Okay, for all you guys that don’t know, daily fantasy sports is a fun and exciting way to watch sports and possibly win life-changing money. For example FanDuel is giving away $3 million in a single fantasy football contest this weekend. And how much does it cost to enter? I’m glad you asked. It only costs $25 to draft a team, and first place is $500,000. In all, more than 26,400 entries will win at least double their money.

But if a shot at $500,000 for 25 bucks isn’t good enough for you, then check out DraftKings where you can win $1 million with a $27 entry. That’s right, $1 million is being given way to the first place finisher, and $2.2 million will be given away in total for this single contest.

Yes there is skill involved in drafting these teams but there’s also a little luck as well, and while everybody has their own luck it never hurts to have a little inside information when picking your team. So if you want some tips on who we think will have a big weekend in the NFL, read on.

When choosing players for your fantasy football team it’s always prudent to consider their fantasy football salaries. It is safe to assume that most of the highest salary players have the most potential, but here will give you some less obvious plays to help you build your lineup.

At the quarterback position we really like Colin Kaepernick and Eli Manning this week. St. Louis always struggles to contain Kaepernick and Manning is facing a Colts defense that gave up six touchdown passes to Ben Roethlisberger last week.

At the running back position you’ll get great value from guys like Frank Gore and Jeremy Hill who will be starting in place of the injured Giovanni Bernard and should get play touches.

T.Y. Hilton has become almost a must start every week, and it’s no different this week. But there’s play wide receivers that will have big games especially with the patriots and the Broncos facing off on Sunday, but we’re here to give you some value picks today, so check out DeAndre Hopkins and Odell Beckham Jr..

Look for Rob Gronkowski and Julius Thomas to have big games as their teams face each other. In the value category Vernon Davis and Owen Daniels if he plays will make for a couple of great value tight ends.

The Browns are probably the lowest priced defense that we like and the Chiefs should have a big game at home against Mike Vick and the New York Jets.

As always, if you still don’t have an account at DraftKings or FanDuel you can sign up here and here, all we ask is that if you have a big week tweet at its let us know drop us an email or post on our Facebook page. Good luck this weekend.

First he got fit.

Then he got cast.

Now Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov is straight up big timing us by posing on the cover of a Ukranian tabloid.

Who says there’s no more opportunity in poker?

If you know what this says – Tweet at us, we want to know.

It looked a little sketchy for our favorite perpetually broke Survivor Jean-Robert Bellande but at the same time, was it ever in doubt?

According to the JRB himself, he’s officially won his $70K weight loss prop bet by tipping the scales as a “slim-and-trim” 244lbs, just under the necessary benchmark of 245lbs he needed to cash in.

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What’s he going to do with the money…well he’s in Macau so there’s goes that cash.

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Yum! Goat cheese pastries… My 2 opponents just conceded my win. Lost 43lbs. 70k collected.

Good on you JRB!

Phil Ivey is a man with varied interests and one of them, it would seem, is helping others through the use of medical marijuana.

The smart guys over at Bluff Magazine picked up on what they called a “throwaway” line at the end of an article from the Las Vegas Review Journal which reported that professional poker player Phil Ivey was one of 26 that was approved for a city pot permit by the Las Vegas City Council.

To put it bluntly, Ivey’s getting into the weed game. (ok, that was bad.) That’s assuming he can navigate through the rest of the red tape required to open up shop.

As you may recall, this isn’t the first instance of Ivey diversifying outside of poker. As we have previously reported Ivey is a major partner (along with NBA star Monta Ellis) in All In Entertainment, a boxing promotion and entertainment agency.

Please tweet us your best/worst puns. Solid ones get RTs.

Just a year ago, WSOP World Champion Ryan Riess won over $8M in run during the Main Event. Here, a year later, after taxes and expenses (backers?) he’s got $2M of it left and, as noted by the hosts of CNBC – he’s not blowing that cash on fast cars. He’s put it into stocks.

Looking for investment advice? Here’s Ryan Riess with some of his very favorite stock tips.

