Jonathan Duhamel Assault Update

Wire Act Clarification Could Mean Booming Economy—Of course we are still in the possibilities stage with the Wire Act interpretation. There has been no official ruling or report regarding the relationship between online poker gambling and the Wire Act. The recent ruling regarding sports betting being different from state based lotteries is just the opening of a door. If online poker were approved a state based online gambling system, eventually back by federal mandate, could ostensibly boost a state economy and provide sustainable new growth. Besides the fact that online casinos will provide a place for state residents to spend their money it will provide a number of new jobs in related industries. If new websites are about to spring up across the country those new sites need web designers, computer programmers, app developers and content writers to sustain them. There needs to be publicist, marketing departments and accountants; not to mention lawyers, underwriters and policy makers. Job creation would be almost instantaneous.

UIGEA Needs Clearly Defined—In 2006 the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed through Congress on the back of another bill. This week the 1961 Wire Act was reinterpreted and many think the UIGEA is next. With the new clarification of the Wire Act it no longer appears to apply in the Black Friday cases. Prosecutors are holding on to the violation of the UIGEA but should they? The UIGEA is an American law applying to businesses operated in America. The Big Three poker sites actually hold licenses from other countries and have a physical address in other countries. They are not businesses in America. They do however have American players and that’s where the Depart of Justice finds its justification for the upcoming court cases. Look for an official clarification in the near future.

2011 Poker Hall of Fame Barry Greenstein—Born in Chicago in 1954 Brian Greenstein is the 42^nd inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame. Greenstein is known as the Robin Hood of Poker and has donated over three million dollars to charity since he became a professional poker player. Barry Greenstein has three WSOP bracelets, two WPT wins and 46 money finishes with over $7.5 million in earnings. Greenstein has been hitting six figures consistently for almost a decade and enjoys high stakes poker tournaments. He came in 22^nd in his very first tournament back in 1992.

2011 Poker Hall of Fame Linda Johnson—Linda Johnson was born in 1953 in Long Island. She currently resides in Las Vegas. She began playing blackjack on vacation when she still worked for the post office. Discovering she was good at cards she quit her job in 1980 and has played professional poker ever since. Johnson received her WSOP bracelet back in 1997 for winning the Seven Card Razz. She has enjoyed seven final tables during her career. With over $300,000 in poker earnings alone. Johnson has certainly done well. Besides playing poker Johnson has held a number of poker related roles. For eight years, Linda Johnson published Card Player Magazine. After selling the magazine Johnson continued to have a say by contributing articles to the publication. Johnson’s most well known contribution to poker would be her establishment of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA). The TDA is responsible for setting basic tournament rules.

Global Poker Index—Here’s the latest from the Global Poker Index website:

#1 Erik Seidel 2560.94

#2 Bertrand Grospellier 2493.71

#3 Jason Mercier 2398.58

#4 Eugene Katchalov 2371.55

#5 Shawn Buchanan 2331.45

#6 Samuel Stein 2178.26

#7 Sam Trickett 2121.17

#8 Sorel Mizzi 2107.57

#9 Fabrice Soulier 2018.48

#10 Matt Waxman 2003.46

After a few hands we lost Player of the Year Ben Lamb to aggressive play from Czech Republic’s own Martin Staszko who went for a hip lead as fast as he could. And for a long time he held onto it, making Heinz a dangerously low short stack on several occasions. Half way through the battle most would have predicted Staszko the winner.

But laid back Pius Heinz wasn’t giving up. A few well paced bets and his chip count began to rise until he was nearly level with Staszko. For the next few hours, Staszko and Heinz traded the chip lead without incident and folks began to think the pay would never end. Both players were stubborn, aggressive and not about to give up that coveted bracelet.

In the last hour of play, Heinz’s chip lead began to dominate and Staszko had to go with several all-in plays. With giant pots of $30 and $40 million it seemed that Staszko was on his way out. But some how he just kept going and the audience, the commentators and the players began to show signs of fatigue.

Around two in the morning, Heinz’s chip count was up to 162,300,00 and Staszko was down to $44 million. He went all in with 10-7 and the crowd reignited into an anticipatory roar. Heinz called and laid out his cards: A-K. Staszko had to get lucky. The flop was 5-2-9 and things started to look grim. With a Jack on the turn it was all over. No-one cared what the river card was because Pius Heinz’s victory was secured.

