Poker News4:13pm: Annie Duke opened up recently to PokerNews.com regarding the whole UB/AP ordeal, and also the direction of online poker in general. Whether or not you support UB/AP, the one thing that cannot be disputed is that the company running these two sites has made some mistakes. Are you ready to forgive? Annie Duke is, and here’s why:
Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process
11:16pm: Pick up any poker book — and I do mean ANY — and I guarantee you that you will find written at least five times written in different ways that you should always be raising the button when only the blinds remain, and nearly 100% of the time heads up. Time and time again, you heed their warning, and never stop pounding the big blind with your button raises but it never seems to translate into anything more than you playing a big pot with a hand you have no idea how to play postflop, am I right?
Anyone who has seen my tutorials quickly remarks about the odd number of times I limp (for the most part in the early blinds), and are equally as baffled at how this strategy can translate into such a positively-sloped profit graph.
Raising is traditionally to be taken as a sign of strength, and limping as a sign of weakness. However, recently in poker there has been more of a shift towards each one indicating the opposite. Fortunately for you, most people are still unaware of this fact, which will allow you do this:
Setup Hand #1:
PokerStars Game #18343957608: Tournament #93189771, $100+$5 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/24 - 00:03:12 (ET)
Table ‘93189771 1′ 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: trujm (2230 in chips)
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (770 in chips)
trujm: posts small blind 15
DGDeuce11: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to trujm [9c 7c]
trujm: calls 15
DGDeuce11: raises 740 to 770 and is all-in
trujm: folds
Uncalled bet (740) returned to DGDeuce11
DGDeuce11 collected 60 from pot
DGDeuce11: doesn’t show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 60 | Rake 0
Seat 1: trujm (button) (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (big blind) collected (60)
Setup Hand #2:
PokerStars Game #18343939281: Tournament #93189771, $100+$5 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/24 - 00:02:06 (ET)
Table ‘93189771 1′ 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: trujm (2585 in chips)
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (415 in chips)
trujm: posts small blind 15
DGDeuce11: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to trujm [7c 9h]
trujm: calls 15
DGDeuce11: raises 385 to 415 and is all-in
trujm: folds
Uncalled bet (385) returned to DGDeuce11
DGDeuce11 collected 60 from pot
DGDeuce11: doesn’t show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 60 | Rake 0
Seat 1: trujm (button) (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (big blind) collected (60)
The Kill:
PokerStars Game #18343981563: Tournament #93189771, $100+$5 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/24 - 00:04:38 (ET)
Table ‘93189771 1′ 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: trujm (2320 in chips)
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (680 in chips)
trujm: posts small blind 15
DGDeuce11: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to trujm [Kh As]
trujm: calls 15
DGDeuce11: raises 650 to 680 and is all-in
trujm: calls 650
*** FLOP *** [4s Tc 7d]
*** TURN *** [4s Tc 7d] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [4s Tc 7d 7c] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DGDeuce11: shows [6c Ah] (a pair of Sevens)
trujm: shows [Kh As] (a pair of Sevens - Ace+King kicker)
trujm collected 1360 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1360 | Rake 0
Board [4s Tc 7d 7c 9s]
Seat 1: trujm (button) (small blind) showed [Kh As] and won (1360) with a pair of Sevens
Seat 2: DGDeuce11 (big blind) showed [6c Ah] and lost with a pair of Sevens
There’s a certain point in a heads up sng where grind your opponent down to the point where they will start open shoving — either on the button or when you limp into the pot. When I limped the first two hands, I was relatively sure he was at this point, and would indeed soon start shoving. I needed to implant the idea that limping equals weakness into his head, so I made some loose calls preflop knowing that I was probably going to have to fold them. This was done, of course, with the hopes that I would eventually wake up with a hand (which I did) and would play the hand the exact same way that I did when I was truly weak — to induce a shove. Our opponent bit, and he put his money in as a big time dog. The hand held, and I won the match.
The moral of the story is that the problem a lot of people have with limping sometimes simply has more to do with ego trips, and commitment to play “power poker” than it does with actually using it effectively. There’s a time and a place to pound the big blind, but you’d be surprised at the whole new set of tools available to you when you limp into the pot a lot. A good portion of the time you will get even more action this way.
Try it sometime.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process
2:08pm: Everyone who has had some relative success in poker has no doubt at least thought about doing it for a living at some point in time. It’s easy to say “I make $30/hr playing poker, and $15/hr at my job, therefore it would make no sense to continue working hard when I could be hardly working at all”. There’s no question that in life you have to dream big, but you also have to be realistic about it.
