Tobey Maguire Sued by Brad Ruderman's Investors For Being a Way Better Poker Player Than Ruderman

Tobey Maguire imitating Ruderman's investors.

Tobey Maguire is being sued because apparently he is a bit of a shark at an exclusive Hollywood home poker game.

Brad Ruderman - bad investor, bad poker player, bad person

Brad Ruderman was operating a $5.2 million Ponzi scheme, and because this happens to be illegal, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Ruderman was a regular loser at the Hollywood home game that Maguire played at and now the investors are coming after Maguire as they say he won $300 000 off Ruderman. In fact they contend that the Spiderman star made a cool million every month over the course of 3 years.  Nice!  Other notable players that played in the bi-weekly *home game include: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nick Cassavetes, Gabe Kaplan and Rick Salomon.

The reason the investors feel they can sue Maguire is because they claim that he has no right to the winnings because the games were held illegally and without permits.

Wanna see Maguire's poker face when confronted by TMZ?

Tobey Maguire -- Poker Face

Tobey Maguire has just responded by including with his legal documents, copies of checks he wrote to Ruderman, proving that he lost money to Ruderman in the game as well as won.  The investors would have done well to check this kind of thing out before wasting more money in the courts.

How awesome is it that Tobey Maguire has 2 checking accounts dedicated to poker?

To view the court documents filed by Tobey Maguire, as posted by TMZ, follow this link.

* OK - the "home" was really the luxury Beverly Hills Hotel, The Four Seasons and The legendary Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard.

Poker in Music; Marcel Luske - "The Poker Song"

It has been some time since I've played on PokerStars, but now that Full Tilt is off-line, I jumped on over to play a few hands the other night.  In the middle of a couple of Fifty50 sit & gos,  I wandered over to the store to see what my few fpp could get me.

Lo and behold, there it was in all it's unpurchased glory, More Than Just a Game by (apparently more than just a poker player), Marcel "The Flying Dutchman" Luske.

Far be it for me to bash one man's childhood dream.

*awkward silence

For those that are not aware of Marcel, he is the dapper dressed Dutch poker pro with impressive lifetime earnings.  He is known for his high finishes in several of the WSOP Main Events (14th in 2003 and 10th in 2004).  He is also the only man at the table wearing a tie and wearing his sunglasses upside-down.  It is to Marcel Luske as the that bloody shark is to Humberto Brenes.

For those that have read this far, you might as well go all the way and watch the YouTube video below of Marcel Luske.

Before this post creates a spike in PokerStars' new North American users, I feel I should inform you that this piece of pressed gold is available only to the European players.  Call your local governmental representatives to complain or to thank them.

Poll Results

Well, you Dippers didn't want to dedicate any of our precious home game time to feeder tournaments for the Manitoba Lotteries Poker Open.  There were not a lot of votes, and I think a lot of people are going to wait until a little closer to October to see if they can make any of the tournaments.

WOULD YOU PLAY IF WE HELD SATELLITES FOR THE MANITOBA LOTTERIES POKER CHAMPIONSHIP IN OCTOBER?

October 27 - 30, 2011

For more information on the Manitoba Lotteries Poker Championship, follow this link.

There is another poll posted, go vote on your favourite female poker player in the new tournament bracket poll.

Separated at Birth; Lemon vs Alan from The Hangover (Zach Galifianakis)

LEMON vs ALAN from THE HANGOVER

One of regulars submitted this next edition of "separated at birth".

OK, it was Lemon.

Lemon vs Alan from The Hangover

Many of you have witnessed Lemon's attempted re-creation of parts of The Hangover.  If there was a poker edition of the franchise, I do believe that the lone wolf, Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis would end up asking "How do you want me to play that?  I'm just not good enough to lay that down".

Pass The Dip presents a bobble-head edition of Separated at Birth.  Do they look alike?  Just nod your head over and over and over and over and over.....

Full Tilt / Alderney Gambling Control Commission Hearing Update

Today was the day set for the hearing regarding the Alderney Gambling Control Commission's decision to suspend the license for Full Tilt poker, which resulted in the shut down of its operations on June 29th, 2011.

The hearing was open to the public but the lawyer for Full Tilt, Martin Heslop, started by requesting that he wished to speak to the Commission's representatives in private before the hearing got underway.  He stated that the because they were involved in negotiations with new investors, Full Tilt believed that the open forum would create negative publicity that would be detrimental to the potential deal.  It is believed that behind closed doors, they intended to ask for a adjournment to the licensing hearing, to allow for the continued negotiations with the new investors.

It was widely reported, including in this blog, that a deal had been reached with these investors, but that is not yet the case.  There is speculation that the investors are only interested in acquiring Full Tilt's European business and that the deal is close to completion.  

The commission privately discussed this request, and a private meeting with Full Tilt was granted.

After lengthy negotiations it was announced that the hearing would be adjourned and will reconvene no later than September 15, 2011.  This was being done in the interest of justice and in the interest of the Full Tilt players so that Full Tilt can pursue its advanced investment negotiations which hopefully will lead to a positive outcome for those players.

_____________________________________________

In related Full Tilt news, Phil Gordon's representatives have confirmed that he has obtained a voluntary dismissal from the class action lawsuit against several people within Full Tilt as well as the company itself.  The dismissal was granted because Gordon never participated in any management decisions or operational roles at Full Tilt.

Phil Gordon released the following statement "I have always held myself to the highest standards of conduct.  As part of that, I have repeatedly emphasized that Full Tilt should repay the US players as quickly as possible."

