By the end of next week, the popular clubs Prive and Living Room at the Planet Hollywood casino will be forced to shut down, as their temporary liquor licenses will be revoked and permanent licenses denied. Both clubs had been operating with temporary liquor licenses (acting as business licenses) while being investigated by Metro. Under complaints of drug use, underage drinking, excessive drunkenness, assault, lewd activity, and prostitution, the Nevada Gaming Commission has fined Planet Hollywood $750,000. The casino doesn't operate the clubs (which are run by The Opium Group) but has the gaming license and is responsible for what occurs inside. Also claimed was security for the clubs prevented gaming agents from performing a full, uninterrupted inspection. Complaints went back as far as 2006.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Star Trek Convention takes place In Las Vegas
Trekkies get ready: the annual Star Trek Convention takes place this weekend at the Las Vegas Hilton.
The Creation Entertainment show is back again, this time without a Star Trek Experience to play with (a new Experience show is still being planned for Neonopolis).
Expected to appear are William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Zachary Quinto (Sylar in "Heroes" and also "Spock" in the recent Star Trek reboot), Christopher Lloyd, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Colm Meaney, Tony Todd, Michael Dorn, Rene Auberjonois, and dozens of others.
Nimoy will be signing autographs for $75 a pop. Bet for that amount he'll answer a few questions too.
Expect daily parties, conferences, photo opportunities, and lots of stuff to buy.
PokerListings Founder Shot Dead
The founder of online poker website PokerListings was found shot dead at the age of 36. Andreas Oscarsson was found in his native Sweden in his own bed the morning of August 3rd, and at this point no further information has been disclosed. The report was broken by Oscarsson’s own website, PokerListings, for which he had relegated himself to an advisory role two years ago. The man’s family was at home when the body was found, but none of them are suspect in the killing. Oscarsson was on holiday when he was shot.
ESPN Inside Deal
Chris Moneymaker stops by the Inside Deal and reveals a secret about his last name, Varkonyi's pocket 5's are scooped off the cutting room floor and who would you put on Poker's Mount Rushmore?
WSOP Ratings Down 8% on ESPN
ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has experienced an 8% dip in television ratings through two weeks to 0.72. Last year, the mark was 0.78.
In addition to ratings seeing an 8% slide, household impressions also fell, albeit a modest 5%. The total number of household impressions through two weeks of the 2009 WSOP was 714,904, compared with last year’s tally of 750,315. Four one-hour episodes have aired so far, with 26 more comprising coverage of the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament and the prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event.
ESPN media contact George McNeilly told Poker News Daily that, despite the ratings slip, he remained optimistic: “These are very small declines and we’re just four telecasts into the season. We have almost 30 more episodes to go, so it’s way too early to start drawing any conclusions. One interesting trend we are watching is how ratings are flat among men 25 to 54, which bodes well for the rest of the season.”
Figures released after the July 28th kickoff telecast revealed that viewers were up 2% among men age 18 to 34. The number of viewers age 25 to 54 was up a commanding 16% after the first episode of the 2009 WSOP debuted on ESPN and the number of viewers age 18 to 49 was on par with the 2008 broadcast. The first telecast of the 2009 WSOP on ESPN featured the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. In the end, Vitaly Lunkin dominated the 201 player field en route to a $1.9 million first place prize. He defeated Isaac Haxton heads-up in a star-studded final table that also included Greg Raymer, Ted Forrest, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and Alec “traheho” Torelli.
On August 4th, the weekly Tuesday timeslot saw the WSOP Champions Invitational come to life. In one of the first non-bracelet events ever broadcast by ESPN, the Champions Invitational featured 20 former Main Event winners take to the felts. The unconventional 10-handed final table saw 1983 champ Tom McEvoy come out on top, taking home a vintage red 1970 Corvette Stingray and the Binion Cup. McEvoy defeated 2002 Main Event winner Robert Vakonyi heads-up in a final table that also included Peter Eastgate, Carlos Mortensen, Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed, and Dan Harrington.
