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Late last night, poker pro John Hewitt was eliminated with pocket 3s after losing to Eoghan O'Dea's Broadway straight and thus this year's World Series of Poker* Main Event's final table has been set as follows:

Martin Staszko (40,175,000 chips)
Eoghan O’Dea (33,925,000 chips)
Matt Giannetti (24,750,000 chips)
Phil Collins (23,875,000 chips)
Ben Lamb (20,875,000 chips)
Badih Bounahra (19,700,000 chips)
Pius Heinz (16,425,000 chips)
Anton Makievskyi (13,825,000 chips)
Samuel Holden (13,825,000 chips)

Day 8 of the WSOP Main Event kicked off with a bang: 22 players were whittled down to 18 within the first hour of play and once Andrey Pateychuk of Russia busted out in 15th place, the action was delayed for an hour to give ESPN’s live stream a chance to catch up.

Of special note is Ben Lamb's amazing run this year. He won his first-ever gold bracelet in the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Championship on June 24, earning $814,436. The pro also has second-, eighth- and 12th-place finishes and has won more than $1.3 million total in this year's WSOP alone.

While Staszko has a huge advantage over his next closest competitor, the rest of the field is tightly packed to one another in chips, making for finale that's sure to be less predictable than usual. It's also an international affair, with players from the Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany, Belize and the US showing the global impact that poker has made.

888 Holdings Plc (888), a U.K.-listed Internet gambling company, may apply for an online poker license in Nevada, possibly for a venture with Caesars Entertainment Corp., Deputy Chairman Brian Mattingley said.

The company is is in the “advanced stages” of talks with Caesars, the world’s biggest casino company, about partnerships, he said. Also, second-quarter sales rose 29 percent, led by poker and casino games, the Gibraltar-based company said in a statement.

U.K. gambling companies are looking to lock up deals in the U.S. as states including Nevada and California consider Internet gambling. U.K. bookmaker William Hill Plc (WMH) agreed to buy three companies to offer sports bets, which are legal in Nevada. 888 was licensed by Nevada for software services after it signed an agreement in 2009 with Caesars, formerly known as Harrah’s.

“We would love to do it with them,” Mattingley said in a telephone interview. He said 888 would decide whether to try for the Internet poker license by “mid-autumn.”

Last month, Nevada passed a law that permits Internet poker if the federal government also approves it.

The company would consider debt funding if it needed the money to expand in the U.S. or Spain, which is considering online gambling rules, Mattingley said. At the moment, 888 has no need for such funding. “It’s just we don’t want to miss no- brainer opportunities as they arise,” he added.

888 rose 2.25 pence, or 6.8 percent, to 35.25 pence at 9:45 a.m. in London, after earlier gaining as much as 9.1 percent. The shares have fallen 36 percent so far this year, giving the company a market value of 122.2 million pounds ($197 million).

It expects to report a full-year financial performance “marginally ahead” of current analyst forecasts. Second- quarter revenue gained to $79 million from $61 million in the year-earlier period, 888 said.

The company revamped its poker formats a year ago to make them more accessible to casual players, and it also added what it calls Pokercam, live video streaming of games. In April, Ladbrokes Plc (LAD) ended takeover talks with 888 that lasted almost four months.

Casino-game sales gained 34 percent to $36 million, and poker sales increased 58 percent to $13 million, 888 said. The company said its number of active casino and poker customers on June 30 was 342,000, more than double a year earlier.

If you're a poker player in Pennsylvania's lakeshore district, here's some good news: the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says that the Presque Isle Downs & Casino can add a poker room to its offerings. Currently, the facility features over 2,000 slots and tables games such as blackjack and roulette along with restaurants, lounges and a simulcast racing facility that lets players keep track of their bets around the US and Canada.

The gaming board approved the poker tables on Wednesday as part of a hearing in which it also renewed the casino's slot machine license. Pennsylvania casinos must get such licenses renewed every three years, and the addition of poker to the state's gaming laws last year means that this is going to be a regular process for casinos in the state that are looking to expand their offerings. Multiple casinos in the Philadelphia area have reported increased revenue and traffic thanks to their poker tables, even as they drain away business from Atlantic City.

