Great Christmas..!

I need your help, what are some good games I can get for my PS3…

Merry Christmas

Here is a gift to all the Degenerates

Cashed in 2 out of 3 Sit & Go’s

PokerStars Tournament #31986829, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.50/$0.25 USD
18 players
Total Prize Pool: $27.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/10/11 1:30:18 CT [2010/10/11 2:30:18 ET]
Dear PokerDonkeys,
You finished the tournament in 1st place. A USD 10.80 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

 

PokerStars Tournament #31985094, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.00/$0.10 USD
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/10/10 23:12:06 CT [2010/10/11 0:12:06 ET]
Dear PokerDonkeys,
You finished the tournament in 5th place. A USD 4.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

PokerStars Tournament #312102968

PokerStars Tournament #312102968, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
2390 players
$100.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $697.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/09/20 21:00:00 CT [2010/09/20 22:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 251st place. A USD 0.69 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Unofficial Poker Donkeys Podcast Blog

Not A Good Game Tonight

Played in the 25 cent tournament on PokerStars and was card dead for most of the game I might have played 15 hands for the whole tournament. I won like 3 of the hands. Just one of those nights. Can’t make the money every time, but I sure do try… Out in 778th place.

50 cent tournament on PokerStars

Played in the 50 cent tournament did not do to good finished 826th place. No cash these time… I got my ass handed to me when my to pair lost to a player that chase his flush draw to the river. If I win I tell you about and if loose I also tell you.

PokerStars Tournament #308591225

PokerStars Tournament #308591225, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $11.25 USD
Tournament started 2010/09/06 15:54:30 CT [2010/09/06 16:54:30 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place. A USD 1.85 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

PokerStars Tournament #305344070

PokerStars Tournament #305344070, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
2704 players
$100.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $776.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/09/05 21:00:00 CT [2010/09/05 22:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 174th place. A USD 0.93 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

PokerStars Tournament #298724857

PokerStars Tournament #298724857, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
2466 players
$100.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $716.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/08/11 21:00:00 CT [2010/08/11 22:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 10th place. A USD 4.58 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Freeroll Into Sunday Million On PokerStars

Details: Online Poker Show Freeroll / PokerStars.tv
ID: 295587979
Date:  2 Sep 15:35 ET
Prize: ($275) 1st: Ticket on Sunday Million $215
2nd-9th: Step 1 Ticket $7,50
Password: calypso

Have You Seen This Avatar?

Wanted for the following poker validation’s

· Playing Every Hand

· Bluffing Just To Bluff

· Over Betting The Pot

· For Being A Calling Station

· Chasing Cards To The River

· Playing Out Of Position

· Pushing All-In With 7-2 OS

If you find yourself at the same table with this avatar do not engage this poker player, for your own safety and poker game call the Poker Donkeys @ 206-337-1269

Freeroll To PokerStars Sunday Million

Details: Online Poker Show Freeroll / PokerStars.tv
ID: 295587859
Date:  26 Aug 15:35 ET
Prize: ($275) 1st: Ticket on Sunday Million $215
2nd-9th: Step 1 Ticket $7,50
Password: atlas

Security Hole Found At Cake Poker

A large security hole was found on the Cake Poker network the other day. The security hole means that information with bad encryption (not SSL like many other sites) is being sent between Cake Poker's servers and players, which makes it easy for a hacker to crack the code and see hole cards, login details and other information.

Lee Jones, cardroom manager at Cake Poker, explained in a forum thread that he had asked the security team to look over its security a few months ago after that he had heard about another poker site where the security was lacking when connected to an unencrypted wireless network.

The security team explained to him that they had no problems whatsoever and that there was nothing to worry about. But as we all know now - the security team's words were just taken out of the blue as it's now proved that there clearly is a security hole in the code. However, according to the ones who found the security hole and cracked the code, it's only possible for a hacker to crack the code if he's in range of a poker players unencrypted wireless network.

We will probably hear a lot more about this in the next few days. For now, we can just hope that Cake Poker takes care of the issue ASAP so that its players can feel 100% safe.

Here are few tips from Lee Jones on how you can avoid to be exposed for cheating.

* Make sure that your computer is secure. Run anti-virus and spyware detection software, don't share your computer's password with anybody else, etc.
* In terms of network security, the most secure thing you can do is play on a wired network. Plugging your computer into a router or modem with an Ethernet cable is the best defense against your packets being sniffed.
* If you are on a wireless home, dorm, or other network that is WPA2 protected, that's your next most secure solution.
* We encourage you not to play on a wireless network which is not password protected. For instance, if the coffee shop around the corner just plugged a wireless router into their cable connection and announced "Free Wi-Fi", you shouldn't be playing on the Cake Network there. It's worth noting, in fact, that you shouldn't be doing anything of financial importance over an unprotected wireless network (poker, banking, etc).

Gus Hansen's Never-Ending Nightmare

Gus Hansen had a terrible year at Full Tilt's nosebleed tables in 2009. At the end of the year he had lost $5 million dollars and was far the biggest loser. It can be very hard to get back in business and believe in your own game after such a nightmare year, but somehow Gus managed to keep a cool head and started off 2010 in the best possible way by winning about $2 millions.

However, the winning streak didn't last for long and in the last couple of months he has lost most of what he won. Last weekend was especially tough on Gus Hansen as he ended up losing almost $400k within a timeframe of 24 hours. Since 2007 Gus Hansen has now lost about $7 million dollars.

The question now is how long he can afford to play high stakes and lose like this before his entire bankroll is gone. Personally I think Gus Hansen has to take very good look at his own game and play lower stakes until he finds the way back to his game again, but somehow I have the feeling that he has no plans whatsoever to do something like that.

Poker Pro Arrested For Murder

Ron Fanelli made a living from poker during the first half of 2000 and became a well known face on the TV channel Poker Channels program, mostly thanks to the British journalist and poker player Victoria Coren, one of the channel's hosts. Ron Fanelli moved to Thailand in 2006 and quickly got married and had a kid with his wife. A few years later, his wife left him to the other side of the country and took their kid with her. After this, things started going really bad for Fanelli as he started sleeping with prostitutes and drink lots of alcohol frequently.

Pianchai Wanphen, a prostitute, was murdered on June 18 this year and Ron Fanelli quickly became one of the main suspect. The police managed to track down Fanelli after some search. He admitted what he had done after that the police presented technical proof such as a stiletto. According to the police, Ron Fanelli was drunk when he murdered Pianchai Wanphen and therefore can't explain why he did it. However, he had done a lot to get away with the murder. He had been cutting up the body into pieces and then put them in a suitcase, which he dumped at a deserted place in hope that no one would find it or be able to link him to the murder.

At first, Victoria Coren thought that the police had forced him to admit to the murder and that he was innocent. However, she changed her opinion about that when the police presented technical proof against him.

"When I first heard that Ron had been arrested in Thailand for the brutal stabbing of Wanphen Pienjai, an employee of the Sweetheart Bar in Phuket, I assumed he had been fitted up. I was terrified for him. I automatically supposed that this had been a scandalous murder, there was pressure on local police to make an arrest and what better scapegoat than a noisy American immigrant who visited prostitutes? A good one to lock up, close the files and draw a line under the case."

She continues...

"When I heard he had confessed, I thought he must have been coerced into it. I knew he'd been offered a sick deal whereby he would be executed if found guilty, unless he confessed and accepted life imprisonment. If I were offered something like that in Thailand, I thought, I would probably confess to anything. And then I would sit in jail and wait to be rescued. There is no way this man, whom I knew and liked, had actually done it.
But then the police found the knife in Ron's house. He gave them the shorts he was wearing at the time of the murder. They took away his mattress. He pleaded that he had been drunk at the time. He said it was an accident. He explained how he had put Wanphen's dismembered remains into a suitcase, balanced it on the front of his motorbike, and ridden off to dump the poor, lost girl along the Chao Fa Thani road." writes Victoria Coren in an article in the British newspaper The Observer."

