From a press release last year announcing their annual partnership with the WSOP and their two seat give away promotion, Milwaukee’s Best Light marketing manager, Stefan Dinwiddie, stated the following:

“The WSOP Main Event is undoubtedly the world’s premier poker competition, and Milwaukee’s Best Light is proud to give amateur poker players a shot at playing against the best of the best and winning millions. Serving as official beer sponsor of the World Series of Poker gives us a chance to acknowledge and reward loyal drinkers, because Milwaukee’s Best Light is also the unofficial beer of poker games everywhere.”

Unofficial beer of poker games everywhere, huh? Let me break this down and translate it for you. What Stefan really means is:

“It would be an honor for our beer to be considered the least bit average because we put as little effort as we can as brewers into producing and marketing it for people who can only hope and ultimately expect their entire lives to be just that–average. We hope that in marketing our frothy peasant ale to an inbred, inferior race of burger flippers and car mechanics by dumbing it down to a sissy-hating, estrogen abusing audience, we too will be able to cash in on poker and the hopes and dreams of blue collar workers praying to one day win it big and move out of their double-wides.”

Yah, I said it, and I didn’t even have to mention how it tastes, which if you were wondering is like the diesel fuel their target audience puts into their Hemi trucks. If this is “Milwaukee’s Best,” I don’t even want to know about their worst.

Too late…

Starting things off, after years of evading weight loss bets, Doyle Brunson couldn’t resist the 10-1 odds on the $100,000 pooled together by a plethora of Vegas pros in 2003. At the height of Atkins and with the help of Weight Watchers, Doyle dropped below 300 pounds, but gained a little back when he put the $1 million he cleared in his pocket.

Mike Svobodny, a famous backgammon player, once bet Ted Forrest $7k that he couldn’t run a marathon at the University of Nevada Las Vegas track field. As if running isn’t unbearable on its own, the blistering heat made the track so hot, it melted the soles of Forrest’s shoes during his 26 mile run. He reached the finish line and immediately went to the hospital with the feet of a Kenyan.

If you thought Huck Seed was just a great poker player and a distant relative to Johnny Appleseed, you were wrong. He is also one of the most notorious prop betters on the pro poker circuit. The following are some of his most famous wagers:

• He once took a six-figure bet that he couldn’t break 100 four times in one day on a golf course in sweltering Vegas heat using a sand wedge, five iron, and putter. On a day where the mercury nearly popped out the top of the thermometer at 120 degrees, it only took him six rounds.
• He was given two months that he couldn’t learn to do a standing back flip towering like the Jolly Green Giant at 6′7″. He did one before the end of the 60 days and another after he collected his $10k.
• Phil Hellmuth once bet Seed $50,000 that he couldn’t stand up to his shoulders in the ocean for 18 hours. He was right three hours later, when Huck came in to shore pruned up and smelling like high tide.
• Man of betting legend or stubborn pride? Seed’s most recent wager involved him proclaiming that he could run a mile in 4:39. If and when he transforms into an Olympic runner at the age of 40, his 33-1 payout will be brought to him upon by a yeti wearing a clown suit riding a unicorn.

Prop bets and the poker community go hand in hand. From the golf course to feats of strength to the criminally insane, these bets feed a gambler’s compulsive appetite for always needing something to be on the line.

For anyone that missed last night’s episode of High Stakes Poker, what is arguably the largest prop bet ever made took place between Ivey and fellow high stakes pro Tom “durrr” Dwan. Dwan bet Ivey $1 million that he couldn’t give up eating meat for a year. At a price that takes some people a lifetime of hard, honest work to make, Ivey has to refrain from chicken, fish, beef, and pork. That MBFN. Dwan–get in touch with me and I’ll do it for $100,000. Let me know. TTYL!

For a better look into Ivey’s lifestyle, disregard for money, and his fearless ability to place anything and everything on the line, ESPN took an incredibly enthralling and intimate look here.

