On today’s Daily Deal: will the UIGEA be implemented today? Who’s ahead at the WSOP Players Championship? Also, Phil Ivey joins the World Series of Good and promotes his own charitable foundation.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson; welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
The big question today is: will the UIGEA be enforced, and how will it affect online poker? Barring a last-minute breakthrough by the Poker Players Alliance, the U.S. Treasury or the Federal Reserve, the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act should go into effect today. It has yet to be determined how it will affect online players, although some affiliates have already noticed that wire transfer minimums from major sites have increased in recent months. PPA Executive Director John Pappas has an optimistic outlook on the situation:
“We don’t expect [June 1st] to be a doomsday scenario for online poker. To be clear, it is not going to be unlawful for you, the poker player, to play internet poker.”
Let’s hope he is right. And for the record I logged into UB.com, Stars, Full Tilt and Cake this morning just fine.
Well, it’s finally here – the start of the World Series of Poker 2010. One hundred and sixteen players ponied up FIFTY thousand dollars to compete for the Chip Reese trophy and the WSOP Player’s Championship – arguably the highest honor in poker. Heading into Tuesday’s action, Robert Mizrachi is the chip leader. Oddly enough his brother Michael Mizrachi, who was just in the news for being completely broke and having assets seized, is in fifth place! I suppose this means someone’s happy his horse is doing well. One point five million dollars will be given to the winner and the tournament will air on ESPN. We’ll have more recaps on WSOP events right here on the Daily Deal tomorrow as events are played out.
The most feared man in poker reveals his soft side: Phil Ivey has confirmed his support to the charitable World Series of Good. Ivey pledged to give poker training to a player whose entire Main Event winnings will be donated to charity. Backed by Andy Bloch and Rafe Furst, the WSOG’s efforts seem to be on the right track. To date, almost twenty five percent of the ten thousand dollars needed to buy into this year’s Main Event has been raised.
Besides aiding the WSOG’s causes, Ivey hopes to raise awareness of his personal charitable drive. The Budding Ivey Foundation was founded by the poker pro and his mother, and it’s named after Ivey’s grandfather Leonard “Bud” Simmons. The foundation’s mission statement is “Providing educational opportunities to empower at-risk children.” The Budding Ivey Foundation’s achievements to date include donating over twenty five hundred books and raising over a quarter million dollars through charity tournaments. Whatever Ivey does, he does well.
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!