POKER NEWS
UPDATE (11/06/08)
ANNIE DUKE NEWS... She's an apprentice, a celebrity apprentice, and rumor has it she goes deep in the event. Wicked Chops has plenty of Annie news including another rumor that she might be leaving Ultimate Bet.
No word if she is still playing shoeless or over the bad TV that she participated in during the Best Damn Poker Show. For more info follow the link... Wicked Chops.
POKER TOURNAMENT
UPDATE (11/05/08)
IP POKER CLASSIC IN FULL SWING!!! You guys have read about Monkey getting 3 final tables so far in his blog...Well it is my understanding that Wild Bill had 2 final tables yesterday in the nooner and the 6pm. Also Claudia "The Claw" Crawford final tabled a nooner and her other half, Gabe Costner, also made a Final Table in Oklahoma.
FTOPS X (10) STARTS
ON 11/05. For those of you stuck in
an
area where you can't get to one of the live events going on, you
need go no further than your computer for some poker tournament
action. Full Tilt Poker is running their latest FTOPs event.
There are 25 events ranging in buy-ins as high as $5000.00 to as
low as $120.00. The Main event is a $500.00 buy-in with 2.5
million gauranteed.
MONKEY BUSINESS
UPDATE (11/01/08)
A VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Monkey, seen as a Monkey or a gorilla, wins his first tournament with pocket Jacks. His final table moved him into a tie with two regional players Gabe Costner, Matt "Cub" Culberson, and interloper Men "The Master" for most final tables for the year. More importantly, Monkey gets the monkey off his back and doesn't finish second! Big win for the big guy. Well done, Will!
Also, you'll notice he honored the request of a Halloween costume pic, anybody else out there with one?
HALLOWEEN POKER NEWS UPDATE (10/31/08)
HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Will you be in costume tonight playing poker? Pictures welcome. Send them to Wild Bill.
CLONIE GOWEN WINS
WORLD POKER OPEN. She bests some regional players
like BJ McBrayer of Tuscaloosa, AL, Barry Hatcher of Baton
Rouge, LA and Bl
ake Huff of Beebe, AR. McBrayer finished
second when his QT ran into Gowen's pocket Aces. This is
Gowen's second win of the year and gives her almost a million
dollars in lifetime winnings.
BAD BEAT BOB BARES BOTTOM. A Burnley soccer player in England wore bright red underpants with his nickname Bad Beat Bob emblazoned on his bum underneath his soccer kit. After scoring winning goals in successive games, Bob, who earned his nickname because of his poker misfortune, pulled down his shorts revealing his "panties." Now his knickers are selling like hot cakes. We anticipate Wild Bill will do the same if he wins the IP Classic main event. Anybody know how to emblazon underwear?
LOCAL PLAYER
UPDATE (10/30/08)
FINAL TABLE MADNESS... With two months left to go in the year, an IP Classic that has started, an impending Harrahs tournament in December and the 7 Clans classic at Coushatta things are heating up. Right now, Men the Master and two of our local favorites Matt Culberson and Gabe Costner (pictured) are tied for most final tables made for the year. Right behind them is our blogger Monkey.
The Gulf Coast has been making a statement all year long and three of our players are having some of the most live success in the country. This race will be heating up as the year comes to a close. Speaking of local players, in the just aired episodes of the WSOP Main Event you can see Clint Schaffer going deep.
LOCAL PLAYER
UPDATE (10/28/08)
JEREMY "THECHEMIST" GAUBERT GETS 2ND PLACE IN THE 11TH EVENT AT THE GOLD STRIKE WORLD POKER OPEN. Jeremy Gaubert from Lockport, Louisiana continues on his hot streak taking down 2nd place in the 11th event for over 11k. Congrats Jeremy!!
WORLD OF POKER
UPDATE (10/27/08)
THE RAISING CAJUN TIM HEBERT TAKES FIRST AT THE GOLD STRIKE WORLD POKER OPEN IN TUNICA AS THE GOOD RESULTS CONTINUE FOR THE GULF COASTERS. Hebert took down his third first place in his career, besting an in the money field of Gulf Coasters that included Shawn Dustin of New Orleans, and Dustin Graves of Of Chalmette. Chanel Ward of Walls Mississippi also cashed. Hebert of Lafayette, LA now has 10 cashes for over $260k. Congrats Tim.
WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (10/22/08)
GAVIN SMITH TAKES 2ND PLACE. Gavin, who played his heart out, wound up flipping a coin when he called a shove with 5-5 against Big Slick. The amateur snapped it off.
CLINT SCHAFER TAKES 6TH PLACE IN THE FIRST EVENT AT THE CAESARS PLACE CLASSIC... Good for a cool 11k. Way to go Clint!!!!
SOME OF THE GULF COAST POKER PLAYERS BURNING UP THE FESTA AL LAGO 15k MAIN EVENT GOING INTO DAY 3
JOHN "FIREYJUSTICE" LITTLE HAS ... Has 70k
ALLIE PRESCOTT.... Has 52k
MATT GRAHAM....has 31k+
FRED BERGER ....Has right below 20k
TOURNAMENT
DIRECTOR JASON "JUICE"
LIPSCOMB JOINS THE GCP.NET BLOG TEAM (10/05/08)
THE PRISON WORLD WILL GET THEIR "JUICE" WITH THE CONVICTION OF O.J. SIMPSON...AND WE WILL GET OURS.
Harrah's TD, Jason Lipscomb, has joined our team with his "Juicey Poker" Blog. Jason has years of experience on the tournament circuit as a player and TD where he is known for his Final Table wit and humor, and he is also known for being fair and honest in his rulings. He has recently been promoted within the Harrah's organization to the Tournament Director of Harrah's in New Orleans and promises to bring some sick ass tournament structures in the coming circuit events. You will also see another feature that we will roll-out called "Ask the Tournament Director" where will have an e-mail address set up where you can send your questions to Jason directly on things that you run into in the Poker World. You can visit Jason here at his blog...."JUICEYPOKER"
RED SCARE POKER NEWS (10/02/08)
THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. 
We
know that's their old flag, but on
a day when Russia announced it's building new nukes, capable of
bursting through missile defense systems and pouring 3.1 billion
into its military, they are kicking a little ass in poker too.