First thing to do when making an important decision is to objectively weigh the costs vs. the benefits of making said decision. Let’s take a look at the good and the bad of becoming a professional poker player.
While the money might be GREAT sometimes, you must be extremely strong-minded in order to consider doing this for a living. You must treat each day as a seperate entity as the day before it, and never ever think about the past.
Someone once told me, “When you play to get even, you get even worse”. I can’t tell you how many people I see playing to get even, both live and online. If you want to find people online who are trying to get even, sharkscope your next heads up opponent. He probably started playing $5 heads up sngs, and the every time he lost he increased the buy in of his next one. One time, in a $50 heads up sng I sharkscoped my opponent and viewed his last 8 matches. It read like this:
He started all the way down the totem pole at $2, and had lost each match he played, effectively trying to recover his money back each time he played. Long story short, he lost to me and then went on to play a $100 heads up match. He also lost that one, and decided to play a $200 match where he finally won.
Point being, going pro takes discipline and a lot of structure. Skipping around in game types/limits is fine for the casual player. However, if you plan to become a pro it’s sometimes best to find a “niche” that you excel in - while considering everything I have laid before you above.
1:27pm: If you’ve ever railed Dario Minieri, you know that he’s an extremely loose-aggressive player. You’d also know that he’s extremely profitable and is ranked #6 in the world (#2 last year) from a total profit standpoint in heads up sit n gos — He plays under “dariominieri” on PokerStars, in case you’d like to Sharkscope him.
Dario took it to the next level, as he won event #31 ($2,500 6 handed NL Holdem) at the WSOP. Here is the corresponding article:
======================
(PN) Dario Minieri dominated throughout most of Event 31, $2,500 NLHE Six-Handed, and finally secured his first WSOP bracelet and $528,418 for the win. 1,012 players started this fast-paced event and at the end of the first day Minieri was second in chips. Minieri continued to build his stack during Day 2 to gain the chip lead going into the final table. At one point during the event, Minieri and Max Pescatori sat at adjacent tables, and spent a good deal of the time between hands talking and laughing together. Minieri’s win makes him the second Italian ever to win a WSOP bracelet – the first was Pescatori, who won his second bracelet just last week.
Although Minieri had cashed in the last two WSOP Main Events, this was his first WSOP final-table appearance. But he wasn’t alone in that regard. Of the six players heading into the last day of play, only Kevin Song had previous WSOP final-table experience. Here are the final-table starting chip counts:
Seat 1: Kevin Song (Rowland Heights, California) — 1,173,000
Seat 2: Justin Filtz (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) — 891,000
Seat 3: Dario Minieri (Rome, Italy) — 1,721,000
Seat 4: Stuart Marshak (Chicago, Illinois) — 183,000
Seat 5: John O’Shea (Dublin, Ireland) — 589,000
Seat 6: Seth Fischer (Palm Harbor, Florida) — 508,000
Stuart Marshak entered the day as the short stack and didn’t wait long before he found a hand to push in with. On the tenth hand, Marshak pushed all in from the small blind after Kevin Song opened and Justin Filtz and Minieri called. Filtz reraised to isolate and it was Marshak’s Q-J against Filtz’ pocket kings. The flop delivered a queen for Marshak but no additional help came with the subsequent board. Stuart Marshak finished in sixth place for $73,784.
The second departure came only nine hands later. Seth Fischer opened for 55,000 from early position and Kevin Song and John O’Shea, from the big blind, called. O’Shea check-raised on a flop of 
and Fisher called. O’Shea had 
for bottom pair and a gutshot to the wheel, while Fisher held 
for top pair and the nut flush draw. The 
on the turn only narrowed O’Shea’s outs and the 
ended his day. John O’Shea finished in fifth place for $98,923.
When it got down to four players, both the mood and strategy of the final table took a decided turn; play tightened up and the banter went quiet. For almost an hour the table played on with few flops and nary a river. But on the 50th hand, the silent blind stealing suddenly came to an end. Kevin Song opened for 75,000 on the button and Dario Minieri reraised to 155.000. Song reraised all in and Minieri eventually called; Song had K-J to Minieri’s A-8. Song never improved, although the board did deliver an ace on the river for Minieri. Kevin Song finished in fourth place for $141,983.
