Poker News

In an earlier posting we noted how Harrah’s Entertainment was basically the only brick and mortar casino company that was willing to get behind Barney Frank and his proposed legislation that would finally allow poker players in the US to play online poker. Putting their money where their mouth is, they have put out over $400,000 to back their cause.

As you may recall, Party Poker was the largest and most successful online poker room before the UIGE Act came into play. While some companies decided to risk it and stay with the US market, Party Poker pulled out. At the time, Mitch Garber was the CEO of Party Gaming. Harrah’s has pulled out all of the stops and has hired Garber as the head of their new subsidiary, Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, Inc., to lead the way into a new era of online gaming.

The move makes perfect sense. While the move to pull out of the US market can be questioned, the success of the company up to that point in the US is unquestionable. He will have the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of the industry and will also be able to launch their site in European countries while US legislation is still in question.

There can be little doubt that if this legislation goes through, Harrah’s will immediately take over as the major online poker room in the United States. They will have one advantage over any other site as they are actually a brick and mortar casino and a lot of the packages that they will be able to put together should far surpass anything that any other site can do the satellites into the WSOP. They have the ability to add food, beverage and lodging in a way that no other site can do.

While the other sites have to get more entries for a $20,000 package, this stuff can literally be comped off by Harrah’s to make their site the most attractive on the net. When you also add in the fact that a US company will finally be involved in the gaming industry, it reeks of success.

US players have been longing for a company that they could trust 100% and that would be regulated by the United States to get involved in the online poker industry. While European players will have the advantage of seeing the product first, it is hard to imagine that any other site will be able to match the product that they will develop. This is welcome news to United States players and will definitely change the online poker world in a positive way.

40 WSOP packages guaranteed in Mega Satellite

Paddy Power Poker today Blasts Off for Las Vegas by announcing a WSOP* Mega Satellite with 40 packages guaranteed. The WSOP Blast Off MTT is a $500 + $35 NLH freezeout scheduled for Sunday June 14th. Feeder satellites will run daily from Monday June 1st with buy-ins starting at less than $1.

Each WSOP package is worth $13,000 and is made up of WSOP Main Event entry ($10,000), 7 nights’ accommodation and $1,900 to cover travel and spending money.

“The World Series is just around the corner, so I’ve fuelled up our rocket and set a course for Las Vegas”, said  Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “With over 40 packages up for grabs, our players have a great opportunity to live the poker dream and play in the biggest game in town – it’s time to Blast Off!”

Feeder satellites to the WSOP Blast Off $500 + $35 Mega Satellite can be accessed via the poker software lobby from June 1st; select ‘Scheduled MTT’s’ and then the ‘Satellites’ tab.

Unlike most tournaments, the Canadian Open Main Event is a Heads-up tournament. It is one of the most anticipated events of the season leading up to the World Series and often gets some of the biggest names in poker to enlist for one last shot of glory before the WSOP. This year was no different, but once again an unknown ends up taking down a major championship.

Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that Phil Hellmuth is one of the best NL Hold’em tournament players in the world. It is hard to argue the 11 WSOP bracelets that are dangling off of his wrist. He always seems to make the perfect move, but will often get beat when someone does not respect a raise or a move that he makes and then we are treated to the rant.






Phil made is at far as the quarterfinals and after a marathon match of about 6 hours, manage to get all the money in with the best of it only to fall to a 2 outer on the river. It was 99-66 and when the 6 hit, Hellmuth was tossed to the rail by the eventual winner, Benjamin LaBlond.

Defending champion Huck Seed had a target on his head from the moment he sat down and never even made it out of the first round of players. All in all, 93 people showed up for the event, not a World Series turnout by any comparison, but the field was filled with landmines. With his $100,000 now safely in hand, it is an easy assumption that LaBlond will now be headed to Vegas for fame and glory.

There is only one more major event to get through before the WSOP starts at the end of the month and then it is time to dig in for 2 months of poker insanity. The WSOP has added a few events and has also added an anniversary event that should be filled with every big name in the poker world. Dig in folks, poker is about to get real serious!

You knew the action was going to heat up once Minieri joined Dwan at the tables and the last couple of episodes gave us all the excitement we could handle. While both of them took a small beating two weeks ago, they both managed to get a little of that back this week. The table fell right into both of their games as bluffing was the theme of the night.

