https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/2013/05/ Betfair Poker's talented team of poker enthusiasts bring you the very latest poker news from around the globe. Covering both online poker and the live poker scene, the Betfair Poker blog is your one-stop site for the very best in poker related news, views and gossip. Along with select poker news stories, visitors will also find detailed reports and results of major online and live poker tournaments, interviews with some of poker's key figures and players and bespoke poker articles and editorials. Join Betfair Poker Now en Copyright 2026 Fri, 31 May 2013 15:16:00 +0100 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification The 2013 World Series of Poker is well underway, with the first events having kicked off on Wednesday. The daily schedule is already starting to get crowded with four different events in action today and five tomorrow. Meanwhile just hours ago the first bracelet of this summer's Series has been won, with the winner being someone very familiar to those us who spend our time covering the tourney circuit, as PokerNews Senior Editor Chad Holloway took down Event No. 1, the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em event. While the record-keeping from three decades ago is somewhat sketchy, an early, initial version of the Casino Employees Event took place from 1983 to 1985 as a $1,000 buy-in tournament then labeled the "Casino Operators" event. Ted Binion (son of Benny) won the tournament in 1983 and 1985, triumphed over a field of 10 players each time, and Sandy Stupak (wife of Bob) bested 14 in 1984. The event appears to have been discontinued thereafter, then returned in 2000 and has remained part of the schedule ever since. The buy-in has been kept at $500 since its reintroduction, making it the lowest buy-in bracelet event on the schedule. Most years it has appeared as the first event of the WSOP, thereby giving the tournament and its winner special prominence. (Only in 2008 was the Casino Employees Event saved until the very end of the Series.) In 2000 the event was called the "Dealers Championship," then the next couple of years it was called the "Employee Event" before being permanently changed to the "Casino Employees Event" in 2003. From 2000-2003 it was played as a fixed-limit tournament, then in 2004 became a no-limit hold'em tournament, the format in which it has been played ever since. Turnouts for the event followed the general trend of rapid growth from 2000 to 2006, starting at just 109 entrants in 2000 and peaking at 1,232 entrants in 2006. Recent years have seen 700-800 players participating, with a jump this year to 898 to create a total prize pool of $404,100. As the event's name indicates, eligibility to participate is limited to those who are work in some capacity for a casino. As contractors for Caesars Entertainment during the WSOP, PokerNews employees are allowed to play as well, and over the last couple of years several have done so.   Both Holloway and Josh Cahlik, another PokerNews reporter, were among the 55 players making it to Thursday's second and final day of play in the event, with Cahlik eventually going on to finish 12th for a $5,010 cash.   Squeezing a large-field tournament into just two days usually means a long second day for the Casino Employees Event, and this year was no exception as it was already past 9 p.m. local time last night when the final table began, with the final nine players all hailing from the United States. Bobby Rooney enjoyed the chip lead by a wide margin at that point with more than 700,000 chips, nearly 300,000 ahead of Allan Kwong in second position while Holloway sat in third with just under 380,000. Three eliminations rapidly followed, including Holloway knocking out Michael Trivett in eighth. By then Sean Small -- who made four final tables on the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit this year -- had become a short stack, and soon Holloway eliminated him in sixth place. Daniel Ellery followed Small to the rail in fifth, and at four-handed Kwong had assumed a large chip lead with Holloway fourth out of four. That group battled on past midnight, with Holloway picking up pots along the way to climb up the counts and into first position. Then Brian Pingel lost the last of his stack to Bobby Rooney and they were down to three. Three-handed play lasted another hour, then Kwong knocked out Rooney in a hand that saw Rooney all in and at risk with 10c-10h against the Ad-10s of Kwong. All was well for Rooney through the 9c-Kh-3s flop and 8d turn, but the Ac fell on fifth street to pair