Gulf Coast Poker.NET

(UPDATED: 01/27/10) Wild Bill's reflections on poker, sports, and issues facing the Gulf Coast:

"The hand that I had just raised played out quite interesting. Under the gun led out, then I got repopped by the player to my left, the entire table called. Action got back to me and I threw out a ton of chips. I read a lot of weakness and thought the reraiser was a little passive in general. If he had a monster he’d probably ship it and I could fold. If he didn’t I could probably scoop it right there.

To my surprise I got called by the player that popped me, and everybody else rightfully headed for cover. I had AQ and checked it down when the board missed me. I didn’t know if he’d call a bet in that spot with AK which I thought he had, but I wasn’t going to contribute anything more to the pot. The other possible holdings he might have all crushed me. At the end to my surprise my opponent had KQ and I scooped the pot. So, showing down AQ meant everybody knew I was willing to get a little out of line." [+]

"Bwin - Betting, Online Poker, Casino and Games"

LITTLE THOUGHTS

[UPDATED 01/27/10] Jonathan Little has over 4 million dollars in lifetime winnings . He was the WPT Season VI player of the year. Born in Pensacola Florida, a mere 24 years ago the sky is the limit for this young pro whose online handle is jcardshark. He also is a poker coach at sngicons.com.

"Last night I was playing a few random tournaments and trying to take care of some stuff online. I somehow found myself in a $77 6 max turbo tournament with 311 people. I can remember 3 times in the tournament where I had 30% equity or less but sucked out. Most of the spots were pretty standard though, like KK vs AA. I ended up shipping the title and $4200 or something like that, which is nice because live poker has been going terrible. I havent made it past the 2nd break in any event so far this year, as far as I can remember.

Actually, that may not be true. My memory is terrible about these kidns of things. All the tournaments get muddled together in my head. Still though, I do know I have cashed for $0 and have invested something like 30k which is never fun. Thats ok because the Biloxi WPT main event is tomorrow. This tournament is always a great one. Sadly, there are lots of regulars here. I remember the first year they had this event there were maybe 20 people I knew in the field. there will probably be 60 this time. I suppose ill be updating again rather shortly after Biloxi is over. Good luck to everyone. ." [+]

FADE EVERYTHING

[UPDATED: 01/17/10] Bobby Toye is a former LSU student and a rising online/live tournament player. Toye has six live cashes to his name half of which are three first place finishes. The aspiring screenwriter offers a well-written window into the life of a young poker player.

"Biloxi has been cold in every sense of the word. I’ve fallen into a routine of playing every noon-event tournament for eight or so hours, busting sometime between dinner break and the bubble, then stumbling back to the condo where dire cold and piercing winds wait for me on what seems like a mile long trek from the last parking spot to my door. This was not how I envisioned moving into a condo on the beach. That being said, I’m very pleased with the condo itself. It came with all the furniture and appliances I could ever want, a huge interior space, and a wrap-around balcony overlooking the coast.

Fortunately, things seem to be warming up. The cold has been less bitter the last couple days. I scored my first cash last night in the 1k. I hardly made any profit but after nine bricks in a row, I’ll take it. One of my horses survived to day two, so I’ll be leaving soon to go sweat him and finally play some cash games." [+]

FLOPPIN' ACES

[UPDATED: 02/01/10] BRIAN HEPTINSTALL has been called the Nolan Dalla of the Gulf Coast. His informative blog provides the latest news from an insiders point of view of the poker industry. His tournament coverage is second to none.

"Here we are! Day 2 of the main event trying to get down to the final 27. Then getting ready for day 3 and the intense play down to 6. Followed by a final table of 6 that hopefully will be a good match-up. Yep! The WPT is nearing the climactic end.

It's been a month full of some great (and horrible) poker. I can tell you that one person that comes to mind when talking about these events is Dwyte Pilgrim. This guy has won two of the events and came in second in the third. Now, he's trying to make it three wins in the main event. He was the chip leader going into day 2, but is now getting very short on chips. The fact remains, however that he has made his way through these fields down here and took away two trophies and quite a bit of cash.

Another thing that has happened actually comes in two parts. FIRST! Phil Ivey took second in the Aussie Millions main event, which puts him about $400k over Daniel Negreanu for all-time tournament earnings. SECOND! Daniel Negreanu was down here playing. It was his first trip to Mississippi in quite some time. He stopped coming based on several factors, but most of those factors have been resolved and now he's here. He managed to make it through day one, but busted halfway through day two. If he'd won this event, it would have put him right back on top of the all-time money earner's list. Now he has to wait a little while longer." [+]

POKERBAT

[UPDATED: 01/20/10] THE POKER BAT is an online player from Northern Louisiana who is trying out blogging to help him with his game. Bat will delve into hand scenarios and discuss issues facing today's online player.

