Huddle close comrades. I come to you this week from a small apartment bunker deep within Russian territory. There are Muscovites on all sides. So far at least two people have asked me for directions in a language I didn’t understand. It was harrowing. Meanwhile it’s been a busy old time for poker news, so strap on your ushanka, down a bowl of borshch and join me for this week’s roundup.

Hellmuth Conquers Europe

The Poker Brat confirmed that this week that he is back among the game’s elite by taking down his 13th bracelet in the WSOPE Main Event. By his own admission, Phil was caught up in his own travelling carnival during 2009 and 2010, but after a period of self-reflection his skills on the felt appear to be back in full bloom. [Poker News]

Bodog Abandons Europe

The wheels are not so much coming off Bodog Poker’s European operation as they are careening over a cliff as the car does somersaults on the asphalt. Its last remaining bastion – Bodog.co.uk – has now officially closed its doors to poker customers, focussing instead on casino games. The company are moving on the relatively underexploited Asian market. [OnlinePoker.net]

Italy is in Europe

Italy was one of the first European nations to enact a regime of tight intranational online poker regulations. While early signs were positive, recent financial figures raise fears about the future for other isolationist licensing systems. Gaming revenues have fallen over 40% since January of this year, with the decline chalked up to a very limited player pool and high taxes. [PokerFuse]

Full Tilt’s New Island Home

Full Tilt’s rebirth is another contraction closer as they are granted a license by the Isle of Man, a short hop around the UK from their old home on Alderney. It is my considered opinion that a very large factor in ensuring that PokerStars emerged so positively from Black Friday was down to their license in the Isle of Man. Specifically the clause that requires licensees to keep a segregated fund equal to player deposits. [BBC]

Hansen on Board

Full Tilt built their reputation on having the biggest and most star-studded stable of pro players and while those pros mostly fled the paddock after Black Friday, at least one will be returning. Gus Hansen has been unveiled as Full Tilt’s primary brand ambassador. The Dane was long associated with the old site and has declared that he is “coming home.” [Gambling Kingz]

High Stakes Intrigue in The Big Smoke

A notorious high roller enters London’s oldest casino with a mysterious Asian beauty on his arm. He sits in a private room and wins $11.7 million, but the house won’t pay. Turns out his date has a chequered past and the British Gambling Commission are called in to investigate. No, not James Bond; Phil Ivey. [CNN]

And with that I’m off to take refuge. There’s this colourful fort in the centre of town that looks pretty safe, I think I’ll start there.

Today’s Boxscore

Phil Hellmuth €1,022,376 – WSOP Europe Main Event
Mike Watson €1,000,000 – Majestic Super High Roller
Greg Raymer $121,973 – HPT River City Casino

Phil Hellmuth is the best poker player in the world, just ask him. He now has one more reason to brag after picking up his 13th WSOP bracelet at the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. Hellmuth outlasted a green-friendly field of 420 players with a combination of skill and ridiculous luck to become the first player history to hold a WSOP Main Event bracelet in Europe and the United States.

The Main Event final table included Jason Mercier and former November Niner Joseph Cheong with top players Scott Seiver, Timothy Adams, and 2005 WSOP runner-up Steve Dannenmann just missing the final table. Play ran for almost 9 hours from start to finish which included a strange 4 hour break in the middle for TV business reasons. Hellmuth had plenty of his classic blowups at the final table providing amusement for those in attendance and watching on TV/internet as well Lon McEachern and Antonio Esfandiari in the commentator booth.

Hellmuth’s 13th bracelet comes on the heels of him picking up number 12 during this summer’s WSOP in Razz, the first non-hold’em bracelet of his career. It also puts him 3 bracelets clear at the top of the leaderboard ahead of the 10 held by Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. Hellmuth now holds a commanding lead Greg Merson in the 2012 WSOP Player of the Year race, Merson must win the 2012 November (will never call it October) Nine in a few weeks to prevent the world from viewing a POY banner of Hellmuth in the Rio halls.

Hellmuth also picked up €1,022,376 for the win but is among just a few people in the world who can say the bracelet is more important than the cash.

Link Dump

Tweet of the Day – Kevmath sums it up nicely. Hellmuth is on a roll.

Fire up the “14” and “15” gear. RT @j_stoffel:I wonder how much “12” gear PH will have to give to charity lol

— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) October 5, 2012

Tweet of the Day 2 – Greg Merson tells Hellmuth, not so fast.

