After two successful “Bad Beat on Cancer” poker tournaments, it was high time we sat down with Mr. Ellis and learned more about what makes him tick. Our trusty reporter, Street3, was on the case and tracked the man down.

Congrats on the #tpt…wait a minute, you didn’t win #tpt…oh well.

So, Mr. Ellis, you’ve been a long time #tpt player. How long have you been playing poker?
I originally started playing poker in 2003 after watching Chris Moneymaker ship the Main Event. I was one of those guys that thought, “Hey, if an accountant can win this thing, why not me?” I started by playing a hand-held poker game, and then bought the WSOP Video game for my Playstation. I won the Main Event there a couple times, and I graduated to online poker, where I played for play chips. The first deposit that I made online was actually winning a freeroll tournament on Pokerstars put on by the Poker Players Alliance. They were conducting a freeroll to players that joined the PPA.

As far as live play, I played a lot with my best friend Jordan, who’d picked up the game while stationed with the Army in Iraq. He came home and pretty much schooled me most of the time when we played heads up. After my divorce, we started a Friday night game at my apartment in Encino, which turned into what Pablosplace is today.

Is NLHE you’re only game?
I like playing a lot of games. I enjoy RAZZ the most, and have had more successes than failures at that game, largely due to the fact that I RULE at getting crappy cards, which works out well in that game. But I also play PLO cash games at the micro stakes (Usually $5 or $10 – .02/.05 blinds), and I also enjoy playing HORSE tournaments.

Do you play live or strictly online? Which is better suited to your game?
I play much more often online than live simply because It’s hard to fit in the time required to play live. We have the home game with my friends every Friday night, which is usually a full single table (sometimes 2), and I have tournaments that our group frequents about once a month, or every other month at casinos in Southern California.

Do you prefer tournaments/sng’s/cash/mtt’s?
I prefer to play in tournaments because I like the competition. Cash games are really for the business side of poker, increasing your bankroll quickly. To me, tournaments are the fun part of the game.

Your twitter bio says you are Team 7 Duece founder, can you tell us what Team 7 Duece is?
Not sure about Team 7 Duece (perhaps a spelling error?) but Team7Deuce is the group name of the individuals who frequent the home game at Pablosplace. It started back when we were all beginning to play poker and learn the game, and I discovered that 7-2os was statistically the worst starting hand in poker. I decided to play it just for fun like it was Aces, and I was winning virtually every pot that I entered into, showdowns and all. I’ve laid some AMAZING beats on people with the Seven Deuce, that this just kind of evolved as my hand.

A few years back, I took second place in a charity event in Northridge at the place where I get my hair cut. I won a “Wings Party for 10″ at Hooters, and the group went to the Hooters in Burbank a few weeks later. As it turned out, they were having a trivia night, and required team names. Our group simply chose the name Team7Deuce, and it stuck.

It also states you are a member of the Bad Beat on Cancer Advisory Council, please share.
About a month ago, I received an email from Bad Beat on Cancer co-creator Rafe Furst, asking me to join him, and 30 other members of the BBoC Advisory Council. I graciously accepted his offer. I mean, how could I refuse.

Basically the Advisory Council acts as Ambassadors of Bad Beat on Cancer (an initiative of the Prevent Cancer Foundation developed by Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst), to local and national business communities and to other individuals, to assist in advancing the mission of the Foundation through fundraising, public relations, and marketing efforts.

So, I’ll be working with the Bad Beat on Cancer Founders (Rafe and Phil) and the Foundation staff to develop and implement Bad Beat on Cancer fund-raising and beneficiary events. I’ll be serving on the council for the next 2 years, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to generate funds for this cause.

