Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Josh Arieh offering up Howard Lederer’s secrets to the highest bidder, poker players lining up to play chicken with Chris Moneymaker and Godsmack’s Sully Erna rediscovering his love for poker.

1) Howard Lederer’s Secrets Available to Highest Bidder

Not “those” secrets, unfortunately. The ones no one can use/have any interest in anymore.

From Josh Arieh:

To the highest bidder twitter.com/golferjosh/sta…

Bids so far include 300 pesos, one Canadian loonie, an offer to take $20 and burn the DVD and some dog excrement. Make your bid here!

2) Fans Line Up to Play Moneymaker in Columbus

Everybody loves Money.

 

Ten years on from his Main Event win in 2003, Chris Moneymaker is still one of the most popular poker pros in the world, bar none.

The affable Tennesseean hasn’t replicated that level of success since but poker fans, according to the Columbus Dispatch, are still very eager to share a piece of felt with him.

Moneymaker has a new deal as ambassador for the Hollywood Casino Columbus poker room and goes up once a month to give the fans a shot at some of his action – which is turning out to be profitable for both him and the casino:

“We had a waiting list of 70 people to play at his table,” said Matt Dodd, the poker room manager at Hollywood. Of those eager fans, Moneymaker says, not many got the best of him:

“I played until 4:30 in the morning, slept some, and then played another 12 hours. People want to take their shot against you, some want to say they won a hand against you or put a move on you.”

“It’s a game of chicken and who steps off the tracks first.”

According to the report, Moneymaker is doing ok so far - he walked away with about $9k this week. Read the full piece here.

3) Godsmack’s Sully Erna Returns to Poker Fold

Back in 2006/2007, Godsmack’s Sully Erna was one of the familiar celebs you’d see getting some hands in at the casino.

Sully Erna: Back in the game.

 

The heavy-metal frontman also had a bit of game too, cashing for about $60k in two WSOPs before hitting the motherlode of $307,325 in a $5k side event at the 2007 Five Diamond Classic.

In a new(ish) interview with ESPN talking about Godsmack's hiatus, Erna explains why he cashed out on poker back then but is anxious to get back into the game now:

"I was finding that was I was very impatient and playing crappy hands," Erna said. "I was losing patience every time I was playing. I had to take a break."

With more time on his hands now Erna says he’s been working on his game and has the itch to play - even scheduling casino shows to help play more:

"With my band not touring for a couple of years, I'm refocused on getting other things accomplished ... I thought it was the perfect time to come back. I've been bouncing around testing out my game. That's why many of my venues for the solo shows are in casinos.”

Anyone who's been around poker for that long knows it's a pretty different (read: tougher) poker world out there than it was in 2006, so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out for him. Read the full ESPN piece here.

Coming in to the final table second in chips to Volpe, Klann held course over 170 hands to enter heads-up in roughly the same situation - second to Volpe and down 10m to 5m in chips.

Klann battled back against the experienced pro, though, and after a back-and-forth heads-up match that saw the lead change several times he finally put Volpe away in hand 203 after crippling him with K♣ T♦ vs. J♥ 9♥ the hand before.

Klann Wins in Just 5th WPT Event

Klann, a 41-year-old amateur who runs a disaster restoration company in Vancouver, BC earned $1,004,090 - by far the biggest cash of his career and his first cash in five WPT events. He also earned a $25k seat in the WPT Championship in May.

Volpe, a huge winner online under the nickname paulgees81, settled for $651,170 for his runner-up finish to push his career live earnings up over $1.1 million.

American poker pros Jesse Yaginuma ($429,810), Danny Fuhs ($316,650) and David Fong ($236,250) finished in spots 3-5 while British pro Toby Lewis, the short stack coming into the final table, couldn't muster a challenge and finished sixth.

Official Final Table Results:

For a full recap of all the final-table play, check the WPT Live Updates. The next stop on the World Poker Tour is right around the corner at Bay 101 in San Jose starting on Monday.

The update, which is one of the biggest in more than a year, was announced by the company in the TwoPlusTwo poker forum earlier this week. It’s expected to go live within the next couple days.

The new PokerStars software takes a number of cues from the massive PokerStars 7 overhaul that was previewed last year.

It’s unknown if PokerStars 7 is still scheduled to be released in full.

Here are the highlights from the update:

Ring Game 'Groups' in Lobby

A feature that is currently in beta, the new ring game lobby presents all the tables of the same type in one group. That means every $.50/$1 table would be listed in the same group.

The groups view also streamlines the game finding process with a “Find Me a Seat Button” that will automatically find you a game in the group you are searching. It will keep searching until it finds you a game. You can also utilize a combo view to see both the group and the games in the group at the same time.

Preview table on PokerStars

 

Graphical Preview for Ring Games

This long-awaited feature gives players a real-time preview of a table that’s currently being played complete with position and stack sizes.

The preview will also indicate which players are sitting out and which ones are actually playing.

Players will also be able to take a seat directly from the lobby thanks to quick-seat functionality.

Progressive Bounty Tournaments 

These work like normal bounty tournaments but when you bust a player half of the bounty is credited to your account while the other half goes towards your own bounty. These will make certain players particularly attractive to bust. It’s currently in beta.

Major corporations sell cards, chips and tables to poker players around the world. Online poker sites rake in millions from online grinders.

It’s a multi-billion dollar industry.

Poker is also small business, however.

There are hundreds of small poker businesses that do limited runs of nearly every poker product you could imagine.

Recently there’s been a growing trend of individuals using crowd-sourcing platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Rockethub to generate funding and then create poker items you won’t find anywhere else.

Sandy Metivier is one such individual.

The 32 year-old is the creater of Color Up Flash Cards, a unique set of training cards that help new players improve their poker game. She’s currently running a campaign on Indiegogo to help upgrade the company’s online presence.

An Elementary School social worker by day, Metivier loved to play poker with her friends on the weekend.

After playing the game for a couple years Metivier felt her skills had leveled off. She wanted to get better so she picked up a couple books but struggled to get through them because she was a hands-on learner.

Services Like Indiegogo Can Help Turn a Good Idea into Reality

Color Up Flash Cards

 

What Metivier really wanted were poker flash cards. That product didn’t exist, however, and that’s what inspired her to create Color Up Flash Cards. 