A couple from Alabama were arrested and charged with the promotion of gambling when police discovered their private poker game due to a fatal shooting and robbery that took place right outside their building.

Steve and Vickie Thrift were holding a poker game in their place of business, Thrift’s Auto Sales and Towing, on August 31 when two men were robbed and shot, one of them fatally, after leaving the game according to OANow.com

According to witnesses, Byrom and another individual at the party walked outside when a midsize black sedan similar to a Toyota Camry pulled up and stopped near them. Two unknown people got out of the vehicle and screamed, “Don’t Move! Give it up!” and immediately shots were fired. One of the subjects believed to be in the suspect vehicle was located a short distance from Byrom with what appeared to be a fatal gunshot injury to the head.

Police discovered the game when called to the scene of the shooting and subsequently arrested and charged the couple. This isn’t the first time for these two either, apparently they were also convicted of “simple gambling” back in 2011.

As of Tuesday, police declared this case to remain under investigation with more arrests expected. The Thrift’s had their bonds set at $1300.

This is just another reminder to poker players everywhere, if you are out playing underground or somewhere with a lot of cash on hand, please do what you can to stay safe.

First legalized weed, now this.

If you are living in Colorado there’s a number of experiences available to you that you can’t find many other places. Hiking the Rocky Mountains, buying weed out in the open and now, playing poker underwater.

Northern Colorado’s High Plains Scuba hosts the Underwater Poker Tournament and Silent Auction benefitting Veterans Helping Veterans Now and everyone is welcome. You don’t need to be a certified diver in order to play poker in the pool, just have a buy-in and a bathing suit.

Cards are “in the water” on November 7 & 8 so check them out online and if you are in the area dive right in.

In what seems to be yet another instance of poor timing and/or poor judgement from the usually top-notch PokerStars PR team, it looks like this “Poker Definition” Tweet was shipped out today…the very same day that PokerStars announced a slew of instantly incredibly unpopular “juice” raises.

So just in case you didn’t realize what it was that PokerStars was raising the amount of, and who it will effect, here’s a poker dictionary definition of what online poker players will now be paying more of.

The next thing you know they’ll be defining “downgrade”, that’s what happens when something, like a loyalty program, has its level of importance reduced.

By the way, as one could only imagine, this tweet has been deleted.

In a series of videos, all of which have been featured here on F5, PokerStars has tried to give their customers (and just maybe potential regulators) a look behind the scenes at their Isle of Man headquarters.

The jokesters over at Bonus Code Poker saw these videos for what they really were…a pitch to reboot the hilarious show “The Office.”

For context on the video check out BC’s article (written by Thomas Keeling): Is PokerStars’ RNG Fracturing The Space-Time Continuum? “Probably,” Say Experts

Just yesterday we posted about the alleged collusion between Caesars and the Feds to bring down “Paul” Phua’s World Cup sports betting ring.

Read: Caesars And The FBI Allegedly Collude To Bust Up Phua’s World Cup Betting Ring

Now here’s the video to go along with that story as after the Feds supposedly purposefully turned off the internet to the suites they dress up as cable guys to enter the suites, collect the evidence and obtain a warrant to shut down the operation.

Look close and right around the :14 second mark it looks like that’s One Drop participant and frequent high-stakes tournament player “Richard” Yong captured on tape as the FBI makes the rounds.

One problem guys…this operation may not have been legal. The court will decide on whether the evidence obtained will be admissible.

(h/t CasinoExaminer )

Self-described degen and back-to-back WSOP Main Event Final Table member Mark Newhouse is looking for redemption. Not just for his 9th place exit from the Main Event in 2013, but also from his past foibles of running it up and wasting it all.

In the latest episode of Off The Felt, All In Magazine does an outstanding job of capturing the essence of a young man who once had it all but couldn’t hold on and having learned some tough lessons found a way to live though it and climb back to the top.

Find the time to spend a few minutes with Newhouse and the All In crew and you just might also find someone you can get behind when you follow the November Nine.