Kwong's ace, and they were down to two. Holloway started heads-up play with about a 2-to-1 chip lead over Kwong, but the latter earned a big double-up to seize the advantage in a hand that saw all of the chips go in on a 4s-7d-5h flop. Kwong had Kh-7h for top pair of sevens while Holloway had 6d-5c for a lesser pair and an open-ended straight draw. The 6s came on the turn to give Holloway two pair, but the 4c on the river meant Kwong ended with the best hand. Over the next hour Holloway chipped back to take the lead, then Kwong took it back, then Holloway grabbed it once again as play continued past 3 a.m. Finally a hand arose that saw Kwong raising from the button and Holloway calling, and a flop coming 5c-Qs-Qd. After Holloway checked, Kwong continued with a bet, then Holloway check-raised. Kwong responded with an all-in shove and Holloway called right away. Kwong had Ad-Kh, but Holloway had Qh-9s for trip nines. The turn was the 10h, which meant Kwong was looking for a saving jack to make a straight. But the river brought the 2d, and Holloway had won. "Today a dream of mine came true," tweeted Holloway afterwards as both members of the poker media and many players whom Holloway has covered over the last few years sent him their congratulations. Ironically, he'll be back at several WSOP final tables again starting this weekend, only as a reporter and not a player. Chatting with my Betfair Poker cohort Matthew Pitt this morning, we discussed how we are both soon heading to the WSOP to join the PokerNews crew and help cover the remainder of the Series. We're both looking forward to getting to Las Vegas where we can congratulate our friend and colleague in person, as well as ask him if he might let us wear his lucky bird shirt at the tables. 2013 WSOP Event No. 1: $1,000 Casino Employees NLHE results: 1st: Chad Holloway -- $84,915 2nd: Allan Kwong -- $52,318 3rd: Robert Rooney -- $33,903 4th: Brian Pingel -- $24,811 5th: Daniel Ellery -- $18,426 6th: Sean Small -- $13,868 7th: Tyrone Smith -- $10,567 8th: Michael Trivett -- $8,146 9th: Hieu Le -- $6,348 In other WSOP news, Event No. 2, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Eight-Handed event, has played down from a starting field of 481 to just 28, with Rafal Michalowski carrying the chip lead into Friday's final day of play. David Vamplew, Tom Marchese, and Joe Serock also occupy spots in the top 10, with Brian Rast, David Peters, Dan Kelly, and David "Doc" Sands among those lurking not far behind. Meanwhile, Event No. 3, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event that allowed for a single re-entry, got going yesterday as well. After both of the "Day 1" flights played out on Thursday, there were 1,821 entries all told for the event, with 660 players surviving to today's second day of the three-day event. Jerry Payne has the chip lead to start play today with Leo Wolpert, David Singer, Tony Dunst, and Josh Arieh also near the top of the counts. Today the action heats up even more with the start of Event No. 4, the $1,500 NLHE Six-Handed event. The weekend schedule will be highlighted by the start of the much anticipated "Millionaire Maker" Event No. 6, the $1,500 NLHE event with a guaranteed first prize of $1 million. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/all-the-way-for-holloway-first-bracelet-winner-of-2013-wsop-310513-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/all-the-way-for-holloway-first-bracelet-winner-of-2013-wsop-310513-77.html News WSOP Fri, 31 May 2013 15:16:00 +0100 The 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has officially started after the first two of its events kicked off inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Wednesday. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-world-series-of-poker-begins-tom-marchese-leads-event-2-300513-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-world-series-of-poker-begins-tom-marchese-leads-event-2-300513-162.html News WSOP Thu, 30 May 2013 16:28:00 +0100 We're only days away from the start of this summer's World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, with the first events kicking off Wednesday, May 29.  My intrepid colleague Matthew Pitt and I will be at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino this summer, and we're both anxious to find out along with everyone else what stories emerge from this year's WSOP. Here's a rundown of a few items we're looking forward to in anticipation of the 44th running of poker's largest tournament series. Tables cover the Rio, ESPN covers the WSOP This year's WSOP features 62 bracelet events, with buy-ins ranging from $500 (for Event No. 1, the Casino Employees event) to $111,111 (for Event No. 47, the One Drop High Rollers NLHE event). A record 480 tables will be available to handle all of the action this summer, situated in the Amazon, Pavilion, and Brasilia ballrooms. ESPN will once again provide extensive coverage of this year's WSOP, with broadcasts starting July 23 and continuing weekly through November.  