Next week, the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament will headline ESPN coverage and begins at 8:00pm ET. The gala featured a veritable “who’s who” of the celebrity world, including “Rounders” star Matt Damon, “Pearl Harbor” actor Ben Affleck, “Celebrity Apprentice” candidate Herschel Walker, “Seinfeld’ star Jason Alexander, “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett, rapper Nelly, and legendary boxer Mike Tyson. The latter has developed a cult following stemming from his cameo in the blockbuster hit “The Hangover.” Tyson did not bring his tiger to the red carpet.
Poker stars who turned out to the charity event included Ante Up for Africa co-founder Annie Duke, Greg Raymer, Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, Jason Mercier, and Andy Bloch. ESPN Coordinating Producer Jamie Horowitz told Poker News Daily what makes airing the charity gala unique: “We are excited to present a different type of poker tournament. In the Ante Up For Africa event, the story is more about the journey (the celebrities, the stars, and the pros) than the destination.”
Twenty-four hours of coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event will air on ESPN beginning on August 18th. The Main Event final table is scheduled to air on November 10th beginning at 9:00pm ET. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WSOP news.
Poker in the Park Features Jamie Gold Charity Tournament
At 7:30pm local time on Thursday, 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Jamie Gold and 2008 winner Peter Eastgate will host a 50 player charity poker tournament benefiting the Jamie Gold Foundation. The event is one of many that will take place as part of London’s Poker in the Park.
The Foundation works with a bevy of notable charities, including the Muscular Dystrophy Association/ALS Division, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Montel Williams MS Foundation, Sunflower Children, Covenant House, Fallen Heroes Fund, Fulfillment Fund, and the Abolish Slavery Coalition. Prizes up for grabs include a £5,200 European Poker Tour (EPT) entry, a £3,000 Unibet Open package, a Gresham Blake suit, a £1,000 Gevril Wristwatch, and chipsets and tables that are perfect for home games. Gold to talk about this week’s event.
What can attendees expect at the charity poker tournament on Thursday?
Gold: This has all come together at the last minute, but we have some great support from the people running Poker in the Park. The Empire Casino, where we hold WSOP Europe, donated their space for us. We’re going to have a red carpet and even David “Devilfish” Ulliott is coming. He’s amazing and he’s a really great guitar player. He sings like Elvis.
Talk about Peter Eastgate’s involvement.
Gold: The reason we became friendly is because we are both Main Event champions. He is impossible not to be friends with and, from what I can tell, he really cares. He knew that I had spent years trying to give back as much as I could. One of the things we bonded over is that he wanted to do the same. He wanted to make sure he didn’t just take the money and status for granted. He told me that if I ever needed him for anything, he’d be there.
There’s really one person who made this whole thing happen, Michael Casselli. He’s the head of Lyceum Media and Poker in the Park. He and I have been talking about doing an event together. It’s a little overwhelming because I’m not from Europe and he’s been a tremendous help.
Is the 50 player maximum just a function of limited space?
Gold: The Empire Casino was kind enough to give us their space. We thought we had the whole casino, but they felt that if we had celebrities, we should have a protected area. We invited people like Daniel Craig (of “James Bond” fame). When you have people like that potentially coming, they will only allow you to be in the VIP room.
PND: One of the prizes in the charity poker tournament during Poker in the Park is a week-long poker training session by David “The Maven” Chicotsky. Talk about Chicotsky’s involvement.
Gold: Those guys are amazing, so I’m really excited. I’m in the process of making a partnership with The Maven. The things he doesn’t teach are my skills. I don’t claim to be the best in the world, but I seem to be on par with the best. I’ve only trained with them for a day, but I made two final tables during it. He’s completely changed my game.
Are you considering relocating to Europe or signing with a non-U.S. online poker site?
Gold: Some of it has to do with the legalities, but I can’t deny that, with the economic situation, there’s not a lot of money being thrown around. The most lucrative deal I can make is in Europe. The two sites that take American players don’t need my help. However, my presence would help double most European sites’ numbers.
I have a powerful celebrity marketing base that could help a site do something special. I also believe strongly in my commitment to charity. I haven’t found another site in America that has the same commitment. They all care, but it’s not their number one goal, nor should it be. While I’m young, single, and healthy, now is the time I’d like to travel the world. I feel like I’m in a rare position.
