June 1 - The dealing starts Friday as the warm-up events for the World Series of Poker begin.
For the first time, organizers plan to broadcast 10 final table showdowns among the earlier events on the Internet. Organizers are producing the segments with a 60-minute delay, complete with hole-card cameras, outside the realm of a broadcasting deal with ESPN, which will continue to televise the tournament's top events, commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said.

"We've dialed it up a notch in terms of all of our broadcasting and media initiatives," he said. "This year, the World Series of Poker News is being carried around the world and across every medium that matters with the same level of cutting-edge thought that drives NASCAR and the NBA." The Internet broadcasts, to be shown on an upgraded Web site, will charge a pay-per-view subscription fee, he said. Players in those finals will be sequestered and prevented from gaining information on their opponents' cards in previous hands.

This year's version of the planet's richest poker tournament game features 55 events, up from 46 last year, and runs from Friday likely to the wee morning hours of July 18. The no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event starts July 6, and the final table will be seated July 17 at noon.

Organizers have planned to seat 10,000 players for the $10,000 buy-in main event, up from the 8,773 who tried their luck last year. Three Day One's, each with seating for 3,000 or more players, are needed to winnow the field for the poker marathon. Phil Hellmuth Jr., Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan will be vying for a record 11th bracelet for winning a world series event. WSOP 07

The main event's grand prize looks likely to be anyone's to take if the trend of the past few years continues. Relative unknowns have come forward to seize poker's greatest prize since Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Georgia, emerged from an online qualifying tournament to win the $2.5 million first-place purse in 2003. Last year's champion, former Hollywood talent agent Jamie Gold, won $12 million after beating a record field. After a lawsuit, Gold settled for an undisclosed amount with a Los Angeles-based TV producer over an agreement to divvy up the winnings.

Organizers have reconfigured the payout scheme so that if the number of entrants matches last year, the top prize will be reduced to $10 million but the 873 players who make it into the money will receive bigger payouts than in the past.

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April 4, 2007 - The legality of virtual gambling in Linden Lab's "Second Life" is reportedly being investigated by the FBI. There are many casinos in "Second Life" offering poker, blackjack and slot machines. "The question is whether these avatars violate criminal statutes by illegally gambling in these cyberworlds," said technology attorney Raymond Van Dyke.

The FBI is reportedly investigating the legal issues associated with virtual online casinos in Linden Lab's "Second Life" online world.

In "Second Life," millions of registered users can create their own avatars, or personas, in an online gambling world with its own economy. The virtual world also has its own currency, known as Linden dollars, that can be exchanged for real U.S. currency.

There are many casinos in "Second Life" offering poker, blackjack and slot machines. Profits at the three largest poker casinos are about US$1,500 each per month, according to a Reuters report.

'Potential Problems'
"We have invited the FBI several times to take a look around in 'Second Life' and raise any concerns they would like, and we know of at least one instance that federal agents did look around in a virtual casino," Ginsu Yoon, Linden Lab's vice president for business affairs, told a Reuters reporter.

Linden Lab officials were not available Wednesday for further comment.

"There are some potential problems Linden Lab is going to face by taking a less proactive stance on what some of their users are doing in the virtual world," Sean Kane, an attorney with Drakeford & Kane, told the E-Commerce Times. "By creating a system that allows for things like gambling japan or copyright infringement within the virtual world, Linden Lab may find themselves facing a suit."

Just a Game?
Kane likened virtual gambling on "Second Life" to the case brought against file-sharing site Grokster, resulting in its being shut down in 2005 for not doing enough to discourage illegal sharing. In the case of "Second Life," Kane noted, a similar rationale could be applied, which may find that Linden Lab has not done enough to police its virtual world.

"I think this really is a testing process," he suggested. "The main issue that will need to be decided is, do digital rights have real world value? If they do, there will be real-world consequences." The IRS is even looking into the question, he pointed out, with a forthcoming report on whether virtual assets should be subject to real-world taxes.

