Casino Planet Cash

What is a “Throw Down,” you ask? A quote from the press release for the May 7th & 8th charity poker tournament at the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno says it best:

“… a unique team spirit, pitting casinos and card rooms across the Southwest against each other in a unique team competition. Yet, it still encourages individual player participation.”

Proceeds from this event will benefit the National Kidney Foundation. Two-time kidney transplant recipient, Jennifer Harman - The most feared lady in all of poker, will be hosting this special charity event.

Complete details and online registration available with this link.

*Editor’s note: Mitch the Intern is an NYU undergrad whose favorite Wednesday night pastime includes the TV in his dorm room, a green beanbag chair and two hits of acid. Enjoy.*

There’s punch drunk, which is a neurological affliction that affects your cognitive abilities and coherence after suffering repeated blows to the head, and then there’s punch intoxicated-like-a-white-trash-uncle-at-his-nephew’s-wedding-reception-in-the-trailer-park. Chuck Liddell is the latter.

“The Iceman” is so wasted, athletic commissions give him Breathalyzer tests before allowing him into locker rooms. He’s so wasted, he once mistook a hot dog cart for his car and got 15 miles down the highway before the police pulled him over and informed him of his mistake. He’s so wasted, he’s convinced “Dancing with the Stars” was a fight tournament in Japan.

In short, the man is pure comedy.

First, though, the TUFers are let loose upon their new temporary housing/prison/fishbowl/den of pranks and homoeroticism. Who designs this place? Dr. Seuss? Cypress Hill sprints to a bedroom to claim it but tumbles down a slide made of candy canes into a chocolate pond. Ronnie Kray (yes, the British gangster) picks the room with pictures of assorted fruit on the wall (“These snozzberries taste like snozzberries!”) and Fruit Striped Gum is trapped in a giant glass cube full of bubbles. Congrats, guys.

Then it’s time to pick the teams. Dana is present to flip the ceremonial “f-ing coin”, and coach Tito Ortiz ends up with the first choice. He picks people that mean nothing to us, as we’ve only seen bits and pieces of their fights and none of their training, and Liddell does the same, calling out garbled syllables and gesturing with his hand, even inviting the gym’s janitor, Nevada athletic commission honcho Keith Kizer and a SpikeTV boom operator to join in his cause.

“Is it me or did Chuck’s choices suck?” Dana says to Ortiz when the dust settles.

“I alternate between hating and badmouthing you and liking and respecting you depending upon the stage of my contract,” Ortiz replies.

“I know what I’m doing,” says Liddell, and he picks up a stationary exercise bike, carries it outside and attempts to ride it to the local store for a snack run.

Oh no! Fruit Striped Gum is all banged up from the fight that got him into the TUF House, and he may or may not have a torn rotator cuff, scurvy, scabies and potato famine. Hearing this, Ortiz jumps on his back – literally – and rides him – literally – to, I don’t know, motivate him to work through it? Come across like a douche? Get close to another man? Who knows.

It’s time for choosing the first fight, and as Ortiz got first pick of the fighters, Liddell gets to decide who gets into the Octagon. He chooses Crocodile Dundee versus the water fountain, a decision that leads to confusion. Eventually, Dana convinces him to pick someone else, so Liddell picks Fruit Striped Gum.

Back at the house and it’s prank time! Hawaii Five-O, Cypress Hill and Ronnie Kray! Air horns! In the middle of the night! Aggravated fighters standing around in their underwear, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and trying to act menacing! Somewhere an entire targeted demographic cheers.

It’s the next day and the doctor lays out Fruit Striped Gum’s MRI and talks about what he sees. “No damage to your rotator cuff, no damage to your muscle tissue, just fluid on your bones, a bad hairstyle and a flavor-stripe down your middle.”

Then we get some insight into Team Liddell’s Crocodile Dundee. Yes, he’s Australian, and apparently Australia is so small, everyone famous there is connected to everyone else. For instance, Crocodile Dundee used to be Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin’s pool boy. He also used to be a roadie for Men at Work, and he once ate at the Outback Steakhouse. Small. Freakin’. World.

