Monday Nugs: Screwed Up Full Tilt, Blessed Cheaters, Bots, White Knigts, and Russian Broke Dicks

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA


It's Monday and time for a few heady nuggets to keep you busy today. If you have the day off, then that's awesome, enough the day of rest. If not, enough these blurbs while you're killing time in the cube...

Smooth Criminal: I love it when Scandi philosophers delve deep into the big questions of the universe. In this case, Kim wonders "why do we cheat so much?" in thought-provoking essay titled Blessed Art the Cheaters.That brings me back to something I've always said -- "We're all criminals." It's innate in humans. We're creatures who have bucked the system and shot angles since the first time Adam attempted to pluck the forbidden fruit off the Tree of Life. Some of cheat more than others in life, but whenever large sums of money are around, you'll find a higher percentage of angle shooters. Case in point: poker, drugs, and Wall Street. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

Knights in White Satin: Snoopy weighs in on the Full Tilt Poker situation with Tom Dwan: A Knight in Shining Armour. You have to read this post because of three reasons... 1) Snoppy declares "durrrr" as the only white knight in the FT not-paying-its-players-back scandal, 2) Snoopy writes funny using "u" in words like armour, and 3) Snoopy is one of my favourite writers... see what I did there? (Black Belt Poker)

Paint It Black: So... how did Things Become So Screwed Up With Full Tilt Poker? My colleague and former FT employee gives his opinion on how things imploded in the Full Tilt universe. (Bill's Poker Blog)

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: Shamus wants to know... To Bot or Not to Bot? That is the question. Bots are bad right? That's what all of the Terminator movies taught me -- that at some point the poker bots will join SkyNet and fire nukes on humanity. Then again, what is the difference between a bot and a total nit? Nits won't blow shit up, unless they get stacked on a wicked bad beat, then they'll blow up a 2p2 thread. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

Broke in the USSR: Gotta love a rags to riches to rags story. Poor kid grinds out roll playing online poker. Kid wins Sunday Million. Blows it all that night playing high stakes SNG. Kid now being made fun of by the Entities. (Wicked Chops Poker)

And yes, part of the reason I haven't been writing about poker is because I've been helping stir up a revolution when I haven't been fear mongering. I encourage you to check out the Monday Morning Red Pill, which is the Tao of Fear's version of the Monday Nugs. In the latest version of the Red Pill, we discuss bleach fights among Walmart customers, potential WWIII with China, the real skinny on nuclear meltdown in Japan, the impending financial collapse of Europe, and more evidence that America is becoming a police state. If you don't follow @TaoFear on Twitter, then what are you waiting for?

Hump Day Nugs: The Secret World of Hollywood Poker, Frenchy Full Tilt Investors, and Feel the Shame (a.k.a. Jesse May Calls Jesus a "Little Scumbag")

By Pauly
San Francisco, CA


How about some Hump Day nugs? These are heady, tasty, and will definitely distract you for a few moments while you eagerly countdown the hours until the weekend begins...

The Secret World of Hollywood Poker is a detailed account of the history of one of the biggest and most secretive underground games in the hills of Hollywood featuring Tinsel Town's most famous actors (Leo and the guy who played Spiderman and misspells my last name), industry heavyweights, and afew filthy-rich professional athletes (A-Roid). (Hollywood Reporter)

How Much Money Do French Investors Need to Buy Full Tilt Poker? That is a damn good question and los hombres are digging deep. I heard a rumor this summer than a Ruskie oil baron offered up $1 Billion and it was rejected. But now, a group of French investors led by Laurent Tapie, are eyeballing the site everyone now loves to hate. (Wicked Chops Poker)

Jesse May is the shit, and I'm not just saying that because he scored me a 12th row ticket to see Bob Dylan this summer. Anyway, Jesse's latest piece -- Feel the Shame -- is classic Jesse May with a little extra hot sauce. Wow. I've read it fourteen times and just... wow. And yes, Jesse called Jesus a scumbag. (Poker Farm)

How to Cheat Your Friends At Poker sounds like something written by Russ Hamilton! It's an awesome infographic by Sean Lind. Take a peek. (Silver Oak Casino)

I appeared as a guest panelist on Type II Cast, a podcast about the band Phish. Check out it out if you want to hear me pontificate about music as a talking head in the jamband scene. (Coventry Music)

That's it for now. You know the drill... NGTFOOMO!

2011 WSOP - Day 6: Ho-most for Maria Ho and Other Monday Nuggets

By Pauly
Covington, KY

I'm flying back to Vegas shortly after a quick weekend away from the grind. Luckily, my better half stepped in a delivered a sensational guest post. If you haven't read Change100's Apocalypse Now, then what are you waiting for?

Change100 did such a good job I considered skipping out the rest of the preliminaries, going on Phish tour, only to show up for the Main Event...but if I did, I'd piss a lot of people off, my girlfriend included. Alas, I'm sitting in Cincinnati Airport (which is located in Kentucky, which still baffles me) and ready to head back to Las Vegas for the rest of the WSOP.

