The recent success of the MicroMillions tournament series is another way that PokerStars gives low stakes players a shot at the spotlight usually reserved here at the PokerStarsBlog for the big Sunday Majors and the live poker tours like the LAPT and EPT. Tonight’s $50,000 Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout freeroll is another such event that even the microstakes players can get their names in the lights and make some cash on the way.

Not one but two Team Online members would make the money today be defeating their first tables in very different manners. George “Jorj95″ Lind III would need to take down a table of six before he was heads-up against RAMON800 holding a 6,109 to 2,891 chip lead. With the blinds at 75/150 Lind would min-raise from the button and get a call from RAMON800 to see the [8s] [Tc] [8c] flop. Check from RAMON800 and a follow-through bet of 300 from Lind got RAMON800 to check-raise all-in. Holding the nut flush draw [Ac] [Jc] Lind made the call and was behind the flopped top pair of RAMON800 [7c][Th]. [Kh] on the turn was blank, but the [Qd] on the river was not as Lind moved on to the second round.

Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez took a safer route after eliminating two players in five minutes the other two did not pick up their tickets for the freeroll and blinded off their chips to the Spain Online Pro as Dominguez also moved on to the second round after SSSSorry apologetically dismissed nextsunday from the tournament in 82nd place.

Javier’s second table proved to be a little tougher as the Online Pro was dwindled down to 1,013 chips from the starting 1,500 as the blinds moved up to 25/50. Dominguez would come in for a raise to 125 from UTG + 1 as tigran63 made the call from the big blind. No action after the [Jd] [5d] [9h] flop but when the [Qd] hit the turn tigran63 would min-check raise Javier to 402 total. El_Cañonero held just 888 chips left and tossed those in having turned top pair top kicker [Qc] [Ad]. Unlucky for him, tigran63 also improved his hand to the nut straight or a flush if you must [Kd][Td] either way Javier would see his chips move over to tigran63′s stack and picked up $195.00 for finishing in 66th place.

George however would claim a second victory after taking down perst777. With the blinds at 75/150 perst777 limped in from the button as Lind checked to see a couple of fives on the flop [Js][5h][5s]. Check from George as perst777 bet 150 and Lind min-check raised as perst777 made the call. [4s] on the turn and “Jorj95″ would lead out for 600 as perst777 was not giving up and shoved for 1,902 as George quickly called with the flopped trips [5c][8s]. Slow play, no pay for perst777 flipping up the cracked kings [Ks][Kc] as the [Jc] river shipped the table to the Team Online pro.

tigran63 would make good use of El_Cañonero’s chips by claiming the second to last seat at the final table as all eyes moved over to Table 9 for the final seat contested by FolishFish and escobarQQ. FolishFish’s massive 11,680 to 1,820 chip lead would be too much for escobarQQ as the short-stack would shove from the button with the blinds at 200/400 ante 50 holding [6s][Kd] as FolishFish made the call with [Th][Jd]. A ten on the flop [Qc] [Ts] [4s] [5d] [Qs] was all FolishFish needed to start up round three below:

Seat 1: Team Online George “Jorj95″ Lind (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: B4d3m3!st3r (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: Alex.i1off (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: A_PIRAT (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Jackal69 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: tigran63 (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Paulharvey3 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: Maluski-9 (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: FolishFish (1500 in chips)

Right away an attempt for an even of nearly $4K was derailed by silence as the nine-handed play of the final table would continue on as all nine would make it through the 10/20 and 15/30 set of blinds.

Blademaster sliced

Towards the end of the 25/50 blind level B4d3m3!st3r started off the hand with an innocent min-raise as Maluski-9 called in the big blind to see a [As][Ts][4c] flop. Maluski-9 check as B4d3m3!st3r led out for 100. Check-raise was the response to 298 total as B4d3m3!st3r was not giving up and shoved for 866 more. Holding [Qs][Ah] Maluski-9 covered and made the call as he out kicked B4d3m3!st3r’s [9h][Ac]. [7d] turn and [8s] river helped neither player as B4d3m3!st3r was cut from the final table in ninth place ($775.00).

You have one but I have two

Two is usually better than one, especially when playing poker and referring to aces. Blinds up to 50/100 and A_PIRAT would lead out for a min-raise as tigran63 shoved for 1,328 as it folded back around to A_PIRAT who covered and made the call with aces [Ac][Ah]. Normally the big slick [Ad][Kd] held by tigran63 would be on top and a flopped king would be the cause for celebration. Instead the aces would hold [Ks] [9h] [5c] [7d] [Tc] and tigran63 would be knocked down to 48 which ended up in Jackal69′s hand five hands later.

