Read MoreThe best Italian restaurant in Las Vegas is…
….Olive Garden.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the annual “Readers Choice Awards” released yesterday, Olive Garden was voted as the “Best Italian Restaurant” in Las Vegas.” This appeared in the 2013 edition of the “Best of Las Vegas” section.
Excuse me for a moment.
Bwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
It’s Veterans Day 2012.
Today at Harveys Lake Tahoe, “Captain” Tom Franklin sang the National Anthem. He’s a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War. Franklin has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. He’s also a World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner.
One thing is for sure. It takes real guts to enlist and then serve in combat, as Franklin did. It also take courage to stand up in front of 500 people and sing the National Anthem without any musical accompaniment.
Here’s a video of my introduction of Franklin, followed by his rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
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Here’s a two-minute video clip of the final hand of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship.
While ESPN does a remarkable job in its coverage, this video shows what it’s like to sit in the audience and watch poker history unfold.
The film quality is average, but viewers get a pretty good glimpse into the excitement of the room that night, and how the crowd reacted at the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio Las Vegas. This was shot at about 4:45 am on Oct. 31, 2012.
When I shot this video, I was positioned directly behind second-place finisher Jesse Sylvia’s supporters, who predictably had a much more subdued reaction to the final hand. The bulk of Merson’s supporters are in the foreground and swarm the stage at the moment of victory.
For more details, please see: OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE 2012 WSOP MAIN EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
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The short-lived Players Television Network debuted at the 2005 World Series of Poker.
I was asked to moderate two panel discussions, which were later broadcast via “On Demand.” The first show was on the late-great poker legend, Stu Ungar.
The second show (featured here) was a panel discussion about the business of online poker.
I wasn’t at all prepared to assume the role of moderator. I recall leaving the rigors of my job at the WSOP for an hour or so, getting abruptly fitted with a microphone, and then walking out and taking a seat in front of a live studio audience and rolling television cameras with no script.
The good thing about the unrehearsed format is that everything was spontaneous. The bad thing is the show could have been much crisper had I been prepared. Looking back now, I certainly would have asked more penetrating questions than what appears here.
Fortunately, the three guests who appeared on the online poker segment were outstanding. Tony Cabot (one of the world’s top legal experts on online gambling), Mike Sexton (then a consultant to PartyPoker), and Dan Goldman (then a consultant to PokerStars) were all in top form.
Even though this discussion might seem dated now seven years later, it holds up remarkably well over time. Many of the things discussed that day have happened, just as predicted.
Here’s that panel discussion from 2005 that runs about 40 minutes in length.
The following interview was conducted on September 30, 2012, in front of the Hotel La Majestic Barriere in Cannes, France. Swedish writer and journalist Rikard Aberg is one of the game’s most inquisitive interviewers, as can be seen in this exchange.
I like Aberg’s style which is largely conversational. He asks about several subjects — including health and fitness, goals and aspirations, Stu Ungar, and of course — the future of WSOP Europe.
These videos — of myself, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Hellmuth, Steve Dannenman, Brandon Cantu, and others are posted at a Swedish-language site. They will also be available at PokerTube shortly.
This video runs for about 17 minutes.
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