Hump Day Report

My wife reminded me last night that yesterday was our seven-month anniversary. Apparently, I am supposed to remember every time that the 25th rolls around that was have our monthly anniversaries.

"You don't have to get me a present every month," she said, "just every other month."

These blogger tournaments are driving me insane. I pointed the Razz event last night (heck, even made the money this time), finishing in 10th. Of course, twoblackaces made the points yet again, going out just behind me in 13th. At least I made up some ground on him when it looked early on that he might just clinch the monthly leaderboard last night as a top chip stack midway through the tournament. With three events left I figure to be about 100 behind him so there is work to do.

Our poker player profile lineup this month in Rounder is not as thrilling as the James Woods/Freddy Deeb combo of March. For the April issue I interviewed Allen Kessler, Brandon Cantu and Young Phan. We did get Cantu right after his Bay 101 win so that's a timely interview for us.

I'm now mapping out my articles for the next two issues. Other than trying to finish an article I have been working on about husbands and wives who both play tournament poker, I'm not sure what I'll do for May. I think June is going to be our big World Series of Poker preview issue, which I think will be fantastic. I've already interviewed Jerry Yang for it and hope to get Lee Childs. Last November when I was at Coushatta I interviewed Dimitri Nobles, but he was such a fleeting face I'm not sure if he is worthy of major coverage (though he is very nice).

For feature articles, I already have two in the can. The first is a look at old WSOP events that no longer exist and the likelihood they will ever be brought back. They range from the likely (Ace to Five Draw Lowball) to the possibly (Chinese Poker) to the very, very, very unlikely (Five Card Stud). That was a fun one I wrote last year while at the WSOP, saving it for the future. The second article is one I wrote three(!) years ago that Bluff had no interest in. It's a look at The Andy Bloch Project, in which tournament reporter Tom Sims got Andy to let him stand behind him and record his cards during the main event of the 1998 WSOP. Sims in a sense was a precursor to hole card cameras. I also plan a guide to Vegas during the WSOP (some of which you will get on here dear readers). Hopefully, we can also do the monthly Q & A with WSOP tournament director Jack Eiffel.

I will be heading down to Biloxi this weekend to do some work for Rounder. The Beau Rivage is currently hosting the Spring Break Poker Classic and the IP will host their own Poker Classic next week for two weeks. We're doing some daily tournament reports for them similar to what you see at the WSOP so I am putting those together next Monday-Wednesday.

Back from Orlando

Amy was off for spring break last week so we took a little vacation down to Orlando, hitting the Universal parks since we both have done the Disney thing before. The Hulk and Dueling Dragon coasters are excellent. We also took a side trip over to Kennedy Space Center. It's interesting though not too enthralling. It's work a look if you have an extra day in Orlando or are a space junkie (as I used to be and sort of still am).

I missed the Monday blogger tournament, but caught the other three last week. It's been a mixed bag. Including last night's 15th-place finish, I've made the points in four straight events (and eight of the last nine after bombing the first four) but I'm not making up much ground. Four tournaments in a row I've either taken bad beats late or have gotten cold decked. I haven't made the money in any of those four so I'm not finishing high enough to get the big points. Knocking off 40 or 50 points at a time will not win the monthly prize and twoblackaces is still ahead of me by 130-140 points. I think I will be in second after the results from last night are tallied, moving me slightly ahead of lucko, with corron breathing down our necks after his win last night (his second in the series!) It should be an interesting finish...

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm going to take the time as I did in 2006 to put together a guide to WSOP online satellites. I'll also slap together a guide to Vegas during the WSOP, so if you've never been before maybe I can be of some service to you.

In the penalty box

OK, this is a bit embarassing, but since I'm open about most things I will reveal that due to some overly emotional outings on Full Tilt Poker in which I got into it with other players and used some not so nice words online I have had my chat banned for a month.

To be honest, I think they are doing me a favor. When I struggle at poker, as I have done this week, I release a lot of negative energy through the words I type into the chat box. I don't really tilt any more. I have gotten that under control, at least, but I do jaw back and forth with people sometimes, and it probably gotten out of control during this past week.

So if any of your fellow BBT players are reading this, now you know why I haven't uttered a peep recently, and will not utter a peep until mid to late April.

Last night, I narry had a chance to say a word anyway as I went out on the first hand with jacks against aces. I still haven't figured out why I went all in. I KNEW he had me beat. I blame "Lost" for distracting me. Damn that 8 p.m. CST start time on Thursday nights! So after four tournaments in a row of finishing in the points I finished dead last on attempt number five. Lucko made top 15 and will probably jump ahead of me into third, but at least twoblackaces and columbo also missed the points (in fact, twoblackaces finished just ahead of me in 90th place.)

