PS Million $ Challenge

Had a chance to watch the PSM$C
on Sunday in between football games.

I thought it was pretty decent.
Certainly a couple steps above FT's Face the Ace.
I wasnt expecting quality poker like we get
to see on High Stakes Poker. It is after all
a game show thats based on poker.
Chris Rose did a fine job hosting. His
previous experience on other poker shows
was evident. Lesson learned from Face the Ace.
Daniel Negreanu, was the star of the show
as expected. His narration and commentary
were sharp and relevent. Basically what
Daniel does on every show he appears on.
All these things combined with a pretty sweet
time slot after NFL football, give PSM$C a shot
to actually catch on and gain a following of new
and existing casual poker players.

I'd be interested to know how many players they
got for the $20k freeroll they were advertising
during the show.

2008 BC Poker Championships

On Sunday, Daniel Negreanu won
the 2008 BC Poker Championships
Main Event ($2,500 buy-in) at the
River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC.

Daniel took home $371,910 for
winning the four day long event.

He's been on a hot streak this year.
He cashed 5 times at the 2008 WSOP,
including a bracelet win for $204k in the
$2,000 Limit Hold'em event and a 7th place
finish in the $5,000 PLO r/b for $123k.
He also finished in 13th place in $50k HORSE.
Danny followed this up with three cashes at
the 2008 WSOP Europe, including making the
final table at the main event. He ended up 5th
and cashed for almost $400k. Since the
beginning of June, Daniel Negreanu has approx.
$1,000,000 in tournament winnings and says
he's playing some of the best poker of his career.

From PokerStars Blog:
"Negreanu, as usual, had some side action
going to keep things interesting. He and
Gabe Kaplan had a $2,500 last-longer bet.
If either of them made the money, the other
player would pay $10,000. If either player
made it to the final table it was another $25,000.
And so, late yesterday Kaplan was stuck $37,500.
As it turns out, though, there was an escape
clause in the bet. If either Kaplan or Negreanu
won the event, all bets were off and the winner
of the event paid the other $2,500. As we've
already noted, Negreanu won. Kaplan went
from being stuck $37,500 to winning $2,500
and Negreanu swung $40,000 in the other direction."

From Daniels Blog:
"690 players showed up for the tournament,
the biggest field I'd ever beaten. To do it in
Canada was legitimately special and I think
it's going to make for great TV when it airs.

I'm really hoping that this might help spark
an even bigger buy in event at the River Rock
next year. I genuinely believe they could hold
a 10k buy in and get 300 players easy, especially
if they have online qualifiers. I'm looking forward
to returning next year. They treated me very well
and I had a great time.

After it was over a bunch of all went to dinner.
I noticed that Adam, the second place finisher
was having dinner with five of his friends.
I invited them all to join us and picked up the tab.
After dinner we changed and a large group of us,
including Adam and his friends went to a club
called Republic. Brad Booth hooked us up with
a huge area to chill and we hung out there till
pretty late. With dinner, and paying the bar tab,
the night ended up being pretty expensive for me
but it was all worth it.

Now I plan on... sleeping. I just finished doing some
TV stuff and really need to catch up on some
R and R and am already looking forward to the
$15,000 Bellagio event. That event has been very
good to me in the past and I'm coming in on a roll
feeling very confident. With the Bellagio structure
being so deep on the first three days I always feel
great about my chances to do well there."