The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans

Running from July 4^th through the 6^th, this year’s Essence Music Festival in New Orleans features a solid mixture of hip hop, R & B, and soul artists. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier music festivals, this three-day event attracts a bevy of performing talent with this year’s line-up continuing the festival’s long-standing history of attracting big-name talent. Leading the line-up are superstar acts such as Kayne West, Mary J. Blige, and Chris Brown.

 

Also performing are Rihanna, Morris Day and the Time, Peabo Bryson, Musiq Soulchild, the Funky Meters, Keyshia Cole, LL Cool J, Jill Scott, and comedian Chris Rock.

 

Always known to put on a good party, the city of “Nawlins” can expect to hear some soulful sounds throughout the course of this event. For more information on the line-up and ticket prices, click here.

 

This event is being held at the Superdome.

Borgata Summer Poker Open: 6/18/08

The Flight of the Pros

Poker fans can expect plenty of action this Sunday as the $5,000 Summer Poker Open Championship gets underway. There will be plenty of top-flight talent migrating back to the Jersey shore to get a taste of what many players think will be a soft field. I have spoken to several players such as Joe Simmons and Matt “Allinat420” Stout and they are excited to make the quick trip back to claim their piece of the Poker Open pie.

 

A Bunch of Nice Friggin Guys

Having been in the poker industry for several years now, I’ve been able to work ata number of different poker hotspots. After lots of travel and plenty of time on the floor at various casinos, I have come to the conclusion that the players that come to play at the Borgata Poker Opens are more pleasant than the majority of places I have been to.

 

You may be like, “So, who cares,” but believe me, when you are covering a tournament series for 18 straight days, there is nothing better than having a player smile when they see you coming for a chip count. I know that I’m biased because I work with Borgata, but what can I say? These guys make act all big and bad at the tables, they’re pretty-much oversize (and over-animated) teddy bears. Players such as Tony Salerno, Joey “JOEYTHEB” Brooks, Alvin Delgado, and Paul McCaffrey are quality people as well as quality players.

 

Where is Your Happy Place?

If you looked at the Borgata poker room yesterday evening, you would have a hard time believing that the there is a declining economy. The poker room has continued to remain filled as numerous satellites and cash games are being spread across the gigantic room. Apparently, Borgata is still the “Happy Place” for many A.C. visitors looking to get their fill of the juicy action.

Oprah Tops Forbes Most Powerful Celeb List

Image details: Michelle Obama Holds Rally With Oprah And Caroline Kennedy served by picapp.com

Every year Forbes Magazine comes out with its list of the most powerful celebrities and one thing is clearly apparent. Oprah has a lot of pull in the entertainment and financial world. She was recently named the most powerful celebrity by the financial magazine and has topped the list five times. She was selected based on her earnings, internet presence, and press coverage.

 

Tiger Woods finished second followed by actress Angelina Jolie. Recently married couple Beyone and Jay-Z came in at number four and number seven respectively. Dropping off of this year’s includes past list-climbers Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Tom Cruise.

 

Normally I wouldn’t care about any of this, but my wife loves Oprah and the headline caught my eye. Although I’m not a huge Oprah fan, I will be the first to admit that the woman has done a lot to try to make the world a better place and she definitely deserves some props for that.

World Series of Poker Quickie: 6/18/08

Great Things Come in Small Packages

Although David Singer’s attention was focused on taking down his first World Series of Poker bracelet during the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament, his heart was elsewhere. While Singer battled it out on the felt, his wife was on the verge of giving birth to their first child. Fortunately for Singer, things went well on both fronts. He won his first WSOP bracelet and then his wife gave birth to his son Samuel a couple of hours after his win.

 

“We’ll probably just call him Sam, but we have to wait and see what he is like: he may be a Sammy or a Samuel,” said Singer. According to Nolan Dalla, this is the first time in WSOP that a player has won a bracelet and had a child born on the same day. Congrats on both accounts David.

 

OMG Clay Aiken

$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha winner Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond is undoubtedly one of the game’s elite Omaha players and his bracelet victory in Event#28 was his big coming out party. One of online poker’s biggest cash game players, Galfond surprised very few by taking down his first WSOP title even though he faced one of this year’s toughest final tables. Playing more for the bracelet than the money, Galfond’s victory proved that the superstar can function in both the live and online poker spectrums. Something tells me that Galfond has a good shot of winning multiple bracelets over the course of his career.

 

Barry Greenstein is a Winner

Barry Greenstein’s win in the $1,500 Razz tournament adds to the “Bear’s” collection of bracelets. Arguably one of the best all-around players in the sport, it is not Greenstein’s WSOP wins that impress me. There is no doubt that he’s a great poker player, but it’s Barry’s humanitarian efforts that impressed me. In addition to donating a lot of what he wins to charity, Greenstein has also made an social impact by getting other players such as Phil Ivey to become more philanthropic. When it comes class, Barry takes the title. He is the definition of a true champion.

 

Quick story about my first run-in with Barry: I was working for Borgata in January of 2006 and I tried to get an interview with the Bear. He looked me dead in the eye and said with a straight face, “Have you read my book?” When I answered, “No,” he told me to that I had to read his book first and that he would talk to me after I finished it. Although I didn’t find it humorous at the time, I now look back at his comment as one of the best player lines I have ever heard.

Free Your Mind

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Rush

 

Sometimes life can brutal. Just when you think the worst is over, you get hit with another bad beat drama that makes you feel as though you want to jump in front of a moving car. We feel alone. Even worse, we feel helpless.

 

This is when you need to sit back and contemplate your perspective on life. A humble approach is necessary to do this, because really looking at oneself and the way we see the world, can be a some-what brutal reality check. Once we look in the mirror, we are forced to grow whether we like it or not.

 

 By embarking on a path of vigilant self-honesty, one can ensure that they don’t go back to living in the dark. We can continue to deny the realities we have experienced, but usually that just ends in a lot of heartache and we will still end up having to face what we are so desperately trying to escape from in the first place. We all have our lessons to learn in this life and how much we grow depends on how long it takes us to learn from them.

 

Take this into consideration the next time it feels like the world is going to end or someone hits a one-outer on the river. Despite your heartache, the sun will still shine, the earth will continue to rotate, and existence as you know it, will continue to take place.

 

In other words, life moves on without you, so why stress as though you are the only one living it? Is it really your responsibility to take on the weight of the world or are you choosing this cross to bear? Look at what’s happening, take what you need to grow, and move on. Don’t sit trapped in a soap opera of emotion.

 

Although our experiences are uniquely ours, modern reality suggests that millions of people go through what we go through everyday or worse. What makes our drama so special? Once we realize that the only thing that makes our drama special is that it is happening to us, a new perspective and mindset is created that allows us to see that we are not as alone or as helpless as we think.

 

We all have problems, but it is how we handle them that determine our path. Everyone has heard the saying that for every action, there is an equal or greater reaction, but how many of us really put it into practice when it comes to our thoughts? Just by shifting your focus, you can open a doorway to a world of changing possibilities and paradigms that were closed prior to the decision to change your thought process.

 

By taking this small step, you will start a chain reaction that will forever change your life experience. Brainwaves have now begun to fire in support of your newfound ideas and thoughts are generated as fast as the heart beats. You have created a new beginning, with a new story, and a new destination that only you can write. What you do from this point is up to you.