2010 Poker Memories by Linda Johnson

Time is passing too quickly. We just said goodbye to 2010, but memories of my favorite (and not so favorite) poker moments from the year are still vivid in my mind. I’d like to share a few of my personal 2010 poker memories with you.

Proudest 2010 Poker Memory

Without a doubt, being nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame is the answer to this category. What a thrill it was to learn that I had been nominated along with such a prestigious group as Erik Seidel, Dan Harrington, Tom McEvoy, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington.

Favorite Poker News Story

I loved the coverage given to the Mizrachi family during the WSOP. It seemed like every poker magazine had Michael Mizrachi on the cover. Even mainstream Las Vegas entertainment magazines featured Michael and his family.

Favorite Poker Vacation

The 12-night Card Player Cruises poker trip to the Mediterranean wins in this category. The poker room was a lot of fun as usual, but the highlight was seeing all of the magnificent European ports. We stopped at Cannes/Monte Carlo, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Corfu, Dubrovnik, and Barcelona and had great weather in each.

Favorite Charity Event

Of all of the charity events I was fortunate to participate in during 2010, the fundraiser for MickeysCamp.org was my favorite. Mickey’s Camp was started by Mickey Maurer and is held in Indianapolis, Indiana every August. There is a three-day camp for men and a three-day camp for women. The participants sleep in the same cabins the kids stay at during summer and participate in a variety of activities including fishing, camping, wine tasting, cooking, self-defense, magic, and swimming.

I had the honor of teaching the poker sessions and running the poker tournaments for both camps. Mickey’s Camp has raised more than $1 million dollars for charity since its inception 10 years ago. Honorable mention in this category goes to fundraising events for Poker Gives and Child Rescue.

Most Disappointing Poker News

I am still angry and annoyed that we haven’t been able to overturn the UIGEA, although I think we are getting close. The news that the Washington State courts upheld the ruling making online poker illegal is just plain gross! After the ruling, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars shut down service to Washington residents, a move that should have been met with much more fury and protest from the state’s players.

Favorite Whirlwind Trip

My quick trip to Golden, Colorado for a Poker Players Alliance event qualifies in this category. In less than 24 hours, I flew in and out of Denver and participated in a poker tournament to help Senator Michael Bennett’s campaign. Bennett was elected by a very small margin and I believe he was the victor due to the support of Colorado poker players.

Most Prestigious Poker Event

The winner in this category was easily the Women in Poker Hall of Fame banquet held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. The Grand Ballroom, decorated by a group of volunteers headed by Lupe Soto and her Board of Directors, took on the look of an elegant bistro/nightclub. Jan Fisher did a great job as the emcee and Jeffrey Pollack and Nolan Dalla delivered passionate speeches. After a delicious dinner, awards were presented, followed by a dance. Congratulations to the 2010 inductees Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Billie Brown.

Favorite New Poker Procedure

I love the new rule established at the Commerce Casino that penalizes players who are gone too long from the table. Players who miss several rounds in $20-$40 and higher Hold’em games have $5 taken from their stacks and put into the pot.  Note that this rule was just about to go into effect the last time I played there and so may have been refined since.

Favorite New Poker Social Media Source

I admit it… I am a Twitter addict! I read it as often as I can and follow many of the top poker celebrities’ Tweets. I hate that it takes up so much of my time and makes me feel like a voyeur, but I can’t seem to give it up. Perhaps they will start a Twitters Anonymous in 2011 and I will be a charter member.

Favorite Tournament Series

Few would argue that the World Series of Poker wins in this category. The series expanded into even more square footage at the Rio and saw an increase in total participants. I had three deep runs (16th, 29th, and 31st) out of the five tournaments I entered, yet am not sporting a new bracelet. Congratulations to all of the bracelet winners, but especially to Gavin Smith, who won his first bracelet after many close efforts.

The runner-up award in this category goes to Wild Horse Casino in Pendleton, Oregon. Roland Waters directs a great tournament series with huge player fields. Entrants get rewarded with $75,000 in added money and free dinner buffets every night.

Other favorite poker memories from 2010 include delivering the “Shuffle Up and Deal” opening speech for the WSOP Ladies Event, teaching WPT Boot Camp at many locations around the country, playing in the WPT Celebrity Invitational at the Commerce, and hosting tournaments at the Eureka Open in Mesquite, Nevada, the Rainbow Spectrum of Poker at the Rainbow Hotel in Wendover, Nevada, and the Wild Horse Resort Casino Poker Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon.

I am extremely blessed to be part of this wonderful poker world and am grateful for the opportunities it has provided me. In 2010, I met many wonderful people who share my passion for poker and was thrilled to have so many chances to give back to our community.

Our country is facing tough economic times ahead. I hope 2011 is a prosperous and happy year for Poker News Daily readers.  In closing, I am happy to offer our readers a discount on any 2011 Card Player Cruises trip. Mention Poker News Daily when you book your cabin by January 15th and you will get a $50 per person discount. For more information, go to CardPlayerCruises.com.

Editor’s Note: Linda Johnson is available for poker functions, seminars, corporate events, and charity fundraisers. You can contact her through her website at CardPlayerCruises.com.

Poker Players Ring in the New Year

Over the past few days, poker’s most prolific Tweeters have been actively preparing for the New Year. Whether they were traveling or reflecting on the year that passed, it provided a great deal of entertainment.

The New Year’s celebrations got off to a start as early as Wednesday, with model and poker player Christina Lindley Tweeting, “Beginning an absurdly fun Vegas week w some troublemakers right… now.” As New Year’s Eve came, Lindley sent out a Twitpic of a shiny silver mini and Tweeted, “Picking up the NYE dress from the tailor.” Also journeying to Las Vegas was PokerStars “Big Game” hostess Amanda Leatherman, who fired off, “Goodbye North Carolina! It’s time to go to Vegas and forget about all the things I did here.”

Other poker players had not quite decided what to do to celebrate the New Year. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit Makhija admitted to his followers, “Last minute before New Year’s and I’ve been slacking on making plans. Anyone less lazy than me have New Year’s plans that Tara & I can crash?” For their part, both Antonio Esfandiari (“Gearing up for my annual NY Eve party. It’s going to b a madhouse.”) and Alec Torelli (“Off to Atlanta for New Year’s.”) seemed a little better prepared to usher in 2011.

Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, and Marco Traniello were celebrating New Year’s with each other. After Traniello Tweeted at the others, “r u guys ready to party ?,” Negreanu responded, “the house is full and we all got spray tans, so yeah, we are ready.” Fresh off of his departure from UB.com, Phil Hellmuth’s plans for New Year’s Eve included, “sit(ting) in Jerry Buss’ box for Lakers game, then we hit Drai’s!”

The last few days of 2010 also led to some experimentation by “High Stakes Poker” hostess and PartyPoker pro Kara Scott. She Tweeted, “Bleurgh. Spent much of tonight trying to perfect a rum/coconut drink for tomorrow and am now completely sick of it. Margaritas for everyone!” Tiffany Michelle will be celebrating New Year’s Eve in Hawaii, but took time to chirp, “Counting my blessings today. Some people are stuck in snow storms, rain, & freezing weather while I’m surfing in the warm waters of Hawaii.”

The New Year brings those pesky resolutions along with it and poker players were no different in putting their thoughts for 2011 on Twitter. “This year I wish @philnolimits places 2nd to me in WSOP Main Event,” Rafe Furst jabbed at his buddy Phil Gordon. Allen Bari took the New Year as a chance to change his table demeanor, Tweeting on Friday, “This time tomorrow I will be a really nice and respectful guy at the poker table, I will smile and not berate at the table.” This prompted World Poker Tour Tour Director Matt Savage to fire back, “@allenbari it is January 1st not April 1st. You know that right?”

Adam “Roothlus” Levy vowed through Twitter, “My 2011 resolution is to get more Main Event coverage by doing far worse.” Meanwhile, Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis was not feeling well as the New Year approached, Tweeting, “Is this really the day to get sick? Woke up sneezing and I feel cold and weak. Hope it’s gonna be better during the day.”

Some poker players were also glad to see the previous year fade to the past. “Oh, 2010, you crafty little bitch,” UB.com’s Joe Sebok Tweeted. “You’re good, I’ll give you that. Quite good. Only 14 more hours of you though and then poof, gone.” Full Tilt’s Justin “Boosted J” Smith also took time to look at the year gone by: “I want everyone to think about all the great things that happened to them in 2010… even if it was a rough year… small laughs to big things.”

Perhaps the venerable Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers summed up everyone’s thoughts for the New Year: “This year had its share of good and bad times. Hoping 2011 will have more of those good times for myself and everyone else!”

With 2011 off to a roaring start, Poker News Daily would like to take the time to wish all of our readers a happy and prosperous New Year.

Poker Community Celebrates Christmas

Much like the rest of the world, poker players have their plans for Christmas. For some, that involved traveling to celebrate with family and friends. A few of poker’s top professionals had some trouble making their destinations, however.

England, in the grips of one of the snowiest winters in some time, held up poker duo Lex Veldhuis and Evelyn Ng. “Lex & I got caught in the British Airways mess at Heathrow yesterday en route to Las Vegas,” Ng Tweeted on Tuesday about the delays at the airport. “Hopefully we’ll be sorted out for today.”

Both Veldhuis and Ng kept a good attitude about the delays, with the former Tweeting, “Heathrow might be chaotic airport but the people there are nicest anywhere. Waiting in lounge now. Hope to fly in 2 hours.” Ng countered, “Looks like we’re good to go. It’s almost serene at LHR compared to the chaos yesterday. Just chillin in the lounge until our flight.” The poker pros were able to make it back to Las Vegas safely, with Ng Tweeting late on Tuesday, “After one 10 hour flight from London, it took a total of 5 minutes to exit the plane, pick up our luggage, and go through U.S. Customs.”

Another player having some drama as he returned home for Christmas was UB.com’s Scott Ian. The poker player and guitar shredder also was involved with the Heathrow debacle, Tweeting, “Made it to Heathrow even though the Dublin airport staff did everything wrong including checking our bags onto our canceled London-L.A. flight.” Ian had a much longer trip than Veldhuis and Ng did: “23 1/2 hours since we left Belfast. At O’Hare now. Flight to L.A. delayed 2 hours. Looking for Goose Island.”

Heading north for the holidays, Full Tilt Poker’s Greg “FBT” Mueller was in the middle of another emergency: “Just landed in Vancouver, but we were told paramedics are rushing onto our plane and we must stay seated… Will soon find out what’s wrong.” It turns out that it was a medical emergency, as Mueller Tweeted, “4 meds rushed on way to the back! I was in row 2 obv so I couldn’t see anything 3 mins later we were allowed to leave, no details! Home!”

Christian “charder30” Harder sounded as if he needed a trip home to recharge his batteries. “Pretty sucky ending to a pretty average year of poker for me,” Harder Tweeted on Tuesday after busting from the Atlantic City WSOP Circuit Regional Championship. “Home for the Holidays and then PCA.” After a couple of days relaxing at home, a much more reflective Harder detailed his Christmas plans to his followers on Thursday: “Chillin’ at my Dad’s in Virginia for a few days then back to Annapolis for Christmas. No idea what I’m doing for New Years Eve. Annapolis? NYC? AC? Baltimore?”

A couple of players were traveling for the Christmas holiday, but not heading home. Recent UB.com addition Maria Ho chirped about her destination: “Docked on my favorite island today… Kauai! This is one of many reasons why,” and included a Twitpic of the island. “Hollywood” Dave Stann, for his part, was looking to work during the holidays when he Tweeted, “Atlantic City-bound… I’m thinking Stud at the Taj. Come get you some old school action, bitches!”

Two of poker’s philanthropists, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, kept up their charitable sides by helping those less fortunate. “Anyone have coats or warm clothes to giveaway,” Fisher Tweeted during the run-up to Christmas. “We’re going to the LV mission 6am Xmas day to hand out…. join us or donate?” Johnson also was extending her charitable hand when she Tweeted on Wednesday, “Thanks to everyone who helped make the party a success tonight. 21 happy kids and their parents. Loved seeing the smiles.”

