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Recently, I went to Charleston, South Carolina to testify as an "expert witness" in a poker trial. The case was the Town of Mount Pleasant versus five poker players who pled not guilty when they were busted for playing in a $20 tournament in someone's house a couple of years ago. Read more »
Over the last few years, people are always surprised that I still live in the Boston area. Poker players repeatedly ask me why I don't move to the West Coast, specifically Las Vegas, assuming that I would be closer to the bigger poker tournaments. Read more »
I am having so much fun… playing for 10 cents on UltimateBet.com. So UB just launched its STEPs program. They have ten steps to the World Series of Poker starting at 10 cents. If you are one of the first eight people to make it all the way to a $12,000 package from Step 1, you also win an $8,500 Aruba package. Read more »
About shaniac: Shane “shaniac” Schleger is one of the most successful online poker rebuy tournament players. According to thepokerdb, since Jan 1, 2006 Shane has north of $500,000 in cashes in the PokerStars $109 rebuy — widely regarded as the toughest tournament online. While recording those cashes Shane has recorded an approximate ROI% of 85%… Read more »
In last month's column, I talked extensively about the state of poker and my guarded optimism about the game going forward. I received a surprising amount of feedback on the column, both positive and negative. Others shared stories of similar guarded optimism, while a few thought I was crazy to mention the United States economy and poker economy turning around. Read more »
Today was an awesome day for me, although I must admit that I was quite dazed when my alarm clock rang at 5:00am, especially since that is the time I am usually just going to bed. The reason for my early rise was to participate in the Poker Gives Back project with fellow members of the Wednesday Poker Discussion Group (WPDG) as well as some wonderful friends. Read more »
This is Part II of a two-part series on perspectives of the economic crisis and its possible impacts on the gambling and poker industries. Dan Goldman has been a high-tech and marketing expert for nearly 30 years. He is perhaps best known within the poker industry as the former Vice President of Marketing for PokerStars. Read more »
Last month, I was approached by Bluff Magazine to take part in its "Bluff Poker Challenge." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, a dozen or so players were invited. Each of them will start with $200 on Lock Poker and we will have the entire month to turn that into as much money as possible. Read more »
A provocative cover story by writer Richard Florida in current issue of The Atlantic magazine entitled, "How the Crash will Reshape America," got me thinking about how the global economic mess could affect the poker industry. The trouble is few experts are qualified to offer any credible opinions. Read more »
Well, the Celebrity Apprentice cat is out of the bag now. The cast is announced and, yes, I am part of it. Okay, so what would make me do this show? I mean I have tried to avoid reality TV. I really value my private life and protecting the privacy of my kids. So then why on Earth would I agree to do this show? Read more »
I'm sitting at my computer listening to Christmas carols and thinking about how much I enjoyed the holidays. My good friend Rita Axel made the turkey and stuffing (yummy!) and I made the appetizers, salad, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, lamb, and ham. After dinner, we played trivia and sat around telling tales from our favorite moments from 2008. Read more »
Wow! What a Super Bowl! Many people thought that last year's Super Bowl between the undefeated New England Patriots and the New York Giants wouldn't be topped for quite a while. Well, this year's Super Bowl surpassed that one. Read more »
As I stood on the outside of the velvet rope, the sound of the chips clattering was nothing short of intense. The huge ballroom was filled with poker tables, each one carrying the hopes of men and a few women all with the same goal in mind: Becoming a World Poker Tour (WPT) champion. Read more »
How time flies! I cannot believe it is once again the start of a new year. It seems like just yesterday that we rang in the new millennium. In 2009, we begin a new era with the inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama. Read more »
2008 was an incredible year. The poker world continued to expand globally and here in the U.S., we elected Barack Obama, a black President (of course, we're hoping he's a pro-poker president). The Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) held its first-ever "Go All-In for Veterans" charity poker tournament in Washington, D.C. Read more »
I have been thinking lately about a particular paradox in my life and trying to figure out how to handle it. The paradox is that as I have become more well-known for playing poker, it has become harder and harder for me to find time to play poker at all. Read more »
Having only been a poker professional for three years now after starting to play the game in 2003 right at the beginning of the "poker boom," I was very fortunate to have been able to ride most of the meteoric rise that the game experienced from 2003 until 2006. Read more »
I've been playing poker for more than 30 years in legal card rooms and have seen many actions that annoy me at the poker table. Here's a partial list of them. First, I detest "over-celebration" at the table and think there is no place for it in poker. Read more »
As we enter the month of December and the holiday season, many readers often ask me for a list of poker books for holiday gift ideas. In this blog, I have compiled a thorough list that ranges from timeless classics to modern day standards to recent releases. I hope you enjoy them. Read more »
I recently returned from a seven-day trip to Pendleton, Oregon for the annual Poker Round-Up series of tournaments at the Wild Horse Resort and Casino. It's hard to find a card room these days that truly gives back to its customers, but Wild Horse believes in doing just this. Read more »
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) final table is finally over. After the 117 day intermission, the November Nine finally reassembled in Las Vegas to continue their quest for the WSOP Main Event bracelet. Although poker traditionalists were originally against the idea, many poker fans are considering this experiment to be a success. Read more »
On Sunday, November 30th, the nation was told about the online poker cheating scandal that rocked the poker world during the broadcast of "60 Minutes." The segment focused on a "$20,000,000 cheating scandal" on two online sites - Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. Read more »
As I am writing this, I have just returned from watching the World Series of Poker Main Event live at the Rio. I, like most poker players and fans around the world, was very curious to find out how all the hype and buildup around the three and a half months off would impact the final table. Read more »
I had a very interesting month of October where I had cameras on me for most of the day, every day. I learned something from the experience that might seem really trivial, but is actually really important to me. I learned that I am the same whether or not a camera is on me. Read more »
In the spirit of the election season in the United States, thought it might be fun to vote on some outstanding (outlandish?) poker personalities and performances in 2008. Therefore, I respectfully submit the following nominations. Read more »
