Pokerstars.com is giving away free entries to the WSOP 2008 main event.  What’s the catch?  Well, you have to come in the top 50 out of 5,000 in your first level tournament.  The blinds go up every 5 minutes.  Once you do that, then you get to enter the next free tournament, where you must come in the top 2 to win your entry. Also, you can only enter once a week.

If you’re interested in this, login to your pokerstars account, click on “Events,” then “WSOP,” then click on one of the “WSOP $1M Giveaway: Round 1 Freeroll.”

If you don’t mind paying, there are other ways you can get in.  There’s a $33 entry tournament where they give away at least 1 WSOP entry.  The closest I got was heads-up where I was all-in with pocket Queens against AK .  The flop brought two with low cards, and you can guess the rest.  Damn!  So close.

So far, it doesn’t look like I’m going to make it to the WSOP this year.

Back again for day 2 of the Gaming Life Expo to see pro poker players. Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized picture.

First pictures is of 10 time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan signing autographs. During his break from one booth, he went over to yet another booth for more signing. There was a long line at both booths. Here at the WSOP, the poker pros are treated like big time celebrities.

The next picture is a booth for a Xbox 360 WSOP game. There didn’t seem to be too much interest. I think the people at the Expo want to see live people.

“Real” celebrity Jennifer Tilly and boyfriend and poker player Phil “Unabomber” Laak shown playing on one of the computerized poker tables. Phil gets knocked out first with AQ.

At the Seamless Gentlemen’s Club’s dunk booth, one of 3 real dancers who work there looking scared about getting dunked into the water.  A few seconds after this picture, she goes int0 the cold and murky water.

One of the Pro Player Drinks girls poses for me, only after I agreed to taste the drink. It tastes like orange soda. Hmmm. Energy drink specifically marketed only to poker players. I don’t think so. Nice try though.

Olympic Garden girls posing on their booth’s stage. Nice shot, right?

Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari signing autographs. I don’t know him, but he didn’t seem to want to be there all that much. Maybe that’s the way he always is. He did comply with all the stupid requests from people. One guy wanted his picture taken with Antonio holding 7-2 offsuit and the guy holding pocket aces.

Phil Gordon playing against Phil Laak on a heads-up computerized poker table. I read Phil’s “Green Book” that my friend Deana gave me. Good info and a quick read.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson giving an interview in the halls. He was wearing a Matrix type black trench coat.

Hall of Famer, “Amerillo Slim” Preston in the halls. Not sure if he was playing or promoting something but he joked that I could use this picture like a scare scrow to get rid of birds.

One of the few hot ladies of poker, Vanessa Rousso signing autographs at a booth. She’s also super smart and graduated from Duke in only 2 and a half years and I think just finished law school, according to her myspace page. How does she finish law school and play pro poker, and do promotions? I have no idea. She’s dating Chad “Downtown” Brown, a fellow poker player and commentator. She’s done pretty well for herself.

Last note related to the Expo. I was playing a live game at the MGM and met Ron, the president of Lightning Poker which has a booth at the Expo. They also make those computerized tables and Ron told me that they will have a few of their units at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

I really think these computerized tables will become the norm in the future. Old timers won’t like it but the online 20 something players are going to love it. The casinos save money by not having to have chips, dealers, or cards. Players won’t have to tip the dealer or deal with mistakes, or people playing out of turn. But for now, the units might be too expensive, even though they are leasing them to the casinos. When the price goes down, this will be the future of live poker playing.

As promised, it’s not going to be all WSOP reporting. Let’s see what’s going on at the “Gaming Life Expo.”

To demonstrate that this expo isn’t all about gaming, and they have indeed added girls to the roster, Saphire Gentlemen’s Club had Lexi (shown here) dancing on a micro-stage. Another dancer named Summer was giving away 2-for-1 drink passes.

On a less purient nature, Mark Seif (pro player, and now commentator) was representing the PPT booth.

At the same booth, the more exciting news is G4’s Layla Kayleigh (she does the “Feed” on “Attack of the Show”) is the new World Poker Tour hostess for 2008.  She’s a hottie with a British accent, and very possibly lesbian or bi. Nice. Don’t want to start rumors but I’ve been around the block and I know these things. Well, okay, I’m just making it up but one can dream. With heels, she must be about 5′ 4″ at the most. A real spinner.

There were more than one booth with computerized poker tables. Hollywood Park, and now Hustler have these but I’m not sure they are talking off yet. I have to think that the casinos would love to have them because it would eliminate the dealers, which must be a large part of their overhead. One company custom makes them for the home. I was too scared to ask for the price. No way I could afford one.

There were a bunch of booths giving away poker magazines, selling books, posters, seats, pillows, and of course, playing cards, poker chips and on and on. The only mild standout was a poker dealer button that has a built in tournament timer with an LCD on it for only $15.95.  I just use my laptop but I guess if you don’t have a watch with a timer, or don’t have a laptop, this might be for you.

The only thing that I actually bought with real hard earned (or poker playing) money was this “Hold’em Shades” from bestpokerstuff.com.  No, it’s not sunglasses.  It’s a pair of poker glasses. There is no dark shading, just flash mirror coating. I tried them out and it’s what I’ve been looking for and never found. Also, the side is thick so the guy sitting next to you can’t see your eyes either. I think I’ll use this at the WSOP main event final table.

Apparently, there was this same expo last year but I never even heard of it until this year. They changed the theme a little to add girls and gadgets to the gambling. Wait a second. This expo is the same theme as my blog! I guess that means…

From the exhibitor list for this year, it looks like a few Vegas strip clubs will be representing their wares. Among the listed are Library, Olympic Garden, Saphire, Seamless, and Treasures. On the floor plan, there was a “Rhino Vegas Basketball,” but I don’t think that’s the Spearmint Rhino. Too bad.

I don’t get the impression that it will be like the AVN expo or even the old CES, back in the day but I’m ready to see what stuff they have since I’ll be at the World Series Main event anyway.

Look for my double report of this expo and the goings on at the World Series of Poker 2007 Main event.

Gaming Life Expo 2007
July 5-8, 2007
Rio Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada