Poker News

Poker in Twitter: PCA Bahamas, Haiti Relief, and the Brunson NFL Jinx

Twitter has revolutionized social networking, and the poker world was not immune to its 140-character charms. Poker News Daily has been following poker’s hot young stars such as Maria Ho and Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh along with more established players including Annie Duke and Andy Bloch, and even some of poker’s greatest legends – septuagenarian Doyle Brunson tweets on a daily basis,– to offer our readership an overview of what the most popular poker players are up to on Twitter.

These have been the most interesting Tweets since last Friday, encompassing players’ parting impressions from the Bahamas, their last goodbyes to the late Amir Vahedi, the drives to raise funds for Haiti relief and some NFL quandaries.

The end of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) involved many players complaining about the Bahamas prices, while others complained about the weather and a few even complained about customs on the way out. Vicky Coren had a late departure, and she tried to make the most of it: “Mmm, sunshine and cocktails. And who needs a book when you can listen to the on-hold music at Nassau Airport for only $200 a minute?" Fellow Brit Liv Boeree shared a sunny beach picture: “http://twitpic.com/yk7dh - photo from Bahamas... on the one good day of the whole trip.”

Vahedi was present in many poker player’s minds and Twitters as his funeral took place last Friday. Tournament director supreme Matt Savage summed everyone’s feelings in a poignant Tweet: “Spent the short fight to Burbank thinking about Amir and how his BIG personality will be missed! Hoping to say a few words today.”

The NFL kept a number of players glued to the television, especially those who had money on the line like Phil Hellmuth: “I liked Colts & Saints, but didn't bet, then Vikings (what poker player gets up that early?), finally bet $500 on Jets money line 3.15 to 1”. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit "amak316" Makhija had a hard time choosing his allegiances: “Done working out, goin to grind Sundays and watch football! Do I root for the jets (love underdogs) or chargers (love awesomeness)?” Alex Outhred enjoyed a last laugh: “#fondmemories of the Cowboy fan last night who scoffed at my purpotion that the Vikes had 'a chance' today”.  And Brunson bemoaned his wife jinxing his favorite team: “it happened again. my wife walks in the room....BOOM, touchdown for the team i'm betting aganist... geeeez”

The humanitarian disaster in Haiti brought up many initiatives to raise awareness and funds. Shannon Elizabeth made a heartfelt appeal to remind all of the tragedy: “Good morning guys-we made it to the end of the week, but not everyone was so lucky-take a moment 2 remember those who didn't....” Adam “Roothlus” Levy voiced a more ambiguous opinion: “It's remarkable how the average American is facing financial hard times but yet, there's an outpouring of donations to #Haiti. Just awesome!” Andy Bloch donated time and money and played a lot of poker to aid the cause: “Just registered for the last 11 Aid for Haiti tournaments on FTP... may need a lot of caffeine. Sending autographed DVDs as extra bounty.”

Some players used Twitter for its original purpose of keeping friends and family informed of what they were up to. Beth Shak commented on her recent move: “Haha my decorator said no large men in my bedroom in NY..I wntd a king bed!!thnk gd my bf is small”, while Ho complained of health issues: “Dear Immune System, Why do you insist on taking days off without notifying me first? Please come back soon. *cough* Thanks.” Justin “BoostedJ” Smith revisited an old hobby: “Going to the gun range..something I haven't done in a long time and is so much fun,” and Leigh introduced her new love: “I'm SO in love.... Here's her picture! http://tinyurl.com/ygk7jpm =)” Liz Lieu enjoyed stirring up some suspense with the cryptic remark “I've just said "I WILL" ”

Some Tweets remain unclassifiable and they are arguably the most fun of all. Anthrax's Scott Ian talked about music: “Song of the day: Pussy don't fail me now. Any one know who that is?” Kevin Smith talked about religion (and several other unpublishable topics): “I never cram my religion down anybody's throat, so I ask you don't cram atheism down mine. My life's so blessed I GOTTA believe in God.” Meanwhile, Duke's boyfriend, Joe Reitman, complained about his phone service: “Dear AT&T...if u are going to have huge billboards in a stadium my iPhone should get a signal in said stadium” "Poker2Nite" host Scott Huff takes the prize for the most random Tweet of this edition, with: “This morning NASA found cocaine near the space shuttle Discovery. Come on, guys, space isn't high enough?”

Visit Poker News Daily every Monday and Thursday for an overview of the best Tweets in the poker world.

Harrison Gimbel (gibler123) Recaps 2010 PCA Main Event Win

Banking $2.2 million for winning the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main event was 19 year-old Harrison “gibler123” Gimbel, who became the youngest champion ever of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament. Gimbel sat down with Poker News Daily shortly after the win to recap his monumental run.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on your historic win in the PCA Main Event. Can you tell us a little bit about your heads-up opponent, Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman?

Harrison Gimbel: He’s a really good player and I knew that going into the final table. The first time I played with him live was at the final table. When we got heads-up, he had 28 million to my 17 million at 100,00-200,000 blinds.

PND: You’re only 19 years-old. Talk about going up against a former Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday winner and successful online poker player heads-up. Did any nerves set in considering you were out-chipped?

Harrison Gimbel: Not at all. People were shocked that I stayed so calm. If anyone watched the webcast, I really wasn’t nervous and I played my game well. The biggest hand of the heads-up match was when I bluffed him off of a straight.

PND: In that hand, you check-called a bet of 630,000 after a flop of 5-6-4 with two hearts. The ten of clubs hit on the turn and you check-called a bet of 1.8 million from Reiman. The seven of hearts on the river put out straight and flush possibilities. You check-raised Reiman all-in and he folded 7-8 face up. Can you walk us through that hand, in which Reiman flopped the nuts?

Harrison Gimbel: I had Ah-4x, so I knew he didn’t have the nut flush. I figured check-shoving that board means that I either have a straight or a flush. I wasn’t necessarily putting him on a straight, as he could have been value betting a set or maybe even two pair. Me check-shoving there looks mostly like a flush.

PND: Were you surprised to see him fold 7-8?

Harrison Gimbel: Not really. I still think it’s pretty hard from him to call with an eight there. I was surprised he folded so fast, though. I had actually thought he called.

PND: How does it feel to be the youngest PCA Main Event champion ever? Is that important to you?

Harrison Gimbel: Yes, for sure. I think that is the most important part; being the youngest person to accomplish anything is an amazing feat. I just accomplished something at 19 that most people don’t do ever.

PND: What does this win do for your confidence and can you tell us about your future poker plans?

Harrison Gimbel: My confidence is at an all-time sky high. I came into this tournament thinking I was going to win. After Day 1 when I had 100+ big blinds, I told a friend that I was going to win this tournament. As for the future, I would love to travel the circuit. I can’t do too many tournaments, though, because I’m only 19, but I have an early lead for Player of the Year, so maybe if I win something else, I can lock it up.

PND: You told us that you got into poker through playing in $5 and $10 buy-in home games during the Moneymaker Boom. Do you play full-time now?

Harrison Gimbel: I should be a freshman in college. I went for two weeks and took the semester off. I don’t think I’m going back next semester either, so I’ll probably play poker full-time now.

Harrison Gimbel (gibler123) Recaps 2010 PCA Main Event Win

Banking $2.2 million for winning the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main event was 19 year-old Harrison “gibler123” Gimbel, who became the youngest champion ever of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament. Gimbel sat down with Poker News Daily shortly after the win to recap his monumental run.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on your historic win in the PCA Main Event. Can you tell us a little bit about your heads-up opponent, Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman?

Harrison Gimbel: He’s a really good player and I knew that going into the final table. The first time I played with him live was at the final table. When we got heads-up, he had 28 million to my 17 million at 100,00-200,000 blinds.

PND: You’re only 19 years-old. Talk about going up against a former Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday winner and successful online poker player heads-up. Did any nerves set in considering you were out-chipped?

Harrison Gimbel: Not at all. People were shocked that I stayed so calm. If anyone watched the webcast, I really wasn’t nervous and I played my game well. The biggest hand of the heads-up match was when I bluffed him off of a straight.

PND: In that hand, you check-called a bet of 630,000 after a flop of 5-6-4 with two hearts. The ten of clubs hit on the turn and you check-called a bet of 1.8 million from Reiman. The seven of hearts on the river put out straight and flush possibilities. You check-raised Reiman all-in and he folded 7-8 face up. Can you walk us through that hand, in which Reiman flopped the nuts?

Harrison Gimbel: I had Ah-4x, so I knew he didn’t have the nut flush. I figured check-shoving that board means that I either have a straight or a flush. I wasn’t necessarily putting him on a straight, as he could have been value betting a set or maybe even two pair. Me check-shoving there looks mostly like a flush.

PND: Were you surprised to see him fold 7-8?

Harrison Gimbel: Not really. I still think it’s pretty hard from him to call with an eight there. I was surprised he folded so fast, though. I had actually thought he called.

PND: How does it feel to be the youngest PCA Main Event champion ever? Is that important to you?

Harrison Gimbel: Yes, for sure. I think that is the most important part; being the youngest person to accomplish anything is an amazing feat. I just accomplished something at 19 that most people don’t do ever.

PND: What does this win do for your confidence and can you tell us about your future poker plans?

Harrison Gimbel: My confidence is at an all-time sky high. I came into this tournament thinking I was going to win. After Day 1 when I had 100+ big blinds, I told a friend that I was going to win this tournament. As for the future, I would love to travel the circuit. I can’t do too many tournaments, though, because I’m only 19, but I have an early lead for Player of the Year, so maybe if I win something else, I can lock it up.

PND: You told us that you got into poker through playing in $5 and $10 buy-in home games during the Moneymaker Boom. Do you play full-time now?

Harrison Gimbel: I should be a freshman in college. I went for two weeks and took the semester off. I don’t think I’m going back next semester either, so I’ll probably play poker full-time now.

Dario Minieri Dominates PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller Event

Italian poker pro Dario Minieri leads the pack for the second straight day in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament. Minieri is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

After two days of play, there are 24 players remaining out of the 84 who entered. Minieri was on top of the leaderboard after Day 1 and turned in another strong outing on Tuesday for Day 2. Minieri holds a stack of 430,700 chips entering Day 3 on Wednesday, edging out Michiel Brummelhuis’ second place tally of 403,800. Minieri and Brummelhuis are the only players to cross the 400,000-chip threshold and own a comfortable lead over former World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open champ Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar’s third place total of 301,700. Minieri won the High Roller event at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Warsaw stop in October.

One of the final eliminations of the evening at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas was Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. He was all-in pre-flop with A-Q against Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips’ K-8. Phillips struck lightning in a bottle when the flop came K-8-4 and a running 9-J left Matusow scratching his head. William Thorson also exited at the end of the day when his 7-8 ran into pocket sevens. Thorson has made three EPT final tables.

2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg Raymer sent fellow PokerStars-backed pro Andre Akkari out on Tuesday. Akkari pushed with A-9 of diamonds pre-flop and received a call from Raymer, who had A-Q of clubs. The flop contained a queen, keeping Raymer out in front for good. Meanwhile, Chad Brown hit the rails when his A-9 couldn’t draw out on former WPT Invitational winner Alex Brenes’ wired pair of eights.

Brummelhuis helped his cause by casting off Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, who appeared on several episodes of the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million.” Lichtenberger committed his chips pre-flop with K-Q, but Brummelhuis picked up aces. The flop came ace-high and that was all she wrote for the young American.

Here are the chip counts of the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA High Roller event:

1. Dario Minieri - 430,700
2. Michiel Brummelhuis - 403,800
3. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 301,700
4. Tobias Reinkemeier - 279,900
5. Dmitry Stelmak - 264,000
6. Alex Brenes - 253,600
7. Greg Raymer - 206,600
8. Bijan Zahmat - 198,200
9. Sandra Naujoks - 180,500
10. Shawn Buchanan - 171,100
11. Lisa Hamilton - 153,900
12. Nick Schulman - 143,400
13. Carter “bdybldngpkr” Phillips - 139,400
14. Joe Cada - 135,700
15. Matt Marafioti - 121,000
16. Brett Richey - 106,400
17. Paul Berende - 104,400
18. Christian Kruel - 103,800
19. Bill Edler - 94,700
20. Adolfo Vaeza - 92,600
21. William Reynolds - 89,100
22. James Calderaro - 89,100
23. Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron - 76,200
24. Will Molson - 60,000

The winner of the $25,000 buy-in poker tournament will earn $576,000 and the top 16 players will finish in the money. Cada and Raymer are former winners of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Phillips won the EPT Barcelona stop during Season 6, while Naujoks, one of only two women ever to win an EPT tournament, took down the Dortmund event during Season 5. Schulman made the final table of the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals twice in a three-year span, recording a win and a runner-up showing for $3 million combined. Many consider Baron to be one of the top poker players on the planet. Needless to say, it’s anybody’s game.

