Published reports have noted that Poland will be attempting to regulate online gambling and poker as soon as this year. The effort to regulate goes back to last year for the European country, which apparently is getting closer to totally legalizing online wagering. According to pokerpages.com: Marek Kapica, ��...full article
Published reports have noted that Poland will be attempting to regulate online gambling and poker as soon as this year.
The effort to regulate goes back to last year for the European country, which apparently is getting closer to totally legalizing online wagering.
According to pokerpages.com:
Marek Kapica, Deputy Minister of Finance, stated publicly this week that Poland will have to legalize online gambling, saying, “We cannot control this process anyway and it is better that the budget at least derives some revenues from it.”
Online poker bill in California clears hurdle
A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature. California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a ��...full article
A California bill designed to fund a study on online poker within the state got through a key committee on its way to a potential vote by the legislature.
California Bill AB 2026 received unanimous approval by the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC), according to a story at pokerpages.com:
The Bill, titled “The Gambling Control / California Intrastate Online Poker Act”, was introduced Feb 15, 2008 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), Chairman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
According to Capitol Weekly, the newspaper of California government and politics, Bill AB 2026 directs the California State Gambling Control Commission, in conjunction with the state Department of Justice, to perform a study regarding authorization of Internet poker for California residents, in accordance with the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which stipulates that individual states have the right to legalize and regulate intrastate online gambling.
The study, if approved, could pave the way for a future bill that would legalize online poker in the state as soon as next year.
Canadian wins EPT Grand Final
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event. Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be ��...full article
Twenty-two-year-old Glen Chorny of Ontario, Canada, won the PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final on Thursday, outlasting a field of 842 other players to take the season-ending event.
Chorny pocketed just over 2 million Euros ($3.2 million) for the first-place finish, which is believed to be he most money ever awarded at a poker tournament held in Europe.
(more…)
Exclusive Pacific Poker Tournament
PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:
PTP and RNB were approached by Pacific Poker with the opportunity to run a private tournament this Sunday at 2pm eastern with an absolutely insane value. Pacific does not accept US players. Here are the details:
Brandi Hawbaker dead at 26
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports. According to bluffmagazine.com: Word of the 26-year ��...full article
In news that spread quickly over the internet poker forums, Brandi Hawbaker, famous mostly for her role in the drama on those same internet poker forums and in the live poker world, committed suicide on Sunday, according to varying reports.
According to bluffmagazine.com:
Word of the 26-year old’s death first surfaced on WickedChopsPoker.com after a poster using the nom de plume “Bob. B. Bobson” posted the following comment on a post that was 16 months old:
“You may want to know that Brandi Hawbaker (of semi-recent poker drama) died earlier this week. She was 26 years old. I do not know any more than that, including how she died or any circumstances of her death, or even if there is a funeral planned. Even if I did know, it’s nobody’s business but her family and friends.”
The news was confirmed at neverwinpoker.com by Bryan Micon, who knew Hawbaker personally.
Calif. online gambling study bill moves forwardOn Wednesday, the Committee on Governmental Organization moved to approve the bill with a vote of 11-0 and passed it on to the Committee on Appropriations.
That takes the bill, AB 2026 The Gambling Control/California Intrastate Online Poker Act, one step closer to being put up for vote in the legislature.
The bill was introduced in the legislature by Assemblyman Lloyd Levin in February, and if passed, would direct the California Gambling Control Commission to work with the state Department of Justice in order to study whether online gambling for California residents would be illegal under federal laws.
What Levine seeks to have answered is whether online gambling run in California just for California residents would be legal according to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. According to the UIGEA, the states have a right to legalize and regulate intrastate online gambling.
When Levine introduced the bill, he told media that the federal law appears to leave room for states to legalize online gambling as long as the player and the server hosting the online game are both located in the state. His bill is an effort to determine if that is true.
Levine's bill will need to get approval from the Committee on Appropriations as its next step to a vote. However, if it is approved, and the study shows that intrastate regulation is legal and feasible, California could eventually look into setting up intrastate online poker and gambling for its residents.
"It would be regulated," Levine said in Capitol Weekly. "We don't know what the state's piece will be, but it will be a regulated entity."
Levine has also stated that he believes regulated online gambling in the state will ensure consumer protection for online gamblers. For instance, players will have recourse if a site refuses to pay them if they're on a legal site, playing legally.
Related Article: Online Poker Bill Introduced in California
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Forum chatter reports Hawbaker deathThe first news of her death was posted at NeverWinPoker, where Bryan Micon wrote on Thursday:
"It is with great sadness that I write this story. Brandi Hawbaker to some, Naami Dea to others, took her own life on Sunday. This news has been confirmed through Brandon and Brandi's family.
"Brandon, Brandi's family, and friends have asked the poker world to respect their privacy while they grieve. When the time is right we will have Brandon's statement on NWP. This truly is a tragedy, as the whole poker world loved to watch this eccentric young lady on and off the felt. Brandi will be missed and I hope she has found some peace."
