Casino Planet Cash

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Nancy Cartwright will host the 5th Annual Happy House Poker Tournament and BBQ at her home in Northridge Saturday, April 24 from 1 PM to 6 PM. Nancy Cartwright is the iconic voice of Bart Simpson.

Adults (21 years or older) are invited to take part in a charity poker tournament stacked with celebrities and poker pros. The game is Texas Hold’em and players may Rebuy for $10. BBQ and plenty of games for the kids make it a family affair.

Sixty bucks buys a seat in the poker tournament and the BBQ. Fifteen dollars covers the tab for just the BBQ. Children under 12 are FREE. Poker players should arrive by Noon for the 1 PM start.

More information is available by calling 818.882.7483 or visit www.HappyHouse.org. Proceeds go to Happy House and its mission to Build Better Families.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Nancy Cartwright will host the 5th Annual Happy House Poker Tournament and BBQ at her home in Northridge Saturday, April 24 from 1 PM to 6 PM. Nancy Cartwright is the iconic voice of Bart Simpson.

Adults (21 years or older) are invited to take part in a charity poker tournament stacked with celebrities and poker pros. The game is Texas Hold’em and players may Rebuy for $10. BBQ and plenty of games for the kids make it a family affair.

Sixty bucks buys a seat in the poker tournament and the BBQ. Fifteen dollars covers the tab for just the BBQ. Children under 12 are FREE. Poker players should arrive by Noon for the 1 PM start.

More information is available by calling 818.882.7483 or visit www.HappyHouse.org. Proceeds go to Happy House and its mission to Build Better Families.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Nancy Cartwright will host the 5th Annual Happy House Poker Tournament and BBQ at her home in Northridge Saturday, April 24 from 1 PM to 6 PM. Nancy Cartwright is the iconic voice of Bart Simpson.

Adults (21 years or older) are invited to take part in a charity poker tournament stacked with celebrities and poker pros. The game is Texas Hold’em and players may Rebuy for $10. BBQ and plenty of games for the kids make it a family affair.

Sixty bucks buys a seat in the poker tournament and the BBQ. Fifteen dollars covers the tab for just the BBQ. Children under 12 are FREE. Poker players should arrive by Noon for the 1 PM start.

More information is available by calling 818.882.7483 or visit www.HappyHouse.org. Proceeds go to Happy House and its mission to Build Better Families.

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!

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Poker pros, Hollywood celebrities, and fans will be joining the world’s most feared female poker player, Jennifer Harman, at The Venetian Poker Room in Las Vegas Tuesday, April 13, for the Fourth Annual Charity Poker Tournament benefiting the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Nevada SPCA) No-Kill Animal Sanctuary.

A Red Carpet is planned for 4PM and the $300 + $30 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament is set to get under way at 5PM. Win the tournament and walk away with a $10,000 seat in the 2010 WSOP Main Event along with a nice Curtis & Co. watch. Additionally, the top ten finishers will share donated prizes worth $30,000.

But the best part is doing something to help with the tough problems facing abandoned pets in Nevada. The economic hard times have resulted in thousands of pets being left behind on the mean streets to fend for themselves.

Complete event information is available at the Fourth Annual Charity Poker Tournament website.

“If this were yesterday what time would it be now?”

Asked Vera of me late last evening. By then most of the clocks in the house had already been readjusted to account for Daylight Savings Time. But still, certain questions remained.

Somehow the day the clocks change always sneaks up on us. In the fall, it’s a pleasant surprise. (A-ha, extra hour of weekend to enjoy!) In the spring, though, when we lose that hour, it always feels like an especially rude theft from our rightfully allotted period of leisure.

And now it’s Monday morning already. Work to do.

Speaking of leisure time, I did get a chance over the last couple of days to sit at the online tables briefly. After a spell of nothing but Rush Poker (pot-limit Omaha) for a few weeks, I’ve moved back over to the ring games for the most part, splitting time between PLO and limit hold’em. I will every now and then jump back into the Rush Poker pool once in a while for a few quick laps, though.

Going back and forth like this highlights a couple of key differences between the formats. One, obviously, is all that rushing that goes on in Rush Poker. No time for nothin’. You do end up logging right about three times as many hands than in the ring games. I say “logging” rather than “playing,” because, well, you aren’t really “playing” a lot of those hands that are whizzing by. You’re folding them and letting others play them. Or quick folding them.

The other big difference is obvious, too — the whole “table image” game-within-the-game that gets mostly lost in Rush Poker, but which is essential in the regular ring games.

I realize going back to the ring games how much I enjoy this aspect of poker. The collecting of clues. The telling of tales. The stuff that happens when we slow down, take a look around the table, and start figgerin’ what it is all these people are up to with their checks and bets and raises. And what it is we are up to, too.

