Venetian announces Deep Stack Extravaganza III

The Venetian Poker Room’s Deep Stack Extravaganza III, the tournament that was so successful when implemented a few years ago that just about every other poker room in the country copied its format, announced this summer's series, which will run six weeks or so, from June 1 through July 15.

While more information can be found online at http://venetian.com/Pages.aspx?id=2451, here's some information about the event:

Starting Chip Counts:
$225 NLH Shootout: $1,500, no additional chips available
$330 NLH and $550 PLO: $10,000, $2,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
$550 NLH and $1,070 NLH: $12,500, $2,500 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
$550 Omaha 8/B and $550 H.O.R.S.E: $8,000, $2,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
$1,590 and $2,000 NLH: $15,000, $5,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
$5,000 NLH Main Event: $20,000, $5,000 additional with optional $10 staff bonus
Super Satellite: $4,000, no additional chips

Table Count:

The Venetian Poker Room will expand to 89 tables to their growing player base.

Registration: Begins at 9 p.m. the day prior to of each event.

Event Start Times:

No-limit tournaments begin at 12 p.m. Omaha/8, HORSE. and PLO all start at 4 p.m.

Best Overall Points Winners:

One-half of one percent will be withheld from all Deep Stack III tournament prize pools for Best Overall Points Winners. Ten players will be awarded Best Overall Player prizes.

Accroding to Greg Raymer, Card Player Magazine Calls DoJ Bluff

According to Greg Raymer, the Department of Justice warned, then raided the offices of Card Player to seize documents as a bullying tactic.

While DoJ is generally successful where those accused wuss out, turn tail and run—or worse yet, legitimize DoJ’s bully tactics by agreeing to shakedown fines—Barry Shulman stood up to the schoolyard bully and the schoolyard tyrant simply slinked away.

In a National Review article, Raymer said:

“Card Player magazine is a perfect example. They were running ads for real money sites—when you see a TV commercial right now, it’s for sites that only give you access to play money games. Card Player magazine was still running commercials for sites that offered real-money poker games. The Department of Justice was threatening them, sending them letters, that if they didn’t cease and desist, arrests would follow. They then came in with warrants, searched the offices, seized documents, maintained copies of those documents to use in a prosecution. But they never sought an indictment.

“In my opinion, it’s because the Department of Justice knew that if they actually went to court with Card Player—and the Department of Justice knew they would fight, that they wouldn’t settle out of court—then they would have to live with whatever the judge said.”

US to negotiate online gaming trade infringements with European Union

According to a Reuters report released a few days ago, according to the European Union, a US Justice Department crackdown on European online gambling companies violates American commitments under the World Trade Organization.

The 27-nation European Union executive plans to seek a negotiated solution with the United States, rather than filing a complaint at the WTO.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), House Financial Services Committee Chairman, welcomes the EU finding and will introduce legislation after the congressional recess in early April to overturn the U.S. ban on Internet gambling.

"I'm struck by the people who think we have to abide absolutely and religiously by the WTO ... but when it comes to banning gambling and the WTO, they ignore it," Frank said.

"The report finds that U.S. laws on remote gambling and their enforcement against EU companies constitute a barrier to market access on EU economic interests," the EU said in a summary. "Furthermore, EU companies are discriminated against: U.S. companies are allowed to freely operate online gambling on horse racing in the U.S., while European companies and individuals cannot and even face legal action," the EU said.

DoJ and the US Trade Representative's office each plan to review the report and discuss it with the EU.
Small steps, to be sure, but they appear to be steps in the right direction. Let’s hope so.

Tom Dwan retakes lead in his challenge match against Patrik Antonius

The uber-stakes match online between Tom “durrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius revved up a bit as of late, and after seeing Antonius take a small lead, Dwan regained the momentum. But in a match where fewer than 7,000 hands have been played and 43,000 remain to be contested, this first Durrrr Challenge is still very much up for grabs.

Durr and Antonius are playing four tables simultaneously, and buying in with an average of about $50,000 per table—hardly chickenfeed by anyone’s standards, and this game is still in the early innings.

This match is likely to progress in spurts and stops, because each player has differing commitments and the match can only be played when both players’ schedules permit. So you’re likely to see weeks of pretty intense action and weeks where nothing at all transpires, and even when they are playing four tables simultaneously, it does take a while to reach 50,000 hands.

This match has generated an incredible amount of buzz, perhaps equaling Andy Beal’s match against a consortium of top Vegas pros. Maybe it will even wind up a thing of legend, right up there with the now mythic five-month event that forever linked poker and Las Vegas—the heads-up poker game played by Nick the Greek and Johnny Moss in the window of Binion’s way back in Las Vegas’ early days.

You can follow the match online at Full Tilt Poker, although there’s no real schedule and it’s catch as catch can as to when they’ll be playing next.

Huck Seed Wins National Heads-Up Championship

For all you college basketball junkies out there who read this blog—and that might be most of you—waiting with baited breath to fill out your brackets in hopes of predicting this year’s tournament winner, another bracket event concluded recently in Las Vegas. But the game was poker, not hoops, and Huck Seed—the only player to cash in all five NBC National Heads-Up Championships—defeated Vanessa Rousso in a best-of-three finals at Caesar's Palace.

Four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Seed earned $500,000 for his win after defeating six opponents over three days. He reached the final table by vanquishing Jonathan Little, Gus Hansen, Glen Chorny David Oppenheim and Sam Farha. Vanessa Rousso, his opponent in the finale, got there bested Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand Grospellier along her way to the finals.

When the competition was winnowed down to Seed and Russo, Seed took the first two matches of the best-of-three final to claim the title.

"This has always been one of my favorite tournaments of the year," said Seed, who participated and finished in the money in every heads-up event. "I've played well in the past, but things especially went my way this weekend and I was able to make a run all the way to the top."

Heads-Up was taped for broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays beginning April 12, with rebroadcasts on CNBC and Universal HD.

Seed has had a lot of ups and downs in his poker career since winning the WSOP’s main event and the then-astronomical sum of $1 million in 1996, so it’s nice to see him take down an event he’s always shown well in.
"Huck Seed showcased his tremendous skills by defeating the best group of participants we've ever had," said Jon Miller, Executive Vice President of NBC Sports. "We had a fantastic tournament. The response to this year's event has been tremendous and we look forward to many more years of this prestigious competition."

Celebrity participants, led by Don Cheadle and Brad Garrett, made some noise with upsets over some of poker's best players. Garrett advanced to the second round by defeating Annie Duke, while Don Cheadle reached day two of the tournament with a win over David Pham.

The single elimination format of NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship produces a top flight winner annually, and Huck Seed’s 2009 victory did nothing to dispel that reputation.

The final money finish positions are as follows:

Fifth Place - $75,000

David Williams (Hearts Bracket)

David Oppenheim (Diamonds Bracket)

Daniel Negreanu (Clubs Bracket)

Phil Hellmuth (Spades Bracket)

Third Place - $125,000

Bertrand Grospellier (Spades Bracket)

Sam Farha (Hearts Bracket)

Second Place - $250,000

Vanessa Rousso (Clubs Bracket)

First Place - $500,000

Huck Seed (Diamonds Bracket)