By Pauly
San Francisco, CA

It’s Monday and time for a few heady nuggets to keep you busy today. If you have the day off, then that’s awesome, enough the day of rest. If not, enough these blurbs while you’re killing time in the cube…

Smooth Criminal: I love it when Scandi philosophers delve deep into the big questions of the universe. In this case, Kim wonders “why do we cheat so much?” in thought-provoking essay titled Blessed Art the Cheaters.That brings me back to something I’ve always said — “We’re all criminals.” It’s innate in humans. We’re creatures who have bucked the system and shot angles since the first time Adam attempted to pluck the forbidden fruit off the Tree of Life. Some of cheat more than others in life, but whenever large sums of money are around, you’ll find a higher percentage of angle shooters. Case in point: poker, drugs, and Wall Street. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

Knights in White Satin: Snoopy weighs in on the Full Tilt Poker situation with Tom Dwan: A Knight in Shining Armour. You have to read this post because of three reasons… 1) Snoppy declares “durrrr” as the only white knight in the FT not-paying-its-players-back scandal, 2) Snoopy writes funny using “u” in words like armour, and 3) Snoopy is one of my favourite writers… see what I did there? (Black Belt Poker)

Paint It Black: So… how did Things Become So Screwed Up With Full Tilt Poker? My colleague and former FT employee gives his opinion on how things imploded in the Full Tilt universe. (Bill’s Poker Blog)

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: Shamus wants to know… To Bot or Not to Bot? That is the question. Bots are bad right? That’s what all of the Terminator movies taught me — that at some point the poker bots will join SkyNet and fire nukes on humanity. Then again, what is the difference between a bot and a total nit? Nits won’t blow shit up, unless they get stacked on a wicked bad beat, then they’ll blow up a 2p2 thread. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

Broke in the USSR: Gotta love a rags to riches to rags story. Poor kid grinds out roll playing online poker. Kid wins Sunday Million. Blows it all that night playing high stakes SNG. Kid now being made fun of by the Entities. (Wicked Chops Poker)

And yes, part of the reason I haven’t been writing about poker is because I’ve been helping stir up a revolution when I haven’t been fear mongering. I encourage you to check out the Monday Morning Red Pill, which is the Tao of Fear’s version of the Monday Nugs. In the latest version of the Red Pill, we discuss bleach fights among Walmart customers, potential WWIII with China, the real skinny on nuclear meltdown in Japan, the impending financial collapse of Europe, and more evidence that America is becoming a police state. If you don’t follow @TaoFear on Twitter, then what are you waiting for?

Tags: atom | entertainment | online poker exiles | Pai Gow | Podcast | sports | tao of fear | the pai gow diaries | writing

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA

How about some Hump Day nugs? These are heady, tasty, and will definitely distract you for a few moments while you eagerly countdown the hours until the weekend begins…

The Secret World of Hollywood Poker is a detailed account of the history of one of the biggest and most secretive underground games in the hills of Hollywood featuring Tinsel Town’s most famous actors (Leo and the guy who played Spiderman and misspells my last name), industry heavyweights, and afew filthy-rich professional athletes (A-Roid). (Hollywood Reporter)

How Much Money Do French Investors Need to Buy Full Tilt Poker? That is a damn good question and los hombres are digging deep. I heard a rumor this summer than a Ruskie oil baron offered up $1 Billion and it was rejected. But now, a group of French investors led by Laurent Tapie, are eyeballing the site everyone now loves to hate. (Wicked Chops Poker)

Jesse May is the shit, and I’m not just saying that because he scored me a 12th row ticket to see Bob Dylan this summer. Anyway, Jesse’s latest piece — Feel the Shame — is classic Jesse May with a little extra hot sauce. Wow. I’ve read it fourteen times and just… wow. And yes, Jesse called Jesus a scumbag. (Poker Farm)

How to Cheat Your Friends At Poker sounds like something written by Russ Hamilton! It’s an awesome infographic by Sean Lind. Take a peek. (Silver Oak Casino)

I appeared as a guest panelist on Type II Cast, a podcast about the band Phish. Check out it out if you want to hear me pontificate about music as a talking head in the jamband scene. (Coventry Music)

That’s it for now. You know the drill… NGTFOOMO!

Tags: 2010 WSOP | archives | copyright | friends | Pai Gow | pca | phamily poker classic | pius heinz | rio | sports betting | wcoop

By Pauly
Covington, KY

I’m flying back to Vegas shortly after a quick weekend away from the grind. Luckily, my better half stepped in a delivered a sensational guest post. If you haven’t read Change100′s Apocalypse Now, then what are you waiting for?

