Posts Tagged ‘WPT’

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!

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….

Sorry, I know this is old news, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to comment on for a while. In my opinion, Jerry Yang’s victory at the 2007 World Series of Poker is great for the game’s image. There are those who claim that a win by a largely inexperienced amateur corroborates the argument that poker is fundamentally a game of luck, and maybe it does. But Yang is also charitable, humble, and religious, the last of which is particularly rare among poker players and ought to be of note to those whose concern about the game is religiously motivated. As ESPN commentator Gary Wise puts it in his article Prayers and Poker, “Yang may now be showing us there’s room for both poker and prayer in one life. He’s Chris Moneymaker with a PhD and a Bible, an everyman who can’t believe he’s here and who has faith in his understanding as to why he is.”

It is also worth noting that Chang is of Asian descent. Probably in part because of online poker’s uncertain future in the US, gaming companies are increasingly looking to Asia as an emerging market for gambling of all kinds, including poker. Macau has just surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. In light of their success, “Several Asian countries are easing restrictions on casinos, taking a bet that Las Vegas-style gambling halls will attract more tourists and create jobs. “ (BBC News)  Read the complete post...