@phil_hellmuth well done phil, enjoy the next 26 days until i wither away your dreams one by one

— Greg Merson (@Gregy20723) October 5, 2012

What eSports Can Tell Us About the Future of Online Gambling – Interesting article on Forbes.com this week taking a different look at the future of online gaming. “The only thing certain is the culture of playing competitive games online is evolving at warp speed. eSports tells us that the likely winners in the online gambling market will be not only the obvious casino players, but also others that embrace the full spectrum of entertainment and social media around it.”

Online Poker Payment Processor Gets Five Months in Prison – The list of the free range indicted from Black Friday continues to shorten after Chad Elie was sentenced to 5 months following his guilty plea in March.

Gus Hansen First to Rep New Full Tilt Poker – It was only a matter of time before the new look, getting ready to launch Full Tilt Poker started bringing player reps on board and Gus Hansen seems to be a good choice. He’s respected and not one of those heroes who still owe money to their Irish overlords.

Tony G Joins GPI Betting Ring – Dan wrote earlier about Negreanu making a bet about his GPI ranking come the 2013 WSOP, well now Quiet Tony G is in the mix offering odds on his website of not only “Kid” Poker but also Phil Hellmuth, Vanessa Selbst, and Marvin Rettenmaier. More on this one later.

WSOPE 2012: Tom Dwan Talks Full Tilt – Tom Dwan (and his creepy mustache) took time out of his busy High Roller schedule to speak with PokerNews about FTP, Lederer, and Hansen.

It’s fine guys, really, it’s fine. You can all come out and admit it. In between pots, poker players can’t resist chewing on some weeds and rolling up a whiskey joint. I’m very knowledgeable on the subject and I know that substance abuse is an inevitable result of playing online poker. Don’t believe me? Check out the first item in this week’s Wider World of Poker.

Dragging the Pot

Psychologists at Concordia University, Quebec claim to have discovered a correlation between online poker, alcohol, and marijuana. I can hear your eyebrows raising from here, but maybe it makes sense? I mean, it’s fair to say that online gambling is a common outlet for dangerously addictive personalities, who may also incline towards an excess of drink and drugs. Although it should be noted that this study does not establish any kind of link between an excess of narcotics and online gambling. Plus, of the 8,456 people surveyed, it turns out that only 111 gambled online in any capacity. I’d keep that eyebrow elevated, if I were you [Psych Central]

Macau Misery for Hansen

Things have been quiet on the Macau front lately, but the new Big Game has been rolling steadily on. Gus Hansen continues to be the most vocal regular, even when he lands on the wrong end of the action. The Great Dane was on hand recently to tell told press about a HK $1.7 million river bluff being picked off by that pesky Tom Dwan. British-born Sam Trickett has also established himself as a fixture in Macau, taking to Twitter to report the capture of his “biggest pot ever.” [Poker Nyhederne]

Premiere League Primed

Every week, while sifting through the internet for stories, I see a report about some pro or other joining the PartyPoker Premiere League. And every week, without fail, I discard it in favour of something more interesting, with the promise that I’ll cover it when the line-up is fully confirmed. Well cometh the hour, cometh the journalist.

The roster is complete, all $125,000 buy-ins have been collected, and the competitors are split into two groups. This weekend, players will duke it out to post the best overall results in a series of single table Sit-and-Gos, aiming to reach a lucrative grand final. Among those taking to the felt are Phil Laak, Erik Seidel, Tom Dwan, Sam Trickett, ElkY, Patrick Antonius, and Vanessa Selbst. [Party Poker]

Teenager Takes France

Over here in Europe, we’re a little more liberal with our youth. At the age of 16 children are released into the wild, free to impregnate each other and make bad reality TV shows. One Czech whippersnapper decided to dedicate herself to poker instead and at the tender age of 18 has won €70,000 ($93,387) as the champion of the France Poker Series. Veronika Pavlikova may yet prove to be a flash in the pan, but blowing past ElkY and Eugene Katchalov at the final table will do her reputation no harm at all. [OnlinePoker.net]

The Brick Report

There’s nothing more exciting than a report, which is why there are two of them in this week’s column. This first of which has been unveiled as part of a joint project between the Universities of Nevada and Hamburg. It challenges the oft observed principle that online gaming robs custom from bricks-and-mortar casinos. Instead, the existence of online sites increases the overall volume of gamblers in the world and pumps more customers towards the land-based market. [Poker Strategy]

The Alderney Report

Finally, a British report, the best kind of report there is. No there’s no time to qualify that statement, I have news to deal with. Peter Dean, former Chairman of the British Gambling Control Commission, was asked to complete a report on Alderney’s handling of the Full Tilt debacle. His verdict was pretty positive, agreeing with the Commission that subterfuge on the part of FTP left them unable to act efficiently. [Card Player]

I’m off to wander the streets in a drug-addled stupor, cradling a bottle of gin beneath my ragged coat. Assuming I haven’t collapsed into a pool of my own decadence, I’ll see you next week.

