Doyle Brunson and top online pro Patrik Antonius may be playing something other than poker for high stakes this summer. Already slated to play a high-stakes heads-up poker match this summer with more than $1 million on the line, Brunson recently posted on his blog to ��...full article
Doyle Brunson and top online pro Patrik Antonius may be playing something other than poker for high stakes this summer.
Already slated to play a high-stakes heads-up poker match this summer with more than $1 million on the line, Brunson recently posted on his blog to challenge Antonius to a golf match.
According to pokerkingblog.com:
Anyways, in his most recent blog posting on Cardplayer.com, Doyle talked some more about the challenge. He seemed to be irritated by a) the number of people talking about the challenge b) Patrik’s comments regarding the challenge c) the number of people asking him whether or not he thinks that he can beat Antonius.
So with Brunson in an already ornery mood, he issues a further challenge to Antonius - a golf match between the two players, for $100,000 a hole at the Bali Hai Golf Club, any time from now until the end of August. Brunson then tries to goad Antonius into accepting the match-up, saying “surely a twenty-seven year old ex-professional tennis player from Finland can beat a seventy-four-year-old guy with an artificial shoulder and who has to use a crutch to walk.”
Antonius already has approximately $2 million in high-stakes challenges in poker and sports already lined up for his summer, according to the blog.
WPT settles lawsuit with several top pros
The World Poker Tour announced today that they were settling a lawsuit with five of the top poker professionals in the world. The suit — which was brought by pros Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon and Howard Lederer — focused on the player ��...full article
The World Poker Tour announced today that they were settling a lawsuit with five of the top poker professionals in the world.
The suit — which was brought by pros Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon and Howard Lederer — focused on the player release form the WPT requires of players participating in its tournaments. There was no money involved in the suit.
According to pokernews.com:
In their original lawsuit, the players claimed that the terms of the WPTE player release would force them to violate other endorsement agreements and rights to images that the players and their sponsors had otherwise contracted for, and as a result, the players were forced to forego participating in WPT events. The action was framed in antitrust terms, alleging that WPTE and its partner casinos unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition and violated the intellectual property rights of these players. WPTE strictly denied that its standard player release was in any way “in violation of antitrust or other laws.” The modified player release, while not detailed by WPTE, likely addresses related concerns.
The settlement will likely mean of of the players listed above will be playing in WPT events again.
Former World Series of Poker main event champions Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem were originally party to the suit, as well, but had their names withdrawn.
Poker After Dark Season 4 in the Can
In the first three seasons of PAD, each game was a six player winner-takes-all freeze out. The latest season will include all of the following:
- Double elimination heads-up battle between the 4 NBC heads up championships winner. Chris Furguson, Paul Wasicka, Ted Forrest and Phil Hellmuth will each up $50,000, winner takes all.
- Two weeks of $200/$400 cash play. Week one players: Howard Lederer, Dee Tiller, Gabe Kaplan, Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson and Eli Elezra. Week two players: Guy Laliberte, Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Allen Cunningham, Mike Baxter and Antonio Esfandiari.
- Online qualifier Paul Featherstone will play against five of his favorite players including: Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Gavin Smith, and Mike Sexton.
- Mike Matusow with a PAD record of 0-8 will have two six players freeze out matches to try and break his streak. His first try will be against: David Williams, Phil Hellmuth, Gavin Smith, Clonie Gowen and Phil Laak, all former PAD winners.
- Mike's second try will be against: David Williams, Andy Black, Lee Watkinson, Dewey Tomko and Allen Cunningham, all of whom made the final table at WSOP Main Events since 2001 but did not capture the title.
- The "Brilliant Minds" match featuring Bill Chen, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Brandon Adams, Jimmy Warren, and David Sklansky. All of whom are viewed as some of the game's best mathematicians.
- "The Mayfair Club" will bring together the players, all of whom were regulars at the legendary underground New York club. The players in this event include: Dan Harrington, Mickey Appleman, Jay Heimowitz, Steve Zolotow, and Mike Shichtman, the manager of the club during its heyday.
- Finally there will be a "Nets vs. Vets". Three successful online players will team up against veteran pros and world champions. The online players include: Tom "drrrr" Dwan, Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, and Andrew "good2cu" Robl. They will compete against: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Huck Seed.
Along with the new events and play, the "speak your mind" will let you hear from poker authorities such as: Phil Gordon, Gabe Kaplan, Cory Zeidman, Phil Hellmuth, Todd Brunson, and David Grey.
To top it all off, PAD season four introduces Leeann Tweeden as the new host. You might recognize her from her role as the host for the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
The order for the events to be shown on TV has not yet been determined, but the first episode will go on the air during the week of July 4th. Additional information on the upcoming season as it becomes available, as well as profiles of all players and some great photos of Leeann can all be found at www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/poker in the near future.
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EU discusses responsible gaming issues
The Responsible Gaming Day was set up to bring together some of the most prominent figures in the field of gaming and betting. This includes EU and national policy makers, academia, players' associations and senior representatives from private and state-owned gaming companies.
The European online gambling industry has been getting a lot of attention both from politicians and the media as the industry gains in popularity and countries try to figure out how to deal with the industry.
Concerns raised about online poker, casinos and sports betting include the security of payments, the fairness of games, the protection of vulnerable players such as minors, and the responsibility of the industry to protect consumers.
Responsible Gaming Day was created to address these issues before the EU at the European Parliament and bring together all parties involved to discuss best practices and knowledge in the field of responsible gaming.
One of the key focuses of the day was the protection of minors. During the discussions Andrew Poole, GamCare managing director, said, "There needs to be shared responsibility to minimize underage gaming. Consistent regulation across jurisdictions and proper education are key in achieving an effective industry-wide response to underage gaming."
