growth is now assured. See all of the details next week.

Don't want to give away to many of the details right now. Although Blogs and Bloggers are now accepted as legitimate media, we will continue to push the envelop. Yes, we are very pleased with this recent turn of events.

Oh yea, Happy April 1st.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)