Cape man pursues glory in World Series of Poker starting Sunday

From The Press of Atlantic City

“I came in on the third day and wiped off a table and left it too wet,” Cannuli, now 23, said with a laugh. “My dad (also named Tom) got really mad at me, so I walked out and decided to dedicate myself to being a poker player. I started with $400 playing online, and by the end of that summer, I had turned it into $200,000. I haven’t worked another job in my life.” 

Now, the 2010 Lower Cape May Regional High School graduate is on the brink of poker stardom. He’s among nine players at the final table for the World Series of Poker’s No-Limit Hold’em Main Event at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

The tournament, which began in July with more than 6,400 players, will determine its 2015 champion today through Tuesday. ESPN and ESPN2 will provide live TV coverage. 

The winner will earn more than $7.68 million and a coveted WSOP bracelet.

New lawsuit in Borgata poker scandal

From The Press of Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY – An alleged cheating scandal during the 2014 Winter Open poker tournament at the Borgata casino has led to a second lawsuit.

Six poker players have filed a lawsuit, alleging that the casino did not properly monitor and run the tournament and that the payout to remaining players after the tournament was halted was insufficient.

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The suit alleges that Lusardi was able to enter fake chips into play because the casino had moved some tables to an overflow room that was not properly monitored.

A state investigation found that Borgata properly monitored the tournament and was not at fault. 

Read the rest of the story here.

Big summer ahead for Bally's new WSOP-themed poker room

From Casino City Times:

Early on a Thursday afternoon in late April, the new World Series of Poker room at Bally's Atlantic City's Wild Wild West casino felt a bit empty. The 42-table room, which also features a large section for tournaments and an additional, closed-off "high limit" area, had six live cash games running. It was quiet.

To its credit, the WSOP room has remained fluid since it opened in late February.

"The traffic's been pretty steady," said Dan Morelli, who manages poker for Caesars Entertainment's Atlantic City properties. "We don't go dark at all, and our weekend tournaments are starting to gain some traction."

Check out the rest of the Casino City Times story here.

It would be nice to see the poker scene in Atlantic City come back to life, but a number of rooms have shut down over the last year, and the Pennsylvania market has taken a big chunk out of Atlantic City. Summers may be good because there are more people in AC, but it's hard to think that the casinos will ever bounce back.

Kevin Stammen wins WPT Championship

From the Borgata Blog:

Kevin Stammen took home his biggest payday ever winning the WPT Championship and $1.3 million. Stammen, of Coldwater, Ohio and no stranger to the Borgata Poker Room, runs his total tournament winnings to $3.6 million.

To see the full story and the final table, click here.

Borgata to host 2014 WPT Championship

From Tight Poker:

The World Poker Tour (WPT) 2014 Championship will be played at Atlantic City for the first time. For the past 12 years, the Las Vegas based Bellagio casino used to host it, but this year, it will be played in New Jersey’s Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa.

Tom Ballance, president of the Borgata, said: “With online gaming and the popularity of the Borgata brand, the center of gravity of poker is moving to New Jersey.” The WPT’s decision to shift venues does indicate that Atlantic City has become more popular after the Garden State legalized online gambling in Nov 2013. Most of the gambling companies that sponsor professional live poker events have partnered with land casinos in Atlantic City. Party Poker is the host of the WPT 2014 Championship event, and Bwin.party, which is a partner of Borgata’s online gambling site, owns the company. 

Read the rest of the story from Tight Poker here.

AP: Borgata to use new hi-tech chips

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A cheating scandal at an Atlantic City casino poker tournament has led to new security measures being put in place, including high-tech chips.

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa tells The Associated Press it is using new chips for its Spring Open poker tournament.

They are more intricate, have more colors, and include an authentication element that can be checked using ultraviolet light.

Borgata vice president Joe Lupo tells the AP the changes are "very expensive but very necessary."
The casino was forced to suspend an event at its Winter Open in January after suspicions that someone introduced counterfeit chips.

A North Carolina man was arrested on charges including theft and rigging a public contest.

An investigation continues, and $1.5 million in prize money is still on hold.

WSOP National Championships to be played at Bally's Atlantic City

From Poker News:

The World Series of Poker Circuit, currently in its 10th season, will culminate at the new WSOP-branded Bally’s Atlantic City poker room from May 22-24, 2014 with the fourth-annual National Championship. The tournament will be recorded for future broadcast on ESPN, and will also award a WSOP gold bracelet to the winner.   

Read more from Poker News:

Ante Up: We need to stand strong for poker world

From Ante Up:

That’s part of the game, and it’s part of why we love it so much.
But in the “poker industry,” there is no room for lies or deception. Not even if we cleverly describe them as “bluffs.”
This new year is barely two months old, and we’ve seen counterfeit chips introduced to a major Atlantic City tournament, a poker personality sentenced to probation for what police say was fishing dealer tips out of a toke box with chopsticks and top Scandinavian players’ laptops stolen and infected with a virus that exposes their hole cards online.
We urge the poker community — all of us — to strongly and publicly condemn crimes like these. Doing anything otherwise is a threat to the future of the game we love.
Most us want to see the game of poker expand. We want to see it expand online beyond the three states that allow it. But we face a chorus of opposition that says the game can’t be trusted.

Read the full article from Ante Up here.