Vince Van Patten on the Silver Screen

I have just read an article about the upcoming poker film called Deal, it just started filming in New Orleans and it looks like it will be a great poker film. It is the first film to feature the World Series of Poker and it’s on-air-talent including newly signed babe Courtney Friel, veteran card shark Mike Sexton and Hollywood Poker’s Vince Van Patten.

As great as it is having the WPT folks on the big screen, most people will be in the movie theatre to see Deal's stars, screen legend Burt Reynolds and newcomer Bret Harrison. Reynolds will play a veteran poker pro who takes a young college student under his wing and teaches him how to play your opponents and not the cards. Everything works out well for Harrison’s character, a little too well and Reynolds must face his protégé at the World Series Of Poker.

That’s where the movie gets interesting for poker players like you and me. The World Poker Tour staff will offer their colorful commentary on the mock game. There will also be a appearances by poker greats like Shannon Elizabeth, WPT stars Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiar .

You could even be in the movie yourself, all you have to do is play in the 2006 WPT World Championship and in addition to winning the big prize you could be in a movie with Burt Reynolds.

The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic Update

Sunday, a day for relaxing, sleeping in and of course playing poker. Yep, it was a The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic and as usual I made my way to the poker tables. I got to talk to Jon Kelley, one of the co-anchors of the Extra. I included a screen shot of this conversation on this post.

Jon Kelley was a really cool guy, he answered everyone’s questions and was really active in the chat during the whole tournament and he seems like an average guy. Another big name in the weekend tournament was WPT host and Hollywood Poker’s own Vince Van Patten. I got to ask Vince a couple questions and from what he told me it sounds like there will be some exciting things happening in the World Poker Tour this season.

As you may have noticed I haven’t really mentioned how well I did at poker during the tournament. Well there is a reason for that, I got knocked out fairly early. Usually I have a good bad beat story, but I basically just played sloppy and lost.

I did manage to do the impossible yesterday, I got a Royal Flush. I really didn’t make much money off of it, mostly because I didn’t want anyone to fold. It was still pretty cool and it was exciting. I know a lot of you probably don’t believe me, I tried to take a screen shot of the moment, but did not press the keys in time.

Anyways, that was my weekend in poker. Looking back on it the conversation with Jon Kelley and Vince Patten was worth busting out of the tournament early, plus the Royal Flush helped too. Remember, if you liked reading about my experience playing poker against stars, you can do the same by playing online poker at Hollywood Poker.

View image in full size.

The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic Update

Sunday, a day for relaxing, sleeping in and of course playing poker. Yep, it was a The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic day and as usual I made my way to the poker tables. I got to talk to Jon Kelley, one of the co-anchors of the Extra. I included a screen shot of this conversation on this post.

Jon Kelley was a really cool guy, he answered everyone’s questions and was really active in the chat during the whole tournament and he seems like an average guy. Another big name in the weekend tournament was WPT host and Hollywood Poker’s own Vince Van Patten. I got to ask Vince a couple questions and from what he told me it sounds like there will be some exciting things happening in the World Poker Tour this season.

As you may have noticed I haven’t really mentioned how well I did at poker during the tournament. Well there is a reason for that, I got knocked out fairly early. Usually I have a good bad beat story, but I basically just played sloppy and lost.

I did manage to do the impossible yesterday, I got a Royal Flush. I really didn’t make much money off of it, mostly because I didn’t want anyone to fold. It was still pretty cool and it was exciting. I know a lot of you probably don’t believe me, I tried to take a screen shot of the moment, but did not press the keys in time.

Anyways, that was my weekend in poker. Looking back on it the conversation with Jon Kelley and Vince Patten was worth busting out of the tournament early, plus the Royal Flush helped too. Remember, if you liked reading about my experience playing poker against stars, you can do the same by playing online poker at Hollywood Poker.

View image in full size.

The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic Update

Sunday, a day for relaxing, sleeping in and of course playing poker. Yep, it was a The Hollywood Poker Celebrity Classic and as usual I made my way to the poker tables. I got to talk to Jon Kelley, one of the co-anchors of the Extra. I included a screen shot of this conversation on this post.

Jon Kelley was a really cool guy, he answered everyone’s questions and was really active in the chat during the whole tournament and he seems like an average guy. Another big name in the weekend tournament was WPT host and Hollywood Poker’s own Vince Van Patten. I got to ask Vince a couple questions and from what he told me it sounds like there will be some exciting things happening in the World Poker Tour this season.

As you may have noticed I haven’t really mentioned how well I did at poker during the tournament. Well there is a reason for that, I got knocked out fairly early. Usually I have a good bad beat story, but I basically just played sloppy and lost.

I did manage to do the impossible yesterday, I got a Royal Flush. I really didn’t make much money off of it, mostly because I didn’t want anyone to fold. It was still pretty cool and it was exciting. I know a lot of you probably don’t believe me, I tried to take a screen shot of the moment, but did not press the keys in time.

Anyways, that was my weekend in poker. Looking back on it the conversation with Jon Kelley and Vince Patten was worth busting out of the tournament early, plus the Royal Flush helped too. Remember, if you liked reading about my experience playing poker against stars, you can do the same by playing online poker at Hollywood Poker.

Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker Looks Interesting

I read about interesting idea for a poker show that the Fox Sports Network is putting together. The show is called Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker and it follows the day-to-day activities of various poker players. There’s a wide range of poker players on the show, they include professional players, celebrity players and of course online poker players. This should make for an interesting show.

