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Season Nine of the long running television show “World Poker Tour” begins taping today at Bellagio in Las Vegas with a $10,000 buy-in and a potential $1,000,000 first place prize. The Bellagio Cup VI will mark the 123rd open tournament in the WPT’s eight year existence as well as the 179th and 180th televised episodes when the high stakes battle airs as a two-parter in early 2011.

You’ve no doubt heard by now that Liv Boeree took down that European Poker Tour San Remo event yesterday, coming out on top of a huge field of 1,240 players to claim the €1,250,000 first prize. Lot of folks excited about it. Boeree becomes the third woman to win an EPT Main Event, following Vicky Coren (EPT London 2006) and Sandra Naujoks (EPT Dortmund 2009).

Boeree’s win also comes on the heels of Vanessa Selbst’s NAPT Mohegan Sun victory less than two weeks ago. And a month before that, Annie Duke took down the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship — not an “open” event, but still one in which men had only prevailed in the past.

Some object to assigning too much importance to women winning events such as these, arguing that doing so reinforces the significance of a player’s sex and thus suggests another kind of inequality in the way one views women players as opposed to men.

There’s something to that argument, I suppose. But still, it is hard not to recognize the uniqueness of women succeeding in these big buy-in, “big bet” tourneys, especially given the small number of women entering them as compared to men.

By the way, even before Selbst’s win at the NAPT Mohegan Sun, Jen Newell and I chose the topic of women & no-limit hold’em tourneys for our April “He Said/She Said” columns over at Woman Poker Player. There we were separately responding to a chapter in James McManus’s Cowboys Full in which he offers a few thoughts about why men seem “biologically inclined to sign up for” NLHE tourneys.

As we were working on our articles, Selbst won her NAPT title, and so we both ended up making reference to her win. You can see what else we said about McManus’s ideers here: He Said / She Said.

Last week I also wrote a post here called “Women and the WSOP.” There I mentioned how even though 12 different women had won open WSOP events, none had done so in a NLHE event (aside from Annette Obrestad’s 2007 WSOPE Main Event title). In that post I included a list of women who had won WSOP bracelets in open events, with Vera Richmond being the first to do so back in 1982 in the $1,000 buy-in Ace-to-Five Draw event.

Curiously, when people discuss this topic many tend to overlook Richmond’s victory and cite Barbara Enright’s 1996 bracelet in the $2,500 pot-limit hold’em event as the first by a woman in an open-field WSOP tourney. In fact, when it comes to poker history, Richmond is probably better known not for her WSOP bracelet but for her involvement in that story in which Amarillo Slim Preston allegedly said he’d cut his own throat if a woman ever won the WSOP Main Event — another story the accuracy of which sometimes gets skewed.

According to the story, at the 1973 WSOP Main Event, Richmond — who according to this had to have been the first woman ever to play in the Main Event — enjoyed the chip lead for a time, and during a break took the opportunity to tell Preston she intended to win the sucker. Preston (the reigning champ) responded by telling Richmond that if she were to win the tourney, she could cut his throat with a “dull knife.”

The exchange later got retold in such a way as to suggest Preston had threatened to cut his own throat, and that his threat referred to any woman winning the event (not just Richmond). Preston himself later would exploit the apocryphal version of the story, such as in 2000 when both Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert made deep runs in the Main Event, as recounted by McManus in Positively Fifth Street.

(EDIT [added 1:00 p.m.]: Actually there are other problems with this story, including the fact that Richmond didn’t play in the 1973 event at all. Hat tip to Kevmath here, who points us to an article by Susie Isaacs that suggests Barbara Freer was the first woman to play in the WSOP ME in 1978.)

That was about all I recalled about Vera Richmond, too, other than the fact that she always gets described as a “brusque cosmetics heiress” in histories and on the web. There was, however, a reference to Richmond not too long ago on the Gamblers Book Shop podcast (episode 63, 3/19/2010).