As always, the world of poker players delivers, even around Christmastime, with thoughts of wisdom and hilarity. PokerRoad’s Court Harrington Tweeted, “Life is about memories and moments, not about gifts. I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of great moments already.” Family surrounded Gavin Smith, as he Tweeted, “My wife, son, sister, mother and niece are here! Life is great!”

“Can’t wait for Christmas! I’m as bad as my kids,” Jennifer Harman Tweeted late Wednesday night, apparently up late preparing for the holidays. Annie Duke’s schedule was pretty packed, as she Tweeted early Thursday morning from her home, “Finished a huge portion of the Xmas wrapping just now. About two hours more tomorrow plus the cooking starts for dinner for 18 on Friday!”

Tiffany Michelle sent out early wishes when she Tweeted, “In case I go MIA over the next two days from eggnog, Christmas carols, & present coma… Merry Christmas everyone,” and included a Twitpic of her dog. Finally, DoylesRoom captain Doyle Brunson capped off the year with a news flash: “Warning: Christmas Cancelled… @MandaLeatherman told Santa she had been a good girl in 2010. He died laughing.”

Howard Lederer Busts on Poker After Dark: Charity in Mind

This week, players with a love for charity are being featured on the NBC series “Poker After Dark.” Dubbed “Charity in Mind,” the six-man sit and go’s opening session on Monday featured plenty of discussion centered on fundraising. The table was stacked with 10 World Series of Poker bracelets and each player was given 20,000 in chips.

Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer was the first casualty of the week. Jennifer Harman raised to 500 before the flop with A-4 of spades and Lederer 3bet to 1,800 with A-K, including the king of clubs. Former MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch made it 5,600 with pocket kings and Harman got out of the way.

Lederer tanked before moving all-in and Bloch thought for about three minutes before making the call with cowboys. The table was surprised that it had taken Bloch that long to call with the premium pocket pair and the flop came 4-4-8 with two clubs, no help to Lederer. A third club on the turn gave “The Professor” a flush draw, but a red five on the river sealed his exit from the $20,000 buy-in sit and go.

Bloch continued to roll. After Harman raised before the flop to 850 with J-5 of clubs, Bloch came along with 7-6 and the flop and came 7-Q-9. Harman led out for 1,250 with air and Bloch called with a pair of sevens to see a deuce on the turn. Both players knocked the table and the river was a nine. Once again, the action went check-check and Bloch scooped the 4,200-chip pot. He was at 45,000, or more than double the starting stack.

Harman bleeding chips was a theme throughout Monday’s kickoff episode. She raised to 800 with pocket tens and Chris Ferguson made the call with pocket aces. The flop came A-2-4, giving Ferguson top set, and “Jesus” checked. Harman put in a continuation bet of 1,100 and Ferguson obliged. Both players checked a deuce on the turn and the river was a 10. Ferguson once again checked, Harman bet 2,600 with a boat, and Ferguson check-raised to a healthy 7,000 with a higher full house. Harman made the call, shipping the pot worth 17,950 to Ferguson in a cooler.

In the last major pot of the night, UB.com pro Annie Duke, whose main charitable work involves Ante Up for Africa, raised to 1,050 before the flop with A-3 and Ferguson made the call with A-Q. The action flop came A-A-7, giving both players trips, but Ferguson held the lead with a queen kicker. Ferguson checked, Duke bet 1,325, and Ferguson came over the top to 3,500. Duke called and the turn was a jack.

Ferguson led out for 6,000 when the hook hit and Duke came along to a three on the river, giving Duke a full house. Now behind in the hand after the three-outer, Ferguson bet 10,575 and Duke called all-in for her “Poker After Dark” tournament life. She raked in a pot worth over 42,000 and the credits rolled for the night. Also at the table, but quiet during Monday’s episode, was Phil Gordon.

“Charity in Mind” marks the final new “Poker After Dark” week of 2010. Catch one-hour episodes all this week at 2:05am ET on NBC. Leeann Tweeden serves as the host of the poker franchise, while Ali Nejad provides commentary.

In the new year, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Phil Galfond, Huck Seed, Tom Dwan, and Phil Ivey will participate in a week-long $100,000 sit and go starting on January 3rd. Check your local listings for more information.

Poker After Dark Season 7 Premieres January 3rd

Poker PROductions announced this week that its popular poker television program “Poker After Dark” has concluded the taping of its seventh season.  Filmed at the Aria Resort and Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas, the season premiere will air the week of January 3rd on NBC.

Season 7 will tie for the second longest season in the show’s history, spanning 13 weeks.  The fifth season, filmed in 2009, was the longest at 16 weeks, or 96 episodes.  The upcoming season will build on the popularity of cash games, all but phasing out the original six-handed sit and go competitions upon which “Poker After Dark” was built.

That said, the first week of the new season will feature a $100,000 buy-in sit and go dubbed “Big Heat.”  Competing for the winner-take-all prize pool will be popular high-stakes action seekers Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, Phil Ivey, and Huck Seed.

The other two sit and gos will feature the traditional $20,000 buy-in and a richer $50,000 buy-in.  The $20,000 version will be called “Wish List,” with amateur Mike Dappen taking on Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, Erica Schoenberg, and Chris Ferguson.  Dappen won the opportunity to play for the $300,000 first prize by winning the Howard and Suzie Lederer Charity Poker Tournament, which raised money for the Boys and Girls Clubs.

The $50,000 tournament, named “Idol,” will see Doyle Brunson go up against five young pros: Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger, Melanie “Callisto 5″ Weisner, and Dwan.

The rest of the competitions will be cash games, each of which will span two weeks.  Two will have a minimum buy-in of $100,000.  The first of these will include Brandon Adams, Matusow, Ferguson, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Jean-Robert Bellande, Peter Jetten, and Hellmuth.  Hellmuth will return for the second $100,000 cash game, along with Antonio Esfandiari, Obrestad, Andy Bloch, Seed, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith.

A $150,000 buy-in cash game will see Eli Elezra, David “Viffer” Peat, Phil Laak, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Olivier Busquet, and Lederer all try to take each other’s money, while Ivey, Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Peat, Elezra, and David Oppenheim will sit down for another cash game with at least $200,000 at stake per person.

While all of the above cash games will be No Limit Hold’em, there will be one $100,000 cash game that will feature Pot Limit Omaha as the game of choice.  Sitting down at this table will be Ivey, Galfond, Adams, Antonius, Dwan, Brian Hastings, and Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick.

With 10 of the 13 weeks consisting of cash games, Season 7 will be far and away the most cash game heavy of all of the “Poker After Dark” cycles.  It was not until Season 4 in 2008 that cash games were part of the lineup.  The show was exclusively six-handed sit and gos for its first three seasons, serving as a complement to GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” another Poker PROductions program that consisted of only cash games.

In Season 4, which was only seven weeks long, the first and seventh weeks were cash games, while the third was a special four-player “Heads-Up Challenge.”  Of the 16 weeks of Season 5, seven were cash games.  Six more weeks were cash games in the 13-week Season 6.

Poker PROductions also revealed this week that it has extended its deal with NBC Universal to produce “Poker After Dark” through 2014.  Aria will continue to serve as the host casino for the show’s filming through at least 2013.

Brian Hastings to Appear on Poker After Dark PLO Cash Game

CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings announced on his blog late last week that he will be making his first televised poker appearance on NBC’s “Poker After Dark.” Hastings said that he will join fellow Full Tilt Red Pros Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan as well as high-stakes regular Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond in a $300/$600 Pot Limit Omaha game with a minimum buy-in of $100,000. Hastings wrote the blog while en route to Las Vegas for the taping of the show.

“The reason I am flying to Vegas is that I am going to be on ‘Poker After Dark,’” an elated Hastings wrote. “This will be my first televised poker appearance and I am very excited. Lana (CardRunners Marketing Director) worked very hard to get me on the show and called me Friday afternoon to let me know about it. It totally caught me off-guard, especially since I have a big assignment due Tuesday for my architecture class, but I quickly decided that I was in, got an extension on the assignment, and now here I am flying cross-country.”

Patrik Antonius, Sam Farha, Brandon Adams, and Jared “harrington25″ Bleznick could also be playing in the game according to Hastings, making for what should be an exciting week of televised poker. Hastings, just 22, hasn’t yet made a name for himself on the live circuit, but the Cornell University student is renowned for winning the most money in a single day in online poker history. In December of last year, Hastings stepped up to the plate to face Swedish phenom “Isildur1” at the $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha heads-up tables on Full Tilt Poker. Five hours later, Hastings had taken around $4 million from the Swede and gained instant fame within the poker community.

Now, Hastings gets his shot at another big game, this time a six-max format under the bright lights of “Poker After Dark.” “We will be taping tomorrow (Monday) and although unfortunately I will not be able to disclose results before the show airs, I will fill you in with the details that I can provide when I know them,” Hastings said. “I do know that the episodes will air sometime in 2011, although I’m not sure when yet.”

This will mark the first set of episodes in the history of the show that offer a game other than No Limit Hold’em. Pot Limit Omaha has increased in popularity online in recent years, much of that due to the intense action at the nosebleed stakes among players like Hastings, Dwan, Galfond, Bleznick, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, and the rest of the high-limit players on Full Tilt Poker. All of the aforementioned pros are among the biggest Pot Limit Omaha winners on the site since the results started being tracked by HighStakesDB.

Season 7 of “Poker After Dark” is being filmed at Aria after spending the first six seasons at the South Point Casino and the Golden Nugget. Season 6 began airing in January and featured poker pros like Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Annette Obrestad, Antonio Esfandiari, Annie Duke, Eli Elezra, Erick Lindgren, Antonius, David “Viffer” Peat, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, and Dwan. The show airs nightly at 2:05am ET.

Michael Mizrachi’s Training Regimen and Randal Flowers Wins WPT Festa al Lago From Poker In Twitter

The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago wrapped up action on Wednesday night, with Randal Flowers becoming the youngest player ever to capture two WPT titles. Following his victory, the poker world erupted in congratulations over Twitter.

“There are some ppl in poker that just deserve everything that comes to them,” UB.com’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy Tweeted after Flowers’ victory. “Tonight @RandALLin finally got his due and as did @benvo123.” Christian “charder30″ Harder issued the challenge to those looking to unseat Flowers from his position as the youngest ever two-time WPT winner by Tweeting, “Holy s**t @RandALLin won!!! Much deserved. Good luck trying to break the his record for youngest person to win 2 WPTs!”

Bryan Micon offered his congratulations by Tweeting, “Sick win, please teach me. lolz 22 yrs old – so you were what, 15 when we started battling?” Scott Seiver remarked on the good streak that the 22 year old Flowers is on by chirping, “That @RandALLin is so hot right now he could s**t in tinfoil, put fishhooks in it and sell it to the queen of England as earrings.”

Michael Mizrachi is prepping for the upcoming battle with the November Nine at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table by getting into better shape. The athletic Mizrachi is looking to drop some pounds prior to the WSOP festivities, Tweeting yesterday, “Just waking up! Going to get those crunches, push up and calf raises. Supposed to do it before bed but passed out. Can’t forget to stretch!”

Mizrachi is restricting his diet during his attempt (“Lost 2lbs already on pace!! All I drank was water. Ate turkey, tuna, and bahamian dolphin… great sleeping schedule… tennis class”), but he is also feeling the pangs known by those who are working on losing weight. He tweeted earlier today, “Tennis@11. Personal trainer @2. Hopefully I can make it thru the day. Nutrition is the hard part. I need a burger.”

Travel seems to be a part of many poker players’ schedules, with the international jet-setter Lacey Jones leading the way. “Shoot is wrapped and I have a beautiful sunny day in Paris to enjoy,” Jones Tweeted from the French capital. “Must fight the urge to take a long nap.” Full Tilt Poker’s John Juanda joked about his travel schedule when he Tweeted, “Couldn’t decide whether to go to WSOPC Hammond or EPT Vienna, so I took the middle road and came to Tokyo instead!” Another player on the road was Maria Ho, who was remarkably perky regarding her schedule: “LAX–>ATL to rendezvous w/@VanessaRousso for our trip to South Africa! I’m so excited that even the 24 hour travel day doesn’t faze me… yet!”

