News, Reviews And Interviews From Around The Poker World

Uncapped No-Limit Poker Finally Comes to Florida
State Will Likely Become One of the Biggest Poker Areas in the U.S.

After more than two decades, since the Florida government first legalized live poker games but instituted a buy-in cap that would torture serious players, poker rooms will now finally be able to offer uncapped no-limit games throughout the state.

“It’s very exciting,” said Kevin Schaffel, a lifelong Floridian who made the final table of the World Series of Poker main event last year. “Now, if I’m having a tough day at the tables, I can go home. I’ve got my gym, I’ve got my golf course, I’ve got my regular life. I can eat better. It’s just going to be a pleasure.”

Schaffel, like most other serious poker players in the state, previously had to travel to places like California, Nevada, or New Jersey to play some serious cash games. But now, he will be able to play just minutes from his home.

In April, the two chambers of the Florida government voted to alter the gambling laws in the state, which included scrapping the $100 max buy-in for cash games and the $1,000 max buy-in for tournaments.

That move, which went into effect on July 1, is expected to propel Florida into becoming one of the premier poker destinations in the country.

“Florida becomes another Atlantic City, Tunica, or Vegas,” said Russ Christianson, the vice president of gaming operations at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “Why would you want to go to Atlantic City in January when you can come to Florida?”
Under the new law, poker rooms across the state will be able to offer poker around-the-clock on weekends and for up to 18 hours at a time during the week. Poker rooms in Seminole casinos are allowed to offer poker all week long.

The Seminole tribe operates seven casinos in cities such as Okeechobee, Clewiston, Coconut Creek, Hollywood, and Immokalee. Their two biggest properties were acquired in late 2006, when the tribe spent $965 million on the Hard Rock Cafe, including hotels and two casinos located in Hollywood and Tampa.

The biggest cardroom in the state, however, belongs to the Palm Beach Kennel Club, which houses 59 tables, and the Dania Jai Alai poker room features 26 tables.

Florida legislators legalized penny-ante poker in 1989, but capped all pots at $10. While the law would loosen up a little over the years, it never went as far as most serious poker players would’ve liked.

In 1996, state-licensed pari-mutuel facilities were allowed to begin spreading poker games with the $10 cap. In 2003, a new law passed that scrapped the $10 cap but still forced the max bet in any action to be only $2. In 2007, no-limit hold’em was finally introduced, but with the $100 max buy-in.

Now, Florida joins states like Nevada, Oklahoma, California, and New Jersey as locations with the best live poker laws in the country.

Frank Kassela Wins Two Bracelets at the 2010 World Series
From “The Deadest of Money” to Two-Time WSOP Champion

Ten years ago, Frank Kassela went to the World Series of Poker on a dare. He’s gone back almost every year since, but it was this summer that he finally broke through and won his first bracelet. It took him 10 years to get bracelet No. 1, and just two weeks more to get bracelet No. 2.

With his victories in the $10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better and $2,500 razz events, Kassela became the first (and as of this writing, only) player to win two bracelets in 2010. He also finished third in the $25,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em event.

“The Deadest of Money”

Growing up in Chicago, it didn’t take long for Kassela to find a card game for money.

“Even as young as 11 or 12, we would play a variety of card games for money. I came from a Polish Catholic family in Chicago, and gambling is just what they did.”

At 12, Kassela moved with his family to Texas, and attended high school in North Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas. At 25, he moved to Memphis to start his own company.

It was in Memphis that he began to play poker a little more frequently. It was a short drive to Tunica, Mississippi, and he found himself heading to the cardrooms there about twice a month, because “that was kind of the thing to do.”

In 2000, he started to play even more regularly, and after one of his employees dared him to play in the main event, he was off to Las Vegas.

He admits now that he was in over his head.

“I was the deadest money in the field in 2000,” said Kassela. “There was no online qualifying back then. I mean, there were people who showed up and won satellites, but you had to actually win a satellite. You had to be at least moderately competent, but there was no way that I was.”

But it was in 2000 that Kassela really started to play poker much more seriously. He was making a good amount of money in the cash games in Tunica, and he had caught the tournament bug. It was only a matter of time before he became a regular on the tournament trail.

A Risk-Taker His Entire Life

Now, Kassela owns a number of companies that sell promotional products, as well as a medical uniform retail company.

Clearly a successful entrepreneur, he can afford the time to play high-stakes poker tournaments. But there was a time when his life was at its crossroads, and money was tight.

“It’s always tough when you pick up and move with a few kids from one state to another. We left Dallas; we didn’t really have too much money, but we picked up and moved to Memphis,” said Kassela.

It wouldn’t get any easier. He moved to Memphis to run a business with friends, but became convinced that he could manage it better himself. So, after six months, he made the decision to go on his own.

