Sean, Host of Lord Admiral Card Club Radio, and I had the opportunity to chat with Isabelle Mercier an exclusive for this week's podcast on Lord Admiral. Sean does his usual outstanding job of conducting the interview, dedicating most of the air time to Isabelle and her life before entering the world of Professional Tournament Poker. Isabelle is beginning her third year on the tournament circuit where she earned the nickname, 'No Mercy'. We also had time to discuss Isabelle's website where she offers her own designer accessories and jewelry. Of course, the (in)famous Isabelle jeans which have made her derriere the most photographed in all of poker, are also available.

The podcast is now available so stop by Lord Admiral Radio for an up-close and personal interview with professional poker's latest hot property, Isabelle Mercier.

Posted by pokerprof at 3:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An idea being tossed around Las Vegas not long ago was a pitch to turn the city into the epicenter for celebrating the unofficial holiday, Halloween. I thought it was a great idea and one that had not really been exploited to the degree that Las Vegas can exploit ideas. Things like turning downtown Las Vegas into the World's largest 'haunted house', the Las Vegas Strip taking on the look and feel of a magical street out of a JR Rowling novel would all combine into a gigantic themed party not to be missed (PG-21 rating).

Add to the above list the natural 'spooky side' of Las Vegas, something I had never noticed until I saw the TV movie, Night Stalker, about a Vampire living in Las Vegas and being chased by one of my all-time favorite movie reporters, Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin. The movie is worth your time just to get a historic look at Las Vegas more than three decades ago, back when the World Series of Poker was played at Binion's Horseshoe for the first time.

The grand idea of making Halloween synonymous with Las Vegas has not become a reality but maybe there's still hope. Vegoose at Sam Boyd Stadium is a two day musical celebration that was two years in the making for this 2005 Halloween weekend in Las Vegas. The party is here in Las Vegas and don't forget we have more magicians per square foot than any place on Earth outside of Transylvania. Got no where to go this Halloween? Then come on down and Trick or Treat with the big kids.

I have listed some of the little known but spooky things about Las Vegas that most people don't know. This week's Nines...

Top Nine spooky things about Las Vegas.

9. Siegfried and Roy use real magic, not illusions.

8. Phil Hellmuth can see through playing cards.

7. Packs of howling ghost dogs.

6. Penn and Teller are Hobbits.

5. Mayor Oscar Goodman keeps referring to the Las Vegas City Coven.

4. Chris Ferguson can read your mind...from the next room.

3. Steve Wynn can walk on water.

2. The Talking statues at Caesars come to life and leave in a taxi.

1. Disappearing money!

Posted by flipchipro at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Las Vegas is in between major poker tournaments with the Festa al Lago IV having ended and the next major poker event scheduled for November 9, a WSOP Circuit Series stop at Bally's/Paris casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The Ultimate Poker Challenge will return to the downtown Plaza Casino and Hotel for its third season beginning November 16th and running thru the championship final table on November 29th. The holiday poker action moves up to the strip for the Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio scheduled for November 29th through December 16th. Plenty of big time tournament poker guaranteeing big dollar prize pools and rooms filled with all of the stars of the sport. All three of the tournaments will be filmed for later national television broadcast.

November is the official start of the Las Vegas Holiday Season so the town will bring out the decorations, pipe in the Ho,Ho,Ho music, turn the cocktail girls into red and green velvet clad big-breasted elves and turkey dinners replace prime rib as the casino coffee shop special. A time when visitors to Las Vegas split their time between the casinos and the Las Vegas Strip'[s ultra shopping malls. The old time locals lament the holiday times of old when the city would slow down and by Christmas Las Vegas would be a virtual ghost town, even the employees would leave the city to be with distant family members. But, following Christmas the crowds would return to fill the town to capacity for the biggest single Vegas holiday, New Year's. From the slowest time to the busiest overnight, what a rush that was back then. Now, the holidays are continually busy and bustling with visitors, even Christmas has become one of Las Vegas' biggest holidays.

The locals actually begin the season a day early on October 31. All of the Nevada offices, courts, schools and services are closed for the holiday. Halloween? Well, yes and no. Its Nevada statehood day, on this date in 1864 Nevada joined the Union as the 36th state. The words on our state flag read, "Battle Borne," referring to the Civil War being fought at the time. Neveda's statehood was pushed through so the Feds could control and use the state's abundance of rich silver and gold deposits to finance the fight with the Confederates. Another piece of Nevada trivia, the state tree is the Bristlecone Pine, thought to be the oldest living thing on earth.

The big weekend here begins tomorrow with the holiday and on Saturday Vegoose cranks up at Sam Boyd Stadium for two days. Our own Dr. Pauly will be attending everything offered over the two days of Vegoose so check out his reports at TaoPoker.com and then combine a sneak preview of the Prof's latest project with Dr. Pauly's Vegoose reports by clicking the New Poker Prof's Las Vegas Blog. Pauly will provide photos of the entire happenings of the event providing Vegoose remains camera friendly.

I followed the recent Department of Energy press release and news conference concerning the change from the original plans for the radioactive nuclear waste dump being built in the Nevada desert that will make it a safer and less hazard place. Glad those friendly rocket scientist types over at the Department have apparently had some seconds thoughts about their original assurances that the dump would be a good neighbor and we locals need not worry about imaginary dangers. I did not attend the conference but J. Santos apparently talked to someone in a bar that had, or they knew someone with insider info or something. Santos said the feds were touting the new design as a really great gift for Las Vegas, one that could become a big tourist drawing card for the Statehood/Halloween holiday. Santos has done an artist concept constructed from descriptions of the redesigned nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain as gleaned, with the help of Jack Black, from the bar room sources. His rendering below shows how he believes the radioactive dump will appear to arriving airliners full of tourists; and, best of all!, it works for the next 250,000 years. Sometimes Santos can become a bit confused about what he heard so his accuracy is unverified.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

High Variance Poker vs. Low Variance Poker - Bill Rini

Not Tails Down - BadBlood

The Tao of Risk - Tao of Poker

Just Don't Call Me Late for Dinner - Absinthe's Troubles

Updated Tourney Stats and Some Keys to Winning - Betting for Value

Using VP$IP to Put Opponents on a Range of Hands - The PokerShark's Cardroom

Of Statistical Significance - Sound of a Suckout

The State of Party Rakeback - Sound of a Suckout

Buying in for the Maximum at NL: Yay or Nay? - Sound of a Suckout

Win the rights to rename this blog for a week - Double A's

Shooting the breeze with easy_wind - Otis

Shoulders of Giants - Cardsspeak

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

The 2005 World Series of Poker broadcast on ESPN is getting close to the final two days of the main event played at the downtown Las Vegas Binion's Horseshoe Casino, now named Binion's. I thought it a good idea to review the poker room so readers will have some advance background in the properties poker rich history. If you're coming to Vegas and plan to play some cash game or tournament poker then stop downtown and test your skill and luck where it all started.-FlipChip

Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel located at 128 East Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas has more poker history than any casino poker room in the city. The original small casino sat on a corner on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Opened by gaming legend Benny Binion in 1951, the Horseshoe offered gamblers the best odds for whatever game they played and his way of doing business drew the players. Binion's Horseshoe was proabaly the most profitable casino per square foot in Nevada; but, the likely rumor couldn't be substantiated since the Horseshoe was privately owned and didn't have to make public the accounting books.

Benny Binion is one of the true Las Vegas pioneers and architects of modern Las Vegas. He moved from his home near Dallas, Texas to Las Vegas in 1951 when a booming post-war economy made the downtown train station a busy place. All of the downtown gambling joints were small with sawdust covering the floors and low, $50, maximum bet limits designed to protect the house from going broke if someone got lucky. The most you could win at keno was fifty bucks, the most you could bet at any of the casino's games was fifty bucks, fifty bucks and that was it. Benny opened his casino on a corner of Fremont Street a block from the busy train station and named it Binion's Horseshoe. He set his maximum limit at $500, ten times higher than the bet limit of other downtown gambling joints, and the gamblers flocked to his games. Benny continued to improve the Las Vegas gaming landscape making it player friendly for the first time. He was the first to offer slot players free drinks, he was the first to provide limousines to transport players to and from the airport and he replaced the sawdust with carpet, just like the new uptown joints on the strip, another first for downtown Las Vegas. Read more of Benny's history here.

Binion's Horseshoe bought the next door Mint Hotel in 1988 for $27 million, knocked a hole in the wall and went from an 80 room hotel with a small casino to a 362 room hotel with enough casino floorspace to open a permanent poker room. The room was placed up front in the old Mint's casino with a view of car clogged Fremont Street a few short steps away. Benny built it and they did come including one of his oldest friends, poker legend Johnny Moss. Go to the Horseshoe's poker then on almost any day back then and you would find the Grand Old Man of Poker, Moss, there in the thick of things at the highest limit game. He was Benny's Ambassador of Poker. Johnny and his wife maintained a residence at the Horseshoe.

The Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas had been the only home of the World Series of Poker until 2005, for the first time in WSOP history the event was not held at the downtown landmark. The property had fallen into a state of neglect after the death of Benny Binion and the forced departure of Benny's son, Jack Binion. The property was closed in 2004 for two months before Harrah's bought the property, the Horseshoe name and the World Series of Poker Tournament. The new owners quickly cleaned, painted, staffed and opened with only a few days to spare before hosting the 2004 WSOP. The poker room was also reopened and expanded to serve the large crowds of players attending the 2004 WSOP. Following the conclusion of the tournament, Harrah's sold everything downtown except the Horseshoe name and the WSOP Tournament, to current owner, MTR Gaming. MTR renamed the property Binion's.

Binion's poker room has 18 tables. The adjacent tournament area has another 28 tables plus Benny's Bullpen upstairs has an additional 50 tables. Binion's poker room is managed by long time poker room manager Jimmy Delorto. His 25 plus years of experience go all the way back to the old Mint Hotel's poker operations.

