Inside Straight -- News

Phil Hellmuth’s New Book Profiles the Game’s Greatest Players
Twenty Top Pros Share Stories in Their Own Words
By Stephen A. Murphy

Allen Cunningham as a pizza delivery boy. Peter Eastgate as a substitute elementary schoolteacher. Phil Ivey as a telemarketer. Scotty Nguyen as a busboy. Chau Giang as a KFC employee. Phil Hellmuth as a monkey-cage cleaner.
You can’t make this stuff up.

Deal Me In, a collection of autobiographical accounts from many of the biggest names in poker, is now available to order online. The book highlights the struggles, obstacles, and tragedies that 20 of the greatest poker pros have overcome in their journeys to the top.

Hellmuth, the 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, conceptualized the book and convinced his fellow competitors to share some of the most intimate details of their lives for the manuscript.

“Each player gives you a behind-the-scenes look into their early years as scrappy amateur players, and how they broke into the big-time professional ranks,” said Hellmuth. “The pros cover their humble beginnings, the obstacles they overcame, the demons they faced, and ultimately the success they enjoyed.”

In all, 20 players tell their stories, including seven world champions (Hellmuth, Nguyen, Eastgate, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, and Carlos Mortensen) and some of the most recognizable pros in the game, such as Ivey, Cunningham, Tom Dwan, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, and Layne Flack.

Deal Me In also features three women who have proven that poker can no longer be considered a man’s game (Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, and Annette Obrestad), and a few elite players about whom the casual poker fan might not know too much, such as Giang, Erik Seidel, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, and Chad Brown.

The first-person narratives are described as “heartbreaking and inspiring” on the book’s cover, and the memoirs certainly deliver on that description. What is particularly striking about this book is how up-front the pros are with the innermost details of their lives.

They share their biggest regrets (“My major regret as a poker player was that I spent so much time playing that I neglected my family,” Brunson wrote), the stories of their disapproving fathers (“My father told me that I had a choice. I could quit playing poker for a living, or he would disown me and strike me from his will,” Harman remembered), and the darkest moments of their lives (“I didn’t care if I lived or died,” Flack recalled).

Some aspects of the players’ stories are downright sad, such as Nguyen’s. The “Prince of Poker” describes growing up in war-torn Vietnam and the gruesome sights he witnessed (“I saw dead bodies piled in semi trucks like garbage”), and that even when he was able to move to the United States, he fell into what was pretty much a child-labor camp, and was prohibited from attending school.

But Nguyen and the others in this book were able to survive and eventually flourish, thanks to sheer willpower and the help of a few people along the way. Deal Me In is inspiring not because of the money or the tournaments the players have won, but because of the success they have achieved against all odds.

While the book does feature some somber details, there are many light moments that will undoubtedly make poker fans laugh. The pros talk about how they met their spouses (Hellmuth staked out a laundry room for hours to manufacture a conversation with his future wife), and reveal some surprising tendencies, such as Cunningham’s admission that although he’s calm in person, he finds himself shouting at the computer screen while playing online poker.

Any aspiring poker player will also take notice of the advice that the players give. They talk about the value of bankroll management, and many pros — such as Dwan and Duke — recall how they moved down in stakes whenever they needed to overcome losses.

The book was composed and written by Marvin Karlins and Stephen John, with an introduction by esteemed tournament director Jack McClelland. It was published by Phil’s House Publishing and can be previewed and ordered online at www.pokerbrat.com.

Florida Passes Bill to Allow Uncapped No-Limit Poker
Legislation Also Removes Maximum Bet in Limit Games
By Stephen A. Murphy

Floridians are one step closer to having “normal poker” in the state.
The Sunshine State has had to endure watered-down poker for years, but poker players might finally get their wish soon. The Florida Legislature passed a bill on May 8 that would eliminate the maximum buy-in for no-limit poker and get rid of the maximum bet per round in limit poker.

The legislation still has a few more hurdles to clear before it goes into effect, including approval by the Seminole tribal nation, a new compact between the state and the Seminoles, and final approval by the Florida Legislature.
But, there is no doubt that passage of the bill by the two chambers was seen as a major success by those people favoring the expansion of gaming laws, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

“I want to thank you for the Seminole contract,” Crist told members of the Legislature. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the children of Florida.”

The new bill is expected to generate at least $2.2 billion for public schools over the next 15 years, according to the Florida News-Press.

Previously, Florida law limited all buy-ins for no-limit poker to a maximum of $100, preventing casinos from offering deep-stack, high-stakes action.
Tournament poker limits also have been relaxed in the new bill.

However, not every aspect of the bill is good news for some poker players. The minimum age for gambling in Seminole casinos was moved from 18 to 21 as a result of the legislation.

The legislation also will free up approximately $300 million in gambling proceeds for the current state budget of Florida.

Texas Poker Bill Dies Without a Vote in the House
Regulated Poker Will Have to Wait
By Stephen A. Murphy

The tribes that run the Indian casinos in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico likely breathed a sigh of relief when Rep. Jose Menendez’s poker bill officially died recently. All the while, poker players in Texas probably sighed in frustration.

There will be no Texas hold’em in Texas this year, at least not at the racetracks.

Menendez’s bill, HB 222, would’ve legalized Texas hold’em in licensed establishments around the state. Faced with staunch opposition that included a potential gubernatorial veto, Menendez decided to suspend his bill before the state House ever had a chance to vote on it.

“It is my understanding that the governor plans to veto this bill if it gets to his desk,” Menendez told his fellow legislators. “I think it would be a disservice to this body if I were to put [forward] a bill that I already know is dead.”

It does not appear that the bill had enough support to pass a House vote, but even if it did, Gov. Rick Perry’s past statements regarding his opposition to any expansion of gaming indicated that he might veto any such legislation. An earlier bill that proposed a broader expansion of gambling in the state was dismissed earlier in the session because of lack of support in the House.

The Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee approved Menendez’s bill by a 6-3 vote in April, giving it a chance to make it to the House floor. This is the third session in which Menendez has filed a poker-related bill.

The San Antonio legislator was hoping to create California-style cardrooms in the Lone Star State. Menendez argued that the move for legal cardrooms was a safety issue, referencing the growing number of robberies at home games in the state. He also argued that legal poker rooms could create state revenue.
However, after legislators became convinced that the state would receive federal stimulus money, House support waned, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The next opportunity that legislators in the state will have to revisit the issue will be in 2011.

Texas has not been the only state to discuss its poker laws this year.
The Senate Judiciary Committee of South Carolina has passed two poker bills that would explicitly legalize home games in the state, after five men were arrested, tried, and found guilty because of their home game.

In California, a bill was submitted to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office earlier this year on the subject of online gaming. Legislators in the state are considering the issue as a way to raise much-needed revenue for the cash-strapped state.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell has spoken out in favor of legalizing video poker games, in an effort to raise more money for education. His support, however, does not extend to table games.