After featuring the final table of the WSOP APAC Main Event and the WSOP National Championship final table (playing out today at Harrah's New Orleans), WSOP Main Event coverage will begin on August 6 and lead up to the almost-live presentation of the "November Nine" final table on November 4-5. Additionally, live streaming of all of the final table bracelet events will be accessible via WSOP.com. Some of these streams will be presented on a five-minute delay and simply feature cameras pointed at final tables with the tournament director's announcements providing some guidance to the action.   However many streamed final tables -- 35 of them, according to the current plan -- will feature hole cards and commentary with multiple camera angles, with the action presented on a half-hour delay. For the latter broadcasts, RFID technology will be employed in the playing cards to identify them via onscreen graphics.   2013 WSOP POY race heats up The WSOP Player of the Year race will continue as usual, and in fact this year has already begun with the five events of the WSOP APAC counting toward the POY standings. 2004 WSOP POY winner Daniel Negreanu has the current lead this year thanks largely to his victory in the WSOP APAC Main Event.  A total of 59 WSOP events in Las Vegas will count as well, with the non-open Casino Employees, Ladies, and Seniors events excluded. The seven WSOP Europe events happening this October at the Casino Barrière d'Enghien-les-Bains near Paris, France will also count toward the 2013 WSOP POY race. Last year's WSOP Main Event champion Greg Merson managed to secure the WSOP Player of the Year title as well thanks to his having additionally won the $10,000 Six-Handed NLHE event earlier. A million-dollar first prize and more One Drops to drop The $1,500 buy-in "Millionaire Maker" no-limit hold'em re-entry event (Event No. 6) will earn a lot of notice during the first weekend of the Series. Featuring two flights on Day 1, players will be allowed to re-enter in the evening flight should they bust during the afternoon flight.   The payout schedule will be structured so as to guarantee the event's winner a $1 million first prize, a relatively rare occurrence during WSOP preliminary events. For example, in 2012 only Merson's win in the $10K NLHE 6-max event, Michael Mizrachi's in the $50K Players Championship, and (of course) Antonio Esfandiari's $18 million-plus score in the Big One for One Drop netted first prizes of more than $1m. The $111,111 One Drop High Rollers NLHE event (Event No. 47) will earn a lot of attention as well.  From each entry $3,333 will go to the One Drop charity while the other $107,777 will go into the prize pool. The WSOP has indicated a hope that more than 100 players will enter the event. Another charity-oriented event, the $1,111 "Little One for One Drop" NLHE event with re-entries (Event No. 58), will also produce some funds for One Drop ($111 per entry). Other schedule highlights Other notable events on the schedule include a $1,000 "Turbo" NLHE event (Event No. 34), the return of the $50K Poker Players Championship (Event No. 55), the Seniors NLHE Championship (Event No. 26), and the Ladies NLHE Championship (Event No. 51). As in the past, the Seniors event features a $1,000 buy-in. Meanwhile, the buy-in for the Ladies event has technically been increased to $10,000, with a special "90% discount" given to women who play. In other words, women will continue to pay $1K to participate, while men wishing to crash the event will have to pay considerably more to do so. Finally, as always the Main Event -- still $10,000 to play -- will again produce the stories everyone will be talking about for years to come, with the WSOP hopeful to exceed last year's turnout of 6,598 entrants. The Main Event begins Saturday, July 6 with three Day 1 flights and will play down to a final nine by Monday, July 15, with the final table (as mentioned) happening November 4-5.    Non-bracelet tourney action Along with the bracelet events, a concurrent series of tournaments called the Carnivale of Poker Super Stack Series will take place at the Rio as well with events playing out every Monday and Tuesday throughout the WSOP, then daily during the WSOP Main Event.    