In light of my chat being banned, here is an interesting encounter that took place the day before my chat was taken away. This was a $3/$6 Omaha Hi-Lo game and Oklajohnny had just put a beat on PrimNProper (a oh so not fitting name):


PrimNProper: nice chase johhny
PrimNProper: clown
Oklajohnny: yes I have too much fun sometimes
Oklajohnny: chasing cards
PrimNProper: cause ur a fish and don't knoe when ur beat
Oklajohnny: yes, but I try to stay happy
Oklajohnny: my wife is still working
TuscaloosaJohn: that's gpod
PrimNProper: but ur still a DOUCHEBAG
TuscaloosaJohn: no prim, that would make YOU the douchebag

Probably me butting in with comments like this in other people's conversations didn't help with the whole chat ban thing...

Oklajohnny: Is that a German company?
Oklajohnny: My mother would not let me talk to bad boys
TuscaloosaJohn: she is wise
Oklajohnny: I am over 80 and she has been gone for a long time now
Oklajohnny: but I still remember what she told me about bad boys
TuscaloosaJohn: this isn't Johnny Hale, is it?

Turns out it was. So you've got some young internet punk calling 80-year-old Johnny Hale a "douchebag", "fish" and "clown" for hitting a card on him in a game of $3/$6. Does this indicate how sick internet poker is or what?

Operation Luckbox continues

I came within a hand or two last night of winning back to back BBT tournaments when I finished second in the 6-Max NLHE event last night. When we got to the final table I was last in chips but managed to catch my luckbox run of hands and build a stack. I got headsup with Lucko and it was a good battle. I tried to play small pot poker at first and it was working fine when I built a 2 to 1 chip lead, but then Lucko made some great plays.

Here's one:

Blinds are 1,200/2,400 and I limp on the button with A-2. He makes it 7,200 and I call. Flop is J-3-2 and he bets out (maybe 11K, 12K?) and I call. Turn is a middling card and he checks. I bet 20K or so and he check raises all in.

A couple of good trapping plays like this and Lucko built himself a 2 to 1 lead. On the last hand I called a raise with Js-7s and after a 10 high flop with two spades I checkraised all in. Lucko held K-T and I had the 12 outs I wanted, but he hit a king on the turn and I missed my then 9 outer on the river. A quick perusal of Lucko's blog shows he's quite the player so I certainly don't feel bad about the loss.

On the positive side, the high finish moved me up to 3rd in the standings. It's going to be tough to pull ahead of twoblackaces (who ALWAYS finishes in the top 25%...ok, not always, only 5 of 6!), but it will certainly be fun to try.

Until next time...

Vegas fever

I don't remember what kickstarted the conversation, but Amy and I have been talking Vegas a lot lately. Having been to every WSOP since 2004, obviously I hope to return in 2008. If things work out, I may get a free room via Rounder. If nothing else there's Ted and Binion's, which is always a good money saver. Now that Amy works for the University of Alabama, she will get off on both July 4th and her birthday, which is July 8. This works out fantastically for us since the 4th is on a Friday. If we can just get her off on Monday, July 7 she can come to Vegas for several days. She's always wanted to see the Big Ditch, so hopefully this year we will have time to go.

I'm really jazzed for Vegas this year, more so than last. I can't really explain it. Maybe it's because I've been running hot at the poker tables. Maybe it's because I get claustrophobic spending way too much time in my own house. Maybe it's due to Amy's improved work schedule that will allow us more time to tour. And maybe it's thanks to the unbelievable tournament selection taking place this summer in Vegas. Probably it's a little bit of all of these things.

Regarding tournaments, in addition to the WSOP, you have the return of the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza and the Binion's Poker Classic. You've also got the new Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget in the casino's new entertainment center. I imagine the Orleans Open and Bellagio Cup will return, but I haven't heard much about them. (For a low roller like me, the Cup is a little pricy...and the competition usually tougher, and the Orleans tournament usually doesn't start until the WSOP is about to wrap up, making them harder to play when you are trying to cover the WSOP as a writer.)

I would rather cover the main event as a player this year. For the four of you who read my blog, you will certainly recall my run in the 2006 main event (much too short, much too short). Last year, my bankroll was paltry and I didn't even try that hard to win my seat. Heck, I didn't play a single WSOP event for the first time ever. Online I played a handful of satellites on Poker Share, but had no success. I made one final where they gave away one seat, but I didn't come close to the win.

This year, however, I'm trying hard for a main event seat. I've been playing on Full Tilt a lot and should earn enough points this week to play in their freeroll on Sunday in which three seats are awarded. In addition, I'm trying to play all the blogger tournaments I can in the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments Third Edition. The first four this week I didn't finish high enough to earn any points, but I won the Pot Limit Omaha tournament last night, which earns me valuable points toward the March leaderboard (first gets a $2,000 WSOP prize package...probably just $2,000 cash since they can't buy you in anymore) and gets me a seat in the all important Tournament of Champions in June where 50-60 starters will battle for two main event seats and two more of the $2,000 prize packs.