Binion's poker room spreads $2-$4, $4-$8 and $3-$6 Texas Hold'em. The room also offers a $1-$2 No-limit Hold'em game with a $100 minimum to no limit maximum buy-in. The downtown poker room always has action games and, remaining true to a Benny tradition of feeding players, Binion's offers one of the more liberal comp policies in Las Vegas. Play four hours for an $8.00 food comp that can be used at most of the food outlets in the hotel.

Binion's Horseshoe had a long history of tournament poker and the tradition continues today with Binion's poker room. No-limit Hold'em tournaments at 10:00am, 2:00pm, 8:00pm and 2:00am every day. The tournament action is managed by Binion's Tournament Director, Chuck Bliane. The buy-in for the tournaments is $60.00 for all except the 8:00 pm Friday thru Sunday tournaments which are $125.00. All tournaments have a one time bonus chip buy for $10.00 ($25.00 for $125.00 buy-in) and one optional rebuy for $40.00 ($50.00 for $125.00 buy-in). Registration for the tournaments begins 2 hours before the scheduled start times. This is your first opportunity to use our new Tournament Information Page with an ultra easy search function. Type your info into the Tournament Search box for up-to-date results.

Learn to play poker at Binion's, call the poker room at 702.366.7397 for complete the complete poker lesson details. The poker room also offers promotions and special events for poker players. Binion's is currently offering Las Vegas taxi drivers a free poker tournament with a $1,000 purse on November 7th at 4:00pm. In the planning stages is another major tournament, the Binion's Classic Poker Tournament slated for October, 2006. Binion's poker room has the Gallery of Champions on one of the red flocked walls with photos and stats for every winner of the World Series of Poker's Main Event from Johnny Moss to 2005 World Champion, Joe Hachem.

Binion's Poker Room is a must visit for players and fans alike. The place is filled with the memories of some of poker's most historic moments and the air is thick with the spirits of the game's great players. Walking through Binion's where so much poker genius sat and played the game is an experience unto its self. All of the world champions in those gallery photographs played in this house and won the coveted WSOP World Champion's bracelet.

Call Binion's Poker Room direct: 702.366.7397. Room reservations toll free at: 1.800.937.6537. Website: www.binions.com

Posted by pokerprof at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tonight on ESPN we get days #2 and #3 of the 2005 World Series of Poker from the Rio Resort in Las Vegas. Actually, day #2 is really the fourth day of play since the record setting field of 5619 entrants required three days of first day play. The official day #2 of play is the first time all of the survivors from Day #1a,b,c are combined into another room full of entrants. The remaining players include many of the professional players we would expect to see and many others players never seen.

Dr. Pauly, TaoPoker.com, live blogged the entire week of the 2005 WSOP Main Event (He also live blogged all of the WSOP event final tables). Pauly's eyewitness accounting of the table action combined with his overview of the "Big Show" are required reading for all the fans of the World Series of Poker. Pauly provides readers with details of what happened during all those hours that wouldn't fit into tonight's one hour broadcast of Day #2 of the 2005 WSOP. The same applies to day #3 so stop by for a detailed look at everything left out of tonight's second hour of ESPN coverage of Day #3 of the 2005 WSOP.

A complete recap of each of the two day's of play is available in the Poker Prof's Blog archives. Click here for the Day #2 recap and here for the Day #3 recap. The 2005 WSOP Photo gallery has more than a thousand photos of all the action and players, close up and unstaged. If you are one of the lucky ones that participated in this historic event then check out the gallery, we probably have a photo of you.

The first hour tonight we see the remaining 1886 players from the three "first day" flights began Day #2 play and continued until 569 players are left to return for Day #3. The record prize pool of $52,818,610 will pay the top 560 players so nine players remain to be eliminated on Day #4, then everyone left gets paid.

Defending 2004 Wsop champion, Greg Raymer, spends Day #3 adding to his piles of chips until time for the day is called. Greg ends the day as the tournament chip leader proving that his 2004 win was a lot more than just flash in the pan.

Tonight promises to offer some great poker so gather the snacks, bring out the SoCo and invite a few hundred close friends for another 2005 WSOP premier two hour episode of the 2005 WSOP Main Event from the Rio in Las Vegas. The first hour is slated for 8:00pm on the East Coast, but times may vary so check the local TV listings for times in your area.

We now have our 2005 World Series of Poker Information and Data Section up and running. It provides readers with the most complete source of World Series of Poker data available and everything there has been hyper-linked for your convenience.

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

The Festa al Lago IV ended at the Bellagio just in time for the start of the 2005 World Series of Baseball. Coming off ten days of watching professional poker players compete for a major tournament title followed by watching two nights of the World Series of Baseball has given me time to compare the two sports. With broadcast poker tournaments behind baseball in ratings numbers, I decided to determine if poker could learn something from baseball about drawing more viewers.

I've listed the things poker can learn from baseball. This week's Nines...

Top Nine things poker can learn from baseball.

9. Players encouraged to spit more.

8. Dealers deal a brush-back card when players crowd the table.

7. Lose three all-ins, you're out.

6. Poker players can no longer have secret meetings to determine outcome of game.

5. A whole new meaning for "chip and a chair" when it becomes "cup and a chair."

4. The 'Master' is banned for two tournaments after Corona is determined to be "performance enhancing."

3. Under the table cameras letting fans watch the stars scratch themselves.

2. Ace-King no longer referred to as "Big Slick," it will now be "Big Unit."

1. Just like Big League Baseball...No Female Players!

Posted by flipchipro at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. Pauly shot all of the photos illustrating this Final Table Recap. Additional photos and a detailed accounting of the play by play from start to finish of the Final Table is available at Taopoker.com.-FlipChip

After four grueling days of poker at the Las Vegas Bellagio Resort's Casino in Las Vegas, the World Poker Tour crowned it's newest champion when Minh Ly beat Dan Harrington heads up to win $1 million in the Doyle Brunson North American Classic for the main and final event of the Festa al Lago IV poker tournament.

The final table was held in the prestigious Fontana Room overlooking the lake in front of the Bellagio where the spectacular water show could be seen every fifteen minutes. 420 players entered the $10,000 event with hopes of winning one million dollars and a free seat in the $25K WPT Championships at the Bellagio to be held in April 2006. Some of the top names in poker bought into the event and it was great to see some familiar faces at the tables like Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Chirs "Jesus" Ferguson, Erik Siedel, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Nergeanu, Gus Hansen, Max Pescatori, Andy Bloch, Barry Greenstien, and Erick Lindgren.

With three big stacks and three small stacks, the final table was going to be interesting. There was also the possibility that we'd see Dan Harrington and Minh Ly play heads up of for the title since they were the top two stacks. Minh Ly ended Day 3 as the chipleader and Dan Harrington has plenty of final table experience and should never be overlooked. However, the young gun from Canada, Gavin Smith, was seeking his second win on the WPT. Jan Sorensen might be one of the best players out of Denmark and tried to overcome a short stack. The former soccer player won a bracelet at this year's WSOP. Tony Grand is an amazing story. At 81 years old, he's the oldest player ever to make it to a WPT final table.

Here's who made the final table including seat assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: Tony Grand $118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly $3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington $2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin $552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith $1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

Here the payouts:
1st place = $1,060,000
2nd place = $620,730
3rd place = $327,610
4th place = $189,630
5th place = $137,940
6th place = $96,560

Tony Grand found 10-10 and moved all in. Don Zewin had A-Q and flopped an Ace. That pot was big enough for him to take over the chip lead. The turn and river did not help Tony Grand and he finished in sixth place, winning $96,560. Tony Grand made history when he became the oldest player to make a WPT final table. Less than an hour into the tournament, Jan Sorensen was eliminated in 5th place. Don Zerwin moved all in with 7-7 and Sorensen called with 5-5. Sorensen's hand did not improve and he was eliminated in 5th place, winning $137,940.

With four players remaining, Dan Harrington moved into the chip lead with $3.16M. He wouldn't hold onto his lead for too long. He lost a hand to Gavin Smith and that started the wave of revolving chip leaders. With an Ace on the flop, Gavin Smith moved all in with A-Q against Dan Harrington's A-10s. Gavin Smith's hand held up and he doubled up against Harrington. Smith would eventually take over the chip lead but give it back to Harrington when he won a hand against Minh Ly with 9-9.

One hour later, Gavin Smith built his stack to over $4M in chips, while Harrington slipped to the short stack with $800K. By Midnight, Gavin Smith would cough up the lead to Minh Ly and Don Zerwin became the short stack. Five hours into the tournament, with the blinds escalating, the table finally saw some action. Minh Ly raised on the button and Dan Harrington came over the top all in with K-J versus Minh Ly's 9-9. The flop didn't help Harrington, but he turned a King and his fans in the crowd went wild. The river did not help Minh Ly and Dan Harrington doubled up.

Minh Ly moved all in with his shortstack with J-J against Dan Harrington's 8-8 and it held up. Minh Ly got most of his chips back. About ten minutes later, Dan Harrington moved all in with 9c-7c. Don Zewin called with 9-9 and had Harrington dominated. The flop contained a 7 and two clubs. The Harrington-heads went wild because Action Dan picked up a flush draw. When the 10 of clubs spiked on the river, the room erupted in applause. Harrington survived his all in attempt and Don Zewin was eliminated in 4th place. He won $189,630. That hand ended a good four plus hours in between eliminations. After that pot, Dan Harrington moved back into the chip lead with $3M to Gavin Smith's $2.7 and Minh Ly's $2.6M.

Minh Ly made a move and pushed all in with K-8o. Gavin Smith took several minutes before he eventually called with A-7s. Minh Ly flopped a King and won the pot when Gavin Smith's hand did not improve. Smith was crippled. Minh Ly became the chipleader with over $5M.

