Squid Kids Ink’s SDCC 2015 Exclusive 10-Doh & Stud Vinyl Figures

Squid Kids Ink is bring two killer exclusives with them to San Diego Comic-Con 2015! First up is the “Ninja Girls with UDON Noodles” Mini 10-Doh!, a collaboration between Udon Entertainment and Squid Kids Ink. This 3.5” 10-Doh! features artwork by Chamba and will retail for $20.

SKI’s second Comic-Con exclusive is the “Squib Joker” Stud vinyl figure! This is the first Stud colorway ever released and launches Squid Kids Ink’s new Ante Ups brand. This debut figure is based on a poker playing card and features a Squib Joker with a green, red, and purple color scheme. This new figure will also retail for $20.

Both San Diego Comic-Con 2015 exclusives can be purchased at the Squid Kids Ink SDCC booth #5051.

The WSOP Main Event Final Table Begins Play Now

The day is finally here! After months off since the tenth place finisher was eliminated, the November Nine have returned to Las Vegas and the Rio to begin play at the 2008 World Series of Poker’s Main Event final table to win the coveted Main Event championship bracelet and the over $9,000,000 first place prize. Play resumes today, Sunday November 9, 2008 at 10 am PST, and you can listen to complete coverage of the Main Event final table with real time stats here thanks to the World Series of Poker and Bluff Magazine.


You know, The Blot was really against this long break when I first heard about it, but I think it’s done wonders for the sport of poker. In fact, the Main Event has gotten more media coverage the past few months than it has the past two years, ESPN’s poker coverage has gotten a significant bump in ratings, and the November Nine (the title ESPN and the WSOP have given the members of the Main Event’s final table) have become household names to poker fans around the world. This last item is the most significant because now fans of poker actually know the participants of the final table, a problem that has plagued the “sport” the past few years.

I’ve been going back and forth on picking a favorite to win the Main Event, and I’m no closer today than I was a few months ago. At first I was for sure going with the ultra aggressive David “Chino” Rheem, the most experienced and well known pro in the group. But, when Russian poker pro Ivan Demidov finished third at the WSOP Europe’s Main Event a few weeks ago I thought I’d be a fool not to choose Demidov. My only concern is that every single hand of the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event was broadcast on ESPN 360 for the world to see, so now I think he might actually be at a disadvantage for doing so well at the WSOPE.

If I wasn’t so sure being the chip leader going into the final table means you won’t win the Main Event I’d pick the oldest remaining player, Dennis Phillips, who has used his newfound celebrity to become quite the philanthropist. But in the end, I’m sticking with my gut and going with my first choice, LA poker pro Chino Rheem.

If you’d like to find out more about the participants who make up the final table at the World Series of Poker’s 2008 Main Event click here or here.

2008 World Series of Poker
Main Event Chip Count
1. Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000
2. Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000
3. Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000
4. Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000
5. Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000
6. Darus Suharto - 12,520,000
7. David 'Chino' Rheem - 10,230,000
8. Craig Marquis - 10,210,000
9. Kelly Kim - 2,620,000

The World Series Of Poker Main Event Starts Today

The Blot is a huge fan of Texas Hold'em, and today is my favorite day of the year for poker. While the World Series of Poker may have started a month ago, today is the start of Event 54 - The World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold’em $10,000 Buy-In Tournament, a.k.a. The Main Event. I’ve been consciously trying not to follow the 2008 World Series of Poker as closely as I have in years past because I found myself not enjoying ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP last year having known too much about each tournament’s results. And so while I am going to try my best not to follow the day to day goings on at the Rio, I broke my rules last night and took a peek at many of the list of tournament winners so far.

If you are like me and were trying to not find out this year’s 2008 WSOP results then I’d suggest not reading any further. This year sounds like it was an extremely exciting World Series of Poker and a great year for the “sport.” With many of the game’s best professional poker players doing extremely well this year, it seems like more pros than ever won bracelets. Finally, it seems like the Moneymaker effect is wearing off and the domination of the WSOP by amateurs is slowing down. Along with the resurgence of pros at the WSOP, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the exciting win on Sunday by the Prince of Poker, Scotty Nguyen.

