The Poker Pros Network (PPN) has announced it will stop accepting new US player registrations at midnight EST on Aug. 31. Existing US players, plus any more who can register before the clock strikes midnight, will not only not be turned into pumpkins, but will be permitted to go on playing on PPN after Sept. 1. But they’ll be playing on PPNpoker.eu, as PPN is leaving their current .com home for greener/safer pastures. PPN is also leaving the Cake Network, but PPN owner Chuck Kidd is promising to introduce “unique proprietary software” this fall that “should turn the online poker industry on its head.”
Pre-paid online shopping eCom outfit Paysafecard has been announced as sponsor of the bar at Poker In The Park V. The Paysafecard Bar will serve beer, wine and spirits to thirsty poker players, or anyone else with a £5 note, really. Organizer Michael Caselli (last seen getting into pirate character at Calvin Ayre’s private 50th birthday bash) believes that with the “Paysafecard Bar looking after our guests, we’ll have even more of a festival atmosphere this year.” Also contributing to the Poker In The Park V festivities will be Tatjana Pasalic, the newest reporter for official media sponsor CalvinAyre.com. “@Tattytats” will be making her video debut for the site at the event, which runs Sept. 2-3 in Hanover Square, just around the way from Oxford Circus. (FYI, there’s an old UK movie called Hangover Square, in which a classical musician turned homicidal whenever he heard discordant sounds. So if that busker is annoying you, don’t worry, he’ll likely be dead soon.)
This week, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Goliath was trying to set a new record for hosting Europe’s largest ever poker tournament at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Organizers had hoped to attract over 1,600 players, and with three Day 1s in the books, the official tally came in at 1,765. That easily surpasses the previous high-water mark of 1,564 recorded at this year’s Dusk Till Dawn Grand Prix III in Nottingham (which, ironically enough, was won by Coventry homeboy Morteza Skeykhel Islam). Best of all, a healthy slice of Goliath’s registration fees go to Marie Curie Cancer Care. There are around 280 survivors from all three Day 1’s that will recommence battle on Saturday at noon local time.
