Nevada sports books temporarily remove cell phone ban

Date: Fri, Aug 22, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

For one year as of yesterday, cell phones will now be allowed in Nevada race and sports books.

Cell phone ban regulation 22-135 (which includes any two-way electronic communication) was put into place in 1999 by the Nevada Gaming Commission to prevent people from betting for other people, as well as talking to bookies when the lines changed.

But that was 10 years ago, when cell phones weren't as ubiquitous as they are now, making it much more difficult to enforce.

But enforcing was still a requirement, and often when taking a call (or even texting someone) in the sportsbook, security would approach us and ask us to turn off our phone. We were even told to stop using the phone, when we were using the calculator part to determine odds.

And what of mobile gaming devices, which were approved by the gaming commission for use in sports books?

Cell phone use will now be allowed but "monitored" for one year to see how it goes and then decided whether the ban will be permanent.

Now we can play online poker on our mobile device in the sports book in peace!

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Mike Sexton has baby boy

Date: Thu, Aug 21, 2008

Congratulations are in order to World Poker Tour host Mike Sexton, a.k.a. "the ambassador of poker."

This morning, he and his wife Karen gave birth to new baby boy Ty Michael, coming in healthy at 8 lbs., 6 oz.

We're already putting over-unders on Ty's first word being "raise."

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Good News and Bad News for Poker Players

Date: Wed, Aug 20, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Our favorite power poker dame, Wendeen H. Eolis, is the CEO of New York based Eolis International Group a legal/business consultancy. She can just as easily be found conferring with world leaders or sitting with the boys at a high stakes poker table. The last few years she has generously given many hours of her valuable time to the tournament poker industry and has shared her considerable political expertise in the continuing pursuit of legalizing online poker for US poker players. Now for the good news.

Eolis is a charter member of the World Series of Poker Players Advisory Counsel (PAC). PAC was established by WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack in January 2006 with the goal of providing WSOP participants with a continuously upgraded tournament poker playing experience. Many of the PAC goals were accomplished in part through Pollack's undivided attention and subsequent rapid response to PAC's suggestions and player complaints. He also promised the PAC participants, "No topics will be off limits."

Evidence of the success of Pollack's PAC was easily found at the 2008 WSOP. Most everyone at the 2008 WSOP agreed it was, hands down, the best WSOP to date. Improved food, well thought out physical layout, record crowds but no long lines, separate satellite areas, isolated smoking areas, great fan access and improved event scheduling were just a few of the enhancements.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

And now the bad news. About the same time during 2006 poker professional Jesse Jones decided to establish an organization, World Poker Association (WPA), of poker players that could present a united front and empower players with control of the worldwide tournament poker industry. Unfortunately, Jones insisted that the organization strictly adhere to his personal agenda with long range goals of bringing every poker tournament under the control of his WPA.

The details of the WPA's up and down existence is detailed in the second and concluding installment of Wendeen H. Eolis' article, Inside Scoop on Poker Player Activism Part 2 of 2, now running as the feature on Poker Player Newspaper. If you missed Part 1 it is conveniently included with the article. Everyone with an interest in the behind the scenes of poker politics should give this a read, especially if you're considering contributing to or joining a poker player organization.

FYI: Power Poker Dameis the title of Wendeen H. Eolis' upcoming book.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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2008 WSOP Poker Faces Part II

Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

If two hours of poker on ESPN tonight isn't enough to get the adrenalin flowing then maybe these images will help. More of Flipchip's favorite poker faces from the 2008 WSOP. The second installment of views from the tournament floor, up close and personal. I hope to replicate the views a player has from a seat in the Big Poker Show, so whether you were at the Rio Resort in Las Vegas, or not, you can experience a few photos of the view.

All of today's poker faces were photographed on day 1 of the 2008 WSOP Event #1. A dozen photos after the jump...

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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Poker After Dark returns at Golden Nugget

Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

The late-night NBC show "Poker After Dark" returns for a 5th season at the Golden Nugget.