You, with the help of Geoff Manning, put a BBoC tourney on FTP, was it a success?
We’ve actually hosted 2 BBoC Events now, and each one was a measured success. The first one in August of 2009 had 103 participants, with 5 red Full Tilt Pro’s joining us, and raised $515 for BBoC. For the second one, we set a VERY lofty goal of 500 participants, and while we fell short of that mark, I hardly consider the $1,740 raised from the 314 entrants and pledges a failure. We succeeded in having 12 Full Tilt Pro’s join us this time around, including Phil and Rafe who played in this tournament, and brought the event a live Ustream Broadcast throughout the event with guests that included the Prevent Cancer Foundation President Jan Mahrer, ESPN’s Poker Editor and The Poker Edge poker podcast co-host Andrew Feldman (who was ESPN’s go to guy for all things poker during ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker), Professional Poker Player Andy Bloch, and Twitter Poker Tour Sponser DeucesCracked Pro, Jay Rosenkrantz. It was a successful day generating a considerable amount, and more than tripled the size of the first one. I’m excited to see how much the 3rd event will bring, which we may do in February.

8. How did you come up with the name “CoolWhipFlea“?
My handle on Full Tilt is fleapid, and was my first name on twitter. I changed it to CoolWhipFlea after having a discussion about chick flicks with a few people on twitter. When the infamous reporter Street3 recognized my knowledge base of so many feminine items, it led to the discovery of my living under a roof with 5 women (my wife and our 4 daughters). I believe that Street, you said something to the fact of “Wow, your whipped, but your cool..we should call you Coolwhip.” And the name stuck. I changed my twitter ID that night.

Did Joe Cada luckbox his way to the WSOP ME win? Isn’t luck a good part of winning any tournament with such a huge field size?
Cada certainly got lucky to win that event, but I’m going to walk the fence luck box comment. He just ran WHITE hot at the right time, and on the worlds biggest poker stage. Prior to the final table, Cada had never been all in and called with his tournament life at stake. So if you think about it, he was never really all in. When he sat down at that final table, the very first time that he was really at risk for elimination was when he called for his life with J-4os in the big blind against Buchman’s 3 million chip bet with 5c-4c. So Cada was lucky to be ahead, and consequently won the pot. But in the other hands where he doubled through Shulman (33 vs. JJ) and through Saout (22 vs QQ), he shoved, and made the other players call him. He then proceeded to get lucky when he spike the 2 outer on the flop both times. But luck is an element involved in ANY poker tournament for certain. Because of the chances of ANY hand beating any other hand existing, you need to run good and get lucky in order to win a poker tournament, whether it be a field of 6,500 players, or a single table S&G. Your cards have to hold up in order to win. Just because Cada shipped it in and was behind, doesn’t mean that he is a luckbox, but I would say that he definately got lucky to be there, just as every player, even Ivey, got lucky to be there.

What’s your biggest win, whether live or online?
My biggest live win was a 21st place finish at a $80 buy in tournament at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez. I cashed for a little over $200 there. But my largest online win was a cash in the Carbon Poker $109 Rebuy Tournament, where I scored $375.

What is the BBoC gala event you have briefly mentioned on twitter? Can I go? Do I need a dress?
On February 20th, 2010, the Prevent Cancer Foundation will be hosting a Gala Poker Tournament to Benefit Bad Beat on Cancer and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. You’ll see a lot of “A” list poker and Hollywood celebrities including the likes of Phil Gordon, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Annie Duke, Andy Bloch, and a host of other Poker names as well as a host of movie celebrities. BBoC Hosts these events annualy in Washington D.C., but this will be the first one in Los Angeles. For information, you can visit the BBoC Page at http://www.preventcancer.org/. By clicking on the 1% patch, it has a place to get more information as it becomes available, which should be soon. The event is open to the general public, so ANYONE (even you Carse) can attend. The theme is a 1940′s theme, so I think that you’d fit in with either a zuit suit, or a dress with feather boa.

Is online poker rigged?
I know that this is a hot topic, on the hole, I don’t think so. While it’s certainly possible, I don’t really see the need for poker sites to rig online gaming. I just can’t really justify why they would do it. It seems much more lucrative in the long run for the sites to have the good players win, and continue putting money into the system via rake, and for the poor players to lose, and have to reload. I’ve had just as many beats put on me in live games as in online games. They happen. Not because the site is fixed, but because that’s just how poker goes sometimes.

