Turks and Caicos native Rhynie Campbell took down the inaugural event at this pristine Caribbean island for a top prize of $436,675.
Finishing behind him were Erik Cajelais (the runner up), Alan Sass, Nam Le, Chris Smith, and Trevor Hebert.
The next WPT Event is the Spanish Championship in Barcelona beginning on October 11th.
Martin County Commissioners have changed their mind in regards to slot machines. They had decided that Mary James was not going to be allowed to open her slot machine arcade just south of Stuart, but have decided that perhaps they acted hastily in that decision. James pleaded with the court to reconsider their decision, and they have done so.
The commissioners had voted almost unanimously not to allow the slot machine arcade, but after listening to her plea they decided 3-2 to allow for rezoning so that she could have her slot machines. Neighbors had complained about the business, as they did not want it in their area of town, but the commission saw it differently.
They listened as James told them that her husband had lost his job and they had put everything they own into the arcade. She said she thought that the rezoning was just a formality, and that if they didn’t open soon they would lose everything. Commissioners decided that she had a compelling case and are allowing for the rezoning to take place.
Some residents were excited that the slot machines will be coming in, as they say that it gives them something to do and a place to hang out with other senior citizens. Other residents say that it will bring in crime and prostitution, and that the noise level will be unbearable. They said that it would not be compatible with the area and that it should be illegal. Commissioners felt otherwise.
142 players returned to the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Thursday to continue the PokerStars European Poker Tour London Main Event, with stars such as Daniel Negreanu, Liz Lieu, Barny Boatman and Chris Moneymaker all returning to the table after surviving the dual Day 1 sessions. Moneymaker started the day near the top of the leader board, and remained strong throughout the day. The top ten chip stacks to start Day 2 looked like this:
Nicolas Levi (France) 100,300
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 98,500
Antony Phillips (UK) 94,600
Chris Moneymaker (US) 79,700
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) 73,100
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) 63,800
Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia)
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) 59,700
Anthony Lellouche (France) 58,000
Fuat Can (Sweden) 57,500
Two members of Team PokerStars mixed it up separately in the early going, with very different results. Chris Moneymaker took the chip lead when he called a pre-flop raise from Age Spets to see a flop of 
. Spets led out on the flop, Moneymaker min-raised, and Spets re-raised. After a moment’s thought, Moneymaker went all in over the top of Spets, who quickly called. Spets’ 
was drawing thin against Moneymaker’s flopped set with 
, and when the 
fell on the turn, Spets was drawing dead against quads and the 2003 WSOP World Champion took over the top spot on the leader board. Moneymaker played strong all day to finish with a healthy stack going into Day 3.
At the other end of the spectrum, Moneymaker’s Team PokerStars cohort Daniel Negreanu busted early in Day 2 when his 
couldn’t outrun Joseph Mouawad’s pocket kings. Negreanu called Mouawad’s preflop raise, and check-called on the flop of 
. When the turn brought the 
, Mouawad led out and Negreanu moved all in. Mouawad called with his 
, and caught the 
on the river to give him the flush and send Negreanu to the rail.
The bustouts were plentiful early on Day 2, with Patrik Antonius, Barny Boatman, Liz Lieu, Mark Vos and Jeffrey Lisandro all eliminated. Nicolas Levi started the day the chip leader, but lost a big pot to Katja Svendsen when he ran a steal into Svendsen’s aces. The Frenchman Levi busted before the end of Day 2.
Erik Friberg picked up a huge pot just before the last break of the day when he called a short-stack’s all-in move, then called Tony Phillips’ re-raise. Friberg’s 
held up against Phillips’ and the short stack’s 
, and Friberg eliminated two players in one hand.
Friberg wasn’t able to hold on to those chips, finishing the day with a micro-stack after getting involved in a huge pot with Surinder Sunar right before play ended for the day. Liam Flood raised from middle position pre-flop, and Sunar called from the button. Friberg called from the big blind, and the flop brought 
. Friberg checked, and Liam Flood moved all in. Sunar called, and Friberg check-raised all in. Sunar called Friberg as well, and the players revealed 
for Flood, 
for Sunar, and 
for Friberg. Sunar’s top set held up as the came on the turn and the 
fell on the river. Flood went to the rail, and Friberg was left with just a few chips to bring back for Day 3.
That hand cemented Sunar’s chip lead for the day, leaving him atop the field of 40 survivors. The top ten stacks at the end of Day 2 looked like this:
Surinder Sunar – 403,400
Ben Grundy – 220,000
Anthony Lellouche – 213,800
Lam Trinh – 207,400
Phidias Gerogiou – 200,200
Pascal Perrault – 172,800
Josh Egan – 162,300
Fredrik Haugen – 152,400
Stuart Nash – 125,100
Alan Smurfit – 122,100
Join PokerNews at 2PM London time on Thursday as we bring you all the live updates and chip counts from Day 3 of the PokerStars EPT London at the Vic.
