Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Mandalay Media tenders last-minute offer for World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour Enterprises Board of Directors was all set to vote today on a $12.3 million offer tendered by PartyGaming subsidiary Peerless Media to buy the majority of the WPT’s assets, but a last-minute offer from Mandalay Media worth $36.5 million has the Board putting on the brakes and considering the new deal.

The Peerless Media offer was actually the second offer the WPT received in August and represented a 33% increase over the previous offer from Gamynia Limited for $9.08 million. Now WPT has a suitor who not only wants to pay four times the original deal, but also wants to offer “significant cash and stock” to WPTE shareholders where the previous offers had nothing for them. As our good friends at Wicked Chops Poker noted yesterday:

Damn. That’s a quick turnaround for a company many felt was running on fumes a year ago. Hats off to Lipscomb and crew.

Mandalay Media has asked to meet with the WPTE Board of Directors as soon as possible, so there should be more coming on this story in the very near future.

(Mandalay Media Announces Proposal to Acquire World Poker Tour - Reuters)

Annette_15 gets first taste of live US poker

At the age of 18, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad became the youngest WSOP bracelet winner ever when she took down the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event in 2007, hitting a milestone that’s going to be difficult. Now Obrestad has reached another milestone: she’s played her first game of live tournament poker in Las Vegas.

Obrestad let the world know last week on her Twitter feed that she would be appearing on her first episode of Poker After Dark. Yesterday she got to work, and in the finest PAD tradition there were no soft spots at the table; Obrestad’s opposition includes Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak, and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. There’s no word yet on the results, or on when the episode is set to air.

Originally the Norwegian poker prodigy was going to play the Festa al Lago main event at Bellagio. However, her wire transfer didn’t go through in time and she didn’t want to borrow money from anybody, so she sat the tournament out instead.

You can follow Miss Obrestad’s Twitter feed here, or check out the rest of our Poker Tweets page here.

PCA switches tours, again

After announcing the first stop of its third season a few weeks ago, PokerStars finally released the rest of the Latin American Poker Tour schedule for 2009-10 - and one of poker’s biggest tournaments is being added to the mix.

Season Three of the LAPT will sport five tournaments in all, starting in November 19th in Playa Conchal, Costa Rica, and ending with the LAPT Grand Final at an as-yet-undetermined location in Argentina. In between the tour will hit familiar stops in Chile and Uruguay, but not before detouring to the Bahamas in January for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

The PCA is already a virtual lock to break every record set thus far in the LAPT’s two years of existence, since it sports both the largest buy-in ($10,300) and the largest field-size cap (1,600) on this year’s tour. Placing one of the most popular tournaments on the annual worldwide tournament calendar in the middle of the LAPT schedule also adds some extra credibility to a young tour in one of poker’s most promising emerging markets; the 11-day PCA is the largest poker festival in the world outside Las Vegas.

This is officially the third tour that the PCA has called home. It started off as a World Poker Tour stop before the WPT ended it ties to online poker rooms after passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The European Poker Tour then hosted the PCA for the next two years, giving Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier the chance to pad his EPT career stars with a $2 million win in 2008.

More info on the new Latin American Poker Tour schedule is available at the tour’s official website.

India set to legalize online gambling

The Indian state of Sikkim is accepting bid for three online gambling licenses which would give outside companies a foothold in an Indian gambling market worth an estimated $60 billion.

The companies who win the licenses will only be able to promote their services in the Himalayan state, which has a population of just 600,000 people, but apparently they will be able to take bets from all over India, which has a total population of 1.2 billion. Sikkim is just one of two states in the entire country where casino gambling is legal; the other is Goa, where the now-defunct Asian Poker Classic took place a few years back.

Indian law requires that foreign companies partner with a local company in a joint venture. That means that outifts like William Hill, Betfair, Bwin, 888, and Ladbrokes who are interested in the licenses will have to find a company from Sikkim to come along for the ride as well. The market seems ripe for exploitation at this point: legal operators in Goa and Sikkim combine to give the Indian government revenues of $400 million per year, while possible revenues from the current black market are estimated to be in the $2 billion range.

The government in Sikkim is expected to announce who will receive the licenses at some point in the next two weeks.

(Betfair and William Hill target India - The Independent)

Just as World Poker Tour Entertainment stockholders were sitting down to discuss, and presumably vote on, the $12.3 million offer from PartyGaming another group has put forth a much larger bid.

Mandalay Media, which is not related to the Las Vegas casino of the same name, has offered $35 million for the WPTE assets and has asked the WPTE Board of Directors to postpone any decision on the PartyGaming bid until they’ve given proper consideration to all offers. This is the third offer for the WPTE assets after the original $9 million bid by Gamynia in August of this year.

The new offer consists of $28.5 million in cash and another $5 million in Mandalay Media stock and futures. In a letter to the board Robert Ellin, co-chairman of Mandaly Media stressed how much better his company’s offer was than any other existing offer.

“We are proposing a transaction that provides WPTE`s shareholders a significant premium over both WPTE`s current market price and the current value of the Peerless transaction.There is no doubt that our offer is a “Superior Proposal” as that term is defined under your asset purchase agreement with Peerless,” Ellin wrote.

Peerless is the PartyGaming subsidiary which put forth the original offer.

Mandalay has been responsible for Hollywood blockbusters like Donnie Brasco, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Wild Things. The company also has a hand in mobile entertainment through Twistbox Entertainment.

It’s been the best of times and the worst of times for online poker player Eric “Ericb09″ Blair these days. On the plus side, he has been crushing the online MTT team for the past couple of months and currently sits in 10th place in the BLUFF Online Player of the Year race. On the down side, last month Blair came up just shy of making his first televised final table, finishing in 8th place at the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open after getting his pocket aces cracked by the tournament’s eventual champion, Olivier “livb112″ Busquet.

Blair, known as “Ericb09” on PokerStars and “blizair” on Full Tilt has been taking the wins and the losses in stride though, thanks to lots of support from his friends and family. Eric recently sat down with BLUFF to talk about his brutal Borgata beat, his biggest online victory and how they happened to take place within one week of each other:

Let’s start off with some congratulations since you won the $25,000 Guaranteed PokerStars $100 cubed yesterday for $12,713!

Thanks, that turbo cubed in the afternoon is so sweet. Then I got 5th in the $100 rebuy at 8pm. [I came] so close, James “POKERPR0″ Campbell got me good.

