Sat., March 6, starting at 10 a.m., celebrities and poker pros will mingle at Caesars Palace to play poker for NBC’s Heads-Up Poker Championship. Slated to play are Don Cheadle, Orel Hershiser, Jennifer Tilly, Annie Duke, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chen, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.
You’re welcome to get out of bed early and try to see the spectacle on a first-come, first-served basis.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news
A 21-year-old Michigan poker professional who chose cards over college won the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas early today, winning $8.55 million and becoming the youngest player to win the tournament in its 40-year history. 
Joe Cada of Shelby Township, Mich., turned over a pair of nines early after 46-year old Darvin Moon called his all-in wager with a suited queen-jack, setting up an about-even race for most of the chips on the table.
But a board of two sevens, a king, an eight and a deuce didn’t connect with either player’s cards and gave Cada the win.
“I ran really well and I never really thought this was possible,” Cada said. “It was one of those dreams and I’m thankful it came true.”
The hand abruptly ended a final table that saw Moon, a logger from western Maryland, bounce back to a dominant chip lead after being down 2-1 in chips to start the night.
“I knew if I could catch, I got him,” Moon said of the final hand. “I just took a shot.”
Cada broke a record for the tournament’s youngest winner set last year by Peter Eastgate of Denmark. Cada is 340 days younger than Eastgate.
The record was previously held for two decades by 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who posed for pictures with Cada after the win.
When asked what’s next for him after reaching the pinnacle for poker so early in his career, Cada said: “To win it back-to-back.”
Moon and Cada traded the lead several times in 88 hands spanning nearly three hours of play, with one 20-minute break.
Moon won $5.18 million for second place.
“I only play good when my back’s against the wall,” said Cada, who was nearly ousted from the tournament on Saturday when he held about 1 percent of the chips in play after 123 hands.
The players traded chips atop a table with a stack of cash and a gold bracelet on its felt, and in front of nearly 1,500 screaming fans in a capacity crowd at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Their tug-of-war ended an epic tournament that began with 6,494 players in July.
Unlike Cada, who said he regularly plays about a dozen tournaments at a time online or three at a time in heads-up cash games, Moon hasn’t played a single hand of online poker. He doesn’t even own a computer or have an e-mail address.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, sports
Having a “Bad Boy” image, whether in sports, games, or Hollywood has become fashionably en vogue now. Sporting antics and behaviors not of the squeaky-clean kind, if the truth be known, better sell tickets and some say help to develop sports dynasties- well, for awhile, at least. Just look at the antics of pro footballer Terrell Owens, poker player Phil Hellmuth and, lest we forget, singer and pop princess Britney Spears.
Las Vegas, not to be left out of the “elite” circle, boasts race car driver Kyle Busch, who just last Saturday smashed the
champion’s “trophy” guitar after winning the Federated Auto Parts 300 in Gladeville, Tennessee. Why you ask? Reportedly, to share pieces of it with his team. We kid you not.
Mind you the guitar wasn’t a cheap knockoff. Oh no, rather it was a unique, one-of-a-kind custom made Gibson Les Paul electric guitar adorned with artwork by the artist Sam Bass- it was one NASCAR’s most cherished trophies.
Disrespecting the trophy and the artist is not a smashing good behavior example, definitely not befitting a role model for youth aspiring to be racers- and just plain good citizens.
And, sadly, this is not the first incident that tarnished Kyle’s image, while also placing a pock mark on the venerable sport of auto racing.
True, Las Vegan Kyle Busch is one of the world’s best racers right now. But he’s also one of the most petulant teenagers on the track that’s not a teenager– he’s 24. Hopefully, Kyle can now see fit to accept some “brotherly love” and ageless wisdom from his older brother, Kurt, who has matured in the past few years into one of the sport’s most eloquent spokesman.
And the behavior modifications might just translate to a big payout. While Kyle has won three Cup race to Kurt’s one this year, big bro is fifth in points with Kyle currently in ninth place.
Las Vegas Backstage Access readers, what say you?
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, sports, Uncategorized
Las Vegan Thang Luu, a 34-year-old Vietnam native who has been living in the United States for the past 17 years, has won the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low World Series of Poker (WSOP) event for the second year in a row. Luu also finished second in the same event in 2007. 
Luu raked in $263,135 for first place, the largest cash prize ever awarded in an Omaha High-Low tournament. He defeated a field of 918 players over three days.
The last time any poker player has finished first, first and second in the same event at WSOP was Johnny Chan’s accumulated record in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event in 1987-1989. Chan won the titles the fist two years but finished runner-up to poker “bad boy” Phil Hellmuth in 1989.
Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Performances, sports, Uncategorized
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