November Niner, Ivan Demidov is still alive at the WSOP-E but
has fallen to second in chips, as play has gotten to five
handed.
Stanislav Alekhin is now the chip leader at 2.3 million. Guess where he is from. Canadian-American Daniel Negreanu is the shortest just shy of a million and John Juanda is third with 1.2 million. Bengt Sonnert, a scandi, sits appropriately enough in the middle of this micro cold war with almost 1.1 million.
For those interesting in intercontinental weapons, the new warhead, the Topol missile, traversed the distance of the Russian Empire, sorry, the Russian Federation, and hit its target on the Kamchatka peninsula. Accuracy over 3730 miles ain't bad. Putin, we imagine was pleased, Kamchatka---not so much. -WB
EURO-ONLINE POKER
NEWS
(10/02/08)
DEMIDOV GOING OFF. The November Niner is in contention to be the first player to win his first bracelet before his first final table has started. Think about it. Ivan Demidov is the early chipleader of the WSOP-E with 8 players left having taken a massive pot off of John Juanda. Daniel Negreanu and Scott Fischman are still circling and nobody is counting former Bible salesman Juanda out just yet. This is Demidov's second final table, (but he first one he's played remember the Main Event is on a three month long dinner break) but he also has an 11th place finish this year for over 38k at the World Series. Probably the new favorite.
SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ HAS A PRO POKER BILL BEFORE THE SENATE. Two important highlights of the bill include standards to prevent fraud and abuse of customers (finally) and thorough screening of online sites. Pokerati has more here.
GENERAL POKER NEWS (10/01/08)
NOVEMBER NINER IVAN 'DRAGO' DEMIDOV IN CONTENTION AT THE WSOPE WITH 13 PLAYERS LEFT. John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, and Scott Fischmen are also in the thick of things. Juanda is the leader with only one player close. Brandon Adams, Mike Matasow, Brian Townsend and Eric Seidel are recent busts in an end game full of Yanks.
GAMBLING911 KIND OF ARGUES THE OBVIOUS. Still it needs to be said until our lawmakers get it. Barney Frank, who has been a bit of a polarizing figure in the bailout discussions, continues to be a friend to poker. He's gotten a bill to recognize online poker as legal through the House. There is a lot of money circulating through companies coming from the wallets of Americans that is untaxed and unregulated. Just a piece of this billion dollar industry would be a profitable portion for our federal government. And while, we may argue over the merit of regulations or oversight, the Ultimate Mess is proof that these rogue companies have to answer to someone. Read their take here. -WB
"I'M THE UNKNOWN STUNTMAN" CHEATING SCANDAL NEWS (09/30/08)
RUSS
IS ULTIMATE MESS. Lee Majors played the Fall Guy
on TV, Russ Hamilton may be playing him in real life.
Ultimate Bet is pinning everything on him.
The
result of an investigation led by a former federal agent says
Russ Hamilton, in his capacity as advisor to the software
company that designed their platform, gave himself an ability to
see his opponents' hole cards. Russ Hamilton is a past
Main Event champion. Pictured to the left at a much
heavier time, oddly enough when he got paid his weight in silver
plus a million dollars for winning the Main Event in 1994 (the
silver anniversary). Wonder if anyone checked him for a
lead vest.
According to this piece in Wicked Chops Hamilton is "a true piece of s**t" who bilked gamblers for over 6.1 million. Though it is interesting to note Hamilton "advises against telling bad beat stories, dwelling on bad losses, and most of all, discounting luck as a factor (Tournament Monitor)." Yes, one should never discount luck as a factor especially if your opponent can see what you are holding. You are just having a tough session and running bad.
We will not be surprised if Hamilton played a very active and instrumental role in this scandal, but it seems a little too neat. At every step during the exposure of the Cereus scandals the powers-that-be have sought to compartmentalize it to one rogue employee and deny a corporate responsibility. This despite the report admitting Absolute Poker itself tried to cover up evidence of cheating. Don't be surprised if the hefty Hamilton is just the tip of the iceberg. Also, don't be surprised if you never see the rest of the iceberg.
Ultimate Bet, as you should remember, in a pre-emptive move, perhaps, is suing the software company, which may or not be owned by the same people that own Ultimate Bet. Sue yourself before anybody else does? Sorry for the confusion but check out our archives for a link to an article that tries to make sense of the corporate three card monte shell game that makes up the Cereus businesses. Bob Pajich of Cardplayer has another great piece on the matter and perhaps the most informative here. Also, 2+2er Michael Josem who helped exposed the scandal gets his due here. Wild Bill offers his thoughts on the mess in his blog: DINE ON THE WHALES.
GENERAL POKER NEWS (09/29/08)
DALLAS TEXAS, CHARITY
TOURNAMENT FOR CANCER.
It brings out the stars like Kenna James, Kido
Pham, TJ Cloutier and our favorite Pham, Young Pham, for a good
cause. Pokerpages has Kenna's take on the event:
here.
YUBAL BRONSTEIN OF ATLANTA IS A STUD. This guy has been on a tear this year. At the WSOPE Main Event he and a ton of Americans are at the top of the leader board after day 1B.
POKER GROWING IN EUROPE? In an era of diminishing fields, the WSOP-E can say it's growing. One player more than last year signed up and put 10k on themselves. This refutes a study that says poker is no longer hip. I wonder what killed the hip factor? Humberto Brenes, Robert Varkoni reruns on ESPN Classic, or spelling bee champions that are homeschooled prodigies? Got to be one of those things right?
TEXAS DOLLY TELLS ANNETTE 15 TO KEEP IT AND TO START LOOKING AT HER CARDS. The king won their heads up battle 2-0. Though he didn't say it, he surely thought to himself, "My daddy would be rolling over in his grave if I lost money to a 13 year old girl."
WE ARE ALSO CHECKING OUT A STORY OUT OF LAKE CHARLES SUBMITTED BY ONE OF OUR READERS. More to come on that. -WB
WORLD SERIES OF POKER EUROPE UPDATE (09/25/08)
JESUS HAS NO LIMITS EXCEPT POT LIMIT. Chris Ferguson headlines the Pot Limit final table that includes Max "The Italian Pirate" Pescatori and Sorel Mizzi.
