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Poker News Round-up: Week #13Contrasting fortunes this week for two players both sponsored by Dusk Till Dawn and both known for their commentating on poker shows in the UK. Former Eastenders actor Michael Greco was celebrating after taking first place at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour’s third leg in Cardiff. Greco has been a keen student of the game in recent years and his tutoring from Marty Wilson was put to good effect as he beat a field of 314 in the no limit hold’em main event for a win just short of £100,000. It hasn’t been such a great week however for Carlo Citrone. The former British Open winner is still feeling the pinch from the events that saw him sent to jail in 2004 on a charge of tobacco smuggling. In 2003 an associate of Carlo was stopped at Newcastle airport in possession of £167,194 – money which was seized by HM Revenue & Customs in the belief that it was to be used to buy large quantities of cigarettes in Belgium. Carlo came forward to claim that the money was actually his and was intended for use to stake him at a poker tournament in Paris. JPs in Newcastle have however rejected Carlo’s claim to the money and furthermore have ordered him to pay an extra £370,000 to cover profits made from the tobacco smuggling operation under the Proceeds Of Crime Act. Meanwhile at Snaresbrook Crown Court the judge seems to have taken more of a lenient standpoint with Derek Kelly whilst passing sentence in the Gutshot club’s legal proceedings. After noting that Kelly was a man of good character and that the club was well managed, Judge Wilkinson significantly declined the option to impose a fine. A contribution of £10,000 towards prosecution costs must be made and Kelly is the subject of a two year conditional discharge on the basis that he does not contravene the Gaming Act, but in all this is surely seen as pretty much as good a verdict as Gutshot and Derek Kelly could have hoped for. After what seemed like an age before the site of Britain’s first super casino was revealed as Manchester, plans for the new site as well as several smaller new casinos are in tatters already. The proposals were passed in the Commons by a majority of 274 to 250 but the approval of the House Of Lords is also required and plans have hit the rocks after the upper chamber narrowly rejected the idea. It is believed to be only the third time since the second world war that the Lords have blocked a statutory instrument supported by the Commons. It seems however that the concerns of the Lords are a reflection of the opinions of the population as a whole. A YouGov poll has shown that fifty six percent of people interviewed believed that the spread of casinos was a bad idea, citing social problems such as crime and family breakdown as their reasons for this. It is possible that proposals will be slightly repackaged and submitted to another vote, but at present it seems that all plans are on hold for the moment. Justin Cuong van Tran is running hot at the right time as the World Series Of Poker approaches. Following his second place at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic last month, he has now gone one better by taking first at the WPT World Poker Challenge in Reno. After a couple of lost all ins with the best hand whilst heads up against J.C. Alvarado, Tran’s pocket tens eventually held up to net him the $683,473 first prize, taking his lifetime tournament winnings close to the $5 million mark. The grand final of the EPT tour is underway at Monte Carlo, with Phil Hellmuth apparently needing a big result to claw back the $536,000 he lost to Phil Ivey earlier in the week whilst playing action junkies’ favourite Chinese poker. First place should just about do it as there are over 660 players paying 10,000 Euros each to enter, making it the largest prizepool of any tournament held outside the USA. The event concludes on 2nd April and all the action will be reviewed here next week.
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