The High Roller event will play down to its final table this afternoon from the Bahamas and crown a champion on Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from paradise. Pack your bags, we’ll leave tonight.

WSOP Champ Joe Cada Not Dating Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole

Extra! Extra! In a thread posted on TwoPlusTwo, an image of 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Joe Cada allegedly with his arm around former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole sparked rumors that the two were dating.

Poker News Daily can independently confirm that the rumblings are completely false. Cada’s agent, Dan Frank, told Poker News Daily that the youngest WSOP Main Event winner ever played a few hands of blackjack with Nicole, but that was as heated as it got between the two during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Cada entered Tuesday’s action in the tournament series’ $25,000 buy-in High Roller event fourth in chips.

In the fuzzy photo, Cada appears dressed in a Hawaiian shirt with a PokerStars hat on flipped backwards. The woman purported to be Nicole, whose back faces the camera, is wearing a black and white striped skirt and a white top. She is noticeably taller than Cada, although high heels may be to blame. The two are intently watching a table game adjacent to a roulette wheel at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, the site of the 2010 PCA. The first response to the photo came in from “robreardon6,” who scientifically evaluated, “1000-1 against this kid getting any action from jayde.”

Cada purportedly told PokerRoad that he was “just friends” with Nicole. Nevertheless, Poker players speculated on the impact that Cada dating Nicole would have on the industry: “wsop champ dating playmate of the year would be awesome for poker,” wrote TwoPlusTwo member “Krax.” Nicole, who is a regular on the MTV reality series “The Hills,” recently separated from Brody Jenner, son of Olympic decathlon star Bruce Jenner. The elder, of course, is married to Kris Jenner, matriarch of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Nicole was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for January 2007 and the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 2008. She hails from the poker-friendly nation of Canada and appeared as a celebrity challenger on the first season of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” game show on Fox. Nicole was the adversary of Sergeant Denny Luna on the series’ second episode, ultimately falling to the PokerStars qualifier. Liquor salesman Brian Barboza also made mince meat of the Playboy personality. Both Barboza and Luna reached the final table of the show, which saw 9/11 first responder Mike Kosowski emerge victorious; he went on to defeat Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win $1 million.

Martin Kendell, a “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” qualifier who faced off against new North American Poker Tour (NAPT) hostess Joanna Krupa, told Poker News Daily that he wanted to match up with Nicole due to her lackluster poker skills: “I was hoping to get Jayde Nicole. She’s a Canadian girl and we would have had something to talk about since I am Canadian. I also didn’t think that she was a good player.” Although Nicole could greatly improve her skills on the felt by dating Cada, it does not appear to be in the cards in the foreseeable future.

Cada has been linked in recent weeks to a variety of women, including WKQI Detroit’s Mojo in the Morning. His girlfriend in November was instrumental in helping Cada survive the rigors of the WSOP Main Event final table and fielded phone calls for the poker pro during Sunday’s off-day while Cada rested. Several players at the 2010 PCA, meanwhile, reported that Nicole was seen leaving the PokerStars party in the Bahamas arm in arm with “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier, who plays Vincent Chase on the HBO franchise.

In November, Cada became the youngest winner ever of the WSOP Main Event at age 21; he has since turned 22 years-old. Nicole will celebrate her 24th birthday in February.

Harrison Gimbel Becomes Youngest PCA Main Event Champ Ever

Harrison "gibler321" Gimbel outlasted a talented final table in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event to become the youngest winner ever of the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. He earned a $2.2 million first place prize.

Gimbel is just 19 years-old and unable to play in a casino on U.S. soil legally. Accordingly, he qualified for the PCA in the Bahamas and outlasted the record-setting 1,529-player field that turned out. In the final hand, Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman was all-in pre-flop holding a wired pair of eights and up against Gimbel’s pocket tens. The flop came 10-6-2, giving Gimbel top set and a veritable stranglehold in the hand. However, an eight on the turn left Reiman drawing to one out with the title of 2010 PCA Main Event Champion on the line. The river was a jack, shipping the $2.2 million prize to Gimbel and crowning the tournament’s youngest champion in history.

Thomas Koral was sent packing in eighth place when his pocket queens could not draw out on Reiman’s pocket aces. The board of 6-10-6-J-K ensured that the better hand held and Koral earned a healthy $201,300 for his troubles. Then, Zachary Goldberg pushed all-in with pocket tens and received a re-shove from Norwegian poker player Aage Ravn. The Euro showed A-Q, setting up a coin flip, and an ace on the turn sealed Goldberg’s demise. He earned an even $300,000 for his seventh place performance.

Ravn was bumped from the 2010 PCA Main Event in sixth place as part of a three-way all-in. Ravn and Ben Zamani both committed their chips pre-flop against Gimbel. The best hand pre-flop went to Gimbel, who had jacks and both players covered, while Zamani showed pocket eights. Ravn held A-Q of clubs and would be rooting for paint that wasn’t a jack to come. However, the flop fell 5-8-7, giving Zamani top set, and he never looked back. Ravn’s sixth place finish was worth $450,000.

Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, one of just three players to win multiple PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events in the same year, fell in fifth place. Seeking vindication for an earlier loss with pocket jacks, D’Angelo committed his chips with the hand and was up against Reiman’s Big Slick. However, a king hit on the river to send D’Angelo home, $700,000 richer for his wear.

Four-handed, Zamani put his tournament life on the line with A-10 against Gimbel’s pocket eights. Once again, pocket eights found top set and the hand was good enough to scoop the pot and send another player into the Bahamian night. Zamani, the last PokerStars qualifier standing, earned $1 million for fourth place in the flat pay structure.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman, in a stirring run through the PCA tournament, was eliminated in third place for $1.35 million. He shoved from the button with Q-10, but ran into Gimbel’s A-9. PokerStars’ coverage accurately noted that the 2010 PCA Main Event marked the second time in four months that Shulman has banked seven-figures in a major poker tournament. He’s the father of 2009 WSOP November Nine member Jeff Shulman, who took fifth in the Las Vegas spectacle for nearly $2 million.

Gimbel scooped a healthy pot about a half-hour into heads-up play to claim the chip lead. Gimbel raised to 600,000 pre-flop and Reiman made the price of poker 1.675 million. His opponent obliged and the flop came 2-A-8. Both players slowed down, as the action went check-check to a seven on the turn. Reiman checked, Gimbel bet 2.2 million, and Reiman called to bring a three on the river. Reiman once again checked, Gimbel fired out a bet of 4.7 million, and Reiman came along, watching as Gimbel turned over A-5 for top pair. Gimbel pumped his chip stack to 28 million, while Reiman fell to 17 million, reversing the totals entering heads-up play.

The battle between Gimbel and Reiman lasted less than hour. Here were the final results from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas:

1. Harrison Gimbel - $2,200,000
2. Tyler Reiman - $1,750,000
3. Barry Shulman - $1,350,000
4. Benjamin Zamani - $1,000,000
5. Ryan D'Angelo - $700,000
6. Aage Ravn - $450,000
7. Zachary Goldberg - $300,000
8. Tom Koral - $201,300

Elsewhere at the 2010 PCA, Dario Minieri leads a star-studded field of 52 players left in the $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournament. His stack of 218,600 chips paces the field entering Day 2, with Lex Veldhuis hot on his tail with 214,500. In fourth place after one day of play is none other than reigning WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, who will come armed to Tuesday’s action with a stack of 164,400.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

Aria Poker Room Manager Recaps First Three Weeks

Recently opening on the Las Vegas Strip was CityCenter, an MGM Mirage creation that includes the Aria Resort and Casino. Within the friendly confines of Aria is its poker room, which debuted amid an economic downswing. Nevertheless, it has received high marks and features a high-limit gaming area that may soon be named after Phil Ivey. Poker News Daily sat down with Adam Altwies, Aria’s Poker Room Manager, to recap its first three weeks in operation.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Talk about the daily tournaments at Aria and what your setup is for cash games.

Adam Altweis: We didn’t get our daily tournament going until about two weeks later in order to open up. The daily tournament starts at 11:15am and it’s $120. It has a great structure; players get 8,000 in chips and levels are 30 minutes long. It’s typical of what the Bellagio might be offering in terms of structure, but it has a lower buy-in. We have 24 tables in total. Eighteen are on the main floor, five are in a back high-limit area, and one is exclusive to a very high-limit game.

PND: What were your expectations for opening night?

Adam Altweis: We didn’t know. As a new room, we had an idea of what we wanted to spread, but after time, you have to figure out what games your customers want to play. The room was created for the player. The top-level executives really created the room for the players and made my job a lot easier in that respect. If you take a look at the room, it’s situated next to the Skybox Grille. We can offer tableside food service from anywhere, but that’s the biggest one we use. It’s next door, the prices are good, and the food is great. We also have the Roasted Bean, which is a coffee shop. The self-parking lot and main valet lead right into the poker room. It’s all very convenient.

PND: Address the room’s high noise level, which was one of the only complaints we’ve heard.

Adam Altweis: I’ve addressed that issue. Any time you have a main door, you have slot machines because you want to attract customers. It’s also the main line of traffic up to our Elvis show. In the beginning, it was loud. What made my job easy was that it was a simple phone call to fix. Our slots are all server-based, which means that our guys can hop on a server and turn the noise down. They did it for us, which is a testament to MGM Mirage. I’ve worked here for seven years and everyone works with each other. Each manager and each department makes a concerted effort to work with each other.

PND: What high-stakes poker can visitors to Aria expect?

Adam Altweis: We hope to get a lot more. We’ve had a couple of $150/$300 games in here as well as $40/$80. We also have a $20/$40 Mixed Game, which we want to keep going. We’ve seen a trend in this market where No Limit Hold’em is still the staple at $1/$3, $2/$5, $5/$10, and $10/$20, but a lot more players are looking to expand.

PND: How is Aria able to differentiate itself from the competition?

Adam Altweis: The room. It’s comfortable for players. There’s space in between the tables so that players can move around. We have sculptures, which are aesthetically soothing. We have a player paging system that allows us to text message people on the wait list, so when your name comes up, you’ll get a text message. We also have the capability to let customers know when a game is being started. When a dealer sits down, we can send out a notification that the game is live at Aria. We’re going to be utilizing Twitter and Facebook a lot more in the future. I’m a big proponent of letting us know what’s going on. We want people to tell us what’s good or bad.

PND: Have there been talks about partnering with a group like Dream Team Poker to bring a unique event to Aria?

Adam Altweis: That’s what’s great about being new – we’re open to everything. Right now, we’re not aligned with anyone, so we can listen to everyone. We want a televised event, whether it is a tournament or a late night show. I can pretty much guarantee that we’ll get some televised event, hopefully by the end of the year.

PND: Talk about opening a massive casino and poker room like Aria in the midst of a severe economic downturn.

Adam Altweis: We had a poker boom a few years ago. Everyone was opening up a room. Now, it’s slid back a bit, but we opened one anyway. We opened up a room at the best time possible because we got to pick the best of the best in the industry for our staff. It’s a very unique situation. If we were still in the poker boom, we would have had to hire dealers right out of school and it would take a tremendous amount of time to get the room where we wanted it to be.

PND: What’s an average day like for a poker room manager?

Adam Altweis: On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I’m taking care of administrative things and come in around 9:00am or 10:00am. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are big customer days, so I stay late, talk to customers, and ask them what we can do to better our room. My day is full and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love dealing with customers, employees, guests, the media, and everyone else. This is my love. It’s been my passion since I was 17.