Here Is The Sickest Bad Beat

Banned From The WSOP Forever

Have you ever wondered about different ways of getting banned from a casino or poker tournament? You could start arguing with the staff or steal a sandwich. It will for sure work, just ask Luke Schwartz if you don't believe me. So, what does it take to get banned for life from the World Series of Poker? This is a story about a man who got banned for life the other day, according to Michael Craig's (poker pro) blog.

"How do you get banned for life from the World Series of Poker? According to Tournament Director Jack Effel, "You don't take someone else's chips." This is apparently what happened to the player who escorted from the Amazon Room during the third level of play in the $1,000 NLHE on Saturday afternoon."

"Several players at our table noticed a fiftyish-looking man with gray hair, wearing a baseball cap, being escorted from the Amazon room by three Harrah's security guards. The player in seat one asked Jack Effel , when he walked by a half-hour later, what happened to the guy, "so I don't do the same thing."
Jack explained that Baseball Cap was in a hand with another player when the announcement came that level 2 had ended and the 20-minute break was starting. As is usually the case, the players not in the hand got up and left the table.

The two remaining players played out the hand and our culprit happened to win it. As the dealer pushed the pot his way and he started raking it in, he just pulled the chips in with one hand. He set his other hand down in the spot next to him as if he was using it for leverage to lean forward to pull in the chips. In fact, he placed that hand over a stack of chips of the player next to him (who had left the table like all the others for break).

As he was pulling in the pot with one hand, he noticed the dealer's eyes move off him and at that moment pulled in the chips that were underneath his other hand. To the naked eye it just looked like he was pulling in the chips with both hands.

I don't know whether the adjacent player returned and noticed the missing chips or if this was discovered some other way, but a look at the tape confirmed it and the offending player was gone.
Jack Effel concluded the explanation by saying, "He'll be banned from the World Series forever."

Lost Boys: The Thirst - Trailer

The Frog brothers are back and they're up against a vampire menace that's on a huge scale. Here's the trailer for Warner Premiere's Lost Boys: The Thirst, the sequel to 2008's Lost Boys: The Tribe. Corey Feldman's back and so is Jamison Newlander (curious to see how they explain his vampirism in the deleted scenes for The Tribe). Dario Piana directs this time and it look like he's improved upon the last entry, then again anything is better than The Tribe. Enough talk. Just click on the player below and stay tuned for a release date.

Ugly But I Will Take One

 

A radical new look for the coveted gold bracelet that goes to the winner of a 2010 WSOP event.

Absolute Poker Loses Poker Pro

Online poker room Absolute Poker is one sponsored player short. Top female player Lacey Jones has announced she has left the poker room. As one of the sponsored pros, Jones would wear Absolute Poker gear and otherwise represent the poker room at various events. The news coming the day before the start of the 2010 WSOP suggests that she may be about to represent another online poker room, as the World Series of Poker is a highly visible proving ground for poker players. Jones made the announcement of her leaving the poker room to Bryan Micon.

Fake Chips, 5 Years and $70,000

A man who was caught counterfeiting poker chips was sentenced this week. Fifty year old William Reece Lancaster was sentenced to five years probation. Reece made chips to play at the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe’s Grand Lake Casino in Oklahoma. He has to pay restitution costs of $70,000 and will serve the first six months of term in home detention. He could have spent up to ten years in prison and paid $250k in fines. The chips were made using small denomination poker chips he repainted to look like $500 chips.

Michael Mizrachi Leads WSOP $50,000 Player’s Championship After Day 3

Twenty-one players remain in the $50,000 Player’s Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) after Day 3. Leading the field is a familiar face, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who owns a stack of 1.48 million chips entering Day 4. Hot on his heels with 1.43 million is Russia’s Vladimir Schmelev. Also appearing in the top 10 is Robert Mizrachi, brother of “The Grinder.”

One of the final eliminations of Sunday’s play at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas belonged to Hasan Habib. Day 2 chip leader Kirk Morrison made aces-up in Stud Eight or Better and neither player managed to make a low. Morrison’s stack shot up to 610,000 as a result and he ended the day with 518,000. Habib barely missed out on the money, as the top 16 players will cash. The minimum payout is $98,000 and a top prize of $1.5 million is up for grabs.

Also busting on Sunday was Erik Sagstrom, who 3bet all-in pre-flop with 10-8 of spades during Limit Hold’em, but ran into high-stakes cash game pro David Oppenheim’s Q-J. Sagstrom could not improve and he headed for the exit. Sagstrom finished third in last year’s $50,000 WSOP HORSE Championship for over $500,000. Oppenheim took fifth in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship and grabbed third in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open in 2003.

Oppenheim sent former CardRunners instructor Cole South to the rails during No Limit Hold’em. South was all-in with pocket eights in a race against Oppenheim’s A-K. Oppenheim flopped two pair and an eight never fell, sending South out short of the money bubble. South left CardRunners in late April to play poker and work on his college degree.

The remaining field of the $50,000 Player’s Championship represents a beastly group. Brett Richey and David “Bakes” Baker are carrying the flag for the online poker world, while the remaining players primarily consist of seasoned poker pros like Andy Bloch, 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event champ John Juanda, 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship runner-up Erik Seidel, and WPT co-founder Lyle Berman.

Here’s a look at the survivors of Day 3 of the Player’s Championship at the 2010 WSOP:

1. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 1,483,000
2. Vladimir Schmelev – 1,432,000
3. David Oppenheim – 1,340,000
4. Abe Mosseri – 1,338,000
5. Daniel Alaei – 1,227,000
6. Robert Mizrachi – 1,032,000
7. Mikael Thuritz – 952,000
8. Allen Bari – 940,000
9. James Van Alstyne – 845,000
10. John Juanda – 788,000
11. Brett Richey – 754,000
12. David Baker – 713,000
13. Lyle Berman – 696,000
14. Alexander Kostritsyn – 638,000
15. Nick Schulman – 611,000
16. Ilya Bulychev – 602,000
17. Kirk Morrison – 518,000
18. Andy Bloch – 418,000
19. Erik Seidel – 373,000
20. David Singer – 364,000
21. Eli Elezra – 336,000

First 2010 WSOP Bracelet Goes To Hoia Pham

Last Friday the very first event, Casino Employees Championship, of the 2010 World Series of Poker kicked off. The tournament was (as you probably already have figured out) only for people working at casinos around the globe, but it still attracted 721 players who paid the buy-in of $500 to enter. The final table included 4 poker dealers, 1 dealer for other casino games, 2 floor staff, 1 bartender and 1 office worker. It ended up being a poker dealer from Village Club Casino in California who took home the tournaments and the first prize of $71,424.

Hoia Pham, 43, from San Diego played fantastic poker on the final table and it was a very well deserved win. Part from the first prize and the bracelet, it must have been a great feeling for Pham to take home the very first event of 2010 WSOP.

"I feel very good. I am very, very happy." Said Pham after the tournament.

"I can't wait to tell everybody. I told my boss I would take vacation to (play in this tournament). So now, I get to go back to them and show them what I won."

New Podcast – EPISODE 63 - Cap That Hole

Tonight on the Poker Donkeys Podcast we talk some poker news and about 2010 WSOP. Ken thinks I am getting a kick back from http://www.itsawinner.co.uk/ because I talk about there podcast more than one time. I think he is just afraid that you will stop listening to us and listen to The Live Poker Show. Fuck him we do a show once every few months Ken should be happy that we have any listeners left, 17 and sturdy. It is 3am and I need some sleep so just listen to see what the show is about it is all good.

[CONTENT WARNING] Poker Donkeys Podcast features harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Listener discretion is advised.

