After having what he admitted was his worst year in poker last year, Phil Hellmuth decided some changes were in order. In his blog from February, Hellmuth hired mindset coach Sam Chauhan and had a battery of tests among other changes to get his poker game back to the when he was considered by more than himself as the best player in the world. It appears to be paying off this week, as Hellmuth has made the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event Friday afternoon. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated when play resumes around 4pm PT (results come from the Hendon Mob Database):

Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 455,000
Seat 2: Phil Hellmuth – 1,433,000
Seat 3: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 2,164,000
Seat 4: Matt Keikoan – 371,000
Seat 5: Mclean Karr – 1,112,000
Seat 6: Dan O’Brien – 1,129,000

Other big names who missed the final table: Scotty Nguyen (8th), “Miami John” Cernuto (11th), Nick Schulman (13th), Chau Giang (14th), and current WPT Player of the Year leader Faraz Jaka (18th). Live updates will be available from BJ Nemeth and the other good people over at the WorldPokerTour.com site.

In other news related to Hellmuth, Ultimate Bet has decided to cancel the 2010 Aruba Classic as they decided to expand their offerings online, including having a second Ultimate Bet Online Championship series each year.

In a move PartyGaming says is specifically part of their positioning themselves for re-entry into the US market …

9 November 2009

PartyGaming Plc
(“PartyGaming” or “the Company”)

Acquisition of World Poker Tour completed

PartyGaming, the world’s leading listed online gaming company, announces the completion of the acquisition of the business and substantially all of the assets of WPT Enterprises Inc. (“WPTE”) for a cash consideration of $12.3 million plus an additional minimum aggregate payment of $3m over the next three years relating to an ongoing revenue share agreement.

The assets being acquired include, inter alia:

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From a Form 8-K filed early Monday morning:

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With a scheduled vote for tomorrow from Peerless Media from their offer for the World Poker tour, comes word of a proposal from Mandalay Media on Tuesday, offering $35 million or $1.69 per share for the company. Mandalay Media is requesting a postponement of the shareholder vote to meet with the board of WPTE to further discuss the offer. More details from this article over at Reuters.

(Hat tip goes to Wicked Chops Poker for the story)

UPDATE: Mandalay’s offer increased to $36.5m Friday morning.

UPDATE:

Prahlad Friedman Wins Million-Dollar Prize, Schaffel Takes Second

The final table of the $10,000 WPT Legends of Poker resumes at 4pm PT today, with November Niner Kevin Schaffel the chip leader at 2,234,000. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated:

1. Sam Stein – 743,000
2. Todd Terry – 2,219,000
3. Kevin Schaffel – 2,234,000
4. Prahlad Friedman – 1,476,000
5. Mike Krescanko – 1,209,000
6. Toto Leonidas – 580,000

Steven Begleiter, the other November Niner remaining from action on Tuesday, finished in 9th. Here’s what the final table is playing for:

1 $1,034,500
2 $471,670
3 $231,300
4 $144,600
5 $116,225
6 $89,220

BJ Nemeth and company will be providing hand by hand coverage of the final table on their live updates page.

At least we’ve heard of this company, right? It just came over the wire (errr, internet) that the Gamynia deal has been terminated in favor of an agreement to allow a PartyGaming subsidiary, Peerless Media Ltd., to purchase the WPT assets for a cool $12.3 million. Check ‘er out:

PartyGaming Moves For World Poker Tour Assets with Superior Offer

LOS ANGELES, Aug 24, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) (”WPTE” or the “Company”) today announced that a subsidiary of PartyGaming Plc, Peerless Media Ltd. (”Peerless Media”), has agreed to purchase substantially all of WPTE’s operating assets other than cash, investments and certain excluded assets. WPTE’s Board of Directors received the offer after privately held investment group, Gamynia Limited, and WPTE announced an asset acquisition agreement, which was terminated after further consideration of the Peerless Media’s financial proposal.

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This form 8-K was just issued by WPT Enterprises (WPTE):

Item 8.01 Other Events.

On July 28, 2009, WPT Enterprises, Inc. (the “Company”) entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Gamynia Limited (”Buyer”) to sell substantially all of the Company’s operating assets other than cash, investments and certain excluded assets to Buyer. The Purchase Agreement was disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (”SEC”) on August 3, 2009.

