Dear Fellow Poker Player,

Voting is the single most important action you can take as a citizen of this great country. Speaking as a former U.S. Senator, I can tell you that people who don’t exercise their right to vote simply aren’t part of the equation of political power.

The 2008 election will be the most critical in modern history, and poker players like you across the nation must be part of it if we are to continue making progress in our shared cause.

Our nation is closely divided, and our recent elections have been decided by razor-thin margins. In this political climate, every vote counts and every election matters. Every single day in our nation’s capital, thousands of people make decisions about the rules that we all must live under. Your vote is the single most powerful tool to influence these decisions.

Thank you for taking this very important first step in the political process, and please remember to vote on your state’s primary election day and the national general election, Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Remember - If You Play, Have a Say!

Proud to play poker,
Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman
Poker Players Alliance

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March 2008 Newsletter Contents -MA Poker Rally -Litigation Support Network -State Director Program -Federal Update -Member Spotlight -Contact Us QuickLinks -Join -Donate -Upgrade -PPA Store -Member Tools -Member Forums Donate Now to Fight for Poker PPA & Mass. Poker Players Help Stop State Internet Poker Criminalization The Tuesday after St Patrick's Day the Massachusetts State legislature voted down a bill which intended to establish three licensed brick and mortar casinos while at the same time creating stiff criminal penalties for playing poker and other games on the Internet. The PPA does not oppose the establishment of casinos in MA, especially if those casinos are outfitted with poker rooms, however, we have fundamental concerns with any limitations or criminalization of the right for adults to play poker on the Internet. Over the past several months the PPA has feverishly worked publically, behind the scenes and at the grassroots level to get this onerous provision from the casino bill removed. Our efforts culminated with a successful "Poker Rally" on the State House steps. Several dozen MA poker enthusiasts gathered to tell state lawmakers that "POKER IS NOT A CRIME". Special thanks to PPA State Director Randall Castonguay, Harvard Prof. Charles Nesson, the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, and all the dedicated PPA members for your hard fought efforts. More information about the rally can be found by clicking here. Due to PPA's involvement this bill did not make it out of Committee and into law. The PPA will remain vigilant to ensure that if the casino bill moves again it will not include any limitations or criminalization provisions for online poker players. We will continue to monitor the situation in MA and to continue to work with lawmakers to ensure that your poker voice is heard loud and clear! back to top Notice to Members A charity poker announcement intended for a select group of nearby states and was accidentally sent out to the national membership. We have resolved the issue and we apologize for the inconvenience. Are You A Lawyer? Poker Players Need You! This week the Poker Players Alliance launched its Litigation Support Network. We are asking PPA members and non-members who are attorneys to join this network of lawyers who are willing to assist PPA members in need of counsel in civil and criminal poker related matters. Recruitment has already begun and the PPA has run this ad in leading legal publications. If you are a lawyer with expertise or interest in gaming law become part of our referral network today! The PPA has appointed PPA New Hampshire State Director Patrick Flemming (aka Skallagrim) to serve as the Litigation Support Director. Through our legal page on the Web site, PPA members who are in need of poker related legal advice can ask Mr. Flemming. He will be able to provide top-line advice and then refer members to lawyers in their area who are part of the Litigation Support Network. The Litigation Support Network is just another example of how the PPA is serving the needs of the poker community. back to top Upcoming Changes The PPA has some exciting changes in the coming weeks that we think you are going to love. A new Web site and new membership incentives are on their way! Stay tuned and we will update you. PPA Renews State Director Initiative, Program Will Focus on Grassroots The PPA is proud to announce that more than 50 of your fellow members have been selected to serve as volunteer State Directors for their respective states. In January of this year we asked interested members to apply to be State Directors and the response was overwhelming. We narrowed our candidates down from an exceptional field of more than 1,000 applications. To find out who your State Director is click here. In the coming days the State Directors will send PPA members in their state a note telling you how you can get more involved in the PPA. Remember that the PPA forums are a great place to communicate with your fellow members. Please be active to help make the PPA forums THE place to discuss important issues facing the poker community. back to top PPA Tools It's easy to add PPA widgets to your website or receive email alerts on local and national poker news. Stay informed and help keep others aware. Click here Federal Update: Congressional Hearing on UIGEA On April 2nd the House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing to discuss the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Click here for information on watching the live webcast. As you know, UIGEA was tucked into a "must-pass" Port Security bill and was signed into law in October 2006. UIGEA has been roundly criticized, not only by the poker community, but also by the financial services industry and leading civil libertarian organizations. The PPA is working with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to ensure that the significant problems with UIGEA are discussed at this upcoming hearing. To that end, the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee and the leading Republican on the committee issued this joint letter which calls on Congress to undo UIGEA. back to top PPA Tube We have a YouTube channel where you can find news clips, interviews, and more. Make your own video about poker and send it to us. Click here Washington State Director Lee Rousso Lee Rousso has been fighting Washington state's law criminalizing online poker for over a year. Under the law, playing online poker will be committing a Class C felony, equivalent under the law to possessing child pornography, threatening the governor or torturing an animal, as well as carrying stiff penalties: as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. This April he will finally have his day in court to fight for poker player rights. "I have obtained a hearing date of April 25 at 11:00 a.m., Kent courthouse, for my constitutional challenge to Washington's law governing internet gambling...I hope Washington state poker players will come to the hearing and show their support." Check out the history of the case and updates at the PPA website. back to top The Poker Players Alliance Dedicated to Protecting America's Favorite Card Game Contact Us 1325 G Street NW Suite 500 Washington, DC, 20005 Phone: 1-888-448-4PPA Email: email@pokerplayersalliance.org Forward this newsletter to a fellow poker player