Shooting will take place Oct. 26 through Nov. 5, with 60 new shows beginning air Dec. 29. The schedule will stay the same and 2:05 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and a one-hour "Director's Cut" wrapup after "Saturday Night Live" on Saturdays.

Staying true to the original format, tables will be six-handed with a $20,000 buy-in with winner-take-all.

Leeann Tweeden will host, with expected players including Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, and Phil Ivey.

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WSOP Tueday Night Poker $50K H.O.R.S.E. on ESPN

Date: Mon, Aug 18, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

When does a world championship poker event not determine the best poker player in the world? When its the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship. Of course, we all know this is the true race for the best poker player in the world and you don't have to go much farther than the roll call of previous H.O.R.S.E. champions for proof. In the inaugural 2006 event the player considered by many to be the best all-around poke player was winner Chip Reese. The 2007 event crowned poker professional Freddy Deeb as the champion.

Even though the two hours of coverage for $50K H.O.R.S.E. event is over shadowed by the $10K Main Event's twenty-two hours of television it remains the event that the pros consider the most difficult to win. As the name "H.O.R.S.E." implies players must be masters of five vastly different poker games - Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or better. To survive the five grueling days of intense competition requires in-depth multi-game knowledge combined with endurance. This is especially true when considering the field is composed of professional poker's who's who. The final table seat roster and chip counts with the number of WSOP bracelets each player has won shown in parenthesis:

Seat 1: Matt Glantz 1,445,000
Seat 2: Huck Seed 1,200,000 (4)
Seat 3: Patrick Bueno 695,000
Seat 4: Lyle Berman 1,430,000 (3)
Seat 5: Scotty Nguyen 3,535,000 (5)
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein 1,955,000 (3)
Seat 7: Michael DeMichele 905,000
Seat 8: Erick Lindgren 3,680,000 (1)

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

A blue ribbon panel of poker players take a seat Tuesday night on ESPN at 8 PM EST. This bunch has a collection of 16 WSOP bracelets (includes the one Scotty wins for this event). Be sure to check local listing in your area for exact times of Tuesday's two hours of WSOP poker from ESPN Sports.

H.O.R.S.E.is one of my favorites to photograph with the star studded fields and a high dollar prize pool guaranteeing a prevailing air of excitement. One hundred forty-eight players began the event vying for a massive $7,104,000 prize pool. Tuesday's final table eight are playing for more than $5.25 million of the purse with the winner taking home $1,989,120 and the very special gold bracelet. This final table took 314 hands spread out over 13 hours of play to complete. You'll be seeing two hours gleaned from the actual 13 hours of the marathon final table.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

A selection of Flipchip photos from the five days of the event are waiting after the jump...

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Bodog Poker Open II Announced

Date: Fri, Aug 15, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

With their biggest poker tournament ever, the $250,000 Guaranteed, having just finished, Bodog is keeping the steam up with the announcement of the Bodog Poker Open II and it's even bigger guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.

The BPO II Main Event will have a $470 + $30 buy-in and happens October 5 at 4 p.m. ET.

BPO II qualifiers are now running daily with buy-ins starting at as low as 50 Bodog Poker Points.

Last March saw the inaugural BPO won by phatcat who walked away with the main event's first place prize of $76,280 and an Omega Speed Master watch valued at $4,400. The 596 player field got a great value as Bodog added $25,000 to the prize pool.

Similarly to last year there will also be a week of preliminary events preceding the Main Event with buy-ins ranging from $44 - $350. Preliminary event can be expected in early September.

You won't want to miss this tournament series as it's shaping up to be a classic. Get more information on the BPO II to find out how to win your seat to it.

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Bodog Poker Software Update Officially Released

Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

There has been a lot of time and lot of love poured into the latest incarnation of the Bodog Poker Software. And now, after months of beta-testing, the software is officially live and ready for download.