THE
PROFESSOR HORSES AROUND AND BUSTS IN THIRD.
Despite
a chip lead, a better nickname than the Italian Pirate, and some
name recogniton, Howard Lederer didn't get it done in the Horse
Tournament. Phil Ivy vying for a bracelet that may or may
not satisfy his prop bet (that he'd win a bracelet this year)
depending who you ask also fell short at the final table.
ANDY BLOCH IS THE NAME PRO THAT WENT DEEPEST IN EVENT ONE. He went out 15th. Kid Poker Daniel Negreanu was 24th. Oddly the Euros are DOMINATING this event. They are all over the money and the entrant lists. It's a UK and Scandi party over there. We'll try and figure out why they are crushing it as we also wrestle with the thought that the cut-off is the new button. Poker makes our heads hurt.
***This just in reader IMISSTHEOBVIOUS1066 points out, it's being held in Europe.
Jesper Hougaard of Demark won Event 1 and Sherkhan Farnood of Afghanistan won Event 2. We are guessing Sherkhan was never a member of the Taliban. Call it a hunch. -WB
Gulf Coast Poker.NET SITE UPDATE (09/25/08)
DOING A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING TODAY.
-We've
updated the local Who's Who to include a couple familiar
faces
that
should be on there, but weren't. Such as Rodney
"Coach" Shows (pictured) check it out at:
WHO'S
WHO.
If you are from the area and would like to be recognized please email us a picture and a list of your accomplishments. Send it to Wild Bill.
-We are premiering the Tiltin' Texan's new blog YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT and giving him a slot in our columns. Welcome to Team GCP, Tex. Here's our proper introduction as promised. Tiltin' Texan has a great sense of humor and a sick streak in his game that will make his blog a fun ride.
His first story about the Punisher is an epic for anybody playing for hours with a maniac who has a ton of chips and keeps sending the rest of the players to the rail (in a cash game). Did he finally snap the guy off or did he get punished? Read The Tiltin Texan here. We also plan to unveil a couple more blogs from local players, soon. If you want a sneak peak check some of the guys linked off of the Southpaw Rounder's blog.
-We've moved the blogs of Philly Tom and the Spice Rack down into tournament features. They both have good takes on one time events: The Main Event and Coushatta's 7 Clans Cup, but haven't done much updating since then. You can still find them there if you'd like to track their progress as poker players and to review their journeys. And please contact us, if you have a blog you'd like us to link to that focuses on Gulf Coast Poker. We might even make you a columnist. -WB
BACK TO NORMALCY UPDATE (09/25/08)
POKERSTARS INTERNAL SECURITY HAS ESSENTIALLY CLEARED POKER MONKEY'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE SCAM. Jonathan Little and Shannon Shorr have also offered their support to him and this matter seems to be laid to rest. It was a tough day for Will and we are glad this is behind him. Go down one row for the link to the 2+2 thread.
ANNETTE_15 OR ANNETTE OLBRESTAD, AS HER PARENTS NAMED HER ,IS TO FACE DOYLE BRUNSON IN A HEADS UP MATCH TOMORROW. Olbrestad the youngest ever bracelet winner, taking the WSOPE last year, is considered a prodigy and maybe the best player in Europe already. She claims to have never deposited a cent online yet is a millionaire. She's also won a tournament without ever looking at her cards. If you haven't heard of her, you will. They will play two out of three heads up.
DUPLICATE POKER, WHICH IS SOMEHOW LEGAL IN THE U.S. HAS. . . DUPLICATED. Carlyle Gamming has announced a launch date for their "twin" poker site. Read the details here. Going out on a limb, it's probably safe to say lawsuit to follow. -WB
SCAMMERS SUCK UPDATE (09/24/08)
****MONKEY'S WESTERN UNION RECEIPT: WU Receipt
LAST NIGHT A S**TSTORM
BLEW OVER THE GULF COAST INVOLVING SEVERAL NOTABLE PLAYERS FROM
OUR REGION AND MONKEY.
Actually
the header should read, it involved several notable players
including Monkey. Apparently
Jonathan Little, pictured, got hacked via AIM, and a fake
Little, using that AIM account, got Monkey to wire him some
money for a recently robbed friend in Peru. Then that fake
Little went about trying to get other people to transfer money
on FullTilt or Stars to Monkey.
We surmise the plan was for Monkey to take the fall and maybe once on the hook wire and forward the incoming money on to the scammer's friend in Peru. It appears consensus is starting to think Monkey innocent and non-complicit in this scam. His thought are on his blog with a review of the situation THE POKER MONKEY. Wild Bill also offered some support when there was still the thought Monkey was more than a victim at DINE ON THE WHALES. There are a couple of threads on 2+2 about this, linking the longest one here. -WB
EURO-KENTUCKY POKER UPDATE (09/24/08)
GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY A DOMAIN SQUATTER? In a heretofore unprecedented move, the Gov, a democrat with Chavez like leanings, wants to bar gambling domains like Pokerstars and FullTilt from the great state of Kenutcky. Forbes magazine breaks it down here. It's a head scratcher. At this moment, it's rumored, an inspired Governor of West Virginia is considering hoarding the public school and library computers to keep his citizens from gambling online. Sources say they don't know what happened to the computer but the governor will find it. Sorry West Virginia. Just joking. It's Kenutcky that really deserves our wrath.
WSOP-E HORSE IS DOWN TO 13 PLAYERS. There are some big names still alive including Hellmuth, Ivy, Lissandro, and Lederer. Lissandro is the chip leader. No word if he threatened any bad poker rappers on his way to the final table. -WB
U.S. AMERICAN POKER UPDATE (09/23/08)
GOOD NEWS IN DC FOR ONLINE PLAYERS. Casino City Times has a piece that includes the following: "With the congressional session winding down in Washington, some gamblers and online poker advocates were caught off guard when the House Financial Services Committee recently introduced, then passed, a bill that would overturn much of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act." Read more here.
THE TILTIN' TEXAN HAS A BLOG. We'll get him up on the columns soon enough and give him a proper introduction but for now check it out here.