I wish I had more time to reflect on these things. If this were yesterday, there’d be time to do so. But the weekend’s gone and I’ve got to get to work.

“And now to a little Texas hold’em up!”

That’s how Tony Kornheiser introduced a short segment on Monday’s “Pardon the Interruption” regarding the heist that occurred at the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event last Saturday. After a brief summary of what happened, Kornheiser then opened up what would amount to a 90-second discussion of the story with his co-host Michael Wilbon by posing the following question:

“Wilbon, do you see this as a serious breach of the law, or an exciting new twist to televised poker coverage?!”

Kornheiser’s tone (and grin) made it clear he was being sarcastic, but bringing up the topic this way seemed to indicate the somewhat cynical view the hosts and other sports journalists have about poker butting its way onto ESPN and the sports section. And, as it turned out, Wilbon’s answer made it sound as though he understood the question somewhat seriously.

After starting with a joke asking about Norman Chad’s whereabouts at the time of the robbery, Wilbon described his thoughts when watching the video clip from EPT Live showing the tourney suddenly getting interrupted.

“Watching from afar, I’m like… this is like a wrestling promotion!” said Wilbon. “This was like a set-up to get more attention — to get goofballs like you and me talking about this stuff — and it seems like an exciting new development. Like a car chase on CNN!”

Kornheiser agreed it was exciting stuff, suggesting that the incident “will be a movie within a year.” The conversation quickly concluded after a couple of incredulous reactions at the level of security that allowed the theft to occur. (By the way, a tip of the fedora to Gary Wise for mentioning the PTI segment earlier this week in his ESPN column.)

I guess I can’t really blame Kornheiser or Wilbon for reacting this way. For those who have never participated in, covered, or attended a real live high-stakes poker tournament, there’s a lot of mystery about what goes on. In other words, I guess I am saying I am inclined to pardon “Pardon the Interruption” here. Though I ain’t necessarily congratulating them for any special insight, either.

Given poker’s storied history in the U.S. — a history filled with cheats and thieves and other “hold’em up”-style scenes — I can see how some hearing of the EPT Berlin robbery wouldn’t necessarily appreciate how uncommon an event it really was. (Heck, I remember the first time I went out to cover the WSOP getting asked about how I’d handle being around gangsters. No shinola!)

Obviously the robbery was not “a set-up” or some sort of promotional gimmick. (And, really, to think it was would require a heckuva lot of cynicism.) Not that the EPT or any of the other professional poker tours would even desire this sort of attention, or expect it to help stimulate their growth.

I had the chance to talk with one of the players who was still in the Main Event at the time of the robbery on Saturday — Ilya Gorodetsky. In fact, he was seated at the feature table when the interruption occurred. In my interview with the Russian player, he told me how some initially thought it might have been some sort of joke. But it soon became clear it was not.

You can read the full interview over on Betfair, where it was posted this morning: “Fright at the Feature Table: EPT Berlin.” Big thanks again to Ilya for taking the time to talk with me.

Here’s to a less exciting weekend this time, eh?

As a child, I watched lots of television. Didn’t distinguish me much. We all did it, just about. Except for that new kid with the fussy parents who wouldn’t let you come in past the foyer when you went over to see if he could play. Word was they didn’t allow TV, for whatever reason. Or maybe it was just one hour a day. The rest of us, though, we watched and watched and watched.

I remember coming home from school and watching “All in the Family” and “Match Game” back-to-back. Both shows were filled with adult-themed references my elementary-school-sized brain couldn’t hope to follow. But I watched nonetheless. ’Cos, well, it was what was on. Then I watched the next show and the one that came after that. Did homework in there somewhere. Ate dinner. And somehow I became a reader, too, despite all the hours in front of the tube.

It really wasn’t until I got to college that I finally turned the TV off. Much, much more interesting things to do, it turned out. Gradually over the years since then I began watching again, but in the last couple of years or so TV has once more begun to fade away from the day-to-day. Vera and I have two sets, but weeks go by without the one upstairs being turned on. The downstairs set gets played a few times a week, though usually it is sports (my choice), home shows (hers), or “30 Rock” (both). And that’s about it.

All of which is to say, I’m almost never watching poker on TV anymore, despite the preponderance of shows available to watch. Sometimes I’ll go online to see an episode or three of “Poker After Dark” or “High Stakes Poker,” or perhaps to catch the latest “Poker2Nite,” but usually doing so is an afterthought — i.e., not something I’m actively seeking out or for which I’m scheduling time.

I did happen to see some of the WSOP Europe coverage on ESPN (or ESPN2) the other day. Caught some of that “Caesars Cup” won by the Europeans against the Americans (and Canadian). The show was somewhat interesting to follow, although the poker was hardly compelling since the crazy-fast structure meant it was all-in-all-the-time. The “doubles” matches — especially those “alternate bet” ones that had teammates taking turns street by street — presented a couple of curious moments, but again the big, big blinds tended to mute whatever novel strategic questions might have been suggested by the format.

