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.

Another good interview from the WPT-London Poker Classic, which seems to be going on for about as long as the Durrrr Challenge. Wha? Nevermind, it’s the PartyPoker World Poker Open … more poker in the same London Palm Beach Casino … but technically a different event.

Anyhow, London-London-London … that’s the hottest spot in the poker world this month. And everyone loves Durrrr (many in a strangely homosexual way according to YouTube comments) … and forget the Patrik Antoniuses and Gus Hansens … now Jungleman seems to be the only non-Ivey nosebleed opponent that matters.

I personally dig his talk of the two games he plays — no limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha.

Detail from “Superstar Satellite” (above) and “Big Chick, Crabs and Snowmen” (below) – Oils on canvas – by Lisa Jane.

Those Brits, I tell you what … whether talking literature, theatre, or visual high art, they just always seem to be a tick ahead of mass-America when it comes to anything culture. Not being a self-loathing Yanker in saying that … just acknowledging why it’s hardly surprising that art would be a part of September’s massive poker activities in London.

* It’s hard to tell if Jane’s paintings are being deferential to highly regarded American poker artists who preceded her, or if she’s mocking them.

English painter Lisa Jane opens her first solo exhibition in the UK today, called “Poker in the Eye” — a multi-casino show of poker-inspired works that runs through the end of the month in London’s Mayfair district. Her paintings will be on display at the Maxim Casino, in the Palm Beach Casino’s tournament room — site of the currently running WPT-London Poker Classic — and down the street at Crockford’s, the world’s oldest private gaming club and assumed venue for the biggest cash games in Europe this week. Considering that “Crocky’s” has been hosting nobility-stakes action since 1828, it kinda makes you wonder about the WPT’s London kickoff … can you really call something a “classic” when it was est. 2010?

Regardless, because we are high-minded folks at Pokerati (seriously, minored in art history and shit) and want our readers to appreciate the finer things in life, we cut a deal with some down-on-their-luck art thieves to get you a sneak peek at some of Jane’s work from the show … while yours truly tries to remember what art (and art criticism) was really all about before the days of blogging.

Click to enlarge the images below.

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This just came in over the transom, in much more difficult to cut-and-paste than before format:

The 2010 WSOP-Europe Schedule.

Five bracelet events this time, instead of four.

After a lengthy delay, the schedule for the 2010 WSOP Europe, remaining at the Casino at the Empire in London, England was announced this afternoon. There’s five bracelet events being offered (up one from last year). Here’s this year’s schedule:

Event 1 – £2,500 NL Holdem 6-max – September 14-16th
Event 2 – £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha – September 16th-18th
Event 3 – £1,000 NL Holdem – September 17th-21st (This event will have three day 1’s)
Event 4 – £10,000 High Roller Heads-Up NL Holdem Septermber 21st-23rd
Event 5 – £10,000 NL Holdem Main Event – September 23rd-28th (This event will have two day 1’s)

The mystery of who Isildur1 is may finally be revealed in a televised cash game in London next month. PokerNews, Tony G (who will stake Isildur1) and Matchroom Sport have each announced that the high-stakes online phenom will appear at the Les Ambassadeurs club in London for PartyPoker’s “Big Game IV”, a 48-hour cash game taped April 11-13th. Negotiations are still underway as to whether Isildur1 will wear a mask to continue hiding his identity or if he’ll choose to finally reveal himself to the public.

Names already announced for the cash game include Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Isaac Haxton, Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Neil Channing with several other players to be announced over the next few days. Previous “Big Game” broadcasts filmed by Matchroom Sport have been 25-50 NL holdem, with the possibility of the blinds increasing during the session. The final product will first air on Channel Five in the UK, and eventually appear on networks around the world.

Here’s a promo previewing last year’s “Big Game” broadcast, picture this action in a much nicer location:

Some pokery political types are in London right now for the International Gaming Expo. Figure out for yourself why there might be foreign interest in the likes of the Poker Players Alliance, right as this bill gets ready to go into “mark-up”. Our pal J. Todd is there and he tracks down PPA Exec. Dir. John Pappas to talk about the 2010 Barney Frank bill, what’s the strategy behind it, and what makes it different from previous online poker legislation.

