Brunch for the Bayou Charity Tourney Update

Spots are still available for the Brunch for the Bayou charity tournament.  You can register by emailing contact@wickedchopspoker.com.  The tournament starts at noon.  It will be wrapped no later than 3:30.  What you need to know:

• Entry fee is $100.  It includes brunch.  You can pay with cash (preferred), check, or credit.  Doors for the event open at 10am so get there early and fill up before you play.
• While we expect some walk-in entries, if you have pre-registered, your name will be on a sign-up list at the door.  Just say you're there for the charity hold'em tournament.  A portion of your entry is tax deductible.
• The hold'em tournament is located in the back meeting room in Copeland's.  You'll see the tables and cards set up. 
• Given the size of the tables, we will not have room for dealers.  Participants will deal themselves until the final table (remaining 5 or 6), when we will bring a dealer in.
• 1st prize is two tickets to Las Vegas courtesy of Airtran and entry into a WSOP Circuit event.  There are three Vegas circuit events over the next eight months to choose from...we'll work with you to determine the best fit for your schedule.  Second place is a package that includes entry into the ESPN.com Poker Club's WSOP Main Event qualifying tournament.  Other prizes from final table participants include autographed copies of Phil Gordon's Final Table DVD and assorted gear from the good people at Bodog.com (great site, you should be playing on it).  In fact, thanks to Bodog, all participants will be receiving something (cards, hats, etc.) Working on other prizes to include in the package, like season-ending Braves tickets or Hawks tickets for later in the year.

Keep reading for the blind schedule and chip structure...

Final Table DVD Review – Part I Head's-Up with Rafe Furst

Chops here.

On the first day of this year’s WSOP Main Event, Snake and I took a break from covering the action and strolled into the poker merchandizing convention room at the Rio.  Start-up after start-up filled the convention floor, hoping to hock their tacky goods and cash in on the poker craze.

After walking past a number of totally uninspired clothing and chip manufacturing booths, we spotted a flat screen TV playing what looked like a World Poker Tour event.  It turned out to be the Expert Insight booth, and amid the “got the nuts!” and “Monster in my pocket” poker shirts, it stood out as an oasis in a desert of lame.

Manning the booth was none other than Phil Gordon.  And featured on that flat screen was not a WPT final table, but Phil’s new instructional DVD, Final Table.  It immediately grabbed our attention.  Compared to other instructional poker videos, there’s a quantum leap in production quality with Final Table.  Think of dating Camryn Manheim and then moving up to Carmen Elektra.  It’s that drastic.

So naturally, we got a copy of the DVD for review.  And the DVD delivers.  In the first part of our Final Table DVD review, we spoke with one of the people behind the project, Tiltboy-founder Rafe Furst (pictured right).  On Monday, we’ll follow up this Q&A with our actual review of the DVD.  Here goes…

WCP: First, provide some background on Expert Insight.

Rafe Furst: ExpertInsight.com really started with the Final Table Poker DVD.  Phil saw an opportunity for drastically improving the quality of poker instruction.  So he brought together two very talented film makers, Michael Keller and Jon Gunn, and he asked me to help out with the business side of things…

Georgia Native Phil Gordon in Town to Promote Tourney

Chops here.

For our ATL readers, that six foot nine dude you saw in the Highlands this weekend was not another Koncak/Keefe Hawks draft pick from days of yore.  No, it really was Phil Gordon (pictured right, at WSOP).  And instead of banking shots, he just banks checks. 

Gordon, the business savvy ex-Yellow Jacket and Stone Mountain native, was in Atlanta to promote Degree’s All-In Poker Experience.  I caught up with Gordon to discuss his latest roles with ESPN and Degree.   

Update: More Prizes

Thanks to Andrew Feldman at ESPN.com's Poker Club and Tiltboy Rafe Furst with Expert Insight for kicking in some more prizes for the Brunch for the Bayou charity poker tournament.  Along with our first prize of airfare for two to Las Vegas (provided by Airtran) and entry into a WSOP circuit event, other prizes now include:

- An automatic seat into the final tournament for ESPN's World Series of Poker promotion (this is something you'd typically have to qualify for against a ton of players).

- Autographed Final Table DVDs from Phil Gordon.  This DVD is the best poker learning tool on the market.  We'll have a review of it up on the site this Thursday. 

More to come...just waiting confirmation on a few more things.

Update: Brunch for the Bayou

The press release for Brunch for the Bayou dropped today.  Download it and learn more about the event, as the charity poker tournament is just one part of the overall happenings. 

Remember, the $100 entry to the charity poker tournament includes your brunch.  You will be fed. 

Keep checking the site over the next few days as we post more on prizes, blinds schedules/structure, and why you should be splashing your chips into this charity pot. 

Two Time Winner Seif Featured

Two time 2k5 WSOP bracelet winner Mark Seif is featured on ESPN coverage Tuesday. 

Seif bested an impressive final table to win Event #23 ($1,500 NLH).  A little less than a week earlier, Seif won Event #15, the $1,500 NLH shoot-out (not shown by ESPN). 

At the final table with Seif for Event #23 was 2004 Main Event champ and in general a bad mofo not to be f'ed with, Greg Raymer.  Minh Ngyuen, Devilfish, and Bill Gazes filled out this stacked final table.

Event #25 ($5,000 7 Card Stud) is also featured.  Jan Sorensen won the event blah blah blah.

Jesus H! Ferguson Wins 2nd WSOP Circuit Main Event

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson captured his second WSOP Circuit Main Event of the year this weekend.

The field was relatively small (107) at Harrah's Las Vegas WSOP circuit championship event, but the competition still included some big guns.  Ferguson outlasted a field that included Andy Bloch, Max Pescatori, John Phan, Russ Hamilton, An Tran, and the "colorful" (read: drunk) Minneapolis Meehan for the bracelet. 

Ferguson faced Chad Layne heads-up for the title.  On the final hand, Layne got his money in the middle with the best of it, as it was his A-K vs. Jesus' A-J.  A Jack hit on the flop though, Layne failed to improve his hand, and Jesus triumphs again.

Ferguson banked over $362k for the win.  With his $655k+ victory in March at the Rincon Main Event in San Diego, Jesus has won over a mil this year at WSOP circuit events alone.  Praise Jesus!

Seriously. Praise him now.