Question: How do you run a major poker tournament and keep out the fish and donks that overpopulate WSOP events? Easy, run only a few satellites and bump the buy-in to 15 large.

Although the field might not be as large as it was the last time Festa Al Lago was part of the World Poker Tour in 2006, players wont seem to mind because an increased buy in has created a record setting prize pool for the event. The $15,000 tournament entry fee was paid by 368 players creating the biggest prize pool in Festa Al Lago history and certainly pleasing the top fifty finishers who will get to take home a piece of it.

Total Entries: 368

Total Prize Pool: $5,354,400

Places Paid: 50

1st: $1,411,015

2nd: $943,215

3rd: $506,245

4th: $373,010

5th: $266,445

6th: $186,510

7th: $133,225

8th: $106,580

9th: $85,260

10th: $63,945

11th-15th: $53,290

16th-20th: $42,630

21st-30th: $31,975

31st-40th: $26,645

41st-50th: $21,315

At the end of day two the leader board is full of well known poker names and there are just one hundred and four players remaining trying to duke it out for the nice healthy prize pool. Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Tilley are among some of the top leader board players and Negreanu currently enjoys a chip lead over Cahail of about forty thousand chips.

Here are the top fifteen players at the end of day two and their respective chip counts:

1 Daniel Negreanu 513,100

2 Blake Cahail 467,500

3 Justin Bonomo 383,300

4 Nenad Medic 345,600

5 J.C. Tran 337,900

6 Jennifer Tilly 330,800

7 Joe Sebok 327,200

8 Jamie Rosen 321,200

9 Clemenceau Calixto 310,200

10 Matthew Stout 298,900

11 William Mietz 285,900

12 Brad Booth 280,800

13 Kasey Nam 278,300

14 Russ Boyd 276,200

15 Isaac Haxton 275,000

Fortunately, our friend Phil Hellmuth survived the incident with little to no long-term harm to his precious, WSOP Championship body. In his blog on CardPlayer.com, Phil writes:

“In any case, by 2:00 am I had donked off (I donked off the last $14,000 for sure!) $25,000 or so playing heads up $50 – $100 blinds at UltimateBet.com. Then I decided that I should be tough on myself for the loss, choosing to beat myself up. I do not handle losing well, and that hasn’t been a bad thing for me. Because when I lose I focus my energy on the how’s and the why’s, and I strive to improve my weaknesses. However, does it make sense to beat yourself up every time you lose? Hell no! While beating myself up, I helped induce a “Panic attack.” You do not want to have one of those, trust me! I collapsed on the floor, knowing it was probably a panic attack, but wondering if I was going to have a heart attack and die. I couldn’t move very much as I broke into a cold sweat on the ground of my wife’s study at 3:00 am (while staring up at the television). At this point I kept reminding myself that I was blessed on so many levels that it was amazing.”

Phil, while it’s true you’re blessed beyond compare to us mere mortals we here at Twisted Gambler would like to suggest the following alternatives the next time you experience one of these “panic attacks”:

1. Simply kill the offending person that triggered the attack in the first place. You have too much good to bring mother earth, Phil! Don’t let these idiots stop you.

2. Instead of yelling at morons who play 5 7 off suit, throw poison dipped knives at them. If you miss and hit someone else at another table, so what? They probably deserved it because they’re idiots, too.

3. Pre-empt the idiocy by making an announcement that you’re coming to the table. Any offenders face option 1 or 2 above, at their discretion.

4. Quit playing poker and try a more sedate game, like Bull Fighting.

5. Coach your wife on how to play the game. It’s clear from the latest WSOP broadcast that you already provide here the play-by-play on every hand worth playing. That way, she can substitute for you when you have another meltdown and fall to the ground crying like a little bitch.

In regards to getting in trouble by implementing any of these alternatives (other than number four). We think you’re in good shape there as well, Phil. After seeing you act like a little girl and berate opponents relentlessly at the tables with no retribution from any floor personnel, it’s clear that you can get away with most anything.

Can’t wait for WSOP 2009!

Any company that has a major shareholder named Dikshit is bound to fall on hard times sooner or later. Since Party Gaming is probably the only company in the universe with a guy named Dikshit holding a shitload of stock and options, guess what? They’re struggling. So is CryptoLogic. So what to do?

Party Gaming has recently just signed a deal with online gaming software giant CryptoLogic to offer their suite of online casino games in Party Gaming’s online casino. The recent deal appears to be just the beginning in what might be a long term relationship between the two companies. Now there are rumors that the two companies are talking about pooling their online poker resources to benefit both parties.

Although CryptoLogic has had an excellent year in terms of new casino deals, they have had a rough few months in terms of their online poker clients. Recently World Poker Tour Enterprises cancelled a three year deal with CryptoLogic while earlier in the year they lost a long time staple in their lineup, William Hill. Rumor has it that CryptoLogic is talking with Party Gaming hoping to soften the blow of their recent troubles with their online poker clients.

Another likely reason for the supposed partnership is that the two companies are looking to save costs and increase revenues in an attempt to save their positions in what has been a rather tough market the past few year. Party Gaming was hit hard by changes in the American legal environment and CryptoLogic’s poker network has been suffering since then as well. Both companies are looking to ultimately cut costs and bolster their once mighty and powerful poker networks.

CryptoLogic will be refocusing their efforts in the coming months and years to their online casino businesses, which are their most profitable. They are looking to Party Gaming to help them keep the poker business afloat and hopefully venture into a new era of profitability. CryptoLogic currently has many new projects in Asian and Pacific Rim nations that are helping to increase their casino business in what is seen to be an expanding market.

