The First Words On The New R-J Editor

Could a pay wall be in the offing for the Las Vegas Review-Journal's website?

I have no idea if there are any such plans, but that is the most notable Web-related innovation that incoming R-J Editor Michael Hengel has to his credit as editor and publisher of the Pine Bluff, Ark., Commercial. That ought to make a lot of Vegas cheapskates a little antsy.

I held off on writing about the new editor, announced in yet another news dump by Stephens brass on the day before Thanksgiving, because I wanted a chance to actually, you know, learn something about him. And so I did some checking. He starts on Dec. 6.

As it happens, there's good news and bad news.

The bad news is aforementioned. According to Pine Bluff Commercial managing editor Scott Loftis, Hengel "has some deep convictions about what the future of newspapers is and where the business is going." The Commercial recently put its content behind a pay wall -- it's free for print subscribers, $11 a month for non-subscribers -- so that gives us a fairly good idea of where Hengel thinks it's all going. And he may be right, seeing how other publications are going this route, but that's generally hit this sort of discouraging news -- or encouraging if you're part of the Internet-Must-Be-Free sector.

It's unclear whether a paywall for the R-J would even work with the Las Vegas Sun sitting out there happy to poach the eyeballs that turn away. The Pine Bluff paper has no competition, so far as I can gather, not even from TV stations since it is in the Little Rock regional market. Also, the R-J's site itself would need some dramatic improvements to make it even worth paying for, and the Pine Bluff paper's website is even more primitive so it's unclear Hengel has that in his DNA.

So what's the good news?

For one thing, Mr. Hengel is exceptionally well-liked. Loftis said: "I've been in the journalism business for 22 or 23 years. This is the best boss I’ve ever had. He’s very fair, he’s very respectful. He can make a tough decision when he has to. This guy’s awesome."

OK, so this comes from a guy who still works for him and maybe is being political, although he really seemed earnest and sincere. Sadly, the Pine Bluff paper is fairly small in every way -- 12,000 circulation, four full-time reporters -- so it's not like the sieve that is the R-J, where there's always a few folks willing to gossip off-record.

But what the public in Vegas really wants to know is whether Hengel will arrive with a political or philosophical axe to grind. Former editor Thomas Mitchell, of course, joined obsessive ex-publisher Sherm Frederick in an open jeremiad against Harry Reid, inserting himself into the dynamic of the U.S. Senate race in a way that made his reporters' coverage appear tainted whether it was or not.

What about Hengel? Check out this exchange:

Friess: What do you know about Mike's political views?

Loftis: Nothing, which I think is as it should be.

Friess: Really?

Loftis: I really don’t. Mike has not indicated to me even that he leans one way or the other politically. I haven’t seen any decisions made that would reflect that, either. And I think that’s the way it ought to be.

Well, dang, so do I. An editor who isn't interested in personally being part of the political conversation? What a novel idea!

Another positive bit of news: Hengel understands issues of race. He has to, given that Pine Bluff is majority African-American. There are black city and features editors as well as a black staff writer. Could it be that he's a man who believes his staff ought to reflect the demographics his publication serves? One can hope. I suspect he'll be utterly blinded by how white his new newsroom is, especially given the rapidly changing demographics of Las Vegas.

So far, there are reasons to be optimistic. Hengel kindly wrote back to me via email to postpone an interview with me until he gets his "feet on the ground in Las Vegas." I look forward to it.

"It’s a home run for them," Loftis said. "I know he’s coming from a smaller paper, but this guy is the best I’ve ever been around."

Great. That's a start.

Anatomy Is Destiny

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Barricaded in my office, I waited for the brownies to kick in and cranked up a Dead bootleg to drown out the gayness echoing from the living room where my girlfriend was catching up on episodes of Glee.

That's when I did something that I haven't done in a very long time -- online poker. And it wasn't a private tournament or anything of the sort. I player a proper cash game. A legit session. First one in months. I knew that I'd be rusty, but you gotta start somewhere, right? The lack of mid-level limit hold'em games was a bit of a bummer, because those formerly-juicy middle limits dried up over the last few years with the expansion into Rush Poker junkieland and addition of other more exciting games.

I wasn't paying too much attention with two tables and trying to read a book. No bullshit. I as thumbing through a book about a crime reporter and probably irked my tablemates because I'd always be late to act and needed the alert sound to prompt my action, but a few times that didn't work, my time bank expired, and they automatically sit me out. After twenty minutes of failing to multi-task, I realized that I should be paying more attention -- even though folding hands and playing ABC LHE was boring as shit.

After another few orbits, I grew even more restless I usually ignore the chat, but one bully was lighting it up with harsh criticisms of everyone's play. I thought he should of kept his mouth shut for two reasons... 1) most of the time, his opponent's play wasn't as bad of a beat as he claimed, and 2) even when his opponents made a bad decision, the bully should had adhered to the "don't tap the glass" mantra. No one wants the fish scared off, but that's what he was doing.

I drew much of his ire in a hand that I won because he played poorly. I had Ad-8d in middle position and raised. The cutoff called and the bully called from his big blind. The flop was A-9-5 with two diamonds. Bully checked. I bet. Cutoff called. Bully called. The turn was the 6. I picked up a gutter and still had a nut flush draw. Bully checked to me. I bet. Both players called. River was an 8. I back-doored two pair. Checked again to me. I bet. Both called. Cutoff had A-K suited and Bully had Ah-Kh. I won the pot with two pairs. The bully flipped out and berated my play.

The barrage of insults began. At that point, I usually turn off his chat and just go about my business but something inside me said, "Fuck this you motherfucking whiney bitch. Dunno why you're going off on me, because you played the hand like a pussy."

I decided to fight back. I could say that my original intentions were altruistic, and if I were a politician, I would run on a platform highlighting my willingness to stand up to table captains, bullies, chat beggars, and other shit talkers. But, in all reality, I was more bored than anything else and pissed that he was costing me money because his negative attitude was turning the bad players away.

Besides, I've been on a mission this year to stand up to bullies. I don't believe in resolutions, but firmly believe in upholding principles -- particularly this one: don't take shit from anybody. I've been vigilant in dealing with bullies and passive-aggressive jackals -- both for myself and especially for my friends.

I decided to fuck with the bully, who was one of the lowest form of poker player on the intertubes -- the crybaby. But, this guy was looking for trouble. For one, bullies don't like to be bullied, and I hoped that I could tilt him. I told him that his insults were a cry for help and that he was obviously a mentally disturbed person. He went for the lamest attempted at a dig. He called me... a donkey. Jesus, so uninspiring and uncreative.

"That's Dr. Donkey to you pal," I barked. Nothing irks trolls when you side with them. They thrive on opposition.

He accused me of being a proctologist. He must have an anal complex, because he wanted to invite me over to check out his ass. He opened himself up to a few witty responses from yours truly about being a closeted queer or a latent homosexual.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm a shrink... a psychiatrist."

I'm not a real doctor, but I play one on the internet, especially when diagnosing bad poker-playing delusional hate monger that wants to have his anus explored by strangers.


But it's pretty easy to diagnose people these days, even without a degree. All you have to do is listen and observe -- seriously listen to what people are saying and carefully dissect their body language (or in this instance their use of words and phrasing). That will reveal all of their secrets and you get sort of x-ray vision into their psyche and see right through their fragile facades.

My bully seemed desperate for attention. Most bullies are hopelessly seeking attention and lash out as a defense mechanism. They deep down seek out intimacy, but they have been hurt in the past, so it's been easier to just act like a dick than let anyone be nice to you.

The fact that the bully felt as though he was entitled to berate his opponents when he lost was completely delusional and selfish. I pegged him as a persecutory delusional -- someone who was convinced that everyone was out to get him.

I diagnosed him as delusional in the chat, and he shot back with a fourth grade response.

"You live in delusional land," was his best thought-up response.

"Yes, you are correct. I live in delusional land. How did you know that I live in Los Angeles?"

That got a a few chuckles.

"I love LA," I continued. "The weather is awesome, but traffic sucks. The best thing is that everyone out her is crazy, which means my services are in high demand."

"I don't know any idiots who would pay you."

"You're in luck that I'm not charging you for this session. You have so many mental health issues that I don't know where we should begin."

That's when he returned to the proctologist stuff. That bully had a real ass fetish. I told him that he should get his ass checkout the same way he always does -- waits for his welfare check to arrive, so he can pay the crack whores/tranny hookers who lived next door to give him a prostate exam with an empty can of Red Bull.

I didn't let up and ripped into him pretty bad -- so much so that I had my own horrifying moment when I thought, "This has gone beyond self-defense.... all of a sudden I went from the victim to being the bully."

I was about to stop, but when someone else at the table laid a vicious beat on the bully, he went off on him. My fleeting moment of compassion evaporated and I returned to giving the bully shit.

