The Nightly Turbo: Hellmuth Passes on Premier League, Isildur1 Wins Big, and More
Tony G may not respect Phil Hellmuth's game, but he does think the Poker Brat is great for the industry. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we bring you Tony's comments about Hellmuth skipping the PartyPoker Premier League V, the results from from the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, and more.
In Case You Missed It
Poker pro Alec Torelli was back with another blog on Monday. Torelli discusses the role of luck in poker and why cash games are tougher than tournaments.
High-stakes action will return to Aruba in May with the Poker Players Championship. Donnie Peters took a look at the event and spoke with some players who plan to make the trip to the PPC Aruba.
How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who won the $6 Million Guaranteed Sunday Million? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.
Did you miss Sunday's World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.
How did Team PokerStars Sports Star Fatima Moreira de Melo shift from field hockey to poker? Find out that and more in the latest edition of Seat Open.
Hellmuth Skipping Premier League?
The lineup for the upcoming PartyPoker Premier League V is stacked with some of the game's most venerable pros and conspicuous personalities, but we've learned that Phil Hellmuth will not be one of the 16 players putting up the $125,000 buy-in in Vienna. Tony G broke the news about Hellmuth's absence in his blog on Monday: "He hasn’t got a sponsor and he doesn’t have the bankroll or the heart."
We all know that Tony G likes to take jabs at the Poker Brat, so Hellmuth could very well have other reasons for skipping the Premier League. However, with a field that includes Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Erik Seidel, Vanessa Selbst, Dan "Jungleman" Cates, Luke "Full Flush" Schwartz and Sam Trickett, Hellmuth may be dodging a bullet by passing on this one.
Hellmuth has been a regular fixture at the PartyPoker Premier League but has never won a title. His best result was third-place finish in Premier League I, won by Juha Helppi. In the Premier League IV event in Las Vegas, Hellmuth took ninth place and failed to reach the final.
In addition to the Premier League V, the €3,500 World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event and the PartyPoker.com Big Game VI will take place in Vienna next month. The Big Game VI will run for 48 hours alongside the WPT Vienna Main Event and is expected to draw many of the pros participating in the Premier League V tournament.
For more, read Tony G's blog at PartyPoker.com.
Wynn Classic Championship Under Way
Maybe a victory at the Wynn Classic will give Phil Hellmuth the "heart" and "bankroll" to play in Vienna. Hellmuth, along with numerous pros, have posted the $5,170 buy-in to compete in the 2012 Wynn Classic No Limit Hold'em Championship, which runs from March 12 through 15 in Las Vegas.
The event is expected to attract at least 200 players, which would create a prize pool of $1 million. Last year, 212 players competed in the tournament, with Tim West defeating Annette Obrestad heads-up to collect $318,738. Matt Waxman, Max Steinberg, Eric Froelich, Carter King and John Kim also made the final table.
Obrestad is among the many winners during this year's Wynn Classic prelim schedule. Joining her in the winner's circle so far have been Dan Kelly, David Singer, Ken Lennaard, and Joe Kuether, who won two no-limit hold'em events for more than $40,000 combined.
Stay tuned to the Nightly Turbo as we bring you updates from the 2012 Wynn Classic Championship. You can find the results from the prelims at the Wynn Poker website.
Blom Leads Haxton Before SuperStars Showdown Postponed
On Sunday, Team PokerStars Pro Viktor "Isildur1" Blom faced Isaac "philivey2694" Haxton in the 12th SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars. The two high-stakes stars were set to play four tables of $100/$200 no-limit hold’em for a 2,500-hand match, or until a player quit.
But unlike in their first showdown in which Haxton bested the Swede for more than $40,000, Blom got out to a quick start on Sunday, winning nearly $100,000 over the first 692 hands. However, Haxton ran into some Internet issues because of a a storm near his home in Malta. The match was postponed but will resume on Tuesday at 1400 EST (1900 GMT).
Get detailed results from the PokerStars Showdown here at PokerNews.com.
Nevada Nearing Legalized Online Poker
According to Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli, companies that have applied for Internet gaming licenses in Nevada could have an online poker platform up and running by the end of 2012.
Lipparelli told iGaming Business that the "technical evaluation for operators filing applications is expected to take place between late spring and early summer." He added that prepared companies could potentially be operating “by late fall and certainly by late winter or the early part of 2013."
More than 20 companies, including bwin.party, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Fertitta Interactive, have already applied for Nevada Internet gaming licenses and are seeking license approval in anticipation of a new intrastate poker market.
“The process from here will see license applicants appearing on our public agendas in May and June," Lipparelli told iGaming Business. "For the successful license applicants, the last step in turning the systems on will be a technical evaluation, and although we’re not certain how long this process will take, it’s plausible, even likely, that you’ll see the first set of systems approved for initial deployment by the fall.”
Read more at iGaming Business.
Poker is Sick
Poker has taken a vicious beating in the mainstream media since Black Friday. And, unfortunately, the actions of several high-profile poker players certainly haven't helped the game's image.
On Monday, Linda Geenen at PokerWorks.com published an article titled Poker Pros — One of Poker's Systemic Diseases highlighting the recent actions by some of the games top pros — players we once regarded as kings. Among the players mentioned in the piece are Erick Lindgren, Chino Rheem, Barry Greenstein, and the heaps of pros who allegedly still owe money to Full Tilt Poker.
Writes Geenen, "Honestly, do you think when someone in Ohio reads the news that the Full Tilt Poker pros owe over $16 Million to the company that the reader thinks 'gee, they must've been running bad...' or 'they probably lost on their sports bets' or 'they're good for it' OR do you think the reader goes, 'Holy s#$%! What a bunch of degenerate bastards. I knew poker players were all flakes!'"
As always, Geenen's article is definitely worth a read. Check it out at PokerWorks.com.
EPT Hits Madrid
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is in Madrid for the PokerStars European Poker Tour. Kristy Arnett took a quick glance around Day 1a of the Main Event and found some familiar faces in the field.
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