Since that posting, poker forums across the Web have been talking about the news and speculating on whether it is just a hoax.
The 26-year-old Hawbaker rose to attention in the poker world not so much for her poker skills but instead because of her eccentricities at the poker felt, as well as due to the scandals she's been a part of in the poker community.
All a person has to do is troll the 2+2 forums to see the impact she's had on the poker community - good or bad - and the many ways she's found to keep herself in the spotlight.
The person who broke the news, Micon, was one of Hawbaker's biggest nemeses, often raking her through the coals with his stories on NWP and YouTube videos.
"She did some bad stuff, we all watched. She did some crazy stuff, we all watched. She died, we all watch... She is our Marylin Monroe," Micon wrote.
Her flamboyant reputation may have been what kept her in the public eye, but Hawbaker did have moderate success in the game as well. In October 2006, the poker community first took notice of her when she cashed in a Festa al Lago V event at the Bellagio and went on to also cash in 35th place in the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago V main event.
Her most recent success was at the 2007 World Series of Poker where she cashed in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event.
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Winds of change blow on WSOPPurists decried the supposed move and fans of change raised their voices in support, only to be let down when the official word came down from WSOP headquarters that no such policy would be enacted this year.
Even though Harrah's says the rumored change won't take place, it's worth noting that change is nothing new at the WSOP.
In fact, other than cards and chips, change has been one of the constants at the series since its inception. Here's a look back at a few of the more important changes that have taken place at the WSOP since it first began.
Champion determined by freezeout (1971)
#img: bionion_2390.jpg:left: Home of the World Series of Poker.#
The first iteration of the WSOP was held at Benny Binion's Horseshoe on Fremont Street in May 1970 as a "gambler's convention." At that time there was no tournament poker to speak of in the world; the convention was simply a continuous series of cash poker, with the title of "World Champion" going to the man voted top player by his peers. That title, of course, went to the legendary Johnny Moss.
When the world's greatest gamblers returned to the Horseshoe in 1971, Binion decided to change the format in order to generate more interest in the event. Rather than having a vote at the end of the convention, he decided to use the now-familiar freezeout format, in which the last man standing is declared the winner. Johnny Moss backed up his title from the previous year by defeating five other entrants in the $5,000.
The introduction of the freezeout at the WSOP gave birth to modern tournament poker, and was the first major change of many that would follow at the Horseshoe.
New event added (1972)
As mentioned above, the 1971 WSOP was the first to feature a freezeout. In 1972, a second event was added to the schedule: a $10,000 Five-Card Stud tournament. That it drew only two competitors is insignificant from a historical standpoint; what matters is that it set the precedent for the practice of adding new events that has persisted throughout the WSOP's history.
The WSOP's schedule has become so crowded with events in recent years that it now takes nearly two full months to play them all. Some who would style themselves poker purists have decried the dilution of a bracelet's value because of the additional events, but they miss the essential point that the WSOP's structure and schedule has been in flux almost since its inception. Change is the rule at the WSOP, not the exception.
Satellites (1981)
It is hard to imagine today, with all the readily available WSOP satellites both live and online, that there was a time when you couldn't win your way into the world's biggest tournament on the cheap. But for the first decade of the WSOP, that's exactly how things worked. The situation changed for good in 1981 on the eve of the big event.
As poker historian Gary Wise relates the story, Eric Drache, who had become the first tournament director of the WSOP back in 1973, was desperately trying to get signups for the Main Event the day before it began.
He began asking players on the floor at the Horseshoe to sign up, and eventually came to a table of 10 men who had $10,000 between them. Drache suggested to the men that they should play freezeout-style for all the money on the table, with the winner entering the Main Event. The men agreed, and Drache realized he had a winning idea on his hands.
#img: tom-mcevoy_15884.jpg: right: The first satellite winner to win the Main Event.#
The name of the original satellite winner is now lost to history. Just two years later, however, a different name would enter poker history when Tom McEvoy became the first satellite winner to claim the Main Event crown.
Outdoor final table (1997)
The first WSOP was designed to draw traffic to the Horseshoe by giving the people passing by on Fremont Street something to watch. The only problem was that they actually had to come inside to see the tournament being played. In 1997, Jack Binion and his staff tackled that problem by moving the Main Event's final table outside onto the street.
The idea proved to be ill-conceived. By the time May rolls around, Las Vegas positively swelters; holding the final table outdoors meant subjecting its participants to intense heat. To make matters even worse, the notorious gusty Las Vegas winds meant that the dealers had to slide hole cards to the players and deal the flop under a sheet of plexiglass in the middle of the table.
In addition to the problems the environment presented for players and staff, the fans in attendance found the game hard to follow. Tom Sims, reporting on the event for ConJelCo, the gambling book and software publisher, described the scene:
"From a spectator's point of view, it was very difficult to follow the action. The overhead television monitors were almost useless because of the glare and outdoor brightness, and the television crews and photographers completely obstructed my view about 75 % of the time. They did have much larger bleachers outdoors than they have had indoors, but if you can't see, more seats aren't a plus factor."