I also caught the first episode of the new season of “High Stakes Poker” a couple of days ago, which remains a very entertaining and engaging show, I think. I had been prepared to come away with some sort of opinion about the decision to remove A.J. Benza as co-host and Gabe Kaplan’s straight man, and to introduce Kara Scott in a different role (not commentating but interviewing players). But I was too distracted by Phil Ivey and the others gobbling up Phil Hellmuth’s $200,000 stack of chips within the first half-hour. (I’ll try to watch a few more episodes, then come back down the road with some sort of review of the current season.)

I remember hearing the guys on the 2+2 Pokercast talk about how they almost felt sorry for Hellmuth there. I guess I understood what they meant — was a pretty desperate stretch of hands for the Poker Brat — though I can’t say I shared the sentiment.

No need to feel sorry for Hellmuth today, of course, as he is currently the chip leader with 27 players left at the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star event. Close behind are Hassan Habib (2nd) and Andy Seth (3rd), with Matt Keikoan (5th), Faraz Jaka (7th), and Chau Giang (9th) lurking. Jonathan Little and Scotty Nguyen still have chips, too.

Could make for a good TV final table down the road, I guess. I’ll watch, if there isn’t something else to do.

(Post title via the 1973 comedy LP by Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman, one of those Firesign Theatre side projects. “Give Up This Day” still cracks me up. “Good bless you, and God night, and please don’t touch that dial…”)

As a child, I watched lots of television. Didn’t distinguish me much. We all did it, just about. Except for that new kid with the fussy parents who wouldn’t let you come in past the foyer when you went over to see if he could play. Word was they didn’t allow TV, for whatever reason. Or maybe it was just one hour a day. The rest of us, though, we watched and watched and watched.

I remember coming home from school and watching “All in the Family” and “Match Game” back-to-back. Both shows were filled with adult-themed references my elementary-school-sized brain couldn’t hope to follow. But I watched nonetheless. ’Cos, well, it was what was on. Then I watched the next show and the one that came after that. Did homework in there somewhere. Ate dinner. And somehow I became a reader, too, despite all the hours in front of the tube.

It really wasn’t until I got to college that I finally turned the TV off. Much, much more interesting things to do, it turned out. Gradually over the years since then I began watching again, but in the last couple of years or so TV has once more begun to fade away from the day-to-day. Vera and I have two sets, but weeks go by without the one upstairs being turned on. The downstairs set gets played a few times a week, though usually it is sports (my choice), home shows (hers), or “30 Rock” (both). And that’s about it.

All of which is to say, I’m almost never watching poker on TV anymore, despite the preponderance of shows available to watch. Sometimes I’ll go online to see an episode or three of “Poker After Dark” or “High Stakes Poker,” or perhaps to catch the latest “Poker2Nite,” but usually doing so is an afterthought — i.e., not something I’m actively seeking out or for which I’m scheduling time.

I did happen to see some of the WSOP Europe coverage on ESPN (or ESPN2) the other day. Caught some of that “Caesars Cup” won by the Europeans against the Americans (and Canadian). The show was somewhat interesting to follow, although the poker was hardly compelling since the crazy-fast structure meant it was all-in-all-the-time. The “doubles” matches — especially those “alternate bet” ones that had teammates taking turns street by street — presented a couple of curious moments, but again the big, big blinds tended to mute whatever novel strategic questions might have been suggested by the format.

I also caught the first episode of the new season of “High Stakes Poker” a couple of days ago, which remains a very entertaining and engaging show, I think. I had been prepared to come away with some sort of opinion about the decision to remove A.J. Benza as co-host and Gabe Kaplan’s straight man, and to introduce Kara Scott in a different role (not commentating but interviewing players). But I was too distracted by Phil Ivey and the others gobbling up Phil Hellmuth’s $200,000 stack of chips within the first half-hour. (I’ll try to watch a few more episodes, then come back down the road with some sort of review of the current season.)

I remember hearing the guys on the 2+2 Pokercast talk about how they almost felt sorry for Hellmuth there. I guess I understood what they meant — was a pretty desperate stretch of hands for the Poker Brat — though I can’t say I shared the sentiment.

No need to feel sorry for Hellmuth today, of course, as he is currently the chip leader with 27 players left at the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star event. Close behind are Hassan Habib (2nd) and Andy Seth (3rd), with Matt Keikoan (5th), Faraz Jaka (7th), and Chau Giang (9th) lurking. Jonathan Little and Scotty Nguyen still have chips, too.

Could make for a good TV final table down the road, I guess. I’ll watch, if there isn’t something else to do.

