Featured Articles Archive - Page 511

WSOP Main Event off to strong start despite Sasquatch

LAS VEGAS – When I walked into the Amazon Room at the Rio for the first day of the Main Event this morning, it seemed like just another day at the World Series of Poker. It was almost 10:30 a.m. and other than the stacks of Everest Poker seat cushions scattered throughout the room, the place looked and felt the same as it has all week. Within an hour, however, all of that began to change...read more

'Kill Everyone' revised; finally -- a new book on harness racing

Kill Everyone, 2nd Edition, by Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib and Steven Heston(373 pages, paperbound, $34.95), freshens up and expands the original, this time with material by Bertrand (Elky) Grospellier, World Poker Tour Player of the Year.There are four major sections to this important work: Early-Stage Play; Endgame Strategy; Other Topics; and Online Short-handed No-Limit Hold'em Cash Games...read more

Poker parties rival Vegas heat for sizzle

LAS VEGAS – Oppressive is the only word to describe the Las Vegas heat. The super-heated air can cling to you as you walk the streets and make it so difficult to breathe that a smoke-filled bar feels like an acceptable alternative. Even at night, pedestrians try to walk as close to the entrances of casinos and shops as possible in the hopes of being cooled by a blast of air conditioning...read more

Ante Up For Africa event brings a different kind of chaos to WSOP

LAS VEGAS – After two fairly sleepy days here at the World Series of Poker, the craziness returned to the Rio on Thursday afternoon in the form of the third annual Ante Up For Africa charity event. The tournament – which was created by Annie Duke and Don Cheadle and provides aid and assistance to the survivors of the crisis in Darfur – draws not only the top poker players in the world, but some A-List Hollywood-type celebrities as well...read more

A betting preview of the World Series of Poker's 2009 Main Event

LAS VEGAS – The energy that rushes through the cabin of an airplane about to land in Las Vegas never ceases to amaze me. There is hope. There is excitement. There is optimism. And you can feel it oozing out of everyone around you as soon as the bright lights of the Strip come into sight. But every time I fly to Vegas and start to hear the enthusiasm boil throughout the aisles as my plane make its descent, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with a guy sitting next to me during a flight to Sin City. "You know why those casinos are so big and shiny?" Max from Phoenix asked me as he peered over my right shoulder as the pilot announced to the flight attendants to prepare for landing...read more

A 'woozy' Miami John Cernuto unsure if he'll play in Main Event

LAS VEGAS – Eight days after collapsing at the poker table during the World Series of Poker, "Miam John" Cernuto is unsure whether he will be able to play in this year's Main Event. Last Tuesday during Day 2 of the $2,500 Seven Card Razz Tournament (Event 44), Cernuto -- one of the more popular players in the game -- passed out at the table and had to be wheeled out on a stretcher...read more

Razz, Lunkin provide the entertainment at the 50k H.O.R.S.E. final table

LAS VEGAS -- The final table for the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the World Series of Poker began at 2:43 p.m. It ended at 9:57 a.m. the next day when David Bach beat John Hanson after seven hours of heads-up play. The 480 hands played out over 18 hours and 44 minutes of poker made this a final table for the record books – it ranks second in elapsed time and hands played behind the last year's World Series of Poker Europe Main Event final table...read more

Fatherhood adds new perspective to the life of Mike Sexton

LAS VEGAS – Poker is no longer the top priority in Mike Sexton's life. That may come as a surprise, considering his stature in the game and the fact that he's long been considered "The Ambassador of Poker." But Sexton's perspective changed dramatically about 10 months ago when his son Ty Michael Sexton was born. "I'm a father for the first time and all of a sudden parenting is far more important to me than poker," Sexton admitted Tuesday afternoon as he stopped to chat with us during a visit to Day 33 of the 2009 World Series of Poker...read more

Turning the WSOP into art

LAS VEGAS -- For more than a century, the nexus between the art world and poker has been "Dogs Playing Poker," which began with a series of oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge. In the decades since Coolidge first released his painting, artists everywhere have taken the "Dogs Playing Poker" genre into their own hands, adding new twists and storylines – like dogs cheating at poker...read more

World Series of Poker proving to be an oasis in the desert

LAS VEGAS -- The Las Vegas heat, which clocked in today at a stifling 105 degrees, hasn't changed. But until I reached the World Series of Poker tournament site at the Rio, that was the only thing about Vegas that seemed familiar. The cab lines, which used to snake back and forth ages along the curb of McCarran International Airport, were virtually empty this morning after I landed...read more