THIS WEEK'S POKER AFTER DARK TO INCLUDE THE BRAT, THE MOUTH, CLONIE GOWEN, GAVIN SMITH, DAVID WILLIAMS AND PHIL LAAK. Four out of six of those pros promise to be entertaining, three will be annoying, and one will look good. The good looking one of course is Gavin Smith. -WB
WORLDWIDE POKER UPDATE (09/18/08)
ONE OF THE SHELL COMPANIES THAT OWNS ULTIMATE BET IS GETTING
SUED FOR $75 MILLION.
Apparently,
"Cereus" is not the only terrible name for a company as Absolute
Poker and Ultimate Bet seemed to be owned by a series of poorly
named shell companies. The mouthful that is Excapsa is
one. Blast-Off Limited another, as well as the more well
known Tokwiro Enterprises, ieLogic, Iovation, and eWorld
Holdings Limited. These names are as suspiciously bad as
the names of the Superusers including NioNio that stole
thousands if not millions from UB and Absolute's customers.
MSNBC has a pretty good article on the matter but good luck with the second half as they try to explain exactly who owns Ultimate Bet. A matter of importance as the current owners blame the cheating scandal on the previous owners... who appear to be... the current owners. As we can't understand who owns what or who is associated with the scandal some of the poorly named companies above may have nothing to do with this. We think that was the point of their corporate three card monte. MSNBC article by Mike Brunker, here.
CHEATING SITES BE DAMNED, ONLINE POKER IS SURGING IN POPULARITY. Led by PokerStars and Full Tilt, this past month has been a record breaker for the two biggest US sites and the minnows. Peak sessions during the sweet spot at 4 to 6 pm eastern, or after school for the high-schoolers before Mom and Dad get home from work, gets 80,000 players online at the same time. Wow.
FORT MYERS UNITED WAY HOLDING A POKER TOURNAMENT FOR CHARITY. Details here.
DAVE CAIN ,THE ENGLISH ZOMBIE, HAS BROKEN THE WORLD RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE HOURS OF NONSTOP POKER. Just as America ignored David Blaine standing on things for a week at a time, most of England has ignored David Cain. Though it is a record esteemed as highly as most goldfish swallowed at a Gulp-a-Guppy party and twins playing consecutive hours of Duplicate Bridge... it is still a record. Slightly less esteemed is Phil Gordon's record of 40 years of a boring infatuation with a way of deciding who rides shotgun when two people call it out at the same time, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Nonetheless it was for charity so good job Dave. I'll tell the zombies at Harrahs, who do it to get back to even, their record's been broken.
WORLDWIDE POKER
UPDATE (09/17/08)
JJPRODIGY IS A MULTI-TASKER, AND GETS CAUGHT (AGAIN) MULTI-ACCOUNTING (AGAIN), AND APOLOGIZES (AGAIN), ALSO REVEALS HE'S MULTI-TABLED AGAINST HIMSELF ON A FINAL TABLE. Ignoring for a second the difficulty of multi-tabling a singular final table, Josh "JJProdigy" Field and many of his friends were caught and banned (again) by Stars for doing just that. Pokerking has a good write up with the gory details: here.
TIFFANY 'HOT CHIPS' MICHELLE AND STEVE 'EVERY-MAN' DANNEMANN PROVE THEY ARE NOT FLUKES BY CASHING (AGAIN). Dannemann made the final 27 and Tiff, as we know her, took 46th for 15k at the WPT Borgota Open. Mark Seif, Nam Le, Ted Forrest, Big Little Nickie Frangos, and Chris Bell are also still alive. Wicked Chops, a bastion of anti-ginger venom, has an update: Dan Heimiller is a strawberry shortcake.
ONLINE POKER UPDATE (09/16/08)
DUPLICATE
POKER GETS 250,000th CUSTOMER, LOOKS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE 249,999th
CUSTOMER. Taking all the best aspects of duplicate
Bridge, which is apparently duplicating, Duplicate Poker offers
a unique way to play Poker. For more information, actually
a straight up press release, head to
Business-Wire.
NEW ONLINE RECORD POT SET, THIS ONE INVOLVING PATATINO, THE RUMORED ALIAS OF GUY LALIBERTE, FAMOUS FOR BEING THE FISH ON HIGH STAKES POKER AND FOR OWNING CIRCE DU SOLEIL (A SHOW TERRIFIED OF THE IMPENDING COMPETITION FROM THE REAL DEAL). Laliberte won with a pair of twos. Yes. You read that correctly, over 600k with quack, quack. Of course it involved draws that didn't get there. More info at: Part Time Poker News.
POKER UPDATE (09/15/08)
KYLE LEBLANC, THE BABYFACED THRILLER, WINS HIS SECOND BAD BEAT JACKPOT AT HARRAHS. Holding QQ with a board of AA47A LeBlance was delighted to see his opponent turn over the case Ace (A9). LeBlanc's bad beat netted him almost 12k. Harrahs carded the kid probably 10 times but he turned 21 a while ago, and was able to leave the casino with his profit.
ALSO, JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS FOR ALL THE WELL WISHES DURING THE STORMS THIS WEEK AND TO EXTEND OUR THOUGHTS TO WESTERN LA AND TEXAS RIGHT NOW. We apologize for the lack of updates as we have had some computer and power issues but we are back running smoothly again.
MID SOUTH POKER OPEN MAIN EVENT RESULTS (09/15/08)
WE'RE FIRST WITH THESE RESULTS. 24 players bought in the $2500 +100 for the main event. Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, or more probably a guy from Clarksville, TN with the same name as Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, too first. Second was Will Recktor of little Rock, AR, third Gary Rouse of Gilmer, TX, followed by Rory Monahan of Carbondale, IL.
That's only half the story though. We have it on good authority they chopped with Cornell getting about 18 k, Recktor, Rouse and Monahan getting 9+k a piece. Don Nicholson of Oak Ridge, TN but not of the Oak Ridge Boys came in 5th and went out before the chop. Therefore he got exactly $2,910.
WORLD OF POKER (AND ENTERTAINMENT) UPDATES (09/09/08)
THE REAL DEAL, A REAL DUD? Even the positive articles don't sound all that promising. Not really grasping the interactive appeal of this. Pay to Play with the Pros at a Vegas show? Cirque Du Soleil or Scotty Ngyun?
JAIME GOLD GETS BLUFFED. Kind of an interesting thought process going on here. KJ beats rags anyway.