A humble Heinz shook hands with a gracious runner up and claimed his place in poker history. It was a heck of a ride and I for one, cannot wait for next year.

NHUPC Canceled

California Full Tilt Lawsuit— California is suing Full Tilt for damages in the amount of $900 million and hopes to turn the allegations into a nation wide class action lawsuit. According to both Pokernews.com and the LA Times the state is being represented by Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotoy of Los Angeles. The couple are alleging fraud, deception, money laundering, not reserving money from player accounts and illegal raking of individual game profits. Its more of the same just on a larger scale.

The California suit claims that prominent poker players including record breaker Phil Ivey are also responsible and complicit with the fraud and deception as they spent their time promoting the site. That may be a bit of a stretch but if they have company stock…well they may have a valid point. Also the amount of damages is way above any other number in the Full Tilt civil suit collection. The next highest is $150 million.

WSOP November Nine Schedule Change— This year’s WSOP final table has a changed scheduled and an expanded coverage. Because of the decline of major television poker such as Full Tilt and PokerStars many poker TV shows have disappeared from the airwaves. The extended coverage of the main event final table is both an attempt to keep poker on the air and perhaps enjoy an increased audience and advertising revenue. ESPN are the fuel behind the WSOP November Nine fire beginning coverage a day later beginning on November 6 instead of November 5 as previously advertised. The break in coverage will now be between the final table and the final three rather than the final table and the final two. There will only be a 15 minute delay between actual play and air time making the coverage for all intent and purposes live. The November Nine final table will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. We can expect poker celebrity commentary as in past years but who those commentators will be has yet to be announced.

Hinrichsen Wins Largest WSOPE Event to Date—Andrew Hinrichsen became the sixth ever Australian to take home a WSOP gold bracelet this week when he won the second event of the WSOP Europe. It was a No Limit Hold em event that had a record breaking number of entrants and supplying the final table folks with a nice chunk of change. It was Ace King over King Nine for the win. Heads up play between Gianluca Speranza and Hinrichsen was short lived with the Ozzie gaining the chip lead with a few good hands. Hinrichsen came 23rd at this year’s WSOP and has enjoyed several successes in tournaments in his own neck of the woods.

California Creates Calshark.com—The new online poker website launched by a consortium of California based organizations may help fill the gap between the fall of the Big Three and the passing of American based online poker legislation. This new website, Calshark.com offers American poker enthusiasts a place to polish their game, network with other poker fans and try out new techniques all without having to worry about federal indictments. Calshark.com offers players the chance to either download their software or play the game through their browser, an option not often found at online casinos. So for those with memory space issues or virus paranoia you can still play poker. You receive 1000 chips for signing up. Another great feature for many of us is the no credit card required option. Yes the games are free and you aren’t going to get rich over night playing at Calshark.com but it’s a good chance to sharpen your skills for free.

Global Poker Index–-Here’s the top ten for this week as reported on GPI website:

#1           Erik Seidel           2586.96

#2           Jason Mercier    2545.04

#3           Bertrand Grospellier       2503.67

#4           Eugene Katchalov            2473.83

#5           Sorel Mizzi          2341.12

#6           Fabrice Soulier  2257.90

#7           Thomas Marchese           2058.11

#8           Scott Seiver        2003.33

#9           Shawn Buchanan             1986.96

#10         Juha Helppi         1970.14

Card Player Magazine creates Own Tournament—Card Player magazine has decided to launch the Native American Casino Poker Tour soon to be known as the NACPT. With around three hundred Native American owned casinos currently operating in the United States, the NACPT has lots of options for national tournaments. The first NACPT will be held at the Choctaw Casino and Resort in Oklahoma. There will be buy ins as low as $100 and the tournament will run from December 1 through December 11, 2011. Winners will receive a seat in the WSOP Choctaw tournament to be held in January of 2012. The winner of the NACPT will be featured on the front cover of the print version of Card Player magazine and the final table will be streamed live on the Card Player home page. All of the games in the series will be filmed from start to finish but where and when they will be aired has not been decided.

1. Matt Giannetti, Las Vegas, NV. Chip count: 24,750,000—Another 26 year old Giannetti is making a mark for himself in live poker events.

