Shari Geller

WSOP PRESS RELEASE
 
"Las Vegas (July 3, 2012)  Antonio Esfandiari earned a place in the record books tonight by outlasting a field of multi-millionaires and billionaires to earn the richest payday in poker tournament history. Esfandiari, a 33-year-old poker pro and magician from Las Vegas, put up a cool $1 million to enter the BIG ONE for ONE DROP and walked away with a massive return on his investment: $18,346,673 million.
 
A total of 48 participants from around the world competed in the three-day event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Esfandiari’s first-place prize in the unprecedented $1 million buy-in event eclipsed the previous record for the largest single payout in poker tournament history: Jamie Gold’s $12 million win at the 2006 WSOP Main Event.
 

On Sunday, the World Series of Poker saw history being made as the largest single day buy-in tournament got underway.  The beginning of the $1 million buy-in Big One for Big Drop saw 48 players spread out over six tables each vying for the biggest prize in poker history - the first prize of $18,346,673.

At the end of the day, there were 37 players moving on to Day 2.  Of the 11 eliminations, 9 of them were poker professionals.  Justin Smith became the first player eliminated, followed by Andrew Robl, Jens Kyllonen, Jonathan Duhamel, early-in-the-day chipleader Paul Phua, Erik Seidel, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Nick Schulman, Eugene Katchalov, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and, suffering the last elimination of the night on the last hand, Giovanni “Malibu” Guarascio.

by Shari Geller

 How many times have you thought that this game would be a lot easier if you knew what your opponent had? But without flashing his cards or wearing reflective lenses, it’s not likely to happen. If you pay close attention, you can pick up information about the strength of your opponent’s hand, however, and learn how the flop affected him, as well as how committed he is to his hand.

By Shari Geller
 
According to LegalPokerSites.com, Mississippi State Representative Bobby Moak introduced MS House Bill 1373 on Wednesday making Mississippi the latest state to consider regulation and legalization of online poker.  The bill, also called the Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act of 2012, is designed to create a legislative framework for the establishment online gambling within the state.  
 

by Sheri Geller

   I played my first WSOP circuit event this past January at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It was a $130 buy-in, one-day, nonring event. Not exactly a major high roller tournament, but the cards had the distinctive World Series logo on them, so I’m counting it as my first WSOP tourney. Unfortunately, it was the senior’s event.

 For those of you who do not know, the senior’s event is for the fifty and over crowd. In other words, those who played poker originally with cards and not on a laptop, those who started playing some ten years before this year’s WSOP main event winner was born, and those who consider a full house when the grandkids come over. In my mind, I am still way too young for this event.

By Shari Geller
 
While the consensus in the poker community is that online poker is more likely to be first legalized on a state-by-state basis, and not federally, the U.S. Senate again held hearings on the topic, reviving the hope that some federal legislation could be in the offing.  
 
The hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs was the second time the issue of legalizing online poker was raised before this committee, but the first hearing to be held following the U. S. Department of Justice's about-face on the Wire Act.  Late last year, the DOJ released an opinion that the Wire Act only applied to sports betting and not other forms of gambling.  The question at the hearing was what this all means for Indian tribes who might want to offer online poker.
 

By Shari Geller
 
 
The seemingly endless process of bringing legal and regulated online poker to the U.S. encountered a significant setback today when the District of Columbia Council voted to repeal the city’s controversial Internet gambling law. 
 
Last year, Internet gambling was added to the city’s existing 2009 lottery contract as a “non-traditional games” option.  Internet gambling was subsequently legalized in the district through first-in-the-nation language added to a 2010 spending bill, making DC the first to have a law legalizing online poker on the books.
 

By Shari Geller
 
 
The World Series of Poker released its schedule for 2012 and it has the most events and widest range of buy-ins of any WSOP to date. The 2012 WSOP schedule features 61 WSOP bracelet events running from May 27 through July 16 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.  From the $500 Casino Employees’ event to the exclusive $1,000,000 buy-in tourney, the WSOP has something for every bankroll and every player.
 
New events for this year include the first-ever $1,500 NLHE re-entry event (Event 9) where players eliminated on the first day of play may re-enter the following day.   Another new event is the $5,000 Mix-Max (Event 6) which debuted at the 2011 WSOP Europe and gave Michael Mizrachi his second WSOP bracelet.  This summer, the Mix-Max will play nine-handed on Day 1, six-handed on Day 2 and heads-up from that point on.
 

by Shari Geller
 
Heartland Poker Tour announced a tour stop in the company’s home state of Minnesota.  The nationally-televised poker show will film two episodes at Canterbury Park Racetrack and Card Casino in Shakopee April 20-30, 2012.  The event, which could offer the largest poker tournament prize pool ever in the state, is open to the public.  
 
Players can take a shot at life-changing money for as little as $65.  The two-day main event begins April 28 and concludes on April 29 when the field is reduced to six, with qualifying rounds beginning April 20.  The remaining six players will advance to HPT’s TV on site production set on April 30 where thirteen high-definition cameras will capture all of the no-limit Texas hold’em action.    
 

By Shari Geller
 
 
According to news reports, two brothers and their cousin coming back to the U.S. from the Bahamas had their poker winnings seized by Bahamian authorities for failure to declare the money.   All three pleaded guilty to charges and had to forfeit the money, but were not sentenced to any jail time and were allowed to return to the U.S.
 
Michael and Sean Ruane and their cousin Thomas Freeman, Jr., were attempting to return home from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when they went through pre-clearance at the at Lynden Pindling International Airport.  Asked as part of the normal screening process to declare if they were carrying cash in excess of $10,000, the brothers signed a statement denying they had that much money on them.