As for prop bets, the game of poker has had a long laundry list of famous pros, stupid bets, and irreparable regrets. Below are some of the most notorious:

• Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen and Joe Sebok recently had a three-way last longer bet during the main event of the L.A. Poker Classic. Sebok, first to be eliminated, now has to get tattoos of both Smith and Madsen on his body. Madsen was next to go and only has to defile his body with Smith’s face. Only…
• Howard Lederer, a vegan, was bet $10,000 by David Grey that he wouldn’t eat a cheeseburger. The melted goodness on top wasn’t the only cheddar Howard got his hands on that day. He immediately let go of the tree he was hugging and chowed down on the beef patty, walking away with some easy money.
• Easily the most infamous prop bet ever involves high stakes gambler Brian Zembic. A friend of Brian’s bet him $100,000 that he wouldn’t get breast implants and keep them for a year. Defying all laws of nature and manhood, Zembic went through with the procedure, paying for the surgery that replaced his dignity with 38Cs. He remains a walking one-man circus sideshow, getting $10,000 a year for the life of his money making chest.

When people could easily download the poker software of their choice and within minutes be playing live people from across the world, game developers thought they could cash in by having you play, what else, a computer. Did I mention this computer would look like the pros you saw on TV? Cool! Time to put on my WSOP hat, t-shirt, and sunglasses, put my Milwaukee’s Best Light in my WSOP koozie, and sit in front of my Playstation 2 and take on Greg Raymer or Annie Duke. It’s like I’m actually playing for high stakes from the comfort of my couch! And if there’s one thing I love more than pretending to be playing pros, it’s being one. You could play other people online as your favorite player and rake in all those fake, meaningless, digital chips. I reraise you what shred of dignity I have left. I’m ALL-IN!

Howard Lederer seemed to be the official spokesperson for these DVD coasters, whoring himself out to the front covers of what seemed to be a dozen or so similar titles, each indistinguishable from the next. At the game’s core, a horrible mechanic, similar in every way, shape, and form to a poker bot. It played like it knew your hands because it did. Shove 8 high and it would call you with 9 high. Make a river bluff and it would call you down every single time. There was no point to even trying outside of jamming every hand and seeing how many in a row you could win.

What’s the worst part about this game? It’s a sequel. What’s even worse than that? Realizing somebody must have purchased the first title in order for them to make a sequel. Just imagine being the poor bastard getting this for Christmas when all the other kids were getting Halo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3. At least with a stocking full of coal, you can light a fire and do something useful. Instead, you’re stuck with Howard’s gimmicky stoned-faced intensity starring back at you, his thank you for buying him a nice dinner with your parents’ purchase.

The complete first season? More like the complete ONLY season, am I right!?!?

The Statler and Waldorf of ESPN poker broadcasts, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad have become staples to the televised poker community, and for me, in more ways than one. Having my weeknights constantly wounded by watching clueless nobodies rake in millions on the televised felt, they have been the staple holding my incisions of enjoyment together, turning what would be a bland, mind-numbing show into something salvageable, easy to swallow, and somewhat enjoyable.

I used to hate the broadcasts and still primarily do. Constantly cutting in and out of only large pots with notable players often leaves me scratching my head when they show the leaderboard 10 minutes later and there are substantial differences in stacks and averages. Stupid segments like “The Nuts” make me want to go nuts and stab the next stranger I meet. I’m already boycotting Degree, Planters Peanuts and Jack Links Beef Jerky for all the advertisement spots through all-in moments and mystery hole card cams I’ve had to endure. And then there was Norman Chad. I hated Norman Chad.

No matter how lame I thought him to be initially, he was like that bad tooth ache: no matter how much it hurt, you just kept pressing it with your tongue. As the years have passed, his commentary has grown edgier and smarter, as has my respect for Lon and Norman both. Outside of the sun and the moon aligning and occasionally witnessing a great poker hand from a great player, they are now the most redeemable reason left to tune in.