It’s apparently all gonna be twitter-based this go-round — www.tweetforpoker.com.

Good interview helping mak sense of it all:

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in poker with notable tournaments running in locations as diverse as London, Aruba and… Blackhawk, Colorado? To keep you up with who’s winning around the world, our crack staff is everywhere. We think.

Barry Shulman
WSOPE Main Event
London, England

With more than $1.3 million in first-place money and a WSOP bracelet on the line, the match had Academy Award potential as Shulman, father of November Niner and up-and-coming poker bad boy Jeff “Happy” Shulman, bettered perennial fan favorite and all-time tournament money winner Daniel Negreanu.

For full play-by-play of the epic 17-hour, big-name final table, click here

Aaron Gustavson
EPT London Main Event
London, England

Across town at the Grosvenor Casino, it took just seven hands of heads-up play for 23-year-old online pro Aaron Gustavson to knock off defending WSOP main event champ Peter Eastgate and claim the £850,000 first-place prize at the EPT London Main Event.

More details at EuropeanPokerTour.com

Brandon Hall
Aruba Poker Classic
Aruba

A little rain couldn’t dampen Hall’s spirits as the 20-year-old online qualifier from Littlestown, Pa., beat out 474 other players to claim more than $753,000 and the title of Aruba Poker Classic Champion after defeating Robert Mizrachi in heads-up play. He plays online as “AreTheseUtz”.

Read more about him at the UltimateBet Blog

William Givens
HPT Mile High Poker Open
Black Hawk, CO

24-year old William Givens won nearly $145,000 and his mother’s respect after taking down the Heartland Poker Tour’s Mile High Poker Open at the Golden Gates Casino earlier this month. Givens, who has been playing professionally for just over a year, won his way into the $1,650 main event through a $360 satellite. Using cash game winnings from the weekend, he actually won two satellites and sold the other seat for additional profit.

Read more about his biggest win to date on the Heartland Poker Tour here

The WSOP-E main event is well underway … they’re getting into the money today, playing down to 27. We’ll wait ’til a few more get knocked out before we see what kinda final table is really taking shape. Lots of interesting names still alive — including a couple November Niners. But one player long dead: Phil Hellmuth, aka Caesar.

Check it out, he did a repeat performance of his Caesarian entrance … but this time with actual animals parading through the streets of London. Gag away:

But here’s the funny part … so he had all his tunic-clad ladies, each representing a bracelet … but when they got to the casino door, they couldn’t get in because they didn’t have their ID’s!

More details here:

Phil Hellmuth WSOPE Entrance FAIL

And yet this time, he doesn’t even try to get camera-time, even though he’s holding the camera. Via twitvid … @Phil_Hellmuth gives us a tour into the bowels of the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square, where, yes, he will indeed be making another uber-grand Caesar’s entrance for WSOP-Europe.

While I personally found it interesting to see the layout of the casino and how it fits innocuously within a cityscape, his encounters with Men the Master and Mike Matusow are also quite good.

Watch (a tired) Men for tells as Hellmuth calls him “the Vietnamese Godfather of Poker” and addresses when he will or will not get into the Hall of Fame. And hear Matusow explain why he thinks the Caesar’s Cup is a “farce” … he swears it’s not just because he didn’t get picked to play.

I have a feeling Party Gaming’s (PRTY.L) stock will go up sharply this morning. I dunno — total stocks donkey here — but I like what Obama had to say about the importance of generating revenue, and I suspect Canary Wharf (I think it’s also called The City?) will, too.

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Let’s see if I’m right. I’ll be checking it in the morning. Party stock opened today at 2.53 (and I started writing this post before the London bell rang). It’s at 2.60 now.

Full disclosure: I own a teensy-eensie-weensie sliver of PartyGaming … I think I bought the company a few sleeves of coffee cups post-UIGEA. This post contains forward-thinking statements that are not my attempt at a pump-and-dump.

UPDATE: Boo, Boo! C’mon, get up there!

UPDATE: Closed at 2.59 … up about 2 percent. So I kinda win, but not really.

