August 28 2011, Marc Convey

The tournament room at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona was full Sunday because 465 players turned up with the hope of scooping the whopping “850,000 first-place prize. The field totaled out at 811 players, creating a prize pool of “4,055,000. The man at the top of the chip counts is Guillaume Darcourt, who bagged up 195,300 chips and will lead the field coming back for Day 2.

Darcourt amassed his stack by running a huge multi-street bluff with on a board. His river shove finally got his opponent off his hand. The Frenchman showed and then utilized this image to build his stack all the way to the end of the day. He has a history of using a big stack well, including his 35th place finish at this year’s WSOP Main Event and a WPT title are.

He’ll have to be on top of his game though because the chasing pack from today’s field has formidable talent including Eugene Katchalov (153,100), Leo Fernadez (148,600) Vytautas Milvydas (172,400) Marvin Rettenmaier (114,200), Matthias De Meulder (110,000) and James Mitchell (84,000).

Those remaining from Team PokerStars Pro, apart from the three above, are Ivan Demidov (36,600), Jason Mercier (25,500), Arnaud Mattern (21,400) and Victor Ramdin (21,400). And we can’t forget Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker who seemed to have a very enjoyable knockabout with Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier en route to building a 47,500 stack.

The talent on show Sunday confirmed what we thought Saturday; EPT Season 8 is well and truly alive and kicking. Those who came but failed to progress included: Chris Moneymaker (coolered), John Duthie (queens never good), Viktor Blom (sophisticated bluff fail), Roberto Romanello (stuck in the blocks), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (Beckered), Daniel Negreanu (missed the world) and Liv Boeree (three-outered). The list goes on. The omens for the live tournament scene in Europe this coming year look very good indeed.

The remaining 228 players will combine with the 179 survivors from Day 1a, meaning 407 players will return at 1200 CEST (0300 PDT). Only 120 on those will walk away with a payday. The min-cash will net them “8,000 and if you make the final table the money starts at “73,000 and rapidly increases in ever bigger jumps. Of course there is always the chance for stardom as well tomorrow since the TV set is built and ready to go for the feature table that will be in action until the sweet end of the tournament on Thursday.

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August 15 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

A winner was crowned at UKIPT Edinburgh over the weekend. If you were wondering who can add “champion” to their name, we’ve got those results for you. On top of that, we’re going to tell you what Harry Reid and Gary Loveman recently said about online poker legislation. Keep reading for all of the top poker news stories of the day.

In Case You Missed It

Over the weekend, Kristy Arnett went over to the Palms Casino to check out the inaugural Epic Poker League event. She caught up with Matt Savage and some players to get their thoughts on the event for the latest edition of the Sin City Series.

The biggest online poker tournaments of the week are played on Sunday and this week, four players pocketed over $100,000. The Sunday Briefing has the results, including a look at Owen Crowe’s Sunday Warm-Up win.

Last week, NBC aired the second week of Poker After Dark’s $100,000 Cash Game. If you missed it, check out the recap of all the high-stakes action.

The inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event crowned a champion over the weekend. With the event coming to a close, we decided to get players’ reactions and their thoughts on EPL’s future.

UKIPT Edinburgh

Last week, the seventh stop on PokerStars’ UK & Ireland Poker Tour rolled into Edinburgh, Scotland. The £500 + £60 buy-in event attracted 519 players, creating a £251,715 prize pool, breaking the £200,000 guarantee.

Chris Moneymaker made it across the pond to Scotland for the event, and joined Liv Boeree, David Vamplew, Neil Channing, Jesse May, Jude Ainsworth, and JP Kelly on the felts at The Corn Exchange.

Vamplew is the only one of the above who finished in the top 63, taking home a payday. He finished 34th, good for £1,120.

Fintan Gavin bested the field to take home the UKIPT trophy and £61,500 first-place prize. He took on Andrew Hawksby and about two hours into heads-up play, the winner was crowned.

According to the PokerStars Blog, in the final hand, Gavin called a 160,000 raise from Hawksby and the flop fell . Gavin check-raised all-in with and was called by Hawksby with . The turn and river both blanked for Hawksby, eliminating him in second place.

UKIPT Edinburgh Final Table Results

You can find a full report from UKIPT Edinburgh at PokerStarsBlog.com.

Online Poker Legislation

Howard Stutz, a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, tweeted over the weekend, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tells R-J staff Internet poker legislation ‘will get done.’ Reid: ‘I-poker ‘will be good for Nevada.’”

In addition to this, the Financial Times spoke with Gary Loveman, chief executive of Caesars Entertainment.

“The authorities cracked down on the illegal offshore providers, but that’s left a vacuum for people like us to be able to legally offer this service.

“I do believe there is a will in Congress to correct this …. we ought to clean up the regulatory and policing environment and that’s what we’re seeking.

“First, it creates the appropriate legal and enforcement environment where the game is being provided fairly by regulated entities that are known to the American authorities.

“Second, there’s a lot of job creation associated with this; we could provide thousands of American jobs if given the right to do so and there [also] would be the benefit of tax revenues,” Loveman told FT.com.

The Financial Times has a video interview with Loveman at FT.com.

Bad Beat on Hunger

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City teamed up with Cabot Creamery Cooperative to host the “Put a Bad Beat on Hunger” charity poker tournament. The event benefits the Community FoodBank in New Jersey.

The $260 + $40 buy-in event, hosted by Bernard Lee, kicks off on August 21 with the goal of raising funds and generating awareness for the FoodBank. Players who are eliminated in the first eight levels of the event are allowed to re-enter. The winner of the event will receive a seat to the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship, which begins Sept. 18.

Find tournament details at TheBorgata.com.

Guinness Time

The Delaware Park Poker Room wants to set a Guiness World Record. Sponsored by Red Bull, WIP Sports Radio, and Mobius New Media, the poker room is attempting to hold the longest continuous poker tournament. It gets under way August 20 at noon and is supposed to run for over 36 hours.

The $500 buy-in poker tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000 and will be broadcast live online. It has a 350-player cap on it, but alternates will be seated as seats become available. The player who outlasts the field will take home at least $24,000. Not too shabby for a bit of sleep deprivation.

Read the press release for more.

Hey Kid!

How long can you keep “kid” in your nickname? Until your 30? 50? Until you quit feeling like a kid? ESPN set out to answer the question, “How long can Kid Poker be Kid Poker?” Find out what Daniel Negreanu himself, Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, and more had to say about Kid Poker’s nickname.

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