The featured guest on Pokercast this week is author and semi-retired high stakes poker pro Ray Zee. Ray authored both Hi-Lo Split Poker for Advanced Players and Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players. He came on the show to discuss strategy and share some fascinating stories from the old days involving poker legends like Amarillo Slim, Johnny Moss and Stu Unger. Mason Malmuth was also on the program to discuss his involvement in the Poker Players Alliance and their stance on the online cheating scandals. Mike and Adam also talk some tournament news, forum static and of course give away the password for the August 3rd Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

{audio}http://pokercast.twoplustwo.com/podcast/34.mp3{/audio}

Could This possibly be the end of the Bodog Empire? Recently The U.S. federal government seized a large part of Calvin Ayre’s Business funds totaling over $24 million from various bank accounts linked to his online gambling operation, Bodog.com which is considered illegal under U.S. law Internet gaming operation.

Government filings make this very clear that a serious CRIMINAL investigation of the Bodog enterprise is ongoing. This likely to rattle the confidence of U.S. based gamblers, hoping that they will receive their all or any of their winnings from the online giant.

Detailed in court filings in a Baltimore federal court, the Bodog related seizures came from well known banking institutions as Wachovia, Bank of America, SunTrust Banks and Regions Bank, a unit of Regions Financial. This will more than likely increase the possibility of criminal action against Calvin Ayre himself.

See Full Story as reported by Forbes.com

Calvin Ayre has one of the ultimate rags to riches story, A guy that grew up on a farm and started the online gambling site Bodog with less than $10K to become one of the youngest Billionaires in the world. A true playboy at heart many people even picked him as the next Hugh Hefner.

Watch the videos below of his story.

Documentary Of Calvin Ayre Part 1

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Documentary Of Calvin Ayre Part 2

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Other Links

Wikipedia Profile

Forbes.com Profile

Titan Poker are guaranteeing a TWO AND A HALF MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE POOL!

That's right - Titan Poker are staging the biggest ever guaranteed prize tournament this September!! And..... with an unprecedented $2,500,000 IN PRIZES up for grabs, you can't afford to miss out!

TWO AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS!! How cool is that?! So join Titant Poker at this thrilling tournament for your chance to claim your biggest Poker win ever!

The $2,500,000 Guaranteed will be staged on the 7th of September.

Buy-in directly for $1,500 + $80, or win your seat at the Main Event by participating in the Sit'N'Go and Multi-Table Satellites.

Start off for just $2.75 + $0.2!!

Click Here To Find Out More Details!

The feature guest this week on Pokercast is Lyle Berman, three time WSOP bracelet winner, CEO of Lakes Entertainment, and chairman of the board of World Poker Tour. Lyle talks about several topics including the World Poker Tour moving to a new TV station, his WSOP play and PokerTek. Also on the program is professional poker pro David Peat, talking about his recent appearance on Poker After Darks first Cash Game episode. Mike and Adam also talk some tournament news, forum static and of course give away the password for the July 27th Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

{audio}http://pokercast.twoplustwo.com/podcast/33.mp3{/audio}

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) returns September 2008, with a guaranteed prize pool of $30,000,000, that’s double the total guarantee of last year, making it the biggest online poker tournament series in the world!

There are over 33 different events in total, covering a wide range of poker games, including Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Razz, HORSE, 2-7 Draw and more. Each event has a huge guarantee prize pool, with many reaching more than $2,000,000!

The series culminates with the $10,000,000 guaranteed Main Event, September 21. Last year’s Main Event was won by ‘Ka$ino’, who took away prize money of $1,378,330! With cash prizes this big and a bracelet for the winner of each event, the WCOOP is THE series to be a part of. Don’t miss out on taking your seat!

You can buy in directly to any WCOOP event, or win your seat via one of the many PokerStars satellites running now. To register, Visit PokerStars, Download  and open the PokerStars lobby, click ‘Events’ and ‘WCOOP’.

The 2008 WCOOP runs from September 5-22.

History of the WCOOP Main Event

Since the WCOOP started in 2002, the Main Event prize pool has grown at an incredible rate. Swedish player ‘MultiMarine’ won $65,450 for his victory in that year. But by 2003, first place prize money had risen to $222,750, and was won by ‘DeOhGee’. ‘Ragde’ won $424,945 in 2004, while ‘Panella86’ picked up $577,342 the following year. In 2006, pro player J.C. Tran walked away with $600,000, before ‘Ka$ino’ won a massive $1,378,330 in 2007.

