Daily Poker News Review: Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Main Headlines

PokerStars Pulls Branding from Canadian Live Poker Festival

Less than three weeks before the festival starts, “unforeseen circumstances” lead to PokerStars withdrawing participation from Montreal series.

Playground Poker which runs the Montreal Poker Festival has announced that PokerStars has withdrawn its branding from the event.
The message from the Playground Poker rep gives the reason for the change as “unforeseen circumstances.”
PokerStars has also stopped running online satellites, having awarded around a 100 seats so far. The event no longer appears on its promotional pages.

“Professional Players” OK’d for Reimbursement of Full Tilt Funds

The Garden City Group has announced that it has received approval to process applications for reimbursement from those designated by Full Tilt as “professional players.”

The Garden City Group has announced that it has received approval to process applications for reimbursement from those designated by Full Tilt as “professional players.”
“A professional player is anyone who was designated as a ‘Pro’ in the data supplied by FTP, other than Team Full Tilt. This includes Red Pros, Friends of Full Tilt and other players.”
Any compensation provided by Full Tilt or affiliate income is not eligible for recovery.

2015 Aussie Millions Schedule Offers Big Buy-Ins and a Variety of Formats

Phil Ivey is expected to go for his third win in the AU$250k buy in super high roller event.

The detailed schedule for the 2015 Aussie Millions tournament series includes three of the top tournaments held each year in the Southern hemisphere.
The top events are the AU$10,600 Main Event, part of the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour, the AU$100k Challenge, and the AU$250k buy in super high roller, sponsored this year by LK Boutique.
The Crown Casino in Melbourne is the traditional host for the series which starts on January 14 and runs until February 2.

888 Still Finds Ways to Grow Online Poker

Online poker revenue up 2% year on year, with total active players up 12%.

888 Holdings plc has reported revenues of $111 million in the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 15% on the same quarter last year.
Growth in online poker, however, is markedly lower than its other products, with just a 2% increase in revenues this quarter.
888 also operates a business-to-business operation in the regulated US markets, which increased 37% YoY.

Full Tilt FTOPS XXVI Guarantees Down—But Variety Up

First event of FTOPS XXVI comfortably exceeds its new guarantee—but entries are 32% down on the last series.

FTOPS XXVI is now under way at Full Tilt, with the first event comfortably exceeding its $300k guarantee.
A total of 31 events run from August 3 through August 17.
FTOPS XXVI carries a total of $4.5 million in guarantees. The $635 Main Event takes $1 million of the total guarantee, down from $1.5 million in the last series.

Picks from F5 Poker:

Poker Night In America – The Slowroll and The Aftermath

The Mouth milks the most out of his time in the spotlight. Poker Night In America keeps rolling out the episodes of their new made-for-TV cash game. While the stakes may not be the biggest you’ve ever seen on television the personalities are as big as they come: Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Greg Mueller, Gavin Smith and more crack wise at the table hoping to provide more entertainment than the hands themselves.

Daniel Negreanu Incentivizes His Power Stroke

This golf ball gives everyone something to aim for. It’s no secret that, outside of poker, golf is a true passion for Amaya Team Pro Daniel Negreanu.

Slow and Steady – NY Local News Takes A Closer Look At New Jersey iGaming

The pros and cons on laptop gaming.

Nolan Dalla – On The Conference Call That Started It All

Ten years later, Dalla recounts the dawn of the EPT. Here’s yet another interesting read from poker historian and industry insider, Nolan Dalla.

Exclusive Articles on pokerfuse PRO:

Borgata Turns the Corner on Online Gaming

While igaming breaks even in July, Boyd Gaming CFO Josh Hirsberg expects some competitors to give up in “the near future.” Boyd Gaming’s second quarter financial results disappointed investors with overall revenue numbers, but online gaming—its joint operations with the Borgata, MGM and bwin.party—hit a “key milestone.”