You’ve had a pretty decent little run as of late, huh?

Oh for sure. That one week [at the end of September] was the craziest I’ve ever had…I got 8th in the Main Event at the Borgata Poker Open, then I won the Full Tilt $1k Monday three days after that. At Borgata, I just missed out on the televised final table. I lost a 4.5 million chip pot to livb112–my AA to his AK off suit (Blair flopped top set of aces only to lose to Busquet’s runner-runner straight)…It was really tough for me. He’s a great, great player though and it was a standard hand so… it is what it is.

Did the $1k Monday win with the $76,750 score help ease the pain a little?

I came back from Borgata so shocked and hurt, but I know this is what you sign up for when you play professionally. I looked at it like, “that’s the worst beat I will probably ever take in poker, so it’s all uphill from here.” Then the $1k was amazing. It started September 28th, but finished in the wee hours of the morning on the 29th, which was my birthday! Winning the $1k on my birthday was so freaking cool.

So you had your best and worst poker moments in the span of a week?

Exactly. It was surreal. I just wasn’t scared of any beat they could spit out after that Borgata one and played really hard that Sunday and Monday.

You said the beat was rough, but overall did you gain confidence about your live game or your game in general for that matter after going so deep in such a big field?

It gave me so much confidence. I really felt good about that tournament because the trip was going great before that Main Event started with my best friend Alex “ags104″ Santiago winning the 1k buy-in for $108k 3 days prior. He is an amazing player and friend. I truthfully consider him better than myself, but he probably won’t ever get ranked because he puts in such small volume.  For example, last night he played like 5 tourneys and got 3rd in the Wednesday $300 for $27k.

You mentioned you’re from Connecticut. Is the Foxwoods World Poker Finals the next live stop for you?

Yeah, I’m going to play the $1k prelim and possibly the $10k Main the next week if I’m feeling frisky (laughs). [Foxwoods] is actually where I learned to play. I would sneak in when I was 19 and play $1/$2 No Limit almost ever day until they caught me because I looked like I was 12 when I was 19. It’s so close by, so I would take my tips from being a bus boy at the Macaroni Grill and drive up there with guys like ags104, and Wubanga and we would grind all night at $1/$2.

Sounds like quality bankroll management.

I used to be awful with my roll. For example, I won a tourney on PartyPoker for $28kish back then and was playing $10/$20 No Limit the next day. I was so degen. I busted that roll then put 200 bucks on Ultimate Bet two years ago around Thanksgiving. Threw it on two $.50/$1 No Limit tables and haven’t deposited since.

I’ve gotten so much better. I used to mix cash and MTT’s and that would lead to huge losing days. If you play cash after losing in an MTT session, you’re toast. There’s no way you’re going to profit consistently doing that.

Do you still play cash? Or just MTTs now?

I rarely play cash unless there’s a huge fish sitting. Now I just play a pretty full MTT schedule about 5 days a week and back a few players, which is really fun. Ags104 and I back three of my really good friends. I’ve got to give shout outs to iloseflips2424, woj422 and dmon2323. It’s so cool watching these guys improve so fast. They have all already had multiple five figure scores in the last few months and play buy-ins up to $1k after playing nothing over $100 previously, so just to see that progress is awesome. Iloseflips2424 had actually been a high stakes player for some time and had won the Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan, so he had played bigger before the stake.

It seems like you have a very good group of poker people around you. Did one of you get into poker first and then the rest followed?

Well, West Hartford has a great deal of poker talent nowadays. Guys like Luke “bdbeatslayer” Vrabel and wubanga were the first to really hit it huge. Now there’s people like myself and the others I mentioned as well as stanman420. In my immediate friend group the best was always ags104 and he taught me a lot about being level headed and being smart with your money. Alando44 is great too. He’s a legend…he’s up six figures in the past six months.

Is there friendly competition between you guys at all?

Oh of course! When one hits a bunch of scores in a row and I can’t get a win it motivates me to play my best. You need good friends to help and push your game just like in any other sport.

You’ve got this great group of poker friends. Has your family been equally supportive about your poker career?

They have been amazingly supportive. No one wants their kid to be a professional gambler, but they couldn’t be any cooler and more helpful with anything. For about a year and a half they hated it, but in the last two years they have seen that it’s beatable. My dad checks my PocketFives page daily, which is just so great to hear.

Did they come to Borgata to watch or was it too far to travel on short notice?

They were going to take work off and come for the final six if that had happened. I didn’t even tell them I was deep until we were 9-handed. Then I told my dad to check the updates and my dad was like, “woah!”

You recently cracked the top ten in the BLUFF Online Player of the Year race. Do things like OPOY and Tournament Leader Board races push to play more?

I would definitely like to stay in that top ten…but there are so many guys out there now who are very smart dedicated players and the edge is growing thinner.

Do you think the MTT scene is just going to get tougher and tougher?

Oh yeah, 100 percent. Everyone is just so knowledgeable these days with the training sites out there. High stakes MTT’s are no joke anymore. You can’t just steamroll a table anymore. You have to pick and choose your spots better than ever. In a $100 rebuy, I’ll probably know and have history with 7of the 9 players at the table.

Will there come a point where they become too tough to be profitable?

That’s a good question. In my opinion, that won’t ever happen because there will always be the random gamblers just taking shots…the regulars, myself especially, have really off days as well, so if you’re dedicated I’d imagine MTTs will always be profitable.

If Phil Ivey wins this Main Event that will be a really good thing for poker, because his legend will grow and so many people will be amazed at how rich that man has gotten off gambling. He’s basically the biggest baller around. I’m just in awe of him.

Is that the ultimate goal for you? Be like Phil Ivey and jet set around the world?

Haha, no way. There’s no way you can get that rich playing MTTs. I never have an exact goal. You can’t have that in poker. You can’t just be like, “I’m going to win $1,000 every day.” This game will toss you in all sorts of directions and if you keep your head down and grind, good things will come.

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Rio to be your Frankenstein during November Nine

The World Series of Poker Main Event will conclude at the Rio from November 7th to 9th, and Dr. Feelgood is stopping in for one night to share the spotlight and raise money for a good cause.

Vince Neil’s 5th Annual Off The Strip Poker Tournament will play out on November 8th at in the tournament area outside Buzio’s inside the Rio. For a $550 entry fee, the first 200 players to sign up will get a shot at a $50,000 prize pool to be paid out to the final table; rebuys benefiting the charity will also be available. Mötley Crüe frontman Neil is set to play host, while world-class tournament director Matt Savage will emcee the event.

