Wicked Chops Poker

2013 WSOP Media Call Live Blog

Wicked Chops Entity — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:01:05 +0000

Long live WSOP Media calls, Churchill Downs, and Vikki Blows.

It’s that time of year again! It’s the annual WSOP Media Call live blog.

Why do we still do it? Who knows. We have no idea. It’s like chlamydiae. Just won’t go away.

The call will feature WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart and WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel. And hopefully Seth Palansky will say something inappropriate.

10:01am PT: Every year we suggest new hold music. Something to liven the crowd up. How much better would the call be if this year started with this.

10:02am PT: Seth doesn’t disappoint! Russ Hamilton joke right out the gate.

10:03am PT: Ty Stewart makes a “it takes a village” comment. Must be a joke. Ty hates woman. And children. And villages.

Kidding kidding.

10:06am PT: It takes a village? Crescendo? Who is Ty’s speech writer? Jess Welman is that you?

10:08am PT: Wait a freaking minute? BLUFF is SPENDING money? 18 months ago they couldn’t pay writers. Now they’re dropping buy-ins?! Long live Churchill Downs.

10:10am PT: Ty wants to increase bracelet event exposure. Hopefully it’s not the same increased exposure that Captain Tom Franklin allegedly does on girl’s backs.

10:12am PT: Ty makes a Sam Chauhan working the grill at poker kitchen joke. Hopefully Sam doesn’t berate the burgers for being lazy and uncommitted to juiciness. Then he hopes that Doyle Brunson “pulls a Brett Favre” and comes back again. Whew. Thought he was talking about a Brett Favre-Tom Franklin dick reference. Love Doyle. Don’t want to see a Doyle dick pic though.

10:15am PT: Just finished googling “charity.” Ty spent a lot of time discussing that. People do that stuff? Wow.

10:18am PT: Mic has been passed to Jack Effel. He mentions that he expects a lot of “open face Chinese poker” being played. Chinese Poker basically does this to degenerates.

10:22am PT: Thank God the Carinvale of Poker has NOTHING to do with this.

10:23am PT: Q&A begins! Favorite part. First question is about security rules. Huh? Show of hands about who cares about this. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting…

10:24am PT: Dan Cypra at Pocket5‘s asks about the wsop.com launch. No commitment, but probably the summer.

10:25am PT: Um, not sure what Shapika is asking here. She might be married to this guy though.

10:32am PT: Ty says the Main Event will never be a re-entry.

10:42am PT: The live streams won’t be in “god mode” as Ty puts it–so not every hand will be seen. Favorite thing about the WSOP crew is they love them some spite. Can relate.

10:43am PT: This Las Vegas Review Journal writer has hijacked the call. Shut the eff up already. Didn’t pay attention to anything previously said. Using Ty and Seth as his own personal Wiki page. Expect his next question to be, “So, what’s the deal with hold’em? You get two cards face down?”

10:56am PT: No other WSOP events on ESPN except Day 3 of the Main Event. Lots of representation on live streams and WSOP-Circuit, etc.

10:57am PT: Interesting, no betting on players/action at the sportsbook this year. Wasn’t enough time to execute.

All right, good times. Till next year…

Steve O’Dwyer Wins EPT Grand Final, Besting Best Final Table…Ever?

Wicked Chops Entity — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:59:43 +0000

This win can pay for a lotta grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sure, Steve O’Dwyer may look like the Southern fraternity brother we had in the ’90′s who liked acid, weed, devil sticks, and Phish a liiiiiiiiiiitttttttttle too much, but fuckina he’s tearing up the poker circuit.

O’Dwyer, 31, defeated what many are calling one of the best naturally conceived final tables in modern poker history at the EPT Grand Final.

The line-up was ridiculous: Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody, Andrew Pantling (Matchbook.com exec), Noah Schwartz.

