While the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles is winding down to its final table, it was announced yesterday that the final day of the tournament – as well as the Bounty Shootout – will be held at the Crystal Casino. All one needed to do was to peruse the world of poker through Twitter to learn the reason why.
In a Twitter discussion, noted poker journalists B.J. Nemeth and Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers detailed the reason for the move. Nemeth explained in a Tweet, “The Bike’s contract w/ the WPT doesn’t allow them to run any other televised poker tournaments.” Mathers replied, “Maybe that’s why it (the Bounty Shootout) wasn’t originally scheduled to be filmed for TV.”
As for the players at the Main Event of the NAPT, the final two tables are shaping up to be quite a battle. “2.15 million to end the night!,” Tweeted Jason Mercier on Monday evening. “2nd or 3rd in chips. 19 left. Avg is 1.1 mill.” Joining him for the festivities on Tuesday will be Matt Affleck, who chirped to his followers, “Bagged 447000 blinds going to 12/24000. 19 left. lot of work to do tomorrow.”
A player who won’t be heading on to action on Tuesday will be Victor Ramdin. The PokerStars sponsored pro Tweeted his demise: “Very sick way to exit napt main event at the bike. A blind spec… flop aa10 check around… turn 8 I have a8 all in… I was drawing almost dead… my op had a10.”
On Monday, 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Peter Eastgate decided to auction his bracelet. According to the auction on eBay, the WSOP Main Event bracelet is being sold to raise money for UNICEF, the worldwide charity benefiting children’s causes around the world. The buzz through the Twitterverse has been mixed, though.
“So sick that Peter Eastgate is selling his WSOP ME bracelet,” Rob Perelman Tweeted to his followers early Tuesday morning. “Quit poker, sure, but don’t sell the bracelet, man. LAME!” Canadian poker pro Terrence “Unassigned” Chan, however, took a difference approach, Tweeting, “Peter Eastgate to auction WSOP bracelet for UNICEF… This man just might be the most ego-free person to ever play poker.” The auction has been dividing for others in the poker world, including Eric Mizrachi (“That’s sick, wtf?”) and Ari Engel (“I think it’s awesome that former WSOP world Champion Peter Eastgate is selling his bracelet for UNICEF.”)
The NFL’s latest Monday Night Football game, featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins, drew attention from some of poker’s top names because of Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s historic night. Pleased about his fantasy football team, Scott Huff Tweeted, “And that completes the greatest comeback in fantasy history.” Yuval Bronshtein Tweeted, “Best overall performance by a quarterback in NFL history tonight from Michael Vick? Pretty sure I just witnessed MNF history.”
Other sporting events also drew the attention of poker players. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns drew out Jean-Robert Bellande, who Tweeted, “Usher concert was cool but Lakers/Suns game w @Efropoker and Nacho was amazing. Wish the Lakers won.” Eric “EFro” Froehlich was a little more irritated by the Lakers’ loss, Tweeting to his followers, “First time I’ve ever gotten to see a ref attempt to fix a game live (whoever #63 is, 8 phantom calls). at staples courtesy of @BrokeLivingJRB.”
For the best Tweets of the past few days, we’ll start with Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, who Tweeted on Sunday during NAPT Los Angeles, “Just called clock on John Phan for 1st time today, if he folds it prolly won’t be the last time I call it.” Linda Johnson showed her patriotism and Tweeted, “Worked my first volunteer shift at the USO Lounge at McCarren tonight. Met lots of awesome young military men. Heard ‘Yes mam’ a lot.”
There were thoughts on being a professional poker player from Jonathan Little, who Tweeted, “Every time I get the least bit sad, I take a look around and realize my life is the absolute nuts. Playing $5,000 bounty shootout tomorrow.” Alec Torelli, on the other hand, took a different look: “Being a poker player is so tilting because you forget what day it is and end up wasting hours going to appointments u don’t have.” Leave it to PartyPoker’s Kara Scott, however, to see the conspiracy in life: “Is it weird that every time a massive corporation/government agency schedules a big announcement, I immediately think it’ll be aliens?”
