Fave Halloween costume No. 1

Harrah’s combined bad beat is getting scary big and has topped $490,000 as of about 1:30pm Friday. The last couple of weekends, the jackpot — which draws from all four Harrah’s Entertainment poker rooms in the city — has been picking up more than $20K  and will easily pass $500,000 if its still in play by Monday Morning.

The minimum bad beat hand is at quad threes, so it could go at any moment.

The Harrah’s jackpot pays 30 percent to the bad-beat loser, 20 percent to the hand winner and splits 50 percent among all players in cash games at all Harrah’s rooms – Showboat, Harrah’s, Caesars and Bally’s.

Meanwhile, the Taj Mahal’s bad beat, which had climbed close to $250K, has hit and the jackpot was reset to about $61,000. We’re trying to track down the info on the winners.

The Borgata’s bad beat has topped $202,000. The Borgata splits its bad beat high and low. A bad beat of quad 10s or better splits the entire jackpot. A bad beat of quad deuces to quad nines gets about 25 percent, or about $50,000.

Also, The Phish Phamily Poker Classic will be held at the Trop Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 30-31). Proceeds benefit The Mockingbird Foundation, formed by Phish fans in 1996 to support music education for children.

The tournament is already sold out at 108 players playing for a modest prize pool of $6,000 (this is for charity remember) and raffled prizes.

And of course, all eyes will turn to the Taj Mahal on Monday when the United States Poker Championship gets under way.

Here’s a reprint of the schedule. Oh and Happy Halloween.

When the World Series of Poker announced its new format earlier this year for its circuit events, some poker pundits (if there is such a thing) questioned the move, especially the creation of $10,000 buy-in regional championship tournaments. After all, if you’re not attracting players, upping the money is a risky move.

Well, the circuit events have been underway for several weeks and so far, the revamp seems to be working. And that bodes well for two Harrah’s properties in A.C. — Harrah’s Resort and Caesars — which will host WSOP Circuit events in December and March respectively.

Harrah’s Resort in particular, which will host one of those 10K events, has to be happy that a similar 10K event in Hammond Indiana (which is real close to Chicago) has attracted a decent, if unspectacular field of 226 players. You have to figure A.C. can top that.

This year’s circuit events are already seeing some records broken. The current  stop at the Horseshoe Casino set a record for a circuit event by attracting 1,611 entrants for its opening event, a $350 buy-in that also served as a satellite for the $1,600 main event.

(The “main” events at circuit stops are separate from regional championships).

The WSOP Circuit ring

Chicago’s main event drew a record 872 players and was won by Kurt Jewell, a Kentucky-based pro. He takes home $242,909.

The final table for the 10K regional championship, which has a prize pool of $2,101,800 – the largest WSOP Circuit purse in more than three years — gets underway today. The winner will take home $525,449, plus the WSOP Circuit gold ring.

Some notables who have played at the regional championship, which will be televised nationally, include: Barry Greenstein, Gavin Smith, David Baker, Chris Bell, Chad Brown, Nick Binger, Matt Brady, Doug “Rico” Carli, Eric Froehlich, Matt Glantz, Blair Hinkle, Frank Kassela, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, Kathy Liebert, Jeff Madsen, Jason Mercier, Brock Parker, Sorel Mizzi, Tony Rivera, Vanessa Selbst, Dan Shak, Shannon Shorr, Justin Smith, Matt Stout, Bernard Lee, and Steve Zolotow.

December’s circuit event in A.C. should continue to keep the circuit on a roll.

The Harrah’s Entertainment combined bad beat jackpot was at $480,258 going into today’s play (Oct. 27), and since it’s Wednesday, the minimum hand for a bad beat drops to four threes.

That’s pretty much back to the normal minimum of four deuces, so Harrah’s high minimum really isn’t in play any longer. (Still, losing on four deuces right now would suck).

Unfortunately, Harrah’s isn’t commenting on the jackpot because they are in a mandated “quiet period” as they prepare to take the company public. Still, the jackpot is gaining about $5K per day, not as fast as we predicted, but still a pretty good clip. It should hit $500,000 sometime this weekend if it doesn’t hit.

And again, the Harrah’s jackpot pays 30 percent to the bad-beat loser, 20 percent to the hand winner and splits 50 percent among all players in cash games at all Harrah’s rooms – Showboat, Harrah’s, Caesars and Bally’s.

Brindise

The Taj Mahal, through its Internet partner ptseats.com, has posted nine episodes of TV coverage of last year’s United States Poker Championship, which is airing on Spike TV and in other syndicated slots.

The return to TV for the city’s oldest poker tournament was considered a must for the independently run USPC, which doesn’t enjoy a partnership with the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker. This year’s tournament starts Nov. 1 and will be filmed for broadcast next year.

To get yourself in the mood, you can check out the videos here, including coverage of last year’s championship event, which was one by Rumson N.J. player and A.C. regular William Brindise. Brindise cashed for $261,800.

