Svenska Spel, Sweden’s gambling monopoly, announced its 2007 revenues. Profits increased significantly from 2006 numbers, with a nine percent overall increase to $834 million, but revenues specifically from online poker contributing to a nearly 40 percent increase in Internet and mobile phone gambling. Jesper Kärrbrink ��...full article
Svenska Spel, Sweden’s gambling monopoly, announced its 2007 revenues. Profits increased significantly from 2006 numbers, with a nine percent overall increase to $834 million, but revenues specifically from online poker contributing to a nearly 40 percent increase in Internet and mobile phone gambling.
Jesper Kärrbrink of Svenska Spel urged caution, however, noting that, “it will be difficult to maintain the growth we have had in 2006 and 2007. Lately we have observed a certain weakening of the growth in the gaming business, and we know that, for instance, the casino business depends to some extent on the general economic situation of the country.”
The CEO added that he is “most satisfied,” continuing, “We have worked more than ever in order to improve our gaming responsibility, the result is better than ever and we have succeeded in channelling an essential part of Swedish gaming into a safe and controlled environment.”
A large part of the responsibility referred to lies with Playscan, a technology introduced over the summer which reads players actions and alerts them to the statistical likelihood of the development of a gambling problem. Svenska Spel reported that they see a lower rate of problem gambling than their competitors.
Increased revenue was reported in every aspect of Svenska Spel.
Hectic WSOPC weekend leads to Championship today
The lead-up to the finale saw seven champions crowned in various events over the weekend.
Event 4
Two final tables played out Friday, the first being the $500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. The field of 246 players had been winnowed to the final nine on Thursday, with Darin Rima wearing the mantle of chip leader.
Rima was behind the first three busts on the final table, building a sizable chip advantage. However, he slowly took a back seat. After an hour of three-handed play Rima was ousted from the tournament by Tom Petric when Petric's flopped two pair stood up to Rima's pair of queens.
Sciscoe and Petric were nearly even in chips as heads-up play started. The battle between the two lasted 30 minutes, with Sciscoe becoming more aggressive as he noted his opponent becoming more conservative.
On the final hand, Sciscoe limped in with Petric and the two men saw a K-Q-4 flop. Petric led into the pot with 100k, only to see Sciscoe move all-in again. Petric called with K-8 for top pair but was dominated by Sciscoe's slow-played pocket aces.
When the turn and river provided no help for Petric, Sciscoe became the champion of the $500 NLHE tournament. The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Tim Sciscoe | Omaha, Neb. | $38,178 |
| 2nd | Tom Petric | Wilmette, Ill. | $20,999 |
| 3rd | Darin Rima | Sioux Falls, S.D. | $10,738 |
| 4th | Bob Slezak | Omaha, Neb. | $8,352 |
| 5th | Rick Fitzgerald | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | $7,159 |
| 6th | Drew Woodke | Omaha, Neb. | $5,966 |
| 7th | Luke Schneider | Milwaukee, Wis. | $4,772 |
| 8th | Chance Langeness | New Richmond, Wis. | $3,579 |
| 9th | Howard Wolper | Atlantic City, N.J. | $2,380 |
Event 5
Next, one of the non-Texas Hold'em tournaments hit the felt. The $300 Omaha Hi-Lo had whittled its way down from 148 starters on Friday and found Brian Brashaw leading a tightly packed final-table field. His supremacy was challenged by Shawn Ng, whom he faced off with in heads-up play.
It was all over when both players made queens and tens on a Q-10-3-9-Q board but Brashaw's king out-kicked Ng's eight for the championship. Final-table results were as follows:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Brian Brashaw | Omaha, Neb. | $13,954 |
| 2nd | Shawn Ng | Lincoln, Neb. | $7,522 |
| 3rd | Steve Quiroz | Omaha, Neb. | $4,307 |
| 4th | Bill Short | Abilene, Kan. | $3,445 |
| 5th | David Anderson | Council Bluffs, Iowa | $2,584 |
| 6th | Manny Varela | Denver, Colo. | $2,153 |
| 7th | Kevin O'Donnell | Seward, Neb. | $1,723 |
| 8th | Richard Walter | Shakley, Neb. | $1,292 |
| 9th | Curtis Diede | Jamestown, N.D. | $891 |
Event 6
Of those who remained from Friday's 156 runners for the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em final table on Saturday, Nick Bickey held the chip lead at the start of action and used it to drive on to the title.
