2011 January 31, Martin Harris

It’s the last day of January, one of the more action-packed months of poker in recent memory. And the month was punctuated by a busy weekend, too, that saw Main Event titles won in Australia and France, big online scores in the Sunday Majors, increased buzz over online poker in Florida, new Hendon Mob rankings, big Super Bowl bets, and more. Here’s your Nightly Turbo collecting the month’s final headlines.

In Case You Missed It

Melbourne’s own David Gorr, a 68-year-old grandfather, took down the 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event, besting a field of 721 to claim the AUD$2,000,000 first prize. Here’s a recap of Gorr’s triumph plus other results from down under

It was another big weekend for online tourneys, with several top pros making deep runs in the Sunday majors. Mickey Doft was on the virtual rail yesterday, where he saw impressive performances by Aaron Been, Justin Bonomo, Anthony Bruno, Ryan Daut, John Dolan, Anthony Gregg, Chris Moorman, and Vanessa Selbst. See who finished where in the Sunday Briefing.

In more online news from yesterday, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom took on his third opponent in the ongoing PokerStars SuperStar Showdown series of heads-up matches, this time battling red-hot Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates. After 2,500 furiously-paced hands of hold’em, Blom ended the match $51,196 in the black, thereby securing his second straight Showdown victory. Here’s a blow-by-blow rundown of Blom’s win.

The possibility of intrastate poker in California continues to be debated. Patrick Dorinson, who once represented the Morongo tribe’s California Online Poker Association in its efforts to promote an intrastate online poker bill, has now been enlisted by the Poker Voters of America as its executive director, a group that has a bill of its own to advance. Dorinson hopes to draw on his experience with both groups to facilitate a consensus and thus perhaps progress toward a bill becoming law. Matthew Kredell explains.

In other news, the online poker site Lock Poker has hired longtime grinder and respected pro Eric “Rizen” Lynch as its new poker room manager. See what sort of ideas Lynch has in mind for the site.

Intrastate Online Poker… Is Florida Next?

Back in December, Florida state Rep. Joseph Abruzzo refiled a bill which would establish a system for intrastate online poker in Florida, but the legislative session ended before his bill could be advanced.

Now, though, the idea has been revived once more as state Senator Miguel Diaz has drafted a Senate companion bill, thereby putting the idea of intrastate online poker back on the legislative table.

Rep. Abruzzo’s bill had outlined a plan to allow Florida’s brick-and-mortar rooms to become affiliates of newly-created online sites. As has been the case with similar discussions in other states, play would be limited to Florida residents only.

Scott Long offers more on the current status of online poker in Florida at Ante Up! Magazine.

The Hendon Mob Adds Adjusted Rankings

There has been quite a bit of conversation about that “All Time Money List” in poker here lately. “Super High-Roller” events in the Caribbean and Australia with huge, multi-million dollar first prizes have drawn renewed attention to the rankings. The recently announced professional poker league to be headed up by Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack has also inspired a lot of debate over how best to compare players to one another. (See Annie Duke’s two-part interview with PokerNews on the new league here and here.)

The Hendon Mob has kept a thorough, detailed database of tournament results for many years, becoming an important authority in the industry for its record-keeping.

The site has long provided an “All-Time Money List” showing players’ total tourney earnings, but has now added a few other sets of rankings with new criteria, including an “open events only” list, a list covering only events with buy-ins of $50,000 or less, and another including only open events with $50K or less buy-ins.

See the Mob’s explanation of the new lists here.

Big Bets on the Big Game

Super Bowl XLV is less than a week away, with most sportsbooks favoring the NFC champion Green Bay Packers by a field goal (or less) over the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Kind of an amazing turn of events, given that the Packers were the lowest-seeded NFC team entering the playoffs!

As happens every year, much of the talk during these final days leading up to the big game has revolved around the number and amount of bets being placed. Matt Youmans of the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently reported that “word on the Strip” has been that MGM Resorts has accepted a $1 million bet on the Packers, although Jay Rood, the MGM’s sports book director, did not confirm whether the wager had indeed been accepted.

Rumor of the big bet has led some — remembering stories of big bets from past Super Bowls — to speculate that Phil Ivey could in fact be the Packer backer, though again nothing has been confirmed.

See the LVRJ for more on the action before the action as the Super Bowl draws near.

Lucien Cohen wins EPT Deauville

Finally, wrapping up a busy January, the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour has just crowned a new champion – Lucien Cohen of Paris.

Just hours ago, Cohen outlasted a tough final table that included Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert, Alex Wice, and eventual runner-up Martin Jacobson to claim the €880,000 first prize, much to the delight of his many fans on the rail.

PokerNews’ Sarah Grant caught up with Cohen shortly after his victory:

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2011 January 15, Elaine Chaivarlis

The final Day 1 flight of the Opening Event of the 2011 Aussie Millions is in the books. The field on Saturday was significantly larger than the two pervious days, as 420 players took their seats in hopes of making Day 2 of the first Aussie Millions event.

The $1,100 repechage event attracted a total field size of 1,000 players, which generated a prizepool of AUD$1,000,000. First place will receive AUD$200,020.

At the end of 12 levels, 63 players remained and Costa Argirai, who bagged 179,300 at the end of the night, will be leading the Day 1c flight into Day 2. Alex Dayoub is just behind him with a stack of 162,200 and Jack Powell sits in third place with 132,000.

Maria Ho, Annette Obrestad, Scott Montgomery, Tony Dunst and James Akenhead, were in the field on Saturday, as were local favorites, Eric Assadourian, Daniel Neilson, Steve Topakas, Billy Argyros, Jackie Glazier, Tyron Krost, and Brendon Rubie. Of those, only Montgomery, Neilson, and Glazier were able to hold on to enough chips to make it to Day 2.

The 63 players who bagged their chips Saturday night, will join the remaining players from Day 1a and Day 1b to create a Day 2 field of 143. Martin Drewe, Day 1b’s chip leader, is leading the entire pack. On Sunday, 90 players will make the money and a winner will be crowned. Jonathan Karamalikis, Scott Montgomery, Barny Boatman, Simon Watt, Daniel Neilson, and Jackie Glazier are among those who will all be taking their seats for the 12:30 p.m. Day 2 start in hopes of outlasting the entire field and taking home bragging rights of winning the first event of the 2011 Aussie Millions.

Team PokerNews will be there to bring you all the action straight from the felt, so keep it locked on the Live Reporting page.

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