Shortstacked, Gavin Smith moved all in with 10-2o, which was a fitting hand since he was playing in the Doyle Brunson North American Classic. The 10-2 was nicknamed after Brunson when he won back to back WSOP main events with 10-2. Dan Harrington called with 8-4s and was behind. He flopped an 8 and turned a 4 to send Gavin Smith home in 3rd place. Smith won $327,610 for 3rd place.

The Bellagio Babes entered for the money presentation. They wore sexy black cocktail dresses and carried cash in the Stetson hats, much like the one often seen on Texas Dolly's head. As the Bellagio Babes emptied the cash onto the table, the anticipated heads up match between Minh Ly and Dan Harrington began. Minh Ly is one of the best cash game players in the world and can be found playing in Doyle Brunson's Big Game. And Dan Harrington is considered one of the best tournament players in the world after making four final tables at the WSOP main event. Minh Ly held a chip lead of $5.02M to $3.375M.

On the first hand of heads up play, both players moved all in preflop. Minh Ly showed K-J and Dan Harrington flipped over A-J. Dan Harrington's hand held up and he doubled up. Minh Ly was crippled and had only $1.6M to Harrington's $6.75M. Minh Ly would quickly close the gap when he moved all in with 10-9o. Dan Harrington quickly called with A-9o and was outflopped. Minh Ly came from certain defeat to take over the chiplead.

Thirty minutes later, and the two almost even in chips. Dan Harrington moved all in with A-5 against Minh Ly's J-3. The flop was: 3-6-9 and Minh Ly took the lead. The turn was a King and the river was a Jack and Minh Ly won the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Classic. Minh Ly will take home a cool $1,060,000 for first place along with a seat in the WPT Championships next April at the Bellagio. Dan Harrington won $620,730 for second place.

Congrats to Minh Ly!

Posted by flipchipro at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship has come to an end. Minh Ly is the Festa al Lago IV Doyle Brunson North American Poker Tournament Champion for 2005. Minh Ly eliminated Dan Harrington after the two went heads up at the final WPT TV table. Going into the two way play Dan had a commanding 4 to 1 chip lead after eliminating Gavin Smith in third; but, Minh held his own as they traded blinds and antes then doubled through Dan to even the count.

The final hand came a little before 2:00am when Dan went all in with A,5 and Minh called with J,3. The flop of 3,6,9 gave Minh the lead with the pair of treys, the turn was a King and the river was a Jack giving Minh Ly two pair and the championship. Minh received $1,060,000 in cash, a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals Championship scheduled for April 18, 2006 at the Bellagio. He also received the special gold and diamond bracelet made especially for the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship.

Dan Harrington takes away $620,730 for second and Gavin Smith settles for $327,610. The Festa al Lago was another great poker tournament enjoyed by the players and fans. The media had complete access to the events and players for the run of the show making it a pleasure to provide the tournament news. Jack McClelland, Bellagio Tournament Director, and his crew at the Bellagio ran another outstanding poker tournament and congratulations are in order.
Thanks Jack!

Dr.Pauly at TaoPoker.com live blogged throughout the final table so go there for all the details of the of the live action plus Pauly's observations and thoughts on things happening close to a major poker tournament, some very interesting reading. Dr. Pauly's Final Table Recap of tonight's Championship will be available soon so stop back.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Dr. Pauly Recap for Day 3 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship. Don't forget to go to TaoPoker.com for a Pauly Live Blog of tonight's 10:00pm EST final table.-FlipChip

Day 3 of the Doyle Brunson North American Classic continued at the Bellagio with 39 players with several top pros still remaining such as Dan Harrington, Gus Hansen, Young Phan, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Gavin Smith, Mike Gracz, Jan Sorensen, Bob Feduniak, Eskimo Clark, and writer Jim McManus. The action was moved from the Fontana Room to the poker room where media and fans squeezed in to catch a glimpse of the final event of the Festa al Lago IV poker tournament. Ernie Scherer ended Day 2 as the chipleader and was looking to hold onto his chip advantage.

Gus Hansen did some damage early when he cracked Matt Lefkowitz's A-A. Hansen flopped a set of Kings. Eskimo Clark was eliminated by 2005 WSOP bracelet winner Jan Sorenson from Denmark, when Eskimo's A-K lost to Sorenson's K-10 on the river. Jim McManus was the next player to be eliminated. The author of Positively Fifth Street finished in 37th place and won $17,245.

Wayne Lewis was eliminated when his 10-10 and ran into Minh Ly's A-A. Lewis finished in 36th place. He won $17,245. Minh Ly continued his run on Day 3 and knocked out his three players by mid-afternoon. He climbed up to the top 5 in chips. Jesus Ferguson made a run as well after he knocked out Arnold Spee finished in 32nd place. He was second in chips to Ernie Scherer for a while.

Gus Hansen took 21st place when he got caught on a steal with 9-3o. Gavin Smith woke up to find Big Slick from the blinds and busted the Great Dane. Jesus' stack took a major hit when he doubled up Barry Greenstien and Bob Feduniak. Feduniak rivered a set against Jesus.

When play reached the final two tables, Ernie Scherer was still the chipleader with $1.1 million. He added to his stack after he found pocket Aces and busted Thom Wherthmann's K-K. Young Phan took 17th place after he was knocked out by Tony Grand. Steve Brecher was out in 15th place when he ran into Action Dan Harrington's K-K.

Kathy Liebert started the day as the only remaining female. She had a short stack and doubled up against Jan Sorenson when her A-A held up. While Ernie Scherer 's stack was severely dented when he doubled up Gavin Smith. He lost the chip lead and faced elimination with one of the short stacks. Meanwhile, Tony Grand and Dan Harrington were among the two chipleaders.

Kathy Liebert's shot at making consecutive WPT final tables fell short when her 5-5 ran into Ernie Scherer's K-K. Liebert finished in 13th place and won $34,485 for an amazing effort. Liebert finished 3rd at the Borgata in Atlantic City last month.

Action slowed down substantially and it took two hours before Bob Feduniak was eliminated in 12th place. Minh Ly eliminated Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in 11th place when Ly's Hilton Sisters held up against 4-4. By the dinner break, 10 players remained. Ernie Scherer regained the chiplead with $2.16M after he won a monster pot off of Tony Grand. Scherer picked off Grand on a bluff. Dan Harrington was a distant second with $1M.

After the dinner break, it was almost another hour before anyone went home. Barry Greenstien was eventually knocked out in 10th place by Gavin Smith, who flopped a set of 2s against Greenstien's pair of Kings. Greenstien won $41,380. Abraham Gray was eliminated soon after when his 10-10 was outflopped by Ernie Scherer's A-K. Gray won $48,280 for 9th place. Play reached the bubble when Dan Harrington knocked out Danny Shiff in 8th place. Shiff won $55,175.

Play slowed down at the TV bubble. Ernie Scherer continued to be the chipleader at $2M, while Minh Ly slipped to the short stack. Minh Ly would eventually be involved in two big hands. He doubled up with Q-10 against Scherer's 5-5, but lost most of those chips to Tony Grand when his Hilton Sisters were outflopped by Grand's A-8. Jan Sorenson's stack was crippled by Don Zerwin. Sorenson's A-K could not beat Zerwin's K-K, and his stack shrunk to $300K. Sorenson bounced back when he was all in against Ernie Scherer and caught a card on the river to double up.

With Minh Ly as the short stack again, his A-A held up and he double up against Gavin Smith. Dan Harrington won a monster pot off of Tony Grand when his Q-Q held up against Grand's 10-10. Grand slipped to the short stack while Harrington's stack grew to over $2.5 million as he moved back into the chiplead. A few hands later, Harrington found Q-Q again and won a pot against Ernie Scherer to increase his chip lead by even more.

After 14 hours of play on Day 3, Ernie Scherer was knocked out by Minh Ly in 7th place. Both players were all in on the flop of A-J-9 with two clubs. Minh Ly had a gutshot straight draw and a King-high flush draw, while Scherer flopped two pair. Minh Ly made his flush on the river, which sent Scherer home on the TV bubble. Scherer entered the day as the chip leader and won $68,970 for his excellent effort.

Here's who made the final WPT TV table including chip counts:

Seat 1: Tony Grand 118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly 3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington 2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin 552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith 1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

Here's the final 6 payouts:

1st Place: $1,060,000
2nd Place: $620,730
3rd Place: $327,610
4th Place: $189,630
5th Place: $137,940
6th Place: $96,560

The final table will begin at 7pm on Friday in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio. See you there!

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read the Day Three Recap of the WPT event at poker player by our expert online poker blogger Dr. Pauly, he's live blogging the WPT event. Photos for the event are in the Las Vegas and Poker Photo Gallery.

The WWdN tournament is tonight at 7pm EST on Poker Stars. Complete details for the poker tournament can be found at Wil Wheaton in Exile.

In other news Wicked Chops Poker did a blog file on us and by sheer coincidence the blog has been renamed.

Posted by pokerprof at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You're seeing the all new, better Poker Prof's Blog. The same old stuff we've always had plus some new features yet to be introduced that we've never had. We have been busy building some entirely new features, rebuilding the old, intergrating and interfacing everything into a seamless presentation that will result in the most complete and always up-to-date Las Vegas dedicated blog that will be everything Vegas. We have completed most of the build, the beta testing phase is well underway and today is the day for the first look at the new look of the Poker Blog.

