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 is