By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Joe Sebok at the 2006 WSOP
Happy Mother’s Day. It’s Monday night, so if you haven’t called your mom… you’re in deep shit.

Anyway… here’s a few things I read over the weekend and I thought you might be interested in, and here’s a few nuggets from today’s news cycle…

UB Cheating Scandal: First of all, congrats to Haley for a book deal! I’m thrilled she’s finally going to get paid for her diligent and relentless investigative reporting into the UB cheating scandal. She did all of that OUT OF POCKET after she got fired from Poker News. While thousands of players bitch and moaned about UB in forums, Haley rolled up her sleeves dug through shit pile after shit pile to unearth small nuggets of truth and fragments of evidence of a massive cover up, scandal, and flat out fraud. By the way, here’s an index of her Just Conjecturin’ series. And don’t forget to read her latest installment Volume 35: Norwegian Exposure. (Haley’s Poker Blog)

Black Friday Fallout: Speaking of UB… they axed all of their sponsored players. (Bluff)

More Black Friday Fallout: Speaking of sponsored UB players… Joe Sebok, the whipping boy of 2+2, posted his final statement about his time with UB. (Poker Road)

Live Poker: Ed Miller penned a couple of posts on trying to beat different types of players you’ll encounter in Las Vegas… Beating the Tourists and Beating the Locals. (Ed Miller)

Online Gaming Legalization: David Scwartz sounded off on Black Friday and the future of online poker… Online gaming will come; Nevada should lead it. (Las Vegas Business Press)

Skill v. Luck: My mom of all people mentioned this piece… Poker as a Game of Skill. (NY Times)

Fear at the Movies: Check out Change100′s new beat titled Hollywood Apocalyptica. (Tao of Fear)

That’s it. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Tags: black friday | business | happy-mother | know-the-drill | Link Dump | movies | online-gaming | online-poker | poker | posts-on-trying | press | tao of fear | tourists

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I recorded a couple of radio spots over the last few days on Poker Road Radio and The Poker Show.

On Monday morning, I appeared on a very special episode of Poker Road Radio — The Gavin Smith farewell episode. He’s stepping down from full time duties and the gang gave him a send off. I appeared at the end of the broadcast to plug Lost Vegas. My interview starts just before the 41 minute mark.

Listen to Poker Road Road’s Gavin Smith Farewell Episode.

Over the weekend, I sat down with the venerable Jesse May (who wrote the best piece of poker fiction in the history of gambling literature – Shut Up and Deal) for his program, The Poker Show. We chat about Lost Vegas and my interview starts at 31:50 mark.

Click here to download Jesse May’s The Poker Show. (Right click and Save As)

Click here if you just want to stream the show and read more background info.

Thanks to the gang at Poker Road Radio (Jeremiah Smith, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, and Jon V) and special thanks to Jesse May for having me on.

Oh, and you can buy your copy of Lost Vegas here.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | days-on-poker | gang | Joe Sebok | Podcast | radio | stream-the-show | wrote-the-best

When 15 players returned yesterday afternoon to begin the final day of event #41, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better, all eyes were focused on two players: the Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, and the “poker brat” Phil Hellmuth.

With 11 WSOP bracelets, Hellmuth has more examples of that particular item of jewelry than any other player, and he is also a giant in physical stature. I’d say he’s about 6’4″, maybe even bigger, and there was therefore more than one reason not to notice the seat to Hellmuth’s left, which was occupied by the tiny figure of a woman named Mandy Thomas.

Mandy Thomas

In stark contrast to Hellmuth, Thomas probably does need some introduction, at least in the live poker environment. But really she shouldn’t. She has a World Series bracelet of her own, won in 1998, when first place in the ladies’ seven-card stud event would get you $40,000, and in recent years she has been tearing it up at the online tables.

“People are usually so surprised when they see Mandy is so diminutive,” said a close friend watching from the rail. “Because ‘Roxy’ is so aggressive.”