In previous years, when I take time off from the WSOP, I block everything out and focus on getting R&R. Yesterday was an exception because Maria Ho advanced to the final table of the $5K NL event. I gotta say, I was railing her virtually via updates from WSOP.com as a fan. For the first time, I followed along like mostly everyone else at home, refreshing every few minutes for the slightest news of her deep run. Like many of you, I was bummed she didn't go all the way. Nothing against Allen Bari, but the victory would have done wonders to help boost the number of women playing in open events. We all need role models to look up to and with Phil Ivey ensconced in a legal battle, there's a huge vacuum of potential heroes the poker community would love to put up on pedestal and shower you with benevolence and hit you up for Main Event staking.

While I'm short on time, here's a long-overdue link dump of some WSOP-related items I think you should read.

Let's kick off with Nolan Dalla's final table recaps...

Event #4 $5,000 NL - Allen bari Says I'm the Best, Then Proves It (WSOP.com)

Event #5 $1,500 Stud - Eguene Katchalov Wins 7-Card Stud Championship (WSOP.com)

Event #6 $1,500 Limit Hold'em - A Wilder Ride (WSOP.com)

Event #7 $10,00 PLH - Amir Lehavot Wins Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship (WSOP.com)

Change100 and I are writing daily recaps for RISE Poker. She's been holding down the fort while I went out of town. Here's the last few...

Day 5: Eugene Katchalov Wins Stud; Maria Ho in 5K Final Four (RISE Poker)

Day 6: Maria Ho Falls to Allen Bari (RISE Poker)

And here's some other links to masticate on...

Poker Royalty Responds to Rakeback Account Selling Allegations (Bluff Magazine)

BJ shares his early analysis on Phil Ivey vs. Full Tilt. (Sport of Poker)

The Girls of the Rail Photo Dump. (Wicked Chops Poker)

John Katkin wrote an op-ed: Off to a Slow Start. (Pokerati)

One of the early highlight of the 2011 WSOP is knowing that Jesse May is here. He's written two pieces already and is inspiring me to step up my game. Here's Poker Is Going Back to the Wolves and You Sanctimonious Little. (The Poker Farm)

And let's not forget about Shamus' recent gem Angry Poker. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

And here's some self-pimping. If you like music, maybe you'd be interested in reading about my wild weekend in Ohio...

Cleveland Steamer and Dali Blossoms (Cleveland)

Jedi Mind Bends (Cincinnati)

That's it for now. It's time for me to get the hell out of Kentucky and head back to Vegas. Regularly schedule nonsensical rants and inane observations from yours truly will resume later this evening (or early tomorrow).

You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs: Eight Years Later, WSOP Flashback, Blackjack Whale, and the Monday Morning Pills

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


First of all,my condolences to BJ on the passing of his dog Rhapsody. He's in doggie heaven now. RIP Rhap.

Okay, now onto some pokery nuggets of news bits on this Monday morning. I don't have any time to waste, so here's a quickie...

Today in Poker History: Shamus waxes about Chris Moneymaker's momentous victory at the 2003 Main Event (back when the WSOP was played in May) eight years ago today in The "Boom" Eight Years Later. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

WSOP Flashback: Change100 shared a flashback from 2008 in Leaving Los Angeles. (Pot Committed)

Poker and the Law: I enjoyed this post from Grange95 that he posted a couple of weeks ago...Regulation, Segregation, and a Cereus Case of Déjà Vu. (crAAKKer)

Whale: Some random guy won $15 million at the blackjack tables in AC. H/T to KevMath for this tale of a little guy busting up the casinos. (Deadspin)

Fear Mongering: There's a brand new Monday Morning Blue Pill (compiled by Change100) and Monday Morning Red Pill (compiled by yours truly). (Tao of Fear)

That's it. Happy Monday. NGTFOOMO!

Sunday Nugs: Backroom Beatdowns, Size Matters, Account Segregation, and the Biggest Losers Worldwide

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Normally I'd tell you to enjoy these savory links while grinding out the Sunday tournaments, but now I'll just tell you to enjoy these links while killing time in between the Canucks-San Jose game and the Heat-Bulls game.

Some pokery nuggets...

Angry Poker Players: Here's video(s) of the infamous "Don't Touch Me!" nutjob from the Bellagio. Awesome paparazzi-like camera work from Micon.(DonkDown)

Vegas Backroom Beatdowns: Charles Oakley is suing Aria for getting a beatdown by security? Wait, Oakley losing a brawl? He should have had Anthony Mason watching his back and that never would have happened. (Vegas Inc, LasVegasVegas)

Sportsbetting: Here's a stellar post about the importance of bet sizing when it comes to sportsbetting... Sizing Matters (Buffalo Hold'em)

Dude, Where's My Money?: Bill Rini explains how player account segregation. (Bill's Poker Blog)

PPA Backlash: And while you're at Bill's site, check out his latest assessment about the PPA spiraling out of control. (Bill's Poker Blog)

Degens: I enjoy personal essays on addiction, especially gambling problems... The High Is Always the Pain and the Pain Is Always the High (The Morning News)

Old Vegas: The Grump bids adieu to the Sahara with a series of stories. (Grump)

International Degens: I want to open up a sportsbook in Australia and a casino in Singapaore. What? That's where the biggest gambling losers live. I love graphs and here's one that shows The Biggest Losers.