Of note over the past few days was the anniversary of Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello. “Celebrated my 10 year anniversary with @marcopoker by getting married again by Elvis,” Harman Tweeted on Wednesday to her followers. In attendance for the ceremony was Daniel Negreanu, who Tweeted, “Headed to Little White Chapel to watch @RealJenHarman and @marcopoker get married again after 10 years.” Leave it to Negreanu to have set a prop bet on it when the twosome first married: “I had over 7.5 years and got 30-1!”

For the best Tweets of the past few days, we’ll start with Annie Duke, who apparently wasn’t happy with some of the ramifications of business. “I have discovered that networking makes me feel dirty,” Duke observed in a Tweet to her fans. “Sometimes you have to get down in the mud to do great things. Like pottery.” “High Stakes Poker” hostess Kara Scott chose this week to get some work done, Tweeting, “I’m listening to Barry Manilow and doing my taxes. And neither of those is a euphemism for anything cooler. Of course, I mean my British taxes, which means I’m actually months early. God, I am so rock and roll.” Finally, Alec Torelli has decided what he wants to do with his life, Tweeting to his followers, “I love Boardwalk Empire. When I grow up I wanna be like Nucky Thompson!”

Harrington and Seidel voted into Poker Hall of Fame

Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel will be joining poker's exclusive club after being voted into the Poker Hall of Fame. The pair beat an impressive list of nominees that included such luminaries as Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Linda Johnson.

Poker Hall of Fame Welcomes Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel

The Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 was announced on Tuesday morning. 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Dan Harrington and eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel will be enshrined during a ceremony on November 8th at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Harrington received four of this author’s ten Poker Hall of Fame votes. His back-to-back runs in the 2003 and 2004 Main Events coupled with his victory in 1995 and indelible marks on poker literature earned him one of the two Poker Hall of Fame spots up for grabs. All told, Harrington has reached the final table of the Main Event four times and followed up his victory in 1995 with a 17th place finish one year later.

Seidel may best be remembered for his runner-up finish to Johnny Chan in the 1988 WSOP Main Event, his first cash in a WSOP contest. The tournament was depicted in the cult classic “Rounders” and earned Seidel $280,000. Since then, Seidel has won bracelets in Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha High-Low, No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha. He finished eighth in last year’s $50,000 HORSE Championship and has over $4 million in career WSOP earnings.

Seidel was elated to become part of the prestigious Poker Hall of Fame, telling WSOP officials in a press release distributed on Tuesday, “I’m very honored to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame this year and it’s an extra bonus for me to be going in with Dan Harrington. We have played together and have been great friends for my entire poker career. Both of us refined our games at the Mayfair Club in New York. I have such a high regard for the many members of the Poker Hall of Fame that I have played with over the years and it’s a real privilege to be able to join them.”

The induction ceremony is scheduled for 8:00pm PT on November 8th inside the Penn and Teller Theater. Following it, the 2010 WSOP Main Event will play down to a winner. Others considered for the Poker Hall of Fame, but not enshrined this year, were Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Scotty Nguyen. This author cast votes for both Johnson and McEvoy as well.

In a recent Guest Column on Poker News Daily, UB.com pro Annie Duke, who bested Seidel in the finals of this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, made a case for her close friend’s enshrinement: “The guy behaves with such grace in a sport where grace is really needed. He’s always so graceful and so sportsmanlike. He’s deeply thoughtful, deeply intelligent, and has massive integrity. This guy should be held up as the standard for what we should be doing. I feel strongly that he should be honored.”

The 16 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame and a 17-man media panel each cast 10 votes to determine this year’s class. Only those receiving a majority vote were eligible and up to two players could be inducted this year. In 2009, World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton was the Hall’s lone addition.

Seven players, including Johnny Moss, were inducted as part of the Poker Hall of Fame’s first class in 1979. Since then, the cast has grown to include the likes of Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Johnny Chan, Lyle Berman, Stu Ungar, Jack Binion, Phil Hellmuth, and Chip Reese. The latter is the youngest player in the Poker Hall of Fame, enshrined at age 40. This year marks the first time since 2007 that more than one person will be inducted.

---

---

Seidel, Harrington Picked for HOF

Seidel and Harrington are the only two players that will be inducted in 2010 and were picked from an elite group of players that included Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy and Scotty Nguyen.

“I’m very honored to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame this year and it's an extra bonus for me to be going in with Dan Harrington,” said Seidel. 

“We have played together and have been great friends for my entire poker career.  Both of us refined our games at the Mayfair Club in New York.  I have such a high regard for the many members of the Poker Hall of Fame that I have played with over the years and it's a real privilege to be able to join them.”

Seidel, a giant in the poker world, both literally and figuratively, has won eight WSOP gold bracelets, one WPT title and accumulated over $10 million in tournament earnings. Only Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Johnny Moss have won more bracelets.

A New Yorker, Seidel was originally a backgammon player who moved on to the stock market and finally found his way to professional poker.

Seidel was immortalized in the 1998 film Rounders, which showed a clip of his infamous final hand of the 1988 WSOP Main Event where he was trapped by Johnny Chan.

Meanwhile “Action Dan” Harrington, as he’s sometimes known, has two WSOP bracelets (one is for the 1995 WSOP Main Event), one WPT title over $6 million in tournament winnings.

Like Seidel, Harrington is a former Backgammon player who eventually discovered poker. Before becoming a poker player Harrington worked as a bankruptcy lawyer.

In addition to being a successful poker pro, Harrington works in real estate and the stock market.

Harrington is particularly well-known in the poker world for his incredible feat of making back-to-back WSOP Main Event final tables in 2003 and 2004. He is also highly regarded for penning one of the most influential poker strategy books – Harrington on Hold’em.

Both Seidel and Harrington will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in an official ceremony that will take place on Nov. 8 – the final day of the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

Visit PokerListings.com

Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 to be Announced Tuesday

Poker News Daily has learned that the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 will be announced on Tuesday. Two players will be enshrined during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine festivities in three weeks after garnering a majority vote.

Last year, World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton was the Poker Hall of Fame’s lone inductee. In 2009, Sexton’s enshrinement ceremony took place as part of a private dinner during the November Nine’s play down day. This year, the schedule will change slightly, as the two individuals who make up the Class of 2010 will be officially inducted during Monday night’s conclusion of the Main Event. After the ceremonies are held, heads-up play will commence inside the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Who the two inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame are remains to be seen. The 16 living members of the Hall along with a 17-member media panel, which includes this author, cast 10 votes each and could select up to three finalists. Each voter’s ballot had to add up to 10 votes; otherwise, our opinions were discarded. Ballots from the 33 voters were due on October 1st and the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council tabulated the results. The top two individuals who received the majority of the votes will make up the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010.

There are five criteria for a player to be considered for the Poker Hall of Fame. According to WSOP.com, “A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition; played for high stakes; played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers; stood the test of time; or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.”

The 10 candidates appeared in alphabetical order on the ballot as follows: Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, and Erik Seidel. This author cast four votes apiece for Harrington and Johnson and allocated the remaining two to McEvoy.

Harrington quite literally wrote the book on poker, as his “Harrington on Hold’em” series is one of the top strategy guides of all-time. Harrington won the WSOP Main Event in 1995 and amazingly turned in back-to-back final tables in 2003 and 2004 in field sizes topping 800 and 2,500, respectively. McEvoy is a former Main Event winner who took down the Champions Invitational during the 2009 WSOP. The PokerStars pro has four bracelets and owns over $1.3 million in career WSOP earnings.

Johnson owns an open WSOP bracelet by virtue of taking down a $1,500 buy-in Limit Razz tournament in 1997. Her involvement with CardPlayer Magazine, Card Player Cruises, the WPT, and the Tournament Directors Association has led to Johnson having an indelible impact on the felts. Away from the live scene, she serves as a co-founder of PokerGives.org, which provides an outlet for players to give back to charity.

We’ll have the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 inductees for you on Tuesday right here on Poker News Daily.

Scott Montgomery Rolled, Doyle Brunson Polls and Fall Sports Start From Poker In Twitter

This weekend from poker players on Twitter was a jambalaya of interests, but by far the most concerning one came from Scott Montgomery while at the Bellagio for the last few preliminary events prior to the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) Festa al Lago event.

While in the facilities at the Bellagio, it appears that Montgomery was robbed. “Got mugged today at Bellagio,” Montgomery Tweeted to his followers on Sunday evening. “Black guy pulled a knife on me in the restroom. I gave him the $2k in my wallet and he left.”

According to Montgomery, the staff at the Bellagio were less than helpful. “I called security, but they took like 15 mins so they didn’t catch him. They are useless twits. Didn’t even ask me to look at camera footage.” Montgomery finished off his Tweet series by saying, “Security pretty much just said oh well, life sucks, have a nice day. I’m pretty annoyed.” His girlfriend, Annette Obrestad, was outraged, Tweeting, “@scotmont got just got robbed at Bellagio restroom… Security didn’t give a s**t… how does this even happen?”

The news over Twitter of Montgomery’s situation was made a bit lighter by a poll that Doyle Brunson set up late last week. “The Godfather of Poker” asked his Twitter followers to respond to him about several categories regarding people in the poker community. These subjects included which poker player would be best to sleep with, which poker player would be the best to hang out with, and which poker player inspired thoughts of homicide. As usual with Doyle, the responses were handed out with a bit of fun.

“OK, enough. Thousands want the results,” Brunson Tweeted. “Poker player you want to have sex with. 1.Shannon Elizabeth 2. Vanessa Rousso 3. Jennifer Tilly.” Brunson even went as far as to indicate who the ladies were most interested in, Tweeting, “The girls voted best I could tell 1. Gus Hanson 2. Patrik Antonius 3. Phil Ivey.” In what may be a bit of a surprise, Brunson said, “Jen Tilly made both lists for the sex!”

As far as the player who earned the votes for hanging out, Brunson chirped, “Poker player you want to hang out with. 1.Phil Laak 2.Gavin Smith 3. Daniel Negreanu.” Brunson then finished off his informal poll by Tweeting, “Poker player you want to kill. 1. Phil Hellmuth 2. Russ Hamilton 3.Tony G. Looks like most of the voters were guys.”

Fall is the prime time for professional sports in the United States, with the NFL season reaching full throttle, the MLB playoffs beginning, and other sports opening up their seasons. Joe Sebok Tweeted the displeasure of Cubs fans when, as he was watching the opening credits of the MLB playoffs, he Tweeted, “Really? Have to put the Mo Alou/Steve Bartman foul drop in the baseball playoffs promo vid? Really?! As if we cubs fans don’t suffer enough.”

A few of poker’s family had teams to cheer for in the MLB playoffs, though. UB.com sponsored player/adult entertainer Samantha Ryan chirped at WPT reporter B.J. Nemeth, “So sorry bout ur Braves, k, not really, go Giants! What a game! So sick! My heart was racing and my hands and throat hurt!” Nemeth talked some Twitter trash back at Ryan, saying, “Maybe the Braves (in the next game) will score a lot of runs early to protect your frail body from the stress of a close game.”

The fifth week of the NFL season was “must see” television for some, with Negreanu settling in to watch on the road. “Watching the game and have to deal with this genius wearing a Vick jersey,” Negreanu Tweeted along with a picture. “I’d like to burn it (the jersey) personally,” Negreanu finished, referencing Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s prior transgressions.

From the action on the field, it appeared as though Lee Childs and David Williams were cheering for opposing sides. “Let’s go Titans, “ Childs Tweeted as the Tennessee squad held on to defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Williams was disillusioned with the performance of “America’s Team” to the point of Tweeting, “Romo is so awful, sucks cause I’m a Cowboys fan.” Eugene Todd was also down about the Cowboys’ performance, although he placed the blame on another source:  “Dallas will never win anything because their  coach is a moron. They make more mistakes than everyone in NFL.”