Rounders Sequel In the Works
Ask any poker player to name their favorite poker movie, and an overwhelming amount will respond with Rounders. You might get a few random “Mavericks” or “Cincinnati Kids” thrown in there, but 1998 film starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton is, more or less, the last word in poker movies for casual fans and serious players alike. So what could possibly unseat the flick from its top spot in the hearts of grinders world wide? A sequel. While rumors of a sequel have been floating around since the online poker boom in the early 2000’s, it appears that the talk among the principals of the first film has gotten more serious as of late. Both Matt Damon and writer David Levien confirmed to Pokerlistings.com that they were interested in possibly pursuing the project, with Levien going so far as to say that the project was already in the works. “We’ve been concentrating on Rounders 2 lately; Ideas are percolating,” Levien told PokerListings. “It’s great to know that all of the original players want to come back and do another one.” Levien and writing partner Brian Koppleman, who co-scripted both Rounders and Oceans 13, are currently at work on a project set against the backdrop of online gambling.
Hookers And Drugs At Rio's Sapphire Pool
Eleven people were arrested on Saturday at the pool. The charges range from soliciting prostitution to selling drugs. But in this case, Rio Hotel management asked Metro to do an undercover investigation, and that's exactly the type of action the gaming control board is looking for.
SLIDESHOW: Metro Busts Rio's Sapphire Pool
"You could do cavity searches of people going into these places and still not find an ecstasy pill or some pill that someone takes while they are there. You can't protect against it. What you do is try to ensure that drugs aren't utilized there or if someone is suspected of taking drugs, then you take action," said attorney Frank Schreck.
Schreck represents several casinos in Las Vegas. He says the recent illegal activities at these venues should be a wake-up call to every casino to continually check on the activities taking place inside.
Many of the women arrested at the pool tried to sell their services to undercover police officers. Others helped sell drugs. When the hotel found out what was going on, they immediately shut down the pool indefinitely.
Schreck says there's a good chance Rio will not face fines because they asked for the undercover officers to go in. He say while it's impossible to prevent all illegal activity, it's too expensive for hotels to look the other way. He says many casinos perform these checks to just to be safe.
"There are some that call in Metro on a regular basis. There are some that have Metro detectives come in and train their security and show them to observe. I know of one facility that brings in Metro Vice to service their facility -- to spot prostitution," said Schreck.
Planet Hollywood was not so fortunate after illegal activity was found at Prive nightclub inside their facility. Even though Prive was leasing the space from the hotel, the casino still had to pay a fine.
Under gaming law, the casino is responsible for everything that takes place in their facility. They were fined $500,000.
The enforcement division of the Gaming Control Board says as of right now, Rio will not face fines in the immediate future. The Rio Hotel says they will continue to perform these types of checks
Pitbull Poker Has Superuser Accounts?
What started as a collection of threads making arguments against the legitimacy of play at the small online poker room Pitbull Poker has grown into a firestorm of allegations over illegal activities. On most of the major online poker forums, there are threads spanning dozens of pages accusing Pitbull Poker of a plethora of security issues. Some of the posts are wild speculation, but there also appear to be serious accusations made about the site’s security, superuser accounts, and more.
Pitbull Poker is part of the Flash Poker Network, which is based in Costa Rica with servers hosted in Panama City, according to PokerScout.com. The site is ranked 21st in the world in terms of real money ring game traffic and usually has a 24-hour peak of around 65 players at cash tables. There is no software to download, as the poker room has been built using Adobe Flash web technology.
One of the major allegations goes back to December of 2008 for “stack shaving,” where money in a player’s stack would simply disappear between hands. According to several posts, players reported that the range of money that would vanish was between $0.02 and $25. A posted reply from Network Manager Dave Brenes of Pitbull Gaming appears to admit that this error took place and that players would be reimbursed.
The harshest of the posted allegations came from players claiming they have faced superusers. A superuser is an account that has the ability to see everyone’s cards at the table. The allegations outline instances of opponents making call-downs with perfect accuracy and check-folding whenever the hero in the hand flops well. Dozens of examples have been posted.