"TThe Bat wonders if you’ve ever seen those guys that sit down at the table and immediately start caressing the felt. They move those dirty hands around in slow semi-circles like they are petting a dog’s belly, and stroke it like there is some sort of secret spot that will unlock a trove of chip stacks.

The Bat can tell them where the G spot is, it’s right in front of them with the thousands they got sitting there in stacks of hundos, that Bat will be happy to unload for them. The Bat knows you don’t have to deal with that crap playing online poker but is terrified about the rumors that poker sites will start using webcams to show the poker players in the hand.

The Bat doesn’t want to see what the guy is doing in the privacy of his own home whilst playing poker. Forgetaboutit.

So the Bat watches a few lunchboxes, at the casino that Daniel Negreanu called out in his blog, stroking felt. Apparently Kid Poker, The Poker Monkey, and Pokerbat can all agree the structures in those tournaments turn into shove fests at the end.

The Bat doesn’t know from personal experience as the Bat has never made it to the end of anything really except for a special Family Ties episode that dealt with Skippy’s cross eyeds (hey, that pulled at the heartstrings and Mallory really had a change of perspective). Still, the Bat considers both those players wise enough authorities to recognize it as truth."

IF YOU'RE TOO CAREFUL

[UPDATED 01/29/10] ReidG ...who was raised in New Orleans and lives in Mobile brings his perspective on the Gulf Coast scene to GCP.NET.

"So 2009 is officially in the books, poker-wise. It was a weird year for me and I feel like, despite what I perceived as tremendous growth, I left a lot of goals unrealized. And I didn't win anything meaningful. And that's what it's all about: winning. It's the only thing that matters. It's not about silver linings or moral victories or whatever. It's only about winning.

For the first time since I started playing poker in 2001, I played virtually no cash games. That's hard for me to believe--especially considering I was only a cash player until 2008--but when reviewing my records for the year, I did not have one cash session recorded. Which means, if I played cash at all, it was done so sparingly that I didn't even bother to record it. I guess I played a few sessions, but I don't really remember. As for MTTs, I finished on the +side but just barely. Is it "the black"? I always get that red/black accounting terminology confused (apparently so too does the gov't, wall street, hedge funds, the automobile industry, and our healthcare infrastructure. way to go america!). Anyway, I managed to win a little but a marginal winning/breakeven year certainly feels like a losing year to me.

In live tourneys, I finished down $465. My best stretch of the year was a one week stretch in March where I chopped the $15k gtd Beau; then won/chopped the first nightly at the Beau Spring Break Poker Classic; then disappointingly finished 13th in event #2 of the same series (I blogged about it here). My worst stretch was basically the rest of the year! Excellent.

This year, I made the transition to primarily focusing on online poker; it's a transition I'm still making and learning about in a number of ways..." [+]

JENA'S POKER DIARY

[UPDATED 02/10/09] Jena Delk, isn't an up and coming poker player on the Gulf Coast because she's arrived. A Florida native, Jena is a fixture on the circuit. Her blog chronicles her travels around the country pursuing her poker jones:

"As I play poker I am affected by many internal and external distractions. Being fully aware of those distractions, can help a player to minimize mistakes. Some of the internal distractions include such things as being tired, hungry, or in pain.

External distractions are not generally under your control; therefore you should have a plan to deal with them as best you can before they occur.

I woke up this morning several times. I woke the first time around 6 am because I was cold. I got up and adjusted the thermostat and added a blanket to my bed. I woke up again at 9:30 am when the doctor’s office called to confirm an upcoming appointment.

Wow, the room was still cold. What’s going on with the heat? I add a sweater and crawl back under the covers for my last half hour of sleep. At 10 am, I get up and head to the Jacuzzi for morning therapy. The hot tub is NOT hot. How strange!

No therapy for me this morning, I guess. I return to my room to shower, thinking this should tie me over for a bit, and find there is no hot water. Not a drop! Irritation begins to rise." [+]

BRANDON'S BLOG

(UPDATED: 12/1/09) Is there a guy on the coast playing as well as Brandon Jarrett has dominated events in Biloxi, with a first at the IP and one at the Beau. With 140k in tournament winnings in six months, he's one to watch, and one to learn from.

"Brandon has a training video up here...Check it out folks...just click on the link" [+].

THE "HONEST PLAYER"

(UPDATED: 11/19/09) Is there such thing as an Honest (Poker) Player? Parfait treads the line between deception and head games. An up and comer, this Honest Player excels at hand analysis and table reads.