‘Roxy’ is actually ‘roxy24′, Thomas’ online moniker. After some staggering results around some of the highest buy in cash tables on PokerStars (yeah, the $75-$150 Omaha tables and the like) she was made an inaugural member of Team PokerStars Online. This is her first World Series with the familiar patch on her shoulder – and mixing it with the big boys was no problem at all.

Despite nursing a short stack at the start of the day (the result of a wicked hand late on day two), Thomas secured an early double up, then watched as player after player bust around her. Suddenly there were only ten of them left and the instruction was issued to bag up and head to the television stage, where they’d play down to a winner.

Thomas still didn’t fancy her chances much. She had the fewest chips of the last ten, and when I asked to schedule a quick chat for the next break, 40 minutes from then, she said she would probably be out before that.

But she wasn’t. Thomas could simply not be budged. When Jeffrey Baker bust in 10th, they were at an official final table of nine, meaning the cameras swooped in. They were still predictably in love with Hellmuth, but Thomas was now garnering much of the attention too and had a solid chance to become the first female winner of an open event at the WSOP this year.

All in for the umpteenth time

Those chances only improved as Thomas managed another couple of double ups. Meanwhile Joel Ettedgi, Ryan Karp and then Hellmuth departed, and they were down to six. Thomas’ cheering section had now swelled to about 10 people: adversaries from the online games, a former roommate, opponents from games back home in Michigan. But sixth was as far as the story went.

Soon after the dinner break, Thomas found herself one of the relative short stacks again and got her chips in from the small blind with [js][8s][3d][2d]. The problem was that Ben Lamb had woken up in the big blind with [as][7s][5d][3h] and after the board ran [6d][2s][kh][jd][ad], Thomas’ run was halted. She took $40,169 for sixth place – and her stature grew about 12 feet to somewhere close to her standing in the online world.

What of Greenstein? Well, his exit from this event was not pretty. With 12 players left, and the field split over two tables of six, Greenstein got involved in a battle of the blinds with Jeffrey Baker.

Folded to Baker in the small blind, he raised, Greenstein re-potted, Baker shoved, Greenstein called. The stacks were pretty similar, but Baker had the Team PokerStars Pro covered.

Greenstein had [as][10d][5s][4d]; Baker had the [ac][7c][5d][2s]. The board ran [qc][9s][2d][6d][qs] and with no qualifying low, Baker’s pair of deuces (with the queens on board) scooped. Bye-bye Barry.

*****

HAND OF THE DAY

At least one of Mandy Thomas’s supporters didn’t want this hand reported; he questioned the decision to ship her short stack in in this spot. But let’s just slip into some results oriented thinking here. This hand was crucial.

Returning with only 60,000 chips, in 14th place of 15 remaining, and with blinds of 6,000-12,000, Thomas knew she needed to get her chips in early. And so she did, from under-the-gun, shoving for 42,000. Phil Hellmuth defended his big blind, and cards were on their backs:

Hellmuth: [ac][2h][7d][8c]
Thomas: [qd][6d][qh][5s]

Phil Hellmuth and Mandy Thomas as Roxy24 earns an early double up

Thomas’s queens were ahead for the high, but Hellmuth had an overcard, plus the best low draw. However, he missed everything as the board ran: [7s][kh][9s][3s][10h] and the queens scooped. It didn’t give Thomas much room to wriggle, but it was soon after that players started busting left and right. Without that pot, she almost certainly would not have got anywhere near that television stage.

*****

AROUND THE TABLES

The $2,500 mixed hold ‘em event, which alternates between limit and no-limit, brought out a distinguished field, many of them no limit junkies grumbling that they had to play a limit round. They’re the rules guys.

