Gossip, twitter, etc.
The nominees for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame for 2021 were announced last week and as is usual for the nominees, it was an incredibly special list. Any and all of the men nominated would be viable inductees, with obvious qualities that would set them apart. As my friend and colleague Dan Katz… Read more »
Strange end to the season The 2021 World Series of Poker is just two days away, but I want to talk about something else in the gambling world for a few minutes: Ghana professional soccer. That is not a sentence I ever thought I would write or say 20 years ago, but here we are.… Read more »
The gambling world was entranced this week by the story of the man who, given a $25 free bet by the sports betting site BetMGM, decided to shoot the works and go for a 16-team parlay last weekend. The unnamed gentlemen came up a bit short in that goal, however, picking the first fifteen games… Read more »
Poker might be a tough way to make a living, but there are other areas that it could be argued are even tougher. In particular, the world of professional golf is a highly competitive endeavor in which the players have to climb a ladder to reach the pinnacle of the game. Recently, a poker player… Read more »
The visited lots of convenience stores In our latest tale of gambling-related crime, this writer’s first thought is: “I mean, you knew you were going to get caught eventually, right?” Over the span of eight years, Ali Jaafar, now 63, and his sons Mohamed Jaafar, 31, and Yousef Jaafar, 28, cashed in over 13,000 lottery… Read more »
There was a day when poker sponsorships were handed out like coupons for a free ice cream cone at Dairy Queen. These deals usually encompassed the online poker rooms paying for a player’s buy-ins to tournaments, with the player holding up their end of the deal by “patching up” in wearing the logo of the… Read more »
Everyone thinks that the life of a professional poker player is all bright lights and glamour. Set your own hours, head to a beautiful casino to play in poker games where you make a good bit of coin and, if you are lucky, you’ll still have time to hang out afterwards with whichever member of… Read more »
In a Twitter post on Friday, FS1 talk show host and amateur poker player Nick Wright issued his response to whether he would move on in the challenge against former World Champion Phil Hellmuth in the High Stakes Duel III battle. Despite making a good showing for himself and actually taking Hellmuth to task for… Read more »
Cheating and casinos go hand-in-hand (pun?). It’s not hard to figure out why. Not only is the possibility of winning fast money tempting, but often people have the attitude that it is ok to cheat because the casino takes our money routinely and always has a mathematical edge. And for some weird reason, I really… Read more »
The case of “poker player” Mike Postle has taken another unique turn in the past week. Faced with having to pay off two people he had falsely accused of slandering him, Postle has allegedly gone on the run to avoid paying the two people. The problem with that is they can seize his property to… Read more »
Once again, the worlds of poker and the courts have crossed paths. On the police blotter first this week is a high stakes poker professional who allegedly was traveling with some chemical enhancements for his good time. In our second interaction with the legal system, another poker player has sued a New Jersey casino for… Read more »
For the first time since 2019, we are actually talking about preparations for the 2021 World Series of Poker. With the move to a new broadcast outlet with CBS, they are certainly doing their part to promote not only the upcoming WSOP but also the players that people watch. One of those players is none… Read more »
According to a Facebook posting from one of the top billiards organizations in the U. S., the World Series of Poker will be moving in 2022. The new location, which has not been confirmed by WSOP officials at this point, will be the Bally’s and Paris properties on the Las Vegas Strip. Rumors Abound with… Read more »
In a stunning announcement to the poker world Mason Malmuth, the owner of the popular 2+2 Forum and its relative entities, informed the members that the popular forum outlet has been sold. No information was given as to the sale price, nor was there any information on just how much of the company – which… Read more »
The poker police blotter lit up again this week, this time from the Pacific Northwest. More than 20 months after pleading guilty to charges of copyright infringement and tax evasion, a poker player from Oregon received a year-long sentence in federal prison. He will also face repayment of a significant restitution to the organizations that… Read more »
In unfortunate news that is coming from Ireland, the 1999 World Series of Poker Championship Event winner Noel Furlong has passed away. The veteran Irish poker pro had been away from the game for the past few years, but he was universally recognized for a rather gruff demeanor that covered for an excellent poker player.… Read more »
It usually is not a good thing when the poker police blotter makes the news, and this time around isn’t any different. In one case, a former WPT champion will be headed to jail for some unethical behaviors in business. In another case, a casino bandit who apparently never saw Elliott Gould’s Reuben Tishkoff’s speech… Read more »
Poker Hall of Famer Chris Moneymaker is suing ubiquitous payment processing giant PayPal. In a press release issued late last week, Moneymaker’s attorney, Eric Bensamochan, said that they will be suing PayPal for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and bad faith, “among other causes of action,” for confiscating more than $12,000 from the 2003 World… Read more »
Small stake is still against the rules The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the administrative organization for European soccer, has fined superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović €50,000 ($61,000) for his involvement in online casino and sportsbook Bethard. UEFA began its investigation a little over a month ago, appointing an ethics inspector to examine if Ibrahimović violated… Read more »
If You Mess with The Bull… There does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel. A judge in California Superior Court has hammered “alleged” poker cheater Mike Postle with a five figure fine regarding the scandal that has his name on it and a resulting anti-SLAPP lawsuit. Whether there will be… Read more »
Hellmuth need not risk a side bet For a guy who is retired from poker, Doug Polk certainly likes playing poker for tons of money. Then again, if I could beat the best poker players in the world and win millions of dollars in the process, I’d probably unretire briefly, too. And so Polk is… Read more »
If you have been around the world of poker for any length of time, you always wonder “whatever happened to” a few players. In the case of champion poker player Joanne “J. J.” Liu, it is something that sometimes pulls her away from the tables but still challenges her business sense. Liu, it seems, has… Read more »
2020 is pretty much a “lost year” in many aspects of life and sports. Major sports leagues did crown champions, but it just did not seem like those achievements were really earned. Poker had a similar situation, without any of the usual events associated with the game. Thus, it was announced recently that the Global… Read more »
All-in and a call Oftentimes when something amazing happens, someone responds to the excitement with the line, “Well, now I’ve seen it all.” Of course, we’ve never seen it all, since something else inevitably happens to elicit the same reaction. But over the weekend, something happened in a seemingly innocuous poker tournament that kind of… Read more »
Wolf in sheep’s clothing From the moment I let my kids start playing with tablets and smartphones, I required them to check with me before they downloaded an app. One is about to start high school and the other will be a teenager at the end of the year, so I have become much more… Read more »
