Poker Blog & Poker Forum

In April 2010 the process of selecting appropriate women associated with poker for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF) had begun. The selection is over and three women will be inducted into this august group on September 3 in a glittering ceremony at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.

The first of the inductees is being given the honor posthumously. She is Billie Brown and would perhaps be unknown to today’s poker generation. Her profile at the WiPHOF web site states that Billie pioneered the marketing of tournament poker in Las Vegas during the 1980s. The guaranteed prize pool concept was invented by her. Billie also created the California State Ladies Poker Championship.

The second inductee is Kathy Liebert. Kathy is a well know figure in poker circles but would not exactly fit into the poker babe mold. With a haul of over $5.7 million in tournament earnings, she has won more money playing tournament poker than any other woman in history. Add to this one WSOP bracelet, one WPT win, seven WPT final tables and the distinction of being the first woman ever to win $1 million in a single poker tournament and you have the perfect recipe for a WiPHOF inductee.

The third inductee, Jennifer Harman, is an out and out poker babe. Her poker achievements are many. They include two WSOP bracelets, three WPT final tables and $2.6 million to her credit. She is among the few women poker professionals who participate regularly in the biggest live high-stakes mixed cash games in Las Vegas, and win. But what endear her to the poker loving public are her antics as a poker babe. Jennifer recently flashed a very attractive cleavage in order to get voted into the WSOP Tournament of Champions. She not only was voted in but did not disappoint her fans by cashing in this prestigious event.

Though a regular at Twitter, there has been no reaction to this stupendous news so far from Jennifer. Her latest message on August 3 said, “Hanging out in Italy with my husband @marcopoker. A lot of beach time.” She deserves the privacy and the rest. The kudos can wait till she is back all rejuvenated and tanned.

The House Financial Services Committee on July 28, 2010, passed the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act by a vote of 41 in favor and only 22 against. This bill number HR 2267, is also known as the anti-UIGEA bill because it seeks to overturn the provisions of the UIGEA and set up a licensing and regulatory regime for online gambling in the United States.

Though this is only a small step in the journey of the bill, this is the first tangible good news that online poker players have received after the UIGEA was imposed in November 2006. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has contributed immensely in gathering support for this bill and its members are naturally overjoyed. The PPA immediately released a public statement. Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the PPA said, “I’m glad the Financial Services Committee today overwhelmingly chose to act and protect Americans as well as preserve the fundamental freedoms of adults and the Internet.” D’Amato also thanked Barney Frank for his leadership of the bill and promised all support in the future. John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, thanked the legislators who contributed to the bill by moving suitable amendments.

Earlier there was a minor hiccup when the bill was not taken up for discussion on Tuesday July 27 as originally scheduled. This week saw an unrestrained support for online gambling and online poker from many different quarters. Major newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post carried lead articles. Online poker forums and news sites exhorted poker players to contact their legislators by phone or e-mail asking them to gather support for the bill in the House Committee. Annie Duke, who had testified in the hearing on the bill last week, re-tweeted the message from PPA to all her followers. The message said, “Thank you poker players! The thousands of letters, calls and tweets really made a difference.”

The path of the bill becoming law is a long one. The House Financial Services Committee has to report the passage of the bill to the House of Representatives. The bill will have to be discussed and voted in the House of Representatives. If passed there, it would have to be discussed and voted in the Senate. If the Senate also passed the bill it would go to the President for his signature.

The biggest news from WSOP 2010 so far is that Phil Ivey topped Event #37, the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E., and won his eighth gold bracelet. Ivey is the first really big player to win a bracelet this year. Michael Mizrachi who has won a bracelet is not in the same league. Tom Dwan, who is in the same league, missed out by losing the heads up in Event #12.

John Juanda and Bill Chen were with Ivey in the last three. At that time they had 13 WSOP bracelets between them. We will let the statistics minded readers figure out if any top three has ever had a larger collection of bracelets. Juanda was the first to go, but this cash ensured him the current top spot for the WSOP 2010 Player of the Year. At that time Ivey was desperately out chipped but he clawed his way back to knock out Chen. The prize money of $329,840 that Ivey won is peanuts. It is known that the prop bets surrounding Ivey wins run into millions. What is not known is how many millions. The most publicized prop bet is the one with good friend and Full Tilt team mate Howard Lederer. The amount is $5 million, though Ivey needs another bracelet to win this bet.