“I taught myself everything I needed to make the products - Color Up is definitely my baby,” she said.

“I learned Adobe Illustrator to do all the design and layouts. I learned the math to come up with the formulas and scenarios, and consulted with advanced players to make sure that I was providing the correct odds and information.”

Metivier created three different decks of cards including Hold’em 101, Hand Odds and Pot Odds and started selling them on her website. Reviews were very positive and well-known poker pro Vanessa Selbst Tweeted an endorsement of the cards.

Metivier still wanted to raise the profile of the business, however, and crowd-funding seemed like a viable option. She narrowed her two choices down to Indiegogo and Kickstarter.

Color Up Cards creator Sandy Metivier.

 

Eventually she went with Indiegogo thanks to its “Take what I can get” approach versus Kickstarter’s “All or nothing.”

“Now that we've had some success, I want to improve our reach online, and that takes more money to pay someone who is an expert at SEO,” she explained.

“To do that I need $8,000 at once, and an Indiegogo campaign seemed like the perfect way to raise the funds in one chunk, spread the word about my business, and leverage the support of people I already knew would probably help me out.”

The Color Up Cards Campaign has already earned $2,000 towards its goal but has a ways to go before it hits $8,000.

Tough Choices for CEOs Looking to Crowd-Fund

An example of a Color Up Poker Flash Card.

 

Mitivier admitted that services like Indiegogo are not without their challenges.

“It's not an easy thing to crowd-fund,” she said.

“You don't just throw your campaign out there and wait for the bucks to roll in. It actually takes a ton of hard work, from contacting people to constantly updating your Facebook and Twitter, plus making the campaign appealing through perks, updates, and clever marketing.”

Mitivier went on to say that it’s a huge time commitment and with more and more people turning to crowd-funding, there is a high degree of competition.

“What makes our campaign a bit unique is that people love to feel that they are part of starting something, and Color Up has already started - we have our product, we have sales, we just need capital to grow,” she said.

Mitivier has big plans for Color Up in the future with more decks, expansion to brick and mortar stores and eventually she wants expand the flash cards to include games beyond poker.

Kickstarter Offers Potentially Bigger Reward but Higher Risk

James Simpson used Kickstarter to create CasinoRPG.

 

Kickstarter is the other giant in the crowd-funding world and several notable products have been created through the site including Vända playing cards, +EV Poker Comics and even a video documentary about poker called Drawing Dead.

James Simpson, the founder of GoldFire Studios in Oklahoma, successfully funded a poker-centric video game titled CasinoRPG through Kickstarter.

Previously Simpson had created PokerRPG but he needed a little extra support to produce CasinoRPG. He turned to Kickstarter.

CasinoRPG's James Simpson

 

“Kickstarter is an incredible platform that I've been using personally to back games and other projects for almost 2 years now,” said James Simpson.

“It certainly has been humbling to see people putting in their hard-earned money for a game they haven't even played yet.”

Unlike Indiegogo, Kickstarter does not pay anything if organizers fail to meet their goal, so in some ways, it’s a riskier proposition.

Simpson warned it’s not something to take lightly.

“The main takeaway I've gotten from the experience of running a Kickstarter campaign is that it can be extremely rewarding, but what you get out of it is proportionate to the work you put in,” he said.

“We spent over a month just preparing for the launch, and a majority of my time since the Kickstarter launch has been spent promoting and maintaining the campaign.”

It’s obviously not just the creators who benefit from running crowd-funded projects.

In most instances contributors receive products that are infinitely more unique than something you’d find at Wal-Mart or Target.

Crowd-Funding Gives Small Businesses a Shot at the Big Time

David Goldklang, a 33-year-old graphic designer from California, successfully funded a striking set of cards called Vanda that have received rave reviews.

Kickstarter also helped fund Polaris, a visually-appealing custom deck of cards.

 

Vanda went so well that Goldklang recently ran another campaign, this time for Polaris cards, which easily surpassed the goal of making $15,000 by eventually raising $45,660.

The sky now seems to be the limit for the Vanda Playing Card Company. It’s unlikely that would be possible without Kickstarter.

“I’ve shown the design around several large card rooms and everyone loved the look of the cards and wanted to know how they could get a few decks,” said Goldklang.

The overwhelming message from crowd-funding small businesses seems to be that if you have a killer idea for a poker product, and you’re willing to put in the work, almost anything is possible.

In some ways using services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo is like selling action in a big poker game.

Normally you couldn’t even play in the game but, thanks to your backers, if you make a big score (i.e. a good product) everyone wins.

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Today in the 3-Bet we bring you highlights from Vanessa Selbst's front-page AMA on Reddit, a confidence-inspiring new development in the ISPT saga plus a non-poker project from someone we last saw at the 2006 WSOP Main Event final table.

Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet can be left in the comments.

1) Vanessa Selbst AMA Hits Reddit Front Page

Vanessa Selbst is the highest earning female tournament player in poker history. And that's not even close to the most interesting thing about her.

Internet readers seem to agree.

Selbst is in the hot seat on Reddit.com.

 

Selbst opened up yesterday in an “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit.com, and users hit her with so many questions it catapulted the conversation to the site's front page.

Topics range from what it was like being the first openly gay person in poker to the kind of hard-core hand discussion usually reserved for Two Plus Two.

The highlights include:

Q: Hey Vanessa- What is the biggest challenge of being a queer woman in the professional poker world? Have you experienced outright homophobia from your peers/fans of poker?

A: Um, being queer is awesome because it means I get to be in an amazing relationship with a woman, and it also means I get an extra community of really f-ing cool people.

If all that means that I have to block a few more trolls on twitter every week than I otherwise would have to, then so be it, I'll take it any day of the week. No one that is actually intelligent has ever given me any sort of trouble, so it's mostly no problem.

Q: Who do you think is the best poker player in the world atm?

A: Phil Ivey, always Phil Ivey, will perhaps forever be Phil Ivey.

Check out the full AMA on Reddit.

2) Dusk Till Dawn Signs €1m ISPT Guarantee

Few events in poker have sparked more skepticism than the International Stadiums Poker Tour that's set to kick off at Wembley this May but an announcement made today may give poker players a reason to believe.

