BY TOM SOMACH

The first-ever California Poker Players Conference (CPPC) is scheduled to be held Oct. 21-22, 2007 at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, California, just outside Los Angeles.

According to event organizers, who plan to make the conference an annual affair, the theme for the CPPC is “learning to be a winning poker player.”

According to Phyllis Caro, Director of Poker Operations at the Hollywood Park Casino, “Attendees will gain more solid information about winning poker during this two-day conference than they could ever hope for.”

Among the others organizing the event are Robert Turner, Poker Manager of the Normandie Casino in Los Angeles, and George “The Engineer” Epstein, a writer for a poker magazine.

Mike Caro “The Mad Genius of Poker” is scheduled to be the keynote speaker for the CPCC and serve as its moderator.

Also scheduled to speak at the CPCC is Barbara Enright, who was the first woman inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, and is the only woman ever to make the final table of the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.

Also scheduled to speak are Vince Burgio, Lou Krieger, Susie Isaacs, Robert Turner, Marsha Waggoner, Stan Sludikoff, Charlie Shoten, Russell C. Fox, Tony Guerrera and Epstein.

In addition, John A. Pappas, recently named the Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a lobby group looking to make online poker legal, is scheduled to update CPPC attendees on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and its potential impact on Internet poker

Also, World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack is scheduled to discuss the event and changes planned for the 2008 WSOP.

On the first day of the CPPC, a special panel discussion is scheduled in which attendees will have the opportunity to challenge the experts on various aspects of the game of poker.

The cost to attend the CPPC is $200 if paid at the door, and $180 if advance registration is used.

For more information about the event, contact Hollywood Park Casino.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)