On today’s Daily Deal, the poker community’s leaders react to Wednesday’s online gambling hearing, the WSOP announces new and improved bracelets, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo issues a WSOP prop bet, and another poker TV show may have to fold.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
There are mixed opinions regarding yesterday’s hearing by the House Ways and Means Committee. Joe Brennan, Chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) had a bleak outlook: “Nothing happened. It was yet again another opportunity for sides that have already been heard to make a public airing of what their position was and for the IRS to come down and say they can tax and investigate internet gambling.” John Pappas, Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, had the opposite impression: “I thought it went fairly well… Aside from Bob Goodlatte, you didn’t see the type of demagoguery that we’ve seen in other committees.”
For the first time ever, the World Series of Poker will be offering personalized bracelets to winners, designed by famed jewelry designer Steve Soffa. Each bracelet is made with solid gold and diamonds. The Main Event bracelet will feature nearly six ounces of gold and five hundred and fifty individual hand-set diamonds weighing nearly four carats in total – about a third more than in previous years in case anyone’s counting.
Prop bets are an inevitable part of the WSOP and poker forums are bubbling with them. A particularly buzz-worthy one has been offered by Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who is laying down ten to one odds that a resident of Panorama Towers will win a bracelet. “The Panorama Prop Bet” states that at least one person living, renting or even crashing at the Vegas property is bound to make a bracelet this year. If you consider the actual and potential residents include poker powerhouses such as Phil Laak, Barry Greenstein, David Williams, and EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree, you may think twice about laying that grand against Bonomo. The complete list of Panorama Pros will be published by Bonomo before Midnight on May 28th.
And finally, this past Wednesday night may have marked the final installment of the UB.com sponsored poker news program “Poker2Nite.” Show co-host Scott Huff tweeted the end of the show and his future career plans: “Since @Poker2Nite has not been renewed: Working on a musical number for my Legally Prohibited from Talking Poker on Television tour.” The situation is not as clear-cut, though: when PND made enquiries directly with UB.com, Tokwiro’s COO Paul Leggett told us: “No long-term decision has been made on the fate of ‘Poker2Nite.’ We are taking a break from production over the summer to decide whether we will do a Season 3 in the fall or perhaps another poker television show.” Will you miss this show? Let us know via Twitter!
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. I’m Sean Gibson and have a great poker weekend!