Under the Purchase Agreement, the Company is to file a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC within 21 days of signing the Purchase Agreement. The Company’s Board of Directors has received an alternative acquisition proposal and is following the process required by the Purchase Agreement. Until the process required by the Purchase Agreement is completed, the Company will delay the filing of a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC.

This may just be nothing, but it’s intriguing to see someone else considering purchasing most of the World Poker Tour’s assets.

A couple of great pieces for weekend reading…

Amy Calistri always has eyes on the stock market and the corporate goings-on of poker-related businesses, and her latest take on the sale of the WPT assets is right on the money. She gives the latest about stockholder rage over the WPT/Gamynia move and puts into words what I’ve been thinking for years, since shortly after I left the WPT fold and began to notice its downfall. That’s not to say it can’t rise again, but it might need new leadership to make that happen. An excerpt:

Frustration and envy appear to be the seeds of the series of missteps that sapped millions of dollars and focus away from the company’s core business. While the WPT helped create the poker boom, its television production business model only got a small piece of the obscene profits that were being generated by poker’s popularity. Online poker companies and online media sites reaped the lion’s share. This infuriated the WPT; they felt they were owed.

Gambling law professor I. Nelson Rose can break down a legal document or political issue like nobody’s business, and it’s a good thing he took the time to analyze the Menendez bill introduced to the Senate this week. Thanks to Poker Grump, this piece takes a look at the 91-page document and sheds some light on the proposed participation of states in the regulation/licensing of online poker, the tax on deposits to online sites, and the possible exemption of sites like PartyPoker from licensing. A sampling from the article:

Taxes might be a problem. The Frank bills have no limit on what taxes states can impose on operators, but limit the federal government to what is called a fee of 2% on deposits. Menendez is asking for less and more: A Federal Internet gaming license fee of 5% of deposited funds and a State or Indian tribal government gaming license fee of another 5%. This does get over the big problem with the Frank bills, that the big states, like California, where the customers will be, have no incentive to support Internet gambling operated and taxed by Nevada. Under Menendez, California gets that 5% tax. Although the states won’t like this provision: Tribes are treated like states, so if a player is on Indian land, that tribe gets the full 5% and the state in which the tribe is located gets nothing.

Of course, the tax system is still screwy, since it is a tax on deposits, not revenue. But it might work.

The going price: $9 million (+ a percentage of future profits):

StreetInsider.com on WPT Sale

According to official info (click below), current operations should remain essentially in tact — meaning no friends or colleagues about to get insta-fired — and Gamynia’s big plans have everything to do with getting into the online poker market. All we know about Gamynia Limited (at the moment) is that it’s a company forming part of a privately held investment firm.

WPTE stock climbed 12 percent, to $1.49, on the news.

From WPT Enterprises, Inc.:

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE – the “Company”) today announced that Gamynia Limited (”Gamynia”), a company which forms part of a privately held investment group with substantial holdings in a range of diversified assets, has agreed to acquire substantially all of the Company’s operating assets other than cash, investments and certain excluded assets. Gamynia will pay the Company $9,075,000 plus a percentage of future revenues earned by Gamynia from the World Poker Tour(R) and Professional Poker Tour(R) brands.

Under ownership of Gamynia, the World Poker Tour and Professional Poker Tour brands will continue all operations including the Company’s television, sponsorship, distribution and licensing units and will under the agreement enter the online gaming market. Gamynia has secured the services of an industry leading online gaming marketing company Hardway Investments Ltd. which will seek to exploit and develop the WPT brands with the goal of maximizing future revenue opportunities.

Under the asset purchase agreement, the Company will sell its television library, including all related intellectual property rights, brand names, trade names, certain assumed contracts and tangible personal property. Gamynia will assume specified liabilities including one of the two corporate leases. The Company will retain its cash and cash equivalents, investments in debt securities and put rights, certain other investment and litigation assets, and future foreign sponsorship revenues from the sponsorship of Seasons Four, Five and Six of the World Poker Tour and Season One of the Professional Poker Tour by PartyGaming and the license of Season Seven of the World Poker Tour to PokerStars. The Company will also retain certain office lease obligations and all of its employee obligations.