David Carruthers Gets 33 Months Jail Time in BetOnSports Case

In April, former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers pled guilty to racketeering charges stemming from his operation of the popular online sports book. He faced up to 33 months in prison and a maximum sentence was handed down on Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Carol E. Jackson sentenced Carruthers on Friday after he was indicted by a grand jury four years ago, according to an article that appeared in Business Week authored by Bloomberg. In court late last week, Carruthers expressed remorse for his actions: “I understand now that the business was operating outside the laws of the United States. I realize I made the biggest mistake of my life. I am sorry for the actions of BetOnSports and the trouble it caused.” The company purportedly raked in over $1 billion in 2004 alone, with Bloomberg noting that a whopping 98% of wagers came from customers in the United States.

Carruthers had been under house arrest in St. Louis since 2006, but found time to get out and stretch his legs as part of the St. Louis Marathon. BetOnSports had been traded in London on the city’s stock exchange and Bloomberg added that Judge Jackson fined BetOnSports $28.2 million. However, the firm owes creditors in the United Kingdom and would likely not be able to make good on the $28.2 million penalty. Attorney Jeffrey Demerath told the financial news outlet, “We won’t be able to pay the $28 million. We have an obligation under the laws of the United Kingdom to pay the creditors first.”

A bevy of guilty pleas were entered in the BetOnSports case. In August, the company’s founder, Gary Kaplan, pled guilty to violating RICO in a Missouri courtroom. Kaplan received more than four years behind bars for his role in the company as well as a $43 million fine, according to the AFP news service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Holtshouser commented in a press release distributed by the U.S. Department of Justice, “The prosecution and conviction of Carruthers is significant to the government's efforts at enforcement of U.S. laws against offshore Internet and telephone sports wagering businesses, because Carruthers was both a foreign national and a top executive of BetOnSports.” Kaplan was arrested in 2007.

In June, Neil Scott Kaplan, Lori Kaplan-Multz, and Penelope Tucker all entered guilty pleas in front of Judge Jackson in the BetOnSports case. Each agreed to hand over money in Swiss bank accounts, but would not face any jail time. Scott Kaplan and Kaplan-Multz also received time in a halfway house. An article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explained why the trio received significantly lighter sentences than Kaplan and Carruthers: “Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Holtshouser said the sentences reflect the minimal roles that Neil Kaplan and Kaplan-Multz played, their lack of decision-making power there, and their willingness to surrender their BetOnSports money.”

The USA-facing online poker site Bodog, founded by Calvin Ayre, continues to accept wagers on sporting events. The site is in the midst of the National Football League (NFL) playoffs, which kicked off over the weekend. Carruthers assumed the head role at BetOnSports in 2004 after joining the company in 2000. Both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) participated in the investigation of the former CEO. Besides Holtshouser, Steven Muchnick and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Birmingham led the case on behalf of the United States Government.

On Capitol Hill, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is carrying the flag for explicitly legal online poker in the United States. Financial services industry compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was delayed six months to June 1st. The delay came after a November decision by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) is championing the cause on the Hill with HR 2267, which establishes a full licensing and regulatory framework for internet gambling outfits to solicit U.S. customers. The measure is up to 63 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, but would not permit online sports betting.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the BetOnSports case.

Ryan D’Angelo, Tyler Reiman Lead PCA Entering Final Table

Eight players remain in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Online poker pros Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman lead the eight-handed final table by a comfortable margin.

For Reiman, a massive pot against European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie gave him the ammunition to nip at D’Angelo’s heels entering Monday’s final table. Duthie was all-in pre-flop holding pocket aces, the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em, and held a 4:1 advantage over Reiman’s pocket queens. The flop, however, contained a queen and propelled Reiman into the lead in the hand for good. Duthie was out two hands later, finishing in 12th place for $130,000. Reiman owned a stack of 9.35 million entering the final table, trailing only D’Angelo’s 10.09 million.

D’Angelo comes to the 2010 PCA Main Event with top-tier credentials. He was one of only two dual winners during the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), taking down a $320 buy-in Eight-Game event and a $320 buy-in Mixed tournament. The only other player to accomplish the feat in the September tournament series was Team PokerStars Pro member and former PCA winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who took down two No Limit Hold’em events.

In third place on the 2010 PCA Main Event leaderboard is Barry Shulman, who is fresh off a victory in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event for £801,000. He defeated PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu in the finale of that tournament, which also saw Jason Mercier, Praz Bansi, and WSOP Main Event November Nine members Antoine Saout and James Akenhead reach the final table. Shulman owns a stack of 6.81 million entering Monday’s play.

Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani sent longtime PCA Main Event chip leader Wayne Bentley packing on Sunday. The 23 year-old called Zamani’s all-in on a flop of 3-8-2, showing pocket deuces for a flopped set. In a scene reminiscent of Joe Cada in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Bentley turned over pocket jacks and watched in agony as the board ran out 6-7. Bentley, a Brit, took home an even $100,000 consolation prize for his 16th place showing.

Poker pro Jeff Madsen hit the rails in 19th place, pocketing $87,500 from the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament. Norwegian poker player Aage Ravn called Madsen’s all-in with pocket fours and Madsen flipped up A-J for an old fashioned race. The board ran out K-7-9-5-9 and that was all she wrote for the poker rapper.

Who will join D’Angelo, Reiman, Ravn, and Shulman at the eight-handed final table of the 2010 PCA, a stop on the EPT and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT)? Here’s a look at the leaderboard:

1. Ryan D'Angelo – 10,090,000
2. Tyler Reiman – 9,350,000
3. Barry Shulman – 6,805,000
4. Harrison Gimbel – 6,000,000
5. Thomas Koral – 5,370,000
6. Benjamin Zamani – 3,700,000
7. Zachary Goldberg – 2,340,000
8. Aage Floenes Ravn – 1,690,000

Ravn is the only non-American at the final table. A total of 57 countries were represented among the 1,529 players who entered the 2010 PCA Main Event. About half of those players were from the United States. Now, seven out of eight finalists, or a hefty 88%, hail from the North American nation. Similarly, Shulman, who is 63 years-old, is the only member of the final table older than 26. Gimbel is the baby of the group at 19, while Reiman and Goldberg weigh in at the tender age of 21.

Regardless of a player’s age, life-changing money is on the line when play kicks off this afternoon from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Each player remaining is guaranteed to earn at least $201,000:

1st Place: $2,200,000
2nd Place: $1,750,000
3rd Place: $1,350,000
4th Place: $1,000,000
5th Place: $700,000
6th Place: $450,000
7th Place: $300,000
8th Place: $201,300

The final table kicks off at Noon ET from Atlantis and will continue until a champion is crowned. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PCA coverage.

Amir Vahedi Dies After Diabetes Complications

In a tragic story coming out of Las Vegas, World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Amir Vahedi has passed away after complications arising from diabetes, according to fellow poker pro Mark Seif. He was 57 years-old.

In the early morning hours of January 10th, Seif, an Absolute Poker pro, posted on his blog, “I’ve just been told by close friends of Amir Vahedi that Vahedi passed away in Las Vegas on January 8, 2010, due to complications involving blood sugar levels.  Waiting for more details. Devastating news. Very very sad.” Vahedi finished seventh in the 2008 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, earning $237,000. His bracelet win came back in 2003, when Vahedi bested Cleve Haley in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $270,000 during the WSOP.

A wave of support streamed in via Twitter. UB.com pro Annie Duke commented on Sunday morning, “Still thinking about Amir. What a nice, sweet, funny soul. I keep picturing him with his cigar and his smile. 2 things he always had.” She further speculated that Vahedi passed away due to complications with diabetes. Fellow UB.com pro and 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth added, “Amir Vahedi Rest In Peace my old friend...Amir was one of the nicest, gentlest guys on tour, and everyone loved him...Very sad, diabetes...”

“Hollywood” Dave Stann weighed in on the death via Twitter as well, reminiscing about a poker tournament that played out in November: “Amir Vahedi rocked. Just saw him @ my bday HORSE tourney & have vid footage of him there, which now is so much more precious. RIP, friend.” Stann called for a charity tournament to take place during the upcoming L.A. Poker Classic in honor of Vahedi. The WPT Main Event at the California casino kicks off on February 26th and crowns a champion on March 4th.

On PocketFives.com, a thread entitled “RIP Amir Vahedi” was flooded with posters paying homage to the WSOP bracelet winner. Site Mod “Dissident” weighed in, “always though Amir was a class act. RIP.” Fellow online poker player “ill flu” recalled pertinent words of advice that Vahedi once spoke: “He actually said, ‘In order to live, you must be willing to die…’ I actually remember that out of his mouth.”

Finally, longtime poker player “CalBandGreat” shared his memories of the affable Vahedi: “I have played with Amir dozens of times and he was always a class act and very friendly. He would play in a lot of midstakes MTT's at Hollywood Park, The Bike or Commerce and he would be one of the few people in the tourney who everyone recognized, so a lot of people went up to talk with him and he was nice to everyone. Very sad news.”

Vahedi was an Iranian transplant and served as a poker mentor to actor Ben Affleck. In a comment posted on the website of Bluff Magazine, “Cowboy” Kenna James fondly spoke of Vahedi’s spirit: “Amir lived life and made no excuses. He played the game hard and fast and put opponents on their heals. But always with a broad smile and a laugh that exposed his love of the game.”

Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Nolan Dalla gave his two cents on the life of Vahedi on Bluff’s website, explaining, “Amir was one of poker’s nicest players and most colorful personalities. His life story was right out of a novel, immigrating to this country from a repressed war-torn region, ultimately becoming one of the most beloved people in an entire industry.” Other Iranian-born members of the poker community include Shawn Sheikhan, Mansour Matloubi, and three-time bracelet winner Farzad Bonyadi.

Poker News Daily would like to extend our condolences to the entire Vahedi family.

Ryan D’Angelo, John Duthie Lead PCA Main Event into Play Down Day

Today, the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event enters its play down day, as the 24 remaining players will become eight when all is said and done. At stake is a $2.2 million first place prize and the title of 2010 PCA Champion.

Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo leads the field entering Sunday’s action at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. His chips number 7.5 million, while the next closest competitor, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, owns just 5.3 million. D’Angelo scooped a blockbuster pot late in the day on Saturday after putting in a check-raise to 310,000 on a flop of 5-A-9. Dimitri Hefter called and the turn was a king. D’Angelo bet 500,000 and Hefter called to see a three hit on the river. The action slowed down, as both players checked, but the damage was done and D’Angelo’s A-Q was enough to rake in the chips.

Meanwhile, Duthie amassed a chunk of his chips after cracking Swedish poker player Kent Lundmark’s pocket aces. Duthie’s opponent led out for 100,000 on a flop of 7-2-8 with two spades. Duthie raised it up to 300,000 and Lundmark pushed all-in over the top for 2.2 million. Duthie called and showed 7-8 of diamonds for top two pair, while Lundmark turned over his wired pair of aces. The board ran out K-6 and Lundmark hit the rails in 29th place for $66,000.

Wayne Bentley, who held a commanding chip lead after the combined Day 1 field, continues to fly high in the 2010 PCA Main Event. Heading into Sunday’s play down day, Bentley owns a stack of 2.9 million, good for third overall. Three tables will accommodate the field this afternoon and Bentley heads to #1, where D’Angelo and Harrison Gimbel, who led the field entering Day 4, will join him. Bentley’s chip stack was chopped down to just 75,000 at one point on Saturday after his A-K could not withstand pocket queens. The board ran out five cards nine or lower and Bentley was crippled before mounting an epic comeback to land in third on the leaderboard entering today’s action.

Speaking of the leaderboard, here are the 24 players remaining in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Ryan D'Angelo - 7,483,000
2. John Duthie - 5,304,000
3. Wayne Bentley - 2,878,000
4. Thomas Koral - 2,438,000
5. Barry Shulman - 2,433,000
6. Aage Floenes Ravn - 2,282,000
7. Zachary Goldberg - 2,195,000
8. James Tolbert - 2,016,000
9. Benjamin Zamani - 1,905,000
10. Robert Mizrachi - 1,823,000
11. Harrison Gimbel - 1,803,000
12. Tyler Reiman - 1,796,000
13. Darren Keyes - 1,614,000
14. Luc Greenwood - 1,528,000
15. Dimitri Hefter - 1,350,000
16. Matthew Haugen - 1,161,000
17. Jimmie Guinther - 932,000
18. Jeff Madsen - 896,000
19. Gijs Verheijen - 882,000
20. Bo Schultz - 720,000
21. Tamas Lendvai - 662,000
22. Praz Bansi - 542,000
23. Richard Toth - 488,000
24. Kenny Nguyen - 242,000

Eight nations are represented in the final 24. Duthie is the only member of Team PokerStars Pro remaining in the field after his comrades like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada, 2004 Main Event winner Greg Raymer, 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker, and former PCA victor Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier busted in prior days.

The elimination of Amanda Baker in 38th place set up a male-only field on Day 5. Poker pro Praz Bansi sent her packing after Baker pushed all-in with Q-J and Bansi made the call with pocket rockets. The board came K-2-4-4-3 and the last woman standing in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament saw her title hopes evaporate.

Every one of the 24 remaining players is assured a payday of at least $75,000. The top four finishers will earn $1 million from the record-setting PCA Main Event field of 1,529 entrants. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

Harrison Gimbel, Barry Shulman Among PCA Day 4 Leaders

A total of 62 players remain out of the 1,529 who began the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event. A host of brand name players survived Day 3, including 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event winner Barry Shulman.

Day 3 played out on Friday from the Atlantis Resort and Casino, just across the harbor from Nassau in the Bahamas. One of the final eliminations of the day was Amnon Filippi, who shoved all-in over the top of a raise by Bryce Yockey. His opponent came along and Filippi showed pocket eights against Yockey’s K-Q of spades, setting up a classic race situation. The flop came king-high, propelling Yockey into the lead, and a running 10-3 didn’t help Filippi’s cause. His 67th place finish was worth $33,000 in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.

Shulman, whose son Jeff Shulman reached the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, sent Greg Dyer packing during the last level of play and crossed the one-million chip threshold. He finished with nearly 1.7 million, with the entire field trailing Harrison Gimbel’s tally of 2.6 million. Gimbel trumped former Bodog pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo in one hand after Bonomo check-called a bet of 25,000 on a flop of Q-4-6 with two hearts. The turn was the deuce of spades, leading to another check-call from Bonomo, this time for 41,000. The river was the three of hearts and Bonomo checked. Gimbel fired out a bet of 70,000 and Bonomo called, only to see his opponent flip up Q-J for top pair.

Eliminated in 91st place in the Bahamas was 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member and Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey. Ivey doubled up Bill Gazes with A-Q against Gazes’ K-J when a king hit on the river. Ivey had Gazes covered by a minuscule 2,000 chips and Ivey hit the rails on the next hand. Ivey, considered by many to be the world’s premier all-around player, added another $23,500 to his bankroll for his efforts in Nassau.

Two women remain among the 62 Day 3 survivors, Amanda Baker and Liz Lieu. Lieu owns a stack of 536,000 entering the fourth day of play in the 2010 PCA Main Event and will head to Table 7, where her competition will include Shulman. Meanwhile, Baker will come armed with 1.3 million chips and be seated at Table 6, which also features Gimbel, Eric “EFro” Froehlich, and Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering Day 4 on Saturday:

1. Harrison Gimbel - 2,625,000
2. Matthew Haugen - 2,149,000
3. Ryan D'Angelo - 2,092,000
4. Praz Bansi - 2,003,000
5. Barry Shulman - 1,655,000
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich - 1,331,000
7. Amanda Baker - 1,306,000
8. James Tolbert - 1,284,000
9. John Duthie - 1,210,000
10. Kent Emil Lundmark - 1,158,000

Notable names remaining in the 2010 PCA field, along with their chip counts, include:

Jeff Madsen - 930,000
Robert Mizrachi - 876,000
Amit “amak316” Makhija - 800,000
Aaron “aejones” Jones - 651,000
Alex Brenes - 559,000
Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar - 544,000
Liz Lieu - 536,000
Wayne Bentley - 509,000
Dean Hamrick - 433,000
Bill Gazes - 288,000
Johnny Lodden - 286,000
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 221,000
Huck Seed - 216,000

Among those whose 2010 PCA Main Event title hopes were dashed on Friday included Daniel Negreanu, 2008 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Dennis Phillips, Victor Ramdin, Dario Minieri, Russian sensation Ivan Demidov, Vicky Coren, Luis Medina, ESPN baseball analyst Orel Hershiser, and PokerStars poker pro Steven Paul-Ambrose.

At the time of writing on Saturday, players remaining in the Bahamas poker tournament were in Level 23 and blinds were 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante. All Day 4 runners were assured a payout of at least $38,000.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest PCA coverage.

E-Books: Future of Poker Training

In the last two years, poker training sites have exploded.  Mainstays like DeucesCracked and StoxPoker, which have been around for years, are contending with upstarts like Drag the Bar, which just wooed Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt into its ranks.  Over the years, these sites revolutionized the way poker players learned through videos.  Moving into 2010, the poker training market might be moving toward an old friend in the form of books, but this time with a digital twist.

The digital revolution has fully crossed over into book sales, as Amazon’s e-book device, the Kindle, sold like hotcakes this holiday season.  The device broke sales records in November thanks to hefty marketing, a price drop, and an international release.  Without revealing numbers, Amazon announced that more Kindle books were sold than real books through Amazon on Christmas Day.  The announcement shows a growing segment of the public leaning towards e-book readers.  What does this have to do with poker?  It’s maybe a taste of things to come in 2010 for poker training content.

Two books from well-known poker players, Ed Miller and Schmidt, were recently released.  The books were self-published and both are available in an e-book edition through the authors’ personal websites.  There is little doubt that e-books are the wave of the future and, for authors, it gives them freedom to publish a book like never before.  Will future poker strategy authors create e-books for sale while video training websites die off?  That’s very unlikely.  Will future strategy books be sold and distributed the way that Miller and Schmidt are doing now, with tie-ins to training videos?  Absolutely.

Poker News Daily graciously received e-copies of each book.  We’ll offer a quick summary and unbiased opinion of each.

“Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em” by Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn
Cost: $99.95 (35% off until January 15th)

About the Book

This book is the highly-anticipated follow-up to “Professional No-Limit Hold’em,” which had a six-week run at number one on Amazon’s poker and gambling best seller list.  This time around, the authors have focused on beating $1-$2 Six-Max online cash games.  Structured as an example-driven content piece, the book aims to teach critical No Limit concepts.  The authors believe that if a player can consistently beat this game, then they can beat 99% of the games online.  The book is available for e-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle.

Impressions

As a player who competes in $0.50-$1 Six-Max games, it would seem that this book is aimed at someone like me.  I want to move up to the $1-$2 games, but there’s a definite barrier, as those games are a lot tougher than the ones I play, but the money to be made borders on a professional level.  The topic and focus they’ve chosen are perfect, as many agree that if you can beat $1-$2 Six-Max, then you’re able to rise the ranks once your bankroll allows it.  The subject matter in the book covers key points such as stealing pots from opponents, barreling, and how to get value.

There are a lot of good topics that can be applied even if you are playing in micro-stakes games.  In addition, readers will find a lot of sections that will make you re-think your game in a more scientific manner. You’ll also understand 3bet/4bet/5bet theory and how to handle opponents’ aggression.

The final part of the part book is summed up nicely by its title, “7 Easy Steps to No Limit Hold’em Success,” and just about every online poker player should read it.  One of the better sections of the final part was “Keep Your Head In The Game,” where the mental aspect of playing poker is addressed.

The price tag seems a little hefty, but for the discounted rate of roughly $65, the book is a tremendous investment.  As a player dying to jump into the games addressed in the book, I feel like I have a lot more knowledge about beating them than I did before reading it.  The book is best read by small-stakes grinders aching to get ahead and increase their “Poker IQ” so that they can climb the cash game ladder.

“Treat Your Poker Like a Business” by Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt
Cost: $39.99 (E-Book Version PDF or Printed Version), $59.99 for both

About the Book

Schmidt is the ultimate grinder who has made millions of dollars playing online poker after starting out at the micro-stakes and watching strategy videos.  His career has spanned seven million hands and he plays as many as 20 tables at a time in the mid- and high-stakes levels.  With this book, he’s not promising to make you the next Phil Ivey, but he’ll outline a way to monetize your abilities.  The book’s focus is best summed up in a quote from Schmidt: “All of the poker books and training sites have made poker players’ games better, but they haven’t necessarily taught them to make money.”

Impressions

There are two types of poker books I’ve read in my years of studying and playing the game.  There are those that teach you the facts, mathematics, plays, and strategies necessary to win.  These types of books are extremely valuable if you ever want to improve enough to keep moving up in stakes.  The other type of book deals with topics never covered before, but gives essential tips to surviving in the industry.  “Treat Your Poker Like a Business” is one such book.

The topics covered include bankroll management, how to rationalize variance, why you should be playing more tables, and how to avoid tilt.  Essential topics also include when and how to move up in stakes, discovering new sources of revenue, and how to be more profitable.  The book isn’t a difficult read, but it goes into detail of what Schmidt put together to create a successful formula for becoming an online poker pro.  There are some endearing chapters, one of which is written by his wife about dealing with the social stigma of playing poker professionally.

The story of Schmidt should be one that inspires many of us to start monetizing our skills and passion for the game.  Schmidt’s book is available as a traditional book or a PDF e-book that will load on to any reader like the Amazon Kindle.

PokerStars amfAR Charity Poker Tournament Attracts Star-Studded Lineup

On Friday night during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), a charity poker tournament benefiting amfAR, a foundation for AIDS research, will play out. The field is capped at 39 entrants.

Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $290 million and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. Now, poker players will have a chance to give to the cause as part of a star-studded $5,250 buy-in charity tournament that will be filmed for television and beamed across cyberspace via EPTlive. The PCA is in the midst of Day 3 of its $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which attracted a starting field of 1,529 players, a new European Poker Tour (EPT) record.

Unlike a traditional poker tournament, the amfAR benefit takes on a shootout format. A total of 39 players will assemble across four tables. The last two standing at each table will move onto the final round. At the first table, each player is awarded 50,000 starting chips and the price of poker goes up every 20 minutes. At the final table, combatants will receive the same 50,000 chips, but blind levels will instead last a half-hour. Fifty percent of the prize pool will go straight to amfAR and all players are encouraged to donate 1% of their winnings to the charity. One television table and three outer tables can be found at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas tonight.

On Saturday night, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland will be performing at a PokerStars-sponsored party at the resort. Tonight, Rowland will put her poker skills to the test in the amfAR charity event. Other celebrity poker players who will take to the felts this evening include Entourage actor Adrian "Vince" Grenier, former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, “24” star Carlos Bernard, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year and “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” personality Jayde Nicole. New PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) television hostess Joanna Krupa can also be found among the personalities in attendance in the charity poker event.

Professionals taking to the felts include reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. Cada is fresh off mainstream media appearances on programs like the “Late Show with David Letterman” and “ESPN SportsCenter” and he recently toured Capitol Hill on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Also, look for tennis stud Boris Becker, former hockey star Mats Sundin, and former soccer player Teddy Sheringham. All are members of Team PokerStars SportsStars and will be in attendance raising money for amfAR.

Several PokerStars-sponsored pros besides Cada and the world’s sports heroes will make their way to the tournament area tonight, including Costa Rican sensation Humberto Brenes, Brazil’s Alexandre Gomes and Andre Akkari, Swedish pro William Thorson, and the Netherlands’ Pieter de Korver. Also taking part are five online qualifiers, who will almost certainly be overwhelmed by the amount of celebrity and poker firepower in attendance.

Members of the media were advised to show up no later than 5:45pm local time in order to snap pictures of players as they arrived. No interviews were available, as PokerStars will hold a formal red carpet outside of the Aura Nightclub at 7:00pm on Saturday prior to Rowland’s performance.

At the time of writing, Bryce Yockey from the United States paced the field in the 2010 PCA Main Event with a chip stack of one million. Others in the top ten included 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, UB.com pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham, and two-time bracelet winner Eric “EFro” Froehlich. A total of 190 players remain and blinds are 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 PCA.

Evelyn Ng Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: Describe how you got started in poker.

Ng: I took a job as a dealer in an underground poker club in Toronto. That's how I learned to play. I didn't really start playing until a year later. I wanted to do some research and read some books to get experience before I started investing my money.

PND: How do you continue to improve your game despite being in it for so long?

Ng: I take some time off in between tournaments, so I have that time in between to contemplate how I've been playing and the mistakes that I can fix. By the time the next tournament comes around, I'm amped up and ready to play.

PND: What area of your game have you been focusing on improving?