Stats: RIP Macho Man Savage. Here's a statistical breakdown of Macho Man's minor league baseball stats during his short stint as an aspiring professional baseball player. (Deadspin)

That's it for now. Go Canucks (and Bulls too). NGTFOOMO.

Monday Nugs: UB Axes Sponsored Pros, Joe Sebok's Mea Culpa, Haley's Book Deal, Beating Live Poker, and Hollywood Apocalyptica

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Joe Sebok at the 2006 WSOP
Happy Mother's Day. It's Monday night, so if you haven't called your mom... you're in deep shit.

Anyway... here's a few things I read over the weekend and I thought you might be interested in, and here's a few nuggets from today's news cycle...

UB Cheating Scandal: First of all, congrats to Haley for a book deal! I'm thrilled she's finally going to get paid for her diligent and relentless investigative reporting into the UB cheating scandal. She did all of that OUT OF POCKET after she got fired from Poker News. While thousands of players bitch and moaned about UB in forums, Haley rolled up her sleeves dug through shit pile after shit pile to unearth small nuggets of truth and fragments of evidence of a massive cover up, scandal, and flat out fraud. By the way, here's an index of her Just Conjecturin' series. And don't forget to read her latest installment Volume 35: Norwegian Exposure. (Haley's Poker Blog)

Black Friday Fallout: Speaking of UB... they axed all of their sponsored players. (Bluff)

More Black Friday Fallout: Speaking of sponsored UB players... Joe Sebok, the whipping boy of 2+2, posted his final statement about his time with UB. (Poker Road)

Live Poker: Ed Miller penned a couple of posts on trying to beat different types of players you'll encounter in Las Vegas... Beating the Tourists and Beating the Locals. (Ed Miller)

Online Gaming Legalization: David Scwartz sounded off on Black Friday and the future of online poker... Online gaming will come; Nevada should lead it. (Las Vegas Business Press)

Skill v. Luck: My mom of all people mentioned this piece... Poker as a Game of Skill. (NY Times)

Fear at the Movies: Check out Change100's new beat titled Hollywood Apocalyptica. (Tao of Fear)

That's it. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs, Blue Pills, Red Pills, and Dispatches from Peru

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Happy Monday and welcome to May. It's one of those mornings that might've blind-sided you if you went to bed early and missed the breaking news last night (and no, it had nothing to do with the Royal Wedding). Anyway, if you're already sick of the mainstream news and want an escape into poker, then I have a couple of poker-centric links for you. I also completed my dispatches from Peru including a visit to Machu Picchu, but if you're seeking out news from the fringe, then by all means, I encourage you to browse the links from Tao of Poker's sister site, Tao of Fear....

Poker Politics: The DonkeyBomber penned an op-ed Washington D.C. Needs More Gambling. The former WSOP Player of the Year called for some radical changes including El Presidente setting aside a $200 million gambling fund. (Pokerati)

Black Friday: Los hombres but in some work on this post: Black Friday... Separating Myths from Facts. (Wicked Chops Poker)

It's Your Birthday, It's Your Birthday: Belated happy 5th blog birthday to Short-stacked Shamus! Congrats on five years of outstanding writing. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

* * *
And now for something completely different, here's a few items that appeared on Tao of Fear over the last few days, including a brand new silver-centric link dump, a couple of op-eds that I wrote, and the insanely popular Monday Morning Red Pill (straight up fer mongering from yours truly) and Monday Morning Blue Pill (aka fodder for the sheeple whipped up by the lovely Change100)...

Silver Nugs: Buy Side Conspiracies, Swapping for Gold, Warehouse Shenanigans, APMEX Runs Out, and Silver Plunges

Monday Morning Blue Pill: Royal Wedding Aftermath, WHCD, and Beck Goes After Gays

Monday Morning Red Pill: Deadly Tornadoes, Bad Radiation, Arming Dictators and Screw the Royals

Op-Ed: Ding, Dong... Bin Laden's Dead

Op-Ed: Manipulation of Gas Prices in America

Op-Ed: You Want Fries With That?; McDonalds Fields 1 Million Applications for 40,000 Jobs

* * *
And lastly, before you go, take a peek at my trip reports from Tao of Pauly and Flickr photo galleries from Peru...

