Poker players will welcome the latest addition to the Las Vegas Poker scene on Sunday evening, April 2, at 9:00 PM when the Venetian Resort's Poker Room opens its' doors. Ten and a half thousand square feet of luxurious space located in the main casino close to the sports book and main entrance, all dedicated to poker. Las Vegas' largest poker room offers thirty-nine tables with a variety of games and limits to satisfy every poker player. Texas Hold'em, Stud and Omaha will be offered in limit and no-limit variations.

Poker operations at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino will be under the guidance of Kathy Raymond, Director of Poker Room Operations. Kathy brings a decade and a half of poker experience that includes directing operations at the 114 table poker room at Foxwoods Casino. The former CPA decided to make a career change fifteen years ago and moved into the casino industry as a poker dealer. Spend a few minutes with Kathy and you quickly realize her depth of knowledge and love for the game of poker.

Every modern convenience has been incorporated into the design of the Venetian's poker room. Some of the most comfortable player accommodations to be found in any poker room awaits the four-star Venetian Resort's poker room guest. The main room fronts the huge casino and has relaxation areas where players can wait for a game, meet with friends or take some moments away from the action at the poker tables. The poker room is decorated in earth tone contemporary furnishings that make use of rich leathers, exotic woods and exquisite crystal chandeliers hung from high vaulted ceilings. Complimentary valet parking, main room food service, twenty-one large-screen plasma TVs, safe deposit boxes, pagers for waiting players, Shufflemasters at every table and best of all...plenty of clean air in this no smoking poker room.

Now we move to the seven table high-stakes area that adds private relaxation areas, gourmet dining and butler service. Included in this high-limit area is the exclusive two table private salon reserved for the world's highest limit poker players. A new standard for poker room elegance goes up at 9:00 PM Sunday evening when poker players are welcomed into the room. The grand opening festivities begin at 7:00 PM with MC, Robin Leach, on the red carpet for the arrival of the celebrity players invited to be a part of poker history when they play in the new poker room's inaugural event, the Venetian Poker Grand Opening Face-Off. Celebrities and poker professionals scheduled to attend include Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Jennifer Tilly, Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, Shannon Elizabeth, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, Oliver Hudson, Howard Lederer, Liz Lieu, Jeremy Piven, Chip Reese, and Joe Reitman. The tournament gets under way at 9:00 PM and the winner will drive away in an exotic yellow Lotus Elise sports car to the winner.

The Sunday event will be under the direction of Venetian Tournament Director, Timothy Mix. Tim comes to the operation with more than a decade of poker industry experience. Fours of those years were spent at the Bellagio learning the fine points of running a successful poker tournament from the man that created and defined poker tournament directors, John McClelland. Stop by on Sunday for a look at the latest Las Vegas has to offer in state-of-the-art poker rooms. Get into your poker game of choice and come prepared to stay awhile. You'll be so comfortable you won't leave. I spent the better part of the day visiting with the staff and photographing the almost finished poker room and offer a visual tour of what awaits the poker player at the new Venetian Poker Room. See you Sunday at the Venetian.

Posted by flipchipro at 5:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas is reporting a deal is close to being finalize that will see one of the city's failed experiments go to a group of Las Vegas businessmen. Bad luck has plagued the 250,000 square foot shopping mall that never found a sustaining market. Most of the shop fronts stand empty with tennants pulling out and leaving. The Poker Dome poker arena that was announced by FOX Sports Network in partnertship with MANSIONpoker.net was planned to occupy some of the empty space at Neonopolis; but, the poker show is tied up while the Nevada Gaming Commission investigates the legalities of a poker tournament being held in a room outside of a licensed casino. FOX Sports Net says the tournament will be game show 'speed poker' played for prizes instead of cash with all of the players coming to the Poker Dome final table qualified through freeroll online tournaments, again, no cash involved. Details of the effects if any that this sale will have on the Poker Dome project should be known within a couple of days. The Poker Dome is an idea that will probably work as a TV show and become one of the anchors of the Fremont Experience Neonopolis Mall. Having one of the major networks take up residence in Neonopolis to produce a major TV series is a big step forward. I'd really like to see Poker Dome happen.

Mayor Oscar Goodman plans to meet with the representative of the un-named group that deposited a large pile of non-refundable ernest money. The mayor said the meeting is to address all of his concerns with the new owner's proposed use of the property and the future compatibility of the proposed under-new-management Neonopolis to fit in with the businesses that have recently opened across the Fremont Experience. The city built the $32 million underground parking facility underneath Neonopolis so the city must give its approval to any sale of the $100 million mall. The sale price was not announced, but a spokesperson for Prudential Real Estate Investors, Theresa Miller, said her company has reached an agreement to sell the property. The details of the sell including the price, the identity of the buyers and future plans will be announced as soon as the deal closes escrow.

Another high rise condo project has apparently bit the dust. The Las Ramblas high-rise condo project appears to be headed for memory lane if the 25 acres the project was scheduled to occupy is sold to Edge Resorts Group, a partner in the W Hotel project being developed on an adjoining plot of land. The Las Ramblas project received much hype after well known actor and star of the Oceans Series of casino heist movies, George Clooney, announced his substantial financial investment and long term commitment to the Las Ramblas project. Possible project cancellation comes as no great surprise to some and should have little impact on the development of the Harmon Avenue Corridor. Most big name players in the condo/resort development business turn their plans into realities as evidenced by the verticality of the Las Vegas skyline.

Posted by flipchipro at 4:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

· Is the bubble about to burst on online poker? Let's put it to you this way... BEST. MONTH. EVER. [Poker Continues to Set Records With Best February Ever in 2006-PokerPages.com Industry Index - Yahoo! Finance]

· God bless those marketing geniuses at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. They've just rebranded their poker room with the "World Poker Tour" logo, which should really drive the donkeys in droves. Now, if they could just find a way to give away a free Shana Hiatt with every bad beat, they'd really be on to something. [Foxwoods Aces On Poker: Room Gets Tour Branding - PokerMag]

· Just when you thought there wasn't another reasonable product you could slap the Sopranos name on, here comes cell phone poker. [It's Sopranos poker! Poker! With minor characters from the Sopranos! - Opposable Thumbs]

· You know that guy in the dorm room down the hall who sits at his computer all day wearing sunglasses? We should really write an article for the school newspaper on him. Yeah, screw those kids doing Habitat For Humanity work during spring break... let's glorify the social misfit that hasn't seen the light of day in over three semesters! [Student earns living at poker - Digital Collegian (Penn State)]

· If we were hypnotists we'd spend less time putting people in the right mindset for online poker and more time convincing hot girls it's really hot in here and that they'd be a lot more comfortable without that brassiere. We're just saying, if you're good at something, aim higher than this. [Hypnotherapist Puts Poker Players in the Zone - Poker777]

· If we ever built a robot that could do "the robot," we'd call him the Funkitron 2800. He'd have a giant afro made of steel wool, would speak in robot-Jive, and would be dressed like "Rerun" from What's Happening. We're severely disappointed to learn there's a video game company that has trademarked our name, if not our idea, but only slightly less disappointed then we were to find they'd made a video game of that bullshit all-in fest that is the Poker Superstars tournament series. [ Funkitron Raises the Stakes in Season 2 of Hit Poker Game, POKER SUPERSTARS II(TM); Game Based on NBC and FOX Sports Net's Popular Poker Tournament - BusinessWire]

· Why can't the poker magazines come to a consensus when naming their "Player of the Year?" Is it really that hard to decide between Isabelle and Carmel? [The Poker Player of the Year in 2005? - PokerPlayer Newspaper]

Posted by bg at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Excellence just keeps coming out of the poker blogosphere...from Pauly's beautiful application of the life of a great writer to poker, to Felicia's series on the Psychology of Poker, poker bloggers continue to set new standards for analysis of the game. Quest of a Closet Poker Player continues the serial blogging trend by taking a look at Relationships and Poker - currently a four-part series.

Bill Rini continues to explore the poker wisdom of Paula Abdul - who knew she was so deep? Felicia revists narcissism and poker and considers the future of tournament poker, while ScurvyDog analyzes the chances of online poker being outlawed.

Don't forget to check out the new WPBT site, along with the WPBT Wiki.

