Jennifer Browning's blog

The father of UIGEA, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced he will not seek presidency in 2008.

"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008."
- Bill Frist, AP story

But was it God or the Securities Exchange Commission investigation that helped Frist decide against a presidential run? According to an Associated Press story the SEC has been investigating Frist for over a year after allegations of insider trading through the sale of shares in HCA Inc., his family's hospital company. Frist denies any wrongdoing.

DALLAS--I decided to do some image hunting at the State Fair of Texas this weekend. About 50 feet inside Fair Park, towering over me was PartyPoker.net's white and green tent. I was a little shocked to see it in light of new laws and Party's American pull-outs ... but apparently it was merely a sign of Party's marketing left-overs.

Inside the tent, it seemed like business was running as usual. A hired Dallas marketing firm was operating the tent and cute girls in Party attire and khakis were giving away t-shirts and hats. Free tournaments boasting Party Poker luggage for the winner ran about every three hours.

I decided to stick around for the 4 pm tourney hoping to find out how my fellow Texans felt about the recent online gambling prohibition. I found only two who played online poker, and only one played for real money, former University of Michigan math professor Dr. Shane O'Neill (above). O'Neill said the new law was intrusive and described it as "pure robbery" of poker players rights, but said it wouldn't stop him from playing on Party. He plans to play under an "international alias" if his American Party account ends up giving him trouble. I imagine he won't be alone.

NEW YORK--Big Joe busted into the green room while the guys were practicing. Turns out nobody knows Big Joe's full name...nobody. What we do know is he is a manager of musicians of some sort and that he is a riot. I wish he was playing with these guys, because TRUST ME...he would make good TV. He is full of himself, animated and he knows how to play poker. He likes the ladies too and the respect seems mutual in this photo to the right where he is posing with the Hold'em ladies.

Big Joe begged one of the producers to let him play, and with DJ Clue being late, he might have had his chance. Seems Big Joe will have to wait until they tape next Thursday. His episode would be one I want to watch.

Update: I just found Big Joe's MySpace page. Turns out he is Joseph "Big Joe" Sherman of New Era Management. Looks like not only is he an entertainment consultant, but he's looking for ladies for a new venture, Beautiful Women Modeling, Inc.

NEW YORK--After a brisk walk around the Upper West Side, Harlem and a brief cab ride into Spanish Harlem, me, my J-Lo butt, and Spaceman are chillin' in the green room with some of the Hip Hop stars.

Spaceman is right, it's pretty evident that for the most part these guys don't know what they are doing, but they are having fun with it.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ---So not a long night afterall. Mark Newhouse went all in on the button. Chris McCormack calls. Newhouse shows queens and McCormack turns over A-J. The board 5d-10s-4s-10c-Qs and Mark Newhouse wins the Borgata Open Championship earning him $1,519,020 and a seat at the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in April.

McCormack goes home a runner-up with $802,985 and Gonz has headed back to get a little shut-eye before heading off to Philly for his crack of dawn flight.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--David Sklansky has left the building. Beginning the tournament with a little over 600,000 chips, Sklansky worked his way back to 3.2 million. He pushed it all in with fives against Chris McCormack who called with 10s. The board came 8-10-8-4-K giving McCormack a full house and an opportunity to face Mark Newhouse heads up at the Borgata Final Table. Sklansky leaves with third place and $419,040.

Chris McCormack (bottom right) has 9,715,000 chips and Mark Newhouse (bottom left) has 4,350,000.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—While Gonz and Spaceman are arguing about who is going to get the “Out in a Blaise of Glory” headline, until Blaise Ingoglia busted out to Mark Newhouse, things have been pretty….well, just plain stale! Everyone at the final table has moved all in at least twice but the victor was always the low-stacked underdog. Media is packed on a couple of platforms behind the crowds making it difficult to see or hear anything….well except for, and God love her…Linda Johnson’s bad jokes.

