Poker News Round-up

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Poker News Round-up: Week #16

By Adam Noone, 20/04/2007

Another slap in the face for poker in France was announced this week as the French authorities continued their zealous pursuit of any gambling operation that is not state owned and is therefore classed as illegal. To recap on events so far, trouble flared before Christmas last year when an anti-online gambling law was passed targeting foreign companies. Shortly afterwards Party Poker withdrew from the market and stopped accepting new French customers, whilst Pokerstars was forced to abandon its affiliate revenue program. In February the European Poker Tour event that was scheduled to be held at Deauville had to be cancelled at late notice due to “last-minute intervention by the French authorities making it impossible... to run a poker tournament on their premises” according to tour organiser John Duthie. Meanwhile representatives of twenty foreign gambling companies have been asked to attend interviews in France to discuss their activities, with the possibility of charges to follow.

It is therefore not entirely surprising that the WPT event due to be held at the Aviation Club in Paris next month has run into difficulties. Agreements could not be reached over filming of the event due to gaming regulations in France, and WPT officials were forced to take action. The Grand Prix de Paris tournament will still take place although not as a WPT event and France has now been removed from the WPT calendar for season six.

Paris had been the only European destination for the tour and in recent years has been won by Englishmen Roland de Wolfe and Surinder Sunar. Aware of the value of a European leg to the tour and possibly even pre-empting the prospect of having to jettison the Paris event, WPT organisers were quick to announce that a new European destination has been added to the season six tournament schedule. Casino Barcelona, a popular destination which already hosts both the World Heads Up Championships and an EPT leg, will now also be hosting a WPT event in October this year.

Season five has not yet quite concluded however and the championship event is due to kick off on 21st of April at the Bellagio. This is surely the most prestigious tournament in the world outside of the World Series and the $25,000 buy in will ensure both a host of big names in attendance and a hefty prize pool. Last year Roland de Wolfe picked up over a million dollars for his third place finish whilst Joe Bartholdi Jr collected a massive $3.7 million for winning. Dave Ulliott has been over there for the build up games and has just given them a taste of the Devilfish with a fourth place finish at the $5,000 buy in event.

As a final note, it was reported here last week that Party Poker had signed a partnership with Harrah’s and that it would be sponsoring the World Series Of Poker Europe tournaments due to be held in London later this year. However, it seems that a press release was issued in error and whilst Party have put themselves forward as potential sponsors, there are others in contention and no conclusive decisions have been made yet.

Party will though definitely be once again sponsoring the PartyPoker World Open due to be held at Three Mills Studios on April 27th. This $7,000 buy in event is sold out already and will feature familiar favourites such as Dave Ulliott, Roland de Wolfe, Tony G and of course The Hendon Mob.

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