WPT: Another One Bites the Dust

It was annouced last week to almost noone's surprise that Borgata's Winter Poker Open to be held in January of 09 will not be part of the World Poker Tour. Borgata has two stops a year on the tour and they have now reduced it to one.

The long and the short of it is that the Worl Poker Tour is in trouble. Their business model is floundering. They moved from the travelchannel to the Game Show Network now to Fox Sports. These were all bad moves. Some may ask why is the WSOp so sucessful and WPT not. Easy, the WSOP sand ESPN shoot all of their programming in the same location over a few weeks of time. The WPT brings a crew around teh world and gets just two hours out of each trip.

They need to reduce the stops to 4 or 5 and add televised preliminary events. It is the only way it will suceed in the long run without them being but by Boyd or MGM.

In other notes. I have come across a company that is looking to sponsor upcoming poker players. Its called Reserve Vacations. They have a presense in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Shoot me an email if you think you fit the bill.

till then.

DIAGF

Krusty

WSOP November 9 a Hit

The American poker world has been in a tailspin since the Unlawful Internet Gaming Act passed two years ago. Looking to stem the tide of this ESPN and Harrah's tried something new. The held the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker till after the other episodes had aired on ESPN.

The main purpose of this was to minimize the number of people who knew the winner before the show aired last night. Not since Greg Raymer won in 2004 had I not know the winner before the final episode was shown. Trust me it makes a major difference. Here is what I liked:

Big Supporting Crowds- giving peoples friend 3 months notice on the final table allowed each player to have a large cheering section

Michael Buffer - when the action got heads up they brought out the 9 Million Dollars in cash that went to the winner. Then the had the worlds best announcer Michael Buffer introduce the two remaining players and did his "lets get ready to shuffle and deal"

Quality of Poker - Giving the players 3 months to bone up on poker made the final table less of a luckbox festival. Ivan Demidov played some of the best final table poker ever seen in the main event. Unfortunately it wasn't enough win as I van took down almost 6 million for second place.

Goodbye Poker Brat - Peter Eastgate the new great Dane of poker was the eventual winner as he combined high level poker with just enough lucksacking. Eastgate who is only 22 years old bested the record for the youngest player to take down the Main Event. This record had been held for almost 20 years by the poker brat himself Phil Helmuth. Sorry Phil, I guess the 10 other bracelets he won since then will have to comfort him.

Overall this was the best thing to happen to poker since the hole card cameras. Kudos to Harrahs, ESPN, Jefferey Pollack and whoever the nameless faceless person whose idea this was.

Krusty says HEY HEY

Poker Update November

Well fall is in full swing and poker is picking up a bit. ESPN just finished airing the last of the pretaped episodes of the WSOP Main event. The November Nine have been revealed to all of us. Soon we will see if Harrahs and ESPN's move to try to make this more of a "live" event. I hope so. Poker needs a shot in the arm.

Those of you who have been watching the march to the November Nine saw Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matasow make deep runs in the Main Event. We all know had either of these men made the final table the buzz would have benn extraordinary. This is the double edged sword of the "Moneymake Effect".

I have some rooting interests at the final table. I played extensively with Chino Rheem and Ylon Schwartz during my time out on tour. Had the final table happened the standard way it had in thep ast they would have been my top picks. The fact that the other 7 players have had 4 months to immerse themselves in poker the gap closes quickly.

In Atlantic City poker news. The US Poker Champions was recently held at the Trump Taj Mahal. And the real question is who the hell cares. This easily could have been the crown jewel of Atlantic City poker, instead they were down to just sixty some odd entries. Two years ago Atlantic City got tons of air time with the (12) one hour episodes on ESPN. That is a thing of the past.

Borgata is having $350k guarantee this month. These always sems to blow past the number. I can tell you that I dont think you will see them trying that 5 million gurantee anytime soon. That was a close one guys. They were a bad thunder storm away from having to post a having to post a big six figure number.

Looks like John Phan is on his way to CardPLayer Player of the Year in 2008. He should have won it in 2005 but Men the Master manipulated the system as he oft does to eek out a victory. Hope you get this one Razor. But dont lose sight of Betrand Grospellier. He is like Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights. I just hope they dont make out at the Bellagio in Dec where I am certain this thing will be determined.


Till then. Suck it

AJ

Chili Cheese Dog Takes Down Some Cash

Matt "Chili Cheese Dog" Glantz almost took down the biggest prelim event at the 2008 WSOP. He finished 4th in the $50,000 HORSE tournament. That was good for over $400,000 and combined with an earlier final table he eclipsed $600k for this World Series of Poker. Matt is a known face in the Atlantic City area playing the biggest rotation games in the high limit room at the Borgata. With that kind of scratch he can buy a shit load of chili cheese dogs.

