My friend Bobby Bracelet recently played in a soccer tournament to raise money for Peyton Novoa. Her mother Natasha died of a rare form of cancer earlier this year.
Bobby mentioned this tragic story to a few people such as Jason Kirk from Bluff Magazine. Jason then mentioned it to WPT Player of the Year Gavin Smith and ESPN writer Steve Rosenbloom.
Dr. Pauly
is live blogging this event from the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Go stop
by his poker blog Monday night for final table updates. You can also check
out his Day 5 coverage
from Sunday.
The legendary Puggy Pearson died on Wednesday. The
former World Series of Poker Champion was 77. Born Walter Clyde Pearson in rural Tennessee, he got his nickname after a
childhood accident disfigured his nose.
He dropped out of school in the 5th grade to help support his
family. He was a pool hustler for most of his later childhood. Puggy joined the Navy when he was 16. That's where he
learned how to play poker.
Puggy Pearson was one of the original seven men that Benny Binion invited to the
first WSOP. He won the Main Event in 1973 after he beat out Johnny Moss heads up.
In all, Puggy Pearson has
three bracelets in his collection. Puggy also gets credit for the concept of freeze-out poker tournaments.
Ultimate Bet is promoting a feud between Phil Hellmuth and Bill
Fillmaff. According to the press release I saw (thanks to AlCan'tHang), Hellmuth has had enough of Bill. He’s sick of
taking crap from the self-proclaimed poker guru, Bill Fillmaff.
Bill claims to be a better poker player than
Phil. Hellmuth shot back with, "This kid thinks he's a somebody? He's a nobody. This kid thinks he's better
than Hellmuth? He can't even spell Hellmuth." Classic Phil Hellmuth!
So what was Bill's retort to
Phil? He said, "I can spell Hellmuth . . . it's D-O-N-K-E-Y." Haha!!
Go check out this
UB link. They have some funny video footage of Hellmuth trying to rap! Hellmuth raps about
why you don't want to mess with him. I laughed pretty hard watching it!
In the last month, two major cheating scandals went down
and one involved well known internet pro Justin
Bonomo.
He had been playing multiple accounts on Party Poker and Poker Stars and was caught
shortly after the JJProdigy debacle.
It's been almost a month since Justin last posted something on his
journal. He addressed the entire scandal in a post Wednesday called I Screwed Up.
He attempted to apologize, but
still managed to get one last word in on how his actions were justified.
Bloggers have been talking about
this in various posts. Scurvy Dog at Sound of a Suckout, had a
great post where he offered up his opinion on the latest post from Justin.
Liz Lieu lost her chiplead, but she was one of 27 players who survived the
second day of play at the WPT Reno which is
being hosted at the Reno Hilton. Liz currently sits in 4th place with $335K.
Fabrice Soulier, Chau Giang, Barry Greenstein, Carl Olson, Carlos Mortensen, Pat Poels, Greg "FBT"
Mueller, and Dan Schmiech are all alive. Last year's champ Arnold Spee was eliminated on Day 2.
WSOP main event champion Carlos Mortensen is still in the hunt for his second WPT title. Barry Greenstein and
Chau Giang, who are regular players in the "Big Game" at the Bellagio are both still alive.
Don't forget to read Spaceman's coverage of the WPT Reno over at Bluff Magazine.
The lovely Liz Lieu is the chipleader at the WPT Reno after the
first day of action. She has over $117K.
Lady luck is with Liz especially after she cracked Chris Grigorian's pocket aces when she flopped a set of Jacks
late last night.
Defending Champ Arnold Spee has about 15K in chips at the start of Day 2. There were over 592 players who entered
the next to last stop on this season of the WPT and only 185 players made it to day two.
Noteworthy bustouts on the first day included Daniel Negreanu, The Grinder, Phil Ivey, and Erick Lindgren.
Stop by Bluff Magazine to
read updates from Spaceman who is on the scene.
Actor Don Cheadle won the Urban Health Institute charity poker tournament at the Playboy Mansion in Los
Angeles, CA last night.
Cheadle was one of the many celebrities on hand to help support UHI. Shannon
Elizabeth, Oliver Hudson, Tara Reid, Anthony Anderson, L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, N.Y. Yankees manager Joe Torre,
Morris Chestnut, and Kim Coles were among the celebrities in attendance.
There were many top pros at the
tournament too such as Gavin Smith, Daniel Negreanu, Mel Judah, Erick Lindgren, Cyndy Violette, Hoyt Corkins, Steve
Dannenmann, Josh Arieh, David Williams, Amir Vahedi, and Jean Robert Bellande.
Congrats to Gracie from Sheverb.com. She won the first
WPBT WSOP satellite on Paradise Poker this past Sunday. Great job Gracie!
There were 69 poker
bloggers who participated. Gracie beat the Surley Poker Gnome heads
up to win a seat to any $1,500 WSOP event at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas this year.
Gracie was really sick for
the entire tournament too. She played on a head full of NyQuil and still managed to get the victory!
All In Magazine recently launched their new web site. In a
press release discussing the launch, managing editor Eric Raskin mentioned poker bloggers. I thought that was cool of
him.
Day 4 of the LA Poker Classic starts later this afternoon. Actor James Woods is currently
16th in chips and there are only 27 players left. Jon Luu is the chipleader.
9:59pm... Recent Elimination: Fabrcie
Soulier, who entered today as the chipleader, was just eliminated in 46th place. He is the "Bubble Boy" or as
they say in France... garcon de bulle.
The winner of this installment of Dude of the
Week goes to a fellow poker blogger. Ryan from Absinthe's
Troubles gets the honor.
Ryan is a freelance writer from Los Angeles. We met in December at the poker
bloggers tournament at the Imperial Palace.
The first time I
actually met him, it was 4AM and he was playing blackjack! Well Ryan has been on a rush playing at the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino.
Nolan Dalla is being interviewed on Hold'em Radio this Thursday. It should be interesting so go check it out.
My friend Bobby Bracelet recently played in a soccer tournament to raise money for Peyton Novoa. Her mother Natasha died of a rare form of cancer earlier this year. 
The TV final table for the WPT Championships is set for Monday. James Van
Alstyne is the current chipleader. 
I saw this funny
article today about NBA basketball star Gilbert Arenas. Supposedly, he likes to play poker online.
The legendary Puggy Pearson died on Wednesday. The
former World Series of Poker Champion was 77. Born Walter Clyde Pearson in rural Tennessee, he got his nickname after a
childhood accident disfigured his nose. 
Ultimate Bet is promoting a feud between Phil Hellmuth and Bill
Fillmaff. According to the press release I saw (thanks to AlCan'tHang), Hellmuth has had enough of Bill. He’s sick of
taking crap from the self-proclaimed poker guru, Bill Fillmaff. 
In the last month, two major cheating scandals went down
and one involved well known internet pro Justin
Bonomo. 
Actor Don Cheadle won the Urban Health Institute charity poker tournament at the Playboy Mansion in Los
Angeles, CA last night. 
All In Magazine recently launched their new web site. In a
press release discussing the launch, managing editor Eric Raskin mentioned poker bloggers. I thought that was cool of
him.
Days 4 and 5 of the LA Poker Classic are over and the TV final table is set. JC Tran is the
chipleader with $3,720,000 in tournament chips.
Day 4 of the LA Poker Classic starts later this afternoon. Actor James Woods is currently
16th in chips and there are only 27 players left. Jon Luu is the chipleader. 
The winner of this installment of Dude of the
Week goes to a fellow poker blogger. Ryan from Absinthe's
Troubles gets the honor. 