There guest Linda Johnson — the third woman to win a WSOP in an open event (1997, $1,500 Razz) — noted how Richmond “never got credit for her win,” referring to what I mentioned earlier about how Enright tends to be more readily cited as the first woman to win an open WSOP event.

Host Howard Schwartz asked Johnson why that was the case. “Well, she wasn’t very popular,” answered Johnson. “She was kind of mean and nasty… spoke like a truck driver, and nobody liked her. And so when she won her event, she never got credit for it, which isn’t right because plenty of asshole men have won and they are in the record books.”

Kind of interesting — and not that surprising — how the story of the first woman to win a WSOP open event appears to involve ideas of traditional “gender roles” as well as (in the Amarillo Slim story) men showing some resistance to the idea of women playing and succeeding.

Times have changed, certainly. The general enthusiasm about Boeree’s win yesterday — from both men and women — is evidence of that.

Sometime last year my friend Tim Peters sent me a very thoughtful gift — an original edition of Webster’s Poker Book (published in 1925).

The condition of the book is not mint by a long shot, with the worn edges, broken spine, and yellowing pages attesting to the book’s age. Still, a rarity of sorts, and I get a kick out of pulling it out now and then and mulling over its various advice and illustrations.

The book could be regarded as a primer of sorts for poker — one does learn rules, some strategy, odds, and other information of value to players. Mostly, though, it seems aimed at entertaining readers, a goal which it achieves throughout.

A short note at the front of the book explains that “IF YOU HAVE NEVER PLAYED POKER… This book will doubtless stimulate you to learn America’s favorite game.” Five-card draw is the game of choice here, with just about all of the discussion centering around that variant.

In addition to the instruction, there are also numerous anecdotes, funny stories, a history of poker, and other ephemera scattered throughout, the most famous of which being the illustrations by the famous American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster, better known as “H.T.” Indeed, you have probably seen some of these before reprinted in other poker books — a total of fifty different one-page cartoons, many of which graphically depict common and/or humorous situations discussed in the text.

Above is the cover, and here is the title page which lists all of Webster’s collaborators, too:

You see reference there to “a compartment containing a set of poker chips and a pad of I.O.U. forms embellished by Webster, ready for instant use.” The book actually does contain a little shelf inside the back cover which can be pulled out. The chips were long gone, but there are still some of the I.O.U. forms, designed for use at the end of the night at the home game. Here’s one of those:

There were also some postcards in there, the front of which featured advertisements for the book and the back a form which could be filled out before sending to your poker buddies. That picture at the bottom of the front side gives you an idea how the little shelf that slides out of the back cover works.

By the way, if you look back at that title page you might notice around the border images of the four suits plus what appear to be swastikas. Webster’s Poker Book appeared right about when the Nazi Party had first adopted the swastika (the first volume of Mein Kampf was also published in 1925, actually), a time when the symbol had yet to take on the connotations which we instantly associate with it. Indeed, before its appropriation by the Nazis, it was often considered a symbol of good luck, which I’m guessing had to be the reason why it was included here.

As I say, the cartoons are the main reason why this book is remembered, and so I wanted to share a few of them with you. All of them evoke ideas and concepts that are familiar to just about anybody who has played poker. A lot of grins to be found among ’em, too.

Here’s one that evokes a common theme in the book — the eternal struggle between husbands and wives over poker playing:

Here’s another that reminds us of something we’ve all felt after starting a session badly, then finding ourselves vainly trying to dig out of the hole:

And here’s one more suggesting one of the benefits of buying in for the maximum:

You can read more about H.T. Webster over on Wikipedia as well as in this sketch about him on the American Heritage site. And here’s another blog with a post about Webster that features a small sampling of the 16,000-plus cartoons he drew.

Thanks again, Tim, for a neat collector’s item!

