In this week’s edition of Calling the Clock we bring you the bizarre news of a dead man playing poker; plenty of news from the shores of PokerStars, and financial details for players drafted into the Global Poker League.
Opposite ends of the PokerStars players meeting released their statements this week.
The first to come out and air their opinions were the players. Dani Stern, Daniel Dvoress and Isaac Haxton releasing a statement that ended with the line:
“We deeply regret that we are not bringing back any good news.”
The players, who were gagged by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), talked about their frustration with the lack of preparation they had for the meeting, and the lack of evidence from PokerStars that showed slashing SuperNova (SN) and Supernova Elite (SNE) bonuses was the right call in the wake of evidence that suggested the poker ecology was as fragile as the existence of Gorillas.
Next it was the turn of PokerStars to respond.
Eric Hollreiser, Head of Corporate Communications for Amaya and PokerStars, slapped their statement onto the PokerStars corporate blog. It didn’t contain too much in the form of controversy. They told the world how they had listened to what the players had to say, but had decided to carry on regardless.
He did shoot a warning across the bows:
“We {PokerStars} retain the right to change or eliminate the rewards {SN/SNE} at any time.”
Both sides said the player’s meetings would continue.
In other PokerStars related news, the Italian gaming regulator Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (AAMS) announced that at the end of 2015 PokerStars had grown their online gambling market share in Italy to the point of 2.58% after opening their online casino in May. With sports betting and daily fantasy sports still in their locker you can expect that number to grow.
PokerStars also indicated their desire to hire more dealers this week. They have asked experienced members of the dealing fraternity to be at the European Poker Tour (EPT) festivals at Dublin or Monte Carlo where the Red Spade will hold auditions.
PokerStars Team pro Liv Boeree was in the news this week. The Raising for Effective Giving (REG) co-founder appeared as a guest on London Real. She aired her opinions on the lack of women in the game, why men wouldn’t be interested in her chest, and why she doesn’t put $100 bills down the stockings of strippers.
Global Poker League to Pay Their Players $100 Per Hour
Boeree might not be slipping $100 bills into the lingerie of strippers, but she will be handing out $100 bills to the players she drafts into her Global Poker League (GPL) team: The London Royals.
Earlier this week, Alex Dreyfus announced that Season 1 players would receive $100 per hour and be expected to play a minimum of 35-50 hours. The salary would rise by 50% for the second season. Other financial incentives included a bonus for becoming the GPL’s Most Valuable Player (MPV); a 20% cut of the $100,000 winning check, and 25% of other revenue producing activities such a merchandising, tickets and sponsorship deals. Team Managers will select three players during the Feb 25th GPL Draft. They then have one week to announce their two wild card entrants.
The World Poker Tour Inject a $10k Into The End of Season Finale
The presence of the GPL is going to raise the bar.
The other big three had better get ready to raise their game.
One of them, The World Poker Tour (WPT), announced plans to include a $10,000 Freezeout and a $25,000 High Roller as part of the WPT Tournament of Champions at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino later this year.
The WPT called time on their WPT World Championships last year, and replaced it with the Tournament of Champions. The decision didn’t go down well with the professionals. The addition of these two events may settle them down a little. The $10,000 event will carry a $2m guarantee, and the $25,000 event has a $1m guarantee.
Dead Man’s Hand
Finding the word Deadman in a poker headline is nothing unusual except it usually starts with the name Simon.
This week the world of poker got the shock of its life when a Puerto Rican family decided to embalm the body of 31-year old deceased poker fan Henry Rosario Martinez, dress him in his favorite shades, cap and hoody and sit him down for one final game of cards.
The Eternal Light Funeral home said it was becoming increasingly popular for the dead to be embalmed and placed in lifelike poses for the wake.
It’s a good job this wasn’t trending when Dirk Diggler passed away.
How would they have kept that thing up?
The Best of the Rest
The future of poker in France took another punch to the kidneys this week. The French National Assembly dismissing pleas from the French gambling regulator ARJEL to allow French poker players to expand their ring-fenced liquidity to encompass the rest of the world.
The Aussie Millions has whizzed through the first 13 of 24 gold rings at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Winning titles this week were Brendan Rubie, Alex Lee, Minh Nguyen, and Mohammed Afiouni. Ben Tollerene leads a stacked final table in the A$100,000 Challenge: Jason Mercier, Sam Greenwood, Fedor Holz, Fabian Quoss and Connor Drinan are involved in that one.
Outside of the Aussie Millions and Steve Jewell won the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Ameristar East Chicago Main Event for $211,777, and Mathieu Selides won the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event in Marrakech for €95,479.
Time Ladies & Gentlemen please.
Someone has just called the clock.