Lest we forget that there’s supposed to be some sort of drama between the coaches, Ortiz hangs a piñata that looks like Liddell. It’s tougher and can even fight better than Liddell, absorbing a number of blows to the cranium before going down for the count and being carried out on a stretcher.

Fight time, and Crocodile Dundee and Fruit Striped Gum circle, engage, and mix it up. Fruit Striped Gum quickly finds himself in a triangle choke, tapping out.

Post-fight and Fruit Striped Gum is dejected. Ortiz, ever the coach, pleads for him to join him on the mat for some drilling of the defense to triangle chokes. I guess it never occurred to Ortiz to teach his wards this stuff before their fights, eh?

Fade to black.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

It’s been more than three years since the UIGEA act forced US Internet poker players away from the tables, virtual and real. Before UIGEA the 2006 WSOP Main Event hosted 8,773 players, then the mass exodus after UIGEA, and the paid entrants for the 2007 WSOP Main Event nose dived 28% to 6,358. The numbers for the 2009 WSOP Main Event was 6,494.

If the Nevada Gaming Control Board decides to crack down on the contractual relationships with Nevada casinos and online gaming sites the WSOP and other major poker tournaments will again take a hit, some could disappear altogether. The control board could decide to end all relationships between online gaming sites and Nevada casinos, even the .net website.

Does this mean no more .net gaming website ads on the table covers at the WSOP. Will player’s regress to wearing street clothes without logo? Can the online poker rooms come up with another clever way to keep the brand out there without upsetting gaming regulators; and, if not, will the online sponsorships dry-up and further erode the tournament entry numbers?

Remember when there was no UIGEA and every one was happy? Poker had finally slipped out of the smokey back rooms and moved to prime time on the widescreen TV in family homes around the world.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

It’s been more than three years since the UIGEA act forced US Internet poker players away from the tables, virtual and real. Before UIGEA the 2006 WSOP Main Event hosted 8,773 players, then the mass exodus after UIGEA, and the paid entrants for the 2007 WSOP Main Event nose dived 28% to 6,358. The numbers for the 2009 WSOP Main Event was 6,494.

If the Nevada Gaming Control Board decides to crack down on the contractual relationships with Nevada casinos and online gaming sites the WSOP and other major poker tournaments will again take a hit, some could disappear altogether. The control board could decide to end all relationships between online gaming sites and Nevada casinos, even the .net website.

Does this mean no more .net gaming website ads on the table covers at the WSOP. Will player’s regress to wearing street clothes without logo? Can the online poker rooms come up with another clever way to keep the brand out there without upsetting gaming regulators; and, if not, will the online sponsorships dry-up and further erode the tournament entry numbers?

Remember when there was no UIGEA and every one was happy? Poker had finally slipped out of the smokey back rooms and moved to prime time on the widescreen TV in family homes around the world.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Last week I accompanied Vera Valmore to West Palm Beach, Florida in order to watch some top-level dressage at the Palm Beach Dressage Derby. And since Florida is one of those states that offers live poker, I thought I’d take the opportunity to play some while there.

As far as the Derby went, it was cold and windy the first day, but the weather turned quite pleasant afterwards, with highs in the low 70s. Thus did Vera and I enjoy relatively nice conditions for watching the rides, some by Olympians and others with high achievements in dressage on both the national and international level.

One very sad note — a top rider, Courtney King-Dye, suffered a serious head injury while schooling one of her horses the day before the show began. The young horse she was riding apparently slipped, causing King-Dye — who wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time — to fall. She remains in a coma, though her condition is stable. The wearing of helmets either in practice rides or during competitions is a big issue in dressage, and the accident has brought new attention to the importance of taking safety precautions.

After that first day at Horse Park at White Fences Equestrian Estates in Loxahatchee, Florida, Vera and I decided to take a quick trip over to see the Palm Beach Kennel Club, located near the airport and not too far from the hotel where we were staying. I’d heard the guys on the Florida-based poker podcast Ante Up! refer to the PBKC frequently, and was curious to see just what they had to offer. It was early evening. If any limit hold’em tables were going, I would sit down for a short while, then we would try to find some place to eat.

