August 14 2012, Brett Collson

Who deserves induction into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012? It’s up to you, the poker fan, to make your nominations. We’ll cover that story, plus Viktor Blom’s departure from Team PokerStars, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Only 16 players advanced to Day 4 of the World Poker Tour Parx Open Poker Classic. Anthony Gregg led the way, but some notables still had their eyes on the title.

How did PokerNews‘ Chad Holloway fare in the 2012 ESPN Fantasy Poker League? Holloway took a look back at the results.

Last week, Marvin Rettenmaier made history by winning back-to-back titles on the World Poker Tour. Rich Ryan gives his take on the accomplishment in his latest Five Thoughts piece.

Poker Hall of Fame

It’s that time of year again. The World Series of Poker has opened nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2012, giving fans a chance to nominate their favorite players for induction into the group of poker’s elite.

The Poker Hall of Fame traditionally elects one or two members annually and inducts the chosen members in November as part of the WSOP Main Event Final Table festivities. This year’s final table will take place in October because of a conflict with this year’s U.S. presidential election.

Among those already inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame are Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, Doyle Brunson, Jack Strauss, Benny Binion, David “Chip” Reese, Thomas Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Stu Ungar, and Phil Hellmuth. Last year, Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson were added to the prestigious club.

The main criteria for the Poker Hall of Fame are as follows:

• A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
• Be a minimum of 40 years old at time of nomination (the “Chip Reese” rule)
• Played for high stakes
• Played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers
• Stood the test of time
• Or, for nonplayers, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.

Once the list of nominated individuals is complete, a committee of media members will review all nominations and determine which candidates are most eligible for induction. Last year’s nominees who didn’t make the Class of 2011 were Annie Duke, Jen Harman, John Juanda, Macel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen and Huck Seed.

To submit your nominations, visit WSOP.com.

PokerStars, Viktor Blom Part Ways

PokerNews learned Tuesday that Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom has parted ways with PokerStars and is no longer a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ head of corporate communications, told PokerNews that Blom and the company mutually agreed not to renew the Swede’s expired sponsorship agreement. Said Hollreiser: “In his short time as a poker player, Viktor has played against the biggest names in poker at the highest stakes in the toughest games. It’s hard to recall a player who has kept the poker world so riveted at such an early stage of his career. We’ll be watching with great interest and we wish him nothing but success.”

Blom joined PokerStars in 2011 after exploding onto the scene by playing the highest stakes available at Full Tilt Poker. His heads-up battles against pros like Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius and Brian Hastings instantly changed the landscape of high-stakes poker on the internet. Since joining PokerStars, one of Blom’s shining achievements was winning 11 of his 14 matches in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, earning more than $1 million in the process. He also won the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller for $1,254,000.

“I’ve enjoyed my time as a Team Pro and I wish everyone at PokerStars the best,” Blom said about his departure from PokerStars. “Now I just want to concentrate on playing poker.”

Read the breaking story at PokerNews.com.

DOJ Seeks Help

Full Tilt Poker customers in the U.S. may be waiting awhile to make a claim for the funds frozen in their accounts.

The Department of Justice is seeking a third-party payment processor to help facilitate the remission process for FTP players located in the U.S. An employment notice listed on the DOJ website calls for a claims administrator to “design and execute a process to solicit, receive and evaluate claims, and to process payments, for losses incurred by U.S. victims that are attributable to the fraud alleged in the above complaint.”

The deadline to apply for the position is Aug. 31, meaning players may be forced to wait several more weeks before information about the remission process is made public.

The remission process has been a bit of a concern for U.S. players, even more so after a Forbes article questioned whether the government will actually repay players in full. Forbes writer Nathan Vardi also suggested that the government may pay out the money deposited by players on the site, rather than the actual funds in their account.

Meanwhile, PokerStars still intends to repay all non-U.S. Full Tilt Poker customers by Nov. 6. As part of the agreement with the Department of Justice last month, the company promised to refund players within 90 days of the formal closing of the deal to acquire Full Tilt Poker. The deal was finalized last week when PokerStars made its initial $225 million forfeiture payment to the government.

Read more at PokerNews.com.