The Harrah’s combined bad beat made it through another weekend and is sitting at $471,000 going into Monday. That means it picked up about $23K over the weekend and should rollover $500,000 sometime this week, assuming it doesn’t hit.

Of course it could hit since the minimum hand is down to quad fours and will drop to quad threes on Wednesday. Still, that’s a nice chunk of change out there.

The Professor

As for Monday headlines, Howard Lederer is speaking out for Phil Ivey, who he feels was robbed of induction this year into the poker Hall of Fame. Or more precisely, Lederer uses Ivey as an example of how the whole voting process is flawed.

Lederer wrote in his blog: “Anyone who has even casually followed poker over the last ten years knows that the best and most accomplished poker player on this year’s list was Phil Ivey.”

This year, Eric Seidel  and Dan Harrington were selected and will be inducted next month right before play resumes on the World Series of Poker final table.

Lederer congratulates them both, but then goes into Ivey’s impressive record, which includes being atop of poker’s all-time money list with $13,642,275 in tournament winnings and 8 WSOP bracelets, as well as almost $19 million in online cash game winnings.

Ivey

“You’d have to go back to Doyle Brunson more than thirty years ago to find a player so dominant in both tournaments and cash games,” states Lederer.

One of the criteria for election to the hall of Fame is longevity, or as the Hall states a player must have “stood the test of time.” Ivey is only 34 and presumably has a long career still ahead of him.

But Lederer addresses that

“In Phil Ivey’s case, there is a particular reason why he may not have been chosen in 2010. Chip Reese was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991, at the age of 40. He was the youngest inductee, by a large margin… Can we be sure a player has stood the test of time before the age of 40? I’d say no. By formalizing that requirement, we can avoid this issue.”

Ironically, Ivey — who we never get tired of pointing out learned to play poker in A.C. —  has reportedly said he would have declined induction because he respects Reese and knows how much being the youngest inductee means to him. That makes it sound like there’s not much point in voting him in for the next six years either.

It’s another normal tournament schedule this weekend in Atlantic City, but all eyes are starting to turn to the Harrah’s combined bad beat jackpot. Going into Friday’s play the jackpot was sitting at $448,712.

Remembering Monday headlines

Last weekend, the jackpot picked up about $22K counting Friday (Oct, 15). If it survives this weekend, it could hit 500K by mid-week. Just something to think about.

As always, the Harrah’s jackpot pays 30 percent to the bad-beat loser, 20 percent to the hand winner and splits 50 percent among all players in cash games at all Harrah’s rooms – Showboat, Harrah’s, Caesars and Bally’s. The minimum hand is currently set at quad fours.

Meanwhile, if you don’t feel like sharing your jackpot with possibly hundreds of players, The Taj Mahal’s bad beat was at $236,719 going into Friday. It will be interesting to see how quickly that bad beat climbs (The Taj has a 70-table room) while the big Harrah’s bad beat is in play.

The Taj has the traditional bad beat payout of “50% of the jackpot will be awarded to the Bad Beat hand (losing player); 25% of the jackpot will be awarded to the winner of the hand; 25% of the jackpot will be divided equally and awarded to the remaining seated players at the game.”

The Borgata’s full bad beat is back to $162,341 (minimum bad beat hand of quad 10s) and the partial small bad beat (minimum quad deuces to nines) is at $40,585.

The Trop’s bad beat was at about $180K mid-week.

Happy hunting.

The Harrah’s combined bad beat has climbed to $443,292 going into Thursday’s (Oct. 21) play and seems to be picking up about $4,000 to $5,000 a day. Wednesday was also the day the minimum bad beat hand goes down, so the minimum hand should be at quad fours.

The jackpot splits 50 percent of the money with all cash game players at any Harrah’s room — Harrah’s Resort, Caesars, Bally’s, Showboat — when it hits.

Needless to say, if this thing can hold out a couple more weeks, Harrah’s rooms will be packed 24/7.

And in some other news, Poker Stars has been running satellites for the U.S. Poker Championship at The Taj Mahal. Though the casino doesn’t have an affiliation with the online site, qualifiers for the $5,000 + $250 main event on Nov. 19 start as low as just a few dollars. For info go here.

Never let it be said that you can’t find big names in The Borgata’s poker room. Results from the casino’s weekend Deepstack Double Play Tournament came out today and we’re pretty impressed with the third place finisher.

Here’s the top five:

1. LEONID LERNER (BROOKLYN, NY):  $101,860

2. PAUL GORAY (GLEN BURNIE, MD):  $58,803

3. DEAN MARTIN (CHAMBERSBURG, PA):  $35,880

4. JASON HENRICI (OLD TAPPAN, NJ):  $28,904

5. PAUL DROHAN (NEW YORK, NY):  $22,724

The Double Play drew 411 entrants to the $1,000 buy-in tournament for a $411,000 prize pool, not bad for a one-time weekend event. We’re assuming anyone who took advantage of the Double Play feature — where players who bust out on Day 1A can buy in again on Day 1B — was counted as two entrants.

