Welcome to Poker News Daily, I’m Sean Gibson and thanks for tuning in to our Weekly News Update, where we recap the biggest headlines in the world of poker!
The sixth UB.com Online Championship, or UBOC, is in full swing. The series kicked off last weekend and eleven events have already been completed. A two hundred fifty thousand dollar guaranteed No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Six-Max event played out on Wednesday night with five hundred fourteen players. When the smoke cleared, Stuart “THEDONATOR” Patterson came away with the title following a heads-up chop.
Patterson’s victory was worth fifty one thousand dollars. If you watched the World Poker Tour in its heyday, then you might remember Patterson from his final table appearance in the two thousand six Borgata Winter Open, where he took sixth place for a hundred and ten thousand dollars.
UBOC Six wraps up on January 30th with a one-thousand fifty dollar buy-in Main Event hosted by new UB pro Prahlad Friedman.
PokerStars has announced plans for a live poker tour in Eastern Europe this year. The site confirmed this week that the Eureka Poker Tour will launch in March and offer affordable buy-ins.
The first event is set to take place at the Card Casino in Prague from March 16th to 20th. As opposed to the high-end buy-ins of the European Poker Tour, the Eureka Poker Tour will cater to mid-stakes players. Each of the Eureka Poker Tour’s Main Events will run for four days and feature two starting days. Prize pools are expected to be in excess of two hundred fifty thousand Euros.
In a final table that was streamed across the world in near-real time, Galen Hall overcame a five to one heads-up chip deficit to become the champion of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. Hall booked two point three million dollars for the win, while runner-up Chris Oliver earned one point eight million bucks. Oliver entered the eight-handed final table with over forty percent of the chips in play.
Viktor Blom‘s new deal with PokerStars could land him with a colossal tax bill from the Swedish government. Blom revealed his online identity as Isildur1 during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Now, he could be investigated by the Swedish Tax Authority and owe around one hundred fifty million dollars.
Professional poker players in Sweden who play outside the European Union are subject to a thirty percent tax on each winning pot. According to a Swedish newspaper, Blom played for around four point five billion dollars as Isildur1 – that’s billion with a “b.” Blom originally hailed from Ed, Sweden and has recently moved to London.
In less than a month, the ninth season of the World Poker Tour will debut on Fox Sports Net. This season will bring a barrage of changes, including a new on-air personality, a new hostess, and a team of women that will spice up the set. It all comes your way on Sunday, February 13th at Eight o’clock.
The kickoff episode will feature coverage of the Bellagio Cup Six, which included Poker Hall of Fame nominee Phil Ivey and fellow Full Tilt pro Justin Smith at the final table. The top prize is eight hundred seventy five thousand dollars and, once again, Vince Van Patten and Mike Sexton will have the call from tableside.
The ninth season of the WPT features Tony Dunst hosting a brand new on-air segment dubbed the “Raw Deal.” He’ll be candidly critiquing hands and potentially taking a few jabs at poker’s biggest stars. In addition, Kimberly Lansing will reprise her role as hostess after last appearing during Season Six. Finally, the Royal Flush Girls will make their debut.
Last week, Florida State Senator Dennis Jones told the Miami Herald that he plans to introduce legislation that would allow for up to five “destination” casino resorts in the state. Nothing is certain at this point, but it appears that gambling expansion is being given serious consideration.
Like anything these days, the arguments in favor of gambling expansion revolve around money. Florida is staring at a three point five billion dollar budget deficit and newly elected governor Rick Scott promised to bring the state seven hundred thousand new jobs over the next seven years. The revenue from multiple Las Vegas-scale casinos and the jobs associated with them could be a nice shot in the arm.
Finally, posters on TwoPlusTwo allegedly had a run-in with Ultimate Bet scandal mastermind Russ Hamilton this week at Gulfstream Park in Florida. After being bluffed out of a pot and then hit with a comment about not being able to see other players’ hole cards, Hamilton allegedly went ballistic:
“You are a f***ing d*ck… a f***ing d*ck. If you believe everything you read, you are just stupid, just a stupid f***ing d*ck. You do not know what you are talking about; you were not there. You just read about it and think you know.”
Wow. Poker pro Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, who was at Gulfstream as well, confirmed the incident. On his Twitter account, Aguiar commented, “Playing PLO in a Florida casino and Russ Hamilton is here walking around!”. Kudos to the guy that put Hamilton on this serious tilt a thon.
That does it for this week’s Weekly News Update. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to come back every single day for the latest in poker news. I’m Sean Gibson and I’ll see you next week!