Change100 did such a good job I considered skipping out the rest of the preliminaries, going on Phish tour, only to show up for the Main Event…but if I did, I’d piss a lot of people off, my girlfriend included. Alas, I’m sitting in Cincinnati Airport (which is located in Kentucky, which still baffles me) and ready to head back to Las Vegas for the rest of the WSOP.

In previous years, when I take time off from the WSOP, I block everything out and focus on getting R&R. Yesterday was an exception because Maria Ho advanced to the final table of the $5K NL event. I gotta say, I was railing her virtually via updates from WSOP.com as a fan. For the first time, I followed along like mostly everyone else at home, refreshing every few minutes for the slightest news of her deep run. Like many of you, I was bummed she didn’t go all the way. Nothing against Allen Bari, but the victory would have done wonders to help boost the number of women playing in open events. We all need role models to look up to and with Phil Ivey ensconced in a legal battle, there’s a huge vacuum of potential heroes the poker community would love to put up on pedestal and shower you with benevolence and hit you up for Main Event staking.

While I’m short on time, here’s a long-overdue link dump of some WSOP-related items I think you should read.

Let’s kick off with Nolan Dalla’s final table recaps…

Event #4 $5,000 NL – Allen bari Says I’m the Best, Then Proves It (WSOP.com)

Event #5 $1,500 Stud – Eguene Katchalov Wins 7-Card Stud Championship (WSOP.com)

Event #6 $1,500 Limit Hold’em – A Wilder Ride (WSOP.com)

Event #7 $10,00 PLH – Amir Lehavot Wins Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship (WSOP.com)

Change100 and I are writing daily recaps for RISE Poker. She’s been holding down the fort while I went out of town. Here’s the last few…

Day 5: Eugene Katchalov Wins Stud; Maria Ho in 5K Final Four (RISE Poker)

Day 6: Maria Ho Falls to Allen Bari (RISE Poker)

And here’s some other links to masticate on…

Poker Royalty Responds to Rakeback Account Selling Allegations (Bluff Magazine)

BJ shares his early analysis on Phil Ivey vs. Full Tilt. (Sport of Poker)

The Girls of the Rail Photo Dump. (Wicked Chops Poker)

John Katkin wrote an op-ed: Off to a Slow Start. (Pokerati)

One of the early highlight of the 2011 WSOP is knowing that Jesse May is here. He’s written two pieces already and is inspiring me to step up my game. Here’s Poker Is Going Back to the Wolves and You Sanctimonious Little. (The Poker Farm)

And let’s not forget about Shamus’ recent gem Angry Poker. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

And here’s some self-pimping. If you like music, maybe you’d be interested in reading about my wild weekend in Ohio…

Cleveland Steamer and Dali Blossoms (Cleveland)

Jedi Mind Bends (Cincinnati)

That’s it for now. It’s time for me to get the hell out of Kentucky and head back to Vegas. Regularly schedule nonsensical rants and inane observations from yours truly will resume later this evening (or early tomorrow).

You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Tags: ept | full tilt | game | girls | las vegas | limit-hold | mostly-everyone | poker-royalty | preliminaries | rise poker | Vegas | wicked-chops | writing

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Hat tip to Kevin Mathers for the info on the latest round of indictments from the DOJ which targeted sportsbook, and in the process a few online poker rooms like Doyle’s Roomwere nabbed as collateral damage. Here’s the official press release.

The covert investigation is something out of The Wire or out of a Hollywood pitch meeting. The Feds (a joint task force with Homeland Security, IRS, and Customs Agents) created a fake payment processor, Linwood, and the online casinos, online poker rooms, and sportsbooks approached them to do business. The Feds acquired a plethora of inside info during their two-year sting, which they used to build a case and bring down a new batch of online gaming sites.

Domain shutdowns on Monday included DoylesRoom.com, BookMaker.com, BetEd.com, TruePoker.com, 2Betsdi.com, Funtimebingo.com, Goldenarchcasino.com, Betmaker.com, Betgrandesports.com, and Betehorse.com.

BookMaker is one of the larger online sportsbooks in the sportsbetting industry. I don’t have an account there, but I had one at BetEd. Just last week I had the VIP manager offering me an unbelievable bonus to fund my account.

The even nabbed a Keno and bingo site. Professional Keno Player Neil Fontent just lost his sponsorship and I know he’s pissed. And how about all those grandmas sitting at home and hopped up on pharmies? What are they gonna do now without Funtimebingo.com?

By the way, Doyle Brunson left Doyle’s Room recently. The Godfather bailed before the shitstorm. Good timing for Dolly, eh? Or did he get tipped off ahead of time?

