Gambling Tales podcast, WPBT Last Longer Challenge, etc.

I have some catching up to do on some news, so here goes.

I am very late posting this info, but you can still check out the first two podcasts and watch for the future ones:

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“Press release” from bloggers Falstaff and Special K

Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Join Falstaff (John Hartness) and Special K (Curtis Krumel) as we take you through the best in lies and legends about gambling today and through the ages. . Show #001 with Badblood and the origins of gambling is available immediately. New shows are scheduled to appear every two weeks. Guests scheduled to appear in future shows include Dr. Pauly, Lee Jones, Dr. David Schwartz (UNLV – Roll the Bones)

The podcast is available at http://www.gtpodcast.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamblingTalesPodcast

Available on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=339814710.

It will be searchable on iTunes by the weekend.

Email address for Questions, Comments, and Suggestions: gtpodcast@live.com

Subscribe today!

Bloggers: Become a friend of the podcast (FOP) by posting this information on your blog. Drop us an email with a link to your post and we’ll link to you on the Friends of the Podcast list. See you in Vegas Dec. 10-14!

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Next is the latest development for the WPBT Winter Classic Dec. 10-14 in Las Vegas mentioned just above (how's that for a segue?):

CJ the Luckbox over at Up for Poker proposed a last-longer prop bet for the Winter Classic tournament (Facebook page). Not long after, the extra-good folks at PokerStars added a very sweet $2,000 to the prize pool for what is now titled the Luckbox Last Longer Challenge, or L-cubed. Check out this post for all the details. I have put out some feelers to find potential team members for the Challenge, but if you want to join me or add me to your team, please leave me a comment or contact me at david DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing everyone who will be there.

More pimpage: don't forget the PokerWorks bi-weekly tournament on PokerStars. The next game is tonight, Nov. 29; the time has changed to 22:30 ET (19:30 PT). Buy-in is still just $5 + 0.50 and the game will once again be HORSE. I have a commitment tonight and don't know if I will be back in time to play, but don't let that stop you from joining the fun!

I'm sure there is more stuff for me to post about, but I will have to hope that I can remember it for a future entry.

Poker baptism

This past weekend, my wife and I drove up to Norman, OK , to visit our son Ben who is in his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma (OU for short - don't ask me why they reversed the initials for their nickname). We had a lot of fun spending time with Ben and enjoying some of the Campus Activity Council's Family Weekend activities. We also did a few things on our own, chief among them (for the purposes of this blog) Ben's first time playing poker in a casino.

Norman is the home of the Riverwind, a very nice full-fledged casino run by the Chickasaw Nation. They have a large poker room, with 23 tables spreading Hold 'Em and Omaha at various stakes. Since you only have to be 18 to play casino games in Oklahoma, Ben had been interested in trying out the poker room since he moved up there for school. We finally had the chance to do that Saturday evening. Ben had only played No-Limit HE in home games at $0.10/0.20 stakes with his high school friends, and I didn't think it would be good to throw him into a $1/2 NL game for his first cardroom experience. So, I told him that I would buy him into the $4/8 Limit HE game, and I gave him some quick tips on how Limit is different from NL. I then put his and my name on the waiting list for the 4/8 game. Soon enough, a new table was opened and we were seated.

I would like to say that I set a good example for him to follow, but (1) I made a few bad plays, and (2) I got lousy cards most of the time which only gave Ben lessons in how to fold. However, Ben held his own just fine. He played pretty tight, as I recommended, caught a few hands and took down a few decent pots. By the time I busted out, about two hours after we started, Ben was hanging in there and cashed out only $5 down from his buy-in. For someone who had never played limit Hold'Em, I thought he did just fine. Afterwards, he told me he enjoyed it and actually liked some aspects of it better than no-limit, such as having fewer swings in his chip stack and not having to think about how much to bet on each round. I don't expect that he will be down at the Riverwind every weekend now, but he will probably feel more comfortable the next time he does drop in there, now that he has got his feet wet. I'm glad his experience went well for him. I plan to give him my copy of Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold'Em" so he can get the great advice in that book to use at his next sessions.

In other poker news, I made it about half way through the Bad Beat Challenge tournament. I won the Sunday night PokerWorks HORSE tourney a couple of nights ago on PokerStars (you should all play in that, it's every other Sunday and only a $5.50 buy-in). Tonight, I finished tenth in the local Amateur Poker League monthly venue championship tournament. Up and down, as my poker ride tends to go.

I'm practically counting the days to the WPBT Winter Classic. Now that I have played a little live poker again, the itch is getting stronger and I'm excited about being back in Las Vegas. I'm still planning to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, probably some time on Friday. If there will be a group of poker bloggers going there, or if anyone wants to join forces to storm the place, count me in.

Bad Beat on Cancer charity tourney Nov. 12

By way of Pokerati and PokerNews, I heard about a charity tournament on PokerStars that is coming up next week. On November 12 at 9:00 PM ET, Stars will host the Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Challenge, with proceeds going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Entry fee is $10, with $10 rebuys available through the first two levels. As posted on (and stolen from) PokerNews, there are a lot of great prizes:
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...the top 50 finishers each will take something home. Players can find plenty of value for their donations including a VIP trip to the set of the "PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge;" a lifetime subscription to Deucescracked.com; a WSOP Academy seat; coaching from several of the game's top players, including the "Two Months, Two Million" cast, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Matt Glantz, Vanessa Rousso, Tom Schneider and Tom McEvoy; as well as a number of special prizes that enable winners to get up-close-and personal with the likes of Phil Gordon and PokerRoad's Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. Other top prizes include a Borgata Triple Play tournament package, Poker Players International tournament voucher, and Bluff Magazine adventure, which takes the winner on a personal tour of the world's leading sports television network, ESPN.

All prizes are transferable; a winner can use them or give them to a loved one or friend. The password for the tournament is BadBeatChallenge and the tournament can be found in the Private Tournament section at PokerStars.com.
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Edit: the tourney is now listed at PokerStars. Tournament number is 210990483. I have registered to play and I hope you will too.