The event has always sold out in the past and has featured famous faces from music, movies, television, and poker, and this year should be no exception, so anyone interested in playing should. All proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Skylar Neil Foundation, which raises money for medical research to find cures for cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. The foundation is named for Neil’s daughter, who died of cancer in 1995.

Former WSOP ladies’ event champ sues Harrah’s

Sally Ann Boyer, the 2007 WSOP Women’s Event champ, is suing Harrah’s Entertainment and the WSOP Academy over what she says was the misuse of her image in advertising.

Boyer’s lawyers filed suit in Clark County Court in Las Vegas this week seeking unspecified damages and recovery of profits from the use of her name in WSOP Academy advertisements. Boyer’s complaint says that soon after her win the WSOP Academy began a marketing campaign that used her likeness and claimed that she was an Academy graduate, though Boyer says she is not. The lawsuit names Harrah’s Entertainment, WSOP Academy, Post Oak Productions, and Post Oak owners Brandon Rosen and Jeff Goldenberg.

In a statement, Goldenberg said he was “absolutely shocked” that Boyer filed suit. “The suit is entirely baseless and we look forward to being entirely vindicated when all of the facts come out in court,” he said.

(Sally Anne Boyer Sues WSOP Academy and Harrah’s - Poker News Daily)

PPA calls for Mass. online poker regulation

The Poker Players Alliance today testified before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies at a hearing on the impact of proposals to expand casino gaming throughout the state.

The PPA says that conservative estimates show that Massachusetts would pull in at least $40 million per year if it were to license and regulate online poker within its borders. It also argues that state regulations are needed to combat underage access to online poker rooms and to protect consumers from fraudulent operators.

“Sadly, while the game of poker has evolved, the way politicians think about it has not,” said Randy Castonguay, the PPA’s Massachusetts state director, in his testimony to the committee. “As this Committee discusses the pros and cons of regulating expanded gaming in our Commonwealth, it would be appropriate to consider the existing internet poker play that is occurring today without any state oversight or control. Regulation of internet poker is not expansion of gambling, it is simply the responsible government response to an industry that exists today.”

A similar hearing a few years ago went on for more than 14 hours, but today’s hearing only lasted into the middle of the afternoon. SouthCoastToday.com has a full rundown of the hearing here.

Projections show massive revenue potential from regulated online gambling

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) today released a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis today showing that legislation introduced by McDermott and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to regulate online gambling in the United States would result in federal tax revenues of $42 billion over the next 10 years if signed into law.

The analysis was based on provisions in the legislation that would allow for federal licensing of online gambling throughout the country but retain existing prohibitions on sports betting. Frank’s bill  is intended to set up a framework for licensing online gambling operators with safeguards against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and identity theft. McDermott’s companion piece would set up a tax system for raking the government’s share of more than $100 billion wagered online annually by American citizens.

Groups like the Poker Players Alliance and the Safe and Secure Gambling Initiative are hoping that Congress will consider licensed, regulated U.S. online gambling as a way of helping to offset the cost of health care reform and pass the two bills this year. But even if that fails to happen, with potential revenues in the tens of billions around it’s only a matter of time before somebody in Washington decides it’s time to take a cut; at the American poker table,

(Joint Committee on Taxation Projects Internet Gambling Regulation Would Generate Nearly $42 Billion in New Revenue - Reuters)

There are five weeks between now and the Main Event of the AbsolutePoker College Challenge and that should give college students plenty of time to get in and take a shot at making $10,000 for their college tuition.

The APCC daily qualifying tournaments have three buy-in levels: freeroll, $0.25 and $5.00. Finish in the top nine of any of those events and players are automatically entered into a freeroll the next day that will award nine seats to the Weekly Main Event Qualifier which runs Sunday at 9 pm ET.

Players in the Weekly Main Event Qualifier compete for a $200 prizepool as well as the chance to play in the Main Event. The top six players from the Main Event, held on November 30, will be flown to Los Angeles to compete live for the $10,000 top prize. The final table will be streamed live on BluffMagazine.com.

In its second year the APCC is growing stronger with more and more college kids using their poker abilities to develop real world life skills - all while making some money for tuition, books or bad ass beer pong tables. 

“(The) concept that playing poker teaches students other life skills is on the money. Poker has taught me how to deal with a lot of different aspects of my life from business to my personal relationships,” said Absolute Poker Pro Matt Vengrin. “My life is where it is today due to learning what it takes to be a professional poker player.”

The  APCC continues through November 29th. For more information check out AbsolutePoker.com.

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Denver underground poker room owner faces 24 years in prison

Jeffrey Castardi, the owner and operator of an underground Denver poker club whose operations drove two men to suicide, pleaded guilty this week to one charge of racketeering under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. Castardi, 48, will face up to 24 years in jail when he is sentenced on December 14th.

Jeff Castardi faces 24 years in jail for running an underground poker room

According to Colorado authorities, the Gin Rummy Club operated as a social club but made as much as $750,000 in a single year over the course of its five years of existence by running poker games. There was no limit on the stakes in Castardi’s club, as opposed to the legal casinos in Colorado which had a $5 betting limit; unsurprisingly he drew some well-known clientele, including athletes and celebrities. Players played on the book and settled up with the house after the game, and Castardi also offered credit at five percent per week to players who couldn’t afford to pay up at the end of the night. He also hounded his indebted players mercilessly, driving one player, Eric Cox, to kill himself over the debts.

None of the gamblers who played at the Gin Rummy Club were arrested, as the state considered them witnesses. Among those who named by the Denver Post as players at the club were former Denver Broncos players Rod Bernstine and Reggie Rivers and 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Francois Safieddine.

The Denver Post featured a full story on Castardi and the Gin Rummy Club when his indictment was handed down back in March.

(Jeffrey Castardi, head of Gin Rummy Club, pleads guilty - Denver Post)

Pokerati poker murders update

Sticking with today’s poker crime theme, Pokerati.com rounded up new information on three different poker-related murder cases from around the world into a single post today.

Paroled cop killer and former one-time Dallas underground poker room operator James McDaniel was sentenced to life in prison for his role today in the drug overdose death of Southern Methodist University student Meagan Bosch. McDaniel delayed getting a nearly-comatose Bosch medical treatment after she had overdosed on cocaine and then dumped her body in a portable toilet at a construction site outside Waco, Tex.