The outdoor experiment was never officially declared a failure, but the fact that it never returned was proof enough that it simply didn't work.
Hole cams (2002)
No single innovation in poker has made the game more accessible to a wide audience than the hole cam. Early television broadcasts of the WSOP, aired without any indication of the players' hole cards until they were turned up, were curiosities at best compared to today's numerous poker programs.
Often they featured a poker-playing actor such as Gabe Kaplan or Dick Van Patten, assisted by the tournament director and sometimes a professional player in the commentary booth attempting to read the action as if he were at the table; Phil Hellmuth, ever the self-promoter, often helped with this aspect of the production.
In 2002, ESPN produced the first WSOP coverage that featured hole cards. While the graphic presentation was somewhat primitive in comparison with today's TV coverage, the new information changed televised poker immediately. Rather than feeling like a documentary film about a poker tournament, the new breed of coverage had the feel of a sporting event. That sporting allure would prove instrumental in drawing hundreds of thousands of new players to the game in the next few years.
Move to the Rio (2005)
#img: rio-casino_8698.jpg: left: The new home of the WSOP.#
Since its beginning, the WSOP had always been played at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, a natural fit for the Binion family's annual poker extravaganza. When the Horseshoe was forced to close in January 2003, it looked for a time as if the WSOP might cease to exist. Luckily for poker players, Harrah's Entertainment stepped in to purchase the casino and the now-storied WSOP.
With the event's burgeoning popularity fueled by the so-called "Moneymaker effect," and its new owners also the holders of several large casino properties in Vegas, it was only a matter of time before the event moved away from the only home it had ever known. That time came in 2005, when the event moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Flamingo Road.
The new venue was cavernous compared to the tiny Horseshoe, easily able to hold the entire 2,576-strong starting field of the 2004 WSOP Main Event. That the move was a smart one for Harrah's was underscored when the 2005 Main Event smashed the previous year's record by drawing a field of 5,619 runners and created the largest prize in tournament poker's history. In a nod to WSOP history, the Main Event final table was played out at Binion's one last time, but every hand dealt at the WSOP since then has been dealt at the Rio.
So, when purists decry real or rumored alterations to the WSOP format and schedule, it's worth remembering that the tournament series has been in flux more or less since its birth. But come what may, it's a pretty safe bet nothing will alter poker players' burning desire to snag one of its coveted bracelets.
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Canadian wins EPT Grand FinalGlen Chorny is a Timmins, Ontario, native who qualified for the EPT Grand Final at PokerStars, and turned his seat from the poker site into a €2,020,000 win.
This wasn't his first time going deep in an EPT event either. He also cashed out in 13th place during the EPT Caribbean Adventure in January. He said during an interview with PokerListings that he was never so depressed as he was that night, going out in 13th place.
Heading into the EPT Grand Final, the 22-year-old must have channeled that disappointment into determination to win this time around. By the end of Day 4 of the tournament he had separated himself from a pack of players that included many pros, and was the chip leader going into the final table.
He wasn't the only player flying the PokerStars flag at the table. Isaac Baron, another PokerStars qualifier, was hot on his heels second in the chip count, and Luca Pagano was there representing Team PokerStars.
The final table was seated as follows:
Seat Name Chip Count 1. Denes Kalo $1,190,000 2. Michael Martin $1,320,000 3. Luca Pagano $688,000 4. Valeriy Ilikyan $1,396,000 5. Antonio Esfandiari $501,000 6. Maxime Villemure $1,206,000 7. Glen Chorny $3,613,000 8. Isaac Baron $2,853,000 Antonio Esfandiari was looking to become the second player to win poker's triple crown. He has a World Series of Poker bracelet and a World Poker Tour win, but the EPT win has been out of his reach thus far.
The Grand Final wasn't his to win either as he was the first out of the final table. After more than a handful of hours of play, the final table at last came down to Chorny versus Denes Kalo in heads-up play.
By that point Chorny had amassed a stack of more than $11 million in chips, with Kalo severely short-stacked with only about $1.4 million.
It only took two hands for Chorny to add Kalo's chips to his stack as well.
On the second hand of heads-up play, Kalo open-shoved from the button and Chorny made the call. Chorny was holding #Ah-#5h against Kalo's #Kh-#Qd.
The flop was all spades with A-Q-6, giving Chorny top pair. When the #6d hit the turn, Kalo had very few outs left to him, and the 10 on the river sealed the win for Chorny.
The final-table results are as follows:
Place Name Prize 1st Glen Chorny €2,020,000 2nd Denes Tamas Kalo €1,179,000 3rd Maxime Villemure €715,000 4th Isaac Baron €589,000 5th Michael Martin €421,000 6th Luca Pagano €337,000 7th Valeriy Ilikyan €253,000 8th Antonio Esfandiari €168,000 For a more in-depth analysis of the final table plus reports and interviews with players from the PokerStars EPT Grand Final, check out the masterful reporting done live from the event in the Live Tournaments section.
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