The win last night reminded me a lot of my first big tournament casino win at Binion's in 2005. It wasn't huge (about $3,300 as I recall) but it was important to me since it turned a losing trip into a winning one right before I was to go home. Last night and that night were similar in that heading into the money I was a relative short stack and then when we got down to 6-7-8 players I just caught an amazing run of hands. In both cases I was busting out a player nearly every hand, just rat-a-tat-tat. This proves nothing of my skill, but man after doing so poorly in tournaments lately I'm due to be a luckbox sometime. Last night was the night.

The good and the bad

The past couple of weeks of my life has had a couple of majors highs and lows. First, the bad news: my 55-year-old aunt died two Sundays ago. It was shocking for us because Vickie was always very healthy. She had caught some super straing of pneumonia a few weeks earlier and had been hospitalized since then. The sickness finally shut her body down and she passed away.

Vickie was an absolutely wonderful woman and her death impacted me more than I realized it would. I felt so bad for my cousin Shannon, who is my age, and her older son; Nic, the younger son, and Delone, her husband and my mother's brother. Every time at the funeral home or cemetery he would try to shake my hand I would reach up and give him a hug. I couldn't imagine losing the woman I'd been married to for nearly 36 years, practically Delone's entire adult life. What's it like to go home to an empty house after you bury your wife? I shudder at the thought, and so hugged him every chance I got. Like Vickie, Delone is such a nice person.

Vickie went above and beyond to help decorate our wedding, making all of the corsages and boutinerres, ordering the ferns, and decorating the reception area. It was a debt I could never repay, but I thanked her as much as I could and can only hope she knew what that meant to me.

Rest in peace, Vickie. We know you are in a better place.




The good news is that Amy and I recently celebrated our six month anniversary, with many, many good months ahead. The former Ms. Harper is truly the light of my life. I often think back to my lonely days before meeting her, specifically there is one image I can't erase from my head. It was the summer of 2005 and I was alone in Vegas. This is before I had met any bloggers or poker writers or guys like Stephen Ladowski. I would soon meet Ted, but not at that point. No, I was completely alone in Vegas and sitting at a video poker machine at the Plaza. And as I played the machine, a quarter at a time, I watched a happy young couple at the craps table. They appeared to be winning as they were all smiles, but you could also tell they very much enjoyed each other's company. I'm not sure I ever felt more alone, just as now I've never been happier.

Here's to you, Amy, for making me so happy!

"You have such a cool job"

"Now I can tell people I heard James Woods in my kitchen." -- Amy

At least I can impress my wife. The great thing about working with Rounder is the chance to chat with some "famous" people, however you might interpret the term. Jerry Yang called me the other day to tell me about some tournaments at Lake Elsinore in California that are going to be called the Jerry Yang invitational. (Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino paid his travel expenses at the WSOP last year.) And this weekend I chatted with James Woods as he drove cross country, back to Los Angeles presumably to begin filming new episodes of "Shark." We had some cellphone difficulties as he drove through Ohio so the conversation took place during three calls over two days. I must say it was surreal to talk to James Woods on the same day as the Oscars. The 60-year-old actor has been twice nominated in his career, for Ghosts of Mississippi, and, I think, Salvador.

We're profiling Woods, who I must say is a very nice guy, in our next issue. I share here with you a transcript of part of the interview I will not be using in my article, in which Woods talks about aspirations. We were discussing tournaments and he talked about how you must decide whether you are in it just to cash or you really are willing to play to win. He then began relating that to acting. Here in his words:

“People say you know what I want in life? I say you don’t have to tell me. I know what you want. They go, what do you mean? How do you know that? I say, what you got that’s what you want. If you wanted something else you’d f---ing do it. But, you know, you’re settling with what you’ve got.

I’m not talking about being an astronaut or wanting to be the President of the United States. But by and large, if they say I want to be an actor...get out there and get a f---ing job, you know?

If you want to be an actor go work at a dinner theatre and get a job and work your way up. Oh, I don’t want to do that. So you want to be rich and famous. That’s a different issue. You said you wanted to be an actor, but what you really wanted is to be rich and famous. So say what you mean."

Dissecting Indiana Jones

I love these people who freeze frame these things and dissect them for every bit of information possible. That way nerds like me don't have to and we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Follow the link above to go to Deadbolt.com, where writer Tom Burns examines the Indiana Jones 4 trailer microscopically for potential plot details.

Even more interesting is the section of the site that looks at potential Indiana Jones scripts, including this nugget from Chris Columbus:

Yes, Columbus can write action, but he writes pure-bred CRAZY action, crazy on a level that's appropriate for the Mummy movies, but not Indiana Jones. There IS a sequence where Indy rides a rhino while chasing a tank, and there's an extended battle at the end with Indy organizing an army of African pygmies and super-smart gorillas to battle an army of Nazis Ewok-style. No fooling, there's a bit where the gorilla starts driving a tank. Plus it opens with a bizarre sequence where Indy is fighting a banshee in a Scottish castle and it has NO relevance to the rest of the story (just something that happened on his vacation). He's not a Ghostbuster or Fox Mulder, he's an archeologist!