Visit PokerStars And Get Ready For The Biggest Online Championship Today!

Take your $25,000 shot at a legend at Doyles Room, this Wednesday at 9:30pm ET
It's hard to put a price on the chance to play Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro or T.J. Cloutier, so Doyles Room will do it for you by making that price - FREE!

Every Bounty player gets a 100% refund of their first $27.50 Bounty buy-in, win or lose!
 
It's that simple. You buy-in, enjoy the tournament, play and chat with the legends, then collect your bounty refund.
Pretty good deal huh? They like to call it the best deal in online poker.

It's no secret that these guys know how to win poker tournaments, and Doyles Room turn that in your favor. If one of the bounties wins the tournament, every player pockets any prize money they have coming plus a return of their buy-in and fees.

In addition to the tournament prize pool, Doyles Room elevate the stakes by offering the most generous bounty structure ever.
Knock out one bounty and get $500. Knock out two and they'll make it $5,000. Go deep and knock out 3 and you'll be $25,000 richer and have the poker story of a lifetime.

Doyles Room want to make you a star!

Ready to wear a bullseye on your back? Doyles Room is going to make it happen for one lucky player every week. Whoever wins the Bounty tournament is welcome to return the following week as a guest bounty to stand alongside Doyle and the gang and take on all challengers.

Come on out this and every Wednesday night at 9:30pm ET (02:30 BST) for an incredible poker evening with the biggest names in the game. Be ready for fun, good chat and good times all in an affordable and low pressure environment.

Join Doyles Room Today And Play The Legends!

Tiffany has fired back her own salvo at Tony G and Poker news Ltd after Tiffany felt that she recieved and unfair and scathing attack on her for wearing The Ultimate Bet Logo alongside the Poker News Logo she  during the Main Event.

She Goes on to say:

"There is no denying the positive press and exposure I brought Pokernews by wearing their logo and being their representative during the 2008 World Series of Poker main event. After such a successful series, I am greatly dismayed by Pokernews' subsequent actions. No one has ever questioned my integrity before this and I am so distressed that Pokernews is using their powerful public forum to spin such a negative recounting of the facts of what occurred during the final two days of the main event."

Wicked Chops Poker was the first to discuss this on their blog, You can read the Whole of Tiffany's statement here.  Tiffany Michelle's Statement

SunPoker.com,  will have Moneybookers as a deposit and withdrawal method within the next day or two. This is great news as it is one of the most popular E-wallets in the World and will make it alot easier for you the player.

They are also offering a $500 Guaranteed Daily Tournament starting next Tuesday, July 22, at 22:00.  This is a rebuy 6 max tournament and runs every day. Buy-in is $20+$2.

Plus Sun Poker is giving everyone a chance to win a seat to play in the Casinos Austria Poker Tour in Graz, Austria by having a week long chance of qualifying for the Sunday finals.

Depending on what stake you want to play at Sun Poker has the perfect tournament. Starting on Monday the 21st of July, players can sign up for a street where 50% of the field advances to next days corresponding Street #2 on Tuesday.

Play through Streets 1-6 to play in the €200 + €20 Final on Sunday. Winner of that gets a €2,500 CAPT Package to play in the live Graz tournament.

Check Out Sun Poker Today!

In August, PartyPoker.com celebrates its 7th birthday. Better still, not only do they have the most rewarding tables around, but they also know how to throw an amazing party!

PartyPoker.com are marking it's birthday with a week-long festival of promotions beginning on August 4 and culminating in a thrilling tournament with a $1m prize pool on August 10.

You can join the qualifiers in the Lobby right now, and could even qualify for free by playing through the offered freerolls.

Visit Party Poker Today!

After a dream run and an almost fairy tale ending Tiffany "Hot Chips" Michelle was eliminated in 17th place in the World Series of Poker main event only to run straight into controversey.

Pokernews.com Vice President Justin Robert Huxley released a statement from the company, informing Michelle and her agent of possible legal action.

According to Pokernews.com, Tiffany was sponsored for a number of events at this year's World Series of Poker by Pokernews.com. This included the 2008 main event.

Further, Pokernews.com stated that "it was later confirmed that without any consultation with PokerNews, Tiffany went ahead and signed a sponsorship deal with Ultimate Bet." They went on to say that "as a company we could see no reason as to why we were left out of such negotiations, especially considering the relationships that PokerNews has with all such entities."

