Doyle Brunson takes on the young guns, St. Louis is popping, and a Samuel McMaster can't pay his bills.

Television

In a nice change from the usual, Poker After Dark has been presenting a special $50,000 sit-and-go tournament event where Doyle Brunson takes on young guns Tom Dwan, Melanie Weisner, Eric Baldwin, Annette Obrestad and Andrew Lichtenberger.

It's been an awful lot of fun to watch "Sit N Go Idol" and NBC.com has been kind enough to make sure that the episodes are online the next day. It wraps up today but it's well worth checking out when you get a chance - it's been genuinely exciting and Brunson's grumpy old man attitude has been coming out bigger and better than ever.

St. Louis

The World Series of Poker* Circuit Stop at Harrah's St. Louis has seen a lot of fun action with a great number of players coming out to compete. 

Event #1 set a  new record for attendance for the event and player counts have been raised across the board. Mark Pearse won the first event, a $345 No Limit Hold 'Em Tournament while Dan Sztenderowicz took Event #2, where Amarillo Slim himself made an appearance.

Kurt Jewell earned his second WSOPC ring with the conclusion of the Omaha High Low Eight or Better tournament that comprised event #3 and the very tall 26-year-old Ben Logan took Event #4, the $345 HORSE tournament.

Hugh Drummond easily dominated the final table at table at Event #5 and earned $24,611.

There are still 19 events and 5 rings to be issued to winners through April 12.

New Mexico

Samuel McMaster was convicted of an investment scam when he somehow convinced a judge that he could earn money to pay back his victims playing in poker tournaments. Turns out he fell far, far short of the $7,500 monthly benchmark the court had set for him and now he'll be going to jail for a few years.

"There's nothing to indicate he is a violent threat to society," New Mexico prosecutor Phyllis Bowman told ABC News when he was released last August. Bowman prosecutes cases for the securities division of the state's Regulation and Licensing Department. "The conditions of his release have nothing to do with his profession," she said.

McMaster pleaded guilty last year to 26 felony charges, including securities fraud, sale of an unregistered security and sale of a security by an unlicensed broker-dealer and a judge gave him the opportunity to pay back the money by playing poker after a discussion with McMaster and his attorney.

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