The buzz inside the walls of the Rio extends beyond just the tournaments on the 2013 World Series of Poker schedule. Online poker in Nevada is a very, very hot topic right now, and WSOP.com is making a lot of noise.
While the site has yet to launch, you can head to the Lambada Room of the Rio or look for one of the beautiful and friendly WSOP.com ladies walking the hallways to sign up for a free, personal WSOP.com online poker account. This is a great way to get a jump on the site's registration, and plenty of people have already taken this opportunity.
What's more is that the WSOP will be hosting daily raffles for everyone that has taken the time to register for WSOP.com at the Rio. What can you win? Plenty of fantastic prizes including 36 WSOP seats!
Players 21 years of age and older who sign up for a WSOP.com account will automatically be entered into the “36-Seat Giveaway” where a randomly-selected winner will win a seat into the next day’s first WSOP gold bracelet event. One of the events eligible in this promotion is the $111,111 One Drop High Roller No-Limit Hold’em tournament that is expected to feature a $10,000,000 prize pool and allow you to play poker with the biggest names in the game. In total, $182,333 in WSOP seats, including a seat to the WSOP Main Event, are being given away during this one-of-a-kind WSOP.com promotion.
In addition to the 36-Seat Giveaway, a “Hot Seat” promotion will allow any player who signs up for a WSOP.com online account and wears their WSOP.com patch on their chest at the table while playing an event to be randomly selected to receive 500 bonus dollars deposited directly into their WSOP.com online account once the site has received all regulatory approvals and launches.
With 62 WSOP gold bracelet events and three winners promised for the Main Event, this promotion includes $32,000 worth of value to those participating.
Two players who have made headlines in this young 2013 World Series of Poker, Dan Kelly and Mark Radoja, have seen their stacks move in different directions in the few hands played since returning from break.
Meanwhile, Dan Kelly was seen tapping away on his phone, a seat open card in the place where his stack formerly resided. Despite not cashing here today, Kelly is on a tear at the 2013 WSOP, and he is a threat to final table seemingly every event he enters.
Just as the players returned from dinner break, Scott Clements announced to his table that he would take the Miami Heat to win over the San Antonio Spurs at even money. A couple of players booked the bet for $100 at the time the Heat were down by two, 80-82 to the Spurs.
Daniel Negreanu has always embraced his role as one of poker's true ambassador's, and today he has become PokerStars' most fanatical spokesman.
During a recent round of his typically jovial table talk, "Kid Poker" was overheard asking a tablemate why he chose to play so-called underground poker sites online.
"Why would you do that when you could play on PokerStars?," he asked excitedly, "The world's largest poker site, where we have tournaments now, now, and now!"
When a fellow media member told Negreanu he might want to look into a spokesman gig with the company, Negreanu continued with his canned spiel, lecturing the table to keep their online bankrolls on his home site.
"You gotta play PokerStars man," he continued. "It's only the world's largest poker site, where you can play tournaments now, now, and now!"
Action folded to Chris Moorman in the cutoff seat, and he raised to 700. Darren Elias was on the button and reraised to 1,900. After the blinds folded, Moorman fired back with a reraise of his own and made it 4,400 to go. Elias called.
The flop came down , and Moorman led with a bet of 3,800. Elias called, the dealer turned the to pair the board, and both players checked. After the landed on the river, Moorman bet 8,900. Elias thought for a minute, then folded, and Moorman won the pot to move to over 70,000 in chips. Elias dropped back under 40,000.
We caught Blake Purvis moving his chips once again, this time in a pot against Joe Kuether. Before the flop, Kuether opened for 700, and Purvis called from the big blind to take a flop of .
When Kuether led out for 1,100, Purvis didn't hesitate in making the call. On the turn, Kuether fired another 3,200 into the middle, and again Purvis flatted.
The river came and Kuether fired his third barrel, making it 9,000 to go. Purvis didn't need much time to think about it, and his calling chips were quickly rolled forward.
Kuether rolled over the for a flopped two pair, but Purvis had him beat with for two pair on the turn.