After watching an early morning airing of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event, it dawned on me why I keep coming back for more.

• Norman’s berating of Phil Hellmuth
  Granted Hellmuth just tosses slow pitches up with his ego to get knocked out of the park from anyone with a pulse, it seems as though there aren’t enough seconds in the broadcast for Norman’s constant reminders of just how laughably egotistical he is. Even when he’s nowhere in sight, Norman gets in witty jabs to constantly remind viewers that yes, Hellmuth is still somewhere breathing and that yes, he’s still a prick. After walking in day one dressed as Julius Caesar and lead by an entourage of women as horns played, cameras constantly panned to Doyle Brunson shaking his head in disgust. Chad summarized the moment best: “You know, a lot of people hate Phil’s entrances, but they love when he makes his exits.”
• The dynamic duo
  Every typical announcing dynamic has the “state the obvious” guy in their formula, acting as a catalyst for the “knowledgeable guy” to take over and constitute for 80% of the insight. Take the UFC for instance, where Mike Goldberg sits like a mole on the face of Joe Rogan’s expertise, or the World Poker Tour, where Vince Van Patten defecates clichés in between every sentence of Mike Sexton. Lon and Norman are like the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of announcing, where the expertise behind their harmony and eloquence never rides on either of their shoulders individually. Whether its play-by-play or colorful commentary, their remarks effortlessly complement one another until the volley of words stops at the end of the hour. Never since the Legion of Doom has a tag team been this effective.
• Norman’s self-loathing
  Misery loves company, and considering only 5% of people who play poker are winners, the viewing demographic agrees. That’s why it’s enjoyable to watch Norman constantly compare winning hand percentages to his divorce rate and probabilities of things occurring as distant as his self-admitted inability to play poker. Love him or hate him, his remarks are infectious and relatable to the woes of your two-outers and runner runner beats. Having no shame and a deep sense of humility are two things you come to appreciate playing poker, or in Chad’s case, watching it.

The World Series of Poker recently released its rulebook for the upcoming 2010 series. New to this year, players arriving after the start of the third level of play (cough cough Phil Hellmuth) will be pleasantly surprised to see they’ve been removed from the tourney and are left to drown their sorrows in crab legs and prime rib at the casino buffet. This “no show” policy removes a players chip from play and money from the prize pool, holding it at the registration cage until it is collected by the entrant.

The 2009 logo policy is still in place, which bans the promotion of firearms, drugs, tobacco, lotteries, defamatory or obscene content, pornography, libel, or “advertises any online gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents.”

Thanks largely in part to the impact Twitter has had on the poker community, the most profound change for 2010 is  that cell phones are once again permitted back on the tables, but only for those players with cards in the muck. Guidelines state:

“All cell phones and other voice-enabled and “ringing” electronic devices must be turned off during tournament play. Players not involved in a hand (cards in muck) shall be permitted to text/email at the table, but shall not be permitted to text/email any other player at the table. If Rio, acting in its sole and absolute discretion, believes a player is communicating with another player at the table, both parties will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and face imposition of additional penalties as described in Rule 37. All players desiring to talk on a cell phone must be at least one table length away from their assigned table during all said communication. Those individuals who talk on a cell phone not at least one table length away from their assigned table shall be subject to a penalty to be determined by Tournament Staff. No cell phones or other electronic communication device can be placed on a poker table.”

View all eight pages of WSOP regulations here (Adobe Acrobat reader required). 

But that’s exactly what noted poker pro Eric Baldwin decided to do when he donated $200,000 to his old baseball team at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  The $200k that Baldwin donated will go towards renovating Prucha Field and adding new stadium lights to ensure that UW-Whitewater is able to host the NCAA Division III Midwest Regionals.

