Lee Davy brings you up to speed with the latest poker news including more Phil Hellmuth white magic, a full round up of the winners of the 46th Annual World Series of Poker, news of a hook up between Dominik Nitsche and 888Poker, and the chance to play poker with Brazilian footballing star Neymar Jr.
Phil Hellmuth and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) are always going to be inextricably linked. You won’t see the Poker Brat playing on the European Poker Tour (EPT), and his forays into the World Poker Tour (WPT) are few and far between. Hellmuth feeds off the power of the WSOP. It’s the only charge he needs, and each year he lights the whole place up.
The one trick pony is now a two trick pony, after winning his second razz bracelet, and his 14th overall. Hellmuth defeated Mike Gorodinsky in heads-up action to take the $271,105 first prize in the $10,000 version of the event. A 2012 WSOPE Main Event win apart, this is his second successive non Hold’em bracelet, after winning the $2,500 razz event in 2012 for $182,793.
It was Hellmuth’s 109th WSOP cash, his 52nd final table, and he has now earned $12,783.905 in WSOP cashes. The 50-year old wasn’t the only player slapping gold onto his wrist. Here are 10 more bracelet wins to get you up to speed with.
William Kakon topped a field of 660 entrants to capture the bracelet in Event #11: $1,500 Limit Hold’em, whilst the Israeli Idan Raviv was winning a No-Limit Hold’em bracelet in the same buy-in range, albeit six-handed. The Russians won their first bracelet after Konstantin Maslak defeated Hani Awad, in heads-up action, to win the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better combo, and Barry Hutter defeated Ben Zamani to capture the $1,500 Shootout crown.
Zamani would react well to that loss by picking up a bracelet win in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, and Shaun Deeb got a monkey off his back by winning his first bracelet in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Championships. An electrical engineer produced a sizzling performance to defeat 7,275 to pick up the $1.2m first prize in the Millionaire Maker, and the Brits earned their first piece of gold after John Gale won the $1,000 Turbo No-Limit event.
Matthew Elsby beat Gabriel Nassif to take the $3,000 Limit Hold’em Six-Max title, and finally Daniel Alaei joined the likes of Stu Ungar and Allen Cunningham by winning his fifth bracelet in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. It was Alaei’s first appearance of the series.
Marked Modiano Cards Anyone?
Not everyone is having a great WSOP.
Take the Italian card manufacturers Modiano for example. The 46thAnnual WSOP started off well for the card company, after they were selected to be the WSOP deck of choice.
Then the $10k Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em Championships were held, various suitors alleged that Valeriu Coca cheated by marking certain cards in the deck, and the reputation of Modiano was dragged through the shit along with the man from Moldova.
Six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu hasn’t helped their cause. When Kid Poker speaks, people generally listen, and he told PokerNews that he didn’t like the new cards. Several high profile players followed suit.
“The quality is too thin and they are easily marked.” Said Negreanu before also alluding to the belief that the spades and clubs are not easy to set apart.
In fairness, Modiano reached out to Negreanu to see what they could do to improve the situation, and the Canadian started a thread on Twitter so players could give the company feedback. The WSOP have no plans to change card suppliers mid-series.
More Kid Poker News
Negreanu was in the news a lot this week. Not only was he leading the charge for Modiano feedback, but also he was talking about his appearance in a forthcoming episode of the poker-related TV show Four Kings, and is set to debut his Kid Poker documentary in a specially arranged party in Toronto on Aug 1st.
Negreanu will also make an appearance in New York to support his teammate Vanessa Selbst, who will be organizing a charity event calledBlinds For Justice. An event organized to help raise funds for the Urban Justice Center (UJC), a non-profit organization that Selbst is a board member of. The event takes place Sep 29.
Pennsylvania Formally Introduce SB 900; and Poker Players Continue to Support The Venetian
Two interesting stories regarding the fight to support the growth of online poker in the US – one good and one not so.
The state of Pennsylvania inched forward with their plans to create a legal framework for an online gambling economy after SB 900 was formally introduced.
Senators Kim Ward, Robert Tomlinson, Elder Vogel and Joseph Scarnati are behind the bill, but I think I would prefer to see Frank Underwood driving it forward.
If the bill were successful then Internet Gaming Permits would cost $10m a pop. They would be valid for five years, and cost a million to renew them, there is no ‘bad actor’ provision, and the tax rate would be 54% on gross Internet Gaming Revenue.
Watch this space.
One man who will be hoping to kill that bill is Sheldon Adelson. The 18th richest man in the world has taken a vow to kill online gambling, and so it was sad to see close to 2,000 players flock to his Venetian Casino to take part in the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour (MSPT) this week.
Angela Rich became the first female to win a MSPT Main Event, when she won the first prize of $215,815, and I upset the whole world when I opined that the reason most of them were willing to hand their money over to Adelson was because they either didn’t give a shit, or were victims of psychic numbing.
Regulated Online Poker News
In normal parts of the world, where online poker is not categorized alongside homicide, there have been a few rumblings this week.
PokerStars wasted little time marketing their Brazilian samba son Neymar Jr. Once the WSOP ends, all eyes will be set on the Season 12 EPT opener in Barcelona, and Stars are giving their online faithful the opportunity to play with the great man at that very event.
The largest online poker room in the world also held their 7thinstallment of the Americas Cup of Poker. It’s the Latin American version of the Global Poker Masters (GPM), and the event was timed to coincide with the opening of the 2015 Copa America football tournament.
Carlos Valderrama and Ivan Zamorano, two Copa America legends, were on hand to give the players advice. Argentina won the event after beating Brazil in a close run final.
From an event held in Chile, to an event held in a very chilly place. Unibet hosted their inaugural Unibet Open Glasgow, and a Bulgarian walked away with the title. The event was held in Celtic Park and Daniel Chutrov walked away with the first prize of £43,000.
Last, but not least, the three-time WSOP bracelet winner, Dominik Nitsche, is the latest member of 888Poker. The German star has replaced Xuan Liu, who left the team a few months ago. It’s the first major deal for Nitsche, and a well deserved one for one of the hardest working players on and off the felt.
Time, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Someone has just called the clock.
