Yeah, it’s about as exciting as the title of this post.

Some kidding aside, maybe a tournament with only 373 players is a bit of a downer from the massive tournaments at the WSOP this summer. And it should be noted that last year’s attendance at the WPT Legends main event was 485, which makes for a pretty significant drop-off in just one year. Sure, there were a few players who are on their way to Macau for the APT and APPT but not enough to make up the difference. Maybe people are just flat-ass broke from the WSOP.

The vibe at the Bicycle Casino was a positive one, though, as the big names rolled in and seemed genuinely happy to see each other. As Bryan Devonshire said, “It’s like a class reunion!” Most players seemed in good spirits, but more due to the juicy cash games going on at Commerce and possibly Hustler casinos. Freddy Deeb told me that the games were so good at Commerce that he’s been in L.A. for three weeks playing them and hesitated to even come over to the Bike for Legends. (He busted on Day 2 and was excited to get back to his deuce-to-seven single draw game.)

Going into Day 3 today, Adam Weinraub leads the pack of 79 players, after also leading after Day 1A. The name might sound familiar, as he took down the WPT Invitational two years ago at Commerce. He owns a company here in Orange County so doesn’t play on the circuit regularly, but he does like to get in a tournament in L.A. or Vegas when he can. And, I must say, that he is a fantastically friendly and humble guy. Go Adam!

Other big names in the top ten today include Matt Keikoan, Max Pescatori, Mark Seif, and Marco Johnson. Players will hit the money today – top 36 players get paid – and they should be down to 27 by the end of the night.

One of the guys speaking last night in Denver (and so few seemed to be listening) was none other than Former Rep. Jim Leach (R-IO). We hate him! He’s pretty much the architect of the UIGEA, having written the defeated house bill that would be repackaged in the Senate and passed by Bill Frist.

But apparently, since being ousted, he’s had a change of political heart and is abandoning the Republican right wing in favor of the Obamawagon.

Here’s what the 2+2 kids have been saying about his transformation, and whether or not this makes him the Justin Bonomo of politics. And here’s what non-poker forums (do they really exist?) are saying.

I’m not so sure I trust this guy, but some of the things he said that caught my attention:

Yet what frustrates so many citizens is … the way today’s Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage.

The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. … And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts.

Full transcript here.

Interestingly enough, Leach’s speech was followed by the commercial below, starring Matt Damon, the poker-friendly star of Rounders, for One.org:

Alas, no mention of poker on that site, either, as their special interest is apparently in ending global poverty. Hmmm … not sure how we can tailor the poker message to tie in with their worthy cause. But hey, we do know that Matt Damon is, um, “doing things” to Sarah Silverman, who will be playing in the PPA charity tourney tonight. So the connection between ending global poverty and allowing people all over the world to bet tens of thousands of dollars on a flush draw could be closer than we think!

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) just gave his address — not nearly the tear-jerker CNN analysts predicted it would be — and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), speaking from the floor of the DNC, immediately followed as a guest on Hannity & Colmes. Wexler, of course, is the sponsor of the ever-pokery HR 2610 (Skill Game Protection Act) — he definitely knows what’s up, and what’s wrong, with current online poker law. However, in his time with H&C, he did not bring up poker. He spoke instead — with Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” blasting in the background — about the importance of universal health care, Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as a running mate, and women’s rights.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is speaking right now just spoke a little while ago … he’s a friend of poker!

Jackson is one of four cosponsor’s to Rep. Pete Sessions’ (R-TX) HR 6663. That bill, of course, is the most straightforward fix to the UIGEA — simply limiting its reach to online sports gambling — yet one of the more controversial because of, um, politics.

Perhaps shockingly, he didn’t mention anything about the critical importance of being able to easily compete in online WSOP satellites in his five minutes he had to address the world … but hey, that’s where we stand: We have a young, pre-introductory Day 1 speaker to the Democratic party (his debut performance on such a stage) aware of our issues and philosophically on our side, though not exactly the way the PPA would like him to be.

Speech transcript / Video

Mean Gene was on the scene when all was shaking down — and he’s got some great details about just how drinky a fete the $50k HORSE championship really was — for players, fans, and reporters alike — and the bad vibes all around that may or may not have come across on ESPN.

(I was wondering about that beer-bottle label, or lack thereof. Indeed, I can imagine how even the attempt to force someone to drink Milwaukee’s Best Light could spark a little tilt.)

Episode 7 of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show

Click here to listen/download

This show is the antithesis of Beyond the Table when it comes to intellect, humor, and style, and at a well-produced hour long — some of it reading of books about poker philosophy and literature — it’s pretty much the opposite of Tao of Pokerati, time- and speed-wise. And yet for some reason, as I’m waiting for my turn to call in to a non-poker conference call and am catching up on filing, I love it. Think it has something to do with sitting alone in the office and not being the smartest person in the room.