UK poker operator Dusk Till Dawn has put its name on the event and is guaranteeing a first-place prize of €1 million.

Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong throws in his lot with the ISPT.

 

DTD owner Rob Yong released a statement:

If Wembley is a success, I believe ISPT could be replicated in other iconic venues across the world generating huge prizepools and giving poker fantastic mainstream exposure, just look at Wembley’s official web site – ISPT is alongside the FA Cup Final, Champions League Final and Bruce Springsteen’s Concert.

This event is a ‘win win’ for the UK poker community; it will either be a great success with thousands of players, or there will be a massive overlay.

A Q&A is scheduled for today at Wembley and a transcript will be posted on the BlondePoker forum.

3) WSOP Blast from the Past Makes New Music Video

The connection to poker on this next one is tenuous but we're including it because we always love to see people using poker winnings for something beyond their next buy-in.

Back in 2006 Korean-American Douglas Kim finished seventh at the WSOP Main Event, pocketing almost $2.4 million.

And by the looks of his latest project, he's leveraging his Asian heritage just as much as his poker-tournament windfall.

Kim enters the ever-growing world of parody music videos with this distinctly non-poker version of Ben Folds' song “Rockin the Suburbs” and even if we're not fans of the song itself, Kim succeeds in the video production.

Since his historic heater (and eventual cataclysmic downswing) in 2009, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom has gone on to dozens of notable accomplishments in poker.

He became a member of Team PokerStars Pro, won the 2011 PCA Super High Roller for $1 million and is now one of just three elite pros for the reborn Full Tilt Poker.

Oh yeah. He’s played a fair amount of online poker too.

Blom’s latest endeavor will see him join up with Gus Hansen and Tom Dwan to take on Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in the Professionals vs. Team PokerStars on Full Tilt Poker at EPT London.

He isn’t known for doing a ton of interviews but PokerListings recently had the opportunity for a quick email Q&A with the young Swedish pro.

Viktor Blom when he was sponsored by PokerStars

 

PokerListings.com: What’s it like playing on Full Tilt Poker again? You’ve played on numerous poker clients over the years but it seems like FTP will always be a special one to you.

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom: FTP has the biggest games, and the software that feels best to me. I was really happy that Tilt came back, and I always want to be able to play there. I just hope my downswing goes away soon, so I can keep playing :)

PL.com: Who’s the greatest Swedish online player of all-time? TexasLimitKing, Erik123, H@££INGGOL, TerrorOfSweden? None of the above?

Isildur1: I think it’s Erik123.

PL.com: 2-7 Triple Draw seems to be gaining popularity as the high-stakes online game of choice. How do you feel about that development?

Isildur1: The game is a lot of fun, so I am glad people are wanting to play it. It is not a boring game to watch either, which could be good for TV one day.

PL.com: What is your favorite game these days anyways?

Isildur1: It’s always NLHE.

Viktor Blom, before being outed as Isildur1

 

PL.com: What’s it like being on a team with Tom “durrrr” Dwan these days? You guys had some pretty legendary battles back in 2009...

Isildur1: It’s nice we have our challenge matches on FTP to still play against each other. I don’t mind when I get some of his money either :)

PL.com: You’re renowned for your swings. Have you gotten better at stopping when you are in the midst of a downswing?

Isildur1: I am always working on this. I’ve gotten better, but still can be better than I am now.

PL.com: You played a number of EPTs when you were with PokerStars. Do you miss all that live action at all?

Isildur1: I still go to live events when I want to. I will be at EPT London in a week or so to play the main and a fun match against Team Pro on PokerStars.

PL.com: Do you ever miss being anonymous? Must have been good for getting action...

Isildur1: Honestly, I really do sometimes. At first I didn’t want any attention like I get now sometimes. Overall though, the games have gotten tougher since then anyways, so it’s not a huge difference. After some time everyone I played with knew my screen name. Most still call me by my screen name anyways.

Phil Galfond is a legit Viktor Blom fan.

 

PL.com: You’ve been around poker for a few years now. Is there anything you regret or are embarrassed about?

Isildur1: I am used to anything poker throws at me now. I win, I lose it all sometimes. But I know my skill and am confident enough that I don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.

PL.com: Phil Galfond wrote a nice blog about you last summer where he said he was “a legit Viktor Blom” fan. Was it nice to get that kind of validation from such a celebrated high-stakes player?

Isildur1: Of course it was, Phil is the best player nowadays. I wonder sometimes if he wrote that just because he enjoys my action so much, haha.

PL.com: A lot of players have training sites these days. Have you ever thought about coaching?

Isildur1: No.

PL.com: You made the money in the $50k Players Championship at the WSOP and appeared to have a great time playing it. Was it particularly meaningful to make the money?

Isildur1: Yes, I only learned to play some of the games for the first time right before day 1. Daniel Negreanu helped me with some, and I was thankful for that. The tournament was so much fun, and of course being the chip leader for a while is fun in any tournament since you can beat up on people for a while.

PL.com: Who is the toughest poker player you’ve ever played against?

Isildur1: Galfond, hands down. Easy.

PL.com: What do you expect poker to look like in 10 years? Will it still be around? What will it look like?

Isildur1: I have no idea. I know I will be playing it though :)

It’s the grand prize in PL.com’s latest Competition of the Month where all entrants have to do is answer a trivia question on the site.

The overall prize package is valued at €5,040 with winners also receiving two nights accommodation at a four-star hotel in London on May 25, 2013.

Last year football fans witnessed a thrilling game that saw Chelsea defeat Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the Champions League Final.

Meanwhile last month’s PokerListings Competition of the Month went to Angel Longares Rubio from Zaragoza, Spain. Rubio won tickets to see Real Madrid vs. Barcelona in El Clásico, which actually takes place today.

“I want to thank PokerListings for making it possible to see El Clásico in person,” said Rubio.

PokerListings is running a different competition every month in 2013 to celebrate the site’s 10-year anniversary.

Tickets to the Super Bowl and El Clásico have already been given away but there are plenty of amazing prizes to be won including UFC tickets, getting to party at the Playboy Mansion and an epic ski trip.

