Loveable Rogues Poker

by Nolan Dalla

First published in Poker Player Newspaper

WSOP MILLIONAIRES CLUB

GOLD JAMIE $12,000,000.00

HACHEM JOSEPH $7,899,828.00

WASICKA PAUL $6,166,936.00

CUNNINGHAM ALLEN $5,999,187.00

RAYMER GREGORY $5,433,450.00

HELLMUTH PHIL JR $4,886,672.00

CLOUTIER T.J. $4,263,634.00

DANNENMANN STEVE $4,258,935.00

BINGER MICHAEL $4,224,880.00

WILLIAMS DAVID $3,933,654.00

CHAN JOHNNY $3,815,014.00

HARRINGTON DAN $3,494,513.00

BUTLER RHETT $3,216,182.00

ARIEH JOSH $3,193,395.00

FERGUSON CHRIS $3,139,982.00

SEIDEL ERIK $3,125,605.00

LEE RICHARD $2,803,851.00

IVEY PHIL $2,659,364.00

BRUNSON DOYLE $2,557,391.00

MONEYMAKER CHRIS $2,528,153.00

BARCH JOHN “TEX” $2,504,000.00

TOMKO DEWEY $2,503,828.00

KIM DOUG $2,400,800.00

REESE CHIP $2,273,500.00

MORTENSEN CARLOS $2,120,359.00

UNGAR STU $2,081,478.00

NGUYEN MEN “THE MASTER” $2,056,632.00

MATUSOW MIKE $2,050,728.00

SEED HUCK $2,036,300.00

VARKONYI ROBERT $2,000,000.00

KANTER AARON $2,000,000.00

FRIBERG ERIK $1,979,189.00

NGUYEN SCOTTY $1,975,922.00

JOHNSTON BERRY $1,931,667.00

FARHA SAM $1,912,770.00

CHIU DAVID $1,847,581.00

BECHTEL JIM $1,838,861.00

BLACK ANDREW $1,832,511.00

BONETTI JOHN $1,743,993.00

FLACK LAYNE $1,677,190.00

BRENES HUMBERTO $1,606,799.00

DASTMALCHI HAMID $1,600,700.00

KELLER JACK $1,593,645.00

NASSIF DANIEL $1,566,858.00

LAZAR SCOTT $1,507,893.00

HEIMOWITZ JAY $1,505,290.00

MADSEN JEFF $1,467,852.00

GARDNER JULIAN $1,451,200.00

LESTER JASON $1,323,977.00

CERNUTO “MIAMI” JOHN $1,309,349.00

KONDRACKI BRAD $1,300,000.00

WATKINSON LEE $1,271,010.00

CARTER BRENT $1,265,313.00

HAMILTON RUSS $1,261,940.00

MCEVOY TOM $1,257,879.00

JUANDA JOHN $1,245,838.00

JUDAH MEL $1,226,954.00

MATLOUBI MANSOUR $1,223,432.00

NEGREANU DANIEL $1,178,363.00

KRUX AL $1,165,573.00

GOLDBERG FRED $1,161,945.00

MAGILL JOHN $1,154,527.00

FORCE LEIF $1,154,527.00

DAUGHERTY BRAD $1,153,009.00

BERGSDORF DANIEL $1,150,000.00

BALAS ELI $1,148,041.00

HUGHES GLENN $1,144,270.00

BLOCH ANDY $1,119,860.00

APPLEMAN MICKEY $1,099,683.00

FURLONG NOEL $1,070,785.00

FORREST TED $1,053,284.00

MA HIEU “TONY” $1,046,977.00

ULLIOTT DAVID $1,036,036.00

WILLIAMSON III ROBERT $1,034,494.00

LEDERER HOWARD $1,030,018.00

GIANG CHAU $1,014,769.00

There are 76 official “WSOP Millionaires.”

by Tim Lavelli

First published in PokerNews

Directly in response to comments from WSOP 2006 participants, Harrah’s made some major adjustments in the tournament payout structure and the tournament blind and ante structure. The revised and ‘flattened’ payout structure is getting a lot of media coverage after a recent Harrah’s press release. Let’s look behind the changes to the reasons for the evolving WSOP structure.