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I Just won the WMFE Suited Pockets Tournament...

I win 1st place WMFE Suited Pockets over

Note the FT RB Ranking tournament behind where I went out with

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If you didn't read the first part, then why are you reading this second part? Meh, I just doubled to 54% of the chips 6 handed, because I cardrackthe hell out of everyone, ship it?

The next hand PP loses with K4 to AJ (AIPF, PP had barely 1BB) so we are 5-handed. Two hands later PLLSHRK doubles up with 88 vs. 74. After that about 10-15 hands pass while everyone gets bunched up at around 18k in chips and myself staying about the same as before. Then this happens between myself and (who I viewed at the time) my toughest opponent:

Seat 2 - PLLSHRK ($12150 in chips)
Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($19485 in chips)
Seat 6 - KIDSLICK80 ($16740 in chips)
Seat 7 - JSAW72 ($17815 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($60420 in chips)
PLLSHRK - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Ante $150
JSAW72 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Posts small blind $1000
PLLSHRK - Posts big blind $2000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [Ad As]  <- BINGO
SEEDOG2 - Folds
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
JSAW72 - Raises $6000 to $6000 <- YESSS
MRSLEEP34 - All-In(Raise) $59270 to $60270 <- Overbet shove, plz call
PLLSHRK - Folds
JSAW72 - All-In $11665 <- ONE TIME VP?
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($42605) : not called
*** FLOP *** [7d 8h 2s] <- YES
*** TURN *** [7d 8h 2s] [3s] <- OMFG, I LOVE U VP!
*** RIVER *** [7d 8h 2s 3s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JSAW72 - Shows [Ks Ac] (ace high)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [Ad As] (One pair, aces)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $38080 from main pot

Pretty sick cooler, but I'll take it. This then puts me with 80k which is around 64% of the chips in play. SEEDOG eliminates PLLSHRK with AJ vs. AQ the very next hand. Down to 3 handed with me, SEEDOG2 (who I've played with before) and KIDSLICK80 (who I played with for the first time this week, and it wasn't for long.) Two hands later another relatively sick cooler goes down:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($27485 in chips)
Seat 6 - KIDSLICK80 ($18740 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($80385 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
KIDSLICK80 - Posts small blind $1000
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [10s 10h]
SEEDOG2 - Folds
KIDSLICK80 - Raises $3000 to $4000 <- Plz don't be just stealing
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $20000 to $22000 <- I suck at reraising, just put him all-in
KIDSLICK80 - All-In $14590 <- Race? No, I'm just the king o coolers
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($3410) : not called
*** FLOP *** [5d 4d 10c] <- VP loves me, no 6, 7, or 8 plz
*** TURN *** [5d 4d 10c] [Qc] <- alright, HUHUHU time
*** RIVER *** [5d 4d 10c Qc] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KIDSLICK80 - Shows [8h 8c] (One pair, eights)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [10s 10h] (Three of a kind, tens)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $37630 from main pot