Bickey was joined at the final table by two friends he travels the tournament circuit with, Jason Bartholomew and Dan Hicks, but Bickey pointed out there was no collusion between the three. "We all try to knock each other out for bragging rights," Hicks stated. Bartholomew was first out in ninth place and Hicks finished in fifth.
Heads-up, Bickey and Joe Siedlik decided on an even-money chop, with Bickey getting the championship in the deal. Under Iowa law, however, they had to play out the tournament. Although Siedlik doubled up once with a 9-5 that turned into a boat, he was beaten when he couldn't make his K-6 stand against Bickey's A-4.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Nick Bickey | Belleair, Fla. | $49,029 |
| 2nd | Joe Siedlik | Papillon, Neb. | $25,724 |
| 3rd | Sonny Nicewaner | Rollo, Mo. | $15,132 |
| 4th | Leonard Daniels | Carroll, Iowa | $12,106 |
| 5th | Dan Hicks | Tampa, Fla. | $9,079 |
| 6th | Steven Hipes | St. Louis, Mo. | $7,566 |
| 7th | Duane Gerleman | Ridgeway, Iowa | $6,053 |
| 8th | Ron Picou | Willisville, Ill. | $4,540 |
| 9th | Jason Bartholomew | Sarasota, Fla. | $3,026 |
Event 7
This $300 No-Limit Hold'em tournament also began Friday and was unable to get to its final table in one day. The 100 starters in the event had only worked down to 12 by the end of play on Friday, so those dozen men came back to the felt on Saturday to determine the champion.
Dukich was responsible for the elimination of five of the seven players who left before he reached heads-up action against Dmitri Soudakov, who couldn't prevail against Dukich's 3-1 chip lead. It took three hands for Dukich to eliminate Soudakov during heads-up play and win the title.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Frank Dukich | Carter Lake, Iowa | $9,429 |
| 2nd | Dmitri Soudakov | Minnesota | $4,947 |
| 3rd | Patrick Galloway | Omaha, Neb. | $2,910 |
| 4th | John Biebel | Denver, Colo. | $2,328 |
| 5th | Leon Johnson | Rockford, Ill. | $1,746 |
| 6th | David Hiers | Council Bluffs, Iowa | $1,455 |
| 7th | Andrew Strauss | Kansas City, Mo. | $1,164 |
| 8th | Jim Hansen | Omaha, Neb. | $873 |
| 9th | Vic Hoffman | Onslow, Iowa | $582 |
Event 8
Sunday was a busy day at the Horseshoe, with three final tables slated for action. First up was the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em final table, winnowed down from a 109-player field.
David Dicken led the final table at the start of action and was the aggressor in the early going, building on his chip lead and cruising to the heads-up action against Kou Vang.
With a 2-1 chip advantage, Dicken looked unbeatable, but Vang steadfastly began to grind into his lead. On the final hand Vang flopped a nine to match his K-9 and outrun Dicken's pocket eights for the title.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Kou Vang | Woodbury, Minn. | $51,383 |
| 2nd | David Dicken | Waterloo, Iowa | $26,961 |
| 3rd | Blake Cahail | Columbia, Mo. | $15,860 |
| 4th | Jeff Bryan | Fort Calhoun, Neb. | $12,688 |
| 5th | Mike Sortino | Papillon, Neb. | $9,516 |
| 6th | Jovan Sudar | Omaha, Neb. | $7,930 |
| 7th | Phil Mader | Ridgeway, Iowa | $6,344 |
| 8th | William Burdick | St. Petersburg, Fla. | $4,758 |
| 9th | Mark Fernandez | Brooklyn, N.Y. | $3,172 |
Event 9
The $500 H.O.R.S.E. event was a marathon: 87 rounders played for 12 hours on Saturday and then till 10 p.m. Sunday to reach a final table that didn't wrap up until the wee hours.
Karl Tretter's Day 1 lead would not allow him to see the light of day, with Teddy Nassif and Kevin O'Donnell facing off even in chips heads-up. Nassif soon went on the offensive.