Gone are the days when the Main Event winner will be splitting a $12 million dollar prize up among friends, family, backers and assorted litigators; while the bottom end 870-something finisher makes $4K on his or her $10K entry fee. Last year the $12M announcement was met by almost universal player response of: “Why so much?” and “Why not cap it at $10M and spread the wealth.” Well that is exactly what is going to happen this year.

Like so many good ideas, it takes action by a few individuals to start the wheels of change. After the 2006 Series, our sources tell us that Barry Greenstein sent a “revised” payout structure to the WSOP staff; this was basically Barry’s thoughtful response to the player reaction to the 2006 payout structure. His was the payout structure that became the template for this year’s Series. But change does not come with a single stroke of a pen and one payout structure does not work for the diversity of events that the 2007 WSOP offers. No, it took over 200 hours of work between WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel and Players Advisory Council members (with significant input from Howard Lederer) to create the series of five unique Payout Tables. Think you know your poker? Check out the Shootout Pay Table on worldseriesofpoker.com, and explain the gaps in the entrant numbers.

The changes in most events will result in smaller payouts on the top end of the tournament, basically the top 27 will receive less and the resulting increase in payouts in the bottom 90-95% of the pay structure. Last year’s $12M first prize in the Main Event would come down to around $10M under the new structure and the bottom end players would take home $20K instead of $14K. All of the 2007 WSOP events will change in a similar fashion. The changes do not add more players to the payout structure but simply more money to those who do burst the bubble at the low end of the pay scale.

Right along with the payout structure changes were the changes to the blind and ante structure for all events. As previously announced, every event in the 2007 WSOP will start with double the chips from last year. Gone are the days where one big hand in round one of a 1500 chips event made you an automatic short stack. Again, a lot of hard work and collaboration between Jack Effel, Howard Lederer and the WSOP staff has created a new set of tournament structures that will allow for more play.

This is not to say that the starting chips were doubled and the structure left unchanged. To quote Assistant WSOP Tournament Director, Jimmy Sommerfeld’s classic line: “At some point in the tournament you have to bust some players out.” But change in the blind and ante structure allows for at the very least 70% more play for the prudent, patient player until their Aces get cracked back-to-back. Tournament Structure sheets can also be found on worlderiesofpoker.com

by Haley Hintze

First published in PokerNews

 Here at Pokernews.com, we’re all about customer service. One of the current topics of confusion among U.S.-based poker players is not so much which online rooms are open to American players, but how one gets their bankroll funds onto and off of these sites. With that in mind, we’d like to run down the options at six sites, each of which continues to accept U.S. players. Options aren’t as widespread as they were a few months ago, but with the exception of one set-in-stone rule — “No Personal Checks!” — players still have ways of moving money into and out of poker accounts. In addition, another service, YouTeller, is reportedly on the horizon but is not yet available at any member site. Here’s the current status of our sponsoring sites:

Poker Stars: Poker Stars currently lists three main pipelines for U.S. poker players seeking to fund one’s bankroll. Poker Stars currently lists ePassporte as its online e-wallet service of choice, although establishing an ePassporte account is in itself a several-day process. ePassporte is a pre-paid and reloadable virtual Visa-branded online account, which functions in much the same method as other, previously popular e-wallet services. Since the account is essentially a virtual Visa card, fees are a bit higher then for e-wallet services that used to function more as online banking accounts.

Poker Stars also continues to accept Visa and Mastercard credit-card deposits, though U.S. players most often find that their own cards are blocked by the issuing banks for deposits to gambling sites. However, a minority of cards can still be used in this way. Poker Stars also accepts cashier’s checks, bank drafts and money orders, though the player must pre-arrange this form of ‘paper’ deposit to ensure that funds are accurately tracked and deposited into the user’s account.

As for withdrawals, U.S. players at Poker Stars can either pull back money into their ePassporte account, effectively reloading the virtual card, or then ask to receive checks directly from Stars’ well-established paper-check system. There is a $50 minimum on checks, effectively creating a current baseline for funding and maintaining a Stars account, and all checks of $1,000 and over are sent via courier instead of normal mail.