Lima to Cusco: Coca Tea, Alien Stonework, and Saqsayhuaman

Cusco to Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu

Photo Gallery - Machu Picchu

Photo Gallery - Aguas Calientes

Photo Gallery - Cusco, Peru and Saqsayhuaman Ruins

Photo Gallery - Lima, Peru

Don't forget, you can always follow @TaoFear on Twitter.

OK, that's it for now. You know the drill.... NGTFOOMO!

Sunday Nugs with Vintage Bloggers

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Happy Sunday and welcome to May. A few of my friends that I met through poker are excellent writers and every single one of them inspire me in one way or another. Go read them...

Grubby wrote about strippers and pre-come. (The Poker Grub)

Hank learned some lessons from the Sims video game. (The Cards Speak)

Joe Speaker wrote about a man's quest for faith. (Obituarium)

Change100 posted a second installment of her series on online poker lobbying dollars with Follow the Money, Part 2: Where Online Sites Spend Lobbying Dollars. (Pot Committed)

Ryan emerges from hibernation with Why I'm Quiet and more importantly with Why Online Poker Should Be Mandatory. (Absinthetics)

Otis wrote a letter to the man who bought his house. (Rapid Eye Reality)

That's it. Have an fun the rest of this weekend. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Black Friday: Ten Days Later - Consensus Says PPA Must Go

By Pauly
Cusco, Peru

I'm still in South America rounding up freedom fighters to assist us in overthrowing El Presidente Obama as the puppet in La República del Plátano de los Estados Unidos. Until my return to American soil, here's a few noteworthy items that you should be reading...

Matt Matros' Op-Ed: After the Dept. of Justice shuts down online poker, a poker pro defends his game (Washington Post)

The biggest joke played on us all...the PPA! (2+2)

The PPA Meets Or Exceeds Expectations (CrAAKKer)

The PPA is pathetic. (Bill Rini)

PPA Needs to Be Stopped (Riding the F Train)

Epic thread: Online Poker Players: Before and After (2+2)

Follow the Money: Online Poker and Political Contributions (Pot Committed)

That's all I got. I started penning a post about Black Friday, which I hope to finish shortly. Planning revolutions is rather time consuming and cuts into my writing time. Until then... GTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs: Bookies Busted in Queens, Legal Poker in D.C., Man in Black, Detecting Deception, and British Postmodern Funk

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Happy Monday. If you have a case of the Mondays, then I'm sorry because it's like having a case of the morning beer shits. I feel your pain. Part of the reason I took a vow of poverty as a writer was so I would never, ever have to feel the gut-wrenching pain of sitting in a cubicle on Monday morning and snorting lines of Sweet-n-Low in order to get motivated to do any semblance of work for the day. Luckily, you're here to kill some time, or dare I say, this is like your bump of artificial sweetener...

Busted: A huge bust in Queens went down last week after the federales pinched a couple of wiseguys who were running a sports betting operation that supposedly netted over $8 million. The bookies in custody have alleged ties to the Bonanno crime family and were using an offshore site, ArrowAction.net, as part of their operation. (NY Daily News)

Poker Legislation: More hype? Or will someone finally pull the trigger on legalized online poker? Supposedly, the District of Columbia is about to become the first part of American soil to allow online poker. Supposedly... as is with all things political and poker, I'm skeptical that anything will happen. I hope I'm wrong in this case. (Wall Street Journal)

Gaming Stats: Were you wondering if the economy has been improving or declining? Don't listen to the talking heads on the biz news channels. Instead, do what I do and take the pulse of the gambling community. David Schwartz breaks down the last six months of gaming revenue in the state of Nevada. (The Die Is Cast)

Psych: Joe Navarro knows if you've been naughty or if you've been nice. He's not Santa Claus, but rather a former interrogator for the FBI, and I imagine that he'd be able to get a read on Old St. Nick if need be. Although this is not a poker or gambling article, I thought this was an interesting read and has some applications to poker... Four Opportunities to Detect Deception (Psychology Today)

Snoopy: Ha, Snoopy gets his own category! I wished that Snoops, one of my favorite scribes, wrote more often. I enjoyed his latest post... Puppy Tilt ...and yes, I read it aloud in a Midlands-heavy British accent. (Black Belt Poker)

Flashback: This is a flashback of sorts from the November Nine. I never linked up my article about Jonathan Duhamel winning the Main Event. Better late than never, eh? Dispatches from the November Nine: The Man in Black. (Bluff Magazine)

Music: Here's a sample of non-poker writing for your amusement, it's the first installment of a series that I'm working on the contemporary funk scene in the U.K.... British Postmodern Funk, Vol. 1: The New Mastersounds. (Coventry Music)

That's it. All of you punks and punkettes know the drill by now...NGTFOOMO!

Friday Nugs: PokerStars/Wynn Fiddy-Fiddy, Swedish Court Ruling, Life After Football, and Background Beats

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


It's Friday. Congrats to all of you for making it to the end of the week. So, while you're on the cusp of letting it rip for an epic weekend, here's newsworthy items semi-related to poker and a few more that stretch beyond the poker realm...

