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Blom Success at SCOOP

PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, otherwise known as SCOOP, started up this past weekend, and PokerStars Pro and Swedish superplayer Viktor “Isildur1” Blom has already won two events and sits on a $407,200 payout thus far.

The 2012 edition of SCOOP is the biggest online poker tournament series anywhere with 40 various tourneys, each set up with three buy-in levels—low, medium, and high—to accommodate players of all bankroll abilities.

Blom’s first title came Monday night when he won the medium buy-in Event 2, the $215 NLH. He beat out more than 8,000 other players and won the $247,200 first place cash prize. His second win was on Tuesday night when he won the high-stakes Event #3 NLH 6-Max with rebuys. In this event, he beat 485 other players and won a $160K prize.

Blom is originally from Dals-Ed, but now he lives in London.

Another high-stakes poker player from Sweden, who is known only by “Sussie Smith,” was knocked out by Blom in fourth place, receiving a $60,800 prize purse.
Just before SCOOP started, Blom tweeted: “Gon bad in cash games lately, so looking forward to play many nice scoops now!” And that’s just what he is doing. With his PCA $100K High Roller win in January, Blom has a total of $1.3 million in tourney winnings for this year alone. Not bad for a 21-year-old. After sparking interest within the poker community with his mystery identity in 2010, and then revealing himself as a PokerStars Pro and appearing live at the PCA 2011 after much speculation over who he was, over the past year, he’s established himself as one of the top tournament players in the world.

Blom will be making his World Series of Poker debut in Las Vegas within the next couple weeks, where it is very likely he will win a WSOP bracelet or two.

SCOOP continues at PokerStars through May 20th.

Belgium Blacklists Illegal Online Gambling Sites

It’s Black-Friday-esque in Belgium, as the country adds more online poker sites to a list of blocked service providers. In the latest campaign to tighten up on online gambling regulations, the Belgium Gaming Commission has blocked some of the most beloved sites providing online poker services to residents of the country such as Bwin, William Hill, Stan James, Betsson, Betfair, Betclic, and Bet-at-home. Previously blacklisted were Titan, 888, and Everest, despite the fact that some of the sites offer Belgium-specific gateways. Internet service providers are now required to block Belgian Internet users from accessing any of these websites, all of which offer real money online poker.

The Belgian government claims they are only acting in this way to protect the interests of the citizens of Belgium from unlicensed and illegal websites. By blacklisting these companies, it opens up opportunity for those brands that do apply for licensure to operate within the country legally.

Was Greenstein Out of Line?

Poker pro Barry Greenstein urged Barack Obama via Twitter to consider the rights of poker players as passionately as he has the right to gay marriage after the president announced Wednesday that he would continue to back gay marriage in the US. Greenstein tweeted, “@barackobama admitted he things gays should have equal rights. Will he also admit poker players deserve their personal freedom?”

Known as the “Robin Hood of Poker,” 57-year-old Greenstein is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner and three-time WPT winner, who has donated every penny of his winnings to various children’s charities—a sum that totals around $8 million.

While Greenstein believes that after Black Friday, politicians are not willing to publicly back Internet poker, though things are slowing moving in the right direction since the DOJ had a change of heart regarding online poker last year. But the slow go of the federal government is no match for the faster paced state governments looking towards intrastate poker to fulfill financial needs not met by current tax revenue.

Many passionate poker players will agree with Greenstein’s comments, but Stuart Hoegner, gaming solicitor and accountant, sees the other side. PokerNewsReport reported that Hoegner said, “My problem is with the implication that the two rights are somehow equivalent. I support both rights, but they aren’t the same, nor are they equivalent. One is a fundamental issue of civil rights and human dignity.”

Hoegner finds faults in comparing a discriminating law that is based on someone’s sexual orientation with the right to play online poker, though he does give merit to the economic and personal freedom rights of an individual to log on to an online poker site and play poker.

Hoegner also points out that he doesn’t think Greenstein really thought the tweet through before he posted it. On the other hand though, it’s a social forum in which people are urged to post their opinion. It’s not meant to be taken so seriously, most of the time.

The PokerStars Limit Hold ‘em Challenge

PokerStars SuperStar Showdown has been a popular promotion over the past one and half years since it was introduced to get the attention of fans as these heads-up face-offs pit Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom against whoever feels confident enough to go heads up with the Internet poker sensation. PokerStars has now created a new high-stakes promotional feature, the Limit Hold ‘em Challenge to spark the interest of players in limit hold ‘em.