As Matthew reported earlier, events in the Carnivale of Poker series feature buy-ins ranging from $365 to a $1,675 "Main Event," with a $5K Open-Face Chinese event tossed in at the end as well. Most of the tournaments are two-day events and no-limit hold'em, although there are Omaha/8, H.O.R.S.E., and PLO events included as well. Of the tournaments on the Carnivale of Poker schedule, 21 have been designated "medallion events" for which special medallions will be awarded to the winners and points will be tracked in a similar fashion to WSOP Circuit events and the WSOP itself. The top 10 point-getters in Carnivale of Poker medallion events will split an additional $100K prize pool.   The popular "Deep Stack" no-limit hold'em tournaments will be ongoing throughout the WSOP, with daily tournaments at 3 p.m. ($235), 8 p.m. ($185), and 10 p.m. ($135). Multiple "Mega Satellites" into various events will also be taking place every day, with turbo-styled satellites (for just $75) on the schedule every morning and regular satellites (for $330 and $550) starting in the afternoons. It should be another wild summer in Las Vegas full of intrigue and excitement. Check out what predictions Matthew has already made for what might happen.   Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-world-series-of-poker-soon-to-take-center-stage-240513-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/2013-world-series-of-poker-soon-to-take-center-stage-240513-77.html News WSOP Fri, 24 May 2013 17:29:00 +0100 In less than two weeks' time, tens of thousands of poker players will descend on Las Vegas, Nevada each sharing one common goal, to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/jamie-gold-auctions-his-wsop-main-event-bracelet-200513-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/jamie-gold-auctions-his-wsop-main-event-bracelet-200513-162.html News WSOP Mon, 20 May 2013 11:43:00 +0100 The poker world is as busy as ever these days, with various tours starting to wind down in advance of the start of the 2013 World Series of Poker which kicks off in less than two weeks. The European Poker Tour has completed its ninth season, with the Grand Final in Monte Carlo highlighted by Steve O'Dwyer's Main Event victory. The World Poker Tour is nearing the end of its Season XI, with Amir Babakhani claiming the latest title in Quebec. And the next-to-last stop of the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit saw Rex Clinkscales win the Main Event in Philadelphia.  O'Dwyer triumphs at EPT Grand Final  Much attention was directed toward the Monte-Carlo Casino for this week's EPT Grand Final, highlighted by the €10,000 Main Event where Steve O'Dwyer topped a field of 531 to earn the trophy and €1,224,000 first prize. Born in the U.S. and now residing in Dublin, O'Dwyer has dual nationality although was designated as from Ireland for this event, thereby making his victory the first ever EPT championship for an Irish player. After nearly a week's worth of poker, O'Dwyer carried the chip lead to the especially stacked eight-handed final table with more than 4.45 million. Only Andrew Pantling was close with 4.18 million, with no one else having more than 1.65 million to start the final day of play. Of course, with Jake Cody, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, Noah Schwartz, Jason Mercier, and Grant Levy occupying the other six seats, there was no assurance the chip leaders would be making it to heads-up without difficulty. But O'Dwyer and Pantling did manage to do just that, and when Pantling eliminated Lodden in third he held a slight chip advantage over O'Dwyer to start heads-up play. The pair battled for a couple of hours, exchanging the lead a couple of times before O'Dwyer finally pushed out to a nearly 3-to-1 advantage. That's when the two got the last of Pantling's chips in the middle on fourth street following a 8d-8s-Js flop and 4s turn. O'Dwyer had flopped trips with his 10c-8h, but Pantling had turned the flush with his Ks-5s and was a card away from evening the match. But the 8c dramatically fell on the river to improve O'Dwyer to quads, giving him the title. EPT Grand Final Monte-Carlo Main Event final table results: 1st:  Steve O'Dwyer (Ireland) -- €1,224,000 2nd:  Andrew Pantling (Canada) -- €842,000 3rd:  Johnny Lodden (Norway) -- €467,000 4th:  Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- €321,000 5th:  Jake Cody (United Kingdom) -- €251,000 6th:  Noah Schwartz (United States) -- €189,000 7th:  Jason Mercier (United States) -- €137,000 8th:  Grant Levy (Australia) -- €103,000 Among the other goings-on