As usual, despite a field of more than 500, some fascinating little clusters developed, including:

Corner most likely for a five-bet: In a row on table 30 were Christian Harder, Team Pro’s Anh Van Nguyen and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.
Snapper’s corner: The cameras were out to capture this little lot, all in a line: Praz Bansi, Liz Lieu, David Benyamine and Liv Boeree.
And this table isn’t bad either: Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Joe Sebok and Ylon Schwartz.

It was only day one of the tournament, but by the end of it, a massive swathe of the field had departed. Eli Elezra leads, from Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, but the Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes (65,000) is well placed going into day two. Team Online’s Randy Lew is also in contention with 47,200.

Alex Gomes in the $2,500 mixed hold ‘em

The Amazon Room hosted the second day of both the $10,000 HORSE championship and the latest $1,500 no limit hold ‘em event. And the action was frantic on both sides of the dividing line.

You get an indication of the quality of the HORSE turnout when you look at some of the players who busted. None of Sebastian Ruthenberg, Ville Wahlbeck, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Nacho Barbero, Alex Kravchenko, Daniel Negreanu or Victor Ramdin could make it.

Better news in the hold ‘em, where Veronica Dabul and Arnaud Mattern steered themselves into the cash, earning $5,751 and $9,529 for 77th and 53rd respectively (there were 2,521 starters), while Humberto Brenes comes back for day three.

Veronica Dabul

Arnaud Mattern

Brenes began near the top of the counts and he finished there too, returning with 764,000, which is fifth overall.

Last year’s November Niner Kevin Schaffel was also back in the money in this event. He was the last to bust on day two and took $17,298 for 26th.

Kevin Schaffel

*****

RIO SIGHT: THE DAILY SLOT TOURNAMENT

You see all sorts in the corridors of the Rio. This occasional series describes some of those sights.

I’ve been coming to Las Vegas for ten years, but until Tuesday afternoon I realised I hadn’t seen half of what this city has to offer – until I accidently stumbled on the daily slots tournament at the Rio.

The first inkling that something was up came on turning out of the main casino area down the corridor that leads (after about a mile) to the Convention Center and the complex of hangars that holds the WSOP. Outside Buzios fish restaurant, where overflow Main Event tables have occasionally been arranged in previous years, there was a unseemly gathering of folk, agitated, excited, pumped. Yeah, pumped.

A man in a tropical shirt was chortling through a microphone: “Start your deep breathing exercises. We had people doing tai chi earlier; whatever you need to keep you focused.”

Before him sat two banks of slot machines, 34 in back-to-back rows, and four at either end, totalling 72 players. I quickly discerned the rules: these punters had ten minutes to spin, spin, spin and watch and hope their three reels delivered them to seven heaven.

“Once I count you down, start pressing. Hard, soft, fast, slow – anything you can to keep those reels spinning.”

One man was chattering on a bluetooth as he prepared; another limbered up with a text message (presumably something like: “im in a slot tournament. lol.”) There were railbirds too. One woman broke the suggested three-feet line between spectators and competitors in order to cool her husband with a miniature fan.

As the time approached, the MC offered one last order: to turn to each of your neighbours and give them a pre-tournament smile. It was only slightly observed; some had game faces that would not crack.

And then it began. Oh my.

It was a concentrated frenzy of slot action. Blue, red and white boggled past 72 pairs of bifocals. Hands flew over big round buttons, but there were variations in technique here. Some players adopted a single-finger depression, others slapped with their palm. Some went for a double-handed thwack-thwack-thwack, slipping into a frenetic rhythm. Others pecked away with hands contorted like shadow-puppet emus.

One player was a late arrival and was greeted by sneers of derision. His two minute deficit would prove impossible to make up. What a loser. At around about the five minute mark, the casino music system played The Beatles’ “I Fell Fine” but plainly some competitors didn’t. Spirits were flagging. Even when three sevens span in, there was barely time for a whoop or a high five. He who hesitates, perishes.