Unlike the SuperStar Showdown, though, in which players must step up and accept the challenge, in the Limit Hold ‘em Challenge, only invited players will get to take part in the high stakes action. The first installment took place over the past weekend when Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu took on mystery guest “rUaBot.” Both players began with a $75K bankroll and set down at two heads-up $200/$400 tables of limit hold ‘em. They were required to play 1,250 hands or until one player went broke.

Unfortunately the cards were not in favor of Negreanu, who has an impressive $16 million in lifetime tournament earnings, not to mention four WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles. Ironically Negreanu started out as a limit hold ‘em specialist, but he just didn’t have it Saturday when he lost to German player rUaBot.

rUaBot, a limit hold ‘em specialist himself, said on the PokerStars forum, “In my opinion, fixed limit is more strategic than no limit. In no-limit, you always have some guessing games like ‘would he bluff here or wouldn’t he?’ Of course, such situations often happen in fixed-limit, too, but there is much more space for general strategic adaptions than in no-limit. I think, setting up your standard game is pure math, but exploiting your opponents patterns is an art…and will always be!”

Negreanu made it through 937 hands when he finally lost the last of his bankroll. He chatted with rUaBot after the game. rUaBot said, “sorry for the sick run.” To which Negreanu replied, “its ok just glad its over!”

Negreanu Moves Into Number 2 on All Time Money List

Last week, Canadian poker pro Daniel Negreanu took a second-place payday in the EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller tournament after losing the grand prize to Russian poker pro Igor Kurganov. Negreanu got a $790,304 paycheck for his second, taking his career earnings for live tournaments up to $16,129,218 and moving him into the second spot on the All Time Money List of poker. In doing so, Negreanu knocked Phil Ivey out of the #2 All Time spot.

Erik Seidel is currently the All Time Money leader with $16,918,173, followed by Negreanu, and then Phil Ivey, whose live career earnings total $16,118,482, all three of which are not too far apart and could easily swap places back and forth with a windfall tournament, especially with the WSOP coming up. These three top poker earners will likely dominate the top three spots for quite some time, as fourth place Phil Helmuth isn’t anywhere close with $13,133,461 in career earnings, but anything is possible in poker.

After finishing second in the EPT Monte Carlo, Negreanu tweeted, “Ugly finish lost K9 to AA on KJ8 flop then J8 vs 44 board 89284 then 7T vs 59 board 467T3 then AJ clubs all in lost to K3. Bleh…He played really well and I’m proud of my finish but not exactly happy with it at the moment. 600k Euro pays some bills.”

Perhaps he hadn’t yet realized his All Time Money feat.

Thus far in 2012, Negreanu has made his way to four final tables and collected $1,478,660 in winnings. He is now also moved into the top ten ranks of the BLUFF Player of the Year list.

Grospellier Tops the Global Poker Index this Week

The Global Poker Index (GPI) serves to rank the top 300 live tournament poker players globally as of the day it’s published. The GPI ranks players weekly based on cash finishes in qualifying tournaments over the past 36-month period.

For 11 weeks, US poker pro Jason Mercier sat atop the list, but has just recently lost his top spot to Frenchman Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Twenty-five-year-old Mercier earned just over $2.4 million in live tourneys last year and has been ranked #1 on the GPI since February 13, 2012. However, in 2012 alone, Mercier has only banked a tad under $100K from two tournaments, which has resulted in a point drop of 36.64 points, putting him in the #2 on the GPI scale with 2,898.03 points

Grospellier, 31, on the other hand has already earned $1,266,165 across seven tournaments this year alone. His 2012 successes include a first place finish at the EPT Berlin and a third place cash at the EPT Grand Final Super High Roller Reload.

Grospellier is also ranked in the 16th spot on the All Time Money List with more than $9.9 million in tourney cashes; Mercier however is in 30th place on that list with about $7.7 million.

Canada’s WSOP 2010 Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel is ranked #10 on the GPI; the United States’ eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel is ranked 12th; and US player Vanessa Selbst ranks 18th.

Other notable players who rank on the GPI include Canadian player Daniel Negreanu in the 43rd spot, US player Phil Helmuth in 59th, and new to the GPI this week is US player Justin Bonomo in 74th.

UK Poker Player to Attempt Longest Poker Session

Phil “The Unabomber” Laak underwent a serious self-discipline that dictated everything from his sleeping patterns to his diet in order to play the longest poker session ever back in 2010. Now the UK’s Barry Denson of the Nuts Poker League is hoping he has what it takes to beat Laak’s record for 115 hours straight—almost five days—of straight poker. As a former soldier, he likely exhibits self-discipline as well as stamina.