That’s the question this week. Scroll down a bit and over at the right. –>

We know lots of things factor into your decision on where to play — from the stakes to the amenities to the action. So using whatever algorithm you employ in your head, we want to know where it is that you feel like you’ve got to play — or where you really want to play — whenever you come to town. (Or, of course, if you live here … then just what’s your favorite room in town.)

You can actually vote once a day, so have at it however you want: stuff the ballot box for your favorite room, or spread out your votes to show your diggage of multiple poker joints.

See results of previous poker polls here.

Whether or not it was reality-TV editing that turned the Prince of Poker into the Puck of Poker during the $50k HORSE event … here’s an edited down version of the edited down version that compiles Scotty Nguyen’s drunken antics into a 10-minute YouTube vid.

Scotty Nguyen Belligerent Drunk Montage

Amazing to think that 10 minutes of mouth-off is all it takes to taint the public perception of one’s entire life. But hey, I’m sure Bill Clinton has had similar thoughts. Unless of course there weren’t two different Scottys in play, in which case then it was just a matter of time before the camera eventually captured, er, reality?

The swimmer who stunned the world by setting a new record with his eight gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing made a statement in one of his post-amazing-feat interviews. Michael Phelps told the Baltimore Sun, “I think it would be cool to play in the World Series of Poker. My game is a little off right now, so I’ll have to start improving it a little bit. But I think that would be cool, and it would be cool to meet some of those poker guys.”

Oh yeah?

Within days, Poker Shrink reported that Phelps was officially invited to play in the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Championship. And shortly thereafter, it was the Asian Poker Tour, which is gearing up for its Macau stop scheduled for this week. A representative from the APT wrote an open letter to Phelps, which was posted on 4Flush, with sentences like, “Some have said you are a ‘human dolphin’ but we’re keen to know if history’s greatest swimmer is really a fish. You may have feet that can reach angles others cannot to give you the ultimate swimming technique but just you wait until you’ve got sharks like Vegas poker legend Doyle Brunson chasing you. We’ll see how fast you really are then when they smell blood - get some flippers on those size 14’s!” (Really? Fish and shark references? *Sigh.*)

Most likely, offers from Visa are taking precedence over poker tournaments for Phelps, but it will be interesting to see if he takes anyone up on their offers. My money would be on the NBC Heads-Up Championship, but I imagine the guy just wants to go home and have a beer right about now. If he accepts an offer to play in a poker tournament, it would be absolutely huge for the game…

In a previous post, Dan mentioned Scotty Nguyen’s (bad) behavior as shown on the ESPN coverage of the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE final table. His drunken/erratic/insulting antics and chatter at the table has been controversial, as some members of the media blame editing for making Scotty look a little mentally unstable moody, while many viewers were clearly shocked by his treatment of his opponents, cocktail servers, and chips.

Evidently, Scotty reads forums and blogs. As I was made aware by Short-Stacked Shamus in his analysis of the ESPN episode, Scotty posted an apology of sorts on the CardPlayer forums.

He expressed his “sincerest apology” for the disappointment caused by his behavior caught on camera, and though he felt that he beat his opponents fair and square (”I would never be sorry to beat those players”), he felt bad that the fans saw him in a bad light. Scotty admits that he was caught up in a range of emotions, as is human nature, but knows that his fans are his bread and butter and wouldn’t want to disappoint them.

The full forum post is as follows:

I would like to apologize to all my fans for the disappointment I have caused in the H.O.R.S.E. Event. For that I would like to express my sincerest apology.

I would like to ask for understanding of what really took place.

More…

Two others who made it through include SodaSara and Josh Evans. Don’t know what their starting chip counts are or if they are still alive. But happy to see both of them at least cashed in El Norte, the land of poker opportunity (for Texas players).

UPDATE: SodaSara finished 10th place … $60k or 2 percent (depending on which column(s) of the promised prize distributions WinStar stays true to).

Sara (right) is pretty bummed right now about just missing the final table. But soon she’ll realize she just booked her biggest poker score to date — finishing in the top 1 percent of a tough field — and presumably be feeling much better.

Today’s the final day of the $3 million River tourney in the Winstar Territories. The $2,000+100 NLH event started six days ago with what would grow to more than 1,400 entries. A few less than 150 made it into the money and play today for the big money. Here are about 90 of the starters, and their starting chip counts:

(Thanks, Alicia, for sending this along!)

More…

The 2008 World Series has come and gone and will most likely, in a little less than three months, will come again. In the meantime, while cleaning out the computer(s) we’ve come across these “lost” episodes … recorded in the tail days of the main event. But this is everything … there’s no more, OK? At least not for now. So if you’d like to step back into the WSOP for just a few minutes at a time to the vocal stylings of yours truly and Dr. Pauly, by all means, have a listen/download. Some of it actually seems a little extra interesting with the benefit of a month-or-so of hindsight.

For the entire WSOP season click here.