The main feature that they worked on for this latest poker software upgrade is the resizable tables.

You can also resize and remove features like the chat window, statistics, notes, profiles, game details, etc. which opens up the view of the table.

There are rumored to be more updates in the works so expect to see the limit to the number of tables that can be played at once increase.

You can download the Bodog Poker client yourself and tell us what you think.

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Venetian Poker Room Announces Deep Stack Extravaganza IV

Date: Wed, Aug 13, 2008

courtesy of venetian las vegas

Venetian resort's wildly popular Deep Stack Extravaganza poker tournament series has announced the fourth and final tournament for 2008. Scheduled for November 1 - 25, the Deep Stack Extravaganza IV (DSE) will feature 25 No-Limit Hold'em events with Buy-ins from $330 up to $2,500 for the Championship final.

The best part of these events is the very reason they named them "Deep Stack." Its all about the number of starting chips and the extended time of play levels. Even the $330 buy-in events start players with $10,000 in play money, plus an optional staff bonus add-on will get you even more bullets. Players in the $1,060 and $2,500 final event begin with $12, 500. Playing in the DSE is no different than entering one of the big major poker tournaments, with one big major exception, you don't need to take out a second mortgage to cover the buy-ins.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Kathy Raymond, director of poker operations for The Venetian, best sums up the Deep Stack Series.

"We are thrilled with the amount of excitement our Deep Stack Extravaganza series creates on the casino floor and throughout the poker community. The quality and experience of our staff along with the high starting chip counts and structure of the tournaments continues to draw players from different skill levels and from all over the world."

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Make your plans now to become a part of poker history as a player and champion of the the Deep Stack Extravaganza IV. The poker world will be focused on the luxurious Venetian poker room during the 25 days of big time Deep Stack poker. The final table of the championship event will take place 2 days before Thanksgiving, so what better way to start your holidays than a trip to the most copied poker tournament format anywhere, the Venetian's Deep Stack Extravaganza.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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WSOP Europe Online Qualifiers

Date: Tue, Aug 12, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

With all the talk about the WSOP final table and the November Nine it's easy to forget that there will be four other bracelets awarded before the nine even sit down.

The WSOP Europe is happening in London in September and October with the Main Event running September 27 - October 2.

Bodog is currently running daily WSOP Europe online qualifiers that can get you a seat in their Two Seats Guaranteed WSOPE Semifinal running September 7.

Bodog WSOP Europe prize packages include the buy-in (worth over $20,000 USD), plus roundtrip airfare, high-end car service to and from the airport, luxury hotel accommodations and £500 spending money. Plus, Bodog has been known to show it's players a pretty good time so who knows if they've got anything else up their sleeves.

Last year saw a Bodog player, Matt McCullough, take third place and claim the title of Last American Standing. His finish was good for $760,000.

Get the complete details on Bodog's WSOP Europe online qualifiers.

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Tuesday Night Poker Coming Your Way on ESPN

Date: Sun, Aug 10, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Tuesday night is poker night on ESPN. Even when the world's attention is turned into synchronized swimming, badminton, saber dueling and BB gun shooting some of you would rather be watching a few card players doing battle for a large pile of money. This week's, Tuesday August 12th, 2 hour installment, episodes 7 & 8, of exclusive coverage of the 2008 WSOP offers WSOP Event #5, $1,000 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em with rebuys.

With a prize pool of $2,894,094 at stake the 766 starting players did a total of 2,258 rebuys. The top 72 players get paid at least $8,103. The winner takes home $636,736 and a gold bracelet. The Day 1 crowd included many well known pros including a number of past WSOP Main Event champions. By the end of the second day the crowd had been reduced to the final table nine, a final table without a single WSOP ME Champion.

The action begins at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN; but, be sure to check local TV listings for exact times in your area. Take a break from the "other" sporting event happening in China and enjoy some high stakes poker. Another dozen Flipchip photos from the three days of the event after the jump...

