The ceremony for the induction for the class of 2010 Poker Hall of Fame will take place at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, during the November Nine, the famous World Series of Poker championship event. In 2009, there were greater then 100 individuals in attendance to celebrate that year’s nominees. Yom McEvoy and Jack Bibiob gave speeches. Notable players who attended the event were Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey.

In order to be nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame, according to the rules which appear on the official World Series of Poker website, a player has to have competed in games versus excellent competition and played in high stakes games. Their play has had to been consistent and they must have earned the respect of their peers. Their successes must stand the test of time. Individuals who do not play poker may be nominated for the Hall but they must have made a contribution to the game that resulted in its growth and success. Their imprint on the game must have been one which is positive and lasting.

One of the unique things about the Poker Hall of Fame is that fans of the game can vote. Ballots can be submitted at the World Series of Poker website. In order to be eligible, the ballot must include the voter’s name (first and last), address, country, email address and the name of the person they are nominating. Each voter will be given a space of 250 words to make their case for their nominee. The deadline for fan nominations is August 31st. On September 1st, the 10 finalists will be announced. The official nominating committee will then take over. They will review the finalist and determine who and who is not eligible to move on to the next part of the process. In 2009, Tom Dwan was eliminated at this stage.

Doyle’s Room will be hosting a satellite tournament for the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge. The tourney will begin on August 22nd at 4:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time). Doyles Room does welcome U.S. based players. Those Americans interested in participating in the Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge satellite should have no problems doing so. There will be one guaranteed prize package provided by the Montana Poker Challenge and Doyles Room will give away one prize package for every 10 members that participate.

If the “Brunson” in Todd Brunson sounds familiar, that’s because it ought to. Todd is related to the legendary poker player, Doyle Brunson.

The Montana Poker Challenge will start on August 31st and last until September 6th. In a press release distributed by Doyles Room regarding the event, there was mention that this challenge will include some of the games best players alongside everyday ones.

The satellite’s Main Event has the potential to be a big draw. There is a $1,100 buy-in and anyone who qualifies for the challenge will receive $2,200, which will be deposited directly into their account.

The Weekly Semifinals for this event was held on August 7th at the Doyle’s Room Website. There was a $22.70 buy-in and 10% of the players, one out of every 10 players, was entered into the Grand Finale, which will be played on August 22nd. Players that didn’t make the August 4th date, had the chance to play on the 14th. For those who missed both dates, there is one more opportunity to play. There will be a qualifier on August 21st at 4:00 PM (EST). The buy in is only $22.70.

There are also daily satellites being hosted. They run every hour between $:00 PM (EST) and 10:00 PM (EST). Again, the buy-ins for this event is only $2.22 and 1 out of every 10 Doyles Room members will qualify to the weekly semifinals. Daily satellites will be held until August 20th.

Jason Sentl, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan. Johnathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi, Matthew Jarvis, John Racener., Filippo Candio and Cuong Nguyen make up the 2010 World Series of Poker November Nine. These nine gentlemen will battle it out for the WSOP’s highest honor, the Main Event Championship. Aside from Michael Mizrachi, the individuals that made it to the finals table are not the most celebrated or popular players in professional poker. Missing are some very notable names.

This crop of competitors is very young with Cuong Nguyen being the oldest at a mere 37 years of age. Nguyen is also the only no-professional poker player to make it the finals. A medical supplies salesman by trade, Cuong has cashed in a Main Event before. In 2006 he cashed after finishing in 614th place. He has the 8th highest chip count in the bunch, surpassing only Jason Sentl.

Perhaps the most well-known player in this year’s final is Michael Mizrachi who won a WSOP bracelet in the Poker Players Championship. He is currently in 7th place with 14.4 million chips.

The seats for the November final have been drawn and made public. Here is a list of seating draws from seat 1 to seat 9, Jason Sentl, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Jonathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi, Matthew Jarvis 6, John Racener 7, Filippo Candio and Cuong Nguyen.

In terms of chip count here is how the players stack up form highest to lowest, Jason Sentl, Joseph Cheong, John Dolan, Jonathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi, Matthew Jarvis, John Racener, Filippo Candio and Cuong Nguyen.

The final table will be played on November 6th. This is a very fairly recent format change. Prior to the format change which occurred two years ago, the entire tournament was played at one-time during the rest of the WSOP events. This format has been adopted to allow players the chance to get used to the attention and fame which comes with being one of the final 9 to compete for the WSOP Main Event Championships.

It looks like another casino in Las Vegas has fallen victim to the bad U.S. economy. Though the profits of some casinos in the city have started to increase in recent months, others have continued to struggle. Unfortunately, for Riviera Holdings Corp, they are one of those casinos that are having trouble stay afloat. Things are so bad that they have been forced to file for bankruptcy. The company is attempting to transfer ownership to senior secured lenders.

According to the court documents filed by Riviera Holdings Corp, the company stated that the recession was in part responsible for their financial woes. They went on to further state that the renovations taking place near the strip resulted in further problems, making it more difficult for potential customers to reach them. This fact, coupled with a declining economy, made it difficult for them to thrive financially. “The effects of such nearby vacant lots and uncompleted projects have been considerable. Although Riviera Las Vegas has fewer neighboring competitors, there are also fewer reasons for customers to venture to the north end of the Strip,” Riviera said.

Though Riviera has filed for bankruptcy, they are not conceding and have no immediate plans to shut their doors. They maintain that the casinos customers and the people who work for Riviera will not be affected by the bankruptcy. This seems to mean that they plan on staying in business and their bankruptcy will only involve a restructuring of their current debt.

Riviera is just one of several casinos in Las Vegas struggling to stay open during the recent and ongoing recession. Things are becoming increasingly difficult as unemployment remains a problem in the United States along with a substantial decrease in discretionary spending as Americans attempt to hold on to the money they do have. Until things get better on the financial front, stories such as this will likely continue to be commonplace.

Poker professional, Peter Eastgate has just announced that he is retiring. The young poker star’s decision to retire is a surprising one, considering the amount of success he has had over the years. Just 2 years ago, he was the talk of the poker world, winning $9.15 million as the 2008 WSOP Main Event Champion. Unfortunately, for his fans, it looks like that victory has also led to his recent decision to retire. Eastgate has stated that he never intended to be a life-long poker pro, but instead, he wanted to be financially secure. The 2008 World Series of Poker Championship made that happen for him.

This isn?t the first time that a young player has decided to call it quits early in their career. Shaun Deeb did the same thing in 2009. However, his ‘retirement’ was short lived, seeing that he participated in this year’s World Series of Poker event. Jonas Danielsson, a successful online poker player and Michael McDonald a past EPT champion, each announced their retirement this year.

Attempting to explain his decision to take time away from the felts both real and virtual, he wrote on his PokerStars sponsored blog, ‘The period following (winning the WSOP Main Event) has taken me on a worldwide tour, where I have seen some amazing places and met many new people; it has been a great experience,’  Eastgate writes in the statement on the PokerStars blog. ‘In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.’

Eastgate has given no definitive response to what he plans to do after retiring. He also hasn?t ruled out returning but he has mentioned focusing more on the man who is Peter Eastgate. Who knows, perhaps in a few years Peter will return, refreshed, focus and ready to again take the poker world by storm.