The heretofore unheard old-new episodes, salvaged from the cut-and-pasting room floor:

Episode 30: The Cost of Donuts
Grubby joins the media to talk main event numbers and the price of trendy donuts in today’s oil economy. (3:19)

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Episode 31: Scotchy Poker
Dan+scotch early in the WSOP day=talk of Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. (4:02)

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Episode 32: French Warfare
Benjo takes over the mic when Dan calls in drunk, and he and Pauly talk more about Isabelle Mercier live from the Day 2 killing fields. (5:14)

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Episode 33: New York & Texas
Michele Lewis joins in as Dan and Pauly break down the difference between Texas and New York humor, or at least the difference between Pauly and Dan. (2:40)

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Episode 34: Go Team!
Dallas’ Raj Kattamuri is going deep, and Pauly tracks down Dan in the poker kitchen to find out what it takes to be patched up on Team Pokerati. (2:37)

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Episode 35: No Wiener
Benjo is not his usual jovial self as the main event comes to a close and he bids farewell to his American friends in the penultimate WSOP episode of Tao of Pokerati. (4:41)

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Episode 36: Unhookered
The traditional late-late night poker-blogger farewell binge drinking at the Rio’s Hooker Bar, with guest appearances by Otis and Mean Gene. (3:29)

…Actually, I’m just the opposite. I went out middle, at level 6. Four PP’s (55,77,99,QQ). I hit one flop, never saw a turn all day, much less a river. Never played a loser through… until about 10 minutes ago. Never been so card dead. *cry,bitch,moan,walk*

Shawn Rice is nursing a short stack of about 7k, as we enter $400/$800+$75. We are at that pivotal point where all you can hear is “Seat Open on X”.

As I noted in a comment to a prior post, one player actually advanced with a single chip. That drive will suck. Another player advanced with ZERO, after coming in 2nd in a 3-way all-in. No word on whether he has to drive in to collect.

I still can’t get my hands on yesterday’s survivors. I’m packing it up and going home. The media table is now officially empty. (Again)

A couple hot poker topics this week have been, of course, WinStar, and Scotty Nguyen’s less than stellar behavior and etiquette in the $50k WSOP HORSE event, as seen on ESPN. Pauly (who actually watched this final table live) assures me a lot of this persona came in the editing — yeah, he was drunk and rude for awhile, but then he sobered up and played like a winner — and indeed, I remember thinking similarly as the day progressed … was rooting for Nguyen … definitely didn’t want a newbie like Michael DeMichele to win $50k Friggin’ HORSE! But after watching the episode(s) this week, I gotta say … was totally rooting for DeMichele, even though I knew he probably didn’t stand a chance.

Anyhow, point being … just wondering if a (bad) performance like Scotty’s could jeopardize his relationship with the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa, where he has hosted the biggest events in North-North Texas prior to the current River tourney at WinStar. “I am like a god in Oklahoma,” he has said. “They have my picture on billboard.”

Not saying one incident will — but wondering if it might. Because after all, there was a reason they chose him back in the day … because everyone loves Scotty Nguyen, baby! But now that’s clearly not the case.

OK, I think I got at least half of this thing figured out … here are the rest of the pics, taken by yours truly. I think the bar area is pretty cool.

Oops, I missed all the fun at the soft opening of the Hard Rock Poker Lounge yesterday. Supposedly it was wild fun with lots of great food to go with one sit-n-go after another. But the emptiness did give me a chance to take some better photos of the inside, and the cleaning crew didn’t even try to stop me!

Click below to have a look:

UPDATE: Argh, I am having trouble resizing and such. Bear with me as I learn Mac button-pressing … I swear this is supposed to make everything easier …

In the meantime, as I’m fiddling/flickring … these shots just came in over the transom from the Hard Rock:

The above shot is the main room — you can see the little VIP/private rooms along the back wall … and below is the room for whatever big-big game materializes:

Did anyone ever play at the site? ChanPoker did launch in the summer of 2006 with the inclusion of U.S. customers, but months later it went strictly overseas due to the passage of the UIGEA. Well, despite its cool Chinese lettering as the logo, it has closed up shop officially today. At least Johnny still has his All In Energy Drink biz…

Here is the message posted on the site:

We are sad to inform you that Chan Poker will be ceasing operation effective this Thursday, August 21, 2008. Effective immediately we will no longer be accepting deposits. On August 21 our poker clients will be disabled.

More…

According to Craig’s list, the Winstar Thrusday chips are a hot property, as people are asking $3,000-$5,000 for the sold-out $2,100 seats. I’m curious as to how many of those folks are having any luck. Comments? Anybody? Personally, I’m not seeing any deals working and am thinking that there will be a lot of late comers who couldn’t flip their chip.

Thursday is starting up the TV crew is running about. I’ve requested Survivor updates for Wednesday and should have those later today. I would already have posted them, but the person with the goods told me that he didn’t want to walk over to the poker room and get it. He’s a nice enough guy, but when, oh when will Winstar figure out that there’s live “Beyond The Tent”. (Is that domain available?)

Updates to come.