Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

I received this press release from Betfair the other day.  This is huge news for them, so I will just post the whole press release.  This is one of the reasons why I see Betfair as one of the top online poker sites:

“LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Harrah’s License Company LLC, an affiliate of Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET - News), has executed a non-binding letter of intent to form an alliance with Betfair.com that will designate Betfair.com as the Presenting Sponsor of the World Series of Poker Europe through 2011.The inaugural WSOP Europe will debut in London September 6-16. The first WSOP event to be held outside Las Vegas, Nevada, the tournament will be hosted at three casinos operated by London Clubs International - Fifty, in St James; The Casino at the Empire, in Leicester Square, and The Sportsman, at Marble Arch.

The letter of intent, which is subject to execution of a definitive agreement, calls for the largest-ever union of its kind between an offline and an online gaming company. As part of the agreement, Betfair will be integrated into several facets of WSOP Europe and will promote the event internationally on a year-round basis.

“Betfair is a global leader in gaming innovation,” said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “Our two organizations have a vision, style and brand strength that is complementary and world-class.”

“Our alliance with Betfair will launch and build the World Series of Poker Europe with prestige and authenticity. This will likely become the most important poker tournament outside of Las Vegas,” Pollack said.

“This is an historic deal for us,” said David Yu, chief executive officer of Betfair. “To present the WSOP, with its 38-year tradition, on its first venture into Europe is a great honor.”

“Betfair is renowned for its ground-breaking moves in the world of fixed-odds sports betting,” Yu said. “This deal puts Betfair alongside the most important brand in offline poker and bonds us with Harrah’s Entertainment, the largest casino operator in the world.”

The World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com will consist of three events. The largest of these is the Main Event, a GBP 10,000 buy-in, 750-player, six-day tournament spread over three casinos with a prize pool of roughly GBP 7.5 million. The winner will take home cash and a WSOP gold bracelet, the most coveted prize in poker. It will be the first time a WSOP bracelet can be won outside the US.

WSOP Commissioner Pollack will be joined by a senior spokesman from Betfair on July 5 at World Series of Poker in Las Vegas to formally announce the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com.”

I strongly believe that Betfair will become one of the biggest poker sites in the upcoming years.  If you don’t have an account yet, I suggest you check them out.  We have a special deal with them which will give you a $300 Sign-Up Bonus when you use the code BRB300.  Visit Betfair Now!

Vinnie Vinh has gone missing at this year’s 2007 WSOP yet again.  Vinh first went missing on day 2 of the $1000 NL Holdem with rebuys tournament.

His stack was eventually blinded off in that event and his chair went on to take 20th place earning Vinh $16,232.

Yesterday Vinh did it again in the $2500 short handed event.  Once again he never made it to the second day and was blinded off to finish in 22nd place, earning Vinh $12,468.

Something must be very wrong with Vinh, but the series is not over yet.  Either way, he isn’t doing too bad considering he has never played the 2nd day of an event at this year’s World Series of Poker.

Wicked Chops posted a great version of this story.

Since I haven’t been able to update the winners from every event, here is the current list of bracelet winners at the 2007 WSOP:

Event #1 $5,000 Mixed Limit/NL Hold’em: Steve Billirakis
Event #2 $500 Casino Employee NL: Frederick Narciso
Event #3 $1,500 NL: Cairan O’Leary
Event #4 $1,500 Pot-limit Hold ‘em: Michael Spiegel
Event #5 $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud 8: Tom Schneider
Event #6 $1,500 Limit Hold ‘em: Gary Styczynski
Event #7 $5,000 PLO w/rebuys: Burt Boutin
Event #8 $1,000 NL w/rebuys: Michael Chu
Event #9 $1,500 Omaha 8: Alexander Kravchenko
Event #10 $2,000 NL: William Durkee
Event #11 $5,000 Seven Card Stud: Chris Reslock
Event #12 $1,500 NL Six Handed: Jason Warner
Event #13 $5,000 Pot-limit Hold ‘em: Allen Cunningham
Event #14 $1,500 Seven Card Stud: Michael Keiner
Event #15 $1,500 NL: Phil Hellmuth
Event #16 $2,500 HORSE: James Richberg
Event #17 $1,000 Ladies Event NL: Sally Boyer
Event #18 $5,000 Limit Hold’em: Jard Getzoyan
Event #19 $2,500 NL: Francois Safieddine
Event #20 $2,000 Seven Card Stud 8: Ryan Hughes
Event #21 $1,500 NL Shootout: Don Baruch
Event #22 $5,000 NL: James Mackey
Event #23 $1,500 PLO: Scott Clements
Event #24 $3,000 Seven Card Stud 8: Eli Elezra
Event #25 $2,000 NL: Ben Ponzio
Event #26 $5,000 HORSE: Ralph Schwartz

Poker Player’s Aaron Been and Vanessa Rousso got into a little altercation yesterday in the $2500 No Limit Holdem (6-Person) event at the 2007 WSOP.  The problem started at the poker table when Rousso tried to slow play her hand and got caught when her opponent hit trip 10s.  After thinking it over for around 4 minutes, Rousso eventually laid the hand down.

The accounts of what happened next are up for debate as both players tell a slightly different side to the story, but essentially Aaron Been had to let Rousso know what he thought of how she played the hand.

According to Been, some of the things he said included, “that she misplayed every street and could not have played the hand worse. I probably said she played terribly as well. Guilty as charged.”

About 30 minutes later, Rousso was eliminated from the tournament.  The altercation did not end there.  According to Rousso, she “randomly ran into Aaron a few hours later in the hall of the Rio” with her boyfriend Chad Brown.

Brown demanded an apology from Been.  According to Been, “[Brown] wanted to fight but that didn’t seem like a good idea so i walked away”.

That was the end of the live altercation, but it has now been moved online over at 2+2 poker.  The two are arguing back and forth about what really happened.

Here is Vanessa Rousso’s account of the events.

Here is Aaron Been’s account of the events.

It appears that Vinnie Vinh is back after going missing from the $1000NL Holdem event last week.  I was reading Pauly’s Tao of Poker blog where he mentioned that Vinh was spotted playing in the $1500 event.  He even posted a pic of him, compliments from PokerNews.com.  There is still no update on what happened to him, but at least he is alive and well.

Poker’s brat, Phil Hellmuth, has broken the 3-way tie for most WSOP (World Series of Poker) bracelets by winning his 11th today in the 2007 WSOP.

Hellmuth beat the field of 2628 at the $1500 No Limit holdem event today to make poker history.  To top it off, he also took home $637,324 for winning the event.

“This is an insult,” said Mike Matusow as he waited for Hellmuth. “This is bad for poker, it’s so bad for the game.”

Prior to the event Hellmuth was in a 3-way tie with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.  I guess this means that Hellmuth is now going to be even more cocky (see videos at bottom of the page) at the poker table.