Posted by at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reading Dr. Pauly's report from the Playboy Mansion reminded me of the Palms Resort's latest project that includes a Playboy Club atop the new tower. Returning from more than a decade and a half of absence, the Playboy Club will live again at the Palms Resort. Playboy's deal with the Las Vegas Palms Resort has placed one of the most recognizable silhouettes from the world of corporate logos on the new 40 story tower under construction at the Palms. The rabbit has hopped onto the side of the new tower in a display of things to come at the top of the tower. Scheduled to open later this year the Playboy Club will join the Las Vegas nightclub scene from the top of the Palms Resort, already one Las Vegas' hottest spots and the favorite of stars from around the world. Can this be a marriage made in the bank lobby or what? The Playboy Club is setting up to become the most 'in' nightclub of Las Vegas nightclubs.

A new poker room is openingn at 9:00 PM on April 2 with all the fanfare and pomp of a Hollywood movie premier. The Venetian Resort's long awaited and much anticipated poker room becomes a reality this Sunday while the media gets a sneak peek at the facilty on Thursday, I'll be there with the camera, then on Sunday, April 2, Grand Opening hosted by Robin Leach followed by a celebrity/pro tournament christening the new poker room. Red carpet arrivals, plenty of celebrities and some of poker's brightest stars will make the Venetian poker room grand opening a real Kodak moment. The poker room will be under the supervision of the Venetian's Director of Poker Room Operations, Kathy Raymond. It will be interesting to see what kind of migration may occur during the run of the 2006 Five Star Tournament at the Bellagio beginning on April 6.

Enough poker events taking place in Las Vegas this month to easily justify a Vegas trip in April. The Bellagio's Five Star Tournament is followed by a WSOP Circuit Series stop at Caesars Palace that continues through May 11. Come to town early and take in all of the major poker tournament action scheduled for April and May in Las Vegas, be a part of poker history by playing in some of the torunaments. Stop by the Venetian's new poker room and take a seat in the latest ultra-plush poker room on the las Vegas Strip.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tao of Poker's Dr. Pauly is in Los Angeles after getting an invite to the Playboy Mansion for the Urbane Health Institute charity poker event. He shares his experiences and CJ of UpforPoker provides a photo of himself with two of the bunnies.-FlipChip

Don't ask me how it happened, but I stumbled into the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday night with seven random bloggers. It sounds like the punchline to a joke, but it really happened. Actor Don Cheadle went on to win a charity poker tournament at the Playboy Mansion in support of the Urban Health Institute (http://www.uhinstitute.org/). The tournament featured plenty of celebrities who participated in the tournament and silent auction. Also on hand were L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, Shannon Elizabeth, Kim Coles, Tara Reid, Kevin Wiseman, Oliver Hudson, Morris Chestnut, and Anthony Anderson.

The Playboy Mansion was also flooded with several of the top players in poker such as Erick Lindgren, Chad Brown, The Grinder, Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu, Mel Judah, Cyndy Violette, Amir Vahedi, Ted Forrest, Hoyt Corkins, Josh Arieh, Steve Dannenmann, John Phan, David Williams, and Jean Robert Bellande. Both John Caldwell from Poker News and Lacey Jones were also in attendance.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by flipchipro at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's official. The final word out of Carson City on the number of visitors Nevada attracted last year is 51.1 million. That works out to about 144,000 people per day, every day of the year. The kind of numbers most webmasters dream about, where the money meters are spinning like the reels on the mega-bucks slot machines. The vast majority of these visitors, almost $40 million, made the journey for a Las Vegas destination and they all drove down the Las Vegas Strip at the same time. Last week on a mid-week afternoon it took almost an hour to go from Sahara to Tropicana. Much of this slow down appears to be caused in part by the very thing that was supposed to ease traffic woes, the new Duece double deck city buses. Bus turnouts on the Las Vegas strip are extremely rare so the buses tie up one of the three lanes when stopped for passengers. Sometimes the stops are more than five minutes because it takes considerable time for twice as many people to get on and off, half of whom have to go up or down stairs to the upper deck. The bus must remain perfectly still until the passengers are seated, you can't go roaring off with Aunt Mildred from Philly half way up the stairs, so expect to wait. Sometimes the Duece buses are stacked up three deep waiting to offload.

I'll try to hold down the complaints about life and times in Las Vegas but as a long term resident I have watched the degradation of our standard of local life. Even with all of the short comings Las Vegas remains my first choice of places to live. The good stuff about this magic town overwhelms the negatives, but I still don't like the traffic congestion problems, makes me suffer temporary insanity.

More details from the MANSIONpoker.net Poker Dome Challenge being planned for May 20th debut at downtown's Neonopolis Mall located on the south end of the Fremont Street Experience. I had an opportunity to talk with Justin Simon, Director of Media Relations at FOX Sports Net. Some of the details are starting to take shape and details are expected to be available within days. The show will be poker tournament/game show hybrid that doesn't involve any cash. The players qualify through freeroll tournaments on MANSIONpoker.net so no buy-in money. The prize structure will not be in the form of cash, instead the players will be vying for some, as yet undetermined, top level prizes. Most of the players are expected to be amateur players, but who knows, after all this is the FOX Sports Network where a pro can get exposure to some big viewer numbers.

Finally, Fox has assigned their crack team of production executives to produce and direct this show. They will be bringing the kind of experience that garners an audience and Emmys, eight to be exact. I will continue to provide details as they become available and some photos of the work in progress. Of course, the Nevada Gaming Commission is taking a long, hard look at the operation and is trying to decide what license, if any, the show may need to continue. I'm thinking the lack of cash on either end coupled with the "Speed Poker" format makes it more poker game show than another poker tournament. What kind of gaming license will the Australian government require for the $60 million Mega Event in Melbourne, Australia?

Posted by flipchipro at 1:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MANSIONpoker.net and FOX Sports Network (FSN) have partnered to bring to television the most ambitious poker project to date. MANSIONpoker.net Poker Dome Challenge Series has finally found a home in downtown Las Vegas at the Neonopolis mall located a block south of the end of the light canopy over Fremont Street. Three of the theatres at Neonopolis are being transformed into the Poker Dome. The Poker Dome is the world's first custom designed poker arena that will accommodate an audience of 200 around a final poker table enclosed in a glass dome of silence, ala the old TV series, Get Smart. Fans sitting in stadium style seating around the ultra-tech poker table will have considerable inside information displayed real time on plasma monitors. FSN says this new venue promises to be "NASCAR for Poker."

Players will be enclosed in close, full view from a sound proofed one way glass dome that prevents them from seeing or hearing anything from the audience. The latest in high tech poker tables will have the usual hole card cameras and rabbit hunting cameras plus close-ups of all the action on the felt, discarded cards, even burn cards will all be fed to the plasma displays for the audience. Table size close-ups of the players allows for scrutiny that's better than real. All of the players will be miked-up so the audience can hear all of the table talk. Another novel addition is the player's heart rates are displayed real time from a telemetry link to vital sign monitors wired to each player. What's the probability of getting your poker opponents to wear one of these devices? Will this be another television first when we get to see and hear a player having a heart attack?

The Poker Dome is being built in the space currently occupied by three of the movie theaters. Hopefully, live tournament poker will prove to be a better drawing card than Mary Poppins was for Neonopolis, downtown's biggest public funded white elephant. Apparently, not as many people as originally estimated wanted to bring the kids to seedy downtown to see a movie. Maybe poker will be the attraction that does the trick for the neon loser. Neonopolis has had a difficult time attracting and holding onto tenants for the city financed mall boondoggle. I was there when it opened with much fanfare and posturing by local politicians busy patting themselves on the back for having wisely spent millions of taxpayer's dollars on this miraculous 'genesis' machine for downtrodden downtown Las Vegas.

The country's happiest mayor, Oscar Goodman, said this is another step towards making the neon project a success along with today's opening today of two new restaurants, Hennessey's Irish Pub and Mickey Finnz Fish House & Bar just across Fremont Neonopolis. FSN executive vice president of programming and production, George Greenberg, said the Poker Dome will offer free admission and no alcohol (guess we won't be seeing much of Hiszonner Oscar Goodman). Another innovation is something that MANSIONpoker.net has added called "Speed Poker." Instead of playing 15-20 hands per hour speed poker kicks it up to 80-100 hands per hour by setting a fifteen second time limit on each player. This might prove to be a detriment to the fickle public's acceptance of this new brand of poker show. On the other hand, it may be a stroke of genius with the TV viewers, most of whom have very little actual tournament poker experience, but are TV viewing experts. They get to see many more hands and playing situations and this could prove to be a big plus in the market that counts, the big dollar TV market.