Visit the Poker Donkeys Blog @ http://pokerdonkeysblog.blogspot.com

Please send us your comments to: PokerDonkeys@gmail.com

Leave us a voice message @ Poker 19198 - (765) 371-9198

Visit Our Friends Gareth Witty http://www.garethwitty.co.uk

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Sahara Offers $1 Rooms

Sure, it may not be your first choice in resort destinations, but it may be the cheapest.

Sahara is offering $1 room rates -- and you don't even have to gamble.

All you need to do is be able to book fast and follow the hotel-casino on Twitter or Facebook.

They will have limited $1 rooms over 24-hour periods at least 5 times by the end of the year. And they've given a hint that the first $1 sale will take place before the end of this month.

For Facebook, go to this link.

Daniel Negreanu Whining Some More

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu recently launched a complaint against Cereus Poker Network on his blog. Specifically he complained about the recent holes in the poker network’s security measures. Hackers had pointed out how easy it would be to crack the code for poker rooms like UB.com and Absolute Poker and read other player’s cards. Negreanu spoke out on his blog about the network, calling the company “a bad apple” in the poker community and vowed they would never get his support. He pointed out that the poker room’s decision to keep operating even when the security flaw was published is symptomatic of why it is a bad apple.

Can the Poker Players Alliance Do Anything

The grassroots organization known as the Poker Players Alliance attempted to gather support to defeat the UIGEA but failed. The PPA looked for an exemption for online poker to be added to the UIGEA. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) did not even entertain the idea, despite the persuasive attempts of PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, a former colleague of Kyl’s. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. (UIGEA) applies to all forms of online gambling, and the PPA had hoped to have online poker excluded. Senator Jon Kyl appears determined to see the UIGEA go forward as written.

Bodog Poker Lets You Show One

Online poker room Bodog Poker has introduced new features for their poker playing clientele. One new feature allows players to show one card when they fold. Typically a player has two options when folding their cards at the showdown, either show all or none of their cards. The new feature allows them to show only one card, teasing and possibly misleading their opponents, a useful tactic in the game of poker. Additional features like tournament tickets have also been rolled out for the online poker room this month.

Phil goes For World Records

The current record for poker endurance is about 75 hours, and poker pro Phil Laak plans on beating that number. He will make the attempt at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Laak’s plans are for 80 hours of straight poker play. The current Guinness Book of World Records holder is Paul Zimbler, who played about 200 different people in heads up matches. Zimbler played quite a few pros like Mike Matusow, who encouraged him to stay awake and keep playing. Laak will be donating half of what he wins to charity, hoping to raise money while making the attempt at breaking the world record.

Doyles Room Fight Night

At online poker room Doyles Room a new promotion will run twice a week. The promotion is called Prime Time Fights. This is a new kind of bounty tournament, where $5 of each player’s buy in is a bounty on their own head. As each player finishes they collect points, both for their place and how many bounties they collected. The winner of each monthly leader board will play a Doyles Room pro for a cash prize of up to $750. The Prime Time Fights will run weekly on Tuesday and Thursday.

Poker Pro says No to Sunglasses

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu is not a fan of poker players that wear sunglasses at the table. Kid Poker says that players could use them to aid in cheating. The remarks were made among peers during a recent game of High Stakes Poker, and the rest of the pros seemed to share his feelings, despite that many of the top pros do wear sunglasses, such as Greg Raymer, Phil Laak and Phil Hellmuth. Negreanu’s point was more to the fact that if a player is going to cheat, the sunglasses could help them conceal their behavior.

The Sunday Briefing: Annette Obrestad

Winning Sunday was Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad. She took down the PokerStars Sunday 500 for $87,400, a nice score heading into the World Series of Poker later this week.

PokerStars Sunday 500
Buy-in: $500 + $30
Prize Pool: $500,000
Entrants: 997

1. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad - $87,400
2. Christian "charder30" Harder - $63,500
3. Joe "floes" Serock - $47,500
4. Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby - $35,500
5. Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler - $25,000
6. Brent "greener_tree" Belser - $20,000
7. seghei007 - $15,000
8. Harrison "gibler321" Gimbel - $10,000
9. Paul "PremiumStud" Dewald - $5,750

Notable Finishes: Lauren "locoencabeza" Kling (10th - $4,750), Benjamin "xthesteinx" Zamani (14th - $3,750), Shannon "basebal1b" Shorr (15th - $3,750), Alexandre "Allingomes" Gomes (16th - $2,750)

Online Poker Room Signs Obrestad

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker has announced they have signed poker pro Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad. Obrestad was the winner of the World Series of Poker Europe in 2007. The Norwegian poker pro has gotten plenty of attention over the years, both for being a young pro at age 15 and for winning an online poker event without looking at her cards. To date she has over $3,075,000 in live tournament wins, and is in the top spot of Norway’s live tournament all-time money list. She just recently turned 21 and will not set her sights on the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Phil Ivey’s House for Sale

High stakes poker professional Phil Ivey has recently put his Las Vegas mansion on the market.

His 6,700 sq ft house is located on a golf course several miles West of the Strip in a secluded community.  The house is currently listed at $1,995,000

Agent Roger Stein with Windermere Prestige Properties has the listing.  You can view the listing by clicking here

Obviously there are rumors flying everywhere as to why Ivey is selling his house.  Some say it’s because of his recent filing for divorce, and he wants to split up all of his assets.  However, the recent legal problems facing the online poker behemoth he helped co-found, Full Tilt Poker, are casting doubt as to whether he is trying to move some of his assets around or put them in different people’s names.

This house, at 6700 sqft is only listed for about $290 per foot which seems pretty reasonable.  However I’m sure that at one time this house fetched $5M.  Who knows how much the poker mega-millionaire is into this crib for, but I don’t think it will break him.

Poker Player goes broke

Five years ago, Michael Mizrachi was at the top of the poker world.  He had won millions of dollars and several prestigious poker titles.   Fast forward to today, and Mizrachi, known as “the Grinder” in the poker world, is practically busted.

An article in the Florida Sun Sentinel says that Mizrachi owes roughly $340,000 in unpaid taxes to the IRS and is facing foreclosure on his home.

Despite winning nearly $7,000,000 in his tournament poker career, Mizrachi has managed to lose his Florida condo jointly owned by his brother. It was foreclosed on and sold at auction.  His main residence in Miramar, FL has also been foreclosed on and will be going to auction later this month.

Yet another cautionary tale of a poker player that has zero regard for variance, bankroll management, or his own ego.  Four or five tournaments does not make a poker career.  Only the best know how to manage downswings, which hits anyone who gambles, whether that gambling is in the stock market, real estate, sports betting, or poker.

What struck me to be most odd is how in light of all his inability to manage his money, he manages to blame his CPA for his own failures.  Many athletes who spend more than they make also blame their accountants.  Our country is wrought with people who make large sums of money, then blow it all, and yet refuse to take any accountability of their own mistakes.

I can honestly say I’m not hoping he makes a poker resurgence.  He should get a regular job, understand what it means to make a real living, and pay his freak in’ taxes.

Wynn Leaving Las Vegas

Steve Wynn tells Reuters reporter he is leaning toward moving his company to Macau and will offer up the proposal to the board during schedule May meeting. He also announced plans to construct a third resort in Macau.

During another interview with Business Week, Wynn went into more detail for the proposed move to China, citing the Obama administration's policies that do not encourage investments in Las Vegas.

Will Las Vegas miss the talent and creativity Wynn brought to the development of the current Las Vegas landscape? You can bet on it.

Tyson to possibly fight again in Las Vegas

Mike Tyson may be making a comeback in Las Vegas, as early as the end of this year.

Tyson was last seen in the ring in 2005, when he lost against Kevin McBride.

Since then, the former heavyweight champion has popped up in diverse places such as Planet Hollywood, where fans could pay to box or watch him work out.