Casino officials are hoping the poker tables will bring in about $500,000 more revenue each year before expenses.

The World Series of Poker* Main Event dominated the headlines for the past week, but over at another casino, the annual Bellagio Cup was taking place and it offered up a terrific payday for winner Elio Fox, who got $669,692 in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. The 224-player field at the Bellagion event was full of name pros who exited the WSOP main event early but were still hot to earn their share back.

Unlike the WSOP Main Event's final table, the Bellagio Cup VII's last rounds featured an all-American group of players. Here's who placed and how much they won:

Elio Fox: $669,692
Hafiz Khan: $379,460
William Thorson: $288,350
Brandon Meyers: $150,311
Ted Forrest: $112,733
Bryn Kenney: $91,260
Daniel Colman: $69,787
James Hess: $48,314
Brandon Cantu: $34,357


Other name players that hit the rail with money included Tom Marchese (15th for $21,473); Michael McDonald (20th for $15,031) and Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier (23rd for $15,031).

It was a tough field, but the atmosphere seemed to be lighter than the WSOP, likely because everyone had already experienced the biggest disappoint that the game offers on an annual basis and they were playing with a lighter heart.

If cards are war disguised as sport, the World Series Of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas is the biggest and bloodiest battlefield of them all. But while most players embrace their inner Genghis Khan when sitting around the green felt, Dublin's Eoghan O'Dea proved more Ninja-like as he stealthily stacked mountains of chips to secure his spot at the final table and a shot at the life-changing first prize of €6m.

O'Dea navigated his way through a field of 6,865 players, making it the third largest live event in poker history, and in November will rejoin the remaining nine players as they wage war under the dizzy bright lights of Vegas to try and secure the grand prize, and take the coveted title of World Champion of Poker.

As a member of what has become known as the "November Nine", O'Dea will be treated like poker royalty over the coming months. However, when he finally takes his seat he will be standing on the shoulders of giants, as the third generation of what has developed into a poker-playing dynasty.

The family's 'card shark' tradition stretches back to his grandfather Denis O'Dea.

He was a well-known actor, who had a number of notable film roles, and married Siobhan McKenna while they were both treading the boards at the Abbey Theatre. But while Siobhan went on to wow audiences in the West End, Broadway and land roles on the silver screen in the likes of Doctor Zhivago in 1965, Denis became highly skilled in the theatre of poker.

"He was regarded as the best player in Ireland in his day," says Donnacha O'Dea, Eoghan's father. "He ran a game twice a week and they sometimes played in the house and I would be allowed watch them play for a half and hour. So I developed an interest from there."

Such schooling saw Donnacha (56) follow tradition and develop into one of Ireland's most well-known and successful professional poker players. He made it to the final table of the 1983 World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where he eventually took sixth place. In 1991 he was back, this time coming ninth and also won a coveted 'bracelet', taking first place in a Pot Limit Omaha event in 1998 at the WSOP.

"When I was in college I was spending more time in the common room playing poker than I was studying unfortunately," he laughs. "I used to play twice a week in a house game until eventually I said to myself I'll have to go out and play this poker thing in Vegas."

Since his first journey to the bright lights in the Nevada desert in 1982 he has only ever missed one World Series Of Poker when his daughter was born, and this year it became a father and son affair.

"I played day three (of the eight-day event) and I actually got through with more chips than him (Eoghan)," laughs Donnacha. "But then on my second day I went out. It just didn't run well for me."

On Saturday last he packed his bags and flew back from Vegas to Ireland, unaware of the incredible journey that awaited Eoghan.

"I was in two minds to be honest," he says. "Eoghan was still there but there were still loads of players left. With so many players it is a bit like buying a lottery ticket. I didn't know whether to stay or whether to go.

'So I said to my wife, 'Sure look he can do it all on his own. He doesn't need any help from me.' But the last couple of days have been a nightmare, up all night watching the live streaming of the event on the computer. But it is just fantastic."

