December Main Event and TOC

It’s almost December which means it’s time for our 2nd Annual RPL Main Event! The date will be Saturday, December 13th. We are still finalizing the location at the moment. We’re working to find a place where noise and so on will not be a factor. I will email again with this information or if you have any suggestions let me know.

We will NOT be making up the missed August Event since Trinity has already locked up the Player of the Year award. Since we missed an event, I am lowering the qualifying number to 3 events played to be eligible for the Main Event.

Please let myself or Trinity know if you will be coming to Tournament of Champions and the Main Event, so we can make the proper arrangements.

Here’s a list of players who are eligible to play the Main Event:

• Trinity - confirmed
• Sean - confirmed
• Derrick - confirmed
• Brian - confirmed
• Mitch
• Chris Sloce - confirmed
• Vern - confirmed
• Jason H. - confirmed
• Duffy
• Donnie
• Brad - confirmed
• Aris - confirmed
• Adam - confirmed
• Anthony - not attending
• Shorty - confirmed
• Mark - not attending
  
• Jeff - confirmed
• Bo

Tournament of Champions Qualifiers:

• Trinity - confirmed
• Vern - confirmed
• Brad - confirmed
• Adam - confirmed
• Rick
• Chris Daniels - maybe
  
• Andy

(The winner of the T.O.C. wins a seat in the Main Event regardless of number of events played.)

Main Event Saturday 12/13/08 Details:

Tournament of Champions:
Buy-in: Freeroll (See list above for eligibility)
Start Time: 3pm
Format: Freezeout w/ Turbo type structure

RPL Main Event:
Buy-in: $60.00 + $5.00 (Food/Drinks)
(See list above for eligibility)
Start Time: 5pm
Format: DeepStack Freezeout w/ 22 minute levels
$300 added to prize pool

60 Minutes Online Poker Segment to Air This Sunday

According to the CBS News website, the long awaited
"60 Minutes" segment on online poker cheating will
air this Sunday, November 30th. An e-mail to the
"60 Minutes" subscriber base has also confirmed
this information.

The segment is titled "The Cheaters", and will
apparently be the lead segment for this Sunday's
program. The story is described as a "joint
investigation" between the Washington Post
and "60 Minutes". (full story)

November RPL Event Results

The November RPL Live Event had a good crowd and a lot of new faces. We started the evening with 17 players and six hours later only one was left standing. When play got down to the bubble a deal was made to allow everyone to get $40 back and play out the rest as planned. The final five consisted of Rick, Wally, Donnie, Duffy and Trinity. Shortly after the deal was made, Rick busted out. Donnie was next to go when he called Trinity's allin with Trinity showing KK and Donnie 44. The flop came 4xK, giving both players a set. Play continued three handed for some time with chips moving around to each player. Wally was getting short but managed to double up when Trinity called his all in with sevens which never improved against Wally's pocket eights. Around 12:30 Wally and Duffy got allin. Duffy was way ahead with KK vs Wally's QJ(I think). Duffy flopped another King for a set sending Wally to the rail.

Heads up started with the blinds at 5K/10K and Duffy holding about a 3 to 1 chip lead. Trinity took an aggressive approach and managed to take over the chip lead. The chips got all in with Trinity's Kx vs Duffy's AQ. We thought the game was over when the board came J5K5 only a 10 to come on the river to give Duffy the straight (which no one noticed until Trinity pointed it out). This hand put both players at close to even. A few hands later Trinity pushed allin with A9suited and knowing he might be behind Duffy called with KQ and neither hand improved. Trinity took down the title for his fourth RPL title and extending his POY points lead even more.

Champion - Trinity
2nd - Duffy
3rd - Wally
4th - Donnie

Good game everyone. Hope to see you next month for the makeup for August and the Main Event (must have attended four RPL games to qualify). If your name is not on the list as qualified email Trinity or Sean. Hopefully we will have the list updated shortly. We will also note all those who are one game short of qualifying so that if you are one short you can attend the Dec 11th game to qualify for the Main Event on Sat Dec 13th.