And while the donation might seem extremely large, the amount of money is an afterthought to Baldwin who feels that UW-Whitewater’s baseball program fueled his poker success.  Baldwin said, “I wouldn’t have had nearly the success I’ve had in poker if it weren’t for the Whitewater baseball program.  The program has taught me so much in terms of hard work and preparation, and how it can pay off for you.”

Eric Baldwin was a right fielder and team captain of the 2005 UW-Whitewater team that won the 2005 NCAA Division III Championship.  Baldwin’s senior year saw him carry a .356 batting average along with 13 homers and 70 RBI’s.  Not long after his baseball career ended, Baldwin decided to move to Las Vegas and pursue poker professionally.

The move definitely paid off as Baldwin was named the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year in 2009 after winning 4 major tournaments.  Baldwin’s biggest wins came in a WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event and the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic.  The two victories combined to earn Baldwin over $750k, which comprised over half of Eric’s $1.5 million in 2009 tournament winnings.  During his four-year poker career, Baldwin has earned over $3 million.

Nejad was often the center of attention in his own show as he got involved in lots of action, and produced some really fun moments.  During one part of the episode, Nejad jokingly celebrated Joe Sebok’s appearance on TV by saying, “I had something special to do today in honor of Joe finally making a TV table.”

After delivering the quote, Ali Nejad gave each one of the players a champagne glass in order to toast Sebok’s ‘accomplishment’.  The joke is a reference to Sebok busting out right before the final table in numerous live tournaments.  Some of the tourneys where Sebok has busted out just before the final table include the Bay 101 Shooting Star, the WPT Fiesta al Lago, and the 2007 Legends of Poker.

All joking aside, the game was pretty competitive during Commentators III.  Each player began the game with 20,000 chips, and the blinds were set at $100/$200 so nobody was taking anything lightly.  Sebok quickly grabbed the chip lead after taking down a pot worth 7,900 chips against Gabe Kaplan.  Sebok hit trips queens during the hand, which prompted Kaplan to wisely fold.  The chip lead didn’t last long though as Mark Gregorich came out firing against Sebok with pocket aces.  Eventually, Gregorich forced Joe to fold with a bet of 3,000 chips.

This pretty much concluded the main action in the first episode of Season 6.  However, there is plenty of good poker to be played on Poker After Dark with 35 more scheduled episodes.

Shark Out of Water is a new short film by Juan Riedinger, produced by Andrew Halliwell. It’s garnering some significant buzz and has been hitting the film festival circuits as of late.

It’s well-acted by Matty Finochio and Artine Brown (with a subtle, yet good, Phil Hellmuth cameo). It’s a poker movie made by guys that know and play poker. They were literally sleeping in a casino during some of the shooting. That’s dedication.

The film depicts what can happen when players put poker ahead of everything else, and then hit a bad run. It’s compelling and troubling at once.

Shot in Vancouver, Canada, the film reads like a proof of concept more than a complete movie. By that I mean, it’s a short and thus has its limitations. I would like to see a poker-based feature from these guys. After watching SOOW, I feel like it would be an instant hit amongst poker players and drama-lovers alike.

Our Affiliate Director, Atil, had a chance to sit down with Halliwell recently and I’ve included that invterview below. I really suggest checking out the piece and the film. Both are great.

When is the official launch date?
The film has already screened at a number of festivals across North America, but we officially launched our DVD with Special Features on November 15, 2009. The ‘launch’ became ‘official’ when we heard Phil Hellmuth himself “tweeted” about the film on his personal page, stating: “I have a scene in Shark out of Water, a short film that was a nominee for Best Short Drama at the Leo Awards.” This definitely started a buzz about the film and attracted A LOT of people to our website: www.sharkoutofwater.com.

What inspired you to create this film?
The writer and director, Juan Riedinger, is avid poker-player himself. I remember he told me he was on a bit of a bad run, and he wanted to capture that experience in a solid and realistic story about poker. His love for the game comes through in the story too, as I think the end result depicts the double-edged sword that is Poker. The highs and the lows. The constant fluctuation between triumph and tilt.