Brenes has agreed to an interview with Poker News Daily that will run later this week. He responded in detail on the TwoPlusTwo forums to the main controversial threads. The players’ dissatisfaction comes from their desire to receive hand histories in a useable text format. This would allow the players to convert them into a format that can be imported into Hold’em Manager or PokerTracker 3 so the community at large can analyze the hands. This was the same method used to expose the superuser account controversies at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker a few years ago.
Unfortunately for the poker community, Pitbull Poker stated that it would not release any hand histories beyond the format currently provided. The hand history system is based on a tab from within the Flash-based poker room software. Once a user clicks on a link to a hand, it loads in a graphical format. Many users have stated that this reporting system for looking over hand histories is slow and even unstable, as many searches time out and are reset.
More allegations came in the form of holes in the software that apparently expose cards during a hand. Although the poster in the forums making the majority of allegations edited his e-mail, he stated that one of his associates was able to see someone else’s cards during a hand.
Many on TwoPlusTwo called for the group that felt cheated to organize and make more rational arguments rather than provide vague examples of their misfortunes. The debate rages on whether those making the allegations have any tangible proof or if the site should produce hand histories in a readable format for the community to analyze.
In the last few days, the staff at Pitbull Poker has continued to field complaints and tried to work towards a mutually beneficial conclusion. During the course of the investigation conducted by the general public in recent days, allegations that hole card data was unencrypted were made.
Brenes has stated that readable hand histories are coming. These hand histories are expected to shed light on potential irregularities and finally settle the rumors. Poker News Daily is following this story closely and will be bringing an exclusive interview with Brenes later this week to discuss the allegations.
"Face the Ace" Ratings Are No Royal Flush
According to a recently released report on "TV by the Numbers" (link below), "Face the Ace" is a "ratings disgrace".
"Face the Ace" is a "poker-themed reality television series" on NBC in which amateur poker players do battle against pros.
Players gain entry to the show by winning qualifying tournaments on Full Tilt Poker.
Once they have qualified for the show, they then have a chance at winning one million dollars, but only if they win three straight heads-up matches against some of the top pros in the world.
The show is hosted by Steve Schirripa and is produced by the company behind "Poker After Dark" and "High Stakes Poker".
The show's pilot episode debuted to tepid ratings last week and was the least-viewed show in its time slot (of the four major TV networks).
1.59 million viewers tuned in for the first half hour of the show. This number dropped to 1.54 million viewers in the second half hour - clearly people weren't enthralled by what they were watching.
Unfortunately the numbers weren't any better this week - actually, they were worse.
Just 1.46 million viewers tuned in this week, meaning that "Face the Ace" was once again the least-watched show in its slot amongst the four major networks.
According to "TV by the Numbers", "America's Most Wanted" performed "almost six times better" than "Face the Ace" in the adult 18-49 demographic.
I'm not exactly sure what the network was anticipating in terms of total viewer numbers, however 1.46 million viewers doesn't seem like a very strong number.
Source: TV By the Numbers - "Face the Ace" a ratings disgrace for NBC
My Software Is Better Than Your Software
Continuing a pattern of one-upmanship between online poker’s two biggest sites, PokerStars rolled out a major software upgrade only a few days after Full Tilt Poker launched theirs. Full Tilt Poker also had a bonus attached to their upgrade, and Stars - you guessed it - is offering a competing bonus. First, the details on the upgrade. Stars has finally come along with FTP on synchronized tournament breaks. That means all tournaments on PokerStars will break at the same time - :55 after the hour - regardless of what time they started. This is a big win for MTTers, as they can now enjoy one synchronized break per hour on both Stars and FTP. Stars also introduced a new game to the lobby - split Pot Limit Holdem / Omaha, available in the cash lobby under ‘other games’ (PLH / PLO), along with some minor tweaks and bug fixes. Next, the bonus. Stars is offering a new redeposit bonus and a first time deposit bonus. If you’re a first time depositor, you can earn a bonus of 100% on your deposit up to $600. If you’re looking to reload your account, Stars is offering you a 50% bonus up to $300. Unlike most deposit bonuses, the Stars bonus allows you to make up to three separate deposits that will all count toward your bonus.
