Carteret police make illegal gambling bust ***
From Early April ***

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Carteret police make illegal gambling bust
April 11, 2008 - 12:29AM
Jannette Pippin
DAILY NEWS STAFF

MOREHEAD CITY - Five Carteret County residents have been cited on misdemeanor charges after police uncovered an alleged gambling operation at the site of a Morehead City business.

Police seized approximately $7,000 from the individuals as well as a poker table, chips and cards, and ledgers that indicated there was more than a friendly game of poker going on, said Morehead City Police Department Maj. Richard Abell.

"This had been going on for some time," he said. "We seized ledgers indicating names and either money won or monies owed."

A poker game was under way Wednesday when authorities conducted a search at O'Malley's Pub and Grill on Arendell Street in Morehead City, Abell said. The alleged gambling operation was going on in a building detached from the main restaurant and used by the business for storage, he said.

Abell said the gambling operation was uncovered during a separate investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the two agencies conducted a search of the business at the same time.

Public affairs officials at Cherry Point Air Station confirmed the search Wednesday was related to an investigation of a worker's compensation matter.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information can be released, 1st Lt. Ryan Powell said.

Abell said each of the five men playing poker at the time had money on them. Each was cited by Morehead City Police Department with a misdemeanor charge for gambling by playing or betting on a game of chance.

According to police the following individuals received citations and will have to appear in court on the charges: David Reid Rickman, 68, of Emerald Isle; John Eric Main, 62, of Morehead City; Joseph William Giffin, 48, of Newport; Luke Bradshaw Midgett Jr., 70 of Beaufort; and John Francis McGuire, 83, of Morehead City.

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Woman Charged with Operating Poker Machines ***
Davidson County ***

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Woman charged with operating poker machines
Thursday, May. 1, 2008 10:21 am

A 56-year-old woman was arrested on charges of illegally operating poker machines at a business in Clemmons following a two-month undercover operation, the sheriff's office said today.

Pamela Marguerite Dana's unsecured bond was set at $1,000, according to the Davidson County Sheriffs Office.

The sheriffs office said investigators discovered that Logo's and More at 8527 North N.C. 150, Suite A, was a business front for an illegal gambling operation.

Four poker machines and $2,080 were also seized

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Confirmed: Harrahs Announces 16-Week Gap of the
Main Event Final Table.

Press Conference Confirms Main Event Will Be Delayed.In a story that had been nothing but speculation for the past several weeks, Harrah's finally confirmed earlier today that the WSOP Main Event final table will indeed be delayed until November, 2008. USA Today initially broke the story yesterday, but it had ...

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Latin American Poker Tour Kicks Off Tomorrow in
Rio de Janeiro

Costa Rican poker pro Humberto Brenes will be in Rio de Janeiro for the start of the Latin American Poker Tour. (Bodog Beat Image)The Latin American Poker Tour is brand new, this will be its first year. So, let's assume that every time we mention the name of the tour ...

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io-de-janeiro-32195.html

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Exclusive Weekend Poker Tournaments

During this long bank holiday weekend, 32Red Poker is holding a series of exclusive tournaments. Players can dip into their RedBack (32Red Poker’s loyalty points system) reserves to gain entry to these impressive top-dollar tournaments. New players needn’t worry though - they can buy-in through a nominal fee and battle [...]

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LAPT Rio: The storm before the bigger storm

In journalism, as in life, you learn the importance of looking deeper than first impressions: don't judge a book by its cover, report only when the whole story is known, looked at from every angle. Yet while following the various poker tours around the major venues of the world, the chance to become acquainted with the intricacies of a city rarely presents itself, and the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel often provides not only the first, but the only impression of what makes a place tick.

The writers of PokerStars blog, myself included, have therefore made it our business to buckle our noses onto the inside of these grimy cabs' windows, and to frantically observe whatever goes by outside on our trip to the casino or hotel, lest we never get another chance. And it's amazing how much you can actually notice when you're really looking -- ask any poker player seeking tells from his/her opponents, and they'll confirm that all you have to do is watch.

In Dublin, you see a lot of Guinness signs; in Copenhagen, there's usually a lot of snow. In Vegas, the cab is drawn moth-like to the shimmering of the Strip; in Monte Carlo, the cab itself is a helicopter, which tells you all you need to know.

Yesterday, I developed my first impressions of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the back seat of a cab driven with typical breakneck haste from the north east of the city to the Intercontinental Hotel, pictured above, in the south west.

Any post-flight grogginess soon lifted.

