Recently, WickedChopsPoker published an article going into detail about the UB super user scandal and many of the names involved with assisting Russ Hamilton in moving around money. Also, a Chinese collusion ring was revealed on PokerStars where several players would join and play numerous double or nothing sit n go tournaments. These stories just go to reinforce one important truth that one must realize when playing online poker and that you must ALWAYS look out for cheaters. People cheat at online poker.

The Women in Poker Hall of Fame announced their 2010 class last week and, as I figured, my two picks were inducted into the Hall along with someone else I never heard of. Jennifer Harman was to me an obvious choice due to the fact that she is clearly the best all around female player on the planet. She is the only woman to consistently play at the high limits of Bobby's Room year in and year out and is the only woman in history to have 2 open WSOP bracelets. Kathy Liebert is the all-time women's money winner and clearly the best female NL Holdem tournament player on the planet.

As you may have noticed, I have not updated my blog in over a week. That is the longest I have went on PokerJunkie without an update, but it was with good reason. I was working the past week at the Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center in Appomattox, Va where I work a 4-H camp every summer. 4-H is a youth organization that holds clubs and activities through the year for kids from 5 to 19 years of age.

I'm not a normal poker scenester so you won't catch me at many of the charity events, unless there's a hefty open bar, I'm working, or both. However last week Power Balance, the new performance enhancing bracelet company, threw a charity tournament at Drais in the W Hotel Hollywood and I was asked to help with stats on the final table. The W Hotel is amazing and Drais is much different than the after hours club I'm used to in Vegas. The table was set and quickly loads of celebs and poker pros filled the rooftop lounge.

Liv Boeree is no longer endorsed by UB. com. PokerNewsDaily. com reported today that the online site and Boeree have split ways when a new contract could not be reached.

Although the official announcement has not been made, it appears that the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino has been sold to Boyd Gaming.  Harrah's has been looking to sell the property for months and it appears that they have finally unloaded the off-strip casino. For those of you that don't know, the Rio is the current home of the World Series of  Poker.  The WSOP moved there in 2004 after Binion's Horseshoe was purchased by Harrah's Entertainment.

Annette Obrestad apparently forgot to read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. I ran across some articles regarding an interview that Annette Obrestad did with ESPN where she claimed that when playing women: "It's easy money.

It was announced today that bwin and Partygaming have completed the talk of a merger and will now form one company in 2011.  Essentially, the assets of bwin will be transferred to Partygaming but bwin will have the majority of the shares. I have been watching this for a while due to the fact that I do some work for some sites run by bwin, so this merger has been of keen interest to me.   However, anyone that plays online poker should be keeping an eye on bwin and Partygaming over the next few months.

I’m currently in Atlantic City, NJ for a couple of days for a friend’s birthday and decided to spend today over at the casino.  At least such was the plan.   I wound up staying over there for only a couple of hours because the floor staff pissed me off, but in the meantime, I actually did quite well. One hand in particular was a prime example of why many people do not like lower limit Holdem.

So for the first time in probably three years, I watched a first run episode of the 2010 World Series of Poker on ESPN.  Tonight was the Poker Player's Championship episodes where Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi took down his first every WSOP bracelet. I won't lie.   The main reason I watched was to see if they got some shots of me around the Rio.