Ng: Some of the mistakes that I've made in the past include calling off too many times, so I'm trying to make a laydown every once in a while. I play so much Limit Hold'em that I think I'm used to paying people off all of the time.

PND: How did you become involved with Bodog and what makes the site so appealing to you?

Ng: I was really lucky. I had a sponsorship with another company. When my contract was coming up for renewal, I wasn't sure that it was the right fit. I decided to leave PokerStars and Bodog came up with an offer. I was thrilled about it. David Williams, who is my best friend, is with Bodog and I couldn't be happier. The company is very hip and they have a very youthful mentality. They do so much besides poker. They have a sports book and a music company.

PND: What advice do you have for new poker players just getting started?

Ng: Read as much as you can. Information is always good. It can't hurt to pick up a book. Also, stay within your means.

PND: What's it like being a top female player in a male-dominated sport?

Ng: I think it's definitely an advantage to be a female in the poker world. Sometimes, guys don't give us credit and it's good for a woman to be able to take advantage of that.

PND: Whose game do you respect the most and why?

Ng: Daniel Negreanu has been a huge influence on my poker game. He's been my friend and mentor. Throughout my poker career, he has really helped me. In the beginning, he wouldn't necessarily teach me strategy, but he taught me the lessons that I needed in order to become a professional poker player and have that professional attitude.

PND: Can you tell us about Daniel Negreanu's demeanor away from the poker table? Does he have the same animated personality?

Ng: Daniel is always entertaining. He makes jokes and does impressions. He's a great guy.

Praz Bansi Leads PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Entering Day 3

Like Wayne Bentley on Day 1A, Praz Bansi owns a commanding chip lead in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) after Day 2. His stack of 960,800 chips is 260,000 more than the next closest competitor.

It’s not as if Bansi had a cakewalk through Day 2 on Thursday, either. At one point during play, his tablemates included Team PokerStars Pro member and “High Stakes Poker” player Dario Minieri, former Bodog pro and live tournament aficionado Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, PokerStars Sunday 500 winner Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, and 2008 European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final winner Glen Chorny. That was just his first taste of tough competition.

After surviving the first Table of Doom, Bansi was relegated to an equally talented group of opponents. This time, his company included 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member and top all-around player Phil Ivey, former EPT Dortmund final table member Nicolas Levi, and Ivan Demidov, who made the feature table of the WSOP Las Vegas and WSOP Europe Main Events in 2008. Despite the tough go at it on Thursday, Bansi persevered. He’s fresh off a $594,000 cash for taking third in the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event.

Bentley, who held a healthy edge over the rest of the merged Day 2 field, ended with 602,500 chips, good for third overall. One of the final eliminations of the day went to Team PokerStars Pro’s Vanessa Rousso, who picked up A-K and pushed over the top of an opponent’s raise. However, her adversary held pocket aces and Rousso could not catch up. Several hands earlier, Rousso tripled up with pocket fours against A-K and A-Q.

The brutal beat of the day in the 2010 PCA Main Event went to Barry Greenstein, who committed all of his chips with pocket aces, but ultimately fell to 4-6 of spades. The board gave his opponent a straight and that was all she wrote for the three-time bracelet winner, as Greenstein signed his copy of his book, “Ace on the River,” and headed for the exits. Absolute Poker pro Freddy Deeb suffered a similar fate, pushing his chips in with pocket aces and falling to pocket tens when the flop came 8-9-10. Deeb reached the final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago in October, earning $278,000.

Here are the top ten chip stacks as play enters Day 3 in the 2010 PCA Main Event:

1. Praz Bansi - 960,800
2. Marc Etienne Mclaughlin - 702,400
3. Wayne Bentley - 602,500
4. Nasr El Nasr - 528,300
5. Daniel Ades - 501,400
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich - 467,500
7. Matthew Haugen - 456,400
8. Kenny “Hixx” Hicks - 455,500
9. Matt “mattg1983” Graham - 428,900
10. Danny Suied - 420,000

Other notable players remaining in the field of 275, along with their end of Day 2 chip counts, include:

Dario Minieri - 389,200
Amnon Filippi - 386,300
Amit “amak316” Makhija - 292,600
Vadim Trincher - 290,900
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo - 262,500
Ivan Demidov - 259,300
Phil Ivey - 227,400
Paul Wasicka - 224,800
Carlos Mortensen - 185,500
Craig Marquis - 176,600
Kathy Liebert - 171,800
Barry Shulman - 150,200
Liz Lieu - 136,800
Victor Ramdin - 110,100
Huck Seed - 107,100
Orel Hershiser - 79,000
Nick Binger - 57,900
Steven Paul-Ambrose - 49,300

Despite boasting a larger field than in 2009, the 2010 PCA will only dole out $2.2 million to its winner; last year, Poorya Nazari banked $10,000 for winning the Bahamas EPT tournament. A flatter payout structure will see the top four finishers earn at least $1 million, with the top eight making more than $200,000. In total, 224 players out of the record-setting 1,529 who started will take home cash.

The money bubble will burst today from the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas, with players claiming their share of the $14.8 million prize pool. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the 2010 PCA Main Event.

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo Responds To Bodog Dismissal

While the news of his dismissal as a sponsored professional continue to make noise around the poker community, poker professional Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has issued his response to his departure as a sponsored player on the online poker room Bodog.

Back on January 3rd, Poker News Daily reported that Bodog issued a press release which stated that Bonomo was no longer a member of Team Bodog, the group of professionals who represent the online room at live events and at tournaments and cash games on the site. Bonomo’s departure followed on the heels of the November axing of fellow former Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande. No reason for either of the dismissals was given by Bodog, leaving many wondering how if there was any acrimonious feeling between the site and “ZeeJustin.”

In his latest blog posting just prior to playing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) at Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Bonomo put to rest any rumors of problems between himself and Bodog. “First and foremost, I would like to stress the fact that I did not ever at any point quit the Bodog Pro Team. I had imagined myself a member of Team Bodog for the duration of my poker career”, “ZeeJustin” contends in the blog post. “I want to thank Bodog and its staff for giving me an opportunity to play for them. I have greatly enjoyed playing alongside my good friends, Evelyn (Ng) and David (Williams, both of whom still represent the U. S. facing site), and will miss being a part of that team.”

Bonomo continues on to state in his blog that there are already sponsorship opportunities coming his way since severing ties with Bodog. “I have already been involved in conversations regarding new sponsorship opportunities”, Justin writes in his blog. “Moving forward, I will be focusing my attention on aligning with a sponsor who will better utilize my play and media presence. I am looking forward to evaluating a potential new home, although any decision regarding new sponsorship will not be rushed.”

“ZeeJustin” finishes off his blog post by stating he is dedicated to having an excellent 2010, starting with the PCA, and has some off-the-felt activities with “Poker2Nite” and Bluff Magazine coming for fans in the short-term. “Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me in the last week and also those who were interested in my sponsorship situation. I appreciate all of your support.”

One reason that Bodog could have used for Bonomo’s dismissal, performance, is completely discredited by a look at his career since he started playing as a Bodog pro. Since he became a Bodog sponsored pro in 2007, “ZeeJustin” has garnered $1.975 million in tournament earnings. When you compare that to the earnings of his teammates at Bodog during the same span – David Williams has earned $919,000, Jean-Robert Bellande has earned $280,000 and Evelyn Ng has earned $56,000, according to The Hendon Mob database – it is obvious that Bonomo was one of the most visible players on the roster, driving deep in tournaments and earning face time at final tables. Bonomo reached the ESPN televised table in the $40,000 40th Anniversary No Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Anibal Tacla Leads PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1B Survivors

The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) will go down as the largest in history, as 1,529 entrants took to the felts. Anibal Tacla from Curitiba, Brazil, the same hometown as Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes, led Day 1B’s finishers.

Tacla, a shopping mall owner, amassed 166,000 chips during play on Wednesday to lead the way, although he is still well short of Wayne Bentley’s Day 1A total of 329,500. The prize pool of the 2010 PCA is around $15 million. Last year, 1,347 players took to the felts in what was the largest PCA ever held. In the end, Canadian Poorya Nazari defeated American Anthony Gregg to bank the $3 million top prize; Gregg earned a $1.7 million consolation prize and the top three finishers were instant poker-made millionaires.

2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada gave the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to start play on Wednesday. A bevy of superstars took to the felts, including Full Tilt Poker’s Mike Matusow and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, along with Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole, who served as a celebrity player on the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

Just after 2:30pm in the Bahamas, rapper Nelly was eliminated from the 2010 PCA Main Event. "If you wanna go and take a rid wit’ him," you can now find the St. Louis native on the beach after he shoved with A-K for top two pair on a board reading A-4-5-K. However, he was up against the stone cold nuts, 2-3. Needing to spike an ace or king on the river to stay alive, Nelly watched as the final card blanked out, sending him to the exits. Must be the money!

Speaking of money, “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” $1 million winner Mike Kosowski, a 9/11 first responder, also could be found on the felts on Wednesday. With his chip stack dwindling to 6,500, or roughly one-fifth of the starting amount, Kosowski told PokerStars officials, "I turned the nut flush and then this guy rivers a full house. That was pretty brutal and I've been playing a short stack as a result for the last three or four hours." Kosowski did not survive Day 1B, although his $1 million prize for besting PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu and a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Bahamas most likely helped ease his pain.

Also bounced prematurely were Cada, Gomes, Boris Becker, Leo Fernandez, and Lex Veldhuis. Fernandez went out in especially brutal fashion, getting it all-in with A-K of diamonds, but losing to A-K offsuit when his opponent made a spade flush. The flop came all spades and a fourth fell on the river.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering a combined Day 2 field on Thursday. Play kicks off at Noon ET inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas:

1. Wayne Bentley – 329,500
2. Amnon Filippi – 220,100
3. Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul – 175,500
4. Mike Chappus – 168,700
5. Anibal Tacla – 166,000
6. Eric “EFro” Froehlich – 166,000
7. Dustin Dorrance-Bowman – 163,700
8. Eric Buchman – 159,100
9. Ryan “Ryanbluf” Karp – 147,600
10. Matt “mattg1983” Graham – 146,700

Notable names perched near the top of the chip counts, along with their totals heading into Day 2, include:

Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – 124,900
Paul Wasicka – 116,300
Phil Ivey – 115,700
Craig Marquis – 114,300
Barry Shulman – 113,000
Dennis Phillips – 113,000
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 111,200
Dario Minieri – 109,800
J.C. Alvarado – 109,600
Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar – 106,400

When play was halted for the night on Day 1A and Day 1B, the blinds were 400-800 with a 100 ante at the end of Level 8. The tournament will crown a champion on Monday. Although PokerStars has not released an official payout structure, first place will likely receive well over $3 million.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 PCA coverage.

Hand Dissection with Steve Gross (gboro780)

Steve "gboro780" Gross is the epitome of consistency in the world of online poker. The 24 year-old poker pro from New Jersey has been among the world's top tournament players for several years across every major online poker site offered to U.S. players. In 2009, Gross had nine online scores of $40,000 or more. Three of those are for six-figures, including a $275,601 win in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event in February. Gross also took second in Full Tilt Poker's $1 Million Guaranteed in January for $126,506.

Gross' other six-figure score came during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) in April. He took second place in Event #11, a $3,150 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em event, for $128,000. Fellow high-stakes tournament whiz-kid James "Andy McLEOD" Obst was the winner of that event, coming from behind to defeat Gross in what was a heads-up match for the ages.

Gross took some time with Poker News Daily to discuss a hand he played against Obst with a few tables remaining in SCOOP Event #11.

Hand Setup:
Seat 1: Andy McLEOD (70,681 chips)
Seat 2: gboro780 (100,397)
Seat 3: get crunk (55,251)
Seat 4: HarrisMP (19,088)
Seat 5: ely_cash41 (8,229)
Seat 6: Brian Strahl (75,785)
Blinds are 250/500 with a 65 ante

Cards are Dealt:
get crunk folds
HarrisMP raises to 1,350
ely_cash folds
Andy McLEOD calls from the small blind
gboro780 calls with Jd-9d from the big blind

Flop: Ts-4d-2c
Andy McLEOD checks
gboro780 checks
HarrisMP checks

Turn: 8c
Andy McLEOD bets 3,100
gboro780 raises to 9,742
HarrisMP folds
Andy McLEOD raises to 24,000
gboro780 raises to 94,794 (having Andy McLEOD covered)
Andy McLEOD folds
gboro780 wins the pot with Jack-high

Gross' Analysis:
For Andy McLEOD to want to get it all-in on the turn, he needs to have two pair or better. If the villain were a random, I would never make this assumption, but knowing McLEOD is world-class, I don't see him wanting to get it in with one pair here with so much behind and such a small amount in the middle at a crucial point in the tournament.