Full Tilt: Full Tilt’s new payment-processing options have been the subject of much recent hullabaloo, with the recent addition of Wire Card, only to be withdrawn almost immediately when the company changed its U.S. facing policy. Now, Full Tilt has brought on MyWebATM as a new way of both depositing to and withdrawing from one’s account. MyWebATM is a virtual account/debit-card service with physical debit cards also available, much as with other comprehensive e-wallet services. MyWebATM does charge a $3.95 monthly user fee and has smaller flat-rate fees attached to most types of transactions, so it’s less attractive to the once-in-a-blue-moon player.

MyWebATM joins both ePassporte and Click2Pay among the e-wallets still currently offering services between U.S. players and Full Tilt. Full Tilt also accepts credit-card deposits for those players able to use that method, and Full Tilt also accepts cash transfers through MoneyGram outlets, with this form of deposit needing to be pre-arranged through Full Tilt customer service.

At present, withdrawals in amounts under $300 must go into either a MyWebATM, ePassporte or Click2Pay account, meaning that small-bankroll players must register with one of these services. (Also, see the note on Click2Pay EFT minimums in the Bodog section, next.) For amounts of $300 and larger, Full Tilt does send out physical checks, although Full Tilt is currently difficulties in obtaining new check-processing services, resulting in unexpected delays. In any event, players must contact Full Tilt support before paper checks will be issued.

Bodog: Bodog continues to maintain a variety of funding channels, including credit cards (if usable for the purpose), Click2Pay, NUcharge, and direct money transfers. NUcharge is an online pre-paid “virtual” phone card service into which players can enroll, and NUcharge customers then buy units of time, much like the physical phone cards available everywhere. A player can use NUcharge minutes to make phone calls, or can in turn resell these minutes to Bodog for their cash equivalent, an indirect but effective method of funding one’s account.

Bodog has also now implemented a direct “Money Transfer Deposit” system, wherein players contact Bodog Customer Service directly to arrange the money transfer. As an added incentive, Bodog is currently picking up the transfer charges as well for deposits of $200 and higher. Players must contact Bodog Customer Service directly to arrange transfers.

Withdrawals from Bodog also remain possible. Players can still transfer from Bodog (or other online poker rooms) into Click2Pay, but Click2Pay itself no longer does smaller EFTs (Electronic File Transfers) to player accounts. Click2Pay’s EFT minimum was recently bumped to a hefty $1,500, as much to thin out the low-dollar traffic, it appears, as anything. However, Bodog will also do a direct money transfer for withdrawal purposes, again by pre-arranging the transfer through Bodog’s customer support. Bodog also sends out physical checks by priority post, though these checks do take a couple of weeks to process. Bodog was recently picking up the FedEx fees associated with larger withdrawals via check, but that arrangement may or may not be temporary, and should again be verified with Bodog support.

Ultimate Bet: Ultimate Bet continues to make use of existing channels such as Visa/MC deposits, Click2Pay and ePassporte (now likely the method most often used), and now also accepts deposits through Western Union money transfers, MoneyGrams, bank drafts and money orders, and wire transfers made directly from a user’s bank account. For each of these later methods, players need to contact Ultimate Bet support to set up or verify the information needed to ensure that the transfer goes into the account as intended.

Withdrawals from Ultimate Bet are currently done via check, or through an ePassporte account. Players with pre-existing Click2Pay accounts also have that option, though it is subject to the internal Click2Pay restrictions mentioned above. Checks have a $50 minimum, but are processed free by Ultimate Bet for a limited time. Players can also request a check to be sent by FedEx, though a $25 delivery fee applies, which is subtracted from the amount of the check.

Absolute Poker: Absolute Poker has also introduced a new payment system in the form of Add-Funds, which is similar to NUcharge (see Bodog), in that its units of value are long-distance phone-time minutes, rather than cash. As with NUcharge, a Add-Funds user finances his account by making a deposit from an existing credit or debit card, even of the “throwaway” variety. Add-Funds’ virtual cards are available in $100, $150, $200 and $300 denominations, and then this value in phone minutes can be deposited into an Absolute Poker account. Absolute instantly re-converts the phone minutes into their cash equivalent for the player’s use.