This venue certainly has a shot at being a success. I didn't care for the time clock on a previous TV poker show experiment and will approach this one with the open mind of a TV viewer instead of a poker purist. The FOX people have sprung for a three year lease so they have confidence in the Poker Dome concept and production project. They certainly have pockets deep enough for the project, plenty of big-time sports broadcast experience and don't forget about that built-in backbone-size bandwidth to the general viewing public. Partnered with their online qualifying poker room, MANSIONpoker.net they should have no trouble producing nine players each week for the inaugural season. I expect they will salt the table with various qualified well known professional poker players, at least I hope so. Convincing the public to tune in for another poker show regardless of the bells and whistles will be a hard sell without some of the stars of the sport at each week's game. The FOXsports Net people are smart as a fox and just as quick so probably will modify the format as required for success.

The first of the weekly tournaments is scheduled for May 20 with players qualifying for the final table at MANSIONpoker.net through freeroll tournaments. Qualifiers will be flown to Vegas for the final table in the Poker Dome. The prize structure for the weekly tournamnets has not yet been determined. The tournaments will continue for 44 weeks through the $1 million (amount is tenative) season finale, actual details including the prize details have not been finalized. On a related note a Mega Event is scheduled for six players that plunk down $10 million each in a winner take the whole $60 million, to be held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia in July, 2006. They already have one sign-up, Phil Ivey. Mr. Poker himself has plunked down his 10 mil and waits for the other five players. I've decided to make Phil the favorite to win this one without even knowing the other five. Surely, one of the will be heads-up ace, all American billionaire and hailing from Texas, Andy Beal. If you can't make this one there will be another next year with the take-all purse climbing to $75 million, then in 2008 it moves up to $100 million. Don't them downunders have any respect for money? Just how bold or utterly insane do you have to be to risk $100 million on the turn of a card?

Posted by flipchipro at 5:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

· Just in case you're both too lazy to have already filed your taxes and you're enough of a goody two-shoes to tell the government you're gambling illegally using your Antigua-based poker room, here's some tax tips you could probably use. [Ten Tax Tips for Gamblers and Poker Players - [link removed]]

· Almost a year ago a Colorado poker club was raided by local police with guns drawn. Problem was, even the local DA couldn't figure out what laws these guys were supposedly breaking. Eleven months later? Shuffle up and deal. [Resumption of game was in the cards - Rocky Mountain News]

· Then again, if you're in New Jersey maybe you want to check your local statutes a little more closely. [Six Arrested After Raid On Poker Tourney - Gambling Magazine]

· We're all for capitalism and striking while the iron is hot, but some things make us wish the green baize stayed in Vegas and off our TVs, because you see something like this and throw up in your mouth a little bit. Then, of course, you log in to your favorite poker room and make a hundred bucks and all is long forgotten. [Poker the Safe Way with Poker-Themed Condoms - Poker777]

· A 22-year-old University of Minnesota student walked away with a million dollar prize after winning the PartyPoker Million last week. Finally, we have the horror story that will turn America's youth against gambling forever. [Poker cruise pays off for college senior - UPI]

· Color us skeptical, but these "blogger poker tournaments" are neither organically derived, nor are they anything more than an SEO set-up for their organizers. Still, if you want to participate no one is stopping you. [Blog Your Way (sic) Poker Glory - Online Casino News]

· And finally, is there any way to know you're being cheated at the poker tables? For a rookie, probably not, but if the back of your Ace of Spades feels rough like sandpaper, you might be on to something. [Book Review: Catching Poker Cheats - Poker Player Newspaper]

Posted by bg at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Tuesday the high temperature in Las Vegas set a record for the coolest day ever on this date, 51 degrees, but don't dig out the artic parkas because the high on Friday will be close to 80 degrees. I spent part of this record cold day catching up with stuff I pile in the corners of the computer. Going through some of the search requests I find questions that readers asked and thought it might be helpful for our people planning to visit the entertainment capitol of the universe, especially for the first time, to answer them in a public forum.

Q: What time does the sun set in Las Vegas?

A: The sun typically sets in Las Vegas at sundown every evening, but it can be very difficult to actually discern the time of the actual event since it's masked by the brilliance of the city's neon.

Q: How many poker chips do I need to win in Las Vegas?

A: All of them.

Q: How can I date a porn star in Las Vegas?

A: Not a clue, but I will do some research.

Q: How can I beat the slots in Las Vegas?

A: Don't play.

Q: What is the price of admissions to watch the WSOP?

A: See me for some half price tickets.

Q: How much money should I bring to Vegas?

A: Everything you have.

Q: When does Las Vegas close?

A: When everyone leaves.

Enough of the Q & A for now, time to catch up on the backlog of work with our exhaustingly extensive collection of poker photos. Also some time to reflect on where we have been and what lies ahead for poker and Las Vegas. The future of the city has never looked brighter with the strip set for a transformation that will see city sized resorts replace the now aging "themed" resorts designed to appeal to the average American family vacation budget. I like the way Vegas is headed, back to its roots of providing the very best to those lucky adults that can afford the best. And, what direction is poker headed?

Poker's big move was onto the world's virtual Main Street, the World Wide Web. Internet Card rooms have literally sprang up on this futuristic boulevard of pixels. These virtual establishments routinely attract hundreds of thousands of players from around the world into the card rooms where they can play with very real money. And, how about brick and mortar live poker rooms? The land based casino card rooms have recently undergone a period of unprecedented growth with rooms opening all across the country and existing rooms in Nevada and California expanding. Do I think the live poker playing bubble will burst? No, many of those hundreds of thousands of Internet players will always have a need for live games. Do I think the popularity of TV poker will continue? Probably, at least to some degree, there will always be an audience for the sport with the proper marketing of the game and its stars.

I am currently reading about three articles a day detailing the anticipated decline in the popularity of poker. Many are from some of the most respected in the news business, "all the news that's fit..." people, talking up poker's eminent decline and its all based on some television stats. I don't think poker has ever been on the decline, recently it just decided to come out of the smoky closet and go legit. This year we will see the WSOP with a $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event and later this year a $100,000 buy-in Heavyweight Championship of Poker. Andy Beal was just in town trading millions across the felt of a poker table. Is poker on the decline? Check out the numbers and you decide. Can you imagine a day without poker? I can't.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

· David "Devilfish" Ulliot is opening an online poker room? If your kink is busting chain-smoking peasy-moustachioed Brits, then have at it. [The Devil Is In The Detail - Online-Casinos]

· Wait, it's the new Diet Pepsi poker-themed ad that's going to ring the death knell for poker? We thought it was Celebrity Poker Showdown. Or was it PartyGaming's announcement last year their growth rate was slowing? Or maybe it was Jennifer Tilly winning a bracelet, help us out here, we're confused. If anything has "jumped the shark" it's media "pundits" proclaiming the poker fad has passed. [Pepsi's Poker Ad Dooms Fad - New York Post]

· PartyGaming has named some dude named Mitch Garber as its new Chief Executive. Not that we're bitter about being passed over for the job, but we hear Garber killed a guy in the 80s. We're just saying... [Poker giant places a bet on new boss - TimesOnline]

· We don't make a habit here of linking TheCardPlayingMagazineThatShallGoUnnamed due to their own draconian web-relationship policies, but here's an important point of differentiation to remember between our own little poker blog and their magazine: They visit the Venetian's new poker room, and the only picture you get with the article is a bunch of suits standing by the canals. If you want a real look at what poker rooms on and off the strip look like, not to mention tournament schedules, we've got that for you here. [Lass Vegas Poker Room Grand Opening - ThatCardPlayingMagazine]

· Steve Rosenbloom lets us know that poker pros have a colorful euphemism for you no-name internet players that can't lay down suited three-gappers - Land Mines. Personally, we prefer GotDangTouristFishSuckoutMoronIdiot. That just about covers it. [Watch out for land mines with newbies at the table - Arizona Republic]

· Why bother writing a joke when this stuff is pretty damn funny on it's own: "The company's answer was 'Faith Chips,' Vegas-weight poker chips printed with slogans like 'Jesus went all-in for you...so ante up and give your heart to him,' and 'Don't gamble with eternity...accept Jesus before you cash in your chips.'" [Living La Vida Poker - BeliefNet]

· Finally, Daniel Negreanu admits that he characterizes his own game as "small ball" poker. He'll be the first to let you know he's not talking about his, uh, manhood. [Small ball should be played with caution-Houston Chronicle]

Posted by bg at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PokerRoom.com, held the final table of their "Become a Poker Pro Tournament" aboard the Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Sea cruise ship during a three day cruise out of Miami to Nassua, Bahama with an outbound day stopover at CocoCay. Ten qualifiers from the online PokerRoom.com met around the final table for a live championship match offering a Quarter of a Million Dollars to the winner and a year of sponsorship in major poker tournaments around the world. Jim Davenport, an investment banker from Corona Del Mar, California, claimed the $250,000 when the final hand was dealt and his trip Aces ruled, giving him the win.

