The word poker probably comes from an eighteenth century French game, Poque. The Germans may also be involved with their game Pochspiel. There are still others who think it may have came from the Hindu word, pukka. Of course there is also the slang word, “poke,” which is means wallet by pickpockets and “hocus-pocus,” from magicians talking about tricks in which something disappears.

What can be agreed upon is that the premise of the game is an old one, with the earliest reference to 1550 and a game called Primero. This Italian game involved betting with hand values like three-of-a-kind, pairs, and flushes. During the 1700’s the betting and bluffing aspects of the game made their way through Europe with Brag in England, Pochen in Germany, and Poque in France.

The game’s American origins can be traced back to 1834, when writer Jonathan H. Green detailed the rules of a cheating game that was being played on the Mississippi riverboats. Green named this game Poker, but this game had 20 cards with only aces, kings, queens, jacks, and tens with four people playing, and each being dealt five cards. At this time the game was the most popular game being played on Mississippi riverboats, and that popularity then spread from New Orleans up the river, and then from the river to the nearby towns. From there the towns people spread the game via covered wagon and the railroad all across the country.

When the now-standard 52-card deck ultimately replaced the 20-card deck, the flush was re-introduced, but it was during the Civil War, modifications such as open cards (stud poker), the straight and the draw were established.

source: betfirms.com

Anyway, one of the “charms” of the World Series of Poker is that it takes all kinds. Even if one of those kinds is a guy who might have murdered his parents. That’s good timing.

Ernie Scherer III, who is a “person of interest” in the murders of his parents, is currently attending the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas according to Gambling911.com sources.

Detectives have spent months trying to figure out who would have wanted to kill Ernie Scherer Jr., 60, and his wife Charlene Abendroth, 57. Investigators have ruled out any suspects related to Ernie Scherer’s political connections, and all other family members, Alameda Homicide Detective Scott Dudek said. But detectives have not been able to rule out the couple’s 29-year-old son, who was believed to have owed substantial gambling debts. The younger Scherer is an avid poker player (as was his late father), having amassed nearly $300,000 over his poker career.

You know, that’s all fine and good, but if he insists on wearing sunglasses inside while playing, as far as we’re concerned, that’s the real capital crime.

source: deadspin.com

Although David Singer’s attention was focused on taking down his first World Series of Poker bracelet during the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament, his heart was elsewhere. While Singer battled it out on the felt, his wife was on the verge of giving birth to their first child. Fortunately for Singer, things went well on both fronts. He won his first WSOP bracelet and then his wife gave birth to his son Samuel a couple of hours after his win.

“We’ll probably just call him Sam, but we have to wait and see what he is like: he may be a Sammy or a Samuel,” said Singer. According to Nolan Dalla, this is the first time in WSOP that a player has won a bracelet and had a child born on the same day. Congrats on both accounts David.

OMG Clay Aiken

$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha winner Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond is undoubtedly one of the game’s elite Omaha players and his bracelet victory in Event#28 was his big coming out party. One of online poker’s biggest cash game players, Galfond surprised very few by taking down his first WSOP title even though he faced one of this year’s toughest final tables. Playing more for the bracelet than the money, Galfond’s victory proved that the superstar can function in both the live and online poker spectrums. Something tells me that Galfond has a good shot of winning multiple bracelets over the course of his career.

Barry Greenstein is a Winner

Barry Greenstein’s win in the $1,500 Razz tournament adds to the “Bear’s” collection of bracelets. Arguably one of the best all-around players in the sport, it is not Greenstein’s WSOP wins that impress me. There is no doubt that he’s a great poker player, but it’s Barry’s humanitarian efforts that impressed me. In addition to donating a lot of what he wins to charity, Greenstein has also made an social impact by getting other players such as Phil Ivey to become more philanthropic. When it comes class, Barry takes the title. He is the definition of a true champion.

Quick story about my first run-in with Barry: I was working for Borgata in January of 2006 and I tried to get an interview with the Bear. He looked me dead in the eye and said with a straight face, “Have you read my book?” When I answered, “No,” he told me to that I had to read his book first and that he would talk to me after I finished it. Although I didn’t find it humorous at the time, I now look back at his comment as one of the best player lines I have ever heard.

WPT President Steve Lipscomb made the announcement today. “Alongside our fantastic brands – such as the World Poker Tour, the Professional Poker Tour, the Ladies’ Poker Tour and the Kidz Xtreme Pokrrrr Tour – we’ve now created a new wrinkle to the classic American card game. We call it the All-In Poker Tour.”

In a standard game of Texas Hold’em, players can exercise multiple options during the course of a hand as they combine their two face-down cards with up to five face-up cards in the middle of the table. Players can choose to fold (quit the hand), call (match a made bet), or raise (increase the bet). In major poker tournaments, players usually make their decisions based on a combination of strategy and psychology – the biggest weapon in the traditional format is to go “all-in,” betting all of one’s chips at once and hoping either to have the best hand or intimidate one’s opponents into folding.

