ONLINE POKER ACES IN INTERNET SPAT
2011-03-16
Freidman claims Bonomo and Haxton are account sharing
Top internet poker pros have been engaged in some bitter exchanges this week, with Prahlad Friedman using Twitter to warn that through personal experience he is of the opinion that Isaac Haxton and Justin Bonomo have been sharing and switching accounts to the detriment of their opponents for some time.
Bonomo was quick to react, using the social media site to characterise the accusation as "completely baseless' and suggesting that Twitter was not the place to debate the issue.
He followed that up with a forceful posting on the poker forum twoplustwo, writing:
"So here is where we are now: Prahlad Friedman has publicly slandered both myself and Isaac Haxton. Clearly he thinks I'm a terrible poker player that needs Isaac's help to beat him.
"Above I have issued a challenge. Prahlad must either accept this challenge, or give both of us a public apology.
"I swear I will go very far out of my way to assure Prahlad that no one is assisting my play. We can play under his terms, and his conditions; whatever makes him feel comfortable (within reason of course).
"I do not plan on responding to specific questions in this thread. For obvious reasons I would find it quite disadvantageous to have to outline how Isaac and I play, and how to tell us apart. I have already given a lot more information in this post than I feel I should ever need to.
"Furthermore, I am currently on vacation with my girlfriend and plan on enjoying it. However, if Prah decides to take me up on my offer, I promise to make myself available in a very short period of time.
"Thank you very much to those that have realized Prah has absolutely no basis for these accusations."
Is another poker Challenge shaping up here? Friedman's reaction the Bonomo's gauntlet will be interesting...and Haxton has yet to say his piece.
UBOC ONLINE POKER TOURNEY SCHEDULE RELEASED2010-12-2029 events and $5 million in guaranteed prizepools up for grabs next month
The Cereus online poker network has released its schedule for the sixth UB.com (formerly UltimateBet) Online Championship, better known as UBOC, showcasing a total of 29 events supported by over $5 million in guaranteed prize pools.
The schedule launches on January 16, 2011 and runs through to January 30, climaxing in a $1 050 buy-in NLHE Monster Stack competition.
The events cater for a wide diversity of poker genres, so there will be something for most players in the current championship, which will be complemented with a concurrent Mini UBOC offering a similar schedule of events, but with buy-ins only ten percent that of its big brother.
Full details are available on the UB.com website.
MORE PRESSURE IN CYPRUS (Update)
Local police continue with festive season blitz
The police in Cyprus have upped the anti-online gambling pressure in a pre-festive season blitz that has included raids on two online gambling centres on the Mediterranean island.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos revealed that premises in the Engomi and Lakatamia areas in Nicosia had been targeted as part of an intensified campaign to fight illegal gambling over the Christmas period.
“The operations will be intensified in view of the holidays and will cover all of the districts, with some of the operations taking place in premises where investigations have already taken place,” he said, reporting that in one night raid police teams seized five outside cameras, one computer used for storing CCTV footage, one laptop, 27 computer towers, three cheques and cash. Eight people were detained, including the owner and the manager.
He did not supply names or companies involved.
Katsounotos claimed that the raid in Lakatamia revealed that illegal betting was taking place on the premises, and that police raiders had found computers that transformed into gaming machines. From the Lakatamia premises 14 computer towers were confiscated as well as a total of Euro 2,000 in cash and cheques, along with other evidence.
According to official estimates, the annual turnover of online gambling in Cyprus is Euro 2.5 billion (see previous InfoPowa reports). The government has drafted laws banning the pastime, which have been submitted to the European Commission for approval. A response is expected soon.
SAN DIEGO DEALER WINS WSOP PLAYER'S EVENT2010-05-31$71 424 and the first 2010 bracelet picked up by Hoai Pham
The first 2010 World Series of Poker bracelet has been handed to San Diego dealer Hoai Pham, who won the $500 buy-in Casino Employees event over the weekend.
Pham bested an entry field of 721 players (see previous InfoPowa report) to take the honours. By Day 2 the field had been whittled down to 52, and the intense attrition rate continued into the final table, where Pham ultimately confronted second placed Arthur Vea in the heads up. Pham took 13 hands to dominate and then beat his last opponent, leaving Vea with a runner up consolation prize of $44 079,
“This is magical. I am very happy. I’m a poker dealer and the whole table was fun,” said Pham, who added that he had informed his boss that he was going to take a vacation.
The final entry numbers for the second of the 2010 events - the $1 000 buy-in NLHE - was disappointingly low, failing to beat the field attracted to last year's equivalent, which reached 6 012. With 4 345 entrants, the 2010 field fell well short, a decline attributed to the still weak US economy or the Memorial holiday weekend timing. The remaining five $1 000 NHLE tourneys will be watched carefully to see if the lower registration trend persists.
The attrition rate was high as the tournament progressed, with Saturday's Day 1a entries dropping to 276, and as InfoPowa went to press early morning Monday Vegas time, Day 1b had 280 players still in the hunt, with one more level to play before bagging up.
Jon "FatalError" Aguiar and Terrence Chan are among the leaders, and the cashes should extend right down to the 441 spot, so the excitement is a-building.
The survivors from Day 1a and Day 1b will be starting again at Level 11 when Day 2 action begins.
The biggest gathering of railbirds was understandably watching the $50 000 buy-in mixed game Player's Championship, which saw 116 top players start late Friday afternoon and at press time had reached level 16 in the early hours of Monday morning, with 31 survivors going after the over $1.5 million winner's prize.
The top ten leader board positions and their chip counts looked like this:
Alexander Kostritsyn - 1.6 million
David Oppenheim - 1.1 million
Mikael Thuritz - 1 million
Vladimir Schmelev - 820,000
Nick Schulman - 820,000
Lyle Berman - 810,000
Erik Sagstrom - 730,000
James Van Alstyne - 730,000
Michael Mizrachi - 720,000
Andy Bloch - 688,000
Big names have been eliminated, including Eugene Katchalov, Jeffrey Lisandro, Justin "BoostedJ" Smith, Scott Clements, Phil Ivey, last years winner of the event David Bach, and Doyle Brunson, taken out well into the tourney by Andy Bloch.
Play was scheduled to continue to 3am Monday Vegas time, or about three further levels.
The momentum at WSOP continued with the start Sunday afternoon of the $1 500 buy-in Omaha hi-lo event.
ONLINE POKER PLAYER HELPS THE HOMELESS2009-12-23'Leatherass' turns a heart attack to good advantage
The Portland Mercury blog carries an interesting video interview with a local online poker player with a heart of gold this week - he uses a significant chunk of his online winnings to prepay six months of rent for currently homeless families.
Dusty 'Leatherass' Schmidt (28) is a well known high stakes grinder (and a mean golfer to boot) who was one of the early PokerStars Supernova Elites and is an instructor at StoxPoker. His bread and butter poker comes from middle stakes cash games in 5/10 and 10/20 with some 25/50 and very occasionally 50/100 action when the games are good.
Interviewed in a local park, where he used his laptop to play several online poker tables simultaneously, Schmidt explaining that he became obsessed with Internet poker after a heart attack four years ago left him bedridden for months.
Overcome with medical bills, Schmidt bet his last $1 000 on a hand and won back not only enough money to cover his bills, but enough to make a good living, too.
He told the Portland Mercury reporter that in the last three years, he has made over $1 million a year on Internet poker (and won an Aston Martin).
This (December) month, he decided to donate all of his December winnings to Transitions Project, a Portland homeless non-profit organisation. With the $20 000 he has won so far, Schmidt plans to help support three families by prepaying their rent.