However, before anything gets decided on a government level, Kane added, court cases will arise and help determine the translation of virtual activities into real-world consequences. "If it's determined that the virtual world is just a game, there's the potential participants can ignore real-world law," Kane said. "Is 'Second Life' a game, or isn't it?"

Need for Control
"The question is whether these avatars violate criminal statutes by illegally gambling in these cyberworlds," technology attorney Raymond Van Dyke told the E-Commerce Times.

"To the extent cybergambling is employed as a surrogate for illegal gambling, with actual gambling occurring albeit in virtual reality, the FBI will most likely be interested in pursuing these activities. However, since all gambling in the real world is strictly regulated and all gambling devices classified as to the level of risk , emulated slot machines and the like would have to be likewise classified and strictly controlled," he noted.

"It's only a matter of time before cyber police seize cyber machines in a cyber raid on a cyber Casino Royale," quipped Van Dyke.

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March 11, 2007 - “He’s not that good,” Sonny Merchen said.

“He” is Sam Britton.

“Every dog has his day,” Merchen said with a laugh of his best friend and poker buddy.

That day wasn’t Monday, though. “Yeah, they kind of kicked my tail and brought me back down to reality,” Britton said. “They” are his poker partners, who beat Britton in a game with a $20 buy-in — a far cry from the stakes he’d been playing for only 24 hours earlier.

When he came to the table Monday, Britton was a tournament champion awaiting television coverage this fall having just won the $75,000 purse during the Heartland Poker Tour’s stop in Deadwood, S.D.

“People can play a long time and not be as fortunate as I was,” Britton said. “I consider myself blessed, lucky.”

But the luck — and ultimately, a pair of pocket threes that bagged the last hand — won him not only the tournament but a plane ticket, hotel stay and entrance fees the tour’s Tournament of Champions in December.

“He waits for good hands but when he does get a good hand he’s aggressive with it,” said Merchen, who played in the tournament with his friend before being knocked out.

He wasn’t joking anymore.

“He’s a very good player.”

Britton, 35, is the owner of Millennium Homes and has been playing poker for a little more than five years.

Last weekend’s poker women tournament was not his first. He plays frequently in Wibaux, Mont., and has competed in England and Australia. But it’s the most he’s ever won and the first time he’s walked away as a tournament champion.

“I’ve been just shy of the final table a couple times,” he said.

That all changed after almost 16 hours of play March 4. Britton beat out 186 other players on the final day, including fellow Gillette resident Kent Biel, who hauled in $2,143 with a 17th-place finish. He didn’t get home until after 2 a.m. and didn’t get much sleep after that.

He describes himself an amateur trying to get better by playing in tournaments like the Heartland tour, which has staged 21 tournaments over the course of its year-and-a-half existence.

“(It’s) like minor league baseball,” Britton said of the tour. “It’s a small buy-in ... (but it) teaches a player to win.”

Britton will now be given automatic entry to an end-of-year championship tour at a online casino in either Chicago or Las Vegas. Gary Lang, a tour organizer speaking from Morehead, Minn., headquarters, said Britton also would be feature on the Altitude network when the Deadwood tournament is aired in October.

Still, even with all the attention from the tour and the entrance into the tournament, Britton says the win was mostly luck.

“I’m nothing special, I just had a good day,” he said.

His friends, though, are proud. No matter how much Britton plays his victory down, his poker partners (and close friends) are happy for him, impressed and admit to having a little more incentive to try to win in friendly games.

“At 12:05 in the morning he called and said, ‘dude, you’re not going to believe this but I won,’ and I said, ‘you’re right, I don’t,’” Jay Igo said of a midnight call from Britton, who had gone from 15,000 chips to more than 3 million by night’s end.

Igo, who usually goes to work at 4:30 a.m., also had a hard time going to sleep after the win. And while he wasn’t at the next night’s game, Igo heard plenty about it.