With Song’s elimination Minieri had extended his chip lead over his tablemates, but Justin Filtz would soon put a dent in Minieri’s dominance. Filtz called from the small blind and Minieri bumped it up to 72,000 from the big blind. Filtz took his time, but made the call. Filtz check-raised all in on the 
flop and Minieri insta-called. Filtz’ 
had the lead over Minieri’s 
. While Minieri’s fans called for a jack, the turn and river came 
and 
to double up Filtz on the hand. Minieri, though, proceeded to take the next five hands.
Again the players returned to careful blind stealing until the 81st hand, when Seth Fischer reraised all in against a preflop raise by Minieri. Minieri immediately called flipping over A-K to Fischer’s pocket jacks. The jacks held and Minieri’s A-K doubled up yet another player – although Minieri still had the lead on his tablemates.
Dario Minieri — 2,683,000
Seth Fischer — 1,433,000
Justin Filtz — 949,000
Minieri was able to pick up the blinds and small pots to increase his margin, but again he would double up one of his opponents. All three players saw a 
flop. Minieri opened for 105,000 and Filtz moved all in. Filtz had 
for a flush and gutshot draw. He was drawing almost dead, however, on the flush draw when Minieri flipped over 
. The 
was one of Filtz’ few outs and it came on the turn followed by the 
to send the pot to Filtz.
Dario Minieri — 1,985,000
Justin Filtz — 1,675,000
Seth Fischer — 1,405,000
At this point, Fischer found his groove, and with it the chip lead, taking down sizable pots with aggressive postflop play. But Minieri would regain the lead when his pocket queens vanquished Fischer’s unimproved A-J. Filtz and Fischer were back in a virtual tie for second, when they pushed their chips in the middle pre-flop on the 164th hand. Filtz’ pocket aces had the decided edge over Fischer’s A-K. But one king came on the flop and another on the turn. At the end of the hand, Fischer had Filtz covered by 10,000 chips and Justin Filtz finished in third place for $214,139.
Fischer now had a sizable chip lead going into heads-up but Minieri and was finally able to get the upper hand on the 191st hand of the final table. All in preflop, Dario Minieri put on his coat as he flipped over 
and stared at Fischer’s pocket kings. When the board came 
, Minieri took off his coat and had the chip lead.
Seven hands later, all the chips were in the middle with Fischer’s K-10 up against Minieri’s pocket queens. Fischer couldn’t improve and finished in second place for $330,519. Minieri, his survival courtesy of the unlikely runner-runner fours, had claimed the victory and his first bracelet.
12:23am: It was extremely overdue, but PokerStars finally got around to skinning their lobby. I, like many others, have felt that PokerStars lobby was in desperate need of a makeover, and finally the wait is over. The update was made available two days ago. Here is a picture of what the new lobby looks like, provided you have enabled it:
First thing that stands out is that the lobby is a lot more sleek and contemporary than the former. PokerStars made the shift in style to the “Web 2.0″ standard that is all the rage in web design/software development now a days. Gone are:
Perhaps the most notable difference is the simplification of the color scheme. The old theme had at least 6-7 different main colors on screen (that didn’t compliment each other very well), which is frowned upon in software design. The new theme was simplified to only 3 main colors: black, red, and green — black and red being the two main colors.
All in all, I have to say the new lobby theme is a step in the right direction to improving the GUI for PokerStars. I’ve always said that if PokerStars was as pretty and intuitive as Full Tilt, they’d have a complete stranglehold on the online poker market. Stars took another step in that direction by making improvements to their GUI.
To enable this skin for your PokerStars client, simply:
11:39am: (PN) Erick Lindgren came into Event #4 with two WPT championships, over $6 million in tourney winnings, 14 WSOP cashes, four final tables, and was widely considered one of the best poker players to never win a World Series of Poker bracelet. That last bit no longer applies. In Event #4, $5,000 Mixed Hold’em, Lindgren finally dumped that monkey off his back by collecting his first WSOP gold. Lindgren made it through a stacked final table that included David Williams, Isaac Haxton and Howard Lederer before taking out Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo heads-up for the bracelet and the $374,505 first-place prize money.
The night started off right for Lindgren when he busted Haxton in ninth place on the second hand of the final table. In a no-limit hand, Haxton raised from middle position. Lindgren re-raised from the button, and made the call when Haxton pushed all in over the top. Haxton tabled 
and needed help to win a coin flip against Lindgren’s pocket queens. No help came on the board of 
, and Haxton picked up $35,109 for his ninth-place finish.