For the funniest Tweets from the past few days, we have to start with the always entertaining Erik Seidel, who decided to make a stand by Tweeting, “To protest Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo’s incarceration in China, I’m boycotting Panda Express until he’s freed.” Jennifer Harman finally found some limitations in her vast array of talents when she Tweeted, “I wish I could sing. I was singing to my son and he said, “No mommy, please, no mommy.” I guess I can’t be a rock star.” Finally, Joe Reitman pointed out while dining the other night, “At a new store opening on Melrose. They have a naked girl you can eat sushi off. I’m sorry, but something tells me that just isn’t sanitary.”

Doyle Brunson Comments on Poker Hall of Fame Balloting

One of the many activities during the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table is the Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Who makes it in this year remains to be seen, but one of the most valued members of the poker community, Poker Hall of Fame member Doyle Brunson, has given his thoughts on the matter.

Coming back after a long hiatus from his blog, Doyle opined this week about who he felt would be the best players to elect into the Hall. “I’m primarily a cash game player and perhaps I put too much emphasis on the cash games, but I don’t see how it can’t be the most important landmark,” Brunson states when it comes to the considerations. “I consider all of the nominees to be friends and, for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts.”

Brunson reiterates the criteria for election to the Poker Hall of Fame quite succinctly, which every poker fan knows by heart: “The criteria for being in the Hall are simple. A player must have played against top competition, played for high stakes and played consistently well, gaining the respect of their peers. (The player must have) stood the test of time and contributed to the overall growth and success to the game of poker.”

Brunson views a few players as not quite ready for their entry into the Hall. For the two female nominees, Jennifer Harman and Linda Johnson, Brunson feels that both are qualified, but not quite yet worthy of entry. For Harman, Brunson states, “Jen meets all the requirements. I’ve always considered her to be the all-time best female player. However, her sex doesn’t matter here and she will probably need a few more years before she goes in.” For Johnson, Brunson says, “Loved by everyone, but probably isn’t a strong candidate this year.”

Two former Main Event champions in the mix, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Scotty Nguyen, also have their issues, according to Brunson. “Chris is a worthy candidate even though he doesn’t meet (the first two) criteria for entry,” Brunson notes. “Even though he hasn’t played much outside tournaments, he is so strong in the other three that he has to be considered. Probably not yet though.” For Nguyen, Brunson says, “(He) needs to live up to his nickname, ‘The Prince of Poker.’ He meets all five criteria, but is going to have to wait until his behavior in his win in the $50K H.O.R.S.E tournament fades from people’s memory.”

Of the six remaining nominees – Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Erik Seidel – Brunson leans in favor of the induction of Seidel to the Poker Hall of Fame. “I gave almost all of my votes to Erik,” Brunson says in his blog. “Most people don’t remember his cash game play, but he was in all of the games in his early career. He meets all the requirements and his exemplary conduct deserves a special accolade.” Perhaps the greatest accolade that Brunson could lay out is in his final comment about Seidel: “He reminds me of Chip Reese.”

As to his second choice, Brunson seems torn between Greenstein and Ivey. “You can’t find a criteria Barry doesn’t meet,” he writes. “If not this year, next year for sure.” As for Ivey, Doyle simply says, “Who,” jovially indicating his approval of one of the most feared players in the game.

In the end, Brunson says that Seidel should be inducted a few weeks from now. “If Seidel isn’t one of the inductees, I’ll be very surprised,” Brunson says. “I think the second choice will be Greenstein or Ivey. I feel it should be Barry but, if Phil is the one, I’ll have no objection, even though I feel he should wait until he is older.”

The 17 living members of the Hall and a selected committee of poker journalists, which includes Poker News Daily’s Dan Cypra, vote for the Poker Hall of Fame finalists. Each voter is given 10 points to hand out in any way they deem appropriate; the top two vote getters will earn induction into the Hall. This is a change from past voting, where a nominee had to be selected on 75% of the ballots to be enshrined.

On November 7th, as a part of the 2010 WSOP November Nine festivities, the top two in the voting will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in a special ceremony.

---

---

Antonius Rakes $355k from WastedPotential

Antonius and WastedPotential played 927 hands of $500/$1,000 PLO against each other in the session and Antonius was relentless.

The Finnish Team Full Tilt pro scooped several monster pots including the biggest one of the night – a $245k cooler.

The nightmare wasn’t over for WastedPotential, however, as he also lost $52k to Arbiannight in $200/$400 PLO and dropped $32k in a $200/$400 Cap Six-Max game that included harrington25 and Vaga_Lion. WastedPotential’s total losses for the night were $385,000.

Although the online handle WastedPotential was first seen in 2007 there hasn’t been much activity on the account and there is heavy debate amongst poker fans as to who the screen name belongs to.

Whoever owns the account is likely not very happy. WastedPotential is down $455k in 2010.

Meanwhile Antonius, who has had an up-and-down year, is now up $442k, mostly thanks to his winnings last night.

In other high stakes action last night Tom Dwan and jungleman12 played a very short session of the durrrr Challenge last night. The pair recorded 258 hands and Dwan won $32,778. They have yet to record a session of over 1,000 hands since returning from London.

DrugsOrMe added $218k to his roll, harrington25 won $179k and Urindanger recorded a $131k win.

Meanwhile thecranium (-$272k), UarePileous (-$202k) and rafiboy (-$68k) were amongst the biggest losers. In a sign that perhaps the big game is dry right now both Eli Elezra and Jennifer Harman hit the online tables last night. Elezra lost $48k while Harman dropped $39k.

Here are a selection of the biggest hands from last night. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

 

 

 

Visit PokerListings.com

Leaving London And Tony “Bond18” Dunst’s New Gig From Twitter In Poker

The blitzkrieg of poker in London has finally come to an end, with many in the poker world reporting their success – or failure – on the felt over Twitter as they return home.

One of the players who seemed down about taking a nice score was Andrew Robl. “Busted in 3rd for 198K Pounds,” Robl Tweeted after exiting the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) £20,000 High Roller Event on Monday. “Disappointed. Played ok, made one call I didn’t like. Lost 1.6 mill pot near end with AJ vs A8.” Someone who was a bit happier about their performance was Full Tilt pro John Juanda, who Tweeted, “Finished 2nd in EPT London (£500,000). Not too bad for 5 day work! Congrats to the Champ David Vamplew.”

With the EPT Main Event and High Roller Event out of the way, there were still two tournaments on tap for those wanting a last bit of action before heading out of London. “One final event in London today,” Scott Montgomery reported to his fans. “1K turbo bounty. Flying to Vegas tomorrow for WPT.” The turbo tournament didn’t go so well for Montgomery, as he busted on Tuesday in slightly over two hours. “Insta bust on a coin flip. sigh. London was a total waste,” he ruefully Tweeted. Also running bad in the turbo were Jason Mercier (“Busto turbo. Busted w bout 30 people left. 70 played meh lost a big flip. Can’t wait to go home tomorrow.”) and Scott Seiver (“Now official, bricked London. Looking forward to the other side of the Atlantic again.”).

For those that didn’t want to participate in the final events of the EPT London, the NBA’s annual pilgrimage to Europe, featuring the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers against the Minnesota Timberwolves, was prime viewing Monday night. “Many thanks to Frank Mariani and Jerry Buss for 3rd row center Lakers tickets at the O2 in London,” Allen Kessler chirped. “Finally heading back to the states today.” Also at the game due to Buss’ generosity was Chad Brown, who Tweeted, “Went to see the Lakers play in London last night with the Lakers owner and some friends. Flying back to Vegas today.”

Christian “charder30” Harder was also at the Lakers game, where he noted the popularity of Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. “So many Kobe jerseys everywhere. Kobe is so huge all over the world. Funny b/c he might not be the best player on his own team anymore.” After catching some heat over his Twitter account, Harder fired back, “I know blasphemy! Casual fans can’t comprehend that LeBron and Wade are better then Kobe. Btw I am a Kobe fan… as crazy as it sounds.”

The casting call for “The Raw Deal,” the new segment on the World Poker Tour (WPT) broadcasts, have been completed, with young poker professional Tony “Bond18” Dunst being named the host. Congratulations rolled in for Dunst, with Jonathan Aguiar chirping, “Congrats to Bond on landing the WPT Raw Deal gig, despite the fact he’s just doing it to hit on the Royal Flush Girls.” Alex Outhred also handed out some laurels to Dunst, Tweeting, “2nd best choice after me!” Dunst was welcomed to the WPT fold by Kimberly Lansing, who Tweeted, “Welcome to the team, @Bond_18!”

Stepping up to the role of movie and television critics on Twitter were two top professionals in the world of poker. “Was a movie weekend for me,” Jennifer Harman reported to her followers. “Saw The Town and The Social Network. Thought both were excellent movies.” Carter King, for his part, was on the tube watching “Pawn Stars” and commenting, “Watching pawn stars lady brings in jewelry ask for 2K, guy says he has conscience and offers her 15K, she then ask for more. Normally I’d make fun of guy but, on a TV show, making that move is worth way more then the 13K he could of made by screwing her.”

For the best Tweets of the past few days, we start with the always reliable Doyle Brunson: “I disagree with Kay Jewelers. More kisses (and other stuff) begin with Miller Lite than with Kay.” Joe Reitman made an observation about clothing styles when he Tweeted, “A young kid wears a vintage Iron Maiden shirt & its hip. I wear it & I look like a dude who went to the concert 20 years ago & never evolved.” Finally, Prahlad Friedman explained his recent lack of success in poker: “Cole South once told me that I have figured out poker, but I’m addicted to experimenting with different styles. Been experimenting lately.”

2010 Poker Hall of Fame Nominations by Lee Jones

Poker News Daily asked me for my thoughts about the ten finalists for this year’s Poker Hall of Fame. This caused me some angst as I decided what criteria I should use in giving my input.

I mean, let’s consider the Baseball Hall of Fame. Back in my youth, I lived and breathed baseball, so I know a little about the game. There are some interesting problems that come up in selecting candidates there.  For instance, people still argue whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. His results on the field are beyond dispute, but then he sullied the entire game with his subsequent gambling problems.

As I thought about that, I decided that if I had a vote (which I don’t), I would have to include a component that I wasn’t embarrassed to see that person in the Hall of Fame, no matter what his or her accomplishments were on the felt. If it helps gauge my attitude about this, in my record book, Hank Aaron is the home run leader.

So here are this year’s candidates, broken into a few groups.

Ship them this year, please

Chris Ferguson: Chris is arguably the most recognizable poker player in the world (who doesn’t live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). He helped develop the software for Full Tilt and via his sponsorship by them has appeared on what seems like virtually every poker TV show in history. And he’s got five bracelets. Chris is soft-spoken and a bit of an introvert, but he is always pleasant and polite with the fans that surround him begging for autographs.

Dan Harrington: Another guy who has been around forever and has made himself relevant at the tables and as a writer. It is strong enough that he won the 1995 WSOP Main Event. However, his back-to-back final tables in the 2003 and 2004 Main Events, the latter of which had a post-boom field of 2,576 players, may make him the “Johnny Vander Meer of Poker.”

While many others had reached consecutive final tables in the sub-100 player fields of the early days, Harrington may well be the only person who will ever do it when the average field of the two consecutive events was over 1,500. Away from the tables, Dan has been a prolific and highly influential writer, perhaps best known for quantifying the “M” value of stack size in a tournament.

Linda Johnson: Linda isn’t a regular participant in the tournament tour (she’s too busy running poker cruises), so you’re not going to see her racking up a room full of tournament trophies, her bracelet in Razz notwithstanding. But her true value to the game has been twofold:

1. She nurtured the game through its dark times and never slowed down after the boom. Even with her busy schedule, she hosts poker meetings, answers e-mail questions about poker, makes appearances, teaches classes, and acts as the ultimate poker ambassador.

