The Poker Beat - August 12

[Lon VanPatten]

Some possible topics for this week's show:

WPT adds a tournament in Florida, meanwhile Mike Matusow wins the Florida State Poker Championship
ESPN begins coverage of the WSOP Main Event
Wicked Chops Poker releases part 2 of the UB Scandal, along with an appearance by Seebs on This Week in Poker
Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Harman and Billie Brown elected to Women in Poker Hall of Fame
EPT starts season 7 in Tallinn, Estonia
NFL drops opposition to HR 2267

[JonV]

I heard there was possibly a new segment called the outsider.

[Lon VanPatten]

I'd be interested to hear this new segment, you think it'll start this week?

[Gary Wise]

Really Lon? No Samuel McMaster? Outsider here...

[JonV]

Originally Posted by Lon VanPatten

I'd be interested to hear this new segment, you think it'll start this week?

Just rumors I heard on the grapevine. I hope it does start this week though.

[Lon VanPatten]

McMaster should have been in last week's poker briefs, fwiw.

[Lon VanPatten]

The Poker Beat - Wicked Chops UB Report and Emerging Poker Markets - PokerRoad

[BJ Nemeth]

In addition to the two Hard Rock-branded casinos in Florida (one in Hollywood/Miami and one in Tampa), the Seminole tribe operates five other casinos, all in the southern half of Florida.

Link: The Seminole Casinos

Map: http://www.theseminolecasinos.com/locations

I dropped the ball on my pre-show prep, putting too much faith in Google instead of searching for the information intelligently. Oops.

The WPT deal appears to lock up all 7 of the Seminole Casino properties. But as Dan mentioned, major poker tourney competition may not be that big of an issue if the NAPT can't get Gaming approval in the state anyway. (I have zero information on that.)

And, as I mentioned on the show, Harrah's doesn't own any casinos in the state of Florida, so the WSOP Circuit doesn't make much sense for them there. Unless they were to open up a new casino or purchase an existing one. Poker tournaments alone are NOT enough incentive for a huge company like Harrah's, but the overall gaming climate in Florida looks like it might grow far beyond poker.

[Lon VanPatten]

I believe that the deal for the WPT events would either be at the Hard Rock Hollywood or Tampa casinos.

Edit: Just heard BJ's mention of the above.

BTW, triple fist-pump snap call on over 500. There'll be plenty of Floridonks who'll be satelliting their way into this thing.

Re: Harrah's

The WSOP Circuit is not exclusive to Harrah's-owned properties. IP Biloxi has a WSOP Circuit event scheduled for late October.

Also, Florida has 3 members of this year's November Nine: Michael Mizrachi, John Racener, John Dolan

[Fetch]

Originally Posted by Lon VanPatten

I believe that the deal for the WPT events would either be at the Hard Rock Hollywood or Tampa casinos.

Edit: Just heard BJ's mention of the above.

BTW, triple fist-pump snap call on over 500. There'll be plenty of Floridonks who'll be satelliting their way into this thing.

Re: Harrah's

The WSOP Circuit is not exclusive to Harrah's-owned properties. IP Biloxi has a WSOP Circuit event scheduled for late October.

Also, Florida has 3 members of this year's November Nine: Michael Mizrachi, John Racener, John Dolan

I believe the Imperial Palace is a Harrah's-owned property. The Las Vegas IP is definitely Harrahs, so at the very least, the IP Biloxi has a pre-existing relationship with Harrahs.