"A couple weeks ago I was able to put in a pretty long session at Harrah's with Davey and for the most part it was pretty fun. Didn't get out there till pretty late and it took forever to park but I finally sat down around 10:00 in a really bad game but luckily it broke fairly early and I was moved to a game that much better. I didn't really do anything great but I was able to book a win which is always nice. Never really had any interesting hands except when I straddled and and had 4,6 and flopped open ended with 6 ppl in the hand. I bet it and hit it on the turn and broke the guy next to me who was pretty unlucky and flopped a set. Of course the guy at the other end of the table "knew" what I had, well he said it was either a straight or a flush.....no shit huh, not to much else beats a set.

I was fortunate enough to be dealt 12 pocket pair in one night and connect for ZERO flops. I guess I wasn't trying hard enough, at least that's what Davey told me. Never really had any big hands either. I got the pleasure of playing with a local by the name of Melvin. Melvin is prolly one of the funniest ppl I've played cards with and he's not trying to be funny. He constantly falls asleep at the table and just brutally honest with people. He's been known to tell people they should stay b/c they play so bad he's guaranteed to win. He'll also call complete strangers sweetheart and just create this very weird vibe for the tourist but we all know it's a joke. There was Russian kid at the table and when he asked where the kid was from and he said Russia, Melvin let us know that "Russians are fuckin crazy, you can't trust them at all....they're more nuts than China-men"...needless to say he's not very P.C" [+]

JUICEY POKER

[UPDATED: 10/5/09] JASON LIPSCOMB gives you a chance to talk with a tournament director--directly. Lipscomb will keep you abreast of all the happenings at Harrahs regarding tournaments and poker. Check here for updates.

"I know it has been awhile since my last post, but I here and have some good news. I recently signed on as a pro with http://www.feltstars.com/ and I must say the software is second to none. Yes better than tilt and pokerstars try it out and see it for yourself after all it free to try... They are offering 300% bonus up to 3k total the largest of any online site and rake back deals too up to 30% and the rake back is added to your acct daily. Contact me for rake back deals @ juiceypoker@yahoo.com" [+}

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

[UPDATED: 09/19/09] The Tiltin' Texan serves up a steady diet of crazy late nights in poker rooms from across the coast. To him a 24 hour session is as quick as a traffic light. His commentary on the sick side of poker is a fun read:

"Stakes : 2/5 NL Holdem live action 9 handed
Location: Beau Rivage Casino (brick and mortar)
Players: Villian #1 $1200 stack (tight image has not played many hands)
Villian #2 $1000 stack (foreigner that i have pegged as a fish)
Tex(me) $900 stack (running bad and a little steamed)

In MP I look down at Rin Tin Tin (pocket 10s) . Villian #2 ,who speaks Sputnik, limps in from EP for $5 ,I decide to limp and play small ball. Two more players flatted behind me and Villian#1 in the BB checkoslovakias.

5 limpers see a flop of 9 6 7 Rainbow.. Villian#1 knuckles, Villian#2 fires out 30 bones ,I briefly go in "tank" as i want to repop it here with a 3bet but with donks behind me I decide to smoooth call. The 2 LP players insta-muck while Villian#1 flatted the $30 bet.

So 3 to the turn. 4th street brings a brick 2 of spades but puts two spades on board. Action on Villian#1 who knuckles , Sputnik continues to show strength with a $ 60 bet. My read on Villian is a hand like top top or J9.

Only hand possible that has me beat is if he flopped two pair. I choose to flat and control size of pot with positive EV if we are heads up to river." [+]

THE LONELY ROAD

(UPDATED 12/20/09) Virge's road is the internet highway, he's now one of the top online (formerly) local players:

It's fairly obvious since I haven't posted in a while, but I've taken extended break to travel and see the world. I'm more than happy to talk to anyone, but I won't be offering any coaching or any other poker services while I'm away.

Say hi if you'd like to hear some great stories; I may get around to posting them at some point.

" [+]

YOUR AD HERE:

SAINTS SUPERBOWL SUNDAY INTERLUDE

02.07.10

OUR APOLOGIES TO COWBOYS, FALCONS, TITANS, TEXANS, DOLPHINS, BUCS, RAMS, AND OTHER FANS (INCLUDING POKER PURISTS) FOR THIS LINK DUMP TO THE SAINTS BUT.... it is Superbowl Sunday and half of Who Dat Nation is in Miami (the other half in the quarter) so we have to address the New Orleans Saints a little bit back to Poker ONLY tomorrow... okay? Let's do one better than Saints super fan Darvin Moon's (pictured) second place finish at the main event.

HERE'S A NIBLET OR TWO ABOUT POKER FIRST. Have to stay true to our website... ESPN recap of Hoyt Corkins championship here also final tabler Dan O'Brien's Sleepless in Biloxi blog on Pokerroad here. Also, a tale of Mel Gibson at the poker table. Sounds like he'd be a better online poker player than live.

NOW ONTO THE SAINTS...