Meanwhile an Australian poker player convicted of manslaughter for killing a fellow player with a single punch after an altercation at the table is going to get a new trial, and police in Sweden have concluded that the murder of PokerListings founder Andreas Oscarsson was a methodically planned, professionally executed hit.

(Poker Homicide Updates - Pokerati.com)

Cleveland home game robbed for $11,000

A private poker game among friends unexpectedly turned into a half-naked robbery last night in Cleveland, Ohio.

At about 11:20 p.m. on Monday night one of the game’s seven players stepped outside to have a cigarette only to have a gun pointed at his head. He led the gunman and the gunman’s accomplices to the door, and when another player opened the door the robbers forced their way inside. There they stripped all the players to their pants, doused them with pepper spray, and robbed of their clothes, their wallets, and $11,000 in cash.

If you ever feel like you run bad, consider the situation of one of the players at the Cleveland game who was also present at another poker game robbery six months ago in Solon, Ohio, where men with assault rifles made away with more than $70,000. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

A player from Monday night was at the Solon game and said he couldn’t believe he was once again staring at robbers with more assault rifles. Monday’s game was listed on a Web site dedicated to local poker games, and the man said he visited the host before the game to warn him about security and urge him not to advertise the location of the game.

“I thought I learned my lesson,” he said. “I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s been quite the months I’m having.”

The host of the game declined to comment. Card games are legal in Ohio as long as the host doesn’t charge a fee or keep a percentage of the payout.”

(Gunmen with assault rifles get $11,000 from poker game - Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Police foil would-be poker robber

Police in Cornelius, N.C., stopped Terry Lynn Adkins from pulling off a poker robbery of his own thanks to a tip from a confidential informant.

On Monday night Adkins met up with two accomplices outside of town and then began casing the target house, where a home game was going on. Adkins thought the game was going to have large sums of money, though neighbors say the penny-ante game wouldn’t have been worth much to the would-be robber. Before he could pull off the heist, police pulled him over and were able to charge him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and armed career criminal.

It seems like poker robbery was just a side game for Adkins: the investigation that led to his arrest involved other violent crimes and marijuana and cocaine smuggling.

(Police thwart alleged thief targeting home poker games - WCNC.com)

Jay Busbee wrote about poker robberies in the August 2006 issue of Bluff.

Fans of the durrrr Challenge rejoiced last night as Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius took to the felt for several hours of action, playing on and off throughout the evening. Action got started at around 4PM ET and continued sporadically until almost 1AM. Over the course of the lengthy session the two logged just over 2,000 hands to bring the total number of Challenge hands played to 27,185. At first it appeared that durrrr would extend his lead over the Finn even further pulling ahead by as much as $1.2 million overall. However, Antonius was able to rally to keep durrrr’s profits on the day to a relatively meager $81,716. The win extended Dwan’s overall lead to $779,248.

Durrrr very quickly jumped out to $100,000 lead over his opponent thanks, in part, to a big hand in which durrrr turned the nuts holding AJKT on a J94Q board and put Antonius all-in for his last $37,000. Antonius called and mucked when durrr showed his Broadway straight to take down the $116,793.50 pot. Durrrr picked up another $150,000 or so when he got it all-in preflop holding AQT9 to Antonius’ AA52 and managed to flop the nuts when the board fell KJ9.

While durrrr was taking down the six figure pots, Antonius was winning several medium-sized pots to keep within striking distance. When Antonius took a break to eat durrrr filled in his opponent’s at the 7-Game table in on his progress and John Juanda couldn’t resist putting the young pro’s profits in perspective:

Ziigmund: who won in challenge?
durrrr: i won small
durrrr: 150 mayb
John Juanda: yeah u won small ferrari

Even though Antonius took a break from Challenge play to eat, he stayed put at the 7 Game table, which makes sense considering he has been on quite the hot streak there as of late. Unfortunately for him, his good fortune at the 7 Game tables did not carry over to the Challenge tables on Tuesday.

In the biggest Challenge pot of the night, the two players got it all-in for $293,742.50 on a flop of 765. Durrrr held K976 for two pair with flush and straight possibilities while Antonius showed J9T8 for a flopped straight with a redraw to a bigger straight. The 3 on the turn did not help Dwan, but the 6 on the river filled him up to ship him the massive pot. If the chat box was any indication, Antonius was intent upon getting his money back before the night was over:

durrrr: i have a massage in 30min
durrrr: can cancel if ya want since i dont wanna hit n run ya
durrrr: but if u dont care too much id rather jus play after
durrrr: ur call
durrrr: yo?
Patrik Antonius: cancel it

The most cringeworthy beat of the night would have to be the hand in which the two got it all-in preflop each holding pocket aces. Antonius’ A2A9 outflopped durrrr’s ATA7 on a 995 board only to have the turn and river come 6 then 8 to make durrrr a straight and give him the $189,047 pot.

Antonius continued to play despite being down several hundred thousand on the session.  An upswing during the last couple of hours of play cut his losses substantially, but he still has some catching up to do to erase durrrr’s lead. There is still plenty of Challenge play to go though and we’ll continue to keep you posted on both players’ progress.

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

CNN spotlights Don Cheadle & Ante Up for Africa

The mainstream media got a look at one of the better sides of poker today when CNN today featured a story about Don Cheadle and his efforts to raise awareness of the human rights crisis in Darfur, Sudan, through the Ante Up For Africa charity. Cheadle tells CNN about his initial surprise at how much money the first AUFA tournament was able to raise and about the generosity of most of the tournaments’ big winners, while his AUFA co-founder Annie Duke lets CNN in on the secret of why poker tournaments are such great fundraisers.

“Everyone wants to give. I think there’s a variety of ways to do that that are effective, but I’m not sure anything is more effective than a poker tournament,” says Duke. “People come and they can genuinely hang out with celebrities and some of the famous poker players, and just have a really fantastic time while they’re giving.”

“Some people look at that and are cynical about it and think, that’s just frivolous celebrities trying to give themselves some sort of gravitas,” says Cheadle. “But I still say, even if it is that, there is still something going on over there, and we want you to look over there. So you try and take the opportunity whenever you can.”

The new AUFA event, sorting a $150 buy-in with rebuys, is set to be held this Thursday at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino outside San Bernardino, Calif. The casino has already kicked in $500,000 for the charity and the players are expected to donate tens of thousands more.

