CrazyAss13

THE POKER craze apparently has not moved Bob Costas.

On his HBO show, he said, “I hold in my hand the New York Times, and in the sports section, their new regular column on poker. … Now at the risk of alienating degenerates from coast to coast, I must say I find it hard to get worked up over a sport that boasts all the pageantry and magic of Saturday night at my Uncle Murray’s basement. …

“Meanwhile, your 18-year-old kid is somehow hooked on this mind-numbing fare and has blown most of next semester’s tuition payment on an online game of Texas Hold’Em.

“Look, poker is not a sport. … Put it on the Game Show Network and let Chuck Woolery host it.”

http://insidebayarea.com/

The epic battle between man and machine has lead to some of mankind proudest achievements. Recently the search for true artificial intelligence has lead researchers to online casino poker. Much has been written about the popularity of online casino poker and the enormous affect it has had on our gambling habits. As it so happens, online casino poker has also impacted the world of science. Advancements in casino poker software featured at various online casinos around the web have inspired researchers in their attempt to create an artificially intelligent entity.

Prior to turning to online casino poker, mankind´s search for artificial intelligence has concentrated primarily on the fields of robotics and computers. A computer is the only thing that is capable of simulating the enormous computing power of the human brain. One of the most impressive accomplishments in the field of artificial intelligence was IBM´s chess computer Deep Blue. In 1997, Deep Blue managed to beat the world champion in chess Gary Kasparov. This was the first time in history that a computer managed to beat a reigning world champion. Much like chess, online casino poker is a game that requires an extensive use of strategy.

Researchers are now creating poker robots that are capable of going head to head in a game of online casino poker. This field has gotten so big that there is actually a poker tournament held in Las Vegas called the World Series of Poker Robots, in which the latest advancements in the world of online casino poker robots are showcased. This year´s event lasted from July 12th to 20th at the Binion´s Casino. After three days of competition, a poker robot by the name of “PokerProbot” emerged victorious and grabbed the $100,000 grand prize curtsey of the event´s sponsor the Golden Palace online casino.

http://www.onlinecasinoreports.com/

For hours on end, the woman sitting near the poker pit at Binion’s during the final day of the World Series of Poker tournament sat out of the limelight, willingly letting her boyfriend bask in its glow.

Wearing a tank top that read, “My boyfriend can kick your ass,” actress Jennifer Tilly was just another poker fan that night, watching along with the crowd as her significant other, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, beat the stuffing out of a “poker robot” programmed to play a strangely human-like game.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/

Hollywood Poker is firing another bullet with two celebrity-loaded online tournaments. The World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Celebrity Shootout I will be held on July 31, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. EDT and Celebrity Shootout II will be on August 14, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Hollywood Poker’s Vince Van Patten remarked, “These tournaments are sure to add a few more chips to the stack of Hollywood Poker’s revolutionary take on online poker. Where else could such unique tournaments take place? Playing with the big boys is a fantasy for any casual poker player, and Hollywood Poker continues to make that dream a reality for its members.”

The Last Celebrities Standing in each of the tournaments, along with the overall winners, will then be automatically entered into the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker event at the Bicycle Casino on August 27, 2005, valued at $7,500. In addition, the winners of each tournament will each receive first place prize money from the guaranteed $10,000 prize pool. Hollywood Poker is also providing satellite tournaments at $2+.25 that would allow the winners to play in the $20+2 buy-in Celebrity Shootouts at no charge.

After a marathon 15-hour final round, an Australian chiropractor turned professional card player has emerged as the new champion of the World Series of Poker. The victory earned him $7.5 million and placed him, for the moment, atop a wave of poker-mania that in the past few years has swept the country.

“How could it not change my life?” 39-year-old Joseph Hachem, his face pasty after a long night and morning in a darkened upstairs card room of Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel in downtown Las Vegas. “It changes everything.”

As Hachem reveled in his victory Saturday morning over a Maryland mortgage banker who seemed astonished even to be in the big game, two guards in suits and ties, brandishing shotguns, watched over a table covered with stacks of cash that represented his winnings — a pile that a few hours before had been paraded into the card room with theatrical overkill befitting the reality television series that this once obscure event has become.

More than 5,600 players ponied up the $10,000 entry fee and converged on Las Vegas for the weeklong tournament. It was a record turnout.

http://www.sunherald.com/