-Can the Saints save New Orleans? Newsweek states that the Saints deep run puts $100 in every fan's wallet and heals mental wounds from five years ago. Believe it or not, right chere.

-Last time the Saints fans felt like they were going to win no matter the foe or the spectacle was the Post Katrina game. In honor of that no way we can be defeated spirit lyrics to the Green Day and U2 collaboration "The Saints are Coming," right chere.

-Wall Street Journal's take on the region taking a week off in honor of the Super Bowl right chere.

-Bet the Superbowl lines, moneyline, prop bets, half time, punts whatever at bwin where any all sports betting can be made.

-ESPN's Rick Reilly's Saints and the Mannings article right chere. Good thing Rick knows who to pull for even if Cooper and Archie have to pull for the bad guys.

-Do you care Who is playing at halftime. Us neither. Care about halftime at all? Not this year, huh. Well, here's a half-time article right chere with some tips for today.

-Unlike say overtime vs. the Vikings, it's better to lose the opening coin toss than to win. That and some other stats right chere on Yahoo!

-This guy didn't know what he was talking about. Super bowl between the Saints and the Colts highly unlikely. Really? Read CBS's take in November right chere.

-There would be no Saints if there was no Superbowl. Finally, the Saints are in it, read the Washington Times interesting NFL history lesson right chere and the role of Louisiana congressmen in the creation of the world's biggest sporting event.

LADIES NIGHT

02.03.10

TWITTERIN' ABOUT POKER. A good recap at Pokernewsdaily including Doyle Brunson suggesting English food isn't fit for his dog, Rafe Furst offering a 10k donation to charity to anybody that can help him get his hands on an iPad, and mentions two Florida girls; Vanessa Ruosso and our own blogger Jena Delk. Oh yeah, the Brunson tweet gets some heat from Daniel Negreanu and a war of words ensues. Read here for more.

LADIES OF POKER NOW FACES OF POKER AND POKER FACE SUCCESS. First off Lady Gaga's poker face won a couple of Grammies and inspired Rush Limbaugh to dance (or convulse like an addict short on pills) that has to be seen to be believed. CNN reports: Lacy Jones new face of a Poker Tour. Eric Shoenberg is called sey by a gambling site (newsflash huh?). UB Poker Pro Liv Boeree has a Maxim photo shoot (pic above, google is your friend for the rest)..

WORLDWIDE NEWS ROUNDUP

02.02.10

MAN ROBS LOCAL CASINO POKER ROOM. In Coconut Creek Seminole Casino poker room players got a little more than they expected last Friday when a man walked in with a gun and walked out with a couple thousand dollars in cash. He wasn't wearing a mask and got into a Cadillac. It's probably pretty likely they have some cameras you think. Read here for complete details. This guy is probably already caught if not he will be in a couple of days.

ALABAMA GAMBLING ISSUES. Blogger Brian Heptinstall covers the situation much better in his blog, which can be read at FLOPPIN' ACES. For another perspective also from the Gambling Times, like the robbery story above, go here.

DURRRR CHALLENGE LIKE GROUNDHOGS DAY SEEMS TO POP UP ONCE A YEAR. At one point it looked like the Doyle Death prop bet would be settled before the challenge, now it looks a Tom Dwan death bet might be realized before Patrik Antonius and Durrrr finish things. However, after two successive days of play Dwan has eked out a million dollar lead. With almost 32,000 hands out of the 50,000 played that's 64% folks, Patrik probably needs to cut into the wunderkind's lead a bit. Cardplayer has hand specifics here.

MICHAEL PHELPS DIPS HIS TOE IN FOR ANOTHER RUN AT POKER. The swimmer showed up in Atlantic City and played in the 2k heads up championship. Along the way he lost to Jeff Madsen and beat Paul Wasicka, more details here.

WSOP TO GO HOLLYWOOD. Carbonpoker blog is reporting that the World Series of Poker is considering moving from the Rio to the newly purchased (by Harrahs) Planet Hollywood Casino. Read here for more.

EURO POKER CONSOLIDATION IN ADVANCE OF U.S. LIFTING ONLINE POKER BAN. The supposed merger between Party and bwin could set off a chain effect of mergers. European online poker sites are certainly gearing up for competing with the American giants and part of that means having a massive player list. Last year was a banner year for bwin with shares rising by over 300%. For more information go to Reuters.

TOURNAMENTS TODAY

01.29.10

CHAD BROWN TOURNAMENT IN NORTH FLORIDA. 50k guaranteed at the Orange Park Kennel Club. Buy in is $880. They expect 120 players. Deep stacks for the two day event. Brown, his wife Vanessa Ruosso, and other pros will be there too. For more information go here.

