On a Monday edition of the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily, we bring you the latest action from the 2010 World Series of Poker, talk about Perez Hilton’s feud with Shannon Elizabeth, and break down the latest signings by World Team Poker.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
We’ll start with a recap of the weekend’s action from the Rio in Las Vegas from the two thousand and ten World Series of Poker. Event #32 was the five thousand dollar no limit holdem event and it all came down to online pro Jeffrey Papola and Men “The Master” Nguyen. Papola already had finished second at another six handed event this year and Nguyen is famous in poker circles from his distinguished career. But this time, Papola took down the event for his first ever bracelet for over $667,000.
Another well known pro in David Chiu finished in second place in Event #33, the Pot Limit Omaha/Hold’em event. Chiu ended up being bested by American Jose Luis-Velador, who won during the holdem round by flopping top pair with seven six offsuit against Chui’s overcards which never drew out. By winning the event, Luis-Velador won $260,000.
Finally, the seniors were out in force, and when I say seniors I actually mean it – as event number 34 took place. An astounding three thousand one hundred and forty two players who were age eligible came out for the event. Former player of the year Tom Schneider finished in forteenth place, as the event was eventually won by Florida native Harold Angle, who won a bacelet and nearly a half million dollars for this $1,000 buy-in tournament.
Gossip guru Perez Hilton posted an e-mail from an anonymous source – and we all know how reliable those can be – regarding a home game that Shannon Elizabeth was allegedly running. The writer of the e-mail states, “Last Friday, a few friends and I were invited to a house poker game in Los Feliz and it turned out to be Shannon Elizabeth’s house… This is kind of cool and we at first think it’s really a treat to be playing poker with her.”
Then, the e-mailer accused that Elizabeth took a $25 rake out of a $70 pot, calling the act “nuts.” The e-mail has drawn a tremendous amount of criticism from posters on Hilton’s website and on TwoPlusTwo, where the concept of a “time collection pot” was discussed. In that case, there is no rake charged, but at certain time intervals, a set fee is taken from a pot. Overall on both threads, Elizabeth has more support from posters than Hilton does. Elizabeth responded on her twitter account saying she’s been in Vegas this whole time for the World Series of Poker, and I tend to believe her – SINCE I SAW HER AT THE RIO ALL WEEK LONG.
World Team Poker, which is fresh off hosting its inaugural event at the Golden Nugget and will host its World Championship in October, has inked top female pros Kathy Liebert and Cyndy Violette to Team Germany. Liebert’s and Violette’s parents are both from the European country and the duo will join Thor Hansen on the German squad.
Meanwhile, World Team Poker signed Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari to Team Iran. He’s the first announced member of that team, which will be one of twenty-four vying for the World Championship title. World Team Poker allows substitutions during play and saw Team China take down its first event held in May.
Finally, the cable giant ESPN is still mulling the possibility of broadcasting the newly announced Los Angeles leg of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour. NAPT L.A. will pan out in November from the Bicycle Casino. An ESPN spokesperson told Poker News Daily, “There is nothing in the works yet, but our programming team expects to meet with PokerStars on possibilities.” Starting next month, the two-thousand and ten World Series of Poker will begin airing on the network.
Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. All this week we’ll have new editions of THE DAILY DEAL as well as CardRunners strategy videos and interviews with the biggest names in poker. Thanks for tuning in!