2. Her generosity, both through poker and outside of it, is unimaginable. Linda and I are friends and much of what she does is under the radar. She has shared her good fortune with more people than anybody (including her) could count.

Tom McEvoy: Tom won the WSOP Main Event 27 years ago. And then last year he won a made-for-TV tournament of former champions. He still cashes in major events and made himself relevant in the online poker world early with his representation of PokerStars. On the ambassador front, he is unfailingly polite and gracious (and in fact was one of the first people to push for non-smoking poker tournaments).

Erik Seidel: Erik is my sleeper. He is one of those folks (along with Barry Greenstein) who truly understands poker’s place in the greater world. He’s got a family and spends enough time away from them with his Full Tilt duties as it is. So, he doesn’t choose to play in every cash game and TV show that he could. In short, if Erik Seidel devoted every waking minute to poker and promoting himself, the writers would be climbing all over each other to vote for him.

His famous battle with Johnny Chan was in the 1988 WSOP Main Event – 22 years ago – and he’s won eight bracelets since. In short, I suspect that poker Hall of Famedom is not high on Erik’s list of life priorities. Sort of the “Cal Ripken of Poker,” Erik has simply gone out and done his job, incredibly well, for over two decades. Oh, and he’s been a gentleman throughout, from the baseball cap right down to the running shoes. I’d stand up and cheer at his Hall of Fame induction.

Just wait, they’ll be in

Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, and Jennifer Harman: These three are getting in – it may just take a little time. The internet has made time compress, but remember we’re talking the Hall of Fame, not All-Star, balloting here. For instance, unless a meteor strikes the Earth and envelops the planet in a two-year smoke cloud that destroys life as we know it, Phil Ivey is going into the Poker Hall of Fame at some point. But another five years won’t change that and will likely only add to his already near-immortal resume.

Greenstein and Harman have been mixing it up in the biggest poker games in the world for the last decade or so; they have no difficulty there. And Harman was the go-to person when the big game denizens needed help in their match against Andy Beal. Furthermore, both have recently turned their attention to charitable work – that’s huge in my book. I just want to let their cakes bake a little while longer.

Honorable mention

Scotty Nguyen: Forgive me, but his antics take him off my list (as they did for fellow PND writer Dan Cypra). Scotty certainly has the poker (and crowd-attracting) chops to get into the Hall of Fame, but until he gets his behavior under control, he’s not on my list.

Daniel Negreanu: So I really like Daniel. He’s a great guy and fun to talk to. And given another few years, his tournament and cash game record would almost certainly merit Hall of Fame consideration. But he needs to learn to control his rants. Maybe that means realizing that he doesn’t really have “off the record” as an option when he’s standing around a reporter. Perhaps it’s just letting some old stuff fade out of his life and fully embracing the extraordinary fortune that the game of poker has brought him. I’m not sure, but I hope he’ll find whatever it is.

Lee Jones is the Card Room Manager for Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business since 2003. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which is still in publication over 15 years after its first printing.

Annette Obrestad and Scott Montgomery: Poker’s Latest Hot Couple?

On Friday, former World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Niner Scott Montgomery posted on his Facebook account, “Getting ready to celebrate my gf’s birthday. hope she likes my gift!” This seemingly innocuous statement was met with some surprise by many as, prior to this, Montgomery had not indicated through Facebook any changes in his relationship status. Following his Facebook post, the discussion ratcheted up through the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo.

A thread on the forum, which was shut down after only nine replies and slightly over one hour of comments due to the sometimes juvenile nature of online posters, included a picture of Full Tilt Poker pro Annette Obrestad and Montgomery looking rather cozy. Although both of the players are in London for the WSOP Europe festivities, the undated photo appears to show the twosome reclining on a couch with the background displaying Las Vegas.

To settle the issue, following his Facebook post, Montgomery updated his information page to include a change to his relationship status. Previously, the status was set to “single” but, following his hopes of his “girlfriend” liking her birthday present, the status now indicates, “in a relationship with Annette Obrestad.” As of late, both Montgomery and Obrestad have been quiet regarding their pairing, preferring to Tweet about their play at the WSOP Europe.

The pairing of Obrestad and Montgomery wouldn’t be the first time that the battles on the felt have led to the birth of a poker couple. Longtime poker couple and WSOP bracelet holders Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly met over the poker tables; power pair Erick Lindgren and Erica Schoenberg are also a duo. Popular married players such as Chip and Karina Jett and Marco Traniello and Jennifer Harman also have the game of poker to thank for their bliss.

Whatever the outcome of their relationship might be, both Montgomery and Obrestad have had tremendous success on the felt in their individual endeavors. Montgomery picked up his first WSOP bracelet during the run of this year’s tournament schedule in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event and has earned slightly over $4.1 million in his tournament poker career. Obrestad, for her part, made poker history by becoming the youngest bracelet winner ever by taking down the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event in 2007. Her career earnings from live tournament poker has eclipsed the $3.1 million mark.

Weekly News Update

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Poker News Daily Weekly Update. We are moving to this new weekly format for now as we have a ton of great poker lifestyle pieces heading your way and didn’t want you to miss out on those. However, I’ll still be back bringing the news every Friday.

Our first topic covers the Prince of Poker, larger than life Poker Hall of Fame nominee Scotty Nguyen, who is offering his fans the chance to play against him in small regional tournaments. According to his official blog, Nguyen will skip the World Series of Poker Europe this year to play in smaller buy-in events all over the United States. Nguyen’s first stop will be in Durant, Oklahoma at the Choctaw Casino for the T.J. Cloutier Classic. The nineteen ninety-eight WSOP Main Event champ was enthused over his decision on Twitter:

“Don’t forget baby! Gonna skip WSOPE and instead travel for my fans baby!”

In a decision filed on September fourteenth, United States District Judge James Nowlin denied a motion for a Temporary Restraining Order filed by Deliverance Poker, which is suingNovember Nine member Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi for allegedly jumping ship to be sponsored by Full Tilt Poker in the middle of the Main Event. If the motion had been successful, Mizrachi may have been forbidden from wearing Full Tilt logos until the legal process was finished. Fortunately for him – and Full Tilt – Judge Nowlin dismissed it, and went as far as to say there is no “substantial likelihood” that Deliverance would win the case.

In more online poker news, the sale of the CEREUS Network to Blanca Games has “violated and/or triggered the application of certain rights under the agreements between Excapsa and Blast Off and its related entities” according to XMT Liquidations.

Potentially referring to the UltimateBet.com domain, “Blast Off intended to wind-up [end] any and all operations related to assets over which Excapsa has been granted a security interest.”

The situation remains murky at best, but as one member of the Two Plus two Forum put it,

“Looks like Blast Off’s (AP/UB) lawyers are going to try to get the hundred Million dollar note reduced or canceled due to players cheated in two thousand and four and two thousand and five.”

On Friday, members of the Poker Hall of Fame voting committee received their ballots in an e-mail from Harrah’s officials. Noticeably different this year is a “10-point must system” that asks each member of the panel to allocate ten points among the candidates of their choosing. The 10 finalists that the panel must choose from are:

Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, “Action” Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Scotty Nguyen.

After the votes are tabulated, the top two players receiving the majority of the vote will be enshrined as part of the Class of two thousand and ten. PND’s own Dan Cypra has the privilege of being on the panel for the second straight year.

The Poker Players Alliance struck back at the Commerce Casino and other gambling establishments in California by launching PlayersBeforeProfits.com, an online petition designed to encourage support of H-R Two-Two-Six-Seven, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. At the time of taping, the petition at PlayersBeforeProfits.com has well over ten thousand signatures, including the support of pros such as Tom Dwan, Howard Lederer, and Jennifer Tilly.

Twenty-four year-old Brit Sam Trickett took down the sixth PartyPoker World Open, banking two hundred thousand dollars. The tournament played out last week from the Palm Beach Casino in London.

Trickett has been on a tear in two-thousand ten. In June, he was the runner-up in a No Limit Hold’em event held during the World Series of Poker and took over half a million dollars. Then, Trickett bubbled the final table of the twenty-five thousand dollar No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event, also at the WSOP. In August, Trickett did it again, finishing fourth in the European Poker Tour Main Event in Vilamoura, Portugal. His win at the PartyPoker World Open VI gives Trickett four six-figure cashes in the last three months.

Finally, Poker News Daily congratulates Phil Laak on yet another achievement. This time, “The Unabomber” took down his first gold World Series of Poker bracelet across “The Pond” in London. Laak won a twenty-five hundred Pound Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament during WSOP Europe for one-hundred seventy thousand Pounds.

Laak’s bracelet was in the kickoff event of WSOP Europe, which sold out at 244 entrants. The final table also featured bracelet winners Chris [BEE-OR-IN] Bjorin and Willie Tann.

That does it for this week’s top headlines here at Poker News Daily. Don’t miss us next Friday for another executive recap of the week in Poker. Until next time, here’s to hoping you run great at the tables – I’m Sean Gibson for Poker News Daily.

Scotty Nguyen Skips WSOP Europe to Play Small Poker Events in USA

2010 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Scotty Nguyen is offering his fans the chance of a lifetime to play against him in the coming months. According to Nguyen’s official blog, the “Prince of Poker” will be skipping the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe this year in order to play smaller buy-in events all over the United States. The 1998 WSOP Main Event champ made his eagerness to meet his fans from all over public, saying on Twitter this week, “Don’t forget baby! gonna skip wsope and instead travel for my fans baby!”

Nguyen hasn’t announced an official travel schedule just yet, but his first stop will be in Durant, Oklahoma at the Choctaw Casino for the T.J. Cloutier Classic. Nguyen and his wife Julie will arrive on September 23rd and stay through the $1,650 Main Event, which gets underway on September 25th. The Choctaw Casino, which is located about an hour from Dallas, Texas, will also be hosting its first-ever WSOP Circuit Event in January, giving Midwest poker players a lot to look forward to in the near future.

Nguyen’s appearance at the T.J. Cloutier Classic should attract a solid field for the Main Event, as it gives locals an opportunity to play with a world-class player near their hometown. He’s likely to visit several more casinos and will make announcements when schedule decisions are finalized.

Nguyen has been reaching out to his fans with even more regularity than usual lately, becoming an avid user of social networks like Twitter and even hosting live chats with fans on his official website. Nguyen has always been one of the more approachable players on the tour, signing autographs and chatting with anyone watching him from the rail.

Some might feel his upcoming poker excursion with fans is a ploy to clear himself from his belligerent behavior at the 2008 WSOP $50,000 HORSE final table, but Nguyen has normally been very generous and charitable with those on and away from the table.

Nguyen is one of ten finalists for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010, which will be voted on by a 33-person panel. He’s up against poker luminaries such as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Erik Seidel. Nguyen’s poker resume speaks for itself: five WSOP bracelets, including Main Event and $50,000 HORSE titles; a World Poker Tour victory; and more than $11 million in tournament earnings, which is good for fifth all time.

His actions at the $50,000 HORSE Championship, during which he drunkenly berated poker pros Erick Lindgren and Michael DeMichele at the televised final table, will certainly be on the minds of the panelists for years to come. However, his rapport with the general poker public is hard to ignore, and skipping one of the year’s biggest poker events to give back to his fans only further shows his bighearted nature.

If he doesn’t receive a nod into the Hall of Fame this year, it will only be a matter of time before we see Nguyen enshrined with the rest of the legends of the game, baby.

Harrington25 Grabs $80k

Bleznick played over 280 hands in a mixture of $500/$1,000 H.O.R.S.E. and $500/$1,000 Cap Pot-Limit Omaha.

The Cap PLO session was particularly interesting as his opponent was Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies. Bleznick ended up taking more than $30,000 from the swingy Finn.

After approximately eight hours of play Bleznick finally decided to call it a day with nearly $80k in profit. It’s been a solid year for Bleznick who is currently the fifth biggest online winner this year with $2.09 million.

Swede Erik “DIN_FRU” Sagstrom was the second biggest winner of the day with $58,493 in profit over 209 hands.