The net cash proceeds from the asset sale will be retained by the Company and the Company plans to use the cash to develop or acquire a non-poker related business. The Company does not currently intend to distribute any proceeds from the asset sale to the Company’s stockholders.

The World Poker Tour seems to have gone from the leader in the industry to a company with teetering stock prices and an unknown future/direction. It’s no surprise that the past few years of declining tournaments on the schedule, players in the events, and television channels willing to pay for the shows, rumors will fly about a possible sale of the company.

And thus, we bring you the latest whisper, thanks to Bill Rini. Gaming Intelligence is suggesting that the WPT has been in talks with a company like bwin, which is the company that sponsored the WPT’s recent venture to Venice, Italy.

It’s been discussed for some time that PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are interested in a purchase as well, both companies of which are sponsors of the WPT. Since numerous entities have good relationships with the World Poker Tour, it might simply be a matter of $$$.

The United States World Poker Tour announced their Season 8 schedule of US tour stops this morning, all airing on Fox Sports Net. This does not include the Barcelona (starting today), Slovakia, Cyprus and Marrakech stops already announced.

Press Release on the next page:

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The World Poker Tour recently announced its first Italian tournament in partnership with bwin poker. WPT Venice will be held in early May at Casino di Venezia, which sounds strangely familiar… Oh yes, I was there in October! While I was barely able to enter the lobby without a paid casino membership and almost had my camera confiscated by security guards for taking pictures of the entry courtyard, it did look like an amazing European casino tucked away between cobblestone streets and the Grand Canal.

Shockingly, WPT Venice organizers have yet to extend a personal invitation to me. I’m predominantly Italian and I do speak about five words of the language, people! C’mon…

Anyway, here’s the pertinent info:

World Poker Tour Offers First Italian Event: WPT Venice, Powered by bwin

Vienna, March 9 — Bringing the coveted World Poker Tour® to the beautiful city of Venice, WPT Enterprises and bwin have partnered to create the first ever WPT tournament in Italy: WPT Venice™, Powered by bwin. The tournament will combine the legacy and fierce competitiveness of the World Poker Tour and the stunning Casino di Venezia, situated right on the east bank of the Grand Canal. The main event is scheduled to take place May 6 through May 10. The event, final table and crowning of the first WPT Venice Champion will be filmed for broadcast via Web-TV on www.bwin.com.

“We’re thrilled to launch our first ever brick-and-mortar WPT tournament offering in Italy,” said WPT Founder, President and CEO, Steve Lipscomb. “bwin is a strong partner with the right market position in the region. We look forward to working with them to bring this event and the WPT brand to poker players in Italy and Europe.”

“Partnering with the World Poker Tour illustrates our dedication to establishing bwin as the premier gaming destination for poker players eager to live the dream of participating in multi-million brick and mortar poker tournaments. Location was also very important to us, and Casino di Venezia is truly a location worthy of the players, the poker media as well as the bwin and WPT brands.”

“We are delighted to be working with WPT on this spectacular tournament. This event will bring together the excitement and interactivity that only bwin can offer – people will be able to bet on the players of the final table while watching the action on their screen.” added Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin.

The main event will feature a buy-in of €4,000+400. In addition to world-class player hospitality, there will be cash games and side events available throughout the tournament. The winner will receive an official WPT Venice™ bracelet as well and a $25,000 seat in the 2010 World Poker Tour Championship.

The WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event is in full swing at the Commerce Casino in cloudy-but-mid-70’s SoCal, and the turnout for the $10K main is spectacular. It started on Saturday with 696 entrants according to PokerNews and 695 according to WPT Live Updates, but either way, it’s the largest turnout second only to the 791 number in 2007. With TD Matt Savage at the helm, players are excited about the structure and anxious to get into the money today or tomorrow.

As noted previously, more media outlets made the trek to L.A. with the understanding that the Savage-run tournament would offer a lifting of the usual WPT media restrictions, the ones that typically keep non-official media out of the tournament area with the exception of 15 minutes per level. Turns out that Savage’s wishes on behalf of Commerce weren’t enough to override WPT contracts, so companies like PokerNews have been very limited in their ability to cover the tournament or provide chip counts. (F-Train is one of many frustrated reporters on scene.)

It was interesting to note, however, that a WPT executive commented on the beauty of the media-filled stage at the back of the room. But when he realized that it was not the norm, that WPT restrictions usually prevent much of the poker media from coming to WPT events anymore, he seemed to understand the problem. Whether he can or will do anything about it going forward remains to be seen.