Looks Eric "E-Dog" Lindgren is going to take down WSOP player of the year. E got his first bracelet this year and made two other final tables. Also of note "The Poker Brat" Phil Helmuth just missed his 12th WSOP bracelet finishing 4th in $1500 HORSE.

On the rumor side of things, looks like Phil Ivey is in for a majorly bad month. Phil bet very heavy on the Lakers in the NBA Finals and you know how that went. Additionally he made very large bets that he would win a WSOP bracelet. The word on the street is that Phil could lose as much as 6 million dollars if he fails to win the main event. Win or lose Phil is still the man, having honed his game right here in Atlantic City.

Die in a grease fire,
Krusty

World Series of Poker Past Half Way

The marathon that has become the world series of poker is now past the halfway point. They have handed out over 25 bracelets and the only person to take down more than one is John "The Razor" Phan. John is great fun to be around and is well known for having a few cocktails while participating in a poker tournament.

Locally speaking there hasn't been to much to report. Matt "Chili Cheese Dog" Glantz made a final table finishing 4th to just miss his first bracelet yet again. Svetlana Gromenkova who was a fixture in the card rooms at Borgata and the Taj Mahal took down the ladies event. Good on you kid. Matt "Allinat420" Stout just missed making his first WSOP final table by dropping out in 13th just 12 people from a half million dollar windfall. Sucker!

Overall the numbers for this year's event are about the same as they were last year. This big question is how many players will be entered into the 10k Main Event. Last year it was 60000 down from 8900 in 2006. The people over at Harrah's and ESPN have added a new twist to the Main Event this year. They are going to play down to the final table of 9 players on July 14th or so. Then they will stop play for 4 months to conclude the tournament in a pseudo live setting in November. The point is that basically everyone who is interested in poker knows who won the Main Event before it airs, so they want to create suspense and allow for more endorsement dollars to flow in. Who the fuck knows if it will work.

Nenad Takes It Down

Nenad Medic pro poekr player was the first to take down a gold bracelet at this years World Series of Poker. Over 700 player ponied up the $10000 buy in for the pot limit holdem championship. The final table included soem big names in the world of poker including Phil Laak, Patrik Antonius, Kathy Liebert and Mike Sexton. Also at the final table was Andy Bloch who recently finished as runner up to Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in the national heads up championship. Well they can start calling him Andy " The Bridesmaid" Bloch because again he took second in this event. The $400k+ win will do his bank balance wll but his ego must be bruised. This was the first bracelet for Medic who is best know for winning a World Poker Tour event at Foxwoods in 06.

Locals in action: Chris Reslock has yet to cash in an event. Matt "allinat20" Stout finished 300th in the huge 4000 person $1500 buy in. That got him 3k. No word on Nick Frangos. Ex Patriated Phil Ivey is the leade in the thousand rebuy restarting today.

The field sizes seem to be on par with what we saw for the 2007 WSOP. The big question is how many people will be in the $10k maine vent. There are also rumors swirling about a settlement between US DOJ and Party Poker opening the door for Party and others to return to US Operations. The whole thing is fucked and needs to be fixed.

Die in a grease fire.

Krusty

Lets Get Ready To Rumble WSOP Style

OK. Enough of hating on poker. We all know the TV rating are down. The internet sites were caught cheating. Kids are multiaccounting. Sponsorship money has dried up. Forget all that. Its time for the 2008 World Series of Poker.

The bracelet events get kicked off in a different way this year.In the past they have started with a casino employees event followed by a $1500 no limit holdemopen event. Last year was a major clusterfuck. Registration for the first two tournament didnt open until just hours before the events. People waited 7 and 8 hours just to get into a poker tournament. Trust me I was ther eand was pissed. I refused top wait in the line and had to sit out the first event.

This year they have changed to have the pot limit holden championship with a10k buy in be the first event. Then the casino employees event and then the first $1500 buy in. Additionally preregistration is available online and they are opening up on site registration days in advance.

Just thinking about it I'm get jacked up. Poker is a fun game, but the WSOP is a whole new level. Sure most of the free swag is gone and a lot of the buzz. But to an extent its better. We are somewhat back to the hardcore poker players. Due to the poker boom the family is much bigger, but this year there will at lot less casual players around.