Ingoglia is our first move to the end of this final table. I have a feeling it could be a long night…and for Gonz who flies out of Philly at 6 a.m. tomorrow…a long day ahead.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--- So as Gonz has the over on the "David Sklansky Never Smiles" prop bet, I think I just saw at least evidence of a smirk when Sklansky went all in with 6-6. Blaise Ingoglia called with A-10. The turn showed a six giving Sklansky a set. Low stacked and doubling up through Ingoglia, surely that's worth more than a little smirk?

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--Behind Anthony Argila's 1,350,000 chips are photos of his three-year-old son Antony George. Before the final table was underway, Linda Johnson asked him if he was looking for sympathy. Argila laughed a little and said, "Yes, take it easy on me."

Update: Apparently little Antony is guarding Daddy's chips well. Argila just doubled up through David Sklansky.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--Louis Russo (right) just busted. Mark Newhouse raised 125K and Russo went all in for 5K more. Chris Bell and Newhouse called. The flop came A-J-J. Newhouse and Bell checked to the river which showed K-7. Newhouse announced he had ten high. Bell showed K-10 for high pair. Russo held nines. He is out 7th for $209,521.

The following players will be on the televised final table which will begin tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST:

Anthony Argila
Chris Bell
Blaise Ingoglia
Chris McComack
Mark Newhouse
David Sklansky

ATLANTIC CITY--Chris Bell(right) bet 110K pre-flop, Mark Newhouse called and Shawn Chaconas went all in with 770K. Newhouse folded. Bell called. Bell had kings which beat Chaconas' queens. The two were heads up earlier with the same hand, but Chaconas had folded that hand when Bell raised. Chanconas goes home with 9th place and $157,141

Anthony Argila just double up against Athanasios Diakos when he moved all pre-flop in with A-6. Diakos immediately called with K-J. An ace came on the river.

Players are now on dinner break.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--The aces that Mark Newhouse busted were in Brock Parker's hands. Parker lost when Newhouse's nines gave him a flush on the river. Parker leaves with 10th place and $68,094.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—From Tahoe to Reno to LA to Atlanta to Cinicinnati… I finally arrived in AC after an 18-hour journey. Gonz and I got some dinner with Gavin Smith, Spaceman and some other media types last night…a nice little break from my journey, but my task master has ordered me back to work. So here's what's happening now.

The Borgata is a different scene from Harveys in Tahoe. The tournament has been moved to the poker room where they are down to two tables and 18 players. We play down to six today. There's more media here and a bit of a crowd watching.

Media is crowded around a few empty poker tables, but all is well as Lindsay, the WPT PR girl, brought a bunch of us some Starbucks…double shot latte and I’m good to go no matter how much I drank last night. Gonz and others are playing poker on PartyPoker and Gavin has just stopped over to say hello. Gavin and Peter Frank, one of the guys working on a poker documentary, reminded me that there is footage of me and Gavin singing "The Gambler" and something about professing our love to each other last night...oops sorry Dan.

So here's some poker news...Barry Greenstein busted out and Jennifer Tilly is still very much alive with lots of chips.

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Food and wine with a view is what the 19 Kitchen offers. Located on the 19th floor of Harveys, this restaurant definitely gives you a true dining experience. Creatively divided up into three sections, the menu offers small plates like tapas, sushi and oysters, and for a heartier appetite there are mini-Kobe beef burgers, filet mignon, lobster or other seafood options.

If you are willing to splurge a little, then don't waste time getting to the elevator. 19 has an extensive wine list, and the wait staff is very knowledgeable when it comes to pairing. I highly recommend the sea bass, which is served on a bed of risotto and grilled shrimp, but if you are a Kobe beef lover, then the little burger trio is a must. Served together on a plate as three tiny burgers, they might look dainty, but they are definitely a meal. No matter what your culinary delight might be, this is a meal to be enjoyed.

Oh and don't forget the fabulous view:

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Fishy Steve Irion begins today with 25,900 chips as he fights his way toward the bubble at the WSOP Lake Tahoe main event. (Eighteen players will get paid.) Last night Steve had a lot of big stories about big games in his Sacramento basement where he developed his skills, but his wife, Christine, sent me this photo of Steve (left) and Foxy (right), which tells a different story about where this contender really cut his teeth.