Crazy shit.

Here's the link to that:

http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/104036/indy4scripts_feature.php

Been waiting 20 years for this....

Technically 19, and honestly after "The Last Crusade" I figured Indiana Jones was going to ride off into the sunset figuratively and literally (as in the movie), but then there were the rumblings of another Indiana Jones movie. George Lucas made us fans salivate as he said he wouldn't work on another Jones movie until he was done with the Star Wars prequels...and then there were numerous script re-writes and other delays. Finally, in three months we get our fourth (and presumably final) Indiana Jones movie. Here's the trailer if you have yet to see it...

Get "Lost"

Yep, I've been home for two weeks and have yet to post on the second leg of my trip. I'm so lazy I'm not even going to do it today. But it was interesting. From sharing a cab with Hoyt Corkins and John Phan, to sharing an elevator with a drunken Gavin Smith to shooting craps with T.J. Cloutier and sharing vegetables with Freddy Deeb, it was certainly a noteworthy trip and I will write it up soon. Maybe tomorrow, but I wouldn't hold my own breath for that.

What's on my mind is that wonderful gift from J.J. Abrams. No, not Cloverfield...no comment on that one. Thursdays are now a day to which we can look forward. Thursdays are now the days of "Lost."

I've been hooked on the show since its premiere. While it has had its ebbs and flows, in general "Lost" has set a high bar for writing and storytelling that few other, if any, nightime serials can match. The season finale in May with its surprise "flash forward" had us "Lost" fans salivating for this year's season four premiere. And last week's first episode did not disappoint. We not know that six people from Oceanic Flight 815 make it off the island alive. We know three of them are Jack, Kate and Hurley. I believe tonight we find out who the other three are.

The writers often seem to introduce more mysteries each week than they answer, and while they might seem frustrating to some, I enjoy the building suspense. Each episode is like a Christmas present I get to unwrap each week.


Click the headline to go to a site I enjoy reading that is written by a guy who is closely watching each episode to attempt to unravel the mysteries of the island.

Greetings from lovely Tunica

I've been rather lax in the blogging this past week and a half as work with Rounder magazine has keep me on my toes. We're really pushing our presence here, with Rounder Girl visits and autograph sessions, merchandise sales and tournament coverage, of course.

The best part for me is that unlike previous years I get to stay for free. As Lou Esposito told me in New Orleans when I interviewed him in November, he likes "to keep the cost of poker down." Obviously, staying free makes it much easier to show a profit during tournament travels, and since I appear to be heading down the road of making my living writing about poker and playing it for the forseeable future, I need to keep the cost of poker down myself.

Little has changed here in Tunica. You've still got your World Poker Open at the Gold Strike and your World Series of Poker Circuit event at the Grand Casino and your degenerates who are always around trying to make a buck...

...like me. For once, I've actually made a few bucks. Let me backtrack and tell you that 2007 was my worst year ever at poker since I've played it seriously. Granted, when I was in school in the spring I wasn't playing a lot so I must take that into consideration. In late summer and fall I seemed to be in some odd life tilt and was playing poker poorly in the process. The end result was a $10,500 or so win for the year. That's less than I made the last two years I worked at the newspaper when I toiled full time and played poker on the side.

I have this new goal of just trying to win $100 a day on weekdays ($150 on Mondays when I get my rakeback from World Poker Exchange), which comes out to almost $30,000 a year. If I can do that and continue to grow my freelance writing business I can live comfortably and stress free. I realized during my life/poker tilt slide last year that I was pressing too much, trying to win wheelbarrows full of money at once. Poker is a marathon in which slow and steady can win the race.

I think that's why I've come to be known as the Kinnish of Tuscaloosa. At least, that's what a couple of the younger players called me recently in a local underground game (one of them, Rob Berryman, was the 33rd place finisher in the 2006 main event). It seems I'm known to be a player who would rather make the steady money than to risk a lot of his bankroll for the big score, and really that's ok with me. I've seen too many people go broke that way. I have a family to support.

So, anyway, back to the good news. I came into Tunica this month with a mission. In previous trips to big tournament events, I've usually done well playing satellites, and for some reason I tend to stray away from them and only play a handful during each trip (sometimes the lines are too long, sometimes I don't have a big enough bankroll with me, etc.) This January I came with the intention of playing a lot of satellites. The first day here at the Gold Strike I chopped 3 out of 5 satellites, and with some last longer money included, I won over $1,100 the first day.

The second day I played the first event of the 2008 WPO, a $340 NLHE tournament. Unfortunately, I busted quickly when a guy limp re-raised my both times I raised from late position. The first time I folded jacks, but the second time I had A-K and decided to push in on him. He called and turned over queens and won the race. I guess he wasn't stealing after all.