How long did it take you to create this?

It’s been almost a two year endeavour from the early stages of pre-production to now. The director, who is also a close friend of mine, mentioned he wrote a short screenplay about poker. I offered to produce the project, and that’s what brought us to where we are now.
Was it difficult getting Phil Hellmuth and Brad Booth, since you are a small production company?
The stars kind of aligned for us. We manged to get Phil’s phone number from a mutual contact. We literally just called him up one day and offered him a role in our film. He liked the script, and it so happened that he was coming to Vancouver (where we shot the film) with Annie Duke for a poker tour, so we managed to make the scheduling work. Brad heard about the project through a contact we had at the casino we shot at. At the time, he was splitting his time between Vancouver and Vegas, and he happened to be in town during our shoot.

Since Brad lives in Vancouver now, we’ve actually become friends since making the film. Hopefully, we’ll be working with him on future projects. Although our production company is still in its grassroots stage, I think having the opportunity to appear in a great short film about poker would be appealing to any poker player. What our company lacks in scope, we make up for with passion, grit, and professionalism. I think Phil and Brad saw this. Also, the rest of the cast and crew we assembled were top notch, and most work regularly in the film/tv industry in Vancouver, which really added the the production value as a whole.


What message were you trying to send the audience?
Our main goal was to make a film that was entertaining, and realistically showed a glimpse into the world of poker. We wanted to tell a story about the “everyman” poker-player as authentically as possible. We wanted to make something that an audience could relate to. The pots in the film range from $100 to $500 (which is a lot of money for some people). How realistic is it to see a million dollar pot? We’ll leave that to the James Bond movies. Aside from the poker, we also wanted to convey the humanity of our characters, and the effects that poker can have on individuals and relationships.


What can we expect from your company in regards to poker in the future?
We’re hoping that the calibre and success of Shark Out of Water will prove to potential investors that we are fully capable of delivering a solid film – from conception to sale – and will trust us with an investment in a larger-scale project. Making a feature film is the ultimate goal. We’re currently working on one project involving the subject of poker right now. Unfortunately we can’t say much more than that, as the idea is still in development.

Were there any particularly memorable experiences from set that you’d like to share?
Getting to work with Phil and Brad was an amazing experience. These guys were consummate professionals, and were a true pleasure to have on set. One particularly memorable experience was seeing the director sit down at a table with Phil and play him heads up. After filming his scenes, Phil graciously accepted Juan’s challenge to play him for the fee his agent requested for his appearance in the film. I don’t want to reveal too much, because the entire experience can be seen in the “behind-the-scenes featurette” on our DVD. I’ll also never forget how Juan and I actually slept in the casino between shooting days, because we needed to have personnel watching all the gear overnight for insurance reasons. This was indie filmmaking at its finest!

How difficult is it to make a short film about poker?

Making a short film about anything is extremely challenging. The added challenge of making a poker movie was capturing the subtleties of the game for the poker-players in the audience, yet keeping it interesting for a wider audience as well. I know that being a poker-player himself, Juan felt that it was very important to have realistic situations. We are so sick of seeing straight flushes beat four of a kind in poker movies. It’s such an unrealistic scenario, and has no place in a poker film that wants to be taken seriously. Also, I think anyone who plays poker can spot a non-player a mile away…the way the cards are held, the way the chips are stacked, the mannerisms. We took great lengths to cast real poker-players and dealers in the film, and I think that reads on the screen.

When is the film available, and how can someone go about purchasing it?

As of this week, the film is finally available for purchase (just in time for Christmas). If you’d like to purchase the DVD (which includes tons of additional bonus features, including the director’s heads up match against Phil Hellmuth, and some deleted/extended scenes) it is available for purchase directly from our website: www.sharkoutofwater.com. Please join our facebook group. And also check the site for other exciting news and information about the film, including the trailer.