Three barrels of pure value as Australian cricket legend Shane Warne closes down his charity amid donation controversy; a Swiss player wins record Turbo Championships of Online Poker Main Event, and an alpha version of HoldemX debuts this week.
Three pearls of poker parlance for you and we will start with the Australian cricket legend, hot woman magnet, and former 888 sponsored pro Shane Warne.
Warne’s name has been in the headlines a lot these past few months. There has been a few snippets about him trying to hone in on a Page 3 model, but most of the news has centered around his non-profit created to raise money for children in need: The Shane Warne Foundation.
The cricket legend’s woes began when a journalist started poking a nose into the passage of funds throughout the foundation and found that only 16 cents in the dollar was being handed to those that needed it. The tails of the consumer watchdog started to wag in earnest.
A few days ago, scrutiny intensified after it was revealed that the watchdog had ordered a full-scale financial review. The Foundation’s CEO Emma Coleman left, and Reality TV star, and the Foundation’s ambassador, Lydia Schiavello, followed her out of the door. Warne vented his frustration on Facebook calling the interest in his foundation ‘malicious’ and calling the allegations of wrongdoing ‘false’.
In the past few days Warne has decided the negative publicity being spawned is not worth the effort. The Foundation will cease to operate once the final funds have been distributed on 18 March.
This also means the end of the Joe Hachem and Shane Warne charity poker tournament.
Swiss Player Takes Record TCOOP Prize
The 2016 Turbo Online Championships of Online Poker (TCOOP) has called time on the action.
The $700 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event attracted 4,077 entrants and created a total prize pool of $2,711,205. 540 players earned some corn with the biggest ear handed to Swiss player Dinesh ‘NastyMinder’ Alt who picked up $396,691.43 after defeating Sweden’s KungKroon in heads-up action after the pair cut a deal.
The event took 5hrs 34mins from start to finish. It’s the largest first prize in TCOOP history beating last years Main Event first prize by $175.05. It was quite a series for NastyMinder. He cashed a total of six times and also finished runner-up in Event #11 where he won $29,220. He has also chopped the Sunday Million in times gone by, and is a former Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) Main Event winner earning $231,548 after victory in Sydney back in 2013.
TCOOP Main Event Final Table Result
1st. NastyMinder (Switzerland) – $396,691.43*
2nd. KungKroon (Sweden) – $346,181.46*
3rd. Gringenkov (Brazil) – $223,674.41
4th. Marcasa (Netherlands) – $155,894.28
5th. Makuherra (Finland) – $115,226.21
6th. Anthonyff (UK) – $88,114.16
7th. IMFICKLE (Finland) – $61,002.11
8th. RSRMCA (UK) – $33,890.06
9th. Hurloon (Czech Rep) – $21,689.64
*Indicates a heads-up deal
Rui ‘RuiNF’ Ferreira from the Czech Republic also had a fine TCOOP becoming only the third player to ever win the Triple COOP after taking down a $215+R NLHE 6-Max Turbo. James Obst and Shawn Buchanan are the only other two players to hold TCOOP, Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles.
The 2016 TCOOP Player of the Series award went to ‘ouchbadbeat’ from the UK who cashed 16 times.
Alex Dreyfus Set to Release Alpha Version of HoldemX
This week, a select band of merry men and women will get their hands on an Alpha Version of Alexander Dreyfus’s attempt at bridging eSports and Poker with HoldemX.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) owner has said the game ‘bridges the gap between Hearthstone and Poker’, and several journalists and established poker pros have already gotten their mitts on the game.
Just had my first run of @PlayHoldemX with @alex_dreyfus – fun,confusing and tilting all at the same time.Can’t wait to see finished product
— Marc Kennedy (@PlayinWitDreams) January 31, 2016
Keep your eyes peeled for some official HoldemX action when the Global Poker League (GPL) kicks off. Last year, during a Twitch Q&A session, Dreyfus mentioned the game would feature in a GPL X league that would run alongside the GPL.
