Fresh off the heels of his impressive showing at the World Series of Poker Main Event, Joe Sebok, son of poker great Barry Greenstein is rumored to be close to signing a deal with a major online poker site. Sebok, who is also the CEO of popular poker forum pokerroad.com has seemingly made his way fully into the game’s mainstream. As previously stated, he was longtime best known for his high profile father, however, it seems Sebok has really made a name for himself given his frequent Twitter updates to over 200,000 followers throughout his main event run.

When asked for comment regarding his client signing on with a major poker site, his agent, Matt Palmer was a bit vague in stating,

“There are always conversations going on. We maintain open communication lines with all of the sites continuously assessing the best fit for Joe. Joe is always looking at his options and he is excited about potential scenarios. We’re pleased that Joe has reached a point where he is considered a valuable asset to sponsors and their brand objectives.”

Sebok’s stock has never been higher as he was able to cash in three separate events this year. He finished 56th in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, ended up 104th in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament for $3,300 and took 36th in a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event for $4,800. Prior to this year’s World Series, Sebok may have been best known for a couple of near misses on the World Poker Tour as he was the bubble boy for two final tables, earning him the sarcastic moniker “Seventhbok.” This is not to belittle his accomplishments in that particular tour as he has earned about $600,000 in WPT tournaments and has finished in the money 12 times.

It is sure that the entire Pokerroad Nation will be waiting to hear what is in Sebok’s future.

United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan’s fourth annual Benjamin Franklin Memorial Poker Run is coming up Saturday.

April and Ben Franklin of Lansing, started the event four years ago in memory of their son, Benjamin, who was born with cerebral palsy and passed away at the age of 3 in 2003. The event will feature a silent auction and a dinner after the ride, in addition to a raffle and prizes. Both the ride and dinner are open to the community.

The ride begins and ends at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 Union Hall, 5405 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Start time is at 11 a.m. The dinner will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall.

In a poker run, contestants on motorcycles, in cars or in trucks, will pick up a playing card at five designated locations. The person whose five cards make up the best poker hand wins a prize at the end of the run.

The event raises money to support improved quality of life for people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. Last year, the run raised more than $7,500.
Holt classes of ‘50, ‘51, ‘52 to hold potluck

Holt High School classes of 1950, 1951 and 1952 will host a potluck at noon Aug. 19. The event will be held at Veteran’s Memorial Park, 2074 N. Aurelius Road, Holt, behind the Administrative Offices and Fire Department.

Please bring a dish to pass, your own table settings and drinks. For more information contact, Dorothy Wade Walter at 699-8562 or Art Hartig at 694-7392.
Fashion driveway sale fundraiser is Thursday

Jacobson’s Alumni Association’s designer fashion driveway sale fundraiser is happening again Thursday.

The sale is from noon to 6 p.m. in the driveway at 1451 Stanlake Drive in the Whitehills subdivision of East Lansing. Bring friends and find designer fashion bargains from around the world, now starting at just $25. Sizes 4 to 22 will be available.

A portion of all sales will be donated to Sparrow Hospice Services.

For more information, contact Rose Williams of Sparrow Hospice Services at 364-7204 or Steve Flaster of Jacobson’s Alumni Association at 655-6979.

Military Mailbag

Dr. Ian Lang, (Lt. U.S. Navy), was honored with three awards as a graduating Internal Medicine resident at a ceremony on June 25 at the Naval Medical Center, San Diego, Calif.

Lang received the Captain Colleen Counihan Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, given annually by the internal medicine interns to honor the resident whose example, encouragement, and teaching contributed most to a successful academic and training year.

The Captain George Luiken Award, presented by the staff of the Hematology-Oncology Division, honored Lang as the graduating resident who best emulates the principles of caring, compassion, and dedication to his patients.

The Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal was awarded to Lang in recognition of his work organizing, implementing and co-directing the group diabetes clinic. The citation noted that Lang’s efforts contributed to an ideal learning environment for future residents and that his professionalism, personal initiative and unswerving devotion to duty reflected credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval service.

Lang has been assigned to the Naval Hospital in Beaufort, S.C. He and his wife, Lauren (Rutledge), are both graduates of Okemos High School and the University of Michigan.

Gambling software developer CTXM reports that it has just completed the implementation of its XShop betting platform to a new operator in Europe and to one of the leading operators in Central America, already operating network of more than 5 000 gaming terminals. The application was integrated into over 100 betting shops and 800 terminals in the Mediterranean region and to 5 000 gaming terminals in Central America.

XShop platform enables land based betting operators to provide an extensive range of games, including casino and fixed odds games, sports betting and also third party applications. The product is fully localised to fit specific market needs, including localisation of currency and language settings, but has the core benefit of being a multi-tier agent/shop management system.

“This system provides operators with the opportunity to manage their own multilevel partner network, thus increasing revenue and the overall value of their business,” claims Udy Yosha, CEO of CTXM.

XShop solution is cross-platform and provides agents with wide selection of delivery options starting from standard workstations to full touch screen consoles. And land-based operations can be extended to an online offering. The platform additionally provides several options for the integration of payment systems - in addition to standard Point of Sales, the operators may use a broad range of integration to online payment solutions and prepaid cards.