Read: Back To Back

This past summer you may recall our big brother pokerfuse reported on the arrest and bail procedures of Wei Seng “Paul” Phua, a former One Drop participant and alleged high ranking member of the notorious 14K Triad for his part in an illegal World Cup sports betting ring.

According to arstechnica (and recently produced court documents), Phua’s defense alleges that Phua’s 4th Amendment rights were violated in his arrest. The defense claims that Caesars and the FBI worked together in an unlawful “scheme” to help bring about the scenario where their client could be caught.

Update – See Also: New Video Shows FBI Posing As Cable Guys In Phua Sting Operation

It would seem that in order to help the FBI gain entrance into Phua’s villa, Caesars was asked to intentionally cut off Phua’s internet access, allowing the FBI to play dress up as cable guy technicians and gain entry to fix it. Once inside they collected the evidence needed to obtain a warrant, received that warrant and eventually that led to arrest the part-time poker player.

So far neither Caesar’s nor the Feds are commenting on whether they teamed up in the ops, but Phua’s attorney says that’s because it’s part of a cover-up.

“If this Court authorizes this duplicity, the government will be free to employ similar schemes in virtually every context to enter the homes of perfectly innocent people. Agents will frequently have no incentive to follow the warrant procedure required by the Constitution,” defense lawyers wrote the Las Vegas federal magistrate presiding over the prosecution.

The defense goes on to contend that without the “warrantless searches”, a judge would never have issued the actual warrant needed to gather the evidence used to charge their client.

Phua is currently released on $2M bail, $1,000,000 of which is reported to have been posted by none other than Phil Ivey.

Wanna see the legal eagle stuff for yourself?

Check out the 'Motion to Suppress’ and Exhibit A which appears to be the government case to obtain the warrant.

(It includes the interesting tidbit that Philip Gruissem and Igor Kuanov both had their $1,000,000 buy-in to the One Drop paid for by Wai Kin Yong)

For the record Phua has denied being involved in organized crime.

Read more: FBI cut hotel Internet access, sent agents to “fix” it without warrants

After last week’s semi-cryptic tweet from Phil Hellmuth regarding Mike “The Mouth” Matusow's spinal surgery, the poker world was left wondering what exactly happened to poker’s popular “Mouth”.

Looks like Chad Holloway over at PokerNews has the answer.

After months of “feet pain and muscle weakness” Mikey opted to have back surgery to have work done on an issue that was interfering with blood to the spinal cord.

“Tomorrow morning I’m playing my biggest poker hand ever as I’m going for surgery. Please pray for me,”

Unfortunately for Mike, and as Hellmuth noted, there were complications and Mike’s stay in the hospital was longer than he hoped or anticipated. Here’s the quote PokerNews pulled from Matusow’s Facebook page.

Read: Mike Matusow Relearning How to Walk After Complicated Back Surgery [PokerNews]

“I just woke up as I’m still in hospital from my surgery that I had last Sunday. It was very difficult week but everything points to me walking again and making a full recovery with a lot of physical therapy on horizon on learning how to walk again. I can’t begin to today how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends, fans, and family who truly care. I’m looking forward to tackling another obstacle in my path once again, [one] that will make me even stronger.”

It’s hard to keep a good Mouth down though as Mikey is in rehab. Not that kind. Matusow’s in physical rehab and is working on getting back on the good foot. Again, we mean walking.

More from MM’s Facebook:

“Just got up onto end of bed by myself for first time. Feels so good having nothing pressing on back [and] with air in room running down it,” Matusow said in an update. “After a horrible night of sleep and some severe pain, I have woken to a great breakfast and I’m getting ready for a nice shower and the goal of walking 50 steps today after doing 12 yesterday. I feel so blessed. Will keep everyone updated on progress.”

Looks like Ted Forrest may have to wait a little while before he gets Matusow to agree to that cash-money prop bet fight.

Feel better Mikey!

Have you been watching the 2014 WSOP on ESPN? Are you pumped up to see the culmination of the November 9?

Turns out, if you answered “no”, you’re not alone.