Stay tuned to the PokerListings Competition of the Month home page to learn more about upcoming contests.

This week in the 3-Bet JP Kelly and friends put forth an invaluable set of rules for betting on darts, a recap of Neil Channing's off-the-mark Oscar picks, plus the only time we've ever heard of someone betting on being able to turn on a hot tub.

Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet can be left in the comments.

1) Six Rules for Wagering on Darts

They live together so why not gamble together?

Lil Dave Nicholson

 

Lil Dave Nicholson, Tom Middleton and JP Kelly have a penchant for a spot of darts, and they have a fool proof six golden rules that they use for winning a ton of money from the oche:

So Lil Dave Nicholson how exactly did the darts betting go this week for the three of you?

“We got f*&ked up pretty bad.”

2) Channing Tanks Oscar Picks

It was a few weeks ago that the UK 3-Bet broke the news that Joe Beevers and Neil Channing were planning to launch The Betting Emporium, and this week launch it they did.

Channing feels bad about picking losers for the Oscars.

 

The first series of tips came courtesy of Mr. Channing, and they focused on the biggest night in Tinseltown: The Oscars. So how did the first series of tips pan out for The Betting Emporium?

“All in all I shall give myself a 6/10. I sort of feel like I got enough right to make a profit and I failed due to bad staking and my decisions being just slightly off,” said Channing.

“Anyone following my tips at the recommended stakes should have lost 1.5 points. Sorry about that. Hope I'll win it back for you soon.” Said Channing.

It’s Premier League Soccer next and games that Mr Beevers believes will be great value for over 2.5 goals.

Get more info directly from The Betting Emporium.

Did anyone suggest googling it?

 

3) Can Chris Brammer Turn on the Hot Tub?

Chris Brammer is doing a spot of house sitting for one Jake Cody this week and as you can imagine chez Cody has all of the mod cons.

But obviously the big question was: Can Brammer figure out how to turn on the hot tub?

And even more obviously they all decided to wager on it.

The bets were on and Brammer was clearly struggling when he asked his Facebook friends for assistance.

“Getting it really loudly I know, but anyone know how to turn on a hot tub?” Brammer asked.

“Take it to Venice for the weekend?” suggests Rhys Jones.

“Guessing there’s a switch or button somewhere?” suggests Andrew Badecker (I bet Brammer never thought of that one).

“Fill it with water,” suggests Danny Toffel.

I wasn’t even aware that Northern kids took baths.

Usually found playing $11 MTTs, according to the PokerStars blog, benislovas worked his way up to the chip lead with 16 players left and managed to find himself there again as they hit the final table of nine.

By the time they were three-handed, though, benislovas found himself on the bottom with former SCOOP champion David "sexygee" Gent from the UK and German Kasra84 -- a usual $3.50 Turbo SNG grinder -- before the three struck a deal ensuring each player over $700k.

Leaving $140k on the table to play for, they ran it out quickly with benislovas defeating Gent for the official title to take home $848,589. Gent earned $836,321 while Kasra84 took home $813,370 as per the deal, making it an extremely successful Sunday for all three.

Nearly $10m in Prize Pool, 50,000 in Field

With $7 million guaranteed for this anniversary edition of the Sunday Million the grinders came out in force from all stake levels and all corners of the globe.

With the normal $215 buy-in, the value was off the charts and 49,287 players came for a piece of it.

The prize pool ballooned to almost $10 million with 6,309 players paid and $1.2 million originally scheduled for first place before the deal was cut.

Guillen: Best of the Reds.

 

Given the substantial pay jumps a lot of pressure was put on the final nine to make a deal but nothing could be settled on until the final three.

PokerStars pro Angel Guillen was the top Red Spade finisher in 754th place.

The official results and payouts below:

For a full recap of the final-table action, check the PokerStars blog.

Set in Las Vegas, CSI has predictably featured a few plots involving gamblers and occasionally poker players over the course of its 13 seasons.

For example, an episode from 2002, “Revenge Is Best Served Cold,” saw the team investigating the death of a poker player who collapsed during a high-stakes game.

But poker players and/or fans of televised poker might find this new episode interesting in the way it creatively imagines a complicated revenge scenario emanating from a cheating incident at a WSOP Main Event-like poker tournament.

Tom Schneider Appears in Short Cameo

A major point of interest to poker fans is the appearance of two-time WSOP bracelet winner Tom Schneider in a non-speaking cameo role.

Schneider plays Glenn Heidbreder, a dealer at the 1997 Palermo Poker Classic who in fact is involved in the cheating scheme that ultimately leads to the string of murders years later.

Last month Schneider was contacted by the show’s producer whom he’d met at a golf tournament a few years ago.

Schneider both appeared in the episode and served as technical director for the poker scenes.

 

The producer asked Schneider if he knew anyone in Los Angeles who could serve as a technical director for poker on an episode, and as it turned out Schneider himself ended up filling the role.

Schneider and his wife, Julie -- who some may know is an accomplished player herself, having earned a third-place finish in a WSOP event in 2009 -- read the script, then traveled to L.A. to meet with the producers to discuss it.

“There were a few things the writer didn’t change that we think our poker-playing friends are going to criticize us for,” Schneider told PokerListings, including the fact that a player at the 1997 PPC final table is shown eating chicken wings.

Perhaps the makers were inspired by a real-life WSOP-related incident, namely Tiffany Michelle’s infamous plate of fries at the 2008 Main Event.

While there as a consultant, Schneider was recruited to play the role as a poker dealer.

“I have some special skills from learning magic a long time ago,” Schneider explains, and in fact his handiwork is both shown and becomes part of the plot as his character turns out to be in on the scheme.

It sounds like the experience was a lot of fun for Schneider, if not overly profitable. “They spent four hours on my scene that will probably be on air for 20 seconds. After receiving my paycheck for four days’ work, I have a min buy-in for a tight $20-$40 mix game.”

This episode's killer borrows his technique from Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

 

A Playing Card As a Murder Weapon

David Cassidy of The Partridge Family fame does a quick guest turn on the episode, too, as Peter Coe, a professional poker player, unfortunately murdered in the show’s opening sequence.