Further to the announcement on 9th June that Microgaming will become the exclusive provider of downloadable online casino software to Expekt.com, the software is now live to Expekt.com’s 1.5 million customers and features the latest games in the Microgaming inventory.

Expekt.com CEO Per Widerstrom said: “Our customers have come to expect the very best online gaming experience available. Microgaming has delivered in this respect and we are proud to unveil a range of exciting new games and jackpots that will fuel our players’ enjoyment through unparalleled game play.”

The suite of games includes progressives in the world’s largest online progressive jackpot network, which pay out in one full cash tranche when hit.

Microgaming’s CEO Roger Raatgever says: “Since announcing our partnership with Expekt.com earlier this month, there has been much excitement as we prepared to launch our software with such an influential gaming company that boasts impressive global reach. We see the launch as the next step in our growing relationship with Expekt.com and look forward to delivering top-quality entertainment to Expekt.com’s customers in the future.”

The World Series of Poker achieved a major milestone Sunday, announcing that it had officially crossed the $1 billion mark in prize money awarded over its lifespan. Staring in 1970, the event has grown to the biggest poker competition on the planet, and this year celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Official 2009 tournament figures will be released Tuesday, July 7, after the close of Main Event registration, but running tallies confirm the landmark, said World Series of Poker President and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

“It’s nice to reach this milestone during the 40th annual WSOP,” he commented. “What’s most remarkable is that nearly two-thirds of this amount has been awarded in just the last four years. Poker is alive and well and here to stay.”

With registration still open for the $10 000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship – commonly referred to as the Main Event – the 40th annual WSOP already has had a remarkable summer despite the global recession.

For the fourth consecutive year, the total WSOP prize pool will exceed $155 million – compared with a total of $354 million in prize money awarded during the WSOP’s first 36 years.

The WSOP is the world’s richest competitive event. Comparisons with other prominent events include:

* The Daytona 500 has awarded its winners some $21 327 256 since 1959. In just the past three years, WSOP Main Event champions have received $29 402 416.

* Wimbledon awarded a total of GBP12 550 000, or roughly $20.5 million, in 2009, less than a quarter of what the WSOP will award this year.

* The Kentucky Derby has paid its winners a total of approximately $16.7 million since 2001 – less than the nearly $17.5 million taken home by the 2007 and 2008 WSOP Main Event champions.

Historical prize pool information for the World Series of Poker:

2009 – To be advised Tuesday.

2008 - $180 774 427

2007 - $159 796 918

2006 - $159 599 815

1970-2005 - $354 000 000

A South Korean problem gambler who put down over 30 billion won (US$34.2 million) in wagers between 2003 and 2006 at the Kangwon Land casino has appealed for a higher damages award than that already granted by the courts, reports Agence France Presse.

The sixty-seven-year-old former company boss, identified only as Chung, is suing the casino for allegedly fuelling his addiction. In his latest action he is appealing for greater damages than the 2.8 billion won he was awarded by a court in November last year.

Chung claims the government-run casino turned a blind eye to him making bets above the legitimate limit. He has first started gambling on a visit to the casino six years ago, and believed he could recoup his losses by placing more bets. As his addiction grew, he became increasingly desperae and reckless, trying to circumvent the 10 million won per bet limit by hiring up to five people as subordinate betters so he could wager up to 60 million won at a time.

He is currently undergoing weekly therapy for his gambling addiction.

Lawyers for the casino claim Chung lost his fortune in a ‘voluntary and normal way.’

True to the pre-publicity blurbs, Day 1C of the World Series of Poker Main Event saw pro-poker politician Barney Frank at the Rio in Las Vegas to trigger the day’s action, and a grand entrance by uber-extrovert Phil Hellmuth.

Before giving the traditional ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ call, Frank talked about his new legislative proposals to regulate and legalise online poker in the United States. His bill HR2267 has had to be postponed in the House Financial Services Committee until September this year due to pressure of other work relating to the global economic crisis, but Frank said its companion bill, HR2266 - which seeks to hold the UIGEA regulations for another year - remains a priority.

Frank said that he continues to view Internet gambling as a right that must be protected.

To loud approbation, the Congressman said he was confident he would get the legislation through by 2010 in both cases, and he then officially started the Day 1C action before leaving for a tour of the World Series of Poker activities at the Rio and to address a press conference. Frank’s comments were later widely reported by the major wire agencies.

Doubtless working publicity wonders for his UltimateBet.com sponsors, WSOP’s top bracelet collector (he has eleven of them) Phil Hellmuth came through on his pre-publicity promises of a dramatic entrance, attended by a fancy-dressed retinue of around a hundred.

Decked out as a Roman emperor, Hellmuth arrived at the Rio atop a litter carried by four Roman bearers, and then attracted plenty of attention as he walked through the resort surrounded by 11 attractive women dressed and body-painted as gladiators, accompanied by two male trumpeters, one male announcer and 50 female muses dressed in white togas.