Round about seven minutes, the average score was about 3,500, while the leaders were in the 8,000s. With less than a minute left the final stretch approached and the competitors steeled themselves for the last sprint to the line. It got furious again, but then suddenly ended with a whimper – the machines stopped, the reels drifted to a halt and weary bones cracked their relief.

I was desperate to find out the winner, but then the announcer shot down all our hopes. A man would be coming round with a clipboard on which contestants would be required to write and sign for their overnight scores. “You take your top score today and carry it into tomorrow.”

This was a two day event. I had no idea. I drifted away without knowing where the $30,000 prize money would be going.

WILL NOT BE CONTINUED…

*****

TOUCHING MOMENT OF THE DAY

One table, one plate of fruit salad, two forks. Joe Hachem and Huck Seed shared a platter of cantaloupe on the HORSE feature table. It was, well, beautiful.

*****

TWEETS OF THE DAY

@RaSZi (Lex Veldhuis) focuses on the positives and glosses over an early elimination: “Watched Holland win yay!! Then played 2.5k MixedHE, then played 25-25-50 PLO at Rio, now getting ready for dinner with friends. Brazilian.”

The same @RaSZi (Lex Veldhuis) gives Mr Minieri a rub-down after Italy crash out of World Cup: “I was gonna sidebet Dario on Italy and Holland. GUESS ITS OFF ROFL.”

@RealKidPoker (Daniel Negreanu) on the international language of poker: “Funniest moment for me in WSOP: (Vladimir) Schmelev just came 4th in Razz and sat at my horse table. Heard his two first words in English ‘F-ing dealer.’”

Why @GeorgeLindIII and @darussuharto should join forces to conquer the $2,500 mixed hold ‘em event:

@GeorgeLindIII: “Event 44, running good in nl and bad in limit.”
@darussuharto: “Today, i am running well at limit holdem.”

*****

Previous WSOP Diary entries

WSOP Diary: Day 28: Barry Greenstein eyes final as shark attacks the Rio
WSOP Diary: Day 27: PokerStars party goes Dogg style
WSOP Diary Day 26: Bill Chen: Poker player, wedding planner, bridesmaid
WSOP Diary Day 25: Cutting through the throngs
WSOP Diary Day 24: Last chance to join us in Las Vegas
WSOP Diary Day 23: Anh Van Nguyen, remember the name
WSOP Diary Day 22: Love to hate Phil Hellmuth? You gotta see this
WSOP Diary Day 21: Classic rub down for Daniel Negreanu
WSOP Diary Day 20: Maria Mayrinck, something in the water
WSOP Diary Day 19: Who needs a rest anyway?
WSOP Diary Day 18: An apology
WSOP Diary Day 17: George Danzer just misses first bracelet for PokerStars

Read all WSOP diary entries here.

Contact: blog@pokerstars.com

Tags: announcer | daily | hellmuth | italy | Joe Sebok | live | mandy-thomas | pokerstars | SCOOP | television | time | wsop

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

The 50K Final Table
This year’s $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship epitomized the current state of poker: big business shaping the industry, murky political future inciting paranoia, misconceptions in the media, fiscally irresponsible pros, staking, sponsorship, cheating allegations, international expansion, pursuit of immortality, and let’s not forget the behind the scenes cold war between online gaming titans.

If ratings and money didn’t matter, the final table of the $50,000 Player’s Championship would have continued rotating eight games every eight hands. Alas, that’s a vision of a utopian paradise, while we live in the real world where TV is the opiate of the masses and ratings are crucial, but advertising dollars mean everything.

NL is more sexier but less sophisticated that mixed games, which is why a NL-only final table returned to the WSOP. Last year, ESPN did not air the $50,000 HORSE event, opting to film the $40,000 NL anniversary event instead. This year’s $50,000 Player’s Championship seemed like a compromise — the players got 8-Game Mixed on the agenda while the suits got their NL final table.

