On today’s Daily Deal the World Poker Tour Legends of poker starts with a bang, the voting for the Poker Hall of Fame is underway, the FBI confiscates funds from online payment processors and Joe Sebok looks back on a year with UB.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
The two thousand and ten installment of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker attracted 462 players, 66% more than last year’s tally of 279. That said, since the buy-in was slashed from $10,000 to $5,000, the actual prize pool went down to just over $2 million. Nearly 300 players took to the felts on Saturday for the second of two starting days in the Legends of Poker. The day began with WPT officials honoring Kathy Liebert, who was playing in her 100th WPT tournament. Unfortunately, Liebert was eliminated late in the same day.
As the Bicycle prepares for day 2 of the legends of Poker, Poker News Daily will keep you informed of the latest developments.
As of today, one hundred and eighty-one different individuals have received nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of two thousand and ten. Nominations will be accepted through August 31st on the official website of the WSOP. In mid-September, the 16 living Poker Hall of Fame members and a small media panel will determine who will be enshrined in two thousand and ten. In a change from last year, the top two vote getters will become part of the Poker Hall of Fame this year as long as they garner at least fifty percent of the vote. Last year, a 75% threshold was required and, as a result, only World Poker Tour host and WSOP bracelet winner Mike Sexton was inducted.
What are the requirements for entry?
“A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition; played for high-stakes; played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers; stood the test of time; or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker with indelible positive and lasting results.”
I’m guessing by those terms my nomination is (Sarcastic!) MOMENTS away (eye roll!).
The owner of two payment processors for online poker sites has agreed to forfeit over thirteen million dollars seized by the FBI in June of last year. Ahmad Khawaja, together with his two firms, Allied Systems and Allied Wallet, reached a civil settlement with the U.S. Government this week in order to keep from getting into further legal trouble.
Khawaja’s two payment processors were at the forefront a federal case involving online gambling fund transfers. Allied Wallet and Allied Systems actively processed funds to players from sites such as PokerStars, the world’s biggest online poker site.
PokerStars wasn’t exactly stoked when word of the settlement between Khawaja and the government was released.
“PokerStars does not condone efforts by processors to conceal the nature or purpose of funds used to play online poker,” a spokesperson for PokerStars said. “PokerStars has taken steps to ensure that processors properly disclose the nature of their business to their relevant financial institutions.”
Finally, Joe Sebok wrapped up his first year as a sponsored player with UB.com and closed the book on his personal investigation into the prior misconduct on the site.
Sebok said that he put in was excited to be able to hopefully close this chapter and move on to the next and as of right now, doesn’t see any deeper levels he can possibly get into the scandal or do anything else to put it to an end. He had hoped to get names and track down all the handhistories during the cheating scandal.
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. This is Sean Gibson, good luck on the flop!