photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Chau Giang outlasted the field of poker pros and celebrities to claim the 2010 WSOP $10,000 Main Event seat and the Curtis & Co. custom watch. Included in the mix was well known Full Tilters Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman and Eric Seidel joined WSOP champions Doyle Brunson and Tom McElvoy in support of this annual SPCA charity poker tournament.

Flipchip sent some of his favorite photos from the event at The Venetian poker room.

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

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

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We are almost there. The last day of the year. How are things stacking up for you, in terms of your win/loss total for 2009? Don’t do anything silly today to try and manipulate it into something you like better.

Me? I might play a little today, but I have a lot of other writing to do, including finishing this here recap. Following Part 1 (Jan.-Apr.) and Part 2 (May-Aug.), here’s the rest of the story:

September

In UIGEA news, a lawsuit brought by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) that challenged the law’s constitutionality was dismissed. This story was strangely spun by many (in particular, iMEGA) as good news because in rejecting the case the 3rd Circuit District Court made reference to the fact that individual states get to say what is and what is not unlawful internet gambling.

Fact was, this distinction had been noted in the UIGEA all along (i.e., this new case didn’t really change anything on that front), something I pointed out in “iMEGA Suit Claiming Unconstitutionality of UIGEA Dismissed.”

During the first part of September I was occupied with helping cover PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), and so there were a few posts this month reporting various happenings there. In the last one of those posts, I was inspired to comment on the repeat successes of guys like Daniel “djk123” Kelly, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko in “PokerStars WCOOP Concludes: It’s a Skill Game, Jo.”

Was watching the U.S. Open in there, too, and in “Matching Up Poker and Tennis” I attempt to draw an analogy that addresses the old luck-vs.-skill debate in poker. “The Poker Hall of Fame: Will Anyone Be Worthy?” notes how the new voting procedure appeared to guarantee that either no one or just one person would get in this year. And “When Winners Lose, and Losers Win” relates the story of that wild hand at EPT Barcelona between Tobias Reinkemeier and Roland de Wolfe in which de Wolfe mucked a winner.

As far as my own play was going, I was running good in August and early September, partly evidenced by “Shovels, Clovers, Valentines, and Squares” in which I tell about flopping a straight flush. Then hit a bad patch, some details of which I shared in “I Get Up, I Get Down.” I also see that I began and ended the month with a couple of posts about stack sizes in PLO: “Topping Off” and “Don’t Want No Short People ’Round Here?”

September also saw the Kahnawake Gaming Commission issue its so-called “final decision” on the UB insider cheating scandal, which I talked some about in “Final Decision on UltimateBet: None of My Business.” And, as you’ll recall, soon after came “The Sebok Surprise” in which the well-liked pro signed on with the beleaguered site.

October

The month began with the conclusion of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, in which Barry Shulman enjoyed a couple of fortunate hands against Daniel Negreanu heads up to take it down. Talk about that some in “End of Story: 2009 WSOPE Main Event Concludes.”

Then our attention gradually turned toward Vegas and the upcoming conclusion of the WSOP Main Event. On October 7 I noted there was just “One Month Left to Hype the November Nine.” I think Harrah’s, ESPN, et al. ended up doing okay during those next few weeks to get us all (and others) interested in the sucker come November. Case in point, a week later in “That’s the Way We Do It” I admit how I was starting really to get into the ESPN broadcasts of the Main Event. And near the end of October I was marveling with everyone else at that hand in which Phil Ivey mistakenly mucked his flush, giving Jordan Smith an undeserved pot in “Not Exactly Ivey League.”

These posts from October all have self-explanatory titles, I think: “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Debuts,” “The Poker Hall of Fame: Sexton Selected,” and “Kentucky Still Hoping to Be Master of Your Domains.” Well, maybe I should explain that last one. Had to do with the still-ongoing appeal of the appeal, now being considered by Kentucky’s Supreme Court, in that case regarding the commonwealth’s desire to block or seize domains hosting online gambling sites.

