Spain's Gerard Pique Up 140,000 Tournament Chips at World Series of Poker

Gerard Pique would much, much prefer to be preparing to defend Spain's World Cup title this coming Sunday than playing poker in Las Vegas.

But Spain crashed out of the World Cup after just two matches, so to Las Vegas Pique went.

And it's proving to be quite fruitful so far.

Participating in the annual World Series of Poker, on Wednesday night, Pique was already up 140,000 in tournament chips at the tournament.

Germany's Heinz wins World Series of Poker

Now that the 22-year-old German has won the $8.72 million prize at the World Series of Poker, he can steer his life in pretty much whatever direction he wants.

"Honestly I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the money," Heinz said early Wednesday after winning the main event in a marathon session of Texas Hold 'em. "Probably my family is going to get a couple gifts."

Heinz won with an ace high, just nine hands after using the same hand to boost himself from a nearly insurmountable disadvantage against 35-year-old Martin Staszko.

Heinz, of Cologne, Germany, called an all-in bet from Staszko with an ace and a king. Staszko held a seven-10 of clubs.

The board was a five of clubs, deuce of diamonds, nine of spades, jack of hearts and four of diamonds, helping neither player but cementing Heinz's win in the $10,000 buy-in tournament that started in July.

Staskzo won $5.43 million for second place, a nice consolation prize, but it comes without a bracelet — the prize given to WSOP event winners and coveted by all serious card players.
"Have you ever worn it?" Heinz asked 2010 title winner Jonathan Duhamel as Duhamel handed him the bracelet.

"It's got to be the happiest day of my life," Heinz said. "But I can't believe what happened — it's unreal."

Staszko, a chess whiz who once worked for three years at an auto paint shop, said he thought his finish would help poker in his native country.

"I'm never happy if I don't win," Staszko said. "But it's not too bad. Second place is OK."
Staszko, who mainly plays online, said he'll be back to Sin City and the series.
"I'll come back next year," he said. "I hope I can win a bracelet."

Asked before the final table began whether they'd accept second place money right then and forgo a shot at the title, Heinz said yes; Staszko said no.

Now, Heinz is happy they played the game.

Once it was down to the two players, they exchanged the lead nine times over 119 hands. At one point, Staszko had a nearly 4-1 chip edge on Heinz.

But Heinz, who started the day with just over half the chips in play, convinced Staszko to gamble with less-than-ideal hands in an attempt to put the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament away.

"I tried not to lose my nerve," Heinz said. "At some point I was not making a hand. I was getting frustrated, honestly. I just tried to play my game."

Las Vegas poker professional Ben Lamb was eliminated early Tuesday night in four hands. He pushed all-in on the first hand of play with a king-jack, hoping to induce Staszko to fold pocket sevens.

But Staszko called and kept his marginal advantage as the five community cards were dealt.
"I got the sense he wasn't like super strong, but he actually was stronger than I thought he was," Lamb said.

That left Lamb very short on chips, and he pushed all-in again three hands later with a queen-six. This time, Staszko had pocket jacks and eliminated Lamb.

"Every poker player dreams of having the year I had, so I don't want to sit here and have people like cry for me," he said. "I'll be OK."

The 26-year-old Lamb won $4 million for finishing in third place.

Each player must lose all his chips to be eliminated from the $10,000 buy-in tournament, and win all the chips in play to take the crown.

Heinz, who said he had a rough six-month run in poker before the series and was thinking about whether to go back to college, aggressively stormed from seventh in chips to first at the nine-hand final table on Sunday.

He went from 16.4 million in chips to 107.8 million in just more than 7½ hours of play, propelling to a higher finish than at least six of his competitors.

Lamb, an experienced professional who made his mark at the 58-tournament series this year by winning Player of the Year honors, had a large contingent of rowdy supporters and a smaller group of friends and poker experts feeding him information about his play and his opponents.

For the first time, every hand at the final table was playing out nearly live on ESPN, including tense stretches of several minutes during which players mulled difficult decisions.

The play was aired on a 15-minute delay with hole cards revealed once hands ended — enough time to ensure gambling regulators that players couldn't cheat.

The game was played in front of a crowd of hundreds at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino near the Las Vegas Strip, in the same theater where magicians Penn & Teller regularly perform.

"It was just awesome to have so many of your friends and family following you, cheering you," Heinz said.

Hail Caesar! Harrah’s re-brands ahead of IPO

US gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has set the price range for its initial public offering on Nasdaq, in the process dropping the Harrah’s brand as its corporate name.

Harrah’s is set to list 31.25m shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at an estimated price range of $15.00 to $17.00 per share, bringing in estimated proceeds of between $469m and $531m which the company said will be used for general corporate purposes and to fund a near-term pipeline of growth projects.

The company’s shares will be listed under the stock symbol CZR, reflecting the new corporate name Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Caesars is Harrah’s flagship brand which it acquired in 2005 and the corporate name change is designed to leverage the strength of that brand which is seen as more prestigious, particularly in international markets where the company hopes to achieve a substantial part of its future growth.