No poker show would be complete without a poker game and Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker will feature a poker game at the end of each episode, the prize for the final game is for $500,000.

The show will be hosted by the creator of Bodog Calvin Ayre and will have Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam and recording artist Nazanin hosting alongside with him.

There will be stars on the show like Josh Malina (West Wing), Willie Garson (Sex in the City), Jennifer Tilley, musician Willa Ford and Ultimate Fighting Champ Chuck "Iceman" Liddell. There will also be poker professionals like Phil Laak, all of whom are competing for the same prize with everyday online poker players like you and me. This will make for some interesting poker.

I like the idea of the show, they are doing something that no one has really done with a poker show by letting the camera follow these 40 poker players during their everyday life. There are a lot of people like me who wonder what it is like to be a pro poker player and now we may have an idea.

Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker is going the be a weekly three-hour-show, I have to say that I was kind of surprised when I saw the length of the show, but it should still be good.

Anyways, I thought I would pass on the word and if you get a chance you should really check out Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker.

How To Decode The Da Vinci Code

There has been a lot of attention on the Da Vinci Code over the last couple years, but there has been a lot of attention lately on Dan Brown’s novel for other reasons.

It was interesting last night when I was flipping through the channels and every channel had something on about the legal battle started by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, the authors of the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Like most of you I have read the Da Vinci Code and I have to admit that I have not read the Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but from what I have heard this whole legal battle is a little too much.

Brown did research Holy Blood, Holy Grail while writing the Da Vinci Code. I have heard that there are references to its authors on Brown’s website and there are characters in the novel named after the previous book’s authors.

This is all about money if you ask me. The Da Vinci Code has been a huge success and there is an upcoming big budget film starring Tom Hanks based on the book, they are saying that they may have to delay or block the film adaptation's release because of these problems.

Most authors are also huge readers. I really don’t think there has ever been a book written without the influence of another author. A book like the Da Vinci Code is loaded with plenty of religious theory and Holy Blood, Holy Grail was a good source for the information. Ironically enough both of the books are published by the same company, Random House.

The Da Vinci Code was a great book and provided many water cooler discussions and I really hate to see a novel like this get questioned for plagiarism, especially with the arguments I have heard.

The Story of the Bad Beat

Every person you speak to will tell you that they have suffered the worst bad beat in the history of poker. I know that I have been on the short end of some bad beats, but by no means would say that mine are the most traumatic.

I think at the end of the day it all works out for me. I have fluked out on more pots than those lost on a bad beat. The worst bad beat that has happened to me in recent time occurred during the weekend.

It was far into the game and I had a slight chip lead, enough for people realize I was having a good game. I was dealt pocket queens, everyone wanted to pay to see the blind so I made it as cheap as possible for everyone to see some cards. The tables showed low rags nothing that really helped me, but it seemed like there were no cards on the table that could hurt me. This time I made a small bet, to my surprise it was matched with an all-in call by the person sitting beside me. This early in the game there was no way that I was going to fold my hand and I called his bet.

I flopped down my pair of ladies and looked across the table to see a seven and three, off-suited. What was he thinking? I knew he now had a pair of threes, but come on. As you could probably imagine the next card flipped was another three, this gave my opponent three of a kind and allowed him to take most of my chips.

Whenever someone beats me, I try to be a good sport, but in this case it was hard.

Like I said before, I am sure that many of you have had bad beat stories, that’s one of my many and I am sure there will be more to come.

It's Time For The Oscar Awards

Well the 2006 Academy Award nominations were announced and I really don’t think there were any big surprises. Looking through the nominations this year reminds you of the nominations for the other big awards show the Golden Globes.

Most people are saying that Brokeback Mountain will do well at this year’s awards with movies like Walk the Line, Good Night, and Good Luck and Capote getting some award attention in their direction.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Daily Show host Jon Stewart hosting the show. I think that his style of comedy may not be what a lot of the Oscar’s faithful viewers are use to.

As you can tell by reading my blog, I am a fan of award shows and I am a fan of poker. I am trying to get some of my friends to make some friendly wagers with me on the Oscars. I’m picking Brokeback Mountain to win best picture and I’m thinking that Walk the Line will win a couple of acting trophies.

Anyways feel free to write your picks for Oscar winners in the Movie Star Poker guest book and we’ll see if your right!

I was on a roll last night, no one could stop me. I just kept getting the right cards and making the right calls. It was crazy, it was my best game of poker and I was enjoying every moment of it. During the whole game it seemed like I could not make a bad call. If I wanted to bluff a hand I scared people away with little effort, when I wanted them to play, people went all-in with me.

It got to the point where I was taking out players two, sometimes three at a time and their chips kept getting added to my stack.

As great of game as I had last night, I know the reality behind it. I know that the next game I play, the cards will not like me in any way. When you have a good game like I had you should start preparing for a bad streak to hit you. Poker seems to always equal out like that when it comes to streaks.

By the end of the game last night I was just having fun against the people at my table. I was making all-in calls with nothing better than a seven and a two pre-flop and I just watched everyone around me fold and they were most likely folding hands that were better than mine. I basically just played the way other people play against me when their stack towers over mine.

Anyways that’s poker for you, when you have a game like I had last night you just have to be realistic about it and realize that tomorrow is a new day.