JOHNNY DEPP TAKES $800K OFF OF ORLANDO BLOOM IN POKER? This article is about some band owing him 28k in poker losses but it also suggest Depp fleeced his co-star Bloom for 800 large. Wow. Maybe Bloom won't be able to afford another Pirates of The Carribean sequel: Depppp channels Durrrr in his trailer.
DEVILFISH ULLIOT HAS A REALITY TV SHOW. No it's not him singing chocolate rain (Yeah that's him singing ) but he teaches a pupil how to be a successful poker player. No word yet if he lends the winner any of his mojo so they too can date girls his granddaughter's age. WHO WANTS TO BE A BRIT POKER PRO? And he's not the only one, a show focused on online high limit players is also in the pipe: Pokernews.
WORLD OF POKER UPDATES (09/08/08)
DOYLE BRUNSON BREAKS BREAD WITH MICHAEL PHELPS.
Insert Dolphin, fish, shark, water
puns
and jokes here. Doyle's blog is a pretty good read.
After dinner, he says Michael wanted to try and out-drink
Doyle's son Todd Brunson which is a bad idea. Todd wearing
an Affliction shirt in the photo is probably a bad idea too.
Granted it's not like he's wearing a Miley Cyrus shirt but it's
probably a brand that is a little too young for the guy. Go to :
Doyle on Pokerroad for all
the details.
Virge also has a post up where he too spotted the Olympian in Vegas: THE LONELY ROAD. And for those that prefer their news to be more salacious gambling911.com has a report of Phelps in a Vegas strip club. In another article they suggest Phelps may join Doyle's room and that's the real reason for all the hobknobbing and if Michael was lucky the knobhobbing. One of the gambling911 articles has a picture of Phelps and lady stripper. No word if he got his SuperMicheal on or not during his Vegas vacation but it appears he had a lot of fun.
ONLINE LEGALIZATIONS EFFORTS CONTINUE. An update on poker pages has a quote which I think boils down the argument for legalizing the game as succinctly as possible. Joe Brennan Chairman and CEO of iMega said, "You have a law that criminalizes an activity that's illegal online, but perfectly legal offline. The rights that we have as Americans should translate to the online world; there should be no inconsistencies. We should have the same rights online as we have offline." Yay, First Amendment rights, the constitution and all that legal jargon. Read more at Poker Pages.
ONLINE POKER UPDATES (09/06/08)
DURRRRRR
DOES
IT BIG. Pink Flamingo Kid has a Wednesday to remember.
Tom
"Durrrr" Dwan played in four $400k + pots and won
three of them. Try these numbers on for size $447,785,
$474,949, $476,305 and finally $499,037. For complete
details
Poker-King has it covered.
You might remember Dwan when Wild Bill was hypercritical of him
a few weeks ago,
The future of poker is bleak
but for a better profile of him, the talented Nicole Gordon gets
it done for Pokernews
here.
Pic from pocketfives.com.
WORLD SERIES OF ONLINE POKER COMMENCES. TODAY. 18 days of action. Ending on September 22nd and including a 25 k high rollers heads up event there will be a lot to railbird on Pokerstars the next couple of weeks
ACTION AUSTIN MARTIN IS ALIVE. He's got a blog post up and promises more. Since he's gotten a partner to help him out we'll believe him, for now. Martin, who once owned an online poker room is getting back into playing online.
MATT 'CUB' CULBERSON WON THE FOURTH EVENT AT THE GULF COAST POKER CHAMIONSHIP. That's not really online news but we still wanted to recognize him, Philip Totty of Albany Georgia (event 3 winner), William Jarret of Cartersville, Georgia (event 2 winner and do yourself a favor and check out his mug shot on pokerpages) and Houston's own Jeff Timms (you guessed it he won event 1). Actually since the GCPC has been called off you can probably find all these guys online anyway.
WORLD OF POKER UPDATES (09/04/08)
POKER PLAYERS, WELL DUPLICATE POKER PLAYERS, HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT WHO THEY ARE BACKING IN THIS YEARS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. The Wall Street Journal has the details: Duplicate poker players speak.
TJ CLOUTIER IS SAD HE ISN'T GOING TO THE GCPC. Read all the details here at pokerpages: Angry at Gustave. By the way TJ has a myspace page. Weird. Make him your buddy here: Social Network with TJ.
PHIL HELMUTH SPEAKS OUT ON THE IMPENDING ABSOLUTE ULTIMATE BET MERGER. He also touches on the cheating. Here's some spin:
"The people in charge were so impressed with the level headed way that Leggett handled the scandals that they began to consider him for COO. They knew that UB needed someone strong, with an impeccable record, to carry the torch forward and clean up the sites. They knew they needed someone who had a huge commitment to security and integrity, so that UB could win back the players that they lost, and grow the combined UB and AP site into one of the top two or three sites in the world. They watched as Leggett personally took almost a thousand phone calls to the affected players, and committed himself--and the site--to giving players a safe and secure environment to play online poker."
Hmm, being a phone jockey qualifies you for COO? There's more to Phil's thoughts, also on pokerpages: Phil's Rantings and snubbed by Serinda Swan
GULF COAST UPDATES (09/03/08)
GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP HAS BEEN CANCELED, FOR NOW. Pokerpages has reported the tournament is canceled, for now. We hope to get in touch with Johnny Grooms to get a more in-depth statement.
However, the Gulf Coast Casinos have been cleared to reopen by Mississippi. We will have info on the Louisiana casinos as it becomes available to us. If you still have power we understand that none of the online casinos went down for the count, though there are a couple of sites we wished got hammered (the servers not the people).
DENNIS PHILLIPS HIRES THE
ORACLE ROY WINSOTN AS A POKER COACH.
This
is bad news for the chip leader of the
WSOP Main
Event. Here's why:
Wild Bill's take on the November Nine. In short,
cameras will be trained on the guys that did the training and
not the truck driver with a mound of chips at the final table.
OUR THOUGHTS GO OUT TO OUR FRIENDS IN HOUMA, GRAND ISLE AND THE LOWER PARISHES. As many of you know GeneD, Southpaw Rounder and several friends/contributors of the site are Houma natives. We hope when they get back they find things as they left them. Also, with all the foul weather Gustave brought in-land our thoughts and prayers are also going out to our friends in Baton Rouge and points north.