The action got started on the very first hand as Peat threw out a $5,100 raise with QJo. They ended up with a 4 way hand and when the board missed everyone, Peat continued to fire and throw another $20,500 at the pot on the turn. Everyone folded except for Laak and when the river came up empty, Peat kept the pressure on and threw another $50,000 into the mix. Laak was sitting on the best hand with A10c and had all but talked himself into a call when he put his money back down and let Peat take down a $100,500 hand.

The next hand was more of the same as Meltzer fired over top of Baxter, who had hit top pair with a weak kicker, for $58,000 and Baxter had to let his hand go. This was almost $200,000 in two hands that was taken down with nothing. You knew the fireworks were going to fly if anyone managed to catch a hand at any point.

Two hands later, Elezra let go of a hand against Minieri that was a great fold. He was sitting on top pair, but picked something up on Minieri that made him fold the hand. Not sure if it was what he saw, but Minieri has a noticeable smirk when he has a stacked hand versus making a play. The same smirk would show up a few hands later.

The first monster of the night went down with another bluff attempt by Peat. He made a horrible pre-flop call of $8,000 with J9d as Brunson was sitting on AA. Brunson led out with a $20,000 on his flopped set and Peat came right over the top on his flush and inside straight draw for a total of $125,000. Brunson made the call and his hand stood up to a double run. $366,000 added to his stack.

The money would not stay there very long though as in the very next hand Brunson would flop bottom pair and a flush draw against Minieri’s top two pair. Minieri got all of his money in and hit a boat on both hands as they ran it twice. The double up was worth $205,500 and got him back to about even on the session.

The night ended with another huge hand that had Baxter, who had been steaming at this point, and Dwan butting heads. Dwan re-raised Baxter with Q9h and Baxter came right back over the top for $31,700 with AKh. Dwan popped the top pair on the flop, but both players checked it down until the river card. Dwan fired $34,300 for value on the river and Baxter looked him up and made another donation on the night. The $134,000 pot managed to get Dwan back most of his money for the session, but the early luck that he was showing reversed for most of the last two sessions.

Both Dwan and Minieri get a lot of action on their pots because it is a rare case that they are not firing pre-flop regardless of their hands when they decide to get involved in a pot. While they have been getting looked up with nothing, the payoffs have been huge when they manage to hit a hand. It will be interesting to see if they manage to get hot during the end of the season or they both go back into the tank.

Annie Duke has been a formidable competitor on Celebrity Apprentice all season long and the duel between her and Joan Rivers has been the talk on many a poker forum and table. As the showdown got closer, the mudslinging got a little more serious. While Annie Duke should have been the winner in many people’s eyes, she fell short in the only ones that mattered, Donald Trump’s.

Make no mistake about it, there was no bond created between these two women during the course of the show as Joan Rivers made it quite clear what she thinks about the poker community as a whole. Referring to them at times as “degenerate gamblers” and calling their donations “Mafia money” were but a few of the shots that she took during the competition.

There are those that are arguing that the bulk of the money that was donated came from her close and personal friends, but Rivers had the same opportunity to get her friends to donate just as generously. In the end, Duke received just over $465,000 in contributions while Rivers only received about $150,000. The outcome seemed to be a no-brainer, but Trump had other categories that he was judging the competitors on as well.

According to Trump, Duke fell short in integrating the chosen brand into the charity, Kodak, and the experiences of both the guests and celebrities. She may not throw a great party, but she sure as hell knows who to invite!

It was actually kind of amusing as the show wound down to hear Trump ask questions based on Rivers perception of the people that supported her cause. He in fact used the term “degenerate gamblers” himself. It is amazing in the fact that he would use that specific term when it was the gambling industry that kept food on his table for all of those years.

In the end, the whiney Joan Rivers got the nod and Duke got fired. She has already posted her rebuttal to Trump’s decision and while she pretends to accept it, you can almost sense the bitterness that has been created between her and Joan Rivers. It will be interesting to see if Rivers lets it go or uses her media outlets to continue to trash Duke and the poker community. Duke has the ability to get a little nasty and Rivers better be sure that she is not biting off more than she can chew.