Chuck Blount: Las Vegas sports books taking final table poker action

I never made the bet, but it screamed like easy money.

In 2007, BetUS.com posted odds on global warming of all things, and the 100-to-1 odds that polar bears would be extinct by 2010 seemed too good to pass up on the bears' side.

And even though the beloved “Knut” the polar bear died unexpectedly in a Berlin zoo in March, others are still around.

I would have won.

Quirky bets used to be the bread and butter of online betting sites. They didn't have to abide by the same gaming laws of traditional Las Vegas books.

However, recent regulations put in place by the Nevada Gaming Control Board this month have eased such restrictions, and alternative wagering options were given the OK.

Wynn Las Vegas is capitalizing on those changes and became the first Strip property to post odds on the World Series of Poker .

Bets were open to everything from the highest finish by a female player in the Main Event to individual prop odds on select poker personalities.

Odds are posted for the final table of the Main Event, set to take place Nov. 5-7. Gamblers can bet on a predicted winner or even post a quinella (track speak for picking the top two).

“This is a great event for wagers,” said Johnny Avello , director of the Wynn sports book. “Not only will gamblers be betting on other gamblers, but non-gamblers who just have a love of poker and follow this event can get in on the action, too.”

Handicapping the Main Event is easy compared with traditional sports — the chip counts do it for you.

Chip leader Martin Staszko (3/1) is the odds-on favorite with his 40.175 million chip stack. He holds a 6.5 million lead over Eoghan O'Dea 's (17/5) 33.675 million.

The three players sitting in the 20-25 million range — Matt Giannetti , Phil Collins and Ben Lamb — have 6/1 odds, and Badih Bounahra (19.7 million in chips) is 7/1. Samuel Holden (14/1), is the long shot with only 12.375 million.

Lamb already has won a 2011 WSOP bracelet with $2.1 million in total earnings. He's my pick.

Nevada gaming authorities were slow to adopt the idea of alternative betting, and it's easy to see why. It's easier to cheat.

The Academy Awards is also built for wagers and is an event for which the Wynn plans to annually post odds.

It's possible for an associate of PricewaterhouseCoopers (the auditing firm that handles voting for the event) to leak the winners in the film categories.

Knut the polar bear | Germany | Berlin

Video has emerged purporting to show the death of Knut the polar bear at the Berlin Zoo.

The video shows Knut, a media sensation, in the enclosure Saturday afternoon and looking agitated before suddenly collapsing and falling into his pool.

Berlin Zoo said Tuesday in a statement that a preliminary necropsy conducted Monday on Knut revealed "significant changes to the brain, which could be seen as the reason for the sudden death."

Zookeepers say they don't know what killed the 4-year-old bear, hand-raised at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin after being rejected by his mother at birth.

This is awful," said Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "We had all taken him to our hearts. He was the star of the Berlin Zoo."

The celebrity news site TMZ.com carried news of his death and says People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' German branch had previously complained that his mother and other bears were tormenting Knut. And a PETA rep told TMZ that polar bears don't belong in captivity.

The DPA newswire reported zoo official Heiner Kloes as saying an autopsy would be carried out on the bear.

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Knut, How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World

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