Cooler dot org apparently, but that's how I roll. HU starts out interesting as I try to just limp into pots and SEEDOG starts raising me a lot, and I say to my buddy Brandon "Oh, no walkover, booo, lol." Then I get KK and no action (for the only time ever, no cooler?) and basically calling station my way into a decent chiplead with flopping bottom pairs and calling/checking down. Which leads to me having a substantial chiplead going into this hand:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($14885 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($111725 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Posts small blind $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3c Qc]
SEEDOG2 - Raises $3600 to $4800
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2400 <- Meh, gamble?
*** FLOP *** [4c Kd 6c] <- flopped a flush draw
MRSLEEP34 - Bets $7200 <- might as well commit myself to the hand
SEEDOG2 - All-In(Raise) $9935 to $9935 <- not much more
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2735 <- let me get there?
*** TURN *** [4c Kd 6c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [4c Kd 6c 9d] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SEEDOG2 - Shows [5h Kh] (One pair, kings)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [3c Qc] (king high)
SEEDOG2 Collects $29770 from main pot

Meh, oh well. He had that many chips earlier. More hands go by with us trading chips untill I call a flop a turn bet with a Gutshot str8 draw and hit pair on the river for a bunch of chips. Which lead to this hand:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($20020 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($106590 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
SEEDOG2 - Posts small blind $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3h Ah]
SEEDOG2 - Calls $1200
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $4800 to $7200
SEEDOG2 - Calls $4800
*** FLOP *** [6h 6s Ad]
MRSLEEP34 - Bets $14400
SEEDOG2 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - returned ($14400) : not called

Leaving SEEDOG with only 12k in chips, and the very next hand it ends like this:

Seat 4 - SEEDOG2 ($12670 in chips)
Seat 8 - MRSLEEP34 ($113940 in chips)
SEEDOG2 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Ante $150
MRSLEEP34 - Posts small blind $1200
SEEDOG2 - Posts big blind $2400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to MRSLEEP34 [3s Ah]
MRSLEEP34 - Raises $8400 to $9600
SEEDOG2 - All-In(Raise) $10120 to $12520
MRSLEEP34 - Calls $2920
*** FLOP *** [Kd 6d 2d]
*** TURN *** [Kd 6d 2d] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 6d 2d 2s] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SEEDOG2 - Shows [9s Jd] (One pair, twos)
MRSLEEP34 - Shows [3s Ah] (One pair, twos)
MRSLEEP34 Collects $25340 from main pot

GG SEEDOG, and TY deck for slapping me in the face. Good luck all next week. Obviously my first win ever here, and it was a blast getting pwned in the face by the deck.

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Well as anyone who cares enough to actually read my blog here probably knows, I luckboxed a victory last Sunday in Event 5. I figured I'd do a smallreport of how the FT went down, here. It'll mostly be Hand Histories, but I'll try to add in some commentary as I go, AND SO IT BEGINS.

The FT started off relatively slow, with me questioning aloud how the hell I ended up as the chipleader going into the FT, as well as a near endless stream of shout-outs to all needed. The first 3-4 hands were all relatively boring untill this:

JSAW72 - Folds
MRSLEEP34 - Folds
VPPRO26 - Folds
187RYGUY - Raises $3600 to $3600
PLLSHRK - Folds
36TXBLUEEYES - Folds
SEEDOG2 - Folds
PRINCESSPKRX - Calls $3000
KIDSLICK80 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [Qd 5c 4d]
PRINCESSPKRX - All-In $9452.50
187RYGUY - All-In $6210
PRINCESSPKRX - returned ($3242.50) : not called
*** TURN *** [Qd 5c 4d] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 5c 4d 8h] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
187RYGUY - Shows [Kc Qc] (One pair, queens)
PRINCESSPKRX - Shows [Qs 8s] (Two Pair, queens and eights)
PRINCESSPKRX Collects $21720 from main pot

Which sent Ry "home" in 9th place. We had been chatting for about 30 minutes prior to this, which started when I was guessing what hand he had one hand, which I was wayyy off. So after the hand he just told me to take it down, and maybe something about eliminating PokerPrincess, lol. A few hands later VPPRO was eliminated in 8th place with two-pair vs. PP's flush. I was no longer