May 22 2012, Donnie Peters

The $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship continued with play on Tuesday with Day 4 action. The clock was stopped at the end of Level 18 and play was halted for the night with just 19 players remaining. Leading the way was Hafiz Khan with 1.966 million in chips. Trailing Khan in second place was Marvin Rettenmaier with 1.87 million.

When the day began, 44 players returned to action. As things progressed, one by one, players started to hit the rail. Of those eliminated early on in the day were Joseph Elpayaa, Matt Waxman, David Chiu, David “Doc” Sands, Hoyt Corkins and JP Kelly. Falling after that were David Steicke in 27th place, Sam Trickett in 25th place and start-of-the-day chip leader Curt Kohlberg in 24th place.

Finishing in 23rd place was Nicolas Fraioli after he was sent home by Khan. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Khan opened to 22,000 from under the gun during Level 17 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000/1,000. Play moved over to Fraioli and he shoved his last 66,000 into the middle. When action folded back to Khan, he made the call holding the . Fraioli tabled the . The flop, turn and river ran out to give Khan a winning flush and eliminate Fraioli.

The last two eliminations of the day belonged to two former WPT champions, Antonio Esfandiari (21st) and Jonathan Little (20th). Both of them were knocked out by Day 2 chip leader Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

It was reported by the WPT Live Updates Team that Mizrachi scored both knockouts in the last level of the day with the blinds at 6,000/12,000/2,000. Esfandiari was the shortest stack of the three and was all in with . Little had the second shortest stack and was all in with . Mizrachi held and covered both players. Although Mizrachi went into the three-way all-in battle with the worst of it, he finished with the best hand by catching a queen on the turn to win the pot. From there, Mizrachi went on to end the day with 1.168 million in chips.

Other players still remaining are Steve O’Dwyer, Barry Shulman, Tom McCormick and Farzad Bonyadi.

WPT World Championship Day 4 Top 10 Chip Counts

Although he has already been eliminated from this event, Will “The Thrill” Failla still has a sweat. As things currently stand, Failla leads the WPT Season X Player of the Year race with 2,050 points (see right). Four of the 19 remaining players still have a chance at overtaking Failla for the POY title and they are Joe Serock, Moon Kim, Matt Juttelstad and Rinat Bogdanov.

Serock has the best shot at overtaking Failla. All he needs to do is place 15th or better in this season-ending WPT Championship event to take the top spot. Currently, Serock sits in second place with 1,800 points. Kim must finish in fifth place or better to become number one while Juttelstad and Bogdanov must both win the event. This makes things a bit more interesting going into Day 5.

Speaking of Day 5, the action will kick off with the cards in the air at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) on Wednesday. The plan for the day is to once again play five 90-minute levels before calling it quits. The first bit of the day is set to be extremely tense as a cash and $40,266 in prize money lurks just one spot away. You can be sure to find the daily recap right here on PokerNews.

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*Lead photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth at WorldPokerTour.com

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May 21 2012, Brett Collson

We’re only six days away from the exciting start of the 2012 World Series of Poker, but there’s still plenty going on around the world of poker. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you another record for PokerStars, bwin.party settling a back tax issue with Spain, and more.

In Case You Missed It

The $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship kicked off on Saturday. After two days of play, Michael Mizrachi led the way.

How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who took down the biggest score? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.

Which rookies should you be keeping an eye on at this summer’s WSOP? We’re here to tell you. In the latest edition of the 2012 WSOP Rookie Roundup, we take a look at Dominik Nitsche.

The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event kicked off on Sunday. For a close look at the action, check out our Day 15 SCOOP recap.

Looking for photos to use during the the entire World Series of Poker? PokerNews is the Official Photographer of the WSOP for the second straight year.

How has Terrence Chan’s life changed since he started fighting professionally? Find out that and more in the latest edition of Seat Open.

Did you miss Sunday’s World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.

Bwin.Party Pays Off Back Taxes in Spain

Online gaming giant bwin.party has announced that it will comply with Spain’s demand for back taxes in order to receive an online gambling license in the new regulated market set to open next month.

The company released a report on Monday stating that it has agreed to pay up to “33.6 million to the Spanish tax authority to settle up for two laws that previously were not applied to offshore online gaming. After completing a tax self-assessment, bwin.party determined it was liable for “25.6m in tax payments and “8 million in interest and surcharges.

As reported by PokerNews last week, the Spanish tax ministry is seeking retroactive taxes from license applicants that offered online betting to Spanish customers since 2008. Bwin.party was one of around 60 companies that reportedly applied for a Spanish license and was facing one of the largest back tax figures among the applicants.