More of the statement reads like this:

"Tiffany was bought into the event by PokerNews and had a signed player contract with PokerNews Ltd. We believe, that based on advice from her agent that the contract may have loopholes; she went and made a deal with an online gaming operator that completely contradicted the trust that we had put in her, both as an employee and as a sponsored player. As an organization we felt completely sabotaged by Tiffany, her agent and Ultimate Bet."

"Therefore, we are incredibly disappointed with Tiffany and her agent's lack of respect and professionalism. We are currently seeking legal council on this entire situation and potential damages to PokerNews."

The statement then goes on to say that Pokernews will no longer be promoting Ultimatebet within its network.

This is a very sad case considering that Tiffany had the added weight of being the next Moneymaker to change the face of poker if she had of made the final table.

If Tiffany had made the November 9 she would have been a marketers dream child, being only the 2nd woman in history to do so and would have had a number of offers given to her.

Read More of The Poker News Statement Here.

PokerStars is one of the world's biggest and best poker sites, so it's only right that they give you the best rewards and promotions!

This month you can get twice as much as before with PokerStars 2X - this is what happens when the biggest poker site in the world gets even bigger!

And because they are rolling the promotion out across many different events, everyone can get in on the deal.

All you need to do is keep playing in the regular tournaments and cash games to be in with a chance of winning big. they will only be announcing each event just before it starts, but you can expect everything from double VPPs, double the chances to win and even double the size of the pot in their cash games!

Check out Pokerstars Today!

6,844 players started the 2008 WSOP Main Event making it the second largest field in WSOP history. After a long and grueling seven days, there were nine remaining. David "Chino" Rheem is among the nine players left standing now known as the "November Nine". David was kind enough to be featured on the program this week to talk about his impressive journey to the final table. Serge Ravitch, professional poker player and former lawyer is also featured on the program discussing some recent developments in the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal. Mike and Adam also talk some forum static and of course give away the password for the July 20th Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

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Very early Tuesday morning Dean Hamrick was eliminated as the 10th placed player to exit the Main Event at the semi-final table and now the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event has been put on hold until this November; when the final will take place. The remaining nine players will now have to wait until the end of the year to return to the Rio in Las Vegas to duke it out for the World Championship and the first place prize of $9.1 million.

The November Nine are a diverse group of players that include no fewer than four countries including a Russian, a Dane, two Canadians and five Americans. There’s also a chess player, a salesmen, a college student as well the usual collection of professional poker players.

Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments for the 2008 November Nine:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000
Seat 2: Craig Marquis - 10,210,000
Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000
Seat 4: Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000
Seat 5: Darus Suharto - 12,520,000
Seat 6: Chino Rheem - 10,230,000
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000
Seat 8: Kelly Kim - 2,620,000
Seat 9: Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000

While it took almost three hours of play for Dean Hamrick to be eliminated, the Final Table Nine were almost created on the first hand of 10-handed play. Marquis first in raised for 525,000 and Schwartz, who is a chess player from Brooklyn, NY, re-raised to 1,625,000. After thinking about it for a while Marquis put in a three-bet to 4,500,000 which forced Schwartz to move all-in.  Marquis tanked for a whilke then folded allowing Schwartz to show pocket rockets.

Marquis would then get involved in another big pot and found himself on the edge for his tournament life on the 19th hand of 10-handed play. After Hamrick raised to 750,000, Marquis re-raised to 2,100,000 and Hamrick shoved for 3,339,000 more. Once again Marquis went into the tank before deciding to call; he showed As Qh while Hamrick showed pocket queens. Hamrick dodged the aces on flop, but the board went runner-runner flush for Marquis.

Then two hours later those two would get involved in a pot again, this time leading to the elimination of Hamrick and the birth of the November Nine. Hamrick moved all-in for his last 3,420,000, Marquis then moved all-in over the top to isolate. Hamrick showed As Jc while Marquis held pocket queens. This time the queens held up and the 25-year-old Dean Hamrick was the Unfortunate bubble boy.

Stay posted with Somethingaboutpoker.com, and we will keep you up to date with player profiles and the final table in November 2008

LuckyAcePoker and LuckyAceCasino are happy top announce that they have received the eCOGRA seal of approval for fair and responsible gambling after complying with all eCOGRA guidelines.

eCOGRA is a non-profit London-based organization that sets online gambling standards with particular care on fair and responsible gambling that are enforced through inspections, reviews and continuous monitoring to insure the best player protection. For more information on the eCOGRA seal and other protective measures that LuckyAcePoker takes to insure responsible, safe and fair brand please visit there website for details.