I live under the thumb of a tyrannical regime. My actions are dictated by the whims of shadowy figures, who move throughout the country, placing their targets under de facto house arrest while they wait for many tortuous hours. Then, just when you we think the danger has past, a doorbell announces their arrival. In other words, I’m having a new oven delivered today and therefore cannot leave my flat. At least the 4 hour delivery estimate I was kindly furnished with gives me plenty of time to scrounge up some exciting news from the Wider World of Poker.

Poker Loses Again

With Thor Hansen’s cancer diagnosis still ringing in our ears, the poker fraternity has been dealt another crushing blow with the news of Nikolay Evdakov’s untimely demise. The Russian pro is most famous for his endeavours at the 2008 World Series, where he set the record for most cashes in a single WSOP by notching up 10 money finishes. It’s a record that stands as a testimony to his legacy. He is survived by his wife and children. [Gipsy Team]

888 Hit the Jackpot 

Time to draw ourselves out of this funk and poker players only know of one way to salve an aching heart: Cash! Online gambling providers 888 have plenty to go around, having announced a 28% uptick in revenue for Q4 2011. The future looks rosy for 888, thanks to their deal with Caesar’s Entertainment. Through subsidiary Dragonfish, they furnish Caesar’s with the official WSOP online poker site. When Nevada finally gives the go ahead to intrastate online poker, chances are 888’s star will continue to rise. [Guardian]

Missives From a Ringer 

Get on a plane to Macau, find the poker table with the most money on it, squint a bit, and you can pretend that it’s 2006 all over again. Poker’s most famous grinders have been gorging themselves on the action in China’s special administrative region for the past few months. Familiar names like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius have all been playing, but have otherwise kept schtum about the game’s details. Not so Gus Hansen, who has been providing daily blog updates on the highs and lows of his multi-million dollar sessions. Yesterday’s entry indicates that – shock! – Hansen has been playing a few too many loose hands, so you might want to get reading before The Great Dane goes busto. [Gus Hansen]

Popstar Becomes a Poker Star 

Hey Americans. Are you aware of laddish popstar Robbie Williams? Back in 2000-ty something he set off for the colonies, hoping to make his fortune, but after becoming addicted to various naughty substances, arrived back on the mainland to rejoin with former cohorts Take That. Now, for the glorious next stage of his career, Robbie has decided to open an online poker site. I expect it to quickly fade into insignificance, but given that it annoyed someone in our nation’s flagship bigotry newspaper, the venture has definitely proven its worth. [Bluff Europe]

I must now return to my eternal vigil. I’ll be back next week, summoning up more poker news than you can possibly handle. Bring a friend.

Day 3 of the £10,000 + 350 Main Event concluded with 22 players remaining, playing down to the final table starting at 12pm London time Monday afternoon. A reminder, a stream with hole cards (plus 5 hour delay) will be available at ESPN3.com in the US, Latin America, Brazil, New Sealand and Australia. The same stream will be available at WSOP.com for European viewers. The chip leader is Ronald Lee with 922,000 in chips. Other notables returning: Andrew Pantling (Event #1 runner-up to Phil Laak) – 821,000, Viktor Blom – 705,000, Phil Ivey – 657,000, Hoyt Corkins – 566,000, Barny Boatman – 379,000, Victory Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman – 336,000 and Roland de Wolfe – 113,000. Table draw available at WSOP.com .

The £10,000 + 350 High Roller NL Heads-Up event finally has a winner, as Gus Hansen defeated Jim Collopy in the 3rd and deciding match to earn his first WSOP bracelet along with £288,409. Here’s how the final hand played out:

Elsewhere …

PokerStars LAPT Grand Final – Rosario, Argentina :: Martin Sansour defeats Bolivar Palacios, earning $322,280. Matthias Habernig’s bid for back-to-back LAPT wins fell short, finishing 6th. PokerStars Blog has the final table report.