in Monaco this week was the €25,000 High Roller event which saw 121 entries (including 37 rebuys). Steven Silverman of the U.S. came away with the victory and €775,000 first prize, outlasting Anthony Gregg heads-up with Vanessa Selbst (4th) and Toby Lewis (5th) highlighting another tough final table. Finally the €100,000 Super High Roller also earned considerable notice, with the German Max Altergott beating Jason Mercier heads-up to grab the win and €1,746,400 first prize, the largest of the series. Babakhani binks WPT Canadian Spring Championship The World Poker Tour made one last stop in Kahnawake, Quebec this week as it readies for its season-ending WPT World Championship at the Bellagio which gets underway tomorrow. Canada's own Amir Babakhani ended up on top of a field comprised of 735 entries for the C$3,000 tournament, earning a first prize of C$442,248 (worth about $430,000 USD). It was an all-Canadian final table, in fact, at the Playground Poker Club as the last surviving American players, Christian Harder and Bryan Piccioli, were eliminated in seventh and eighth, respectively. Babakhani enjoyed a big chip lead early on at the six-handed final table after eliminating both Jonathan Bardier in sixth and Martin Leblanc in fifth. Jason Duval then knocked out Bobby Liang in fourth, but Duval was himself soon eliminated by Babakhani in third, giving the latter a large chip lead to start heads-up play versus Barry Kruger. Kruger battled for a while, though ultimately found himself all in on a 5c-5d-3d-2c board holding 5h-4h for trip fives and a straight draw. Alas for Kruger, Babakhani had 8c-5s for the same trips with a better kicker, and after fifth street brought the Qc, Babakhani had won. WPT PartyPoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship final table results: 1st:  Amir Babakhani -- C$442,248 2nd:  Barry Kruger -- C$272,555  3rd:  Jason Duval -- C$199,029 4th:  Tao Liang -- C$136,700 5th:  Martin Leblanc -- C$102,251 6th:  Jonathan Bardier -- C$81,767 The victory marks the biggest cash by far for Babakhani, as the Toronto resident hadn't even earned a five-figure score prior to his big win at the Playground. Clinkscales climbs to the top at WSOP-C Philly The 2012-13 edition of the WSOP Circuit is approaching its finale as well, with the 19th of 20 stops having just completed at Harrah's Philadelphia. Rex Clinkscales of Las Vegas emerged as the big winner there to earn his first ever WSOP-C ring and a $121,097 first prize in the $1,675 buy-in Main Event. It was an all-American final table at the ME in Philadelphia, with Clinkscales surviving a long Day 3 that saw them play down from 14 to a winner. After several hours they finally reached the nine-handed final table, where Michael Assante began as the chip leader with Clinkscales all of the way down in eighth position. Clinkscales soon began to improve his status, however, by knocking out the table's short stack and last woman standing Beverly Cheney in ninth. He then watched others fall including former leader Assante in fifth as Ken Silberstein took a commanding lead with four left. Silberstein then knocked out Andrew Rudnik in fourth and had more than two-thirds of the chips while both Clinkscales and Mike Jukich sat with relative short stacks. However both Clinkscales and Jukich managed to double through the leader, then Jukich doubled again through Silberstein to take the lead himself. Silberstein slid some more, then Clinkscales knocked him out in third to set up heads-up play with he and Jukich being nearly dead-even to start their duel.   Clinkscales soon edged out in front, however, then Jukich was all in before the flop with Kc-Qc against the 7h-7d of Clinkscales. The board ran out 10h-3s-10s-9c-Ah, and Clinkscales had won. 2012-13 WSOP-C Harrah's Philadelphia final table results: 1st:  Rex Clinkscales -- $121,097 2nd:  Mike Jukich -- $74,863 3rd:  Ken Silberstein -- $54,614 4th:  Andrew Rudnik -- $40,509 5th:  Michael Assante -- $30,516 6th:  Leonardo Palermo -- $23,340 7th:  Tony Natale -- $18,112 8th:  Jonas Wexler -- $14,258 9th:  Beverly Cheney -- $11,383 Also of note at the Harrah's Philadelphia stop was the performance of Chris Reslock who won two events, both in no-limit hold'em. That gives Reslock seven WSOP-C rings altogether, earning him the all-time lead at the moment, one better than Alex Masek. The WSOP-C now moves to Harrah's New Orleans for its 20th and last stop of the season, to be followed immediately by the WSOP National Championship, also in New Orleans. Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-odwyer-babakhani-clinkscales-big-winners-170513-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-week-in-poker-odwyer-babakhani-clinkscales-big-winners-170513-77.html News Fri, 17 May 2013 16:21:00 +0100 Each year, before the start of the World Series of Poker, members of the media take part in a conference call where they have the chance to put questions to the likes of WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart and WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel.  https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/carnivale-of-poker-returns-to-the-rio-170513-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/carnivale-of-poker-returns-to-the-rio-170513-162.html News WSOP Fri, 17 May 2013 13:38:00 +0100 The poker community was dealt a blow on Tuesday when the living legend that is Doyle Brunson announced he would no longer be competing in tournaments at the World Series of Poker. This is not the first time Brunson has retired from WSOP action, but this time he may stick to his guns. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/doyle-brunson-retires-from-wsop-tournament-play-160513-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/doyle-brunson-retires-from-wsop-tournament-play-160513-162.html News WSOP Thu, 16 May 2013 10:22:00 +0100 Not long ago I was listening to one of my favorite poker podcasts, the Two Plus Two Pokercast hosted by Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz, when I heard them mention they had just celebrated their eighth anniversary producing shows together. I remembered having listened to their previous podcast -- called "Rounders, the Poker Show" -- not too long after they had first gone on the air, and marveled a little to think not only had they been producing shows essentially without interruption ever since, but I still enjoyed listening as much as I did when I first discovered them. I thought it would be interesting to speak with Mike and Adam about their poker podcasting odyssey, and so asked them if they'd be willing to chat about their experiences. They were amenable, and not long ago -- just as they were preparing to record yet another episode, in fact -- we talked about their eight-plus years behind the microphones. Short-Stacked Shamus:  So I heard you say you had reached your eighth anniversary as podcasters. Do you know the exact date of the first "Rounders, The Poker Show" podcast, the earlier version of what became the "Two Plus Two Pokercast"? Mike Johnson:  Yeah, it was April 17, 2005. During the previous NHL lockout year, when they cancelled the entire season. SSS:  I believe I picked up the show somewhere around early 2006.  Adam Schwartz:  You want all those hours back? SSS:  Haha, no way! Tell about how that first version of the show got started. MJ:  I was already working for a Vancouver AM radio station doing a weekly talk show about hockey, and with the lockout that year we were kind of running out of hockey to talk about. Meanwhile poker had started to take over a lot of television programming in place of the missing hockey games, and so sports radio decided they would try to do the same thing. I went to them and said I had some friends who were players and I was starting to get into poker myself, and that's how a weekly poker show every Sunday night at 11 p.m. first began. I actually hadn't known Adam for more than about a year then, but he was anxious to get the word out for his new rakeback venture, and he thought the show could be a vehicle to promote that. So he had ulterior motives, and so did I because I didn't want to talk about the lockout anymore and I was pretty excited to talk about poker. SSS:  Those first episodes were just over the radio and not online, correct? AS:  That's right. Early on when we were doing the show, somebody emailed us perhaps a month or two after we'd begun and said we needed to podcast the show. I remember I had no idea what that meant. I had to Google what a "podcast" was! MJ:  The CBC up here in Canada had an online network called Radio 3, and they were one of the first in the world to put their station online. We had a bunch of buddies who worked there, and they encouraged us to start podcasting our show early on. It didn't take long at all before we were having more people listening online than in Vancouver. SSS:  My memory of "Rounders, The Poker Show" show was that episodes were primarily built around interviews, whereas the "Two Plus Two Pokercast" has opened up the format a bit. Am I remembering that correctly? MJ:  Yeah, we started at two hours then ended up cutting back to one hour, and with commercials that would cut down the flexibility somewhat when it came to the format. It was still an AM talk show that was just being redistributed as a podcast, really.  