Poker Blog & Poker Forum

Despite coming off as a weirdo and just “kinda creepy” on the WSOP broadcast on ESPN, Ylon Schwartz (sponsored by PokerStars.com) demonstrated a few good qualities in a recent newspaper interview. While Dennis Phillips has been getting the lions share of face time leading up the November Nine broadcast of the WSOP Final Table, Ylon has been pretty quiet. He tried an Ebay auction that didn’t go off as well as planned but this interview makes him a little more likeable. In summary, he’s pretty much what most of us would probably be if we made enough money gambling to do it full time.

When asked what he would do if he won the 9 million dollar first prize, his reply was that would likely disappear for a long time and, “I would get the best tequila there is and just drink it. I don’t know, be a high-class wino for like the next 10 years. I told all my friends I’m going to go away and please don’t come looking for me.” Couldn’t have said it better, except I’d probably go with a good Scotch.

He’s gone from being a small time chess hustler in New York to the verge of the next poker millionaire/WSOP Champion. He may not be as loveable as last years winner (what was his name again? My point exactly) but he’s down to earth and seems to be an approachable guy.

If I make it out to this years final table, I just hope to be around when he does win. Maybe he’ll treat us all to a round of the expensive Tequila he seems fond of.

“His poker skills are quickly becoming on par with his blackjack skills and it’s only a matter of time before ‘Hollywood’ Dave Stann becomes a household name in the poker world. “

So reads the press release from Ultimate Bet proclaiming this kid as the next “household name in poker”. Are you kidding me? If I didn’t tell you WHO he is, would you know? Probably not so I’ll give in.

If you’ve ever watched the silly Blackjack show that comes on after poker on the Game Show Network, you’ve probably seen the douche bag with the spiked hair that makes an ass of himself. The guy that you’ve probably thought, “damn, I bet he never gets laid”. That guy. That’s “Hollywood” Dave Stann.

And UB thinks he’s good enough to be a Team UB poker player. I’m sure players will FLOCK to Ultimate Bet now that they have the chance to play poker with this guy. So now that we’re all excited to see him play at UB, let’s all head over to UB with the other 17 players online right now and see if we can play with “Hollywood”!

Source http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/10/prweb1517504.htm

Kid Poker, aka Daniel Negreanu shipped most of his stack today to an amateur player who fortunately hit a set of 7’s against Daniel and his top two when the flop came A K 7 at today’s Festa Al Lago event on the World Poker Tour. This would set up a strange turn of events when, as the bubble approached, three top players went out with at least two of them thinking they were in the money.

Daniel, Jennifer Tilly, and Ted Lawson wound up splitting 50th place money taking home a little over $7 grand each. After losing his stack on the money bubble, Daniel was sent to the rail. Ted Lawson followed suit immediately afterwards. Then, after the bubble burst announcement was made, Jennifer Tilly lost a hand and her remaining chips with it. The only problem was that the hand with Tilly was still in progress during the announcement. After some wrangling (and the story is murky here), the tournament director decided that the three would split the $21,135 50th place money.

For the remaining 34 players that will head to day four, there are still some hills to climb. With big names such as Bertrand Grospellier (the Joker), Joe Sebok, Nenad Medic, and Brad Booth still in the hunt (they’re all in the top ten) it’s anyone’s game to win. Day  four action resumes tomorrow at 12 PM EDT.

What was supposed to be a display of poker skills and determination during the recent FTOPS IX Event 22 tournament quickly deteriorated into an all out war of words between Full Tilt Poker Pro, Mike Matusow and his opponent, ‘DaEvils‘.

Matusow threw out a jab about players thinking he would actually bluff on the first hand, prompting ‘DaEvils’ to immediately accuse him of talking trash.  From there the conversation turned into a volatile and adolescent argument that continued through the rest of the tournament.

‘DaEvils’ then criticized Matusow’s play of the hand which Matusow then called all online poker players “idiots”.  Adding fuel to the fire, Mike’s responses were laced with repetitive typos.  In contrast, ‘DaEvils’ managed to stay intelligible during the exchange.

As the argument escalated, ‘DaEvils’ began to insult Mike’s tournament play saying, “it’s just pathetic you pros that talk so much trash about medium sized pots… when you’re constantly broke and begging for stakes.” Matusow began to respond with long strings of “weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” and repetitive letter posts which ‘DaEvils’ couldn’t resist responding with, “mike you’re actually just acting like the idiot 8 yer old who puts his hands over his ears and goes “nah nahy nah nah i can’t hear you.”

Matusow at one point alleged that ‘DaEvils’ was jealous of his poker success.  ‘DaEvils’ wasted no time in responding, “as much as i’d like to have substance abuse problems… and constantly go broke… i think i’ll find somebody else to idolize.” only further inflaming the situation.

Near the end of the tournament, ‘DaEvils’ attempted several times to get Mike to meet him for a live, heads-up match between the two of them.  He even went so far as to offer to make it a mixed game with Pot Limit Omaha and 8 or Better, “which you’re supposedly best in the world at”, ‘DaEvils’ quipped.  Despite the offers to play one-on-one Matusow never acknowledged the offer in any way and instead continued his verbal abuse as he had before.

Considering the lack of maturity demonstrated by both players during the FullTilt online tournament, one can only imagine the scene that would be created if they ever played face-to-face.

With no warning and no real back-story that’s surfaced so far, Chan Poker released this announcement yesterday –

ChanPoker Closure - August 19, 2008

We are sad to inform you that Chan Poker will be ceasing operation effective this Thursday, August 21, 2008. Effective immediately we will no longer be accepting deposits. On August 21 our poker clients will be disabled.

Chan Poker Customer Support

Despite attempts by several media outlets to get a comment from Johhny Chan, no official statement has surfaced other than the announcement on their website. A few rumors are currently circulating that Chan Poker may align itself with another network but these stories have not been corroborated. Last night on the popular Poker Affiliate Radio program, a representative from Chan Poker assured all players that their deposits are safe and will be available for withdrawals immediately.