Poker players bitch and moan about the littlest of things, however, they need TV for exposure which is why they put up with the bullshit final table switcheroo. Getting face time is one of the ways to attain a potential long-term sponsorship. And if a player is already sponsored, it’s important that they make multiple televised final tables in order to prove their value.

Moments before Day 4 ended and the final table of eight was set, the players were already being scouted by agents. Because Harrah’s instituted a three-person limit to how many players one online room can logo up, there was a rush to get to the available players. Full Tilt only had one open spot since John Juanda is one of the original FT pros and David Oppenheim is also a red pro. The third slot went to Sweden’s Mikael Thuritz, and his backer Martin De Knijff from the Scandi mafia, did most of the talking. PokerStars had three open spots and gobbled up the unknown Russian Vladimir Schmelev, David “WhooooKid” Baker, and Danny Alaei. Baker was a no brainer since his girlfriend is a Team Pro from Brazil.

I thought that at least one of the Mizrachi brothers would be the third FT sign up. I was surprised when I saw the non-poker room patches. OK, we think Deliverance Poker is a real site, but what’s up with the patio furniture store? Instead of a sweet deal with FT or Stars, the Mizrachis were pimping a patio store. I wondered in if one of their many relatives owned the store, if that was their only lucrative offer? It’s no Chico’s Bail Bonds.

The Mizrachi brothers at the final table attracted their entire clan for the special night. Some of the Mizrachi women were unable to contain their excitement, and they were given a Valium or painkillers. Vegas isn’t exactly a downers type of town, but having not one, but two Mizrachis at the final table was too much stress and anxiety that their could handle. Shit, the last thing I’d need is my mother faded on pharmies and seated in the first row in front of ESPN cameras.

Although Danny Alaei and short-stacked David Oppenheim were early favorites to bust in the first level, it was Mikael Thuritz who became the first final table elimination. Alaei went out in 7th and Oppenheim mounted a comeback. David Baker surprisingly finished in 6th place (I say surprise because I picked him to win it all). At that point John Juanda shifted gears and took over the table trying to win his fifth bracelet.

Juanda’s momentum was interrupted by sibling fistcuffs. The Mizrachi brothers battled in a heads-up all-in fight to the death. The Grinder was the brother who prevailed, as Robert finished in fifth for $341,429.

With four to go, Change100 tweet’d: “Final four of the $50K – Two Jews, a Russian and a former Bible salesman.”

Joe Sebok responded with, “That sounds like the beginning to a joke.”

Vladimir Schmelev made an epic run at the final table. The Russian bank owner from St. Petersburg was playing one of his weakest games (don’t forget he’s a pot-limit Stud monster), yet managed to squeeze out a second place performance when he outlasted a far more experienced Juanda (4th) and a valiant comeback from Oppenheim (3rd). Schmelev’s support group was a eclectic group of three Russian men who were wearing their bathing suits and flip flops, but with collared dress shirts. Little freaky, but they were nowhere as loud by the Mizrachi (fan) club who took up 1/3 of the audience and went batshit crazy every time one of the brothers won a pot.

Schmelev wore a pair of snake skin loafers, something that you’d see on the feet of a Tijuana pimp and not on a poker player. Change100 scoffed at the notion that Schmelev’s snake shoes might be real. The guy has serious cashola, so why wouldn’t they be real? But the snake shoes, khakis, and white Adidas warmup jacket was just a odd get up, although not as peculiar as Schmelev’s friend — a mysterious man wearing white linen pants and holding a beige satchel. He looked like the Russian version of Jay Greenspan with salt and pepper hair. During the breaks, I attempt to followed Schmelev would meet up with this mysterious man. I only cared about what was in the bag.

“Ice cold and expressionless like a Scandi, but more menacing.”

I wrote that in my notes about Vladimir Schmelev. Scandis are tough to read, but they are mostly pretty boys with perfectly messy hair. I have full confidence that I could beat up most of them in a fight and at the least hold my own with the rest. Now with a Russian, I know better not to fuck with them. That’s why Schmelev’s expressionless blank face freaks me out.