Chau “La Key U” Giang also added $30,000 to his online bankroll by dominating several H.O.R.S.E. games.

Meanwhile MUSTAFABET was the biggest loser yesterday, down $52,360. Gus Hansen kept his personal downswing alive by losing $34,407 and Ziigmund lost $33,002.

A couple very well-known live pros made appearances on Full Tilt last night and recorded losses. Eli Elezra dropped $29,615 while Jennifer Harman lost a relatively miniscule $5,134.

Here’s a look at one of the biggest hands from last night. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

 

 

Visit PokerListings.com

2010 Women in Poker Hall of Fame Induction by Linda Johnson

I’ve been traveling constantly for the past six weeks. First, I went on an exploratory two-week cruise on the biggest ship in the world. Next, I hosted a week-long poker tournament at the Eureka Casino in Mesquite, Nevada. After stopping home overnight to watch some TIVO and do laundry, I flew to Indianapolis for one of my favorite charity events, the annual benefit for Mickey’s Camp (Mickeyscamp.com), to teach poker and run two poker tournaments.

When camp was over, I actually got to spend two days at home before leaving for the Card Player Cruises Alaska poker trip. I got back from the Alaska cruise just three hours prior to the start of the third annual Women in Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will be the focus of this blog.

The voters did a great job with the choice of inductees for the 2010 Women in Poker Hall of Fame class: Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Billie Brown. The Golden Nugget was the venue for year three and they did it right! The tournament pavilion was transformed into a supper club/bistro environment through the hard work of the committee spearheaded by Suzie Lederer and Suzanne Carter along with some awesome volunteers.

Lupe Soto, creator of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame and founder of the Ladies International Poker Series, brought in NASA special events coordinator Gyla Whitlow to produce the induction ceremony. Gyla composed an amazing video montage that played throughout the evening featuring the history in pictures of each of the present and past inductees.

Throughout the evening, there was a silent auction to benefit Poker Gives, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization started by Mike Sexton, Jan Fisher, Lisa Tenner, and me as a way for poker players to give back to charity. The evening’s emcee was Jan, who should consider becoming a standup comedian. She did an amazing job of keeping everyone on schedule and coming up with some very funny adlibbed lines. After opening the evening, Jan brought Lupe up to the stage to thank the event sponsors: Lord Griffon Jewelry, Full Tilt Poker, Ocean’s 11 Casino, the Golden Nugget, GreasieWheels.com, and Legacy Alliance.

The keynote speaker was Jeffrey Pollack, the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner who now serves as the Executive Chairman of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and a member of its Board of Directors. He spoke about the similarities between the PBR and the poker world and the importance of women’s-only events in poker. Next, the WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla took the stage and gave an impassioned speech about the WSOP’s commitment to women in poker. He reminded us of its history with the Ladies Event and assured the crowd that the Ladies Event shall remain a prominent part of their schedule going forward.

The ceremony began with Helen Hartley, marketing director at Oceans 11 Casino, and Bob Moyer, managing partner of Oceans 11, paying tribute to the first inductee, Billie Brown. Many of today’s players have never heard of Billie Brown since she passed away in 2004, but her contributions to poker live on.

She was an innovator and created exciting tournaments and promotions that changed the face of poker. In the early 80s, Billie was the first person to create a guaranteed purse in a major poker tournament. She committed a major casino, the Riviera Hotel, to be the tournament venue. The “Draw for the Gold Tournament” guaranteed $350,000 in its first year. The second and third years guaranteed $450,000 and the fourth year had the first $1,000,000 guarantee. That promotion built a player base of 2,500, which was unheard of in those days.

She liked being a host and started a business of bringing players from New York and Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Other poker-related work included creating promotions with Commerce Casino, including “Play for the Gold,” and working with several of the Indian casinos in San Diego assisting them in building their poker rooms and Asian games.

She served as the marketing director for Ocean’s 11 Casino during the last decade of her life. It was there that she created and hosted the beloved California State Ladies Poker Championship, an event that still draws women from all over the country. Billie always made sure that the ladies had a good time and that everything was perfect for them, from the gifts she personally chose and meticulously wrapped to the banquet decorations and the entertainment. Her tournament wasn’t just about poker; it was an opportunity for women in the industry to bond.

I had the good fortune of being Billie’s friend for 25 years and am pleased to see her get recognition for her achievements in poker. Her daughter, Kelley O’Hara, who is the marketing director for the Bicycle Casino, gave an eloquent acceptance speech on Billie’s behalf.

Next, Jan Fisher introduced Jennifer Harman and talked about her many poker achievements, including winning two gold bracelets in open events at the WSOP. Jennifer has more than $2.2 million in career tournament winnings and plays in the highest limit cash games in the world. She also wrote the Limit Hold’em section in “Super System 2.” Jennifer took the stage and graciously congratulated Kathy Liebert on her induction and thanked everyone for attending the ceremony.

Last but not least, Fisher introduced Kathy Liebert to the crowd. Kathy has more than $5.7 million in career tournament winnings and a gold WSOP bracelet. She was the first person to win a $1,000,000 guaranteed first place prize tournament and ranks in the top 40 in winnings among all poker players. She has played in 100 WPT events and made a WPT final table six times.

Kathy gave a great speech and told us about how she had been a business executive with Dun and Bradstreet and decided that she would not be happy in the business world, so she moved to Colorado and took a job as a prop and played $5 Limit poker while she perfected her skills. She also talked about how she likes seeing more women at the poker tables in these times than ever in the past.

Congratulation Kathy, Jennifer, and Billie! You are all deserving members of the prestigious Women in Poker Hall of Fame. The evening ended with a dance, which meant that I was the last one to leave and turn out the lights.

Johnny Chan Perfect on Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship

On Saturday at 9:00pm ET, the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship continued airing on GSN. The third round of regular season matches began with Phil Hellmuth teaming with Toto Leonidas, Annette Obrestad teaming with Annie Duke, Phil Laak teaming with Phil Ivey, and Phil Gordon teaming with Jennifer Harman. The unique match boasted four players named Phil and the first all-female team.

Each pair received 50,000 in starting chips and players alternated action by street. Each team is randomly assigned and, out of the 32 players that entered, 16 will make the post-season after four preliminary matches. Players are not allowed to talk strategy at the table while their team has cards. Instead, teams are allotted one 30-second time out to confer.

Harman and Gordon doubled up through Obrestad and Duke after flopping a king-high flush against the nut straight. Then, the contingent of ladies was out in fourth place after running Q-10 into the pocket tens of Gordon and Harman. They received zero points for the regular season standings and Duke, a UB.com pro, was nearly assured to miss the playoffs.

Laak committed his team’s chips pre-flop with A-Q and ran into Hellmuth’s Big Slick. Hellmuth called all-in and watched in agony as Laak’s team flopped two pair. Hellmuth and Leonidas headed for the exit in third place and received four points apiece.

In the match’s final hand, Ivey moved all-in before the flop with a wired pair of threes and Gordon made the call with pocket jacks. The board ran out 10-5-6-7-8 and Gordon and Harman claimed the title and 20 points. Through three regular season matches, Gordon has racked up 44 points, with Doubles Poker Championship commentator Brandon Adams speculating that 35 will be needed to make the playoffs. Ivey and Obrestad each stood at 31 points with one match to go in the regular season.

The second set of matches to unfold on Saturday night featured Huck Seed pairing with Carlos Mortensen, Mike Matusow teaming with Allen Cunningham, PartyPoker front man Tony G teaming with Johnny Chan, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan teaming with Victory Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari.

Doubles Poker Championship viewers were able to see Seed and Mortensen deliberate in a time out speaking only Spanish, although the team was the first to depart. Seed and Mortensen were all-in with K-3 and up against the pocket eights of Matusow and Cunningham. The flop came 3-8-3, giving Matusow and Cunningham a boat against trips and the better hand held for the win when the case three failed to come.

Chan raised to 8,500 pre-flop with pocket nines and Esfandiari made the call with J-10 of diamonds. The flop came 8-8-4 with two diamonds and Tony G led out for 8,000. Dwan pushed all-in and Tony G called. The percentages showed a virtual coin flip until a nine fell on the turn to give Tony G and Chan a boat, leaving Dwan and Esfandiari drawing dead. Dwan tossed a $5,000 casino chip to Matusow, presumably as payment for a last longer bet, and his team was eliminated in third place.

The final hand of the night saw Matusow open-shove with K-2 and Tony G call with pocket sixes. The board ran out five cards seven or lower and Tony G and Chan claimed victory. For Chan, it marked his third straight title. The former back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Event champ is the lone player to have 60 regular season points through three matches, while Seed owns 40.

Chan told Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship host Lacey Jones why he’s been so successful: “The secret is patience, discipline, just watching the other players play, pick up a little bit here, pick up a little bit there, and just finish the hand.” You can catch new episodes every Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.

Poker Hall of Fame Voting Committee Receives 2010 Ballots

On Friday, members of the Poker Hall of Fame voting committee received their ballots in an e-mail from Harrah’s officials. Noticeably different this year is a “10-point must system” that asks each member of the 33-person panel to allocate 10 points apiece among the candidates of their choosing. Then, when the final points are tabulated, the top two players who have received the majority of the votes will be enshrined as part of the Class of 2010. This author has the privilege of being on the panel for the second straight year.

Each of the 33 voters can select no more than three of the 10 finalists on the ballot, meaning that we can opt for zero, one, two, or three players. Text found on the ballot explains this year’s election procedures: “This year, we are using a 10-point must system in the voting. You must cast your vote(s) and ensure the total of those votes equals 10, and exactly 10.” If the points don’t add to 10, the ballot is voided.

Two examples of how to vote are given in the ballot. In the first, if we believe two players are equally qualified to become part of the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010, then we’d allocate five points to each. If we felt that Dan Harrington, for example, was especially worthy of enshrinement, then we could toss seven points his way. However, in each case, the total number of points allotted must equal 10 and no more than three finalists can be selected.

Last year, World Poker Tour (WPT) host and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Mike Sexton was the lone entrant into the Poker Hall of Fame after 75% of the vote was needed. This year, it’s possible that two players could get in considering only 50% is required. The votes from the 16 living Poker Hall of Fame members and 17 members of the media will not be publicly disclosed.

This year, the Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, November 7th from Las Vegas. Further details other than a date were not available at press time. Among the members of the media who have publicly acknowledged that they are part of the voting committee are ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman and the International Federation of Poker’s Anthony Holden.

The 10 finalists from the public vote received the green light from the Poker Hall of Fame Nominating Committee to be considered for the Hall. The group consists of Full Tilt Poker software developer Chris Ferguson, charity worker extraordinaire Barry Greenstein, top female pro Jennifer Harman, and the man who quite literally wrote the book on poker, “Action” Dan Harrington.

Other nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 include eight-time bracelet winners Phil Ivey and Erik Seidel, Tournament Directors Association co-founder Linda Johnson, 1983 WSOP Main Event champ Tom McEvoy, PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu, and Scotty Nguyen, the only player ever to win the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 HORSE Championship.

Last year, Harrington, Greenstein, Ivey, McEvoy, Nguyen, Negreanu, and Seidel all made the ballot along with Men “The Master” Nguyen, who is not among the top 10 finalists in 2010. The induction ceremony took place on the first day of November Nine play at the Rio and featured comments from Sexton’s brother Tom Sexton, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, gaming legend Jack Binion, Poker Hall of Famer T.J. Cloutier, and McEvoy. Sexton received a hearty 30-second standing ovation upon being introduced to the crowd in a touching moment.

Thirty-seven players have been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame since 1979 and the ballots from the voting panel are due back on October 1st. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily to learn who will become the Hall’s newest inductees.

---

---

My 2010 Poker Hall of Fame Vote

For the second straight year, I’ll have the privilege of voting for the Poker Hall of Fame. This prestigious award is given to deserving candidates who meet four criteria: “Played poker against acknowledged top competition; played for high stakes; played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers; stood the test of time; or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.”