“Together with a number of other operators we have today completed a tax self-assessment in accordance with the Spanish Tax Authority’s requirements and as a result are making a payment of “25.6m plus surcharges and interest of up to “8m,” the company said in Monday’s report. “Having taken these steps, we believe we have now fulfilled all requirements and look forward to receiving our license and entering the Spanish market.”

The first Spanish gaming licenses are expected to be issued early next month. PokerStars, 888, William Hill, Betfair and Ladbrokes are among the operators interested in the new market. PokerStars is rumored to owe as much as “200 million in back taxes.

Once approved for a license, operators can begin offering online gambling services under a “dot-es” domain.

Read the full report at bwinparty.com.

PokerStars Breaks More Records

Once again, PokerStars has bested its own record for awesomeness.

The world’s leading online poker site announced Monday that the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has set a new milestone as the richest online poker tournament series ever. When the final two SCOOP events reach their conclusion on Monday, more than $65 million will have been paid out across 40 events (120 tournaments). The previous record of $64,230,010 was set during the 2010 SCOOP.

The 2012 SCOOP also bested the previous record for highest participation ever in a PokerStars ‘Championship of Online Poker’ series with a total of 526,154 entries, easily exceeding the previous record of 461,936 in the 2010 SCOOP. The all-time record holder for highest participation is the PokerStars MicroMillions series, which brought in 1,294,883 entries during its inaugural festival in March.

The 2012 SCOOP marks are astonishing considering PokerStars lost its biggest market when it was forced to exit the U.S. in April 2011. Read more about the SCOOP statistics at PokerStars.com.

Judge Delays Black Friday Defendant Sentence

According to Pokerati.com, the sentencing for Black Friday principal Brent Buckley has hit a snag because of a court order filed by District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

Buckley, the co-founder of Absolute Poker who was indicted by the Department of Justice on April 15, 2011, pleaded guilty last December to violation of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and bank fraud. Under the plea agreement, Buckley was expected to spend up to 18 months behind bars, well below the maximum prison sentence of 30 years he faced for the original charges.

Kaplan, however, has indicated that the court will consider taking harsher action against Beckley on the ground of “aggravating circumstance.” Kaplan’s order states that Buckley “deliberately and unlawfully conspired to circumvent, and circumvented, governing laws of the United States in order to conduct or facilitate an unlawful business or businesses involving billions of dollars from which those businesses gained many millions of dollars.”

Buckley’s sentencing hearing was scheduled for Monday but has been pushed back to June 28. Read Pokerati.com for more.

Richard Evans WIns UKIPT Dublin

A winner has been determined at the “700+”70 PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Dublin Main Event. After five days of work, Richard Evans outlasted a field of 597 players at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin to win his first UKIPT crown and a top prize of “75,500.

Graeme Crozier entered the final table with the chip lead, but the U.K. amateur was unable to parlay his big stack into a title. Crozier busted in sixth place when his finished second best to the of Stephen McGrath after the chips went in on a flop.

Padraig O’Neill and Vincent Buis were the next to hit the rail, respectively, leaving Seamus Birt, McGrath and Evans three-handed. The men decided on a three-way chop, with each getting “60,000 and the winner receiving an additional “15,500. Evans disposed of Birt a short while later, leaving him heads up against McGrath for the title.

On the final hand of the match, McGrath limped from the small blind and Evans checked to see a flop of . Evans check-called a 300,000 bet and the hit the turn. Evan checked again, and McGrath moved all-in for 1,350,000. Evans called instantly with for top paid and an open-ender, which was ahead of McGrath’s for a second pair, a flush draw and a gutshot. The landed on the river, giving Evans the title and the top prize of “75,500.

For detailed updates from UKIPT Dublin Main Event final table, visit the PokerStars Blog.

Mad Marvin Joins PartyPoker

Well, it didn’t take Marvin Rettenmaier long to find a new home. Just weeks after parting ways with Titan Poker, the man known as “Mad Marvin” became the newest member of Team PartyPoker during the World Poker Tour World Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Rettenmaier has emerged into one of Europe’s biggest poker stars after cashing for nearly $1.7 million in live tournaments since 2009. The 25-year-old joins Tony G, Mike Sexton, Kara Scott and fellow German Bodo Sbrzesny on PartyPoker’s short roster of sponsored pros.

“It is great to have Marvin on board. I have always said he is a player of true character,” Tony G said about his new teammate. “He has the Germanic mathematical game and he has “heart, he is winning, he gets drunk, he loses his passport –he is also running good.”

For more, read our story at PokerNews.com.

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