"More anger management issues," I responded. "You should learn how to take a beat like a man."

"This is such a tragedy," he bemoaned.

Tragedy? He's got the good life compared to 99% of people on this planet -- he's inside, on a computer, plying online poker. We're all members of the "haves" while the have-nots are riddled with daily hardships (poverty, famine, war) that put all of us to shame.

Whenever he lost a hand, I'd type "nh" into the chat to congratulate his opponent. That's a cheap trick, but it has proven in the past to induce tilt. A couple of times, he took a bad beat, which really fired him up some more. He accused Full Tilt of being rigged, and that it was full of donkeys and idiots. He obviously has not been playing online poker for too long.

"Take a beat like a man," I barked.

I dunno why people complain about bad beats as much as they do. I'm all for let out a little anger and emotion as a step toward closure and just one of the things you have to do to re-gain focus and prepare for the next hand. But those who dwell on bad beats, especially at online poker and feel compelled to bring up that bit of history is beyond me. If anything, I want to play against people who whine about bad beats that happened hours earlier, because it means they are distracted and not paying attention to the present moment and obsession with something they can no longer control -- the past -- it's over and what's done is done. There's no bad beat appeals court where you state your case to Jesus and he makes a ruling to refund your money, or awards you compensation for pain and suffering.

This is poker. You win hands and you lose hands. When you win, you act humble. And when you lose, lose with dignity.

All of my banter in the chat must have drained the bully. He spewed 30+BBs in less than twenty minutes. I won two pots from him. Those were some of the most satisfying moments I've had in poker in a while. The money didn't mean as much to me as the fact that each hand I won sent him deeper and deeper into tiltdom.

The bully with an ass fetish went busto and finally left... in silence.

4 Gay Vegas Related News Bites

There's a whole load o' gay-ish stuff a-swirling, so let's get it all out of the way at once:

* Wedding Belles. Belated and hearty congrats are due to Jon Summers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's communications director, who followed up a very long and brutal but ultimately victorious campaign season by marrying his partner, Kyle, at a church in Washington D.C., where same-sex marriage is fully legal. The happy couple announced their Nov. 20 nuptials in the New York Times. Now, let's see if Summers' boss can get somewhere on Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the lame-duck session. Jon also was once a reporter for CBS affiliate KLAS in Vegas.

* A Bette's A Bette. I took all that guff, and I was right after all: Bette Midler did come to hate her tenure at the Colosseum. In Nov. 2009, I put together the clues and concluded for the Las Vegas Weekly that the Divine Miss M was ending an unhappy residency at Caesars Palace. Her explanation to the Daily Telegraph in London, after agreeing being in Vegas was like being on the Titanic, was that the economy caved in and it just stopped being much fun. Bette is quoted thus: "I was living in the hotel and I remember one day I ordered room service, and the girl came and she looked so exhausted. I asked what was wrong and she said she was having to look after all the guests - they’d let everyone else go. And that’s when you start to question yourself - what am I doing here? Am I contributing to this?" Well, sure, by getting the hell outta here asap and letting all those musicians and dancers go, yeah.

* Gambling Cures The Gay! Well, that's a theory, anyhow. Ed Vogel wrote a totally fascinating piece in Saturday's Review-Journal about the fully functioning casino that operated in the Nevada State Prison for decades until the 1960s. There actually wasn't any specific reason why Vogel wrote about it now that I could find, but it was just a great yarn nonetheless. Our favorite part? Vogel found a quote from a Republican assemblyman form Reno at the time saying that the casino helped to mitigate "homosexual problems." Who knew?

* ACLU On Fire. The incoming executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is a Facebook friend of mine as well as a fellow National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association member, Dane S. Claussen. He holds an MBA in corporate fianance and labor relations from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in mass communications. Dane's also got a long history in the mainstream and alternative press and is coming from a teaching position a Point Park University in Pittsburgh. That he's openly gay is not going to be a problem for him in this position, but I am a little concerned about how his being a fairly vocal atheist and political liberal could impact his work in Nevada. On his Facebook site, for instance, he says his favorite joke is one likening Rush Limbaugh to a Nazi. He is filling the gigantic shoes of Gary Peck, whose only real political activism that I can recall was in the service of the First Amendment. It will be interesting to see how this strangely conservative town takes to him, although I suspect most people expect the ACLU guy to be a hard-core lefty. We shall see.

The Pai Gow Diaries: Lucky Cards

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

"These are lucky cards," Mai said. She winked simultaneously and pushed forward cards to Otis and myself.

Mai was my favorite Pai Gow dealer at the Gold Coast. It's no coincidence that I won the most money when she was in the box. The more that I win, the more I like a dealer. It's nothing personal, but if I get cold decked, it doesn't matter who is across the felt from me -- I hate them to eternal hell. That's the biggest difference between online casinos and real life -- the intimate relationship between the dealer and gambler which makes the gambling rush a more visceral experience than the repetitive nature of online gambling, which is just like more like a video game (and therein lies the danger).

I think Mai had a thing for Otis. I wasn't jealous. If anything, I encouraged it. The more she got smitten with Otis, the better hands she'd deal to us.

"I like lucky cards," I blurted out, one of a hundred words that rolled off my tongue in a short spurt. Machine gun bursts of speech and unfiltered thoughts are my downfall during the tail-end of Vegas benders. I had a little secret how I got ahead of the pack, but none of that mattered as dug in deep for one final binge before I called it a night. I had been in Vegas for three days and got around six hours of total sleep and squeezed in a 19-hour work day on Saturday that included doing a shit-ton of press for Lost Vegas. The rest of the time was spent catching up with friends and indulging in as many hands of Pai Gow as humanly possible.

Otis had been bribing the dealer with tips on the Fortune Bonus. Essentially, he was gambling on a tip for the dealer -- if he lost, then the house kept the potential tip, however if he won, then the dealer got paid out anywhere from $3 and upwards depending on the strength of his hand. At heart, Pai Gow dealers are some of the most degens on the planet. Those are the feisty middle-aged Asian women who make up the bulk of the Pai Gow revenue at off-the-Strip locals' casinos like the multiple Station properties.

Otis slid a stained $1 chip an inch above the Fortune Bonus that contained a single red chip, worn down and smooth from years of abuse. If Otis hit a big hand, both he and the dealer got paid a bonus. Otis was running good from the moment Mai relieved the previous dealer who had been treating us like we were new arrivals at Gitmo.


Even when things didn't work out at Mai's table, everyone was jovial about it. She made us feel better even when we lost. Most men have to pay a few hundred dollars in Vegas for that sort of intimacy.

For the most part, we were riding a wave of good cards. "Very lucky cards," as Mai explained.

Mr. Gold Coast must have realized how much he was paying out to our Sunday late afternoon crew at the Pai Gow tables, so he called in a cooler. I'm paranoid about the random bots that they send into the pits to decimate the morale of anyone on a hot streak. This bot was non-Asian, which through me off for a few minutes because she looked like someone I knew. That's when I figured it out -- my dealer was the 40-year old version of Kelly Osbourne. She was relentless. She was brutal. She was an incorrigible and continuously beat down any of my stellar hands. I got caught in that horrible bad trip where she constantly beat me out by the slimmest of margins. If I had a straight and a pair of sevens, well she had a bigger straight and a pair of eights. If she showed J-10 up top, I was behind with J-9. I couldn't win anything. Even when I tossed in a desperate chip to the Insurance circle, I came out a loser.

Otis had a rough time as well. He had lost a hand, but he hit a straight bonus to cushion the blow. He was also gambling the $1 toke for the dealer and Kelly Osbourne the Bot Cooler also got paid off for the bonus.

"I'm sorry I only won you $4," apologized Otis.

"That's OK," said the dealer. "You lost $25."

What a heartless twat.

Despite the hurricane, we were all fairly calm and just weathered the storm. We counted down the minutes until our rough dealer finished her shift and a new dealer took her place. The Asian guy in the first seat was on mega-tilt. He had been betting small -- no more than $25 a hand, and then all of a sudden, he jacked up his bets to $250 to $300. When an Ethiopian dealer took his turn in the box, the Asian guy lost his cool. He was a cook. I could tell by his checkered pants -- standard uniform for someone who toils away in a kitchen. He wore a green sweatshirt, but no one paid attention to his pants. I wondered if he worked in one of the kitchens at the Gold Coast. Maybe he was a Rio cook responsible for those awful kangaroo burgers in the Poker Kitchen? Just like my colleagues in the poker media looking to blow off steam, the cook also headed to the Pai Gow tables to have a little fun and excitement. Except this guy's patience had worn thin after the brutal mugging from Kelly Osbourne. The new dealer didn't help things. He kept fucking up Otis' hands. He scooped up his cards twice without properly paying Otis. He also forgot to pay Otis' bonus on more than one instance. One time when the Ethiopian didn't pay Otis, he unleashed a growl that sounded more like a wounded jaguar. The Ethiopian nervously apologized and paid Otis his bonus money. Even the most even keeled Otis was getting testy with the inept payout procedures from this dealer. We longed to have Mai back. She was sweet. She took care of us. She knew exactly what we were about and the purpose of our agenda -- to hang out and get free drinks and gamble as long as possible without losing much money. Mai joined in on the fun, but all of the other dealers didn't want anything to do with us, which created large gaps in my session when I was bitter about the silent and humorless bots dealing to us.

