It was just another day of good old fashioned online poker at Event 2 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series V. The game was Limit H.O.R.S.E. and Full Tilt Pro David Singer was the host but it was online player SENDIT16 that stole the show.
After a long day of great poker it all came down to an exciting heads-up match between AngelTheresa and SENDIT16. The chips (and insults) were being traded back and forth. During one exchange SENDIT16 lost a $620,000 pot and AngelTheresa proved to be no angel by taunting, "Naughty, Naughty." Download poker wallpapers.
Just a few hands after the big loss SENDIT16 made the chips back with trip aces. The pot contained $1.2 million in chips which was enough to put SENDIT16 in the driver's seat. AngelTheresa was eliminated shortly after that when both players moved in with a pairs of Jacks. SENDIT16 had the better kicker however and sent woman poker player AngelTheresa packing.
The top 10 finishers of FTOPS V Event 2 are as follows:
Place
Player
Prize
1.
SENDIT16
$51,800
2.
AngelTheresa
$34,188
3.
Joshuah333
$20,720
4.
RiverKill3er
$12,017
5.
spence
$7,459
6.
tommyboy83
$5,594
7.
dandaman29
$4,040
8.
GASSS_U
$3,004
9.
Elendir
$2,279
10.
hollisterpmp
$2,279
Overall the poker tournament was a feisty affair and the table chatter was going strong all day long. The event attracted 1,036 players and with a buy-in of $200+16 it created a prize pool of $207,200. SENDIT16 proved a powerhouse at the final table and knocked out a number of players which helped secure a spot in heads-up play.
FTOPS V Event 1 Champion Kadabra made an appearance and even commented there should be a FTOPS V tournament of champions. Play online poker.
It's unknown where host Singer finished but 1986 Main Event Champion Berry Johnston made his presence felt by coming in 33rd good enough for $1,243.
Kadabra and SENDIT16 are now tied for first on the FTOPS V leaderboard with 200 points each. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
Event 3: Pot-Limit Hold'em is set for Friday Aug. 10 with five-time WSOP bracelet Allen Cunningham as the host. The Main Event of FTOPS V will take place on Aug. 19.
China Leisure Sports Administrative Centre (CLSAC), the national Sports Federation governing Leisure Sports in China, has announced the launch of the country’s first National Traktor Poker Tournament in an exclusive partnership with WPT Enterprises Inc.
The unprecedented five-year partnership is a landmark agreement in China Leisure Sports history and will focus on growing the sport of Traktor Poker, known as Tuo La Ji, China’s most popular poker game.
In order to better develop this folk sport in China and to satisfy people’s demand for greater entertainment, CLSAC adopted the ‘Rules of Traktor Poker Competition’ in 2002, unifying the many local styles for better management of the sport and a more even playing field for competitors. Play route 66 poker.
In the same year, the World Poker Tour began production of televised tournaments in the United States, reinventing poker as a sport and igniting a global television phenomenon.
The partnership will help CLSAC further promote Traktor Poker, create a more entertaining game, and provide integrated sports marketing support via television production, media, sponsorship and merchandise. The agreement marks the first time that the CLSAC will organise such a Tour. Play online poker.
“This marketing partnership with the WPT is a serious commitment for the CLSAC,” said Mr. Hu Jianguo, Director General of CLSAC, “WPT’s skills and experience in expanding the popularity of the Sport in the US through creative television and marketing strategies will help us accelerate the growth of the Sport here in China. We look forward to a long-term partnership with the WPT, expanding this unique Sport and showcasing the wisdom and teamwork skills of the Chinese people to the world.” Download poker wallpapers.
“WPT is honoured to be the marketing partner chosen by the CLSAC for the China National Traktor Poker Tour,” said Steve Lipscomb, CEO of WPT Enterprises. “Poker, especially Tuo La Ji Poker, requires a great amount of skill and passion, both key ingredients in creating dynamic and engaging sports television. We look forward to applying our expertise revolutionising televised Poker in the United States to help bring this exciting Sport to Chinese television for the first time.” Women poker.
CLSAC will launch the first Season of the Tour in the autumn, which is anticipated to visit up to 15 locations around China, including the online preliminary organized on and by ourgame.com, culminating in the Grand Final in early 2008. CLSAC and WPTE will collaborate in development of unique TV production and marketing platforms to support the Tour. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
The WPT have also opened an office in Beijing this month, as well as launching the official tour website at wptpoker.com.cn.
One suspect in custody; eight-liners taken from stores across N. Texas
Two men posing as police officers have stolen gaming machines from convenience stores across North Texas. They walked into stores, told clerks the machines were illegal and pretended to confiscate them, police say. Play online poker.
