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Who says the PPA isn’t doing anything to help online poker? At this weeks Democratic Convention being held in Denver, Colorado the PPA is hosting “Poker at the Ballpark”. The poker tournament is a benefit for the Paralyzed Veterans of America and expects to attract many of the celebrities in attendance this week.

Taking place Tuesday night, the event will be anchored by poker pro’s Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein. Celebrities such as Affleck, Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers will join the pros at the start of the tournament.

Affleck won't be second choice on Tuesday night when he sits down with pros Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein to play Poker at the Ballpark, with the proceeds going toward the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Other celebs such as Paul Rudd, Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers are also expected to ante-up at the VIP tournament sponsored by the Poker Players Alliance. The tournament is structured to last approximately four hours with each player starting off with 5,000 tournament chips.

The only shadow cast on the event in the eyes of the online poker playing ranks is the rumor that a planned 2009 WSOP seat was pulled from the prize list due to a perceived negative image of encouraging real-world gambling. No word yet on whether Obama or his running mate Biden plan on attending (don’t bet on it!).

Ty Sexton, the newest member of the poker community, was born at Mountain View Hospital in Las Vegas recently weighing in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces.  Mother and son are both reportedly doing very well. 
  
Mike was scheduled to fly to Portland, Oregon to receive the 'Patriot Award', an award given each year by the Paralyzed Veterans of America.  Having donated $100,000 from his 2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions win, Sexton has been a big supporter of the very worthy organization. 

Baby Ty's arrival changed those plans so, Mike's brother, Tom Sexton, traveled to accept the award so the new family could spend time together. 
  
Sexton works tirelessly promoting poker and is often known as the "ambassador of poker".  On February 15 2006, he was recognized as the top poker ambassador at the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Awards Gala. 

He has won many tournaments including a WSOP bracelet, the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and over $3,600,000 in total tournament winnings. 

Mike is also in the top 10 for all time number of finishes in the money at the WSOP, with 44 cashes.  
  
This is the first child for Sexton, 60 and his wife Karen, who live in Las Vegas.

Over the weekend Las Vegas Poker Pro Hoyt Corkins had his home robbed of many prized possessions. Hoyt was made aware of this while vacationing in Florida with his family, as his manager discovered the aftermath of the robbery while checking on the home. You can only imagine the disgust and shock that Hoyt must have felt when he received the phone call from his manager to inform him of the devastating news.

After gaining access to the home by cutting a hole in the wall leading from the garage to the living room, the thieves helped themselves to many of his valuables. Some of which can’t be replaced, such as his WSOP bracelets and a rare coin collection. The taking didn’t stop there, as they even loaded up a piano(!), a GMC Denali with a Doyles Room vehicle wrap (!), and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

There’s much speculation as to who the thieves may be, some suggest it’s an inside job. The Spanish Tails development is located in an exclusive section of Las Vegas and has a gate with a wall surrounding the complex. Other poker pro’s such as Paul Wasicka live here as well, the community is home to many other Las Vegas based executives that enjoy the serene, secure setting.

When reached for comment, Hoyt had this to say:

"I am clearly devastated by this. My hope is that the poker community will help me try and recover the irreplaceable items that were taken," said Corkins, "I truly appreciate the outpouring of love and support I have received."

Local authorities are investigating but no word yet on any suspects.

Days 1A and 1B are now complete at this years Legends of Poker, being conducted at the Bicycle Casino in California. 373 players are competing in the event, which is a significant decrease from last years 485 entries. Even with the smaller field you could hardly turn a corner in the poker room without bumping into a poker star. Big names like Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey, Gavin Griffin, and defending champ Dan Harrington could be seen raking in pots and stacking chips all weekend.

In one of the strangest hands in recent memory, Phil Ivey was eliminated very early in the tournament. With the blinds at only 50-100 and with starting stacks of 20,000 most players had no reason to risk their chips so early. Phil however made a bizarre move when he pushed all in without looking at his chips. From the first position! Unfortunately for Phil he was called by Brian Rast who woke up with pocket Kings. Phil flipped over 3 2 off suit and when his didn’t improve was sent home early. Perhaps he had a plane to catch?

When the dust settled there were 248 players who lived to fight another day and begin battle on Monday at 2:15 PM PT. Despite the lower number of entries the prize pool tops 3.5 million with a guaranteed 1.1 million to the winner. The top ten chip stacks are as follows:

Ali Eslami - 158,525
Adam Weinraub - 154,750
John Smith - 134,125
Freddy Deeb - 125,450
Armen Momjian - 116,700
Justin Scott - 107,325
Evan McNiff - 105,675
Neal Wang - 103,600
Steven Graham - 101,925
Sami Rustom - 101,100

The feature guest this week on Pokercast is Michael DeMichele, runner-up in this years coveted 50k HORSE event. Michael talks about several topics including his move to Las Vegas, winning over $1 million and the controversy at the final table involving Scotty Nguyen. Chris Halligan, CEO of Pokertek was also on the program to talk about their automated PokerPro tables and the new exclusive deal recently signed with the Excalibur Casino. Mike and Adam also talk some tournament news, forum static and of course give away the password for the August 31st Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

 Original audio source (MP3, Right Click - Save As)