ACADIANA POKER SERIES TONIGHT! It's the other way on the Gulf Coast in Lafayette, LA. Scroll down for details in this column. You should have one of our emails in your inbox with all the info (and for those of you not on the list email Wild Bill to get on there). You can check out their site here: Acadiana Series of Poker.

POKER AND SAINTS UPDATE

01.29.10

HOYT CORKINS WINS ANOTHER WPT TITLE. He might have been the most feared player at the table, he also came in with the big stack and despite some hiccups he was able to justify those fears and prevail as the WPT champion in Biloxi. The Alabama cowboy took down the title outlasting GCP Magazine cover boy Tyler Smith. Congrats Hoyt.

The first place finish takes him to just under 5 million in lifetime winnings. Hoyt won 713k. Tyler Smith had a bad run of 18 hands and despite coming to the final table number two in chips was the first player eliminated.

Jonathan Kantor of Tulsa Oklahoma made 366k for 2nd. Jerry Van Strydonck almost 200k for 3rd, Jared Jaffee over 135k for 4th, James Reed of Newnan GA 106k for 5th, and Tyler Smith pulled down 86k.

LAST MINUTE REMINDER. Folks if you haven't had the chance to try out the Acadiana Series of Poker make sure you do this year. The Small Town Poker Tour does a great job organizing the event and the United Way has run a first class charity event for four years running. Anyway, details on their page... tournament is tomorrow.

Get down to the CajunDome in Lafayette, LA and play a little poker for a good cause. Look for our email blasts with more details (and for those of you not on the list email Wild Bill to get on there). Also, check out their site here: Acadiana Series of Poker.

CAKE POKER ADMITS TO BEING THE OWNERS OF TJ CLOUTIER'S BRACELET. Not sure why Cake Poker wanted the bracelet but it does appear they've done the decent thing and returned it to TJ.

RUSH POKER. Sofa King We Todd Did, Baton Rouge blogger did play some Rush Poker and despite some early downs ended up being a fan, a big, big fan. Read his thoughts here.

UNFORTUNATELY NAMED ANURAG DIKSHIT SELLS REMAINDER OF HIS PARTYGAMING SHARES. That's PartyPoker for those not in the know. They are in the middle of talks, allegedly, of a merger with bwin to set up a European Poker/Gambling juggernaut. Competition is a good thing so let's get some of these Euro sites open for American online poker players to try. Lawmakers are you listening?

GOTTA HAVE SOME SUPER BOWL/SAINTS /SPORTS LINKS. First off check out the video on Reid G's blog and take a gander at some of these other articles below:

*The NFL is claiming they own the phrase "Who Dat" and essentially any Fleur-de-Lis paired with it. As both predate the existence of the league and as you know we have a modified fleur-de-lis as our logo, the Acadiana Series of Poker too, and many local business use a fleur-de-lis we basically think the No Fun League can go No Fun itself. Houma Today has a story here.

*Reggie Bush's lady friend Kim Kardashian will be traveling in a pimped out Brinks truck to the Super Bowl parties in Miami. Wonder if it's the same truck USC backed up to his house when he signed his first pro contract (er... commitment) to play there. Go here to see it.

*The internet is also abuzz about this Saints fan and another shot also here.

*This isn't Saints related but it is sportsy so we'll stick it here. We recently told you about Angelina Jolie's anti-New Orleans comments but this former NBA stiff and now fired ESPN writer goes a tad bit further. After trashing Haiti and its people he uses Katrina and New Orleans as an equally bad comparison. He says...

"We did the same after Hurricane Katrina, We were quick to vilify humans who were too slow to respond to the needs of victims, forgetting that the victims had built and maintained a major city below sea level in a known target zone for hurricanes. Our response: Make the same mistake again. Rebuild a doomed city, putting aside logic as we did." Read the idiot's full thoughts at Fox Sports.

*Speaking of the NBA, and some players who are not idiots, friends of GCP, reported a private game between Hornets and Bulls players last night at Harrahs. No word on who the big winner was, we imagine it was a Hornet though..

NEW BLOGGERS QUICK UPDATE

01.28.10

GULF COAST POKER.NET WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME BOBBY TOYE AND BRIAN HEPTINSTALL TO THE BLOGGER ROSTER. Toye is an up and coming poker pro and Brian Heptinstall is one of the industry's up and coming writers. You've probably seen Bobby winning an event at a Gulf Coast casino and probably seen Brian covering it. They are to the left in our columns section. Give them a try they are both excellent writers who bring new points of view to the table.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

SOUTHERN POKER CHAMPIONSHIP

01.27.10

GCP MAGAZINE COVER BOY TYLER SMITH A CHIP LEADER AT THE SPC'S MAIN EVENT. Smith after day 2 sits behind the 2nd largest chip stack. Will his run catapult him to his 2nd Gulf Coast Poker Magazine cover? Go here for WPT video of Tyler winning the Blue Diamond Player of the Day. He talks about a big pot he won from GCP blogger Jonathan Little. We put the guy on the cover on our magazine and he starts coming after our bloggers? That's not very nice. Just for that, reading public if you ever get the hankering for some almonds ask Tyler he's got a year's supply of them now.