By the time I made it to my room, my notebook included a number of angular scribbles, each one representing a sharp swerve to avoid what seemed to be certain death. It also included a list of words and fragments, which hang loosely together as an indication of the coreless enigma of Rio, a city like no other this visitor has seen.

There was "mountains" and "rain-forest" prompted by the series of enormous rocks thrusting skyward, surrounded by a dense canopy of dark green. There was the word "Jesus" referring not necessarily to the writer's state of panic, rather the domineering figure of Christ the Redeemer, casting his shadow and blessings across the entire sprawl.

Several times, I had written "soccer" and then "Thursday morning soccer", referring to what seemed to be organised matches played midweek, before midday, by budding Ronalhinhos, Ronaldos and Peles, on pitches scattered between roads and houses, whereever there was a space.

More than once, the road plunged into black tunnels, burrowing through the mountains, emerging in a separate neighbourhood, with a distinct life of its own. There are pretty girls and there are peasants, stepping out of beachside bars and the favellas, the Girl from Ipanema and the kids from City of God. There are high-rise tower blocks and vast tangles of slums; there are paragliders leaping off cliffs, and the beatiful people stretched out beside five-star pools.

Then, of course, there are the beaches: Copacabana and Ipanema for those hoping to namedrop; the quieter stretches heading towards Barra de Tijuca and the National Park for those seeking serenity amid the chaos. On each, the breakers are crashing in, strong enough to shatter the silence and the coconuts sold by the beach traders.

Tonight, we'll be making some waves of our own as PokerStars welcomes the players of this, the inaugural LAPT event, in time-honored fashion: a lavish party with dancing girls, fire-eaters, food and drink.

Then tomorrow, action shifts to the conference centre, where we'll all lie in wait for the first shuffle and the first deal, the first clash of World Champions and, inevitably, the first bad beat, pump of fist, howl of injustice, amid the clattering of chips.

It'll all be translated here in words, pictures and video. Rio is already hectic, but it will only grow even more so over the coming few days.

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Bodog Poker Giving Players their Best Shot at a
WSOP Main Event Seat

Bodog Poker is guaranteeing six seats to the Main Event every week including giving away two $12,000 Prize Packages in every Sunday Main Event Semifinal. (Bodog Beat Image)It is no secret that Bodog offers online poker players the best value for their tournament dollars with its generous overlays, and its ...

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Poker Pro Allen Cunningham Wins WSOP Circuit
Event

Poker pro Allen Cunningham took down the WSOP Circuit event last night at Caesars Palace. (Image from Flickr user "tiltphotos")There's a reason that poker pro Allen Cunningham has five WSOP bracelets to his name. It's because he's good; really, really good. And last night at the Caesars Palace WSOP Circuit ...

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Rethinking the WSOP Delayed Final Table

When I first heard that the WSOP final table would be delayed months until November, I was shocked. The plan called for the tournament's main event to run down to 9 players, at which point, the tournament would be placed on hiatus for three months while ESPN plays the 2008 WSOP. Once November rolls around, the final table is played over three days and displayed on TV a mere day or so later.

My original thought was that Harrahs had fucked up again. It seems like every year there is some very legitimate (and many less legitimate) reasons to complain about Harrahs' (mis-)management of the WSOP, but now that I have had some time to think it over, I've come to a new conclusion. The three month break may be the best thing to happen to players since televised poker.

Let's start with the negative aspects of the delay. First and foremost, if I were a player, I would be righteously pissed if I get to the final table in a several-week-long event only to be told that, hey, we're going to stop right here and pick this up in three months. A lot can happen in three months. A player could go on a losing streak or any number of things can happen in a player's personal life (family/relationship trouble, health complications, etc.) in that three month interim that could replace their temperment from confident (when they made the final table) to tilty. The pressure alone of waiting three months for some players will play emotional and mental havoc.

The darker side of poker cannot be denied either. In that interim, players can work out complex systems to collude. If you have less than a day between reaching 9 players and the final table, only so much can be done. Give crafty players with millions at stake three months, and not only can devious plans be prepared; they can also be practiced to perfection.

There are other potential problems as well, like what happens if a player dies in the interim. Does that player suddenly automatically get 9th place? That possibility is not so small. Give many people $1 million plus and their lives can devolve into something out of the movie Caligula. How about people selling thier action? Alone this is not problematic, but it does interrupt the natural progression of the game. Will unknown players have an advantage since they may be able to "scout" tapes of famous players in action?

But for all of those negatives, Harrahs has rightly pointed out one positive that beats them all: MONEY!

