From the Desk of the Poker Philosopher

This incident occurred a while ago, but I just came across this first-hand account from a hired chef who was not playing in the game posted on The Agitator:

The raid occurred around 7:40 p.m. I was in the kitchen area which was just inside the front door when suddenly there was loud banging from the door. Within seconds, the room was full of Dallas SWAT officers yelling for everyone to put their hands in the air. Behind the Dallas SWAT team came many more law enforcement officers and several camera crews for the A&E reality show, Dallas SWAT. The camera crew’s chests were clearly marked as “A&E Film Crew.”

Bear in mind that, prior to police entering, the place was virtually quiet. There was the sound of poker chips in the air, but not much else. The players were essentially professionals and working stiffs having fun…there were doctors, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals. There was hardly anything “dangerous” about the place at all. In fact, the cops found no weapons in the facility or on anyone there. The show of force and weaponry brought by the cops was simply outrageous and unjustified, given the circumstances, but, then again, are they enforcing the law or making a TV show?

Among other things, I think this is an interesting comparison with the way decisions made by Harrah's and the hosts of World Poker Tour events are driven by camera crews and the needs of the networks that broadcast poker.

Labels: Harrah's, narrative, news, poker, underground poker club, WPT, wsop

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The $15K World Poker Tour Bellagio event always attracts a star-studded field of pros fresh off competing in the World Series of Poker. The six-handed final table this year was no exception:

Seat 1: Ralph Perry - 1,635,000
Seat 2: Luke "IWearGoggles" Staudenmaier - 3,495,000
Seat 3: John "The Razor" Phan - 3,495,000
Seat 4: David Benyamine - 4,860,000
Seat 5: Gabe Thaler - 1,550,000
Seat 6: Mike "SirWatts" Watson - 5,060,000

Watson won over $1.6 million for his first place finish. Sigh, I still recall playing with him at one of my first big final tables, a $10 rebuy on Poker Stars. I've had the privilege of meeting him twice, most recently during the WSOP main event when we were both in good shape on Day 2B.

I love this photo of Watson with all the people from 2+2 who were there to see him win it. There's really an extraordinary collection of talent in this photo, including two other winners of earlier events in the Bellagio series: Tony "Bond18" Dunst, who won a $3K event, and Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke, who won a $5K event just weeks after turning 21. What a huge couple of weeks it's been for 2+2. I only wish I could have done my part by final tabling the main event.

Congratulations, Mike!

Labels: Bellagio, poker, tournament, WPT

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According to PokerNews, the WPT has settled its dispute with several prominent players (Duke, Bloch, Ferguson, Lederer, and Gordon) regarding the terms of the release that players must sign to play in World Poker Tour events.:

"In their original lawsuit, the players claimed that the terms of the WPTE player release would force them to violate other endorsement agreements and rights to images that the players and their sponsors had otherwise contracted for, and as a result, the players were forced to forego participating in WPT events. The action was framed in antitrust terms, alleging that WPTE and its partner casinos unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition and violated the intellectual property rights of these players. WPTE strictly denied that its standard player release was in any way "in violation of antitrust or other laws." The modified player release, while not detailed by WPTE, likely addresses related concerns."

Lacking the time, money, and inclination to play any WPT events, I never looked into the exact wording, but I trust that the players were on the right side of this one. Those are some pretty wise folks, and I would trust their judgment on an issue like this. Now that the release has been changed, I'm probably a bit more likely to play a WPT tournament in the next year. But first I need to remember how to be good at poker....

Labels: poker, WPT

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