I personally am not scheduled to be in Vegas until June 22nd. Which is right in the middle of the 6 week marathon. I will not be playing the Main Event this year due to some personal obligations. I guess I'll just have to grab a bracelet in a prelim. (As if)

Here is my list of Atlantic City Poker Players I expect to make noise at the 2008 WSOP. I will be keeping track of their progress on this site. Also shoot me a comment if there are some players you want me to watch out for:

Matt Stout - obv
Joey Brooks - TheB will do something
Kenny Weinstein - KennyRap is poised to do something big in live play.
Nick Frangos - Always holding it down for AC
Chris Reslock - Best cab driving poker playing mofo around.

Check out my WSOP updates. They will be coming fast and furious once play starts.

Krusty

Almost Gus and Borgata Bucks Trend

Gus Hansen the great Dane, almost cemented himself as a legend of poker. Gus is the all time leader in wins on the World Poker Tour. he just missed his fourth win at the Bellagio last week losing heads up to fellow Full Tilt Poker pro David Chiu. Gus won the Aussie millions in 2007, which was the start of his turn around. He went very deep in the 07 WSOP main event. It was hard not to find yourself rooting for Gus.

Another notable story out of the WPT Championship was that of Tom "Durrr" Dwan. The young brash pro poker player from New Jersey lost an odd bet. He was late for the tournament and lost a wager to Alan Sass. Because of this Durrr had to wear a funny hat each day of the tourney. The crazy part of it was that Dwan made it all the way down to the final table and just missed making it on to the TV final table. That would have been funny as shit.

Borgata held its $500,000 gaurantee this weekend. With a 2k buy in this meant they guaranteed 250 entries. I personally can say that I didn't expect them to sell out, but they did. Kudos to Tab and Ray over the Borgata for running the best tournaments in Atlantic City. Speaking of the Borgata tonight is the premiere of the Borgata Poker Open on GSn. Big names at the final table include Roy Winston and Mike Matasow.

Suck it.

AJ

EPT Down WPT to go

The EPT in Monte Carlo is over with some dude winning. He's like from Canada and you know about that guy. Im not your guy friend. Anyhow. Antonio Esfandiari made the final table along with Iassac WestMenlo Baron aslo made the final table. Time to get your asses to Vegas friends.



I'll be there on Sunday. Im not playing "obv" because action starts on Saturday. I will be attending the Champions presentation. WPT has decided to give past WPT winners Titanium and Diamond bracelets. SHould be an interesting event. If everyone attends it will be a varitable whos who of poker. Here is a short list of people who will receive the WPT bracelets:

Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negraneu, Carlos Mortenson, Eric Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Ted Forrest and more.

Dont you think its odd that the WPT is putting out bracelets. Its an obvious copy off the WSOP. But it could it be a precursor to Harrahs buying the WPT. The stock is so damn cheap, if Harrahs forks over the 30 million the company is worth they would bascially own poker in the US. Which also brings the question up, why doesnt MGM Mirage buy the WPT. Fuck it. Die in a fire.



AJ

WPT Championship Prelims Continue

Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter took down a $2500 buy in at the bellagio this week. The next day former CardPlayer Player of the Year Michael "The Grinder" Mizarchi won the 3k buy in by besting Shannon Shorr and Nam Le. However the fields are still well under what they got last year.

Here are some predictions:

1) The EPT Championship at Monte Carlo will be biggest tournament in the history of European poker.

2) This years WPT Championship will have the smallest field in 3 years

3) The WSOP will still be a madhouse come the of May.

No Soup For You Dario or Shannon

The EPT stop in San Remo Italy is over. An American , Jason Mercier, ended up winning the near 1 million pound prize. The bigger story was that hometown hero Dario Minieri lost a big race three handed to bust with a quarter million pound win.

Most people remember Dario from his deep run in last years World Series of Poker Main Event. He has a penchant to wear scarves at the table. Uh Ok. Well it was a great tournament and the European Poker Tour keeps on chugging.

Also Shannon Shorr missed a good opportunity to take down a nice win in the prelims of WPT championship. In the 2k buy in Shannon went in third and busted in 7th for only 8500ish. Keep your head up kid. Thayer Rasmussen, Jon Kalmar and Peter Neff was also at this final table with Eric"Basebaldy" Baldwin taking home almost $150k. Sweet.

Foxwoods and the downfall of poker.

The Foxwoods whatever poker classic is in action today. The field was just over 325 down from 418 last year. This is a continuing trend down on the highest level of the poker circuit in the US. The EPT is growing fast and creating constant competition for the World Poker Tour.

My buddy Matt"Allinat420" Stout skipped the Foxwoods main event to spend some time in Amsterdam before the EPT championship. This is seen more and more people skipping major tournaments. There are just too many big buy in events. Immediately following the EPT Championship in Monte Carlo people will jet back to the states for the WPT Championship at the Bellagio and the World Series of Poker is just six weeks after that.