Big Business: How monumental is the recent partnership between Steve Wynn and Poker Stars? Scarlet broke down How PokerStars Won Wynn and Made It Fiddy-Fiddy. (Pokerati)

Poker Legislation: The Swedish courts ruled that poker is both a game of luck and skill. Typical Scandi response, eh? That'll happen when you live in Scandinavia, where ten-year olds have bankrolls larger than the GDP of Portugal. (The Local)

Arms Race: Speaking of Scandis... Kim (an old friend from Norway) shared his thoughts on the escalation of high roller events with The Big Buy-in Arms Race Is an Affront the Game. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

NFL Lock Out: How can the impending NFL lockout affect the local Vegas economy? David G. Schwartz sounds off on Life After Football. (Vegas Seven)

Politics: One of my favorite writers eloquently penned an Open Letter to President Obama. (Rapid Eye Reality)

Pop Culture: The Goat (or the alien living inside the Goat) never ceases to amaze me. I'm digging his Time Delayed Oscars series. Check out his latest gem about the 1999 Time-Delayed Oscars. (The Goat Speaks)

Pimp: Writing in metaphors again... Extra Butter. (Tao of Pauly)

New Music: Have you listened to the latest edition of Background Beats - April 2011? My buddy Jonas posted the latest installment of his monthly mix, which is perfect background music for daily activities: working out, showering, writing, having a booty call, driving to work, or grinding it out at the virtual tables. (Coventry Music)

Have a sensational weekend. Yes, by now you know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Hump Day Nugs: Bwin/Party Stock Tumbles, WSOP Rematches, Omar and The Wire, WPT Bad Idea?, and Tax What, Eh?

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Happy hump day. I hope you get laid today. If not, rub one out for me. In the meantime, here's a couple of nuggets of poker news to keep you distracted this afternoon....

WSOP News: The WSOP announced they will be getting into the Rematch business. Yes, they're hosting three re-matches featuring some of the most historical heads-up battles at the Main Event. The top billing goes to Chris Moneymaker/Sammy Farha. The other headliner is Johnny "Fucking" Chan/Phil Hellmuth. The third match will be determined by (Facebook) fans by voting (on Facebook): Seidel/Chan, Jonathan Duhamel/John Racener, Jamie Gold/Paul Wasicka, and Greg Raymer/David Williams. I'm bitter that they did not included the infamous T.J. Clouiter vs. Jesus matchup or Hugh Vincent vs. Russ "Pig in a Poke" Hamilton. (WSOP.com)

Business News: shares of bwin.party (a newly formed junta after Bwin merged with Party Gaming) tumbled in London trading after German politics proposed a special gambler tax in excess of 16%. H/T to Kid Dynamite for the article. Disclosure: I do not own any shares of Party Gaming. (Bloomberg)

Pop Culture: HDouble penned one of my favorite posts of all-time is The Poker Wisdom of The Dude. Well, Hank returned to his roots with another epic investigation into The Poker Wisdom of Omar and The Wire (The Cards Speak)

International Tax Laws: What would the infamous Trailer Park Boys say about having to pay taxes on poker winnings? "Fuck that, eh!" Luckily we have an expert, Gaming Counsel, to break down the intricacies of Canadian tax law. GC shared his assessment of this important topic if you're a Canadian poker pro.... Taxation of gambling winnings in Canada. (Pokerati)

Poker Cinema: I wish I had Shamus a professor in college...I'd actually go to class more. If you dig cinema and have an affinity for the classic Robert Altman flick California Split, then take a peek at California Split and First Impressions. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

Arms Race: The pissing content continues! And thus begins the over-saturation of High Roller events. Los hombres sounded off on the new trend in a post titled The WPT Has a Bad Idea? (Wicked Chops Poker)

Gambling Lit: The literati chimed in about March Madness... In Praise of Distraction. (The New Yorker)

That' it for. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs: Varkonyi Falls for Ponzi Scheme?, Tekintamgac Cheating Hearings, Shamus Chats with Jesse May, and the April Issue of Truckin'

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Welcome to the dawn of a new day. You survived last week and the ensuing weekend. That's an amazing feat in these troubled times. The fact that you are reading this right now already makes you a winner. So take a little time out to reward yourself for being alive at this critical juncture in our history. Masticate upon these heady nuggets of information. I doubt any of it will save your life, but a little poker news is a perfect and welcomed distraction of this mundane Monday morning...