(Don Cheadle’s poker playing has benefits - CNN.com)

Kevin Schaffel on ESPN Inside Deal

It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for ESPN Inside Deal. Today’s episode is one of the last before the November Nine get back to action and play down to a winner. Kevin Schaffel, who sits in the middle of the pack but has scored a few nice cashes since going on hiatus in July, sits down with Laura Lane and Bernard Lee to talk about how making the final tables of the WSOP Main Event and the Legends of Poker has changed his life, his previous tournament experience, and who he’s bringing to the Rio with him in November.

Mike Sexton also calls in to talk with Lane and Lee about his impending induction to the Poker Hall of Fame. “It’s pretty flattering…to be up there with the legends and icons of the game,” Sexton said. “It’s really pretty special.”

Check out the full episode here.

ESPN deal a bright spot in downbeat Harrah’s 3Q results

World Series of Poker parent company Harrah’s Entertainment issued its earnings report today and the company’s business is down from this time last year. According to the report, the continued slump in business was due to the recession eating into its customers’ wallets. Revenues were down to $2.28 billion from $2.65 billion in the third quarter last year, while the loss from operations was $1.05 billion, compared with income from operations of $349.6 million in the 2008 third quarter.

While everything else at Harrah’s seems to be following the broader economic downturn, one of the bright spots for the company continues to be the WSOP. Among the the third quarter highlights singled out by CEO Gary Loveman in the report was Harrah’s new seven-year deal with cable network ESPN to continue its annual coverage of the WSOP. Loveman noted in the report that the company was looking forward to the November Nine completing play at the WSOP Main Event in a few weeks.

(Harrah’s Entertainment Reports Results for 2009 Third Quarter, First Nine Months - MarketWire.com)

Florida poker blues likely to keep playing

Poker players in Florida have been stuck with less-than-adequate live cash poker games for a long time now. There was once a $2 cap on all bets, though that changed a while back when the state decided to allow maximum buy-ins of $100. Still, the games pale in comparison to those available in California, Las Vegas, the East Coast, or nearly anywhere else in the United States with a poker room.

Players in Florida were given some hope earlier this year when the legislature considered a bill to allow true no-limit poker throughout the state, but that bill was tied to a yet-to-pass revised compact with the Seminole tribe which would allow the Seminoles exclusive rights to offer blackjack and table games in the state. So while everyone appears to be for passing no-limit poker, the political bargaining game between Gov. Charlie Crist and the state’s legislature means the issue probably won’t be dealt with anytime soon. In the meantime, several airlines are still offering plenty of cheap flights from Florida to Las Vegas…

(I told the governor to hustle it up with poker - Action South Florida Gambling)

The 2009 November Nine

Tuesday night’s episodes of the World Series of Poker Main Event on ESPN will continue to introduce poker fans to the November Nine.

Tuesday’s first one hour episode begins with 27 players left in the tournament including BLUFF contributor Antonio Esfandiari and Maryland logger Darvin Moon. Also featured in this episode is the last woman standing Leo Margets who hopes to continue her run at becoming only the second woman to ever make the final table.

The second hour will begin with 23 players left in the tournament including Phil Ivey and Jeff Shulman as well as Billy Kopp and Steven Begleiter.

ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event continues each Tuesday until November 10 when the two episodes from the November Nine will air and a new world champion will be crowned.

Tommy Vedes has made some noise in 2009.

Earlier this summer Tommy Vedes was denied his shot at poker glory with a 19th place finish in the World Series of Poker Main Event but on Monday night he made up for it. Vedes overcame what could have been a record-tying final table to capture the World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago title and the $1,218,225 first place prize money.

Vedes eliminated Jason Lavallee after a two hour heads-up battle that saw the lead change hands twice. Freddy Deeb, who started the day with a small chiplead over Shawn Cunix, was eliminated in fourth place. With two WPT titles on his resume he would have tied Gus Hansen for the most career wins had he gone on to victory.

The ending wasn’t quite what Deeb imagined when the day began but it went worse for Cunix. Despite entering the day second in chips he was eliminated by Craig Crivello in sixth place after only 29 hands. Cunix dropped a 2,440,000 chip pot to Deeb on the fourth hand and then doubled Vedes up less than 20 minutes later to kickstart his downfall.

Less than ten minutes after Cunix busted, the player who started the day as the shortstack saw his tournament end as well. Jason “PlastikCards” Burt got the last of his chips in with A J against the A Q of Deeb and was unable to catch up. Burt, whose only other live cash prior to Monday was for $5,272 from a EPT London preliminary event earlier this month, walked away with $208,725.

After Deeb was eliminated when his A 4 was unable to get past the pocket sixes of Vedes, Lavallee picked up his first elimination of the final table. Lavallee opened with a button raise, Crivello moved all-in and Lavallee called. Crivello showed K J while Lavallee tabled pocket tens. The board rand dry for Crivello and his tournament was over with a third place finish.

When heads-up play began Vedes had 9,320,00 chips with Lavallee not far behind with 7,170,000. Vedes held onto the lead for 40 minutes before Lavallee overtook him on the 12th hand of heads-up play. It took 37 hands for Vedes to get the chiplead back and only three more for him to eliminate Lavallee altogether.

The next WPT event is the Foxwoods World Poker Finals running November 5 - 10.

World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago Final Table Payouts

1. Tommy Vedes - $1,218,225
2. Jason Lavallee - $795,150
3. Craig Crivello - $477,090
4. Freddy Deeb - $278,300
5. Jason Burt - $208,725
6. Shawn Cunix - $168,970

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Now that’s a freeroll

Dan Livingston picked a good time to find himself between jobs. The 22-year-old part-time poker player from Oak Forest, Ill., recently left his job at an auto detailing shop, but he’s unlikely to be looking for another job anytime soon after winning the WSOP Circuit Championship Event at the Horseshoe Casino Chicagoland.

WSOPC Chicago champ Dan Livingston turned a freeroll into more than $291,000

During the two weeks leading up to the WSOPC, the Horseshoe poker room held a promotion where four times daily a table in the room was randomly selected and all the players at that table were dealt a single card; the 56 players who were dealt the high card during the promotion were given seats in the $5,200 Championship Event. Livingston, a part-time poker player who normally plays $100 tournaments, was one of four players who won his seat this way. The runner-up, Tom Floros of Indian Head Park, Ill., won his seat in the tournament the same way.

