Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

In the run up to the 2009 WSOP final table, ESPN announced today that it will be rolling out a brand new, web only Magazine style show. 

The new webisodes (can it be called a series? a mini series?), titled ESPN Inside Deal will be giving fans a closer look at the lives of professional poker players, and will also show interviews and prep work for the final 9 players of the WSOP Main Event. 
 
A perk of this being web based is that viewers of ESPN Inside Deal will be able to submit questions via email, Twitter and Facebook. And of course there are the cursory online sweepstakes and prizes, and all you have to do is sign up and give your personal info to ESPN and bla bla bla (not a fan of giving out personal info…nothing against you ESPN!).  But seriously, it could be a fairly well rounded, comprehensive show if done correctly.  All the “viewer interaction” aside. An additional perk is that ESPN Inside Deal will be showing hands that aren’t broadcast from the Main Event.

The hosts are Laura Lane and Bernard Lee, and as expected a bevvy of previous bracelet winners and big guys in the poker world will be making appearances throughout the series run. 

It has yet to be seen if ESPN Inside Deal will be year round programming for ESPN, or if it will be more of an annual flavour, but either way i’m sure it will enhance the viewing of the final table, and offer interested parties a much more rounded view of the game (and hey, this way maybe ESPN wont forget 60% of the major stories in the poker world)!

Ahhh…..”I Vill Splash Zee Pot Venever I Veel Like It” is often said (poorly, due to my overuse of the V) around my home poker table.  And even the freshest faced poker player has heard of Teddy “KGB” and was secretly wishing that Matt Damon would hurry the hell up, dump the shrew and start playing poker already!

So it should come as really no surprise that studios, film-makers and all the actors want to capitalize on that success from 11 years ago!

In a recent interview Damon stated:

“Everybody would probably come back. The actors all had a really good time working together. I know Edward would want to do it; we had a blast working together. [Director] John Dahl I’m sure would like to do it. Maybe someday it will happen.  The only reason to do a movie like that would be if we had a great idea. If the two writers suddenly said eureka! We have a great idea. Then everyone involved would be interested in exploring it.”

Damon’s comments seem much less sure of a sequel, but at the same time it would be nice to have most of the actors reprise their roles.  There has been talk of a Leo DiCaprio sequel to rounders (centering around offshore online casino’s and online poker rooms), but apparently they are completely unrelated.

What would Your story for a current version of Rounders be?  The whole game has changed!  No longer do you have to know a Teddy “KGB” to get you into a club, you can just fire up your Party Poker Account and boom…no “juice” no danger of being beat up by 50 pissed off cops….it’s a much safer world.

So, back in 2007, when Survivor was in China, and had Jean-Robert Bellande participating, CBS was putting feelers out looking for “two hot poker girls” for an upcoming installment of the Amazing Race (Great show btw..the cheerleaders should have won it!).  There were names being bounced around, and they were looking for an ideal candidate who is “a respected pro, young, hot, single, [and] engaging.”  Some of the names included Kristy Gazes and Vanessa Rousso, although the latter is engaged.

Poker News Daily confirmed today that Tiffany Michelle will be competing on the upcoming season of The Amazing Race.  A blog post dated June 27 stated that she will not be playing in this years main event:   “It’d have to be something pretty big to deter me from the WSOP Championship Event this year and trust me, IT IS! I can’t disclose much right now but I’ll be leaving the country to film a project for a month and it conflicts with the Main Event.”

Her partner has not been confirmed yet, however there are many clues that it will be Maria Ho.  An image of Ho appeared on Realityfanforum.com that showed Ho at Los Angeles Airport, apparently for the start of the Amazing Race.

I think that putting poker players in a situation like the amazing race will be great for them, and not so great for the other contestants.  I believe the skills youacquire on a poker table are ones you need to be able to successfully weave through a social experiment like the Amazing Race.  Far too often in “Reality” shows people take things personally, get caught up in personal grudges and make costly mistakes when it matters the most.  Poker players of thiscaliber should be able to keep their eye on the prize ($1,000,000 USD) and not get caught up in the pettiness.  Hopefully these ladies will be able to utilize their skills and ahem..”know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”

Here at bankrollboost.com we do try to give you tips to…well..boost your bankroll.  And one mistake I see made almost constantly online, is slow playing a “Big” hand.  We’ve all been there.  You’re looking at A/K suited, and you’re thinking to yourself “yeah, flush, straight..this hand is mine.”  Or even, KK, AA, or any of the major pocket pairs.  Typically, it is a technique to disguise hands, and draw in chips.  But in today’s online world, it has turned into a very risky strategy.

Recently, i had pocket aces, middle position, and i limped in.  In a live game, there would be very little wrong with this move.  This is because i know the people i’m playing with and i’m expecting the person on the button to give me a position raise, so i can re-raise and thin the field.  Online, you could be faced with a situation where you and 5 other players (6 total) are seeing the flop.  Big hands are great against 1 or 2 opponents, but ultimately, with a lot of people seeing the flop, they can get beat by very marginal hands.

In my situation, the flop came down 5- 6 – J OS.  I’m still rocking anyone with top pair, or anyone playing with any kind of strategy.  But, because i didn’t raise it, the blind may have had J/6, and just spiked 2 pair on the flop.  All of a sudden, i’m betting aggressively, and getting called, and he’s wondering if i have pocket fives.