Cheaters: All of my Wall Street friends have been asking me, "Who is Robert Varkonyi?" Varkonyi made headlines in the finance blogs late last week when Varkonyi decided to sue ThinkStrategy Capital Management, a hedge fund run by Chetan Kapur. Word to the wise...never hand over several million to a guy named Chetan! Looks like Varonkyi got his money caught up in an old fashioned Ponzi Scheme. Varkonyi will learn the hard way that he's not going to get his money back, so they best way to get even is to start your own Ponzi Scheme, er, um... hedge fund... and defraud a bunch of clueless investors. (Forbes)

Euro Cheaters: Benjo covered the trial (in France) between Ali Tekintamgac and the Partouche Poker Tour. If you don't remember, Partouche caught Tekintamgac cheating and disqualified him from their Main Event championship. Ali is a sore loser so he decided to sue Partouche. Benjo went to the first hearing. He wrote up an elaborate report in French, but luckily he also penned a bunch of Cliff Note in English so we can all read what's happening. (WAM-Poker.com)

Authors: Shamus chatted with one of my favorite authors, the legendary Jesse May. Take a peek at their thorough discussion in The Betfair Poker Interview: Jesse May (1 of 2). (BetFair)

Advertising: Kim breaks down an effective TV commercial from Winamax, the largest online poker room in France. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

Scandis: In the latest episode of the SuperStar Showdown, Scandi wunderkind Isildur1 took on Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer. When the dust settled, Palmer squeaked out a modest victory in the first round of their two-round match. Read Change100's original report here before it gets plagiarized by the jackals: SuperStar Showdown: Round one goes to "urnotindangr" with a $5,245 win. (PokerStars Blog)

Pimp: I penned a short story titled Solomon's Cranium. It appeared in the April issue of Truckin'. The new issue also features stories from John Hartness, Katitude, Alex Villegas, and Tim Lavalli. (Truckin')

Buy the Fucking Dip: Oh, since we're talking about Ponzi Schemes.... did you buy the fucking dip yet? (Tao of Fear)

That's it. You know the drill NGTFOOMO!

Thursday 4:20 Nugs: Phil Ivey Schwasted, FT/Station Tag Team, Gus Hansen Diddling Danish Dish, and More Keno Scandals

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


It's 4:20pm and a perfect time for this heady selection of poker newsy items of note on the last day of March and the first day of the baseball season. The biggest waves are being made by the epic 2+2 column starring Phil Ivey. Enjoy that along with these other nuggets...

Photography: Flipchip took photos of the Las Vegas Strip when the lights went out for Earth Hour. (LasVegasVegas)

Poker Legislation: Full Tilt Poker and Station Casinos are teaming up. It's never official until it turns up in the Journal, right? Web Poker Plays New Hand: Casino Owners Team Up With Online Gaming Site to Legalize Internet Gambling. (Wall Street Journal)

Life of Ivey: This is in the running for "thread of the year"... Phil Ivey Wasted will go down in history as another epic, legendary, hysterical photoshop thread. (2+2)

WSOP History: Shamus waxes about a bit about Trivial Pursuit and the 1997 WSOP Main Event. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

Cheaters: I love a good Keno scandal. Kim breaks down the Betsoft Keno Scandal. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

Gossip: Los Hombres have photos of Gus Hansen's latest Danish girlfriend. (Wicked Chops Poker)

Music: Need some music to help kick-start the day? My buddy Jonas published the latest batch of Background Beats. The latest mix is the Good Morning Edition. Perfect music to listen to when working out, riding the subway to work, stuck in traffic, still up late grinding away at the virtual tables... or in my case, early morning writing music. (Coventry)

That's it. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO.

Monday Morning Nugs: Jungleman in the Times, Zynga: Pro or Con?, PokerRoom.com Ahead of Its Time, Absolute Poker Rigged Keno, and More Silver Bears

By Pauly
New York City


Greetings citizens of Earth and a few intergalactic visitors crashing our wondrous party called Monday morning, which falls somewhere in between Rush Week for Delta Tau Chi and an Irish Wake. Then again, in the neighborhood where I grew up, there's wasn't much of a difference -- just once less drunk.

It's Monday morning, a time of utter misery for some, which is why I want to share a few nuggets of poker news-worthy tidbits to keep you from going completely insane today. Enjoy...

Profiles: It's not very often the online poker appears in positive light in an influential mainstream publication that doesn't entail a non-cheating, non-robbery, or non-piece of legislation angle. That's why it was refreshing to read Online Poker's Big Winner. It's an insightful, slice of life piece on Daniel "jungleman12" Cates. This was my favorite line:

The Cheesecake Factory was mobbed. We found a spot at the bar, and Cates flagged down the bartender to order the filet mignon. In the five meals Cates and I shared over three days, he ordered filet mignon three times. As we waited for the bartender to bring us our drinks, I noted our luck in finding a seat on Valentine's Day. Without a trace of irony, Cates, who speaks in the halting cadence most often associated with World of Warcraft group chats, asked, "Why would a restaurant be any more crowded on Valentine’s Day?"