“I come here to conquer like Caesar!” Hellmuth boasted as he entered the Rio, clearly hoping to improve on what has been for him so far an undistinguished WSOP. “I’m here to win my 12th bracelet.”

After progressing through the resort over flower petals strewn by his entourage, Hellmuth finally took his seat in the Amazon Room.

Politics and publicity aside, the attendance for Day 1C looked somewhat healthier than the previous day, with 1 696 starters, among them familiar names like Aleksandr Bolotin, Dan Harrington, Matt Hawrilenko, Jeff Lisandro, John Monnette, Scotty Nguyen, David Sklansky, Matt Savage, John Juanda, Marc Naalden, Gavin Griffin, Liz Lieu, Eric Lynch, Alex Jacob, Lee Watkinson, Amnon Filippi and Jonathan Little.

Creating his own ripple of interest was last year’s third-place Main Event finisher, Dennis Phillips, accompanied by a gang of around 20 supporters in white shirts and red St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps.

Receiving congratulations on a quick recovery was Miami John Cernuto, who collapsed during Day 2 of the $2 500 Razz event and was hospitalised due to internal bleeding. He returned to the World Series of Poker and is playing in the Day 1C crowd. Also noted were Howard Lederer, Ylon Schwartz, Tom McEvoy, Todd Witteles, Justin Bonomo, Isabelle Mercier, Marcel Luske, J.J. Liu, Shawn Buchanan, Bill Chen, Kirill Gerasimov, Blair Rodman and Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri.

Tournament director Jack Effel informed players that the program had been tweaked, and that Days 1C and 1D would be playing five levels. Day 2A, on Tuesday, will play five levels. Day 2B will play only four levels. Then when the field combines on Day 3, everyone will be on Level 10.

By late night Sunday Vegas time the fifth and final level had been reached, with blinds of 200 - 400 and a 50 chip ante. By then 1 284 of the original 1 696 entrants were still in action, but numbers were falling.

By midnight it appeared that a small number of players were starting to pull away from the pack, including Tyler Patterson (165 000) Igor ‘Jr Parlay’ Borukhov (150 000) Jeff Lisandro (145 000) and Marc Naalden (135 000).

Perhaps more noticeable was the number of major names who had been eliminated during the day, including: Liv Boeree, Brandon Cantu, David “Chino” Rheem, Annie Duke, JJ Liu, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu and Evelyn Ng.

Official WSOP figures for Day 1B have confirmed that Brandon Demes heads the leaderboard for that day with 137 075. Survivors of Day 1B included Fabrice Soulier, Sam Khouiss, Shaun Deeb, Greg Raymer, Alex Kravchenko, Amarillo Slim Preston, Juha Helppi, Luca Pagano, Jerrod Ankenman, and Ali Eslami.

The latest iPhone 3G S offers a growing range of poker resources that includes podcasts, training videos, and other applications, along with a range of programs that enable pokerheads to pit their skills against the computer or other players in a play-for-fun format that is both entertaining and good on-the-move practice.

Zynga’s Live Poker 40k is not only cheap to download at $3, but is one of the most popular of the iPhone applications, empowering the player to engage with live opponents or friends. Poker Tournament Manager is another popular application, enabling the player organise buy-ins, blind levels, and monitor performance from tournament to tournament - all for $5. And Poker Tracker helps players to enter in progress in live games and save it to their phones.

Three applications from PokerCruncher: Hold’em Odds Quizzer, PokerCruncher, and Poker Odds Teacher are all priced under $5 each and are highly entertaining. The first is a quiz program designed to test players’ ability to judge equity ranges in a variety of Texas Hold’em situations, both pre- and post-flop, and the Poker Odds Teacher is a solid introductory program for learning poker odds.

Players can now submit their video or audio podcasts free to iTunes, making these available to a wider audience via the iPhone, and it appears that Full Tilt Poker is using this facility to offer podcasts giving tips from the Team Full Tilt pros. Other offerings include solid material from ESPN, Phil Gordon and respected columnist Andrew Feldman and other notable and expert guests.

For poker players wanting to hone their skills via iPhone, training sites like Stox Poker and Deuces Cracked now offer iPhone editions popular training.

The thirteenth instalment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) will kick off on August 5th this year, consisting of 25 events which culminate in a $535 buy-in $2.5 million guaranteed prize pool tournament on August 16th.

This time around, the company is holding off on the controversial MiniFTOPS events, which were accused of cannibalising the full event matches in FTOPS 12. In a major change, MiniFTOPS events will not occur until September.

Each MiniFTOPS event carries a buy-in that is one-tenth of its FTOPS counterpart and these will kick off on September 9th.

Several different poker genres are featured on the FTOPS 13 schedule, including Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, HORSE, and Razz. Heads-up, short-handed, full ring, and knockout tournaments.

FTOPS XIII is also carrying an $120 buy-in Ante Up for Africa charity tournament with at least $100 000 in the prize pool, and Full Tilt will donate the entire $20 entry fee to charity.

Full details can be found at the Full Tilt Poker websites.