In addition, Absolute maintains other deposit options, such as credit cards, ePassporte (widely used) and even Click2Pay for preexisting account holders, and now also offers bank wire, bank draft and cashier’s check options. As with other sites, contacting Absolute’s customer service to ensure proper linkage between a player’s intended physical-check deposit and account is required.

Withdrawals from Absolute are currently being processed through ePassporte, Click2Pay (preexisting accounts only), or by paper checks, sent via regular mail. Withdrawals by check are free for a limited time.

Poker.com: Poker.com’s financing options remain limited at the moment, but they too are working to open new channels. Currently, Poker.com recommends using either Mastercard or Visa credit cards to fund one’s account. As noted above, however, most major U.S-issued MC/Visa cards cannot be used to move funds to online poker sites, and Poker.com is recommending making deposits by credit card into a Click2Pay account as an alternate route, despite the fact that only pre-existing customers can make use of that channel. As for withdrawals, Poker.com still uses Click2Pay, and has instituted a direct-check payout method with worldwide FedEx delivery for all non-Click2Pay customers, though there is a $28 fee attached to this withdrawal method, making it unattractive for small-bankroll uses. Expect more from Poker.com in the near future.

by Jennifer Matiran

First published in Poker Player Newspaper

Poor, poor Bob, to whom all bad things happen. His wife hates him; his children think he’s an idiot and his co-workers walk all over him like he’s part of the carpet. He spills hot coffee on his shirt every morning burning his white delicate skin and staining his already wrinkled shirt. Bob just kept telling his bad beat stories over and over again until it became the very fabric of his being. He seemed not to be a child of God anymore but of the beat. The bad beat. Triple “B” some called him.

Don’t be like Bad Beat Bob this New Year, basically he doesn’t know what he’s doing and when one doesn’t have enough knowledge they become a magnet to “bad beats.” Learn the game well and if you play well and lose, that’s just a part of gambling. Read everything you can get your hands on about poker, be a student of it and learn it classically first, then, you can get fancy about your play because you will know why you’re doing it. Research also helps you find out what “they” know…

Dr. Fink walked in the first day of film class and said I know the movies that are popular at the moment are unconventional and break all the rules. A movie like Pulp Fiction (which is a great film) breaks almost all the rules of dramatic structure…He continued expressing that the beginning works of Picasso were perfect life like, so mastered one felt like reaching into the painting to grab a piece of fruit from the bowl for example. Picasso’s pieces were so real that they looked like photographs. Pablo had mastered his art form, “classically.” It was later in Picasso’s life when he decided to put a nose on the forehead and an eye on the cheek…He did those things with purpose not just to be odd. He did them when he was a pro and knew ALL the rules and reasons. And until you learn the way it’s done classically, until you learn the rules you should not break them.

Rules like showing your cards (especially when you’ve bluffed your opponent), rules like chit-chatting too much at the table, rules like listening (this is to all the new players who listen to music instead of listening for table tells) rules like not calculating the pot odds and memorizing percentages, rules like strategic use of position, rules like being able to muck your Ace/Ten after the pot has been raised twice. There are so many rules that one needs to know before you can be a “bad ass” while playing cards and if you try to be a “bad ass” before you learn those rules you are just going to look like a dumb ass, pardon the language.

Happy New Year Everybody!!!… Turn it all around this year, God has and always will give you a second chance, call your parents you do not speak to (no one will ever call you a fool for doing that no matter what the outcome,) start exercising, slowly, walk around the block, I know a marathon runner who began by running to the first street light on his block, baby steps that’s key, donate money you will get it back tenfold, trust me that’s how it works, donate your time, go visit that elderly family friend that nobody ever goes to see, you’ll make her day, SMILE, you have a beautiful smile, LAUGH it’s contagious, it’s strengthens your immune system, finally put to rest that relationship you know is bad for you, don’t romanticize what you thought you had. And last but not least take time to be silent…

Deepak Chopra said something like this, that between each thought there is a silence before the next thought and it is in that silence that you can attract anything you desire by tapping into the infinite energy of the universe….Be still, slow down and take time for your spirit…See you next year…God bless you…It’s never too late, stay strong and may love penetrate all that you are…

“Let the rain come down and wash away my tears

Let it fill my soul and drown my fears

Let it shatter the walls for a new sun

A new day has…come.”

by Haley Hintze

First published in PokerNews

The extent to which the religious right usurped the American political process with its illicit passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [UIGEA] has had an unforeseen effect — the opening of a schism between fiscal and religious conservatives. One of the leading lights of conservative economic thought, George F. Will, has now checked in with his thoughts on the matter.

