The U.S. Department of Justice recently made an astonishingly bad $34 million bet.

The size of the cash isn’t the issue-$34 million is peanuts for the federal government.

The DoJ is betting that it can scare Americans out of playing poker online.

But prosecutors don’t seem to realize that they will probably lose this bet. And when they do, the decision will be read that Internet poker is legal.

The action was brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York-New York City. Rumors in the legal community say the DoJ in Washington D.C. did not approve, or even know, this was going to happen. Perhaps even the U.S. Attorney himself did not realize the significance of what an assistant in his office was about to do. That seems logical, since the legal theories behind the action are so weak, and the Obama Administration has a lot more important legal concerns than going after online poker players.

For … Continue reading DoJ Goes All-In with a Very Weak Hand

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Most casino regulatory systems are either too new or too old.

When a system is new, regulators and lawmakers have freedom to play at being social engineers. New regulators are often inflexible about allowing rules to change to match real-world experience. This is how you end up with docked riverboats throwing all their patrons off the ships at the end of phantom cruises.

But if a system is too old, regulators become captives of the casinos they are supposed to police.

Macau is unique in that it faces the best and worst of having a system that is both too new and too old. And most of the problems this has caused have been ignored up to now, because everyone was making so much money.

This year, Macau casinos will make more than all of the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City combined.

Yet it’s hard to even know who owns the casinos.

Macau is the only jurisdiction in the world that licenses operato… Continue reading Victim of Its Own Success

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There, now that I got your attention, I was honored to be one of the second-year inductees into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. Joining me were June Field, the founder of Card Player Magazine, and Cyndy Violette, noted top high-limit pro. Each of them is a WSOP gold bracelet winner and has been in the poker industry as long as have I … 30 years give or take a few.

The Women In Poker Hall Of Fame (more fondly called the WIPHOF) was founded by Lupe Soto and designed to honor women who have acquired prominence and made contributions to the poker community. June has been a proponent of women’s events while playing in them over the years and also by promoting the growth of women in poker. She founded Card Player Cruises, which became a stand-alone company many years ago, and I was lucky enough to become a partner in it.

Cyndy Violette has been a one-woman wrecking ball on the poker circuit for many years. Always an icon of decorum and class, she won a WSOP… Continue reading Ladies of the Evening

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LISANDRO NOTCHES RARE BRACELET TRIPLE

News from the World Series of Poker dominated the poker headlines in June, with international star Jeffrey Lisandro claiming the lion’s share of the glory. Lisandro turned in a rare triple at the WSOP in all three stud variations, claiming gold in $1,500 7-card stud (Event No. 16), $10,000 world championship 7-card/8 (Event No… Continue reading Poker News – WSOP; Europe; Barney Frank; PPA

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LISANDRO NOTCHES RARE BRACELET TRIPLE

News from the World Series of Poker dominated the poker headlines in June, with international star Jeffrey Lisandro claiming the lion’s share of the glory. Lisandro turned in a rare triple at the WSOP in all three stud variations, claiming gold in $1,500 7-card stud (Event No. 16), $10,000 world championship 7-card/8 (Event No… Continue reading Poker News – WSOP; Europe; Barney Frank; PPA

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The Main Event Continues

– The 2009 WSOP Main Event continued with the play and conclusion of Day 5. The day included a deep run into the money, as the tournament field size was more than cut in half. All 407 players who started play were already guaranteed $27,469 in prize money. Now, after ten days and 40 hours of tournament play, all finishers are guaranteed at least $36,626 in prize money.

– Day 3 began with 407 players. The day ended with 185 survivors.

– Prize money payouts increase at various intervals. Every player still alive in the tournament (185th place and higher) is now guaranteed at least $36,626 in prize money.

– This was the 45th day of the WSOP. Play continues for three more days, plus the finale to be played in November.

– Tomorrow (Sunday) begins at noon and is expected to include five levels of play.

… Continue reading World Series of Poker Continues – 185 Dreams Remain Alive in Main Event

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‘As with any tournament, we are extremely excited, but this one seems to be a bit more special as we are guaranteeing a million dollars-the largest prize pool in our history,’ said Bruce Dixon, Director of Poker for Mohegan Sun. ‘Since we opened our poker room last August, each tournament we’ve held has built a wave of momentum in terms of turnout and success and we expect July’s tournament to reach even new proportions.’

Similar to the Spring Showdown, which was held at the end of April, the Summer Showdown kicks-off with a $150,000 guaranteed no-limit hold ‘em event on Wednesday, July 22, followed by a 7-card stud event on Thursday, July 23, and a second $150,000 guara… Continue reading Mohegan Sun to Feature $1 Mil Guaranteed Prize at Summer Showdown Tournament

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Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino

Las Vegas, Nevada

Official Report

Event #57

World Championship

World Series of Poker Main Event

No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-In: $10,000

Number of Entries: 6,494

(Day 1-A – 1,116)

(Day 1-B – 873)

(Day 1-C – 1,696)

(Day 1-C – 2,809)

Total Players Remaining: 1,816

Total Net Prize Pool: $61,043,600

Number of Places Paid: 648

First Place Prize: $8,546,435

July 3–November 10, 2009

Tournament Highlights:

The Main Event Begins -

– The Main Event continued with the opening festivities for Day 1-D. WSOP President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack welcomed journeymen ESPN poker commentators Lon Mceachern and Norman Chad onto the stage, who performed a short routine. In his customary broadcast voice, Mceachern joking… Continue reading Fourth of Four WSOP Main Event Starting Days Now Complete

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‘The price of poker is going up!’ as Mike Sexton would say.

Just when you thought that action at the nosebleed tables was already ridiculously high, the stakes have been elevated. Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan and Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies engaged in several $3,000-$9,000 heads-up pot-limit Omaha matches. The two normally played with $500-$1,000 blinds, but they agreed to make it at least $9,000 to see the flop. Ziigmund alluded that he wasn’t all that comfortable playing so high, but with the lack of available high stakes opponents, he really had no choice.

‘I hope I won’t do it anymore,’ wrote Ziigmund on his blog. ‘That’s sick, sick big game.’

The swings have been immense. Durrrr won and lost a couple of million dollar sessions during the first week of escalated blinds. Eventually the two were involved in a pot so big that it set a record for largest pot-limit Omaha pot of all time. It was also the second largest pot ever played online. In case you w… Continue reading Higher and Higher

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One of the recurring themes of poker theorists is the concept of dominated hands. Entire books on poker strategy are based primarily on the concept of building the kinds of hands that dominate those held by opponents, and avoiding situations where yours is the hand that’s dominated.

If this concept is new to you, here’s how it works. If I’m holding A-10 and you have A-K, my hand is dominated. Miraculous straights and flushes that might accrue to A-10 notwithstanding, I have just three outs, and three outs only, to win this pot. And while there are a few more hands that will enable me to split the pot-a rainbow coalition of K-Q-J-10 might hit the board and our straights will propel us to a split pot-that’s beside the point since my objective is to win; it’s not about playing a lesser hand in hopes of getting my money back courtesy of a really miraculous fall of cards.

Dominated hands, by definition, have three outs. Except for those aforementioned miraculou… Continue reading Domination, Part 1

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