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September 20: WCOOP Event #5
Poker Stars has demonstrated its unique ability to lowball guaranteed prize
pools in this year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), and Event
Five, the $500+30 Limit Omaha High-Low tournament, was no exception. The prize
pool reached $476,500 thanks to the 953 entrants, setting up a $103,000 first
prize, and far exceeding the $300,000 guarantee.
The eliminations were fast and furious at the final table as the blinds were
quite high. When it was finally heads-up, n47j25s started the last hand with
barely four small bets. He was virtually forced all-in on a board of Q 9 7 10
. His Q 5 4 3 was out-kicked by Kwob20’s Q 6 4 2 . He needed a 5 or 3 on the
river, or a 4 for the split pot. None came, and n47j25s settled for $63,851
and second place.
September 20: Titan Poker Announces $1 Million Freeroll
Titan Poker has announced an unusual freeroll tournament now in the qualifying
stages…it is unusual not in its format but in the qualifying format. To enter
the twenty-player tournament, all you need to do is make the final table of
three consecutive guaranteed prize pool MTTs. The nine tournaments eligible
are the six daily guaranteed tournaments, the Friday $15,000 Guaranteed, the
Saturday $15,000 Guaranteed, and the Sunday $25,000 Guaranteed. Players do not
need to play the tournaments consecutively to qualify, but must make the final
ten of each of three consecutive MTTs they actually participate in.
Once twenty players have met the requirements, the tournament will be
scheduled. Every participant is guaranteed at least $25,000. The prizes
gradually increase until third place wins $63,000 plus a 2007 WSOP Main Event
package. Second place takes $101,000 plus a WSOP package and a WPT package.
First place wins $164,000 plus a WSOP package plus two WPT packages.
September 20: Sportingbet plc CEO Expresses Optimism in America
Andrew McIver, slated to become the next CEO of Sportingbet plc, told the
London Financial Times that the company plans to expand its US operations
despite the recent arrest of former CEO Peter Dicks, who was later released by
a judge citing insufficient cause.
September 20: Harrah’s Files Suit for WSOP Brand Name
When Harrah’s Entertainment purchased Binion’s, their intention was to gain
ownership of the World Series of Poker and its related intellectual property.
Former IT Director for Binion’s Federico Shaiavio purchased the rights to
domain name wsop.com several years ago and refuses to give up the rights to
the domain name. Harrah’s claims that their patent application predates the
domain registration by Shaiavio.
One possible concern is the fact that Harrah’s faces potential problems with
the Nevada Gaming Commission, since wsop.com is being run as an internet
gaming portal, which is contrary to rules established for Nevada gaming
license holders.
September 20: Gambling Icons among America’s Richest
The recent release of the “Forbes 400” list of the richest Americans includes
some influential members of the casino and online gaming businesses. For the
first time in the history of the list, every one of the 400 people listed by
Forbes magazines exceeds $1 Billion in net worth.
Las Vegas Casino Developer Sheldon Adelson was third on the list, with an
estimated net worth of $20.5 Billion. Adelson is the principal behind the Las
Vegas Sands Corporation, owners of the Venetian in Las Vegas, the Sands Macao,
and the Venetian Macao (China). Adelson is on pace to surpass the $53 Billion
wealth of list leader Bill Gates (Microsoft) in about six years, considering
the current growth of each.
Steve Wynn, Las Vegas casino developer, sits 107th on the list with his
personal fortune of $2.6 Billion.
Ruth Parasol and J. Russell DeLeon aren’t household names, but their online
gaming business sure is. Perhaps you’ve heard of Party Poker? This
husband-and-wife team has estimated net worth of $1.8 Billion each after last
year’s public offering of stock in PartyGaming.
September 21: Shana Hiatt Wins Court Victory over WPT
Shana Hiatt, former hostess of the popular Travel Channel-aired World Poker
Tour, won an injunction against her former employer as they sought to hold her
to terms of a non-compete contract.
Hiatt was in discussions with NBC to act as on-air personality for the
National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Poker After Dark. Steve Lipscomb
of the WPT stepped in sometime in August 2006 to inform NBC that they intended
to enforce their rights in the non-compete contract.
September 21: WCOOP Event #6
Event 6 of the Poker Stars WCOOP was a $200+15 NLHE with rebuys. Unlimited
$200 rebuys were available for the first hour of the tournament. Of the 2081
entries, 2503 re-buys and 1337 add-ons were made, pushing the prize pool to
$1.18 Million, just barely surpassing the $1 Million guarantee.
The final table was completed in 90 minutes after it took 12 hours to get
there. When finally heads-up, aStupidDream called all-in with KJ on a KJ8
flop. The KT of austinlewis was a major underdog on the flop, but austin
caught runner-runner 97 for the straight to end it and take home almost
$200,000 and the WCOOP bracelet.
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