Floros entered the final table with the chip lead at 1.4 million, while his young opponent was in the middle of the pack with about 900,000. But by the time play was four-handed Livingston had worked his way up to a stack worth 4 million to Floros’ and his remaining opponents’ 1 million each. At that point, Livingston said, “I could pretty much do what I wanted.” He entered heads-up play with a 10-to-1 lead over Floros and took just 30 minutes to finish the deal.

“My biggest cash playing online was for $4,000, so this was a big jump,” Livingston said after his win. “It’s going to make me consider giving poker a shot.  I am going to see if I can play for a living.” With the kind of run-good he exhibited at the Horseshoe, he might just have a chance.

Poker players still Racing

Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho are still in the hunt after six episodes of this year’s The Amazing Race on CBS. The two WSOP Main Event “Last Women Standing” (2007 for Ho and 2008 for Michelle) make up the only all-female team on the show this year and up to this point have been finishing episodes mostly toward the back of the pack, barely avoiding elimination. But in last night’s episode the duo pulled off their best finish yet in the Dubai leg of the race, overcoming a 4.5-hour disadvantage at the beginning of the day to finish in second place. That leaves them in the hunt for the $1 million first prize and means they won’t be at as much of a disadvantage in the next round, which takes place in Amsterdam.

You can watch Tiffany and Maria weigh out $500,000 of gold, complete the Roadblock, slide down six stories through a shark tank, and outlast yet another team that’s at least half male at the CBS website here. A new episode of The Amazing Race airs on CBS next Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

“Operation Replace Benza” winding down?

You can add another name to the list of people who won’t be replacing A.J. Benza as half of the commentary team on top-rated High Stakes Poker: Shana Hiatt. The former WPT and Poker After Dark hostess is busy playing mom to a 1-year-old and traveling the world with her husband, leaving her no time for off-screen banter with Gabe Kaplan.

Speculation that EPT hostess Kara Scott will get the job has been mounting, with Benza even coming out to say he thinks Scott will be his replacement. Considering PokerStars’ sponsorship of the new season of HSP it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see Scott on screen with Kaplan. Rumors of her selection for the job have very noticeably not been denied, while a number of other potential hostesses (Vanessa Rousso, Amanda Leatherman, Lacey Jones) have been publicly marked off the speculation list in forum posts by PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu at his site Full Contact Poker.

Poker PRO-ductions, the company behind HSP, is said to be in contract negotiations with Benza’s replacement right now, so the waiting game for fans of the show should be over sometime soon.

(Shana Hiatt Will Not Be Next High Stakes Poker Host - Poker News Daily)

Dan Livingston photo courtesy IMPDI.

It was a crowded Sunday at the tables as several of the major tournaments saw huge increases in the field from the previous week. It is hard to pinpoint an exact cause, but an extended registration period on PokerStars to accommodate the European players adjusting to Daylight Savings Time yesterday might help to explain the jump. Thanks to the bigger number, there were some huge prize pools up for grabs yesterday, including over $950,000 in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up.

It was “a$$ou” who booked the win in that event, netting themselves $140,745.60, but a two-way chop meant runner-up Stephen “sizzlinbetta” Reynolds earned himself a six figure score as well. These two and four others earned $100,000+ scores yesterday, with the biggest payout going to “grifo173” who earned $242,479.65 for an outright win in this week’s Sunday Million. Grifo173 bested a tough final table that included the likes of runner-up “deoxyribo,” Devin “tobias fuke” Porter and Joe “JBlaze20″ Chaplin.

For a while it looked as though Reynolds might be the second biggest winner on the day, as he was the chip leader in the Sunday 500 at the time he and a$$ou brokered their chop. He would fall short of the final table, but did make a deep run to finish in 20th place. Matt “malgoo” LaGarde would be the one to claim the victory in the Sunday 500, but in actuality both he and 2nd place finisher “throwinphins” split the money evenly once play got down to heads-up.

There was no chop in the Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee, as “Kirbynator” won the event outright, beating “ForEngland” heads-up for the $145,722.07. Shawn “jordankickz” Busse and “xxBabyGrandxx” also made appearances at that final table.

Some of the other big names to make the final table of one of the major Sunday events include Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle, Dan “USCswimmer” White, Kenny “KennyRap” Weinstein, Stian “JohnnyBelow” Stabell and Mark “pocketrockets11″ Salinaro.

Here are the complete results of this Sunday’s major events on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, including a recap of the Sunday Million final table action:

PokerStars Sunday Million
Prize Pool: $1,648,400
Entrants: 8,242

Seat 1: deoxyribo (14,538,925)
Seat 2: subby1 (8,078,530)
Seat 3: grifo173 (15,358,479)
Seat 4: moseley8 (8,669,948)
Seat 5: JBlaze20 (8,693,022)
Seat 6: tobias fuke (4,127,000)
Seat 7: AKSchwan (5,456,349)
Seat 8: nickj7777 (5,699,925)
Seat 9: Pokerpiggen (11,797,822)

At the outset of the final table tobias fuke, “AKSchwan” and “nickj7777” were getting perilously low on chips, as their stacks all hovered around 5 million with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 ante 50,000. Tobias fuke shoved all-in from the button with K5 and AKSchwan called from the small blind with AQ. The flop fell K92 to pair tobias fuke’s king and when AKSchwan failed to improve on the turn or river, they were the first one out in 9th place.

While the shorter stacks tried to double up during the early goings of the Sunday Million final table, grifo173 extended his chip lead. A few of those came during a hand in which grifo173 raised to 1.5 million from the cutoff and JBlaze20 moved all-in from the small blind for just 2 million more. JBlaze20’s AJ looked good against grifo173’s J7, but the KK7Q7 board gave grifo173 a full house and eliminated JBlaze20 in 8th place. Shortly after that, grifo173  knocked out nickj7777 in 7th place (aptly enough) when his TT held up against nickj7777’s A9.

Deoxyribo did his best to keep pace with the chip leader, knocking out “moseley8” in 6th place with JJ to moseley8’s A3. While grifo173 and deoxyribo flourished, the other three were floundering with less than 10 million chips each. “Subby1” would be the next to fall in 5th place when their 98 ran into grifo173’s pocket kings and it would take only four more hands before both tobias fuke and “Pokerpiggen” joined them on the rail.

