3-Barrels of pure value including Jason Mercier crowned the 2016 World Series of Poker Player of the Year, news of a Full Tilt lawsuit settled beneath the radar, and 888Poker get innovative with the introduction of video storyboards.
While most eyes focused on the live updates of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event last night, some people may have missed the news that Jason Mercier won the 2016 WSOP Player of the Year (POY).
Mercier grabbed the leaderboard by the throat on June 15, with only Justin Bonomo threatening his dominance briefly. By that time Mercier had won two bracelets in the $10k 2-7 Draw Lowball Championships and the $10k H.O.R.S.E Championships, as well as finishing second in the $10k Seven Card Razz Championship. The PokerStars Team Pro cashed 11 times and made four final tables.
Coming into Day 7 of the Main Event only Paul Volpe or Max Silver could have removed Mercier from his throne. Volpe needed to finish third; Silver needed to win it. Silver finished 33rd and Volpe 29th.
It’s the first time Mercier has won the POY award, and issuance of it marks the first time since 2006 that the WSOP hasn’t held a World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) or World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP-APAC). A fact that may have something to do with the increase in international events on the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC).
WSOP POY History
2004 – Daniel Negreanu
2005 – Allen Cunningham
2006 – Jeff Madsen
2007 – Tom Schneider
2008 – Erick Lindgren
2009 – Jeff Lisandro
2010 – Frank Kassela
2011 – Ben Lamb
2012 – Greg Merson
2013 – Daniel Negreanu
2014 – George Danzer
2015 – Mike Gorodinsky
2016 – Jason Mercier
2016 WSOP POY Top 10
1. Jason Mercier
2. Paul Volpe
3. Max Silver
4. James Obst
5. John Monnette
6. Martin Kozlov
7. Justin Bonomo
8. Michael Gathy
9. David Vamplew
10. Chris Ferguson
Full Tilt Lawsuit Flies Under The Radar
Look again at that Top 10.
Do you recognise the person who finished 10th?
After six years in hiding, Chris Ferguson returned to the WSOP proving he has a hide thicker than a green sea slug, and his name turned up on Flushdraw this week in connection with a Full Tilt lawsuit that was settled rather quietly at the turn of the year.
Haley Hintze uncovered that while the Full Tilt Remissions Process was ongoing a lawsuit between five former Full Tilt players and Full Tilt and its leading executives was put to bed in January.
Steve Segal, Nick Hammer, Robin Houghdahl, Todd Terry, and Bradley Clasen sued Lederer and Ferguson over their frozen Full Tilt bankrolls, but the case was pushed aside as PokerStars swooped in to save the day with their $731m DOJ settlement.
As we now know most people who had money stuck on Full Tilt have now been made whole, but the lawsuit still had to be finalised because it had created a high level of legal expenses.
The final settlement showed that the legal team representing the five players received $260,000, and the layers were each given $500 each. Hintze explains that records showed the settlement occurred just before Christmas, and the presiding Judge Andrew P. Gordon signed it off Jan 6, 2016.
Hintze also uncovered that former Full Tilt CEO, Ray Bitar, had been handed a 10-year disqualification notice from the Irish business regulator OCDE in connection with the liquidation of Full Tilt’s corporate bodies Pocket Kings Limited and Rekop Limited. The ban lasts until July 2025.
888Poker Launch Video Storyboards
Moving swiftly from a defunct online poker room to one that’s motoring along nicely, and boffins at 888Poker have been busy bees trying to think of the latest innovation to appease the hungry minds of online poker folk, and I love it.
888Poker has created a personalised weekly video distributed directly to your email containing all your vital statistics including your best hand of the week, the number of hands you have won, and various rankings in a variety of different formats.
The video pulls from 21 different sets of statistics contained in both ring game and tournaments, and it’s easy to share with your community via social media.
The feature is currently limited to a small beta group, but will eventually be available to all users, although it’s only available in English at present.