O’Dwyer conquered the field of 531, earning €1,224,000. He defeated the aforementioned Pantling (€842,000) heads-up for the title.

Daniel Negreanu finished fourth, earning €321,000. The cash puts Negreanu third all-time on the poker tournament career money list–or first all-time if you knock-out the OneDrop event.

Back to O’Dwyer, check out his year-by-year stats here. It’s like he visited Adrian Peterson’s doctor and went on poker PEDs in 2011.

Get full EPT Grand Final results here.

* Photo Credit PokerStarsBlog.

Online Poker Is Legal Again: Ultimate Poker Deals Real Money Hand in Nevada

Wicked Chops Entity — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:26:47 +0000

This image was not Photoshopped.

One small step for man, one giant leap for grinders…

Online poker has returned to the United States!

In Nevada!

On one site…

[With a few people on it right now.]

But hey, gotta start somewhere. And not bad for just two years and two weeks after Why’s-It-Gotta-Be-Black-Friday.

Just two months after Nevada legalized online poker, Ultimate Poker is up and running. You have to a ~~white~~ 21 or over Nevada resident to play.

Ultimate Poker is a majority-owned subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC, which is owned by the Fertitta Brothers, who also own the UFC. The company announced Antonio Esfandiari as its poker ambassador earlier this month.

Check out Ultimate Poker here.

Big Poker Sunday Freerolls in U.S.

Wicked Chops Entity — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:03:34 +0000

Hop on the Hog Sunday for a shot at $1k.

Ok, so we’re two years past Why’s-It-Gotta-Be-’Black’-Friday. And you’re ready to play some Sunday poker for decent prizes. Here are your options today:

HogWild Poker: HWP runs a $2k freeroll on the last Sunday of every month, with $1k guarenteed to the winner. The $2k freeroll starts at 9pm ET. There is a “warm-up” freeroll at 6pm ET and a “second chance” at 11pm ET as well. Register and play for the $2k at HWP here.
Attack Poker: Today (April 28th) Attack has a tournament at 10pm ET where the winner will attend a poker party in Vegas. They place the value of this package around $25k. Playboy models are involved. Learn more about it here.
Ace Play: The Stratosphere’s site gives away a Sunday package that includes 2 nights at the hotel, 2 tower passes, 2 ride passes, 2 dinner passes, and 2 tix to Frankie Moreno. Learn more here.
Face Up: The site tournament schedule hasn’t been updated since January, but we think they’re still giving away a bunch of small cash prizes. Learn more here.

We think NLOP still has some prizes on Sunday, just can’t find them. Dig around here though. Best shot at quick cash is on HWP here.

Grind away.

More Good News! SDNY Indicts Celeb Poker Players Involved In Russian Mob Backed Gambling Ring…Oh Wait…

Wicked Chops Entity — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:59:34 +0000

Bolshevik! SDNY can stick glasnost up its задница!*

For fuck’s sake already.

Because poker hasn’t had enough black eyes the past few years, SDNY has decided to pile on more fun for everyone. On Tuesday, two years and a day after Why’s-It-Gotta-Be-Black-Friday, the Fed unsealed a 27-count indictment against a total of 34 people, including Justin Smith, Abe Mosseri, Vadim Trincher, as well as Bill Edler and Peter ‘Nordberg’ Feldman.

Nordberg and Edler?! [shaking head]

The indictment charges them with operating an illegal sports betting and poker syndicate tied to Russian organized crime.

According to BLUFF:

The indictment alleges that the gambling syndicate operated under the protection of Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a powerful member of the Russian organized crime underworld who is already under indictment for his alleged involvement in bribing officials at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Tokhtakhounov is believed to be a “Vor” – the Eastern European equivalent of an Italian godfather.

Sooooooo…let’s just file this under “Bad for Poker” and move on.

Read more about it in F-Train’s BLUFF article (he crushes everyone else’s reporting on this) here.

Read the indictment in full here.

* Russian for “ass”