The championship round held on the cruise ship was the finale of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Last September thousands of entrants played at PokerRoom.com for one of the ten final table seats. If you are one of those players that didn't make the list of ten because of a horrific bad beat or maybe lady luck forgot you even exist, then this article is for you. Your journey by proxy to the PokerRoom.com's "Become a Poker Pro Championship" final table held on a luxury ship cruising around the Caribbean. We left the port of Miami mid-afternoon on Friday and sailed over night to CocoCay, a small Caribbean island owned by the ship company, Royal Caribbean International.

CocoCay was warm and sunny, very sunny. The "Become a Poker Pro Tournament" final table's ten players were scheduled to do an afternoon photo shoot on the island. A PokerRoom.com table was set up in the sand and grass on the beach with a panaoramic view of the brilliant blue waters of the Caribbean serving as the natural background. Unfortunately, little in the way of shade was available for the four hour event and when this lack of natural sun protection was combined with my lack of a hat, then add into the mix my lack of sun exposure (I'm always in front of computer screens managing a diverse, growing network...my life is mouse in one hand cell phone in the other.) and you have third degree sunburn...humbling. The PokerRoom.com group had a great time on the island with many of the entourage sampling the feel and look of the Caribbean for the first time. The small, low CocoCay is ideal to experience the vastness of the ocean while standing on terra firma. Waterscapes reaching to the horizon encircle you and the small spit of sand where you're standing...even more humbling.

An early evening departure and we are again cruising under a partly cloudy star filled sky, something we never see in Las Vegas. Another overnight run takes us into Nassua, the premier Caribbean tourist port and home to the spectacular Atlantis Resort and Casino. Luxurious accommodations in one of nature's most plush tropical settings pushed the Atlantis Resort beyond what I expected. I come from the city with the world record for 'A' list destination resorts, Las Vegas, so I found the Atlantis Resort to be equal to the best. Tall twin towers are skybridged together and present a striking silhouette high above the luxurious tropical grounds surrounding the huge property. Inside, the look is even more Vegas with some very distinctive glass art sculptures from the studios of Dale Chihuly. Dale is the International artist and master art glass blower that did the world acclaimed Fiori di Como, a colorful garden of blossoms formed from 2000 hand blown glass flowers serving as the central ceiling of the Bellagio's lobby. The Atlantis Resort in Nassua commissioned Chihuly to produce artworks including two large centerpieces of glass art for their resort and he created the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. I immediately recognized the Chihuly artistic signature, even from afar, of the two room-size works of art. Chuhuly's distinctive style of glass art has no equal. So, what can a resort like the Atlantis, one that has everything in abundance, not have? It has a luxurious Casino, gourmet restaurants, yacht parking, world class accommodations, elite shopping, museum-class art, beach front private luxury apartments, perfectly manicured tropical grounds, world class spa, simply too many things to list; but, you can't play live poker at the Atlantis. The one thing atlantis doesn't have is a poker room.

The day in Nassua restored my faith in my ability to deal with street vendors and shop merchants. My day in Nassua was also a relaxing, enjoyable handful of hours in tropical paradise, mon. Hanging with the PokerRoom.com crowd gave me the opportunity to spend time with some of the ten players qualified to play in this championship round of the Become a Poker Pro Tournament. Most had not played a major money tournament, especially a live table, before making this BAPP Tournament final table. One of the players definitely did not belong in the live tournament newbie category, Dragon2. Dragon2 is well known around Internet Poker Rooms and PokerRoom.com. A seasoned online specialist that also plays a mean live tournament game. Dragon2, aka Jack Arnold of Tulsa, Oklahoma, made it to the featured TV table at the 2004 WSOP main event on the first day. You can see him on ESPN in episode 1 of the 10 episodes of the 2004 main event. Jack's bad beat was so bad it was featured in the 2005 WSOP "The Nuts" segment on bad beats. I had an opportunity to tape an interview with Jack. Another high profile PokerRoom.com player, MarvinGarden, made the BAPP championship round along with arttu5, Arttu Poikolainen of Helsinki, Finland, winner of Grand Tournament 1.

Jim Davenport is a 25 year old investment banker that comes from the Newport Beach area of greater Los Angeles. He, along with the other nine final table players, made it into the Become a Poker Pro tournament when PokerRoom.com held a freeroll tournament last September for the online poker room's top players. The cards went into the air at Noon on Sunday at the final table located in the casino on the Majesty of the Sea. The eliminations continued throughout the afternoon and early evening while the ship sailed on into the night for Miami. Jim won the tournament when he called an all-in with an A,Q offsuit and caught an Ace on the flop, another Ace on the turn gave him the winning top set.

Jim Davenport, screen name JDtrojan3, will now compete for a year in major poker tournaments under the sponsorship of PokerRoom.com. The $250,000 package includes a buy-in in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, WPT Championships, WSOP Circuit events and European Poker Tour events as he lives the life of a poker professional traveling the major tournament circuit playing with the best poker players in the game while traveling the world. Congratulations to Jim for his victory in the inaugural Become a Poker Pro Tournament. PokerRoom.com did a terrific job of hosting this event aboard the luxury ocean liner, Caribbean International's Majesty of the Sea. A great time was had by all of the players, fans and friends that spent three marvelous days cruising the Caribbean, relaxing, partying, eating, tanning, talking poker and playing poker.

A complete list of the Become a Poker Pro Tournaments ten championship round finalist with hometowns, screen names and finish in the Championship round.

Seat #1: Arttu Poikolainen, Helsinki, Finland, arttu...9th place
Seat #2: Dustin Goff, Aspen, Colorado, HustlerPoke...4th place
Seat #3: Bill Pero, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, BillyBluff13...2nd place
Seat #4: Christropher Birchby, Las Angeles, California, MarvinGardens...10th place
Seat #5: Jack Arnold, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dragon2...7th place
Seat #6: Jim Davenport, Corona Del Mar, California, JDtrojan3...Champion
Seat #7: Kyle Morse, Abingdon, Maryland, KMO2...6th place
Seat #8: John Wachter, Takoma Park, Maryland, mdjohnny...5th place
Seat #9: Robert Zack, Matuchen, New Jersey, mav98911...8th place
Seat #10: Ryan Rufe, Parma, Ohio, rufebert...3rd place

Poker players looking for one of the best online poker rooms with great promos and specials running continuously should check out PokerRoom.com. Maybe I'll be interviewing you at next year's Become a Poker Pro Tournament final table aboard a luxurious Royal Caribbean ship cruising the beautiful Caribbean. The first step to becoming a Poker Professional on the world's major tournament circuit begins at PokerRoom.com, your online poker home. I'll be closely watching the 2006 Become a Poker Pro Tournament Champion, Jim Davenport, when he's in Las Vegas this August for the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, make this final table and you become one of poker's millionaires, maybe even a multi-millionaire. World Poker Tour stops in Las Vegas add even more opportunities for Jim to gain poker wealth and stardom.

