[vendbien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

10. His first WSOP experience was in 2005. He was brought in by Kenny Lambert Jr. who (like his father) has been summarily 'relieved' of all of his recent positions for reasons that a lot of people know but can't talk about. Jack Effel was Kenny's 'Bag Man' and the 'Dalmation' to Kenny's 'Clydesdale' Johnny Grooms. All of the above were summarily fired with 2 days remaining in the 2005 WSOP (although Grooms probably shouldn't have been - see 'guilt by association').

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry I don't speak "Soprano's", could someone translate this paragraph into English.....

Ummm If Johnny Groom was fired with 2 days to go in the 05 series what was he doing running the Circuit event in Tunica three weeks later (I know this cause I saw him there and at the WSOP....) If I'm not mistaken he also ran the Bally's Circuit event as well. But hey lets not let facts get in the way of colorful tales of bagmen, Dalmations and Clydesdales whatever the hell that means..... and I beleive he also ran the second circuit event in Tunica in January of 2006....

[/ QUOTE ]

I was at the meeting the morning that the '05 WSOP championship event was down to 3 Tables. Lambert, Effel and, unfortunately, Grooms were told they were released from the WSOP and would not be asked back (Grooms later was, but turned it down). They still had contracts for the two upcoming Circuit Events that Harrahs felt they needed to continue... plus the above 3 already had other ties to those venues.
There were 19 more players in the Championship Event than registrations and buy-ins, and it had been Lambert's idea to put out many 'dead stacks' to accomodate late arrivals. Accounting found this to be the root of the problem and Harrah's determined that there was intent to circumvent procedures.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 'dalmation - Clydesdale' reference goes back to horsedrawn fire wagons. To keep the Clydesdales happy, it was found that dalmations somehow soothed the horses - much the same way that Lambert's 'star player' and key selling point for the staff he wanted to bring in, Johnny Grooms, wanted to bring along his friend, Effel. Effel later did an 'end run' around the WSOP division and got appointed head of Poker Operations (outside of Las Vegas which had its own separate division) a position he then used to backdoor himself into the WSOP in '06 and '07.