I don't think it ever truly became a podcast until we moved to 2+2, although there was a short period at the end of 2007 when we'd severed ties with the radio station and were, in fact, doing the show as a podcast only as we readied to make the move. So that's when we started doing longer shows and a more freeflowing format. SSS:  How did that move over to 2+2 happen (at the start of 2008)? AS:  I had been one of the first members on 2+2 from way back. I used to post a lot, both to solicit questions for the guest we were having on that week as well as to draw attention to the show a little. Nobody really cared about my advertising the show like that, as I was a big contributor to the site and posted in the strategy forums a lot. But eventually I guess Mason (Malmuth) got tired of it, and one day he banned me! MJ:  Adam got Negreanu'd! AS:  When that happened I was just about to go to Las Vegas for some reason, and when I got there I went over to the 2+2 offices to meet up with Mat (Sklansky) and Mason and try to find out why I got banned. I went in and we ended up going to lunch and there I just kind of said "Why don't we bring the show to Two Plus Two?" At the time they were starting to think about getting into some sort of streaming TV station or something which never quite worked out, but they thought a podcast might fit with this whole new "interactive" venture. MJ:  Yeah, Mason was setting up a separate company from the publishing called Two Plus Two Interactive, and they needed content for it. SSS:  I recall some of that story from the very first 2+2 show (on January 2, 2008).  Mason was your first guest. MJ:  I remember for that first show being kind of intimidated to talk to that audience (of 2+2 posters), both because they're such a savvy crowd and very knowledgeable about the game and because of how critical they are of so many things. Even though we'd done the show for more than two years and I'd been doing radio for a long time, talking to that particular audience was actually quite intimidating. And we knew we couldn't just keep doing the same thing, but had to take that audience into consideration. SSS:  What's a favorite moment, or perhaps most unusual interview from the many years of podcasts? AS:  Well, it's always fun to make fun of your co-host, so one moment comes to mind. We once did an interview with Jeffrey Pollack when he first came over from NASCAR to be the WSOP Commissioner. People were wondering how he'd do coming from a non-poker background. Mike asked him a question where he started out saying something like "Up here in Canada we are kind of wary of anyone coming over from a different sport to run a sport that we love...." Of course, he was making reference to Gary Bettman coming over to be the NHL commissioner after working in the NBA, and kind of screwing up the NHL in a lot of Canadians' opinions. And Jeffrey goes, "Gary Bettman's my brother." SSS:  Haha, I remember that. He's his half-brother, right? AS:  Right, right... half-brother. And I literally lost it laughing out loud because the look on Mike's face when he realized he'd put his foot in his mouth right there was pretty priceless. MJ:  There was also the time we interviewed Courtney Friel (hostess for the World Poker Tour's fourth season), and I called her Shana Hiatt twice during the interview.   AS:  That was a good one, too! The Two Plus Two Pokercast crew interviewing Padraig Parkinson at the Irish Open in 2012 MJ:  When I think of memorable moments I think about how our show has been around for so long now, it's almost evolved into a kind of history of online poker. I mean we cover the WSOP and live tournaments and we certainly spend a lot of time talking to live pros. But most of the biggest stories in poker have come from online, and we've been there for a lot of its history -- with the different sites coming and going, the UIGEA, the Neteller fiasco, the Absolute Poker and UB scandals, right up to Black Friday and everything else. And when you look back you see that every few months or so, we've had interviews with key people in all of those events.  SSS:  That's true, when it comes to covering these stories over the last eight-plus years of online poker, there really aren't that many resources like your show. You can find information here and there, but the record is so fragmented. But you're right, your show has been there all along to report on all of it. MJ:  That's the beauty of a podcast, too -- it's all archived. Any listener can go back and go through those different eras. It's interesting to go back and see who we talked to in 2005 and during those early years, for instance, and realize now a lot of them are long gone from the scene. Meanwhile, it's also interesting to go back and see stars emerge over time.  