We held one table for over six hours hours. I started on the table around 4:30-5pm and didn't leave until close to 11:15 or so. My session had lots of twists and turns, but I ended up a bit because I maintained discipline with the size of my bets. I kept them small and didn't let the outcome of the previous hand (or hands) affected the amounts of my wagers. I maintained a limit and stuck to it. That's a difficult task in the land of indulgence.

The Gold Coast uses commission squares to indicate how much you owe in past due commission. Other casinos take out the juice when they pay you, but the Gold Coast waits every thirty minutes to collect from you. In one way, I prefer the delayed commission payment because you can see whether or not you're doing well for a particular dealer. If you have nothing in your square, it means you've been getting violated by the dealer. If you have any red chips, it's a sign that you've been running good.

Considering the maelstrom of non-sexual pain that Kelly Osbourne inflicted upon us, I stumbled upon a stunning realization -- for the first time in a long time, I had red chips in my commission square. Somehow, I caught a few lucky cards at the right time. I paid my juice, colored-up chips, slid the blackbirds into my pocket, and shuffled off to the cage.

Lucky cards.


Editor's Note: This is another edition for a series of posts on Pai Gow addiction. Other installments include Cult of the Dragon, Dilettante and Mr. Pai Gow.

Dr. Chako Wins Turkey Cup 4.0! Turkey Cup Expansion Planned for 2011

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Despite the late start time, almost Midnight ET, Turkey Cup 4.0 kicked off with 56 runners -- at least six more than I had projected. I'm more than pleased that we surpassed expectations on a day when it's tough to stave off fatigue due to over-eating, traveling, and the combined stresses of the holidays and dealing with insane family members that you're forced to mingle with a couple of times a year. But that's why Turkey Cup is so much fun, because it gives you a chance to blow off some steam and just kick back and relax after a hellacious holiday. As far as online tournaments go, Turkey Cup is by far my favorite.

My performance is something totally different. I was out so fast that I was compelled to create a new private tournament, a second chance event which I dubbed Turkey Cup Reprise. That second chance event was such a big hit, that I'm going to expand Turkey Cup to 55 events next year with the final table of the Main Event delayed until New Year's Day, and it will be televised on Svenka 3, which is Sweden's version of ESPN 3, with Johnny Lodden doing the color commentary in a drunken combination of Swedish, Norwegian, and English.

OK, I'm obviously joking about the final table delay. That was my original vision, but Johnny Lodden is booked to be the grand marshal in a New Year's Day parade in Oslo, and I couldn't nail down a broadcasting contract with the Swedes, so the final table delay will not happen in 2011. And 55 events? Another pipe dream. If I had no social life and didn't have three books and a screenplay to write, I might have a 55-tournament bonanza sponsored by Broke Dick Poker.

In all honesty, next year I'm gonna do a series of four or five events for Turkey Cup 5.0 spread out over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

But what happened in Turkey Cup 4.0? Well, the winner was none other than Dr. Chako. Yes, I'm glad that the Doc won because he knocked me out (and at the time, it thrust him into the chip lead) and my chips went to a worthy cause.

My starting table included... laserguy2020, peacecorn, lhuntertwo, o-hole-ne, heffmike, Raubgraber, and nealdo56. Gigli honors went to lhuntertwo, who had Kings snapped off by Gracie's 9c-8c. She turned a straight. All the money went in on the river, and that's all she wrote.

I busted out shortly after when Dr. Chako got moved to my table. He opened in early position with Ac-Jc. I popped him in late position with Queens, and he called. I couldn't get him away from his hand -- he flopped a gutter and turned a flush draw. I expected my demise would come via one of Chako's draws, but my fate was determined when one of his overs hit and an ace spiked on the river. Out in 52nd place. That sucked. I love hosting private tournaments, but one of the worst things is busting out early from your own tournament.

That's when I decided to create a second chance event -- for anyone who missed the registration for Turkey Cup and anyone else who busted early. To sweeten the event, I made it PLO to attract any junkies seeking a fix at 1am.

Meanwhile, over in Turkey Cup, the top nine places paid out. With ten to go, the bubble play was fierce. I had never seen a bubble last that long in one of my hosted tournaments. As one player observed, "Y'all taking Turkey Cup seriously."

Like most blogger-centric events used to be, they start out breezy and fun oriented until the final table, and then it's cut throat city. The bubble went on forever, and it was Joe Speaker who busted out in 10th place. He secured Bubble Boy honors only a few hours before he was set to get married.

The final table was set and my brother, Derek, had a chance to become the first multi-winner of Turkey Cup. He shipped the inaugural event in 2007, and was seeking a second title. He didn't make the final table without a little luck -- he rivered a one outer earlier in the tournament to avoid elimination.

Turkey Cup 4.0 Main Event - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: HermWarfare (3261)
Seat 2: funchbox (14373)
Seat 3: Idiottax (12971)
Seat 4: Shackedin05 (24334)
Seat 5: scottc25 (5177)
Seat 6: DrChako (11893)
Seat 7: laserguy2020 (6730)
Seat 8: **GMONEY*722 (2651)
Seat 9: Garthmeister (2610)

You can click here to see a screen cap of the final table.

Shackedin05 began the final table as the chipleader, with almost 2x as much as Shane Nickerson in second place. But Nickerson would quickly make a run for the lead.

Derek went on a rush. He busted Garth and Laser to get to 2nd in chips behind Nickerson. He lost a decisive pot with AK against Snuffy's AKs. Snuffy flushed him out and Derek lost his momentum.

Nickerson eventually fizzled out 4th. With three to go, Shackedin05 held a monster lead over Derek and Chako. Derek busted out in 3rd when his A-K lost to A-8. A nasty 8 on river sent Derek home in third and his dreams about becoming the first-ever two-time champion were dashed.

When heads-up began, Chako and Shackedin05 were almost even in chips. The two didn't sit back and try to feel each other out. They quickly rumbled. On the final hand, Chako was ahead with Q-Q against pocket treys. Shhackedin05 picked up a gutshot, but Chako faded the gutter to win the hand, and the tournament, and Turkey Cup!

Turkey Cup 4.0 Main Event - Final Table Results:
1. DrChako
2. Shackedin05
3. HermWarfare
4. funchbox
5. **GMONEY*722
6. scottc25
7. Idiottax
8. laserguy2020
9. Garthmeister

Dr. Chako is bulletproof. He survived a tour in Iraq, and now he can add a Turkey Cup victory to his resume. Congrats, Doc!

By the way, I found this pic on Doc's website.


It's circa 2006 Vegas when we officially met each other for the first time (even though we had been playing online together for over a year, in addition to Doc also being a contributor to my lit rag Truckin'). We've known each other a few years, and it's always great when an old friend runs good.

* * * *

In case you were wondering about the second chance PLO event...

I busted in 11th place in Turkey Cup Reprise. I got it all in with top 2 and zero re-draws against Jess Welman's flush draw. I couldn't top the "Ginja Run Good" and hit the road.

Turkey Cup Reprise - PLO Final Table:
Seat 1: Shizzmoney (3778)
Seat 2: uscjess (11220)
Seat 3: kcs25 (1323)
Seat 4: HermWarfare (1549)
Seat 5: c2d2 (3130)
Seat 6: HippoCrittic (5473)
Seat 7: JoeSpeaker (1205)
Seat 8: peacecorn (865)
Seat 9: change1OO (5957)

My brother advanced to two Turkey Cup final tables in the same day. But he failed to make the money, because only the top 3 spots paid out. Derek finished in 5th, while Shizzmoney bubbled and took down Bubble Boy honors.

With three to go, Jess held more than 66.6% chips in play. The devil stopped influencing her run good, and she ran out of gas. Jess bowed out in third place, while HippoCrittic beat c2d2 heads-up for the crown.

Turkey Cup Reprise - PLO Money Winners:
1. HippoCrittic
2. c2d2
3. uscjess

Congrats to Hippo for dominating PLO and the Reprise event.

And congrats again to Dr. Chako. Thanks to everyone who played the events, and special thanks to everyone who helped pimp Turkey Cup 4.0 -- especially those who didn't play but went out of their way to plug it anyway!