Complete coverage of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship final table being played on Friday will be available once the match is complete and a champion is found. Dr. Pauly will be ringside with his laptop live blogging for you as it happens, live from the floor of the tournament. If you want to be there live as it happens then go to TaoPoker.com for Pauly's unique take on big time final table tournament poker. You'll be there for the making of another WPT millionaire. The final table is scheduled to begin around 10:00pm EST. The final table six with seat assignment and chip counts follows:

Seat 1: Tony Grand 118K
Seat 2: Minh Ly 3.056M
Seat 3: Dan Harrington 2.937M
Seat 4: Don Zewin 552K
Seat 5: Gavin Smith 1.368M
Seat 6: Jan Sorensen 370K

This final table includes some exceptionally tough professionals so expect to see some great poker.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Read the Day Two Recap of the WPT event at poker player by our expert online poker blogger Dr. Pauly. Photos for the event are in the Las Vegas and Poker Photo Gallery. [-Prof]

There is another tournament about to happen this Friday evening at 7:00pm EST on Poker Stars. Wil Wheaton is hosting and playing in Friday evening at 7:00pm EST tournament over at Poker Stars.com. Complete details for this week's tournament plus a Wil Wheaton's recap of last week's tourney can be found at Wil's temporary blog home, WWdN-in Exile. His regular blog home, wilwheaton.net, is currently having some technical data base problems.

The tournaments are $10 + $1 buy-in offering an opportunity to hang out and play some tournament poker; but, as an added bonus, Wil has placed a bounty on himself. Be the player that knocks him out of his own tournament and the following Friday's event will be named after you. This Friday's tournament is the Decker711 Invitational. Decker711 called Wil's bluff last Friday, taking him out. Oh yeah, Wil was running the bluff with a hammer in the pocket.

If you are concerned about the "Invitational" in the name, don't be. Everyone that knows the password is invited, so What are you waiting for? Go to WWdN-In Exile site and get the password...or if you already got it then forgot it, look at the photo below for a stuffed hint. What could be easier?

Posted by flipchipro at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read the Day One Recap of the WPT event at poker player by our expert online poker blogger Dr. Pauly. Also, watch for some of Curtis K's excellent photos. [-Prof]

Tuesday marked the first day of play at the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. The cards were in the air at noon to the 420 seated players competing for the Festa al Lago IV's $10,000 World Poker Tour championship event. The prize pool of $4,074,000 will create another WPT millionaire on Friday when the last remaining player with chips is awarded the Championship, the bracelet pictured above, a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals in April, 2006 at the Bellagio and $1,060,050 in cash.

I was there with camera when this poker-star-rich field hit the felt. The dark, dreary and wet day outside did little to dampen the upbeat mood of the crowds of spectators watching many of the best professional players in the world play no-limit hold'em poker. Seated at the feature table on the dais in the Fontana Room was the tournament namesake and living poker legend, Doyle Brunson. Wearing his signature gray western hat, Texas Dolly was playing his "A+" game. Doyle Brunson is one of the last of the breed of that have made a lucrative living playing poker, even when it wasn't the world's most popular and favorite game. Doyle Brunson has a record ten WSOP gold bracelets after having won his last one at the 2005 World Series of Poker at the age of seventy-two. I was there for this moment in poker history with Dr. Pauly. He posted an event wrap-up and I provided the photos of Doyle's tenth bracelet win.

That's it for word descriptions of the Festa al Lago IV's first day of the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship. I decided to run some photos from the event today and added them into the post via the continue reading section below. The photos are larger for image quality, thus, file size is large and may load slow for some; but, if you want to be close to action at the Bellagio today it's worth the wait.

Direct from the floor of the Festa al Lago IV, day #1 of the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship. I've selected some of my favorites from today.

That's it from the Bellagio, the current center of the poker universe, right here in Las Vegas. More tomorrow. Dr. pauly has arrived and will began reporting live direct from the touranment floor through the crowning of a champion. Read and see all the action at Taopoker.com

Posted by flipchipro at 3:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last scheduled event #9 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament played the final table Monday. Twelve players returned from the field of 259 entries that began the first day of play after time was called early in the morning before a final table nine had been determined. The dozen players soon got down to a final table nine and rising star, Max Pescatori, had made another final table.

The action was reduced to heads-up in a relatively short play time pitting Anthony Newman of Brooklyn, New York against Matt Glantz from Lafayette, Pennsylvania after Max was eliminated in third place, having to leave with another $76,460 in his pocket. Congratulations are in order for the Italian Pirate for his remarkable performance at the Festa al Lago IV.

Anthony Newman prevailed and eliminated Matt Glantz to take the biggest first place money to date, $273,085, plus a seat in the WPT Finals championship in April, 2006 at the Las Vegas Bellagio Resort. He also gets his very own gold engraved Bellagio champion's bracelet. Matt Glantz received $152,920 in cash for second from the $753,690 prize pool.

Other notable players making the money included Scott Fischman in 14th ($7,280), Paul Wolfe out in 20th ($4,370) Chad Brown in 22nd ($4,370) and Nam le 24th ($4,370). Today's other tournament was the $1,000 + $60 Super Satellite with a field of 406 players and a prize pool of $393,820 resulting in the award of 37 seats in the championship event and one $9,020 buy-in. Seen in the crowd of those making the cut were James Van Alstyne, my choice to win it all, and Kenna James. Complete results from event #9 and all the Festa al lago IV events can be found on PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The action in the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship begans tomorrow at noon and runs for four days with Friday being the filmed for TV table finale.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The eighth event of the Festa al Lago IV was played on Sunday. The final day got under way with twelve players that decided to quit at 3:00am since they hadn't gotten down to the final table nine. The nine survivors from the starting field of 292 was reached and the final table begin and quickly began losing players. The heads up action began after Vadim Trineher was eliminated in the third slot and received $71,675 from the prize pool of $708,100.

Bryan Kim from LA and Texan, Larry Well, played heads-up until Wells went all-in with pocket sevens and Bryan called his raise with A,Qd and caught another bullet to take the lead and take the tournament. Larry Wells goes away with $143,345 in cash for second place. Bryan Kim received the largest prize of the meet, $257,585, for his win. He will also receive a $25,500 buy-in to the April, 2006 World Poker Tour Finals at the Bellagio Resort. Bryan now has a shiny new, gold Bellagio championship bracelet to impress his poker buddies back in Los Angeles.

The last scheduled event before the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship begins on Tuesday. Event #9, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament began on Sunday with 259 players and a prize pool of $753,690. The winner will receive $273,085 from the purse plus a $25,500 seat in the WPT Finals Championship in April, 2006 and one of the gold bracelets.

Late on Sunday a number of well known professionals remained in the contest. Scott Fischman seemed to have most of the chips at his table and probably some other tables, too. Max Pescatori was playing at another table while Carlos Mortensen, 2001 WSOP Champion, was building a large collection of chips and at the same table Eric Seidel was in good shape. Dan Alspach, winner of event #8 the day before, was adding to his pile of chips. T.J. Cloutier remained in the chip-and-a-chair crowd. The familiar faces of Chad Brown, Jim Savage and event #2 winner, Nam Le, could be seen among the 50 or so players remaining.

The $10,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship begins on Tuesday and runs for four days. The final TV filmed table will be on Friday at 4:00pm. This event provides a great opportunity for fans to experience all the excitement of a major televised Poker Tournament at a major Las Vegas Resort. Come to the Bellagio and become part of the audience for the show where you will watch the players competing to become the next World Poker Tour millionaire, and best of all, it's live. If you are one of those people that would rather be playing than watching, then bring your $10,000 and buy a seat or if you'd rather try to get a seat at a bargain price you can enter the $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Super Satellite scheduled for noon on Monday. Buy into this tournament, make the final television table and change your life.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The seventh final table of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament was played on Saturday. The final table nine included professional poker players Dan Alspach, John Phan, and Chip Jett. The chip leader coming to the table was Dan Alspach with $251,000 and Mike Burns was second in the count with $179,000. The short stack of $48,000 in chips was owned by Justin Gaines, he was also the first player eliminated from the final table taking $8,220 for ninth place back home to Boca Raton, Florida.

Event #7, $2,000 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, began on Friday with 278 entries and a prize pool of 539,320 with $200,200 going to the winner. The play lasted well into the evening before the heads-up match began. The day's chip leader, Dan Alspach, had lost most of his chips and at one time he was down to five chips. He doubled up and then went all-in for a half a dozen hands to rebuild his stack. He then doubled through Chip Jett to take the lead and then got heads-up with chip for the event championship. The two played cautiously, trading antes and blinds until Chip went all-in with pocket Sevens. Dan called Chips all-in raise with an Ace, Jack of clubs. The flop came 10,J,5 giving Dan the lead with a pair of Jacks. The turn was a Ten; no help to either player. The river was a Queen and Dan Alspach’s pair of Jacks won all of Chip's chips and ended the tournament. He received $200,200 in cash, a gold Bellagio champion's bracelet and a $25,500 seat in the World Poker Tour Finals scheduled for April 18, 2006 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Professional player Chip Jett received $107,900 for second. The complete list of finishers and money won are available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Throughout the final table, 1983 World Series of Poker Champion Tom McEvoy was always close now that he is Dan Alspach's poker coach. Considering the performance of his pupil at today's final table, I have to believe that Tom must be one exceptional poker coach.

Saturday's other tournament, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em event, got under way at noon with 292 players competing for the $257,585 first place money from the prize pool of $708,100. The top twenty-seven players will receive some of the prize purse. Late on Saturday professional player's Chris Ferguson, Evelyn Ng, and Robert Mirazchi remained in the hunt to make tomorrow's final table.

Sunday's tournament is the last scheduled event before the $10,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. Event #9, a $3,000 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament, starts at high noon in the Bellagio's Fontana Room. The final table for Event #8 will begin at 3:00pm and continue until a champion is crowned. The final table for event #9 will be played on Monday at 3:00pm. Monday will also see a $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Super Satellite for the championship event. Winning players will receive a $10,000 + $200 buy-in seat in the championship event. The event will award as many seats as the number of entries allow.

