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Poker News Round-up: Week #36Every year since 2004 the Barcelona Open has been the curtain raiser event to the European Poker Tour and every year it has become more popular as John Duthie’s EPT goes from strength to strength. In just three years this tournament has grown from a €1,000 buy in which attracted 229 runners for the first ever EPT event to a €8,000 buy in with 543 players to get season 4 underway. At a press conference prior to the tournament Duthie had stated that he was expecting a sell out capacity of 600 runners as 550 had already pre-registered by that point, so it came as something of a surprise to find the final figure short of that mark. It was an impressive attendance nevertheless though and one which ensured that for the first time an event other than the grand final would have a top prize in excess of a million Euros. The raiding party from across the Atlantic consisted of some of the biggest names in poker such as Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu, but this is a tournament that has always been won by a European and that was not about to change. Greg Dyer came closest for America, but when he was eliminated in third place the battle was on between Mark Teltscher of England and Sander Lyloff of Denmark. These two players know each other well from their days on the backgammon circuit together and had decided to share a room in Barcelona. Lyloff will have gone to bed the happier man after he stuck a bad beat on his friend to take the title, having called an all in bet from Teltscher with J 10. Teltshcer’s pocket kings made him a big favourite, but Lyloff managed to hit a couple more jacks to deny Teltscher a second EPT win, and the cheque for €1.17 million headed back to Denmark. Over in America, a new tax directive has been released that requires casinos and card rooms to withhold 25% of any tournament win over $5,000. The law regarding taxation on gambling winnings has not changed as such, as players have previously had to file tax returns, but from March next year this will be the new way of enforcing the law. The new ruling only applies to live venues though and not internet play due to the lack of official regulation, so for all the efforts American authorities have made to drive people away from internet poker, this will just making playing online a more attractive proposition than it currently is. Ever since Party Gaming chose to withdraw Party Poker from the US online poker market when the UIGEA was brought in, it has been looking for new markets and new products to invest in as it attempts to regroup and rebuild. Meanwhile, in England many media companies have seen their revenue fall since the lucrative Richard and Judy style phone in competitions were axed following revelations that several were nothing more than scams in which participants stood zero chance of winning. Even poor old Match Of The Day’s goal of the month competition has been suspended in the wake of the crackdown, and broadcasters have been searching for ways to fill the gap in their budgets left by these changes. The announcement this week then that Party Gaming and ITV would be teaming up to offer brand themed online betting, casino and bingo games seems to suit both parties perfectly. So far a poker site based on ITV owned Friends Reunited and Emmerdale Bingo have been released, running on existing Party Gaming software. Gordon Ramsey is also set to team up with the most successful hold’em player of all time to record a new poker/cookery show called Hellmuth’s Kitchen. The World Series Of Poker Europe is now underway at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square and a strong field has assembled for the HORSE tournament. At the time of writing The Hendon Mob are still represented by Barny Boatman and Joe Beevers, whilst New Zealander Kirk Morrison continues his fine 2007 at the top of the leaderboard after day one. Reports from all WSOPE events as well as all other news will be featured in future news round-ups, which for the next two weeks will be brought to you by Robert Butt.
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