Then there are some posts in there with titles that definitely need explainin’. “Playing As If Your Life Depended On It” made references to both Tommy Angelo and The Seventh Seal. “Up, Up, and Away!” concerns our friend “balloon boy” (remember him?). And “Call and Response” does a little theorizin’ about the significance of blogs, Twitter, and how we use this here interweb to relate to each other.

Early in the month I made it to the movies to see a decent comedy called The Invention of Lying. I reviewed that one over on Film Chaw, then wrote about it here, too, in “First, the Invention of Lying; then, the Invention of Poker.” That post caused me to evoke James McManus’ new book (which I was reading at the time), Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker. I’d eventually review it here in “A Good Read: McManus Tells the Story of Poker.” Soon I’d additionally get the chance to review Cowboys Full more formally over on the Betfair site, where I’d also interview McManus.

November

First half of November was all about the WSOP Main Event final table. In “Post-Production is 20/20” I talked some more about Ivey’s mistake versus Jordan Smith, including sharing Barry Greenstein’s thoughts on the matter. Then in “Kopp Busted!” I talked about seeing ESPN’s coverage of another crazy hand, the one in which Billy Kopp lost it all to Darvin Moon with just a dozen players left.

Then we finally got there. In “2009 November Nine Just Hours Away… Time for Special Tactics!” I talked a bit about Phil Hellmuth saying he’d coached Jeff Shulman to employ a “special tactic” to “shock the world.” Then I gave an overview of the nine players at the final table in “2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table: Welcome Back, November Nine.”

Discussed that bizarro Hand No. 90 in which Darvin Moon made the big bluff then folded for next-to-nothing to Steve Begleiter in “Moon Begs the Question… WTF?” Wrote about the heads-up match a bit in “Comeback Kid Cada 2009 WSOP Main Event Champ,” then a few days later offered “Kudos to Cada: WSOP Champ on Letterman.” A final November Nine post, “Looking Back: 2009 WSOP November Nine on ESPN,” includes a list of the 32 (of 364) final table hands that made it into the two-and-a-half hour long ESPN broadcast.

You’ll recall it was just a few days later we learned “Pollack Moves On, WSOP Commish Seat Open.” Harrah’s still hasn’t filled that seat, and toward the end of the month I asked “Does the WSOP Need a Commish?”

Let’s see… the weird-ass juxtaposition of the month award goes to the post “The Sklansky Minute and John Cage’s Indeterminacy.” (See that one for yourself, if yr curious.) And “$1,356,946.50” relates how I happened to have been railing Isidur1 and Patrik Antonius when I saw them play the biggest pot in online poker history.

As the month concluded, we American online poker players were all fretting about the upcoming December 1 deadline for enforcement of the UIGEA. I wrote “The Door is Closing: Hoping for UIGEA Delay,” then the next day (Thanksgiving) got to say “Thankful, I Am” as we’d heard that indeed there’d be a six-month postponement of the deadline.

December

Month began with that House hearing on online gambling, discussed in “Talking Online Poker: House Hearing Today.” Then everybody put the subject on hold. ’Cos, you know, there was shopping to do. Oh, and that health care thing.

Read a couple more poker books near year’s end, both autobiographies. I’d review Doyle Brunson’s The Godfather of Poker over at Betfair, but also wrote a piece here — “Doyle Brunson’s Confessions” — in which I talked about how the book reminded me more than once of St. Augustine’s autobiography. (Not saying Doyle’s a saint, haha!) I also wrote here a “Poker Book Review: Victoria Coren’s For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair With Poker” — a funny, even “literary” book I’d think should appeal to any poker player who likes good storytelling.

Opined a bit on Scott Huff and Joe Sebok’s new Fox Sports show in “Poker2Nite Brings Poker to the World.” The post “Speaking of Poker: What You Can and Cannot Say, Part II” is also about their show, revisiting an old topic regarding the conflict between online poker sponsorships and television.

Mid-month saw the “2010 WSOP Schedule Announced,” inspiring a bit of photshopping (see below). In much less significant news, I finally got response to my repeated requests to UltimateBet which I related in “The Rest of the Story (UB Hand Histories).”