While the competition will be tough, Eoghan will sit at the table with the second biggest chip stack and a growing reputation as a player to be reckoned with.

His most high-profile appearance to date was in the annual Sky Sports-televised Poker Million in 2008, where he walked away with $260,000 for finishing second to fellow Irishman Marty Smyth. He has also won $300,000 in a big-money online tournament, but his biggest pot was in 2009, when he scooped $378,000 in the WPT event in Marrakech.

No matter what happens in November, O'Dea is guaranteed at least $782,000, if he somehow manages to quickly lose his mountain of chips and get knocked out in ninth place.

But the odds are the wily Dubliner will survive to battle for the millions and the fame that could change his life.

His poker-pro father smiles at the thought. "I think it is a bad state of affairs when you are not even the best player in your own house," he laughs.

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Bodog Poker

The 2011 World Series of Poker final table, better known as the November Nine, has been set.

Among the 6,865 players who registered for this year’s event, only nine remain in the hunt for the $8.7 million first prize and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

The chip leader is 35-year-old Martin Staszko, the first player from the Czech Republic ever to make a WSOP Main Event final table.

In fact, there are seven countries represented at this year’s final table — the most in the 42-year history of the WSOP.

The Ukraine also has a first-time representative in Anton Makiievskyi. The 21-year-old has a chance to become the youngest WSOP champion ever.

The following hand was critical in Makiievskyi making the 2011 November Nine. With only 24 players remaining, the blinds were 80,000 and 160,000 with antes 20,000.

Sitting under the gun, Makiievskyi looked down at Kd-Js and decided to raise to 400,000.

After one player folded, Chicago native Chris Moore chose to call.

Once the remaining players all folded, the dealer flopped Makiievskyi an unbelievable monster: Ks-Jh-Jc.

Slyly, Makiievskyi made a continuation bet of 400,000.

Moore then raised to 1.1 million.

After some contemplation, mostly for deception purposes, Makiievskyi re-raised to 2 million.

Undeterred, Moore asked for a count of Makiievskyi’s chip stack. Then he five-bet his opponent to 3.8 million.

After a moment, Makiievskyi pushed all-in and Moore quickly called, creating a pot of more than 20 million chips.

When Makiievskyi revealed his hand, Moore, who held Ah-Jd, could only shake his head when he realized he had just gotten coolered.

With this massive pot at stake, Moore would need an ace either on the turn or the river to avoid becoming one of the shortest stacks remaining.

Initially, the dealer did not offer any help with the 6s on the turn.

Finally, when the dealer revealed the 4h on the river, Makiievskyi had captured the largest pot of the 2011 WSOP so far, while Moore was left with under 2 million chips.

Shortly thereafter, Moore was eliminated in 21st place, while Makiievskyi is a member of the 2011 November Nine, currently sitting in eighth place with 13.825 million chips.

Makiievskyi will take a four-month hiatus with the rest of the November Nine, but will return to Las Vegas on Nov. 5 to compete for the most coveted title in poker — WSOP Main Event champion.

Players from Belize, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany and Ukraine outnumbered Americans making the cut Wednesday to vie for the $8.7 million top prize in this fall's World Series of Poker finale.

Atop the heap is 35-year-old poker pro Martin Staszko of Trinec, the first Czech to make the final table. He finished play early Wednesday with 40.175 million chips out the total 205.950 million, far ahead of his nearest competitor, Eoghan O'Dea of Dublin, who had 33.925 million chips.

Play was halted when 10th place finisher John Hewitt of Costa Rica lost an all-in hand in which he had a pair of 3s that failed to beat O'Dea's straight. By then, a day that began with 22 contenders had lasted more than 13 hours before just nine remained.

The multinational diversity of the group is groundbreaking for the year's richest and most prestigious poker event, marking the first time there are more non-Americans than Americans in the final table.

"It signals a shift in poker," said World Series of Poker commissioner Ty Stewart. "With international players winning two of last three years and the odds stacked against the Americans this time, we're going to see this yet again."