What’s your favorite online site to play?
I’m most frequently online on Full Tilt Poker, but I play a little on PokerStars, Carbon, and Cake. I also have a new account with Lock Poker, and have played there several times. But for me, I enjoy Full Tilt most. It has the largest selection of games for what I like to play, and the limits that I feel comfortable playing at.

I googled your name and google seems to think you are actually “Ellis Paul” a boston based singer song writer. Explain why u go by “Paul Ellis” a California based poker playing donkaplatimus?
Ok, secret’s out. I’m really a singer. Here’s a video of me at my bachelor party flexing the “Golden Pipes.”

Swyyft would like to know why Widmayer is your nemesis?
LOL – I don’t really know the answer to this. I will say that, among other players in the TPT, both Swyyft and Widmayer are players that I have tremendous respect for, but have typically faced very poorly against. I think that my tight style of play just doesn’t mesh well with their hyper LAG play, and as a result, I just find myself on the wrong side of many pots with both of them, whether I get it in good or not.

Where do you see the #tpt going in the next few years?
I’d like to see the TPT experience consistent growth over the next few months. Having a regular Thursday night game where you know practically everyone is really cool, but to have that game have 60, 70, 80, 150 players would be even better. I think that we can do a much better job of getting the word out about this game specifically, and hopefully leverage the TPT into something much bigger. Perhaps the winner could be the next Steve Begleiter or Darvin Moon, who got the final table by virtue of representing their home games. The great thing about this game of poker is that you never really know what the future might hold. There are endless possibilities. But I hope that I never lose the passion and the joy that comes with looking forward to playing with the gang of the TPT on Thursday Nights.

Do you have anything else you would like to share with us? Any shoutouts?
Just a request. If I have pocket Queens, please fold. That’s the ONLY way that I’m going to end up winning the pot. Even Andy Bloch says so.

Thank you for your time Mr. Ellis Paul, singer song writer.

At the beginning of the new millennium, stocks on Wall Street were still flying and business was still good. But the Internet bubble was about to burst and everyone heavily invested in that sector was in for a cruel awakening. I began to look around for non-conventional investment opportunities, mostly in the private sector. Public companies’ evaluations were clearly overstated and there was no perceived appreciation.

During my years working in mergers and acquisitions, I had gained a considerable amount of knowledge about pharmaceutical companies, and so I concentrated my search in this field. I set my sights on a private biotechnology company that had some tremendous technologies in the areas of proteomics and genomics. But the company was well in bed with a large investment bank and about to issue an underwriting with them. The chance of a successful investment looked slim, but mammoth changes were just around the corner.

And it wasn’t just finance that was affected. All of our worlds changed on the morning of September 11th 2001. I had beenplaying poker the night before and was in the process of preparing for a meeting in Manhattan. I was scheduled to meet with a large overseas client that morning on the 38th floor of the World Trade Center, at the offices of Lehman Brothers. I tried contacting them early in the morning to inform them I was running a little late and to ask to push our meeting to noon. I never did get through. An hour or so later news of the first plane hitting the towers aired on the news. I still did not have a clear understanding of the severity of the situation and wrote it off as an accident. After all, my meeting was in the other tower. Minutes later, when the second plane hit, I realized what was happening.

Once again my life was directly affected by a cowardly act from extreme fundamentalists. Once again, I lost several friends and colleagues in the rubble, just as I had in Beirut 20 years earlier. And once again, I was spared from being a casualty because of my commitment to poker.

The attack on the Twin Towers was a rude awakening for many people stateside. It really shook everyone up. The barracks bombing in Beirut took place thousands of miles away, so citizens back home didn’t view it as an attack on their country in the same way. The lessons then went somewhat unheeded. This time the atrocity was committed on US soil and difficult to ignore.