Of course, the big poker story in December was the ongoing Isildur1 saga, and I wrote about it a few times here.

“Out of This World: The Isildur1 Saga Continues” discusses Patrik Antonius’s interview with Phil Gordon about the mystery man while also pointing to some other stories then swirling about. In “Loving Life, Defying Death” I talked about railing Isildur1 a bit while also referring back to Doyle Brunson’s book (and the weird, repeated joke of some railbirds prematurely announcing Texas Dolly’s death). “Digging for Gold (Mining Isildur1)” took up the new controversy regarding the CardRunners guys’ collecting info about the sneaky Swede. Then came PokerNews’ interview with Isildur1 in which revealed he planned to pursue a “formal complaint.” I suggested “Grab Your Popcorn (Isildur1 v. Full Tilt).”

So that’s what’s been happenin’ here. No telling at the moment what 2010 will be like for yr humble gumshoe, but I imagine continuing to scribble away here will most definitely be part of the plan.

Big thanks again to everyone for coming around here and for all of the nice feedback. Be sure and make contact again in 2010. Have a safe and happy new year, all!

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Continuing what we started yesterday… It was another summer in Las Vegas for yr humble gumshoe helping cover the world’s biggest annual poker circus, and so these middle months are largely taken up with the before, during, and after of the WSOP.

May

The rumble at the start of May was that new legislation was a-comin’ that might affect Americans and their online poker, and anticipating that I wrote a post called “The States of Online Poker” that speculated some about that possibility. Then Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) delivered another bill designed to license and regulate online gambling in the U.S. He proposed a second bill seeking a delay for the UIGEA as well.

I seem to have been in another one of those funks there at the beginning of May, as in “Play the Game” I’m fretting aloud about my commitment to playing poker. By then my mind was becoming increasingly distracted by the upcoming trip to Vegas and the WSOP (as well as other matters), which might partially explain from where those misgivings were coming.

A couple of weeks before the Series began, that “Celebrity Apprentice” finale pitting Annie Duke and Joan Rivers aired, and I opined a bit about the show and its ultimate messages about poker and poker players in “Was It Good For You? (On the Celebrity Apprentice Finale).” Also appearing just before the WSOP was the autobiography of Mike Matusow, Check-Raising the Devil, to which our friends Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli contributed mightily. It’s a terrific read, and I reviewed the book here (and also here).

There was another pre-WSOP event to talk about, the PokerListings’ Run Good Challenge, WSOP edition. I got knocked out of the first one of those early on by my buddy the Poker Grump, who went on to win the darn thing, as I related in “Grump Runs Good in RGC 3 (WSOP Edition).” There was a second tourney in which I did a little better, though still not good enough for a golden ticket into a WSOP prelim.

In the days before leaving, I had a few “state of the WSOP”-type posts. “On the Economy & the 2009 WSOP” talked some about the possible impact of front-loading the thing with that special $40K event. “On ESPN’s Coverage of the WSOP” and its sequel considered this year’s coverage and the decision to eschew nearly every preliminary event.

I arrived in Vegas the last week of May, played some volleyball — badly — (“Having a Ball”), then quickly found myself “Back in the Saddle” helping cover the Series for PokerNews. These last few posts in May are all taken up with that “Special 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em Event,” though my favorite is the Animals-inspired “Wave Upon Wave of Demented Avengers March Cheerfully Out of Obscurity Into the Dream.”

June

By the first week of June the WSOP was in full swing, with four, five, or even six events going on each day. I did catch some breaks here and there from live blogging, including one early in June when I had a chance to visit with Tommy Angelo, the poker coach and author of Elements of Poker. He thought we were just having a friendly meal together, but as the title of my post indicates, something more was going on: “Shamus Swindles Poker Lesson for Price of Cheeseburger.”

In “Isolation” I took up the subject of everyone IM-ing, Twittering, and/or being distracted by their iPhones, Blackberries, or other devices either at the tables or elsewhere. The post “Count On It” contains one of my favorite pictures from the WSOP, one of our star reporter Mickey Doft counting chips in a picture of himself counting chips (see above). FerricRamsium took this picture, and B.J. Nemeth took the one on the screen (for PokerRoad).