Read the entire article here. (NY Times)

Social Media: With all the Zynga talk the last week or so, I re-read this thorough, thought-provoking post Why Zynga Poker Will Not Be the Next PokerStars. Maybe Bill can write a follow-up and updated version? Would love to hear about some of his thoughts after the most recent Zynga Con. (Bill's Poker Blog)

Op/Ed: Speaking of Zynga. Katkin wrote an op-ed about his experiences at Zynga Con. ZyngaPoker Pro or Con?: Assessing the impact of a Facebook game’s arrival in Las Vegas. (Pokerati)

Marketing: Kim sounded off on Why PokerRoom.com Was Five Years Ahead of Its Time. Remember those guys? I always thought that PR was ahead of the curve when I noticed (pre-UIGEA)they were advertising at NY Knicks games and in/on NY City taxis. (Infinite Edge Gaming)

Cheaters: Absolute Poker Rigged Keno! Wait, what? Read Noah SD's latest rant. (Noah SD)

Silver Bears: The Silver Bears are back with a new episode on their series about the manipulation of the silver market. I friggin' love the Silver Bears and their hysterical videos. (Tao of Fear)

That's it for now. I'm working on a few non-poker assignments and fear monger as per usual, but as soon as I'm done I'll write a little more about the Stars-Wynn merger and rumors about Full Tilt merging with Station Casinos.

Until then, GTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs: Greg Pierson, Onyx Cup, Isildur1 Busts Negreanu in SuperStar Showdown, nanonoko, #CampBill, and Anon v. the Fed

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Happy Monday. Are you having a March Madness hangover? Did the SuperMoon cause spooky things to happen in your neighborhood, like the dogs howling and a superfluous number of methheads passing out in the parking lot of Taco Bell?

Anyway, while you slowly get back into the sync of the work week, sit back and munch on these heady nuggets of poker-ish news...

Haley's posted the latest installment of Just Conjecturin', her thorough investigation into the UB cheating scandal. Here's the skinny...

"When I started the series, I didn't have much for facts on the UB side, and some of my early theories turned out to be wrong. As you'll see later in this tale, there was indeed a "jam" of some sort going on, but it appears the jam was Greg Pierson's, not Russ Hamilton's, and the solution to the problem was to enable the superusing and scrape tens of millions of illicit dollars into various endeavors or off the site in its entirety. Now comes the sordid dirt, and the part I've really put off writing about because, well, it's sad and disgusting. But it cannot help but be the key to it all, and so it must be dug back up."

You can read more at Volume 30: Naming Names -- Greg Pierson. (Haley's Poker Blog)

Full Tilt Poker (their pros in suave suits) announced the Onyx Cup, a super high roller tournament series that competes with both Jeffrey Pollack's newly formed Federated poker league and PokerStars' various international tours. (Full Tilt Poker)

F Train asked Three questions about the The Onyx Cup, meanwhile, Shamus offered up his two cents in Another Level: The Onyx Cup Series. (Riding the F Train, Hard-Boiled Poker)

One of the better poker-themed documentaries I've seen in a while... Randy Lew brings "nanonoko" from behind the curtain (PokerStars Blog)

In the most recent edition of the SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars, Daniel Negreanu took on Isildur1 and... lost $150,000 in 1,400 hands. I think they are gonna play again next Sunday. Anyway, here's a creative summary of the Negreanu vs. Isildur1 showdown by a poster on 2+2. H/T to KevMath. (TinyPic.com)

For some political analysis, check out gamingcounsel's Thoughts on H.R. 1174 (the #CampBill). (Pokerati)

The collective known as Anonymous recently declared war on the Fed. (Tao of Fear)

That's it for now. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO.

Sunday Nugs: California Ready for Online Poker?, Full Tilt's Big Announcement, KevMath aka LA Celebrity, and Nevada's Internet Poker Regulation Bills

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Sunday afternoon. First day after the time change. More sunlight in America, but lots of darkness in the land of the Rising Sun.

Indulge in these newsworthy nugs during the Sunday grind, or while wading through March Madness Bracketology, or if you're reading this on Monday morning while killing time at the office, well, enjoy...

$100,000 buy-in events? Full Tilt Poker will be launching their own uber-high stakes tournament series that will compete against the Federated Poker League and PokerStars' regional poker tours. (Wicked Chops Poker)

KevMath wrote up his Commerce experiences when he visited Los Angeles to play in the WPT Celebrity Invitational. Love the pic with the iPad. (From the Rail)

On the politics front... Nevada introduced a bill to regulate internet poker. They actually had three bills going. (Pokerati)

On the municipal front, California is considering online poker again. Don't know how serious this effort will be, but, California is so broke that they are worse off than Eskimo Clark at the end of the WSOP. They gotta come up with money somehow -- marijuana or online poker -- which one is it going to be? (Sacramento Bee)

The 2011 SCOOP schedule is out and about. Time to play a few satellites. (PokerStarsBlog)

R.I.P. Owsley Stanley. (Coventry Music)

That's it for now. Back to fear mongering over at Tao of Fear. NGTFOOMO!