Many hours of great, top flight championship tournament poker remains to be played at the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV; so, come to the Bellagio for your share of the action.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The sixth event of the 2005 Festa al Lago IV at the Bellagio played the final table on Friday. The surviving nine players from the 325 entries buying into the $1,500 + $70 No-limit Hold'em began play at 3:00pm and had a champion by 6:00pm. Bill Seber of Houston, Texas came into the final table as the chip leader $210,000 in play money with Sang Pham second in the chip count at $203,000 and that's the way they finished. Bill and Sang got to heads up play and traded chips then the cards favored Bill on the final showdown. Bill called Sang's K,Q of diamonds all-in bet with a J, 8 offsuit and caught the top two pair on the flop of J,8,7...all black. The turn was a King giving Sang outs with a river King or Queen; but, it wasn't to be, the river showed an eight and Sang became the first runner-up. Bill Seber was the winner of event #6 sending Sang Pham home to Fountain Valley, California with $93,950 for second place. Bill Seber takes his $177,610 back home to Houston, Texas. Anatole Parthes of Paris, France was eliminated in the third spot and received $46,975 for his efforts. A complete list of money finishers in this and all events of the 2005 Festa al Lago IV is available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The three handed final table had Frenchman, Anatole Parthes, with a comfortable chip lead over both Bill Seber and Sang Pham, then Sang went all-in and doubled through Anatole, taking the bulk of his chips. Sang became the new chip leader and Anatole was eliminated a few hands later when he pushed the remaining chips into the center and lost. Winner Bill Seber is no stranger to tournament poker at the Bellagio, having won a gold Bellagio bracelet at the 2004 Bellagio Five Diamonds tournament last December for his first place finish in event #5, a $1,500 + $70 buy-in Pot-limit Hold'em, he also pocketed $142,587.

The 1983 World Series of Poker Champion, Tom McEvoy, went out on the bubble in tenth ($5,370) and Professional Poker Player Yohannes Muruz finished twelfth ($5,370). Liz Liu of Los Angeles cashed for the second time in the Festa al Lago IV going out in the sixteenth slot ($3,580).

Friday's other tournament, event #7, is a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest with 278 players, a prize pool of $539,320. First place receives $200,200 and the top twenty-seven finishers go home with money. The final table will play on Saturday with a 3:00pm start time.

Saturday's event #8, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament begins at noon and will probably offer the largest purse to date. The annual Bellagio's Festa al Lago Poker Tournament is a proven drawing card for professional poker players including those currently at the top of the game; so if you need another reason to come to Vegas, this is it. The Bellagio is the place to be for big time tournament poker and professional poker player watching, all the poker stars you know from TV. It's the weekend, so treat yourself to a Las Vegas trip, then stay over next week for the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, three days of world class tournament poker with all the poker stars from around the world.

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

The fifth event of the Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament completed play today and crowned a champion for the $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament. A young Joe Hertel of Boynton Beach, Florida outlasted the field of 435 entrants to take the $ 144,435 first place money, a gold Bellagio Festa al Lago IV bracelet and a $25,500 value seat in the WPT Finals Championship scheduled for April, 2006. The final hand between winner, Joe Hertel, and second place finisher Mike Carson had Joe winning when he paired Tens to Mike's Eights. Game, set, match and this event is now in the book. Mike Carson came into today's final table as the chip leader with $187,000 accumulated during the first day of play on Wednesday while Joe Hertel had less than half the number at $80,000. Raul Paez of Barcelona, Spain began the final table day with the second short stack at $50,000; but, he consistently built his chips, finally reaching the third spot. He returns to Europe with $37,665 for the show. Complete results of event #5 are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

Max Pescatori made his second final table of the tournament going out in 8th place to pick up another $6,345. Max has been playing a sharp game of late and he is consistently surviving the large fields to make it to the pay window. Max already owns two World Series of Poker Circuit championship rings and I'm sure his ever increasing skills and dedication will add to the hardware he has already accumulated.

The second event happening at the Bellagio today, Thursday, is the first day of Event #6, a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that got under way at noon in the Fontana Room. The event attracted a crowd of 325 players and is offering a prize pool of $472,875 to the top 27 finishers. First place will receive $177,610; a bracelet, and a $25.5K seat in the April 18, 2006 WPT Finals. Walking through the room, I noticed a good mix of professionals all with serious chips including John Phan, David Williams, Tom McEvoy, Mel Judah, TJ Cloutier, John Pham, and event #2 winner, Nam Le. Liz Liu was still in the action though a little short on chips late this afternoon after her final table appearance in event #4 where she finished fourth and collected $23,295.

The seventh event of the 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament scheduled for a first day of play on Friday is a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest. The players were lined up at the registration window for this one so another good crowd is expected.

Super satellites are held daily at 7:15pm each evening. The buy-in into the satellites if $1,000 + $60 for a seat and the opportunity to get a bargain priced seat in the $10,000 Championship, The Doyle Brunson North American Championship that begins on Tuesday at noon and runs for three days. This is a WPT sanctioned event that will be filmed for television broadcast in the World Poker Tour Series on the Travel Channel. The Super Satellites award as many seats as the number of buy-ins allow. A great way to begin your big time professional poker career, become a household name and live the good life. You even become a TV star.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Festa al Lago Poker Tournament at the Bellagio Resort on the Las Vegas Strip handed out a bunch of money to the players in Wednesday's final table for event #4. The 175 entrants that began the $2,500 +$100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em event was down to the final table nine. A tough table that included pro David Levy, short stacked at $38,000, but dangerous with chips. Another professional, Alan Goehring from the local Vegas area, went into the day in the chip count second spot holding $174,000. Webber Kang of Dallas, Texas brought to the table the chip lead, $201,000 in play money. The rapidly rising Liz Liu was the only female to make this table. Damon Ramirez was the short stack with $6,000 and he was the first eliminated, going out in ninth, to collect $6,380 for the short day's work.

The table was down to heads-up play between Webber Kang and Brad Booth after Bryan Kim was knocked out in third place, taking $43,875. Webber Kang had a better than 3 to 1 chip lead and used it to his advantage to increase his lead. The final hand began with Brad all-in with Q,4 of Diamonds and Webber calling and showing a red 9,10 off suit. The flop came 2, J, 4 all black cards to give Brad the lead with a pair of 4's. The turn brought another black card, the spade 10, pairing Webber's 10 to regain the lead. The river was a blank, the 5 of Hearts, Webber Kang from Dallas, Texas had just claimed the $173,085 prize money, a $25,500 value seat in the April, 2006 WPT Finals and one of the heavy gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelets. Brad Booth will be returning to Yukon Territory, Canada with $87,755 second place money. The complete results of this event and all the events of the 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament at Poker Player Newspaper.

Event #5, $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, began at noon Wednesday with 435 players and a prize pool of $421,950. The winner of the event will receive $144,435 in cash plus one of the WPT Finals Championship Tournament April, 2006. The professional poker community was well represented in the remaing players. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Charlie Shoten, Max Pescatori, and Men "Master" Nguyen with chips and a chair.

Thursday's scheduled event #6 is a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament with a noon start time. The final table for event #5 plays on Thursday at 3:00pm in the Bellagio's Fontana Room.
John Smith, Las Vegas historian, author ( Running Scared ) and columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal, takes a look at modern poker in Las Vegas in his column today. Read the article titled, Poker craze serving up endless school of fish to Vegas sharks, for his special take on the sport.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament crowned another event champion Tuesday evening. The final table of the surviving nine from event #3, $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em, completed play early this evening when players such as WSOP bracelet holder and professional poker player, Mike Sica of New Jersey, departed in 8th place soon followed by the day's chipleader, Rami Boukal, leaving in the forth spot.

John Esposito had most of the chips in his stack when he played Richardo Festejo heads-up for the championship and a gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet. The two players traded chips with John continuing to pad his substantial lead. The end came when John and Richardo got all-in, and John was holding a K, 3 of Spades. The board showed two more Kings giving John the lead over Richardo's 10, 3 of Hearts. Ricardo caught a forth heart on the turn for a shot at a winning heart flush, any heart that doesn't pair the board gives him life. Any four on the river would give both players the straight and a tie, no change in chip counts. The river card, Six of Spades, meant John's tripped up Kings came through giving for the few remaining chips he didn't already have in his stacks. Richardo Festejo of Margate, New Jersey receives $87,005 for his second place finish. Denis Ethier completed the top three and collected $43,505. Complete Festa al Lago event results are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

John Esposito, Las Vegas based professional poker player, had a great day and collected $171,830 cash, the gold Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet and a $25,500 buy-in to the World Poker Tour Finals scheduled for April 18, 2006. The event began with 217 players.

Event #4, a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament was playing down to the final table nine with 48 players from the starting field still in the action. The prize pool for this event is $424,375, a bracelet and a $25.5K seat in the April 18, 2006 WPT Finals championship. Ron Rose, Joe Awada, Max Pescatori and David Levi all had chips. Ron Rose had gathered some large chip stacks. The final table for this event will be played on Wednesday in the Fontana Room tournament area.

Event #5, $1,000 + $60 buy-in No-limit Hold'em gets under way on Wednesday at high noon. The Bellagio Festa al Lago is an ideal tournament to play against many of the highly ranked pros. Really test your poker skills and if you do well you'll be leaving with six figures. Poker is one of the few venues that gives non-professionals equal seating. You believe you'll ever end up playing head-up with Tiger Woods playing for the money? Not likely; but, you may be sitting next to tough professionals Phil Ivey, or Phil Hellmuth, or Phil Gordon. I think this is one of the great appeals of modern casino poker. You call go straight to the big leagues and play among high paid professionals you have seen on TV, all you need is the buy-in.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Event #2 of the Bellagio Festa al Lago Poker Tournament completed the final table early Monday evening. Professional poker player, Nam Le, went into the final table with the chip lead of $233,000. The only female to survive to the final table, Jane Hughes from Las Vegas, had the second largest chip stack at $192,500, while Walter Chambers of Baton Rouge, Louisiana held a distant third spot in the chip race with $97,000.

