Tao of Poker

Poker Player News, the World Series of Poker, and Vegas Pauly

I have two big annoucnements to make. And neither of them are of the Sidd Finch genre.



The first one involves Poker Player Newspaper. Of course you already know that the Poker Prof is the webmaster of their new site, the online version of their bi-monthly print publication. He put in a good word for me with the owner, editor, and creator Stan. They are both excited to have me join their organization. Yep, some time in the future, expect to see some of my work published in Poker Player! If you don't know, that's one of the original and most popular poker publications which can be found in card rooms all over America. Next time you hit up your local casino, pick up a copy because you never know when you might read something from yours truly.

In fact, check out Sad Amy, a poker related story that I wrote last year. It has been published on Poker Player's site already.

Leaving New York City

Ok, the second announcement is huge and quite possibly even bigger than writing for Poker Player News. There's no way I can say this other than to just come out and tell you... I'm moving to Las Vegas in June to cover the World Series of Poker. When I fly out for the blogger tournament... I am not going back to NYC. I'm staying behind for two months to cover the entire World Series of Poker.

Did you get that?

I'll be moving to Las Vegas, covering the World Series of Poker, and blogging about it.

I'm still in shock. This is my dream job. I almost feel like Otis.

The Poker Prof and Flip Chip have one of the ten media seats/tables at the entire WSoP. If you don't know, they did excellent work covering last year's event. This year, they invited me to write up tourney reports and other tidbits on Lasvegasvegas.com. I will also be in the position to post results, write ups, and other random things to all of my blogs. Here's what the Poker Prof had to say:

Previous agreements are in place and we will have Dr. Pauly covering the 2005 WSOP. Really good news for the readers. I believe his unique views of this event will provide an indepth look into the world of big time poker.

Man, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and luckily, the Poker Prof has confidence in my writing and my ability to write up tourney reports in a quick and concise manner. Combine Flip Chip's photos, the Poker Prof's code, and my writings... and you have a nice recipe for some of the best 2005 World Series of Poker coverage on the internet.

Without a doubt, I cannot tell you what it felt like when the Poker Prof asked me to join both Poker Player News and be a part of his team that will cover the WSoP. I can never thank him enough, along with Nolan Dalla as well for this amazing opportunity to be on the sidelines of the World Series of Poker.

In the immortal words of Crash Davis, "I'm happy to be here. I'm going to take it one day at a time and the good Lord willing, things will work out alright."

By the way, I'll also continue to write player profiles and bi-monthly columns for Professional-Poker.com over the next several weeks in addition to these new gigs and other freelance jobs.

The coolest two things to come out of this? Well the obvious one is being able to play in my first WSoP event. OK, so it will be the "media event" which is kinda like playing for play money on Party Poker. But, heck, it's still a WSoP event and the winner gets a bracelet and all winnings go to a worthy charity.

The other cool thing about this gig is that I will be featured weekly on the Lord Admiral Radio's Card Club podcast. Yeah, I'll get to be on Sean's radio show every week giving live updates from Las Vegas. It's all coming together.

Here's the 2005 WSoP Schedule:

June 2, Thursday 1 Casino Employee No-limit Hold'em $500
June 3, Friday 2 No-limit Hold'em $1,500
June 4, Saturday 3 Pot-limit Hold'em $1,500
June 5, Sunday 4 Limit Hold'em $1,500
June 6, Monday 5 Omaha Hi-low Split $1,500
June 7, Tuesday 6 Short Handed (6/table) No-limit Hold'em $2,500
June 8, Wednesday 7 No-limit Hold'em w/rebuys $1,000
June 9, Thursday 8 Seven Card Stud $1,500
June 10, Friday 9 No-limit Hold'em $2,000
June 11, Saturday 10 Limit Hold'em $2,000
June 12, Sunday 11 Pot-limit Hold'em $2,000
June 13, Monday 12 Pot-limit Omaha w/re-buys $2,000
June 14, Tuesday 13 No-limit Hold'em $5,000
June 15, Wednesday 14 Seven Card Stud Hi-low Split $1,000
June 16, Thursday 15 Limit Hold'em Shootout $1,500
June 17, Friday 16 No-limit Hold'em Shootout $1,500
June 18, Saturday 17 Limit Hold'em $2,500
June 19, Sunday 18 Seven Card Stud Hi-low Split, 2p.m. start $2,000
June 19, Sunday 19 Pot Limit Omaha $1,500
June 20, Mon. 20 Pot-limit Hold'em $5,000
June 21, Tuesday 21 Omaha Hi-low Split $2,500
June 22, Wednesday 22 No-limit Hold'em $1,500
June 23, Thursday 23 Seven Card Stud $5,000
June 24, Friday 24 No-Limit Hold'em $2,500
June 25, Saturday 25 Pot-limit Hold'em $2,500
June 26, Sunday 26 Ladies Event No-limit Hold'em, 2p.m. start, 1 day event $1,000
June 26, Sunday 27 Pot-limit Omaha w/re-buys $5,000
June 27, Monday 28 Limit Hold'em $5,000
June 28, Tuesday 29 No-limit Hold'em $2,000
June 29, Wednesday 30 Seven Card Razz 1 day event, 2p.m. start $1,500
June 29, Wednesday 31 No-limit Hold'em-Short handed 6/table $5,000
June 30, Thursday 32 Omaha hi-low split $5,000
July 1, Friday 33 No-limit Hold'em $3,000
July 2, Saturday 34 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em, 1day event $1,000
July 2, Saturday 35 Pot-limit Omaha, 2p.m. start $10,000
July 3, Sunday 36 Limit Holdem $3,000
July 4, Monday 37 No-limit Hold'em w/re-buys $1,000
July 5, Tuesday 38 Super satellite day (10a.m./3p.m./8p.m.) $1,000
July 5, Tuesday 39 No-limit 2 to 7 Draw Lowball w/re-buys $5,000
July 6, Wednesday 40 Super satellite day (9a.m./2p.m./9p.m.)
July 6, Wednesday 41 Media/Celebrity Charity Event at 6p.m. (one day event)

No-limit Texas Hold'em World Championship Event:
July 7, Thursday 42 Day 1A, The first 1,000 - 2,200 play down to 500-650 $10,000
July 8, Friday Day 1B, The second 1,000 - 2,200 play down to 500-650
July 9, Saturday Day 1C, The third 1,000 - 2,200 play down to 500-650
July 10, Sunday Day 2, Start with 1,500-1,950 play down to 500-1,000
July 11, Monday Day 3B, Start with 500-1,000 play down to 200-400
July 11, Monday 43 No-limit Hold'em, 1 day event $1,500
July 12, Tuesday Day 4, Start with 200 - 400 play down to 100-150
July 12, Tuesday 44 No-limit Hold'em, 1 day event $1,000
July 13, Wednesday Day 5, Start with 100-150 play down to 27
July 13, Wednesday 45 No-limit Hold'em, 1 day event $1,000
July 14, Thursday Day 6, Start with 27 play down 9 @ Binions Horseshoe
July 15, Friday Day 7, Final table @ Binions Horseshoe

I will be starting the Monday after the WPBT event. So don't worry, I'll have plenty of time to hang out and party with the bloggers. Thanks again to the Poker Prof and Stan for this tremendous opportunity. Wow. I'm still in shock as I'm writing this. Pauly in Las Vegas. I guess that means Grubby and I can go to strip clubs at least once a week?