I didn't think he was slow playing anything pre-flop. Andy has a bit of a maniacal image, but he is very bright and knows how to use it. He's super active, 3bets a lot, and in turn also gets played back at a lot. So, I thought he was trapping pre-flop here very rarely and would play his big hands fast more often than not in this setting.

I recognized the opener, HarrisMP, from watching nosebleed cash games on Full Tilt Poker and knew he had some game. At a six-max table with 40 big blind effective stacks against really good players, 8-8 and 10-10 become pretty huge hands that I believe McLEOD would have chosen to 3bet before the flop, particularly being out of position from the small blind.

So, of the two-pair-or-better hands we're worried about that would be in McLEOD's get-it-in range, we are left with 2-2, 4-4, and T-8 suited. Now I love T-8 suited, but I'm hardly ever flatting with it and, speculating in McLEOD's shoes here, it's just not the right part of the tournament for that. But it's still possible. Pocket fours and pocket twos are certainly a concern, although I think they get folded pre-flop a decent amount too.

When McLEOD leads at the turn, the rational part of my brain told me to take one off and try to hit the nuts with my straight draw. I can possibly take it away from him on the river if some scare cards come or if he checks and appears to be giving up. Then, the nutso part of my brain clicked in and told me to raise it up on a semi-move where we could take it down with jack-high, still potentially hit the nuts, and still potentially take it down on scary rivers (for bigger pots).

McLEOD and I have played together for years and know that we are both quite capable. So, when I raised the turn, I wasn't entirely shocked to see him keep the pressure on and come back over the top for 24,000. However, I felt that there were so few hands he actually wants to get it in with and a player of his caliber has air and random hands here way more often than 2-2 or 4-4. If by chance he does have those hands, I still have outs and 60 big blinds if I lose.

Martin Kendell Relives PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Experience

Recently, the finale of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” aired on FOX, with 9/11 first responder Mike Kosowski defeating Daniel Negreanu to pocket $1 million. Playing on the show’s fourth episode, but not appearing on air, was Martin Kendell, who sat down with Poker News Daily to recap his experience.

Poker News Daily: Tell us how you qualified for the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge.”

Martin Kendell: I actually got canned from the job I had a few days before and was on the computer looking for a job. I played one of the freerolls, got through, and made a video over Labor Day weekend. They liked it and gave me an audition over the phone. It was just one of those things that fell into my lap.

PND: Tell us about facing off against model Joanna Krupa in the first round.

Martin Kendell: I got unlucky. I had no hands against Krupa. She folded pre-flop three times and, each time, I had an ace. I had about three hands where I played with her with a draw to the river and nothing materialized.

PND: Was it disappointing not advancing to the second round to face off against a member of Team PokerStars Pro?

Martin Kendell: I understood from Day 1 that this isn’t a real poker game. It’s a turbo format and you’re going to have to take a risk or two. I think the format is a great one for playing against pros, though. If you play them even keel, the pro will win the vast majority of the time. A turbo gives you a shot at beating a pro.

PND: You went out to Los Angeles to appear on the show in October, but never made it to the table. Tell us what happened.

Martin Kendell: I was there when Sergeant Denny Luna played and Brian Barboza won $100,000. I was in the crowd for some parts and in the back for the rest. They said I was fifth in line to play. I was ready to go, but at the last second, they bumped me for someone else. They had three people leftover, two girls and a guy, and wanted to give the girl a shot in order to balance the show. I was upset at the time, but I have a broadcasting background, so I understood why they did it.

They told me when they bumped me that I was coming back for sure in December to tape. When you were brought there, you were told you’d be taped for the show for sure or you’d be an alternate. There were people flown out as alternates who didn’t get taped and were told they weren’t coming back.

PND: What celebrity were you hoping to play in the first round of the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge”?

Martin Kendell: I was hoping to get Jayde Nicole. She’s a Canadian girl and we would have had something to talk about since I am Canadian. I also didn’t think that she was a good player. I was also hoping for John Salley because I was a big Detroit Pistons fan.

PND: Can you give us some inside details about the “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” tapings?

Martin Kendell: The audience is brought in through casting companies. They bring in people for a certain amount of money to be in the audience and clap when told to. It’s interesting to see what goes into taping each broadcast. For every 15 minutes of screen time, there’s probably an hour and a half to two hours of taping. Everyone with PokerStars was very kind, courteous, and professional. We had a great time doing it. Even though it was high pressure, they were easy to work with.

PND: How did you get started in poker originally?

Martin Kendell: I played home games with friends back in the 1990s. In 2003, my mom had died and I was hanging out with my girlfriend. The World Series of Poker with Chris Moneymaker came on and I was hooked. I used to be a huge chess player, so the strategy really appealed to me. In chess, you have a player beat or you don’t. In poker, you don’t have to have the best cards to beat the other player.

Belgium to Enact Laws Nationalizing Online Poker

Defying an order from the European Union (EU), Belgium has enacted laws that could have it become the next nation to nationalize online poker operations. It follows a similar stance towards online poker in Italy.

A recent article in De Standaard, one of Belgium’s newspapers, stated that the coming year would bring laws regarding the country’s stance towards online poker. The new regulations would purportedly nationalize the operations of online poker rooms by preventing outside companies, such as PartyPoker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, from being able to court Belgians. Online poker rooms would have to set up a separate operation that would be licensed by the Belgian government and located inside of the country, much like what Italy has done with its online poker operations.

This defies an order from the EU that was issued in June 2009. After receiving details on Belgium’s plans for online poker regulation from its government in March of last year, the EU decided that the plan violated several areas of the free trade treaty that all 27 member nations had signed. Some of the violations included requiring the operators of online gaming and poker sites to be based in Belgium, limitation of available licenses, criminal prosecution of customers who play on non-sanctioned sites, and restriction of services from outside nations. At the time, Belgium was also looking to use ISP blocking software to prohibit its citizens from playing on other licensed EU sites.

The EU has shown an inconsistency when it comes to nationalization plans. It allowed Italy to nationalize its online gaming operations, presumably for taxation and gaming regulatory purposes, but has disallowed other countries like Belgium and France. It also has been unable to come to an accord on the online gaming question among its own Member Nations, leading many countries to attempt to nationalize online poker for tax revenues in lean fiscal times. The government of Belgium also states that many of the online poker sites in existence have “ties to organized crime” and, as such, the need for the nationalization is necessary.

The online community is responding to this issue in many of the popular online forums. On TwoPlusTwo, a ten-page thread has developed with players are debating the issue. Part of the reason for its popularity is that one of the top online players in the game today, “Chiren80,” hails from Belgium and the proposed legislation would, in effect, remove him from international action with the threat of possible arrest.

Some of the discussion on TwoPlusTwo inaccurately says that the nationalized sites would still be part of the global network, much like different skins of poker rooms operate. This is not true; the nationalization of sites requires the online poker room to dedicate servers and operations to that nation alone, as PokerStars has done with its PokerStars.it site. With that operation, only Italians can play on the site and there are stringent rules that govern play.

The nationalization trend is, in some players’ minds, becoming a worrisome trend. “Nationalization of gambling environments and…the separation of player pools are real dangers for professional poker players in small European countries,” comments “Droschopf.” Another poster, “Sjors,” states, “I'm fine with regulating but don't cut off the world. Playing against people on the other side of the globe and having traffic around the clock is what makes online poker great.”

With the Belgian laws signed into effect, there is a great deal of pressure on the EU to formalize an agreement on online gaming and poker for the continent. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

Celebrity Apprentice 3 Cast List Released, No Poker Players

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich headlines an ensemble “Celebrity Apprentice” cast. The 14 names announced by NBC on Monday do not include any poker players, as first reported by Poker News Daily in October.

Three months ago, the cast was spotted filming the show’s opening credits in the Meat Packing District of New York City. Embattled politician Blagojevich is perhaps the most controversial name on the list. NBC officials tried to land the former Governor for its Costa Rica-based “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,” which aired in June, but legal woes kept him from competing. Instead, Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, appeared on the show. Blagojevich landed in hot water after allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat previously occupied by President Barack Obama.

Also on the new cast is comedian Carol Leifer, who will try to follow in the shoes of “Celebrity Apprentice” Season 2 winner Joan Rivers. The latter defeated UB.com poker pro Annie Duke in the finals last year. Leifer told the Associated Press, "I'm certainly not a household name. I'm not surprised that Joan Rivers won (last season), because, as a standup comic, you're a one-man band — it makes you very prepared for stressful situations to be able to react to a lot of pressure. Humor is a weapon anywhere and everywhere!" Leifer is 20 years younger than Rivers, but her television writing resume includes hits like “Seinfeld,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Poison hasn’t released an album since 2007, but that hasn’t stopped Bret Michaels from becoming a household name. The band’s lead singer will appear on the upcoming season of “Celebrity Apprentice” and currently can be found on the VH1 reality series “Rock of Love.” Joining him on the all-male team dubbed “Rocksolid” is Bill Goldberg, former World Heavyweight Champion of WWE and WCW. The former NFL player was last seen in a WWE ring six years ago during WrestleMania XX, when he squared off against Brock Lesnar. Goldberg told the Associated Press that he plans to keep his fiery edge in the boardroom with show host and real estate mogul Donald Trump: "I know I'm going to explode during this show at some point and say things I probably don't mean."

Another embattled celebrity to join the cast of the NBC reality show’s third cycle is Darryl Strawberry. The former New York Met, who dealt with child support non-payments, prostitution, probation violations, and drug use following his baseball career, is now 47 and will look to right the ship on “Celebrity Apprentice.” Competing opposite Strawberry will be “America’s Got Talent” judge Sharon Osbourne, whose fellow judge on the show, Piers Morgan, won the original installment of “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008.

Last time out, Rivers defeated Duke amid a tidal wave of name-calling, including numerous references to Hitler. Rivers’ onslaught included such memorable lines as, “You’re a poker player. A poker player! That’s beyond white trash. Poker players are trash,” and, “You have a Nazi and a follower. I don’t work with scum.” Duke then fired back, telling “Celebrity Apprentice” cameras, “Joan is completely full of shit in everything she does. There’s a reason she got fired by the TV Guide Channel: She’s a bitch.”

For the most part, the poker world rallied behind one of their own and Duke raised a colossal $731,000 for Refugees International. However, Rivers, who was playing for God’s Love We Deliver, took down the title of “Celebrity Apprentice” and earned $526,000 for charity. Others who appeared on the show’s second installment with Rivers and Duke included Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, country music star Clint Black, reality star Khloe Kardashian, and comedian Tom Green.

Here’s the complete cast list for the third season of “Celebrity Apprentice:”

Rocksolid: Rod Blagojevich, Darryl Strawberry. Curtis Stone, Sinbad, Bret Michaels, Bill Goldberg, Michael Johnson

Tenacity: Sharon Osbourne, Cyndi Lauper, Summer Sanders, Holly Robinson Peete, Maria Kanellis, Carol Leifer, Selita Ebanks

The new season of “Celebrity Apprentice” kicks off on March 14th on NBC.

Poker Community Reacts to Justin Bonomo Leaving Bodog

On Saturday, the USA-facing online poker room Bodog officially parted ways with sponsored pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo by removing him from its website. Now, the poker community, Bonomo’s agent, and Bodog have had a chance to react.

Bonomo’s agent, Matt Palmer, President and CEO of 11Management, told Poker News Daily, “It is true that Justin and Bodog have parted ways. While Justin will miss playing alongside his fellow Bodog teammates and good friends Evelyn Ng and David Williams, he's ready to move on to bigger and better opportunities. We've begun conversations regarding new sponsorship opportunities and we're excited to work with a poker brand that is better able to leverage Justin's poker success and personality.” Palmer is also the agent for Joe Sebok, who recently signed on to be a member of Team UB.com.