See you at the tables.

UIGEA regulations pass

Letter from PPA...

I have unfortunate news to report.  Despite the efforts of the poker community, the opposition of the banks and the recent news exposing inappropriate influence by the White House, today the current administration finalized the UIGEA regulations to be made effective on January 19th the day before president-elect Obama officially takes office.  A copy of the final UIGEA regulations and the PPA’s response can be found on our Web site.

I am sure that you share my outrage over this last-minute "midnight rulemaking," but I have not lost my drive to correct this injustice and I call on you to join me and the million strong PPA to help continue our fight.  In fact, the Politico Newspaper reports on 11/12 that Congressional leaders are already plotting legislation for next year that will undermine the White House's "midnight" regulations.  We must make sure that UIGEA is part of this regulation reversal.

There are 4 things you should do to respond to the government's actions:

1.   Call your Member of Congress and let him or her know how disappointed you are by the lame duck administration's implementation of UIGEA and subsequent erosion of your personal freedom.

2.   Send an email to the Obama Transition team and tell President-elect Obama that once in office he should immediately turn back the UIGEA and other "midnight rules" issued by President Bush.
3.   Help the PPA help you.  Become a Premium Member of PPA if you are not already. For only $20 you help us be effective advocates for poker and your membership put us in a strong position to defend your rights.  If you are already a Premium PPA member please consider making an additional contribution to our fight.

4.   Forward this to your friends and stay updated on the latest developments regarding the UIGEA regulations.

This is not the time to bow our heads in defeat; rather we must continue our efforts with renewed vigor.  Thank you for your support and dedication to protecting the game we love.

Proud to play,
Alfonse D'Amato, Chairman
Poker Players Alliance

Shorty in the news again with his blue Sebring

Found this article from the Sunday Johnson City Press about Shorty and his dad's electric car...

Pulling plug on gasoline: Kingsport father-son tandem go electric
KINGSPORT — Gasoline prices may be dropping, but that means nothing to someone who drives an electric car. That person would pay next to nothing anyway.
And that’s true even for an electric vehicle that is three decades old, like the “Lectric Leopard” driven by Jim Leatherwood of Kingsport. Jim and his son, James, both drive electric cars. Jim’s car was purchased in October 2007 and James bought his several years ago. (Read Full Article)

November Nine Blackout

Today is the beginning of the final table of the WSOP and the November Nine. To avoid knowing anything about who wins or who is ahead, I am having to maintain a poker blackout from all poker news sites, blogs and poker sites. Since the purpose of delaying the final table was to build hype and allow us to see the final table "as it happens" somewhat delayed, I might as well get that benefit without it being spoiled. Is anyone else planning a blackout?

I also think that there was not enough hype built up about the November Nine. Does a one hour episode about nine players really do the justice deserved. You would think ESPN would show much more.

[UPDATE] I made it all the way to Tuesday afternoon before my blackout was for naught. While talking with a female co-worker, she said, "Oh yeah, I saw on Yahoo that xxxxxxxxx won $9 million dollars." My hands went to my head with a loud NOOoooooooo. And I let her know that she ruined my day... and now I know way too much information. I will try to watch the final table and pretend I don't know what I know. (luckily she did not give me a name but enough information that if I looked up the players again I would know the answer within a few seconds)

November RPL Event Scheduled for Nov. 13th

The email has been sent out for our November event (not to be confused with the WSOP event also held in November). We will play on Thur Nov 13th. If you plan on playing please either respond to the sent emails or use the SIGN UP NOW option in the right hand column on this page. If you need directions note that in the email/sign up now option.

See you at the tables.

November RPL Event to be Announced

We are working on scheduling the November game. An email will probably be sent out within the next 48 hours with the schedule. So stay tuned.