Poker Odds and Ends

Rumors … No, there is no truth to the rumor that Card Player Cruises has been sold. I've had dozens of e-mails asking me why we sold the business and when my last cruise will be. To set the record straight, Jan Fisher, Mark Tenner, and I still own Card Player Cruises and have no intention of selling it. Perhaps the rumors were started because we recently hired Rita Pellegrini to be our new general manager.



WPT Boot Camp … I will be teaching at least four WPT Boot Camps in 2006, and hope you can attend one of them. Boot Camp is a great way to hone your no-limit hold'em skills, and I firmly believe that you can become a winning no-limit player just by paying attention and practicing what you learn in the intensive two-day Boot Camp. At this time, my teaching schedule will be as follows: Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica, Mississippi, April 15-16; Borgata Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 22-23; Commerce Casino in Commerce, California, July 15-16; and Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, Oct. 21-22. Come join me!



Are you eligible? Sonoma State University's Bobby Neary didn't realize that coming in second and winning $520,000 in the recent Aussie Millions might put his entire golf career in jeopardy. Neary's participation in the tournament and winning the money wasn't the cause of his problems; apparently, he had won his entry through PartyPoker.com, and one of the terms and conditions was that he wear PartyPoker.com attire while playing in the event. The NCAA learned of this and declared him ineligible to play on the Sonoma State men's golf team, because he had violated endorsement rules. According to the NCAA bylaw in question, an athlete cannot make any endorsement, expressed or implied, of any commercial product or service.



Furthermore, by playing in the tournament, Neary granted permission to PartyPoker.com to record his identity, likeness, and voice, which is contrary to the NCAA bylaw that states that an athlete is ineligible if he "accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend, or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind."



Sonoma State petitioned the NCAA to reinstate Neary. After sweating it for a few weeks, permission was granted and Neary was reinstated.



Congratulations, Mike … By now you've probably heard that Mike Sexton won the Poker Ambassador award at Card Player's Player of the Year awards show. Mike is definitely one of the finest men I know in the poker industry. He has terrific vision and loves to talk and promote poker. The voters made a great choice!



Hmm … Poker player Richard Howk really wanted to play in the World Series of Poker $10,000 championship event, so he auctioned himself on Ebay. For $10,000, a company could purchase the right to dress him up as it desired to promote whatever it wanted to promote. Although there were several thousand hits on his auction, no one paid the asking price. That's hard to believe!



You take the pot! While playing in a fourhanded $75-$150 Omaha eight-or-better game at Commerce Casino recently, I witnessed an interesting scene. Noli Francisco was in a pot with a man I didn't know (I'll call him Player A), and they both checked on the river. The final board was K-10-9-5-5. Player A turned his hand up and pushed out the 10-9, saying, "Two pair, tens and nines." Noli then revealed just a king from his hand. At this point, Chris Bjorin, the fourth player in the game, said, "Noli has a king." Not realizing that the board was paired and that he had the best hand, Noli then slid his three unrevealed cards into the muck. The dealer pushed the pot to Player A, who said, "Noli had two pair, give him the pot," and he pushed the chips over to Noli. Chris immediately apologized for having said anything, and in a very generous move, he threw chips from his own stack over to Player A. To make a long story short, Noli kept pushing the pot to Player A and he kept pushing it back. They each kept throwing the chips back to Chris, and Chris kept trying to compensate Player A, apologizing for having said anything. This went on for quite a while until they decided to split the pot, and they forced Chris to take his chips back. It was very cool to watch these gentlemen all trying to do the right thing!



Overheard … Someone asked Amir Vahedi if he had been losing weight. In a typically jovial Vahedi manner, he said, "I had to, I haven't won a major tournament lately."



Now, let's play poker!

Linda is available to host poker seminars, events, and corporate poker nights. She can be reached through her websites at www.cardplayercruises.com or www.lindapoker.com.