Pure conspiracy theory … inspired by the winner’s pic of “Harold and” Vivek Rajkumar proudly displaying his WSOP WPT bracelet at the Borgata. Without even a rumor to base this on (just circumstantial observations and wild speculation) I called Pauly hoping we could start one. Pauly was in London after covering the entirety of the last WPT event in Atlantic City, and had a brief stop-over in Amsterdam, which I figured put him in the exact right frame of mind to feel the rhymes I was droppin’ … and sure enough, by the time our jam was done we’d have Full Tilt moving in on PokerStars’ brick-and-mortar territory by bailing out Steve Lipscomb & Friends in an effort to challenge the EPT.

So you heard it here first … be sure to spread the word:

Tao of Pokerati: Episode 2.1
WPT Bailout Rumors (7:28)

[audio:tao/TOP-2-1-WPTBailout.mp3]

On to entities that are still functioning, as the EPT London Main Event concluded earlier today with American Michael Martin pulled off a miraculous comeback to take down the title along with £1,000,000. Down to 100,000 4-handed (and in the big blind for 80,000), Martin tripled up, then doubled up twice in 3 consecutive hands to move to a more manageable 1.45m in chips. Martin then continued his heater, eliminating the other 3 players to take down the title with his mother and girlfriend cheering him on from the rail. Here’s how the rest of the final table finished:

1 £ 1,000,000 Michael Martin
2 £ 525,314 Michael Tureniec
3 £ 303,439 Marcin Horecki
4 £ 234,920 Eric Liu
5 £ 195,766 Philippe D’Auteuil
6 £ 153,351 Alan Smurfit
7 £ 120,723 Johannes Strassmann
8 £ 81,569 Antony Lellouche

The £20,000 EPT High Rollers Million Pound Showdown is now underway as a field of 85 is playing down to a final table, which will be air live stream at www.pokerstars.tv Monday morning. 14 players remain, but only 9 players will be in the money (1st takes home £516,000) as play finishes for the evening. Among the remaining: David Benyamine, WSOP Europe ME winner John Juanda, and Scotty Nguyen. Of the November Nine who participated, only WSOP Vegas chip leader Dennis Phillips came close to the money, as he finished in 10th to be the bubble boy. Here’s the final table as play resumes at 11am ET:

Seat 1 – Peter Jetten – 347,000
Seat 2 – Michael Watson – 104,000
Seat 3 – Isaac Haxton – 293,000
Seat 4 – Isabelle Mercier – 86,000
Seat 5 – David Benyamine – 175,000
Seat 6 – Scotty Nguyen – 68,000
Seat 7 – Jason Mercier – 204,000
Seat 8 – Masaaki Kagawa – 142,000
Seat 9 – John Juanda – 302,000

Final update at the jump:
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People have been wondering how Harrah’s et al will market the November Nine, and what will be done to promote them. Ivan Demidov earned himself a bit of promotion as he just made the final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event, which also includes multiple bracelet winners John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, and Scott Fischman. Demidov, currently 2nd in chips for the final table in Las Vegas, become the first to final table both the WSOP and WSOPE final tables (of course, being only the 2nd WSOPE main event final table narrows the possibilities of it happening, it’s impressive nonetheless). ESPN360.com will start final table coverage at 8 am ET tomorrow, those who don’t have the service may be able to see the final table over at http://wsope.betfair.com/live-video/live-video.html. Here’s how the rest of the final table looks:

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It feels good to run good … and because it’s important to know whom you’re up against, here are six players you may wanna congratulate/look out for at the tables live and online, as their most recent noteworthy successes suggest they are running particularly well.

Mary Joe Belcore-Zogman
Heartland Poker Tour’s “The Grand Series”
Onamia, Minnesota

Bested 201 players to take down $85,723 — making her the second woman to win an HPT event, and part of the first husband-wife team to both win on the Heartland Poker Tour. Dan Zogman won $220k in Gary, IN, last year. The Zogmans hail from McHenry, IL, about 60 miles outside of Chicago.

More details about her win at HeartlandPokerTour.com

Phil Ivey
Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game
London

Made a stab at his 6th bracelet in the £2,500 HORSE at WSOP-Europe (banking more than US$25k for 6th place), and while overseas was the big winner in the million-dollar cash game against his fellow Full Tilt pros and other highest-stakes players. Finished +$536,400, dominating the competition for the second time in the event’s 3-year history.

Live-blog coverage from Michael Craig (relevant posts start in the #520s)

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