Once the short-term sense of personal loss subsided, the professional ramifications of the attack lasted rather longer. It took the financial community quite some time to get back on its feet and functioning again. All underwritings were canceled indiscriminately and it became extremely difficult for private companies to attract investments or accept the public markets.

Amidst the grief I shared with the rest of the city, I soon realized that the situation actually presented a great financial opportunity for me. The company I had been following no longer had any underwriting options and was quickly running out of capital. It’s a well known saying that as one door closes, another opens. And I walked eagerly through that door.

I resigned from the investment bank and gladly left being a Wall Street paper pusher behind. I invested the money accumulated over years in mergers and acquisitions to enter a new and exciting phase in my professional life. That investment enabled me to become a co-owner and Senior Vice President of a pharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of anti-cancer drugs.

That certainly passed the daughter test. It’s easy to see the benefit of our work, to explain why what I do every day matters. When what we do works, sick people get better and terminally ill people get their situation eased. It’s partly selfish, of course, because I get a better sense of self-fulfillment and self-worth now. But at the end of the day, we are making more then just money. We are making a difference in the quality of people’s lives, and that is obviously something to be proud of.

Over the last five years, I have expanded my interests in the sector. I’ve started several other entities in the field of cancer research, both domestically and abroad in conjunction with a group of committed scientists and businessmen. Now, as my business interests begin to mature, I find myself close to having fulfilled my professional aspirations outside of poker.

20 years after leaving the Marines to carve out a career, I now feel able to look forward to when I will be able to bring my time in business to a close. I can see I am close to being able to divest myself of the various interests that have occupied so much of my time over the last two decades. Then I will return full-time to the game that made it all possible for me in the first place.

At the moment, I still play a hell of a lot of poker, but nowhere near as much as I would like to. My commitments have caused me to sacrifice time at the tables, commitments both to my work and to my family. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret that for a moment. After my discharge, I made a conscious decision to make something of the opportunities life presented me, to explore the world beyond the poker table. Game time missed has been a small sacrifice to make in order to remain true to my convictions and ambitions, and in order to fulfill my responsibilities to my family. It has been a small sacrifice that has more than yielded a positive return. But I am still excited at the thought of returning more completely to poker.

Every day when I wake up, I ask myself, “When I am going to play poker today?” If the day goes by and I don’t play poker, then I’m disappointed. But I analyze the day and see if it was better served by doing other things. Then I go to bed thinking, “That’s ok, I will play poker tomorrow.” I have never gone more than a week without sitting down at the tables.

At one point in my life I used to play to live. The game was my livelihood and my primary source of income. Now, my successes at and away from the table will enable me to live to play. It’s like fishing. I love going fishing, but I don’t fish to eat. There are plenty of cultures where if you don’t catch anything when you go fishing, you don’t eat. I imagine that takes the fun out of it. And where we grew up in Queens, we didn’t have a rowboat or a pond like the kids in the country. We had poker. We’ve grown up with it. It was our fishing.

There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing than playing poker. It is both a tool for earning money and entertainment in itself. It’s enjoyed that dual status for a decade now. I first played the game at the age of eight, but I think it took me eight years to stop playing cards and start playing poker. And then a little while longer to learn how to yield it properly. So I’ve been playing poker, really playing it and understanding it for 28 years.

Even when it was my major source of employment, I have never viewed poker as a career. It has often been a short-term source of income, but the whole idea of seeing it purely as a job does not sit right with me. At every stage of my life, I have played poker for the same reason I have eaten and slept. It’s what I do. I’ve never had to question my motivation for the game or my commitment.

My ambition for the game remains the same now as it always has been. To turn in winning sessions. But do I have losing sessions? Of course I do. Anyone who says they don’t have losing sessions is a liar. But I have more winning sessions than losing ones. I know, because a fellow player asked me recently and I went back and checked, that my last winning streak was 36 winning sessions. But cash games are no longer the only form of poker I enjoy.