Make no doubt about it, poker is first and foremost about money. One of the biggest issues I personally have with the television coverage of poker events is the fact that the players are not compensated for thier appearances. Worse, the players actually pay to play and therefore are paying to be filmed and have their likeness used. I don't know much about the world of sports broadcasting, but I can be fairly confident that in one way or another, players in other televised competitions (I will avoid calling poker a "sport," since that's a whole other conversation) get paid. Certainly, I cannot think of any event where people pay to participate and be filmed for public consumption. Add to this the fact that the casino fees are only getting higher relative to the buy-in, and you have casinos and broadcasters squeezing the players.

It's very similar to the issue with the WPT releases. Players had to sign over all rights without any compensation. Sure, they are getting the chance to win some money, but if the broadcasters weren't there and the tournament was, that same money would be available. Arguably, TV made poker the legitimate passtime it (somewhat) is today, so this was all written off as necessary and even beneficial to the players. More legitimate, mainstream poker means more players, more fish, and bigger prize pools. But players were definitely signing over unlimited rights for free, and players were not benefiting in any way from the television coverage. If anything, the popularity allowed casinos to raise the buy-in fees, so any bump in the amount of fish was outweighed by the increased fees and the intangible cost of one's image.

How does the WSOP's delayed final table change this? Sponsorship. Give players three months, during which they will have the usual media coverage, and those players have an opportunity to work out sponsorship deals beyond the usual FT or Pokerstars logo shirt. The WSOP has set out definitive guidelines on sponsorships, but overall, they are very reasonable and player-friendly. Players can have an unlimited number of logos on their shirts, provided that they do not have two from the same company. Most likely, any deals made will include an incentive for players to remain in the tournament. The deeper a player goes, the longer Milwaukee Beast will have their logo on TV if they choose to sponsor the player. This likely built-in sponsorship incentive finally puts money back into the pockets of the players instead of the broadcasters or casinos. It also creates an incentive for every player to play their best, although arguably, the collusion issue still exists.

There are a couple of other minor benefits to the delay that I will just mention in passing. For one, I can actually avoid finding out who won until I see it on television, something that was impossible in previous years. I'm also very interested in the coverage the WSOP/ESPN will be providing regarding the players' 3 month layoff. What does a poker player do in preparation of one of the biggest final tables ever, and how do different players react differently? Maybe it is the reality TV junkie in me, but I can see this making for some interesting stories.

I should probably throw out a quick thanks to Matt Clark, a PR guy for PokerStars, for sending me a bunch of quotes from the Team PokerStar Pros. Since I didn't find a way to cram them into my running stream of conscious commentary, I'll leave them for you in their entirety after my signature sign off.

Tonight, I rest up in anticipation of the NYC Amazing Race game I am participating in tomorrow night. And if I'm feeling frisky, I may even bust out the ole Visa card and deposit some money online for some donktastic poker.

Until next time, make mine poker!

?I have never heard of a tournament being interrupted for that long before. I do not think it?s good for the sport to make a final table 3 months later. As a player you are in a special mood during a tourney and any break or interruption is bad for the game. It would feel like a new tourney.?

- Katja Thater, Team PokerStars Pro

?I feel it's a big tease to people who want to wake up the next day and win the big bucks. I mean what this infers is that people have to play six to seven days straight just to wait three months before they can seal the deal. I think that is this idea is fresh, but needs some more adjusting and review among the poker consensus.?

- Hevad Khan, Team PokerStars Pro

?I think it?s a phenomenal idea. People think poker is about luck and being hot or cold, but it?s not. A good poker player should be able to play at anytime of the year. Good poker players don't rely on hot cards or their opponents being on tilt. This is a great thing for pros and poker.?

- Victor Ramdin, Team PokerStars Pro

?It is difficult to say how it would impact attendance. If players have to leave for several weeks and then come back just for the main event, I think it would reduce attendance. As to scheduling the final table in November, that would be a very interesting and exciting thing to do and I would favor it.?

- Tom McEvoy, Team PokerStars Pro, 1983 WSOP ME Champion

?Besides, the excitement of the WSOP is all about the clock ticking down, the blinds going up and the field gradually reducing from thousands to hundreds to dozens to one world champion! If the whole thing was put on pause until November, all that tension and excitement would be dissipated for spectators and fans. Personally, when November comes round, I'm all excited about the new EPT season and I don't care about the WSOP any more until the following year.?

- Victoria Coren, Team PokerStars Pro

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Allen Cunningham Wins WSOPC at Caesars Palace

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com Allen Cunningham (r) on his way to the 2008 Caesars Palace WSOPC ChampionshipAllen Cunningham began the heads-up play at the final table of the 2008 WSOP Circuit $5,000 Championship as a 4 to 1 chip dog. The[...]

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