Bird on the Rail

After increasing popularity in the United States, ThePokerAtlas.com expands its card room reviews to the UK and Europe. Now you can get maps, poker room information, reviews and more in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, Spain, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, with Eastern Europe soon to follow. Individual opinions of poker rooms are encouraged. If you’re planning a trip across the pond, check in here to scout out destinations before you hit the road.

Every year there are sports books that allow you to make prop bets on the World Series of Poker. Get as silly as you want. At the Bodog.com Sportsbook you’ll find Main Event last-longer bets, like: Which of the following former Main Event Champions will last longer in the 2007 $10,000 buy-in Main Event? Joe Hachem got 4/1 odds while Chris Moneymaker only has 11/1. They also pitted families against each other. Which family pair will have the most winnings at the Main Event? Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok were the favorites with 3/2, with Barry and Jeff Shulman having the worst odds at 4/1.

Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Erick Lindgren, and Shawn Sheikhan will star in a six-webisode show this summer on RawVegas.tv. See your heroes off the felt and on the greens at Bear’s Best Golf Course. High Stakes Golf aims to capture the world’s most high stakes gamblers doing what they do every day: wagering a ton of money playing golf. Tens of thousands of dollars are bet while imbibing adult beverages and talking trash. As the game progresses, see how much Gavin has riding on the final hole.

The 2007 World Series of Poker might not be making history with recordbreaking entries to the Main Event, but they are still making history. This will be the first year that the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker will be seen in high definition. Thanks to ESPN, we will be cheering on final table players by the number of pockmarks and blemishes we can see on their faces. It’s clear that a win from Phil Ivey or some Swedish online player would be better for TV ratings than Chris Ferguson or Paul Magriel; but as we know, this is a game of skill, not looks. ESPN has planned 32 hours of coverage in the upgraded high-def, but the shots of hole cards will not be included in this upgrade.

While newbie poker players try to decide which book to read first, Anthony Holden’s Big Deal or Bigger Deal, there are two other books that veterans are talking about: The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide and Play Poker Like a Pigeon. In the former, members of the Full Tilt team offer instruction and insight on how to play winning poker. Howard Lederer talks about poker theory while Gavin Smith shares tips on big stack bullying and Andy Bloch teaches pre-flop play. In the latter book, an anonymous pro with a 30-year history at the tables boldly suggests that long-term limit play is your best chance at being a profitable player. His strong opinions have poker players heating up the forum boards.

As poker continues to sweep the globe, serious players can keep their eyes out for new tournaments to pop up throughout the year. Full Tilt Poker is hosting the Moscow Millions in Russia from October 20th - October 22nd, 2007. The World Poker Tour is taking its first stab at Spain with a tournament in Barcelona, also in October. If those two aren’t enough, Harrah’s is bringing you the World Series of Poker, Europe. The WSOP Europe Main Event carries a hefty price tag ($20,000 US buy-in), and is expected to draw huge numbers. The “series” of three events begins September 6th in London.

The poker world has been talking for some time about the massive potential for poker in Asia both online and offline. We hear that the three poker “tour” entities in the industry are in a race to be the first to host televised poker events in the Asian market. The World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker Circuit, and the soon-to-be-announced Asian Poker Tour (APT), sister tour of the EPT (European Poker Tour), are all scouring Asia searching for locations appropriate for a big time poker tournament. Some tournaments have already been played in Asia, including an event in Singapore last year sponsored by UK bookmaker Betfair. But, the big dogs have their eye on the East, and it’s only a matter of time until you are watching a poker tournament filmed in Asia.

Don’t stay up too late Friday nights. Daniel Negreanu is going to be doing three voices for Disney’s animated children’s show, The Replacements. So far we don’t know which characters he’ll be, but that just makes it all the more fun to guess. The Replacements come on at 8:30 a.m. PST on ABC’s “One Saturday Morning.” The show is about two kids in middle school who can replace any adult in their lives by calling the Fleemco Company in Canton, Ohio. I bet Kid Poker wishes he could do that at the tables.