The Golden Nugget is offering a special "All In Poker Package." Starting at $129/night, the package includes Deluxe Room Accommodations and an entry into one of their daily Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament. The prize on this can get up to $3,000. Entries into this tournament usually range betwen $100-$300 depending on the day of the week you go. Call 800.634.3454 for reservations.

If you haven't been to the Golden Nugget, their poker room has eight tables and is a non-smoking environment. You don't have to go far for a hot dog or sub either because they have their own snack bar, right there. The poker room is also close to the buffet and in the same general area as their 24 hour Starbucks.

So, what's going on in poker the rest of this month?

Chicago tonight: Annie Duke is hosting the August 12th DD Tournament Poker game and the final event at The Chicago Poker Championship on the 13th. This will be held at the Resorts East Chicago.

Tunica 8/11 - 8/25: The WSOP Circuit events start up in Tunica. August 22nd begins the Championshiop event. Grand Casino Tunica.

New York 8/14-8/21: Third Annual Empire State Hold'em Championship Tournament. Turning Stone Casino and Resort.

San Jose 8/28 - 9/4: 2005 Speedway of Champions. Garden City Casino.

Los Angeles all month with the $5k on 8/27: The Legends of Poker. The Bicycle Casino.

BRAVO's Celebrity Poker Showdown is releasing their new episodes next week. But move around your schedule, or set your Tivo, because they're changing their schedule. The new shows will begin Thursday, August 18th at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. So, that's it....all the new goodies will be on Thursdays now. This time around the celebs will be competing for $250,000 in charity dosh. And who will we see playing our favorite game? Rosie O'Donnell and friends...Mo Gaffney, Travis Tritt, Eddie Cibrian, & Penny Marshall will play on Sept. 15.

The first game, on August 18th, will be themed on Reality TV celebs including, Jonny Fairplay ("Survivor: Pearl Islands"), Andrew Firestone ("The Bachelor"), Charla Faddoul ("Amazing Race"), Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth ("The Apprentice"), and Trishelle Cannatella ("The Real World").

But I'll be tuning in on September 8 for some Michael Vartan eye candy.

Last night Wil Wheaton gave the keynote speech to 200-some poker enthusiasts gathered at the Las Vegas Club for the end of BARGE banquet. He gracefully admitted that he was just there to entertain us, not teach us poker, and that he did. The audience was gripped with his tale of being invited to an illegal poker den in Hollywood. We couldn't stop laughing. I don't want to tell the story or spoil it for you, just go read "Lying in Odessa," if you haven't already. And the good gossip....Wil is working on a poker book. I have no doubt that this will be well received in the publishing world, because as you can see from reading the story, he's a compelling writer. I didn't know that much about Wil before hearing him speak last night, and I'm not saying I do now, but lets just say a fan has been born. Have any of you read his book Just a Geek?

The other highlight of the banquet was Nolan Dalla presenting the BARGE founders with plaques containing signed cards from both Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson. Not just any cards. These were the cards that brought them their 10th WSOP bracelets. A gift beyond words.

I know people that have a soft spot for vintage casino chips. Ahem, if I weren't so busy getting to know Vegas myself, I'd already have a collection of retro chips in a shadow box and appropriately placed and well dusted on the living room coffee table. So, it was pretty cool to learn that Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club is in town this week. In fact, I just read, "Nobody can collect just one," in the Las Vegas Sun, and now I'm going to go over there right now!

What: Casino Chip and Gaming Token Collectors Club 13th International Conference
Where: The Riviera
When: Saturday, Aug. 6 (last day)
Cost: $5

This goes WAY beyond poker chips. It's casino memorabilia at it's finest. Hobbyists, serious collectors, Vegasphiles, and anyone looking to take a stroll down memory lane will enjoy. I'm out the door.....

Did you hear about the big Full Tilt promotion? Not that they do anything other than BIG—but those who are already beating the game over at Full Tilt are going to be even happier to know that more buckaroos are entering the game. $10k a day to be exact. Throughout August they'll be giving away $310, 000 to those who are playing in the real money ring games. Normally to win this kind of money players have to play big entry tourneys, but it's pretty cool that they're awarding the smaller players this time around. In this dealio, the more hands you play, the more chances you have to win. Check out the details.

Now if only they'd hurry up with their Mac version so I could take adavantage of it!

It's that time of the year, BARGE time. Since this is my first year in poker, it's all new to me but I'm excited to see what's up and meet the uber-enthusiasts of poker. BARGE, which stands for "Big August Rec.Gambling Excursion," is the annual field trip to Las Vegas for long time poker  lovers. It started yesterday at The Plaza with a Pot-Limit Omaha High Charity tourney, and will last through the weekend. Here is a schedule of what's to come this week. I was signed up for the SO tourney tomorrow morning, so say hi if you're around. The Plaza is a cold one, so I'll be in a blue zipper up sweater with a hood. Maybe a scarf and mittens, too. And hey, if you've been to BARGE, give us the lowdown in the comments. I hear it's the best.

Yes, there has been more poker in Vegas post WSOP. Players have been grinding it out at the Plaza downtown and here are the recent winners. Congrats everyone!