(Post title via the 1973 comedy LP by Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman, one of those Firesign Theatre side projects. “Give Up This Day” still cracks me up. “Good bless you, and God night, and please don’t touch that dial…”)

Was gonna write today about my having played a couple of sessions recently at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Also might’ve written something about Annie Duke taking down the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship last night, defeating Erik Seidel in the finals. But we had some breaking news over the weekend, so I’ll save those topics for now.

And when I say breaking news, I really mean it. Tables, equipment, cashiers’ boxes. And order, custom, routine — all breaking, in dramatic fashion.

Like a lot of us poker people here in the States, we awoke Saturday morning to learn something unexpected had happened at the European Poker Tour Main Event in Berlin. “There has been an unscheduled break in the action,” reported Danafish over on PokerNews. Understated, that.

Soon we’d discover an armed robbery had taken place. I read through numerous tweets from colleagues and friends reporting it had happened, and while it was quickly evident no one was seriously hurt, the news was nevertheless mighty troubling to read.

I had just worked with a number of those same folks at the NAPT Venetian a week before, and have myself had the opportunity to work an EPT event during this sixth season of the tour — the opener in Kyiv, Ukraine last August. I could quickly imagine the strangeness and uncanny feeling of a carefully planned and smoothly run poker tournament suddenly being interrupted by shouting, running, and other types of chaos. I could also imagine the fright of being around people with guns who were not there to preserve the order, but to disrupt it.

Of course, I didn’t have to use my imagination for long, as clips of the robbery soon surfaced online. I got a chance to view some of those vids before they were taken down. Here is a PokerNews report that includes what it looked like on EPT Live when the interruption occurred, as well as an interview with an investigating officer:

Kevmath quickly compiled more information over on Pokerati in a series of posts, some of which were additionally accompanied by more video and photos. Click on through for more interviews of eyewitnesses and other unsettling reportage:

EPT Berlin halted by robbery attempt (3/6/10)
EPT Berlin armed robbery attempt (3/6/10)
EPT Berlin final table (3/7/10)

I suppose ever since The Blair Witch Project and various “reality” TV shows we’ve grown somewhat accustomed to viewing shaky cameras and unedited, raw footage. But when it’s really real… well, it’s no fun at all. Especially when guns and machetes are involved.

A lot of misreporting, apparently, regarding what exactly happened, including some exaggeration of the booty — called a “jackpot” in some places (like on MSNBC) — as being as much as €1,000,000. Also some loose talk of machine guns and other what not, when that apparently wasn’t true, either.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that four men, armed with pistols and a machete, made off with “more than €100,000 ($136,000)” following the Saturday afternoon heist, and that they remain at large. The article reports that eight people were injured amid all of the running around.

Detectives are now on the case, looking at the various videos and photos taken, and having obtained fingerprints of one of the robbers. And while the robbers were wearing masks — making identifications more difficult — Michael Gassen, speaking for the investigators, says “I am confident we will solve the case.”

I’ve reported from tourneys in American casinos, where I’ve generally felt especially safe thanks to all of the surveillance cameras and security everywhere you turn. When I went to Ukraine last summer, the event took place at the Kyiv Sport Palace — not a regular casino — and while there was security present I’ll admit to having wondered a little about just how secure the place was.

The event at EPT Berlin was not at a casino, either, but in a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. There were security guards present, though they were not armed. Most accounts suggest these guys acted heroically, despite the threats of physical harm to themselves. That picture at left (from the Berlin news site B.Z.), shows one of the guards temporarily subduing a suspect. Apparently the guard forced him to relinquish some of the money before the suspect was able to flee.

The WSJ article quotes Kirsty Thompson, an EPT spokesperson, saying how the tour “works closely with all its venues to ensure that appropriate security is in place” and that they “will continue to do so going forward, and step up efforts even further after this incident.”

After a delay of three hours or so, the Main Event was continued and played down to a winner on Sunday. I’m glad it was completed as scheduled, and especially glad the players and reporters all made it through in relatively good shape.

Like I say, something uncanny about a poker tournament, so carefully managed with rules of play, precise timing, and incessant order (or, at least, the effort to maintain such) being so brazenly disrupted. Then again, poker players and reporters are somewhat seasoned to expect the unexpected, which might explain why most seemed to have taken the incident in stride.

Tom McEvoy once characterized no-limit hold’em as “hours of boredom and moments of sheer terror.” He was of course speaking of surprise check-raises or awaiting a response to one’s all-in bluff — not uninvited, armed thugs suddenly forcing themselves into the game.

Even so, poker does encourage those who play to be able to adapt to unforeseen occurrences, including potentially violent ones. (Open up Doyle Brunson’s memoir, The Godfather of Poker, to just about any page for examples.) I’m guessing that skill served some or most of those who were forced to endure the 15 minutes or so of “terror” Saturday afternoon.

Even so, let’s hope no one will need to demonstrate that sort of adaptive ability on the circuit again anytime soon.