By the way, I’m working on creating complete archive pages for the five sections of the blog — “On the Street,” “The Rumble,” “Shots in the Dark,” “High Society,” and “By the Book.” I’ve only finished one so far — “By the Book,” the section where I talk about poker books as well as hard-boiled fiction (though always try to relate things back to poker). So if you are interested in reading other book talk, check out that page and click around.

There are several story lines going into today’s final table of the Hollywood Poker Open in Indiana. Pick your favorite from the ones below and follow the action with WPT Live Updates later today.

Is Carlos Mortensen the Greatest NLHE tournament player of all time? You can argue all you want for Hellmuth or Ivey or Brunson or Ungar but look at the Matador’s record. The only man in history to win the WSOP and WPT World Championships. Over nine million in career earnings. The highest ROI in WPT history. A WPT cash rate of over 25%. And now he’s poised to join Gus Hansen as the only three-time WPT champ and pass Daniel Negreanu as the top money winner in WPT history. Carlos is King.

No matter where he finishes today Chris Bell will become the 120th WPT millionaire. Congrats to Chris, but I’m sure what he wants is that WPT bracelet so he doesn’t always have to take a back seat to his WPT champion friends, Michael Gracz and Gavin Smith.

This is almost ridiculous to write but Ravi Raghavan is the third University of Illinios graduate to make a WPT final table this season. All the more remarkable is that Faraz Jaka, Andy Seth and now Ravi all played in the same dorm room poker game. The University of Waterloo may have to give up its title as the world’s greatest poker school.

**Update #1 - Jerry Payne eliminated in sixth place. Carlos now trails Daniel by $108,808.
**Update #2 - U of I may be four for four on WPT final tables but they are 0 for 4 in WPT titles. Ravi Raghavan eliminated in 5th place earning $105,234. The Matador from Ecuador now only $89,076 behind Kid Poker.
** Update #3 - Michael Gracz is still the best poker player from North Carolina as Chris Bell has busted in fourth place. Side bar rankings have been updated to reflect Chris’s new standing as 120th WPT millionaire. Daniel has a true sweat now as he is only $46,325 in front of Carlos.
** Update #4 - Carlos Mortensen moves into first place on WPT All Time Money list as Frank Calo goes out in third. Next up on Carlos’s to do list: Gus Hansen.
** Update #5 - Mortensen has done it. Most money on tour, tied for most titles, highest ROI. Carlos is King.

Yesterday it was announced that there will be a “Tournament of Champions” at this summer’s World Series of Poker, reviving an event that last officially took place in 2006. The new TOC will be a 27-player freeroll tournament with a $1 million prize pool, $500,000 of which will go to the champions’ champion.

The field will include 20 players voted on via an internet poll. Only “living WSOP bracelet winners” are eligible as candidates. (No dead guys!) In his article about the event, Stephen A. Murphy notes there are currently 521 living bracelet holders.

Only one vote per email address, so ballot-box stuffing will only work to the extent that a person uses multiple emails. Voting is now open and will remain so through June 15. One can track how the voting is going by checking the current “Top 50” vote-getters (presented in random order) on the WSOP site. Should be interesting to watch that list over the next three months to see which players prove most popular.

Five more spots will be filled by the TOC winners from its last incarnation (2004-2006), Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, and Mike Sexton, plus last year’s WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada and WSOPE Main Event winner Barry Shulman. The last two seats are being reserved for “wild card exceptions” — no word as yet what that means, although Harrah’s VP Ty Stewart has said it could be that those spots will be taken by winners of online tourneys.

Sounds like the TOC, like the Main Event, will have its own delay (of sorts) insofar as the tourney is set to begin on Sunday, June 27 and then conclude on the following Sunday, July 4 (an off-day for the Main Event). This will be a televised event, too (on ESPN, natch).

I’m referring to this as TOC 3.0 because the “original” TOC — the one envisioned by Mike Sexton in the late 1990s and run from 1999-2001 at the Orleans Casino — while not specifically connected with the WSOP, not only shared the same name but had a couple of features not completely unrelated to those of the new TOC.