2. Badih Bounahra, Belize City. Chip count: 19,700,000—a businessman and amateur poker player, Bounahra is 49 years old and from the exotic central American vacation spot.

3. Eoghan O’Dea, Ireland. Chip count: 33,925,000—continuing the family poker legacy O’Dea hopes to follow his father into the European Poker Hall of Fame. At 26 O’Dea is a bright spark learning his poker moves from the television rather than his dad. Think there may be a larger story here.

4. Phil Collins, Las Vegas, NV. Chip count: 23, 875,000—26 year old professional Collins is making the leap from the world of online poker to live poker. Will be interesting to see how he manages the transition.

5. Anton Makiievskyi, Ukraine. Chip count: 13,825,000—the 21 year old is the youngest player at the table. This year is his first attempt at the WSOP Main Event. What a way to debut in the world of American poker.

6. Sam Holden, England. Chip count: 12, 375,000—22 year old Holden is new to the world of American poker. With a few wins in England this new up and comer hopes to make his mark turning the final table short stack into a win.

7. Pius Heinz, Germany. Chip count: 16,425,000— one of the youngest players at the table is the 22 year old German playing the WSOP main event for the first time this year.

8. Ben Lamb, Tulsa, OK. Chip count: 20,875,000—the big name at the table this year, Lamb has enjoyed a successful poker year so far. He is in the running for player of the year and already made over a million in winnings since the year began. Lamb is my favorite for the win.

9. Martin Staszko, Czech Republic. Chip count: 40,175,000—already four times lucky in this year’s WSOP, Staszko is 35 and a professional poker player.

Well that’s the line up for this year’s table. My money is on Ben Lamb being the most comfortable in the WSOP tournament set up than the other players. It would be nice to see a 21 year old win but then again a relative unknown rising to the top could be great to watch too. We’ll keep you posted.

The end is drawing closer by the day and with only one event still in player we will soon know the lineup for November’s final table.  Here’s where things stand Tuesday evening.

Event 56: No Limit Hold’em—a $1,500 buy in brought over 3,000 players to the table and resulted in a prize pool of just under $5million. Alexander Anter of Sweden took the big money earning $777K for his first place win. Nemer Haddad and Andy Philachack both of the united states came in second and third. That’s over $1.4 million for the last three finishes. Anter’s win marks the first Scandinavian (and probably the only one at this point) first place title holder for this year’s tournament.

Event 57: Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better—Nick Binger of Vegas took home the bracelet for this one. There was a modest 352 entrants and a $5,000 buy-in. David Bach of Georgia came in second and Bryce Yockey of California came in third. It was a lucky break that Binger that he lost at event 56 as it allowed him to join in on event 57 and win a nice $397K for his trouble.

Event 58: No Limit Hold’em Championship—Just a third of the original entrants remain in the final event. As I write he players are at Level 7 with blinds set at 300/600. Despite being down 16,000 chips Arnaud Esquevin holds the top place with Ryan D’Angelo coming in second and getting closer and closer to equaling Esquevin’s chip count.

The WSOP seems to have come and almost gone too fast again this year. Recording breaking prize pools and attendance records will ensure the tournament will go down in history. Even in this fractured economy poker continues to grow in popularity. Hmmm….wonder when the politicians will see this and legalize online gaming? We’ll keep you posted.

Event #35: Pot-Limit Omaha / Six Handed—There were 507 entrants for this event with a $5,000 buy in. It was Jason Mercier of Davie, Florida that took home the bracelet along with $619, 575 in prize money. Hans Winzeler of Miami took second and Steven Merrifield of Las Vegas took home a third place. This was Mercier’s second bracelet. His first was back in 2009 for the same event.

Event #36: No-Limit Hold’em—it was Mikhail Lahitov of Moscow in heads up lay with Hassan Babjane of Massachusetts for this hold’em match. The Russian took home the bracelet and nearly three quarters of a million in prize money. Babjane took home just under a half million so it can’t be all that bad to come in second. There were over 1,700 original entrants into this three day event.

Event #37: H.O.R.S.E. Championship —Fabrice Soulier made France proud after he took home first in this event of 240 players. There was a $10k buy in as well as a number of entries from around the world. France came first, Canada second, Russia third and Colombia fourth. The infamous Tom Dwan took home fifth place for the Americans.