“I was afraid of the long-term issue. I hate to really say bad things,” said Kassela. “There was nothing about my partners that was necessarily bad; I just felt like I could do it better myself.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

As his businesses grew, so did his affection for poker. Kassela says that the similarities between being a successful entrepreneur and a successful poker play are plentiful.

“Anybody who is going to be a productive, positive, generating poker player has to run his poker world like a business,” said Kassela. “You’ve got to be on top of how you allocate your money, just like you do in a business. You’ve got to guard your resources carefully and use your money wisely.”

And, of course, both poker and entrepreneurship require you to have plenty of gamble.
“Just like in business, you’ve got to spend money to make money,” said Kassela. “It’s hard for me to imagine that a really good entrepreneur, with the right training and good adaptation, couldn’t almost always become a good gambler, just because they have so much in common.”

A Regular on the Trail, but Without a Bracelet … Until Now

Although he has been playing tournament poker for 10 years, it was not until 2005 that Kassela really became a regular on the circuit.

The businessman had wanted a bracelet for so long, and now he has two.

“If you play poker with any kind of regularity, there is nothing in the world that you want more; there just isn’t,” said Kassela. “I know people who have won a million dollars in a televised event on the EPT, and they’d give it all up to win $200,000 in an event at the World Series for a bracelet.”

In Kassela’s two victories and third-place finish this summer, he won more than $1.2 million.

“If I do well in another event here at the World Series and lock up the WSOP award, I’d love to ice the cake and add Card Player Player of the Year,” said Kassela. “I’m going to play everything.”

Online Poker Debate Heats Up in California and New Jersey
Significant Hurdles Remain in Both Situations

Two of the most populous — and cash-strapped — states in the U.S. continue to discuss the benefits of explicitly legalizing online poker in an intrastate system, with new and amended bills proposed in June.

However, significant hurdles remain in both California and New Jersey before state-approved online poker sites get up and running.

In New Jersey, state legislators are attempting to put a referendum on November’s ballots that would put the state in position to offer online poker and sports betting, if a federal law on the latter is overturned.

However, the Casino Association of New Jersey, which represents Atlantic City’s 11 casinos, has come out strongly against the legislation.

Despite the casinos’ opposition, state legislators are still mulling over the possibility of approving the bill.

State Sen. Jim Whelan said the CANJ has “a corporate responsibility to do what’s best for their company. That’s a different responsibility than what we have, to do what’s best for the state and its interests. … I don’t begrudge them that. Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they don’t.”

Whelan still supports the measures, despite the recently announced casino opposition.
California also has been inching closer to an intrastate online poker system, although its proposed system has yet to gain much support amongst the current online-poker community. That’s probably because the legislation on the table would restrict online poker to just three California operators, while making it illegal for California residents to play on an unapproved site.

“The bill would provide that it would be unlawful for any person to play any gambling game provided over the Internet that is not authorized by the state pursuant to this bill. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program,” a summary of the bill read.

The legislation, which was introduced by state Sen. Rod Wright, is likely to earn the support of a gaming coalition that consists of Commerce Casino, Hollywood Park Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, The Bicycle Casino, and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
However, support for online poker is hardly unanimous in the Golden State. The California Tribal Business Alliance, a group of casinos and cardrooms, has come out against the bill, and even the bill’s author acknowledged in a senate committee meeting that the legislation still “needs a great deal of work” before it can garner widespread support.

California faces nearly a $19 billion budget deficit, while New Jersey struggles with its own $11 billion budget deficit. The financial situations of the two states are among the worst in the country.

David Williams Becomes a PokerStars Pro
2010 World Poker Tour Champion Joins the World’s Largest Poker Site

It wasn’t too long ago that David Williams was one of the major faces of Bodog poker. But now, he is one of many respected pros on the PokerStars team.

It was announced in June that Williams, who burst onto the poker scene in 2004 with his World Series of Poker main-event runner-up finish to Greg Raymer, would join the world’s largest poker site as one of its newest pros.

Just last April, Williams notched what is considered his biggest poker win at the WPT Five-Star World Poker Classic, where he took down the title and more than $1.5 million. Those winnings propelled his career tournament total to nearly $7.9 million, good for No. 19 on the all-time list.

However, he parted ways with Bodog shortly after that win as a result of the scheduled end of his contract. PokerStars was more than pleased to add the emerging star to its stable.

Williams won a WSOP bracelet in a seven-card stud event in 2006, and has made 19 WSOP cashes since 2004.

PokerStars has a large number of notable pros in its ranks, including Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Peter Eastgate, Joe Cada, Bertrand Grospellier, and Vanessa Rousso.