My misfortune turned to fortune when I walked over to the Horseshoe and played their daily tournament, a $65 plus $40 rebuys tournament. I worked my way to the final table. One guy had a mountain of chips, but I started catching hands and I proposed a chop (which would have been about $2,300 each) when we got four handed and were pretty even in chips. Mr. Mountain was still slightly ahead of everyone and declined, so I think that the rest of us were gunning for him. On the every next hand, the player in the small blind, who tended to show good cards when he raised, pushed all in and Mountain called for about 70 percent of his stack with K-9. Small blind showed K-K. Who knows what Mountain was thinking? I finished him off two hands later when he went all in and I called dark against his short stack. He had A-5 and I had 3-5. Karma is a bitch, sometimes. Yes, I rivered a 3.

What happened next was a lession in Bad Dealmaking 101. One of the other two guys said "Let's chop second and give him first." That's right, they just GAVE it to me. They didn't ask me to give up some money. They just gave me money for the best I could possibly do, and I only had about 2/3 to 3/4 of the chips in play. Eschewing the gift horse's mouth, I took the $4,200 and went on my merry way.

I played a couple of more tournaments, including the $500 O/8 at the Grand, with no luck and returned home for a couple of days to see Amy with an additional $4K in my pocket for the first part of my Tunica trip, and a $5.5K start to the month after two weeks with online wins included. So I have already won half as much as I did the last 365 days in the most recent 14 days. Isn't poker a crazy game?

Tunica here I come

I hope everyone had a happy new year. Both Amy and I were sick, and other than a quick trip to the Cypress Inn (a restaurant, despite the odd name) for dinner, we stayed in and watched Dick Clark. It's sad to see the state "America's oldest teenager" is in after his stroke, but sweet to see how sincere he was in wishing everyone best luck in the coming year, not to mention the midnight kiss from his wife. Touching.

Also caught the record motorcycle jump in the parking lot of the Rio. They make those things seem so suspenseful, but I'm sure they know how high they have to build the ramp and how fast he needs to accelerate to ensure the jump is successful, so in a sense the show is smoke and mirrors.

This morning I've got my cup of coffess by my side as I watch the sun rise. I'm about to pack up for Tunica. I was just realizing that other than Vegas for the WSOP, Tunica is the only place I have traveled to annually since I began playing poker. My annual trip actually predates my trips to the WSOP since I think I've gone every year since 2003. Who can blame me, or my local co-horts? This month sees two major tournament series a mere four hours from home. This year, thanks to my work with Rounder, I get to stay free. While before I've had to pay for all of my expemses as a poker player, I think I could get used to this having things paid for me to go write gig.

Guitar Hero rocks

Our newest addiction is Guitar Hero. I played it for the first time a couple of months ago at my friend Brian's house, and decided to ask for it as a Christmas present. At this point, I think Amy has played it more than me. She jammed for hours last night while I played in a poker tournament online. Check out this video below. This kid is sick. No way could I ever (or want to take the time) get this good.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzNcheoY6U

Major search engines settle online gambling ad suit

The three largest Internet companies have agreed to pay a combined $31.5 million to settle federal civil allegations they took ads for illegal gambling, the U.S. Attorney for eastern Missouri said Wednesday.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) also agreed to stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said.

The investigation, conducted by Hanaway's office, along with the IRS and the FBI, dates to 2000, she said. Negotiations have been going on for 12 to 18 months, she said.

"This is a very profitable business that had a lot of money to spend on marketing," Hanaway said of the online gambling firms advertising on the Web.

All three companies said they stopped taking the ads years ago.

"I do think it will have a major impact, Hanaway said. Obviously these are three of the largest online organizations in the world."

Microsoft's $21 million portion of the settlement includes a $4.5 million forfeit, $7.5 million to be paid to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and $9 million in public service ads over a three-year period starting next year.


To read the rest, click the link above.

John Harkness, RGP and BARGE regular, found dead yesterday

I met John at BARGE in 2005 and interacted with him on RGP, so I was very saddened to see this on RGP this morning. For those who didn't know him, John was a top film critic in Toronto and a helluva smart and nice guy. We'll miss you John.

Here is the article:

Toronto film critic found dead

SANDRA MARTIN

Globe and Mail Update

December 18, 2007 at 6:56 PM EST

John Harkness, the film critic for NOW Magazine since its beginning on Sept. 10, 1981, was found dead in his home in Toronto on Tuesday, according to Michael Hollet, the tabloid's editor and publisher. Mr. Harkness, who was 53 had been suffering from high cholesterol. "He had never missed a deadline in 26 years," Mr. Hollet said Tuesday fternoon, "so we sent somebody to his house when his copy didn't arrive." That is when they found his body and called the police.

Born in Montreal in 1954, Mr. Harkness grew up in Halifax and Sarnia. He earned a degree in English literature from Carleton University in Ottawa before doing graduate work in Cinema Studies at Columbia University in New York City, where he studied under critic Andrew Sarris.

"John Harkness was simply the best film critic in Canada over the last 26 years," said Mr. Hollet in a press release. "He has been an essential element of NOW magazine's success and his unique vision and bravery and art in expressing it inspired all of us at NOW to strive."