One name being bandied about as a possible opponent is Evander Holyfield, who fought and beat Tyson the two times they fought.

Crazy Horse III offers free sushi

The new Crazy Horse III (unrelated to Crazy Horse II) at the Playground (3525 W. Russell) offers something you don't normally see of gentlemen's clubs.

Free sushi.

We'll leave you to make your own jokes, but every Wednesday, Las Vegas locals and industry professionals get free sushi, as well as free admission and free well drinks.

Note you must not take a taxi or limo; you must arrive in your own transportation.

This gives you an idea of just how the skyrocketing kickback fees are for cabbies who take customers to strip clubs.

Marty Robbins – Big Iron

Tonight poker music is: Classic Country here is a sample one of my favorite songs it brings back childhood memories of going through my Dad's LPs. Here is Big Iron by the late great Mary Robbins

PokerStars in March Offering Dream Job

Top ranked online poker room, PokerStars, is offering the chance of a lifetime: a job playing poker on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) for one year. The winner of Dream Job Australia will play their choice of stops on the ANZPT as a PokerStars sponsored player. The prize package - valued at $100,000 - provides $40,000 to be applied to tournament entry fees and a monthly salary of $5,000.

Free, daily online poker tournaments begin March 1st, running Saturday to Thursday through the 25th. On Fridays, March 5th through the 26th, weekly finals will be held. The top 18 contenders will earn a seat in the Grand Final, Saturday, March 27, which will determine the 10 finalists. All of the tournaments begin at 20:30 AEDT (4:30am ET).

Finalists of the Dream Job Australia competition will then take a quiz of their poker knowledge, be introduced to Team PokerStars Australia in Sydney at the ANZPT, and spend the next six weeks drumming up support from the voting poker community by blogging, tweeting and posting on Facebook about their experiences.

The PokerStars community determines the winner of Dream Job Australia by “voting” for their favorite finalist. Dedicated tournaments will be held for each finalist, with each registration counting as a “vote” for the associated finalist. The voting tournament with the most players will resolve who wins the 12 month PokerStars contract, and becomes a sponsored player in the ANZPT.

No Strip Poker For iPhone

A Strip Poker App for the iPhone had been banned along with thousands of others. The new ban on apps that titillate includes some poker games. The apps, "Poker vs. Girls" and "Poker vs. Guys", were deleted with a host of others, mostly apps that are simple galleries of women in bikinis or less. The apps allowed users to play Texas Hold'em poker against women in skimpy outfits, and was one of the best sellers for the developer, Michael Burford. Burford, however, has other apps online and in development and is still over all happy with the app program.

FBI VS Full Tilt Poker

Rumors abound that the FBI is investigating an online poker room. Full Tilt Poker is the subject of the rumors, fueled by many customer reports of contact from law enforcement. These Full Tilt Poker customers are getting queries regarding payment processing activity, suggestive of the 2006 UIGEA. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act makes in illegal in the United States for payment processing to be done between a financial institution, like a bank or credit card company, and an online poker room or casino. Full Tilt Poker is a special case among online poker rooms because it is well known that many of the owners are pro poker players living in the US.

I Want My Money…

Online poker room Poker Nordica recently responded to reports of payment problems. The Merge Poker Network has acknowledged that there have been some issues. Eloff, Chief Executive Officer of the poker room, issued a public statement about payout delays and customer support. The CEO said that the issues were handled by the network as opposed to the poker room, however. He did say the poker room was very concerned and looking into what could be done about the issues. He reports that he has been “in constant contact with the CEO of Merge Gaming” to see what can be done.

Is This Fair?

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series 15 wrapped up with a number of interesting stories. One involved a pro online player trying to buy his way to a record. In event number 23, when the action was down to three, Yuval “yuvee04” Bronshtein made an offer to the other two players. He would give them $5,000 each if they would let him win. All he was after was the gold jersey that winners of FTOPS events get, as he wanted to have the record of the most. One player held out for $7,500 but otherwise it was agreed, and Bronshtein took the title, and the gold jersey.

Double or Nothing Sit-and-Go's: Common Mistakes

Way back in the year two thousand nine, I wrote an article laying out basic strategy for Double or Nothing (DoN) Sit-and-Go tournaments. I had taken a break from them for a little while, just to mix up my game, but this month, I have gotten back into them full force. While it does seem that the competition in these tourneys has gotten tougher, there are still people who routinely make the dumbest mistakes imaginable. Thankfully, this has not only allowed me to make a few bucks, but it also gave me a topic for this article: common mistakes in Double or Nothing Sit-and-Go's.

Playing Too Many Hands Early

Anyone who has studied Sit-and-Go strategy knows that it is generally a good idea to play fairly tight in the early stages of the tournament. So, when I say that the most common mistake I see Double or Nothing players make is playing too many hands early, it sounds rather obvious. But I'm not talking about playing suited connectors or one-gappers too frequently. I'm talking about playing anything but the most premium of hands during the first couple levels.

To give an example, it makes perfect sense to play any pair early on in a regular Sit-and-Go, as long as you're not calling gigantic raises or anything with, say, deuces. You could flop a set and potentially win a significant pot. But it's different in a Double or Nothing. Most players are not going to stack off to you if you flop a monster. While there will always be a couple donks at the table, most of the players will have at least some idea that tighter is better. It is less likely that someone with top pair is going to get all their chips in post-flop in a Double or Nothing than it is in a standard tournament.

Even strong hands like A-Q, A-J, and Tens are suspect in the first couple rounds. When you start tossing chips around with those hands, you are getting yourself in too deep when it is likely that only those with better hands are going to tangle with you.

Calling too Much

Double or Nothings are interesting in that at first glance, the value of chips seems counterintuitive. Players who are new to these games will think that since it's easier to cash when half the table makes the money, chips are not valuable. After all, you can have one ante left and still win. But in reality, chips are more valuable in a DoN than they are in a regular Sit-and-Go.

Why? Because DoNs are all about survival. They aren't about chip accumulation. In a regular Sit-and-Go, it can be well worth it to make some speculative calls in the hopes of scooping a gigantic pot, as the goal is to build a large chip stack and outlast every single one of your opponents. There is an extra reward for coming in first place rather than second and second rather than third. In a DoN, while accumulating chips definitely helps (I won't turn down an easy chip stack double-up), you don't need to collect all the chips to win. All you need to do is to survive.

I often see players ignoring this fact and making loose calls in DoNs, particularly in the middle stages. What this does is whittle your stack down very quickly when the reward for hitting your hand isn't necessarily that great. Say you're down to 1,200 chips from the starting 1,500 and at the 50/100 blind level, you decide to call a pre-flop raise to 300. You flop a solid draw and decide to call another 300 chip bet on the flop. Here's the problem. What if the turn is a brick? You're down to 600 chips and pretty much have to bail on the hand. And typically at this stage, there are still eight players left in a ten player DoN, so you don't have much chance to get past three more players.

Remember, you need to leave yourself some fold equity. 600 chips might give you that, but at that point, you will need to find a hand worth pushing, and find it fast. In those middle stages, you really should not be entering a pot without raising. The blinds and antes are very much worth stealing and you aren't going to be able to get them by calling. All you need to do is survive. Blind stealing can help you do this, but you can't go losing your fold equity by making iffy calls all over the place.

Feeling Obligated to Call an All-in

I see this one a lot. We're down to six players, with five getting paid, and there's one very big stack who keeps calling the all-ins of the short stacks, no matter what his hole cards are. He does it because he feels that he is obligated, not only as the big stack, but often as the last player left to act, to knock that final player out of the game. To me, that's silly. If you have a significant chip advantage on the bubble, just sit back and watch the others sweat out the all-ins. You're going to be safe for several orbits. There is no extra prize for knocking out the last person. If you have a monster, sure, try to end the game right there, but there's no need to call with any two cards.