Killed while alone in an elevator, his death provides a momentary “locked room” mystery that the CSI team swiftly solves by first determining his jugular vein was severed by an item containing cellulose acetate, then further reducing the possible weapons down to... a playing card!

Sounds incredible, sure. Even more fanciful, the team decide the killer threw the playing card through the closing elevator doors.

“In the right hands, a playing card is a lethal weapon, thrown up to 80 miles per hour,” explains David Hodges (Wallace Langham), the team’s Trace Technician. “I once saw a magician slice a carrot in half with one.”

“That’s absolutely absurd,” responds CSI Level 2 Morgan Brody (Elisabeth Harnois), likely articulating most viewers’ thoughts.

Of course, for poker fans, we immediately recognize the reference being made, one of several in the episode that evoke the world of professional tournament poker and the WSOP.

CSI Borrows Elements from Poker World

Those of us who watched ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP during the “boom” era from a decade ago well remember the feature showing Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s card-throwing exploits. His slicing of various fruits and vegetables with playing cards no doubt inspired the plot device and dialogue for the writers of CSI.

That’s just one of several story elements we might call “tells” indicating the show’s writers’ awareness of tournament poker, particularly as it has been covered and shown on television over recent years.

CSI's poker tournament is clearly patterned after the WSOP Main Event.

 

In this episode bodies continue to appear and it turns out all are linked back to the final table of the 1997 Palermo Poker Classic won by Peter Coe.

Poker fans will instantly recognize the tournament as a version of the WSOP Main Event.

A character refers to the “PPC” as the “Vegas Super Bowl,” perhaps also alluding to Amarillo Slim Preston’s old Super Bowl of Poker that ran from the late 1970s through the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, the 2013 PPC is currently playing out, with one of the final players, Ava Rendell (Becky O’Donohue), being described as the “last woman standing” (the episode’s title).

“Mildly condescending,” says Night Shift Supervisor D.B. Russell (Ted Danson) of the phrase, one we recognize as frequently used in tournament poker.

Rendell actually runs her own poker instructional website -- hotpokerbabe.com -- and later when talking to a CSI investigator speculates that the police force is “just as much of a boy’s club as poker.”

Another character -- a friend of Coe’s who becomes a suspect thanks to his being the card-throwing magician referred to earlier -- talks about how he used to play poker with Coe.

“We played together,” he says. “Texas hold’em... before it was spoiled by frat boys and gongoozlers.”

Again, there’s an understanding shown here of differences between poker of the pre-“boom” era and the game’s subsequent explosion in popularity, especially with regard to tournament poker and the WSOP.

Extreme Hand Analysis

By show’s end, the victims are ultimately connected one by one to the community cards Schneider’s character deals in that 1997 PPC hand, with the killer and motive finally discovered thanks to the CSI team’s meticulous analysis of the cards’ connections to the murders.

As mentioned, between Schneider’s cameo, the imaginative association of murders with individual playing cards, and other allusions to tournament poker and the WSOP, poker players should find the episode interesting.

The episode also perhaps helps show poker’s continuing resonance in mainstream popular culture, even if the game’s popularity and growth have slowed over recent years.

One disclaimer... CSI has earned a lot of criticism over the years for its boundary-testing depictions of graphic violence, with the blood-soaked “Last Woman Standing” providing several more examples of such.

Still, if you’re a poker fan and can stomach the gore -- and suspend your disbelief -- this week’s CSI might be worth investigating.

Marcel Luske was already known to be a gentleman and a character in the poker world, when most of today’s stars were still wearing rompers.

Having established himself as a “global” player, Luske decided to tackle a problem all travelling players encounter: different rules in different places, which can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary friction.

The Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske.

 

FIDPA Means Equality for Poker Players

The idea of the Federation Internationale de Poker Association (FIDPA) is as simple as it is powerful: To implement an internationally approved set of rules. It was introduced in 2008, consists of 81 rules, and is available as a free download from the FIDPA website.

“No matter if you play in the Bellagio, or the Wynn, or in a tournament anywhere in the world, you always depend on the rules of the house”, says Luske.

“So, the player has to learn new rules anywhere he goes. Now we don’t complain about the rules being too difficult. We complain about that, there is no consistency.”

Primarily aimed at the players’ satisfaction, the FIDPA rules would also make things easier for the staff, says Luske.

“With a single set of rules in place, dealers and floormen can go and work all over the world wherever they want, without being insecure and without having to get more training in their respective working places.”

Because of widely differing jurisdictions, the rules had to be tweaked and adapted in several instances. The result being that several national poker associations have committed themselves to the FIDPA, like the ones in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, the US, Brazil, and most of Eastern Europe.

Bellagio, PokerStars and GPI all use FIDPA rules.

 

Among the endorsed members of the FIDPA is the Bellagio in Las Vegas, which has used FIDPA rules for four and a half years now, the Circus Groupe, the Australian Poker League (APL), and Holland Casino.

“Today, the Tournament Directors Association (TDA), the Global Poker Index (GPI), and PokerStars use our international rules," said Luske.

Challenges Still Remain for FIDPA Acceptance

Luske is not content with the FIDPA's results so far.

“As a poker player, I want to avoid trouble with the establishment, and I want to gain credibility. It is not a question of money, it is a matter of principle, respect, and common sense.

The problem is not that organizers and tournament directors are not willing to use a single set of rules. The problem is that they don’t want to support each other.

So, if one director starts to use a specific method, their competitor says, ‘I’m not doing what he does. The FIDPA can serve as a catalyzer between these parties.”

Sunglasses are still FIDPA-approved.

 

Examples where global rules are valuable are manifold. If a player goes all-in on the river and then insta-mucks if he gets called, it makes sense to force him to open his cards. Otherwise, the door to chip-dumping would be wide open.

Or take the question when a player has to be at the table so his hand is not declared dead. When the first card is dealt, or when the last card is dealt?

Potentially, a player could peek at someone else’s first card on his way back to his seat, so the rule should be that you have to be at your seat when the first card is dealt. However, not every casino follows this rule.

“In football, if the ball goes over the line, it is out. Anywhere you go. Why should it be different in poker?” asks Luske.

There certainly are circumstances where the game would apparently benefit from a generalization of rules, but acceptance will still not be easy to reach.