Dallas police filed a theft charge against one of the suspects in the scheme on Tuesday night but have asked that his name be withheld to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing investigation. The man was arrested on an outstanding theft warrant out of Collin County.
John LeBlanc was working the register at the Mobil gas station at Garland Road and Lochwood Boulevard in the White Rock area when the impostors showed up on July 22. He was busy with customers when the impostors told him that because his video poker machines paid out real money, they were illegal and would be confiscated.
"They started playing with my mind," Mr. LeBlanc said. One of the men carried handcuffs, acted very authoritative, wore a T-shirt with a police logo and fiddled with some sort of radio.
Video poker machines, also known as eight-liners, are illegal when they pay out cash.
Mr. LeBlanc gave the impostor his boss's phone number. "I was stupid enough to let him use the telephone," the 46-year-old said. The intruder pulled the plug from the wall. Then his partner, who had a dolly, began hauling the machines toward their pickup. Download poker wallpapers.
Mr. LeBlanc said he realized something was wrong and tried to stop the men, but one tried to handcuff him.
"I yanked my hands away and called the police," Mr. LeBlanc said. "I should have called the police much earlier."
The police arrived a few minutes after the man and his partner left. Play $500 match poker bonus.
"He made a fool out of me," Mr. LeBlanc said.
But Dallas police say Mr. LeBlanc is not alone in falling for the ruse. The same men probably robbed game machines from seven other stores across Dallas, Lewisville, Arlington and Crandall, said Detective Craig Johnson. "Probably a whole lot more." Women poker.
The string of thefts may have begun in 2006, the detective said. "He's smooth, slick, whatever you want to call it," the detective said of the man they arrested. Police have not made any other arrests.
Detective Johnson said the machines might be worth as much as several thousand dollars if in good condition. Stay tuned to our poker blog for latest updates.
The man who has been arrested was being held Wednesday in the county jail on the Dallas theft charge, as well as the Collin County charge and a charge of impersonating a peace officer out of Kaufman County.
Internet gaming enthusiast hopes to qualify inititative for ballot
The state could be in the Internet poker business next year, if a petition drive catches on.
A proposed initiative to create a state-owned Internet poker game drew attention Tuesday from the existing gambling community -- including Indian casino tribes -- and support from independent experts.
"It's silly for the state not to get into the business," said I. Nelson Rose, a professor and attorney at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa. "Billions of dollars are being spent on the game here, and the state isn't getting one penny."
California is the world's online poker capital, analysts said. The government is missing out by not legalizing, regulating and taxing it.
Rose, a nationally known gambling expert, said that "ultimately California is going to legalize Internet poker," but said he is uncertain whether the new proposed initiative is the vehicle.
The proposal would allow Indian casinos and other gambling establishments to set up revenue-sharing deals, which would serve as an incentive to wealthy tribes to gather voter signatures needed to put the measure on the February ballot. Download poker wallpapers.
Initiative supporters must collect about 430,000 signatures by the end of the year to qualify the measure for the ballot.
"We will take a look at the initiative and discuss it," said Garry South, a consultant to the California Tribal Business Alliance, made up of some of the tribes who own the largest casinos.
Even card rooms -- who want to attract more players -- have expressed interest. Play $500 match poker bonus.
Aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who negotiates gambling compacts with tribes, declined comment.
The proposed initiative would order the state to establish a state-owned Internet poker site within 150 days of the proposal's adoption, lays out game rules, and restricts players & women poker players to being at least 21 years of age.
The measure says "the state may enter into revenue and player base sharing agreements with other states, localities and California federally recognized Indian tribes."
Howard Dickstein, an attorney representing several casino-operating tribes not part of the tribal alliance, was skeptical. An operation such as the one outlined by the initiative would be "an extremely ambitious and complex project," he said.
Dickstein and other experts foresee possible court battles among gambling stakeholders. Federal law also is fuzzy on the issue of state-run Internet poker sites. Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
Anthony "Tuff Fish" Sandstrom, a maverick online gambling enthusiast who authored the measure, said he included what he hopes will be a further incentive for passage -- a relatively small stream of money from "net revenues" to cities and counties to fix local roads.
After several Pahrump players did not cash in the 38th World Series of Poker, Michael Reiner had the remedy for those setbacks.
The Pahrump-area doctor finished 21st in the $1,500 buy-in limit-no limit hold'em tournament last week, earning $5,619 out of the prize pool of $846,300 paid by 620 players & women poker players.
The tournament, being played at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, is two days away from the start of the $1,000 WSOP Championship Event. An expected field of more than 7,500 players will generate a prize pool in excess of $70 million, with approximately $10 million going to the winner.