HURRICANE REPRIEVE UPDATES (09/02/08)
GUSTAVE DRENCHES MOST OF THE COAST. We hope that everybody made it out alright and that your families and homes are safe and sound. The Gulf Coast Poker Championship is on hold. Stay tuned to the Beau for the latest updates. They have a letter from their President George Corchis up on their site right now at: THE BEAU.
EVACUATED AND BORED, WILD BILL LOOKS AT NEW POKER PRODUCTS THAT ARE GAG GIFTS AT BEST. Check it out at DINE ON THE WHALES.
CHEATERS SUCK, ABSOLUTE MESS. Interesting read at Gambling 911: Better Ways to Spend Ill Gotten Gains . Staying with Gambling 911 BoDog is unraveling a bit, too. You might know them as Cake Poker: Calvin Ayre is a Millionaire.
GULF COAST
UPDATE
(08/31/08)
GUSTAVE, WHICH MEANS GOD'S STAFF, BARRELS TO THE COAST. Please be careful if you are in harm's way. We wish you and your loved ones the best in the coming days. Be smart, and if in doubt be overly safe and err on the side of caution.
We hope this storm will come in with a whimper and go out with one too. Anyway, stay safe folks. -WB
GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE (08/31/08)
GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP CONTINUES TO BE AFOOT.
We have the official results of the first 2 events. You can see
the official results here. Thanks goes out to Johnny Grooms for
getting these to us.
I just left the event this morning and there were still lots of people there playing. They had some nice turnouts for the first couple of events breaking the 500+ mark. All the locals were there as well as several other named pros.
Here are a few photos:
13th place finisher in the 2nd event Cody Carlino
Jared Leblanc from Lafayette who also cashed
I will have some more stuff up soon. I am being pressured into evacuating for this "Kite Flying" weather we are having. Peace out- GD
GULF COAST PO
KER CHAMPIONSHIP IS... STILL AFOOT.
Southpaw Rounder and
the Tiltin Texan are in the money for event #2.
Update: 27 left. Southpaw just got aces cracked---would have been chip leader had they held. Villain went all in with a medium stack (suicide bomber) with KJ. In the small blind Southpaw wakes up with bullets. Calls. Flop is KKx. Turn is a J. Villain says, "He's drawing dead." Davey is willing an ace to come because of his opponent's inability to understand hand rankings. Arguably he also wanted an A to come because he desired to be chip leader in an event where first place pays over 30k... arguably.
Update: Tiltin Texan is out in 24th. Pictured, in happier times, this is another solid tournament performance for the man from the great state of Texas. -WB
ALL KINDS OF POKER NEWS UPDATE (08/29/08)
GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP CONTINUES TO BE AFOOT.
Southpaw Rounder busted
early t
his
morning in in 18th. Great job by him and the Texan.
Look forward to both their blogs to recount the action.
JASON KIDD TO GIVE HIS GOLD MEDAL TO THE WIFE OF A CASINO OWNER. What? Weird way to pay a debt maybe? We are guessing Chris Paul won some pots off of Jason playing poker in China. Chinese Poker?
BRIAN TOWNSEND ADMITS HE PLAYS POKER UNDER DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS ONLINE. He comes clean and loses his red pro status at Full Tilt. Said he was embarrassed to play the lower limits under his real... fake... online name. His online name is sbrugby you should have heard of him. Click the link and you'll see him in his After Dark glory.
BEN AFFLECK WINS PPA CHARITY POKER TOURNAMENT NEAR THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. Andy Bloch came in second. Affleck was great in Rounders, it's no surprise he's a successful player. Wait. That was Matt Damon? Who's Ben Affleck again? Anyway, this guy Affleck, whoever he is, was all but a lock when he got heads up with eternal bridesmaid Bloch. He outlasted 180 other players (?) like Seth Meyers, Richard Dreyfus, and Montel Williams. Alright, this just in we know who Ben Affleck is, he used to be Mr. J. Lo. The event raised over $60,000 for Paralyzed Veterans of America which is a great cause. And our apologies to Affleck and his duck. We love those commercials.
JOHN "RAZOR" PHAN WINS LEGENDS OF POKER CHAMPIONSHIP. His career year continues. Two WSOP bracelets and now a WPT championship. -WB
GCP.NET ADDS A NEW BLOGGER (08/27/08)
DAVEY "SOUTHPAW ROUNDER" BOURG JOINS THE GCP.NET BLOG TEAM.
Davey, a successful athlete with a competitive nature, started playing poker years ago. It was after college, that he really threw himself into the game and started to play poker more and more as it seemed to get the competitive juices flowing without taking the toll on his body that sports did. It is now one of his main hobbies, and not only does he enjoying playing it he's become a consistent winner as his game is getting better and better.
He has two recent scores with the first being for 3rd place at one of the IP Poker Classic Main Events where he earned over $3500.00. I was there to sweat him and he came one (1) card from being a massive chip leader heads up, but took a brutal beat to get knocked out the tournament. His next nice cash was for over $4000.00 in the 08' circuit event at Harrah's where he he got 7th in a $300.00 buy in. He is a well respected player on the Gulf Coast online community as well as he is ranked 32nd in the latest Pocket 5's ranking for the state of Louisiana, and goes by several online names such as "Davey16" and "db16" on stars. He is a welcome asset to the GCP.Net blog team.
SPR will be playing a lot of the events in the Beau's Gulf Coast Poker Championship. Please keep checking back as he will be updating his blog often during the series. -GD
TUNICA POKER
UPDATE
(08/26/08) 
MID-SOUTH POKER OPEN IN SEPTEMBER.
Those of you that wont get enough poker action at the Beau event can head north in Sept. Problem is ...We have been trying to get some information or docs associated with this event, and I tell you...it seems to be like pulling teeth. I have called the Poker Room at Harrah's in Tunica to get specifics on the events/buy-ins/dates...etc and continue to run into a brick wall. Robert McGovern, the poker room manager there, has posted something on 2+2, but besides that, the websites don't have any specifics.
