Welcome back to the Poker News Daily Weekly Update where we recap the biggest headlines in the world of poker. I’m your host Sean Gibson.
Our first story congratulates Jim Anderson, who became the first ever champion of a WSOP Circuit Regional Championship on Thursday after trumping the field in Hammond, Indiana. The ten thousand dollar buy-in tournament started with two hundred twenty-six players and Anderson banked over five hundred K.
Poker News Daily Guest Columnist and Foxwoods sponsored pro Bernard Lee was ousted in third place in Hammond. He entered three-handed play in second on the leaderboard, but was eliminated in a coin flip with pocket tens against Ace-King. According to the Hendon Mob, Lee’s nearly quarter million dollar haul was his largest in three years. His richest live payday to date came in the two thousand five WSOP Main Event, where he finished in thirteenth place for four hundred thousand dollars. Lee’s claims to fame include winning preliminary events during the Foxwoods World Poker Finals in two thousand six, two thousand seven, and two thousand eight.
On Wednesday, World Series of Poker and ESPN officials held a conference call to preview next week’s resumption of the Main Event, which will trim the November Nine down to a winner. This year, poker fans at the Rio will likely experience shorter lines as a result of increased seating inside the Penn and Teller Theater.
WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart told the assembled media what the setup would be for walk-up attendance this year:
“More seats will be available to the general public. We want to service the friends and family of these poker players, but last year it got out of control. At the end of the day, the first year we wondered if anyone would show up and last year we wondered if anyone would leave.”
However, WSOP officials cautioned that seating would still remain tight for the first few hours until eliminations occur.
PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, announced this week that it will be teaming up with FOXSports.com to create a free poker room on the popular sports news site. FOXSports.com will host PokerStars’ free-play poker client and provide news, tournament results, and poker strategy.
PokerStars currently has more than forty million users, most of which take their seats at play money games. FOXSports hopes to draw a large number of players to its own site by attaching the PokerStars brand.
A lawsuit in Kentucky previously targeting Full Tilt Poker and Party Gaming has been amended to include Microgaming. In addition, existing defendants in the case have been recently served. Microgaming exited the Kentucky market in 2008, but the Commonwealth’s complaint asserts,
“A clear commercial link exists between Microgaming and residents of the Commonwealth and warrants a finding of personal jurisdiction.”
Kentucky attorneys are seeking to recoup money lost by state residents.
Earlier this month, Party Gaming was served in the case. The company previously signed a non-prosecution agreement with the United States Department of Justice. However, Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown filed the legal action in this case. Party Gaming is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange and is in the midst of finalizing a merger with gaming rival bwin.
Parting ways with UB.com recently were Matt “mattg1983” Graham, Michael Binger, and Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp, who no longer appear on the room’s list of sponsored pros. UB.com makes its home on the USA-friendly CEREUS Network along with its sister site, Absolute Poker.
Graham’s contract originally ran for one year and the young poker gun was working on a month-to-month basis. Binger owns more than five million dollars in WSOP earnings alone, while Kopp finished twelfth in last year’s Main Event after exiting in a flush-over-flush hand against Darvin Moon. Now, all three of these poker prodigies will hit the free agent market.
On the other side of the coin, Theo Jorgensen signed with PokerStars this week. The Danish poker pro, who once defeated Gus Hansen in a boxing match, told the media,
“I’m delighted to be joining the world’s largest poker site. PokerStars has always hosted the best poker events in the world and sponsors only the most talented players, so I am very excited to be a part of this.”
Finally, who wants to play poker with a spy? According to ABC News, alleged Russian spy Anna Chapman is said to be releasing a special iPhone app called Poker with Anna Chapman. The application, which will be listed for a buck ninety-nine, will allow players to take on the “Russian Bond girl” in a single hand of poker. There are prizes offered if the player is able to beat Chapman in the hand.
Chapman began her fifteen minutes of fame by being arrested earlier this year in the United States as a part of an alleged Russian spy ring. Ten Russians pled guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General and were deported. Chapman has also appeared in the Russian version of Maxim Magazine.
Well, that does it for this week’s PND Weekly Recap! We appreciate you tuning in every Friday for this show and encourage you to bookmark our site if you haven’t already and also check out our twitter feed at twitter dot com slash poker news daily. I’m Sean Gibson and best of luck at the tables!