PokerStars’ high-stakes games may soon be shifted/upgraded/relegated to Zoom Poker, Stars’ version of Full Tilt Poker’s dearly departed fast-paced/fast-fold Rush Poker. On the April 3 edition of the 2+2 Podcast, PokerStars’ Steve Day was quizzed about the sort of reaction Zoom was receiving during its current beta testing. Day says the company hopes to add additional game types and stakes in the days to come. One of the more radical thoughts being bandied about at Stars HQ is shifting all high-stakes tables to the Zoom room. “In the long run, we’re leaning very heavily towards possibly going Zoom-only for high-stakes games. That’s a very real possibility at this point.” Another Rush clone, Relax Gaming’s Fast Poker, has now made its live debut on Unibet, with Betsson expected to join the party any day.
The party definitely appears to be over at the Epic Poker League. Card Player has uncovered more bankruptcy documents filed by the EPL’s parent company, Federated Sports + Gaming, which show the company’s financial position is even worse than previously advertised. Originally thought to be $5m in the hole, the Statement of Financial Affairs filed on April 3 lists total liabilities of almost $8m. During the EPL’s brief existence, FS+G reported just $37,052 in earnings while five key execs – including EPL Commissioner Annie Duke – were paid a total of $1.1m. A further $662k in wages and expenses were requested by FS+G’s Fab Five yet went unpaid. See? We’re all hurting here…
Some of FS+G’s expenditures involved the registration of 451 separate online domains. Many of these domains appear relevant to the EPL’s business plan, while others appear to be purely defensive moves designed to counter haters (we’re looking at you, Negreanu) who might be inspired to register epicfailpokerleague.com, epicfailurepoker.com, fuckepicpoker.com, epicpokersucks.com and the like. Then there’s the ‘epic liquor’ series, including epicrum.com, epicscotch.com and epictequila.com. Finally, there’s the just plain strange domains like ticklemedanny.com. Is Danny Negreanu ticklish? Or is ‘danny’ some sexual code that only the braintrust at FS+G recognizes, like ‘bob me knob’ or ‘shiver me timbers’ or something? Hopefully, the answers to this and many other questions will be in the next filing.