Posted by pokerprof at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Round ball fever has descended over Las Vegas filling the sports books and casinos with crowds of shouting fans. The action begins early in the morning and continues into the evening with sports fans and bettors hanging on every play, every foul call, every free throw and this goes on for twelve hours straight, then another six hours watching game reruns and then more time analyzing the next round of match-ups. Factor in the latest odds, prop bets, parlays, and money lines with the precision of a field general planning a war, then using good bankroll management you make your calculated, statistically correct wagers and then your girl friend has more winners than you do and she bets on the ones in the cutest uniforms.

The Poker Prof's almost finished with his trip report on the PokerRoom.com Caribbean Cruise hosting the Championship final table for the "Become a Poker Pro Tournament." The lucky winner walked away with a top prize of $250,000 to live the life of a Poker Professional playing in major tournaments all over the world for the next year. The Majesty of the Sea luxury liner made a stop in Nassau and the Prof the Atlantis Resort and Casino and gives us his 'Vegas jaded' impression of the new super resort. Check out his trip report, Poker Prof's Poker Tales from the High Seas, on Monday AM.

Posted by flipchipro at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by flipchipro at 3:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two major poker tournaments are on their way to Las Vegas for an April 5 start of the Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic that continues through April 26. Two days later on April 28, the World Series of Poker Circuit stops at the new poker facility at Caesars Palace. This kind of scheduling makes it easy for the poker party to continue almost uninterrupted next door at Caesars Palace for more major tournament poker action through May 11. This kind of marathon scheduling will make April a most interesting month in Las Vegas.

The WPT sanctioned final event at the Bellagio runs April 18-24 and it is the big one. This is the WPT Championship Event for the season. The buy-in is $25,500 with upwards of 600 entrants expected to enter. The prize pool could easily top out at $15 million or more. All the greats of the game will be at the Bellagio for this special event. Last year's champion, Tuan Le, will be on hand to defend his title along with most of the pro poker crowd. The event is expected to set a new prize pool and pay out record with the winner receiving more than three million dollars. It could be you hauling out the big bucks and poker's newest star player; but, you'll have to show up at the Bellagio with the $25.5K ticket in hand and take your seat.

The World Series of Poker Circuit will be the first major poker tournament for the new Caesars Palace Poker facility. I know the NBC Heads-Up national Championship was major nut it was also by invitation and limited to 64 entrants. The WSOP Circuit events will draw thousands of poker playing hopefuls. The final event of the tournament is a WSOP trademark $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold'em Championship. This is the inaugural for this WSOPC series stop at Caesars Palace and I'm looking forward to hanging out at the state-of-the-art tournament poker facility located center strip. This is another warm up for the coming 2006 WSOP at the Rio Resort. Rumors are floating about that additional first day tables for the main event could be set up at the Caesars poker facility has the potential to push the increase the number of entrants higher than the currently assumed 8800 cap.

Happy Friday

Posted by flipchipro at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The weather in Las Vegas has been trying damn hard to return to normal March temperatures closer to seventy than fifty, but another front is arriving with wind, maybe rain and cooler. You know what they say about March, in like a lion. The winds and wild weather just adds more excitement to the annual Las Vegas March Madness, sorry, almost forgot that Las Vegas and March or Madness together is not allowed. The NCAA sent out warning memos to some of the notorious casino offenders for using NCAA registered trademarks in commercial promotions for sports book game parties. The NCAA gets upset if you use any of the terms associated with the Men's and Women's Division I Basketball Championship. "Final Four" (all alpha/numeric variations), "Sweet 16" (ditto), "Elite Eight" (ditto, again), even the unapproved use of the term, "The Big Dance," will have you dancing in the "Big House" in no time. BTW, the NCAA doesn't own the "March Madness" trademark, that's owned by the March Madness Athletic Association, LLC of which the NCAA is a member. They are the exclusive licensee of the "March Madness" trademark.

The NCAA is considering sending the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority a cease and desist letter after the rogue marketing agency people dared use a "March Madness" reference in a press release about activity at the convention center. I not so sure the LVCVA has much of a leg to stand on in this one. They are the same people that will quickly lawyer-up if you use their catch phrase, "What happens here stays here." Can I safely say, "What goes around comes around"?

I believe banning of the use of any of the NCAA catch phrases in conjunction with anything Las Vegas will have little if any impact on the numbers of the college basketball fans that make the annual trek to Las Vegas to wager and watch the college basketball teams on the road to the "big game." This is the second time Las Vegas has been forced to use the generic term, "big game," when referring to a commonly known major sporting event. The other was the 2006 NFL Super Bowl that became the "Big Game" because the football people got really upset when they learned Las Vegas was making big money from their football games. Apparently the disappearance of the banned words "Super Bowl" on Vegas resort marquees had no impact since the Superbowl XL set a single sports Vegas event wager record. The 2006 college basketball championships are probably headed for the Vegas wagering record books while complying with the wishes of the NCAA.

BTW, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority doesn't own the slogan "what happens here, blah..." That's owned by R&R Partners, the marketing firm the Authority outsources $60 million of business. We paid them to come up with that clever slogan and then we sell them that million dollar effort for a buck. One dollar. At least now we don't have to worry about all that storage and maintenance on the catchy slogan. Now that the brain trust over at the Convention Authority tricked the dudes over at R&R Partners into taking over the worries of ownership of the slogan they can sit back and let R&R do the work. I wonder if the NCAA would have transferred the "March Madness" slogan to the LLC owners for a buck? I bet not, those basketball people are pretty damn smart, after all, they moved their version of a game played with a ball inside where it's warm, comfortable and makes ideal sports television. It's televised sports drama at it's best for the millions of sport's fans around the globe. Much more than any single sporting event. It's also a holiday-class drawing card for Las Vegas. March has always been a great month to be in sunny Las Vegas.

Posted by flipchipro at 3:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our poker news impresario BG needed a night off, so he asked a friend of his to help out. Filling in? Poker pro Scotty Nguyen*. Enjoy.

· You know when Scotty wants to play some online poker he's gonna go to where the money is baby! 300 million hands?!? Whoa baby, Scotty gotta go play some poker there sometime! [Absolute Poker Makes The 300 Million Milestone - All In]

· You know why Scotty only plays at the Bellagio? Finger sandwiches baby! Only the good stuff for Scotty when I'm raking big pots all night long! Yeah! You put out a good buffet and you get Scotty to your poker party baby! Bacon wrapped scallops baby, and keep the ketchup cold for Scotty! [Poker Night - Washington Post]

· If you think you're going pro baby, you gotta think twice. You're coming into Scotty's house now baby, and Scotty's going to make you pay the rent! And the other thing this guy was talking about? I'd teach that Jessica Simpson to bark like a dog baby, you know she needs a little Scotty loving to get over that boy band man of hers. I'd toss her over an ottoman and you know Scotty's slapping that ass baby! [Be Careful What You Wish For... - Casino City Times]

· Aw baby, you know I look good with these gold chains baby! I wake up looking good, Scotty don't need no mirror time baby, only gets in the way of taking your money at the table! Don't forget that Scotty got a bracelet on, and you know I'm the man baby! [Legends of Poker - Scotty Nguyen - [link removed]]

· You throw a poker party baby and you know Scotty's showing up for the fun! Which of you little eighteen year old hotties wants to take Scotty to prom baby? You know Scotty's gonna check-raise that pot and check that ID before he makes your dreams come true baby! Yeah! [Easton teenager revs up the party - Leavenworth Times]

· Rakeback? What's that? Someone's going to give you money back on all the money you losing to Scotty Nguyen? Once I'm stacking those chips baby, it's all over. It's all over baby! [Don't Leave Money at the Poker Tables... - Press Release]

· I'm a star baby! Yeah! When you put Scotty in front of a camera baby, you know you're getting magic baby! You know I don't drink that Diet Pepsi stuff, Scotty Nguyen drinks Red Bull and cognac, but if they want Scotty's star to shine the TV skies baby, you know I can't say no to that! [New Diet Pepsi Ad Stars Poker Pros - All In]

*Any resemblance to Scotty Nguyen is completely intentional.

Posted by bg at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Pinnacle Entertainment announced on Monday that they had completed negotiations to purchase Aztar Corporation, owners of the Tropicana Resort in Las Vegas, for $38 a share. The fully funded deal is worth about $2.1 billion. Pinnacle and Aztar board of directors have approved the merger.