“Everybody and his dog was gunning for him, I know that. Everybody is gunning for him,” he said.

Gary Germann, another of Britton’s friends and poker partners, had been playing poker at another casino after being knocked out of the Heartland tournament. He was about to go back to Gillette when he realized his friend had a chance to win.

“I was waking through the parking lot and I saw Sam’s pickup and I knew he was still in the tournament.”

Germann, who during three years of play has had his own success, once winning more than $42,000 during a card-playing cruise, went back and joined Merchen to support their friend.

“I was amazed the whole time as he worked his way up.”

Soon there were high fives all around and an adrenaline-fueled drive back to Gillette for the trio.

“We’re awful proud of him,” Igo said.

Britton said he has no extravagant plans for the money. “That’s a lot of money — more than some people make in a year.” He just wants save and pay off bills for his business, his wife and their three young children.

“I feel very blessed.”

Talk about playing your cards right.

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Las Vegas , NV -- The third annual Tournament of Champions kicked off today at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The TOC is a one-of-a-kind freeroll competition consisting of the top World Series of Poker and WSOP Circuit players of the past year. The high-level of competition makes the tournament one of the toughest events to win in poker. Annie Duke was victorious the inaugural TOC held in 2004. Last year, Mike “the Mouth” Matusow won the championship.

The invitational tournament offers a total prize pool of $2 million – including a million-dollar first-prize. Nine places will be paid. For all players -- the special event cost nothing to enter, as all prize money is posted by Harrah’s Entertainment and its esteemed corporate partners -- including Sobe Adrenaline Rush (energy drink) and Party Poker.net (online poker school).

The 27 invited players this year included all of the WSOP Circuit event winners from August 2005 through June 2006 (12 seats). Players who made it to the final table of the 2006 WSOP main event were also invited (nine seats). The remaining seats were filled by individuals selected by Harrah’s Entertainment and its sponsors (six seats).

Those players ranged from poker legend and two-time WSOP champion Doyle Brunson, to Sarah Strong, who beat out 100,000 competitors to win sandwich-king Quizno’s special promotional qualifying tournament.

With so much prize money and bragging rights for one of poker web most prestigious titles at stake, ESPN was on hand to film the entire event for future broadcast.

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LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2006--Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) announced today that ESPN will telecast 32 hours of original programming of the 2006 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee's Best Light.The ESPN telecasts will be aired every Tuesday at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time beginning July 18 and continuing through October 31.

In addition to the regular telecast schedule, poker fans will -- for the first time ever -- have the opportunity to see the Main Event's final table live. For a suggested retail price of $24.95, poker fans can purchase for their TV screens or computers The World Series of Poker Live! -- a new pay-per-view special starting at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, August 10. The live coverage will continue until the champion is crowned.

"ESPN's live coverage will be a historic first for the game of poker," said Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. "This is another example of how our partners are innovating for the benefit of players and fans alike."

Produced under the ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) banner, this year's 2006 WSOP news will be covered by up to 25 cameras, as well as an overhead camera that will travel the length and width of the tournament area. The specially constructed final table used throughout ESPN's coverage will incorporate up to 10 "pocket cams" in the table's rail to show viewers the players' cards, and a "rabbit cam" under the table next to the dealer may show viewers the card that would have been dealt next should a player fold.

