For Rent?…

For Rent?…. The Poker Million – The Masters talk is all sponsorships right now. Twenty-six regular entrants, whose names have yet to be officially released, are clamoring to sell their logo space, those 2” by 3” squares of for rent glory that could turn a seat into that most prized of all gambling possessions – the freeroll. An unofficial count suggests that the logos represented on the show may include several well known sportsbooks, online poker sites and even real life cardrooms. And when companies see the level of exposure they’ll receive, dedicated up-close two hour shots of players involved, this may open the poker floodgates for personal sponsorship. Hell, yes, I’m biased. But it’s still my prediction.

Guiness and Caviar… Things will heat up this weekend at the Irish Winter Tournament. Tournament director Liam Flood has declared that the event will be “well sold”. Now everybody’s jetting in, Jac Arama and crew are flying straight from Moscow, with a suspected thirty kilos of duty free caviar. It’s one way to raise a bankroll… The final event, a 1000 euro no-limit Hold’em contest, is likely to attract field just under one hundred players, but whoever wins it will have earned their money. Former world champion Noel Furlong, European champion Alan Betson, WSOP finalist Scott Gray, and an in-form Padraig Parkinson will be among the local hopes trying to keep the trophy inside of Ireland, but they’ll have their work cut out.

Set Your Browsers…It’s not just the betting. The Amsterdam Masterclassics will also be the launching pad for a new endeavor by The Hendon Mob to provide live Internet broadcasts of major poker tournaments around the world. Though they will be entering the technology slowly, the kickoff of a new site exclusively for poker web broadcasts looks promising. Coverage of the Masterclassics final table will include a live webcam, running text updates as fast they can be typed, and a special forum for viewers to chat, ask questions, and just sweat a lot of action. There will also be video interviews of name players. If there’s someone in particular you want tracked down, send an email, I’ll definitely hope to collar The Devilfish and The Poet Peter Costa to tell us some Vegas stories from their visit last month. The new website will be online soon, web address to be revealed…

Cockney Rocky… Kudos to Rocky Ross Boatman, who delivered by all accounts an inspiring performance to win the European Poker Classics’ main event in London last week. The result is even more impressive when you consider that Ross has been largely absent from the tournament scene the past two months, due to the fact that Ross’ other commitments as an English film star have kept him on an acting set rather than in a poker seat. Ross has been cast as a chauffeur for an Irish gangster in an upcoming movie, which will represent a broad departure for the man usually typecast as a chauffeur for English gangsters. Ross’ agent should be happy that Ross will be in Dublin this week doing research on the complexities of the Irish language, but apparently the agent still labors under a mistaken assumption that Ross should concentrate exclusively on acting. I think Ross should just dump the 70 large he won onto his agent’s desk and say, “Say that again?”