What we know: There will be poker tournaments happening in Tunica Mississippi from Sept 4th thru the 24th. They will be broke down between 2 Casinos. Harrah's Tunica (Old Grand) will host the event from 4th thru the 14th, and it moves to the Horseshoe from the 15th thru the 24th. Hopefully they will get some specifics up on their website...although it looks like Poker Pages does have the events at Harrah's listed. -GD
LOCAL NEWS UPDATE (08/28/08)
MATT GRAHAM BOWS OUT IN 28th PLACE AT THE WPT LEGENDS OF POKER EVENT. Graham got knocked out when his AK didn't improve vs. KK. Tough break. The big stack is Paul Smith. Layne Flack and Lee Markholt are within hailing distance. Allen Cunningham and John Phan are closer to average with 27 players left.
GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP IS AFOOT. Reid Gilbert already has a tournament report up: IF YOU'RE TOO CAREFUL. Southpaw Rounder, Gene D, the Tiltin Texan, and DaRock of Aces are en route or playing today. Good luck guys! -WB
WPT /LOCAL PRO UPDATE (08/26/08)
THE GULF COAST'S OWN MATT GRAHAM WITH $216,100 STILL ALIVE IN THE WPT LEGENDS OF POKER AND ONE OF THE CHIP LEADERS. Matt is joined by Layne Flack, Eric Seidel, Gabe Kaplan, Barry Greenstein, Danny Negreanu, Eric Lindgren, Mark Seif, Kathy Liebert, John Phan, Antonio Esfandiaridiariarifandiari, and Max Pescatori as being "alive." He's got more chips than most of those pros, though there are some guys we've never heard of that have more than him. We'll be tracking Matt's progress.
Also, check out Monkey's Top 10 Poker Pet Peeves. Quality stuff THE POKER MONKEY. -WB
LOCAL POKER CRIME BLOTTER UPDATED (08/26/08)
HOYT CORKINS LAS VEGAS' HOME IS BURGLARIZED. Our second favorite pro from Alabama (though if Shannon Shorr doesn't ever do our interview, Hoyt may move into first) was in Florida during the break-in. On the heels of the stories we heard in Vegas during the world series we are not surprised. In fact, we are surprised more poker pros haven't experienced this kind of thing.
Updated with link: Las Vegas Now also check out Wicked Chops they have pictures from the incident.
In other Vegas news, home prices are at an all time low and a guy robbed the Harrahs cage and got away with it. Except for the picture they took. He's got what two days until he's caught? -WB
CELEBRITY POKER UPDATE (08/24/08)
MICHAEL PHELPS IS A FISH. The Asian Poker Tour seeking some free pub sent out an open to letter to Phelps inviting him to play, here's an excerpt:
"
I noticed recently that you have told
your local newspaper that you were a big fan of poker and look
forward to playing again. By a strange twist of fate, I
represent the Asian Poker Tour and we are running Asia’s largest
ever guaranteed tournament NEXT WEEK in Macau
(WOW, THAT IS A STRANGE TWIST OF FATE).
It starts on the 27th and runs until the 31st and guarantees a
prize pool of $1,500,000 and a first prize of $500,000. This is
the biggest prize pool ever offered in Asia! While you are
already in China, why don’t you give it a go
(Because he's got nothing better to do
then stay in Asia for an extra five days when he's about to get
drowned in endorsement opportunities stateside)? It would
be our pleasure to fly you in, organize your accommodation and
buy-you in to the tournament!
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!"
Of relevance here is the fact Phelps is an online addict. Seeing as how he'll make 20 million this year he could be very good for poker. -WB
WORLDWIDE POKER UPDATE (08/22/08)
"ALL STRATEGY" FEATURING DANIEL NEGREANU AND JUSTIN BONOMO DROPS TODAY ON POKER ROAD. You may have heard of Negreanu, if not, you are probably on the wrong website, but know that he plays by feel, and sometimes gives off an Edward Norton vibe but not a Worm one or a Hulk one. His counter balance is Bonomo who is a self described math guy. Not sure what kind of vibe he gives off but it's not Matt Damon. This promises to be an interesting podcast. Go to Poker Road for more details.
FOR THOSE THAT MISSED SUPERBILL ON CRACK WITH A MULLET, AND ON AN ESPN FINAL TABLE: SCOTTY NGUYEN'S EMBARRASSING HIGHLIGHTS CAN BE FOUND ON YOUTUBE. We saw them first on Wicked Chops so head there to check them out: Wicked Chops. Have to agree a reputation has been ruined. Eric Lindgren comes off pretty well, not so much Layne Flack.
POKER PAGES CONTINUES ITS EXCELLENT SERIES ON ONLINE POKER AND THE MINUTIA OF GETTING A PRO-POKER BILL PASSED THROUGH CONGRESS. The long and the short of it: six relevant bills will be before congress come September. Don't be afraid to badger your local congressman to support poker. Shari Geller's exhaustive examination here: UIGEA AND CONGRESS. -WB
WORLDWIDE POKER UPDATE (08/20/08)
DAVE CAIN WILL ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE WORLD RECORD FOR CONTINUOUS POKER. He'll play heads up poker in a bar for 100 hours straight. Cain is a Brit and wants to break the record currently held by American who set it at Foxwoods playing low limit poker. Larry Olmsted played for three straight days (roughly 72 hours) and turned $100 into $1000. Is that $12.50 an hour?
Harrahs should post this record in their poker room as there a lot of degens who get into their third day without even trying to set some sort of record. Read all about Cain's attempt at 100 hours what are you crazy?. For those who enjoy this sort of thing he'll be streamed live playing. I'm guessing he'll get his most hits somewhere near day 4. It's all for charity.
This is giving GCP some ideas anybody want to try for this record? Email us at the contact link below if so. -WB
WSOP NOVEMBER NINE UPDATE (08/19/08)
KELLY KIM THE SHORTEST STACK AND MAYBE BIGGEST OF THE NOVEMBER NINE HAD A SCORE ON SUNDAY. Who cares if he can't see his main event chip stack through his belly. The big guy finished 12th in FullTilt's FTOPS yesterday.
DENNIS
PHILLIPS, THE BIG STACK AT THE TABLE, HAS AGREED TO PARTICIPATE
IN PHIL GORDON'S CHARITY "PUT A BAD BEAT ON CANCER." That
means 10% of his winnings are going to Phil's charity.