For a moment during the first moments heads up, it seem as though the unknown Russian could win the Player’s Championship. At one point, he had the Grinder on the ropes and silenced his vast cheering section. Grinder avoided death when he called in a favor with the poker gods for timely double up. His Ac-7c ran down Ad-Jd. Grinder flopped a flush draw and got there on the river.

Schmelev friends were convinced that the hand was rigged, according to a tweet from BJ, who was the first to report that Schmelev’s three friends felt as though he was the victim of a dirty deck. I guess they didn’t like the flushout which allowed the Grinder to double up. Alas, they had no actual proof and sounded more like a bunch of sore losers. I guess they don’t play too much online poker, especially on RiverStars.

On the 78th hand of heads up play, the Grinder came from behind in the old Qd-8s vs Qs-5c debacle. The Grinder turned his 5-kicker and sunk the stunned Russian. Vladimir Schmelev headed to the rail after two testicle-numbing beats. If it’s any consolation, he left the Rio almost $1 million wealthier. I know the sharks in the Big Game would love to have some of the Russian banker’s action.

A trusted source confirmed that Patrik Antonius backed both Mizrachi brothers, which explained why he arrived on Day 4 smiling — something you rarely see. Antonius sat in the stands for a few hours. I stalked him a bit from the Jerky Lounge, and he constantly fidgeted with his phone, refreshing the chip counts and Change100′s updates on Poker News. In the past, Antonius backed a significant amount of players in 50K HORSE events. This year, he struck the motherload with both Mizrachi brothers. As Change100 pointed out, Patrik Antonius actually finished in second place if you count 50% of both Mizrachi’s total prize money won.

After paying a cut to Antonius, toss in the back taxes and penalties tho the IRS, I wonder how much the Grinder will actually take home?

During an interview with ESPN, Norm Chad attempted to get the Grinder to say something about his financial issues, but the Grinder was smooth and he safely evaded Norm’s question. The Grinder did had nice things to say about his brother including, “I put his chips to good use.”

Hey, you know what? This moral of this story is also about redemption and second chances. The Grinder made a few costly mistakes. Winning a shitload of money in a short amount of time in your 20s can often be a recipe for disaster. He couldn’t handle the immense burden. All of his life leaks caught up to him and he found himself in the toughest of spots. However, instead of imploding, the Grinder hunkered down during the brunt of a storm and did what he does best — grind out a victory.

How many people do you know who are in serious shit and need cash fast? How many do you know that can generate that money in five days?

I’m impressed, which doesn’t happen easily anymore. The Grinder needed to win the biggest buy-in tournament at the WSOP in order to dig him out of his hole — and he did just that. He and his brother also set a record for the highest two finishes at a final table by siblings.

With a menacing gorilla off his back, the Grinder is an early favorite for Player of the Year. The Grinder finally broke through and won his first tournament at the WSOP, so you can cross him off the list of the best “poker boom” players to have never won a bracelet.

Now the question is… can the Grinder be the one or two players who win two or more bracelets in 2010? The Player’s Championship victory might propel a confident Grinder back to the top of his game, but can he conjure up the spirit of Chip Reese for the rest of the WSOP and replenish his once juicy bankroll?

$50,000 Player’s Championship 8-Game Mixed Final Table Results:
1 Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – $1,559,046
2 Vladimir Schmelev – $963,375
3 David Oppenheim – $603,348
4 John Juanda – $436,865
5 Robert Mizrachi – $341,429
6 David Baker – $272,275
7 Daniel Alaei – $221,105
8 Mikael Thuritz – $182,463

* * * * *
Bouncin’ Round the Room on Day 5…

The Beef Jerky Lounge is neither a lounge nor has any beef jerky. Hey, you don’t have to give away free samples — but not even someone selling nibblets and packages. At least when the same area was the Milwaukee’s Beast Lounge — they served cans of Beast! Yeah, the Beef Jerky lounge is one of the most disappointing additions to the 2010 WSOP with just an empty space with tons of Jacks Links logos. No couches, no booze, no beef jerky. Lame. How the hell am I going to feed my wild side?

