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• PokerStars Players Party

  July 09, 2008

  With the freeroll over and having a healthy $400 in pocket (as Heath and Guzzardi both had 10%) we were off to the PokerStars Players Party at Rain nightclub at the Palms. With Eric and Don ditching me as I was having a piss in the Rio carpark, I swung a lift via Garry along with Boncek and Schipis. On arrival we met up with some of the fellow PokerNews employees, grabbed our armbands for VIP access and headed inside.

  

   

  The main bar and dancefloor

  As me and Heath were asked for ID's, all the PokerStars pros were being snapped by the many cameras and intervied by our own Melissa Castello. Once into Rain we were greated with a burlesque-themed party and by a mass of people taking up all the dancefloor space on the bottom level. Losing Heath as I wondered past the main bar and up the stairs, I spotted Slippers and Dane high on the third level and headed straight there. As we headed down to the second level, directly above the main bar, we joined a booth filled with predominately Aussies. Joe Hachem and family, Tony Hachem and Shane Warne, Emad Tahtooh, Grant Levy, Billy the Croc, Gary Benson and many more filled the couch and standing space as a longed for a drink.

  

   

  Grant Levy, myself and Tony Hachem

  Heading up to the bar I bumped into Joy and her entourage which included Maria Ho , who everyone seems to be obsessed with apart from me. As the girls bought me a drink I found Donnie and we negotiated our way back into the 'Hachem' area as our VIP status of grey wristbands weren't as good as the black ones needed to have full VIP access. After Joe did his speech about how PokerStars are going in this years main event Emad let me have his black wristband and I tucked it under my black hair tie that was around my wrist from earlier.

  

   

  Dita Von Teese in her second show of the night

  As the night progressed everyone was downing the free drinks as more and more fun was being had. With burlesque dancers on platforms and suspended above the air, a Dita Von Teese show on the front stage, a fight between PokerNews employees Eric Ramsey and Joe Schepis as well as a full on pash-fest put on by Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier it was definately a night not to miss!

  

   

  Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier going at it on the bar

  

   

  One of the burlesque dancers

  We all headed to Maccas after the night was out, and just when you thought the night couldn't get any better, who do we see having maccas . . . Joe Hachem and his family. I always thought that Joe was so down to earth, but to see him taking a chunk out of a quarter pounder just proves it more. After eating our burgers I decided to crash with Don and Slippers as Christian was playing $1-2 and who knows how long he would be there!! Another night on a couch . . . its something I'm definately getting use to . . . ha ha ha.

  P.S - I'm going to post some photos in this blog, but for the rest head to my facebook.

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  Read more: PokerStars, Rain Nightclub, The Palms, Chris Boncek, Garry Gates, Joe Schepis, Heath Chick, Melissa Castello, Anthony Molinaro, Dane Jensen, Emad Tahtooh, Joe Ha

• USA vs the World and the PokerNews Freeroll

  July 09, 2008

  With all of the day 1's from the 2008 WSOP Main Event being played there has been a planned break before the two day 2's are to begin. With reportable events on (because who cares about the Casino Employees event . . .) PokerNews planned a day out of fun for all their employees.

  The day started nice and early at 1pm at the Las Vegas Indoor Soccer Centre where kick-off between the USA and the World in the inaugural PokerNews International Friendly began. With Garry captaining the USA team and Felipe (our photographer) captaining our World team, the fireworks soon began when USA captain Gates scored the first goal for the home team. It was quickly followed by USA-recruit Dustin Sitar when he scored soon after. Not only was he a non-PokerNews member (one was allowed per team) but he was also a successful poker player.

  Scores were traded back and forth with the USA staying ahead at all times until half-time. We lost our star in Giovanni, and it would be left to me, Slippers, Thano, Felipe and some of the Dutch-PokerNews staff to gain the lead back. However this would be a really hard task as the USA team contained 4 semi-pro soccer players in Dustin, Garry (who has played indoor many times before this match), Don ( who played college soccer) and Neil.