What really tilts me is when middle stacks call off most of their chips with garbage or marginal hands just to try to eliminate that sixth place player. In a regular Sit-and-Go, you might take a chance on what you think may be a coin flip in order to put yourself in a position to win, but in a DoN, I try not to call an all-in unless I feel good about my chances of being way ahead. It's not worth it. Let someone else take the chance.

Not Checking Down

I really didn't believe I would ever see this in a Double or Nothing, but I have. The best part is that about ten minutes before I wrote this, it happened at my table. And it wasn't the first time for me. I have actually been in a tournament that, when it was down to six players (again, five got paid), a short stack went all-in, two players called, and one of them bet at some point post-flop. Did I facepalm? Yes. Was I mad because I was also a short stack? Definitely.

Come on people, this isn't a difficult concept to master. Places one through five all pay the same. In fact, there's not really a first through fifth place, as nobody ever gets knocked out after sixth. When that sixth place finisher is eliminated, the player with 5,000 chips wins the exact same amount of money as the player with one chip. If you ever find yourself calling an all-in with another opponent, check it down. Check it down, check it down, check it down. It does you no good at all to steal the pot from the other caller. If you win the pot, you double your buy-in. If the other caller wins the pot, you double your buy-in. The match ends in both scenarios. Those extra chips you might win by forcing the other guy off his hand are meaningless. The way you don't double your buy-in is if the short stack wins the pot and the more players he has to go to showdown against the worse chance he has to do so.

Now That Is A Sunday Million

The PokerStars Sunday Million regularly boasts a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million. On Sunday, that sum was lifted to $4 million. However, the total purse ultimately swelled to well over $7.2 million after a field of 36,169 players turned out.

National Heads Up Poker Championship Line Up Announced

The NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship is about to begin and the list of pros and celebrities participating has just been released. The list is full of poker pros and celebrities, a few new faces and several familiar faces that have participated before.

The event will take place from March 4^th to the 7^th at Caesars Palace and those who participate are required to post the $20,000 buy-in to play. A few new faces to the tournament will be Annette Obrestad and Kara Scott. Twenty two players earned their seat via qualifiers but two of the qualifiers are not on the list of names: Barry Shulman and Jeffrey Lisandro.

Players who qualified for the tournament did so as a result of their performance in past WSOP events and select tournaments that took place all over the world. Automatic qualifiers that are on the list includes: Sam Farha, Brock Parker, Phil Ivey, Jerry Yang, Peter Eastgate, Darvin Moon, Joe Cada, Greg Mueller, Jason Mercier, Peiter de Korver and Eric Baldwin.

Several more players were invited to participate and create the sixty four player field including celebrities. Those included are: Don Cheadle, Gabe Kaplan, Jennifer Tilly and Orel Hershiser. Seven internet qualifiers will also be included in the event as well.

Complete List of Players:

Patrik Antonius
Eric Baldwin
Andy Bloch
Doyle Brunson
Joe Cada
Johnny Chan
Don Cheadle
Allen Cunningham
Pieter de Korver
Annie Duke
Tom Dwan
Peter Eastgate
Eli Elezra
Antonio Esfandiari
Sam Farha
Chris Ferguson
Ted Forrest
Jamie Gold
Phil Gordon
Barry Greenstein
Bertrand Grospellier
Joe Hachem
Gus Hansen
Jennifer Harman
Phil Hellmuth
Orel Hershiser
Jesper Hougaard

Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Gabe Kaplan
John Paul Kelly
Phil Laak
Howard Lederer
Erick Lindgren

Mike Matusow
Jason Mercier
Dario Minieri
Chris Moneymaker
Darvin Moon
Greg Mueller
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Annette Obrestad
Brock Parker
Dennis Phillips
Greg Raymer
Vanessa Rousso
Kara Scott
Huck Seed
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Tilly
Paul Wasicka
David Williams
Leo Wolpert
Jerry Yang

Seven Online Qualifiers

$2000 Freeroll Join Me

Poker Room: PokerStars
Details: NAPT Webcast Freeroll
ID: 244344797
Date: 25 Feb 21:15 ET
Prize: $2000
Password: shootout

Fanboy Mood Tonight

Tonight I am in a fanboy mood (geeky mood) so tonight's music is all about fanboy music. Here is a sample... I hope you all take pleasure in this video and find your enter geek....

Facebook | Your Videos: Feb 18, 2010 6:56pm

Drinking is Bad

To drink alcohol and play poker at the same time is probably nothing a single serious poker player in the whole world would recommend. Probably not even Ilari "ziigmund " sahamies, 26. However, he still did so last weekend.

In one his latest blog posts, he writes that he played "totally f drunk" and lost $500,000, then another $300,000 when he woke up with a hangover the day after. After that, he decided to try his luck betting on tennis. No luck there either and he lost another $130,000. Even though he lost so much money, he's still up about $20,000 on his holiday trip to Australia.

From ziigmund's blog
"so sick.I lost yesterday totally f drunk 500k....then I woke up and lost in totally hangover 300k more....then we went to watch tennis to Red Label arena or whatever and I lost 130k more to Justine Henin....Im up now 20k on my holiday trip...whatever...now I start to play TIGHT."

“Doctor Who” tribute

This video is for all my fellow geeks… A “Doctor Who” tribute too the Doctor and Rosie. Richard Marx - Right Here Waiting For You

Bodog Poker Room Looking for Women

Online poker room Bodog is looking for women. The poker room has announced they will sponsor new female players. Players who are interested in being sponsored by the online poker room must register for an online account and submit a bio along with a recent photo. The submissions are to be titled Female Pro Submission. The level of skill required to be selected is not explicitly clear, leading some to wonder if looks and an interesting story are more important in this case than skill at poker.

A Poker Room Shooting

A 66-year-old was arrested as a suspect in a poker card room shooting. The shooting took place Friday night at the Gresham Player’s Club. Carroll L. Mayfield was arrested less than a quarter hour after the shooting was reported. Police say they recovered a weapon at the time of the arrest, and Mayfield has been charged with two counts of attempted murder. Two people were wounded and taken to the hospital, where one is in critical condition, and the other’s condition is unknown. Police are under the impression that the shooting was an act of random violence.

