Poker News

Poker legend Doyle Brunson and Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio have teamed up to promote an environmental documentary entitled The 11th Hour

WORLD SERIES OF POKER EUROPE DEBUTS TO STARSTUDDED FIELDS

Greetings from Leicester Square in London, where the Inaugural World Series of Poker Europe is in full swing. The firstever WSOP bracelet awarded outside Las Vegas went to Thomas Bihl, who beat maybe the toughest tournament field ever assembled, including besting Jennifer Harman in a marathon heads up battle in the first event, a $5,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. tournament.

The main event is in full swing now, spread across three casinos here in London, the host casino The Empire, the posh Fifty, and The Sportsman. Top players have come in from all over the world to battle for the ? 1,000,000 (just over $2,000,000 US Dollars) first prize, and to be the answer to the trivia question “Who won the first main event bracelet ever awarded outside the U.S.?”

GAZES TOP WOMAN AT ?LADIES NIGHT’

Congrats to Kristy Gazes, who took down the World Poker Tour Ladies Night event, beating defending champ J.J. Liu, as well as Linda Johnson, Pam Brunson, Melissa Hayden, and Mimi Tran. Gazes wins a freeroll into the WPT $25,000 Championship at Bellagio in 2008. This is Gazes second win on TV, her first coming last year at the FullTiltPoker.net Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, an event featuring many of the top Full Tilt pros. Although only a part time player now, Gazes has a major final table this year at the Aussie Millions, and at one point had a streak of cashing in six or seven $10,000 buy-in events in a row.

GUS HANSEN LAUNCHES “THE PLAYR” FOR DANISH HOPEFULS

Full Tilt pro Gus Hansen has many wins under his belt, and aims to bring his knowledge to a nation of poker hungry fans. The “Great Dane” has launched a new online poker school called theplayr. com. While it appears the website address may need to buy a vowel, Hansen will have plenty of instruction and content for Danish poker hopefuls within the site. The site includes articles and video tutorials starring Hansen, and also will follow Hansen’s poker exploits at tournaments, the staff having a few people here at WSOP Europe. The site is Danish-only site at present, but plans for an English-language version are in the works.

TEXAS DOLLY, LEONARDO DICAPRIO JOIN FORCES FOR GLOBAL WARMING AWARENESS FILM

Poker legend Doyle Brunson and Titanic and Gangs of New York star Leonardo DiCaprio have teamed up to promote an environmental documentary entitled The 11th Hour. The Warner Brothers-distributed film, features DiCaprio and includes commentary from famed physicist Stephen Hawking, among others. While the movie may have the same theme as former Vice- President Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, the presentation is vastly different. On the topic of the challenges our planet faces, Brunson had this to say-”We don’t know how things are in your life, but no matter what’s going on, this planet has got us beat. We’ve made it sick, and it, in turn, is sick and tired of us.”

GRACZ, BELL NABBED IN NORTH CAROLINA POKER RAID

The trend of local authorities kicking in the door of poker games continues, and this time two familiar faces were caught in the net. WPT and WSOP winner Michael Gracz, along with WPT and WSOP final tablist Chris Bell were busted in a recent poker raid near their hometown of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Gracz was cited for participating in a game of chance, a misdemeanor. Bell, however, was among those listed in the police filings as being connected to the operation of the facility and may face more serious charges.

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