Will there be more indictments to come? Is this the end of everyone who ran over and migrated their online rolls to the Merge network? Is this the Black Friday for the sportsbetting world, or is this just one of many more shakeups in the online gaming world?

* * *
I’m starting a running link dump as info comes forth, feel free to drop links into the comments….

First of all, CrazyMarco and gang at QuadJacks Radio are broadcasting live about the breaking news of the second wave of indictments. Listen here.

Gambling web sites, international bank accounts seized in federal sting. (The Republic)

Online poker “payment processor” admits U.S. charges. (Portfolio)

Baltimore feds target online gambling. (Baltimore Sun)

More Domains Seized. (Subject Poker)

Inside the Indictments and Inside the Press Release (Subject Poker)

Black Friday continues-True Poker and Bookmaker indictments 5/23/11. (2+2)

Feds Seize More Online Gambling Websites (G911)

The Ghost Hand: Maryland law enforcers aim to take the pot by secretly sitting at the online gambling table (Baltimore City Paper)

Black Monday? has a list of the laws violated by the sites in question and links to the indictments. (Pokerati)

Linwood Affidavit. (Scribd)

Ten More Sites Seized in New Poker-Related Indictments (Bluff)

Thanks again to KevMath for his research assistance.

Stay tuned for more info…

Tags: black | black-friday | gambling | hollywood | indictments | Link Dump | online-gambling | poker | press-release | research | sports betting | subject-poker | Vegas | web-sites

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

First of all,my condolences to BJ on the passing of his dog Rhapsody. He’s in doggie heaven now. RIP Rhap.

Okay, now onto some pokery nuggets of news bits on this Monday morning. I don’t have any time to waste, so here’s a quickie…

Today in Poker History: Shamus waxes about Chris Moneymaker’s momentous victory at the 2003 Main Event (back when the WSOP was played in May) eight years ago today in The “Boom” Eight Years Later. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

WSOP Flashback: Change100 shared a flashback from 2008 in Leaving Los Angeles. (Pot Committed)

Poker and the Law: I enjoyed this post from Grange95 that he posted a couple of weeks ago…Regulation, Segregation, and a Cereus Case of Déjà Vu. (crAAKKer)

Whale: Some random guy won $15 million at the blackjack tables in AC. H/T to KevMath for this tale of a little guy busting up the casinos. (Deadspin)

Fear Mongering: There’s a brand new Monday Morning Blue Pill (compiled by Change100) and Monday Morning Red Pill (compiled by yours truly). (Tao of Fear)

That’s it. Happy Monday. NGTFOOMO!

Tags: 2011 | boiled-poker | change100 | condolences | eight-years | Link Dump | lost vegas | monday | news | poker-history | tao of fear | the law

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Normally I’d tell you to enjoy these savory links while grinding out the Sunday tournaments, but now I’ll just tell you to enjoy these links while killing time in between the Canucks-San Jose game and the Heat-Bulls game.

Some pokery nuggets…

Angry Poker Players: Here’s video(s) of the infamous “Don’t Touch Me!” nutjob from the Bellagio. Awesome paparazzi-like camera work from Micon.(DonkDown)

Vegas Backroom Beatdowns: Charles Oakley is suing Aria for getting a beatdown by security? Wait, Oakley losing a brawl? He should have had Anthony Mason watching his back and that never would have happened. (Vegas Inc, LasVegasVegas)

Sportsbetting: Here’s a stellar post about the importance of bet sizing when it comes to sportsbetting… Sizing Matters (Buffalo Hold’em)

Dude, Where’s My Money?: Bill Rini explains how player account segregation. (Bill’s Poker Blog)

PPA Backlash: And while you’re at Bill’s site, check out his latest assessment about the PPA spiraling out of control. (Bill’s Poker Blog)

Degens: I enjoy personal essays on addiction, especially gambling problems… The High Is Always the Pain and the Pain Is Always the High (The Morning News)

Old Vegas: The Grump bids adieu to the Sahara with a series of stories. (Grump)

International Degens: I want to open up a sportsbook in Australia and a casino in Singapaore. What? That’s where the biggest gambling losers live. I love graphs and here’s one that shows The Biggest Losers.

Stats: RIP Macho Man Savage. Here’s a statistical breakdown of Macho Man’s minor league baseball stats during his short stint as an aspiring professional baseball player. (Deadspin)

That’s it for now. Go Canucks (and Bulls too). NGTFOOMO.