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Fish eggs, fish eggs, roly, poly, squishy fish eggs...ok so I changed the words of the song a little...but this has to be the most interesting card protector I have seen yet. I think this beats Humberto Brenes shark head.

Stephen Irion from Sacramento uses a 20-year-old jar of salmon fish eggs labeled "Balls of Fire: Soft but satisfying." The jar belonged to his grandfather who loved to fish. Irion doesn't fish, but said he uses this card protector because he feels it's a way for his grandfather to watch over him while he's playing. Apparently it's working. Steve won a $200 satellite tournament earning his seat in this main event. Currently, he's sitting with about 20,000 chips.

If that isn't sweet enough for you, Harveys is where Irion and his wife Christine got married two years ago. According to Christine, her husband didn't play poker before they got married...or was it he "learned" how to play during their honeymoon in Tahoe? All she knows is there was no pre-nuptial mention of poker and now she has to schedule everything around Thursday night poker. Bait and switch if I ever saw it!

"If we are going out of town," she said. "I have to make sure our flight leaves at 6 a.m. Friday morning NEVER Thursday night."

Trials and tribulations of a poker wife.

LAKE TAHOE, NV--The WSOP Tahoe Circuit Main Event is underway and there are three sassy ladies to watch.

With 99 players remaining Marina Baroco from Pensacola, Fla., sits with 8,650 chips, Joanne Gionnatti from Lake Tahoe is holding on with 6,000 chips and Nancy Tyner is cruising with 20,000. Go ladies!

Photographed in order: Marina Baroco, Joanne Giannotti, and Nancy Tyner.

LAKE TAHOE, CA—Sticky, sweet, Texas BBQ goodness is all I have to say about Womack's Texas Style BBQ. The Womack’s grew up in the East Texas town of Gary. They must have felt at home with all the pine trees around here, and I’m glad they did. Until last night with the exception of the awesome pastrami and Swiss sandwich I had at PS The Brewery just up the street, a good meal had been hard to find.

Womack’s is not 5-star when it comes to service, but they really took care of us. A laid back mix of snow boarder-dude and East Texas gent, our server as well as son of the owner, Anthony made us feel right at home.

For the meal, I enjoyed sweet barbecue baby back ribs, HOT links, the best black-eyed peas I have had in my life and a nice Sierra Nevada to top it off. After dinner, I introduced Dan to Womack’s hot-spiced wine, a yummy mixture of burgundy and merlot blended with cinnamon and citrus. I love mulled wine or as they call it in the Alps, Glühwein (gluvine). It was perfect compliment as the first big chill had blown through Tahoe.

LAKE TAHOE, NV--A little update from the $500+$50 NLH tournament I mentioned earlier. Heads up with Edmund Liu (right), Poker Nutz Rafael Perez went all in with A-9 after the flop came K-10-9. Lui's A-K gave him top pair. A queen came on the turn giving each a possible straight, but a blank card on the river gave Liu victory.

For a small event there were definitely some characters like deli owner Karen Bochenek who raced from her final table debut to the next tournament a few minutes later. Silently sipping his neat Chivas Regal was Nick Loader. The day before the finals, loader bluffed Bochenek bringing her to the final table with a low stack disadvantage. We also had returning champion Clint Baskin who early on looked as though he might regain the title, but fell when his K-J lost to Liu's pocket 9s. Finally, our second place winner, boistrous, colorful Rafael Perez who knocked Bockenek and her pocket 3s out of the tournament with his third round of pocket aces. Perez held top pocket pairs seven times that day; five of them were aces. Talk about lucky.

Click below to check out more photos from this event.

LAKE TAHOE, CA--That's the title of the paper attached to the bathroom door from professional snowboarder and owner, Marc Frank Montoya, of The Block Hotel telling his "Coo' Ass Peeps" not to mess up his crib.That's the nature of The Block, young, artsy, cool and hip.