Pinnacle outlined the future business plan for the new company and the Tropicana will spend the next couple of years as is with no changes, not even needed cosmetic improvements. Pinnacle's plans for the 32 acres located on one of the world's most expensive corners will require two years to design and will take advantage of the large piece of real estate.

My first experience of legally walking into a casino was at the Tropicana Hotel on a Sunday, so many years ago when it was one of the premier joints in town. Beautiful people everywhere, many in formal evening dress strolling through the casinos and grounds. TV and movie stars, high class hookers, New York family field supervisors, Rat Pack members, Tony the Ant, cases filled with bundles of Franklins, aromas of expensive perfume and smoky, I mean damn smoky, couldn't see across the casino most nights. The Trop was the first place in Vegas I tried a bigger limit hold'em game and won almost a grand in a couple of hours. Not only was I the youngster at the table, I was the only player there not tossing back the hard stuff. This was the golf shirt and slacks crowd, no ladies playing in the room. One of my all-time favorite coffee shops of old was the Trop and located in a forest of large tropical plants. The original Tropicana had plants everywhere, rosebushes defined the sidewalks in the parking lots, even the men's room had a couple of pots filled with foilage.

Now that we know the Tropicana is going to be around for another two years while awaiting the dynamite guys and the implosion maybe this could be a last time to sample the taste of a Las Vegas that existed before the mega-resorts. You'll have to bring plenty of imagination since the property has fallen into a state of neglect in recent years. The plans to raze and rebuild are now official for one of the highest visibility corner on the Las Vegas Strip. Long overdue.

Posted by flipchipro at 2:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

· Italy is the latest nation to be swept up in the televised poker craze. In celebration, we'd like to propose that the poker hand 48s be renamed the "Bicameral Parliament," in honor of the 1948 constitutional establishment of Italy's two houses of parliamentary representation. Who's with us? [Poker In Italy On The Rise - PokerMag]

· Do poker clubs in California breed compulsive gambling and spikes in crime? Or do they breed jackbooted moralistic NIMBYs who can't stand it when someone else is having a good time? [Poker's allure gives false aura to card clubs - San Jose Mercury News]

· A representative for the New Jersey "Council on Compulsive Gambling" likens the rise of online poker to the rapid spread of crack cocaine in the 1980s. Except, of course, this time the US Government isn't behind it. [Online poker hooks teenagers - The Observer]

· Do "bots" have a presence in the world of online poker? Heck, we couldn't live without our bot - the Jokeulator 3000, without whom The Rake is at least 22% less witty. [Are Online Poker Bots Taking Human Players to The Cleaners? - PokerPress]

· Cindy Margolis' new poker room has announced they've introduced new ways for you to fund your account. There's FirePay, Neteller, Click2Pay, or you could just slip a hundy in her g-string. [New Payment Options Available at CindysPoker.com, the Official Online Poker Room of Cindy Margolis - eMediaWire]

· Here's an odd article from an actual newspaper -- a not unflattering portrayl of online poker. We dig where they call the article's subject an "amateur international gambler." Think we can get some business cards whipped up with that title? [Online Poker - Richmond Times-Dispatch]

· Finally, with an obvious disregard for the stereotypes that plague his homeland, Finland's Juha Helppi is set to host an igloo-based poker tournament in Finland's Arctic Circle. If Finland wasn't a country full of illiterate eskimos, we're sure there'd be a protest. [InterPoker Sets the Stage for the Ultimate 'Freeze-Out' Tournament at the World's Largest Snow Castle in Finland - PRNewswire]

Posted by bg at 1:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

· On college campuses nationwide kids are playing poker online. Thanks to PartyPoker, everyday gambling isn't just for America's elderly anymore. [Gambling Takes Hold of College Students - ABCNews]

· Of course, you have to look outside the MSM bubble to find the contrary position -- American college student Jeff Williams makes the final five of the EPT Monte Carlo tournament. Can you buy beer with Euros in Georgia? [EPT Monte Carlo: Final Table Play-by-Play - PokerStars Blog]

· Think you got game? If you're going to sit in with The Sopranos, there's a few things you need to know. Then immediately forget, if anyone asks. Got that Guido? ['Sopranos' Star Silvio Dante's Poker Etiquette - Washington Post]

· The Edmonton Sun has been running a poker promotion by inserting two random cards in weekly issues, culminating in a $5,000 jackpot paid to winners. Please select from the following jokes:

1) Reading the newspaper has become rather difficult now that we have to do it while wearing sunglasses

2)We accidentally got an extra newspaper and mistakenly thought we were drawing to the nut low.

3) Newspaper editors chose to discontinue the promotion following a flurry of calls from readers screaming "Blackjack!"

· From the files of "It's Hard To Be An Internet Billionaire," Bodog's Calvin Ayre's Costa Rican (That means "Rich Coast" in Spanish - ed.) compound was raided by local authorities after complaints of a "raucous poker party." Think Bodog's offering a line on how quick the government drops the case against one of their biggest taxpayers? [Gaming Billionaire Ayre Raided In Costa Rica - Forbes]

· Phil Gordon has confirmed he has left Celebrity Poker Showdown. He has yet to confirm whether or not Dave Foley "switch hits." Not that there's anything wrong with that. [Gordon Exits Celebrity Poker Showdown - All In]

· Maybe it's the fact that he's getting paid to dispense wisdom every week, or maybe he's just one of those guys that can't stay out of your business -- either way, Danny Negreanu wants to tell you how to manage your money. Of course, the exchange rate dictates you should only take 76% of a Canadian's money advice seriously. [Savvy players know how to manage bankroll - Houston Chronicle]

Posted by bg at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The national television audience may get to see the NASCAR racer guys going around in circles at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway against a backdrop of snow on the mountains and low hills surrounding the town. The temperatures are the coldest of the winter, sixteen degrees below normal on Thursday. Low clouds, temperatures in the forties, wind chill in the Artic and some very rare snowflakes in some areas of town. Just the ticket to make the NASCAR fans feel at home while here in Las Vegas.

The stock car racing fans crowding into Las Vegas for one of NASCAR's major events are most welcome by the city because they leave pots of dough behind. A good natured crowd for the most part, people traveling the NASCAR circuit having fun while following their sport's speeding Heros, people with higher than average disposable income, people that are custom made for Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled to undergo major renovation making it the show place of the NASCAR circuit. That's how Vegas does things for the guests, give them the most palatial experience to be found anywhere...Vegas resorts, casinos, shopping malls, even a NASCAR race track. I love it when the racers are here and think maybe we should go above and beyond to make our visitors as comfortable as possible. I've compiled a list of things we can do for the race crowd. This week's Nines...

1. Motorhome races!

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

I have a few days of leisure so am not spending much time with the computer or the cameras. I've been sleeping late, staying up till sunup, watching movies and playing poker, so the Friday post is more photos from the Jeff Gordon Foundation Poker Classic and the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The two tournaments were held at the new Caesars Palace Poker Room. I'm impressed with Harrahs' commitment to the sport of poker and especially tournament poker. From the regularly scheduled daily and weekly tournaments at Harrah's properties in Las Vegas to the undisputed premier poker event, the annual World Series of Poker, Harrah's runs class poker events and Caesars is no exception. The next major poker tournament in Las Vegas is again at Caesars when the WSOP Circuit stops in April. The Five Star World Poker Classic plays for three weeks in April at the Bellagio, another class act poker event from master tournament director, Jack McClelland.

We've heard talk in the street that the Tilt Boys don't tip after cashing in major tournaments and after a little ear to the ground I've heard that this may be true, but only certain tournaments. Sources say that they do the math and when tournament management has taken what they consider to be an excessive amount from the player's prize pool they skip the tip which might be their way of saying, "I did the math and decided you can pay your dealers." Apparently the tip ban didn't apply to the Heads-Up event at Caesars. The dealers were apparently pleased with the drop. Professional poker players are usually playing for something less than 100% of their buy-in dollar which is the only money in most tournament prize pools. Doing the math for the NBC Heads-Up reveals a prize pool with some money added. 64 players and a $20,000 buy-in is $1.28 million but the prize pool is $1.5 million. NBC added $220,000. The players rarely receive even money back from the buy-ins, but having money added to the prize pool is almost unheard of in major tournament poker. Thanks to Harrah's and NBC Sports for giving some back to the stars of the show, the players.

