PokerStars grabs Cara de Poker; EPL media deals; Macau mega-tourney “garbage”

pokerstars-cara-de-poker-epl-usa-todayPokerStars has acquired Spanish poker outfit Cara de Poker. The former skin on Playtech’s iPoker network – rumored to have supplied nearly 20% of iPoker’s Spanish liquidity – will help smooth PokerStars’ anticipated entry into the newly regulated Spanish market. The official statement on Cara de Poker’s site said PokerStars was ‘the best possible choice’ to which Cara’s existing clients (along with their CDP points) could be migrated. In other Stars news, the site has revamped its security procedures to allow players who register and validate a mobile phone number to receive one-time passwords or PokerStars PIN via text message. Marvelous technological world we live in…

The Epic Poker League (EPL) has inked content partnership deals with the USA Today Sports Media Group and independent online sports property Big Lead Sports. USA Today will now feature the EPL’s Global Poker Index (GPI) weekly rankings of the world’s top 300 live tournament poker players in both its print and online editions. The EPL also becomes the exclusive source of poker news for Big Lead Sports’ 20m monthly unique visitors.

Details are always murky surrounding the seasonal migration of serious poker pros to Macau for the nosebleed cash games that accompany the Asian Pacific Poker Tour main event, but rumors are that pros such as Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, James Bord and deep-pocketed amateurs like Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte are all taking turns sweating seven figure pots. However, another Macau poker rumor — that the city would be hosting a $100m prize pool poker tourney in 2013 — has been rubbished as “utter garbage” by none other than APPT co-founder and current SunPlus biz-dev star Tom Hall. According to Hall, “nobody sensible” in Macau knows anything about the supposed Macau Pro Am Open, which Hall dismissed as a “publicity grab” by American businessman William Murray. Now if we can just get someone to debunk the madness that is the International Stadiums Poker Tour, we’ll sleep a lot easier.