The nine players survived an initial field of 6,865 in the $10,000 Buy-In No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em scrum over 12 days.

The tournament now pauses until November, when the players reconvene to crown a champion, a break designed to increase interest for TV viewers and give players a chance to seek sponsorships and do media appearances in advance of the tournament's conclusion.

Top prize is $8.7 million, but each of the nine finalists is guaranteed at least $782,115. In fact, they received that money on Wednesday at the Rio All-Suites Casino-Resort where the tournament is held.

Badih Bounahra of Belize City and Anton Makievskyi of Dnipropetrousk, Ukraine are also the first from their countries to reach the WSOP finals.

"I can't even imagine how it's going to be," said Makievskyi of his return to Ukraine. "It'll take a week for it to sink in."

Bounahra agreed: "I'm playing for Belize and all of the Belize poker players. It's big news."

The tournament has taken on an increasing international flavor in recent years. Last year's champion Jonathan Duhamel hailed from Montreal, Peter Eastgate of Denmark won in 2009 and Australian Joe Hachem triumphed in 2005.

Despite two-thirds of this year's entrants being from the United States, only three Americans remain.

Even with the economy in this most southern of states being a bit wobbly, there still appears to be plenty of money for people to sit down and play poker or check out casino games, according to a study released by officials in New Orleans. Players at Louisiana's state-licensed casinos and video poker outlets left behind $3 billion during the state's just-concluded fiscal year.

$1.65b of this came from rake fees and money taken from gamblers on the 13 riverboat casinos. Harrah's downtown New Orleans casino took in $350.9 million, while the slot machine casinos at Louisiana's four race tracks collected a whopping $390 million. Meanwhile, the thousands of video poker machines scattered through truck stops, bars, restaurants and ITV locations earned the state over $600,000,000.

Louisiana has always been a popular place for gaming of all types, with riverboat operations in the 19th century helping inform the history of poker. The upcoming season of the World Series of Poker Circuit will kick off at the Horseshoe in Bossier City on September 8, and the final event of the same season takes place at the aforementioned Harrah's New Orleans.

The Poker Hall of Fame opened up its nominations process earlier this month and runs until August 14, but the section devoted only to the women that have made the game special has also now started taking votes, with the criteria for inclusion being based upon the candidates’ records, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to poker.

This year’s nominees include the likes of JJ Liu, Margie Heintz, Kristy Gazes, Nani Dollison and Phyllis Caro, with the winners (who will be announced on Friday, September 2, as part of the 2011 Induction Ceremony and Celebration at The Golden Nugget Casino Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas, of course) joining players such as Linda Johnson, Jennifer Harman, Billie Brown, Kathy Liebert, June Field, Cyndy Violette, Marsha Waggoner, Linda Johnson, Susie Isaacs and Barbara Enright on the list. This year's MC, Jan Fisher, is also part of this elite group of women.

The Women In Poker Hall of Fame board is made up of Ladies International Poker Series founder Lupe Soto, poker pros Karina Jett and Suzie Lederer, poker player and production manager Gyla Whitlow, Suzanne Carter (marketing director for the Ocean's Eleven casino in Riverside, CA) and media professional and poker player Debbie Burkhead.

The WiPHOF does more than just honor women poker players: the organization has also struck up a partnership with Poker Gives – a charity created to supply financial backing to mainstream nonprofits and organizations through the support of the poker community as a while.

Visit Women in Poker Hall of Fame to place your votes.

It was a crazy call. The kind that gets you a reputation. The kind you've got to make if you're going to go deep in the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

It was Day 5, and 30-year-old Bryan Follain, of Fremont, was facing a decision for all his chips. He only had middle pair and a gut-shot straight draw, but he knew -- he just knew -- his opponent was bluffing.

He called and raked in $2.7 million with his pair of jacks.

"A camera guy comes up to me and goes, 'You've just been nicknamed Sick Call Bryan,' because it was all over the Internet, I guess," he said.

It was one of the key hands in Follain's wild ride this month to place 68th out of 6,865 entrants at the Main Event in Las Vegas, earning him a cool $108,412.

