Bird on the Rail

The World Poker Tour made an interesting scheduling decision when they announced that one of their newest events, Bellagio Cup III, will take place during the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. The $10,000 event will start on July 10, which gives WSOP Main Event bust-outs just enough time to cross the freeway and get set up at the Bellagio. It seems like a clear attempt to capitalize on the number of pro poker players already in Las Vegas, but at the same time, it could easily backfire. In addition, rumor has it that there will be another $10,000 event somewhere in the U.S. to take place at the same time as Harrah’s £10,000 buy-in European WSOP this September in London. (At time of print, that £10,000 converted to US$19,972.79.)

Take us out to the poker tour… now there’s a new AAA Minor League for tournament poker players. The Amateur Poker Tour (APT) will fill the gap between home games, tavern tournaments, playing online, and the big leagues of the WSOP, WPT, or EPT. The APT was founded by attorney Michael Rome, who writes the “Amateur’s Mind” column for Bluff, and Mitch Jones, who is a longtime poker organizer and business entrepreneur. Rome and Jones saw a strong demand for low entry-fee tournaments that still give the players a large amount of chips and long blind levels. In addition, amateur players will not have to compete against seasoned professionals. Professionals have the PPT and amateurs will have the APT. For more information go to: www.amateurpokertour. info

In the wake of the recently passed Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, many of the more prominent online poker rooms stopped taking U.S. players and essentially abandoned the market. In some cases, the dropping of U.S. players cut revenues 80 percent, while other rooms simply went out of business. The rumor is that some of the online poker rooms that abandoned the market may be coming back into the U.S., despite the signing into law of the UIGEA — and some of them in a big way. A number of the rooms that chose to remain in the U.S. despite the law have reaped huge rewards, while not having their business significantly altered. It could be a very interesting summer and fall in the online poker world.

Trolling the message boards finds Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf and Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh a hot item. While some might be taking bets as to whether the couple will last until this issue gets to print, their love gossip is still a breath of fresh air compared to downer UIGEA talk. Speaking of romance… does the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Jeff Madsen have a girlfriend? He was seen earlier this year at the Bellagio spending time with The Real World’s Trishelle. This is one relationship to encourage as I expect many poker players would like Jeff to be heavily distracted during this year’s WSOP.

Rumors are circulating about Mike Matusow’s forthcoming TV appearances. And we’re not talking about High Stakes Poker. “The Mouth” is supposedly going to be on a future show with life strategist Dr. Phil McGrath. Apparently Mike wants to be on the show. The question is… for what disorder? There are also whispers that poker’s best-loved loudmouth might be going on a date with Kathy Griffin for her TV show. Would that be on Bravo’s The D-List or her new show Everybody Can Suck It?

RawVegas.TV, best known for their Prop Bet videos between Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok, will be rocking the WSOP this summer with their usual Sin City flair. Keep your eyes out for their Bad Beat Confessional Booth, vlogs from poker pros, and a show with WSOP dealers discussing hands from the day. Catch it on www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Annie Duke has been writing regularly on her online journal at AnnieDuke.com. Get her take on American Idol and why she cheered on Sanjaya, find out why she’s still not playing any WPT events, and follow her to charity tournaments around the country. Annie’s journal gives the inside scoop on everything from parenting to going to the movies with Joe. It even seems that The Duchess of Poker is writing another book. Stay tuned for whom she’ll sell it to and when her fans can see it on bookstore shelves.

You’re here, you made it to the World Series. Now what? You’re familiar with most of the big-name pros and know who to watch out for. Well, here are five players who have been heating up the leaderboards. Pay close attention to them if you wind up at the same table. Don’t worry so much about Phil Ivey; he’s announced that he’ll only be playing the Main Event and the $50k H.O.R.S.E. event.

JC Tran: Tran is in the top five for Player of the Year, and winning WPT tournament events right and left. His biggest money score this year was coming in 2nd at the LA Poker Classic for $1,177,010. He’s well over two million for this year and we’re not even at the halfway mark.

Gavin Griffin: Easy to spot with pink hair. Griffin just took the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for $2,429,103. He also did well placing 3rd at the Harrah’s Rincon WSOP Circuit event.

Jared Hamby: Hamby is playing solid poker right now with two first-place finishes at the 5th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic and a final table in the LA Poker Classic.

Carlos Mortensen: No stranger to the poker world, the 2001 WSOP champ has been playing strong. He went deep in the EPT Grand Final at Monte Carlo as well as in the WPT World Championship.

Roland de Wolfe: Don’t curse him with the nickname Final Table, but de Wolfe has been on a roll. His biggest cash this year was $433,773 for 2nd place in the Irish Open.