July 8: $500 NL Holdem, Roy Obreicht $21,140
July 9: $500 NL Holdem, Rukhsana Guevarra $28,235
July 10:  $1000 NL Holdem, Tom Cope, $45,740
July 11: $1500 NL Holdem, Rafe Furst, $35,650
July 12: $2000 NL Holdem, Vince Burgio $41, 020
July 13: $2500 NL Holdem, Ronnie Ebanks $51, 410
July 14: $3000 NL Holdem, Bill Edler, $61,100
July 15: $1000 NL Holdem, Ryan Larsen $32,980
July 16: $500 NL Holdem, John Phan $21,680
July 17: $1500 NL Holdem, Gary Do, $24,445
July 18: $2000 NL Holdem, Vince Burgio $24,055
July 19: $2500 NL Holdem, Bill Edler $32,010
July 20: $3000 NL Holdem, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, $41,905

I'm here at the Aviation Club de France for the second flight in the Grand Prix de Paris. It is practically a shock to the system compared to the largess that the World Series of Poker was in Las Vegas. There are two rooms with four tables each left. Some of the faces I recognize here are Carlos Mortensen, Tony G, Robert Williamson, Andy Black, Howard Lederer, Barry Schulman, David Colcough, and the DevilFish. I recognized Tobey Mcguire right off the bat because his English stood out from all the French conversations I can't understand. I met Rolf Slotbloom with PokerPages who is on top of the coverage here.  It is 9:00 p.m. our time and they will be going on their dinner break in about 15 minutes. At my last check, Andy Black was holding strong at more than $24k. Tobey had gained a whole stack while I was in the other room and was above $20k. Freddy Deeb was also around $20k, David Colcough was just under $10k, Barry Schulman above $12k, and Carlos was right around $25k. Tony G, who took second in last year's Grand Prix, recognized me and said hey while out of a hand. He was short stacked at around $4500, but in good spirits. He said he had a good day a few ago and placed 12th in the $10,000 Hall of Fame.

The World Poker Tour's Grand Prix de Paris begins this week and lasts from July 25 - 29. As luck would have it, I'm leaving for Paris today to speak at the Paris American Academy and am hoping to swing by the Aviation Club afterwards.  I've never seen poker in Europe and am particularly looking forward to a quick glimpse of this tournament. Last year it came down to Tony G and Surinder Sunar. The European Hall of Famer, Surinder, ended up taking it and the prize. But don't think that Tony G didn't walk away with cementing his reputation as one of the true bad boys of the World Poker Tour.

If you're new to poker, or still getting your bearings on the game, take a look at BLUFF's column "Hold My Hand," by Basil Nestor. I was just reading the 2005 June/July issue of BLUFF and Basil is doing a great job with this. He starts off by telling you what the game is, who's in it, where they're sitting and how many chips they have. Then he gets in each player's head while they go through a hand. In this issue, it was called "A Dangerous Draw," with pocket aces going against, 88, and KQs. He walks you through each bet and then gives an analysis at the end. I love it. And kind folk that the BLUFF people are, they archive these babies on their website.

We're in the last week of the 2005 Ultimate Poker Challenge that has been going on at the Plaza since July 8. Card Player is showing the results, but no table by table coverage so far. I've been getting some bits from Gavin Smith's perspective on GavinLIVE. He made it to the final table and cashed $5600 for 5th place in the $2500 event. They've had 13 events so far with five more leading up to the big $10k NL event July 25 - 27. A quick flip through some of the events showed that Tod Brunson, Clonie Gowen, and Andy Bloch have also been been making money. If you're headed down there, keep your eye out for Vince Burgio...he's done well at the Plaza this year.

Poker players have stamina! Is that a bumper sticker yet? Oh no, sorry, that's Poker players do it with Big Slick.......I just can't get over the fact that big poker is still going on. Within hours of the World Series. I suppose this means little to the players who didn't to play at the final table, but for the media....wow. I just checked Tao of Poker, and Pauly is still at it. He's complaining a little bit about the 120F heat, but don't let him. It's nice and cool inside the Bellagio. Now I'm curious...PokerWire took it off, AND Mike Paulle took it off. Pauly, what's wrong with you?

So, the Bellagio Challenge Cup started on the 18th and will end on the 20th. $10k to enter. First place will get $364, 200. There are 18 players left, but all I see are the ones that are out on Pauly's live updates. I was particularly saddened to see Erik Seidel and Allen Cunningham on that list. I will not be going over there, but I found it interesting that Pauly was.

ESPN begins airing their 2005 WSOP coverage today. From tonight until August 16 they'll be showing the Circuit events that were held in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, San Diego, Lake Tahoe, and New Orleans. Then, the $1500 NL Hold Em event from June 4 at the Rio will air on August 23. From then on out it's a whole lot of final table action from events that took place these last six weeks at the Rio. You can review the whole schedule on the official WSOP website. You can also check daily TV listings  on ESPN.

AK, thanks for pointing out the LA Times article. Were you cringing at his description of Binion's in the lead paragraph like I was? "Late Friday night at Binion's Gambling Hall, an old-fashioned casino in the old-fashioned part of Las Vegas..."  How on earth did that get past an editor? Anyways, here are some quick points from the article for those who wanted to know more about the poker bot challenge with Phil Laak.

• Phil won with aces over kings
• It took three hours and 300+ hands to win
• The name of Phil's opponent was PokerProbot
• The software behind PokerProbot was written by Hilton Givens a 37-year-old car salesman from Indiana