A converted motel created for snowboarders, The Block has an internet cafe, free wi-fi and movies for all ages to check out. The hotel also offers free energy drinks, energy bars, and thank God for Dan (and myself) free samples of deodorant at the front desk. Guests have their choice from one of the many modern rooms or can choose a signature theme room like The Napster Room, the pokery Delta Nine Room or The Vivid Room complete with stripper pole.

All rooms boast a large plasmaTV, PS2 game consoles, boot/glove dryers, board racks and refrigerators. From noon to midnight, Hip Hop music thumps from the court yard which also hosts a cozy deck, a barbeque area, and up above a little hot tub after a day on the slopes.

While The Block welcomes all, it is definitely a place for the young or at least the hip-at-heart. Personally, it's been a sweet change from staying at a big casino hotel.

Traveling and looking for a game at your next destination? Looking for a new game in your own town? You might want to search for a home game on Meetup. While it’s not exclusively for poker, Meetup is a site that helps connect people to others with similar interests.

Meetup's Poker category has 49,160 people listed all over the world. You can search by country and zip code or you can look at the world map, click a location and sign up to get more info about when the poker group meets etc. One click tells you how many players are in the group and when their next game will be. Some poker groups have over a thousand members and others like Louis in South Africa are looking for poker buddies. Come on, doesn’t anyone want to play with Louis?

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Karen Bochenek placed 9th at the $500+50 NLH final table today and heads back to Truckee, Calif. with $1,513. That is, after she plays in the $200+30 second-chance tourney that began 30 minutes after she was knocked out.

Knowing there was a tournament an hour after her final table began Karen, said she would be playing all or nothing at the final table today.

“Today was more about getting a lot of chips or having none,” she said.

Karen only watched poker on TV, but started playing almost a year ago when a friend pushed her into a satellite tournament at the Hilton in Reno.

“We were remodeling our bathroom so I had no water for the day,” she said. “I wasn’t going to sit around the house with no water, so I thought why don’t I go down and try to play poker.”

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Hung around Harvey's last night watching the $550 No-Limit #6 last night. As mentioned earlier, it was all pretty low key, but as we got down to the final three tables people started crowding around. I had my eye on two ladies Sang Tran (right) and Karen Bochenek.

Karen is no stranger to Reno/Tahoe, but this is Sang's first major tournament. She learned how to play over a year ago when her boyfriend's home game with The Poker Nutz was short a player.

"It was a $20, nine person tournament and I ended up winning it," she said. She had helped out around the store and dealt games, but hadn't played a hand until then. "I always appreciated the game, but never really played."

LAKE TAHOE, NV--At the WSOP Main Event everyone seems to have someone there for support. By the time the event is down to the last three or four tables each player has a little fan club whether they be tried and true or adopted. Here most people seem to be on their own, except for these crazy guys with matching t-shirts...The Poker Nutz. The guys own an poker store in Sacramento where they design poker tables, t-shirts and offer poker lessons. They escorted Rick Sutliffe via a limo after he won their store's raffle which included a buy-in to Event #6 ($500+50 NLH).

Twelve of them came to Tahoe to play in this event. Sang Tran, David Hurley, and Rafael Perez have placed in the money. Perez will be at the final table today.

Poker Scowl.David Hurley and Rafael Perez sit among the final two tables in the WSOP Circuit Event #6 in Lake Tahoe.

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Dan's right. It's pretty laid back here. Chips are clanking, but their cadence is a little quieter than normal. There are no big national names here. Players are hanging out in their socks (right), empty tables are not so discreetly crammed in the corner, and the events are smaller...nothing wrong with it, it's just different. The WSOP was my first "real" poker event, and while I am not naive enough to believe that all WSOP events were to be like that, I just thought there would be more going on here.

I have to say it's a nice change. I remember while hanging with David from Gutshot at the end of the WSOP main event he told me "It's not always like this. At other events you can have a life."

LAKE TAHOE, NV--Recovering from my altitude illness, I made it back up to Harvey's today to check out the $500 No-Limit Circuit Event #6. I noticed two more Party Poker players, Robin Lacey from Dublin (right) and Yoon Kim from Chicago (with headphones).