A PartyGaming representative expressed a similar view, adding that the online gambling industry needs to be able to work with governments to achieve this.
"We want governments to help us help consumers," said Leon Thomas, PartyGaming head of regulatory compliance.
Along with protecting minors, the group talked about protecting problem gamblers as well. Academics attending the event specialize in gaming and betting behavior research and stressed the need to use scientific research rather than conjecture when talking about online problem gambling.
With online gambling, it is much easier to conduct accurate studies of problem gambling.
"The advantage of online gambling is that you can track data in real time rather than relying on self reports, which may lack reliability," said Richard LaBrie, Ed. D Harvard Medical School.
Christofer Fjellner, Sweden Member of the European Parliament, said the key for the industry to enter into national markets is consumer protection.
He added that using consumer protection "as an argument to protect monopolies is simply letting consumers down."
To achieve greater consumer protection without endangering the free flow of services set up by the EU, various arms of the industries and the government must come together.
"No matter how much we do, no matter how many rules we put into place, and no matter how good we are - no solution will be optimal if it is not inclusive and based on the full cooperation and commitment of all stakeholders," said Norbert Teufelberger, European Gaming and Betting Association chairman.
Related Articles:
- EU Investigating U.S. Online Gambling Ban
- EC Opposes France Net Gambling Decree
- EC Takes Action Against Greece, Netherlands
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WPT World Championship brings out stars
With a $25,000 buy-in, the World Championship attracts players from all over the world and brings the winners from the other events on the tour to compete for what is potentially a multi-million dollar first-place prize.
Despite the other major tournaments taking place elsewhere, many pros have already made their presence known in Las Vegas during the World Championship's preliminary events.
The Bellagio has been offering up lucrative tournaments since April 2 during its Five Star World Poker Classic tournament series building up to the World Championship. One player who seems to have taken full advantage is Billy Baxter who conquered Event 6 and Event 12.
#img: bill-baxter_17801.jpg:left: Billy Baxter flies high in Five Star series.#
Baxter also cashed in Event 1 of the Five Star series in ninth place. He's not the only pro warming up with some wins before the World Championship either.
Scott Clements took down Event 4 and cashed in Event 2. Michael Mizrachi picked up a win in Event 7, plus a cash in Event 1. The Grinder also won one of the Super Satellites despite already having secured a seat in the World Championship with his win in Event 7.
Toto Leonidas won Event 8 for a $189,400 cash to add to his 15th-place cash in Event 7. Darrell Dicken picked up a win and $223,330 in cash in Event 10, and Michael Binger took down Event 13 for $317,280.
Allen Kessler didn't win any of the official events, but he did pick up his seat in the World Championship by winning one of the super satellites.
Other notables who've been making waves in the poker ranks at the Bellagio during the series are Shannon Shorr, who has three final tables in the series, and Scotty Nguyen with his two cashes.
Other pros who've picked up some money in the Five Star World Poker Classic are David Levi, Alan Smurfit, Jean-Robert Bellande, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Mark Seif, Justin Bonomo, Todd Brunson, Robert Mizrachi, David Pham, Jonathan Little, Erica Schoenberg, Tom McEvoy, Hevad Kahn, Erick Lindgren and more.
More than likely these will be some of the names popping up during the World Championship as well when it kicks off with today at noon PDT. With eight days of poker action on tap, poker fans can head to the Live Tournament section as our reporting team provides the best live updates, reports, interviews, photos and more from the WPT World Championship.
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Surprise Pro to Play the Next Bodog Blogger
This time last year Josh Arieh sat into the tournament, only to lose a race in the early rounds to be eliminated by abby17. Abby17 went on to finish the tournament in third place.
On Tuesday, April 22, at 9:05 pm ET, players will have a chance to take home the bounty on this year's surprise pro in the $10+1 tourney.
The BODOGLIFE.COM blogger series has seven events remaining, giving poker bloggers plenty of chances to secure their spot in the blogger top 18. The top 18 bloggers with the best results across the series will square off in a final tourney, with the winner being awarded a $12,000 WSOP Main Event package.
The surprise pro could be the two-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh again, but it is more likely to be David Williams, Evelyn Ng or Jean-Robert Bellande. No matter who gets seated, it will be a tough battle to take their bounty worth almost ten times the tournament buy-in fee.
Spots on the final 18 are anything but secured. Any blogger has a chance to claim their seat for the June 10th showdown, and play on Team Bodog in this year's Main Event. Don't have a blog? No problem, Bodog is running a number of different qualifiers and giving away a minimum of 4 WSOP seats every week for the next few months.
The $12,000 package includes the $10,000 Main Event seat, $2000 for your expenses, a head of Bodog gear, and the chance to meet the illustrious Bodog girls.
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PokerStars launches PokerStars.tv
PokerStars has announced that it is launching a new Web site, pokerstars.tv, that will host poker-themed videos and webcasts. Right now the site is still in the beta stage and has a lot of PokerStars material on it. But it is likely poised to go beyond ��...full article
PokerStars has announced that it is launching a new Web site, pokerstars.tv, that will host poker-themed videos and webcasts.
Right now the site is still in the beta stage and has a lot of PokerStars material on it. But it is likely poised to go beyond the realm of its own events.
According to pokernews.com:
The site includes a video tutorial narrated by Daniel Negreanu, which gives an overview of what the site contains and how site members can use and access the material. For instance, under the “Channels” tab at the top of the site, users will find sub-groups for major events such as the European Poker Tour, channels dedicated to each Team PokerStars pro, under which are found live-play videos, instructional comment, interviews, and behind-the-scenes peeks at each player.
The site only has videos in English, although the site intends to include videos in other languages.
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