In 2006, Jamie Gold, a former Hollywood talent agent, outlasted 8,772 rivals to win $12 million out of a prize pool of almost $83 million. Hoppy Hopkins, a 72-year-old Pahrump resident, will be among the entries, competing Sunday on Day 1-C of the poker tournament. Day 1-A is Friday, with 1-B Saturday.
Reiner, who was up to $43,000 in chips with 33 players left, but down the stretch, he ran into a cold deck. "I mucked a king-jack, which was the best hand I had seen for 20 minutes. I dodged a bullet; the big blind turned over king-king."
Eventually, with his chip stack decreasing, Reiner called with a pair of 10s. Scott Bohlman, who had been raising Reiner through their play at the same tables, called with 10-queen.
The flop came king-3-2, which kept Reiner in the lead. But the final two cards were an ace and a jack, giving Bohlman a straight and eliminating Reiner. Play online poker.
"All I can say is, even if I had pocket aces, it would have been my time to hit the rail," said Reiner. "Players said it was just not my tournament, but it is the closest I've come to winning a gold bracelet."
One of the hands that boosted Reiner into a contention came with 63 players left. He had a pair of 7s when the flop came 7-8-8 in a hand against pro Paul Darden, who went into action with king-jack. Reiner won and his chip stack was at $43,000 after once being at $550, just before the dinner break. Download poker wallpapers.
"About an hour later I am back to start again," said Reiner. "I pick up my three chips and the dealer said, 'Well, this would be a great come back and I stated it would be.'
"I am looking for any ace-rag to go all in and it comes to me in middle position with an unopened pot and I look down and find ace-10. I'm all in ... no one calls and instantly I am up to $775. Next hand I get pocket jacks. I was all in again ... I get one caller a guy who has won two seats to the main event on Poker Stars and I win. Now I am up to $1775."
And so the rally continued for the doctor, who said he would like to play in the $10,000 championship tournament, depending on success in satellite tournaments, which run all day Thursday at the Rio.
Plans to end an advertising ban, to permit betting shops and internet poker & gambling websites to advertise on television and radio, made by former Prime Minister Tony Blair and culture secretary Tessa Jowell, appear delayed at best and more likely will be scrapped all together by the new government, according to an article over the weekend in the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
The change in the gambling advertising policy was announced by James Purnell, the new culture secretary, which further indicates the conservative direction new Prime Minister Gordon Brown is taking with regard to gambling in the U.K., and how he has abandoned much of the gambling liberalization plans of his predecessor. Play route 66 poker.
The proposals to end the ban on advertisements for betting shops, gaming websites and slot machines had earlier provoked opposition from church leaders who warned it would lead to more problem gambling.
Purnell, in his first interview since joining the cabinet two weeks ago, said, "That was one of the concerns people have mentioned and one of the things that, as a new minister in this area, I will be going through methodically to see if the concerns are legitimate." Women poker.
"It is important to have a thorough review of all the evidence" he stressed.
The minister also said he would be reviewing the full range of proposed gambling legislation, with the authority of the prime minister to change the plans.
SUPERCASINO DECISION CHANGING TOO
Purnell's announcement follows Brown's surprise announcement of a summer review of the government's contentious gambling strategy, especially surrounding plans to build a Las Vegas-style supercasino in Manchester, during Prime Minister's Questions last Wednesday.
Purnell defended the decision to look again at poker supercasinos. "I think you have to have an effective regulatory structure and I wanted to look at the concerns that people had expressed and go through the act methodically to make sure that we had good answers to those worries," he said.
The proposed plans to locate the first Las Vegas-style supercasino in the northern U.K. city of Manchester were voted down in the House of Lords late March, though it passed by a narrow majority in the House of Commons. Download poker wallpapers.
Purnell signalled that proposals for 16 smaller casinos would be allowed to go ahead, as there had been a "clearer consensus" among MPs and peers about those plans.
Only nine players will compete for the top prize of just over $8 million at the World Series of Poker's final table Tuesday afternoon but plenty of other folks -- from casino operators to chocolate makers -- will cash in as well as America's fascination with the game remains high.
A crackdown on Internet poker & gambling and oversaturation of poker shows on television pose threats to the pop-culture phenomenon. But even as some of the more marginal programming has fallen off the cable box, top-tier poker properties such as the World Series attract thousands of would-be champs and remain in high demand with sponsors and broadcasters.
At the same time, casinos continue to build more and better card rooms to serve the burgeoning crowds of those who prefer to pit their skills not against the house but others just like themselves.
There were 54,000 registrants for the 55 qualifying events in the World Series of Poker this year, up form 48,000 in 2006, with 6,358 making it to the main event. The field has been getting whittled down since June when the tournament kicked off at Harrah's Rio casino just off the Las Vegas Strip.
