Another round-up of poker news including the coming and going of sponsored pros, online festivals and new TV deals.
I want to start with PokerStars and the decision not to renew the contract of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Yes, that happened this week. The Frenchman was on a pretty good, pre-Isai Scheinberg deal, and PokerStars had a difficult choice to make.
Out came the lighter.
The soul of that once opulent contract now sits in a fireplace somewhere.
It’s a sign that no sponsored pro should rest on their laurels. The competition is fierce. The terrible law of time will catch you up. ElkY will bounce back. Someone will take a punt on him. Meanwhile, I spoke to PokerStars’ Eric Hollreiser about the whole ‘sponsorship thing’, and you can read about it right here.
ElkY might not be a PokerStars player, but you can bet your coconut oil that he’ll be competing in the $25k PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) in January.
Two people who are dead certs to compete in that event are Kalidou Sow and Giuseppe Caridi. The two won $30k Platinum Passes at the PokerStars Festival in London. Sow’s win was remarkable. The Frenchman took down the 852 entrant field to win the Main Event and bank £121,803. I say ‘remarkable’ because his previous tournament was the PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event and he won that also.
Caridi won the PokerStars London Cup, and when you consider the Italian only had to beat 329 entrants to win the £330 buy-in event, it’s clear that news of the PSPC hasn’t filtered down to the recreational players living in this bustling metropolis.
Becker Loses His Silver, Finds White Gold; Gruissem Find
PokerStars keep cutting.
partypoker keep adding.
In the same week that saw ElkY having to find between $40k-$300k per year in lost sponsorship revenue, Philipp Gruissem had no such problems.
The Raising for Effective Giving (REG) co-founder joined partypoker as an ambassador, days after they also signed Isaac Haxton in a two finger salute to PokerStars.
Gruissem joins fellow Germans Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Boris Becker at partypoker, and the latter was in the news this week, and as you would expect, it had nothing to do with poker.
Becker, who is currently going through a bankruptcy process, confessed to losing most of his trophies, including Wimbledon and Australian Open titles and an Olympic gold medal. The haul is suggested to be worth £1m. Becker allegedly owes £54.4m. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Becker still has his partypoker contract, and earlier this week he joined the double glazing salesmen Fenster 24 in a deal said to be worth £130,000.
Finally, partypoker announced the major 2018 online tour dates this week. Click this link to find details of POWERFEST, KO Series, Monster Series and MILLIONS Online dates.
888Poker Blizzard ends; Poker Central Relationship Extends
Sticking with the online MTT theme and 888Poker’s XL Blizzard came to a close this week. The team behind the online festival called the 11-day, 34-tournament series a ‘massive success,’ and it culminated in some snazzy initiatives.
The $1,050 buy-in Main Event title went to Argentina. The former XL Inferno title winner Pepepepepe earning $183,367 after beating 1,002 entrants. High fives have to go out to the team for thinking up the Bubble of Bubbles event where all players who bubbled XL Blizzard games competed for World Series of Poker (WSOP) packages.
And 888Poker extended their partnership with Poker Central meaning you will see the 888Poker logo throughout 2018 if you tune in to watch The Super High Roller Bowl, The US Poker Open, The Poker Masters, Poker After Dark and ARIA High Roller Series.
And 888Poker got another boost after Poker Central announced the extension and improvement of their relationship with the NBC Sports Group. The pair will now work together until 2020. Joining the Super High Roller Bowl on NBCSports will be the US Poker Open and Poker Masters giving 888Poker more airtime in the faces of US citizens waiting patiently to play.
The WSOP Introduce Shot Clock; WSOPC Round Up
888Poker is also the primary sponsor for the 2018 WSOP, and this week the thinkers behind the iconic festival announced plans to introduce shot clocks and big blind antes in the $50k, $100k and $1m One Drop this summer.
On the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) front, Vladimir Shabalin earned €114,367 after beating 486 entrants in the Marrakech Main Event. And Sam Washburn outlasted one of the strongest WSOPC final tables ever. The WSOPC rookie beat the likes of Jake Bazeley, Nick Pupillo, Scott Stewart and Kyle Cartwright to win the $188,068 first prize at Horseshoe Tunica.
Match IPL Rigged, Japanese Tour on The Move; Aussie Millions Monster
When I think about Raj Kundra and the Match India Poker League (Match IPL), there is a gut feeling that something shady is going on, and this week those tinglings returned.
A very publicised spat appeared on Twitter between Kundra and the former Goa Kings owner, Sachiin Joshi. Kundra accused Joshi of taking all the press and glory from his association with the league before reneging on his duty to pay his franchise fee ($60k).
Joshi told Kundra that he had no contractual obligation to pay him anything and wouldn’t, because, Kundra fixed the whole thing. Joshi’s associates called Kundra a ‘con man’, and Joshi asserted that this wasn’t a financial issue as it costs him more than the franchise fee to feed his dogs.
The All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC) might need to change its name. After a successful visit to Incheon, South Korea (784 player event), CEO Yasuhiro Sasaki announced plans to host events in Macau and Taiwan.
And the Asian Poker Tour (APT) kicked off 2018 with an event in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Adrian Esslen defeated 664 participants to win the VND 1,313,920,000 ($58k) first prize and the Player of the Series accolade.
Finally, mixed news from the Aussie Millions. On the downside, it looks like the Crown Poker Room will have to rethink their High Roller strategy after only three people competed in the $50k Challenge. The winner of that event, Sam Greenwood, later attacked his fellow High Stakes pros for failing to fight, calling them ‘vultures’ and ‘cowards.’ On the upside, the Main Event created a new entry record with 800 entrants creating a first prize of AUD 1.8 million ($1.4m)
Bits and Bobs
The Global Poker Index (GPI) is hosting the 4th Annual American Poker Awards. PokerStars act as sponsor. There are 20 awards with a heavy focus on media content. Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke both released books this week. Hellmuth wants us to believe he has his shit together in his new book about positivity. Duke says her new book is nothing about poker but is based on verything she’s learned in poker.
And Gus Hansen has appeared in court this week. The Great Dane is trying to convince a judge that a former friend of his stole some money during a music festival investment gone wrong.
Time ladies & gentlemen, please.
Someone has just called the clock.