Photos by Flipchip

Posted by flipchipro at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Jeff Gordon Foundation Poker Classic ended Wednesday evening with Mike Sugg facing Ali Nejad for the championship and the $17,500 first place money. The match ended when Ali went all-in after losing most of his chips and the lead to Mike. Ali showed a 8,9 of diamonds and was called with Mike holding an A,5 off suit. The flop four flushed Ali, but the turn was a black Ace giving Mike the lead and Ali only left with a diamond out. The river was red, but it was a heart. Mike Sugg had defeated Ali Nejad. Ali Nejad was the MC for the NBC National Heads-Up that just concluded at Caesars.

The matched ended early this evening after an early 10:00 AM start. The sole female to make the final table was Anna Bravo leaving in seventh place. Chris Moneymaker made the final table and finished in fifth. The tournament offered a prize pool of $51,000. The Nascar people are in town for the Sam's Town 300 on Saturday and the Chrysler Diamler 400 on Sunday. The race crowd jams Las Vegas with gamblers, people wearing hats and acres of multi-colored leather, motor homes, 200,000 faithful race fans, and the worst traffic jams of the year. It's a wonderful time to be in Las Vegas and even more so if you are a poker player. The race people are hard partying types that love to play cards, keeping the poker rooms filled for the entire week of NASCAR. The premier Las Vegas Motor Speedway becomes the center of attention during the day while the neon glitter of the Las Vegas strip rules the nights.

The weather is not cooperating with the Chamber of Commerce and we may have one of the coolest days of the winter Sunday with the high not even making fifty. It could also rain and delay the race for a day keeping the crowd in town through Monday guaranteeing crowded poker rooms and pockets filled with dead money. During the large events the scheduled daily tournaments are especially lucrative for the solid tournament players. A great time for a road trip to Vegas. Come anytime, we never close.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Check out the Poker Prof's photo gallery from the PokerRoom.com Bahama cruise.

Caesars Palace is once again the setting for a major poker tournament, the 2006 Jeff Gordon Foundation Poker Classic. The tournament was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but was moved to today. The festivities got underway with a red carpet introduction of NASCAR drivers, sports stars and professional poker players. Jeff was joined in the Caesars Place tournament poker area by Tony Stewart, Robbie Gordon, Scotty Nguyen, Chrtis Moneymaker, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Robert Williamson III, Steve Dannenmann, George Rogers, Samantha Cole and Harry Morton along with many others for a No-limit Hold'em tournament to benefit the Jeff Gordon Charity Foundation.

The table winners in the shoot-out style tournament will combine into a final table at 6:00 this evening to determine the champion of the event. The crowds were lining the rails and the red carpet, even at the early hour of 10:00 AM (Remember, this is Las Vegas and 10 in the morning is damn early unless you stayed up all night). Professional players remaining at mid-afternoon are Chris Moneymaker, Steve Dannenmann and Chris Ferguson. Jeff Gordon was eliminated after a good showing while the 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion, Scotty Nguyen, was one of the first players to leave when his all-in pocket Kings were defeated by an Ace on the turn for pocket Aces and it was a quick exit for Scotty.

More Photos and details from the final table later this eventing.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Starting March off with a bang...

• Mean Gene comments on a recent piece from ESPN's "poker guy" Bill Simmons.
• Felicia continues to educate with Part Two of her Stud Theories series.
• TripJax ponders the possible future of casino poker - electronic poker tables.
• Chilly gets his Mac back and puts it to work on some Vegas memories.

Posted by at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

· Freddy Deeb is celebrating a quarter century of poker. In Vegas they celebrate a 25th anniversary with a stripper and an ounce of blow. Hell, in Vegas that's how they celebrate "Thursday." [A Quarter Century Of Poker - Freddy Deeb - [link removed]]

· The Las Vegas Sun reports that Jennifer Tilly has officially left Hollywood to become a poker player. Poker has sent Men Nguyen, that creepy hair growing out of his cheek, and a player to be named later back to Hollywood to complete the trade. [Jennifer Tilly chooses poker over Oscar parties - Las Vegas Sun]

· According to News 3 in Hampton Roads, police are busting virgins for playing poker. Oh wait, that's Virginians. Carry on then. [Police Bust Illegal Poker Game - WTKR]

· Bonus points to you if you can guess the name of this jagoff's new adjustable drink holder for poker tables before clicking the link. Or don't click and just wait for the infomercial, either way. [Press Release - Emediawire]

· What exactly does it mean when you "bring Eastern flavor to online poker?" That everything is swimming in brown sauce and tastes of curry? We expect a hell of a lot better than this from a site that calls itself TeenPatti.com. [Indian Poker Site Brings Eastern Flavor to Online Poker - Poker777]

· "Poker-lovin'" veterans from all over the British Columbia frontier are lamenting the B.C. Gaming Commission's decision to put the kibosh on their club's poker tournaments. The dedicated veterans of Canada's Great Moose Wars of the mid 1900s deserve so much better than this. [Poker-lovin' vets forced to fold 'em - Calgary Sun]

· Online table captain retards of the world rejoice - maybe you'll hit it big with Bodog's "Wild Card Poker" show, where they're looking for a douchebag to "showcase the Play Hard aspects of the Bodog.net lifestyle." Keep calling me with those hands LOL! I will bust u LOLOL! [Are You TV's Next Poker Star? Bodog.net Teams With Fox Sports Network for 'Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker' Reality Show - Yahoo]

Posted by bg at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ted Forrest is the 2006 NBC national Heads-Up Poker Champion. Overcoming a loss in the first of three games with Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Ted used the break between games to collect himself and he apparently did that quite well since he got runner, runner wins to take the championship. This is Chris Ferguson's second time to be runner-up, in 2005 he finished second to Phil Hellmuth.

The tournament ran late, almost fifteen hours long, and finished at 1:30 this morning. Sam Farha and Ted Forrest battled for almost four hours in their semifinal match before Forrest finally eliminated Farha and advanced to the semifinal round where he faced Sean Sheikhan. The match with Sean didn't require the long hours of the previous duel but it was another come from behind win for the eventual champion. Three and a half hours were required for the final table play between Ted Forrest and Chis Ferguson. Chis took the early lead when he won the first match after getting down to only 125,000 in chips to Ted's over a million (each player begin the match with 640,000 in chips). It was just another marathon day of big-time tournament poker, and you thought your work day was tough. Ted had to play three matches (really 5, the championship round is 3) today to earn a half million dollars and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship trophy. Congratulations to Ted Forrest for another major poker tournament championship.

Posted by flipchipro at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The stage is set for the crowning of a champion at the 2nd Annual NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Caesars Palace and NBC have teamed to produce a dazzling poker show from the poker capitol of the universe, Las Vegas. Beginning with a match-Up Draw Party meet and greet, then moving to the large production stage set up in the Tournament Poker Room at Caesars Palace, this event has been a first class affair for players and fans. The elite of the professional poker world is in Las Vegas for this tournament. NBC will broadcast the national Heads-Up Poker Championship tournament in a series of six installments beginning Sunday April 16.

The structure of the tournament follows the college basketball's national championship format, 64 starting players going heads-up in single elimination match-ups. The players were assigned, by random drawing, to four brackets-Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds and must win their backet then the color division matches to make the final table. The final table is a best-of-three No-Limit Hold'em match-up between the Clubs/Spades bracket winner (black) and the Hearts/Diamonds bracket winner (red).

The blacks play at 11:00 AM Monday with the following two match-ups:

The reds are scheduled to play at 12:50 PM, but actual start time is dependent upon the completion of the earlier match-ups. The two match-ups:

The Final Four advances to play the semi-final round and then the red and black winners will meet for the 2006 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. This group of professional poker’s elite is playing for some of the $1.5 million prize money.

The prize pool payout:

$500,000..Champion
$250,000..2nd place
$125,000..semifinalist (winners of four matches)
$75,000...quarterfinalists (winners of three matches)
$25,000...round of sixteen (winners of two matches)

I am favoring Daniel to top this list. All of his heads-up experience from the Wynn gig has to be a deep well to draw from. Everyone in this group is capable of winning it all. Huck Seed, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Sam Farha, Sean Sheikhan, Jim McManus and last year's runner-up, Chris Ferguson.