TJ Cloutier Choctaw Poker Classic – Durant, OK :: Cloutier finishes 17th for $3,673, play down to 4-handed. www.roundersradio.com covering the FT action.

PokerStars WCOOP $5,000 Main Event :: 2,443 entries, first pays over $2m, 2nd and 3rd $1m+

Day 1a of the £10,000 + 350 Main Event drew a field of 137 players and an appearance by Phil Hellmuth (video below). The day 1a chip leader is Nicolas Levi with 153,850 in chips. Some notables returning Saturday afternoon: Bruno Fitoussi – 120,250, Leo Margets – 109,000, Allen Cunningham – 84,725, Barny Boatman – 73,200, Chris Ferguson – 52,950 and Jeff Lisandro 43,500. A full list of chip counts available at WSOP.com.

The £10,000 + 350 High Roller No-Limit Heads-Up event reached the best-of-three final, with Gus Hansen winning the first match, and Jim Collopy making a comeback from an over 2-1 deficit to even up the match. The third and deciding match is currently scheduled for Friday afternoon, but with both players planning to play in the Main Event, the exact time has not been announced. Be sure to check PokerNews or WSOP.com

Elsewhere …

WPT Borgata Poker Open, Atlantic City :: Play is currently heads-up between Dwyte Pilgrim and Kia Mohajeri. WPT Live Updates

UPDATE: Dwyte Pilgrim finishes first, winning $733,802, moves into first place in the CardPlayer Player of the Year standings.

LAPT Grande Finale – Rosario, Argentina :: $5,000 Main Event draws a field of 254 players, with 131 returning Friday afternoon. Winner takes down over $300,000. According to Terrence Chan, the Argentinian government will tax 31.5% of net winnings to all players outside Argentinia, which has some people upset. Updates at PokerNews and PokerStars Blog

Mickey Petersen: could be the Lebron James of Poker.

Quick lesson today — from another 20-year-old kid who seems decidedly anti-baller despite going on a hella baller tear since he began his “career” two-and-a-half years ago. Now a CardRunners instructor after turning pro fresh outta high school, Mickey Petersen, known among avid onliners as Mement_mori, is in the running for CardPlayer’s Online Player of the Year at #13 … and ranks 2nd in the world over at 5+5, with qualifying results spread across 18 pages.

Though CardPlayer’s OPOY counts only $1.05 million earned with 18 final tables and two wins in the past year, Pocket Fives totals his wins at $2.7 million. But the stat I find most mind-blowing with this Gen-Z Magic player (inspired by the likes of David Williams, Eric Froehlich, and Dario Minieri to make the crossover into poker, he tells CardPlayer) … Petersen’s average cash is $1,527 … in 1,778 money finishes! Gotta think Phil Hellmuth couldn’t claim more than double that (live and online) over his entire life even if he included cash games … which says a lot because Hellmuth had already won the main event before Peterson was even born.

With Peter Eastgate retired and Gus Hansen one of the losingest players of the year (even if he takes down a WSOPE bracelet today ), seems like Mement_mori (Latin for “Remember you will die”) has easy claim as the best player in Denmark even though he has yet to cash in a live event. It doesn’t cost online players a thing to get their Cardrunners schooling with financial aid from Truly Free Poker Training. (Sign up here – promise you’ll qualify.)

Voting for the WSOP Tournament of Champions closes on June 15, and the final seat in the 27-player field will be determined in a nine-person tournament on June 10th. The nine players taking part in the tournament June 10, with the winner playing the $1,000,000 TOC June 27 are:

Tom Dwan
Andy Bloch
Michael Mizrachi
Sorel Mizzi
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier
Liv Boeree
Paul Wasicka
Gus Hansen
Don Cheadle

The tournament will be filmed for the online version of WSOP Academy, with commentary provided by Ali Nejad and Phil Hellmuth. You can also follow the action as it happens on WSOP Academy’s Twitter. More information can be found at WSOP.com.

Not the most action-filled episode of High Stakes Poker, but you can still watch it anyways, right?:

Valentine’s Day was the debut of season 6 of GSN’s most popular show, High Stakes Poker. AJ Benza is no longer on the show, replaced by Kara Scott to provide some player interviews, leaving Gabe Kaplan to provide commentary solo. This would have been up earlier if GSN decided to put the full episode on Youtube, but they decided to only put it up on their own site.

