Random Thoughts

Wanna bet on the November Nine? Some sportsbooks have 21 year old online player Joe Cada, who is quite likely the 2nd best player at the table behind Ivey, at +1600 to win it all which barely gives him a premium beyond his chip stack relative to the total number of chips in play. The stacks at the final table are still very deep, so even a somewhat short-stacked Cada could still be a decent bet at odds as low as +1000. online poker 468x60 Poker fans might like to know that ESPN is launching a new poker production called The Inside Deal. The weekly 30-minute show will be available on their website. The first episode goes live on August 4th and will feature Chris Moneymaker. The PokerTek automated poker tables no longer monopolize the Excalibur poker room in Vegas. After just a four month trial period with the electronic, dealer-less tables, Excalibur exercised their right to terminate their agreement with PokerTek and have returned to using traditional tables. One might think this would have served as a nail in the coffin for PokerTek, but the company is still trading an at evaluation of $7 million. Rounders, by far the best poker movie ever created, came out a full five years before the poker boom. Since then, the poker industry has flourished to a size that dwarfs the days Rounders was made, and yet, there hasn't been another decent poker movie. What the hell, Hollywood? Is it really that hard to crank out a good poker movie every couple of years? It's easy! Here's an idea for a synopsis: a highly talented poker player can't keep a dollar in his pocket because of an addiction to hookers, so his bankroll-nit friend tries to intervene and bring about positive change in his friend's life. Not only does he fail, but after seeing his friend's lifestyle of hookers and high-end dining, he becomes a horrible junkie degenerate himself. After the two reach rock bottom, they're forced to combine their meager bankrolls which only amount to $2,000 and take a shot at getting back on top. See! I just pulled that out of my ass and it almost sounds like it could be a good movie... or at least a porno. So it's been almost three years now since the UIGEA was passed. Has anything actually happened with regards to repealing it or enforcing it? Nope. We'll check back in with you in another three years to talk about how still nothing has happened. What's the over/under on how much longer it takes a non-US facing online poker room to change their games from US Dollars to Euros? C'mon already... Did you know that the Lebanese Poker Open, a $10,000 buy-in, took place just a couple of weeks ago? That's right... gambling in Lebanon. Who knew?! When Michael Phelps participated in a paltry $1,000 buy-in poker tournament at Caesars Palace last fall (where he finished 9th), the poker world could have reasonably deduced that we'd see him participating in this year's WSOP, at least for the Main Event anyway, right? That would have been pretty huge for poker. However, when the WSOP rolled around... no Phelps. Last week, he lost his first major race in four years. Coincidence? Probably not. That's what you get for teasing us, Phelps. That's what you get...