The PBKC has a long history, with folks having come there to bet on the greyhounds since way back in the 1930s. The poker room — actually two rooms, one larger one on the lower level, and a smaller room for tourneys upstairs — came much, much later, probably in the late 1990s when parimutuel facilities were first allowed to offer poker. The club boasts that with the addition of the upstairs room a couple of years ago it now has the most tables (60 total) of any place in the entire state.

I knew through Ante Up! that live poker had experienced something of a resurgence in Florida over the last few years, thanks largely to a bill that went into effect in 2007 allowing for the addition of no-limit games (though with a $100-max. buy-in). The new terms also meant the maximum bet in limit games was raised — but just to $5. Another bill was proposed last year that would remove the caps on buy-ins for NL games, take away maximum bet limits in limit games, and also allow for extended hours, although various machinations between the Florida legislature and the Seminole tribe have prevented that from being implemented just yet.

I spoke with Scott Long of Ante Up! (who co-hosts the show with Chris Cosenza) just to make sure I was clear on what the current laws were. Indeed, the $100 max-buy in remains in place for NL games, as does the $5 limit on bets in limit games. The maximum buy-in for tourneys is $800 or thereabouts (Long says some places have managed to find a way to finagle up to $1,000 buy-ins somehow). Long shared with me the comparison he and Cosenza often make when highlighting the present absurdity of the poker-gambling situation in Florida.

“I can go down to the Kennel Club and bet $50,000 on a dog running around the track, but can’t buy in for more than $100 to play poker,” explained Long. He added how the motorcycle-riding thrill-seeker Evel Knievel, who lived his latter years in Florida prior to his death a couple of years ago, apparently used to go place $10,000 bets on the greyhounds from time to time, screwing up the odds considerably when he did.

It does sound as though the law to remove caps and betting limits has a good chance of going through this summer, though, and so perhaps the situation will be different in Florida soon.

Vera and I found the PBKC without too much difficulty, although figuring out how to enter the place was less obvious. After a half-minute of wandering around the front, someone directed us to the turnstiles, through which we went and then entered the building from the back.

There appeared to be a lot of activity, with perhaps 20-25 tables going (of the 40 in the downstairs room). Most tables were spreading $1-$2 and $2-$5 NLHE, with three $2-$4 LHE games going. (Long told me that was what you mostly find as far as limit hold’em goes, with a few $1-$5 or $2-$5 spread limit games here and there.) I grabbed a seat at a LHE table, though I knew I wouldn’t be playing for long as there didn’t seem very much for Vera to do while she waited.

I took a seat at a full table, noticing a lot of trash underneath the table and unclaimed bottles and napkins everywhere. In the end, I’d probably play no more than 40 minutes or so — like 20-25 hands at most — and thanks to some ridiculously good cards walked away up a surprising $90. What happened? I caught cards, made hands, and got paid. Not too complicated.

After losing the first hand with pocket jacks, I began collecting chips in rapid fashion starting with a hand in which I got in the small blind, flopped two pair, then turned a boat. Followed that with another hand in which I limped in with the rest of the table with A-6-suited to see a flop come 8-6-6. Two of us made it to the river on that one, with my opponent angrily showing the case six (with a lesser kicker, presumably). He left soon afterwards, grumbling to a friend about his misfortune and/or the quality of play.

A few hands later I picked up pocket treys in late position and limped along with about six others. Flop 6-3-3. Whoa. Some nice cards they be dealing here, I thought. Afterwards I thought of Mike Fasso, who used to appear on Ante Up! now and then as a guest host, and one time when he memorably exclaimed “I never flopped quads in my life…. IN MY LIFE!”

Well, I’d done it. And even better, there was a bet and call before it got to me. I called, as did two more. The turn brought another six. It checked to me, I bet, and two just called. Couldn’t quite figure why neither would raise there (assuming at least had to have had a six). River was a face card, I bet again, and just the older fellow called. Indeed, he had a six, and was just calling down his sixes full.

