Let us indulge ourselves with a tiny bit of poker content, eh?
Last week I was as shellshocked as (I'd like to think) the rest of
pokaworld was at Brunson's $700m bid to buy out the WPT brand. All I
could think was, whoa-- Beal's the moneyman backer, the corporation
hasn't really been playing highstakes poker games all this time (not
all, anyway) but groundworking a newfangled poker-Illuminati that is
looking to pull all the strings in our pokercrazed world
and the first stepping stone to absolute dominion was the wpt-feather in their caps... (i
get a little conpiracytheorish late at nite in the dark, pls forgive
me)... and *wow* what's going to happen next?!
But nein, WPT bid fails anticlimactically (and it really isnt always
two roads diverging but means to that particular end, sometimes) ... and we're left
wondering wtf just happened, where's my all in protection? Poker is rigged!
The SEC is wondering wtf actually:
Poker legend Doyle Brunson,
who we often see on TV in poker tournament finals, has certainly
mastered the art of bluffing. But the problem, some investors say, is
he took that skill to Wall Street in what appears to be a major rip-off.
Some angry complaints have already been lodged with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, which, I'm told by a Nasdaq investigator, has
kicked off an investigation into what a number of Wall Street pros
believe was a bogus takeover offer for WPT Enterprises, the Hollywood,
Calif., creator of the widely watched World Poker Tour telecast on the
Travel Channel.
So, no poker Illuminati? (if there is one, give me a
call. sliding scale and really, i just get off on information and dont
mind the cloak y dagger stuff either).
Nope, and what's that leave us except good ol run of the mill, no capes required corporate greed...
Meanwhile, there is a sizable short position in WPT. One short
seller in the shares thinks it's inevitable that any probe will reveal
one or more of the following:
* The bid was never real and some investors knowing that profited by
buying the stock in advance of the offer and possibly sold it short
after the run-up in price. * The bid was real, but for some reason it fell apart in midstream,
and no one ever disclosed that fact. In the process, some investors,
aware of what was going on, illegally capitalized on that information,
perhaps on the long side, the short side, or both. * Some investors, aware of everything going on, may have also made
money in Lakes Entertainment, which holds a 62% stake in WPT. Lakes,
which also has a sizable short position, experienced a recent
roller-coaster ride, as well.
And lets not forget that Mr Berman, who controls Lakes Entertainment, is already embroiled in another SEC corporate escapade:
It's good news for Lakes, which has been in a tussle with the
Securities and Exchange Commission because it counts millions of
dollars in loans to Indian tribes for developing casinos as assets. The
SEC says the loans should be counted as expenses. Berman said he expects the SEC dispute to be cleared up within three to four weeks.
The Brunson bid reverberated alrite, shivering Lakes up in the process.
Who would be the poker Illuminati, anyway? Pros? Corporations? Players?
*bloggers*? ;) (lonely girls who have nothing better to do than pound
this
stuff out alone in the dark cos the chair retains warmth better than
the
bed....)
Kahnawake better watch out, it may lose some grand master status soon.
You know, the Mohawk tribe in Canadia that licenses online poker and
internet casinos across this fair set of data ups and downs...
Anyhow, their ability to do just that is being called into question,
according to a research report for Canada's Law Commission...
The report does, however, explore some of the grey areas that have
formed in the gambling industry like the legality of 30 internet
gambling sites that have been operated on Kahnawake Mohawk reserves in
Quebec since the late 1990's. Under the Criminal Code, provincial governments are the only ones
that can operate on-line casinos, but the Kahnawake Mohawks, who
consider themselves an independent state, have established the
Kahnawake Gaming Commission to license and regulate the sites
on Internet servers physically located on their tribal lands, the
report says. "The question is whether the Kahnawake are a provincial government," Mr. Campbell said.
Well, I daresay that Party
Poker may have had secondsite (online poker is rigged!) in pulling out
their remaining servers from the kahnawake reservation around the time
of their IPO,
though I think the real reason has more to do with alignment with the
UK and server location legitimacy issues than anything...
But, the Law Commission won't present its recommendations based on
the research til 2006, giving lots of time to dig its heels in the
masonic poker catacombs and have Grand Chief Delisle issue press releases about their legitimacy...
Either way, knots are forming in panties across the globe... starting with all of the permit holders from Kahnawake who are worrying wondering right now how the sun is in Malta and if the women are as noir as they imply...
Man, roo ruch roker. I almost feel, dirty. :)
aK
GamesGrid Poker (and Backgammon!)
**Free year subscription to GamesGrid Backgammon, $80 value!**
ps, what do you think my shot in hell is in getting into the poker
illuminati, for reals? now i want one just to exist so i can quiver
knowing its out there, even if i dont shine brite enough to warrant the
pointy hat.
9:33:45 PM 
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Monday, July 18, 2005