Follain's improbable run at the World Series began with a $60 tournament. He won a seat in a $450 tournament, and then won that to earn the $10,000 entry fee and $2,000 in expenses for the trip.

The Main Event itself was a grueling routine of 13-hour days and endless concentration.

"It's just mentally and emotionally exhausting," Follain said last week, surrounded by the clicking of chips and murmur of players at the Palace Poker Casino in Hayward, where he plays in no-limit hold 'em tournaments and cash games. "People ask me, 'Did you have fun?' No, I didn't have fun. It was work. It wasn't play, it was strictly work."

Follain is a level-headed guy who launched his own business -- the
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Fremont-based hauling company U Junk It We Dump It -- six years ago at age 24. He had no illusions about his chances at the World Series.

"I was a complete underdog," he said. "I'm by no means a poker professional."

Still, he said he wasn't star-struck by the pros or put off by the crowds and cameras, and his business acumen served him well.

"I know how to take a calculated risk, so that was one of the positives I had going for me," he said.

He loves poker, but he's not obsessed with it. He prefers home and casino games to online poker sites, and usually only plays a couple times a month. When business is slow, he'll sometimes go months without playing.

He enjoys poker as a hobby, but what's most important to him are his wife, his family, his business and golf, which he played in college.

"I'm not a degenerate gambler by any means," he said.

"It's still gambling; I don't care if you're the best poker player out there."

At the main event, he played tight for the first couple days, but as time went on, he became increasingly aggressive and started to amass a stack.

His family traveled from the Bay Area to Las Vegas for the first few days of the tournament, but then had to return to work. His cousin, Tom Follain, who had played and finished in the money in an earlier World Series tournament in June, flew in from Washington, D.C., to stick with Bryan until the end.

"I didn't come out here to come watch you and support you," Tom told him. "I came out here because when you get busted, you're going to feel like you want to jump off a bridge. That's why I came out here, because you're going to need someone to lean on afterwards."

That moment came July 17, Day 6 of the 13-day tournament, when Follain got into a showdown with Ryan Lenaghan, who had an even larger stack.

The money went in pre-flop, with Follain thinking for several minutes before calling the final raise.

"All right, I had fun," he said as he pushed his chips in.

They turned over their cards to reveal an ace-queen for Follain and a pair of jacks for Lenaghan -- essentially a coin flip for an $8 million pot and the chip lead. With one card to come, Follain needed pair or a flush. But his luck had run out.

As Lenaghan's supporters celebrated, Follain sucked it up, said his good lucks and nice-playing-with-yous, walked past the cameras and found his cousin away from the spotlight.

"I just said, 'Oh my God, Tom, what just happened? What just happened?'"

Some observers gave him some flak for risking everything with such a large stack and a less-than-premium hand, but Follain said he had to stay aggressive and not fold his way to a bigger payday. It took him a few days to recover from the six-day grind and emotional swings of the Main Event, but he has no regrets.

"I wasn't going to sit around and wait all day for the big hand. I played, and I played to win."

Investors wonder whether Full tilt Poker is worth the bother, following yesterday’s revelations at the hearing.

As the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) held their hearing behind closed doors it was left to the assembled poker executives and investors to question whether investing in what was once the second largest poker site on the internet is worth the price. With hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits hanging around the neck of the beleaguered website, investors have been questioning as to whether the amount of money that they are going to have to pay to rescue the site would cost more than starting an entirely new brand.

There has been precious little information on any potential purchase of the Full Tilt brand since the AGCC suspended their gaming license. There were rumours that a consortium of European investors were interested in the ailing site as well as a potential deal with Harrah’s, though nothing has been confirmed officially and all news of these potential deals petered out.

While the out of pocket players wait to find out what their chances of getting their money back really are, investors are tempted to put their own money elsewhere. At the same time thousands of former players are migrating to other sites, such as Bodog Poker where they know that their money will be protected.

The big question these days is where is poker in the U.S. headed? Two recent reports, one in the Wall Street Journal Technology section and the other in the Digital Biz section of CNN Online, analyzed and wondered about the effects of Black Friday on online poker, the player pool and TV ratings.