The 33-member panel, which consists of the 16 living Poker Hall of Fame members and 17 media representatives, can select as many of the 10 final candidates as they deem worthy of admission. Here are my thoughts on each of the 10 finalists as they appear in alphabetical order:

Chris Ferguson: There’s something to be said for a man who was influential in developing the software for one of the world’s largest online poker sites, Full Tilt. The former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ has five bracelets and over $5 million in career WSOP earnings. He’s one of the game’s most recognizable faces due to his “Jesus” persona and, at 47, also has a National Heads-Up Poker Championship title under his belt. He’s worthy of consideration to the Poker Hall of Fame and would be my fourth favorite selection among the finalists.

Barry Greenstein: Despite having more than $2 million in WSOP earnings and three bracelets, Greenstein may best be known for igniting the move for generosity away from the felts. Greenstein has become known as the “Robin Hood of Poker,” but lacks the sparkling poker resume that the other nine Poker Hall of Fame candidates hold. However, I have little doubt that Greenstein, like Ferguson, will be inducted as part of a future class.

Jennifer Harman: Fresh off an induction into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, Harman owns two WSOP bracelets, neither of which came in a Ladies event. She’s made two World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables and is approaching the $1 million mark in earnings on the WPT. Harman is a perfect fit for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame and her charity work will undoubtedly earn her a nod in the future, but she is not among my top choices for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010.

Dan Harrington: The man who quite literally wrote the book on poker, Harrington’s “Hold’em” series can be found on the bookshelves of serious players around the world. Despite massive fields, Harrington made the final table of the Main Event in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004 and won it all in 1995. He’s my top pick for this year’s Poker Hall of Fame class and was a nominee last year.

Phil Ivey: He’s pretty good at poker. Millions upon millions of dollars earned in cash games, eight WSOP bracelets, and a final table in last year’s Main Event are just a few of the reasons that Ivey will eventually receive a Poker Hall of Fame nod. However, “No Home Jerome,” at 34, isn’t yet old enough to run for President of the United States and didn’t record a WSOP in the money finish prior to 2000. While he’ll be a favorite of many members of the voting panel, Ivey has not yet “stood the test of time.”

Linda Johnson: How do you not elect “The First Lady of Poker” to the Poker Hall of Fame? A founding member of the Tournament Directors Association and inaugural inductee to the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, Johnson has made an indelible impact on the game in several different areas. From encouraging more women to play to co-founding Poker Gives and urging players to give back, Johnson epitomizes what a Poker Hall of Fame inductee should be. She’ll be receiving my vote this year as my second favorite candidate.

Tom McEvoy: In my opinion, McEvoy is the poster child for standing the test of time. In his third career WSOP in the money finish, he won the Main Event in 1983. He’s racked up a total of four bracelets and then promptly took down last year’s Champions Invitational, a made-for-television event that awarded a sleek new ride to its winner. McEvoy has authored a bounty of poker books including his “Championship” series and “How to Win No Limit Hold’em Tournaments.” McEvoy also lacks any character questions and will be marked on my ballot.

Daniel Negreanu: The same argument I used as to why Ivey does not warrant a nod for the Poker Hall of Fame this year holds water for Negreanu, who is 36 years old. “Kid Poker” has become one of the main faces of the entire industry through his marketable persona and owns the second largest earnings total in WPT history. He also has four bracelets, but a recent high-profile run-in with Annie Duke that included the use of the “C” word has me questioning whether he’s worthy of being an ambassador for the game.

Scotty Nguyen: Sadly, I can’t bring myself to vote for Nguyen. The only player to have won the $50,000 HORSE Championship and WSOP Main Event, Nguyen’s expertise on the felt is in a league of its own. He has eight WPT final tables and one title, but his demeanor at the HORSE Championship in 2008 remains a major black eye for the industry given the game’s precarious online legality in the United States and the tournament’s national exposure on ESPN. The fact that Nguyen still orders beer at tournaments, albeit non-alcoholic brands like O’Doul’s, continues to confound me after what happened in 2008. If Nguyen wants anyone’s vote, he’ll need to shape up.

Erik Seidel: Duke’s choice for the Poker Hall of Fame, Seidel has been the epitome of class. As she told Poker News Daily, “The guy behaves with such grace in a sport where grace is really needed. He’s always so graceful and so sportsmanlike.” I’m on the fence about Seidel’s accomplishments away from the game, as his dominance on the felts is obvious.

WCOOP Begins and “Boosted J” Wins WPT High Roller from Poker in Twitter

This weekend marked the beginning of the PokerStars World Championships Of Online Poker (WCOOP). Plenty of top poker pros were on hand for the beginning of festivities. “WCOOP starts today,” Tweeted J.C. Alvarado prior to the start of action. “Instead of the typical vape and movie Sundays, today will be serious with the comfy chair, dual monitors, and Pandora.” New PokerStars sponsored pro David Williams was also a part of the action, Tweeting, “Playing the first event of the PokerStars WCOOP now! Gonna be a full day of online tournaments on PokerStars.”

A good example of the dedication of the pros to the WCOOP, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner summed it up with his Tweet:  “Huge 3 week online grind starts tomorrow, and I feel very good about my game right now-hope it proves to be more than a feeling!” UB.com‘s Adam “Roothlus” Levy echoed Turner’s thoughts in evoking “The Jersey Shore” in a humorous manner when he Tweeted, “Good to be back in LA! Now, time to GTL for the next month! Grind. Tan. Laundry. Grind. Tan. Laundry.”

As Sunday’s trio of tournaments began (including a $10,000 High Roller event), various players kept their followers updated on Twitter. “9001 players for #wcoop event 1 and a 1st prize of 270k,” reported Daniel Negreanu. “About 6700 players left and the High Roller starts in 20 min on PokerStars.” Almost immediately following that Tweet, Negreanu had disappointing news for his fans:  “Played 40k pot board was J234 I had 56 vs J3 all in on the turn in a limped pot. 3 on the river I have 1300 left yuk.”

Negreanu wasn’t the only one lamenting his run as the WCOOP started. “Out of event #1,” Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh Tweeted about her start. “(I) couldn’t win a race. 03 starts in a few minutes, hope I got the run bad out of my system!” Lex Veldhuis seemed to be in the same situation, but he also Tweeted how he was going to handle the remaining tournaments on Sunday:  “Running ridic bad today. Just busted highroller and 6-max WCOOP. Gonna finish the rest of them drunk.”

Several of the top pros in the WCOOP tournaments had at least a little success to show for their hours on the virtual felt. “Cashed in WCOOP event one (six max) for a lil cash, and still in the other two WCOOPS for today!,” Vanessa Rousso Tweeted to her fans. “Finished 27th in the 10k high roller #wcoop and min cashed the 1k 2nd chance. Frustrating end to the night,” Jason Mercier Tweeted reluctantly. Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck joined in on the misery by chirping, “LOL min cash w/ not even $200 profit after busting 11K people. waste of a gorgeous day. And thus begins another WCOOP.”

For those that weren’t on the virtual tables of PokerStars, many were sweating the final table of the World Poker Tour’s High Roller tournament on Sunday. Justin “Boosted J” Smith was at a stacked final table that included PartyPoker sponsored pro Antanas “Tony G” Guoga, former WSOP $50,000 HORSE champion Freddy Deeb, and French poker legend Bruno Fitoussi. “At casino now for WPT High Roller televised Final Table,” Smith Tweeted on Sunday prior to the start of the final table. “8 people left. Let’s see if I can start off my London trip this year great and win!”

As he battled through the difficult final table, “Boosted J” was fairly quiet. Once play was down to three, however, Smith decided to let his followers know what was going on: “3 people left. Tony G, Freddy Deeb and myself… bluffed off 200k and I have about 420k.” Over the next two hours, however, Smith was able to defeat the two veterans to win the WPT London High Roller tournament, Tweeting, “Feels sooooo good to have finally won a tournament… especially a WPT.”

As a finale to the WPT tournament (and perhaps the best Twitter story of the week), Smith recounted a conversation he had during the dinner break, when none of the eight remaining players had been eliminated. “Random tidbit from last night. During dinner break at about 8:30 p.m. I was eating at a table in the restaurant next to Mike Sexton,” Justin began. “I told him I thought the line on the Final Table ending was 4:19 a.m. and he could lay 20 cents and take either side, which he declined.” Smith finished the story and the celebration of his WPT championship by tweeting, “I won at 4:19 a.m. lol.”

Finally, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame dinner was held on Saturday night, inducting Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Harman, and Billie Brown into the exclusive club. The party went deep into the night, with fellow Hall of Fame member Jan Fisher Tweeting to welcome her fellow members as the party wrapped up, “WIPHOF-amazing…. congrats to Jen, Kathy, and Kelley. Thanks to Jeffrey Pollack and Nolan for sharing their thoughts from the stage. FUN!”

Harman was humbled by the attention from the gala, Tweeting simply, “I had a great time last night. Thanks for everyone’s support.” Liebert honored her fellow nominee by Tweeting, “I enjoyed the WIPHOF induction last night. I really liked @jenharman speech. She was very sweet and of course a great role model.”

Erik Seidel, Johnny Chan Partners on Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship

On Saturday night, the second round of matches in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship played out on GSN. The unique team format features randomly assigned partners who alternate action on every street. Teammates cannot discuss strategy while they have cards unless they call a 30-second time out.

In the first match of the one-hour episode, high-stakes poker pros David Benyamine and Phil Ivey teamed up, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger partnered with Greg “FBT” Mueller, Carlos Mortensen teamed with Allen Cunningham, and UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth teamed with Jennifer Harman.

Ivey and Benyamine were the first pair to depart, getting it in with pocket fives and running into pocket tens. They received zero points towards the regular season standings and Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship commentator Brandon Adams quipped, “They’re probably going to terrorize people on the internet.”

Hellmuth and Harman were the next team to be eliminated after moving all-in with pocket deuces and running into a wired pair of fives. Then, Mortensen and Cunningham doubled up with A-10 of clubs against Mueller and Lichtenberger’s K-9. The latter team’s chip stack sunk to three big blinds and they were eliminated on the very next hand. Mortensen and Cunningham received 20 points each for the regular season, while Mueller and Lichtenberger each accrued 11.

In the second match of the show, which spanned its last half-hour, Nick Schulman teamed with Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari teamed with Chris Ferguson, and Gus Hansen teamed with Toto Leonidas. The final pair of the second match was none other than Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel, whose heads-up battle in the 1988 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was featured in the movie “Rounders.”

Hansen and Leonidas doubled up early on, but could not sustain the momentum and finished in fourth place, netting zero points for the regular season. In their final hand, Hansen committed his team’s chips pre-flop with 10-9 of hearts, but Ferguson woke up with pocket aces. While Esfandiari furiously rubbed Hansen’s head for good luck, the board ran out 6-7-4-5-Q.

Chan and Seidel hit Broadway on the river to double up through Gordon and Schulman, who were promptly eliminated with 3-2 against Esfandiari and Ferguson’s K-6. Each received four points for their third place finish in the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship.

In the final hand of the night, Ferguson check-raised all-in on a flop of 4-J-A holding 4-2 for bottom pair. Chan made the call with J-6 for middle pair and the seven of diamonds came on the turn. By the river, Ferguson and Esfandiari were drawing to a deuce, four, or diamond. However, the ten of hearts hit and Chan and Seidel each picked up 20 points for the regular season after their WSOP Main Event reunion.

Chan has lodged 40 points over his first two matches after recording two wins. Each of the 32 players in the field will take to the felts for four regular season matches. Then, the top 16 will advance to the playoffs, where the winning team will split $1 million. The buy-in to the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship, which was filmed at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas, was $50,000.

On his unique pairing with Chan, Seidel told hostess Lacey Jones, “I was very comfortable with the partnership. I know Johnny’s going to make the right decisions when the time comes up, so I was always happy when the cards were in his hands.”

You can catch the Full Tilt Doubles Poker Championship every Saturday at 9:00pm ET on GSN.