“With our new All-In Tour, it’s ‘all-in, all the time.’ We’re taking out all the boring parts like strategizing, calculating pot odds, and general-purpose thinking. Instead, everybody goes ‘all-in’ before the cards are dealt,” Lipscomb explained. “Players get their cards face-up so that everybody, especially the TV audience, can see all the hands at once. Then, the dealer spreads out all five cards on the board simultaneously; no more confusing ‘flop’ or ‘turn’ or ‘river’ or ’showdown’ or any of those other confusing Texan words. This way, the cards decide who wins. It’s much faster, fairer and more exciting.”

Professional poker player and former world champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr., is among those who oppose the new format. “Everybody knows I am the world’s greatest no-limit hold’em tournament player. I won eleven – count ‘em, eleven – world championship bracelets by reading the other players. I can see into their souls. I can read their minds by the pulse in their necks. I can smell the fear in their sweat.

“Now Lipscomb wants to take all that away from me? I know that if it weren’t for luck I’d win every single hand I ever played and bust every donkeyfish from here to Atlantic City – and now it’s only going to be about luck? Since I never get good cards, how am I supposed to beat a game that’s all about the cards? Huh? Tell me how, smartass!”

Hellmuth continued his objections while overturning chairs, throwing cards at a dealer and spewing profanities at a passing cocktail waitress.

Veteran professional player and two-time world champion Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has played no-limit hold’em for over fifty years, and was one of the players credited with bringing the game from the dusty back roads of West Texas to the neon-lit casinos of Sin City. Now nearly eighty years old, Brunson attempted to offer his opinion on the new format with a pithy, funny Texan saying, but fell asleep before he could complete the sentence.

“I understand why some players would be upset at the changes. Sure, they pay their own airfare, hotel and tournament fees. Of course, they’re very highly skilled, experienced professionals. What they fail to understand is that TV poker is now less about poker and more about TV,” Lipscomb said, responding to the players’ concerns. “TV viewers don’t want to watch fat middle-aged men stare each other down for an hour. If they wanted that, then C-SPAN would be the highest-rated cable channel.

“Nobody wants to hear about strategy and pot-odds and hand analysis. If TV viewers wanted to think, they’d watch ‘Jeopardy’. What we want is the ‘Deal or No Deal’ audience. More cards, more luck and more action, less of that strategerization and thinky-type stuff.”

source: www.serioussportsnewsnetwork.com

It’s the first time ever that brothers have won bracelets in a single World Series, and only the second time ever that brothers have won bracelets, regardless of year. Only Puggy and J.C. Pearson prior to yesterday had accomplished the brotherly feat, and Puggy’s three bracelets predated J.C.’s single title by roughly two decades.

It wasn’t an easy road for Hinkle, though he started the day in second spot and stayed at or near the top throughout the final. His last two foes were Daniel O’Brien and Mark Brockington – who finished third and second, respectively – and it took an unlikely flopped set of sixes to clear Hinkle’s path to the win. When Hinkle won his last race, again by flopping a set of sixes, the $507,563 winner’s prize and a spot in WSOP lore was his.

The day’s other bracelet went to a seasoned pro. Max “The Italian Pirate” Pescatori captured his second career bracelet by coming from well back in Event #24, the mixed-format $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament. Kyle Kloeckner and Allen Cunningham were the early leaders, but while Cunningham, favored by many to take this one down, suffered early hits, Kloeckner hung tough before losing the title to Pescatori after 30 minutes of heads-up play. Pescatori collected $246,471 for the win while Kloeckner pocketed $152,410 as the runner-up.

Speaking of heads-up play, action in Event #25, $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em World Championship, continued. Three more rounds on Saturday trimmed the field from 32 to four semifinalists, Vanessa Selbst, Alec Torelli, Kenny Tran and Jonathan Jaffe; it’s the second straight semifinal appearance for Selbst in this event. Tran and Jaffe will square off in one semifinal today while Selbst and Torelli clash in the other. Torelli was the last of the the four to secure a spot in the semis after pulling out a marathon match against Lyle Berman, who had already survived another marathon against David Williams in the preceding round. The other odd note was that in reaching the semis, Selbs managed to knock out brothers Michael and Robert Mizrachi in consecutive rounds.

Event #26, $1,500 Razz, also saw its final table set when Frank Kassela bricked out in multiple late hands to bubble the final. Kassela’s last chips went to leader Chris Viox, who will have to contend with Barry Greenstein, Archie “The Greek” Karas, Mark Tenner and others in today’s final.

Saturday is also the day when the biggest turnout of the week is expected for the noon starting slot. Event #27, $1,500, drew 2,706 entrants, technically slipping past its 2,700 player cap. The overflow expanded from packed Amazon, Brasilia and Tropical Rooms to spare tables outside Buzio’ Restaurant and the Rio’s own poker room in the casino proper. Despite the scattered action, the huge field was able to play all the way inside the money bubble in the day’s play, with 224 players returning today to guaranteed paychecks. 2005 Main Event final-table player Bernard Lee held the overnight lead.