Event #38: No-Limit Hold’em—its the final day of the no limit event and we’re down to the last three players. Its Degoede of France, Nash of the UK and Lin of New Jersey in contention for the win. Just over 2,000 players tried their luck at this one so the biggest pay out will be $168,334. This late in the day I’m guessing this will end up being the final result.

Event #39: Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha—Its down to heads up play in event 39 with Jan Cullado of Germany and Carter Gill of the United States battling for the bracelet. There were just over 600 entries with a $2,500 buy-in making for the highest payout of $135,921.

Event #40: No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed—40 players left out of the original 732 in the six handed event. Currently Raphael Kroll of France has the lead with several folks almost neck and neck. Its far too close to tell.

Event #41: Limit Hold’em Shootout—Friday was day one of the shoot-out event and they are already down to 60 players from an original 538. No clear lead for anyone yet.

Event #42: Pot-Limit Omaha Championship—Things are just getting started in event 42. There are 270 of an original 361 players still in the running for a bracelet. With a $10k buy in there is a prize pool over three million so you know everyone is playing their hearts out.

No extra room for gabbing so here goes…

Event #18: No Limit Hold’em—3,157 original players came down to Foster Hays of Dallas and Casey Kelton of Alaska with Hays taking home the bracelet and a lovely $735,400 for his hard work. There was a buy in of $1,500.

Event #19: Two personal favorites took home first and second place in this six handed event that has 354 original players and a buy in of $2,500. It was Darren Woods of England that took home the bracelet after heads up play with Stephanie Nguyen of California.

Event #20: No-Limit Hold’em—Oh we just love our hold’em don’t we? This time it was Jason Somerville of New York that loved it the most winning heads up lay against Yashar Darian of New Jersey. Somerville took home $493,091 for his trouble. Almost half a million for two days work; must be nice. There were 3,175 original entries.

Event #21: Seven Card Stud Championship—Bertrand Grospellier of Paris, France took home $331,639 and a bracelet after heads up play with Steve Landfish of Vermont. There were a 126 players and a buy in of $10,000. Not for the faint hearted.

Event #22: Pot Limit Omaha—a $1,500 buy in did not deter 1,071 players for a two day Omaha extravaganza. France took home the bracelet and almost $300K after Elie Payan triumphed in heads up play against Rafeal Kibrit of Illinois. David Sands of Las Vegas came in third.

Event#23: Eight Game Mix—489 original players boiled down to heads up play between John Monette of California and Eric Buchman of New York. Monette grabbed the bracelet and an extra 100 grand for first place. Buchman enjoyed $171,855 for his trouble. There was a $2,500 buy in and a prize pool of $1,112,475.

Event#24: No-Limit Hold’em Shootout—$1.8 million in prize money didn’t really match the scant 387 entries but Mark Radoja of Ontario really doesn’t care because he took home $436,568 of it not to mention a bracelet. A buy in of $5,000 probably kept the numbers down. Jeffrey Gross of Ann Arbor enjoyed the heads up play and Nicolas Fierrogottner of Chile took home third place.

Event#25: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low or Better—a relatively small (and I do mean relative) prize pool of $818,100 marked this annual event which had 606 original entries and a $1,500 buy in. Chris Viox enjoyed heads up play with already bracelet winner Mike Sexton. This time it was Viox who took home the bling as well as a nice $200,459 to put in the bank.

Event #26: No Limit Hold’em Six Handed—1,378 original entries came down to Oleskii Kovalchuk of the Ukraine and Ionel Anton of Bucharest. Kovalchuk came away with the bracelet and a cool $689,739 for his trouble. Second place earnings of $428,140 weren’t too bad either. I mean I’d take it.

Event #27: Limit Hold’em Championship—152 original entries for this $10,000 buy in event has been reduced to a single winner Daniel Idema of Vancouver who took home a delicious $378,642.00. WSOP official reports say this was a tough event and Idema played the toughest. Matthew Gallin of Las Vegas lost in heads up play and Barry Greenstein of California came in third.

Event #28: No Limit Holdem—there were 2,500 original entries for this one with a buy in of $1,500. It was Andy Frankenberger of New York who took home the first place prize of $599,153 after heads up play with Joshua Evans of Plano, Texas.

