Bird on the Rail

Sure, we’ve all fantasized about living the life of a high-stakes poker pro at one time or another, but Daniel Negreanu is giving his fans a unique opportunity to realize that dream. "A Weekend with Daniel Negreanu" will give poker players a chance not only to experience the Las Vegas lifestyle, but to recieve intensive, one-on-one poker training from one of the worlds greatest players. After cruising over to Negreanu’s house in a Hummer stretch limo for a welcoming BBQ, attendees will stay in luxury at the Venetian, attend seminars on strategy, participate in live workshops with Negreanu at the poker tables, and enjoy a night on the town with him, including a private dinner and VIP table service at one of the Strip’s most exclusive clubs. The weekend takes place in August 8-10 and is limited to only 18 players. The price tag? Just a paltry $15,000.

A recent blind item in the New York Daily News alleged that a "well-known card player” was a client of Kristin Davis – not the Sex and the City actress, but the New York City madam who ran Wicked Models, a 1,600/hour escort service, and who was recently arrested on prostitution and money laundering charges. The unnamed pro supposedly spent in excess of $26,000 on eight "dates," some of them up to seven hours long, and was one of the agency’s biggest clients. Davis’s “black book" purportedly contains the names of several well-known athletes and politicians in addition to the unnamed poker player, but has yet to be leaked to the public. the Two Plus Two forums proceeded to explode at this news and speculation was rampant about who the "john" might be.

At the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Poker Stars unveiled the names of their two newest pros - Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown. Brown was BLUFF’s 2006 Player of the Year and finished runner-up to Paul Wasicka in the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Championship, while Griffin is the first player to capture what is now being referred to as poker's "Triple Crown,” with a WSOP bracelet, a WPT win and a EPT title. Over on Full Tilt, David “The Dragon” Pham is the latest pro to be added to their ever-growing roster. Pham is one of the most consistently successful tournament pros in the game, with over $7 million in lifetime winnings, two WSOP bracelets, and five WPT final table appearances.

According to numerous reports, Las Vegas’s legendary “Big Game,” played at $4,000/$8,000 limits at the Bellagio, is coming together much less frequently than it has in the past. Chip Reese’s untimely passing, Patrik Antonius’s move back to Europe, and Jennifer Harmans' new focus on raising her twin sons has all added up to more empty chairs in Bobby’s Room. Barry Greenstein recently lamented in his audio blog on Poker- Road about how the bigger limit games aren’t going nearly as much as they used to, often necessitating that he play in smaller games in California. However, as Doyle Brunson recently reported on his blog, a game was able to come together once they decided to drop the limits down to $1,500/$3,000. Big games are still aplenty online, though, and many of high-stakes poker’s regular cast of characters can still be found in the $1,000/$2,000 H.O.R.S.E. games on Full Tilt, including Harman, Antonius, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Eli Elezra.

On a skiing trip in Switzerland after playing the EPT Copenhagen, Sorel Mizzi made a prop bet with Roland de Wolfe after a very short snowboarding session left him more out of breath than he would have liked. Both men agreed to a 25,000 prop bet that required that they lose a specifi c amount of weight before the start of the World Series of Poker on May 30 – 16 kg (35.2 lbs) for DeWolfe and 12 kg (24.6 lbs) for Mizzi. The terms of the bet also include $1,000 penalties for consuming items on a list of forbidden foods that includes soda, hamburgers, and candy. Italy’s abundance of pizza restaurants made it diffi cult for Mizzi to stick to his play while playing the EPT San Remo, but despite accumulating several thousand in penalties for his diet violations, at press time, Mizzi is already halfway to his goal.

Patrik Antonius is sure to have a busy summer, not only with the WSOP, but with the sheer amount of side bets he’s involved in. According to Antonius, his various wagers include a $100,000 tennis match with Brandon Adams, a $200,000 tennis match with Gus Hansen, a team golf match with two Finnish pros for $200,000, and $500,000 heads-up Stud 8 or Better match/golf match with Daniel Negreanu. Not only that, Antonius and Doyle Brunson have fi nally agreed to terms for their much-ballyhooed series of heads-up matches covering ten different disciplines of poker. All that and an infant daughter at home (the positively adorable Mila). At least if he wins a few of these he can put her through college!