I mean when we started the show no one knew who "ElkY" was, right? Or Tom Dwan or "Jungleman" or Viktor Blom. I mean when we had Antonio Esfandiari on the show for the first time, he was literally a magician! And now he's one of the five most known poker players on the planet. SSS:  And having been there for that history, possessing that sort of contextual knowledge is valuable, too, when it comes to reporting new events. When someone or something new does emerge, you guys have been around long enough to be able to put that new player or story in context. MJ:  Yeah, like when we saw Greg Merson make his run in the WSOP last year, we definitely have the ability to look back and say, "I remember when we interviewed Jeff Madsen (in 2006) when he won two bracelets and nearly a third within 10 days," and so on. So yeah, we can compare today's players to what we've seen over the last eight years. SSS:  I'd definitely say you guys are important contributors when it comes to reporting on poker. What are your thoughts concerning the so-called "poker media" and how the game gets covered, generally speaking? MJ:  Well, there's always that issue when it comes to poker media with the way advertisers tend to drive the reporting and thus create potential conflicts. It's not like other kinds of media since in poker a lot of times the subject of your story is also often the company that advertises with you. But on the flip side, there's such great passion among the poker media for the game, because 95% of them are players themselves and so have a unique relationship with the subject they cover. AS:  Yeah, I would say the quality of poker media has gotten a lot better over the years. I think it is due in part to places like 2+2 and other forums that keep people who report on poker honest. You can't pull the wool over somebody's eyes when a large part of the community goes to the forums and posts their response. So if you are writing an article or doing a show and are just catering to a sponsor, you'll get called out pretty quickly and won't get much respect or much traffic. SSS:  What are your plans going forward with the show? AS:  We definitely will be continuing the show for the foreseeable future. We're just coming through a busy period here, with Mike working 50-60 hours a week at his business and just having a second child. We want to cut down the length of the shows a bit, which would cut down some on the prep and so forth. So the structure might change a little bit, but we're not going anywhere. SSS:  Eight years is certainly an achievement.  MJ:  It would be interesting to calculate the number of poker podcasts that have come and gone since we did our first show. It's probably 500 or so. It's definitely a commitment. A lot of people like the idea of doing a podcast, but to be dedicated to the audience and do a show every week, and to line up guests and do the research to cover stories from all angles -- that's where it gets hard for a lot of people.   That's probably the one thing we take the most pride in -- to have listeners who have been loyal to the show and who appreciate what we've done over all of these years. And that makes it easy for us to be loyal to the audience, too.  Much thanks to Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz for taking the time. Check out the latest episode of Two Plus Two Pokercast by clicking here, and check out those archives dating all of the way back to January 2008.  Join Betfair Poker Now. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-betfair-poker-interview-mike-johnson-and-adam-schwartz-100513-77.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-betfair-poker-interview-mike-johnson-and-adam-schwartz-100513-77.html News Fri, 10 May 2013 03:14:00 +0100 The World Series of Poker is a magical festival. Every year that the WSOP rolls into town, it leaves us with a fantastic story. The 2012 WSOP was no different. The 2012 WSOP brought us the amazing story of Elisabeth Hille who went from a relatively unknown quantity to a Betfair Ambassador in the space of one week. https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/betfair-poker-ambassador-elisabeth-hilles-amazing-wsop-story-060513-162.html https://betting.betfair.com/poker/wsop/betfair-poker-ambassador-elisabeth-hilles-amazing-wsop-story-060513-162.html News WSOP Mon, 06 May 2013 15:06:00 +0100