The Ins and Outs of Online Poker Cheating

Okay, we have been besieged by online poker cheat scandals the last two years, right? Right! In light of this fact, I have been getting tons of e-mails asking how online poker cheats work and what online players can do to defend themselves against cheats playing poker online. Well, the best advice I can give is to first learn and understand the various methods of online poker cheating and semi-online poker cheating. With that in mind, I have outlined just about every method of online cheating poker rooms have been victimized by. Some of these methods only border on online poker cheating, but nevertheless they are effective in getting your money. Some are as well scams that have nothing to do with cheating in the actual online poker play, but you can still fall victim to them and lose your money.
Collusion
Collusion is when two or more players at a table work together to defraud one or more other players at the table by sharing information. It could be as simple as two guys using IM to warn each other when they have a big hand. More intricate collusion methods include employing specific strategies to get other players to put more money in the pot. The standard method is the squeeze play. In the squeeze play two players trap a player between them and raise and re-raise each other forcing the player in the middle to keep calling. One of the two colluding players will have a monster and the other can have anything because he will fold his hand on the river.
Fortunately, collusion is one of the more simple forms of cheating for both players and the poker room to detect. Watch out for telltale signs of collusion such as two players who always play at the same table and exhibit the same playing patterns with lots of raising between them. If you're suspicious, report it to the site and they should investigate it.
Poker Bot Software
A bot is simply a piece of software that can take certain actions. A poker bot can be programmed to push fold, call and raise buttons based on some sort of semi-complex array of if/then statements and scoring. Although it has never been proven that bots can beat intelligent players, there are bots with a kind of "artificial intelligence" that may be able to do just that. The main limit of a bot´s success is the intelligence and poker intelligence of the person programming its strategy. I will say that the bots you see for sale online are generally cheating you and not the online poker players you want to use them against. In short, they´re bad!
However, the artificial intelligent bots are very expensive and not for sale online, at least not real ones. These bots are sophisticated and can learn and adapt to different online games. People able to program AI bots are highly intelligent and know how to avoid giving off signals of their bot activity in the games. What usually ensues is a cat and mouse game between them and the online sites. The sites find a way to detect and block the bots and then the programmers find a way to circumvent the defense. In conclusion, I would say that it is rare that you will come up against a really good AI bot that can beat you, and even if you do, it's only one player (or bot) at the table!
Hacking via Trojans, Keyloggers, Phishing and Viruses
Don´t download and install suspicious software on your computer! That is how you get scammed for huge money! The main ways this happens is that the hackers get your passwords and see your hole cards. And usually they don't have to work that hard. Most victims fall prey to simple e-mails notifying them they need to confirm their personal info in order to collect bonuses. Don't give it up!!! Watch out for hackers in chat rooms posing as system administrators wanting to verify your account details. No legitimate online poker room will ever ask you to confirm your personal and login info. And don't click on a link in a dealer chat window that doesn’t go to the site you are playing on. Beware of sites imitating other sites, such as absolutepokerroom.com trying to fool you into thinking it is absolutepoker.com
Inside Scams
These are the most brutal and almost impossible to protect yourself from. As what happened at Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, employees or ex-employees who have access to the poker room’s systems manipulate it to gain unfair advantages against other opponents. At UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, the scam was using source codes to see everyone's hole cards.
The biggest problem here is that the online sites themselves usually take a long time to admit online poker cheating has happened on their sites. Both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet denied cheating was happening for months until the evidence became overwhelming. The key was online players doing their own research into suspicious play. However, because of the Absolute and UltimateBet scandals, future online poker cheats will be more careful. Instead of being greedy and trying to win every pot, they’ll only use their advantage in big pots or critical hands in tournaments. In that fashion, insiders working with the knowledge of your hole card can go on indefinitely without being caught. And since there is still no regulation of online poker, expect to see more of these huge online cheat scams in the future.
Multi-Accounting
Multi-Accounting is when a player plays multiple accounts at the same time on the same online poker room. Several high-profile cases have been uncovered over the last few years where a player entered a tournament under several different accounts. The worst case scenario is the player has two of his own accounts at the same table and thus could engage in all sorts of acts considered to be collusion. That is random and relatively rare compared to the fact that this one player simply gets multiple shots at the same prize as everyone else.
Account Selling
This has come to light more recently and basically when a player plays a tournament and is then offered the opportunity to sell his stake in that account to another player who then takes over the account and completes the tournament for him. The biggest problem created by this is that this is usually done when the tournament has worked its way down to a final few players (maybe the last 2–3 tables or even the final table). All of a sudden another player takes over the account and plays much differently than the original player eliminating any tells other players may have picked up on that player over the course of the tournament. Compounding the problem is that the purchaser of the account can ask the seller for his read on all the other opponents and can even go back through hand histories and figure out all the other player’s playing styles. In some cases this form of cheating can show itself obviously, for example: one player logging in from Las Vegas suddenly disconnects in the middle of a tournament and then logs back in from London a few seconds later. But if the two players happen to be in the same room and they simply swap seats it is a very difficult accusation to prove because many players will change up their playing style at various stages in a tournament. The poker room would need to go back and look at a large data set of previous tournament data and see if this was an unusual shift in playing styles. And even if they did conclude it was out of the ordinary, who’s to say that the player didn’t just get done reading a chapter on late stage tournament play and was following the advice given in the book?
Chip Dumping
Chip dumping can be done for various reasons but the one that tends to impact players is during tournaments or cash games where one player intends to give all of his chips to another player. In cash games it can result in lots of unnecessary re-raising which drives other players out of pots and during tournaments the goal is to give the target player a nice big stack so he can go late into the tournament. Both are a form of collusion though the two (or more) players involved in the collusion may not have any concern about taking chips off the other players. Their goal is to pass chips from one player to the other.
Angle Shooting and Disconnect Protect Abuse
Many poker sites offer tables that have disconnect protection. The way this works is that if the software detects that the player has become disconnected the player’s hand will not be folded and he will be allowed to see the river without putting any more money in the pot. This allows a player who thinks his opponent has him beat to pull the internet connection on his computer and thus see whether or not he has the best hand without putting any more money in the pot.
Poker rooms typically attempt to stop the abuse of this feature by only allowing players a set amount of disconnect protects. After they have reached their limit they will be folded if they fail to act in time. However the abuse still continues because players will often ask to have their limit reset, and barring other players complaining, the poker room will typically honor the request. Obviously, the best way to avoid people shooting this angle on you is to complain when you feel another player is abusing it. When he asks for a reset the poker room will see that other players have complained and will likely not reset his limit.
Short Stacking
Some players will buy into a no-limit table with the minimum buy-in and look for the opportunity to get all their chips in the pot on a big hand. After they double up they leave the table and go sit at another table with the minimum buy-in and repeat the process. This isn't cheating but it is a disadvantage to you at these tables.
Outright Fraud
While online poker rooms directly ripping off customers is fairly rare it has happened in the past and will likely happen in the future as long as the industry remains relatively unregulated. Many of the early card room failures were the result of player monies being co-mingled with the casino’s assets which can often prove to be a tempting pool to dip into if a cash-strapped casino/card room is looking to make a big marketing splash or perhaps even an acquisition.
If you play at any of the top card rooms the chances are very low you’re going to get ripped off like this. However if you play at some unknown, incipient site, it could happen.
Player to Player Online Poker Scams
The creativity of scams is only limited by the imagination of the scammer. The most common types of scams are other players asking for loans, handouts, or some sort of trade. For instance a legitimate player on Party Poker may need to get money into his William Hill account. He posts on a message board that he’s willing to trade $550on Party Poker for $500 deposited into his William Hill account. Then a scammer accepts the offer. The legit player transfers the $550 first and the scammer never transfers back a dime.
Since the poker site can’t confirm whether or not a transfer has occurred on another site, they usually will not get involved in these sorts of disputes. Your best protection against this type of scam is to never transfer money to other players that you don’t know very well and trust. Set up proper deposit and withdrawal methods that will allow you to handle your own finances rather than relying on the kindness (or greed) of strangers to move money from one place to another.
Okay, that about covers online poker cheating and the various cheats who do it. Play smart and protect yourself!!!

Pepper Spray Heist An Inside Job

Police are saying the robbery of a poker game in October in Cleveland, Ohio, was an inside job. One player, a newcomer, spent most of the night on his cell phone and he was the one who let the gunmen in. Two men armed with assault rifles followed him into the apartment after a smoker break and made off with $11k and doused the players with pepper spray. Jonathan Powell, 32, of Akron, was the only player not well known to the rest of the players. Powell and three others -- Reba Smith, 25, Duane Smith, 32, and Stanley Smith, 24 – are accused of the crime.

Wall Street 2 - Money Never Sleeps

Oliver Stone's sequel to his '80s masterpiece (no, not Platoon) looks pretty good, at least after seeing the first trailer. Has it really been 23 years since Wall Street? Money doesn't sleep, but it sure goes into a hell of a hibernation.
Things to chuckle at: The whole Blues Brothers and '80s homage during Gordon Gekk...o's release from prison. And the way Michael Douglas effortlessly slips back into his signature role.
Things to wince at: That annoying musical score in the background. And I'm sorry, but am I only person on the planet who doesn't quite get the adoration of Shia LaBeouf? In the sense that he represents the current weasels on Wall Street, I guess he fits the part though. But he makes you yearn for the acting skills of Charlie Sheen, and that should say enough.
Money Never Sleeps is set for an April 23 release.