Over the last two years I have also taken my first steps in tournament play. After a couple of minor experiments in Atlantic City, I made my major tournament debut in the WSOP circuit event at Harrah’s, Atlantic City, in 2005.

I also played a small WPT event at the Borgata in 2005, as well as the Main Event at the World Series of Poker. This year, I played at Foxwoods and plan to enter several of the bigger buyin events at the World Series of Poker, include the Main Event again.

I achieved a remarkably similar result in all four tournaments. Four times I ran deep into the event, before busting out just shy of the money. All four times I was outdrawn to be eliminated. That’s not a complaint, it’s just a fact. That’s how tournaments work.

Big tournaments are basically a lottery, because of sheer number of Internet qualifiers. If people are playing on freerolls, or after buying-in initially for a couple of dollars, they are much happier to chase draws. The set-up of the fields vastly increases the chance of a professional putting his money in ahead and getting outdrawn by an amateur. I’ve enjoyed the tournaments I’ve played so far. They’ve been a lot of fun. But they are not an exhibition of the best poker being played today.

The real satisfaction I have taken from tournaments so far comes from the reaction of players I respect and admire. I sat down last year as somewhat of an unknown quantity, but that didn’t last. In my first tourney I played with Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman and David Williams. I might have got knocked out, but I wasn’t unknown any more.

I’ve never been interested in the kudos of winning a tournament per se, but the respect of some of the finest players in the world is a different matter. To be appreciated for your play by the players you respect is the highest honor – no title or amount of money is worth more than that.

Now I’ve dipped my toe in the water, I will continue to enter tournaments alongside my regular cash-game sessions. Tournaments have opened the door to new challenges for me. I have tested myself against the finest unknown players in the world. I have played cash games all over the world and won. Now I would like to test myself against the finest well-known players in the world. At the moment, that means playing tournaments, as I couldn’t face them in a cash game environment without committing myself to a lot of time and travel.

The leading poker players’ careers are dominated by tournaments at the moment, so that is the arena in which I need to challenge them. Don’t misunderstand me, I would still far rather face them in a cash game, but this is better than not facing them at all. I would be ecstatic to turn up to a tournament, get my seat draw, go to my table and find nine top ranked professionals. At least then I know we will be playing poker.

At the same time, the tournament boom has brought hundreds and thousands of new players to this game of ours. And it has brought them to the cash tables too. For that, I am extremely thankful. There is more money to be made at the cash games now than there ever has been before. If a player sits down at a cash table and plays the way he approaches tournaments, his money is even easier to take.

I still manage to play cash games in New York once or twice a week. Or I find a game wherever I am when I am away. I always have my bankroll with me when I travel. And the influx of new players has kept that roll growing steadily. In fact, there’s often more money to be made at low stakes than high stakes these days, because the action is so loose there.

For another year or two, I will continue to juggle my poker-playing with achieving my goals and aspirations outside the game. Those things have never taken me away from the game and will never be able to. Once those aspirations have been satisfied, I will come full circle and devote myself purely to poker once again. But at that point, I will have fulfilled my ambitions in life. I will be able to sleep at night without saying, “I could have…” I will be able to sit down at the table without saying, “I should have…”

John “The Greek” Leontakianakos is a professional poker player with 27 years of experience.

I googled “Tracy Snell” to try and find some dirt on ya and man did I find something! It seems at the rip age of 77 you passed away on May 31st of this year. Please explain.
In my religion not only did it turn out we have a rather pleasant afterlife but the real kicker is Internet access! Getting the account funded was the only tricky part. Apparently FTP closes your account on news of your passing. So it’s kind of like trying to get a new account for rake back. Find some flunky who’s never played and sign up in their name.

In all seriousness (at least for this question). Tell us about how you got started playing NLHE, is it your only game or do you play others?
I’ve started branching out a bit. Note that I came in 2nd in the TPT HORSE event the next night! I played NLHE freebies a good bit for a while never working to improve. It was like solitaire or something mindless to play while watching TV. Eventually I funded an account and started to get serious about improving. Still have some massive holes and certain parts of my game where I’m very weak but I’m working hard at them.