Monday's second event final table was a $1,500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament that began on Sunday with 265 players and a prize pool of $385,575.

The play got to heads-up when Mark Fleddermann of St Louis, Missouri eliminated Jane in the third slot for $37,810. Nam and Mark went into the two way match with Mark a slight favorite in the chip count. Mark continued to slowly grind through Nam's chips until he had an almost 2 to 1 chip lead, then the cards turned and Nam came alive to play his aggressive style, finishing the match with two quick, big wins. The final hand and the championship was won by Nam Le when his pocket K,7o caught another seven to Mark's A,6o that paired the sixes. Mark goes home to St Louis $75,615 richer. Nam Le receives the championship title, a gold 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago bracelet, a $25,000 + $500 buy-in in the championship event and $147,925 in cash. The complete results of all the events from the 2005 Festa al Lago are available at Poker Player Newspaper.

Event #3 began today at noon with 217 paid customers donating to a prize pool of $420,980. The winner of this $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em contest will receive $171,830, a gold bracelet and a $25,500 value buy-in in the Championship event. Tomorrows start of event #4 at noon will be a $2,500 + $100 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

2005 WSOP on ESPN begans the countdown to the championship tonight. That's right, Tuesday is poker night and scheduled for this evening is two hours of first run poker showing day #1 of the final event from the original of all poker tournaments, the World Series of Poker.

Tonight's the special night that we get our first two hours of a scheduled twelve hours of original broadcast covering the $10,000 World Championship main event. Everyone that's anyone in the world of poker plus a whole bunch of people that are not began the main event in one of the three first day flights. Tonight we see day's #1A and #1B. Read Dr. Pauly's Taopoker Blog for all the details not seen on the TV and follow this link to the Dr.'s blog written live as #1B unfolded, complete with photos. Read Pauly's daily WSOP Wrap Up of the first two days, #1A and #1B, on the Poker Prof's Blog for a complete WSOP experience. Visit our 2005 WSOP Photo gallery for a first hand look at all the action on the tournament floor, up close and sometimes personal.

The 2005 WSOP Championship main event welcomed 5,619 players, a record: and, a $52,818,610 prize pool, another record. The player that survives the monster sized field will win $7,500,000 from that huge prize purse and the very special platinum and diamond World Championship bracelet. All of the final table survivors are guaranteed to be members in the millionaire club, even ninth place pays a cool one million dollars. This event paid 560 places. A complete list of all the 2005 WSOP main event players finishing in the money along with the amount of cash they received is available at Poker Player Newspaper.

The first of tonight's two hours of WSOP main Event excitement is scheduled to star at 8:00pm Eastern Time. Check out your local cable/satellite listings for scheduled times in your area. The 2005 WSOP rewrote the record book and made poker history. It is also the last World Series of Poker to crown its champion at the downtown Horseshoe Casino, the original source of tournament poker.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 2005 Bellagio Festa al Lago IV Poker Tournament at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas is into day three with Monday's event #3, a $2,000 + $80 buy-in No-limit Hold'em match. All of the events making up the Festa al Lago are No-limit Hold'em including the final WPT televised Doyle Brunson North American Championship. The tournament began on Saturday when a full house of entrants bought out the event at 550 players plus a list of alternates. Event #1 was won by Jeff Cohen when he defeated Mike Hart to take the tournament, the first place money and a $25,000 seat in the championship event. All of the event winners will collect a paid buy-in to the championship worth $25,000 + $500.

Event #2, $1500 + $70 buy-in No-limit Hold'em tournament attracted 265 players and offered a prize pool of $385,575. The winner, to be determined at a final table on Monday, will receive $147,925 plus a $25,000 buy-in into the championship event. With three tables remaining some well known pros remained in play including Men "Master" Nguyen, James Van Alstyne and Minneapolis Jim Meehan. The top twenty-seven players will go home with money.

I'm happy to be back covering a tournament at the Bellagio, one of my favorite properties. Jack McClelland, Bellagio Tournament Director, directs a class operation and it shows in the number of professionals that come to play, even the lower buy-in event. The Festa al Lago Poker Tournament is held in the Fontana Room overlooking the Bellagio's lake with the famous dancing fountains. The Fontana Room's outside veranda provides a great view of the water show against the backdrop of the Las Vegas Strip. A nice place to spend a few minutes away from the gaming.

The complete schedule of events at the 2005 Festa al Lago follows:

Event #1 Saturday Oct 8 No Limit Hold'em $1,000 + $60
Event #2 Sunday Oct 9 No Limit Hold'em $1,500 + $70
Event #3 Monday Oct 10 No Limit Hold'em $2,000 + $80
Event #4 Tuesday Oct 11 No Limit Hold'em $2,500 + $100
Event #5 Wednesday Oct 12 No Limit Hold'em $1,000 + $60
Event #6 Thursday Oct 13 No Limit Hold'em $1,500 + $70
Event #7 Friday Oct 14 No Limit Hold'em $2,000 + $80
Event #8 Saturday Oct 15 No Limit Hold'em $2,500 + $100
Event #9 Sunday Oct 16 No Limit Hold'em $3,000 + $100
Monday Oct 17 Super Satellite NLH $1,000 + $60
Event #10 Tueday-Thursday Oct 18 - 20 Championship No Limit Hold'em $10,000 + $200
Fri Oct 21 Doyle Brunson
North American Championship WPT TV FINALS

The Bellagio is wearing its fall harvest look so be prepared to have your visual senses dazzled.. The Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in the Bellagio is a stunning trip through a living fantasy land. The stroll through the gardens with the huge colored glass leaves floating above the thousands of flowering live plants is great way to relax away from the stresses of playing high stakes tournament poker with the toughest professionals around.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have not been this excited about seeing a concert since Phish and their final Coventry shows last summer in Vermont. And that was just one band. I'm expecting to see a couple a dozen more stretched out over a period of four or five days. Right now, the buzz in Las Vegas is all about the upcoming Vegoose music festival.

I just found out that a few more acts have been added to the Vegoose lineup at Sam Boyd Stadium on October 29 and 30. Slightly Stoopid, Col. Bruce Hampton & the Codetalkers, Beans featuring Holy Fuck, King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan, and Steel Train are all expected to appear at Vegoose.

If you are one of the unlucky folks who cannot attend Vegoose, you can still be a part of the action if you check out their live webcast! Visit the SBC blue room at blueroom.sbc.com, where they shall be hosting a live webcast of Vegoose on October 29th & 30th. Supposedly, you can come back and visit the blue room to see the archived footage of Vegoose performances including some scenes from backstage and other random goodies.

The real fun will happen when the sun goes down! The Vegoose at Night Concert Series should be the highlight for me especially Widespread Panic on Halloween. There will be special performances from Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Galactic and STS9. Some bands/artists will be playing at both Sam Boyd Stadium for Vegoose and late night shows. Those include: Widespread Panic, Ween, Trey Anastasio, String Cheese Incident, and Phil Lesh & Friends with Ryan Adams. I'm pumped because I have tickets to Widespread Panic and Trey!

Here's the updated Late Night line up according to the Vegoose website:

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
Friday, October 28th
Aladdin Theatre
3667 Las Vegas Blvd S.
Doors: 7pm
Show: 8pm

Trey Anastasio (Late Night)
Friday, October 28th
Aladdin Theatre
3667 Las Vegas Blvd S.
Doors: 11pm
Show: Midnight

moe. (Late Night)
Saturday, October 29th
The Aladdin Theatre
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Doors: Midnight
Show: 1am
21+

STS9 (Late Night)
Saturday, October 29th
House of Blues - Las Vegas
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Doors: Midnight
Show: 1am
21+

The String Cheese Incident (Late Night)
Saturday, October 29th
Orleans Arena
4500 W. Tropicana Ave.
Doors: 11pm
Show: Midnight

Galactic (Late Night)
Sunday, October 30th
House of Blues - Las Vegas
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Doors: Midnight
Show: 1am
21+

Phil Lesh & Friends (Late Night)
w/ special guest Ryan Adams
Sunday, October 30th
The Joint @ The Hard Rock Hotel
4455 Paradise Road
Doors: 11pm
Show: Midnight
All ages

Ween
Monday, October 31st
The Joint @ The Hard Rock Hotel
4455 Paradise Road
Doors: 8pm
Show: 9pm
All ages

Widespread Panic
featuring The Dirty Dozen Horns
w/ Special Guest an Exclusive DJ Set by THE CRYSTAL METHOD
Monday, October 31st
Thomas & Mack Center
4505 Maryland Pkwy.
Doors: 5:30pm
Crystal Method: 6:30pm
Widespread Panic: 8:00pm (2 Sets)

Umphrey's McGee
House of Blues - Las Vegas
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Friday, October 28th (late show)
Doors: Midnight
Show: 1am

Robert Randolph & the Family Band
The Joint @ The Hard Rock Hotel
4455 Paradise Road
Saturday, October 29th (late show)
Doors: 11pm
Show: Midnight

Gov't Mule
The Joint @ The Hard Rock Hotel
4455 Paradise Road
Friday, October 28th
Doors: 9pm
Show: 10pm

Visit www.vegoose.com for news, updates, shuttle information, and ticketing information.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 4:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Note: The Poker Prof investigates the purported online poker site freezing of player's accounts. Since I have to provide the visuals for the piece and don't have any good photos of frozen money I decided to start the year end count down early by offering some of my favorite photos of 2005. Something to look at while you read the Prof's latest opinions...FlipChip

A long day of high-limit play on a poker site leaves you tired but happy with a profit of ten large ($10,000), so you wisely decide to quit for the day. The next day, totally refreshed you sign in for another play session only to find your account totally frozen. You get no response, no call...just frozen and you're now locked out of the loop. This recently happened to a Portland card shark who has won several tournaments in Las Vegas. He had an online poker room freeze his account for three weeks. The poster claiming to be Craig, which seems likely as finding an 'unknown' that has won two tournaments is very difficult wrote the following:

They have confiscated legitimate winnings of $40,000. I can back up every claim that I make. They sent me an email saying that my average win per hand was too high at $427/hand....I was playing 300/600 heads up limit poker. They are NOT saying that I cheated or broke rules...I simply won too much money. Sounds odd...but after 3 weeks of trying to get my money that's the response that I've gotten.