Look at Me Placing In The Money

Over two hours of play and I make a whole .08 cents… Time well spent?

PokerStars Tournament #235338683, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $0.25 USD
2962 players
$100.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $840.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/27 21:00:00 CT [2010/01/27 22:00:00 ET]

Dear PokerDonkeys,

You finished the tournament in 557th place. A USD 0.33 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

Las Vegas Tourist Kidnapped and Robbed

Las Vegas Metro Police say a 40-year-old man visiting Las Vegas was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint last Friday, January 15, on the Las Vegas strip. The abductors held the man captive at an unknown apartment for twenty-four hours before he managed to escape and call police from a convenience store.

The alleged crime happen at 5 AM when the victim was making his way back to Caesars Palace after a night of drinking and gambling. The man reported he was approached by a panhandler asking for change and while digging for coins he flashed a large wad of cash. The next thing he knew an unidentified woman with a gun ordered him into a waiting car.

Police say the man was robbed of his cash and beaten by the assailants, two men and two women, forcing him to give up his credit cards and passwords. The crooks also robbed his hotel room at Caesars while he was being held captive and fortunately both were recorded on video going into the room at Caesars.

We have great public security here in Las Vegas and the safety of tourists is paramount; but, visitors need to be aware of what's around them and where they are. Don't flash cash and don't wear expensive jewelry or watches when doing late night strolls of the strip. Safety in numbers is the best defense so share your Vegas visit with a friend or two.

Pennsylvania Casinos Pass Atlantic City For Revenue

If we were to ask you what are the two top casino markets in the country, you'd say Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

But now for the first time, Atlantic City has been edged out by Pennsylvania and their slot barns (just racing and slots, no table games).

This was writing on the wall for AC, whose customer base is primarily in surrounding areas of the New Jersey gambling boardwalk. And with the tribal casinos in Connecticut (Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods) also stealing revenue from AC, unless they do something to change, Pennsylvania could stay solidly in the number 2 slot.

Players visiting Pennsylvania's nine casinos wagered $2.12 billion ($189 million lost) in December 2009. Players in Atlantic City's 11 casinos wagered $2.03 billion ($179 million lost).

Las Vegas's revenue is approximately 4 times Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania recently opened two new casinos (now even with Atlantic City) and will soon have table games installed.

19-year-old Wins PPC $2.2 Million

Harrison Gimble, 19-year-old poker player from Jupitor, Florida, pocketed $2.2 million in the Seventh PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The youngest player to win the PCA, Harrison "gibler321" Gimble, faced Tyler Reiman in the main event heads-up finale. Reimen takes $1.75 million back home to Morton, Illinois.

Barry Shulman, Card Player Magazine owner, keeps his multi-million dollar winning streak alive after taking third place and $1.35 million. Added to his WSOPE cash last October, the 63-year-old Las Vegas poker pro has banked over $2.6 million.

PCA Ladies Event won by Vanessa Rousso

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure finished up recently and one of the events during the series was the $1,000 Ladies Event. This event saw 91 ladies turn out to compete over two days to try and win the first place prize. In the end it was Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso who would claim the title.

Rousso would have to get past other PokerStars Pros as well as poker pros and PokerStars qualifiers. Rousso commented on the tournament by stating: “There were a couple of pros who played. J.J. Lui was in there, Annette Obrestad. There was a bunch of good players. Obviously you have to run well in any tournament you play in. but I didn’t make any mistakes that I know of, I played well and I’m happy with the way I played. Starting the year off with a victory is really cool.”

Out of the 91 players, 16 would cash out during the tournament. Each would earn a piece of the $88,270 prize pool. Halli Pinson was one of the prize winners, who went head to head with Rousso in the end of the tournament. Pinson commented to PokerStars on the field during the competition. She commented:

"This event was a lot more serious than most ladies tournaments. I didn't recognize that many faces, but the field seemed a lot more experienced than usual. These women had come to play, and they had come to win! Vanessa Rousso dominated the event though – she had good cards and she's an experienced player: the combination was lethal."

Final Standings of the Event:

1. Vanessa Rousso - $24,275
2. Halli Pinson - $13,815
3. Ann-Margaret Johnston - $9,335
4. Shirley Rosario - $6,620
5. Jamie Kerstetter - $5,740
6. Pastora Sorenson - $4,635
7. Lisa Adams - $3,750
8. Vanessa Caldeira - $2,870
9. Irene Baroni - $2,425
10. Sarah Wasch - $2,425
11. Violetta Szczerba - $2,205
12. Nesrine Kourdourli - $2,205
13. Muriel Allard - $1,985
14. Anna Yamshchikova - $1,985
15. Alina Salnikova - $1,765
16. Hai Nguyen - $1,765

Full Tilt Poker Launches Rush Poker

Full Tilt Poker has announced an addition to their online poker room that according to Full Tilt ‘is set to revolutionize the online poker industry’. The new addition is called Rush Poker and it is a new poker format available at the online poker room.

Rush Poker gives players a high speed poker experience. The game is designed to minimize the wait time between hands so players can continue to experience the poker action at all times. Players will be dealt up to four times more hands per hour during Rush Poker than in standard ring game play.

In standard ring games, a player will join a table and then face the same opponents at every hand. In Rush Poker, there is a large player pool which is spread across multiple tables. Once a player folds a hand they will be moved to another table with different players to begin playing the next hand. This will occur even if the current hand is still in play.

Rush Poker games also have a Quick Fold button at the table. This feature allows players to fold their hand before it is their turn to make a move and they will immediately be moved to another table for another hand.

Team Full Tilt Member Chris Ferguson commented in a press release about the new poker game by stating: “Rush Poker is the greatest innovation in online poker since poker started on the Internet. Rush Poker is an amazingly fast-paced game. You always have a decision to make; you’re never waiting for other players to finish the hand.”

2005 WSOP Bracelet on Auction at Ebay

Ever wanted your very own WSOP bracelet? Well here's your chance, according to an ad at eBay, where the seller claims to be selling an authentic, 2005 World Series of Poker $5k No Limit Bracelet, acquired directly from three-time WSOP champ T. J. Cloutier. The kicker is that the seller is a Pawn Shop in Plano, Tx, just about 6 miles from Cloutier's home town of Richardson, Tx.

It is true that Thomas James Cloutier did win the 2005 WSOP 5k No Limit Hold'em event, where he claimed one of his six WSOP bracelets, along with over $650k. Cloutier gained his first WSOP bracelet in 1987 in the WSOP $1,000 buy-in Limit Omaha event. He landed 2 more bracelets in 1994 playing $1.5 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo and $2.5k Pot Limit Hold'em at the 25th Annual WSOP, with a combined total prize of nearly $300k. WSOP Bracelet number four was obtained in the 1998 $2.5k Limit Omaha Hi/Lo WSOP event, and Cloutier's 5th bracelet came in 2004 playing $1.5k Seven Card Razz. If this is indeed Cloutier's 2005 WSOP $5k No Limit Hold'em bracelet, it would be the sixth - and last - that Cloutier has won.

The starting bid on the possibly-genuine WSOP bracelet is $2,999.00 USD, and so far there are 0 bids. While the seller has an excellent track record at eBay - 100% Positive feedback out of 314 comments – it may prove difficult to ascertain the authenticity of the Plano, Tx pawn shop's claim before the auction ending date of January 24th at 1:34:57 pm PST.

Obrestad Becomes First Woman Aussie Millions Champion

Event #4 of the 2010 Aussie Millions was a $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and one hundred and sixty players registered to compete. It was Annette ‘Annette_15’ Obrestad who would outlast the field of competitors to take down the title win. With the win Obrestad would become the first woman to become an Aussie Millions Champion.

Obrestad would begin final table play third in chips and she would continue to dominate until she claimed the $40,000 AUD first place prize. When final table play began Michael Sampieri would be the first to go when he faced Billy Seri. Just a few minutes later Tony Bloom would go out after going up against Obrestad.

