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.
A three-way chop split the prize pool, but the spoils of being crowned a PokerStars.com Sunday Million winner belong entirely to Spain's vietcong01, who took down this week's title. Online poker.
Despite the competing Day 1c of the World Series of Poker, 6,821 runners still forked over the $200 buy-in and took their seat behind the keyboard, piling $1,364,200 into the prize pool. Play $500 match poker bonus.
An American champ seemed like a safe bet when it got down to six-handed play, with five of the remaining players from the U.S., but it was the Spaniard who outlasted them all - spiking a critical king on the river to crack aces with two pair for a 20 million chip pot along the way. Play route 66 poker.
When they had worked it down to three the ever-present chop came into play, and based on the standard PokerStars.com format that left $30,000 for the winner, third-place finisher Dallas Rob took the next highest payout at $102,631.32. Download poker wallpapers.
The rest of the final table results: Place Name Country Prize 1st vietcong01 Spain $157,154.29 2nd FcMunk U.S. $97,634.32 3rd Dallas Rob U.S. $102,631.79 4th program1 U.S. $54,568.00 5th CJCAT U.S. $40,926.00 6th sgloon U.S. $30,012.40 7th rkruok Australia $21,145.10 8th Mrsgardener Denmark $12,277.80 9th BSTLCU72 Italy $8,048.78
Ten players took their seats at the final table of the Borgata Poker Summer Open Championship last week - the surviviors of a tournament characterized by aggressive play and chips firing back and forth across the table.
When it got to the final table, however, and over $500k was on the line, play tightened up, as life-changing prize money tends to bring out even in the best of players.
In the end, it was three experienced pros - Andrew "AK" Barta, Paul McCaffrey, and Hoa Minh Nguyen - battling for control, with Barta finally overcoming the other two for the win, the $513, 925 and the Tag Heuer watch for the Championship. Play route 66 poker.
All of the final three were quite pleased with the results nonetheless, with all of them having huge smiles on their faces as the poker tournament ended.
Said Barta, as he accepted his prize: "It is a great honor for me to win this Championship. This tournament is a hidden jewel in the poker world and I can't wait to play more tournaments at Borgata." Play $500 match poker bonus.
McCaffrey, a Boston native who took home $283,080 for second place, also chipped in:
"I am really thrilled right now. I just felt good playing here all week. There were times at the final table that I had lost most of my chips, but I was able to fight back. This tournament is structured in a way that good players & women poker pros really have the advantage."
Nguyen took home $137,327 for his third place finish.
Stan Strickland, Director of Poker Operations, commented after the event he also was happy with the results:
"Borgata is pleased with the overwhelming response for the second annual Borgata Summer Open, further establishing Borgata as THE place to play poker on the East Coast. The Championship Event was a record-breaking event with the largest field ever in Atlantic City to participate in a $5,000 event." Download poker wallpapers.
Internet gaming enthusiast hopes to qualify inititative for ballot
