LAS VEGAS--On the corner of Charleston and Rainbow this morning, I saw a guy dressed up like a pirate, complete with skeleton mask. He was whooping it up, jumping up and down with arms flailing, and trying to hand out orange flyers for something or other. What does that have to do with the Festa al Lago? Nothing, really - but it was a lot more interesting than almost everything I saw hanging around Bellagio all day yesterday.
In terms of poker, Day 1 is always a slow news day. You can lose half the field without much of note happening. The story of the tournament doesn't really begin to develop until the end of Day 2 at the earliest. When 3/4 of the field is gone you get a feel for who the pros with a shot at the title are. You also start to figure out who's likely to go from unknown/little-known to millionaire - and there's always someone who has a chance in a field with more than 400 players.
Day 1's real stories are the little ones, the "color" stories, the ones like Bob Stupak getting hammered and nearly getting into a fistfight with one of his tablemates. Then there's the story where Mike Matusow declares that the only way he can lose his bet is for Arizona to fall apart in the 4th quarter - and then Chicago runs an interception back to go up by 1 with a minute left in the game. And finally there's the story of Paul Magriel chewing his tongue off in the middle of a hand.
Okay. I made that last one up.
At any rate, we should have an idea of where this tournament is headed by the end of today. Something tells me we'll also know what other games Mike Matusow has lost money on.
 The main event of the Festa al Lago at Bellagio is set to begin on Monday, and I'll be heading out there to take in all the sights and sounds of what is likely to be one of the last mega-sized events of the World Poker Tour - at least for the foreseeable future. As Change100 noted the other day, the WPT has stopped accepting tournament registration through online poker sites. I'm guessing attendance will fall sharply after Fallsview - the last tournament where online satellite winners will be allowed - is finished.
Here's a rundown of the numbers over the years at a few of the upcoming WPT stops, as listed at the excellent Hendon Mob Poker Database.
Bellagio, Festa al Lago Main Event
2004 - 312 entries, $1,000,000 top prize
2005 - 420 players, $1,060,050 top prize
Foxwoods, World Poker Finals Main Event
2002 - 89 entries, $320,400 top prize
2003 - 313 entries, $1,089,200 top prize
2004 - 674 entries, $1,549,588 top prize
2005 - 783 entries, $2,167,500 top prize
Bellagio, Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event
2002 - 146 entries, $556,460 top prize
2003 - 314 entries, $1,101,908 top prize
2004 - 376 entries, $1,770,218 top prize
2005 - 555 entries, $2,078,185 top prize
Atlantis, Caribbean Poker Adventure Main Event
2004 - 221 entries, $455,780 top prize
2005 - 461 entries, $890,600 top prize
Gold Strike, World Poker Open Main Event
2003 - 160 entries, $589,175 top prize
2004 - 367 entries, $1,278,370 top prize
2005 - 512 entries, $1,491,444 top prize
2006 - 327 entries, $969,421 top prize
All of these events have experienced significant growth in each passing year of their existence, with the exception of the WPO in Tunica. Last year's attendance was down there, mostly thanks to Harrah's introducing the WSOP Circuit down the road at Grand Casino Tunica and cutting into the Gold Strike's business. How do you think these numbers will be affected by the change in WPT policy? Moreover, do you think we'll see attendance at Festa al Lago negatively impacted because of players' unhappiness with the WPT?
As Dan noted, Canadian police recently busted up four underground poker rooms in Ottawa. They've got a slightly different reason than US police might have for such busts - those underground games are actually cutting into government profits.
I'll be at Fallsview Resort Casino the week after next for the first-ever WPT stop in Canada, and while reading over a WPT-provided guide on media regulations I noticed the first two sentences read thusly:
In the province of Ontario, all casinos are owned by Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) and regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Both OLG and the AGCO are entities of the Government of Ontario.
It really is a different world up there, eh?
(Read Wolves In Wolves' Clothing for some background here.)
Now that he's got a little free time after pulling shenanigans on Capitol Hill, Bill Frist has found the time to write back to me about online gambling. Or, as he feels the need to call it, illegal internet gambling. Here's the full text of his reply to me, dated September 22, 2006 and received today, October 13, 2006. Settle in, this might take a while.
When the first signs of our poker apocalypse rang out a few months back in the form of bills sponsored by Reps. Jim Leach and Bob Goodlatte, I did what all Americans have been taught to do when legislation we don't like is up for consideration. I contacted my senators and representatives to express my opposition to any Washingtonian designs to take my favorite pastime away from me. When I say take it away, you see, I'm not being over-reactive or dramatic; unlike many of my poker-playing friends, the only games within a stone's throw of me are those on the internet. I cannot be even a part-time serious poker player living where I do. In my rural area of middle Tennessee we're a minimum of four hours by car from any casino with a sizable poker room. Online games, then, are important to my development as a player - and communicating that to those holding online poker's (American) fate in their hands was likewise important. I expected at least a token response from the elected officials representing me; what I received was an education in the way things are done in the New Washington.
For the record, before we go any further I should note who my elected officials are. Marsha Blackburn (R) is my single representative in Congress. Lamar Alexander (R), former governor of Tennessee and Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, is my junior senator. And the esteemed Majority Leader of the United States Senate (not to mention 2008 US presidential hopeful) is my senior senator - a Republican by the name of William Harrison Frist.