The ridiculous run good continued, as the very next hand I picked up two black aces. There was a raise before me, I three-bet, and ultimately there were two callers. Flop . It checked to me, I bet, and both called. Turn was the . This time the preflop raiser bet, I raised, and the early position player called the two bets, which signaled he probably couldn’t have the straight. The preflop raiser — whom I thought might have K-K or Q-Q — called as well. The river brought the , and when the preflop raiser again bet I just called, a little wary the EP player might have chased down his flush. But he just called, too, and we showed our cards.

The early position player had pocket sevens — he’d flopped a lesser set. And the preflop raiser had — he’d flopped two pair. Definitely a cooler for both, although it could’ve been even worse for them had the turn and river not coordinated the board like that.

Thus the big win. Much more luck than skill, for sure. I cashed out, grabbed Vera, and we were out of there. As I said, there wasn’t really much for Vera to do there. I mentioned the trash laying about. The felt on the table was worn down, too, adding a little to the sordid atmosphere. The dealers were competent and friendly, though, and aside from the one grumbler the players were cordial, too. After my quads hand, the dealer had passed me a slip to fill out to enter the high-hand jackpot, to be awarded on Saturday.

I ended up returning on Saturday for another session and to see if I might have won the jackpot. There were multiple drawings throughout the day, starting at 1 p.m. (when the place opened). Got there early and explored the place a little more, checking out the theater-style seating upstairs from which to view the races as well as wandering outside at the track a bit. Many folks — including a lot of old-timers — were there early studying the day’s races and settling on their picks. A line formed outside the poker room, too, which opened at 12:30 p.m. Probably 30 tables were filled with players by the time the first hands of the day were dealt.

The early drawings were for $1,000, and one had to be present to win. While there I again played, this time for an hour-and-a-half or so. As I (mostly) folded hands, I listened hopefully for my name to be called. Alas, it was not, although I would pick up another $49 before I left. Wasn’t so much good cards this time as bad, loose, passive play by others. If I had stuck around until the evening, I’d have learned if I’d won the larger $5,000 jackpot, but I wasn’t going to be spending the entire day and night there.

Again, I’ll say the dealers were fine and all of the staff with whom I interacted were pleasant. Getting a cocktail waitress did appear to be a bit of a struggle for others at times. I cashed out, grabbed a copy of Ante Up! magazine, and made my way back around the building and out to the rental car. Vera and I ended up that night in City Place — a nice, pedestrian-friendly downtown area in West Palm Beach with lots of stores, restaurants, and live music. All made extra fun by my being able to pay our way with poker profits.

Will be interesting to see what happens in Florida once the caps and limits are lifted and places like the Palm Beach Kennel Club possibly become more of a targeted destination for serious poker players. Imposing those limits doesn’t much affect a recreational type like me, but I know many are anxious to see “real” poker start to be offered.

I’d had no time at all to play while covering the NAPT Venetian the week before, so it was good to get to play, even for just a couple of short sessions. And especially good to flop quads, even at $2/$4.

A new issue of Bluff Magazine arrived in my mailbox this week (March 2010), containing an article by Mike Caro in which he shares what he calls “My Least Popular Poker Opinions.” As we all know, Caro has had a lot of opinions over the years regarding not just poker strategy, but the rules and functioning of the game, too. And being the iconoclast he is, his ideas generally tend to illustrate genuine attempts at rethinking traditional approaches — one reason why I always find Caro one of the more interesting poker writers.

One of the ideas Caro briefly discusses in the article was his campaign back in the 1990s to introduce a four-color deck — i.e., a deck featuring blue diamonds and green clubs to go along with the red hearts and black spades. The piece notes how players immediately objected to the attempted innovation, thus forcing him to add it to his list of “failed” ideas.

The story of Caro’s campaign has been told many times in many places over the years. Apparently it was at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in 1992 that Caro first successfully persuaded tourney organizers to employ the four-color deck, the colors of which had been determined following a vote among students at one of his seminars. Incidentally, Caro has insisted that he didn’t “invent” the four-color deck — in fact, he believes the two-color deck was itself an “innovation” of sorts, borne from a desire to save money on printing costs.

