With the PCA over and the Aussie Millions well underway the live tournament circuit is in full swing for 2012, meaning there’s never been a better time for a new set of snap judgments.
Today we tip our hats to Phil Ivey, the Crown Casino and old-timer Johnny Hughes while giving a stern wag of our collective finger to Sander Berndsen, the latest tournament series at the Beau Rivage and Jamie Gold’s latest piece of self-marketing.
Don’t move a muscle, this is the In and Out List.
Poker’s In List: January 16-22, 2012
Phil Ivey for Finally Playing a Tournament: IN
With one small exception in Macau, Phil Ivey has been MIA from the live poker world since he announced he’d be skipping the WSOP back in June of 2011.
This week in Australia, however, he got himself back in action and back in front of our camera. Ivey played the $100,000 Super High Roller and ended up bubbling the final table yesterday.
Luckily the finale is stacked with big names, led by Gus Hansen and rounded out by Joe Hachem, Dan Smith, Sorel Mizzi, Nam Le, Tony G and Sam Trickett.
Check out photos from the Aussie Millions $100k event right here.
Crown Casino, Melbourne: IN
PokerListings.com has been all over and there’s hardly a casino in the world where we haven’t set up our traveling media headquarters. That said, the Crown Casino is In this week for consistently topping that long list in terms of location, facilities and hospitality.
The Crown Casino in Melbourne enjoys a spot among PokerListings.com's favorite poker locations in the world.
We’re from Canada, which means in January things are looking white and cold through the PokerListings office window.
The PCA in the Bahamas is okay to kick things off, but the real winter-summer hits us when we get off the plane in Melbourne.
It may sound like a shameless plug to make sure we continue getting comped at the Crown but it also happens to be true.
The Aussie Millions is always huge and PokerListings.com is on location as we speak. Keep an eye on our 2012 Aussie Millions main event live updates and news for all the action.
Johnny Hughes for Being Super Old and Remembering Things: IN
Johnny Hughes has been regaling the Two Plus Two community for years with stories of days long past and even though the stories may have hints of factual inaccuracy, you have to admit he remembers a lot of stuff from a really long time ago.
His latest post, and the one that gets him a spot on this week’s In List, tells of recently passed R&B legend Etta James having been the daughter of legendary gambler and pool player Minnesota Fats. The resemblance is indeed striking and based on circumstance, it’s entirely possible.
Read the account via Johnny Hughes’ latest forum thread.
Poker’s Out List: January 16-22, 2012
The Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater for Tiny Prize Pools: OUT
Call us cynical but you should make more than $40k winning two prelims at a legit live poker series these days. That’s how much Joe Tehan profited after two wins this past week at the Beau Rivage’s so-called Million Dollar Heater.
Joe Tehan takes down two prelims in Biloxi, too bad no one showed up.
Jonathan Little also won two events and fared little better. We point to economic depression in the area pricing most of the locals out of the action, while bigger events like the PCA and Aussie Millions luring away the US circuit pros that may have otherwise attended.
We’ve been to the Beau and played in the poker room and we can tell you, there’s value to be had in Mississippi, not to mention a waffle house on every corner.
As a bonus it’s Biloxi so you can re-enact your favorite scenes from Biloxi Blues on location.
Sander “Berndsen12” Berndsen for losing $558k: OUT
This week in nosebleed online poker saw big winners, but even bigger losers. Dutch pro Sander Berndsen topped that list, out of pocket some $558,000.
That’s about eight times the average household annual income in the US.
Berndsen is still up over $300k so far in 2012 but another downswing like he experienced this week could quickly change that.
Click here for a full rundown of the Top 10 Weekly Online Poker Winners/Losers.
Advertising for $1,000/hour Coaching with a Sign Like This: OUT
Friend of PL.com Dan Michalski over at Pokerati.com posted a picture from the Jamie Gold poker room at the Tropicana. That’s right, $1,000 an hour to be coached by the 2006 world champion of poker.
Right off the bat we’re calling this whole thing Out since they decided to advertise via a sign that looks like it was printed on Jamie’s home computer. And not even any clipart to spruce it up.
We’re not even going to get into whether Jamie Gold’s time as a poker mentor is worth $1,000 an hour, but let’s just say you’d be better off spending that $1,000 investing in actual gold than Jamie Gold.