Two for the price of one

tigran63′s eventual elimination came from getting in the middle of this three-way all-in below:

Paulharvey3: [Qc] [Qh]
Jackal69: [Kc] [Th]
tigran63: [Ad] [Kd]

If you were to just see the hand which one do you think won? Well, it’s not the queens nor the big slick of tigran63 (second time was NOT a charm) as the king-ten of Jackal69 notched a straight [Jh] [9d] [7s] [3h] [Qs] taking out tigran63 in eighth place ($1,200.00) and Paulharvey3 in seventh place ($1,700.00).

Biting through the competition

Jackal69 was not done by a long shot as six hands later Alex.i1off would shove in a short stack of 1,080 and Jackal69 was right there to re-raise to 2,725 in case anyone wanted to join in. They did not as Alex.i1off showed [Td][Kh] and Jackal69 with the slightly better [Js][Ad]. Ace on the flop [Ac] [7h] [3s] [6d] [Jd] was all that was needed as Jackal69 added the 2,310 chips to the tournament total and Alex.i1off was done in sixth place ($2,200.00).

Team Online George Lind III finishes in fifth place

Down to 995 chips in the 50/100 blind level, Lind would open shove from the button as A_PIRAT reshoved from the small blind showing pocket eights after Jackal69 did not call. George would open up tonight’s tournament death hand of big slick and sure enough [Ts] [3c] [8c] [9d] [Jh] no aces or kings as slick fell to 0 for 3 tonight and Lind picked up $2,735.00 in fifth place.

Too far to swim upstream

FolishFish held on to his stack long enough to see half table fall to Jackal69 and tried to get something going with a shove from the big blind for 1,055 over the top of Jackal69′s raise. The unstoppable Jackal69 held just [7s][6s] against FolishFish’s [Js][Qh] but a six on the flop said otherwise as no card over a nine would hit the [9h] [6c] [9d] [5c] [2d] board and FolishFish was fried in fourth place ($3,350.00).

More Jackal action

This is what “run good” looks like. Watch below as Jackal69 takes down another foe:

What started as close to a coin flip between A_PIRAT’s [Qc][Kh] and Jackal69′s [Ad][Jc] ended quickly with two aces on the flop [Kc] [Ac] [As] [5d] [8h] and A_PIRAT would not be part of the very quick chop discussions after losing in third place ($4,500.00).

Thanks to an immediate double up on the next hand to 3,852 chips, Jackal69 warmed to a chop of $1,000 to Maluski-9 who agreed to end the tournament right there declaring Jackal69 the March Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout champion!

March Battle of the Planets Triple Shootout results (03-25-12)
(* denotes part of two-way chop)
1. Jackal69 (United Kingdom) *$11,000.00
2. Maluski-9 (Canada) *$8,500.00
3. A_PIRAT (Russia) $4,500.00
4. FolishFish (Ukraine) $3,350.00
5. Team Online George “Jorj95″ Lind (Canada) $2,735.00
6. Alex.i1off (Russia) $2,200.00
7. Paulharvey3 (Canada) $1,700.00
8. tigran63 (Russia) $1,200.00
9. B4d3m3!st3r (Germany) $775.00

Tags: 2011 | jackal69 | news | portugal | russian poker series | tcoop | twitter | UKIPT | videos | World Series of Poker

Thanks to the gang at LasVegasVegas for pointing out this video of Las Vegas recorded almost 50 years ago. Sin City sure had changed since then…

Las Vegas 1962 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | house | lost vegas | philosophy | Podcast | rio | sports | Tao All Stars | tao of fear

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA

A slanted photo of a bloody Al Pacino in his role of Tony Montana from Scarface hung high up on the wall above the check-out counter. The weathered photo sat inside a plastic cover, like one you’d use to protect a comic book. Pacino, adorned in a pinstripe suit, held a machine gun in his right hand.