That original Tournament of Champions lasted for three years (1999-2001). There was an entry fee ($1,500 the first year, and $2,000 the next two), but it was not an open tournament. Rather, one earned the right to enter by various means, including winning a WSOP bracelet, winning a TOC-sanctioned event, winning the TOC itself, or being a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Reading about the original TOC online, I’ve encountered conflicting reports on those qualifications, but you get the picture. The idea was to create a “champions” event involving the best of the best — sort of like the “Tour Championship” that comes at the end of the year in golf to which only the top money winners for the year are invited.

One other nifty aspect of the original TOC — it was a mixed-game event that featured different games throughout. The first two days players rotated between limit hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, and seven-card stud. Then on the final day, the last 27 players played no-limit hold’em.

That first year, 1999, there were 664 entrants, and David Chiu was the winner, with Louis Asmo finishing second and Doyle Brunson third. There was a somewhat famous hand between Chiu and Asmo at the final table, one in which following some preflop action Chiu folded pocket kings face up, and Asmo revealed he held pocket aces. Click here to read Lee Munzer’s description of that hand, along with an interview with Asmo.

In 2000, 440 players entered the event, with a computer programmer named Spencer Sun taking the title. The great poker reporter Andy Glazer participated that year (as he did in ’99, I believe), and finished a respectable 35th. Glazer reported on the event for PokerPages, and you can read what he had to say here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

In 2001, there were 402 entries, and Brian Saltus won, defeating T.J. Cloutier heads up. Scotty Nguyen finished third, and Miami John Cernuto fourth. Lee Munzer wrote up the first day of action for PokerPages here (giving Andy Glazer a chance to concentrate on playing), then Glazer wrote up Day 2 and Day 3.

The TOC was discontinued, then the name was used again for that one-table, ten-player event won by Annie Duke in 2004. I mentioned this one last week — no entry fee, $2 million prize pool, winner-take-all. Harrah’s had recently acquired the WSOP, and as they donated the prize pool, the TOC became associated with the WSOP.

In 2005, 111 players earned their way into the event by winning either WSOP bracelets or WSOP Circuit events. A bit of a hubbub that year also as three additional players — Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan — were allowed to play as “sponsor exemptions,” and in fact all three did well, finishing 13th (Chan), 10th (Brunson), and third (Hellmuth). Mike Matusow won the event and the $1,000,000 first prize. The rest of the prize pool — another $1 million — was divided among the other eight players who made the final table.

In 2006, the TOC was reduced to a 27-player invitational tourney, with the nine WSOP Main Event final tablists and 11 WSOP Circuit event winners all playing along with seven other “exemptions.” Mike Sexton won that year, defeating Daniel Negreanu heads-up. Again, the prize pool — donated by Harrah’s — totaled $2 million, with half of that going to Sexton for winning.

Now, after a four-year hiatus, the TOC is back. Already seeing debates on Twitter and in the forums about the new format. Kind of a popularity contest, really, as far as who will primarily make up the field. But it should prove interesting nonetheless — another good buzz-creator.

I see Dr. Pauly has already shared his voting guide. Who is getting my vote? Billy Baxter FTW!

Phil Hellmuth is the chip leader with 15 left at the 2010 Bay 101 Shooting Star. “The Greatest No Limit Hold’em Player Alive” has eleven WSOP bracelets, is fifth on the All Time Money list with over $11,000.000 in career earnings and yet a win tomorrow would be the biggest single cash of his life. You, sir are exceedingly overdue.

WPT Stat Monkey Factoid of the Day: Other great players whose biggest career win is a WPT title? Phil Ivey (LAPC $1,596,100), Daniel Negreanu (Five Diamond $1,770,218) and Doyle Brunson (Legends of Poker $1,198,260).