Denson’s goal is to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity, a charity that serves to assist those who have been wounded in current British conflicts.

Denson says, “Being an ex-Territorial Army soldier myself, I am pleased to be able to raise money for such a worthy cause.”
Denson will be able to take five-minute breaks once per hour, but he can bank breaks, so for example, if he plays five hours without a break, he can take a 30-minute nap.

Denson explains, “One of the biggest challenges will be finding enough players to play me. Guinness World Records will only allow other players to play for up to four hours at a time so we need as many players as possible to come along and take part, especially in the early hours or in the mornings!”

This would be a great opportunity for someone who wants to be a part of poker history, likes to play poker, and enjoys playing poker for charity. It would also be great experience for anyone from novice to expert to play against a pro poker player like Denson. The marathon will take place beginning at midnight on Sunday July 1, 2012 at G Casino in Manchester. It is open to the public for those who wish to witness Denson attempt to break Laak’s 115-hour world record for the “Longest Marathon Playing Poker by an Individual.”

To make a donation, visit justgiving.com/poker-marathon.

Bonomo Takes First Place at EPT Super High Roller

The PokerStars Monte Carlo Casino EPT Grand Final €100k Super High Roller title went to Justin Bonomo who won €1,640,000 for his efforts. The young American pro beat out EPT 6 Grand Final High Roller winner German Tobia Reinkemeier, who finished second with €1,064,000 in what was the biggest buy-in tourney in the history of live Europe tournaments.

Some of the biggest names in poker were in attendance including Finnish Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Dan Shak, as well as Team PokerStars pros Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mercier, Isaac Haxton, Dan Cates, and the infamous Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

Only 38 players registered with 7 reloads for a whopping prize pool that amassed €4,432,500. Frenchman Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier cashed in third place winning €621,000. The tournament well represented an international player field with Japan’s Masa Kagawa placing fifth with a €354,500 payout. Daniel Negreanu barely finished in the money with a €310,000 sixth place win.

New and Improved EPT Season 9 Schedule Announced

European Poker Tour, otherwise known as the EPT, fans will be please to know that the Season 9 schedule has been released. EPT sponsor PokerStars released this info on Wednesday.

The new schedule will feature a greater variety of games as well as more online qualification opportunities, so get excited.

EPT President Edgar Stuchly says, “EPT Season 9 will bring a new level of innovation to our tour and will enhance the experience for all players.”

EPT Season 9 will have more chances to qualify online than ever before. A larger number of online qualifiers will be available and will accommodate more players across a larger variety of bankroll levels. In addition, qualifying periods for individual events will be extended, as well as the introduction to new and more exciting qualifying formats for potential qualifying players, making for a more fun ride to the top.

One such new format will be introduced in May. The Players’ Choice satellites will allow winning players who qualify online at PokerStars for an EPT package to choose their event instead of winning a specific event.

Season 9 will commence in August of this year in Barcelona, Spain. Below is a full schedule lineup for EPT Season 9.

CITY	FESTIVAL DATE	MAIN EVENT
Barcelona	August 15 through August 25, 2012	August 19 through August 25, 2012
San Remo	October 3 through October 11, 2012	October 5 through October 11, 2012
Prague	December 5 through December 15, 2012	December 9 through December 15, 2012
PCA	January 6 through January 15, 2013	TBA
Deauville	January 30 through February 9, 2013	February 3 through February 9, 2013
London	March 6 through March 16, 2013	March 10 through March 16, 2013
Berlin	April 24 through May 4, 2013	April 28 through May 4, 2013
Monte Carlo	May 6 through May 15, 2013	May 6 through May 12, 2013

Carmen Electra Appears in Poker App

Pokerist Texas Hold’em hand held mobile poker app has a new brand identity in sex symbol and entertainer Carmen Electra.

Long-time poker fan, Electra will be appearing in the multi-platform game as the face of the game. Wearing many hats in her role, Electra greets players at the loading screen, main menu, and appears as the poker teacher within the apps tutorial. She also serves as the dealer at table games.

Pokerist is one of the biggest free-to-play THE multi-platform games in the world with more than 30 million downloads and 5+ million active players per month. Bringing Electra into the game (literally) with no doubt bring even more active players to the game, proving a smart move for Pokerist marketing strategists.

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