An account may be highlighted in the system for a review of gaming activity for various reasons, some examples being financial security or gaming collusion. This is in no way an accusation of collusion, but as an online poker room we have to ensure the integrity and security of both the room and the players in the room. To this end, automatic security checks are put in place to alert our risk management team of a possible security issue. Almost all the other rooms will have a similar process for high volume players. Investigating the issue can be a lengthy process depending on the situation, and players are kept informed throughout the process.

The above quote is, in essence, a customer support atrocity and potential PR nightmare that could easily be negated with nothing more than a telephone and a few minutes from an online site customer support specialist.

Research your customer BEFORE you freeze the funds.

Grab all of the money belonging to one of your better, loyal customers and then don't answer the phone. What a shabby way to treat your customers, especially your regular big-dollar players . Freeze their winnings without exercising ordinary and reasonable care when leveling accusations and taking drastic action. This behaviour has an extreme chilling effect on your existing customers and potential customers. They tend to become a bit jumpy when large sums of cash are withheld for an indefinite period and there is no contact from the site. They tend to go someplace else with a better track record when dealing with the player's money.

Now, to the meat of this post:

More focus on customer support is always a good thing; providing direct benefits for the customer and increased profits for the site as a result of acquiring new customers based on your reputation of great customer treatment. Players should receive a level of attention directly proportional to the amount wagered and the frequency of play.

Does this formula sound familar? It should because it is based on proven successful, customer relation formulas practiced by Las Vegas casinos. Las Vegas offers even the nickel slot player comped hotel rooms and free food. Poker players can usually get an exceptional room rate by asking one of the poker room staff for the player rate. Las Vegas live poker games have one dealer for every 10 players (or less) and a floorperson for every 10 or so dealers. The interaction between the room staff and the players is constant. Everyone of the room staff is living, breathing instant customer service rep.

Online casinos don't have the operating expenses of their brick and mortar counter-parts; at least, they don't think they do; however, building customer loyalty and offering top quality customer support is crucial to gain player's loyalty and keep it. This is especially true for all of the smaller start-up on-line sites.

Customer Support Ideas

Have player hosts whose only function is to move from table to table, checking in on the players. Interact with your user base and initiate the dialogue and you have gone a long way towards building a lasting customer relationship. High limit regular players should have 24 hour no waiting phone number and a dedicated rep that checks in on a regular basis. The bottom line will reflect this increased expense next to larger increase in the drop thanks to retaining customers longer and growing your customer base as a direct result of site's "customer friendly" reputation.

Reward your players and differentiate your site at the same time

Returning $$ to your qualified players, for example: 10% of the player's rake from the year deposited in the player's account as a birthday present or whatever. The site is spending a little to gain alot, the players will love you and many of them will become brand loyal. Another benefit to the first poker site that does some Vegas-style direct marketing is happy customers. The player wakes up one day a year older and dollars richer, and from the player's point of view they got bonus money without having to know a bunch of iffy bonus codes.

Now, Sign-Up Bonus Codes. They seem to be about the only element widely advertised. The problem with sign-up bonus codes results because bonus code deals take place when you sign up, you have not played a single hand. So you know how a site treats you before you sign up; but, the more important question? How do they treat you after you become a customer?

...and, along the same thought. How about some poker site ads that places the message emphasis on what the site provides after you're a customer? Send a message to the huge pool of online poker players and tell them about your customer support, give details of your player bonus awards and even offer a "Platinum Player Club" reserved for your higher limit players, be creative. Don't tell me about the $5000 cash back super match sing-up bouns, I can hear about this from 40 different sites.

I've barely touched the customer support iceburg and unless the online poker industry takes note many sites are liable to run afoul of this critical element. Customer support should be more than a catch phrase with a positive adjective modifer such as 'excellent', 'superior' or 'the best' in a press release for the news feeds.

Online poker rooms need to develop customer care standards that provide the player with an always 'on' channel of communication. The sites that don't believe customer support is a justifiable expense may soon be using the catch phrase, "Losing our business, one customer at a time."

Has anyone given printable free-food coupons for rated online players any thought? How about an online site teaming with one of the pizza chains so qualified players can order a pizza right from the online table and have it delivered to the door, comped! No charge! A great way of saying thanks for being a loyal customer, just like they do in Vegas, real food comps. What the online poker sites need is a digital-age Benny Binion, a virtual casino owner that builds a thriving business on the "customer first" philosophy, just like Benny did.

There you have it, my Prof's Plan for the betterment of both site and player. Someone needs to be bold and try some of this stuff...Is there a Benny in the house?

Posted by pokerprof at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by flipchipro at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've noticed the wave of media attention Jennifer Tilly has been receiving of late and I'm not surprised. The lady seems to have the touch of success in most everything she takes on. The Academy Award nominated actress is now an accomplished poker player with two championship wins. The poker thing all happened after she played in a Pro/Celebrity tournament held at the Joint in the Hard Rock, met a professional poker player, won a WSOP bracelet, and won a major WPT championship event. Jennifer is also set to star in the new TV series, Out of Practice.

I might be indirectly responsible for the friendship between Jennifer and the Unabomber. I photographed the tournament at the Hard Rock including the 'VIP meet, greet and eat' before the tournament. The Poker Prof selected one of my Tilly/Laak images for the tournament photo gallery, some friends of both Jennifer and Phil saw it, told them what a great couple they made...and the rest is history.

The two players made quite an impression at the 2005 WSOP and came away with a gold championship bracelet, ample on-TV time, and some serious cash. Jennifer topped a field of 601 ladies that bought into the $1,000 No-limit Hold'em event # 26. Jennifer played a tough game through the three day affair and outlasted a pack of strong, professional competitors. Apparently the playing lessons from the 'Unabomber of Poker' provided Jennifer with the essence of winning poker. The hours spent online practicing substituted for the lack of live experience and enabled the actress to stay the course. Dr. Pauly provided a great live blog and a final wrap-up of the ladies' event. He provides all the interesting details of the 2005 WSOP Ladies Championship turned marathon poker event. Did you know that on the second day of play when the event was scheduled to be playing the final table they played 15 straight hours and finally called it a day at 4:00am, agreeing to return that afternoon to get down to and play a final table? The Doctor and I were there to witness and record this record setting event. I posted an article and photo essay for the event. The entire three days of the ladies championship event was one continuous photo op.

A couple of days before Jennifer won her first WSOP bracelet her boyfriend and poker coach, Phil "Unabomber" Laak, had survived a field of 425 players in the $2500 Pot-limit Hold'em event #25 to make the final table. He was in the presence of one of poker's royalty, nine bracelet winner Johnny Chan. The two got down to heads up and provided the crowd with some first rate entertainment and some great poker. Johnny Chan shared the record for most WSOP bracelets, nine, with Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth, so no great surprise to see both of them standing together on the sidelines watching Johnny play for ownership of the bracelet record. Phil Laak entertained the crowd with his trademark bag of tricks while the stoic Johnny Chan made the bomber's stacks of chips disappear. Early on, during one of the pivotal hands when Phil decided to call all-in Jennifer left her table at the ladies event day #1 to come over and stand on a chair to see over the crowd. Of course, Phil won the hand and then he became the only obstacle between Chan and the record setting tenth bracelet. This was some of the most entertaining poker of the entire 2005 WSOP and watching the two time WSOP Champion, Johnny Chan, sit patiently, while the hooded shirtshirt Uanbomber danced around shadow boxing attracted a large crowd of fans and players. Unfortunately, the ESPN people couldn't have predicted having such an interesting table so it wasn't on the broadcast schedule and no production crew was there. You can see our gallery of more than a thousand photos of the 2005 World Series of Poker Photo gallery for shots of all the events including Chan winning his tenth and the ladies championship going to Jennifer. Dr. Pauly live blogged the event on TaoPoker.com. His wrap-up of the event is available here.

Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak are good for the sport of poker. The two are bigger-than-life people that represent the positive side of the poker industry. They provide glamour, drama and excitement to the world of live tournament poker. They will continue to play and win thus providing the poker world with the kind of good publicity that's hard to buy, and best of all they often do it for free. Remember, in all of the major poker tournaments the players are playing for their own money, the entry buy-in; nothing is added, no corporate money, no nothing. The young professional poker players are all hoping to become good enough to attract a backer that will fund their venture into the live tournament circuit.

The WPT sanctioned Bellagio's Festa al Lago Tournament with the Doyle Brunson North American Championship begins at the Bellagio this Saturday, October 8. Satellites begin on Friday.

Vegoose is coming! Vegoose is coming! Vegoose is coming to Vegas!

Posted by flipchipro at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The L.I.P.S. gang held a tournament at Sam's Town in Las Vegas over the weekend and played tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. Check & Raise Poker sponsored the event providing players with an entry cash back deal. Those paying the entry fees received a matching amount in their Check & Raise player's account.

The same player won both Saturday and Sunday's tournament. Michelle Rochella of Irvine, California topped the list of players to take home the trophy and first place money. She has been playing poker tournaments for about seven months and said she learned the game from watching televised poker shows and playing free tournaments online. Michelle said she would be following the LIPS (Ladies Invitional Poker Series) tournament trail and hopes to compete in the WSOP in 2006. Considering the weekend double and the experience she will gain before the 2006 WSOP she is sure to be a competitive force.