Was following that NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship over the weekend in which Annie Duke ended up surviving six heads-up matches, including winning two of three against Erik Seidel in the finals, to capture the $500,000 first prize. I said on Friday that despite the relatively fast, made-for-TV structures for most of the matches — as well as the inherent luck involved in any given heads-up match — “anyone who manages to win… will have accomplished something noteworthy.”

That Duke won will probably further fuel debates over the relative significance of the event in terms of its measure of poker skill. Of course, anything involving Duke tends further to fuel debates in the poker world.

The fact is, besides now being known by many as a reality TV star, Duke is a highly accomplished poker player. Just looking at her WSOP record, it’s kind of amazing. She has 38 total cashes for over $1.12 million (I think the WSOP site is missing one, her cash in the 1995 Main Event), 15 final tables, three runner-ups, and one bracelet (the $2,000 Omaha/8 event in 2004). All in open events, incidentally, and in a wide variety of games (no-limit hold’em, limit hold’em, Omaha/8, stud, stud/8, and pot-limit Omaha).

Of course, Duke’s biggest win in terms of career earnings was that $2 million score for winning the 2004 Tournament of Champions event, which, like the NBC Heads-Up event, was a tourney she was invited to play. In fact, only ten players were invited, and while Duke outlasted a genuinely tough field (Hellmuth, Lederer, Chan, Raymer, Brunson, Negreanu, Ivey, Cloutier, and Reese), some have downplayed the significance of her having so significantly boosted her total career tourney winnings in this single-table freeroll.

So I think there is probably a bit of prejudice already in place to downgrade Duke’s triumph this weekend. Interestingly, two articles turned up on Sunday — before Duke had won — that differently addressed the significance of the event. One was a piece over on Casino City Times by Gary Trask with the headline “NBC Heads-Up event held in high regard by poker pros.” The other was a blog post by Daniel Negreanu in which he rated the “World’s Top Ten Toughest Tournaments.”

At first glance, the articles may appear to share a common focus — namely, to highlight those tourneys the top players hold in “high regard” as genuine achievements if one wins. Indeed, Negreanu’s article does provide a somewhat thorough ranking of tourneys’ “toughness” according to three primary criteria: strength of field, structure, and field size. While his list certainly invites debate — e.g., ranking the WSOP Main Event as the sixth-toughest tourney and putting a couple of yet-to-be-played events at the top of his list — it is clear Negreanu is focusing mainly on how well the events test players’ tourney skills.

The Casino City Times article rather focuses on other factors affecting players’ “high regard” — namely the enjoyment they get from participating, the fun of competing (and earning bragging rights with friends/colleagues), and the intangible benefits of succeeding in a high-profile, televised event.

Trask quotes Phil Gordon noting how “we all want to play in it” and how “the fact that it’s a heads-up, one-on-one match really brings the whole ego thing into the equation.” However, Gordon recognizes how the tourney may rate lower on a “toughness” scale such as the one Negreanu put together. “[W]e all realize that when it comes right down to it, this is a crapshoot,” says Gordon. “There’s just so much luck involved in a one-time heads-up match.”

Negreanu does mention at the end of his list how the NBC Heads-Up event’s fast structure necessarily eliminates it from consideration as one of the “toughest” tourneys. But the question remains of how to rate the achievement of someone who does win the event. As an NBC Heads-Up champ, Duke joins a list of other highly accomplished players — Hellmuth, Forrest, Wasicka, Ferguson, and Seed. Each enjoyed some good fortune along the way to win their titles, but such is true for all tourney winners to some degree.

I’ll stick to the idea that winning it is “something noteworthy,” though doubt Duke’s win will necessarily up the NBC Heads-Up event’s status as an especially “tough” test for players.

The best bull riders and bulls in the world will congregate at the South Strip Hotel and Casino on March 26th & 27th, 2010 for a two night event full of thrills, chills and spills. The 2010 CBR Tour presented by Mahindra will bring some of the biggest names in bull riding will competing in a series of categories for cash and prizes, including current CBR World Champion, Hugo Pedrero, along with Clayton Williams, Cooper Kanngiesser and 08-09 PRCA World Champion, J W Harris.

