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WSOP 2014 Week One: Big Bucks, Big Names and Very Big Fields

A run down of the top names and top scores for the first seven days of this year’s series.

  • The first seven days of the WSOP end today with the first $1m plus first prize, as the Millionaire Maker comes to an end.
  • The old school and the internet generation have both been in evidence, with Ted Forrest winning his sixth bracelet, and Vanessa Selbst winning her third, showing how the female internet kids can really play.

Companion Online Poker Bill to Be Introduced in Pennsylvania House

In the coming weeks, Representative Nicholas Miccarelli (R-Delaware) will introduce a bill to regulate online poker in the state of Pennsylvania.

  • Representative Nicholas Miccarelli (R-Delaware) will introduce a bill to regulate online poker in the state of Pennsylvania.
  • This is the second such in as many weeks as Pennsylvania State Senator Edwin Erickson (R-Chester) released a similar message indicating that he would also introduce a bill to regulate online poker} late last week.
  • A draft version of the bill includes a bad actor clause and a provision to protect player funds.

Lee Childs Wins Historic Court Case Between Backer and Stakee

Court finds defendant not liable for breach of poker staking contract.

  • A recent ruling handed down by a six-person jury in a New Jersey Superior Court found that Lee Childs (the defendant in the case) was not financially liable for a breach of contract between him and financier Lynne Mitchnick.
  • The dispute began in 2012 when the contract agreement was terminated by the Plaintiff with an accompanying demand for payment of approximately $40,000 in poker playing make-up.
  • Although the jury found that Childs was indeed in breach of the backer-player contract—which mostly consisted of failure to timely execute administrative tasks— none of those breaches were deemed to be material in nature.

WSOP Inaugural Week: Off the Felt Recap

The 2014 World Series of Poker kicked off one week ago with a $10,000 “Cannon Cash Shoot” of $1 dollar bills, yet there has also been plenty of action away from the live felts.

  • Asian Spa Twitter account closed.
  • Choice Center pros and cons.
  • Terrence Chan returns to WSOP in different capacity.
  • Lisandro vs. Cantu shouting match.

Weekly High Stakes Online Cash Report: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom Wins Big

This week’s nosebleed online poker action prevailed under the shadow of the long awaited beginning of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Despite the Rio taking up most of the time of the stars of the game with the live tables, there was still time for many of the high stakes online poker pros to grind out a reasonable amount of virtual poker over the last few days of May.

  • Viktor “Isildur1” Blom that topped the high stakes profits leader board this week.
  • punting-peddler experienced the largest loss for the week.
  • Gus Hansen also recorded a six-figure loss between Monday and Friday and now has a $3,545,491 deficit.

Picks from F5 Poker:

James Woods – Just Your “Average Amateur Player” At The WSOP

Woods talks Chipgate, Bad Beat Jackpots and why he’s done with Hollywood Home Games. Big screen legend James Woods takes poker more seriously than most. Sure, he’s a Golden Globe and Oscar nominated actor, but in the halls of the Rio he knows he’s just your average amateur player who is hoping to win some hardware.

PokerStars’ EPT Live Hangs The “Intern Wanted” Sign

Work for free with the EPT. No one likes working for free but sometimes we do it in order to get job experience in the field that we want a job in, right? Right.

Poker Is Life – Everyday Lessons To Be Learned From Adventures On The Felt

Crush social awkwardness with a couple of tips. Everyone loves a good list, but when it can teach you a thing or two that list may be just as useful as entertaining.

Antonio Esfandiari Backstage With Bruno Mars

Giddy Antonio poses with the music superstar. Ultimate Poker’s Antonio Esfandiari recently posted this pic of himself arm in arm with the Superbowl performer, Bruno Mars, presumably after his concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Nic Cage In Talks To Play Mike “The Mouth” Matusow In Biopic

The Mouth address what’s going on in his head. When one hears that Mike “The Mouth” Matusow’s book “Check-Raising The Devil” had been optioned to potentially make a major motion picture from – the next question is “who will play Mikey?”

Phil Hellmuth Loves Brandon Cantu, Everyone Else – Not So Much

PokerNews asks if Cantu is underrated. Sarah Grant and the video production team over at PokerNews hop on the hot story of Brandon Cantu’s heated yelling match with Jeffrey Lisandro by asking top pros if they find Cantu to be an underrated player.

Carter “Sad Poker Guy” Gill Still Just A Little Bit Arrogant

Love him or hate him, Carter “The Sad Poker Guy” Gill is pretty much always entertaining. When he’s not getting drunk and throwing stuff out of windows, getting banned from the Rio or making sad faces on television he’s busy crushing tournaments in Latin America or at the WSOP.