Individuality plays a huge part in poker, however, when it comes to the host or the players themselves.

If the poker community can’t change this way of thinking than FIDPA will have a hard time taking hold, no matter how well designed it is.

Written by Dirk Oetzmann

Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Tom Dwan rampaging through the high-stakes online games in February, Daniel Negreanu hinting at the sounds of little feet in his near future and the tech nerds of Silicon Valley putting poker pros in their place for charity.

1) durrrr Pillages High-Stakes Games for $2.9m in February

Just like the old days.

 

For a guy whose every click used to be monitored breathlessly, Tom “durrrr” Dwan kinda flies under the radar these days.

Brought back to the online game as a new Full Tilt Professional with Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Gus Hansen, Dwan has stepped back in the online game fairly quietly since FTP's relaunch last Nov.

He lost a bundle in Dec/Jan but since the calendar rolled over to Feb he's been on a heater reminiscent of the best times of his career. The online prodigy has trounced a variety of games and stakes – not to mention A-list pros – to pocket close to $3 million.

His hot streak carried over into March as he took in another $600k in everything from 8-Game to NLHE to 2-7 Triple Draw this weekend.

Check his results for the month plus replays of some of his biggest pots over on highstakesDB.com.

durrrr’s next big challenge will be during EPT London when he, Blom and Hansen take on Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand Grospellier and Ike Haxton in the PStars vs. Full Tilt Heads-Up Challenge.

Rail the action via our review and check our recent Q&A with Isildur1.

2) Negreanu Back from Extended Break, Looks to Future

We haven’t seen much of Daniel Negreanu at the tables in the last few months. Most notably he pulled out of the NBC Heads-Up championship for a prior commitment, which turned out to be related to the his recent Leadership Training program.

He’s back at the tables at WPT Bay 101 in San Jose today and updated his fans on the reasons for his recent absence in a new blog post.

While he used to go and play anywhere he could, he says, the changing nature of poker geography has kept him off the grind a bit. He also has some new priorities to keep in mind:

"As for me, I'm at a different point in my life where I don't want to commit the same amount of time to travel, and it's different now with most of it being overseas in Europe.

“I was single back then, and not at all looking to settle down. I'm 38 now, and there will be little Negreanus running around in the not too distant future, so that will require me to scale back a bit on the travel."

For more on Negreanu’s recent leadership training watch the interview below.

3) Silicon Valley Tech Kings Bounce Poker Pros Again

Smith: Can't fade Googler.

 

For the third year running a bunch of Silicon Valley tech geeks have beat a group of poker pros at their own game.

Part of the lead-up to the WPT Bay 101 main event that started today, the tech titans tested their poker skill against some volunteer pros from the poker world in a tournament to raise some money for charity.

This year, as in the two years prior, the nerd kings came out on top as Google's Shishir Mehrotra edged out Nancy Albertini and Twitter's Amar Anand for the title.

Dan "KingDan" Smith was the only pro to make the final table. Shannon Shorr, Jonathan Little, Joe Serock, Faraz Jaka, Jason Sommerville, Tommy Vedes, Noah Schwartz and Dan O'Brien also particpated.

About $25k was raised for this year's charity, the Computer History Museum. More on the event here.

A fan favorite, the Bay 101 Shooting Star event always draws a big crowd with a $7,500 buy-in plus re-entry and $2,500 bounties on the heads of 52 big-name pros.

Knock out one of those pros and you get a shirt, medal and the cash, making for a fairly lighthearted if competitive first few days and some added incentive at the tables.

A good 270 players made their way to the casino for Day 1a yesterday with 109 surviving to see Day 2 led by Lichtenberger.

He bagged up 341,000 for the overall lead and the $10k bonus for being the chipleader at day's end.

Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron

 

The top 10 in chips after Day 1a:

Other notables off to a good start with above-average stacks include WPT LAPC runner-up Paul Volpe (146,500), Brit Chris "NigDawG" Brammer (142,800), Antonio Esfandiari (119,200) and Erik Seidel (85,000).

With re-entry available today for those who busted out yesterday, expect to see even more big names in the field and on the leaderboard after Day 1b.

Action picks up at 11 am PT with a new group of Shooting Stars. Follow along with the live updates on WPT.com.

It’s a surprising move by Caesars considering the two companies have been considered rivals since PokerStars continued to operate in the U.S. after UIGEA passed in 2006.

According to Forbes the deal was offered to PokerStars in February and the massive online gaming site eventually turned it down.

There was a statement by PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser on the issue:

Caesars Entertainment approached PokerStars and offered to sell us certain assets, such as the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. Caesars suggested that this acquisition would give us a better relationship with Caesars and would help PokerStars gain a license in Nevada.

PokerStars declined the offer because we had no plans to acquire another casino in the near term.

Meanwhile PokerStars recently went through with plans to buy the Atlantic Club in New Jersey. It’s the first casino the company has attempted to purchase in the U.S.

Caesars-Backed AGA Opposes PokerStars Purchase in A.C.

The Atlantic Club in New Jersey

 

The Atlantic Club purchase has not gone off without a hitch as the American Gaming Association recently filed a 26-page brief opposing PokerStars’ petition for interim casino authorization in the state.

The lobby group claimed PokerStars “was operated as a criminal enterprise for many years” referring to the site’s continued presence in the U.S. after UIGEA.

The AGA went on to say that allowing PokerStars to be licensed would send a damaging message to the gaming world. 

Sen. Jim Whelan feels differently. He has come out in support of the PokerStars deal and alleged that Caesars Entertainment, which owns numerous casinos in Atlantic City, is using the AGA to keep their competition out of the area.

“They are motivated by greed,” said Whelan. “They want to keep foreign investors out... The gaming association is their vehicle.”

PokerStars insists that its suitability for a gaming license in the U.S. is a matter for experienced regulators to decide.

Any suggestions for a future 3-bet, drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu responding to some fairly extreme accusations, Spanish poker star Leo Margets joining the elite ranks of Team PokerStars and poker media titan Nolan Dalla sharing some of his more egregious and hilarious mistakes.

1) Negreanu Responds to “Cult” Accusations

Yeah, so, we judiciously left out the part about Daniel Negreanu being accused of being in a cult in yesterday's 3-Bet because it seemed, well, unseemly. And kinda ludicrous.

