The TOKE: Let's Catch UP - Part I
After a Thanksgiving weekend that saw the Addict and Snake in the Loo slinging cards on riverboat casinos, and Chops collecting crap from his new pup while trying to play online, we have some catching up to do on stories. Here's what you missed, in brief.
:: Virgin relaunches its poker room. Virgin Group has relaunched its poker room, Virgin Poker. The URL is sure to be blocked by your work firewall (http://www.virgingames.com/poker), which won't matter much for 90% of our readers as they aren't allowing access in the states. Virgin does plan to attract players though by "leveraging" their other companies. For example, players can "accumulate Virgin air miles and loyalty points that can be cashed in for Virgin products." Also of note, players on the site can keep blogs, if you're into that kind of thing. Guardian
:: WPT up for sale? Lakes Entertainment Inc. needs some operating cash ($10 mil by the end of the year, and another $10 mil by March 1), and to get it, the company might sell its stake in the World Poker Tour. Lakes owns approximately 62 percent of WPT Enterprises Inc. Paging Doyle Brunson. Biz Journals
:: Norman Chad's man-crush spotlighted. Musician/poker player Tom Sartori was spotlighted in the Orlando Sentinel. Sartori says, "It's easier winning the World Series of Poker than it is making it big in music the way the industry is today." Apparently Sartori hasn't listened to Nickelback or Britney Spears (right) lately. Or ever. Orlando Sentinel
Awww...Shit! I knew this day would eventually come.
Posted by: BlackSpy | November 29, 2005 at 03:31 PM
Not if I have anything to do with it!
Posted by: WhiteSpy | November 29, 2005 at 02:30 PM
Maybe something on the 18th.
Posted by: BlackSpy | November 29, 2005 at 12:39 PM
too funny
im gonna come rob you
sorry we missed your tourney...we were about 15 minutes from making it in time. whens the next one?
Posted by: snake | November 29, 2005 at 11:14 AM
I play nickle/dime dealer's choice with my grandparents.
Posted by: BlackSpy | November 29, 2005 at 11:09 AM
still havent made it to AC but from what ive heard i need to ...addict and i play as much as we can when traveling, which this past year has meant card room poker in LA, Vegas, Tunica, London, Shreveport and St. Louis as well as homegames and hotel games here and there and of course every week in Atlanta. Mostly LA is where we play live though...the shreveports and st. louis's are mostly because we just happened to be there, or nearby. We're mainly looking for NLH tournaments, and cash games in between, and i love the weekly rebuy tournies in LA and London. The play is fast and aggressive and fun. Tunica is the tightest play ive seen. St. Louis was the most suburbia, inexperienced play but some good players mixed in too. Cash game wise, I mostly play PLO hi and hi/lo online and its hard to find that live, unless in Cali. Holdem wise Ive been mostly playing limit but NLH is the real money game...tho in Cali the action at these tables is crazy and some serious swings seem to be a sure thing. As far as St. Louis, my winnings came mostly from two big hands, the first in which i flopped the nut straight, rainbow board and 4 players who seemed to think i was merely representing..one with the bottom end of the straight. Addict did well..though he took one hit when he caught a nut flush to another's quad tens on the river.
Posted by: snake | November 29, 2005 at 10:08 AM
NLH at the Borg is very profittable during the weekends (especially the summer).
Posted by: BlackSpy | November 29, 2005 at 08:36 AM
Never been out there. I play mainly in underground rooms, AC, Vegas, and an occasional Foxwoods trip.
I popped the $5/$10/$300 NLH game at the Borgata for 2 grand last week. Played 5 hands in 3 hours, got paid on all of them.
Posted by: YCO123 | November 29, 2005 at 08:15 AM
well enough to spend it all on shopping the next two days.
I used to live in St. Louis...for about 5 years ...and I wish they had the card rooms there then. At least at Harrahs and Ameristar. We played Harrahs and they had about 13 tables or so...nice room, new tables and seats all WSOP logoed, pretty smoke free and decent staff. Word is they are expanding it to double the size. We got on easy the first night, waited about 30 minutes the other night. Both times the Addict and I were seated at the same table, which we'd prefer not happen. But I was glad he got to see some of the bad plays I saw..actually two guys in particular were the worst players I've ever encountered...I actually don't think they knew how to play the game...one guy lost 2 racks in about 20 minutes. Never had anything. Called raises all the way down without even a good high card, just plain nothing. Just perplexing all around. After playing Shreveport in October though, it was nice to sit down at a table with people who looked like normal humans rather than people you're pretty sure are human but that protruding forehead and gills in their neck make you not so sure. If visiting I'd do Harrahs rather than Ameristar. I like the changes Harrahs has made there..both gaming rooms are now joined with the poker room in between them and the one side has a pretty cool, Palms-inspired/aspired scene that creates a night club feel around blackjack tables and craps. Some pretty decent talent there.
Posted by: snake | November 28, 2005 at 04:00 PM
How did ya'll do at the tables?
Posted by: YCO123 | November 28, 2005 at 03:18 PM