A massive 3-way all-in transpired when tobias fuke shoved from under the gun, Pokerpiggen moved all-in behind him for slightly more and grifo173 called from the big blind. Tobias fuke held KJ, Pokerpiggen had 99 and grifo173 showed TT. The tens held to eliminate tobias fuke in 4th and Pokerpiggen in 3rd and the 20 million chip pot propelled grifo173 to a 3-1 chip lead to begin heads-up play.

It was not long before the two found themselves all-in preflop. Grifo173 raised from the button, deoxyribo shoved all-in from the big blind and grifo173 called with AT. Deoxyribo showed KQ. The AAQ flop favored grifo173 and the T on the turn left deoxyribo drawing dead and out in 2nd place. He claimed $177,203.01 for the runner-up showing while grifo173 took down nearly a quarter of a million dollars for the win.

1st: grifo173 ($242,479.65)
2nd: deoxyribo ($177,203.01)
3rd: Pokerpiggen ($123,630.01)
4th: Devin “tobias fuke” Porter ($82,420.01)
5th: subby1 ($65,936.01)
6th: moseley8 ($49,452.01)
7th: nickj7777 ($32,968.01)
8th: Joe “JBlaze20″ Chaplin ($18,132.41)
9th: AKSchwan ($12,775.11)

Notable finishes: Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki (22nd) and Jeff “ICuRaRook” Sluzinski (67th)

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up
Prize Pool: $953,600
Entrants: 4,768

1st: a$$ou ($140,745.60)
2nd: Stephen “sizzlinbetta” Reynolds ($119,520.46)
3rd: Moritz “Catenaccio” Kranich ($78,672.01)
4th: seppmann7 ($53,878.41)
5th: jasonbarton ($40,528.01)
6th: strltd55 ($30,992.01)
7th: WhiteRabbito ($21,456.01)
8th: dawod_swe ($11,920.01)
9th: POKER-OBIWAN ($7,628.81)

Notable finishes: Dennis “boozeorlose’ Booze (28th), Amir “AmirSF” Levahot (42nd) and Mark “Pghfan987″ Busch (46th)

PokerStars Sunday Second Chance
Prize Pool: $269,800
Entrants: 1,349

1st: mariocasPT ($48,995.68)
2nd: Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle ($35,613.60)
3rd: as1025 ($26,980.00)
4th: sjoc22 ($20,235.00)
5th: Dan “USCswimmer” White ($14,164.50)
6th: colonelkosta ($11,466.50)
7th: kenmrvegas ($8,768.50)
8th: Steelo83($6,070.50)
9th: xxDAMAGERxx ($3,777.20)

Notable finishes: Adam “Roothlus” Levy (12th), Jonathan “apestyles” Van Fleet (17th), Chris “Bushman” Bush (25th) and Dylan “ImALucSac” Linde (30th)

PokerStars Sunday 500
Prize Pool: $554,000
Entrants: 1,108

1st: Matt “mlagoo” LaGarde ($81,715.00)
2nd: throwinphins ($81,715.00)
3rd: danceofddead ($52,574.60)
4th: gavz101 ($37,672.00)
5th: BongBob ($27,423.00)
6th: DTFTOP18 ($21,883.00)
7th: mrvogt ($16,343.00)
8th: zakooza ($10,803.00)
9th: Mescalin8 ($5,983.20)

Notable finishes: Sebastian “sebbau” Bauer (13th), Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron (18th), Stephen “sizzlinbetta” Reynolds (20th), Ryan “HITTHEPANDA” Franklin (21st) and Jeff “ICuRaRook” Sluzinski (23rd)

Full Tilt Poker $750K Guarantee
Prize Pool: $825,000
Entrants: 4,126

1st: Kirbynator ($145,722.07)
2nd: ForEngland ($88,213.88)
3rd: cmiller916 ($57,764.00)
4th: Scary_Tiger ($45,386.00)
5th: BADNEW3 ($34,080.76)
6th: stanman420 ($25,251.12)
7th: Shawn “jordankickz” Busse ($18,979.60)
8th: asaffer ($14,853.60)
9th: xxBabyGrandxx ($11,057.68)

Notable finishes: Andrew “TiLTyJoKer” Lee (10th), Ryan “HITTHEPANDA” Franklin (20th), Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb (23rd), Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan (24th) and Steven “TheZadester” Levy (30th)

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl
Prize Pool: $489,600
Entrants: 2,448

1st: titanfr59 ($88,481.12)
2nd: Cheryl45 ($76,000.00)
3rd: Mark “pocketrockets11″ Salinaro ($47,980.80)
4th: Jsbryan ($36,230.40)
5th: drunk mashimaro ($25,459.20)
6th: this is punny ($16,646.40)
7th: fahmie ($11,260.80)
8th: _The_Ghost_XX ($7,833.60)
9th: KJulius10 ($5,875.20)

Notable finishes: Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier (27th), Brent “bdubs3737″ Wheeler (31st) and Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd (37th)

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan
Prize Pool: $255,200
Entrants: 1,276

1st: postmannen ($56,144.00)
2nd: Kenny “Kenny Rap” Weinstein ($35,728.00)
3rd: SqueezePlease ($26,285.60)
4th: djflunk ($20,735.00)
5th: Ben “kidcardiff” Warrington ($15,950.00)
6th: celinap ($11,484.00)
7th: FlopNRun ($7,656.00)
8th:BILLDEAL ($5,742.00)
9th: Stian “JohnnyBelow” Stabell ($4,083.20)

Notable finishes: Alex “TheAssasinato” Fitzgerald (24th), Ty “GimmeDa1time” Reiman (25th), Joe “bigegypt” Elpyaa (29th)

Freddy Deeb has two World Poker Tour titles to his credit and if things go according to his plan on Monday, he’ll be walking away from the Festa Al Lago at Bellagio with his third.

Deeb holds the chip lead as the final six players will return to the Bellagio on Monday to play down to a winner. Deeb bagged up 3,840,000 chips after Aaron Jones busted on the TV table bubble Sunday afternoon. That gives Deeb a lead of just 170,000 over Shawn Cunix who sits in second place.

Tommy Vedes, coming off of a 19th place finish in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, sits in third with 2,990,000. Another player who cashed in the Main Event this past summer, Craig Crivello, sits in fourth with 2,570,000 chips. Crivello finished 150th in the Main Event and is just short of $500,000 for lifetime winnings.

Sitting fifth is Jason “StatusUp” Lavallee with 2,045,000. This will be Lavallee’s first WPT final table appearance. The shortest stack at the final table is Jason Burt with 1,375,000.