In “A Hand Worth Remembering” relates a hand I watched in which a dude tried to check-raise Carter “ckingusc” King after having folded his hand. Pretty hilarious stuff. In “Live from the Rio” I briefly relate having been a guest on the Hardcore Poker Show. Followed that with a post titled “Live from the Rio, Part II” which an overview of sorts of what a WSOP final table is like.

The title of “Does Humor Belong in Tournament Reporting?” is self-explanatory. (My answer is sure, why not? Within reason, of course.) Speaking of grins, “It Was Fun” talks about watching Shannon Elizabeth’s table having a good time during a tourney’s first day. That post got some attention from Elizabeth fans (both in the comments and on a fan site, if I recall) who liked seeing her poker-playing written about in a positive manner.

I’m seeing a few posts reflecting on the various challenges of tourney reporting. In “Land of 1000 Reporters” I revisited the issue of everyone broadcasting their progress via handheld devices at the tables. In “The Name Game” I discussed the sometimes absurd-seeming struggle to identify players. And “Seeing Is Believing” talks about the occasional awkwardness of reporting those bizarro hands that probably aren’t going to be believed by readers.

Vera Valmore arrived for her visit the last week of June, and we had a good time, including going to see “Mystère.” I ended the month revealing that a feature film was made about my exciting life back in 1973, titled Shamus and starring Burt Reynolds in the title role. If you somehow missed it, here’s that trailer:

July

I got a chance to play in a charity event that included a number of pros. Eventually Dan Harrington got moved to my table, although unfortunately I was in the embarrassing spot of having an “M” of around 2 when he did, as I reported in “Then Again, With the Name ‘Short-Stacked,’ This Was Bound to Happen Sooner or Later.” A couple of days later I’d get to play in another mainly-media tourney in which I’d sit with both Linda Johnson and Dennis Phillips (see “LOL Freerollaments”).

The Main Event finally got crankin’. The post “Whirlwind” talks a little about the Day 1d fiasco in which hundreds of players had to be turned away. Have another post in there called “Anatomy of a Hand Report” which tells about watching and reporting on a hand involving Terrence “Not Johnny” Chan from Day 2. I kind of dig that post as it gives a good idea what it is like to be a tourney reporter, relating all the various factors that come into play when trying to report even a single hand.

“Theme (In Search Of)” begins with a conversation I’d had with Dr. Pauly. The circus would soon be over, and we were all looking for some way to assign meaning to it all. “Go With the Flow” reports on the chaos of the money bubble bursting (and the PokerNews site crashing). And “Boom, Boom, Boom” reports on the wild finish to produce the November Nine.

There’s a post that provides an annotated list of all the WSOP reports, if yr curious: “2009 WSOP, A Reporter’s Notebook.”

After getting home, I opined a littled “On Shulman’s Spite” — i.e., Jeff Shulman’s announcement about throwing the WSOP bracelet in the garbage, should he win it. “An Application to Consider” proposes an iPhone app for tourney reporting, an idea I wouldn’t be surprised to see happen at the 2010 WSOP. And “A Sporting Chance for Poker” reports on how that European Poker Tour event that had been scheduled for Moscow had been shipped over to Kyiv, Ukraine.

Had no idea at the time that I’d be shipping myself to Ukraine, too, in just a few weeks!

August

Having settled back home for a while, I was getting a little abstract (perhaps) there at the start of August in posts like “On First Choices, Second Guesses.” Was also reflecting some on the state of journalism circa 2009 in “Time Is Money, So Can I Afford to Pause to Reflect?”

Was back into playing online a lot, and fully committed to pot-limit Omaha again. I read Jeff Hwang’s terrific Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, Volume I which inspired me to think out loud a bit in “To Pot or Not to Pot, a PLO Predicament.” Speaking of poker books, I wrote “On Poker Books” the next day and discussed how book-reading in general has become a relatively antiquated activity.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) proposed a bill in the senate that offered to license and regulate online poker specifically (and not online gambling in general, as Frank’s bill does). Wrote on that (with some skepticism) in “On the Menendez Bill (S. 1597); or, Be Careful What You Ask For.”