The young gun's 467k is second only to Jared Jaffee (Brooklyn, NY) who is the only player over the half million mark with 546k. Third in chips is Jonathan Kantor (Tulsa, OK) who has 412.5k. James Mackey of Columbia, Mo is 4th with 380.5k. Rounding out the top 5 is Tommy Vedes, another New Yorker, with 336k.

Locals still alive include Ken Perry of Ocean Springs, MS at 70.5k, James Blackmon of Columbia, MS at 95.5k, Brian Hawkins of Fort Myers, FL at 70k, Hoyt Corkins of Alabama, 276k, Sam Rashid of Brandon, FL 319.5k, Ken Harbaugh of Atlanta, GA 244k, James Reed of Newnan, GA 221.5k, Andy Philchack of Garland, TX at 120k, Ayaz Mahmood of Houston, TX at 199k, and Ben Tollerene of Mansfield, TX at 86.5k.

CHESS AND POKER COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS UNITE. Dawn of the age of Bots, or is it noon in the age of bots. Gary Kasparov, grandmaster chess player and deep thinker (and Deep Blue conqueror) thinks poker playing will be a good tool for artificial intelligence. Your friendly conspiracy theorist thinks artificial intelligence is a good tool for winning money at poker. Are the bots already here? Are they coming? Or are they the short-stacking champs kicking butt on your favorite online site. Head over to the New York Times for more.

RUSH POKER LATEST RUSH, LATEST FAD ONLINE. You've probably played FullTilt's new "Rush" poker by now and enjoyed the graphics, movement, and feel to the game. Not surprisingly, early results indicate early winners like the game and people that lost to start off are not so in favor of the game. Rush gets the beats going in quick order and gives you a ton of hands to play especially with the quick fold button. Poker News Daily talks about the impact of Rush poker at PokerStars and the elimination of short stacking at FT.

AUSSIE MILLIONS PACKAGE WINNERS ENJOYING LIFE. Over at bwin's poker blog the online poker qualifiers are enjoying the good life taking day 1c off. A sumptuous meal and some wine tasting at one of Australia's finest vineyards? Sign me up. This comes on the heels of impressive run on day 1a and day 1b. 12 qualifiers advanced to day 2 with one of bwin's players second in chips.

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

SOUTHERN POKER CHAMPIONSHIP

01.26.10

AT THE END OF DAY ONE YOUR CHIP LEADER IS DWYTE PILGRIM. Not since Big Easy Lou Esposito came down and took the Harrahs New Orleans tournament by storm has a player so easily had his way on the Gulf Coast. Pilgrim continues his solid run (two firstss and a second so far) with the chip lead in the main event at 175k. Right behind him is GCP Blogger Jonathan Little with 155k (pictured in his new lucky GCP hoodie) who won a big late pot vs. Charder to get a lot of his chips. Obviously we are pulling for the guy who likes to Float the Turn.

Other notable Gulf Coasters include, Hoyt Corkins siting over 115k, Tyler Smith at 86k, and Jeremy Gaubert at 29k. Some of the bigger names still alive include Kathy Liebert at 53k, Paul Wasicka at 107.5k, JJ Liu 67.8k, Gavin Smith 106k, David Singer 34k, Allen Kesssler 17.6k and Daniel Negreanu at 81.2k.

UPDATE: Jonathan Little out in disgusting fashion. AQ ran into AK and QQ into JJ (ouch!).

HELL FREEZETH OVER NEW ORLEANS NEWS. You might have heard the Saints are Superbowl bound. Darvin Moon wrangled tickets to the game with in a Box with Jimmy Buffet, Avery Johnson, Ronnie Lott and Kenny Chesney. Read PokerNewsDaily for more.

Speaking of stars New Orleans transplant Brad Pitt is also a Saints fan. His son Maddox was spotted in a Jeremy Shockey jersey. Though according to US News and World report Angelina Jolie hates New Orleans. What's this got to do with poker? Not much

Kai Landry has more on the Saints winning, and a Subway experience to forget in his latest YOU'RE ENTERING A WORLD OF PAIN entry.

TJ CLOUTIER CHAMPIONSHIP BRACELET ON EBAY. Almost wish somebody would buy it and give it back to the old legend. Maybe someone did, the bracelet has sold for $4,006. If you run into somebody with the 2005 5k No Limit Bracelet and they claim they won it, tell them they only won it on ebay not at the Rio.

