I’ve just posted four more LuckyDog Poker columns from this summer, including my article written after exclusive interviews with past WSOP champs Chris Moneymaker (2003) and Greg Raymer (2004) on the eve of their bid to repeat in 2006.

I think you’ll find something interesting in these pieces, if you missed them the first time around on creators.com or in your local newspaper:

July 18 — Pros Chris Ferguson (5-time WSOP bracelet winner and world champ in 2000), Mark Seif (double bracelet winner last year and co-host of the PPT on TV), and Jim Davenport (online winner of the first Poker Pro for a Year competition) give LuckyDog some valuable poker tips to pass along to amateurs. One of them could help your game!

July 25 — Four qualifiers to the 2006 WSOP main event — three from Poker Stars online satellites and one from a live satellite — reveal their strategy for getting into the money just days before the tournament. None of them made it, but one bad beat here or there can destroy anyone’s perfect plan.

August 1 — LuckyDog scored back-to-back telephone interviews with Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer on the eve of the 2006 WSOP main event. Their insight on the tournament, today’s poker scene, and their chances of repeating as world champ make fascinating reading. Don’t miss this one! The transcripts of those interviews are linked at right if you haven’t checked them out yet.

August 8 — The only thing crazier than all of the poker action in Las Vegas this summer was the media frenzy that fed all of the details to millions of fans across the world. LuckyDog was part of the media scene and offers some observations not repeated anywhere else more than a couple hundred times…

Hope you enjoy the posts! As always, your comments are welcome. Soon I’ll post more of my column material from this year’s World Series main event, which, thanks to the new Internet gambling law, stands to remain forever as the biggest poker tournament in history.

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Sabina Gadecki is a college student, an acting student, a dance student, a beauty pageant winner, a bartender, an award-winning community-service provider — oh yeah, she’s also the new hostess for Season 5 of the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel.

You’ve seen her once so far, on the recent WPT Ladies Night event, but new Season 5 shows will start airing in about three months and you’ll see her regularly on Wednesday nights.

She follows Shana Hyatt, who held the job for the WPT’s first three years, and Courtney Friel, whose Season 4 shows aired this year. She may not make us forget about Shana , but her enthusiasm and freshness should light up our big screens just fine. It doesn’t hurt that she’s easy to look at, either!

My column on Sabina will be posted tomorrow (Nov. 21) at creators.com if you’d like to learn more about this new face in the world of poker. For a transcript of the interview, click the link on the right. Enjoy!

I’ll post a couple of pics of Sabina as soon as I figure out how…

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Catching up a little bit … (sorry for the gap in posts; the Canterbury trip put me behind at work, the election happened, etc. etc.)

* I just finished a great phone interview with Sabina Gadecki, the new WPT hostess whose work got its first airing on the Travel Channel a week or so ago on the annual Ladies Night WPT event, eventually won by JJ Liu. Sabina follows in the footsteps of Courtney Friel, who was hostess for Season 4 still airing, and the popular Shana Hyatt, who hosted the show for the first three seasons. Based on the Ladies Night show, Sabina shapes up as terrific addition to the WPT. And based on the interview just now, I think you’re going to enjoy my column about her (to be distributed to newspaper clients Nov. 21 and posted at creators.com).

* Did U.S. Rep Jim Leach, R-Iowa, come up a loser on Election Day because of his role in pushing the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act into law? Well, hey, the long-time congressman lost to a relatively unknown candidate by some 5,000 votes — a total shock. I’d bet there were at least twice that many poker players in his district ticked off about the online ban who made a point of voting for Leach’s Democratic opponent. So, I’d say yes!

* Speaking of the Ladies Night WPT event, the best line of the night was by Erika Schoenburg after she was KO’d and standing with Sabina for a quick interview. “Erika, it’s really sad to see you up here so soon,” Sabina said. “It looks pretty tense down there at the table, right?” Erika, smiling but obviously disappointed, said, “I wasn’t expecting the ladies to be so loose!” It cracked me up!

* I’m searching for an online site to use, now that PokerRoom has pulled the plug on me (and tens of thousands of other players it had in the U.S.) I knew it was coming, but thought it wouldn’t be until the 13th — one month after President Bush signed the ill-conceived law. I have a Mac iBook G4, so there aren’t many choices left. Anyone out there recommend Full Tilt? I’ve heard some shaky reviews about the site. Maybe Poker Stars will add Macs to their capabilities soon, since they’ve got all of that $$$ coming in now after Party Poker’s pullout!

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