More than 10 million Americans played online prior to April15, 2011, when the U.S. Federal Government raided Poker Stars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker, creating an online poker room environment that would soon be devoid of American players. The effect has been seen not only with online play but also to a degree on TV as the popularity of poker shows has declined. The big question many analysts are asking is “what’s next in the world of televised and online poker?”

Healthy WSOP

The World Series of Poker (WSOP), which was recently held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas, did not see a decline in player attendance. A total of 6,865 players competed in the Main Event, paying $10,000 each, which was about equivalent to last year’s pool. Also, an average of around 400,000 viewers watched the WSOP live events on ESPN and ESPN2 recently. ESPN will start airing taped segments from the entire WSOP tonight and the Final Table of the Main Event will be aired live later in the year when the nine finalists reconvene to duke it out for the main title and gold bracelet.

As far as the WSOP is concerned, there still seems to be a healthy interest in the game. But the WSOP is this biggest game of all poker games by which all players match their skill and talent. The paydays are huge with the winner of the Main Event taking home around $9 million.

But there will be something missing tonight and from the rest of the WSOP shows on ESPN. A few things actually won’t be there—mainly two of the biggest sponsors—Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. It’s hard to advertise at the biggest poker event in the world when you’re under indictment for breaking U.S. laws related to online gambling. The two online poker sites have been major sponsors for years.

Although there seemed to be a lot of action at the WSOP, Dave Behr, a poker industry executive and analyst, noted that “The atmosphere was definitely deflated” Behr continues by observing, “The continuing fallout from the Full Tilt situation — notably the total silence from Full Tilt Poker as to when U.S. players might expect to receive their money — put a damper on the whole Series. Every week that went by, the FTP situation seemed to get worse and that in turn siphoned some of the pageantry out of the World Series of Poker.”

U.S. Market May Open Up

The news that the U.S. online market may open up has created some excitement. But the news that it could take years for it to do so has tempered that excitement. Even a bill that is ultra friendly to online poker, such as the one sponsored by Republican Congressman Joe Barton from Texas, will take time to wend its way through the House and Senate and the various committees.

And although eventually there will be online poker in the U.S., those rooms that are located in other countries will be kept out at least for the first two years. With that news various providers of poker services and software have been trying to make connections and sign contracts with land-based poker rooms in the U.S. who will be in a position to legally offer services.

Recently, it’s been reported that 888 Poker, which is in the U.K., and Caesars Entertainment Group, the largest land-based casino group in the world, have been involved in a series of talks. Also, in June of this year Playtech, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, inked a deal with Scientific Games in the U.S.. Together the two companies created Sciplay with the idea that Playtech and Scientific Games would supply the California Online Poker Association (COPA) with online poker technology for fun games. That contract put Playtech one step away from being the provider for full out, money-based online poker in California, where a majority of the online poker players live and play.

Whatever the future of online poker in America may be, it’s clear that those who think and act the quickest will find themselves in place to reap the benefits.

TV Ratings Down

Along with the online predicaments that poker has faced is the fact that the TV market has shown a marked decrease in viewership. In fact, it’s simply a matter of time before most of the six or so shows simply fold. These shows have aired on various networks, including ESPN, News Corp’s Fox Broadcasting and Fox Sports Net and Comcast Corp.’s NBC. Many of these same networks have enjoyed millions upon millions of dollars of advertising revue from the major online poker sites.

Now all of that advertising is gone and most of the shows have been cancelled or will probably be cancelled by next year. Brian Balsbaugh, founder of Poker Royalty, and agent representing poker players in sponsorship contracts, believes that of the shows out there only the WSOP and World Poker Tour will be left at the table. He may be correct about the former but on the latter, Fox, which is the network that carries World Poker Tour, is on record as saying it does not plan to broadcast any more poker shows.