Mr. Harkness also wrote for Sight And Sound, Take One, and the Cinematheque Ontario program and spent several years as a trade reporter for Screen International and Cinema Canada. His book on the Oscars, The Academy Awards Handbook, is currently in its eighth edition.

WSOP schedule announced

Interesting changes to the WSOP this year....many more big buy-in events ($10,000), two-day starts to some $1,500 events, and a mixed tournament featuring a rotation of eight, that's right EIGHT, poker games.

Here is the press release and schedule:


Harrah’s Entertainment Announces 2008 Schedule
For 39th World Series Of Poker® Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light

Second Annual “Ante Up for Africa” Tournament Also Set


LAS VEGAS – December 11, 2007 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) said today the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light and televised exclusively on ESPN will – for the first time ever – begin and end with $10,000 buy-in World Championship events and feature a total of eight $10,000 championships.

In addition, the 55-event schedule for 2008 includes a total of eight $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, which traditionally draw the largest fields except for the Main Event. The WSOP has also added a second start day for the first of the $1,500 no-limit competitions to accommodate the expected number of entrants.

“This is our most exciting schedule yet,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the WSOP. “Both amateur and professional poker players will have new opportunities to compete for a WSOP bracelet and can choose from the widest variety of games and buy-ins ever offered in one poker tournament and certainly at the WSOP.

“We’re holding steady at 55 events this year,” said Pollack. “But, we’ve mixed it up a bit to keep it interesting for our players and fans.”

The 2008 WSOP starts May 30 with the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot-Limit Hold’Em and ends July 16 with the Final Table of the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em – best known as the WSOP Main Event.

The six other $10,000 buy-in events – all World Championship competitions – include: Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’Em; Seven-Card Stud; Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight or Better; Pot-Limit Omaha; and a new Mixed Event. The Mixed Event will feature eight variations of poker: Limit and No-Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low and Pot-Limit Omaha; Seven Card Stud; Razz; Seven Card Hi-Low Split; and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.

The second event of the 2008 WSOP is a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with two starting days – May 31 and June 1.

Pre-registration for the 2008 WSOP can be made beginning in February on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas or at www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

In addition to the largest cash prizes in poker, winners of each of the 55 events will receive an exclusive World Series of Poker gold bracelet crafted by the luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM. Last year, 54,288 entrants who ranged in age from 21 (bracelet winner Steve Billirakis) to 94 (Main Event contestant Jack Ury) competed for the poker world’s largest total prize pool of nearly $160 million.

The 2008 WSOP will be staged inside the Rio Convention Center from May 30 through July 16. WSOP officials plan a “soft opening” of the tournament room on May 28 and 29 for players to register early and play in satellite tournaments and cash games.

“The poker tent is gone,” said Pollack. “We heard folks loud and clear last year, and there will be no tents used for tournament play at the 2008 WSOP.”

On July 2, and in conjunction with the WSOP, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle and poker professional Annie Duke will host the second annual Ante Up For Africa charity tournament at the Rio.

Last year’s AUFA event featured dozens of Hollywood celebrities and poker professionals and raised more than $700,000 for charity. Ante Up For Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Cheadle, Duke and Norman Epstein and is dedicated to raising money and awareness for Africans in need.

July 3 is the first of four start days for the 2008 Main Event. Last year, a total of 6,358 entrants competed for a Main Event prize pool of $59.8 million. Players may choose their Main Event start dates as long as seats are available on the selected dates.

More information about the World Series of Poker is available at the Web site www.worldseriesofpoker.com.




5/28/2008
Wednesday
9:00 AM

Registration Opens, Live Action & Satellites Begin

5/29/2008
Thursday

Registration, Live Action & Satellites

5/30/2008
Friday
12 noon
1
World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$10,000

5/31/2008
Saturday
12 noon
2A
No-Limit Hold'em (4 day event) Day 1A
$1,500

6/1/2008
Sunday
12 noon
2B
No-Limit Hold'em Day 1B

6/2/2008
Monday
12 noon
3
Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/2/2008
Monday
5:00 PM
4
Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) (3 Day event)
$5,000

6/3/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
5
No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,000

6/3/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
6
Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/4/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
7
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/4/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
8
World Championship Mixed Event (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz , Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, No-Limit Holdem, Pot-Limit Omaha, 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
$10,000

6/5/2008
Thursday
12 noon
9
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$1,500

6/5/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
10
Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event)
$2,500

6/6/2008
Friday
12 noon
11
No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event)
$5,000

6/6/2008
Friday
5:00 PM
12
Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/7/2008
Saturday
12 noon
13
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,500

6/7/2008
Saturday
5:00 PM
14
World Championship Seven Card Stud (3 day event)
$10,000

6/8/2008
Sunday
12 noon
15
Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event)
$1,000

6/8/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
16
Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$2,000

6/9/2008
Monday
12 noon
17
No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event)
$1,500

6/9/2008
Monday
5:00 PM
18
No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$5,000