Paul Taylor would be eliminated next and Emad Tahtouh would be next, knocked out by Obrestad. Con Angelakis would be eliminated in fifth place and then Obrestad would be at it again when she knocked out Oliver Gill in fourth place. Ryan Gutch would be the third place finisher after going up against Obrestad. Obrestad pretty much took out most of the competition at the final table to face Billy Seri in heads up play.

In the final hand Seri would hold K-8-J-9 against Obrestad K-J-J-2. Obrestad’s jacks would hold up on the A-9-A-2-10 board so Seri would be eliminated in second place. Obrestad would then become the winner of the Aussie Millions event solidifying her status in the poker community as she became the first woman to become an Aussie Millions Champion.

Pokerstars Launch New Daily Freeroll

PokerStars.com, the world’s largest online poker site, has announced a new daily freeroll tournament for UK and Ireland players where they will be adding £2,000 to the prize pool each day. The new £2,000 giveaway tournament will run for six weeks, starting on January 22, 2010. The daily freeroll tournament will take place at 9.30pm GMT every evening and players will be able to re-buy for $50c. If players miss the 9.30pm tournament then they can always take advantage of another freeroll for £250 at 10.30pm.

Kara Scott Sells Out To Party Poker

Party Poker, one of the worlds most renowned online poker sites has  recently announced that Kara Scott, a well-known television presenter and poker player, is their latest sponsored player. Team Party has welcomed Scott as their newest member and she will join the list of other poker players who are part of Party Poker.

Mike Sexton, Remy Biechel, Ian Frazer, Stewart Scott, Bodo Sbrzesny and Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos join Scott on Team Party and they all represent Party Poker at poker events. Scott’s new deal with Party Poker includes buy-ins for the top live tournaments all over the world as well as television presenting gigs. Scott will be at the fore front as the Premier League moves to Las Vegas this February.

Scott commented on joining Party Poker by stating: “It is fantastic to have signed a deal to join Team Party. It works perfectly for me as I get the opportunity to further improve my game on the live circuit as well as carrying on presenting. I’m so excited about the future.”

A spokesman for Party Poker commented on Scott joining Team Party by saying: “Kara is a great signing and we are really looking forward to working with her. She has historic links with PartyPoker after taking down the Sports Stars Challenge III and we have been super impressed by her progress since then. As well as being a great presenter, Kara is also a fantastic player with great results and the potential to go even further. We are excited about his new relationship.”

Party Poker Signs Kara Scott to Sponsorship Deal | Online Poker News

Playing Online Poker On The Bubble

The bubble is the stage in an online poker tournament where the last player that must leave the table will go home with nothing while the rest of the players is in the money. If you're playing a Sit'n'Go with 10 players the first three usually are getting paid while the fourth place gets nothing. In Double or Nothing Sit'n Gos half of the players is getting paid. The bubble at a 10 player Sit'n Go table takes place with four players.

Online Poker Strategy - The passive approach
On the bubble you want to avoid an elimination so badly because if you go broke you will go home with nothing. That's why it's reasonable not to play any hands, avoid any confrontations and wait until the next player has to leave the tournament. If other players do you this favor you can win money with folding.
But this sounds easier than it is. What if everybody else is also playing passively and you don't have a big chip stack? Then you're in trouble and the likelihood of getting eliminated due to increasing blinds is high.
Playing passively only makes sense when you either have a big stack so you can afford to wait, or your opponents are playing aggressively and wildly. Then it's just a matter of seconds when the next one quits the tournament.

Online Poker Strategy - The aggressive approach
Most of the time the aggressive approach is way better. Not only can you put pressure on your passive opponents and surviving the bubble but you can also increase your chip stack thus increasing your chance to win the tournament.
But be cautious! You must not play wildly just to be aggressive. You have to select your aggression properly and put the pressure on passive opponents. Pay attention to your risk. Don't risk your whole stack and make small attempts to steal pots. No matter how many chips you have: if you can't select your aggression properly you can always be the „bubble boy“ who goes home with nothing.

The bubble is one of the most interesting stages in a tournament. You need a lot of skills to survive the bubble more often than your opponents. It's important to select the right approach. If you do that properly only bad luck can beat you!

The Palms Offers Lady Gaga Multi-Year Deal

Fresh off sold-out New Year's Eve shows at The Pearl (at The Palms), Lady Gaga is the latest musician to be courted to a Las Vegas residency.

Usually stars that have already burned bright are the ones that shack up in Vegas (Prince, Donny & Marie, Bette Midler).

Lady Gaga is still up-and-coming but has a huge following and would be an easy lure to tourists.

George Maloof, owner of The Palms, is said to have made a substantial multi-year offer in the millions of dollars to Lady Gaga to perform every night at The Pearl, but so far she has yet to accept.

Season 6 of High Stakes Poker Debut February 14, 2010

It is undoubtedly one of the most popular poker-related shows on television among poker players themselves, as the play mimics that of a high-stakes cash game with competitors’ own money on the line. And the announcement was made on November 5 that taping has begun for Season 6 of High Stakes Poker with a season premiere date on GSN of February 14, 2010.
The biggest change that players will notice when tuning in to the cable network for High Stakes Poker in its latest season is a new co-host. Gabe Kaplan will remain as a staple of the show, but AJ Benza has been replaced with Kara Scott, who is well-known in poker circles as much for her tournament play as her previous role as TV host of the European Poker Tour and most recent assignment as on-camera interviewer at the WSOP Europe. Those who recognize her from the tables will know that she made deep runs in the 2008 and 2009 WSOP Main Event, but her best finish to date was second place at the main event of the 2009 Irish Open in Dublin. The new shows will begin airing on GSN on February 14, 2010 and continue each Sunday night thereafter at 8pm ET. Viewers can also catch repeat episodes on Sundays at 11pm and 2am

WPT Set to Premiere Season 8 on Fox January 24

When the eighth season of the World Poker Tour began in July of 2009, the previous season of the WPT was still airing on Fox Sports Net. Now that the new year of 2010 has begun and Season 8 is more than halfway finished, Fox is prepared to air the most current shows and will premiere its first one on January 24, 2010, at 11pm ET.
For the second season in a row, Fox Sports Net has agreed to air the shows, which again will be sponsored by FullTiltPoker.net. The 26 episodes will begin on January 24 and continue each Sunday until the season is complete, and each week will bring two one-hour episodes of the World Poker Tour. In total, the shows will consist of the 13 WPT final tables of Season 8 (two hours of air time per final table), beginning with the $15,000 buy-in Bellagio Cup that played out in July of 2009. That will be followed by Bay 101’s Shooting Stars, Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker, and continue on with the remainder of the stops on the tour in the same order of the live tournament schedule. And commentators Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will be hosting the shows as they have for all eight seasons of the WPT.

I Feel Sorry For Poker Channel Europe

European poker fans can tune in to the Poker Channel Europe to see the Poker2Nite show. The Poker2Nite show features current and relevant poker pros like Eric Baldwin. Baldwin has made more than one and a half million this year in tournament poker, including picking up his first World Series of Poker bracelet. Baldwin was also recently tapped to be the latest sponsored poker pro at online poker room UB.com, formerly Ultimate Bet Poker. The Poker Channel Europe will be showing episodes of Poker2Nite every week for the rest of the season.

Home Poker Players Roughed Up

At a home poker game in Portland, Oregon, the players were beaten, pepper sprayed and robbed. The incident took place in the garage of a home on Holgate Street. Three armed men burst in and held their guns to the victims and patted them down, taking anything of value. One man was struck with a shotgun repeatedly, and all the victims were doused with pepper spray before the masked and black clad assailants fled the scene. Police are currently investigating the crime and seeking information to apprehend the criminals.