Cult member? Really?

 

Seeing that Negreanu himself has responded now, though, we figured we’d share his rebuttal and leave it at that.

In short: Negreanu took a three-month leadership training program done by a for-profit business called Choice Center. The “friends” he said he skipped the NBC Heads-Up for were part of this program.

A story that appeared yesterday first questioned the legitimacy of Choice Center and then a growing thread on 2+2 named several other poker pros who've particpated (including Antonio Esfandiari and the Binger brothers) and called it "a cult."

Conceding it's certainly a business and he paid to participate, Negreanu says the cult claims are, of course, a gross exaggeration:

“First of all, I am not in a cult, nor does Choice Center have anything to do with religion in the slightest. It is a 100 day course on emotional intelligence that I graduated from last weekend. It cost $2700 for the entire training, and you are never asked for a penny on top of that. Ever.

"...Many of the things I read on the internet are wildly inaccurate. If there was anything 'fishy' going on, I would be the first to bring attention to it as I have in the poker community for the last 10+ years. I'd say that my record speaks for itself."

Read Negreanu’s full response plus a very cogent take on LGAT-type programs from Nick Binger here.

At the top of her game.

 

2) Leo Margets Joins Team PokerStars Pro

Last woman standing in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. EPT Grand Final Ladies Champ. Full Tilt Masters Series champion. Master of Business Communciation Management.

Those are just a few of the titles Barcelona’s Leo Margets has already laid claim to, and now she can add another impressive line to her résumé, poker or otherwise: Team PokerStars Pro.

The 27-year-old Barcelona native was named to the team yesterday in an official release, putting her into elite company with the top females in the game including Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren.

With over $770,000 in career earnings in just four years, Margets is eighth on Spain’s all-time money list.

She's previously been a sponsored pro for both 888 Poker and Lock Poker.

More on the signing from PokerStars here.

3) Nolan Dalla Revisits Some of His Worst Typos

Makes the odd gaffe.

 

If you’ve read anything about poker online in the last, oh, 10 years or so, chances are good you’ve read something written by (or paraphrased from) Nolan Dalla.

A one-man news arsenal for the WSOP, among other media outlets, Dalla has covered more poker tournaments and punched out more late-night, sleep-deprived copy than any human being ever should.

As you can imagine, without a dedicated editor and with a direct pipeline out into the Internet, some major typos/gaffes/missteps have hit the worldwide poker spotlight – much to Dalla’s embarrassment.

Given how awesome he is, however, he’s more than capable of having a good laugh at himself and has shared some of his most wince-worthy moments in a new blog post.

Among the gems: Spelling countless names, known or otherwise, wrong, leaving some critical letters out of critical words and, you know, possibly ruining a certain poker player’s career.

He also officially suggested a cat won a PLO tournament. As you can imagine, it's a great post – check it out here.

Dubbed “The Professionals vs Team PokerStars” this new challenge will pit the top players from the world's two biggest online poker sites against one another for a total prize of $300,000.

Negreanu will lead team members Isaac “Ike” Haxton and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier into battle against Hansen, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

“I think I would take the $50k slightly ahead of the bragging rights but it's so much fun to beat Daniel it's a close call,” said Hansen about the upcoming match.

Negreanu felt much the same way, continuing the friendly rivalry that sparked this challenge in the first place.

“I don't hate Gus,” laughed Negreanu. “I think he's a good guy but needling him is a lot of fun and there's a lot of material there.”

According to Negreanu, a match putting Team PokerStars up against Full Tilt Poker is always something he's wanted to organize.

And now that PokerStars.com's parent company Rational Group owns FTP as well, Negreanu's dream has become a reality.

Negreanu has his finger pointed squarely at Gus Hansen and Full Tilt Poker.

 

Negreanu and Hansen both fielded questions in a press call with the poker media today, revealing a few new details about the challenge.

Mercier Narrowly Misses Second Pick

As this challenge was gaining momentum last week Daniel Negreanu picked his team and as it turns out Jason Mercier just missed the second spot.

To make his decision Negreanu first polled Twitter to see which two Team PokerStars Pros people wanted to see help him take on Full Tilt Poker.

Negreanu narrowed his choices down to Haxton and Grospellier, who ultimately made it, as well as Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Eugene Katchalov.

Mercier just missed out on the last spot.

 

He then asked each of those players to make their top two picks, not picking themselves, to find out who would play.

“I weighted the number one vote as two points and the number two votes as one point and so it came down to a vote by the group to decide who would play,” explained Negreanu.

Everyone used one of their picks to choose Isaac Haxton, but the second slot was much more closely decided.

“Elky got the next most votes but I know the number was close,” said Negreanu.

“Jason Mercier got the next most votes after that.”

The Professionals vs Team PokerStars challenge is set to play out March 10 at EPT London. Keep an eye on PokerListings.com's news section for updates and results.

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Motley, a gaming industry vet playing the event as part of her "bucket list," had a day to remember. She busted Shooting Star David Williams to collect his $2,500 bounty and bagged the chip lead for the $10k bonus at the end of the night.

She'll start Day 2 with 243,100 - slightly ahead of 2011 WPT Bay 101 runner-up and WSOP bracelet winner Steven Kelly with 233,500.

Rounding out the top 5 from Day 1b are WeiKai Chang (195,400), Numit Agrawl (193,200), and Noah Wiseman (191,700).

All will trail Day 1a chip leader Andrew Lichtenberger, however, when play picks up again as he'll start with 341,100.

The total number of entries so far is 635 but could increase slightly with registration still open until the start of play today. Still the total crushes the previous record of 516 and the prize pool will be the largest ever.

Somerville, Ho Off to Solid Starts

Strong start for Ho.

 

The Day 1b field was packed with notables as expected, some faring better than others.

Taylor Von Kreigenbergh (182,900), Jeff Gross (179,800), Jason Somerville (153,000), Scott Seiver (137,900), Maria Ho (132,500), Tom Marchese (115,000) and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (112,200) were among the better off.

The top 10 in chips from Day 1b:

Play picks up again at 11 am PT with 249 returning players plus any new entries. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

Prior to the last couple days Blom was in the midst of a large downswing (which came up in an interview we did with him last Friday).