Poker News in Brief: Aug. 30- Sep. 5, 2010

A few stories slipped through the cracks, but we caught them all and neatly organized them into our regular Poker News in Brief feature below.

This week we’ll take a look at the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame nominees, a new WPT TV deal, WSOPE qualifiers on UB, WCOOP kicking off and more.

Hall of Fame nominees announced

Ten nominees have been named for the 2010 class of the Poker Hall of Fame after a two-month voting process on WSOP.com.

The ten players under consideration include Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Erik Seidel.

These names will be vetted by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, who will then select the final list of candidates.

The 16 living Hall of Fame members and a 17-person media panel will then determine who will enter the Hall at an induction ceremony held as part of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table festivities in November.

The Poker Hall of Fame, established in 1979, traditionally elects one or two members annually.

High Heels Heads South

The High Heels Poker Tour, the first all women’s poker tour on the U.S. East Coast, is planning a big Fall all over Florida.

The HHPT 2010 Fall schedule will stops at Mardi Gras in Hallandale, Ebro Greyhound Park in Ebro, Orange Park Kennel Club in Jacksonville, The Isle in Pompano, and The Silks Poker Room in Tampa.

For additional information, including dates, times and buy-ins go to www.highheelspokertour.com. 

WPT Inks TV Deal

The World Poker Tour and Fox Sports Net announced a multi-season broadcast and promotional agreement for the distribution of WPT Seasons 9, 10, and 11 this week.

The new agreement features prime time national premiere airtimes on Sunday nights, as well as repeat airings throughout the week. Plus, the two have agreed to extensive promotional advertising that will keep viewers up-to-date on new airings.

WPT’s Season 9 will premiere with its 179th episode in January 2011.

"This season promises to be unlike any previous incarnations of the WPT," said Steve Heller, CEO of WPT.

"The shows will be faster-paced and edgier, featuring the biggest names in poker mixing it up with more up-and-coming stars, pre-final table action and, as always, poker’s greatest and most recognizable play-by-play commentary team of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten."

Have Your Cake

Cake Poker is running a number of promotions this September, including the debut of a Monday Night Football tournament series.

Debuting Sep. 13 and running for four weeks, Cake Poker will offer Money Night Football tournaments during the NFL broadcasts.

Plus, players who change their screen name to reference their favorite NFL team and cash in one of the tournaments will be entered into a weekly $500 Kamikaze tournament.

WSOPE Qualifiers on UB.com

The World Series of Poker Europe main event is returning to London’s Casino at The Empire Sep. 23-28 and UB wants to send you there. From Sep. 1-12 UB is offering players the chance to earn a seat for as little as $10.

Players can qualify through $10 Ultra Turbo Rebuy and $55 Freezeout feeders, or buy-in directly to the $500+$30 3-Seat Guaranteed WSOPE Super Satellite scheduled for Sep. 12 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

PKR Offers New Poker Fest

PKR and The Fox Poker Club are teaming up to present a new breed of poker festival with dealer dealt tournaments at affordable buy-ins in London this fall. Running for a full 28 days between Oct. 11 and Nov. 7, the PKR.com 'London Calling' festival will consist of 57 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from £20 to £300.

The festival will conclude with a £300 buy-in main event.

“With regular buy-ins ranging from £20 'London Calling' is for the huge number of people who'd love to play a high-quality, dealer-dealt tournament but find most poker tours and festivals are too high for their bankroll," said PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger.

Further details can be found at www.pkr.com/londoncalling.

William Hill Revamps Software

William Hill Poker has made a few improvements aimed at making the player experience more enjoyable.

The poker tables on the site now have a new look. Players can adjust table-sizing to tile and cascade multiple tables and now have the ability to play on more than one monitor at a time. The site has also introduced flashing avatars to indicate when a player is on the clock, new backgrounds, borders and shading.

The player's chat functionality has been improved and incorporated in a side toolbar to access the chat commentary, player's notes, relevant statistics, hand history and settings. Check out PokerListings’ William Hill Poker review for more.

WCOOP Kicks Off

PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker begins today.

The richest online poker series in the world, WCOOP will consist of 62 events over 23 days, with tournaments in every poker discipline and $50 million in guaranteed cash.

Last year, 43,973 players from 140 countries took part in WCOOP with Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko winning the main event and more than $1.7 million.

PokerStars is offering a 20% WCOOP Reload Bonus to help bankroll your run at a WCOOP title.

Make a deposit before 11:59 p.m. ET on Sep. 11 using the code WCOOP to take advantage.

For more details, go to the WCOOP website.

Visit PokerListings.com

World Team Poker Adds New Countries

In preparation for its forthcoming Championship Event, World Team Poker has added 19 countries to its lineup, including Canada, Pakistan, and Spain. World Team Poker will even receive face time on Fox Sports Net when its tournaments begin debuting in January on Sunday nights for 13 weeks.

Team Canada promises to be among the fiercest in the 30-team field. Shawn Buchanan, Kyle Wilson, Eric Cloutier, Owen “ocrowe” Crowe, Daniel Idema, and Terrence “Unassigned” Chan will comprise the group, which features two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Greg “FBT” Mueller as its captain. Buchanan finished as the runner-up to new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dan “djk123” Kelly in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the 2010 WSOP, banking $813,000.

Hasan Habib and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka will co-captain Team Pakistan. A press release distributed by World Team Poker delicately explains, “Pakistan, which is known more for its cricket than poker players, has formed a formidable team of excellent poker talent.” Jaka is the reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year after recording two final tables and four top 20 finishes last season. Also on Team Pakistan are Ayaz Mahmood, Ozzy Sheikh, Owais Ahmed, Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania, and former Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) Main Event winner Hafiz Khan.

Carlos Mortensen, the WPT’s all-time money leader, will captain Team Spain. Mortensen was the only announced player for the Spanish World Team Poker contingent, but the former WSOP Main Event champ has four WPT final tables to his credit along with three titles. Mortensen has $5.7 million in career WPT earnings along with $2.4 million from the WSOP felts, where he’s a two-time bracelet winner.

Team Caribbean Islands is also taking form, with three players having signed up to be part of the fun. Jean-Robert Bellande, a former Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” castaway, will compete for the island nation team alongside Jean “Prince” Gaspard and Amnon Filippi. Among their competition will be Team Germany, which consists of Dan Heimiller, John Galbraith, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, and Cyndy Violette. Liebert is being inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame this evening, while Violette is already a member.

Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari will captain Team Iran. Backing him up is an eclectic group of players that includes Reza Golestani, Mojgan Stringham, Shawn “Sheiky” Sheikhan, and Soheil Shamseddin.

Team USA has largely already been determined, with Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Erik Seidel taking the floor for the North American nation. Three online poker sites – DoylesRoom, UB.com, and Full Tilt Poker – will be represented.

The 30-team Championship Event will likely occur next month from Las Vegas, although the dates, times, and a location have not yet been announced. The inaugural World Team Poker tournament took place at the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas earlier this year and was won by Team China, whose impressive roster of pros includes former WPT Championship winner David Chiu, 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, Winfred Yu, former “Amazing Race” contestant Maria Ho, Chau Giang, Rich Zhu, and Derek Cheung.

Here are the new team captains along with the countries they represent as announced by World Team Poker on Friday:

Greg Mueller: Canada
Hasan Habib and Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka: Pakistan
Jean-Robert Bellande: Caribbean Islands
Peter Costa: Cyprus
Max Stern: Costa Rica
Chris Bjorin: Sweden
Martin Pollak: Austria
Dan Heimiller: Germany
Bruno Fitoussi: France
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar: India
Toto Leonidas: Philippines
Antonio Esfandiari: Iran
Kevin Song: Korea
Marco Traniello: Italy
Lenny Martin: Russia
Carlos Mortensen: Spain
Roberto Rominelli: Wales
Padraig Parkinson and Donnacha O’Dea: Ireland
Vladimir Shchemelev: Ukraine

Visit WorldTeamPoker.com for more details.

September 2nd – Daily Deal

On today’s Daily Deal, the coalition of California casinos clarifies its stance on internet gambling legislation, 888 reports its financial results for the first half of two-thousand ten, the World Series of Poker Main Event continues airing on ESPN and we find out who the final nominees are for this year’s Hall of Fame. It’s all ahead… faster than you can say, “I can dodge bullets, baby.”

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

Recently, the Commerce Casino, Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens, Hollywood Park, and the California Gaming Association joined in opposition Congressman Barney Frank’s HR 2267, which would create a full licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States.

The four casinos have found themselves in a war of words against the Poker Players Alliance, which has launched an online petition at PlayersBeforeProfits.com to reverse their stance against the groundbreaking legislation. Poker News Daily sat down with card room coalition spokesperson Waltona Manion to explore the coalition’s resistance.

Manion argued,

“We’re looking for Federal enforcement of the same strict licensing and regulation for online poker as U.S. land-based casinos abide by. This means that they have to license all of their employees and the physical operations should be in the U.S. In addition, the hardware and software should be tested and certified.”

She added, “Frank’s bill provides fewer industry regulations and player protections. It imposes lower taxes for foreign online companies than what U.S. casinos pay. It would enable illegal offshore companies to export significant money from our economy.”

We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.

888 Holdings, the gaming operator that owns 888 Poker, announced Tuesday that it will be cutting costs in order to address a loss in profits for the first half of 2010. The company has also decided to scrap its dividend in order to pay for acquisitions after the weak economy and World Cup caused a decline in poker revenue.

888’s first half financial results showed revenues were up 10.5% to one-hundred thirty million dollars, but pre-tax profit dropped by 56% to four point three million dollars. Poker revenue dropped 25% to nineteen point six million.

The WSOP Main Event continued airing on ESPN on Tuesday night with Day Two-B. Two one-hour episodes were devoted to the second Day Two and the feature table included Dan Harrington and Jeff Shulman, who were seated next to each other. Prahlad Friedman and Allied Network Solutions CEO Ted Bort tangled in a hand in which Bort called the clock after pushing all in. Friedman waited until the count reached one and quietly said, “I call,” but floor officials ruled that the clock had expired. Bort turned over top two pair and Friedman mucked.

A maelstrom of yelling ensued. ESPN aired a replay clearly showing that Friedman had called at the one-second mark and the dealer promptly said, “He called.” Nevertheless, another floor supervisor was summoned who also said the hand was dead. Don’t forget that Friedman was also involved in “Ante-gate” with Jeffrey Lisandro.

Finally, the nominees as voted by the fans are in for the Poker Hall of Fame. This year’s class is a who’s who of the poker world, all of whom have distinguished careers warranting their nominations. This year’s class of nominees, who will be voted on by the 16 living Hall of Fame members and a 17-person media panel. Only these 33 individuals cast votes for induction. The nominees are:

1. CHRIS FERGUSON
2. BARRY GREENSTEIN
3. JENNIFER HARMAN-TRANIELLO
4. DAN HARRINGTON
5. PHIL IVEY
6. LINDA JOHNSON
7. TOM McEVOY
8. DANIEL NEGREANU
9. SCOTTY NGUYEN
10. ERIK SEIDEL

Well, that does it for today’s edition of The Daily Deal, and we’ll be back with you on Tuesday of next week. Be sure to visit Poker News Daily every day for the latest poker headlines, and be sure to check us out at twitter dot com slash poker news daily. I’m Sean Gibson, thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you next time. Now go crush those fish at the tables!

Poker Hall of Fame 2010 nominees

Now, after a two-month of open voting the list of nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame is ready. There was no women in the last year’s final 10, but this year there’s two, which is really great.

Ivey on the road to Hall of Fame?

As you could have guessed, all the nominees are familiar names. The actual inductees will be chosen by the 16 alive Hall of Fame Members and 17 media delegates. The chosen inductees will be presented at the November Nine weekend, just before the closing moments of WSOP Main Event.

Hall of Fame 2010 nominees are:

Chris Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Ivey
Linda Johnson
Tom McEvoy
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Erik Seidel

Source: PokerNewsDaily

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Poker Hall of Fame 2010 nominees