Shows that look to fall under the axe include Poker After Dark (NBC), which is sponsored by the deeply troubled Full Tilt, The PokerStars.net Big Game (Fox), which has been cancelled and North American Poker Tour (ESPN), which has also been terminated. The World Poker Tour, which has not been cancelled but may be if Fox does get out of the game, may stay if it can find some action from another network.

The Future

Although overall, the WSOP managed to be a success, there was pallor that analyst Behr sees as being foreboding. “My prediction,” says Behr, “is that the steep drop everyone feared this year will become a reality in 2012.” He may be right as the conveni

Who came out on top in the weekly $100,000 guaranteed online poker tournament held this past Sunday, July 24th? NightProwler10 took first place this week, earning $27,222.60. They were followed by RobbinDHood ($15,687.60) and cropdustinOG , who rounded out the top three spots while taking away $10,496.855. Here's the rest of the final table results: CaliGirls ($8,074.50); RAZALGOOL ($6,574.94); Gagethis ($5,190.75); Juice8718 ($3,806.55); kuhnboy5 ($2,537.70) and McGidd ($1,499.54).

In addition to our show-stopping Sunday events, Bodog hosts its regular weekly tournaments to players, and here's the winners of last week's events!

July 18 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: Allinwitanyhand ($4,111.25)
July 19 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: T_CRAMEZZZ ($4,372.50)
July 20 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: MiamiMikeS ($4,207.50)
July 21 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: FITZnipko87 ($3,960.00)
July 24 • $10k Guaranteed Double-Stack: T_CRAMEZZZ ($4,262.50)
July 24 • $10k Guaranteed Turbo Double-Stack johall111 ($4,770.00)

Special note should be made of T_CRAMEZZZ and the fact that they took down two tournaments at Bodog in the same week! Congratulations on joining GoRangers in a very exclusive club!

Bodog's guaranteed tournaments mean that there's always a big cash pool and with more players getting in on the action every week, that means there's more to be won Play poker online at Bodog and get your share!

Poker Pro Beth Shak was just profiled by the UK Tabloid The Daily Mail in a piece that talked not about the fact that she's got 5 in-the-money finishes at the WSOP*, her 2 cashes at the WPT or that last year she made it to the final day of Season 5 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) finishing in the top 30 out of over 500 players. They wrote about her shoe collection.

The Mail wrote:

She treats herself to a pair of red-soled Louboutins each time she plays a poker tournament, but also wears Lanvin flats and ‘goes through Havaianas on a daily basis.’

Doing a bit of math (with Louboutins averaging $500-900 per pair,) it appears that Shak has spent spent over $420,000 on the French brand alone. That's only $50,000 less than her total tournament winnings according to one online poker site's statistics. The 41-year-old has also appeared on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker and works with multiple nonprofits, in particular the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia palliative care program.

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Supporters of legalizing online poker launched a new coalition this week aimed at building grassroots support for legalizing the game.

FairPlayUSA will be based in Washington, D.C., and led by executive director Marisa McNee with a board of advisers that includes former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, child-safety advocate Parry Aftab and poker professional Greg Raymer. Casino owners Ceasars and MGM provided the initial funding.

“The website and online petition will be the focal point for recruiting and organizing supporters who will actively engage and make their voices heard by members of Congress," McNee said. "Outreach will be directed toward law enforcement officials, those who support Internet consumer safety, and online poker’s strongest asset — the millions of Americans who enjoy online poker.”

A 2006 law passed by Congress banned U.S. players from transferring money to online gambling sites, but the sites themselves were largely left alone until April, when the FBI shut down the three biggest online poker sites in a crackdown dubbed "Black Friday" by the poker industry.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has since introduced a bill that would legalize online poker and give casinos, card rooms and other currently licensed gaming operations the advantage in setting up new sites for the first two years after the law passes.

The bill appears headed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee with bipartisan support.

McNee told Hillicon her organization is dedicated to legalizing online poker specifically rather than online gambling in general, and will focus on outreach to supporters. There will be no direct lobbying of lawmakers.

Supporters argue 10 million Americans played online poker until the recent crackdown and that the game itself is not illegal, since it's a game of skill that Americans are free to play at home.