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Professional poker player Paul Phillips was matched with 2005 WSOP Champion, Jennifer Tilly, for the first round of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Paul donned a grey hooded sweatshirt and danced around shadow boxing, doing push-ups and levitating, ala Phil "Unabomber" Laak (well maybe not the levitating part), while waiting for the final board of the all-in that took Jennifer's chips. Wonder if maybe Paul got a magic sweatshirt from the magician guy, Antonio Esfandiari. Watch the Heads-Up Tournament on NBC beginning April 16 as I'm sure this will be shown...it got the day's best crowd reaction. The NBC Poker Series has been expanded to six installments that run every Sunday from April 16 through May 21, when the best of three matches determine the 2006 Champion. The road to the 2006 National Heads-Up Championship ends at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Monday.

Paul was victorious on this day and moves on to face Ernie Dureck on Sunday. Phil "the real Unabomber" Laak also won, defeating Gavin Smith to advance to Sunday's second round where he will face off with veteran TJ Cloutier. Should Phil Laak win his Heart flight and Paul wins his Diamond flight, then the two would meet in round four playing for a final four berth. Will they both wear hooded sweatshirts giving the match the feel of a face-off between two minor Grim Reapers (major Grim Reapers carry a scythe). Defending 2005 Heads-Up Champion, Phil Hellmuth, was eliminated by Chip Reese who goes against the 2005 Heads-Up runner-up, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, on Sunday. NBC Poker at its best.

Thanks Paul for providing the best entertainment seen on Saturday. The crowd loved it. I wonder what you'll do on Sunday?

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· In an effort to gather new information on old murders, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office has put together custom decks of playing cards featuring dead and missing victims to hand out in jail. Yet to be determined is whether the phrases "I had him dead on the flop," and "I spiked a queen on the river" will be able to be used as admissible evidence. [Poker Plans for Florida Inmates - 6abc.com]

· The baseball card people at Topps have rolled out a new collectible series of MLB poker chips. They come in packs of five, smell like cheap bubble gum, and every time we open a new pack we keep getting a Bubba Trammell. [Poker chips may be path to top profits - Tonawanda News]

· In what must certainly be an effort to prove every stereotype about women correct, BetFairpoker.com has rolled out a pink-themed poker portal and a contest where a woman a week can win a home game catered, served and dealt by "an attractive male dealer." Unsurprisingly, and absolutely true, this is a cross-promotion with Handbag.com. [Betfair lures women to online poker with handsome dealer prize - Brand Republic]

· Newspaper reporter has the balls to ask if Doyle Brunson is "up or down, money-wise" over his fifty year poker career. We'll let you guess if he got through Dolly's poker face with that one. [How to watch poker players -- quietly - San Jose Mercury News]

· What happens when a 27-year-old biscuit factory worker from Levenshulme whose girlfriend won't get off his ass about his poker playing wins over $30K in a single night? He asks her to marry him? Goodbye poker profits! [Jackpot suits with queen of his heart - Stockport Express]

· Cindy Margolis has hopped on the poker gravy train, opening CindysPoker.com. This follows her infatuation with the Internet, stints hosting crappy television programs, and everything else short of showing her cans that kept her name in the papers. [Cindy Margolis Launches Poker Room - Casino City Times]

· Earlier this week Daniel Negreaneu gave you five reasons you're a losing player. Now? Ten reasons you're a newbie rookie who doesn't know what he's doing. We're going to get drunk, take our whole bankroll to $30/$60, and play every three-gap off-suiter we get dealt if we damn well want to Danny Boy. Just goes to show you, a Canadian will stab you in the back every time if you give him the chance. [Poker: Avoid these rookie mistakes - Asbury Park Press]

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Friday night in Las Vegas and Caesars Palace is hosting one of poker's most prestigious events, the Second Annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship, in their new poker room. A select group of 64 players, all known professionals except for a couple of Caesars Palace Poker Room qualifiers and one Internet player that had to outlast a field of thirty thousand other players to win his $20,000 seat in this tough toe-to-toe competition, and he's twenty-one.

A meet and greet with finger foods and an open bar opened the 2006 Heads-Up Championship and the room was crowded with the who's who of poker. You could start a jewelry store chain with the inventory of WSOP bracelets this crowd owns, 29 bracelets between Chan, Brunson and Hellmuth, and we have many more players with bracelets.

The crowd was a star studded mix with actors Woods, Jennifer Tilly and Gabe Kaplan plus poker's superstars including Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer, Scotty Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, T.J. Cloutier, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Chris Moneymaker, Men Nguyen, Jennifer Harman, Cyndy Violette, Antonio Esfandiari, Freddy Deeb, Huck Seed, Evelyn Ng and many more. The drawing for the first round pairs was held after the party. The players were paired up in 4 groups of 16 each. The eliminations will begin Saturday morning at 11:00 AM. I am providing some images from Friday night's gala event.

Posted by flipchipro at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday is here and so is the first day of elimination for the NBC Heads Up Championship at Caesars Palace. This major poker tournament is limited to 64 players including many of the top professionals. The organization of the event and the subsequent elimination rounds are patterned after the college basketball championship.

Last year's winner, Phil "the Brat" Hellmuth, will be defending his title in the second annual installment of this very popular event. In 2005 we remember watching Phil Hellmuth come back from the brink of disaster to take the title and force Chris "Jesus" Ferguson to accept being the first runner up. Who can forget the match between Jerry Buss and Daniel Negreanu or Mike Caro and Scotty Nguyen? The setting in 2005 was up-close and exciting. NBC sports filmed the namesake tournament for national broadcast and apparently they liked the rating returns so much they decided to do it again this year. This year's venue is the recently opened Caesars Palace tournament room located adjacent to the Poker Room. The Poker Room is located in the sports book area.

I covered the Nicky Hilton New Year's Celeb/Pro event and working the plush, spacious room is a pleasure for players, fans and media.

The event is scheduled for broadcast on NBC beginning on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at Noon ET. The six episode series will run in the same Noon timeslot on Sunday. This series provides some great exposure for the sport of poker and will be one of the most watched of televised poker tournaments. I will be there for the three days the tournament is scheduled to run.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Rake--Taking The Pulse Of Poker For 2/28/2006

· In case you needed another reason to take up Canasta, a known gambling cheat claims online poker is full of bots and hackers. Between this and steroid scandals in sports, the last untarnished competition left seems to be American Idol. [I-Team Exclusive: Dirty Poker - KLAS TV]

· Proprietary elitists of the world rejoice - Mac-compatible poker rooms are on the rise. [Macintosh Online Poker Presence Increases - Online Casino News]

· If you haven't filled your quota of bad beat stories for the month, someone managed to film an entire documentary of latter-day poker pros getting kicked in the junk. Nothing like a little schadenfreude to break up the late-winter blahs. ['Poker Bustouts': The OTHER Side Of The Poker Equation - Poker News]

· Despite delivering an unexpectedly high 49% rise in profits for 2005, PartyGaming's CEO Richard Segal announced his resignation. We've bookmarked Craigslist Gibraltar, and will be applying for the job as soon as they post it. [PartyGaming CEO Quits - Forbes]

· Kids! Are losing money! Playing online poker! If only their parents had the guts to talk to their kids about pot odds BEFORE it becomes a problem... [Excitement of poker can tempt teens into trouble - Norwich Bulletin]

· Seems that the "WPT Boot Camp" isn't at all like we were imagining. We like the version in our heads where Phil Hellmuth berates us like R. Lee Ermey on amphetamines until we fold those two-gap offsuited connectors better. [Poker players go all-in for A.C. boot camp - Press of Atlantic City]

· Finally, Daniel Negreaneu wants to give you five reasons why you're losing at poker. This, of course, is the gambling equivalent to Martha Stewart giving you crap for why your muffins don't taste as good as hers. We're not paying for imported saffron and we'll be damned if we're candying our own orange peel. [Top 5 reasons why you're losing at poker - PressTelegram]

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The online poker world is abuzz with the news of top players found cheating, and another Congressional attempt to outlaw one of our favorite pastimes. Scuvydog takes a look at some common hand situations, and breaks down the math involved. Pauly and Spaceman completed another round of excellent tournament coverage, and Wil turned out a solid performance in the WPT Invitational.

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