Poker News

I have been saving little tidbits of poker news and some letters from readers for a "miscellaneous" column. This is such a column, so I am cleaning up my "article" file and throwing out some items for you to ponder.

Only No-limit … I recently received a letter from a reader who was very upset that the trend in today's tournaments is to feature all or almost all no-limit hold'em events. He wrote that one of the major cardrooms is going to be offering only no-limit hold'em events, and he believes this is "extremely shortsighted," due to the fact that there are many players who still enjoy seven-card stud, Omaha eight-or-better, and other games.

As someone who plays and enjoys all forms of poker, I agree with the writer. I really like no-limit hold'em, but I hate to see the other games totally overlooked. What do you think?

The Flying Dutchman … Congratulations to Marcel Luske, who recently was named Player of the Year at the European Poker Awards in Helsinki, Finland. Marcel had terrific tournament results in 2004 in both Europe and the United States. Rookie of the Year honors went to Finn Jani Sointula. Swede Martin de Knijff captured the Best Tournament Finish award for winning $2.7 million in the $25,000 buy-in Bellagio World Poker Tour Championship. Andres Burget of Estonia won the Casino Staff Person award for his contribution to the development of poker in the Baltic States. Well done, gentlemen!

A Great Time for Poker … Poker has never seen such growth as it has experienced in the past few years. In virtually all cardrooms around the country, new players are coming in to play daily. This has led to the expansion of many cardrooms, as well as the opening of new poker rooms. In Vegas alone, Bellagio is in the midst of a huge expansion, and the Mirage and Palms have recently added to their table count. New cardrooms have opened at the Gold Coast, Aladdin, Rio, Santa Fe, and Bally's. In the next few months, plans have been announced to open cardrooms at Caesars Palace, MGM, and Wynn Las Vegas. Some people speculate that this is a trend that will not last; I totally disagree. I believe the growth of poker will continue and has not yet begun to peak!

Charity Tournaments Everywhere … All over the country – at bars, college campuses, restaurants, and other venues – poker tournaments are being held, many to benefit charities, often to the dismay of local government officials who challenge their legality. The United Way was the benefactor of a recent tournament held in Marion County, Florida, to the tune of $27,000 when 175 players showed up to enjoy fine food, dancing, and a little poker action.

However, at the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity at the University of Tennessee, plans to hold a poker tournament to benefit the PUSH America Foundation were met with resistance from the director of charitable solicitations for the Tennessee secretary of state, who claimed, "The tournament is an unlawful event," even though players do not "buy in." There is a registration fee and players get T-shirts and a chance to win prizes.

The battle over the legality of poker events is also being waged in Louisiana, where Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Murphy Painter said his agency is preparing to send warning letters to bars who are engaging in poker tournaments. Painter said that license revocations and criminal charges could occur as a result of investigations into infractions.

Winnings Reinvested … David Meyer, 41, recently decided to take the £125,000 he won on a European version of the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and invest it in poker competitions. He plans to enter the championship event of the World Series of Poker with part of the money.

Whining Not Allowed … I recently played in a Chinese poker game in which the players occasionally complained about getting bad cards. We came up with a way to stop the complaining: We all agreed that any player who "whined" would have to pay $1 to each of the other players, as well as to the dealer. In other words, it would cost $4 to mutter a complaint. We had fun with this, and it really made the play much more pleasant. On one occasion, we called the floorman to make a decision on whether or not the comment "I can't believe it … I had a nine-card straight flush and still lost money on the hand" should be considered as a whine. The floorman ruled that it did indeed count as a whine, and the offending player tossed $1 to everyone, including the dealer. The dealer looked perplexed, so we explained the whining penalty concept to her, at which point she responded, "Is there any way we can get this rule put into effect in the Omaha game?" On the last hand of the night, one of the players commented, "Well, I can lose either $300 on the hand or $304. I think I'll stay quiet and just lose the $300."

Please send me your funny poker stories for possible inclusion in a future column.

Now, let's play poker!

Linda is a partner in Card Player Cruises and is available to host poker events and seminars. For more information, please visit www.cardplayercruises.com.