09 3rd, 2010
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. This old saying darted through my mind every time I read about the National Football League (NFL) lobbying against Representative Barney Frank’s internet gambling bill, HR 2267. Fortunately, the league ended its opposition to the bill in August because an amendment was added that would prohibit licensed online gambling operators from offering sports betting.
That doesn’t mean that the NFL’s stance on the whole issue is any less tilt-inducing to me, though. Before I get to my rant, I should say that given the NFL’s position on sports betting, I completely understand why the league, and other sports leagues for that matter, couldn’t care less about poker players. If a bill that legalizes and regulates online poker also does so for online sports betting, poker is unimportant collateral damage if the NFL manages to get the entire bill shot down. Guilt by association. I think most poker players feel the same way about sports betting. While we feel that people should be allowed to bet online, if throwing sports betting under the bus is the way for poker to come out on top, well…sorry sports bettors. Sucks to be you.
So, while I get why poker players are not a concern of the NFL, the league’s hatred of sports betting just doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, they hate it so much that they hired someone to lobby against Rep. Frank’s bill. They feel that sports betting hurts the integrity of the game. But as far as I know, there have never been any sports betting or game fixing scandals of note involving the NFL. Besides, while it’s of course possible, I find it extremely unlikely that an NFL player would be able to be influenced by criminal types to fix a game. Players get paid handsome sums of money for their skills, so the fee that someone would have to pay a player to, say, lose on purpose, would have to be pretty substantial. Plus, it would be quite difficult for a player to throw a game by himself without it being extremely obvious. I just don’t think it would realistically happen.
Getting back to my opening sentence, what really gets me is that without sports betting, the NFL wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is today. Football season is like an extended Christmas shopping season for sports books and the Super Bowl is like Black Friday. Millions of people who either don’t have a strong rooting interest or whose team has no chance remain interested because they have money on the games. These people subscribe to DirecTV’s football package, make sure they get the NFL Network on cable, watch the commercials that feed the NFL’s coffers, and view the ads on the NFL’s website.
And all that doesn’t include fantasy football, which the NFL loves. The hypocrisy of that should be obvious. Fantasy football is gambling. It’s just in different form. Yes, many, if not most, people play fantasy for free and put no money into their leagues. But millions of people do bet at least a few bucks each season, hoping that their team will win the league and result in a nice payout. Of course it’s gambling. Fantasy players are betting on the performance of the players they draft, rather than on the performance of an NFL team. And the payouts come at the end of the season, instead of at the end of each game.
One big thing that the NFL is ignoring in its loathing of online sports betting is that it’s easier to catch game fixing and the like online than it is offline. Online, all wagering history is recorded and suspicious trends are tracked. For example, in 2007, millions of dollars were bet on the European sports book against tennis player Nikolay Davydenko in a match in which he was a strong favorite and had already won the first set. He then withdrew from the match in the third set with an apparent injury. Betfair, in accordance with its agreement with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), notified the ATP of this suspicious activity, and cancelled all wagers on the match.
What the NFL should do is partner with the online sports books to help fight sports betting crime. Over a dozen online sports books in Europe are members of the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), which has a “mandate to keep sport clean and free from manipulation.” The ESSA members alert each other if any irregular betting patterns are detected, and in turn, alert the sports leagues and regulatory bodies. A system like this seems so obvious. In the meantime, the NFL and other professional sports leagues in the U.S. would apparently rather have online sports betting go underground with no protections, either for the bettors or the leagues, in place.
I am pleased that the NFL has dropped its opposition to the Frank bill, but it still needs to get its head out of the sand and get with the times. It owes much of its popularity to sports betting. Accept it and embrace the technological advancements that will protect the game better than prohibition will.
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09 3rd, 2010
Twenty year-old Toby Lewis triumphed over the field in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) stop in Vilamoura, Portugal. Lewis banked a hearty €467,000 for his efforts in the €5,350 buy-in tournament, the largest ever held in the European nation.
The final pot of the night was a dramatic one. Facing off against fellow young gun Martin Jacobson, who is just 23 years old, Lewis raised pre-flop and received a call to see the first three cards come A-9-10. The action slowed down and both players checked to a five on the turn. Jacobson bet out for 180,000 and Lewis made it 525,000. Not to be outdone, Jacobson 3bet to 1.025 million and Lewis added another million on top of that. Jacobson tanked before 5betting all-in and Lewis made the call.
