In this week’s Calling the Clock we bring you up to speed on a series of breaking stories from PokerStars; a reacquainted love between the World Series of Poker and PokerNews, and much more.
PokerStars fired a shot across the bow of partypoker this week when they announced plans to move the PokerStars Championships into Sochi, Russia. Two months had passed since partypoker created waves when they revealed plans to take their Millions National event into the home of the 2014 Winter Olympics. PokerStars created a tidal wave. The largest online poker room in the universe has promised to deliver the largest festival of poker, Russia has ever seen.
Your move, party.
The Red Spade sprung another surprise when they did an about turn and focused on improving the ecosystem for the grinders. After slamming them harder than a Sam Groth serve for the past few years, PokerStars are now sliding their arm around their waist.
Rather than create yet another game based on the spin of a wheel, Stars has established a platform where skill can shine. The All Stars cash game will be rake-free and promises $100,000 in leaderboard cash prizes. There will be two tiers of action: Masters – NL100 – NL400, and All Stars: NL500+.
Players will be invited based on cash games results in the previous 12-months. To qualify for the Master’s event you need to have earned $10,000 in winnings, and $25,000 to compete in the All Stars event. The events will take place over a period of a month, and Stars hope that it will be successful enough to keep on rolling.
In other PokerStars news, they extended their partnership with the Right to Play charity which will see them plough a further $600,000 into the non-profit in the next two years. Team PokerStars Pro Online, Kevin Martin, has entered the Canadian Big Brother household for the second time. And the March 19 Sunday Storm will carry a $1m guarantee with $100k going to the winner as part of the $11 buy-in’s sixth birthday party.
World Series of Poker News
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) also hit a few headlines this week. They kissed and made up with PokerNews. The largest media outlet in the biz will take command of the live reporting of the 48th Annual event in Las Vegas in the summer, and I shared my view that it might not be the best deal for the poker community.
And the WSOP announced the intimate details of the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) and World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) festivals at the Kings Casino, Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
There will be 14 WSOPC gold rings and 11 WSOP gold bracelets up for grabs in the midst of 84 events taking place over 44 consecutive days that will shell out over €20m in guaranteed prize money.
The WSOP called it the largest poker event ever held outside Las Vegas.
The Best of the Rest
Doug Polk was forced to take down 17 videos on his popular YouTube Channel after the Game Show Network (GSN) took action to protect the illegal use of their High Stakes Poker (HSP) product. I offered my opinion on why I think that was a mistake.
The Canadian sports broadcaster and stand-up comedienne, Chantal Desjardins, joined PokerVision as part of their new on-air broadcast team. Jens Kyllonen told PokerNews that he was quitting poker and was very pessimistic about the future of online poker. And I interviewed Scott O’Reilly, Roberto Romanello, and Cate Hall where we talked about matched betting, bald people, and acid.
Finally, Daniel Strelitz is a million bucks the richer after winning the $10,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) LA Poker Classic. Mike Sexton finished fourth in that one and is now second behind Benjamin Zamani in the Season XV Player of the Year fight.
And there were wins at the ARIA High Roller for Daniel Colman ($342,240), Jake Schindler ($364,320), and Rainer Kempe ($576,000).
Time ladies and gentlemen.
Someone has just called the clock.