The photo is hung so high up on the wall, it’s almost at the ceiling. Pacino hovers over the top shelf, where the “expensive” booze was stored — mostly a couple of dusty bottles of Patron and one bottle of Johnnie Walker Red. I couldn’t figure out if the photo was an homage to the owner’s favorite fictional character, or if he left it there as a message to would-be robbers. Maybe he was bragging about being a fourth-rate drug dealer? After all,no one believed he was actually paying rent on a corner store in Pacific Heights by inflating the price of cigarettes and selling cheap wine that might cause unexplained bouts of blindness. The owner had to be doing something shady — either laundering money for a criminal enterprise like an off-shore online casino or using the store as a front to move a significant amount of weight of an illegal white powdery substance that’s none of my fucking business.

Above one of the four clear-doored refrigerators that lined the wall, another photo inside a plastic cover where the overpriced generic milk and orange juice were on display. Shaquille O’Neil, grinning ear to ear, stood next to the store owner. Both of them wore snazzy suits. By the looks of it, the photo was at least a decade old, when Shaq first arrived in Los Angeles to play for the Lakers. Plus the owner looked much younger and had significantly more hair then. He was actually smiling. In the two or so months I lived around the corner I never saw him even smirk. He was the type of guy who woke up with a scowl on his face and he only grew angrier throughout the day.

It was obvious that the bodega owner’s two idols were Shaq and Tony Montana. It could’ve been a lot worse, like Kobe Bryant and Charlie Sheen.

* * *
Growing up in NYC, I was spoiled with the convenience of a local neighborhood bodega. When I lived in Las Vegas, I missed bodegas the most because Vegas neighborhoods, a few miles away from the casinos on The Strip, are so spread out that it’s impossible to walk anywhere, besides, it’s always 110 fucking degrees outside. I didn’t have an authentic bodega experience in Los Angeles because big business muscled out all of the immigrant-owned stores and replaced with a low-frill, generic version known as 7-11. Sure we had a 24-hour one three blocks away, but a homeless guy was camped out in front and if you wanted to buy anything, you had to pass by the puke-inducing grey meat-like tubes roasting on some sort of grill contraption next to the cash register.

I moved to San Francisco a couple of months ago and realized the corner bodegas are essentially liquor stores that also cigarettes, condoms, soft drinks, and junk food. Yeah, you can buy hard liquor and wine in bodegas here. In NYC, you could buy a six pack at a bodega, but you could only buy hooch at a liquor store. And in case you were wondering, the 7-11 around the corner from me in the Slums of Beverly Hills didn’t even sell beer or wine.

A couple of bodegas are located within walking distance of my house. The closest one is something that we call the Degen Market. True story. My roommate Halli gave it its nickname because the owner is a degenerate gambler.

Halli refuses to buy anything in the store after she got into a verbal joust with the owner. He was fretting over the score in a baseball game while shouting into the phone (presumably to his bookie). All she wanted to do was buy a pack of smokes and get the hell out of what she described as “the creepiest store north of the Mission.” But the owner, originally born in Jordan, was more focused on bitching about his bad beat in mixture of Arabic and baseball lingo than ringing up a pack of of cigarettes.

During her self-imposed ban of the Degen Market, she’d walk a couple of extra blocks to a different bodega. There’s one with a beautiful new awning and colorful murals on the walls outside the store. It’s better lit, smells much nicer and has plastic baskets to put your fruit and other “real” food items in. The nice corner store even had a deli counter and that owner was more jovial and shot the shit with you while he made sandwiches. He had an extensive selection of cheap and expensive wines and almost thirty different kinds of beer.

It was a totally different scene a few blocks away in the Degen Market where the only bottles of wine were in jugs or cardboard boxes. The selection of booze was sparse compared to the average bodega. The primary liquor shelf was stocked with cheap spirits — lots of Smirnoff products and a brand of Caribbean rum that I never heard of before.

The Degen Market is an anomaly for the yuppie neighborhood that had a smattering of hipsters and neo-faux-hippies (a.k.a. Trustafarians). You know the types — the elite one-percenters who felt like they were doing their civic duty by voting for Obama. On any given moment, you’ll find someone pushing an uber-expensive German-made baby stroller that cost more than the blue book value on your car. Every sixty seconds, three women in black yoga pants stroll down the street with a tightly, rolled-up mat tucked under their arm.