When the cards were revealed, Jacobson held 9-5 for bottom two pair, while Lewis held pocket fives for a turned set. Jacobson was drawing thin to a nine and whiffed on the river when another 10 came. Lewis held a boat and took down the EPT Vilamoura title. Don’t feel sorry for Jacobson, however, who pulled down €298,000 for his runner-up performance in the record-breaking Portuguese poker tournament.
American Jason Lee was EPT Vilamoura’s third place finisher. Lee shoved all-in pre-flop with A-5 of hearts, but ran into Jacobson’s A-10. No hearts came on the board and Jacobson turned a 10 to boot, bringing a 3:2 chip lead into heads-up play against Lewis. U.K. poker pro Sam Trickett, a former winner of the Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour Luton Main Event, nabbed fourth place for €139,000.
Following his title, Lewis told EPT officials, “I’m pretty happy at the moment. This title means a lot to me. I was disappointed not to win IPT Venice, but this means even more. It wasn’t easy – Martin was a very hard player to beat.” Lewis finished seventh in the -backed Italian Poker Tour (IPT) stop in Venice in July. Italian Tamas Lendavi took down the €2,000 buy-in tournament to the tune of €235,000.
World-renowned footballer Teddy Sheringham took fifth in EPT Vilamoura. The Friend of PokerStars 3bet all-in on a board of K-9-10-9 with K-Q for kings-up, but Jacobson tabled Q-J for the nut straight. No miracle card came on the river and Sheringham was sent into the streets of Vilamoura €93,000 richer for his wear. According to the HendonMob database, it was Sheringham’s largest live tournament cash ever. He finished 14th in the () Europe Main Event last year for £40,000.
Others who made the money included Luca Pagano, J.P. Kelly, and Rob Hollink. Here’s how the final table shook out. Six nations were represented among its eight participants:
1. Toby Lewis (U.K.) – € 467,836
2. Martin Jacobson (Sweden) – €297,985
3. Jason Lee (USA) €186,241
4. Sam Trickett (U.K.) – €139,681
5. Teddy Sheringham (U.K.) – €93,121
6. Frederik Jensen (Denmark) – €74,496
7. Rob Hollink (Netherlands) – €55,872
8. Sergio Coutinho (Portugal) – €37,248
The EPT is now on hiatus until September 28th, when EPT London kicks off. The London festival of poker plays out until October 4th at the Hilton London Metropole. The Main Event begins on September 29th with the first of two starting days and a massive crowd is expected for the £5,250 buy-in event. Last year, 730 players entered EPT London, forming the largest tournament ever held in the U.K. 2008 WSOP Main Event champ , now on a break from poker, finished second in the EPT London feature tournament.
Visit PokerStars for more details.
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The PokerStars European Poker Tour Vilamoura has come to an end. Read on to find out how Toby Lewis battled the final table to take home the title.
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Of the 24 players that took the felt to begin Day 4 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Vilamoura only eight remain. Find out who is leading the way going into the final table day on Thursday.
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The PokerStars European Poker Tour has seen the Day 3 field go from 69 to 24. Find out who is left and if Cantu will make good on his prediction of final tabling this EPT.
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The European Poker Tour (EPT) continues its progress across the European continent, once again having a record turnout for the most recent stop in Vilamoura, Portugal.
In its second stop at the Casino Vilamoura on the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean, 384 runners put up the €5,300 buy-in to contest, the latest championship of the EPT’s seventh season. The numbers vastly outpaced the 322 players who showed up in 2009, when Antonio Matias captured the inaugural title. A number of Team pros and other top poker players were in attendance for the tournament, making the going difficult for the amateurs who qualified through PokerStars or bought into the event directly.
() bracelet winner made his first ever appearance at an EPT event as a member of Team PokerStars and many other pros from the stable were also in attendance. Also making his first ever appearance in an EPT event on European soil was EPT founder .