Tags: australia | bellagio | biggest | buffalo-hold | Degens | importance | poker | sahara | sunday | tournaments

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
Los Angeles, CA

Happy Monday and welcome to May. It’s one of those mornings that might’ve blind-sided you if you went to bed early and missed the breaking news last night (and no, it had nothing to do with the Royal Wedding). Anyway, if you’re already sick of the mainstream news and want an escape into poker, then I have a couple of poker-centric links for you. I also completed my dispatches from Peru including a visit to Machu Picchu, but if you’re seeking out news from the fringe, then by all means, I encourage you to browse the links from Tao of Poker’s sister site, Tao of Fear….

Poker Politics: The DonkeyBomber penned an op-ed Washington D.C. Needs More Gambling. The former WSOP Player of the Year called for some radical changes including El Presidente setting aside a $200 million gambling fund. (Pokerati)

Black Friday: Los hombres but in some work on this post: Black Friday… Separating Myths from Facts. (Wicked Chops Poker)

It’s Your Birthday, It’s Your Birthday: Belated happy 5th blog birthday to Short-stacked Shamus! Congrats on five years of outstanding writing. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

* * *
And now for something completely different, here’s a few items that appeared on Tao of Fear over the last few days, including a brand new silver-centric link dump, a couple of op-eds that I wrote, and the insanely popular Monday Morning Red Pill (straight up fer mongering from yours truly) and Monday Morning Blue Pill (aka fodder for the sheeple whipped up by the lovely Change100)…

Silver Nugs: Buy Side Conspiracies, Swapping for Gold, Warehouse Shenanigans, APMEX Runs Out, and Silver Plunges

Monday Morning Blue Pill: Royal Wedding Aftermath, WHCD, and Beck Goes After Gays

Monday Morning Red Pill: Deadly Tornadoes, Bad Radiation, Arming Dictators and Screw the Royals

Op-Ed: Ding, Dong… Bin Laden’s Dead

Op-Ed: Manipulation of Gas Prices in America

Op-Ed: You Want Fries With That?; McDonalds Fields 1 Million Applications for 40,000 Jobs

* * *
And lastly, before you go, take a peek at my trip reports from Tao of Pauly and Flickr photo galleries from Peru…

Lima to Cusco: Coca Tea, Alien Stonework, and Saqsayhuaman

Cusco to Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu

Photo Gallery – Machu Picchu

Photo Gallery – Aguas Calientes

Photo Gallery – Cusco, Peru and Saqsayhuaman Ruins

Photo Gallery – Lima, Peru

Don’t forget, you can always follow @TaoFear on Twitter.

OK, that’s it for now. You know the drill…. NGTFOOMO!

Tags: alien-stonework | america | black friday | donalds-fields | gambling | Link Dump | lost vegas | photo-gallery | poker | silver | trip

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Happy Sunday and welcome to May. A few of my friends that I met through poker are excellent writers and every single one of them inspire me in one way or another. Go read them…

Grubby wrote about strippers and pre-come. (The Poker Grub)

Hank learned some lessons from the Sims video game. (The Cards Speak)

Joe Speaker wrote about a man’s quest for faith. (Obituarium)

Change100 posted a second installment of her series on online poker lobbying dollars with Follow the Money, Part 2: Where Online Sites Spend Lobbying Dollars. (Pot Committed)

Ryan emerges from hibernation with Why I’m Quiet and more importantly with Why Online Poker Should Be Mandatory. (Absinthetics)

Otis wrote a letter to the man who bought his house. (Rapid Eye Reality)

That’s it. Have an fun the rest of this weekend. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Tags: 2011 wsop | download-poker | friends | from-the-sims | happy-sunday | indie-writers | know-the-drill | lost vegas | money | online-poker | pauly | poker | speaker | Vegas | video-game

By Pauly
Cusco, Peru

I’m still in South America rounding up freedom fighters to assist us in overthrowing El Presidente Obama as the puppet in La República del Plátano de los Estados Unidos. Until my return to American soil, here’s a few noteworthy items that you should be reading…

Matt Matros’ Op-Ed: After the Dept. of Justice shuts down online poker, a poker pro defends his game (Washington Post)

The biggest joke played on us all…the PPA! (2+2)

The PPA Meets Or Exceeds Expectations (CrAAKKer)

The PPA is pathetic. (Bill Rini)

PPA Needs to Be Stopped (Riding the F Train)

Epic thread: Online Poker Players: Before and After (2+2)

Follow the Money: Online Poker and Political Contributions (Pot Committed)

That’s all I got. I started penning a post about Black Friday, which I hope to finish shortly. Planning revolutions is rather time consuming and cuts into my writing time. Until then… GTFOOMO!

Tags: black | black-friday | game | indie-writers | Link Dump | news | pauly | poker | revolution | train | writing