ANETTE15, THE HUNTRESS OR ANETTE OBRESTAD HAS WON AN AUSSIE MILLIONS EVENT. One of the worlds best and youngest Texas No Limit Hold'em players is also a great Pot Limit Omaha player. Uh oh. The world's youngest backer who was staking people left and right at the WSOP a couple of years ago, may soon set every record for men and women. She's a player. For more on Anette go here.

For more news that no longer qualifies as the latest, because... it's no longer recent, follow the link below...

ARCHIVED NEWS BLOTTER>>>

POKER IS WAR

(UPDATED: 01/22/10) Gene D's outlook on the local and national poker scene:

"I am sitting here grinding online with my son in my lap getting lots of text from the Beau...I couldn't be more happier than I am right now that my son is getting better...but still fighting the poker blues.

My son came down with Bronchitis last Friday and we have been nursing him back to health. I have never in my life felt more helpless than that day with my lil man coughing up flem and unable to sleep...he was crying and feeling bad. Me and my wife had him between us in the bed and I would have rather been tortured...water board me...pull my fingernails out...anything...just let my little dude feel better. It was the worst feeling I ever had.

(sitting here grinding and typing this...I got my Ipod on shuffle...and the song "Cats in the Cradle" just jumped off ...wow I love my son)

We have been bringing him to the doctors and giving him medicine for the past week...including breathing treatments 4 times a day. He has now turned the corner and he is feeling better. Hes a trooper and enjoys watching his Dad grind online...The sounds of the MTTs will keep him calmed and mesmerized for hours. Hes such a good baby."[+]

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THE POKER MONKEY

[UPDATED: 01/24/10] Poker Monkey shares his insights on the tournament poker circuit, life in general, and the battle to make it happen:

"I have arrived. It is 8:43am. I slept...we'll call it three hours. Air mattress. An already sore back from 8 hours of yard work Thursday and Friday at my rental house in Pensacola. A sore knee, from losing my balance going up the escalator in the Atlanta airport yesterday...where I fell over my carry-on bag...and landed on my knee, tearing a hole in my new jeans (purchased BEFORE the burglary) and ripping open my knee, where I proceeded to bleed all over Chili's while we dined on our layover.

There are exactly 5 kids running everywhere. My wife is sleeping. Still. Somehow. I have met my brother's new wife. She is very talkative. For those of you who don't know me, I talk very little before 4pm. Very little. I feel a trip to the other room to retrieve my BOSE 'noise-cancelling' (never before have I loved that phrase more) headphones coming in my very near future.

Later today, it has been brought to my attention that my Mother will be recieving a guest to the house. One that she went to school with years ago. She, apparantly, is bringing with her...two dogs (which should be fun to watch with my Mom's two cats) and a bird.

Yup, a bird. One of those loud, screetching, talking birds. This person is spending the night. The bird, is to be kept within 5 feet of where we are sleeping. I feel two things coming...either death for a certain bird; or a trip with my wife to a local hotel.." [+}

YOU'RE ENTERING A WORLD OF PAIN

(UPDATED 01/07/09) Kai has won two large poker tournaments in a matter of months. He is one of the top up and comers on the coast, having taken down a main event in Tunica and winning a circuit ring in New Orleans.

"Dear occasional disloyal reader,

In lieu of an actual blog this week (as if I've ever managed to post that regularly), I'm simply putting up a picture of a hot blonde.

I get the feeling that the blogs have been too wordy and could use some more pictures. Like a Denny's menu. Or Waffle House. And who among us after a long night of drinking doesn't like a hot, greasy Waffle House meal? Exactly. Thus the picture.

Apologies to readers outside the Southeastern United States who are not familiar with Waffle House, however, I'm sure that despite your lack of Southern drawl, inadequate college football teams, and clothing made up of less than 100% Mississippi cotton, you can still appreciate a menu with pictures on it."[+]

The cc Line

[UPDATED: 01/29/10] Shoats, a film school buff, tackles sports gambling, fantasy sports and of course poker but never in the buff. He also pledges to snap off lunchboxes at every opportunity.

"From Malcolm Gladwell, who retells an experiment documented in a book by Kahneman and Tversky:

"...a group of people were told to imagine that they had $300. They were then given a choice between (a) receiving another $100 or (b) tossing a coin, where if they won they got $200 and if they lost they got nothing." (Note: by nothing, he means nothing additional. They don't lose any money by losing the coin flip, they just don't get any more than their $300.)

He continues:

"Most of us, it turns out, prefer (a) to (b). But then Kahneman and Tversky did a second experiment. They told people to imagine that they had $500 and then asked them if the would rather (c) give up $100 or (d) toss a coin and pay $200 if they lost and nothing at all if they won. Most of us now prefer (d) to (c).""..[+]

POBODY'S NERFECT

[UPDATED: 11/07/09] Matt Bryrant is trying to conquer this poker thing. He's well armed as he meshes a dealer's insight with his grinder's perspective.