6/10/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
19
Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day event)
$1,500

6/10/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
20
Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/11/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
21
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$5,000

6/11/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
22
H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$3,000

6/12/2008
Thursday
12 noon
23
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/12/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
24
Pot-Limit Holdem/Omaha (3 day event)
$2,500

6/13/2008
Friday
12 noon
25
World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em (256 player max) (3 day event)
$10,000

6/13/2008
Friday
5:00 PM
26
Seven Card Razz (3 day event)
$1,500

6/14/2008
Saturday
12 noon
27
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/14/2008
Saturday
5PM
28
Pot-Limit Omaha W/Rebuys (3 day event)
$5,000

6/15/2008
Sunday
12 noon
29
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$3,000

6/15/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
30
World Championship Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$10,000

6/16/2008
Monday
12 noon
31
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$2,500

6/17/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
32
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/17/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
33
World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$5,000

6/18/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
34
Pot-Limit Omaha W/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,500

6/18/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
35
Seven Card Stud (3 day event)
$1,500

6/19/2008
Thursday
12 noon
36
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/19/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
37
World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$10,000

6/20/2008
Friday
12 noon
38
Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/21/2008
Saturday
12 noon
39
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/22/2008
Sunday
12 noon
40
World Championship H.O.R.S.E. (5 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$50,000

6/22/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
41
Mixed Hold'em (limit/no-limit) (3 Day event)
$1,500

6/23/2008
Monday
12 noon
42
Seniors No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event)
$1,000

6/24/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
43
Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/25/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
44
No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,000

6/25/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
45
2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (3 day event)
$2,500

6/26/2008
Thursday
12 noon
46
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$5,000

6/26/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
47
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/27/2008
Friday
12 noon
48
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/28/2008
Saturday
12 noon
49
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/29/2008
Sunday
12 noon
50
World Championship Pot Limit Omaha (3 day event)
$10,000

6/29/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
51
H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$1,500

6/30/2008
Monday
12 noon
52
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

7/1/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
53
Limit Hold'em Shootout (2 day event)
$1,500

7/2/2008
Wednesday
10:00 AM

Media Event

7/2/2008
Wednesday

Satellite Day

7/2/2008
Wednesday
2:00 PM

Ante Up For Africa Charity Event (1 day event)
$5,000

7/3/2008
Thursday
12 noon
54A
World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1A 2,500 Players
$10,000

7/4/2008
Friday
12 noon
54B
Day 1B 2,500 Players

7/5/2008
Saturday
12 noon
54C
Day 1C 2,500 Players

7/6/2008
Sunday
12 noon
54D
Day 1D 2,500 Players

7/7/2008
Monday

OFF

7/7/2008
Monday
12 noon
55
Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event)
$500

7/8/2008
Tuesday
12 noon

Day 2A

7/9/2008
Wednesday
12 noon

Day 2B

7/10/2008
Thursday
12 noon

Day 3

7/11/2008
Friday
12 noon

Day 4

7/12/2008
Saturday
12 noon

Day 5

7/13/2008
Sunday
12 noon

Day 6

7/14/2008
Monday
12 noon

Day 7

7/15/2008
Tuesday

OFF

7/16/2008
Wednesday
12 noon

Final Table

General Information: For events 2 & 54, you may request your first day of play based on seating availability.

Single Table Satellites, Mega Satellites and Live Action begin on May 28, 2008

Mega Satellite Schedule: $330 Mega Satellites Monday - Thursday at 3 PM. $550 Mega Satellites Friday - Sunday at 3 PM. $1060 Mega Satellites Daily at 9 PM.

Mega Satellite Days July 2 - 5: $330 Mega Satellites at 6 PM. $550 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 10 AM and 4 PM. $1060 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 1 PM and 9 PM.

Turbo Mega Satellite July 6: $1060 Turbo Mega Satellite at 8AM.

$50k H.O.R.S.E. Mega Satellite Days May 31, June 1, 16, 20, and 21 : $2250 Mega Satellites at 5 PM.

Nightly Tournaments From May 29 - July 15: $340 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em tournaments nightly at 7 PM.

For Tournament Info:Visit our web site at www.worldseriesofpoker.com or call us at 1-877-FOR-WSOP (1-877-367-9767)

For Room Reservation Info:1-877-746-8342

The Following Take-Out Percentages Will Be Withheld From the Buy-In for House Fees and Dealer/Staff Tokes -- $500.00 - 10%, $1,000.00 - 9%, $1,500.00 - 9%, $2,000.00 - 9%$2,500.00 - 8%, $3,000.00 - 8%, $5,000.00 - 6%, $10,000.00 - 6%, $50,000.00 - 4%

All winners will be required to provide a valid picture ID. Tax forms will be completed for those with winnings in excess of $5,000 net of event buy-in. Players without a Tax Identification Number and Foreign Players from Non-Tax Treaty Countries are subject to up to 30% tax withholding. Harrah's reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the Tournament or any Tournament Event, in part or in whole, without notice.