See you next year for an expanded rendition of Turkey Cup 5.0!

The Strip Is LIVE on Sat at 1 p.m. PT

We're not doing The Petcast this week, but Miles and I sure are live for The Strip at 1 p.m. PT on Saturday with guest Andy Williams, who is bringing his holiday show back to Vegas next month and who is stunningly open about his LSD and drug use, eating dog food and the brutality he witnessed in Frank Sinatra. Also, yes, he still holds some controversial views on President Obama.

I'm still debating how much I want to get into the Eating Las Vegas drama. Odds are, it will be discussed. But since we talked about our overall views on the book and the book launch party, we may give it a rest. Or maybe I can get co-author Al Mancini on the horn today and tape a quick interview. Could go either way. Ya just never know.

As always, you can listen live at via LVRocks.Com and join the chat with fellow listeners. Or wait and grab the podcast version via iTunes or Zune or listen via that nifty "Listen Now" player on TheStripPodcast.Com or ThePetcast.Com. Your call.

The Show is (has been) UP: Louie Anderson & Peter Sagal

In all the hullabaloo surrounding my Eating Las Vegas column and then preparing for the big Thanksgiving feast I just blanked on posting the show to TheStripPodcast.Com. It was in the feed for iTunes or Zune subscribers as early as Tuesday. That's free, y'know, as is the iTunes software. But today I caught up, so here we go. You can click on the date below to get it to play or right-click on it to download it to listen at your leisure.

Nov. 22: Wait Wait, Don't Tell Louie
SPECIAL AUDIO: TSA DIRECTOR TALKS ABOUT
ENHANCED AIRPORT SCREENINGS

Louie Anderson may spend a lot of time joking about his weight, but he’s also getting serious about doing something about it. The legendary stand-up comedian, whose act is suddenly fresher and funnier now that he’s left the Excalibur for a eponymous showroom at the Palace Station, is focusing on new material, new endeavors and a new emphasis on living healthier. He explains to Steve this hour what incidents and family tragedies have prompted this as well as why he plans to chronicle his battle of the bulge in daily video blogs. Plus, which line of Steve’s questioning really annoyed him and why are the Louie-hosted years of the Family Feud not available for reruns? That’s coming up. Also, the NPR show “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” came to the Paris Las Vegas this week and Steve, fan boy that he is, sat down with host Peter Sagal in, of all places, Barry Manilow’s dressing room to find out what questions he decided NOT to ask Wayne Newton.

In Banter: Wait Wait in Vegas, a new dining "guide," the slot business ponders you, Cosmo images leaking, Harrah's cancels its IPO and the Wayner gets approved for his museum and tour plans.

Links to stuff discussed

Get tickets to Louie Anderson’s show at Palace Station
Louie’s site, Twitter and the correct Facebook page
Hear the Vegas edition of Wait Wait
Faith Salie’s site
VegasHappensHere.Com sneak-peak pictures of Cosmopolitan
Wayne Newton wins approval for his planned tours and museum
The Strip episode of audio of Steve’s G2E panel from 2009 on Encore design
Our 2006 interview with Louie Anderson
The Amazon.Com listing for the book “Eating Las Vegas”
Harrah’s is delaying its big plans and canceling its IPO
Yelp! On Hash House A Go Go, Rosemary's, Bouchon and China MaMa

Christmas Sale: Lost Vegas for 15% Off

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Great news. After months of waiting, Lost Vegas is now available on Amazon.com! If that's where you do the bulk of your Christmas shopping, then stop by my page and pick up a copy or two.

If you would like to save $3, you can buy copies of Lost Vegas for 15% off via Lulu.com. At checkout, you use coupon code STOCKING305.

The 15% off coupon is valid through December 15th. Don't worry... the discount comes out of the publisher's pocket and I get my full cut.

Just a reminder... Lost Vegas is cooked to order, which means it's Print-On-Demand (POD). Due to high volume of orders with my publisher, I encourage you to buy the book before December 5th to ensure a Christmas deliver.

The e-book version is $10. Right now, I only have PDF's available, but an ePub version will be released shortly.

Click here to buy an e-Book.

Click here to buy a copy on Amazon.

Click here to buy a copy on Lulu. Don't forget to use code STOCKING305 for 15% off.

Food Journalism and Criticism Under The Microscope

I knew some folks wouldn't like what I had to say about "Eating Las Vegas," the new book by three leading Vegas food critics. But still, wow.

In this week's Las Vegas Weekly column, I took aim at the strange spectacle that John Curtas, Max Jacobson and Al Mancini made of themselves unveiling their book naming the city's 50 most "essential" restaurants. The reason I did so was because it was an only-in-Vegas event; it is very abnormal for serious food critics to be personally handing out awards to restaurants or posing for photos with chefs.

Food critics typically try NOT to draw attention to themselves, hoping to approximate the experience that real diners would have. It's a simple concept. It's also one of the guiding principles of the Association of Food Journalists.

Well, holy hell. The blowback has been fascinating. I ended up in a Twitter feud with a fellow whose work I had really enjoyed, admired and promoted until he came at me on Facebook not with a measured, mature response but with the ridicule and haughtiness that are his standard.

It went downhill from there until these moments of professionalism:


What brought all that on? Well, this blogger/Tweeter believes that food critics will be recognized anyway so they ought to soak up the sun. That critics all over the country do what they can to guard their identities so that they can be a proxy for the public is a "ruse" to him. (Aside: These are the extent to which food critics work to protect their identity in other places.) The entire rest of the food criticism world are populated by "idiots" and how clubby, provincial Vegas does it is the only sane method.

Beyond this classless fellow's inability to disagree respectfully -- he asked someone who wanted us to stop arguing why she had to "step on [his] balls" -- he also claimed he was recognized in Vegas restaurants after just two months of doing his blog. That's simply too ridiculous to take seriously; restaurants on the Strip are actually some of the easiest to slip in and out of without being noticed as a reviewer because they're huge, the staff changes so frequently and they see thousands upon thousands of different faces every month.

Only a select few critics warrant the sort of effort that would go into figuring out who they are and tripping alarms when they're around, and this vainglorious blogger is absolutely, positively not at that level. As I've said, I admire(d) his work and believe(d) he could get there some day. But not now. Neither, incidentally, am I. I have absolutely no problem going to restaurants without anyone knowing who I am, and I've been responsible in past years for selecting eateries for the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List.

So this rang false to me, and I called it. Either it's untrue or this fellow's doing something to draw attention to himself. Those are the only choices that make any logical sense. Either way, his completely deranged response showed a person who has little self-control. I'd hate to be his waiter.

Meanwhile, fellow Las Vegas Weekly scribe John Curtas, the city's eminent foodie, responded with a more mature version of that guy's commentary. And here is what he said:

I haven't been anonymous in Las Vegas restaurants for almost ten years (except in Chinatown, where I could be on the cover of Time magazine and no one would care), and neither was Frank Bruni (or Sam Sifton - his successor at the NYTimes). That anonymity myth was exploded years ago in the Big Apple and something journalist Freiss should know.

For better or worse, the days of the stealthy, journalist/critic are gone. The best I can do is tell my readers when I pay for a meal and when I don't...and then call 'em as I see 'em after that.

Steve makes a good point about sucking up to publicists -- something I refuse to do...much to the dismay of many a flack in many a Strip hotel. If I suck up to anyone, it's to the hard working chefs who put out the world class food that has made Vegas famous in the culinary world.

Fine. That's the other point of view, that celebrity is unavoidable and does not taint the experience.

We all know that the second part's not true, though. We need look no further than a passage in "Eating Las Vegas" in which Al Mancini talks about giving Nove at the Palms a very bad review and then being spotted there and allowing the chef to fawn all over him until he changed his view. Just because the chef takes extra care for him and, perhaps, tailors things to Mancini's particular palate, doesn't mean that he'll do the same for you. In fact, he won't.

It's a conundrum, no doubt about it. But there are two legitimate points of view. My side is that food critics ought to err on the side of trying not to make spectacles of themselves. The effort to conceal identity is honorable and, if it even works half the time, it's worthwhile.

Meanwhile, oddly, there was this sighting of me, courtesy of Mr. Curtas' Facebook:


Sorry, pal. I was right here at home last night, after doing the first wave of Thanksgiving Day shopping. I've still yet to go to Lakeside Grill. Perhaps we can go together and carry on this argument there. I bet we get awesome service.

P.S. Big kudos must be offered to the Weekly for even printing my piece given that Curtas is the resident food critic. I bet you all a dollar that neither Mancini's Las Vegas CityLife nor Jacobson's Vegas Seven will print anything seriously critical of the book.

Turkey Cup 4.0

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


Turkey Cup kicks off at 11:55pm ET on PokerStars. Visit the PRIVATE tab to find this tournament listed under Turkey Cup 4.0.