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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Bodog Releases $250K Poker Props

Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

Bodog loves those poker props. They had dozens up during the WSOP and now they're keeping the ball rolling with their big upcoming $250K tournament and its own set of props.

They have put odds on how well the players will do pitting the top 10 from their current yearly poker tournament leader board against each other as well as the top 10 from last year's leader board.

A few names should jump out at you immediately on there, especially the ones who appear on both yearly TLB's like "thatsNice", "daisyxoxo", "Killa_Tyven"

Head over to the Bodog Sportsbook for all their poker props including their odds on the WSOP Final Table.

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Bodog $250K Guaranteed Tournament this Sunday

Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2008

photo courtesy BodogLife.com

This Sunday Bodog is taking its weekly $100K guaranteed poker tournament and injecting with some serious cash to make it $250,000 and the biggest guaranteed prize pool in Bodog Poker history.

The $250K event has a $270 buy-in and runs Sunday, August 10th at 4 p.m. ET. First place will win over $50,000. They are also juicing the pot by giving every single player who enters $25 in credit to be used on Bodog Live.

Bodog Live lets you bet in real time on sports like baseball and football where you try and guess what will happen next.

They are also offering plenty of way to get in cheap including a 100 Seat Guaranteed satellite that is happening on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The buy-in is $29.

There are also two ways to get into the 100 Seat Guaranteed tourney using nothing more than Bodog Poker Points. Find out more about their PTS satellites.

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Politics of Poker

Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2008

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Newsflash ... A recent independent study has determined that government (i.e. US Congress) funded studies serve no useful purpose other than to create even more confusion and results are generally ignored. Studies are great tools that allow politician to put off any commitment that could affect re-electability - "We'll study this issue until the elections are over." So, what does Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-NV, want to do? A study, of course. We'll do a one year study of Internet Poker, after all, it starts with a "P" and that rhymes with "T" and that stands for trouble!

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-TX, introduced a bill, H.R. 6663, just before the summer recess that would provide an exemption for on-line poker from the poorly defined Internet Gambling Ban (UIEGA) rammed through by former Senator Frist, R-TN. Now all the poker friends and foes are squaring off against this simple Sessions solution. Even the Poker Player Alliance (PPA) has publicly come out against the Session's bill because it would be the same as admitting that on-line poker was illegal. Right, the "same as" but not exactly the same. The basis of this PPA rejection is the bill would not clear up the confusion about the definition of unlawful Internet gambling. Perhaps we need another study to define "definitions."

The American Gaming Association, Nevada casino lobbyist, stated they are neutral on the Session's bill but would oppose any move to add it to their legislation of choice, the Shelley Berkley study. Please note, the Sessions bill would keep on-line sports betting as an illegal activity and Nevada casinos are really big on sports betting. I can open an account at a Las Vegas sports book then pick up my phone and wager on the sporting events of my choice; but, I can't fire up my computer and do the same thing. Which end of the egg is the right end to crack? Sounds a bit silly doesn't it?

You have to look far and wide to find anyone (other than the millions of US poker players that want to play on-line poker and bet on sporting events around the world without fear of arrest) that would support this legislation; but, one such person does exist. Jay Lakin, owner of Poker Source Online, has come out in favor of the bill. He said, since Nevada is the only state that allows sports betting the impact of the ban under the bill would be minimal.

And finally, why do the learned [sic] D.C. powers insist that poker and sports betting on-line be considered an evil entity. Because the Frist bill defined it as such? The truly simple answer here would be the repeal of the Frist bill and the legalization of online poker and sports wagering. Is there a sane person in the house? Paging Barney Frank, (D-MA), your seat is open in the poker room located right next to the sports book.

Wendeen H. Eolis has posted the first installment of "Inside Scoop on Poker Player Activism, Part 1" For those that don't know Wendeen just consider her to be one of the major poker industry powers and a poker player's best friend. Click on over to Poker Player Newspaper Online and read the real story.

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