Ted Forrest Captures Bracelet #6, Only Wins Tournaments Every Ten Years

It has been 10 years since Ted Forrest added to his World Series of Poker bracelet collection, but he did just that yesterday when he defeated 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth in an epic heads-up battle for the, Event #7, $1500 Razz title and the roughly $121k first place prize.

UFC Boss Dana White Pummels The Palms To The Tune of $2 Million

Limits reduced, White asked to take his business elsewhere. They say the house always wins. Well, when the house is trapped in a steel cage with the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship that is not necessarily the case.

Allen Kessler Can’t Complain…Well, Expect For A Few Things

He’s not called “Complainsaw” for nothing. Allen Kessler loves the World Series of Poker. So much so that he is planning on taking “no days off.” As much as he’s into #BraceletHunting, that does not mean he’s going to stop pointing out what’s wrong, in his eyes, with the massive summer series whenever he can.

Grinder’s Paradise – PokerNews Reporter Binks Daily Deepstack at the WSOP

Day off leads to more than a year’s pay. At the World Series of Poker everything can change in an instant.

Borgata Poker Giving Away $1K Per Day All Month Long

Look, New Jersey, they really really want you to try it out. Borgata Poker is just straight up putting their money where their online mouths are. If you are in New Jersey, these guys are practically begging you to give their online poker room a shot and you don’t have to even make a deposit to cash in.

Shaun Deeb – Sleep Deprived And On The Grind

Deeb making the most of his time away from home. Here’s more video coming out of the halls of the Rio as PokerNews takes a few minutes to catch up with new daddy and mix game maniac Shaun Deeb. Deeb, grinding both the tournaments at the WSOP as well as the cash games, has been getting very little sleep and it’s not because his newborn is keeping him awake.

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Checking Around

In our industry-focused picks from the discussion forums this week: Crumbs from Cake, Casual grumbles and the latest from New Jersey customers. Win Cake Players Report Partial Processing of Cashouts

UK Gambling Advertising Review Starts With a Valuable Research Summary from the UKGC

The UKGC’s priorities are visible in its requests for more research on advertising’s impact on children. The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has produced a thorough summary of research into online gambling in a letter written to the Director of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP).

ISGA Finds No Evidence that Social Gaming Turns Players into Real Money Gamblers

99.5% of social gamers are over 18, and less than 10% spent money on in-app purchases, authoritative study concludes. The first research published by the International Social Games Association (ISGA) has concluded that there is no evidence that social casino games are converting people to real money gamblers or causing problem gambling.

“Football Carnival” Tournaments Kick Off at 888

$400k in freerolls will be handed out to celebrate the soccer World Cup on 888poker. After signing soccer superstar Luis Suarez, it comes as no surprise that 888poker has launched a Football Carnival to celebrate the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Poker Podcasts and Training Vids:

Podcast: PokerNews Podcast Episode #220: Litigating for Rolls feat. Vanessa Selbst PokerNews Podcast

Vanessa Selbst, winner of Event #2 $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold’em and her third World Series of Poker gold bracelet, joins the show to talk about her heads-up matches, the Twitter beef with Jason Mo, and her two small dogs. Rich, Donnie, and Jason then take a look at all of the recent bracelet winners and dissect the idea of a $20 million guarantee tournament. 

Podcast: Episode 81: Tournament Strategy Thinking Poker

Nate and Andrew discuss strategies for the World Series of Poker that will assist you both on and off of the felt, and they also break down a hand from Nitcast favorite Gareth Chantler and another from the PokerStars Sunday Million.

Podcast: ‘Series of Poker’ Special with Chris Moneymaker PokerSchool Online Podcast

In this show we chat to guest Chris Moneymaker about his plans for this year’s WSOP and talk strategy on the subject of dealing with aggression in Poker.

Training Video: Matthew “theginger45″ Hunt Reviews Bennymacca’s Live Sweat Recording Tournament Poker Edge

In this series theginger45 reviews a live recording from from TPE old school member bennymacca. We follow all the live tables and ginger45 pauses to analyze and comment on the play. This is a five part series.

Training Video: Crushing the Micros (2014 Edition) Part 5 Drag The Bar

In this series I will return to live play and rise up the micro stakes in 2014. I want to show the viewer the strategies and tools that are effective for maximum success at these stakes in today’s games. I will be covering both full ring and 6max at both regular and Zoom tables on Pokerstars.

Training Video: Handreading: A Lost Art: Example Hands – Part Three Deuces Cracked

In the third HH-example focused episode of Hand Reading: A Lost Art, Wilt reviews several hands from HU MNSL+ games. If you’re looking for videos to discuss strategies against wide ranges and aggressive opponents, this series carries value, not only for HUNL players but also for other players focusing on aggressive shorthanded play.