So little gets me excited about poker these days … unless, of course, it includes Pot-Limit Omaha or somebody getting sued/arrested. (C’mon HSP, can we just get one episode of PLO? Just to hear Gabe Kaplan talking about it. Promise not to sue you if you use this idea.)

But I stumbled across this last night — a game I read about on the internet back when it was being recorded (I believe in September). It’s just a regular-ole episode (Season 4 Ep. 3). But still much more exciting on video than anything I read about online, and way better than the Poker Stars Million-Dollar Challenge, not to mention Face the Ace:

Starring:

Patrik Antonius
Tom Dwan
Mike Matusow
Chris Ferguson
Gus Hansen
Allen Cunningham
Andrew Feldman
Isildur1

[via LV Poker Source]

For the past two months, Phil Ivey, Durr, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius and the online phenom/enigma known as Isildur1 have been playing some of the most outrageous poker we’ve ever seen at what can only be described as nosebleed-level stakes.

The question is, with millions of dollars being shifted around each session – or hand, as the case may be – how much longer can they keep these remarkable games going without any fresh fish at the table? Our friend Bill Rini thinks the answer is not much longer.

The Poker PROducers showing they can feed the poker die-hards:

This week, and next, Poker After Dark is forgoing its usual $20,000 short-handed sit-n-go (yawn) for a Full Tilty high-stakes cash game with a $100k min and $250k max buy-in. (No rebuys maybe? Not sure … ). The players: Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Gus Hansen + Daniel Negreanu (representing PokerStars) and Phil Hellmuth thrown in for good measure.

I’m guessing Mori Eskandani doesn’t know who Isildur1 is either?

While PAD generally makes solid stumble-upon viewing, it’s been a while since they’ve assembled such a unique game that should play as real what everyone’s been watching on their computer screens lately. Sounds like there should be a lot of interesting (big) hands … and you gotta wonder just how much at least four of these people really want to give up about their cash-game play under the watchful eye of the hole-card cam.

I also wonder: would they ever do a similar show with the game being Omaha? The biggest hands (in history) these days seem to be playing out mostly in PLO … but conventional poker wisdom says, supposedly, that non-Texas hold’em doesn’t play well on TV.

Short jokes aside, “the little corporal” of poker is on a Napoleonic quest to dominate the poker world … or at least the WPT.

The WPT Festa al Lago final table gets underway this afternoon/eve (4pm PT). After all the early tourney hubbub about super-late registrations and related blind structures, the final table looks not unlike just about every other WPT final table — with one well-known pro, one kinda-sorta known pro (Vedes), and four other guys.

Freddy Deeb is the chip leader going into today’s action, but not by much. This is Deeb’s fifth WPT final table (out of 70 appearances) and stands to be his third win, which would tie the WPT bracelet record currently held by Gus Hansen. Deeb also has two WSOP bracelets to his name.

The Festa al Lago final table, by chip count, with seats yet to be drawn:

1. Freddy Deeb – 3,840,000
2. Shawn Cunix – 3,670,000
3. Tommy Vedes – 2,990,000
4. Craig Crivello – 2,570,000
5. Jason Lavallee – 2,045,000
6. Jason Burt – 1,375,000

You can follow the play-by-play at WorldPokerTour.com or via PokerListings here.

The final teams have been picked … Annette Obrestad and Daniel Negreanu did the equivalent of a coin flip when they drew for high-card … and now action is underway.

The WSOPE’s made-for-TV special event:

Team Europe is comprised of – Annette Obrestad, Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Ilari Sahamies, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and John Harvey – Betfair Qualifier.

Team Americas in comprised of – Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Huck Seed, John Juanda, Jennifer Harman, and Barry Greenstein.

Caesars Cup began at 1 pm on Friday, 25 September at the Empire Casino in London. Play is expected to last until Friday evening, when one team wins four match victories and wins poker’s ultimate bragging rights.

You can follow American coverage here. And for a European perspective, our friends at Betfair have it here.

Aww, sad for Annette_15: The European captain is the only player without a sponsorship patch, and it’s her site’s event!

Click below for a closer look at the trophy that Fake Phil Ivey is just dying to win. Says Fake Phil: “Winning this will be the pinnacle of my career. My patriotism is on the line. I’m doing it for America. I’m doing it for Barack Obama … oh and Jesus, of course, but I’m always doing it for Jesus. Big ups!”

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