The origins of Turkey Cup: I taught my brother how to play hold'em over Thanksgiving weekend seven or eight years ago in his new apartment, and we played heads-up LHE with chips to get him up to speed for our upcoming annual December pilgrimage to Vegas. Since then, poker has been a part of our Thanksgiving.

In 2007, I moved the game online so more of my friends could play and thus, Turkey Cup was born. Had no idea that the event would become so popular.

Please note that we're playing at a much later time this year (so I can watch the Jets game without any distractions), so I guess you can call this the "Almost Midnight" edition. See you at 11:55pm ET!7

Click here to open a PokerStars account.

Reality TV Makes Another Vegas Career

It turns out, you don't have to do well on reality TV. You just have to be interesting.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas' STK restaurant just announced it had tapped for its executive chef one Stephen Hopcraft, formerly the executive chef of Seablue at MGM Grand and "Top Chef" also-ran. Prior to appearing on the DC season of the show, Hopcraft toiled for many years for Michael Mina's empire in various capacities.

Now he's moving on, just a few months after he had a rather embarrassing stint on the Bravo show during which he was lambasted repeatedly by judges including Seablue neighbor Tom Colicchio of Craftsteak. It's hard to imagine Hopcraft would have surfaced as a prospect for this gig -- he's been running a seafood restaurant for years, remember, and STK is, uh, steak -- without his "Top Chef" exposure.

In my Las Vegas Weekly column earlier this autumn, I wrote:

Hopcraft’s situation fascinated me because I’ve written quite a lot in recent years about the Bravo show’s benefit to Vegas and its restaurants, particularly when the show filmed a season here.

Yet watching Hopcraft under repeated attack by the judges, I wondered: Is all publicity really good? Would Vegas diners at MGM Grand, flanked by eateries from Joël Robuchon, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck and Tom Colicchio (Top Chef’s top judge himself), spend $40 an entrée at the place with that guy who was badmouthed week after week on TV?

Don’t think such thoughts eluded Hopcraft as he endured his public lickings. “I felt like I carried the reputation of not only this restaurant but of the Mina Group and the hotel,” he said, referencing Seablue owner Michael Mina. “That was the part that was really crushing.”

Looks like it was worth it after all. SeaBlue has consistently been popular and well-regarded by critics and diners, and Hopcraft does have a history in steakhouses, as he discussed in my interview in September. So it's probably a good fit. We shall see!

The Bingo Hall: Dots Across America

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


The walkway from the parking lot to the Crystal Casino in Compton is on the slight incline, interrupted by a row of four palm trees, which is set in the middle of the path. You have to walk around them and you immediately notice the little grease stains on the ground -- either superfluous bird feces or fallen dates left to wilt in the ominous California sun. The glass doors to the casino's side entrance are blacked out with two distinct messages -- one politely tells you about the dress code that shoes and shirts were required including no muscle shirts, and the other noted the strict curfew. Shoeless gamblers have never been a problem at any stops on the circuit, but not too many joints issued a disclaimer about a curfew.

The gamblers who stood in front of the casino were the types of people who did not want to be bothered. All in their sixties and older, they each stood about fifteen feet apart from each other, flashed cold stares from their vacant eyes, and huffed down on their cigarettes. Those were the regulars in the low-stakes bingo world.

When Barack Obama spoke of hope in his election speeches, I don't think he was discussing the atmosphere inside the bingo hall at the Crystal Casino. The sullen bingo hall is one of the first things that confront you upon entering the casino. The gigantic room had the charm of a third-rate nursing home. I was forced to walk by hundreds of plastic banquet tables lined up on shoddy and frayed continuous foral-patterned carpet. Each table had a mixture of colored chairs. Purple was the least popular, while red and green chairs dominated the landscape. Losing sheets cluttered the carpet, even though each table had a trash basket next to it. Elderly gamblers dotted out their sheets with jittery anticipation, like a junkie setting up a needle to get his first fix of the day. Even though it was a non-smoking casino, the dense odor of tobacco permeated the room and vaguely covered up the stench of feces from the incontinent woman in the wheelchair slumped in the corner. That's the standard scene in any bingo hall across America -- someone sitting in their own shit chasing down a jackpot.

When religious right wingers condemn internet gambling as the scour of our society, they always overlook the bingo halls that pump dollars into church tithes and instead they go after the scum of the earth -- online poker players. At the worst, a few online poker players smoke too much herb and a few others act a bit douchey, but as a whole online players are everyday people. Most of them are a bit smarter and nerdier when it comes to things like mathematics, statistics, game theory, and data analysis, but these are hardly the criminals that the anti-gaming pundits tried to pawn off as the domestic axis of evil.

If the moralists want to go after degenerates, then they need to pick on the lottery addicts, those sad cases who create long lines at gas stations because they're busy getting their fix and clutching their car keys and scratching away $40 worth of scratch tickets as sprinkles of grey flakes flutter to the ground. The sepia-tinged somberness of any local bingo hall should be enough to warrant it to be shut down.

The World Series of Poker is the largest room of gambling rooms that I've ever seen with an equally deafening and sometimes annoying nonstop clattering of chips. Also impressive was the spread inside the Asian gaming section in front of the poker room at Foxwoods Casino, filled with the chatter of multiple Chinese dialects mixed with the clinking of Pai Gow tiles and the rattling of dice that the dealer used to determine the dealer button.

The players are almost all silent inside the Crystal's bingo hall with a chaffing lack of jubilant gambling sounds aside from the faint echo of the voice announcing the action.

"B-24. Bee. Twen. Tee. Four."

Bingo players are a competitive breed. Everything is eerily quiet and tense. I carefully walked through the hall and carefully clocked everyone at one table. Which ones would slash one of their opponents with a box cutter if they were issued a bad beat? Which ones were the weak links, and couldn't endure the frustration of another losing night? Slumping gamblers are inherently irritable and it doesn't take much to set them off. It's been months since some those blue hairs haven't shouted, "bingo!" Bingo suckouts are brutal and detrimental to one's health., especially if you miss out by a millisecond. Just last month in Simi Valley, a deadly incident occurred at Saint Miguel's weekly Bingo Bonanza when an 83-year old great-grandmother was stabbed with a a knitting needle after she disputed a winning card from her neighbor.

On my first night at the Crystal, everything seemed rather smooth and nothing resembled the sketchy scene like so many stories I've heard before. That was until I heard about the fisticuffs -- apparently someone was ejected for beating up another patron. Maybe they gloated about a bingo victory? Then again, who knows if anyone has been knocking back Four Lokos in the parking lot before they stumbled in to play their Bingo sheets?

Four Loko is a dangerous energy drink, sort of like the PCP of Malt Liquor, and it will put hair on your chest -- that is, if you can actually wake up the next day after blacking out, but not before you chugged three Four Lokos, took a dump in the back of a taxi cab, then punched three holes in your bathroom door by head-butting it.

I don't recommend the deadly combination of Four Loko and Bingo unless you have a high tolerance and a decent health insurance plan.

The Strip + Petcast Are Live on Sat!

We're back in the LVRocks.Com studio from noon to 2 p.m. PT on Saturday to record two new episodes of The Petcast followed by The Strip featuring interviews with Louie Anderson and "Wait Wait" host Peter Sagal.

The Petcast is first at noon with Palm Beach County Animal Care & Control Director Dianne Sauve to explain how a late-night pet dropout works and to relate heartbreaking and uplifting tales of a life in the animal control business. Our second show features Barbara Savidge, co-owner of Olive Green Goods For Modern Dogs eco-friendly pet-friendly items.

Also, my guest co-host for The Petcast this week will be Cindi Moon Reed, a Vegas Seven staffer who wrote a fantastic cover piece recently on the Bobby Berosini orangutan story that really "made" PETA. We'll discuss her reporting as well. Great stuff.

Then, of course, Miles and I are on from 1-2 p.m. We'll probably have time to play the Sagal interview during the live show and drop in the longer Louie Anderson conversation for the podcast edition.

As always, you can listen live at via LVRocks.Com and join the chat with fellow listeners. Or wait and grab the podcast version via iTunes or Zune or listen via that nifty "Listen Now" player on TheStripPodcast.Com or ThePetcast.Com. Your call.

Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin Wins NAPT Shootout in Compton

By Pauly
Compton, CA

I thought drive-bys in Compton were quick affairs?

I found myself in the city of Compton way past Midnight on two out of the last three nights. Both of those nights, the Bounty Shootout at the Crystal Casino ended up a prolonged affair. $5,000 buy-in. 81 runners. Winner take all. Well, mostly all. $4,000 of the buy-in went towards the prize pool, while $1,000 went towards the bounty side. Everyone who advanced to the final table netted $20,000 and only the winner would walk away with cash -- $134,280. Of course, the players kept whatever money they won for collecting a bounty. PokerStars threw in a bonus for the player who collected the most bounties -- a seat to the 2011 PCA Bounty Shootout in the Bahamas.