Triple Draw: I wandered by Garth‘s table and noticed an empty 5-Hour energy bottle underneath his chair. He chugged it when he initially sat down to give him that extra jolt of energy. His table was short-handed to start but Amnon Filippi and Bill Chen also drew his table.

Chris Fargis, former Triple Draw guru and now Wall Streer trader, took off from work to play in the event. I also spotted Angry Julie in the field. Although her husband the DnkeyBomber is being sponsored by Loudmouth Golf, she was wearing normal clothes and not the crazy pants/shorts that DB has been sporting since Day 2. I want a pair, but if I get one, my girlfriend threatened to break up with me.

Garth had two dead stacks at his starting table. The one to his left belonged to… Phil Ivey… who wasn’t sitting out the first level while he played in the 5K shootout. When that went on dinner break, he took a seat next to Garth.

“He was pissed,” said Garth.

Ivey was three-handed at his shootout and luckily for Garth, he knew Ivey’s time there was limited. Ivey bailed at the end of his break to which Garth excitedly tweet’d, “Table 300% less intimidating.”

Ivey lost heads-up in his shootout and returned to Garth’s left… in a better mood. It didn’t last too long when Ivey was taken out.

Cliche of the Day: Chainsaw Kessler was sitting at the adjacent table to Garth in Triple Draw. He was examining the blind structure and informing the floor supervisor of his displeasure.

Photos by Benjo

Tags: backer | ept | final | financial | industry | life | loudmouth | player | river | russian | schmelev | Vegas | victim | wsop

By Pauly
Las Vegas

Welcome to the WSOP early morning link dump. I was debating on what would be the best time for this daily dump of WSOP-heavy links. After careful consideration, I came upon 7:20am ET as an appropriate target time for folks on the east coast checking in on the Tao of Poker with their morning coffee, and the 4:20am time on the left coast is perfect for California stoners, insomniacs, and anyone in Las Vegas still up. And, I’m also keeping in mind the Tao’s European readers, who will be enjoying the daily WSOP link dump during their lunch break.

Without further ado…

I give Michalski tons of shit for never writing anything longer than 300 words. Well, he finally made me eat my guff. Check out part 1 of his multi-part series… NAPT, Venetian Part Ways over Row in Carson City. (Pokerati)

This is not WSOP-related but more falls along the murky gender line in poker. Ladies, here’s what Victory Poker thinks of you is an eloquent piece by Change100. (Pot Committed)

UB Super Account List… is supposedly coming. I actually chatted with Joe Sebok about the list and he said they will be naming names. (Wicked Chops Poker)

More related news on the UB Super User list… Haley’s been working nonstop on the scandal and she’s unearthed 10 fake names on the supposed list. (Haley’s Poker Blog)

Blogfessional with Barry Greenstein and Thuy Doan chronicles their Day 1 at the WSOP. (Poker Road)

Check out this RawVegas video of the Doyle Brunson Beer Pong Championship…

OK, that’s it for now with the morning WSOP link dump. Stay tuned for my end of Day 1 recap. NGTFOOMO.

Tags: california | carson-city | check-out-part | daily | download-poker | doyle | poker | super-account | Vegas | venetian-part | victory-poker | wsop

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Los Hombres at Wicked Chops Poker for the spank-worthy video of Sara Underwood doing Bikram yoga. It inspired me to sign up for a yoga class. I can get high before I go, right?

Oh, and nice work Stuff and Seebs. I like what you’re doing over there at Poker2Nite. Thanks for the shoutout.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | angeles | bikram | doing-over | download-poker | high-before | hombres | Joe Sebok | poker | pokerstars | underwood | wicked | wicked-chops