For now, catch the official tournament reports from the WPT Live Updates team.

Last night was allegedly the debut of season 7 of the World Poker Tour on Fox Sports Net. Since FSN is really a collection of regional networks, it airs at a variety of different times depending on what version of FSN you have in your area. Also, each tournament is broken down into two 1-hour segments instead of the two-hour blocks the programs were shown in its previous six seasons. Their press release stated that there would be a “channel finder” for people to watch their programming. Problem is, they haven’t gotten around to doing that, and they’re still linking to the Season 6 schedule on GSN. Last year, the WPT created a site for people to watch previews and get details on each week’s tournament on GSN. This year, the domain name wptonfsn.com is still available for the taking (hint, hint).

More from HSP, after you read about the WPT airing on Fox Sports Net starting January 4.

I’ve never heard of Lee Russakoff until this morning, but apparently he’s sports editor over at Comcast.net. Lee was also at the High Stakes Poker tapings at the Golden Nugget this weekend, and has 5 posts on his blog about the various goings on that should make for interesting watching when GSN starts to air High Stakes Poker on March 1.

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Courtesy of PokerListings

By all accounts, the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table was going to be a good one with a line-up that included Corkins, Sung, Rheem, and Filippi. But most eyes were on Rheem, who was one of the November Nine favorites but had to settle for a seventh place finish at the 2008 WSOP final table.

Rheem was determined going into the WPT final table, even knowing that two of his opponents – Steve Sung and Amnon Filippi – were close friends. But as players dropped out of sight, Rheem was able to go heads-up against Justin Young in what ended up being a five-hour epic heads-up match. The chip lead was exchanged numerous times, but it may have been sheer determination and fan support that led Rheem to finally capture the title at 2am. He won the World Poker Tour title and the $1,538,730 that came with it.

Here are the final results:

6th – Hoyt Corkins $216,175
5th – Amnon Filippi $288,235
4th – Steve Sung $396,206
3rd – Evan McNiff $540,440
2nd – Justin Young $936,760
1st – Chino Rheem $1,538,730

I would point you to the official WPT live updates, but it has been unavailable on the internets all morning. So, for updates as they happened throughout the final table, check out Martin’s reporting at PokerListings.

The World Poker Tour dropped another tournament from its already-trimmed Season 7 schedule, and it just happens to be a player favorite – the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Even players who hate Atlantic City love the Borgata, and while the other event stayed on the schedule in September, the January tourney is no longer a WPT event.

A press release from the Borgata noted that the main event is now a $3,000 buy-in, reduced from the going WPT rate of $10,000. Thus, the drop from the WPT schedule could have been a result of indicators that player turnout would be low. Economy? Damn right.

Almost all major tournaments, with the exception of the WSOP main event, have been lower in 2008, the most sad embarrassing obvious was the 2008 U.S. Poker Championships in September that only brought 52 players to the $10K main event, as compared to 164 players in 2007 and 261 players in 2006. Turns out that when the lights and cameras go away, not to mention people’s IRAs, stocks, and day jobs, people are less willing to plunk down $10K for a poker tourney.

So, if you want a WPT title, you won’t be getting it at the Borgata next month. There are other choices, however, like the Five Diamond event coming up at Bellagio, which will cost you a mere $15K to enter. The rest of the revised WPT Season 7 schedule can be viewed by clicking this handy link below:

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ClubWPT is the newest show to come out of the World Poker Tour family and the first to premiere on Fox Sports Net, and, well, I expected better.

Let me start by saying that I’m a fan of the WPT and have been since I was employed in their accounting department. I always secretly pull for the WPT to do well. And in truth, despite my criticisms of the company and its decisions at times, I feel that they’ve weathered some storms and still managed to put together a quality product every time. That is why it pained me to watch ClubWPT when it premiered on Saturday.

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Courtesy of the World Poker Tour

Scratch what I said about Men “The Master” being on a hot streak. John “The Razor” Phan is having an unbelievable year and just added another notch to his belt early this morning by winning his first World Poker Tour title.