In any event, the new deck was not appreciated at Foxwoods, partly due to the fact that the colors hadn’t been properly shaded, causing some confusion to go along with the general opposition to change. By the second day of the tourney, the decks were removed and the traditional two-color decks restored.

In the Bluff piece, Caro makes reference to a later attempt to introduce the four-color deck, a story that Diane McHaffie describes in more detail in a 2006 article in Poker Player Magazine. There McHaffie tells how Caro tried once more to introduce the four-color deck in early 1995, getting 65 different cardrooms to employ the decks on a single day — dubbed “C-Day” (or “Color Day”) by the Mad Genius of Poker.

“Although most players seemed impressed,” writes McHaffie, “some were indifferent and then there were those who voiced their discontent rather loudly.” And, in predictable fashion, losing players “took this opportunity to blame their misfortune on the color change” of the decks.

McHaffie quotes Caro explaining how he’d “spent years lobbying, cajoling, and publicizing an event [C-Day] that was intended to change the very nature of playing cards forever and it just resulted in two hours of agony.” The decks were thrown out, and thus ended the experiment. In live poker, anyway. Online poker — which allows players to modify the playing experience individually in numerous ways — makes the four-color deck an option which I would venture to guess most players choose to take.

I have trouble coming up with a good reason not to use four-color decks in live play, though I assume some have objections that go beyond the uncritical appeal to tradition. I suppose one could argue that poker is a game that rewards attention to detail, and thus requiring players to make the extra mental effort of distinguishing hearts from diamonds and clubs from spades is yet another way to test that skill. Then again, one could find ways to make the cards even more difficult to read (remember those “Poker Peek” cards from the 2007 WSOP?), providing an even greater challenge — something no one could rationally argue for, I wouldn’t think.

Printing costs probably remain a factor here, although probably less a factor than in the past. So what other reasons might there be not to use the four-color deck?

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.

Discuss this article in our forum

The Tropicana Casino & Resort in Las Vegas is offering guests and partygoers the chance to experience the “Jersey Shore”phenomenon live and in-person with the new “Jersey Shore Package”.

Tropicana’s “Jersey Shore Package” features overnight accommodations; one dinner at Il Verdi, the resort’s gourmet Italian restaurant; and breakfast at Seaside Cafe. Also included is a gift certificate to the Tropicana Salon, a room service basket stocked with Italian delights, including Prosciutto, Soppresata, Bread Sticks, Roasted Red Peppers, Artichoke Hearts, Biscotti, assorted candy, nougat, Fontinella chesses, grapes, and sliced Italian bread, prepares guests to “fist pump” the night away with VIP admission to Providence nightclub and complimentary IN Cards which give access to nightclubs, food and beverage and parking discounts and more.

Package prices start at $878 per night based on double occupancy in a standard room. Guests are able to upgrade to the “VIG” (Very Important Guido) pack or book the actual suite where the “Jersey Shore”cast members stayed by purchasing the Deluxe package starting at $4,230 per night for Thursday through Saturday night, priced for four people. The promotion is available from February 22nd through June 26th, 2010. Certain date restrictions apply.

“Let’s face it, the Jersey Shore reality show is a hot topic. We’ve received so many requests for the Jersey Shore suite since the episode at The Tropicana aired, we were inspired to recreate the fun with this package and help our guests enjoy a whole new energy here at the hotel.” said Mark Giannantonio, Tropicana President and Chief Operating Officer.

Reservations can be made online or by calling 1-800-345-8767. To book rooms at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, please click here.

Discuss this article in our forum

Gilley’s Saloon, Dance Hall and Bar-B-Que will bring its world famous Texas style food, Gilley Girls, Bikini Bull Riding, cold beer and country music and to its new home at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on Las Vegas Strip.

Featuring Texas style bar-b-que and dancing nightly, the new Gilley’s Saloon is schedule to open on April 16th. Located next to TI Siren’s Cove, the restaurant will have retractable glass for outdoor Strip seating, and will be accessible from inside the Treasure Iland’s casino and via a newly constructed bridge in front of the Siren’s ship. Gilley’s will be open for lunch and dinner, featuring a show kitchen and custom saddle seats at the bar, a “show kitchen” with live entertainment Thursday through Saturday, line dancing and the world-famous Gilley Girls.