Palmer gave us his take on Bonomo’s 2009 calendar year at the felts: ‘Justin's coming off another excellent year at the tables, including a final table appearance at the World Series of Poker's (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in 40th Anniversary event and a win at the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars. I fully expect Justin to continue his winning ways in 2010.” Bonomo’s fifth place finish in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the Series’ 40th running was worth $413,000. In April, he won the Caesars Palace WSOP Circuit Championship, a $5,150 buy-in contest, for $227,000.

Ed Pownall, Global Public Relations Director for BodogBrand.com, explained why the online poker room parted ways with one of its three remaining sponsored pros: “Bodog and Justin Bonomo have agreed that, with the transition of the Bodog-branded poker rooms to the Bodog Network in 2010, now was a natural time to re-evaluate the relationship and have agreed to part ways.” Jean-Robert Bellande, of “Survivor: China” fame, also left Bodog in recent months after his sponsorship agreement was not renewed at the end of October.

Posters on the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo.com gave their take on what room might be a good fit for Bonomo. TwoPlusTwo member “molinn9” weighed in, “Time for him to move on to pokerstars. would be good pro for them.” Bonomo was traveling to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas at the time of writing and was unavailable for comment. The $10,300 buy-in Main Event kicks off on Tuesday from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island with the first of two starting days. The tournament will crown a champion on January 11th.

In the meantime, Bodog will center its efforts on growing the newly forged Bodog Network, which has taken a unique approach to rakeback. Pownall discussed the methodology: “The new offering has already caused much debate with its re-working of the rakeback issue and will reward operators bringing depositing players to the table rather than the traditional method of rewarding the winning players. The system unveiled at the EiG in Budapest in September has already seen other networks, including Microgaming and iPoker, publicly follow in a similar vein.” The idea, in turn, is to reward winning players indirectly by feeding them net depositing opponents.

Yesterday, the weekly Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed played out. The site’s hallmark event, which comes with a $162 price tag, drew 509 players, meaning that Bodog kicked in $23,000 after the tournament fell short of its prize pool. In the end, reigning UB.com Aruba Poker Classic Main Event winner Brandon “AreTheseUtz” Hall took down the top prize of $25,000 after defeating Brian “AKbigfish” James heads-up. James pocketed a $15,000 consolation prize and “paulyman” took third for $9,500. The top 63 players finished in the money and the top five earned more than $5,000.

The Bodog Network is expected to take on non-Bodog sites this year.

Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) No Longer a Bodog Poker Pro

Two months after Jean-Robert Bellande lost his status as a sponsored pro of the online poker room Bodog, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo also appears to be out. Bonomo is no longer listed as a member of Team Bodog on the poker room’s website.

David Williams and Evelyn Ng are the lone survivors of Team Bodog, whose numbers have been cut in half since mid-November. Bonomo owns more than $1.2 million in career earnings from World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Circuit Events and brought Bodog a considerable amount of exposure after final tabling the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP in 2008. Bonomo claimed fifth place for $413,000 in the event, which aired on ESPN. One month prior, he captured his first Circuit gold ring by winning the Caesars Palace Championship tournament for $227,000, defeating Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi heads-up.

Bonomo appeared on the UB.com-sposored poker news show “Poker2Nite” last week, breaking down a hand from a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP. In the segment, dubbed “In the Tank,” Bonomo wore no Bodog logo and, as taped rolled from the event two years ago, the Bodog logo on Bonomo’s white shirt was blurred out. In the end, Bonomo finished as the runner-up to Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren and banked $230,000.

Bonomo is still listed on Bodog’s website in a Heads-Up TLB Records console. In addition, Bonomo’s Twitter page continues to boast a Bodog logo. Now, Williams and Ng will serve as the face of the USA-friendly online poker room, sports book, and casino. According to the traffic ranking outlet PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 840 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, nearly 1,500 cash game enthusiasts call the site home. Bodog is the fifth largest site to accept players from the United States, trailing PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, the CEREUS Network, and the Cake Poker Network.

During November’s running of the Bodog Poker Open, three sponsored online pros took to the field in the Main Event. They included Smith “nevertilt22” Collins, Jonathan UFPokerStar Westra, and Ari Engel, who ultimately took third in the 257-player tournament for $16,000. A total of 2,646 players showed up for the 11 events that comprised the Bodog Poker Open’s Championship and Contender series, creating a total prize pool of $368,000. The online poker site added another $65,000 to the kitty.

Bonomo’s image was removed from Bodog’s website during the day on Saturday. Williams appeared during a high-stakes home game as part of the G4 online poker reality show “2 Months, $2 Million,” which starred Dani Stern, Jay Rosenkrantz, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts. Williams lost $50,000 during the game, which took place at the Las Vegas home of the “2 Months, $2 Million” cast and also featured Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and David “Viffer” Peat.

In November, Bellande lost his status as a Bodog pro. Last February, Bellande renewed his sponsorship agreement with the online poker room. However, it was not picked up once it expired, as a Bodog Poker Room Manager told Poker News Daily in November, "Jean-Robert Bellande’s deal with Bodog Poker expired at the end of October and the decision was made not to renew the deal. It has been an absolute pleasure having Jean-Robert as one of Bodog.com’s Poker pros and we wish him all the best."

Ads running on Bodog’s poker website promote betting on the Fiesta Bowl, which pits Texas Christian University (TCU) against Boise State. At the time of writing, TCU sits as an eight point favorite. Wagering is also open on the Orange Bowl, GMAC Bowl, and Thursday’s BCS Championship game.

Dusty Schmidt (Leatherass) Plays Online Poker for Charity in Portland

Poker player Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt, known for his spat against the United States Golf Association (USGA), played 30 hours of online poker in Portland, donating $21,000 to Transition Projects as part of “Playing it Forward.”

According to The Oregonian, the proceeds will fund six months’ worth of rent, basic supplies, and even furniture for three homeless people in the Portland area. He dragged his arsenal of laptops outside in the cold for a portion of his campaign, attracting the attention of passersby and the media alike. Schmidt told Poker News Daily, “The idea was to play for 30 or 40 hours. A lot also depended on how I was doing. I went out there four times and didn't get to play for more than a few hours each day because the batteries on my computers drained. I ended up bringing a few laptops as a result.”

Ground zero for Schmidt was O’Bryant Square at Southwest Washington Street and Park Avenue, where he noted that, due to the cold, his computer batteries did not hold up. On the first day, he was at empty within a few hours. On the second day, Schmidt said he was able to play for five hours. Despite the elements, Schmidt told Poker News Daily that he was happy to give back to the community: “I do quite a bit of philanthropic stuff in Portland. This was the first one where it made sense to draw a little bit of attention to it.”

The Oregonian explained the origins of Schmidt’s Playing it Forward campaign: “The 2000 movie ‘Pay it Forward,’ in which a boy comes up with the idea to do something kind to three people, who each have to pay forward the favor to another three people, had always stuck in his head.” The poker player and golfer told us that he’s received more than 100 e-mails in recent days during the holiday season from people who have paid it forward to others. Schmidt relayed, “I know there could have potentially been thousands of people affected.”

Another inspiration for Playing it Forward was Schmidt’s daughter, Lennon, named after Beatles great John Lennon. Schmidt told Poker News Daily what the correlation was between the rock legend and helping those in need as the calendar year ticks over to 2010: “John Lennon was a lot of the inspiration for me doing this. If John Lennon were a poker player, I could see him doing something like playing in the streets.”

As it stands, Schmidt lost his amateur status after a prop bet involving poker and golf landed him in hot water with the USGA. He’ll be eligible to return in mid-2010 and, in the meantime, has ramped up his poker game. Despite his lofty goals, several comments left on The Oregonian’s website were critical of Schmidt’s efforts. One poster, “cheez_wiz,” noted, “That's nice of him but isn't online poker illegal?” Others critiqued the charity that benefited from Schmidt’s efforts: “Giving money to TPI, Inc. is like throwing it away. Not one homeless person will ever see one penny of that money.”

The $1 million prop bet consisted of 72 holes of golf plus 10 heads-up poker matches. In July, the U.S. District Court in Portland heard his appeal after Schmidt lost his amateur status. No one took Schmidt up on his challenge, but he promptly dropped his lawsuit. According to Schmidt, a judge “equated it to a church excommunicating a member unfairly and there not necessarily being a legal remedy under which a judge can force the church to reinstate that member.”

According to the USGA’s website, actions that would cause amateur golfers to become professionals include “accepting the position of a professional golfer,” receiving services from an agent, entering into a sponsorship agreement, and “agreeing to accept payment or compensation, directly or indirectly, for allowing his name or likeness as a player of golf skill or reputation to be used for any commercial purpose.” USGA rules specifically forbid certain forms of gambling and golfers are advised to consult with the organization for clarification.

Mohsin Charania (chicagocards1) Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: How did you get into poker?

Mohsin Charania: I never saw “Rounders.”  I never saw poker on television.  I was a junior in college [at the University of Illinois] and I went over to one of my friend’s places.  He was going to play poker at a home game in a dorm room and I was bored, so went with him.  That is literally what happened.  I met Ravi “govshark2” Raghaven and some other people. I started playing $0.10/$0.25 and $0.25/$0.50 with them once or twice a week.  Then, we started going every day making money and paying rent off these rich kids.

PND: You were paying rent off of a $0.25/$0.50 poker game?

Mohsin Charania: Well, we would play $0.10/$0.25 and buy in for $20 or $25 and there would be eight of us.  There’d be $250 worth of buy-ins on the table and everyone would bust, so there would be $500 on the table.  We’d be five- or six-handed and up it to $0.25/$0.50, then $1/$2, and then at some point, there would be two or three people who cashed out.  Eight people would never cash out.

Then, I started playing $1/$2 with Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka and Andy “BKiCe” Seth at this thing called The Poker House.  At the time, I thought Jaka was some super-aggressive monkey, but then I figured out he was actually really good at poker.  I don’t know, I just went to the home game and played.

PND: When did you start playing outside of the home games around campus?

Mohsin Charania: I turned 21, went to the casino, made a couple thousand dollars, and felt super excited.  You don’t want to know how I lost $200,000 in my first three months playing poker, do you?

PND: Of course we do.

Mohsin Charania: That was in January of my junior year I think, 2006.  That summer, I had a couple thousand dollar bankroll from the home game, went to the casino, and built it up to $10,000.  I met this Asian kid at the home game who took me to Las Vegas for a week.  I had $10,000, played $2/$5, and grinded it up to $20,000.  Then, I played $5/$10 and grinded it up to $40,000 and then played $10/$20 and got it up to $100,000.  Then, I started playing $25/$50 and $50/$100.

PND: You did all of this in the span of a week?

Mohsin Charania: No, we kept extending our flights because we were making so much money, so it was more like two weeks.  After two weeks, I’d run a couple grand up to $180,000.  Then, I lost two $100,000 pots and that was the first time ever that I was super tilted.  I lost all the rest of the money.  I had to use my mom’s debit card to fly home.  Then, I got a credit card under my name because I was 21, deposited on Bodog, and won the site’s $100,000 Guaranteed.  I got really lucky, I deposited $500, won that tournament, and then got third in it the next week.

PND: So you didn’t start playing online until after that ill-fated Vegas trip?

Mohsin Charania: Yeah.  I was a live pro.  I remember the pots I lost.  I was sitting there with bundles of cash in front of me and I got it all-in with K-Q on an A-J-10 board.  I remember telling the kid I had a straight and I was willing to take the pot right now.  He said, “I’ll gamble with you,” and called with a set of jacks; the board paired on the turn.

PND: Were you playing $50/$100 with people you know?

Mohsin Charania: It was Brad Booth, Kenny Tran, and Mimi Tran.  I want to say Jaka was there also, but I don’t know if he was in the game.  I was crushing the game because I was running so good.  I won a $50,000 pot when I had aces to kings.

PND: Did that trip teach you the importance of bankroll management?

Mohsin Charania: Well, I don’t really play cash games anymore.  I play tournaments now.  Online cash games are too hard.  I used to play a lot of $5/$10 and $10/$20 on PokerStars.  Two summers ago, I made $80,000 playing cash games on PokerStars, but then I started running really bad.  I didn’t have the roll to play $10/$20 and I can’t play $5/$10 disciplined.

PND: Would you say online cash games are the toughest form of poker around right now?

Mohsin Charania: Oh yeah.  They’re unbeatable.  PokerStars $2/$4 - you have to be really good to beat that.