Do you prefer live or online?
I don’t get a lot of chances to play live. I have a home game that we play a tourney about every 3 weeks, that has grown to almost 30 players (we cap it at 30 and have hit the limit before). Casinos were all 2+ hours away until recently. Now there are 2 that are under an hour away. They use PokerPro tables so it’s some odd hybrid. I do like the PokerPro tables for the fast deals. You end up getting 40 or so hands an hour in which is about 2 times what you get with a live dealer. That makes a difference in a tourney.

People bitch about the bad beats FTP dolls out, but most tend to forget the bad beats they lay on others. Do you think it all evens out or is online rigged to generate more action?
I think it all evens out. Although I’m still on the bad beat side in the #tpt last week helped to balance it some with a couple of nice suck outs. Every study I’ve seen of analysis of large hand samples points to things being pretty random. Bad beats happen, if someone on FTP gets beat holding AAAA they’d cry about how rigged FTP is for weeks. Yet that happened in last years WSOP (which I’m pretty sure isn’t rigged). Bad beats happen and data is not the plural of anecdote.

Is there an online site that your prefer?
I’ve only played 3. PokerStars, FTP and Carbon. Carbon sucks beyond belief. I’m done with it. I go in spurts on PS or FTP. They both have some nice features and I like the play at both. Keep thinking about trying other sites.

What’s the biggest win you’ve had at the poker tables, whether online or live?
Couple of months ago I went to Indiana Live! and played a tourney there, got knocked out pretty early and decided to play the 1/2 cash tables for a bit. Walked away several hours later up over $1,100. Best hand was when I had AK and the flop was AAA. I’m last to act and my first thought was damn, how can I ever get any action on this? First guy raises, next one reraises and by the turn I was all in. Online I think it was $375 when I placed 2nd out of 1895 in a $2 tourney. I should’ve won since I was chip monster but at that point I still was clueless about heads up play.

Any favorite hands to play?
Not particularly but at our home game 63 is called the hand of god and I play it whenever I can get in cheaply just to brag to them if I win with it. So if I’ve gotten in a pot cheaply and I’m betting a flop that fits 63 be careful.

Your twitter account lists “cooking” is that a hobby or a profession? I can cook mad soup.
A hobby though I’m frequently told I should open a restaurant. I attribute that to lots of friends with lousy pallets. Soon as I’m done with this marinated venison loins go on the grill and I’ll cook up some asparagus and grilled portabella risotto to serve with it.

It also lists that you are a cancer survivor. Congrats man (although I am skeptical, cuz google says you died). Can you talk about that?
In 2004 I was diagnosed with Sarcoma which is a very rare cancer of the soft tissue or bone. My particular subtype was even more rare, glomangiosarcoma (or malignant glomus). There are only about 250 known cases of my cancer. Minor surgery, no chemo or radiation. Hit the 5 year survival rate and I continue what the doctors call NED (no evidence of disease). I’m now down to once a year naps in the MRI machine (yeah after the first 50 or so I started just falling asleep in them).

I’m big on prevention, early detection and support. I’m a board member at the Sarcoma Alliance, and an active participant in several ACOR (American Cancer Online Resources) mailing lists.

Do you have to adjust your game to play in the #tpt since it’s a mix field of new and regular players?
I think that’s one of the harder parts about the #tpt for my style. I had to start adjusting to various players. You have folks who will play any hand for the hell of it. Donks who will do likewise, lots of loose aggressive play and then some standard TAG players. I’m getting better at adjusting my play and exploiting various styles but I have a long way to go. Basically it’s been great for my game.

Have you used any training sites or books to better understand and play poker?
I have a ton of books. Harrington on Holdem and No Limit Hold ‘em: Theory and Practice are pretty much required in my opionion and I frequently reread them. After those there’s just a ton of great books out there. I’m always reading. I’ve been a member of Stox poker for a while and while the videos have been helpful I tend to not watch enough to justify being a member. I’m a fan of Deuces Cracked also but I still don’t have the discipline to watch all the videos I have from them.