After several rounds, he was able to climb into the lead over O'Donnell and crippled him during the next Omaha segment. Nassif was able to close the deal when he made a flush in Seven-Card Stud and O'Donnell blanked out.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
| 1st | Teddy Nassif | Ames, Iowa | $15,400 |
| 2nd | Kevin O'Donnell | Seward, Neb. | $9,283 |
| 3rd | Tony Merksick | Council Bluffs, Iowa | $5,485 |
| 4th | Karl Tretter | Queens, N.Y. | $4,009 |
| 5th | Yuval Bronshtein | Atlanta, Ga. | $2,954 |
| 6th | Umeme Hoye | Detroit, Mich. | $2,110 |
| 7th | Michael Altman | Mequon, Wis. | $1,688 |
| 8th | Dan Sindelar | Omaha, Neb. | $1,266 |
After that flurry of poker, players are ready for the $5,000 Championship Event that starts today. PokerListings' reporting team will be there for all the action, so be sure to check out our Live Tournaments section for the full details on the WSOPC action in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
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PokerStars qualifier wins EPT Copenhagen
To get to his win, Vance came up against Soren Jensen as they waged a four-and-a-half-hour heads-up battle, the longest in EPT history, to come up with a winner. For the win, Vance takes home 6,220,488 DKK (approximately $1,236,584 USD).
Vance's road to the final table was a bit of a roller-coaster as he finished Day 1 with only 11,000 in chips. But he made it into Day 2, then survived to Day 3 and finally ended up arriving at the final table with the chip lead.
The final table started with the following players:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
| Seat 1 | Rasmus Hede Nielsen | Denmark | 789,000 |
| Seat 2 | Timothy Vance | United States | 1,408,000 |
| Seat 3 | Daniel Ryan | United States | 557,000 |
| Seat 4 | Patrik Andersson | Sweden | 283,000 |
| Seat 5 | Simon Dorslund | Denmark | 267,000 |
| Seat 6 | Nicolas Dervaux | France | 336,000 |
| Seat 7 | Soren Jensen | Denmark | 500,000 |
| Seat 8 | Magnus Hansen | Denmark | 458,000 |
First out was Patrik Andersson, who pushed all-in behind a button raise from Daniel Ryan, who had also won his seat in the tournament at PokerStars. Ryan called, showing A-5 to Andersson's K-6. A five on the flop was all it took to seal the hand for Ryan and Andersson headed to the rail.
It was almost two and a half hours later before another player was eliminated. Taking the seventh-place spot was Simon Dorslund. After Vance had raised, Dorslund pushed from the small blind.
Vance called with A-K versus Dorslund's A-8. The board bricked out and Dorslund was sent packing.
Nicolas Dervaux was out next as he moved all-in with J-5 and got a call from Jenson, who was holding A-7. Dervaux was looking good after a jack hit the flop, but an ace on the turn gave Jenson the win.
After the dinner break Ryan made his final move as well. He was forced to make a move with A-Q and was called by Rasmus Nielsen who was holding A-K. The big slick was enough to take out the PokerStars qualifier.
Despite raking in Ryan's chips, Nielsen was the next to bow out of the final table. He ended up calling an all-in after a flop of 9-7-J rainbow from Vance. It turned out his pocket eights put him ahead of Vance's A-Q.
A jack on the turn paired the board, and Vance was left calling on a little luck to win the hand. Luck came through for him, bringing an ace on the river to win the hand.
Soren then took a turn busting a player to bring the game to heads-up. On a flop of T-4-9, Magnus Hansen raised and saw Soren move all-in.
Magnus made the call and Soren showed 9-4 for two pair, while Hansen showed T-6 for a pair of tens. The turn gave Hansen a flush draw possibility, but it didn't materialize on the river.
Then Soren and Vance locked horns for the heads-up battle. Four and a half hours later it came down to Vance's A-T of spades that gave him the nut flush and the win.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Prize |
| 1st | Tim Vance | 6,220,488 DKK |
| 2nd | Soren Jensen | 3,521,429 DKK |
| 3rd | Magnus Hansen | 2,045,381 DKK |
| 4th | Rasmus Nielsen | 1,560,394 DKK |
| 5th | Daniel Ryan | 1,286,270 DKK |
| 6th | Nicolas Dervaux | 1,012,147 DKK |
| 7th | Simon Dorslund | 801,283 DKK |
| 8th | Patrik Andersson | 569,333 DKK |
For more details from the final table and the other days of the EPT Copenhagen event, visit the Live Tournament section.
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