The original Gilley’s Dance Hall Saloon, which  drawn country music fans to the Frontier for years, closed its doors in July, 2007. The Frontier Hotel was sold and closed by the new owner and demolished to make way for construction of the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Treasure Island Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, offers guests nearly 3,000 guest rooms, 11 restaurants, 4 nightclubs and top entertainment oiptions headlined by Cirque du Soleil’s famous production “Mystere” and the enchanting Sirens of TI nightly outdoor show.

Book Rooms at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.
Read more Las Vegas News.

Busy days. Seems like I have a half-dozen things I’m supposed to be doing right now, one of which includes readying to go help cover the North American Poker Tour Venetian event starting this weekend.

Saw the exciting news a couple of days ago that ESPN2 will indeed be airing a number of hours’ worth of NAPT events starting April 19. (Read all about it here.) I also saw the less thrilling news yesterday that apparently Full Tilt Poker doesn’t want its pros playing in the NAPT Venetian. Gary Wise reported on that development over at ESPN, and Dan Michalski adds a few thoughts as well over at Pokerati.

Besides readying for the trip, I’m busily trying to finish some articles and take care of other matters, too. Feeling pulled in a number of directions, but not too stressed, really. (Maybe I’m being inspired by those Olympians to rise to the challenge.)

In any event, all of this stuff has most definitely gotten in the way of my creating a new episode of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, which I now have to admit is on a hiatus of sorts. But I do have more shows planned!

Speaking of the HBPRS, the show is now being aired — syndicated, if you will — over on the fledgling Poker Radio Network. They streamed the first episode over there (Dead Man’s Deal) last week and I had some nice feedback on that. Should get the show a few new listeners, and perhaps some new readers over here, too.

I think the HBPRS gets played over on the Poker Radio Network on Mondays at 5 p.m., Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., and Fridays at noon (all Pacific times). I believe there’s also a time on Saturday when the show comes on, too. There are some other shows over on PRN as well, covering a variety of poker-related topics.

Meanwhile, I’m going to be turning up over on Rounders Radio tonight when I appear on Lou Krieger’s Keep Flopping Aces podcast. The plan is for him to interview me a bit initially about the blog and other items, then I’m going to be asking him some questions to pick his brain a bit regarding the current status of poker books and print publications. (My plan is to write something up from my interview afterwards for Betfair.)

Krieger, as most of you know, has published numerous poker books — 11 altogether, I believe — and so has a particularly informed perspective on the subject. His first poker book was published back in the mid-1990s (Hold’em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner), and his most recent one in 2007 (52 Great Poker Tips). That means he was already on the shelves when the “boom” happened in 2003 (and, I assume, benefited somewhat from that). Here’s a page on his website where you can see all of his books and follow links for ordering.

Krieger also edits Poker Player Newspaper, familiar to anyone frequenting the cardrooms in Vegas and elsewhere, so he has some insight into that side of poker publishing as well.

Should be fun to go on KFA, which is one of the poker podcasts I’ve been following for a long time. I think I first found it three years ago (or so), when Krieger was co-hosting the show with Amy Calistri, and have always enjoyed the variety of guests and discussions. The show airs at 6 p.m. Pacific time tonight, or 9 p.m. for those of us here in the east, and then will be subsequently available for download as a podcast.

Finally, you can also hear me crashing the party again over on the latest episode (No. of the Gambling Tales Podcast with Special K and Falstaff, where we have a segment discussing James McManus’s Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker. As I’ve said before, those of you who have listened to and enjoyed my podcast should check out GTP, as it also features some great stories about gambling, delivered via interviews and discussions of such tales from history. Fun stuff.

So there are a few audio snacks to fill the gap between servings of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show. By the way, if you have any questions about poker books & publications you’d like me to bring up on tonight’s Keep Flopping Aces, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll see if I can work them into the conversation.

Be talkin’ to you.