The day started with 11 players but after six hours of play Larry Berg, Chris Bjorin, Richard Sciuto, Kido Pham and Jones were eliminated in order. Bjorin’s 10th place finish denied him his sixth final table in the past six weeks and third of Festa Al Lago.

Deeb’s first WPT title came in 2005 when he took down the Aruba Poker Classic for $1,000,000. His second came courtesy the WPT Celebrity Invitational which featured a $100,000 first place prize.

The final table begins at 4 pm PT Monday. First place pays $1,218,225 including a seat in the $25,000 WPT Championship.

WPT Festa Al Lago Final Table Chip Counts

1. Freddy Deeb - 3,840,000
2. Shawn Cunix - 3,670,000
3. Tommy Vedes - 2,990,000
4. Craig Crivello - 2,570,000
5. Jason Lavallee - 2,045,000
6. Jason Burt - 1,375,000

Benzimra eliminated PokerStars SuperNova Elite Alfio Battisti heads-up to clinch the EPT Warsaw title Sunday in Poland. Battisti, the youngest at the table at 24, walked away with $300,457 US.

Following his win Benzimra admitted that at a table full of professional players  the fact that the amateur player came out on top, might have had a little less to do with skill and more with chance.

“They were better than me,” said Benzimra. “I am not a professional player, I play just for my pleasure and let’s say today that the luck was with me.”

One of those professional players that Benzimra outran was the record holder for both cashes and final tables on the European Poker Tour. Luca Pagano, 31, recorded his 12th EPT cash and 4th EPT final table Sunday. With a fourth place finish he also recorded his best result yet, besting his sixth place finish from the 2008 Grand Final.

The five day event with a 25,000 Polish Zlotych ($9,000 US) attracted 203 players putting the total prizepool at 4,770,500 ($1,717,000 US).  The next EPT stop is in Vilamoura, Portugal November 17 - 22.

2009 EPT Warsaw Results

1. Christophe Benzimra - PLN 1,493,170
2. Alfio Battisti - PLN 834,840
3. Oleksandr Vaserfirer - PLN 500,900
4. Luca Pagano - PLN 357,790
5. Ruslan Prydryk  - PLN 295,770
6. Clayton Mozdzen - PLN 233,750
7. Alexander Klimashin - PLN 186,050
8. Anatoly Gurtovoy - PLN 133,570
9. Alexander Debus - PLN 85,870
10. Jeff Sarwer - PLN 85,870
11. Aleksey Yuzikov - PLN 66,790
12. Jani Sointula - PLN 66,790
13. Nikolay Tsanev - PLN 57,250
14. Maurice Schulmann - PLN 57,250
15. Tome Cardoso Moreira - PLN 42,940 PLN
16. Dani Vargas - PLN 42,940 PLN
17. Julian Mogensen - PLN 28,620 PLN
18. Peter Hedlund - PLN 28,620 PLN
19. Antony Lellouche - PLN 28,620 PLN
20. Vitaly Lunkin - PLN 28,620 PLN
21. Michel Abecassis - PLN 28,620 PLN
22. Shaun Deeb - PLN 28,620 PLN
23. Wojciech Polak - PLN 28,620 PLN
24. Konstantin Puchkov - PLN 28,620 PLN

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

WSOP Circuit Chicago coming to a close

The $5,200 WSOP Circuit Championship Event is underway at Horseshoe Casino Chicagoland and like most of the rest of this stop on the circuit, things are going very well. The 248-player field for this year’s big event was up from last year’s total of 164. Play will continue tonight until the final table of nine is reached, and a first-place prize of $291,749 awaits tomorrow’s winner.

Event 7, the $555 6-Max No Limit Hold’em, saw 23-year-old Nick Frost of Chicago come out on top of a field of 234 players, making his second final table of this WSOPC stop at the Horseshoe and winning his first gold ring. Frost was ranked fifth of six when final table play began but made it to heads-up play against incoming chip leader Jeffrey Lenz; after a three-hour battle they chopped the prize money in an undisclosed deal and Frost was declared the winner.

Event 8, the $235 Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys, was won by Jeff Boudreau of Evergreen Park, Ill. Boudreau, a high-stakes limit hold’em player, was playing in his first live PLO tournament. Much like Event 7, this one saw a three-way deal among the players that gave Boudreau the champion’s gold ring.

Event 9, the $2,125 No Limit Hold’em, saw 105 players go home before Tuyen Ngo of McHenry, Ill., who grabbed the gold ring and $58,126. Event 10, the $555 HORSE tournament, drew a field of 119 that was conquered by former WSOP Circuit winner Eric Crain of Murphysboro, Ill. He won $14,703 and his second gold ring.

All told, attendance at this year’s Chicagoland WSOPC is up 11 percent, making it one of the most successful stops in WSOPC history.

No death penalty on murder rap for former pro poker player

A former professional poker player facing two murder charges may or may not spend time in jail, but one thing is now certain: even if he is convicted, he won’t be looking at death row.

Ernest Scherer III was arrested in Las Vegas this February for the March 2008 stabbing and beating deaths of his parents, Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth. Authorities say Scherer III drove from Las Vegas to his parents’ home in Pleasanton, Calif., and killed them so he could secure his $1 million inheritance, but Scherer maintains he is not guilty. Certain circumstances of the case left the door open for prosecutors to seek the death penalty, but the Alameda County District Attorney’s office announced yesterday that it would not seek capital punishment.

Scherer’s trial on the two murder charges has yet to receive a firm date, but it should come in late spring or early summer of 2010. If convicted, he could still face life in prison without chance of parole.

(District attorney won’t pursue death penalty against poker player charged with killing parents - Contra Costa Times)

Is Australia preparing to legalize online gambling?

A new draft report from the Australian Producitivty Commission (PC) is recommending that the government of that country legalize, regulate, and tax the online gambling industry down under. The focus of the report seems to be the concern that Australian citizens are being harmed by an unregulated industry, a situation which it thinks would be best handled by making online gambling legal.

The report was requested by the Australian government and is a follow-up to the Commission’s last look at online gambling in 1999. It’s important to note that this isn’t the final report, just a draft; in February the PC will deliver a completed report with its proposals to the government. And while the government isn’t bound by the Commission’s suggestions, it is expected to take them seriously.

(Australia May Be Set To Legalize Online Poker - FlopTurnRiver.com)