Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

I think what America needs right now is a more down to earth, poker-playing president, such as Barack Obama.  A recent article was published by Associated press stating that “Obama was a regular at low stakes games — sometimes stud poker, sometimes draw — designed to break up the tedium of long legislative sessions”.

“It’s a fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition,” Obama said by e-mail. “In Springfield, it was a way to get to know other senators — including Republicans.”

As a presidential candidate, Obama doesn’t accept political contributions from lobbyists or political action committees. But as a legislator, he took thousands of dollars from the groups represented by some of his poker buddies. AT&T in its various incarnations, for example, gave more than $13,000 over the years.

Still, Obama routinely voted against the communications giant’s interests. He opposed SBC Communications Inc. — as AT&T was then called — on a major initiative in 2003 that would have increased costs for the company’s competitors.

Obama usually broke even or came out ahead. Part of the reason he fared poorly in that final game was that he faced card players focused solely on beating him, Link said. Other players took risks they wouldn’t normally and called all his bluffs just to have a little fun with the new political superstar.

Obama took it in stride, but his opponents say he always hated to lose.

“He didn’t throw his cards or take a swing at anybody, but he wasn’t a happy person,” said Link, a Democrat from the Chicago suburbs. “He’s got that competitive spirit, no doubt about it.”

With the departure of Obama and others, the Springfield poker nights have dwindled to just the occasional game. But the players haven’t given up on the possibility of another game with Obama.

“I’m hoping that maybe one night we’ll have one in the White House,” Link said.

After all, wouldn’t you rather have a poker playing president, than an idiot that helped make it harder for you to play poker?

Full Article: Obama Brings Poker Traits to Candidacy

Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey made TV pot history yesterday on the T.V. show Million Dollar Cash Game.  The two of them started the hand with roughly $400K in front of them.  By the end, Ivey came out on top winning over $800,000!  Here are two different perspectives from players that were at the table:

Tony G’s post on NWP:

“There was this 807k pot biggest TV pot ever that even made the news here in Europe today. The only reason Patrick got so deep into this pot was that he had several running prop best with Ivey since those are way too hard to understand even for me I will not go into what the prop bets were. But two black aces hit the flop, taking into account that Ivey raised 2k pre flop and that prop bets were large Patrick felt sure Ivey had no ace but Ivey had JJ and the flop was AAJ Patrick had the ace was sure no ace for Ivey was correct but even so the prop bet thing stoped him thinking within his normal range. Ivey got a huge edge couse he said he did not take the prop bet into account during the play of the hand.Another way to get and edge is if you sleep less the the guy you have props with and Ivey sleeps more then others so his edge is not thinking about props is that the edge?Anyhow the boys made history good luck to them and lets all pray to someday play with them.”

Brian Townsend’s blog post about it:

“The final hand of interest occurred between Patrik and Phil Ivey. The had about 400K in front of them. There was a ton of meta game involved as they had some huge side prop bets going on. I don’t want to say numbers since its not really any of my business but they were gambling very big on the side. One of the props involved them not wanting to show down an ace. Phil had incentive not to play an ace or to take a flop with one because of the props.Phil raised from the cutoff to his standard 2K. Patrik cold called as did I from the small blind. The big blind folded and we took the flop 3 handed with about 8K in the pot. The flop came AAJ with two spades. I checked my small pair Phil made a continuation bet of 6K which he would do with a lot of hands. Patrik made it 18K, I quickly folded and Phil repoped it to 50K. Patrik thought a moment and called. The turn came an offsuit 5. The pot was now over 100K and Phil fired again with a 100K bet. Patrik called reasonably quickly. the turn brought a offsuit queen. Phil sat for about 2 minutes before betting 250K. Patrik took a very very long time before calling and being shown pocket jacks. Patrik seemed very disappointed after the hand (very reasonable considering the pot was over 800K) and although he didn’t feel like Phil was bluffing there was really only one hand he had to be concerned with because of the props. He knew Phil didn’t have the other red ace so it was only pocket jacks that beat him.Right after the hand the staff in the room clapped as Phil was being sent the pot. It was disgusting to hear everyone claping at someones losses. It was completely inappropriate and they should have all personally appologized to Patrik.”

Better luck next time Patrik!  Ivey was the champ this time…
“Better luck next time Patrik!  Ivey was the champ this time…

Shawn Sheikhan is facing potential deportation charges over a 1995 conviction on charges of sexual battery and annoyance or molestation of a child.

Immigration officials arrested Sheikhan at his Las Vegas home on Aug. 30, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

He was held for more than a week at the North Las Vegas Detention Center before being released on a $10,000 bond.

“This individual was targeted for ICE arrest because of his criminal history,” Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an e-mail message Wednesday. “ICE has an ongoing initiative called Operation Predator targeting individuals, including foreign nationals, who prey upon and sexually exploit children.”

Kice said immigration officials believe Sheikhan’s conviction is “a deportable offense, but ultimately it will be up to an immigration judge to make that determination.”

“We want to see him removed from the United States,” she said later Wednesday.

Shawn Sheikhan has been featured on many poker shows, including High Stakes Poker, and Poker After Dark.  Sheikhan has also played in many live and is best known for the moment when him and Mike Matusow got into a war of words at the table.  As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,200,000.

Sheikhan owns six local Diversity shops that sell tattoos, piercings, clothing and other items.

He was born in Iran but came to the United States when he was 9, according to court documents.

He has been a legal permanent U.S. resident since 1983, is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 9-year-old daughter.

Sheikhan and his wife own a home in the Canyon Gate Country Club, near Sahara Avenue and Durango Drive, according to Clark County Assessor’s records.

Court documents indicate that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security believes Sheikhan is “subject to removal from the United States” in part based on a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows deportation for conviction “of two crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct.”

This is also not the only other time Sheikhan has been involved with the law.  In 1999 his car lost control during a torrential rainstorm and killed a passenger in another car.

Mark Seif has responded to the allegations that he has some involvment in the Absolute Poker Scandal that has been floating around the net.  This post was made a few days ago in the comments section of his blog.

“i was just made aware of these serious allegations this morning while playing at the wpt event at the borgata, where i am presently. while i have not had a chance to investigate this matter, i can tell you and anyone else who believes or for whatever reason has stated that i am somehow involved in this matter, unequivocally, i do not now, nor have i ever, had the ability to see hole cards on any poker site i have ever played at including absolute poker.

i doubt my results would be what they are if i had the ability to see my opponents’ hole cards. in fact, i am almost certainly the biggest all-time loser on the site and have been crushed in the big games for a long, very long time. if anything, i would very much like this matter thoroughly investigated so that we can all find out what has happened, and if appropriate, to take swift remedial action such as seizing funds and returning them to the players cheated, including myself, if in fact, ap’s security protections have been compromised.“

Just got this weird email about our favorite player, Brandi Hawbaker.  The email came from truthjusticeforbrandirose@gmail.com who is either some crazed fan, or one of Brandi’s old friends.  Since they asked, I will post the message.

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED AS REQUESTED

Please Note:  I do not know if any of the information in this email is true, nor will I make any attempt to confirm it.  If there is any issue with this being posted, please let me know and I will remove it.

Titan Poker has been generous enough to offer a special $1000 freeroll to visitors of Bankroll Boost.

Here are the details of the tournament:
Title: ND Welcome FR
Date and Time: September 30th, 22:00 pm Server Time
Prize pool: $1000
Requirement: First real deposit in September, using bonus code ‘bankboost‘ and accumulated 500 Titan Points

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