Ultimately, the board paired, and my aces stood up against his weaker 2 pair (although, i was worried that he had boated on the turn…).

I have blogged about this before on Cardkings.co.uk, outlining how the whole outlawing of online poker in the states is basically a temper tantrum.  This is largely because they were making no revenue from the online casino’s, and online casino’s popularity was eclipsing brick and mortar casinos.  So what to do? They make it illegal, claiming “protection” and wait until someone comes up with a model that makes them money.  We are currently in a situation that someone has found that model.  And so, the pending “legalization” of online poker has very little to do with the lobbyist (poker players alliance), or even the average poker player, and much more to do with how well it can line the pockets of the federal and state governments.  (wow, is this a conspiracy blog all of a sudden?! jeez!)

I just came across this article from Poker News Daily, who sat down to speak with Mickey Leibner.  He is a lobbyist for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).  Realistically it has more to do with “what is a lobbyist” and less to do with “what can a lobbyist do for poker?”, but it may be worth the read.

In a nutshell they are hoping for HR 2266 (which is the bill to delay the implementation of the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act by one year), and through that find a way to make online poker “legal” and hey, while they’re at it, make some cash for the government!

Here is the interview: ( i was going to link to it, but I’m lazy….and I’m multi tabling…:) )

We hope that HR 2266,  – We’re hopeful that we can get something done on that as soon as we get back from the August recess. That’s the plan. Tell your readers that we’re out there every day and trying to bust our butts to get this done. We’re pretty confident and feel better than we did a year ago at this time.

Poker News Daily: How did you become involved with lobbying on behalf of the PPA?

Leibner: I work with former Congressman Toby Moffett and have been involved lobbying on behalf of the PPA since the fall of 2007. Our policy is that we won’t lobby for any causes we don’t believe in. We want to go on Capitol Hill with clients who have a good story to tell. The PPA and the poker world have a great story to tell. It’s a message of personal freedoms.

PND: You mentioned personal freedoms. Does that resonate with Congressmen when you lobby about the issue?

Leibner: It does resonate. One of the interesting things about this issue is that it truly resonates across the aisle – Democrats and Republicans. I personally am a big-time Democrat, but there are people we meet with on both sides of the aisle that like this issue for different reasons.

PND: What’s an average day for a lobbyist?

Leibner: We do a lot of preparation, like crafting memos for staff and gathering the most relevant information on an issue. One of the things we do is based on our knowledge of a particular Congressman, district, office, or staff member – We tend to tailor what we say so it will have the greatest effect. You want to make sure that you’re using the right arguments with a rural Republican Representative and those are probably different arguments than you’d use with an urban Democrat, for example.

PND: You told us earlier that your firm also lobbies on behalf of environmental issues and other efforts. Is it difficult juggling several different commitments?

Leibner: It’s not necessarily hard and it keeps it interesting. I actually like it because every day is a little bit different. I can wake up every morning knowing that everything I’m doing is something I can get behind and feel good about. That makes a big difference.

PND: How did you begin your lobbying career?

Leibner: I’ve been politically involved for a while. I graduated from college and really didn’t know what I was going to do. I wanted to be in politics. I focused a lot in college on the intersection of technology and politics, so I wrote a thesis on the world of blogs. I was looking at a number of non-profits and organizations outside of the government and I happened to get in with Toby Moffett. It’s neat because the poker issue allows me to work on the intersection of technology and politics.

PND: What is your forecast for the future of internet gambling legislation in the United States in 2009 and 2010?

Leibner: We’re very hopeful and we’re very confident that we can get these laws passed. We have a lot of powerful people on our side, including most notably Barney Frank, who is the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. It just so happens that we’re in the midst of the biggest financial crisis in the past few decades. We’re confident that our message is getting through.

The 2009 WSOP is finally down to one table often referred to as “The November 9“.  These 9 players outlased 6485 of some of the best poker players in the world to make it to this final table.  Here are the names and chipcounts:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000

As you can see from above, Darvin Moon holds a heavy chip lead with almost twice as many chips as his next competitor.  Many have compared Moon to a “southern hick”, but the reality is he busted his ass to get there and is still a crowd favorite.  Many realize if moon wins this thing it would be really good for the game in general as maybe it would bring more “hicks” to the table.  Here is a video with Moon talking about the WSOP final table and how he got there on a $130 satellite:

Other notable players at the table include Jeff Shulman (editor of Cardplayer) who went as far as to say that if he won he would throw the WSOP Bracelet in the trash.  This is pretty pathetic to come out and say, but Shulman says he has his reasoning.  He is being a little whiney bitch because he claims Harrah’s has treated his magazine unfairly over the years and because PokerNews won the bid to be the sole media partner of WSOP (a job CardPlayer used to have back in 05/06).  Anyway, he has already started back-peddling on his comments in his blog today.

Last but not least, Phil Ivey is among the list above.  Ivey is one of the shorter stacks, but don’t count him out just yet.  Many of the sportsbooks taking bets on the WSOP (like Betfair.com) have Ivey as one of the top 4 favourites to win it all. Here is a video with Mr. Ivey:

Regardless, this should be a great final table to watch and I am looking forward till November to watch it play out live.