The late Saturday start went to Event #28, $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys, which drew the very biggest of names (and deepest of bankrolls). Daniel Negreanu was one such example, re-buying in a reported 16 times, but at last those rebuys began to reap rewards, as Negreanu finished among the top ten on the day. 44 of 152 players survived into Day 2, but only 18 of those will cash. Emmanuel Sebag leads all players after Day 1 action, with a leaderboard stuffed with poker’s finest.

Another pair of events kick off on a busy Father’s Day today. The noon start is Event #29, $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em, with nine players per table instead of the more WSOP-normal ten. At 5pm, the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em event begins, with another huge cast of poker’s finest again expected to play.

source: pokernews.com

I thought today I’d think a bit about my top 5 favorite players to watch on TV.

1. GUS HANSEN: He’s the obvious choice, yeah, but I honestly think Gus is still playing not only the most fun to watch poker in the game, but the most creative, even ‘progressive.’ His recent successes also prove that there is extreme method to the madness and that there’s more to poker than just the classic ideas. Anytime Gus is on a poker show, I make a point to tune in.

2. SAMMY FARHA. I like watching Farha for a totally different reason than anyone else on this list: he plays a style I could never and would never try, and it is always fun to see him pull it off. Playing literally any two cards in any spot isn’t for everyone, and Sammy seems like a cool guy to boot.

3. DANIEL NEGREANU. Another perhaps clear pick, but Daniel makes an interesting watch for his ability not only to play a wide range of cards, but more so for his ability to pick up on what his opponent is doing and make plays based on that rather than his crazy cards. Always expect to see something new with Daniel.

4. ALLEN CUNNINGHAM. Again, totally different than anyone else on the list, but Allen I think out of all these players plays the style of poker I most model my own game after (though not to the level he’s at obviously). I love watching a solid player who knows when to push his opponent, and who can take reads off his gut and turn them into money.

5. (tie) PATRIK ANTONIUS or GAVIN SMITH. Two strange cats with good attitudes and the ability to move big money when they know they can push to win, but who tend to have the good when they end up in the middle.

source: allpokeraddicts.com

Last night, Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino General Manager, Jim Rigot cut the ribbon marking the opening of the new new East Tower Poker Room . He was joined by excited casino executives and guests!

After the ribbon was cut, casino guests tried out the room’s twelve PokerPro® tables.
According to Rigot, “The Poker Room at Trump Plaza will be the latest location for poker buffs to play in Atlantic City, just steps off the Boardwalk.
The GM added, “Our state-of-the-art poker room has competitive game offerings, flat screen televisions, a comfortable lounge, with convenient food and beverage offerings and low-limit blackjack tables. When you consider the increased hands per hour and a $3.00 rake, it becomes an obvious choice for even the most seasoned players.”
Poker is a new gaming addition at the Casino and Trump Plaza officials anticipate that the addition of PokerPro® is going to attract both the traditional poker players as well as those who have been curious about the game.
PokerPro® is the latest in casino games technology, featuring an automated poker game, where hands are dealt electronically to players seated at a traditional-style poker table that can accommodate ten. There is a clear view of the pot size and chip count during this interactive game.
PokerTek, Inc., the industry pioneer and worldwide leader in automated poker tables and related software, has signed a contract with Trump Plaza to offer PokerPro® for field trial.
“Trump Plaza has done an amazing job transforming this new room and crafting the perfect combination of amenities that are sure to make it a premier poker destination,” said Chris Halligan, PokerTek CEO. “We are proud to enter our New Jersey field trial with Trump Plaza, and look forward to introducing the speed, accuracy and cool new features of automated poker to the poker players of Atlantic City.”
Photos by Lew Steiner

After watching the Full Tilt pros pile up the World Series of Poker bracelets at the beginning of this grueling poker tournament series, Team PokerStars’ newest and biggest name min raised his way to his fourth bracelet. Daniel Negreanu took home first place in Event #20’s $2,000 Limit Hold Em’, outlasting 478 other players for the first Team PokerStars’ bracelet blood of the 2008 WSOP

As Otis from the PokerStarsBlog chatted it up with “Kid Poker” about his win and the brutal crackings his premium hands took before outlasting Ugur Marangoz for $204,874 and a bonus from temporary L.A. Lakers fan Phil Ivey stemming from a prop bet worth $200,000 for winning the first bracelet between the two:

That was exactly what he did. Aces cracked? He came back. Kings cracked? He came back. By the time play was three-handed, some people watching were alredy predicting Negreanu’s bracelet. It was a good prediction. Once he reclaimed the lead, he never gave it up and finished off his opponents in short order.

Negreanu won $204,874 for his victory. For some folks, that’s life changing money. For Negreanu (who was on the golf course this week betting for sums in excess of that), the money seems less important than the reality that no matter how old he gets, he will always be Kid Poker…and Kid Poker wins poker tournaments. Better yet, Kid Poker wins World Series bracelets.

Check out full payout from the event at WorldSeriesofPoker.com here, and Negreanu’s thoughts from PokerStarsBlog.com right here.