  

   

  Play during the first half

  The second half was all USA as the retained their lead until the final minute. With the scores at 11-9 in USA's favour, one of our dutch players put a ripper goal in to put us behind by 1, and with about 30 seconds to go, yours truly scored one to even the scores. As the USA players sunk to the ground, we lined up for peneltys, and being the shittest soccer player alive I sat back as the first reserve. As we shot first, the scores went 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4 until it was up to the captains. Felipe stepped up and shot deep into the top corner to put the scores to 5-4 and next it was up to Garry. As he lined up with all of the pressure on his shoulders he aimed to the far left, and as it hurled toward the back of the net it was saved by our goalie sending the World team to victory!!

  Following the soccer match we played a game of bball and were joined by Christian, Dane and Guzz. With an intense match it was the USA's turn to take home the victory against the predominately Australian based world team.

  

   

  Christian heading to the basket

  Following a quick trip home we would arrive back at the Rio for the PokerNews freeroll. Not before I left Guzzardi wanted a piece of the action and bought 10% of me for $10 - which I thought was a fair deal as the chance of cashing in a freeroll is always small when you're a great player like myself (ha ha ha) as there is so many banana plays occuring.

  

   

  Slippers and Eric folding

  The freeroll began in the Amazon room at the same time the Casino employees event was being undertaken. Wearing my Nascar-inspired shirt with all the online poker company's logo's attached from Full Tilt to 888 to t6 and poker-affiliated company's such as PokerNews, Bluff, PokerRoad and WPA I sat down and played extremely tight until moving to my second table. I took down a few pots and built my stack to around 6000 (double starting) before again moving to my third table. Sitting with Don, Eric, Leon and some others time ticked away as we approached the starting time for the PokerStars party.

  

   

  Me stealing some blinds

  With only two tables remaining people really wanted to cash in this freeroll, but I was aiming high for the first prize of $2000. Having swapped 10% with Heath earlier, he was eventually eliminated and began to rail me hoping to make some money off me to cover his potential expenses later on. With Eric being the only one to pass on a deal with 13 remaining I limped to the final table of 10 in about 4th chip position. Deciding on a deal, we all took $500 and flipped for the remaining $300 - which I lost.

  Getting changed out of my poker-shirt we were all on the way to enjoy what PokerStars could provide for not only their players and staff, but also their VIP's in us PokerNews guys.

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  Read more: Thano Vasilakos, Neil Fray, Filipe Pacheco, Anthony Molinaro, Christian Vaughn, Dane Jensen, Donald Peters, Eric Ramsey, Garry Gates, Heath Chick, Michael Guzza

• 2008 WSOP Main Event

  July 04, 2008

  Today was the start of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, and with a starting field of 1297 it worked its way down to the 600 mark to end the first of the four day 1's.

  

   

  One of the starting tables

  With everyone due to work, I was assigned with Heath as my blogger and Zeeks as my fellow reporter. With half the team leaving at dinner, everyone's workload was doubled and as we approached the 5th and final level of the night everyone was ready and done for the night. Finally with an early night (that being an exit from the Rio before 2am) I was on my way home for an early night.

  As the major American public holiday being tomorrow, and an early exit due for me and Heath, plans are for fireworks, poker, some grub and who knows what else.

  Details to follow . . .

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  Read more: Heath Chick, Zeeks Guza, Greg Lewis

• 2008 Melbourne Poker Championships

  May 27, 2008

  We have just concluded the 2008 Melbourne Poker Championships down here in wet and cold Victoria. After reporting, blogging and taking photos for a total of 9 days at around 12 to 15 hours a day, it seems as though I'm ready for working at the WSOP this year; instead of playing like I did in 2007.

  With not much on the horizon, I really wanted to be part of the team this year, and with the help of Heath Chick (tassiedevil to some of you) who coordinated the PokerNews team, and is PokerNetwork administrator, he was able to organise a spot for me on the team in Las Vegas through Garry Gates.

  However with the WSOP starting in less then a week, and with nothing organised besides the guarentee of 4 days of work a week while I'm there from Garry, what are the realistic chances of me leaving the miserable weather of Melbourne for the gambling mecca of sunny Las Vegas?

  Here is a list I have compiled; which if satisfied means that I'll be on my way to WSOP 2008:
  - organise frequent flyer points flights
  - confirm accomodation with fellow reporters and Melbournian's
  - probably need to round-up some extra dosh before I head over, so I ain't living from paycheck to paycheck
  - tie-up all loose ends down here

  Well, thats all I can come up with at the moment, but stay tuned to hear what else gets placed in my path.

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  Read more: Heath Chick, PokerNetwork