Scotty won Event 45, the $50,000 Buy-In H.O.R.S.E. Tournament, and took home a purse worth $1,989,120 as well as the inaugural Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, which was created to honor the poker legend who died last December. (link) With this win Nguyen now owns five WSOP bracelets. What’s even more impressive is that Nguyen has now becomes the first World Series of Poker Main Event Champion to also win the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, a really amazing feat considering the best players in the world enter the World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event every year.

This tournament win, combined with his 11th place finish in last year’s Main Event, just goes to further solidify his place as one of the greatest poker players of all time. It would be hard for The Blot to bet against this poker legend making a strong showing this year to win his second WSOP Main Event tournament, especially after his amazing play last year. If only he had been able to hold on to his substantial lead with only a handful of players left, he might have made it to the 2007 Main Event final table and then who knows what might have been. After all this poker talk, I am now anxiously awaiting the call of “shuffle up and deal” at the Rio to start the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

R.I.P. David "Chip" Reese

Last night it really saddened The Blot to find out that legendary poker player David "Chip" Reese had passed away in his sleep at the age of 56. Chip Reese is considered by many to be one of the top poker players ever and quite possibly the greatest cash game player ever.

While playing mostly in high-stakes cash games, as opposed to poker tournaments, Reese mostly stayed away from the television spotlight preferring to play in the legendary "Big Game." Reese won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets, the last being in 2006 by winning the inaugural $50,000 Buy-In HORSE event in which five different styles of poker are played rotating each round. With the largest WSOP tournament buy-in ever, only the top players from around the world entered the $50,000 HORSE event and all were bested by Reese, showcasing his mastering of the five different poker games. It was only fitting that Reese's biggest tournament win was captured by ESPN for the entire world to see so that his poker legacy can live on now that he has left the felt for the final time.

Reese is survived by a son, a daughter and a stepdaughter.

You can read more about his passing here, here and here.

Online Poker Players' Greatest Fears Come True

Over the past few years The Blot, like most of America, has become addicted to Poker and more specifically Texas Hold’Em. While I prefer to play poker live and in person, what has really spurred the recent boom of poker playing in America is online poker. I don’t really want to get into the legality of online poker or what was or was not outlawed by the ridiculous legislation recently passed by the United States Congress, because for all intents and purposes online poker is here to stay…or so I thought.

After reading a recent article by ABC News about AbsolutePoker.com and the alleged fraud it has been perpetrating on its users, I’m not so sure anymore. You can read the entire article here, but the gist of it is that someone within the organization had created a super-account which could secretly view a poker game and be able to see all of the table’s hole cards (those cards each player is dealt face down and not obligated to show anyone else in the game). That person was then working in tandem with a former AbsolutePoker.com employee who was playing in a poker tournament and was being told by the super-account what his opponents’ cards were. This investigation all but confirms every online poker player’s worse fears, that somehow the games are fixed.

The only one way to really send a message to all online poker sites is to go after AbsolutePoker.com hard and fast. They need to be made an example of to show other sites that there is zero tolerance policy towards cheating and maybe even go so far as shutting down the AbsolutePoker.com’s site. The only problem is most of these sites are too smart for that and have their servers spread out across the world. Thankfully, AbsolutePoker.com is located in Canada and not some far off secluded island so just maybe the company is actually touchable. It is being reported that the site has already released a statement apologizing for the incident and claiming that the situation has been resolved, but it sounded pretty vague to me and AbsolutePoker did not release any real details about what took place. (Link)

In many ways I blame the U.S. Government for the state of online poker today. To try and outlaw an internet game is just too difficult and not realistic. The Government needs to come to terms with the new global society spurred on by the internet’s accessibility. Instead of just banning something, the U.S. Government should have seen this as an opportunity to embrace it, not only to legalize it but to regulate it and tax it. Just think of all the taxable income our government is missing out on. Besides that, we could have forced heavier restrictions and regulations on the poker sites in exchange for allowing them to conduct business in the U.S. It would have also allowed many of the U.S. based casinos to get in on the online poker crazy and they would have in turn acted as industry watchdogs, keeping a close eye on their competitors in this growing industry. Nevertheless, the state of online poker in America is what it is for now and if I was you I’d stay far, far away from AbsolutePoker.com. I hope to see the laws amended in the future, but until they are it is truly play at your own risk.

If you'd like to find out more about what you can do to help protect poker players' rights, check out The Poker Players Alliance at www.pokerplayersalliance.org.