Here’s a pair of poker pundits who, basically, are “over” the concept of the November Nine and the way ESPN and the WSOP has rolled out the coverage of this year’s Main Event in general.

Over at All In Maagzine Chris Tessaro admits that while he doesn’t have the answer for the next big thing in poker and how to present it, when it comes to the thrill of watching the Nov. 9 after a four month layoff he essentially doesn’t care at all anymore.

Read: Waited Down

The bloom, as they say, is definitely off the rose. And the poker world, as it’s wont to do, has continued to evolve. And perhaps that evolution has rendered the November Nine just a little less relevant.

Joining him in apathy for the broadcast is longtime tournament reporter and respected poker blogger Short-Stacked Shamus (aka Martin Harris) who reluctantly admits that when it comes to WSOP vs. Sunday Night Football, the NFL wins out every time and the much hyped antics of amateur *Curtis Ryst*d have done the opposite of what was intended and has made him cringe away from even watching coverage on DVR.

The inordinate focus on amateur player Curtis Rystadt and his relentless antics on Day 5 were a big turnoff for me as well (literally). Exhibiting all sorts of poor etiquette and cringe-worthy behavior — none of it terribly representative of how the great majority of players act at the WSOP — Rystadt was made the center of attention during that week’s shows.

Read: Not Watching Poker

It’s not just these two who have been taking televised poker to task as of late. In case you missed this gem, over on NJ.com, Steve Ruddock also thinks that the televised poker experience can be improved. Being a constant consumer, he offered up three ideas that he thinks will rejuvenate how people watch poker…like hiding the hole cards until the end.

After having seen countless televised poker shows where we see the hole cards throughout, and now a few live streams where they are revealed at the end, the latter method makes for a much more dramatic broadcast, and allows the viewers to play along at home.

Read: 3 simple ways to improve televised poker

So are you still watching the WSOP and will you stay up late into the night with the November 9 or are you “over it” as well?

(We are and actually think that this year, despite the over-focus on Rystad, is the best it’s been in years thanks to extended coverage of the outer tables!)

(h/t to Kevmath!)

Long time poker room manager and part of the Poker Night In America team, Joe Sartori, has passed away due to a “very sudden and unexpected illness.” Sartori worked for PNIA as the floor man calling the action on the live streams and relaying the betting info to the production team.

Read: Goodbye To A Good Friend

Prior to working for PNIA, Sartori worked as a poker room manager for the Palms, Morongo and Palace Station casinos. A hard worker from a small town, Joe was known throughout the industry as a good man who had a smile for all.

In addition to his work in the industry, he was, of course, a poker player and enthusiast as well. Here’s a nice bio write up done by Poker Player Magazine from back in 2006.

Condolences to Joe’s loved ones and the PNIA family.

The Peace Fund, a Sherman Oaks based charity, held a day-long charity poker tournament that drew the attendance of a variety of stars. As they made their way into the Microsoft compound to take their seats and a shot at winning a seat into the 2015 WSOP Main Event, many of them talked with LA Weekly about what strategy they plan to employ against their fellow thespians when dueling on the felt.

Carl Weathers, Donnie “Ralph Mouth” Most along with the Amazing Race's Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho were on hand to get it in good as well as donate to a good cause.

Obviously now is the time to take notes if you want to become a real winning player…

Read More: Top 10 Strategies Used by Stars to Win Celebrity Poker

Ultimate Poker's lead ambassador, Antonio Esfandiari, knows a thing or two about the game of poker. With the bulk of Ultimate’s once-robust sponsored pro roster unemployed, Esfandiari has taken up the task of providing some simple yet effective video marketing for the brand.

In his latest under 60 second lesson, the Magician helps you make tilt disappear. OK, well he can’t do that, but he does implore you to compose yourself and find a way to ditch tilt before you ditch your entire bankroll.