PokerStars Mobile, Eh?

Following successful launches in Europe and Austral-Asia, the PokerStars Mobile App is now available in Canada. The popular app is available for download on Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPad Touch, and on many Android phones and tablet computers.

PokerStars Mobile offers real-money games in varieties like Texas hold’em, Omaha and Omaha hi-lo, and players can participate in the same tournaments, sit-and-gos and ring games they would on their laptops or desktop computers.

Some of the features on the mobile app include multitabling (up to five tables on the iPad), player and tournament search, lobby filters, chat, and hand histories. The fast-paced Zoom Poker is also available on all devices.

For more information, visit pokerstars.com.

Watch and Win on ESPN

ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker Main Event begins tonight, and viewers of the telecast will have an exciting opportunity to win a $12,500 package for next year’s WSOP Main Event.

In the first hour of each two-hour telecast, viewers will see a promotional spot providing an overview of the sweepstakes with a mention to keep watching for the night’s unique code. Once it is revealed, viewers can log into WSOP.com, register for an account at the WSOP’s free-to-play poker software, and enter the code.

There will be one winner chosen for each of the next 11 weeks of ESPN’s coverage. The final winner will be selected after the broadcast on Oct. 23.

“This officially becomes the first way to qualify for the 2013 WSOP Main Event,” joked WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “For ten consecutive years, WSOP telecasts have showcased that in Vegas everyone can play and anyone can win. This is our way of thanking loyal viewers and giving them a chance to go from their couch to the championship in 2013.”

For official rules of the sweepstakes, visit WSOP.com.

A teaser for tonight’s Main Event coverage can be found at ESPN.com.

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August 10 2012, Chad Holloway

There’s no doubt that poker has changed drastically over the last decade, and even more so since the inception of the World Series of Poker in 1970. Finding players who have remained consistent over the years is rare, but one recently showed up at the 2012 WSOP: three-time bracelet winner Perry Green, who finished runner-up to the legendary Stu Ungar in 1981.

Born in Seattle in 1936, Green worked as a successful fur trader in Alaska for the vast majority of his life. In 1976, he ventured to the WSOP where he took down Event #4: $1,000 Limit Ace to Five Draw for $68,300 and his first gold bracelet. The next year, Green won Event #6 $5,000 Limit Ace to Five Draw and then returned two years later to win Event #6: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Non-Pro for $76,500.

With three bracelets under his belt, Green made a go at the 1981 $10,000 Main Event, which attracted 75 players including Johnny Moss, Hal Fowler, Betty Carey, “Amarillo Slim” Preston and Jesse Alto. The field was reduced to just 38 players by the end of Day 1, and those 38 were reduced to 17 on Day 2. On Day 3, Doyle Brunson was eliminated, leaving Bobby Baldwin and Ungar, the defending champ, as the only former winners remaining. Both went on to make the final table.

1981 WSOP Final Table

Green went on to finish as runner-up to Ungar, who claimed back-to-back Main Event titles. Green returned to the WSOP over the next three decades, amassing 24 WSOP cashes for $645,427.

Recently, Green made another deep run by navigating a field of 6,598 in this year’s Main Event with his wife of 56 years, Gloria, by his side, though she refused to sweat the action. “I don’t watch anymore. Ever since he started doing well in 1981, I stopped going,” Gloria told PokerNews at this year’s WSOP. “I can’t take the pressure. It doesn’t bother him, but it does bother me. When we were dating, we were able to go out to eat because he would win the money, actually from my brother and my cousin, he would play cards with them. We would go out on dates because he would win the money. I always thought if I took the money when he wins, I could put up with it.” Green finished in 152nd place for $52,718.

It’s not every day you come across a poker player from Alaska. Were you born there? What is it that you do in Anchorage?

My father was there in 1922, but I was born in Seattle. I was a fur buyer, and I operated five purse stores. I used to go to the Eskimo villages.

How did you learn to play poker? Likewise, how did you first hear about the WSOP?