The final table at the Legends of Poker at the Bike had some potential to be a good one, as several semi-notable pros were seated there with Phan. Amit Mahjika, the chip leader coming into the final table, held his lead for the majority of the night but found himself heads-up with Phan, and that battle lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours with the two players trading the lead over and over. Both were quite determined, as evidenced by the WPT live updates, and Mike Sexton called it the “greatest heads-up match in WPT history.” Finally, at about about 1:40am, Phan did it and claimed his first WPT victory.

Finishes were as follows:

6th place: Kyle Wilson ($176,035)
5th place: Trong Nguyen ($211,245)
4th place: Paul Smith ($246,450)
3rd place: Zach Clark ($281,645)
2nd place: Amit Makhija ($563,320)
1st place: John Phan ($1,116,428)

Phan’s year has consisted of five WSOP cashes (two of which were bracelet wins) and four WPT cashes (three of which were final tables and one of which was this victory). Not only was the WPT win his first, as were the WSOP bracelets, but his 2008 tournament winnings now top the $2 million mark. The year of the Razor, indeed.

Uh-oh.

The stock price for WPT Enterprises has been consistently falling, with the exception of a minor fluctuation in early July, since it dropped below $1 per share in late June 2008. And despite CEO Steve Lipscomb’s “don’t worry, be happy” attitude about it, NASDAQ isn’t cool with that mantra. In the next 180-day time period, if WPTE’s price doesn’t stay above $1.00 for 10 consecutive days, the company will be delisted.

Here is the statement released today:

WPT Enterprises, Inc. Receives Nasdaq Staff Determination Letter Regarding Minimum Bid Price

LOS ANGELES, Aug 19, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — WPT Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WPTE) today announced that the Company received a Nasdaq Staff Determination Letter on August 14, 2008, notifying the Company that it was not in compliance with the minimum stock listing price requirements of Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(5) as a result of the closing bid price for the Company’s common stock being below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days. This notification has no effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock at this time. The Nasdaq Marketplace Rules provide the Company with 180 calendar days to regain compliance, which will require the bid price of the Company’s common stock to remain above $1.00 for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days. The Company will continue to execute its business plan to provide an opportunity to demonstrate value to the investment community and regain Nasdaq compliance.

As Dan mentioned in his Steve Lipscomb interview post, there were some layoffs at WPT Enterprises last week. My sources tell me that there were approximately 10 people let go, primarily from the online and interactive departments that handle the WPT store and website content. This is starting to hit home with me now because two of those people were friends from my days as an accountant at the WPT offices, and while the majority of the employees are said to have been on edge about the possibility of layoffs, it always hurts to be let go from a company to which you’ve been loyal for four or five years.

WPTE wouldn’t confirm the number of people let go, if there would be more, or what departments were trimmed, but Lipscomb did provide an official statement:

“WPT Enterprises is undergoing a reorganization to meet the future demands of our business and changes in the marketplace we inhabit. All decisions affecting members of the WPTE family are extremely difficult decisions, but this reorganization is vital to creating and sustaining a growing business. WPTE has taken great care to ensure smooth and successful transitions for all former and existing WPT staff.”

You, too, can own a piece of the World Poker Tour. Maybe by tomorrow, shares will be on sale at the 99 Cent Store.

The stock price for WPT Enterprises, Inc. (WPTE on NASDAQ) hit $1.00. I’m not kidding.

While some people are buying it up in the hopes that someone will throw Lipscomb a life raft, word is that the WPTE employees are handing out resumes faster than players can buy in to a $1500 NLHE event at the WSOP. Even so, the World Poker Tour is still planning to hit Vegas for the Bellagio Cup in a few weeks to film the first episode of Season VII. Could be an interesting vibe over there!

For a few million dollars, you might be able to make an offer for the World Poker Tour.

If you only have $2 million, consider this. It’s a site called PokerRPG, and it is up for sale. Yes, you can own this website that “combines the wildly popular online poker with the role playing genre” and “includes vast community and social networking features that truly bring poker to web 2.0.” Seems to want to combine poker with World of Warcraft somehow, but the whole concept is unclear. It does have a poker tutorial, though, that describes the flop, turn, and river, as well as hand rankings. (Does a flush beat a straight? I forget.)

Thanks to Michael Cheser for the tip!

P.S. – If anyone decides to buy this site for $2 mil, please forward your photo to Pokerati so we can make fun of you. Thanks.