NAPT LA Bounty Shootout Final Table:
Seat 1: Justin Young
Seat 2: The Grinder
Seat 3: Clint Coffee
Seat 4: Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin
Seat 5: Tom Marchese
Seat 6: Moshin Charania
Seat 7: David Williams
Seat 8: Kevin MacPhee
Seat 9: Pat Pezzin

All players began the final table with 100,000 in chips.

The Grinder was the second player to bust from the final table. He had been running as good as you could since early June, but he couldn't keep it up for just one more day.

Three-handed action (among David Williams, Eric Baldwin, and Justin Young) actually went for almost four hours. Wanna talk about tedious small ball? I had a ring side seat for all of that inaction. That's what happens when you have three methodical players nursing their big stacks with blinds puttering along.

David Williams busted out in third a few minutes past the 1am hour when his A-Q did not improve against Young's pocket tens. His life coach escorted the "RugDoctor" out the door. Justin young locked up the bonus for the "most bounties" in the Shootout. Yep, he collected the most scalps and got a free ticket for a Shootout in the Bahamas. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as a Shootout in Compoton.

A heads-up match was set between Justin Young and Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin. The two were actually friends off the felt, and actually neighbors. They drove out to LA together, so it was a little weird that that they were fighting each other to the death.

Young had almost a 3.5-1 chip lead over Baldwin. Young looked like a Russian. If I saw him on the EPT, I would have pegged him as a former chess player turned online pro because of his velor sweat suit jacket that bag men from the Russian mob back in Brooklyn have been known to wear. In case you were wondering, he's an American. Across the table sat the phenom known as Basebaldy. He is someone that typifies Americana - Apple Pie, Baseball, Poker. He kept his attire very simple -- jeans, black t-shirt (with a small gold UB logo), and a red Arizona Diamondbacks hat. Five or six years ago, Baldwin had aspirations of appearing on ESPN during a major league baseball highlights package on SportsCenter. Alas, he'd get notoriety on ESPN for his poker skills. Only Justin Young stood in his way from winning a televised event on ESPN (actually it will be ESPN2).

It didn't take long before the two got it all-in with a flip: pocket sevens versus A-Q. Basebaldy raced with the pair -- and it held up. He doubled up and nearly pulled even in chips. And that's when the action hit a wall. A brick wall. Reinforced with steel. In case you were wondering if the two buddies cut a deal, well, it did not happen. Sweet Jesus, two hours later, they were still at it. Maybe they made save for a much smaller amount, but it wasn't significant enough for them to get it all in with rags.

I had to step outside to get some fresh air -- but then talked myself out of it. I didn't want to be wandering around the parking lot at 3am -- even if I wasn't holding. By the 3 o'clock hour almost every single spectator was gone. Even the ones from central casting had clocked out (union rules). The only chumpstain left in the crowd was some sort of sleazy used car salesman-type, who got shitfaced at the bar, and then passed out his business card hoping to get a piece of the eventual winner.

With 55BBs each, the tournament didn't have any inklings at ending before 6am. I had a bad feeling this was gonna be one of those instances when you were driving home at sun up. Man, I worried that we wouldn't get out of Compton before the LA morning rush hour kicked off in a few hours.

A member of the film crew wandered over to the press row and said, "What are we doing with our lives? Why did we pick this profession?"

I tried to be upbeat -- had I not been fortunate enough to fall ass-backwards into the poker industry, I'd still be grinding out a commission check in a boiler room down on Wall Street. Sure, it's 3:30am on the Left Coast, but if I was working in NYC, I'd would have already finished the 3s (Shit, Shower, Shave) and swiping my Metrocard en route to the trenches, where I'd spend the next 12 hours cold calling random names from a list of leads and begging my sales manager for the Glengarry Highland leads.

And just when things started to look even more grim, we finally had an all-in and a call at 3:47am. Basebaldy held the lead and woke up with Kings against Justin Young's A-Q. Basebaldy's Kings held up and he collected his only bounty at the final table -- but it was the one that counted the most. Basebaldy won the Shootout in Compton for a cool $134,280. He better run to his car with that bag of cash! Justin Young finished in second place and went home with just $20,000 (for making the final table) plus his bounties and the bonus for most bounties.

NAPT Los Angeles $5,000 Bounty Shootout - Final Table Results and Payouts:
1st - Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin - $134,280 + ($3,000 in bounties: Brown, Esfiandari, and Young)
2nd - Justin Young - $20,000 + ($6,000 in bounties: Montgomery, Stein, Clements, Williams, Coffee, and Mizrachi)
3rd - David Williams - $20,000 + ($4,000 in bounties: Affleck, Barbero, Marchese, Charania)
4th - Mohsin Charania - $20,000 + ($5,000 in bounties: Woodward, Ramdin, Habib, Pesek, Pezzin)
5th - Tom Marchese - $20,000 + ($4,000 in bounties: Obrestad, Robl, Shak, Bardah)
6th - Clint Coffee - $20,000 + ($3,000 in bounties: Jaka, Bonomo, MacPhee)
7th - Pat Pezzin - $20,000 + ($2,000 in bounties: Laak, Richey)
8th - Michael Mizrachi - $20,000+ ($4,000 in bounties: Shorr, Aguiar, Selbst, Kornuth)
9th Kevin MacPhee - $20,000 + ($3,000 in bounties: Deeb, Binger, Lamb)

With the conclusion of the Shootout, the NAPT Los Angeles has finally come to an end. That will probably be the last live tournament that I cover in 2010. Maybe I'll be back to the tournament reporting grind in the Bahamas in January with the 2011 PCA? Who knows for sure, but satellites are currently running on PokerStars for the PCA as we speak.

And who knows, maybe I'll start covering high-stakes cash games. Anyone want to buy me a ticket to Macau?

Twitter Says It All Re: John Ensign

I just realized I wasn't following Sen. John Ensign on Twitter, so I went to do that. And then I saw this:


Ouch, huh?

(For those who don't get it, see here and here.)

No, The Righthaven-RJ Effort Is Not Dead

Some interesting news this week on the Review-Journal's anti-copyright campaign shepherded by Righthaven LLC's Steven Gibson has been used by "media commentators" to draw bizarre conclusions:

* Righthaven settled with Sharron Angle and several others.
* Stephens Media has attempted to separate itself legally from Righthaven.
* Righthaven, chastened by the courts, won't sue and will drop suits in which less than 75% of a story is used by another website.

What's all this add up to? Well, if you believe some excitable bloggers and Tweeters, the R-J under its new regime has gone soft. But actually, Righthaven has been settling lawsuits batches at a time for months and, without knowing what the settlement amounts are, there's no way to know if they've decided to change course. That information has been kept private.

Suing over excerpts has always been the biggest legal weakness and the overreach of this campaign and, most importantly, the evidence that Gibson is clueless about what constitutes fair use or how news operations work. The courts rightly struck back and the small number of cases involving such behavior are now gone. According to Steve Green of the Las Vegas Sun, just four of 69 currently pending cases involved that.

The rest are ongoing -- and Righthaven filed two new ones yesterday. So the effort continues, albeit with some more reasonable parameters.

Nevada's Top Union to Harry Reid: End DADT

More pressure in the form of this letter (click to enlarge and read) earlier in the week from D. Taylor, the head of the 65,000+-member Culinary Union, pivotal for Reid's re-election:

Harry Reid on the Hot Seat Re: DADT

The rest of Nevada's political punditry has taken no interest whatsoever, but this has been quite a week for Sen. Harry Reid's relationship with the gay and lesbian community. I got dirty looks from a couple of local reporters at Reid's post-election press conference on Nov. 3 for quizzing the re-elected Senate Majority Leader on a timetable for repeal of the military's ban on gays serving openly in the military, but then those activists who shut down the Strip to traffic in July held a bit of a demonstration in Reid's D.C. office on Monday as well. (That, above right, is Robin McGehee of GetEqual at Reid's office, photo courtesy of the Washington Blade.)

Didn't read about any of that in your local newspaper or e-mail newsletter, didja?

And now, today, a consortium of Nevada GLBT leaders sent this letter below, prodding him to get Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal to the floor for a vote. Reid has said he will, but it's refreshing to finally see Nevada activists actually, finally get into the act of pressuring their own guy. What a shame he'll never stand for re-election in the state again and all, but hey:

Dear Senator Reid,

A very narrow window exists during the post-election session of Congress in which swift and decisive leadership must be displayed in order to secure successful repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). With all of the hard work that you have done to get this repeal as far as it has progressed thus far, it would be simply unacceptable for Congress not to get a chance to repeal DADT before the 111th Congress concludes its term.

