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Poker News Round-up: Week #10Last week saw the first official poker tournament to be held in India as the Asian Poker Classic drew a global field to the idyllic resort of Goa. In the $5000 main event the eighteen paid places were shared amongst thirteen different nationalities, with the home nation featuring most frequently as three Indian players made the money. It wasn’t a great showing for the British contingent with only Jonathan Farrer cashing for his fifth place finish. Danish pro Carl Hostrup- Pederson bubbled in his attempt to win a seat via the satellite held the day before the main event but more than made up for that when he went on to take first place in the big one for $320,000. Meanwhile down in Maidstone the Party Poker Premier League has drawn to a conclusion that suited birthday boy Juha Helppi perfectly. As he was turning 30 Helppi managed to overcome a final table that included Vicky Coren and Phil Hellmuth to take the first prize of $151,000. Hellmuth’s exit with pocket kings versus Helppi’s 8 7 off suit was met with characteristic good grace when Phil called him a donkey and demanded that they play heads up for a further $100,000. Runner up in last year’s WSOP main event Paul Wasicka is also celebrating after taking first place in the national heads-up championship held in Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. The $25,000 buy in event attracted 64 entrants including surprise package of the tournament, actress Shannon Elizabeth. After eliminating Barry Greenstein, Jeff Madsen and Humberto Brenes, Elizabeth looked to have Wasicka over a barrel in their semi-final with a 5 to 1 chip lead and top pair on the turn with Wasicka all in. The river brought a straight for Wasicka and he then proceeded to overhaul Elizabeth and subsequently his final opponent Chad Brown to take the title and half a million dollars. As predicted former US senator Alfonse D’Amato has been instated as chairman of the board at the Poker Players Alliance. D’Amato is seen as a very influential figure for the PPA to have on board and is known for his keenness to embrace the fight to protect poker players’ rights to play online. This may be a significant step in the right direction towards restoring some sanity to the current situation with online poker but D’Amato is fully aware of the size of the task he faces, stating “there’s a lot of work to be done. The nature of fighting for an issue like poker doesn’t initially gain much support. But this is not just about poker; it is about protecting personal freedoms.” The latest leg of the European Poker Tour sees a capacity 500 field take their seats at the Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund and the World Poker Tour stops off at Bay 101 in San Jose, California. Both events will be reviewed in next week’s news round-up.
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