The Degen Market is also on the same block as a couple of antique stores and a pet spa designed especially for the spoiled pets of Pacific Heights that prescription-pill riddled wives of hedge fund managers bring in once a week for a full-on treatment, which transform their canines into spiffy and pristine ornaments. You don’t want the neighbors to think you have a mangy dog, which is a dead giveaway for subversive anti-capitalist activity. Otherwise, the plutocrats will rat you out to Homeland Security for being a pinko-commie hash-head who spends their weekends downtown in front of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve building with wooked-out anarchists angrily chanting for the end of the corporate welfare state.

* * *
I’ve been hoarding water. It’s a little quirk that I’ve picked up ever since I moved to California. It’s the fatalist in me. I figured I can survive a short-term emergency situation like an earthquake or tsunami with a shotgun and water. If it’s only a temporary breakdown in the system, then I can successfully ride our riots and looting with a Mossberg at my side. The water is to live on, the shotgun is to keep a million or so unprepared zombies away from my water stash and my girlfriend. If by somehow the Bay Area is hit with an 8.0 magnitude quake or higher and I somehow survive the damage, then I’ll have to walk out of the city several miles to a safe house. Blackjack insurance might be a stupid bet in any casino, but I’m gonna need a shotgun and/or a samurai sword to get the fuck out of dodge if/when the shit hits the fan.

I learned it’s never foolish to prepare for a worst-case scenario — especially when you live in city prone to natural disasters. I was convinced that I was not crazy after watching footage of post-apocalyptic New Orleans after Katrina blew the roof off the Superdome and thousands of refuges turned the football stadium into a real-life rendition of Lord of the Flies with walls covered in splattered blood and fecal matter.

I think the owner of the Degen Market is suspicious that I have been buying out large quantities of his bottled water. He hasn’t said anything… yet.

* * *
The massive freezer in front of the checkout counter looked like it had not been opened in a few months, maybe even a few years. The ice cream inside was years past its expiration date. All you had to do was take one glimpse at the sketchy-looking freezer, and you’d know instantly that you didn’t want anything inside.

That, of course, made me suspicious and curious. What was really in the freezer? If I were to hide something in plain sight, I’d do it in an obvious spot where no one would want to look. For example a large sum of cash, a severed head, or some sort of contraband hidden snugly underneath a couple of bruised cartons of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Didn’t they go out of business a few years ago?

The Degen Market looks like it was hit with a first wave of hysterical people during an natural disaster. Most of the shelves were barren, save a few random canned items and microwaved popcorn that no one deemed a necessity during a potential apocalyptic situation.

Two TVs sat on top of the fridges and a closed-circuit screen was anchored to the ceiling. I had seen enough episodes of The Wire to wonder if the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA, or DEA had tapped into his surveillance cameras to monitor the activity at his store. The more I thought about it, the more paranoid I got.

You could view the security cameras and both TVs while sitting behind the check-out desk. During the days, an old woman watched the news and talked on the phone. When the owner was minding the store, he always had on a different sporting event on one, if not both of the TVs. His viewing was not limited to American sports. I caught different European soccer matches and even one match that included two teams from the Middle East. The writing at the bottom of the screen was in Arabic. I tried to make small talk.

“Who’s playing?”

“Shabab Al Ordon and Al Wehdat.”

“So who do you have?”

“Al Wehdat.”

I looked up at the screen completely puzzled at which team was which. I pretended to know who was who and nodded. “Ah, well good luck in the future.”

* * *
The owner was not a drug dealer. He was not a money launderer. He was a run of the mill broke dick. Halli said that she’s seen the owner play poker at one of the local card rooms just outside San Francisco. Ah, he’s living the American Dream… leave an oppressive Middle East country, work your ass off to buy your own small business, drive around in a Detroit-made convertible, and then at the end of the day, empty out the cash register and drive to the closest casino to test your acumen at a card game against crazy Asian gamblers. Only in America.

As if being a degen sports bettor wasn’t enough, he also had the fever for poker. If he had any skill, he’d be able to siphon off enough chips at the cash game tables to cover his sports betting loses, but the poker gods don’t shine any love on him at all. Much like the sports betting gods, his prayers often go unheard and always unanswered. No wonder the owner sits behind the counter with a sullen grimace, like a man plotting revenge on the neighborhood bully who lit his puppy on fire.

I hatched a plan. By week 2 of the NFL season, I’d be booking bets for the owner. By the end of week 8, he’d lose so much money that I could go down to the store at any time and take anything off the shelf — including the Patron. Is that what anyone wants in life? The freedom and power to walk into a store and take something without paying. Anyone can buy something with fiat currency. It takes a special circumstance to wield the sort of power like a druglord like Tony Montana or the hooligans from Goodfellas, and walk onto another man’s property and take anything they want.