As Senate Majority Leader, you control whether, when, and how bills are brought before the full Senate chamber. As a strong and principled supporter of ending the discriminatory DADT policy, you have the power to see that DADT gets acted upon in the lame duck session. We, therefore, ask you, the Senate Majority Leader, to oppose any effort to strip language repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The current language in the Senate Armed Services Committee-approved version of the NDAA offers important and overdue protections for servicewomen and military dependents, as well as provides those service members who are lesbian, gay or bisexual the opportunity to serve their country with honesty and integrity. Time is of the essence with ensuring that DADT is not removed from NDAA. We have the votes to end DADT this year. Now we must see more strong leadership from you, Senator Reid.

We know that you are committed to ending the dangerous and discriminatory policy that is DADT. We know that you are one to keep your promises, and we fully expect NDAA to be brought back up before you recess for Thanksgiving. We know you will follow through on your commitment to our LGBTQ community and our military here in Nevada, and across the nation, by ensuring that the DADT repeal provision is not excluded when NDAA is brought forward for a vote.

Sincerely,

STATE SENATOR DAVID PARKS (D-NV)
ROBERTA LANGE CHAIRWOMAN CLARK COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
CANDICE NICHOLS DIRECTOR OF THE GAY & LESBIAN CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
EQUALITY NEVADA
GLSEN
LAMBA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
LV EQUALITY
NEVADA STONEWALL DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF LESBIANS AND GAYS / CARSON, NEVADA REGION
PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA
PROGRESS NOW NEVADA
SI SE PUEDE LATINO DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
STAND OUT FOR EQUALITY
STONEWALL DEMOCRATS OF SOUTHERN NEVADA
STONEWALL DEMOCRATS OF NORTHERN NEVADA

VETERAN & STUDENT ALLIES
Jonathan Abbinett
Ronald Ramsey
Conroe Brooks
Loretta Harper
Jennifer Webb
Christopher Mendez-Preciado
Marcos Penaloza
Adriana Felix
Robert Cavazos
James Lee
Edith Byrd

This week's LVW Col: The R-J's troubling future

So I thought about the changes at the R-J for a few days and here's my post-game analysis for the Las Vegas Weekly. Read on! -sf

Why the sudden changes at the Review-Journal
may be a very, very bad thing

By STEVE FRIESS

The more I think about it, the more I worry.

Like many in Las Vegas, my first reaction to the sudden dismissals Friday of Sherm Frederick as publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Thomas Mitchell as R-J editor was to smile. The two had failed the newspaper and the community in spectacular ways for years, Sherm by becoming an arrogant, obsessive enemy of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Mitchell by being so openly hostile to all things related to the Internet.

But it’s not as simple as that, is it? The actual changes that were made could, in fact, harm Nevada journalism even more than leaving these ineffective, visionless men in their places.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

The Show is UP: Mystere + Jabbawockeez = Mysterawockeez!

We got back to the LVRocks.Com studio again after a couple of weeks for this episode, which includes what many emailers have said was the blowout grammatical argument of all arguments at the very end. So check that out as well as all the rest. Good stuff. You can click on the date below to get it to play or right-click on it to download it to listen at your leisure. Or, of course, subscribe for free in iTunes or Zune. -sf

Nov. 14: Mysterawockeez!
...with Brian Dewhurst and Phil Tayag

Just as the seminal Cirque du Soleil production Mystere was celebrating an astounding 8,000 performances at Treasure Island last month, the hiphop dance crew Jabbawockeez began a residency a t the Monte Carlo. The two have more in common than you might suspect, both being starless, wholly original visual spectacles that seemed unlikely to make much of a splash in Las Vegas. Mystere, obviously, has. We’ll have to see how Jabbawockeez does, but we’ll hear from stars of both in this episode. First, Steve talks to Brian Dewhurst, who was artistic coordinator for Mystere when it opened in 1993 and in 2000 began performing as a clown in the show. Then, later, we’ll have Steve’s interview with Phil Tayag, the youngest original member of Jabbawockeez.

In Banter: Chip Lightman moves on from Donny & Marie, Rita moves on from Harrah’s, MGM Resorts wants to move on from the Harmon, Steve Wynn has moved on from meat and more.

Links to stuff discussed:

Tickets for Mystere and Jabbawockeez
The Jabbawockeez website
A profile from Via Magazine of Brian Dewhurst from Mystere
VegasHappensHere.Com on Chip Lightman’s settlement with Donny & Marie
Rita Rudner’s news that she’s moving to Venetian in January
Howard Stutz’s scoop confirming MGM Resorts may implode the Harmon
Steve’s Las Vegas Weekly column urging MGM Resorts not to put a wrap on Aria
The Las Vegas Sun’s piece on renting out the condos at Mandarin, Vdara or Veer
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’s site
Tickets to see Wait Wait live on 11/18 at Paris Las Vegas
The gambling win, room rates and visitation numbers were all up this month
British Airways is adding bigger planes with first class from London to Vegas
Steve’s AOL News piece on the World Series of Poker’s grand finale
VegasHappensHere.Com on Wynn Las Vegas jacking up Garth Brooks tickets by $110 a seat
John Katsilometes’ Steve Wynn piece on his veganism in the Las Vegas Weekly
Robin Leach reports about Steve Wynn’s reworked will
VegasHappensHere.Com on all the other various Wynn news, including the Pascal departure and the earnings call
The Indian TV interview in which Wynn discusses the Kevyn Wynn kidnapping in detail at the 24ish minute mark

Dispatches from NAPT Los Angeles: Joe Tehan Wins NAPT LA Main Event

By Pauly
Compton, CA


The NAPT Los Angeles Main Event changed locales from the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens to the Compton, CA, where the final table was played out under the bright lights of a TV set and recorded for an ESPN2 broadcast sometime in December. The venue change gave me flashbacks of the 2005 WSOP, when the Main Event began at the Rio and then the final two days returned to Downtown Las Vegas and it's former home inside Benny's Bullpen at the Horseshoe. The Crystal Casino gave off a bit of seedier vibe than the Bike and usual stops on the tour. The massive Bingo Parlor attracted swarms of elderly bingo degens driven en masse to the Crystal in church vans. They were the perfect display of the eccentric indigenous locals who frequented the Crystal for nightly low-stakes Bingo.

The circus moved to the hood for the latest installment of the NAPT. Compton is not often muttered in the same breath as the Bahamas, London, Sydney, Las Vegas, and San Remo when you think about hotbeds for poker. Yet for a brief moment, a small group of poker media, agents, executives, hanger-ons, and genuine fans converged on the Crystal Casino for the final table of the NAPT Los Angeles. At one time, Compton was the epicenter for the worst gang violence in the nation, but lots of things have changed since that low point in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For a brief hiccup in 2010, Compton became the crossroads of the poker world.

NAPT LA - Main Event Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Jake Toole - 1,975,000
Seat 2: Joe Tehan - 1,907,000
Seat 3: Mike Binger - 1,670,000
Seat 4: Anh Van Nguyen - 1,058,000
Seat 5: Jason Mercier - 3,800,000
Seat 6: Al Grimes - 982,000
Seat 7: Ray Henseon - 3,268,000
Seat 8: Christopher DeMaci - 6,283,000

Excerpts from my notes about the final table...

- The TV set was located in a far corner of the casino and blocked off from the outside world. It wasn't exactly sound proofed. The Crystal Casino bar behind us was separated by thin cloth. You could hear the bartender tossing empty bottles into the trash, and the later it got, the conversations from few inebriated locals increased in volume.

- The smallness of the tournament room reminded me of the cramped Benny's Bullpen, especially the continuing floral patterns of the stained red carpet, not to mention the low ceilings with some of the tiles slid out in order to accommodate lighting rigs. Even the jig cam seemed constricted and didn't have the swooping mobility that you'd see inside the Amazon Ballroom. The temperature inside the tournament room resembled a sauna. The bright lights and closed set will do that.

- Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was on a mission and seeking a victory in another event on a PokerStars sponsored tour. He shipped the NAPT Mohegan Sun $25K High Rollers Bounty Shootout earlier this spring. A second NAPT title in 2010 seemed possible. Even though he wasn't the chipleader, Mercier entered the final table as one of the favorites to win. When you have a knack for closing out tournaments (he's got a WSOP bracelet and an EPT title on his impressive resume), you're always a favorite at final table regardless of chip count.

- Joe Tehan made a cameo at the final table. He's been grinding out the tournament circuit since I started covering poker. Tehan has a WPT title under his belt and over $2 million in career earnings. Ray Henson has been around the block a few times. He used to manage a Foot Locker in Texas and posted a deep run in the 2007 Main Event. Henson was considered an outside favorite to win the event.