PND: You put off law school at Northwestern University to play full-time.  When do you plan on going back?

Mohsin Charania: If I continue to struggle the way I have the past couple of months, I’ll go back.

PND: Do you like the idea of being a lawyer as much as being a poker player?

Mohsin Charania: Yeah, I hate being a poker player.  Poker playing is very bipolar.  I love it when I’m winning, but it is absolutely the worst feeling in the world when I’m losing.  If you asked me the same question last January or February when I was crushing, I would have told you I was never going back.

Dominating Fantasy Football Week 17 with Online Poker Skills

Week 17 of the National Football League (NFL) will feature a hodgepodge of players competing for their spot on rosters in 2010. Players like Curtis Painter and Arian Foster will become household fantasy names on Sunday. How can you use your poker skills to navigate the murky waters?

Live and online poker players are top-notch when it comes to researching their competition. Ask any player in tournaments like the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and they’ll tell you that they research their foes prior to every match. Although Full Tilt Poker recently punished Brian Townsend for compiling hands Swedish poker pro Isildur1, the practice, even though it may be against the Terms and Conditions of many sites, is still somewhat commonplace.

Think about how much information exists on players. Online, sites like PokerTableRatings.com and HighStakesDB.com offer a significant amount of information on a player, including major hands played, notorious opponents, and career earnings. Behold the power of the internet, as more information than you can possibly stomach is at your fingertips. To survive Week 17 of the NFL in a one-week league or in the traditional fantasy playoffs, a bevy of research is needed.

Poker News Daily has partnered with Fantazzle.com, which specializes in one-week fantasy sports games, to bring our readers a free Week 17 contest with a $20 prize. If you win this “freeroll” and make a deposit of $50 using PayPal or a major credit card, you’ll take home five times the value of your prize. Fantazzle.com founder Ryan Parr told Poker News Daily, “Week 17 is all about strategy and skill. At a high level, any poker player thinks they have a chance of winning money. You know football, you think you know fantasy football, and you come on Fantazzle.com to win money because you’re more intelligent than the guy sitting next to you. Some days may be a little rough and some days you won’t get a feel for the guys you’re playing against.”

Fantazzle.com offers football, baseball, racing, golf, hockey, and basketball. The latter two sports are just getting into full swing, so even as the football season winds down, there’s still plenty of fantasy action to be had. Baseball is the second most popular fantasy sport behind football and its season kicks off in April.

If you think Week 17 in the NFL is a breeze to navigate, think again. In Week 16, the Indianapolis Colts, gunning for an undefeated season, pulled their starters in the third quarter and, as a result, were thumped 29-15 by the New York Jets and handed their first loss of the season. Fantasy managers who had their seasons riding on players like Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark instead watched Donald Brown and Joseph Addai scamper for touchdowns and Painter throw a pick-six. Clark had four grabs for 57 yards, while Wayne had a paltry three catches for 33 yards.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears versus Minnesota Vikings game turned out to be the shootout of the week, as the Bears won 36-30 in overtime. Minnesota had given up more than 30 points just once all season. Chicago quarterback and Vanderbilt University graduate Jay Cutler threw for four touchdowns for just his second multi-touchdown performance since Week 9. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who leads all tailbacks in fumbles with six, coughed the ball up in overtime to set up the game-winning score. If you think you know what’s going to happen on the field, think again.

Put those researching skills to the test. Who will dominate Week 17 in the NFL? Will the Colts, Green Bay Packers, and Arizona Cardinals rest their starters? Poker players should head to Fantazzle.com and give it a shot.

Poker Community Makes New Year’s Resolutions for 2010

As the new year begins, people are beginning to think about their goals for 2010 and, in this instance, the next decade.  Generally, people have a hard time following through with their New Year’s resolutions after the first or second week of January, but there are a few poker players out there who have set goals for 2010 and seem intent on seeing them through to completion.

One such goal-setter is Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu.  He dedicated an entire blog entry to his eight poker goals for the year.  Several center on moving up or maintaining his spot on various records lists, including all-time money earners and most World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes.  Negreanu currently holds the top spot on the all-time money earners list with $12,427,047, but Phil Ivey is nipping at his heels with $12,236,714.  As for career WSOP cashes, Negreanu is currently 16th on that list with 43 cashes.  In his blog, the poker pro said he’d like to pass Mike Sexton and Thor Hansen to move up to 12th, but thinks he’ll have to rack up around seven cashes in order to achieve his goal.

He also set his sights on a number of accolades, including two WSOP bracelets and a win on one of the major poker tours.  Negreanu currently has two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles and four WSOP bracelets to his credit, but is clamoring for more.  He is also looking to move up in stakes in his personal challenge to turn $10 into $100,000.  Negreanu has worked his way up to the $0.10/$0.25 level and has a bankroll of just under $200, but he hopes to be up to $3/$6 by the time 2011 rolls around.

Full Tilt Red Pro Jeff Madsen’s goals for 2010 may not be as detailed as Negreanu’s, but a recent post in his PokerRoad blog indicated some of the things he’d like to accomplish in the next 365 days: “This year, I will figure out if being single is something I should stick to, I’ll finish my poker book like I say every year, I will improve my rapping hopefully, win a bracelet or WPT or both hopefully…  In the end, I hope it just goes as well as it can.  It’s all love,” wrote Madsen.

Fans of Madsen’s video blogs were likely happy to hear that the 24 year-old is still focused on his rhyming skills, as his raps have developed a loyal following among poker fans.  His most recent installment featured a guest appearance from poker pro Layne Flack and Madsen indicated that the new “guest format” might be something he’ll be doing again in the future.

“Hollywood” Dave Stann also set some goals for the year in his blog, both personal and professional.  In addition to taking better care of himself, Stann is also aiming to reduce his stress levels and increase his confidence in 2010.

Not everyone is keen on making New Year’s promises and setting goals for the next decade, though.  Online poker pro Jon Wein told Poker News Daily that he hasn’t made any resolutions for the new year.  UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin isn’t looking towards 2010 just yet either, as he is still relishing his achievements in 2009, including being named CardPlayer Magazine’s Player of the Year.  Baldwin posted his thoughts on his Twitter account (@basebaldy) early Thursday morning: “Can we run 2009 again at midnight please? What a great year. Excited to make 2010 just as fun.”

Poker Community Rings in the New Year

Now that Christmas is over and done with, people are setting their sights on the next big celebration, New Year’s Eve.  Party plans range from night club celebrations to cozy gatherings at home with family and friends, but almost everybody intends to do something to celebrate the end of the decade.  Those based in Las Vegas can enjoy an elaborate fireworks show on the Strip, with pyrotechnics being shot off the roofs of seven different casinos, including the MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, the Venetian, the Stratosphere and the newly-opened Aria.

One poker pro who will be at Aria to ring in the New Year is UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth.  He has been invited to one of the biggest New Year’s Eve parties in Las Vegas and the Poker Brat couldn’t resist name-dropping some of the celebrities he would be rubbing elbows with as the clock strikes Midnight via his Twitter account (@phil_hellmuth).  As Twitter reports, Hellmuth will watch the ball drop with the likes of Eva Longoria-Parker, her husband Tony, and countless others at the Beso Restaurant and Eve Nightclub in CityCenter.

Reality star Kim Kardashian will also be on hand and will play host to a pre-New Year’s Eve party Wednesday night at Eve, which is situated above Beso.  Both Eve and Beso are owned by Longoria-Parker, who worked hand-in-hand with famed chef Todd English to launch the Las Vegas version of her popular Los Angeles restaurant of the same name.  The New Year’s Eve bash will serve as the grand opening of Eve, while Kardashian’s party will be a precursor to the official launch of the club.

Jean-Robert Bellande of “Survivor” fame has spent the final days of 2009 gallivanting all over Latin America.  According to his Twitter feed (@BrokeLivingJRB), he has been everywhere from Cabo San Lucas to Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic this holiday season.  Bellande can’t seem to go too long without getting his poker fix, though, and found time to play online in between lounging on the beach and sightseeing: “Booked a small win over Brian Townsend this morning after being stuck big in 2-7. Feeling very relieved.”

Online poker pro Jeff “ICuRaRook” Sluzinski is going to take a small break from his schedule to celebrate the New Year and a friend’s birthday.  “No poppin’ crazy bottles at clubs or anything for me,” Sluzinski told Poker News Daily.  “We might go to the Strip, but we will probably just chill at [my friend’s] house.”  However, Sluzinksi does plan to log some hours online New Year’s Eve, as he is in contention for the Yearly Tournament Leaderboard honors on PokerStars.  The top three finishers all win entries into stops on the various PokerStars-sponsored tours.  He currently sits in fifth place and has a couple more days to boost his numbers and claim one of the top prizes. Although he admits he will be playing online on New Year’s Eve, Sluzinski intends to call it an early night.  “I’ll stop around 7 or so,” he explained.

In typical fashion, many poker players, like Joe Sebok, are waiting until the last minute to finalize their New Year’s plans.  He Tweeted about his options and has not even decided what city he is going to ring in 2010 in, Los Angeles or Las Vegas.  Unfortunately for the “Poker2Nite” host, he may be sidelined from all festivities thanks to a cold, as he noted on @JoeSebok: “Woke up with scratchy throat, a headache, and sore body. I get it 2009, you ain't going down w/o a fight. You are going out tho, you b***h.”

Poker News Daily would also like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year.  May your New Year’s Eve celebrations be lively and fun and may 2010 be a year for all of you to remember.

Erica Schoenberg Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker?

Schoenberg: I came off of playing blackjack with a team. Our team disbanded and we were getting a lot of heat from the casinos. I was asked to do a poker show on GSN with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and David Williams and I played terribly. From there on, I decided I was determined to get better at poker.

PND: Talk about the blackjack team. Did any part of your involvement with it help groom you for the game of poker?

Schoenberg: I met the original members of the MIT Blackjack Team and they referred me to someone in Los Angeles. Aside from the ability to process a lot of information at once, which you have to do in card counting, the time I spent loitering in casinos and the late nights helped me. Poker can end up in long hours for tournaments and late nights. Blackjack helped me get used to that.

PND: Why was poker appealing to you?

Schoenberg: I couldn't imagine sitting in an office or a cubicle for the rest of my life. It's crazy that poker can be a career. It's living the dream if you have a little bit of gamble in you.

PND: Talk about having David Benyamine in your life, who also excels at poker. Does having him help you fine-tune your game?

Schoenberg: Sometimes I get tired of poker because it feels like that's all we talk about and do. For the most part, it's 90% helpful and 10% annoying. Being able to watching him play online and hearing him talk through hands is huge for me.

PND: What makes Benyamine's game above and beyond the rest?

Schoenberg: The way he thinks about the game is on a higher level from anyone I've ever watched. I really believe that and I'm not just saying it. I've met a lot of brilliant people in my life. He has this ridiculous gift for card games and is good at rummy, gin rummy, and backgammon. He has a mind for it.

PND: You're a member of Team Full Tilt. Talk about what makes Full Tilt Poker a premier online poker room.

Schoenberg: I think their software is the best. Getting hand histories is much easier. It's helpful when you're playing to go back over hands. Full Tilt makes that simple and is the premier online poker site.

PND: Talk about being associated with members of Team Full Tilt like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Allen Cunningham.

Schoenberg: It's such an honor to be associated with them. It's great to have your name in the company of some of the world's best poker players.

PND: In your eyes, what is your greatest poker accomplishment to date?

Schoenberg: Winning a $2,500 World Poker Tour preliminary event at Mandalay Bay in 2007. It was an open event, not a women's only event, but I got heads-up with Anna Wroblewski. I have total respect for her game and she's a great poker pro in general. My third place in a $1,500 Hold'em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker was a bit of a sick burn.

PND: What advice do you have for women looking to get into poker?

Schoenberg: Play as much as you can online before stepping foot in a casino. The minute you get into a poker room with all males, it's going to throw off your game. Get as firm of a grasp on all of the rules and be comfortable with the game before you sit down. I think for a beginning female poker player, being in a roomful of males could be really disconcerting. You don't want to be spastic because you're surrounded by men.

PND: Tell us about what you do away from the game.

Schoenberg: David and I golf a ton. We love it. I'm also a huge animal lover and I do things with my dogs. I like to go at the beach and spend time outside for a healthy and clean living. I have a Golden Retriever and a Jack Russell Terrier.