Of course, the main goal was to own the pink slip on his car by the end of the year and eventually own the store outright before the Superbowl.

What would I do with a bodega? I have no fucking clue, but the idea was so fucking crazy that I had to give it a shot.

And no. I didn’t think about losing. If Las Vegas taught me anything it’s that the house always wins. Always. Degenerate sports bettors will always be who they are. It’s in their DNA. They’ve been conditioned by society to think that chumps are the working stiffs, and that they are the ones really living on the edge. No matter how much they win, they’ll eventually donk it back off. The house always wins. Casino owners pad their pockets with every day addictions. It might take a couple of weeks, it might take a couple of years, but over the long haul, it’s nearly impossible to out run the juice laying 11/10. Shit, it’s a tough battle even if you’re getting reduced rake at certain online sportsbooks. Bottom line it’s a daunting task to remain a winning sports bettor over time.

Investing isn’t that easy. If it were, the guys down on Wall Street wouldn’t have to bend the elasticity of rules or put politicians in power to create new rules to make their crimes “legal.” The financial services industry is so corrupt that very few people think twice about breaking so many rules to make a buck, and if by chance their outrageous bets shit the bed, then can simply extort ask the government for handouts (at taxpayers’ expense) when they eventually go busto.

But grinding out an income as a bookie? As the saying goes, “It’s a hard way to make an easy living.”

Tags: 2011 wsop | entertainment | house | jack tripper | lost vegas | november-nine | Tao All Stars | the micros | TOC | wpbt

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA

Yesterday marked the debut of Radio WCOOP.

What the hell is that? Radio WCOOP is a “Morning Zoo” format starring Joe Stapleton and Nick Wealthall. Those two recap all the goodness and goofiness called the 2011 WCOOP.

You all know about WCOOP, it’s that yearly tournament series on PokerStars that finally inspired a group of rogue Americans to re-locate overseas so they can get their online MTT fix. I don’t blame them. I’m not what you would ever call an “online grinder” but I’ve been feeling the itch to play online poker the last few weeks. It’s like have a limb amputated and you reach down to scratch… nothing.

Why the hell am I not living in Vancouver? They have awesome Chinese food, an awesome NBA franchise, British Columbia’s phinest herbs, plus I can play online poker legally and open a Pinnacle sportsbetting account. Well, shiiiiiiiit, if I didn’t just move to San Francisco, I’d consider migrating to the Great White North.

Anyway, while American online pros scrambled to find residences in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Canada… the folks at PokerStars have been hard at work behind the scenes creating new facets of multimedia to keep you up to date with all the happenings in WCOOP. Earlier this year during SCOOP, they launched a daily highlights show and now, they went old school with a radio show.

If you are multilingual, or trying to bang exotic strippers, then Radio WCOOP will also be launched in other languages — Russian, Spanish, and German. Wait, no French, WTF? That’s Booshit!

For more details, visit the PokerStars Radio WCOOP page.

To listen to the debut episode of Radio WCOOP featuring the uber-chatty Daniel Negreanu, click here.

Tags: 2010 main event | facebook | hollywood | ice palace | Pai Gow | pca | phish | SCOOP | vancouver

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Happy birthday to a dear friend. Liz Lieu was one of the first people I met when I first got into poker. Both of our lives have taken many odd, strange, and wonderful turns, but we didn’t get to where we are today without some pitfalls and tragedies. Alas, Liz is truly a survivor in a brutal industry and a legitimate success story.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Liz!

All photos courtesy of Liz Lieu.

Tags: classic tao | ept | friends | las vegas | lost vegas | november-nine | phish | politics | the circuit

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Do you want to place a bet on who will win the 2011 WSOP Main Event? The Wynn casino released betting odds for the November Nine.

Here’s the opening lines…

2011 WSOP Betting Odds
3-1 Martin Staszko – 40,175,000
17-5 Eoghan O’Dea – 33,925,000
6-1 Matt Giannetti – 24,750,000
6-1 Phil Collins – 23,875,000
6-1 Ben Lamb – 20,875,000
7-1 Badih Bounahra – 19,700,000
10-1 Pius Heinz – 16,425,000
11-1 Anton Makievskyi – 13,825,000
14-1 Sam Holden – 12,375,000

Lines courtesy of the Wynn. Check your local bookie to see if lines have moved.