Take a quick break from the rat race and enjoy another made-for-tv episode of Poker Night In America

This time the PNIA crew comes to you from the Peppermill in Reno where Todd Brunson, Tom “DonkeyBomber” Schnieder and Karina Jett are joined by none other than “Downtown” Chad Brown just months before Brown sadly passed away.

Looking for more PNIA? Check out episode 15 right here.

In a thread on the Two Plus Two forums, and then written up by the team over at Cardschat, it appears that former Full Tilt Poker CEO and the ire of poker players around the globe, Ray Bitar, is flat broke and potentially near-ish death due to his reported heart condition.

The thread, which has plenty of unkind words for the former head honcho, was started in order to shine a light on the personal finances of Bitar which were forfeited in his deal with the US Gov’t regarding the bullshit that was FTP.

As posters proceeded to bash and speculate on the possibility of hidden cash by Bitar, user “Allen C” – who presumably, by his comments, is former FTP Red Tilt Pro and professional poker player Allen Cunningham, cites his sources as saying that “Ray Bitar is unlikely to live more than a couple years and is nearly penniless.”

Even if these words were meant to elicit sympathy (which we assume they weren’t)... it wasn’t going to work. Comments that follow include:

“Nothing less than he deserves”

“If you’re looking for sympathy for this filthy monster, you’re in the wrong place.”

and the apathetic…

“Thanks for the headsup”

For his part Allen chimes in one more time to clarify that while Bitar is not in jail, karmically, he feels that Bitar didn’t get away with it. With a desperate health condition, the poker pro feels that one would be better off to be a victim of Full Tilt than the former CEO right now.

What do you think? With the payments back to players and PokerStars purchase of Full Tilt Poker, can you forgive Ray Bitar for gross mismanagement??

Let us know on the Twitters.

The life of a professional poker player isn’t always “rise and grind”. The luxury of making your own schedule can afford you the time to go out and actually do things.

If that sounds unappealing because it takes time away from the felt perhaps poker bros Jeff Gross and Phil Laak can help change your mind. Check out how much fun these guys are having with culinary health nut All-American Dave on their latest trip (back) to Lake Austin.

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When we talked to Laak back during the World Series of Poker he discussed with us the zen of wake surfing and how it applied to poker. It looks like he’s getting the hang (ten) of it.

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Of course, finding the freedom and having the cash is a little easier when you are a pair of top 1% pros. But let this post be a reminder to have a little fun outside of the grind. Life is short!

Game over man, game over…

In an message sent to the loyal players of their social app, Ivey Poker announced this weekend that they are, for a time, closing up shop.

As of this past Saturday, Ivey Poker “suspended” play on the app with an eye to the future. Here’s the statement, that we actually only saw ON the very Saturday where they suspended play, that made it’s way across social media.

“That may sound ominous…” Indeed. It’s not the part about shutting down, but it’s the part right after promising to launch a bigger and better gaming experience in 2015 where it sounds like they are essentially saying goodbye…forever. Let’s hope that’s not the case.

No biggie though, Ivey League poker training is still here and Phil himself still has all that sweet sweet Borgata money (for now) so maybe we will actually see Ivey Poker in some form again in the future.

Until then…good game, Ivey Poker.

We know that you don’t need a beginners guide to ICM (Independent Chip Model) which can help you understand situations in tournament poker. But, we thought, since the dulcet tones of partypoker's resident online grinder Josef Rantamaki was giving those beginners an introductory lesson anyway, well, that everyone could use a refresher course.

So forget work for a few minutes and check out this quick (and relatively painless) video which, in the end, tells everyone, no matter their stack size, to simply be patient at the final table.

Enjoy!

Do not adjust your TV sets.

That was indeed the 13-time World Series of Poker Champion Phil Hellmuth getting extremely close to the action (and on camera) during Game 4 of the 2014 World Series (of Baseball) this weekend.

The man who always seems to find his way to the front of a camera, found himself in amazing seats at AT&T Park as the San Francisco Giants roared from behind to best the scrappy Kansas City Royals in Game 4.

Hellmuth could be seen sitting extremely close to the field, taking in the action and eventually celebrating the Bay Area victory.