48 players returned to the tables in Seoul to play down to a final table in the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Seoul championship event, with Dan Schreiber taking to the felt with a big chip lead over his nearest competitor, Uwe Brauckhoff. 16 places paid, and nine players made the final table as the day progressed. The top five chip stacks looked like this when Day 2 began:
Daniel Schreiber – 164,500
Uwe Brauckhoff – 85,900
Jason Min – 83,900
Zhiwei Ang – 74,100
Jozef Berec – 71,000
One of the early eliminations was Jacques Zaicik, who busted both Vanessa Rousso and Joe Hachem on Day 1. Zaicik re-raised the initial raiser, and Elton Tang moved all in over the top. The original raiser folded, and Zaicik made the call with 
. He was dominated by Tsang’s , but hit the 
flop to move ahead. The on the river, however, reversed the fortunes and sent Zaicik to the rail.
It took eight hours of play for the 48 players to eliminate 32 of their compatriots to get down to the money, but finally the bubble burst when Haward Speer pushed in middle position with , and got called by Sid Kim with 
. No help came for Speer, and he was out in 17th place as the bubble boy.
Once the bubble burst, more players followed Speer to the rail, with Isabelle Mercier the first to collect a payday when she ran pocket eights into James Honeybone’s pocket aces. Mercier was followed shortly by Uwe Brauckhoff, who lost a coin flip with 
against Ulf Martensson’s to bust in 15th. Brauckhoff and Mercier collected $4,371 for their efforts.
Elton Tsang’s had his aces cracked by Ziv Bachar to end his day. All the chips went in on a flop of 
, and Tsang was drawing to two outs against Bachar’s . No ace arrived on the turn or river for Tsang, and he picked up $4,371 for his 14th-place finish. Heige Vatne was next to fall, running pocket nines into Paul Adams’ pocket kings. Vatne’s 13th-place finish was also worth $4,371.
Soon after, Michael Collins moved all in over the top of Ziv Bachar’s pre-flop raise with , and busted in 12th when Bachar called with and the board missed both players. Collins collected $6,557 for his 12th-place finish.
Kent Justice went out in 11th when he caught a small piece of a flop, and called Jozef Berec’s all-in on the turn when the fell. Berec turned over for the flopped straight, and Justice had for two pair. The on the river didn’t help Justice and he went to the rail in 11th ($6,557).
Ulf Martensson bubbled the final table, busting in 10th place when he called Jozef Berec’s pre-flop raise with 
. Berec tabled 
and caught a straight draw when the flop came 
. The on the river made the straight and sent Martensson to the rail in tenth, the final player eliminated on Day 2.
Martensson’s elimination set the final table, with Ziv Bachar as the chip leader. The stacks looked like this as play ended for Day 2:
Ziv Bachar – 400,000
Daniel Schreiber – 235,000
Jozef Berec – 220,000
James Honeybone – 200,000
Shinhan Sid Kim – 190,000
Paul Adams – 170,000
Seval Hægeland – 146,000
Roger Spets – 84,000
Michel St-Pierre – 78,000
Join PokerNews at 2PM Seoul time (1AM ET / 10PM PT) for all the chip counts and updates from the final table of the PokerStars APPT Seoul Main Event.
In June 2007, the European Union announced its intention to file for trade-related compensation from the US based on the US’s online gambling restrictions. This week, compensation negotiations between the US and the EU appear to have stalled. On Friday, the US issued an offer to the EU that was immediately rejected as “insufficient.”
In 2003 Antigua and Barbuda filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization (WTO) claiming that US restrictions on internet gambling violated trade commitments. What began as the fluttering of a tiny island nation’s butterfly wings has developed into a full fledged
Pokernews Cup Australia 2007
international hurricane now seeking compensation from the US. When the WTO ruled in favor of Antigua’s claim earlier this year, the US retaliated by removing its gambling industry from their free trade services commitments with the WTO. The US’s withdrawal allowed WTO members to demand compensation consistent with the value of the US gambling market, estimated at $100 billion. The lion’s share of the claims are expected to come from the European Union, home to some of the world’s largest online gaming companies such as PartyGaming and Sportingbet.
The EU has made it clear that they will not be seeking monetary damages from the US. An EU official said “If there’s compensation it will not be cash but in the form of the US opening up its services industry or part of it, say insurance or re-insurance, to others and not just the Europeans under WTO rules.” But any industry concession will still represent tens of billions of dollars to the US. There is another less costly avenue the EU is willing to consider. If the US were to lift the online gambling restrictions to licensed and regulated international companies, as has been proposed in the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046) introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the US just might get away on the cheap.