Martin Staszko fromt he Czech Republic is the chipelader and a 3-1 favorite. The longshot on the board is Sam Holden from the U.K. The Americans — Phil Collins, Ben Lamb, and Matt Giannetti — are each 6-1.

I like Eoghan O’Dea to win it all, but I’m going to wait to see if it moves to 4-1 or 9-2.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | day 5 | flickr | jack tripper | Pai Gow | philosophy | tao of five | Tao of Pokerati | the micros | twitter

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

2011 November Nine
Photo courtesy of Who Jedi
The moment you’ve all been waiting for…the November Nine is final set. There’s nine players remaining in the 2011 WSOP Main Event Championship. Play will be suspended until November, when everyone comes back to the Rio to slug it out for the bracelet and $8.7 million in cash.

2011 November Nine:
Seat 1: Matt Giannetti
Seat 2: Badih Bounahra
Seat 3: Eoghan O’Dea
Seat 4: Phil Collins
Seat 5: Anton Makievskyi
Seat 6: Samuel Holden
Seat 7: Pius Heinz
Seat 8: Ben Lamb
Seat 9: Martin Staszko

November Nine Chip Counts:
1. Martin Staszko – 40,475,000
2. Eoghan O’Dea – 29,400,000
3. Matt Giannetti – 24,850,000
4. Phil Collins – 21,425,000
5. Ben Lamb – 20,725,000
6. Badih Bounahra – 19,950,000
7. Pius Heinz – 16,475,000
8. Anton Makievskyi – 15,325,000
9. Samuel Holden – 13,725,000

November Nine – Final Table Payouts
1st – $8,711,956
2nd – $5,430,928
3rd – $4,019,635
4th – $3,011,661
5th – $2,268,909
6th – $1,720,396
7th – $1,313,851
8th – $1,009,910
9th – $782,115

To see who cashed in the Main Event, check out 2011 WSOP Main Event results and money finishers.

Stay tuned for a end of day recap. In the meantime, you can read Change100′s stellar recaps over at RISE poker, or sift through my twitter feed @taopauly to glimpse about my thoughts as the day progressed, or listen to the quickie episodes of Tao of Pokerati podcast that we recorded throughout Day 8, including KevMath’s exit interview.

Tags: 2011 | flickr | Music | pca | philosophy | Poker News | rise poker | tao of five | the micros

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Fun Warren dropped off a couple of dolls resembling famous poker pros in the pressbox.Dan and Pauly each received one as a gift. Hijinks ensue…

2001 WSOP – Episode 39: Bruno’s New Toy (4:20) – Fun Warren brought a batch of dolls to the WSOP. The dolls, resembling famous poker pros, were custom made in London . He left a couple behind for Pauly and Dan. Pauly got Phil Hellmuth, while Dan seems a little disappointed with Daniel Negreanu. Dan suggests that he’ll probably give the Negreanu’s doll to his dog Bruno, so Bruno will now have a new play toy.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

Tags: black-friday | copyright | deg | entertainment | lists | november-nine | phil ivey | philosophy | Podcast | politics | the micros

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Dan and Pauly continue to hang out at the final table bubble for the November Nine. They pucked up a hand…

2011 WSOP – Episode 38: Pucked Up Hand (4:48) – Dan and Pauly thought they were recording an episode during an elimination hand, but they mistakenly got the players mixed up. Instead of a bustout, they witnessed a double up by Matt Gianetti. The simple error leads to a suggestion that perhaps the WSOP needs to highlight all-in players with special colored spotlights.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

Tags: 2011 | 2011 wsop | atom | flickr | lost vegas | Music | Pai Gow | philosophy | tao of fear | the circuit | the pai gow diaries

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Dan showed up at the perfect time to hang out with Pauly, just as the final ten players were consolidated to one table…

2001 WSOP – Episode 37: Pseudo-Final Table (6:02) – Dan and Pauly are on the rail of the Mothership as action resumes for the pseudo-final table of ten, otherwise known as the November Nine bubble. Plenty of tension in the air because the final table will be set with just one more elimination.

For more episodes, visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

Tags: 2010 WSOP | 2011 main event | 2011 wsop | classic tao | deg | jack tripper | Pai Gow | pokerstars | politics | rise poker