The Borgata’s Double Plays remain pretty popular. The last Double Play in September attracted 664 players with a much lower buy-in of $350.

Btw, we know the Dean Martin left us in 1995, but is there anything more nostalgic than imagining Deano at an A.C. Poker table?

Now, that’s amore.

Never content to let another Atlantic City property get all the attention, The Borgata has lined up a pretty busy November while the U.S. Poker Championship is underway at the Taj Mahal.

And part of that action will be the introduction of stud tournaments, a game the Taj Mahal is known for offering.

The casino will start with a series of four Stud Free Roll tournaments ($1,000 each – paying first place $400, 2nd place $300, 3rd place $200 and 4th place $100) on Sunday, October 31 through Wednesday, November 3.

On each Sunday in November, the casino will also introduce a $5,000 Guaranteed Stud ($100 Buy-In + $20 Entry) tournament at 1pm.

The casino has also set up a series of Deepstack Hold’em Tournaments that will run from Nov. 4-9.

Here’s the schedule:

November 4:  FALL DEEP STACK

11am:  $200 + $30 Deep Stack (2 Re-Entry)

·         7pm:  $100 + $20 NLH

November 5:  FALL DEEP STACK

·         11am:  $300 + $40 Deep Stack (Re-Entry)

·         7pm:  $100 + $20 NLH

November 6:  FALL DEEP STACK

·         11am:  $400 + $50 Deep Stack (Re-Entry)

·         3pm:  $200 + $30 Survivor Cash NLH

·         7pm:  $150 + $30 NLH

November 7:  FALL DEEP STACK

·         11am:  $500 + $60 Deep Stack – Day 1A

·         1pm:  $100 + $20 Stud ($5,000 Guaranteed)

·         3pm:  $115 + $20 Qualifier (for $560 Day 1B)

·         7pm:  $100 + $20 NLH

November 8:  FALL DEEP STACK

·         11am:  $500 + $60 Deep Stack – Day 1B

·         7pm:  $100 + $20 NLH

November 9:  FALL DEEP STACK

·         11am:  $170 + $30 NLH

·         7pm:  $100 + $20 NLH

But wait, there’s more. The Borgata will also offer two days of Deepstack Tournaments on  Nov. 13 and 14 with a guaranteed 250K jackpot.

Here’s that schedule:

November 13:  $250K Guaranteed Deep Stack

·         11am:  $1000 + $100 NLH – Day 1A

·         3pm:  $220 + $30 Qualifier (for $1100 Day 1B)

·         7pm:  $150 + $30 NLH

November 14:  $250K Guaranteed Deep Stack

·         11am:  $1000 + $100 NLH – Day 1B

·         1pm:  $100 + $20 Stud ($5,000 Guaranteed)

·         7pm:  $150 + $30 NLH

And yet more.

The casino has teamed up with Washington DC radio station 106.7 The Fan  to offer the junkies tournament on Nov. 11. There are no drugs involved.

The junkies are the name the station’s “sports junkies” go by. It’s actually a pretty small tournament, but the station will broadcast live from casino before the tournament.

So here’s that schedule:

·         10am:  $260 + $40 NLH (The Junkies tournament)

·         1pm:  $80 + $20 NLH

·         7pm:  $80 + $20 NLH

For more info go here.

Finally, remember the casino already offers guaranteed $30,000 Wednesdays and $40,000 guaranteed Fridays.

Wednesday, the casino has $30,000 in guarantees; actually two $15,000 guaranteed $100 + $20 No Limit tournaments at 11am and 7 pm respectively.

Friday, the guarantee is $40,000 through two $20,000 guaranteed, $170 + $30 No limit tournaments, one at noon and another at 6pm.

Let’s face it, the Borgata knows how to keep their room humming, whatever is going on around town.

Experience still matters most in hall of fame votes as two classic pros — Dan Harrington and Eric Seidel — were named today (Oct. 19) to the Poker Hall of Fame.

Seidel

“I’m very honored to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame this year and it’s an extra bonus for me to be going in with Dan Harrington,” said Seidel according to cardplayer.com. “We have played together and have been great friends for my entire poker career. Both of us refined our games at the Mayfair Club in New York.

“I have such a high regard for the many members of the Poker Hall of Fame that I have played with over the years and it’s a real privilege to be able to join them.”

Seidel is known for his heads-up standoff with Johnny Chan at the 1988 WSOP Main event which was featured in the movie Rounders. He has more than $10 million in tournament winnings and eight WSOP bracelets.

Harrington

Harrington was the 1995 winner of the World Series of Poker main event, one of four times he’s made the event’s final table, and is the author of the intensely popular Harrington on Hold’em series.

This year’s nominees who will have to wait at least another year include, Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreaneu,  Scotty Nguyen and Linda Johnson.

The induction will be made next month at a special ceremony Nov. 8 before play resumes at the WSOP main event final table.