"Is poker all about math? Is poker all about feel? Position? Your cards? Your opponent?

I could go on and on.....

I wanted to talk a little about feel. I think I'm more of a feel player than a math player(I'm not saying this is the better way to be). I will review a hand from the Full Tilt 50-50 tournament I managed to squeak my way through. I'll try to set-up this hand just a little:

At the moment, I have never used PokerTracker. I'm not apposed to it. Actually, I plan to use it in the future when I plan to give online poker a legitimate run. But I have no stats on the "villain" in this hand. What I can tell you, is that this hand is played early at the final table. I don't have much prior history with him/her. I start this hand 4th in chips.[+]

AUSTIN MARTIN

(UPDATED: 12/09/09) Austin Martin, former owner and operator of an online poker site brings his expert knowledge and home game expertise to GCP:

"If you have been reading along the last few weeks, you know I have had a terrible run. Finally, I have made a bit of a comeback. I amended my bankroll strategy for the Sunday million double shootout satellite tournaments. It is $11.70 to enter, and there are two seats guaranteed. Late at night and early in the week, these only get about 3o players. So, you are getting a good overlay as well as only having to beat 1 or 2 players to get into the second table. I played four of these tonight and won two of them.

In case you dont know, you can win these and then unregister and get the credit in tournament dollars. My bankroll is back over $500 and I am feeling good about the direction my luck is moving online. I will play a few more of these over the next few days and then covert the tournament dollars to cash in the 45 man sit n go's again"[+]

DA ROCK OF ACES

(UPDATED: 08/27/09) Da Rock, tells it straight from the dealers' box and the winners' circle.

"What's up my friends? Hope the poker world is going well. Quick question to you all and I will get out of your hair. Why is it that every time a player gets sucked out on, get two good starting cards and a bad flop, try to trap another player and lets them catch up, try to bluff and gets caught or any other bad scenario, they always, and I mean always blame the dealer?

Would someone, anyone please explain this to me. We as dealers take the most abuse from players that I have ever seen. Our job is to get as many hands out as possible, collect the bets, burn and turn, call the winning hand, and push the pot.

We really have no control as to what cards come off the deck. If we did, don't you think that we would invite all our friends to come and play? Or deal jackpots everyday? WOW, I mean come on guys take it easy on the insults and threats. ..."[+]

RECOGNIZE AND REACT

(UPDATED 09/11/09) A new title but the same blog, Goondingy or Big Smoove and pure aggression on the felt examines live poker action:

"The picture above shows my boy Brandon on the bottom left with the back of his head to us, my seat is to his right, a few stacks there with my water, mp3 player and the rest of the players on my table, who were there after hour four.

Bachelor Party! We started the festivities at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Ms. Four of the eight played in the $200 tournament and myself with the other three did other things in the casino. The later part of the day we were going to hit Bourban street in New Orleans, just the thing that my bud Alex was looking to do for his bachelor party, that's correct, no strippers!

Well I sit down in a 1-2 NL game, I LOVE THE BEAU, I adjust my my chair, get the cocktails that I want, pass my card over for my comps, place my cell phone on the table and plug in my mp3 player and start to play some poker. The reason why I went through this is because the only thing you can do at Harrah's in New Orleans is get a cocktail, except for RED BULL! What's up with that, unless you want to pay for it or you're a diamond club card holder, which means you have gambled over $50,000! Whatever!" [+]

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Poker Fiction

[UPDATED: 04/21/09]PLAYER N scribes a tale of grifters, sleaze balls, and beautiful card sharks all hustling on the Coast.

""I hate big hands. Not AA or KK because I love those starting hands. And sidenote, I hate those idiots that complain about big pairs and then never draw a profit from them. No, I'm being literal.

I hate big HUMAN HANDS. You know those big giant hands with fat frankfurter fingers crowned by thick calloused fingernails that are as wide as postage stamps always yellow and blocking any light from reflecting off of possible cards underneath.

In live play, you look at those Ogre hands and you never know if it's your turn to act or if the guy has got a pair of cards buried under there and he is contemplating monosyllabically in his head. "DO... I... CALL? DO... I... BET?"

You can hear the thought pushing the pea-sized brain about his matching Easter Island skull like an Astronaut using flatulence as propulsion to navigate his way around a space-station.

Sorry to get off on a tangent, but Astronauts have been known to eat an extra batch of freeze-dried Boston Beans just for the fun of bouncing around the station powered by toots. Come on, you know that sounds like fun.

Back to my anger inspired by big hands. When I see massive hands I make a mental footnote, which is a lot like a real footnote, noticed when first thought about but never returned to, that I need to follow the action a little more closely. "" [+]

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