The folks here at Twisted Gambler wish Dikshit and all of his new buddies at CryptoLogic the very best. After all, without fine companies like these we wouldn’t be in business. And without Dikshit, we couldn’t poke fun at perhaps the worst name in the history of mankind.

You heard it here first, folks.

The Twisted Gambler has just been informed by our ex KGB/FBI/DOT/NASA super-secret spy that Full Tilt Poker has signed a new Red Pro. Following the footsteps of countless “famous” Internet pros, the popular online poker site has managed to sign an icon- The Kool Aid Man. You may remember him from those famous commercials where he would burst through the door, serving Kool Aid to the kids and leaving behind a big ass mess for their parents to clean up.

We had the chance to speak with this outgoing, larger-than-life character via telephone this morning and asked him to share his thoughts on being the next Full Tilt Poker Red Pro.

Twisted Gambler (TG) – Wow, we would have never pegged you for a big online poker player. What did you say when Full Tilt first contacted you about being a Red Pro?

Kool Aid Man (KAM) – OH YEAAHH!

TG – Yup, we’d likely have that same reaction if FTP were to call us with that sort of offer. Are you very excited about the opportunity to share the stage with other Red Pro’s like Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey?

KAM – OH YEAAHH!

TG – Are there plans for you to play in the 2009 World Series of Poker as part of Team Full Tilt?

KAM – OH YEAAHH!

TG – Very nice, we look forward to seeing you there. It’s rumored that you’re a big NLHE player and while we hate to stir up bad blood, you were apparently banned from Poker Stars for multi-accounting. Is this true and do you have any plans to multi-account at Full Tilt, just like Eli Elezra?

KAM – OH YEAAHH!

TG – Well, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us today. Are there any words of wisdom you’d like to share with your millions of fans around the world?

KAM – OH YEAAHH! (followed by silence)

At that point we decided that perhaps the Kool Aid Man was much too excited to expand on his reasons for multi-accounting or share any words of wisdom. Regardless, we’re all very excited to see this new player at Full Tilt Poker and wish him the very best!

Despite an amazingly popular circuit of televised, prestigious poker tournaments and arguably credit for starting the poker explosion, World Poker Tour Enterprises is struggling to keep their company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. This will be an immediate challenge for the new interim CFO of WPT Enterprises, Thomas Flahie.

“We are very pleased to welcome Tom to the World Poker Tour team,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT Founder, President and CEO. “Tom has a wealth of finance and accounting expertise and a particularly strong management record with an emphasis on growth businesses. We look forward to his valuable input and hands-on participation as we right size our operations and continue to focus our business on our growth initiatives of television sponsorship, ClubWPT.com, and WPT China.”

The company is facing problems with NASDAQ because their stock share price has been below a dollar for some time. WPT received a notice from NASDAQ in August when their share price had been below one dollar for a period of thirty consecutive days. The company has 180 days to become compliant with the NASDAQ regulations or they will be de listed. To become compliant the stock price must stay above one dollar for at least ten days. Right now the stock price is hovering around fifty cents per share and is struggling to meet required one dollar mark.

President and CEO Steve Lipscomb had the following to say regarding the future of WPT Enterprises:
“We continue to be disappointed in our online gaming results and have begun directing resources in our growing sponsorship business. On the other hand, we continue to be encouraged by the strength of our brand in the domestic and international marketplace.”

WPT has reached an agreement with Fox Sports Net to air episodes of season seven of the World Poker Tour.

Starting on November 5th, Full Tilt Poker will run their latest series of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). Since this is the tenth installment of the tournament series, it has been dubbed FTOPS X. FTOPS X promises to be the most exciting version of the tournament yet, as Full Tilt has decided to add more events, more guaranteed money, and tons of different poker variations and tournament structures.

Like I just mentioned, this is going to be the biggest FTOPS to date, and will have a total of 25 tournaments. Between all 25 tournaments there will be a total prize pool of $15 million guaranteed, and most players expect the tournaments to grow even larger then their guarantees. One cool thing about this FTOPS is the fact that Full Tilt has really expanded the tournament to include some unique tournament structures and game varieties. Here are a few of the more “out there” tournaments:

Event #2 is a $256 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, but will also be a bounty tournament. Most of your buy-in will go to the prize pool, but a small portion will go to a “bounty” on your head, and whoever knocks you out will receive that money instantly. Right after that is Event #3, which is a $535 NLH Triple Shootout. Another cool one is Event #18, which is a $322 Razz event. That one will really test players all around poker skills.

Event #22 may even outshine the Main Event, as it is a two-day, $5,200 buy-in, No Limit Hold’em tournament. This is a $2 million guaranteed, and will definitely attract the best online poker players in the world. First place is expected to be around $350,000, so this is one you definitely don’t want to miss if you’re a high stakes MTT player.

Of course, the whole thing culminates with Event #25, which is the Main Event. This is a $535 NLH event, and expects to have at least 5,000 players enter to reach the $2.5 million guarantee put out by Full Tilt.

Another thing that is pretty cool about the FTOPS is their “Bouncebackability” Freeroll. Any player who bubbles any FTOPS event is automatically entered into this freeroll, and first place is entry into the FTOPS XI Main Event. Since there will only be 25 players in this, it is a great value and a cool little promotion for Full Tilt players.

Satellites are already running for FTOPS events, so make sure to head over to Full Tilt and qualify now. Good luck!