Other Team PokerStars Pros such as Italy’s , France’s Arnaud Mattern, British players JP Kelly and Vicky Coren, and Russia’s Alex Kravchenko filled out the tables. Top players such as Victory Poker’s , former WSOP Europe champion , and 2010 WSOP bracelet winner James “flushy“ Dempsey were also in attendance, looking to take down the latest EPT title and the €467,835 first place prize.
Action began on Saturday with 181 players lining up for Day 1A. Leading the action at the end of the day was one of the Team PokerStars Online pros, Portugal’s Andre Coimbra, who sat with a nice Day 1A stack of 157,600. Several pros were also on the Day 1A leaderboard, including Minieri (fourth, 131,400), Esfandiari (fifth, 127,800), and Mattern (sixth, 119,200).
Day 1B on Sunday was the more active of the two Day Ones, with a sizable lineup of 203 players stepping up for battle. By the time play finished late Sunday night, Russian PokerStars qualifier Leonid Bilokur had stacked himself with 161,200 to take the overall Day One lead. The pros made their presence felt through Sam Trickett (fourth, 132,600), Sorel “” Mizzi (fifth, 132,200), and ’s (sixth, 122,400).
The field came together for the first time on Day 2 with a total of 221 players surviving. Esfandiari got off to a terrible start, dropping to 40,000 in chips after riding high on Day 1A. “The Magician” was able to make some chips appear and rebounded to slightly over his Day 2 starting stack, but the same couldn’t be said for several other top professionals. Such players as EPT San Remo champion , Lex Veldhuis, Mizzi, Coren, and Williams were dispatched during early action on Day 2.
According to the PokerStars blog at the midpoint of Day 2, Coimbra has added to his chip stack to sit at around 220,000, but several players have stormed past him to push him back to the middle of the Top Ten. Poland’s Grzegorz Cichocki currently holds a slim chip lead over Cantu, with Kelly and Trickett also arranged on the upper reaches of the leaderboard. Poker News Daily will bring you all the latest from the battle at the EPT Portugal, including the crowning of the champion on Thursday.
Continued here:
If you prefer your tournament action short handed then Dublin will be the place to be this September with the European Short Handed Poker Championship.
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08 30th, 2010
We know that this story isn’t directly related to poker but it did make us chuckle a bit here at Bluff Europe Towers. Regulators in Nevada have fined Caesars Palace Casino for failing to protect the game and its patrons. That sounds very serious but in fact it relates to an overexcited punter awakening his inner John Travolta.
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More northerly European cities might have begun the inevitable descent into Autumn already, but Vilamoura, in the Algarve region of Portugal, was bathed in heat and sunshine on Saturday for the beginning of the PokerStars EPT Vilamoura. The first…
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08 21st, 2010
This week you’ll want to pay special attention to the PokerStars EPT Steps freeroll on Sunday. PokerListings players will have the opportunity to win $25,000 in steps tickets to the European Poker Tour.
Also worth looking into is the Titan Poker weekly $1k, which kicks off today and the PartyPoker $500 added on Sunday.
The following freerolls are open to all PokerListings.com players. Qualify in the specified qualification period, and then take your seat to potentially win baskets of free cash.
If you’re not a PL.com registered player on any of the following sites, click on the site’s name in the list to sign up.
Titan Poker is running weekly $1,000 freerolls for PokerListings players that cost just one Titan Poker Point to buy into.
Date: Aug. 21
Value: $1,000
Qualify with: Use 1 Titan Poker Point.
New depositors on 888poker will have a shot at four different $500 freerolls.
Date: Aug. 21
Value: $1,000
Qualify with: New deposit
PokerStars is running an exclusive $25k EPT Steps freeroll for PokerListings players this week.
Date: Aug. 22
Value: $25,000 in European Poker Tour Steps tickets
Qualify with: 250 Frequent Player Points
Qualify between: July 1-30
First time sign-ups and existing PokerListings players who earn 50 points will have access to the bwin Poker monthly $2,000 freerolls.
Date: Aug. 22
Value: $2,000
Qualify with: Sign up or generate 50 points before Aug. 22
All of August, PartyPoker will be offering a series of cash-added low buy-in tournaments for new players who sign up through PokerListings.
Date: Aug. 22
Buy-in: $5+$1
Value: $500 added cash
Qualify with: Sign up for a real-money account on PartyPoker through PokerListings.
Qualify between: Aug. 1-31
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