- Two rows of spectator seats flanked the final table with three rows of spillover seats behind a fake half-wall. Chipleader Christopher DeMaci drew the largest contingency of supporters, many of who drove up from the OC to railbird his run at the final table. TD Mike Ward called them "Percentage Fans", which is a semi-joke because in all reality it is hard to distinguish the real friends from those who have a piece of a player. Whenever DeMaci won a hand, his fans waved a handmade sign, "YAWN! Too Easy." DeMaci's friends hung right in front of the secondary press row which I dubbed the "peanut gallery."

- Slow start. We were joking around about the lack of flops and the small number of hands that actually went to the river. The final table kicked off at 2:24, and it took until 3:14 before we had a first all-in and a call. Joe Tehan five-bet shoved with Kings for almost 2 million and Chris DeMaci had called with Ac-Kc. Tehan's Kings held up for a double up. DeMaci retained the lead, but definitely took a shot on the chin.

- At 3:27, Joe Tehan found himself on the other side of pocket Kings. He was all in with pocket sevens against Anh Van Nguyen's Queens. The flop was Q-J-10 and the turn was an Ace, which improved Anh Van Nguyen's hand with a Broadway straight draw. Tehan was seeking outs for a chop, but it didn't happen. Short-stacked Anh Van Nguyen doubled up to over 1.5M, as Tehan slipped to under 3.5M.

- Almost ninety minutes into the final table, Jake Toole was the first player to bust out. He got it all in with pocket Jacks against Joe Tehan's A-Q off. An Ace on the flop gave Tehan the lead, but Jake picked up an OESD on the turn. Tehan faded the straight and won the pot. Toole headed to the rail in 8th place, good for just $60,000 (12x the buy-in). Tehan seized the lead and pushed over 5M. DeMaci slipped to second with a shade over 4M, while Mercier and Henson hovered around 3M.

- On the break (or any break), there's a surge toward the Players' Lounge and make a beeline for the free food which included savory fried chicken wings (with a little spicy kick). Yesterday during the Shootout, the Players' Lounge offered up spaghetti and meatballs that were surprisingly good.

- Lots more inaction after the break as the tedious pace continued. DeMaci regained the lead against Ray Henson in a hand that went all the way to the river. Henson had his Kings snapped off by A-J when DeMaci flopped an Ace.

- Jason Mercier had been wearing a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey during the opening rounds, but he switched to his infamous lucky striped shirt, which he had been wearing for all of his major wins. Alas, the lucky stripes didn't come through in the clutch for Mercier because he busted in 7th place. He got his 3.65M stack all-in with A-K against Joe Tehan's pocket Jacks. Mercier had been the master of flips for most of the tournament, heck for most of his career, but this was the one flip that he could not win. The board bricked out for Mercier. Tehan's Jacks held up and he surged to around 8M in chips. Mercier won almost $85,000 but looked absolutely bummed. Amateurs and slumping pros would be thrilled to final table a televised event and win 17x their buy-in, but Mercier had his eyes on the top prize and another title. Compton was just another stop on the tour for Mercier, who is a regular on the different international circuits. He'll pack up his stuff and head to Europe to play in the EPT Barcelona next week.

- It took only two hands after Mercier busted before we had another all-in and a call. Joe Tehan won a race with A-J against Michael Binger pocket tens. The flop was all rags, but Tehan's run good was solidified with an Ace on the turn. Binger failed to suck out on the river and he was eliminated in 6th place. Tehan's stack grew closer to the 10M mark. The pace at the final table languished until two players busted inside of three hands. With five to go, one of the agents lurking in the shadows piped up, "Now we're moving boys!"

- With five to go, the battle of the haves versus the have nots emerged. The Haves: Tehan led the way with 11M and DeMaci held over 6.6M for almost 85% of the chips in play. The Have Nots: Henson was in the best shape with 1.5M, Al Grimes had more than 1M and Ahn Van Nguyen dropped under 1M.

- Ahn Van Nguyen four-flushed Roy Henson to flip spots. Nguyen was racing with 4-4 against K-Q. Henson flopped a King, but the board was all hearts and Nguyen flopped a flush draw. He got there on the river, doubled up, and no longer occupied the basement.

- Short-stacked Roy Henson was on death watch and caught a break when doubled up with J-9 against DeMaci's A-J. He flopped a nine and turned a Jack to avoid elimination.

- The Haves clashed in a hand...but never saw a flop. DeMaci got sick and tired of Tehan steamrolling the table with a blitzkrieg of opening raises, and finally stood up to the bully. Henson opened, DeMaci three-bet, Tehan four-bet to 1M, Henson bailed, DeMaci five-bet shoved for 5M, and Tehan folded. DeMaci picked up almost 1.5M on that hand, but Tehan was still ahead with over 10M.

- Double rainbow elimination. Tehan the raising machine open-shoved. Ahn Van Nguyen insta-called. Shortest stack Roy Henson tank-called. Tehan was behind with K-5 against Nguyen's A-Q and Henson's A-J. But you knew that the King was gonna get there, because the poker gods were shining down upon Tehan. The flop was 9-9-4, which added a little drama until a King spiked on the turn, giving Tehan the lead. The river was a blank and Tehan won the pot. His decimation of the final table continued and he knocked out two players in a double elimination. Henson finished in 5th place and PokerStars Team Canada Pro Ahn Van Nguyen finished in 4th. With three to go, Tehan held over 13.5M with DeMaci behind in second with 6.5. Al Grimes, the quietest and nittiest guy at the table, was the shorty with 1M. He was a dead man walking.

- Al Grimes made a stand with 8s-7s, but Joe Tehan took a shot with J-9 and was surprised to find himself slightly ahead when Grimes tabled his suited connectors. The flop was 10-7-3. Tehan flopped a gutter, but Grimes paired his seven to take the lead. The turn was a 9, and Tehan improved to a better pair, but Grimes re-drew to an OESD. The river was a King. Tehan's pair of nines held up and Grimes was busto in third.

- With two to go...Tehan had almost 15M, while Chris DeMaci had over 6M. The players were then sent on a one-hour dinner break. A few groans came out of the peanut gallery. They wanted to keep playing on.

- When play resumed, we got were treated to a lot of min-betting from the aggressor in the hand. Tehan won the first sizable pot in excess of 1M in chips, and methodically chipped away. DeMacis crew didn't have much to cheer about and the heads-up match lacked any sort of enthusiasm. You could hear the idle chatter of a few railbirds and someone in the peanut gallery was watching an episode of Glee.

- After about 40 minutes of heads-up, the chip count was about the same as it was when it started. Zero gain on either side.

- Tehan picked off a river bluff from DeMaci with just King-high. Tehan gained some ground chipwise moving up to over 17M while DeMaci's slipped to under 4M. However, losing to King-high was also a major blow psychologically as DeMaci emphatically shook his head and flashed a look like, "How can I beat this guy?"

- The final two went on a schedule break. Two cameramen headed to the pisser and discussed the passive play from DeMaci. "He should just give up," one of them said just as DeMaci walked into the bathroom. If anything DeMaci failed to adjust to heads-up play and Tehan ran right over him extending his lead 18M to 2.4M lead.

- It didn't take too long after the break before Tehan put DeMaci out of his misery. On the final hand, they got it all in on the flop of Ks-5h-3s. Tehan was ahead with K-10 vs. DeMaci's K-4. The turn was another 5, and the river was a 4. The kickers were essential in this hand. Tehan won with Kings and Fives and a ten-kicker topping DeMaci's four-kicker. Chris DeMaci from the OC collected $440,000 for his runner-up performance. Joe Tehan added a NAPT title to his resume and won $725,000 in cash for his victory in Compton.

$5,000 NAPT LA Main Event - Final Table Results:
1st - Joe Tehan ($725,000)
2nd - Chris DeMaci ($440,000)
3rd - Al Grimes ($250,000)
4th - Ahn Van Nguyen ($195,000)
5th -Roy Henson ($145,000)
6th - Michael Binger ($114,000)
7th - Jason Mercier ($84,857)
8th - Jake Toole ($60,000)

Joe Tehan - 2010 NAPT Los Angeles Main Event Champion
(Photo courtesy of Joe Giron/PokerStarsBlog)

The NAPT Los Angeles attracted 701 runners and Joe Tehan was the last one standing. The 2010 PCA in the Bahamas was billed as the opening event on the NAPT, where Harrison Gimbel faded a field of 1,529 to win $2.2 million. Vanessa Selbst took down the NAPT Mohegan Sun, with her hottie girlfriend on the rail. Selbst bested a field of 716 for a $750,000 payday.

That's it for now. The final table of the Bounty Shootout starts at 2pm on Thursday. Signing off from Compton...