Canadian pro Pat Pezzin went to the rail in eighth place when he ran his 
into Andre “good2cu” Robl’s . Nothing out of the ordinary happened as the board came down 
, and Pezzin exited with $46,812. David Williams fell next when his was outflopped by David Rheem’s . Rheem picked up top pair on the 
, and the 
on the turn left Williams drawing to only an ace. The 
river wasn’t one of his three outs, and Williams was eliminated in seventh place ($58,515).
Play slowed considerably after Williams’ exit, as it took nearly as many hands to see the next player fall as it took to eliminate the first three! In a big limit hand, Howard Lederer raised from the cutoff with pocket fours, and Justin Bonomo re-raised. Lederer made the call, and Bonomo bet out in the dark as the flop was being revealed. Lederer responded by raising all in before he saw the flop, and Bonomo made the call. The flop was , and Lederer was in the lead with over Bonomo’s . Bonomo picked up more outs when the on the turn paired the board, and the on the river counterfeited Lederer’s two pair and sent him to the rail in sixth place ($74,119).
Day 2 chip leader David “chino” Rheem was next to fall. Rheem raised preflop from under the gun and found one caller in Roland de Wolfe. Both players checked the flop, and then de Wolfe check-called the turn when Rheem led out. Rheem moved all in when the came on the river, and de Wolfe made the call with 
for the nut straight. Rheem mucked his hand as he was eliminated in fifth place ($93,624).
Soon after, Justin Bonomo got it all in with Roland de Wolfe on a flop of 
, and tabled for two over cards and a flush draw. De Wolfe tabled for top pair, and held the lead through the turn. Bonomo hit his flush when the landed on the river, and de Wolfe headed to the rail in fourth place ($117,030). That hand left Bonomo with a significant chip lead over Erick Lindgren and Andrew Robl going into three-handed play.
Three-handed play lasted for nearly an hour before Robl got the last of his chips in preflop Bonomo in a battle of the internet wunderkinder. Robl moved all in over the top of Bonomo’s preflop raise with 
, and the deep-stacked Bonomo called with . The flop of gave Bonomo top pair, and the turn left Robl drawing to only an ace. The river was no help, and Robl picked up $144,337 for his third-place finish.
Justin Bonomo took a slight chip lead into heads-up play, but it took 40 hands of play for the tournament to be decided as the young superstar battled Lindgren, the experienced pro. The 22-year-old Bonomo was also looking for his first WSOP bracelet after picking up three cashes in the 2007 series, his first. Bonomo held a 3:2 chip lead through the first half of the heads-up match, but Lindgren managed to string together several big pots in a row during the limit section of the match to pull into the lead.
Finally, after an hour of tough heads-up play, Lindgren knocked out Bonomo and claimed his first WSOP bracelet. Lindgren raised preflop on the final hand, and Bonomo called. Both players checked the flop, and the came on the turn. Bonomo led out and Lindgren made the call. Bonomo fired again when the 
came on the river, and Lindgren put in a raise. Bonomo moved all in and Lindgren quickly called with for a wheel straight, while Bonomo tabled for two pair. Bonomo’s second-place finish was good for $230,259 as Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren won $374,505 and his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
 Keep HFL Free |
1:39pm: (PN) Just as the World Series of Poker is gearing up, PokerStars has announced it will be awarding at least 200 seats to the 2008 WSOP Championship, all on one night. On June 15th, PokerStars will host a $370 buy-in super satellite with a guaranteed $2.5 million prize pool. The estimated 200-plus winners will be awarded a $12,500 prize package that includes a coveted $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 WSOP Main Event, $2,500 in spending money, round-trip airfare to Las Vegas, and hotel accommodations for the two-week Main Event.
Last year 7,377 players entered the online super satellite tournament, trying to win their way into the 2007 World Series of Poker. Players from around the Pokerstars world battled for a guaranteed 150 seats. The event quickly turned into the largest WSOP satellite in history and ended up awarding 220 seats. This year, PokerStars is hoping to make history again and beat that number.
PokerStars has already awarded 1,200 seats to this year’s WSOP and guarantees that for 2008, at least 2000 players will win WSOP Championship packages. At last year’s Main Event, Team PokerStars players Tuan Lam, Raymond Rahme, and Hevad Khan all made it to the final table, earning a combined $8,845,249.