Blom actually started the year with an astounding heater than saw him win nearly $5 million but he eventually donated about $4 million back.

Blom flipped the switch over the last couple days, however, and absolutely slayed the massive $250/$500 Pot-Limit Omaha game that was running yesterday to the tune of $791,600.

Hac “trex313” Dang, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky and Tom “durrrr” Dwan were among Isildur1’s many victims.

The young Scandi also had some huge wins on Monday against Alex Luneau in Triple Draw and Kyle “KPR16” Ray in Omaha-8.

According to highstakesdb.com Blom is up a total of $1.2 million in roughly 5,000 hands over the last 48 hours.

Blom is now up $2 million in 2013 and remains the second biggest winner on Full Tilt Poker 2.0 with $2.4 million all-time. PostflopAction is first with $3.3 million.

Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene Crushes $250/$500 PLO Game

Viktor Blom wasn’t the only player to profit from the huge $250/$500 PLO games yesterday, in fact he wasn’t even the biggest winner.

That honor went to U.S.-born Ben “Bttech96” Tollerene who amassed $905k in the nosebleed games.

The former Texas Tech student won three pots worth over $200k each, including a $290k monster against trex313 where he rivered a boat. 

Tollerene is off to a fantastic start in 2013 with $2 million in profit. Check out our Ben Tollerene interview for more information on the up-and-coming online powerhouse.

Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find a "warped" interpretation of three of poker’s most famous players, a French poker tournament with a full-size sword trophy as a prize and another classic poker tale from the WSOP’s Nolan Dalla.

1) Warped Paintings of Gus, Daniel and Doyle

We love finding poker-inspired projects out there and came across another yesterday tweeting out our interview with Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu about their upcoming challenge on Full Tilt Poker.

Artist Terry Beveridge, a painter and 3D animator, tweeted us back with his take on Gus v. Daniel  from his new "Art of Poker" series. Check the paintings below:

@pokerlistings here's my @realkidpokervs @gushansen paintings. ..still working my Daniel piece. twitter.com/TWBeveridge/st…

Beveridge says his love for poker inspired him to combine his two passions in the series.

“I started this series because of that love for the game. My drawing technique for these paintings is a bit "warped" or exaggerated, and painted in a realistic style. The originals are quite large measuring in at 36" in x 60" in.

“The players I choose to paint and spend countless hours working on are those that I really enjoy, admire, and are just great for the game.”

Along with Negreanu and Hansen he's also captured Doyle Brunson and says he plans to continue the series. Check out more of his work here.

2) Win a Tourney, Get a Sword. Like a Real, Heavy Sword

Winning a gold bracelet in a poker tournament is just so 2007, no?

Mathieu Philbert, sword winner. (Photo: Winamax)

 

We don’t know the full story behind it but a recent Winamax tourney in France took things in the Game of Thrones direction and gave away a full-on medieval sword as part of its winner package.

Like a 3-foot, iron-forged, gut-cutting-on-the-beaches-of-Kings-Landing kind of a sword.

Oh France. We love your historical-themed insouciance!

On top of the sword, winner Mathieu Philbert took home €100,000 but it's hard to tell from the picture which he's enjoying more. Read more (in French, naturally) here.

3) Nolan Dalla Tracks Down $130k in 15 Hours

Sunar saves the day!

 

We told you how much we enjoy poker industry icon Nolan Dalla's stories yesterday and he's blessed us with another classic today.

If you've ever wondered just how much the industry's changed from its early years, Dalla's new post about collecting $130,000 in cash in 12 hours on a snowy night in Atlantic City is a great snapshot.

Even better? The hero of the story is (spoiler alert) Surinder Sunar. An excerpt:

"Sometimes, it’s a wonderful life. Other times, it’s not. If you want to discover who your friends really are — try to borrow money. This is especially true in the poker world.

"On a bitterly cold night in December of 2006, I was in a state of panic. I desperately needed $120,000 in cash by the following morning. The time was 7 pm.

"At the time, I had about $150 in my pocket. That left me $119,850 short — give or take a few coins."

Another great story from a true encyclopedia of amazing poker lore. Check it out here.

Recent WPT LA Poker Classic runner-up Paul Volpe is currently in the lead.

Volpe took down over $650,000 for second place at the LAPC a couple weeks ago and now he's got another chance at his first WPT title.

And since this Bay 101 main event is the biggest in the history of the WPT, Volpe's got a shot at an enormous $1,138,350 first-place prize.

Day 2 chopped the field down from 255 and a pile of big names made the cut.

Sitting in third is online legend Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, followed closely by Maria Ho in fifth. Former WPT final-tablist Matt Stout is in ninth while WSOP bracelet winner Athanasios Polychronopoulos is in 11th.

Other players to watch still left in this field include Christian Harder (607,000), Kyle Julius (536,000), recent LAPC champ Paul Klann (389,000), Todd Terry (295,000), Jeff Madsen (273,000) and Carlos Mortensen (271,000).

Antonio Esfandiari

 

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 3:

Everyone who has made it this far is guaranteed at least $19,120 with the payouts reaching six-figures at seventh place.

Duhamel, Sexton Among Day 2 Casualties

Over 200 players were eliminated on Day 2, and only 19 of them got a taste of the prize money.

Hitting the rail well before the cash kicked in were a host of big names, including former world champion of poker Jon Duhamel.

The French-Canadian got in a battle of the blinds holding A-J and couldn't win the crucial all-in against the big blind's pocket jacks.

Former WPT winner Shawn Buchanan, who was also a bountied “Shooting Star” in this event, was eliminated by Nick Schulman in a classic all-in preflop race.

Making an early exit with empty pockets was the WPT's own Mike Sexton. Noah Schwartz, Mohsin Charania, Greg Mueller, David “ODB” Baker and Dan Kelly also went bust.

Eliminated but snagging a small piece of the prize pool were Scott Seiver (63rd), Michael Benvenuti (55th), Matt Affleck (52nd), Steve Gross (47th), and Chris DeMaci (45th).

The 2013 WPT Bay 101 main event will play down to a final table today in San Jose. Check our World Poker Tour News Section for the update.