Both events will feature lucrative payouts for stock contractors. On Friday, March 26th, a guaranteed $72,000 will be paid to “Bull Game” participants, which is only open to 3 and 4 year old bulls. On Saturday March 27th, CBR Bull Team owners will compete in a 3-bull team competition with a $75,000 in guaranteed prizes.  This event is the first of a 5-part CBR Bull Team Challenge Series which will pay $400,000 in prize money in 2010.

Led by bull riding icon, Tuff Hedeman, the 2010 Championship Bull Riding kicked off on February 6th,  2010 in Hobbs, New Mexico. Other dates on the schedule include the return of the CBR to Nashville in spring, plus stops in Texas in May, Del Rio, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma for two nights in April. The 2010 Tour Finale will return to the Kemper Arena in Kansas City once again in October. Each stop in the 2010 CBR Tour features a two hour show with more than 20 events and over 100,000 fans in live attendance.

Event Activities:
Friday, March 26, 2010
6:30pm - Doors Open
8:00pm - South Point Hotel and Casino Tuff Hedeman Vegas Shootout

Saturday, March 27, 2010
6:30pm - Doors Open
8:00pm - South Point Hotel and Casino Tuff Hedeman Vegas Shootout

Tickets and room packages are available now by calling the South Point at 866-796-7111. Ticket prices start at ONLY $15. To book rooms at the South Point Hotel, please click here.

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Team Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing, has signed a sponsorship deal with the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on Las Vegas Strip that will showcase the resort’s logo on two of its cars during this weekend’s Shelby American 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing is thrilled to get together with Planet Hollywood. Las Vegas is always a fun race, and to get such a huge player like Planet Hollywood on board with our Ford Fusions will make it even better. I know they have a lot of excitement over there at the casino, and we put on a pretty good show at the speedway, too. For a fan, sounds like a perfect weekend.” said Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing.

The resort and casino’s logo will be displayed on the lower-rear quarter panels of  Travis Kvapil’s No. 34 and David Gilliland’s No. 38 Ford Fusions. The partnership is a perfect combination of the high stakes and fast action of both Las Vegas entertainment and NASCAR racing.

“This is a great opportunity for Planet Hollywood to reach the NASCAR audience. In addition to the fans at the track, there are millions of fans watching on television, and we’re excited they’ll see the Planet Hollywood name on the cars.” said Robyn Peot, Vice President of Brand Marketing for Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The annual Shelby American 500 will take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, February 28th, at 3 p.m. Tickets for the Shelby American 500 still available online, for more information, please visit WDIAV Ticket section or click here.

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Full Tilt Poker and Karma Foundation are teaming up to present the annual Kandy Masquerade. Known for its seduction and mystery, Kandy Masquerade will take place on Saturday, February 27th, at 8:0 PM at the world famous Playboy Mansion.

The Kandy Masquerade will provide toiling L.A. Poker Classic poker players an opportunity to take a break from this season’s longest running tournament. To accommodate players attending Kandy Masquerade, LAPC tournament director Matt Savage has slated an 8:00 PM break on Day 2 of the main event.

In addition of all the excitement and poker event, the party will feature live music by World renowned DJ’s DJ MisterE and Paul Oakenfold. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Kandy events are synonymous for sexy themes, great entertainment, exquisite décor, and best of all, lots of beautiful women clad with only masks and intimate lingerie partying and dancing with gentlemen masked in dark clad attire, reminiscent of a Venetian Carnival. Dress code requires men to wear masks and black attire.

Tickets are $1,000 in advance. The price includes admission, complimentary parking at the Roosevelt Hotel, shuttle to the Playboy Mansion, heavy hors d’ oeuvres, dinner, dessert, open premium bars, and live entertainment.

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