"That's the largest field in history and a strong affirmation that [poker] is alive and well," said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker and vice president of sports and entertainment for Harrah's Entertainment HET, which bought the tournament in 2003. "There were a lot of people predicting we would have trouble but the room and halls have been packed since June 1."
Much of the poker craze can be traced to ESPN and its innovative "card cam," which gives viewers a tabletop sneak peak at the players' hidden "hole" cards. Starting next month and running through October, ESPN will air 32 hours of original 2007 World Series-related programming this year. It takes more than a month after the tournament to edit all the footage and splice in the card-cam shots.
The Disney-owned sports network DIS is offering a commercial-free pay-per-view live peek at the final table -- sans card cams and commentary -- for $19.95.
Plenty of table play
Even when the TV cameras are turned off, poker is doing well for the casino industry. According to the American Gaming Association, revenue from poker in Nevada hit $160.8 million last year, up from $140.2 million in 2005 and more than double the 2003 figure. Figures form New Jersey show a similar trend, as do those from California and Florida, which allow card rooms.
The revenue may be a drop in the bucket compared with what the big gambling halls rake in from slots and other games of chance but, unlike blackjack or baccarat, the casino can't lose even in the short-term: Typically, a card room in a casino will charge players & women poker players by the length of time they play while also taking a cut of every pot.
"Poker itself is not a major profit center for casinos, but it can help define a property as being 'cool' and attractive to a younger demographic," said Joseph Weinert, an analyst with consultancy Spectrum Gaming. "And poker players tend to be more low-maintenance -- that is, low-cost -- in terms of the perks they expect. Further, they often bring friends or companions who will hit the slots or traditional casino tables while they play."
At Boyd Gaming BYD, which has a handful of casinos in Nevada, along with riverboats in the South and Midwest, and co-owns the Borgata in Atlantic City with MGM Mirage MGM, "poker brings a lot of energy and traffic to our casinos, similar to the sportsbooks," said spokesman Rob Stillwell
And he gives credit to the World Series and other high-profile events like the World Poker Tour WPTE for bolstering not just the take in his company's poker parlors but the industry as a whole: "It helps raise the awareness and public acceptance of gaming."
Loyal fans
The World Series of Poker first aired on ESPN in 1993 and will be a staple on the network through at least 2010, which is when the current contract with Harrah's expires. It does not pull huge ratings, averaging just about 1 million households. Play $500 match poker bonus.
However Scott Hanley, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, noted that its numbers hold into the fall "during one of the busiest sports periods of the year" with Major League Baseball's playoffs, regular NFL games and big Nascar events.
"The sponsors love the property with its loyal fan base and great time slot," he added. It is also cheap to produce relative to much of the network's other fare and is "a good business model for us, a perfect entity for what we are doing with multiplatform programming."
The tournament's title sponsor is Milwaukee's Best Light beer, a unit of SABMiller . The brew builds an entire marketing campaign around the World Series of Poker, from packaging to consumer promotions (it runs a contest where 10 winners get a chance to compete for the top prize) to ad buys on ESPN.
"We know we are an economy brew, not the highest profile in the world," said Tyler Woods, senior associate brand manager for Milwaukee's Best, but research has shown its poker-focused campaign has built brand awareness. "We've been very happy with the World Series of Poker. It is the premier poker property and really dwarfs the others in terms of viewership -- and it has that history." Download poker wallpapers.
The event is the only sports marketing vehicle the brand uses and the company puts a lot of resources behind it. Woods declined to give specific details but said that the company spends "somewhere in the middle" of a range of $1 million to $10 million.
Pollack said the tournament has "more sponsors than ever before" with new ones including Hertz HTZ, Hershey's HSY and Kraft's KFT Planters nuts coming on board.
Sports marketing bonanza
Pollack was hired two years ago with a background in sports marketing, having worked for both Nascar and the National Basketball Association. Harrah's has also brought in other outside executives, including veterans of the NFL and Disney, to expand the footprint of the World Series.
"Think of us as a 38-year-old start-up," Pollack said. "For the first 36 years, it was a poker tournament with not a lot of ancillary business activity."
Now, though, the operator of its Web site pays the company a rights fee, it has mobile games, multiple sponsorship deals and a licensing business. It is going international as well, launching the World Series of Poker Europe in September.
Pollack declined to say whether the World Series is profitable for Harrah's yet, noting that "we have been investing in the business more than anything" and a Harrah's corporate spokesman did not return a phone call.
But he sees a bright future: "This is basically an intellectual property business and an entirely new way for a gaming company to innovate and break through the clutter," he said.
It was just another day of good old fashioned online poker at Event 2 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series V. The game was Limit H.O.R.S.E. and Full Tilt Pro David Singer was the host but it was online player SENDIT16 that stole the show. 