The stories of what happens on the sidelines are often more interesting than what is happening on the table. During the final table Ivey began to feel cold and asked for a hoodie. After winning the bracelet Ivey left the hoodie behind. Mickey Doft, who was reporting the event, grabbed the hoodie. After all its finders keepers and Ivey would never report it as lost. Doft was seen wearing the hoodie playing Razz, hoping to capture Ivey’s vibrations and win a bracelet for himself.

The bracelets tally now stands as follows. Phil Hellmuth has 11, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan have 10 each, Johhny Moss has 9 and Erik Seidel and Ivey have 8 each. Ivey has received messages of congratulations from all the greats but the one he is likely to cherish the most comes from the Grand Old Man of poker. Doyle Brunson said, “#8 for Ivey? Wow! I’m pretty hard headed about players being great but I finally have to admit he is the best all around player.”

Doyle Brunson’s blogs make interesting reading because they cover more than poker and when they do cover poker they touch upon the larger picture.

The Mike Huckabee TV show with Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman as the guest opened some old wounds for Doyle Brunson. President Obama had created a major backlash with his anti Vegas comments a few months back. The President had said that rolling the dice on the Vegas Strip was not the wisest move to make when needing to save for college and had referred to gambling at Vegas casinos as blowing a bunch of cash. In the Huckabee show Goodman said that statistics revealed a gigantic dip in canceled conventions after the President’s first comment and a sharp decline in tourist traffic after his second comment. Therefore Goodman squarely blamed the President for Vegas being the hardest hit city from the recession. Doyle concluded, “I don’t see how any resident in Nevada could ever vote for Obama after this.”

Doyle goes back to the presidential election when he voted for McCain. Doyle conceded that Obama was then projected as being good for poker and was sure to win. He had voted for McCain out of Republican loyalty. In his blog Doyle writes, “If I thought my vote would have mattered, I probably would have voted for Obama.” Today poker players have every reason to be let down. Less than two years down the line prosecutions of online poker payment processors are up and the UIGEA rules have been implemented. Instead of offering even lip support to online poker the President has condemned gambling at large.

The second interesting issue in Doyle’s blog is his fitness. Doyle went for complete physical and after a graphic no holds barred description of the tests conducted by the doctor Doyle gave his readers the doctor’s verdict. He said, “… the heart doctor said, barring some unforeseen complication or disease, I should live into my 90’s.” Given the fact that Doyle is not yet 77, he has a long way to go. This reminds me of some buffoon who had created a list of 100 celebrities who were most likely to die in 2009. Doyle Brunson was No. 16 on that list. That guy will not dare to include Brunson again.

With WSOP round the corner betting on the Main Event is on in earnest. Many of the popular sports betting sites are offering odds on a variety of bets. The winner of the Main Event is the most common wager but there are several other interesting bets on offer.

At the time of writing William Hill put three players as favorites to win the new bracelet in the Main Event. These are Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and Allen Cunningham. That the favorites have odds of 100 to 1 shows how open the field is. The next lot of players is at 150 to 1. These include Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Peter Eastgate and Scotty Nguyen.

The field is more fragmented when it comes to predicting who will make it to the final table. Paddy Power provides the following odds. Phil Ivey leads with 14 to 1, followed by Gus Hansen at 18 to 1 and Daniel Negreanu at 35 to 1. The record bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth is at 50 to 1 and poker legend Doyle Brunson is at 100 to 1.

This year is being touted as the Year of the Female and there is special interest in bets involving female players. In the Paddy Power list of making it to the final table Jennifer Harman leads the women at odds of 100 to 1. Annette Obrestad is at odds of 125 to 1. The surprise entry is Vanessa Rousso with odds of 150 to 1. William Hill is offering odds of 4 to 1 for a female on the final table and 40 to 1 for a female winner. Considering that only one woman has ever made it to the final table and no woman has ever won the Main Event these odds appear ridiculous and should be given a wide berth.

After Moneymaker won the Main Event the floodgate was opened for the younger breed of online players. Every year sees new stars on the horizon making it more difficult for previous winners to do a repeat performance. William Hill offers odds for previous Main Event winners performing well. Any previous winner on the final table carries odds of 7 to 2 and any previous winner winning the Main Event carries odds of 33 to 1.