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Poker News Round-up: Week #21With event one of the WSOP just a few days away now it has unsurprisingly been a bit of a quiet week, but one notable for a tournament which took place in Edinburgh bearing a remarkable resemblance to an event which was reported to have become extinct earlier in the year. The Gala Casinos British Poker Tour is no more but you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and the British Masters Poker Tour which has risen from the ashes of the GCBPT. Taking in many of the same venues with the same buy in tournaments Coral’s new creation appears to have just been the victim/beneficiary of a re-branding exercise. The equivalent tournament in Edinburgh last year drew a field of 175 compared to just 105 this week, perhaps proving the old saying that if it ain’t broke then don’t try to fix it. It’s hard to imagine that 40% fewer UK players have £500 to spend on a buy in than at this time last year despite the ever present reminders of a credit crunch, but then again maybe the tour is still finding its feet and simply needs to gain a little more awareness under its new name amongst the UK player base.  Edinburgh British Masters champion Jim O'Connell The result threw up the rather unusual situation of the fifth place finisher walking off with more money than the man who went home with the trophy after a deal was agreed upon when play was five handed. As the second biggest stack Colin McConaghy’s share was £10,000 but he was the next man eliminated in a frantic session once the chop was agreed. Biggest stack at the deal was Eddie Lundon who pocketed £11,000 and finished second but it was Jim O’Connell who collected the Masters trophy to go with his £8,000 and a seat at the Masters play off later in the year. Next up on the tour it’s Leeds in June which does clash with a certain festival in America but nevertheless the GCBPT still managed to get a decent turn out in June 2008 so if you’re not WSOP bound then this might provide a decent alternative for the smaller budget. When the WSOP does get underway shortly the good news is that coverage of 24 final tables is going to be streamed live on the internet. Sadly the $40,000 event is not one of them and we have to wait until event four ($1,000 stimulus special) on June 2nd for the action to start, but there are plenty of popular events being covered including Marty Smyth defending his $10,000 pot limit Omaha title and the $50,000 HORSE. Check out this thread on the forum for further details. It’s not such good news for television coverage of the WSOP though, the news from ESPN being that only two bracelet events will be broadcast this year. In 2008 ESPN aired footage from seven bracelet events but this year it will be just two, namely the $40,000 anniversary event and of course the main event. The focus for 2009 will be on bringing viewers extended coverage of the main event rather than the preliminaries and a total of 25 one hour long episodes will be shown, so if you want to get your mug on the box then the main event is the way to go this year. A little extra WSOP related news this week is that a Dream Team Poker event will now feature at the end of the series, following the success of two previous team events in Vegas in recent months. This tournament is more of a fun event to round off the series and no bracelets will be awarded for it, but it is still likely to attract plenty of big names. The buy in is $1,680 per three person team and participants play for individual prizes but also collect points towards a team total. If it catches on it may even become a bracelet event in future – if bracelets have been awarded for Chinese poker in the past then this has to at least stand a chance.  durrrrballs We’ll finish this week with a look at the durrrr challenge which has seen a little more action recently compared to the early stages when Patrik Antonius was in Thailand and had an unreliable internet connection. After falling behind early on, it is Antonius who now has the upper hand 14,249 hands into the 50,000 hand challenge. His lead of $424,631 represents 93 times the average pot of the challenge so far, so although it is a huge amount of money by most people’s standards Tom Dwan has plenty of time to claw back 93 average pots over the course of another 35,000 hands. Nevertheless with three to one odds being laid on the side bets this has the potential to go very wrong for Dwan in what has been an expensive year for him. He is rumoured to be down several million for 2009, but undeterred he decided to embrace the variance by agreeing to play some $3,000/$9,000 pot limit Omaha with Ilari Sahamies aka Ziigmund. The biggest games spread on Full Tilt are $500/$1,000 but the two agreed to increase the stakes by putting in at least two pre-flop raises whatever their cards were. That could have turned very ugly for someone but the two finished up roughly level, sparing Dwan any further hits to his dwindling bankroll. Whatever mix of bravery and idiocy you make of that, he does at least deserve some credit for never shying away from a gamble. So this time next week the first events of the WSOP will be underway but before that we do have a little domestic poker to take a look at as the GUKPT Newcastle draws to a conclusion. That will feature in next week’s report and hopefully we will be able to get a little of the action as it filters through from the Rio. Good luck to all of you who will be hoping to bring back a bracelet this summer.
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