Well, I was a teenager and played a little bit, then I went into the Army and supplemented my Army income. Afterwards, we used to have a little game once a week in Anchorage. I stumbled onto the WSOP by someone saying ‘Come on down to the Horseshoe, they’ve got a great game down there.’ The first time I went down there they played lowball and I won a lot of money in the cash games, I didn’t even know about tournaments.

Two of your bracelets are in lowball. Is that your favorite game?

Absolutely, I cut my teeth on five-card low, six-card low, and then seven-card low. I think it’s a terrible shame they don’t have the ace-to-five lowball at the WSOP anymore. You ought to talk to them about it.

Have you been playing the WSOP every year since 1976?

Off and on. I really haven’t played much. I’ve only entered the Main Event eight times, I would say. Over the years I’ve been busy. I’ve been working. I’m really an amateur and when you have responsibilities, five children, it’s much more important to take care of you responsibilities than play poker. But I combine them pretty good.

Are there opportunities for you to play back in Alaska?

I play in a friend’s game, it’s just a very small game. I play about five or six times a year.

In 1981 you finished second to Stu Ungar. Do you have any good stories from back in the day?

Oh yeah, I remember how I had Stu all-in three times in that tournament. I had him all-in early when I had and he had , and the two fives stood up. I had him all-in, I had and he had , and the board came , and then it came another and then another , so we split the pot. I also remember I was going real good and was way ahead, having fun. In those days, I really played for the fun of it. My wife was watching on the side, and Doyle Brunson was in back of me. It was opened [on the flop] for like 8,000. I made it 16,000. He came back and made it 35,000, and I put him all-in after the flop, which was . He was mortified that I came back over the top of him, and he had the only hand that he would probably call me with. Besides two aces, he had .

I turned around to Doyle, pointed my finger at Doyle, which shows you what my mood was, and he jumped up and said, “Ten-deuce of clubs?”

I said, “Yes,” because I figure I have a straight and I have a flush draw. He really had me cornered, but I could have still caught a red queen, or a red seven, I could have made tens and deuces, it could have come deuce-deuce, and that was the one that crushed me. It really was sad. That was the same year I took second place in the Super Bowl of Poker, as well. David Sklansky ranked the top 16 poker professionals in the world and put me number six. I was the only amateur among them in 1981.

Obviously that distinction and recognition meant a lot to you?

Oh yeah, I used to go there to have fun and play. When they used to play hold’em, I’d never join in the games at all. I didn’t know a thing, and then I bought Doyle Brunson’s book. After I read it I said, “Oh, ohhh, ohhhhhhh, this is a pretty good game.” Then I played it a little, but I still love my games of lowball ace-to-five.

Did you think poker would ever grow to be as big as it is today?

I think Jack Binion had the right idea. I think he was the real father of making this as gigantic as it is . . . I thought, “My gosh, who would ever be interested in poker?” Lo and behold, the interest in poker is so intense it’s phenomenal. I really credit Jack Binion over anybody with the expansion of poker. Of course, when you have it legitimized by ESPN , and it shows the face, breadth and width of poker, it makes it a sport people can enjoy whether they’re in a wheelchair or an Olympic athlete . . . It’s played in nursing homes, and it’s played in private homes. It’s played in casinos, bars, and it’s played by everyone.

Look at how the international community has embraced the game. And the youngsters. I have six grandchildren older than 60 percent of the remaining 282-player field [in the WSOP Main Event]. None of my grandchildren play at this level.

What do you think of today’s fields? Is it harder to navigate?

You asked me earlier about Stu Ungar. I think that Stu would have a tough time with these young phenoms because as great as he was, and believe me he was a great player, there’s about 90 percent of today’s players that are within a hair’s breadth. It’s kind of like trying to compare Barry Bonds to Babe Ruth or Reggie Jackson, you know, from different eras.

What has become of your WSOP bracelets?

I have three bracelets. My wife has one, my son has one, and I have one. I didn’t even know I was getting a bracelet [for my first win], I didn’t even know you got bracelets. Jack Binion was so generous and so great. Great with the players. In the old days, you knew the brush people, the floor supervisors, dealer, the names, and every player’s, where they came from, whether they were married, and whether they had leaks in their play. Now you get to the table and you’re forever finding information that you need to know. It’s on-the-job training.

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