Do you play poker for fun or to make money?
For fun. Making money with it would rock (and actually overall live and online I’m up a bit but far from anything of significance).

Cash/SNG/MTT, any preference?
Played a ton of MTT early then switch to SNGs (mainly because of time commitments) for a long time. Only in the last 4 months or so have I started digging seriously into cash play. Cash play is by far my weakest. Although I’ve had about 90% positive live cash sessions. Online I tend to do poorly at cash still.

Yesterday I folded AK preflop as there were two all-ins ahead (behind?) me. Do people tend to overplay AK way too much?
Depends on your stack and where you are in the tourney. Early in an online event I’ll play them hard, I either double up or I just find another tourney to join. Live or in a tourney like the #tpt I’d fold there. Late in the tourney and if I have an M south of 10 and approaching 5 it’s not a bad move to call in my book. Triple up and you aren’t nearly as crippled and have a better chance at good cash vs limping into the money.

Who will win the WSOP ME, Moon or Cada? What hand will win? (I won’t tell anyone that I sent this off the day after the ME was over).
My money is on Moon (and I haven’t watched any of the FT yet).

Have you ever played in any WSOP or WSOP Circuit Events? Any plans or dreams to?
Only once. Played a $340 circuit event at Caesar’s Indiana. Around 550 players, I made it to about 125. Best hand was when I had about 1.5BB left and I was in the small blind. I blind shoved and the big blind called. He had something like K8. I had the Doyle Brunson, 10 2. I then proceeded to hit a full house.

I need you to walk us through what’s going through your mind as you made this toss.
Don’t let the bitch in the green dress catch it. Don’t let the bitch in the green dress catch it. Success!

So google as taught us that not only are you dead, but you are a garter tossing woman. WTF?
One of my secrets to a long life.

Is there anything about the #tpt you would change or it fine the way it is?
More players! Although if it got too big that’d make it hard to play. I had to get up at 4:20AM last week and ended up playing the twitter poker tour until almost 1.

Any final thoughts or shoutouts?
One of my failures in life is not marrying one of the female Tracy Snell’s out there. How cool would that have been? Mr and Mrs Tracy Snell! Alas I fell in love with a non Tracy instead.

Shoutouts to CPRPoker for pulling this all together, CoolWhipFlea for his awesome bad beat on cancer tourney work, the crowd of regulars and their banter that makes the #tpt feel a lot like a regular home game.

Through their generosity and diligence, both gentleman have teamed up with PreventCancer.org to sponsor an online poker tournament and contribute funds in defeating cancer. This deadly disease has touched so many people around the world, directly and indirectly, like the owner of Just Play Poker. Poker players can make a difference! Several poker professionals have already registered for the event and many others will continue to over the next few days.

Asked to comment on the upcoming event, Paul Ellis stated that “his goal is to receive 500 participants and to raise $2,500 for the Bad Beat on Cancer. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we exceed that number, and I hope and pray that we do.”

Here are the Bad Beat on Cancer Tournament Details! Register early and pass on the information to anyone who plays online poker. Remember, 50% of the register’s fee will go directly to PreventCancer.org, $5 for every person!

Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

About Bad Beat on Cancer
During the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP), poker professionals Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst started a drive to help fund cancer prevention research and education – by playing poker.

They asked their friends to pledge just one percent of their winnings at the WSOP Championship Event to the Prevent Cancer Foundation as a tax-deductible donation, resulting in enough money to fund a research grant for an entire year.

Since its inception six years ago, Bad Beat on Cancer (BBoC) has raise over $2 million for cancer prevention research and has grown to include other major poker tournaments, leagues, and home games. The initiative has inspired amateurs and pros alike to pledge one percent of their winnings for life, including stars Phil Hellmuth, Jr., Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Paul Wasicka, and Dennis Phillips, to name just a few. Plus many others!