Tomorrow the first “Shuffle up and deal!” of the WSOP will resonate throughout the Amazon Room, signaling that players have only a few more weeks to qualify for the 39th World Series of Poker Main Event.
 |
2:35am: (PN) Full Tilt’s first-ever $25,000 Heads-up Championship, featuring the largest buy-in ever for an online heads-up tourney, saw a familiar name take the title on Sunday. Full Tilt pro David Singer claimed the title after defeating Emil “whitelime” Patel to win the the $560,000 first-place prize. Patel’s runner-up showing was worth $320,000.
The semifinals and finals of the heads-up event were head on Sunday after four rounds of play on Saturday’s Day 1 trimmed the starting field from 64 to four. Singer defeated Brain Hastings in one of Sunday’s semifinals, while Patel held off recent NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship finalist Andy Bloch in the other. Hastings and Bloch both received $168,000 for their showings.
The four other quarterfinalists who cashed in the event were Dani “Ansky451″ Stern, “mischiefofmagic”, “mastrblastr”, and “FinddaGrind”, an account frequently rumored on poker forums and unofficial sites to be played by Patrik Antonius. The event boasted plenty of star power, with Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Erick Lindgren, Cory Carroll, David Benyamine, Tom Dwan, Isaac Baron and Chris Ferguson, who also hosted the event, among those taking part.
The event serves as a major bridge between online series for Full Tilt, which recently wrapped up its popular FTOPS VIII series and next week will launch its new Mini Series of Poker.
 Keep HFL Free |
3:19pm: (PN) More than one online poker site is tapping into the buzz felt throughout the poker world as the game’s biggest names begin to congregate in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. Full Tilt is the latest site to design their own online riff on the occasion, announcing the “Mini Series of Poker,” which will include 54 events and run from May 30th through July 5th, 2008.
Each event will offer a buy-in of 1/100th the corresponding buy-in of the WSOP, with the Ladies and Seniors event converted into “open” events for the purposes of the online series (Note that the Full Tilt series is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Harrah’s, owners of the World Series of Poker, in any way.) The most expensive buy-in will be $500 + $35 for the June 22nd H.O.R.S.E., event, which carries a $50,000 prize pool guarantee, while the July 5th championship has a $100+9 buy-in and a pre-event guarantee of $250,000.
Both direct buy-ins and satellite entries are available for each of the four events, with satellit buy-ins for as little as $2.20 or 50 Full Tilt points. Players making deep runs in the series’ events will also accumulate points on an MSOP leader board, where a $10,000 seat to the 2009 WSOP is up for grabs. Also included as a bonus for the 54 event winners are custom-designed Full Tilt Poker champions watches.
Event# Date ● Time (ET) Game ● Guarantee
#1 5-30 15:20 ● $100 + $9 PL Hold’em ● $20,000
#2 6-1 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $15,000
#3 6-2 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 PL Hold’em ● $4,000
#4 6-2 20:20 ● $50 + $5 Mixed Hold’em ● $10,000
#5 6-3 15:20 ● $10 + $1 NL Hold ‘em Rebuy ● $8,000
#6 6-3 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Omaha Hi/Lo ● $3,000
#7 6-4 15:20 ● $20 + $2 NL Hold ‘em ● $10,000
#8 6-4 20:20 ● $100 + $9 Mixed Hold’em ● $20,000
#9 6-5 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em 6max ● $7,500
#10 6-5 20:20 ● $25 + $2.50 Omaha Hi/Lo ● $2,500
#11 6-6 15:30 ● $50 + $5 NL Hold ‘em Shootout ● $25,000
#12 6-6 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Limit Hold ‘em ● $3,000
#13 6-7 15:20 ● $25 + $2.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $10,000
#14 6-7 20:20 ● $100 + $9 Stud ● $10,000
#15 6-8 15:20 ● $10 + $1 NL Hold ‘em ● $5,000
#16 6-8 20:20 ● $20 + $2 Omaha Hi/Lo ● $4,000
#17 6-9 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em Shootout ● $7,500
#18 6-9 20:20 ● $50 + $5 Razz ● $5,000
#19 6-10 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha ● $3,000
#20 6-10 20:20 ● $20 + $2 Limit Hold ‘em ● $4,000
#21 6-11 15:30 ● $50 + $5 NL Hold ‘em ● $25,000
#22 6-11 20:20 ● $30 + $3 HORSE ● $5,000
#23 6-12 15:20 ● $20 + $2 NL Hold ‘em ● $7,500
#24 6-12 20:20 ● $25 + $2.50 HA ● $3,000
#25 6-13 15:20 ● $100 + $9 NL Hold ‘em Heads-Up ● $10,000
#26 6-13 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Razz ● $2,000
#27 6-14 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $7,500