Phil Gordon

Poker Lesson; Saving Money By Making Adjustments

I just received an e-mail in my inbox that just about killed me!  I'll let it explain itself...

From: CTrach <candctrachliveriesandlivestock@mts.net>

Date: July 26, 2011 7:03:49 PM CDT

Subject: You're gonna luv this!!!

Yo C,

Check out this picture I took of Kramper at his office today.  It's gonna KILL him that I told you about this, but can you do the good DR. a favour and see if anyone will take him up on this?

I would but I haven't played in years, and I'd totally suck!

TTYL

That is AWESOME!!!!  I don't even know where to start with this one.  Life just threw me a softball!!

Well buddy, I think that you should go ahead and teach him, it sounds like a fair trade.  LOL

From the Vault - October 30th, 2008 - 2008 WSOD Event 4 - Razz

Another "From the Vault entry from 2008.  In honour of my recent posting for the rules of Razz, I am giving you a few pictures from our first and only Razz tournament and the cash game that followed.

I vividly remember that Big Stack had this mildly entertained look on his face the entire game, which I've never seen him do at poker before or after.

I expected a little more RAZZle-Dazzle out of Bridesmaid Bobby.   

X brought his own abacus - now you know why his math is usually off

This is an abacus that hasn't been smashed around like X's

Yeah the card is from the bottom, what's the big deal?

Mike knows he is the front runner for any game where the worst hand wins.

Spanky took a deep breath, and blew it.

The 3 best of the worst.

It looks like my 2 chips are just enough for the toll on Mike's Great Wall of China-chips.

Whoever took this picture is cut off.

Mike wins Razz - Everything in the world is right again!

Tom and Joe, not from 92 CITI FM

X is a shadowy figure.

I don't seem to recall why there are 18 chips on the table between all the players.  Strange indeed.  Hordyk must have a huge stack hidden behind Joffa, although it is unlikely...

Well the cash game was kind of smallish but did get bigger once the tournament finished, although I stopped taking pictures at this point.  The tournament was fun and happens to be the only stud game that we've played in the WSOD to date, although we will try and add another one very soon.

I hope you enjoyed the blast from the past...

Poker Games: Razz

RAZZ

The objective of Razz is simple, you want to make the best low hand to win the pot.  Straights and flushes don't count for or against you, so don't even look for them.  This is a seven card stud game, which means unlike Hold 'em or Omaha, there are no community (or shared) cards, each player plays what they have been dealt.  Aces are always low.

I will use a 25 / 50 Limit Razz game to explain how the game is played.

ANTE: Every player must ante before the cards are dealt.  This is usually 1/5th the small bet, $5 in our example.

Each player is dealt 2 cards face down and 1 face up.

BRING IN: The player with the highest card has to "bring in" or make the first bet.  If multiple players have the same high card, the one closest to the dealer brings in.  The bring in is 1/5th the small bet, in this case $5.  This money counts towards any raises in this round.

BETTING: There are 5 betting rounds.  After the first 3 cards are dealt, there is a betting round, then a betting round occurs after the 4th card, after the 5th card and after the 6th card are each dealt face down and again after the 7th and last card is dealt face up.  The first 3 rounds are equal to the small bet ($25) and the last 2 rounds are equal to the big bet ($50).  This is a limit game and each round caps at 3 bets.

WHO WINS:  Following the last betting round each player still in the pot will have their cards in front of them with; the first 2 cards face up, the next 4 cards face up and their last card face down.  The player who made the last bet shows their cards first.  The player with the lowest hand wins the pot.

To figure out who wins, you look at each players highest of the 5 cards they are playing and work your way down to the lowest.  For example Q-J-10-7-5 is better than K-4-3-2-A

THE TOP 5 HANDS IN RAZZ:


    
    
    
    
    

Poker in Music - Prahlad Friedman - "In the Main Event" (with bonus Manny Pacquiao - "Sometimes When We Touch")

In the 2009 World Series of Poker, this little piece of Prahlad Friedman magic made a splashed the pot of the poker world...

Maybe some people are meant to do only one thing really really good.  Take for instance Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest boxers ever.  His latest music single was promoted this past father's day as "the perfect father's day gift".  Listen, and tell me how wrong that is.

Harman vs. Rousso - Favourite Female Poker Pro

This is the first matchup in our Favourite Female Poker Player Tournament Bracket.

To vote, look for the poll on the right side of the page.

Jennifer Harman

Harman is a highly skilled and respected poker pro who is married to poker pro Marco Traniello.  She has won 2 bracelets at the World Series of Poker and has 26 cashes.  She is the only female poker pro that was part of "The Corporation" that played billionaire Texan Andy Beal in poker games with blinds up to $50,000 / $100,000.  She is also the only female player that regularly plays in "The Big Game" at the Bellagio.  She has numerous poker accomplishments and is regarded as one of the best players in the history of the game.

Vanessa Rousso

Rousso is only 27 and is already among the top 5 women in all time poker winnings.  She is a dual citizen of both the United States and France and is married to poker pro Chad Brown.  She is recognized as one of the game's sexiest players and has had plenty of endorsement opportunities including GoDaddy.com.  She is also known for her brilliant mind and has excelled at all of her academic pursuits.  Her graduation from Duke with a major in economics and a minor in political science in 2 1/2 years was the shortest time to graduate in the history of Duke.  Rousso's aggressive style at the poker table has given her great results such as her 2nd place finish in the 2009 Heads-Up Championship where she lost to Huck Seed after beating Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.


Who is your favourite?  Go and vote!


For the full tournament bracket, click here.