PokerWorks

Splashing the Pot captures the foam created by the disturbance and turbulence of action, action, action, and is filled with tidbits above and beyond the victories and beats and adds a little spice to the game of poker.

China Plans Online Gambling Crackdown

For many years many members of the poker community have wondered when and if China would be the cause of the next “big boom” in poker.  In a country that has over 1.3 billion people, the influx of people playing poker from China would have been a more than welcomed one, but it seems that no “big boom” will be coming from China any time soon.  
The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has started a campaign to crackdown on online gambling in China.  A statement posted on their website on February 9th stated the campaign will "concentrate on investigating major and important cases of online gambling, knock out domestic and foreign groups that organize online gambling, and severely punish the criminal elements"

The Chinese government has also cut down on a number of other online uses, including banning the use of YouTube in March 2009.  Last summer the country also banned Facebook and Twitter.  Gambling has been banned in China since it became a communist country in 1949.

Season Six of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” Debut’s, Major Change Noticed
 
If you have been a fan of Game Show Network’s “High Stakes Poker” you were happy to see season six return on February 14.  Another thing many of you were probably happy to see is something that was missing: the prop bets.

During previous seasons of “High Stakes Poker” it was made pretty clear that the poker players were not only playing cards for millions of dollars, but they had thousands more on a variety of prop bets that were listed on a piece of paper, which also got a lot of screen time.  Analyst (and part-time player) Gabe Kaplan began expressing his dislike of the prop bet sheet, stating many times they thought the competitors were there to play poker.  The show, after all, is called “High Stakes Poker,” not “High Stakes Prop Bets.”  This year the producers took notice, banning the talk of prop-bet talk while betting, to the joy of many.
 
Another notable change was the departure of AJ Benza, who co-hosted with Kaplan for the first 5 seasons.  Benza was replaced by Kara Scott, who had worked as a commentator for a number of years in Europe before accepting this role.

Next week’s episode of “High Stakes Poker” takes place February 21st at 8:00 p.m. ET.   If you do not have GSN, you can view all of the episodes on GSN’s YouTube channel (unless you are located in China, of course).

Phil Laak Cruising at Party Poker Premier League IV, EPT Copenhagen Main Event Kicks Off Tuesday

The Party Poker Premier League IV, from the M Casino in Las Vegas, is officially in full swing.  The big winner of the first couple of days has been Phil Laak.  Laak won the first heat on the first day, taking down JC Tran in heads-up action.  Laak repeated the feat on the second day, this time defeating Roland De Wolfe in heads-up play.  For each win Laak received $32,000 and took a commanding lead in the standings.

David Benyamine made up a good chunk of ground when he took down Heat Three, and in the process earned himself $32,000.  As of this writing the fourth heat is down to four players.  Among the four players remaining are Laak and Benyamine.  While the standings are set to change upon the fourth heat finishing, here is what they looked like after the third one:

1. Phil Laak – 32 points
2. David Benyamine - 24 points
3. JC Tran – 17 points
4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 16 points
5. Giovanni Safina - 15 points
6. Roland De Wolfe – 14 points
T-7. Vanessa Rousso – 8 points
T-7. Ian Frazer – 8 points
9. Phil Hellmuth - 6 points
T-10. Luke Schwartz – 4 points
T-10. Daniel Negreanu – 4 points
12. Tony G - 2 points

The top four point finishers will be promised seats in the final 6-handed table, with a prize pool of $900,000.  The next four finishers (5-8) will play a four-person heads up tournament to determine the final two-spots at the final table.

A half a world away the European Poker Tour’s Copenhagen Main Event is just about ready to get going.  Hometown heroes looking to do their fellow Danes proud include 2008 WSOP Main Event Champions Peter Eastgate and Johnny Lodden. 

Clonie Gowen’s $40 Million Lawsuit Against Full Tilt Dismissed

In November 2008 Gowen launched a lawsuit against Full Tilt poker claiming the online poker room owed her $40 million dollars.  Gowen attempted to sue because she claimed she was a 1% owner of Full Tilt Poker, while Full Tilt says she wasn’t.  The $40 million dollars she was suing for was her guess on what the company had owed her.  

Gowen claimed that she accepted a deal with Full Tilt at the Golden Nugget in 2004.  In 2007 when “Team Full Tilt” members were given a very generous distribution check, Gowen was left empty handed.  When she asked Full Tilt for her payment, she was denied.  Apparently, she was offered a settlement of sorts, of $250,000, by “Team Full Tilt” member Howard Lederer, which she rejected.

Despite over a year of being in court, the end result for the case being thrown out was a pretty simple one: She didn’t have anything in writing.  What a tough way to part with $40 million.  A full report can be found here:

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