Opponents include general opponents of gambling, along with those concerned the sites are being used to launder money or cheat American consumers.

Barton's bill would create a federal regulatory body to oversee poker at the national level while state gaming commissions would license sites based within their borders.

FairPlayUSA does not endorse any specific legislation, but the organization's website lays out 10 principles to be included in federal legislation, such as safeguards against cheating or allowing underage players onto the sites.

“I wholeheartedly endorse having policymakers clearly define what is illegal Internet gambling and giving law enforcement the tools necessary to enforce such a ban," Ridge said.

"I also strongly support the strict regulation of online poker. Americans who choose to play poker against each other on the Internet should be assured that the games are fair and limited to adults."

Raymer is also active in the Poker Players Alliance, which represents about a million online poker players, including roughly 50,000 that rely on it for their livelihood.

McNee said her organization won't work directly with the Poker Players Alliance, but she hopes to have their support since both have the same desire for Congress to act quickly.

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FairPlayUSA, a non-profit campaign based in Washington D.C., has joined the push for licensed and regulated online poker in the United States. The organization, funded by casino giants Caesars and MGM, launched on Tuesday.

The group’s website states that its goal “is to educate policymakers and the public on the broad public policy interests raised by the current ambiguous laws in the U.S. that have led to millions of Americans gambling on the Internet.”

The initial members of its advisory board include Tom Ridge, the former Governor of Pennsylvania and first Secretary of Homeland Security; Parry Aftab, an Internet safety expert; and 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion Greg Raymer. The group is headed by Executive Director Marisa McNee.

Raymer, who also serves on the board of directors for the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA), said he was hesitant at first before committing to FairPlayUSA. He said he eventually became sure that the non-lobbying group could help the push for federal legislation.

“Down the round if there was a conflict between what is best for these companies and what is best for the players that might be a concern,” said Raymer, who is unpaid for his position with FairPlayUSA. “However, I was convinced that the interests of the players and the interests of the people starting this organization are aligned, at least at this point in time.” According to Raymer, the group is looking to other brick-and-mortar casinos to join. “This isn’t just about [Caesars and MGM],” he added.

The group’s first of 10 principles, which reads “Strengthen the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 to unambiguously eliminate illegal Internet gambling,” has drawn some criticism this week from the poker community. Raymer said that efforts to bring forth a federal solution need to be about compromise — and that the group’s first principle has been interpreted as “clearing the road” for the big casinos, but that isn’t how the language was intended to read. "As a practical matter, in order to get support from people like [Senator Jon] Kyl and [Representative Spencer] Bachus, we need to give them something they want,” Raymer said. “And they want to stop online gambling. So, we convince them poker is a game of skill, and that it should be licensed and regulated, and in return the same legislation makes it easier for the [Department of Justice] to stop both other forms of online gambling, as well as unlicensed poker sites, from doing business in the US. So, strengthening the UIGEA is not code for get rid of PokerStars and Full Tilt and such; it is strengthen the UIGEA against non-poker online gambling, and against sites that don’t come and get licenses. This principle has nothing to do with who should get a license.”

Raymer said that FairPlayUSA does not endorse Joe Barton’s online poker bill, or any other piece of legislation, at this point in time. “We are just endorsing the creation of some legislation that will specifically allow for licensed and regulated online poker for Americans. So, we are not trying to differentiate between bills, and saying that ‘this bill is bad, and this one is good.’ We are trying to mobilize as many people as possible to tell Congress that they need to regulate online poker.”

John Pappas, executive director of the PPA, issued a statement on the launch of FairPlayUSA, saying that his organization was pleased to see another group join the fight.

“FairPlayUSA will be made up of variety of non-poker constituencies and can help the PPA deliver a powerful message to Capitol Hill that regulation will strengthen consumer protections and aid law enforcement,” Pappas said. "We look forward to working with FairPlayUSA to keep the interests of the poker playing community at the forefront, and we hope they will add their support to current and future legislation that provides for a safe, competitive and thriving Internet poker market in the U.S.”