I'm back...this time for real

Yes, I keep saying I'm going to start posting regularly and I keep disappearing for months at a time, but this time I truly mean it...really. To be honest, I was in that funk for a long time and only recently snapped out of it. I had lost work, income opportunities and was breaking even at poker, and was focusing on those things rather than the more important positives in my life -- new and very loving bride, good home and family, good life overall. Instead I wallowed in my misery and sat around playing Xbox 360 all day.

I write to you now from Kinder, a sleepy Louisiana town not far from the Texas border. I'm at the Coushatta resort, an Indian casino that is holding its annual 7 Clans Poker Cup Series and I'm here writing about it for Rounder magazine.

Things have improved for Rounder since last I wrote. The magazine has been sold to new owners and I think they really know what they're doing and I see the magazine succeeding. Under past ownership, I had to meet the editor at a Birmingham gas station to get my check, which was written out of the owner's insurance business account. That didn't exactly inspire confidence in the long-term stability of that employment situation, which proved to be accurate when the mag temporarily folded.

Now we're back and better than ever. Rounder has steadily improved and I'm trying to implement ideas to make it more interesting. For example, this month we did a cute thing with some poker pros about what they wanted for Christmas, with responses from Robert Williamson III about wanting "crazy socks" and constant TV time bubbler Joe Sebok wanting to make a WPT final table. We will also tackle headier stuff that other magazines won't touch, such as the recent Absolute Poker scandal (a major advertiser in all of the other major poker mags). I'm also working on future articles on topics like RFID technology in tournament chips, the life of an online poker pro, and others. I've also dug up my old story on the Andy Bloch Project and Tom Sims that Bluff rejected two years ago and we will probably run it as part of a WSOP preview.

Several years ago I had an email conversation with Jay Greenspan, then the owner of PokerSavvy.com, about turning his website into a magazine, but nothing came of it. This was in the days when Card Player and Poker Player were the only two poker publications in existence. So you can see how exciting it is for me to be part of building a new poker magazine.

Before coming to Kinder, I spent several days in New Orleans. Amy also got to come for the weekend and enjoyed the Crescent City in her first trip there. The WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's was an interesting one, with Josh Arieh, one of the few notable pros in attendance, running over the field until the end, when up and comer Andy Philachack took home the title.

The Mist

World Blogger Championship

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1341318

Help Wanted?

I've made one of my lengthy disappearances from blogging again, I know. Things have been busy -- and stressful -- in the last couple of months. First, the good stuff. I got married! Who would have thunk it? Mr. Lonelyhearts found his soul mate. Some things are just meant to be. I'll post photos from the wedding and honeymoon on here eventually. For now, here's the link to view our wedding photos if anyone is interested:



http://tonyamelton.dotphoto.com/



Scroll down the bottom to where it says Amy and Johnny's wedding.



We honeymooned in Jamaica, the first trip for either of us out of North America. (She's been to Mexico; me to Canada.) The two of us have decided to do a lot more international travelling in the coming years if possible.



But to do that, you've got to have money and that's what has been causing the stress lately. After I came back from the WSOP, the freelance writing work was looking pretty sweet. I had work with the upstart Rounder magazine out of Birmingham, a couple of websites and my weekly newspaper poker column. But then around the time of the honeymoon, things turned sour. I lost work with the bigger website and Rounder stopped publishing (at least temporarily).

So now I'm on the job market again.

I haven't had to look for a job since 1999, when I first got out of college. Even then, I locked up my first newspaper job at The Cullman Times pretty easily since I had interned there a couple of summers in college. So you might say this is my first comprehensive job search. I'm doing my best not to uproot us so I'm trying to find a job in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. If that fails, I could look bigger...Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans. But I like it here and I hope to stay. At least I got some good news this week. Rounder was sold to some new guys and they are going to restart the magazine. Hopefully, I can play an even bigger role in its publication.

I've been quite frustrated at the poker tables lately, too. For the months of August and September combined I won about $40. Part of that was spending a lot of time trying to qualify for the FTOPS and WCOOP events instead of grinding. But even when I was grinding, I was losing. I had several near misses in small buy in tournaments for 2K or 3K, but the worst of all was the FTOPS Stud event, in which I was the chip leader when we made the money. Then they put the guy in second (the two of us were head and shoulders above the rest of the field in chip count) at my table, directly to my left. He proceeded to make hand after hand against me...full house vs. flush, TT running down my QQ, and crippled me. Instead of a final table and chance at $30,000, I finished 21st and won about $800, with another $200 for busting Karina Jett.

I figured out, though, in my recent months' play, that I am better at Stud than I thought and so have begun playing more HORSE ring games and tournaments. If I get out to Vegas again next summer for the WSOP (and that's a BIG if considering the recent state of things, though Amy is hooked and really wants to go back for her birthday again) I want to play a $1,500 HORSE event. Not many people are proficient at all five games, and I think with the tight strategy I've developed I can do OK if I take a shot.