Some think that the Ladies event at the WSOP has some kind of sexist stigma attached to it. Personally, I don’t know what’s wrong with women having their own event. Yes, there are women that are as good as men at poker, and yes, many of the top female players don’t play in the Ladies event because there’s usually a bigger tournament going on at the same time.

But the Ladies event continues to serve its original purpose – to increase female interest in poker. The fact that the best female players don’t play in it means nothing; it’s a choice they make. It gives new female players a chance to win a bracelet without having to compete against the best players in the world, male or female. When there are as many female poker players as male players, then maybe we could think about getting rid of it. Until then it should be played.

You have to give them credit for at least trying, but for now the first-ever “green” poker table will simply be a display model. The eco-friendly tournament poker table is made from 98% sustainable materials and will be on display in the exhibit area at the Rio during this year’s World Series of Poker. Some of the table’s eco-friendly manufacturing include:

- All wood is FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified,
- All paints and stains used in the table are formaldehyde free,
- The table is assembled with water based adhesives.

Maybe they can still use the eco-friendly poker table for the Final Table at the Main Event, which won’t play out until November.

I joined the Poker Players Alliance in 2006 at the WSOP. It was just starting out back then, and was created to assist poker players with unlawful or unethical situations they may encounter. The main issue at the time was professional players being compensated from poker organizations for using their likeness for profit.

Then the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act hit the industry, and the role of the PPA became more of a unifying force to help battle against the American government. This has put the organization at the forefront of the game’s battle in the U.S., and numbers have grown to over a million members this past year.

You can expect the organization to have a table set up at every WSOP. It’s the best gathering of poker players all year, with over 50,000 players and fans going through the Rio from May 30th to July 7th. If you’re not a member yet, go to the Poker Players Alliance website and check it out.

Every online poker room has some sort of WSOP satellite action, but some have gone to extremes this year. The two sites that have pumped up this promotion are Bodog and Full Tilt Poker. The Bodog poker room has been giving away multiple seats each week since February, and they’re currently awarding five seats per week. They have satellites for as low as $1.50 and other qualifiers are $7, $18, $27, $5.50 (plus tourney fee), and special qualifiers that use Bodog Points.

Full Tilt has offered $10M to any of their players that qualify for the WSOP main event and wins it. They are running hundreds of satellite tournaments each week, including the Race to the Main Event Giveaway, the 150-Seat Main Event Guarantee, the $200 Tuesday Main Event Guarantee, the $300 Wednesday Main Event Guarantee, the $1K Thursday Main Event Guarantee, and the $500 Sunday Main Event Guarantee.

Final table to be played out on November 9th, four months after the start date of the WSOP. Johnny Chan likes the idea. What do you think?

In a press conference to be held later today, World Series of Poker and Harrah’s officials are expected to announce a major change to the way the final table at the Main Event is played out. It is expected that they will push to suspend final table play in mid-July and then resume action four months later on Sunday, Nov. 9th. (ESPN will be broadcasting the Main Event/final table two days later, Nov. 11, at 9 p.m.)

Although it hasn’t been made official yet, it’s as good as done and there’s already been plenty of feedback on the move to delay action. You gotta wonder what that’ll do for players riding a hot streak during play leading up to the final table.

“Poker is a game of skill. The hands are random. … It’s how you play your hand. I don’t believe in hot streaks,” Poker pro Johnny Chan says.

“It might be huge for the continued growth of poker; however, the down side is this long gap allows the players to become completely different people between the time they make the final table and when they play it,” says poker pro Greg Raymer.

What do you think of the change? Let me know…

It’s not hard to find a chance to win a seat to the WSOP main event. Not only is every online poker room offering them, but most land-based casinos are offering some type of satellite action. Lots of companies are using the WSOP brand to sell their products, and dangling a WSOP package as their prize.

PokerStars has a ridiculous amount of WSOP satellite action. They even have a freeroll promotion where you can win your way to Vegas by winning your way up levels until you win the main event ticket.

BodogLife Poker has satellite qualifiers for $1.50, which are played every day at 2:30 am ET and also at 9:30 pm ET. These cheap satellites are also played every day at 10 am ET, except on Wednesdays.

A good site from which to get your satellite info is  http://www.wsop-satellites.com/. They keep a current list of WSOP satellites.

The $50,000 HORSE event is one step closer to becoming the premier event at the WSOP. The WSOP has announced that the dates of the event have been changed from noon on Sunday, June 22, and is now set to begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 25. That displaces the $2,500 buy-in 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball contest originally scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. June 25, which is now set to start at noon on June 22.

The move was made so that ESPN could increase the coverage for the event. The poker community would like to see this event become the true championship for the best all-around poker player, and increased coverage is one step toward that. ESPN is expected to begin airing coverage of the HORSE event sometime in July. The WSOP schedule will run from May 30 through July 16, 2008, and will include 55 bracelet tournaments and satellites.

Randy Couture, the UFC heavyweight champion (aka “The Natural”) who recently resigned from Dana White’s hugely popular MMA organization, is set to host a charity poker tournament on January 12, 2008 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in (where else?) Las Vegas.

Jamie Gold, the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, and Dean Cain, the actor who starred as Superman in the popular television series “Lois and Clark”, have signed on to be part of the field in “Operation All In”.

With a buy-in of only $550 “Operation All-In” is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event with a guaranteed prize pool. The goal? To raise money for the Xtreme Couture GI Foundation, a non-profit founded by Randy and Kim Couture to honor the veterans of America’s armed forces. Its goal is to raise money and awareness for those wounded in action and their families.

For more information on how to participate in this charity tournament or how to donate to Couture’s non-profit, please visit his website.

The 2008 WSOP has a couple of changes from last year. There will be seven $10,000 World Championship events in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em; Seven-Card Stud; Limit Hold’em; Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight or Better; Pot-Limit Omaha; and a new Mixed Event. The dates of the 2008 WSOP are near the same, running from May 30 to July 16. WSOP officials plan a “soft opening” of the tournament room on May 28 for players to register early and play in satellite tournaments and cash games.

The first $1500 no-limit tournament now has two starting days, May 31 and June 1, because of the immense popularity of the event in 2007. Gone are the tents, and Harrahs promises to have everyone inside this year. On July 2, Annie Duke will host the second annual Ante up for Africa Charity Tournament.

For the complete schedule of event dates and times just visit  http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/tourneyDetails.asp?groupID=411

Joe Hachem was born in Lebanon but grew up in Melbourne Australia. After spending years in a successful chiropractic practice he developed a rare condition that prevented him from using his hands. Lucky for him it gave him the opportunity to take cards more seriously. Now this guy is a top notch pro poker player. Dreams do come true. Joe is most noted for being the 2005 WSOP champion which handed him the prize of $7.5 million. Watch the interview with Joe Hachem here.