The final hand in the championship event on Sunday had Michelle calling her opponent's all-in bet with the Doyle Brunson hand, 10,2. The flop gave her the winning flush in diamonds and the money, the trophy and the championship. Lupo Soto, LIPS Tour Director, was on hand to oversee the action and present the trophy. Fellow blogger and poker room manager, Dick Gatewood, served as Tournament Director and host for the LIPS stop at Sam's Town.

In additional LIPS news, the first lady of poker and the co-host of the WPT TV Series, Linda Johnson, won the California State Championship and will be representing the Ocean's 11 Casino in the LIPS Tour Grand Championship event to be held in Las Vegas in May, 2006.

Posted by flipchipro at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another Tuesday is upon us and that means a new installment of the 2005 WSOP on ESPN. Tonight we will see the final table for event #28, a $5,000 buy-in Limit Hold'em tournament with a cast of nine characters setting down to play for a gold WSOP Bracelet and shares of the $1,264,300 prize purse. The final nine players are a diverse bunch best described by a quote from Dr. Pauly's event #28 wrap-up posted on LasVegasVegas.com direct from the floor of the WSOP tournament.

...a former professional athlete, an actor, a mother of four, the son of a famous poker player, a law student, a small business owner, a magazine publisher, and a seasoned tournament veteran who's seeking his first bracelet.

The nine players remaining from the 269 that began this event are listed with seat assignment, hometown and chip count:

Seat 1: Joe Sebok (San Francisco, CA) $184,000
Seat 2: Annie Duke (Portland, OR) $150,000
Seat 3: James Kwon (Chicago, IL) $227,000
Seat 4: Gabe Kaplan (Los Angeles, CA) $290,000
Seat 5: Dan Schmiech (Houston, TX) $219,000
Seat 6: Young Phan (Irvine, CA) $144,000
Seat 7: Luke Neely (Austin, TX) $94,000
Seat 8: Jeff Shulman (Las Vegas, NV) $38,000
Seat 9: Greg "FBT" Mueller (Vancouver, BC) $89,000

We get our first look at professional poker player Annie Duke along with actor/professional poker player Gabe Kaplan. Complete results of the event are available at PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

The second hour of poker from the 2005 World Series of Poker at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas is event #31, a $5,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Short handed 6/table tournament. The event attracted a field of 301 entrants playing for a piece of the $1,414,700 prize pool.

The surviving six players making the final short handed table includes poker legend, Doyle Brunson, looking to win his tenth WSOP bracelet and regain a share of the record held for only a few days by ten-bracelet-man, Johnny Chan. The list of players for tonight's poker star studded second hour with seat assignment, hometown and chip count:

Seat 1: Scotty Nguyen (Las Vegas, NV) $254,000
Seat 2: Doyle Brunson (Las Vegas, NV) $309,000
Seat 3: Minh Ly (Temple City, CA) $305,000
Seat 4: Layne Flack (Las Vegas, NV) $350,000
Seat 5: Jason Lester (Miami, FL) $119,000
Seat 6: Ayaz Mahmood (Houston, TX) $169,000

Read the first hand account of event #31 from one of poker media's best know bloggers, Dr. Pauly, of Tao of Poker fame. He was right there for every minute of this 2005 WSOP final table and fills in the details with his live blog of the event. Get the stuff that TV had to cut, written in the Dr's trademark style of often gritty descriptions and always up-close observations.

The complete wrap-up of event #31 compiled and posted by Dr. Pauly at the conclusion of tonight's historic final table is available here on The Poker Prof's Blog. A complete list of finishers and prize money is on PokerPlayerNewspaper.com.

Tonight's broadcast brings us some more great tournament poker from the "big show" at the Rio. The second hour alone is worth the price of tonight's ticket. It doesn't get much better than watching Doyle Brunson, the grandmaster of the game, play a final table at the WSOP. The author of Doyle Brunson's Super Sytem, the most celebrated poker book of all time, shows why he is the best.

Tonight's first hour is listed as starting at 8:00pm East Coast Time. Check the local listing for times in your area.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First and foremost, unless you've been under a rock lately, you've likely heard about the PokerStars Blogger Championship. If you haven't signed up yet...why not?? A free chance to play with your fellow bloggers, with awesome prizes up for grabs - go now. And consider adding the registration code somewhere prominent on your site, as suggested by BigSlickNuts.

Now, on to the good stuff -

I have really been enjoying the tales of making the move to Vegas to play poker professionally, as written by Austin-blogger-at-heart Eric from threebet33. Recently he made the move to $80/$160 and his posts about it have been terrific. I wonder if I can get him to bankroll me for that game in December...

Felicia has a great post about maximizing value in Omaha 8 - a must read for anyone working on that game.

I promise I'm not biased, but Austin represents again with another great post, this time at Sound of a Suckout. Scurvydog looks at the topic of deciding what you want from poker and how best to persue it.

Beck at Steal the Blinds has an entertaining post up about recognizing "the look". Sunglasses will be no help to you...

Last, but certaintly not least, check out Meek's Poker Bank Roll - a great new blog just getting started, and unlike anything you've seen before.

Posted by at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm one of those people that have trouble sleeping after a long poker tournament session. I spend the night tossing about while being chased around in dream land by oversize playing cards, talking chips and unobtainable pots large enough to buy Kansas. Going even farther into the rabbit hole gets me to the land of 'Poker Nightmare-O-Rama.'

I've listed the Top Nine recurring nightmares. This week's Nines...

Top Nine recurring poker nightmares.

9. Everytime you look at your cards...Seven-Deuce (only for those players that think a hammer is a carpenter's tool).
8. Pocket Aces continuously cracked by four-eight off suit.
7. Sitting next to Richard Simmons.
6. Pocket Queens actually win.
5. You win the biggest pot of the night only to discover it's a pile of match sticks.
4. You get your first ever royal flush...while playing low ball.
3. Every game in the poker room is razz.
2. Everyone at the table has the same last name, Brunson.
1. The guy with the long hair and beard, wearing the black hat and mirror glasses isn't Chris, he's really Jesus!

Posted by flipchipro at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vegoose is Coming!

Vegoose is coming to Las Vegas at the end of the month. So what the heck is Vegoose? Vegoose is a Halloween music festival taking place on October 29th and 30th at Sam Boyd Stadium that features non-mainstream bands and acts that normally play at the summer Bonnaroo festival. It was a great idea to bring some of those amazing bands and artists out West. In addition, a big name like Beck joined the lineup at Vegoose along with the legendary New Orleans band The Meters.

Las Vegas often gets overlooked as a place to book bands. Usually Las Vegas is just a stop over between gigs in California and Colorado or Arizona. But in one single weekend, a slew of quality bands will all be sharing the stage at Sam Boyd Stadium on 7000 East Russell Road. They will be offering shuttles to and from the Strip to the concert area. Tickets are onsale at www.vegoose.com.

Vegoose will draw inspiration around the Halloween holiday in addition to it's locale in Las Vegas. Organizers are encouraging participants to get dressed up in costumes. Not only will you be able to see an eclectic group of music performers, there are tons of other forms of entertainment such as interactive attractions, performance artists, and art installations. I am told that the Las Vegas entertainment and performance community will also be heavily involved.

Like Jazzfest in New Orleans, the coolest thing about having a huge music festival running during the day means that the evenings are open for late night gigs. Several top bands will be playing at both the Vegoose festival and participating in late night shows scattered all over the Strip and Las Vegas.

Here's a list of confirmed acts that will be playing at Vegoose:

Dave Matthews & Friends
Widespread Panic
Jack Johnson
Beck
Phil Lesh & Friends w/ special guest Ryan Adams
The Meters (Art Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter, Jr., Leo Nocentelli)
Trey Anastasio
The Arcade Fire
The Flaming Lips
The String Cheese Incident
Primus
Ween
Gov't Mule
The Shins
moe.
Spoon
Talib Kweli
Sleater-Kinney
Digable Planets
North Mississippi Allstars
Michael Franti & Spearhead
The Decemberists
Umphrey's McGee
Atmosphere
Blackalicious
The Magic Numbers
Lyrics Born
Devendra Banhart
ALO

Some of my favorite bands are on the list. It's going to be cool to see Beck play in a large festival like Vegoose. Umphrey's McGee is another band that has slowly been growing on me over the years. I first saw them for $5 many years ago and they've come a long way. Jack Johnson is a guy that every female I know is in love with. The Hawaii-based Johnson is not just a pretty face, he's one of the more amazing lyricist in the industry. The North Mississippi Allstars know how to bring some a tasty mix of delta blues-rock-groove to the party. I'm also pumped to see The Flaming Lips, Talib Kweli, and Primus. The hardest part about Vegoose is trying to decide what band to skip!

Of course, many of them will be playing Late Night Shows at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues, the Joint at the Hard Rock Casino, the Thomas & Mack Center, The Aladdin Theater, and at the Orleans Arena. Some of the late night highlights will be the Widespread Panic concert at Thomas & Mack on Halloween. The Athens based band has been trying to pick up the pieces after their lead guitarist Mikey Houser died from cancer in 2003. After a short hiatus, they went back on the road last year and they've been playing excellent music. Since Phish broke up, many people in the jam-band community were looking towards Widespread Panic to take the lead. It seemed that after Jerry Garcia died, Phish's popularity boomed and they indirectly took over as the main band to follow around. And since Phish broke up, there's been a void.

Speaking of Phish, former Phish frontman and guitarist, Trey Anastasio will be playing with his band during a late night show at Aladdin on October 28th. He has a new album to pimp called "Shine" that will be released on November 1st.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Galactic. They are a New Orleans slam-funk band and they bring a New Orleans party to wherever they play. They were on tour when Hurricane Katrina hit their city and most of them lost their homes. They'll be playing at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on October 30th in what might be the highlight of the late night shows.

Phil Lesh, bass player from the Grateful Dead, will be playing a night show at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Casino on October 30th as well. With so many quality musicians in town, you never know who is going to show up to sit in and play a set with your favorite band. Visit for more details.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 3:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)