Tuesday Nugs: Bluff Power 20 Reactions (and Podcast), Gold Coast Poker Room Closed, Charlie Sheen/Alex Jones Interview and the Funky President Mix

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Happy Tuesday. Four more days until the weekend. Oh, and Happy March while we're at it. Congrats on surviving the first two months of 2011. You can celebrate this momentous occasion by getting shitfaced at work, or if you're looking to keep your job and not bodacious enough to start drinking at 9:30am, maybe you can just sedate yourself with a happy pill (or happy coffee-flavored beverage) and read a couple of poker news-worthy items...

Bluff Magazine's Power 20 has been the source of blog fodder. Read for yourself at... Kim at Infinite Edge Gaming, Bill Rini at Bill's Poker Blog, F Train at Riding the F Train, Shamus at Hard-Boiled Poker, and Shamus again at BetFair.

And the Power 20 spawned a podcast from los hombres and Bluff Editor-in-Chief Lance Bradley. (Wicked Chops Poker)

A trio of posts... Timtern's This Week’s Big Winners, Mark Gahagan's Winners, Losers, Coinflips, and Michalski wrote about the Gold Coast closing their poker room.(Pokerati)

Haley posted the latest installment of Just Conjecturin', her series investigating the UB cheating scandal... Volume 29: Inside the Makar Email (Haley's Poker Blog)

This made me howl... an animated version of Charlie Sheen's rant on the Alex Jones show. You know you're in trouble when Alex Jones is the more sane person of the two in a conversation. (Tao of Fear)

Change100, the resident fashionista for Tao of Fear, recently broke down everyone's favorite Libyan despot in Dictator Chic: Moammar Gadhafi. (Tao of Fear)

For all you music enthusiasts, crank up the volume for The Funky President Mixtape! (Coventry)

Did you read everything in a British accent? The news sounds more important and classier that way.

That's it. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!

Hump Day Nugs: DonkDown Developments in the UB Cheating Scandal, CBS and Pollack, NBC Heads-Up Line Up, Poker Faces, and Caesar's Catch 22

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Wish I had more time to write, alas, I'm swamped with fear mongering, editing a novel, and I just got news that my defunct Steely Dan cover band is reuniting to play a couple of gigs. So while I re-learn the chords to Pretzel Logic, here's a couple of links worthy of being dubbed as hump day poker news...

The lineup for the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship has been released. As per usual, there's a few "head scratchers" on this year's list and plenty of other pros who got snubbed. (Bluff Magazine)

Here's los hombres take on the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. (Wicked Chops Poker)

Although Change100 pointed out the Variety article to me first (can't believe she still read Variety even though she's no longer in show business, but that's a whole other story), Michalski molded it into an actual post...CBS to Partner with New Jeffrey Pollack Pro Poker League? (Variety, Pokerati)

Shamus wrote a review of Poker Faces: The Life and Work of Professional Card Players,a book penned by David Hayano almost 30 years ago. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

In a post titled Caesars Entertainment Catch-22, Kim sounded off on the recently revealed relationship between Caesars Entertainment and Barriere. (Infinite Gaming Edge)

If you've been following along with the recent developments in the UB cheating scandal, check out this summary from Micon about his meeting on 2/22 with Travis Makar. (DonkDown)

Speaking of the UB scandal, Haley Hintze revealed the name of whistleblower "Brainwashdodo", who was responsible for leaking Russ Hamilton's name to the superuser accounts. (Haley's Poker Blog)

That's it. NGTFOOMO!

Monday Morning Nugs: DonkDown and Travis Makar, Late Rent, More Intersection of Law and Online Poker, and Corporate Cosmology

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Not much time to talk. I'm on a deadline, so let's not waste any more time and get down to it. The straight dope. Here's a few bits of poker news to masticate on this lovely Monday morning...

Micon and the DonkDown crew interviewed Travis Makar (one of those accused in the UB cheating scandal). According to Micon: "He answers a lot of questions and sheds a lot of light about Russ Hamilton and the AP/UB scandal." You can listen to the podcast here. You can also download a transcript of the show. (DonkDown)

I wish I was making this up... using game theory to help sexless marriages. Liquor helps... too. (Bloomberg)

Another compelling non-poker post from an online pro. Check out Your Body Is Awesome and Really Complicated; Please Don't Trust It To Idiots and Charlatans. (NoahSD)

Fake or not, this thread about Tony G not paying his rent is just fucking funny. (2+2)

Grange95 posted the second part of his series on the Intersection of Law & Online Poker. Part 2 covers Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Civil Cases. Excellent read. If you missed the first part, you can read Part 1 on Personal Jurisdiction. (crAAKKer)

Anguila needs your help getting a seat into the Spanish Poker Pro Masters. He needs your vote! (Runner-Runner)

I watched Network the other night, which inspired a post about two important scenes, including the most important conversation in the entire film... Corporate Cosmology vs. Mad As Hell. (Tao of Pauly)

That's it. You know the drill. NGTFOOMO!