The Oct. 23 issue of Newsweek features Will’s eye-opening condemnation, entitled “Prohibition II: Good Grief.” In the piece, Will not only notes the rampant nanny-state religious paternalism that drives the act, but clarifies just how destructive the new act is likely to be, both monetarily and to the respect of government that defines American society. Will also examines why the UIGEA is going to make a lot of people rich, from hypocritical state governments and pari-mutuel industries who constructed walls protecting their own profits from the exact same gambling behavior, to the offshore businesses that will bill benefit as the online gambling industry reconfigures itself around the ban.

Will surely understands what the UIGEA’s authors are simply unable to comprehend; online gambling just isn’t going to go away, short-term triumph for the far right this measure seems to be. In reading, one senses that the billions in London Stock Exchange market equity laid waste by this bill’s signing are anathema to the thoughts of free-market capitalists, of whom Will is a champion.

And finally, Will, with his deep sense of historical perspective, points out just how un-American the UIGEA is. Will assails the government for “its mother-hen agenda of putting a saddle and bridle on the Internet,” just as he rails against the “the speech police [who] are itching to bring bloggers under campaign-finance laws that control the quantity, content and timing of political discourse.”

Will’s summation drives home the point that not only is the UIGEA wrong, it’s wrong by centuries: “Gambling is, however, as American as the Gold Rush or, for that matter, Wall Street. George Washington deplored the rampant gambling at Valley Forge, but lotteries helped fund his army as well as Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth. And Washington endorsed the lottery that helped fund construction of the city that now bears his name, and from which has come a stern—but interestingly selective—disapproval of gambling.”

Loveable Rogues Poker was abruptly closed by the network operator, Tribeca Tables, Ltd.  The reason for the closing was that Loveable Rogues Poker was not growing at a sufficiently rapid rate in the short 9 months that it has been open.  Loveable Rogues Poker was part of the DBPN (Doyle Brunson Poker Network).  During the past 9 months, Loveable Rogues Poker did not receive a single customer complaint.  Nor had Loveable Rogues Poker experienced any problems with the DBPN or any of the personnel of the DBPN. 

In fact, Loveable Rogues Poker was able to achieve an Alexa.com site ranking of 647,000 out of approximately 8 million sites that receive a ranking.  The remaining 70 million plus sites in the world rank lower than 8 million and receive no ranking.   Of the 60 poker rooms that comprise the Tribeca Tables poker network only 6 other poker rooms have a higher ranking.

Tribeca Tables, Ltd. provides the poker room operating software.  They have the poker room accounting, player registration, deposits and withdrawals handled by 3 “sub” networks.  The 3 “sub” networks are VC (Victor Chandler), DBPN (Doyle Brunson Poker Network), and Poker Blaster.  Approximately 60 poker rooms operate under one of the 3 “sub” networks.  28 of the 60 poker rooms on the Tribeca Tables network receive so little traffic to their sites that they do not earn an Alexa.com rating.

What this means is that choosing a poker room that is part of a network can potenially involve a hidden layer of risk.  It is not enough that the network has enough players at any given time to allow you to find your favorite game or tournament.  Nor does it matter that the poker room or “sub” network honors your deposits or withdrawals in a timely manner.  If the poker room that you enjoy playing at is not growing fast enough it may be abruptly closed.  Selecting a poker room to play at involves knowing whether the poker room is growing sufficiently, not just the size of the poker network.  The Alexa.com site rankings can help in that regard.  It is sad that a site such as Loveable Rogues Poker can achieve an Alexa.com ranking of 647,000 out of 70 plus million sites and still not be deemed to be growing fast enough .  If you do choose to play on a poker network it will help to check the poker rooms Alexa.com site ranking.  A ranking of 400,000 or less is recommended to lessen the risk that the site could be closed for insufficient growth.  In other words, select the poker network you play on very carefully.

