Bird On The Rail
1. “__FullFlush1__” runs off mouth, accepts “durrrr” Challenge
One of the spicier additions to the high stakes games on Full Tilt Poker as of late has been Luke “__FullFlush1__” Schwartz, a UK pro who is never afraid to speak his mind, whether in the chat box during a cash game or in front of the cameras at the EPT Grand Final. After publicly nicknaming players like Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond and Tom “durrrr” Dwan as “OMGWeGeeks” and calling both Dwan and Di “Urindanger” Dang “gay” in an interview with PokerNews, Schwartz has now declared on his blog that he wants to accept the “durrrr” Challenge.
“I’m waiting to do the ‘durrrr’ challenge, but he’s still messing around with Patrik (Antonius). I played ten or twenty sessions with this guy on Full Tilt and we did 25,000 hands, so it doesn’t take much to do 50,000, but they’re taking ages. Probably drawing it out for publicity, or durrrr could be struggling for money. He’s like four million down for the year I reckon. I think I’m next on the waiting list, and if he actually manages to fi nish with Patrik and ever has the money to do it, then yeah, I’ll defi nitely play him. I’m up loads over him online, and am pretty good at four-tabling, so of course I’m not gonna say no to a 3:1 bet,” wrote Schwartz.
After winning over a million dollars in the highZZstakes NLHE and PLO games on Full Tilt earlier this year, Schwartz reportedly cashed out and had been absent from the tables there for some time. As of press time, however, Schwartz was back with a vengeance, trash talk and all, and is already up another $300,000.
2. Jamie Gold folds his hand with Aced Poker
Only two months ago we reported that Jamie Gold had signed a staggeringly lucrative deal with fl edgling online poker site Aced.com. Now it appears that this union has gone the way of most Hollywood marriages. Gold ended his relationship with Aced this month due to a number of issues including non-payment and a failure to make good on promises they made with regard to an advertising campaign. Gold is reported to be seeking compensation for expenses he incurred representing Aced at the 2009 Irish Open and at a poker event held in Los Angeles on Oscar night. This is the second spate of bad luck the 2006 WSOP champion has encountered when it comes to sponsorship. Bodog, the fi rst site Gold endorsed after his Main Event win, elected to discontinue the relationship with Gold in early 2007, citing their need to “cease offl ine marketing initiatives in the US” following the passage of the UIGEA.
3. Poker hits primetime with NBC’s Face the Ace
On Saturday, August 1st, poker will at last earn a primetime network television slot… well, at least for two weeks. Hosted by The Sopranos’ Steve Schrippa, Face the Ace will pit an amateur contestant against four different professional poker players for the chance to win a million dollars. At the start of each episode, the pros will be hidden behind opaque screens. The contestant will pick a screen, the player will be revealed, and the two will play each other heads up. If the contestant wins the match, he or she will have the opportunity to either keep the winnings or take a shot at another pro for an even greater sum. Winning three matches in a row earns the lucky amateur a million dollars, but should they lose one along the way, they leave with nothing, much like contestants on Who Wants to be a Millionaire who answer a question incorrectly. Face the Ace will tape in Las Vegas and air on NBC at 9pm on Saturdays for two weeks before moving to an afternoon time slot.
4. Who’s got sponsorship now?
This month, Poker Stars signed Leo Fernandez and Maria “maridu” Mayrinck as the 34th and 35th members of Team Poker- Stars Pro as they continue to expand in the Latin American market. Fernandez, a former chess champion, recently made the fi nal table of the LAPT Grand Final in his home country of Argentina while Rio de Janiero native Mayrinck is now living the dream as a professional player after getting her start writing for PokerStars’ Brazilian blog. She splits her time between Brazil and Austin, TX where she lives with her boyfriend Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet and Stevie “stevie444” Chidwick (if that’s not a sitcom waiting to happen, I don’t know what is). Over at Full Tilt Poker, they have brought four-time WSOP bracelet winner Artie Cobb into the fold along with Mike “Timex” McDonald and Haseeb “INTERNET POKERS” Qureshi. Additionally, McDonald and Qureshi will be teaching and posting instructional videos on the Full Tilt-owned training site CardRunners.com.
5. Prop bet of the month: the one-mile run
After dropping a reported $55,000 in a cash game, Huckleberry Seed and Joe Cassidy offered Jean-Robert Bellande a $5,000 freeroll if he could run one mile in under nine minutes. Bellande, who has admitted publicly to busting his entire bankroll despite all of his Five-card Omaha shenanigans, immediately took them up on the offer and the trio headed to the track. Though Bellande managed to run the fi rst three quarter-mile laps in seven minutes, he was unable to fi nish. “My fat ass could not even do a 9 min mile. Pathetic! I need to change this. Current BR=$800,” Bellande wrote on his Twitter page. Seed subsequently bet Cassidy $5,000 that he couldn’t run a mile in 7:45. Cassidy took him up on it, but ended up missing the mark by less than one second.
In other Huck Seed news, he currently has action pending on a three-year long weight bet where the 6’6” pro must stay under 185 pounds for a period of 36 months. Seed is weighed twice per month at random times and for every month he remains under 185, he collects $10,000. That’s a potential $360,000 haul should Seed make it the whole way.
6. Clonie Gowen’s lawsuit against Full Tilt (mostly) dismissed
At a hearing on April 27th in US District Court in Nevada, the majority of Clonie Gowen’s breach-of-contract lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker was dismissed. Gowen’s claims against the members of Team Full Tilt (including Jennifer Harman, Andy Bloch, Patrik Antonius, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson) were dismissed with prejudice, meaning that Gowen cannot re-fi le a case against them. Also off the hook are a few other entities in the Full Tilt universe including the corporations Pocket Kings Ltd. and Pocket Kings Consulting. However, the claims against Tiltware LLC (the company that provides Full Tilt’s software), Tiltware owner Ray Bitar, and former Full Tilt President Howard Lederer were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Gowen could go after them again. Indeed, the following day, Gowen’s attorneys fi led what was essentially an appeal of the court’s decision to dismiss the case. In her suit, Gowen is seeking a one percent stake in Full Tilt Poker, which she alleges was promised to her in 2004 in exchange for promoting the site as a member of Team Full Tilt. Her attorneys value that stake at $40 million.