You might remember Robin from the WSOP main event. Since then he's been enjoying his three month holiday mostly on the west coast where his girlfriend is doing a semester abroad. He busted out of Event #6 when his pocket 5's lost to a pair of aces, but he said he made enough here in Tahoe in 5/10 NLH cash games to pay his way into the $5,000 main event on Friday.

It's been two weeks since San Antonio police raided Richard Lee's home, claiming it to be the "nerve center" for an online bookmaking operation. There's still been no arrest, but they're hardly dropping the case. According to the Express-News , Lee was one of three people to get their home raided in this investigation. Because he required "eight tow trucks, plus a number of pickups and unmarked fleet cars" and the items seized could "fill a 6,500-square-foot home with two driveways," It could take some time for them to sift through all the evidence they've collected.

What we do know is that Lee wasn't discreet. He left a long paper trail -- taking checks, writing checks and even writing "Gamb. Loss" on the memo line of one. Police have put together what is being referred to as "The Chinaman's List" with names of clients who allegedly placed bets with Lee ... among them doctors, lawyers, and prominent businessmen ... many of whom are quite worried.

If the anxiety sounds familiar, you were probably here in 1980. That was the year of madam Theresa Brown and her infamous trick list. Once police seized a brothel book containing 3,000 customer names, revival-like fear and trembling spread across the city. If men weren't scrambling for lawyers, they were running to church.

Lord, have mercy.

San Antonio's Mayor Phil Hardberger and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff are reportedly not on The List, despite Lee's telling authorities that "I have powerful friends in the community." Hardberger says he's never met Lee, and has only spoken to him several times on the phone. Wolff says he's nothing more than a poker buddy of Lee's, and that's not a criminal offense as far as we know.

LAKE TAHOE, NV- Traci Dougherty and Fan Armstrong were battling it out at the WSOP Ladies Circuit Event when I arrived at Harvey's yesterday evening. Play began around 10 a.m. with 106 players. Doughtery, a school teacher from Auburn, Calif., was ahead.

In the final hand, Armstrong, a Foster City, Calif. poker dealer, went all in with K-4 and flopped a king putting Dougherty behind. Armstrong had hopes of a comeback, until Dougherty's A-Q joined a jack on the river giving her the straight to win the event. Armstrong received $3,496.

Dougherty had no plans to play in the Tahoe ladies event, but a friend talked her into it during a game at her card club, Deuces Wild.

A cash game player, Dougherty began playing tournaments two months ago. Out of the ten tournments she played recently, Dougherty said she's made it to the final table in all but one.

Armstrong's first place win gave her $6,662 as well as her first major tournament victory.

That's what PokerBlog editor Dan Michalski said after I found out about San Antonio's raid on Richard Lee's home. San Antonio's WOAI possibly agrees.

As I was keeping tabs on Richard, I ran upon WOAI's Poker Zone. It is their little area of all the poker-related stories they have covered. Here San Antonians can keep up with Jamie Gold's lawsuit, follow Richard Lee's "hero to zero" ride, read a commentary about the Goodlatte Bill, or watch a segment about playing small pocket pairs.

Pretty cool for San Antonio. For their written content there seems to be three major contributors including a feared, myserious Teddy Bear? Hmmm. Maybe WOAI has gone a little too far with the bear, but overall I like that mainstream journalists are keeping an eye on poker as well.

Yesterday morning Richard Lee talked about turning down endorsement offers at the WSOP. Out of the final 27 players, Lee was the only one without Internet poker paraphernalia. Sporting the same San Antonio t-shirt he had on during the WSOP final table, Lee told media he refused taking the endorsement money in order to do something good for the city.

Media expected to get a chance to question Lee about the recent raid on his home, but Lee spoke more about his love for San Antonio and his .com offers.

"No matter what you might think of me now or after. I am a good person. I tried to live my life by my word, and tried to live my life with integrity,” he said, “and I was proud as hell to wear this t-shirt than take a few a few dollars and wear a T-shirt from people I didn't even know.”