First published in lasvegasvegas

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

 

No shortage of poker players at the 2006 WSOP main Event.
I’ve been spending my spare time researching facts and figures to provide a definitive answer to poker’s current position on the “wax and wane” scale of evolution. Although I have gone into this project with a clean sheet I definitely have some opinions based on my personal observations while making daily passes through most of the poker rooms in and around Las Vegas.

My personal data base of poker’s popularity or lack thereof, goes way back here in the Sin City. All the way back to the days of poker legend Johnny Moss managing a three table room at the old Dunes Casino when live poker was often one table set up in an out of the way corner where you could play nickel ante $1-$3 seven card stud. In fact, most Las Vegas casinos didn’t offer poker, even the home of the World Series of Poker, Binion’s Horseshoe, didn’t have a poker room. Temporary poker tables were set up once a year for a few days in the Spring for the annual WSOP tournament. Poker players were not considered good for the gambling business and a poker room would take away valuable floor space that could be put too much better use making buckets (literally) of money from slot machines.

Poker enjoyed some popularity after the colorful Amarillo Slim won the WSOP in 1972 and was on national TV as the charismatic spokesperson for the “newly rediscovered” parlor game. Vegas casinos built poker rooms and most of us old timers remember the days of the non stop action at the Stardust, Sahara, Riveria, or the downtown ‘Nugget. Poker really hit the big time when the Las Vegas Hilton built the first mega-sports and race book that included a twenty-eight table poker room that was the lap of luxury including a close-in parking lot and back entrance that guaranteed the place was always jumping. Then the accountants decided they should turn that convenient parking lot into an outdoor boxing arena and the poker room’s base of loyal poker players fled to the new poker room at the just opened Mirage where former WSOP Champion Bobbie Baldwin ran the show and provided players with the largest poker room in Nevada. He even insisted players be accorded the respect and comforts of any other of the resort’s guests.

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

Poker legend Amarillo Slim Preston, 1972 WSOP Main Event Champion playing in the 2004 WSOP Main Event.
Soon, the Hilton’s poker room was closed and dismantled. Hilton’s poker room became a couple of tables in the middle of the casino floor and live poker quietly disappeared from the property. The loss of the mighty and glamorous Hilton poker room was the beginning of a trend to close rooms and shut down live poker in favor of “Poker Machines.” I remember a slot manager telling a group of players that the new poker machines would replace the old, outdated live games. Yeah right…ever try bluffing a slot machine? Poker rooms closed all over town. The once great variety of places was no more and live poker went into a steep decline that lasted for years until TV and the Internet breathed some life into the time honored card game.

Today, rooms are coming online weekly and existing facilities are being expanded to accommodate the new generation of poker players. Tournament poker is not only one of the greatest draws in all of sports attracting a record 8,776 players for one single event, the Main Event of the WSOP but on any given night 50,000 players are filling 5,000 tables at just one online poker room, Party Poker. Can another decline come along to knock poker back down to a table in a back room with a few old guys trading nickels and dimes? Yes, it sure as hell can.

One major scandal will cut the legs from under the live poker and we will again see poker rooms morph into a bank of the more profitable slot machines. With US politicians trying their best to shut down Internet poker rooms we may also see the decline in the new breed of virtual poker players. Has the trend already begun? It would appear that cracks are forming in the both the live and Internet sector of the business. Two very prominent former online gambling site CEO’s are cooling their heels under house arrest here in the US while awaiting trials that can result in large fines and probable prison time for breaking US anti-computer gaming laws(?).

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

Jamie Gold, 2006 WSOP Champion.
On the live poker front the most prestigious poker tournament, the WSOP Main Event, was won by someone so marginal they can’t even collect their winnings. Jamie Gold seems to be made-to-order for the anti-poker crowd. Here’s a guy that continues to stick his foot into his always open mouth. Checking him out on the Internet I found the words most used to describe him were douche bag, egomaniac, liar, and the worst thing you can label a poker player…welcher. Now, the talk is whether he is a cheat and collected the top prize because he knowingly broke the rules. This could be the nucleation point for the crack that will once again place poker in the back room, way back.

by Earl Burton

First published in PokerNews

Harrah’s Entertainment, since the early 90’s, has regularly conducted surveys that attempt to quantify just what the typical American casino gambler is. In 2005 they conducted another one of these surveys and, on Monday, released their latest findings in a report entitled “Profile Of The American Casino Gambler”. Throughout the survey there were several interesting looks at gaming in the United States, where the people are coming from and the potential for growth in the poker world as well.