#28 6-14 20:20 ● $50 + $5 PL Omaha Rebuy ● $15,000
#29 6-15 15:20 ● $30 + $3 NL Hold ‘em ● $15,000
#30 6-15 20:20 ● $100 + $9 Limit Hold ‘em ● $15,000
#31 6-16 15:20 ● $25 + $2.50 NL Hold ‘em 6max ● $10,000
#32 6-17 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $6,000
#33 6-17 20:20 ● $50 + $5 Stud Hi/Lo ● $5,000
#34 6-18 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha Rebuy ● $5,000
#35 6-18 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Stud ● $2,000
#36 6-19 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $7,500
#37 6-19 20:20 ● $100 + $9 Omaha Hi/Lo ● $15,000
#38 6-20 15:20 ● $20 + $2 PL Hold’em ● $5,000
#39 6-21 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $7,500
#40 6-22 21:30 ● $500 + $35 HORSE ● $50,000
#41 6-22 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Mixed Hold’em ● $5,000
#42 6-23 15:20 ● $10 + $1 NL Hold ‘em ● $3,000
#43 6-24 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha/8 ● $3,000
#44 6-25 15:20 ● $10 + $1 NL Hold ‘em Rebuy ● $5,000
#45 6-25 20:20 ● $25 + $2.50 Razz ● $3,000
#46 6-26 15:30 ● $50 + $5 NL Hold ‘em 6max ● $25,000
#47 6-26 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Stud/8 ● $2,000
#48 6-27 15:20 ● $20 + $2 NL Hold ‘em ● $6,000
#49 6-28 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $5,000
#50 6-29 15:20 ● $100 + $9 PL Omaha ● $20,000
#51 6-29 20:20 ● $15 + $1.50 HORSE ● $3,000
#52 6-30 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 NL Hold ‘em ● $5,000
#53 7-1 15:20 ● $15 + $1.50 Limit Shootout ● $3,000
#54 7-5 18:00 ● $100 + $9 NL Hold ‘em ● $250,000
|
11:28am: From PokerNews.com:
In a closely watched case that could have significant consequences for the online gaming industry, a King County judge on Thursday upheld a Washington state statute that outlaws Internet gambling. But Lee Rousso, the attorney who brought the case seeking to have the law overturned, has vowed to continue the fight. He promised an appeal saying he will take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
The 2006 statute at the heart of the case was an amendment to the 1973 Washington Gambling Act, which had previously only banned the “receipt or transmission of gambling information” through such means as the radio, phone and telegraph. The amendment broadened the law to include the Internet. The amendment also upgraded a violation of the law from a gross misdemeanor to a felony, and made violations of the law subject to seizure and forfeiture.
Rousso, the Washington State Director of the Poker Players Alliance, filed a lawsuit on July 1, 2007, seeking to have the amendment declared unconstitutional. Rousso contended that the new law discriminated against interstate businesses and, thus, violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He argued that the law was enacted to benefit the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos and card rooms, at the expense of Internet gambling companies, noting that the law arose from a bill sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, whose district contains the benefited casinos and card rooms. State Assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin countered that Congress gave to the states primary authority over their own criminal laws and that Washington’s law bans online gambling regardless of whether a company operates in or out of state.
On May 16, 2008, State Court Judge Mary Roberts dismissed Rousso’s complaint, finding that Rousso had not proven that the state law unfairly protected gaming interests inside the state at the expense of interests outside the state. She also stated that the state’s historically strict prohibition on gambling influenced her ruling. However, Rousso countered that the law was hypocritical and blatantly discriminatory. “The state loves gambling, it’s a gigantic business. It’s just the state protecting its turf.”
Rousso, who earlier this year aborted his plans to run for governor of Washington, spoke after the ruling to his supporters gathered outside the courthouse and urged them to lobby politicians to change the law. He encouraged them “to continue to fight the good fight.” Rousso added: “We are going to win this battle. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon.”
Among those outside the Kent county courthouse supporting Rousso’s lawsuit were poker pros Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein. Greenstein argued against the state ban, saying, “the politicians are dictating what you can do in the privacy of your own home. Makes it look like a pretty backward place.”