In “The Writer’s Life” I noted that I’d been invited to go to Kyiv, Ukraine to help cover that EPT event later in the month. Wrote a little more about that in the next post, “Destination Kiev… and the Book Is Out!” (As these posts suggest, I wouldn’t learn the preferred spelling of the city’s name until I got there.) I also announced in that post how I’d finally published my hard-boiled detective novel, Same Difference, which you can read more about and even purchase by clicking here.

The last part of August was taken up with my Ukraine trip — a terrific experience all around, and I remain grateful for having gotten the opportunity to do it. Here are my travel reports from Kyiv: “Arrival,” “Day 1a,” “Day 1b,” “Day 2,” “Day 3,” “Day 4,” “Day 5,” and “Looking Back.” Clearly all of my creative energies were being taken up with reporting from the event, as I had none left for post titles.

Nor have I much energy for more recappin’ today, so come back tomorrow for September through December.

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World leading online poker site PokerStars.com has teamed up with amfAR, a non profit organization dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research, to launch an exclusive celebrity charity poker tournament to raise awareness and funds to combat the Global Aids epidemic.

“amfAR is grateful to Poker Stars for providing this opportunity to bring AIDS awareness to a new audience and to raise critical funds for AIDS research,” said Gregory Boroff, amfAR’s vice president and director of development.

The event is set to take place at the luxurious Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island on January 8th, 2010. Several high profile celebs, sports stars and leading poker pros are expected to take part in the $5,250 event. Half the entire prize pool will go to amfAR to support their research and help raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Among the confirmed celebs attending the charity event are NHL player and Olympic gold medalist Mats Sundin, tennis legend Boris Becker and French rugby star Sebastien Chabal as well as members of Team PokerStars Pro.

“PokerStars is bringing a truly innovative and fulfilling cause to the PCA this year through their partnership with amfAR. As a member of Team PokerStars Pro, I feel very lucky to be able to participate in, and contribute to, such a worthwhile cause in the name of AIDS research.”  said Team PokerStars Pro member, Daniel Negreanu.

Both PokerStars.net and PokerStars.com will be offering online qualifying satellites to give players the chance to win a trip to the Bahamas and play alongside the celebs, sports stars and poker pro’s in the amfAR event. PokerStars.net will be hosting regular freerolls from now until December 6 while PokerStars.com will be running $5 satellites until December 13.

Discuss this article in our forum

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World leading online poker site PokerStars.com has teamed up with amfAR, a non profit organization dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research, to launch an exclusive celebrity charity poker tournament to raise awareness and funds to combat the Global Aids epidemic.

“amfAR is grateful to Poker Stars for providing this opportunity to bring AIDS awareness to a new audience and to raise critical funds for AIDS research,” said Gregory Boroff, amfAR’s vice president and director of development.

The event is set to take place at the luxurious Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island on January 8th, 2010. Several high profile celebs, sports stars and leading poker pros are expected to take part in the $5,250 event. Half the entire prize pool will go to amfAR to support their research and help raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Among the confirmed celebs attending the charity event are NHL player and Olympic gold medalist Mats Sundin, tennis legend Boris Becker and French rugby star Sebastien Chabal as well as members of Team PokerStars Pro.

“PokerStars is bringing a truly innovative and fulfilling cause to the PCA this year through their partnership with amfAR. As a member of Team PokerStars Pro, I feel very lucky to be able to participate in, and contribute to, such a worthwhile cause in the name of AIDS research.”  said Team PokerStars Pro member, Daniel Negreanu.

Both PokerStars.net and PokerStars.com will be offering online qualifying satellites to give players the chance to win a trip to the Bahamas and play alongside the celebs, sports stars and poker pro’s in the amfAR event. PokerStars.net will be hosting regular freerolls from now until December 6 while PokerStars.com will be running $5 satellites until December 13.

Discuss this article in our forum

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