Perhaps one of the more striking things about the survey is that nearly one in four Americans has visited a casino in the United States. In 2005, 52.8 million persons over the age of twenty one went to some form of casino or card room at least once during the year, generating over 322 million trips in 2005. This breaks down to an average of over six trips per year between the respondents, who were spread fairly evenly across all financial and demographical ranges. Naturally, because of the proximity of Las Vegas and the wider availability of casinos in that region, people who live in the West were more likely to have visited a casino but residents of the Northeast weren’t far behind, more than likely because of the development of Indian casinos in that region.

Another interesting point in the survey is how much growth there still is regarding the world of poker. Slot machines and video poker by far dominated the rest of the offerings in the casino as seven of ten respondents said that is what they went to the casinos for and was their favorite type of gaming. This was a trend that was seen as well when the numbers were broken down by region, sex and different ages. Live poker, surprisingly, was well down the list of favorites, demonstrating that there is still a tremendous amount of growth available to the casino world of live poker.

Finally, and perhaps not surprisingly, when it came to the differences between gamblers and non-gamblers, the gamblers showed they were more daring than their non-gaming counterparts. They are the first to want to experience new things (restaurants, technology and such) and are also more optimistic about their financial futures, save more for the future and have retirement plans in place. In perhaps another non-surprising factor of the survey, non-gamblers feel that religion has more of a place in their lives than gamblers do.

Overall, the survey presents a fascinating look at the world of gaming and the people who make it up. I look at it as a clear signal that there is still much growth to the world of poker and there are also millions who haven’t found the excitement that a trip to a casino can have. For a full look at the report (which can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat), be sure to visit harrahs.com/harrahs-corporate/about-us-profile-of-gambler.html and draw your own conclusions.

July 18, 2006
by Amy Calistri

first published in Poker News

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 About half of the WSOP events have played to a bracelet, so I thought it was time to check in on the women at the WSOP. To date, no woman has won a bracelet in a 2006 open event, but there are definite silver linings for the gals.

Mary Jones of Henderson Nevada won the Ladies event bracelet against a record field of 1128 players in what turned out to be one of the most aggressive final table battles of the WSOP so far. The final table of the Seniors event found not one, but two, women vying for the bracelet with Clare Miller taking the jewelry and Judy Carlson scoring a fourth place finish.

Isabelle Mercier, Michele “The Black Widow” Lewis, and Vanessa Selbst have all made final tables in open events this year. And Marsha Waggoner had a final table appearance in the Casino Employees event. Jennifer Harman Traniello, Sarah Bliney aka “Aussie Sarah,” and Melissa Hayden just missed out on final tables, finishing 11th, 12th and 14th respectively in open events.

A few notables have made multiple WSOP money finishes this year. Kathy Liebert, JJ Lu, Mimi Tran, Cyndy Violette, Jennifer Harman, Sarah Bliney and Vanessa Rousso have all collected more than one 2006 WSOP paycheck.

Missing the cash out line so far is Annie Duke. Duke won a WSOP bracelet in the 2004 $2000 Omaha hi/lo event and made four money finishes in 2005, including a final table appearance in the $5000 Limit Hold’em event. In what has to be both assuring and frustrating, Duke has made it deep into almost every event she has played this year. One just has to believe it is a matter of time.

I’ve also noticed a few women have been getting in some time just down the street at the Orleans Open. Multiple bracelet holder and 1996 WSOP Championship final table participant Barbara Enright has had three final table appearances at the Orleans in the last couple of weeks. And the Orleans Open Ladies event was won by Razz bracelet holder and World Poker Tour announcer Linda Johnson.

There is still a lot of poker left in the 2006 WSOP and we’ll be tracking the women down the home stretch.