Online poker players have been celebrating since the anti-online-gambling rider attached to the defense bill was swatted down recently, and with good reason. It was a significant victory for us. We're a wildly diverse group that social conservatives in Washington decided to marginalize without ever considering that they might find themselves up against any real opposition - all in the hopes of winning a few votes in November. It's good that we're celebrating, but we shouldn't be resting just yet. This fight isn't over. I got proof in my email this morning.
When I woke up I had this message from online poker room/casino William Hill in my inbox, titled "Closure of Your William Hill Account":
NEW YORK, NY --- When IMG Media approached Tone Boots about a new poker show last year, all they knew was that they wanted to combine hip-hop with poker. Boots and his crew came up with the style, look, and feel of the total Hip-Hop Hold'em package. That involved not only set design, including walls lined with hip-hop artwork and platinum albums, but also a consistent core of personalities bringing the show to your living room each week. Longtime popular radio personality Ed Lover was the first person who came to mind when Boots considered who should host the show; Boots described him as a "true professional" who maintains the light, playful feeling of the show among all the bravado. Also featured each week is the legendary DJ Scratch, who spins classic hip-hop tracks to open and close each show.
NEW YORK CITY --- "These guys is playing crazy!"
Those words came from the astute mouth of AZ after a hand where DJ Clue made a big raise with T-2 and Tony Woods called him with K-Q - with no deuces, tens, queens, or kings on the board. That particular hand wasn't atypical at all. There was a lot more gambling than poker involved in Hip-Hop Hold'em, but that's not a big surprise.
"Gambling and hip-hop go hand in hand," AZ told me after the game was done. He's been playing since he was a kid, learning at family reunions where everyone played penny poker and spades. He got involved with this show because, as he said, "poker's the thing right now. Everyone's doing it, and now hip-hop's involved with it. It's natural."
In the end it was DJ Clue who came out on top. He held a 20.5K-4.5K leads going into heads-up play against Tony Woods, and all it took was one hand to finish Woods off. True to the spirit of play up to that point, Clue cracked Woods' Q-Q with J-7. That suckout means that the $10,000 prize will be going to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.
At the end of the show, Ed Lover talked with the players about their projects. Saigon confirmed that Doug Ellin had called him up to ask him back for the fourth season of HBO's Entourage. This guy's got a profile that's getting bigger every day - going out first in this charity poker game won't hurt him a bit.
NEW YORK, NY --- We've just completed two levels of blinds here at Metropolis Studios, where Hip-Hop Hold'em is being taped, and we've got our first man down. Saigon played tight in the beginning, holding true to his pre-game education, but his loose nature got the best of him - his sixes and deuces went down by the river. Much as expected, we've seen some pretty funky hands shown down so far - that was just one of them. Lots of deuces and treys in the hip-hop world.
NEW YORK, NY --- Saigon is learning the old poker adage "tight is a right" the hard way...dropping hand after hand, turning over bottom pair and shipping his entire stack someone else's way. This guy's got a serious aversion to folding, but practicing with a small stack seems to be working. He's mucked three hands in a row.
And now we've got some prop betting going on, too - there's a little game of high-card going. An ace on the flop won the bet for somebody - we just can't figure out if it was Big Joe or DJ Envy. Joe swears it was him, but the rest of the room says it was Envy. Now if only it these bets were for real money instead of the play chips they're practicing with...
Big Joe lucked out a few minutes ago and hit a straight on the river, trumping AZ's two pair with a miracle card. "You don't need brains for this game," Joe said. "You need balls!" The banter between these guys is going to be the best part of the show, hands down. There's plenty of ego in the rap game and it translates well to the world of betting and bluffing.
The players just got a three-minute warning - it's game time.
Pictured above: Tony Woods, Big Joe, and DJ Envy sharpen their chops before taping
NEW YORK CITY--After a nice walk through Central Park, Jen and I have arrived at Metropolis Studios, where Hip-Hop Hold'em is being filmed today. We're hanging out in the green room where some of the participants are getting a primer in the finer points of the game, compliments of a dealer and a poker expert.
All you Entourage fans out there will be happy to know that Saigon is sitting right in front of me learning to play the game. Also here is Ed Lover, the well-known radio personality and former Yo! MTV Raps host. He's got a fat stack of singles ready for wagering - leftovers, he says, from the strip club last night. AZ, DJ Envy, DJ Blue, and Tony Woods are also in the game. There's a nice home game atmosphere going in the room...all we need is a little prop betting and it'll be just like playing with poker bloggers.
Our guys are learning all about when to fold right now - they're enthusiastic even if they don't all have a lot of experience, and as you'd expect that's leading to a lot of action. My guess is this'll be pretty good TV.
NEW YORK, NY --- It's Thursday morning in New York and in all its cacophonous glory the city has come to life. That means I've come to life as well - not an unexpected development despite having gone out to drink with a crazy group of poker bloggers upon my arrival last night. My only other stay in the City was marked by an inability to sleep past 8 or 9 in the morning. I think it's the sound of millions of people moving about that keeps me from continuing my slumber. Whatever the reason, it's a good thing I'm up and about. I have an assignment today that will require my full brain capacity.
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