It's a good cause because Phil probably hasn't named his left
pocket Charity. Yeah, used that joke yesterday. We
also had a plug about Mississippi Gulf Coast Rentals yesterday,
for anybody looking for a condo during the Gulf Coast Poker
Championship, too.
We mention that only to be fully redundant and not to plug it again. Though don't be afraid to tell them we sent you when you click the link below. Rumor has it, even though Dennis has turned down all offers from pros to tutor him, he is mulling over a generous offer from Phil Gordon. Phil gives good advice, from celebrity poker we remember him often saying, "The first one to bet a paired board will generally take it down." We also remember trying to figure out when there were going to be celebrities on celebrity poker.
Listen to Phil and Dennis on ESPN's July 24th's Poker Edge, podcast. -WB
WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (08/18/08)
ULTIMATE BET CREATES AND COMPLETES ANTE UP FOR AFRICA ONLINE EVENT. Larger than normal fees allegedly going to Darfur. Completely possible they have simply named their pockets Africa and Darfur. Non-superusers wonder if they will ever create and complete an Ante Up for Suckers to charitably replenish the bankrolls of those they have stolen from.
BEAU RIVAGE GULF COAST POKER CHAMPIONSHIP IS AROUND THE CORNER. Need a great condo 5 minutes away contact our sponsor MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST RENTALS. Sorry, we snuck a plug in there. Won't happen again. Scroll down for the banner link, oh and tell 'em we sent you. Still mad about us slipping an ad in? It's a slow news day, what can we say. Need some real news? Okay, let's look online. First the good news, Pokerstars had an overlay in their warmup for the Sunday Millions. First one in a while. Now, the bad, FullTilt users are complaining they can't cash out. Check out the 2 +2 forums, for the latest. Probably just a technical issue as FullTilt seems above repute. Speaking of repute, a group that is below repute, ceruesly is Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker who are still embroiled in cheating scandals which may or may not have involved their executives. -WB
POKER LAW UPDATE (08/02/08)
LOCAL STATE REPRESENTATIVE OF DISTRICT "O" RESPONDS TO GCP.NET OVER LOUISIANA POKER/GAMBLING LAWS.
We decided to ping our local State Representative Damon Baldone about his thoughts on the laws governing poker tournaments in local barrooms. We sent him the below quote to see what his thoughts were on the subject:
"Louisiana is in the center of a number of fights over free
poker tournaments in bars. The problem is that the law can be
read as putting a bar owner into the business of illegal
gambling because he makes a profit from increased sales during
the games.
To resolve the issue, bar-owners are taking their cases to the
legislatures. In Baton Rouge, a majority of the House voted to
make poker tournaments in bars legal. But Gov. Kathleen Blanco
came out against the measure as being "an expansion of
gambling." She must be shocked ... shocked! ... that anyone
would suggest there is gambling in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported this wonderful
exchange, apparently on the floor of the House, after the bill
was defeated:
Rep. Warren Triche, D-Thibodaux, the bill's author, was asked by
Rep. Jack Smith, D-Stephensville, "if it would still be OK to
have legislative poker games."Triche replied that, "yes, it
would"
Below is his comments back to GCP.Net
"Thank
you for taking the time to write to me concerning your thoughts
on poker. I understand that poker is a game of skill. Warren
Triche is no longer a state Representative but was actually the
author of the bill to allow the poker tournaments. We have
already been told that any new bills considered gaming would be
vetoed by Governor Jindal so there is little hope for any new
legislation at this point. Governor Jindal vetoed legislation
during the 2008 Regular Session that simply allowed parishes to
vote if they were in favor of allowing gambling in their
parishes. Should you need anything further please do not
hesitate to contact my office.
Damon J. Baldone
State Representative
District 53
Well, first of all we want to thank Damon for replying to us. Second, We see that Damon does in fact know and understands that poker is a "Game of Skill". Third, looks like were screwed as Jindal is determined to veto anything that even resembles gambling. He would not even let us vote locally. -GD
WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (08/13/08)
EXCALIBUR CASINO SAYS NO MORE CROOKED DEALERS!
No more honest ones either. Excalibur is going dealer-less. While that might save you money on tips, it also denies you the person to blame when you've given away all your money. Computer viruses are the new idiot dealers. For the record, we love dealers and do not berate them, but we will be happy to berate a machine. We guess some people don't have computers at home. -WB
WORLD OF POKER UPDATE (08/15/08)
WILD BILL'S FINALLY GOT HIS LATEST TIMELION UP BUT NO TONY PARKER AND EVA LONGORIA STORY,YET, PHIL HELLMUTH HAS ONE THOUGH:
Poker Pages Phil Hellmuth blog
DO YOU HAVE AN ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY? If being unable to walk away from a three card poker table after losing your life's savings wasn't enough of a clue take this test:
Poker Book Update (08/12/08)
GUS HANSEN'S NEW BOOK, "EVERY HAND REVELED", SET TO HIT
BOOKSTORES
I have mentioned in my blog about Gus Hansen carrying around a small voice recorder to log in his hands verbally for playback, and now we will all get to see how those dynamics are going to come together for his new book. The book will have Hansen's thought process from the first hand of the tournament through the last winning hand.
From what we are reading it will be based off the Aussie Millions in which Gus snapped off 1.2 Million over 5 days. There will be dynamics in there on shifting gears from extreme tightness to ultra LAG, and I personally am curious to see what was going through his mind once he gets heads up with Gobboboy and goes from, as Wild Bill would say, "The Outhouse to the Penthouse" in stunning fashion. There is also a tribute to Chip Reese which is must deserved...Look for it out soon!!!! -GD
LIVE TOURNAMENT
UPDATE (08/07/08)
BRANDON "RUTT" RUTTLEY CHOPS THE TOURNAMENT AT SHORTY'S
Received this picture from an "Unknown" source as it seems Brandon "Rutt" Ruttley may try to fly below radar as a top tournament player on the Gulfcoast....ala Wild Bill. We all remember that fatal hand with Phil Gordon a couple of years ago when he made that call with Jacks as an over pair on a 10 high board post-flop. Instead of Clint Shafer being the hometown gulf coaster to break out into the big-time...it could have been Rutt. Well we are glad to see he is still giving them hell in the local tournaments. This pic is after they did a chop for close to a grand. I like the pose...and the shirt. -GD