The following is the telecast schedule for ESPN's World Series of Poker coverage:
Date Time (All Times ET) Event/Buy-In--------------------------------------------------------Circuit ChampionshipsJuly 18 8 p.m. Harrah's New OrleansJuly 18 9 p.m. Harrah's New OrleansJuly 25 8 p.m. Showboat Atlantic CityJuly 25 9 p.m. Bally's Las VegasAugust 1 8 p.m. Bally's Las VegasAugust 1 9 p.m. Bally's Las VegasAugust 8 8 p.m. Grand Casino TunicaAugust 8 9 p.m. Grand Casino TunicaAugust 15 8 p.m. Grand Casino TunicaAugust 15 9 p.m. Grand Casino Tunica
World Series of Poker Main EventAugust 22 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000August 22 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000August 29 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000August 29 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 5 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 5 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 12 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 12 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 19 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 19 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 26 8 p.m. Main Event/$10,000September 26 9 p.m. Main Event/$10,000
World Series of Poker Bracelet ChampionshipsOctober 3 8 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$1500October 3 9 p.m. Pot Limit Hold 'Em/$1500October 10 8 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$2500October 10 9 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$2000October 17 8 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$1000October 17 9 p.m. Omaha/$10,000October 24 8 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$1000October 24 9 p.m. HORSE/$50,000October 31 8 p.m. Pot Limit Hold 'Em/$2500October 31 9 p.m. No Limit Hold 'Em/$2000

ESPN, Inc. reached a multi-year agreement with Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. to televise the World Series of Poker through 2010, beginning with ESPN's telecast of the 2006 World Series of Poker. In 2005, the World Series of Poker on ESPN enjoyed its longest presentation ever averaging a 1.3 rating for more than 1.1 million viewing households. It has been EOE's highest-rated series for the past three years.

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the world's largest provider of branded casino entertainment through operating subsidiaries. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada 68 years ago, Harrah's has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. online poker

More information about Harrah's is available at its Web site -- www.harrahs.com.CONTACT: Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.Gary Thompson, 702-407-6529orTBC Public RelationsNicole Khoury, 410-986-1317
SOURCE: Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. poker news

If the ESPN television camera crews weren't enough to attract crowds to Harveys Resort and online casino for the $10,000 buy-in, No-Limit Hold'Em World Series of Poker Lake Tahoe Circuit Event main event, then a star-studded field of players will likely do the trick.

Poker superstars John Juanda, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, David Williams, Eric Siedel and Daniel Negreneau are all scheduled to play in the marquee event for the final WSOP circuit event of the season before the WSOP Tournament of Champions later this month in Las Vegas.

The main event's first-place payout is expected to be about $500,000. Ferguson, the 2002 world champion, will sign autographs tonight at 9 outside Hard Rock Cafe inside Harveys.The other top players aren't expected to arrive in Stateline until Friday, when the first day of the four-day wsop main event begins. The final table of the $10,000 buy-in tournament is scheduled for Monday and will be aired on ESPN (tape delayed

TSN isn't bluffing with poker series
By ROB BRODIE -- Ottawa Sun

The poker craze, it seems, isn't dying down anytime soon. If anything, it continues to mushroom. Witness the creation of the Degree Poker Championship, the first all-Canadian version of the popular Texas Hold 'em duel. It's a project that's been in the works for a year at TSN, with the first of four shows airing last night.

It's an all-Canadian affair featuring "everyday" people, said Adam Ashton, TSN's VP of marketing. "The thing we asked ourselves was 'How do you create an authentic Canadian poker tournament championship to find our next undiscovered star?' " he said. TSN conducted an on-line registration for the free poker tournament in the spring and received more than 20,000 responses. Out of that group, 2,000 were randomly selected to compete, equally split into regional poker tourneys at casinos in Niagara Falls and Richmond, B.C.

Forty-five players -- five tables of nine -- made the finals, which were taped at Niagara Fallsview Online Casino Resort in June. The first of four parts of the TV presentation aired last night, with the others tonight, Sept. 23 and Sept. 24. The latter episode includes the $100,000 final and a bonus $1 million final hand poker showdown. Ashton said TSN hopes to draw about 170,000 viewers each night. The entire series has been shot in high-definition format.

So what's the appeal of it to viewers? Ashton believes a lot of it has to do with the way TV presents it. "People at home know what's going on," he said. "To see that unfold is the real drama ... it's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster."

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