Event #28: No Limit Holdem—there were 2,500 original entries for this one with a buy in of $1,500. It was Andy Frankenberger of New York who took home the first place prize of $599,153 after heads up play with Joshua Evans of Plano, Texas.

Event #29: $2,500 10-Game Mix / Six Handed—we are at heads up play on Day four of this event that had 431 entries. Left are Brian Haveson and Chris Lee with Haveson’s chip stack diminishing by the minute. I’m calling this one early for Chris Lee.

Event #30: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship—the $3.3 million prize pool reflects the 3,752 entries for the Seniors No Limit. Walter Shawne has a comfortable chip lead but just a few hands could change it to Stephen Kreig of California or third place chip count Andrew Bradshaw of England.

Event #31: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha—Its day three of the Omaha event and there’s just 22 players left in the game. Brock Parker and Ben Lamb are fighting their way up to Sam Stein’s chip lead. What will the morning bring? A $3,000 buy in and 685 entries make this an interesting game. 22 left and almost two million to give away.

Event #32: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em—225 players left out of the original 2,828. This popular event has a prize pool of nearly four million dollars. So remember more players means longer play but also much much more money. Talk about motivation. Carter Gill of Oregon holds the chip lead.

Event #33: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship—105 of the 168 original entries left with Gary Benson holding the chip count Sunday night. A nice little prize pool of $1,579,200.00 awaits the finishers.

Event #34: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em— this is the first day of play for the latest game of hold em. At this point there’s no official numbers on the WSOP website but Dwyte Pilgrim holds the top of the chip count board.

Poker fans everywhere are glued to the action during the second week of the 2011 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada. 13 bracelets have already been distributed. Here’s a look at the results so far this week.

Event 6: Limit Hold’em—Harrison Wilder took home to Oregon a tidy $205,065. The first 22 places of the contest were won by American natives. Quite a feat for this globally anticipated event. There were 675 entrants.

Event 7: Pot Limit Hold’em Championship—A $10,000 buy in and 249 contestants boiled down to a bracelet for Florida native Amir Lehavot. He took home over a half million for his trouble. Jarred Solomon of South Africa came in second and Sam Stein of Nevada took home third place.

Event 8: No Limit Hold’em—Sean Getzwiller of California took home over $600,000 after heads up action against Sadan Tuker of England. There were 4,178 original entrants with a $1,000 buy in.

Event 9: 2-7 Draw Lowball No Limit—It was a British win for this $1,500 buy-in game with 275 entrants. Matthew Perrins of Manchester took home a humble but perfectly acceptable $102,105 for his work.

Event 10: No Limit Hold’em Six Hand—Jeffrey Papola of New York with heads up play with David Vamplew of Scotland. There were 1,920 original entrants.

Event 11: Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Championship—Viacheslav Zhukov of Russia dominated in heads play against George Lind of Arizona Steve Billirakis of Las Vegas came in third. There 202 entrants.

Event 12: Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em—David Diaz of Memphis, Tennessee took home the bracelet and a cool 350K for his trouble in this event that had a total of 1,340 entries. Anders Meli of Norway played heads up against Diaz and Andrea Dato of Italy came in third.

Event 13: No Limit Hold’em Shootout—The U.S. gained another victory when Andrew Badecker of Connecticut took first place in the Shootout competition. Over 1400 original entries and a nice mix of nationalities in the top eight. Robbie Verspui of Gibraltar took second with Daniel Makowsky of New York clinching third place.

Event 14: Limit Hold’em—The Canadians took first place with Tyler Bonkowski earning a cool $220K. Brandon Demes and Shawn Keller took second and fourth place both hailing from Chandler, Arizona. Andrew Brongo of New York came in third. There were 337 players.

Event 15: Pot Limit Hold’em—With 765 original entries it was nice to see a Las Vegas native take first place. Brian Rast went home with the bracelet and 200K. Second place went to Allen Kessler of Pennsylvania and Dajuan Whorley of Maryland came in third. Fourth and fifth place went to Japan and Norway.

Event 16: 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship—A small pool of 126 entries in the 2-7 Draw Lowball tournament. That just meant more for the winners with first place victor John Juanda of Vegas taking home $367,170. It was infamous Phil Hellmuth in second place and recent winner Richard Ashby of Watford, England in third.

Source:WSOP.com