Harrah’s has identified a number of opportunities which could help drive future growth including the liberalisations and legalisation of casino gambling both abroad and at home, and the continuing legalisation of online gambling.

The company is already present online in the UK under the Caesars and WSOP brands and also in the US with a free-play WSOP poker site.

World Series of Poker Europe main event begins today

The fifth and final event of the fourth annual World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) – the celebrated £10,350 buy-in championship main event – kicks off later today in London as more than three hundred poker players and aficionados from across the world are expected to battle it out over the next six days to win the celebrated gold bracelet and a top prize of some £750,000.

The £10,350 buy-in no limit hold’em main event will begin at 12:00 BST today at the Casino at the Empire in London, with play on the final table taking place on Tuesday. A top prize of some £750,000 is expected to be awarded to the winner, from a total prize pool of more than £3m.

Past winners of the WSOPE main event include inaugural winner Annette Obrestad who made history as the youngest ever gold bracelet winner at the age of 18; U.S pro John Juanda who won after the longest finale in the 41-year history of the WSOP - 19 hours and 10 minutes; while last year’s event was won by another U.S pro Barry Shulman.

For the first time, a same-day internet stream with hole cards will be featured for the final two days of the WSOPE next Monday and Tuesday. Coverage will showcase the 27 players who start on Monday, with action continuing until nine players remain at the final table. Viewing of the final table will begin Tuesday at noon and continue until the event champion is crowned.

ESPN3.com, ESPN’s 24/7 sports broadband network, will stream the event in the U.S, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Brazil.

The coverage will show players’ hole cards with a five-hour delay, also a first. As has been standard with WSOPE coverage, the event will also be carried on television globally, with broadcasts scheduled during the upcoming winter.

“ESPN is committed to delivering the best poker content to fans, and ESPN3 is the ideal format to showcase this great event as it happens,” said Doug White, senior director of programming and acquisitions for ESPN.

Everest Gaming sues Harrah's Entertainment Inc. again

In the gambling world there are little fish and big fish and every size in between and that goes for not only the players but the casino operators too. A not so small online poker operation has accused the really big Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. of infringing on it's trademark.

A dispute between Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.’s World Series of Poker and Everest Poker, has been stepped up a notch with Everest actually filing another law suit against Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.

Ultra Internet Media S.A. the parent company of Everest Poker brought legal teams in back in April, bringing Harrah's into the federal court in Las Vegas, claiming Harrah’s breached a sponsorship agreement. Everest complained in that lawsuit that during broadcasts of the poker tournament in France by ESPN affiliate television network RTL9, the Everest Poker image was electronically replaced with the “virtual signage” of competitor Full Tilt Poker’s logo.
Harrah’s denied it violated the sponsorship deal and filed its own suit against Everest, charging breach of contract as well as other claims.

In the latest legal action by Everest Gaming Ltd., who claims ownership of the Everest Poker trademarks, contended that Harrah’s subsidiary Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment Inc. continues to use Everest trademarks during the 2010 World Series of Poker. The lawsuit maintains that, "The felt on the poker tables being used for the 2010 World Series of Poker features at least one of Everest’s Everest Poker logo trademarks," and "The Everest Poker trademarks also are on display at the Rio as large banners or wall posters, on the ‘inner rung’ of certain tables used for the 2010 World Series of Poker and on television monitors in the casino displaying the schedule of events." Everest Gaming, says in the litigation that, "the defendants are refusing to remove the trademarks in an effort to try to force payment by Everest for defendant’s use of such marks, and in order to bolster the legitimacy of the World Series of Poker in the minds of tournament participants, fans and the viewing public." Thus far Harrah's has not responded to the latest legal assault.

Everest Poker sues World Series of Poker

According to the Las Vegas Sun, Ultra Internet Media, which owns the Everest Poker brand, filed a lawsuit in a Las Vegas federal court last week against Harrah's Entertainment, which owns the World Series of Poker.

Ultra Internet Media agreed on a three-year, $22.5 million on-felt sponsorship deal to include the 2008, 2009 and 2010 WSOP. The Everest Poker logo was to appear prominently on the felt of every table, including all television tables. UIM alleges that repeatedly, and as recently as Feb 14, 2010, a French television affiliate, RTL9 not only failed to display the Everest logo but instead featured Full Tilt Poker's logo, an obvious competitor for the French online poker operator, which noted that it does not generate any gaming revenue in the United States.

It seems that the transgression has been a recurring problem and that Harrah's, ESPN and UIM met in February of 2009 to discuss the issue. According to the the suit "Harrah’s and ESPN agreed to control their affiliate, RTL9, and require RTL9 to cease causing violations of the agreement during its broadcasts and transmissions into France."

The lawsuit claims that UIM has paid the full amounts of the deal for 2008 ($6.2 million) and 2009 ($7.9 million) but has no intention of continuing with the agreement in 2010, and has notified Harrah's of its decision to pull out of the 2010 WSOP, which according to the original deal would cost UIM $8.4 million.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, "Seth Palansky, a spokesman for Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment Inc. and Harrah’s World Series of Poker, on Friday said the company had not been served with the lawsuit and would have no immediate comment on the allegations."