I guess we now know the answer to whether Scotty Baby’s rule-breaking behavior at the WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event will cost him his tournament connection with the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa. PokerPages.com is showing this lineup of tournaments for the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge V.

Scotty Nguyen

Perhaps part of the reason for the delay was because they completely re-worked the tournament schedule. Last fall’s sked had 32 events spread over nearly three weeks’ time. This year there are 30 events, but they’re crammed into just 12 days, with most days featuring 3 separate events.

The other big change is the games lineup itself. They’ve dumped the stud event (boo), the Apollo Knockout, both senior events, and — shocker — the media tournament.

Now the question is: Will poker players turned off by Scotty’s WSOP abusive meltdown back up their feelings by skipping this year’s event?

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The Indian gaming commission investigating the Ultimate Bet online cheating scandal on Monday afternoon announced sanctions against UB and fingered 1994 WSOP champ Russ Hamilton as the “main person responsible” for the incidents which yielded a reported $6 million scammed from unsuspecting online players.

I couldn’t find a response anywhere from Hamilton about today’s accusations. If the commission seeks criminal action against Hamilton and others, and the case winds up in court somewhere, presumably we’ll hear the other side of the story then.

Here is the commission’s full news release:

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FRIDAY’S UPDATE: The circuit judge on Friday issued a continuance of the case, which will allow for arguments countering the seizure move to be assembled and presented. The next court date is Oct. 6. Meanwhile, the PPA filed this amicus brief Friday.

UPDATE: The court hearing on Kentucky’s bid to assume control of 141 Internet gambling online domains was postponed to Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET. An Associated Press story gave no reason for the 24-hour delay.

FEEDBACK: Check out this discussion on the 2 Plus 2 forum. Interesting…

Here is a statement released today by the Poker Players Alliance in response to action taken by the Kentucky governor to block public access to more than 140 gambling Web sites:

WASHINGTON, DC. (September 23, 2008) – John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nation-wide and more than 13,000 members in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, today issued the following statement in regards to legal action taken by the Commonwealth to seize the domain names of Internet gambling websites.

“The Poker Players Alliance is outraged at the actions taken by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the Franklin County Circuit Court to seize the domain names of Internet gambling websites. We believe this action not only unduly restricts the freedom of Kentucky residents to play games of skill, such as poker, online, but sets a precedent for censorship of the Internet by force.

“Many of Governor Beshear’s arguments – that online poker is illegal, unregulated and without a mechanism to capture tax revenue – are false. Online poker is not illegal under Kentucky law, is regulated in its home jurisdiction and the Commonwealth of Kentucky chose not to license and regulate poker websites.

“If the Governor truly wants to implement tighter regulations, taxation mechanisms and consumer protections on Internet gambling, the PPA suggests he publicly support federal legislation by U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, H.R. 2460, which would achieve those goals

“Poker is a game of skill, a true American pastime and has a proud heritage in Kentucky. Simply because the game has evolved into the 21st Century, it should not be treated as suspect activity. Forcefully and secretly seizing control of websites that offer online poker games is not a sound public policy or a sound legal solution.”

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Just when I thought I’d heard everything…

On Monday, the governor of Kentucky asked a judge to allow the state to seize control of more than 140 Web site domains related to gambling with the intent of blocking all citizen access to those sites within the state’s borders.

Here is Gov. Steve Beshear’s explanation of the state’s action:

It’s not that the Democratic governor is against gambling in Kentucky. One of his campaign promises was to open up casino gambling in the Bluegrass State, which already has horse-race betting and a lottery.

Now, in a move reminicent of what the Chinese government did when all those pesky journalists were in Beijing for the Olympics, Beshear wants to block access to the online sites because of their content. By doing so, he says he will be safegarding the state’s signature horse-race betting industry.

In his comments, he skipped completely over the notion of protecting Kentuckians’ personal freedoms.

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Justin Shronk, whose open letter to Tiffany Michelle — last woman standing in this year’s WSOP main event — stirred up plenty of attention, has responded to several comments posted on LuckyDog Poker beneath a copy of his letter.

You can see his letter and all comments here.

To check out Justin’s recommendation for a site offering info about the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals, click here.

ALSO: MSNBC has done this in-depth report on the scandal.

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UPDATE SEPT. 17: HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES HR 6870

Cong. Barney Frank’s new bill that would erase regulations of the UIGEA — except pertaining to online sports betting — passed its House Financial Services Committee markup hearing Tuesday.

The 30-19 vote means that the bill, HR 6870, moves forward to the full House for a possible vote. Ultimate passage of the measure through Congress would be a victory for online poker by separating it from UIGEA provisions calling for penalties on banking institutions that handle online gambling transactions.

Jay Lakin, co-owner and vice president of PokerSourceOnline.com, a leading online poker affiliate, cheered the vote.

“It’s great to see that Barney Frank can introduce a bill on a Thursday and have it moved swiftly through markup,” Lakin said.

“It’s clear to me that he (Cong. Frank) is dedicated to protecting online poker players in the United States and, in the hearing, stated that he wants to overturn the UIGEA regardless of what happens with HR 6870. I look forward to seeing the bill on the House floor in the near future,” Lakin said.

Here’s a full story by Dan Cypra…
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Olympic superstar Michael Phelps is all smiles alongside Doyle Brunson and his son, Todd, in Las Vegas.

We know Michael Phelps swims like a fish, but does he play poker like one?

The Olympics superstar has made no secret of his desire to play some big-time poker, now that he has collected all of the gold medals available for a while.

So, over the weekend in Las Vegas, he asked to meet with poker legend Doyle Brunson, who has 10 gold WSOP bracelets compared to Michael’s 8 swimming gold medals. Doyle, his son Todd, Jennifer Harman, and others gathered with Phelps for a nice dinner at The Palms.

Check out Doyle’s blog entry describing the evening. It’s a great read!

Don’t be surprised if you see Phelps enter some big tournaments in the future, including next year’s World Series. And, knowing what we do about his determination to succeed, don’t be shocked if he performs well at the felt!

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Is this the night Scotty Nguyen’s fans, and ex-fans, get the televised apology they have clamored for since his foul-mouthed meltdown shown two weeks ago on ESNP”s coverage of the WSOP $50K H.O.R.S.E. event?

Maybe, maybe not. Click here for a preview.

Nevertheless, ESPN’s Tuesday night coverage of the 2008 WSOP moves tonight into the Main Event, and Nguyen’s behavior in the H.O.R.S.E. event certainly should be addressed.

Other Day 1a pros you’ll likely see tonight include Barry Greenstein, John Hennigan and Devilfish Ulliott. Celebrities in action should include Vince Van Patten, Jason Alexander and Ray Romano.

ESPN continues Main Event coverage non-stop now on Tuesday nights until Nov. 11, when the final table will be aired just hours after it’s concluded at the Rio.

Check your listings for times.

UPDATE: Scotty handled himself pretty well on tonight’s Main Event coverage, but in a separate interview he offered no apology for his televised behavior two weeks ago. My favorite quotes from the interview: “What’s the big deal if I let it out sometimes?” and “I was on top of the game at all times.” Which means he knew exactly what he was doing when he dumped that pot to Lindgren.

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