August 08 2012, Brett Collson

Zokay Entertainment, a new venture created by former ChiliGaming CEO Alex Dreyfus, announced Wednesday that it has acquired the Global Poker Index (GPI) from Pinnacle Entertainment. The Global Poker Index is a poker ranking system that tracks the weekly performance of the world’s top 300 live tournament players.

The GPI was originally created and owned by Federated Sports + Gaming Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. Pinnacle purchased the GPI as part of a $300,000 bid for FS + G’s assets during a bankruptcy auction in June and quickly sold it to Zokay, which plans to expand the GPI in order to “promote poker worldwide as a true contest of skill not just a game of chance.”

“The GPI is the best poker ranking system in the world, and we plan to make it even better,” said Dreyfus, who serves as the CEO of Zokay Entertainment. “A ranking system of this caliber is needed in the poker industry to bring it in line with other competitive contests of skill and sports industries. The GPI provides a ranking system on par with those you would find in golf or tennis.”

Dreyfus has big plans for the GPI, including the launch of the GPI Awards, celebrating a variety of accomplishments in the live tournament poker world. The GPI Awards will honor poker players through categories such as the already-implemented GPI Player of the Year, as well as the Best Tournament Director, Best Event, and Best Venue.

In addition to the GPI Awards, VIP treatment will be extended to the top ranked GPI players through the new GPI VIP club. Benefits of the VIP club will include a variety of membership perks and discounts, according to Dreyfus.

“I could not be more excited that the Global Poker Index is now part of the Zokay family,” said GPI co-creator Eric Faulkner. “The new and innovative extensions of the GPI will further solidify the GPI as the global standard in live tournament poker rankings and garner an immense amount of regional excitement.”

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August 07 2012, PokerNews Staff

The PokerNews-exclusive 7 Weekend Wonders promotion restarted last weekend on Poker770 and the top 20 finishers walked away with a share of $1,500. Who scooped the top prize? Was it you? Let’s find out.

This week’s top prize of $225 in cold, hard cash went to “SamSavage.” Not a bad little bonus for a couple of days grinding online poker. We’re sure you’ll agree. “SamSavage” held off “loliiilol” ($175), who for the second time in two weeks finished as runner-up. If we were betting people, we would put money on “loliiilol” pushing even harder this week and adding to the $350 he has already won in this promotion.

Making up the top five places were “cash77077,” “Roth89″ and “Leviselvis.”

Here’s a look at the top 20 finishers for Week #2 (Machu Picchu) of the 7 Weekend Wonders promotion:

The qualification period of Week #3 (Chichen Itza), runs from midnight on Aug. 10 and 00:59 CEST on Aug. 13, and we have another $1,500 to give away to the top 20 770Points earners during that period.

All you need to qualify for the second of our seven races is to earn 100 770Points during the qualification periods (all of which occur on the weekend) and you’ll have a shot at your share of a $1,500 prize pool. Earning 100 770Points is easy as you will earn 20 770Points per $1 generated in rake at the cash-game tables and 22 770Points per $1 paid in tournament fees, meaning $5 worth of rake or tournament fees will be enough to qualify for each weekend’s promotion.

If you are not eligible for this week’s race, don’t worry because there are still plenty of weeks to go on this excellent promotion as you can see in the table below:

Full 7 Weekend Wonders Schedule

This is a promotion that is exclusive to PokerNews. You will only be playing against players who have signed up to Poker770 through PokerNews so the number of players you will be battling against is far less than you would expect if it were a network-wide promotion. What’s more, you can also take advantage of our exclusive free $50 bankroll promotion. If you’ve already signed up for Poker770 through PokerNews using any of our bonus codes and have made your first deposit before midnight on the Wednesday before the current weekend then you’re already eligible for the 7 Weekend Wonders.

The weekly $1,500 prize pools will be distributed as shown in the table below:

If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.

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