MANSION Poker wants to give you free tickets to both of this month's $1,000 ADDED Special Invitation Tournaments.
 
The first will be held on July 15 @ 20:00 BST and the second on July 31 @ 20:00 BST. They are regular 10 seater MTTs with 1500 starting chips, 10 minute blinds and limited to 1500 runners.
 
It's easy to qualify for these tournament tickets!
 
Just join MANSION Poker today and deposit a minimum of $20 USD into your poker account and earn 20 Mansion Player Points before 23:59 (GMT) July 14 2008 to receive entry to both tournaments.
 
That's not all!

With this one single deposit into MANSIONPOKER.COM  you could also become eligible for a free entry to their monthly New Player $3000 Freeroll and their 100% first time poker deposit bonus, up to $500.
 
The tournament entry ticket for both $1000 ADDED tournaments will be added to your account on the day of each tournament. You can locate the tournament in the specials section in the lobby.

If you have qualified, there will be a north facing blue arrow beside the tournament and all you have to do is click to join.

With so much on offer how can you pass up this very lucrative opportunity!

Visit MANSION Poker and Join Today!

The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event is finally underway. Mike and Adam wrap up all the day one info including chip counts and notable survivors. Adam also shares some of his day one stories and talks about some interesting hands he played on his way to day two. The featured guests this week on Pokercast were Stox Poker pros Nick Grudzien and Bryce Paradis who came on the program to talk about the Polaris Project. Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for over 16 years. Mike and Adam also talk some forum static and of course give away the password for the July 13th Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

{audio}http://pokercast.twoplustwo.com/podcast/31.mp3{/audio}

Can you tame the dragon?

Play your cards right and you could find yourself seated at the main event in Macau, China when the Asia Pacific Poker Tour ushers in its second season on September 1st.

With Doyles Room you can now satellite your way to this ten-day event of a lifetime and experience poker in the Far East.

Each APPT package winner will compete for a mammoth 7-figure guaranteed prize pool. Live in the lap of luxury with $2,500 towards travel expenses, $800 in spending money, and 9 nights’ accommodation at the opulent Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino in Macau. Scale the globe in style while we foot the bill! Satellites for this awesome prize package have started from June 27th.

Check out Doyles Room For more details.

Online Poker Site PKR have created the new Club PKR for every player in mind – what this means is that you don’t have to be a high roller to start enjoying the benefits that membership brings. And with PKR ‘always being up, never down’ policy you will never have to worry about losing your membership status either.

The more you play the more rewards you unlock in Club PKR, They have a series of levels you can attain determined by how much you play. These levels are Member, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond

Here is some of the benefits of the Member level below

• Special newsletter - every month you’ll get a special newsletter from PKR with all the latest information about your membership level, your progress towards the next level plus cool promotions and offers available exclusively to Club PKR members.
• Freerolls - get entry to a $1,000 freeroll at 14:30 GMT on the third Sunday of every month.
• Invitation only tournament on the first Sunday of every month at 14:30 GMT. Just $5 to buy-in with $500 added to the prize pool.
• Access to satellite tournaments where you can win entry to the Bronze level $1,000 added tourney. Running every Tuesday at 21:20 GMT.
• Free entry into monthly prize draws and competitions with 50 prizes worth up to $20 each up for grabs.
• A cool birthday gift including: a seat in a $365 birthday freeroll, three tickets to $300 Premium Freerolls and two tickets to $1,000 Premium Freerolls.
• The PKR Points booster – get 5,000 points for achieving Member level.
• Free tournament tickets when you achieve this level – get five tickets to $300 Premium Freerolls and two tickets to $1,000 Premium Freerolls.
• It’s easy! - your PKR Points and all tournament tickets will be available in your account within seven days of qualification. Entry to freerolls and invitational tournaments is automatic (just go to the lobby and sign up for the ones you qualify for).

To see more information visit PKR.com today!

The World Series of Poker coverage continues this week on Pokercast, recorded live from the Champions Lounge steps away from the all action. The guys track down Pokerstars pro Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan to discuss his final table appearance at last years Main Event and his plans for this years run. David Sklansky was also a feature guest on the program talking about his back to back final tables at this years WSOP. Along with his overall opinion about the many changes to the events this year. The guys squeezed in a short chat with Vanessa Selbst about an interesting add-on option that was included in the $10K PLO Championship. Mike and Adam also give away the password for the July 6th Poker Stars VIP Club freeroll.

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