May 8th-11th is the the $250,000 guaranteed opening event of the Delaware Park Poker Classic at Delaware Park in Wilmington.   Play begins on Wednesday, May 8th at 11am (Day 1a) and Thursday, May 9th at 11am (Day 1b). Players will begin with $40,000 in chips.  You won't find many tournaments that offer this kind of a payout for such a small investment.
Visit the Delaware Park site for more information on the 2013 Delaware Park Poker Classic and this PDF detailing the event format.

by Debbie Burkhead

The $375,000 Guarantee is Back! The Grand Sierra’s Pot of Gold Poker Spring Tournament is scheduled for May 9-19. The first of 28 events kicks off with a $50,000 guarantee on May 9. There are two flights scheduled, 1A starts at 12 pm and 1B at 5 pm, each flight’s buy-in is $230. All noon events are no-limit hold’em and the 4 pm and 7 pm events are various games; no-limit hold’em, pot-limit triple chance, Omaha high/low, HORSE, pot-limit 8 or better, and super satellites. The main event is scheduled for May 17 with a $1,100 buy-in and a whopping $150,000 guarantee. If you are planning to attend, be sure to take advantage of the Early Bird room rate of $20 per night weekdays and $40 per night on weekends. See their ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper for a complete list of events and the code for the early bird room rate [Read the PDF].

 Poker at the Golden Nugget. Every Sunday morning: 5,000 guarantee minimum prize pool for $100 buy-in located in the poker room. Great chips and structure and you’re done by dinner time; nice way to re-coup your weekend. Reserve a seat by calling the poker room at 702-386-8383. Coming this June is the Grand Poker Series 2013-- over 300 tournaments in 5 weeks (June 1- July 4)! See their ad in this issue for a complete schedule[Read the PDF].

By Shari Geller
 
In an unsealed indictment filed in the US District Court for the Second District of New York, a notorious Russian businessman is alleged to be the ringleader of a massive criminal enterprise involving sports betting and illegal poker games that brought in some $50 million.  Poker pros Abe Mosseri, Bill Edler, Peter Feldman, Joe Mancuso, John Hanson, and Justin Smith were named in three of the twenty-seven counts of the 84-page indictment that reads like a movie script -- something like Rounders meets The Godfather.  But the star of this real-life crime drama is defendant Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, most notable for having been charged with, but ultimately never tried for, allegedly attempting to bribe figure skating judges at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City

By Shari Geller
 
Today was already a newsworthy day for the poker community.  April 15, 2013 marks the two-year anniversary of Black Friday, a day when online poker was taken away from U.S. players.  It was also the day that former Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar was sentenced, pursuant to a plea agreement, to time served and the forfeiture of assets in the amount of some $40 million for fraud, money laundering and violation of federal gaming laws.  Elsewhere, a popular player won a gold bracelet in the first ever WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event.
 

by Wendeen H. Eolis

BITAR BULLETIN

In a video-link proceeding, from a California courtrooom, Ray Bitar, a founder of Full Tilt Poker, was sentenced today by Chief Judge of the US District Court of New York, Loretta Preska, to time served and an estimated forfeiture of $40,000,000.

 In keeping with the unexpectedly compassionate deal reached between Government Prosecutors and Bitar's counsel, Jack Baughman of Paul Weiss et al, Ray Bitar is now positioned to seek the heart transplant required to save his life.

 Bitar was previously represented by Attorney Jeff Ifrah. Ifrah is now the center of a malpractice lawsuit brought by Chad Elie, a payment processor for Full Tilt Poker  who pled guilty in the Black Friday case against him. Elie is now serving a five month prison sentence. 

By Shari Geller

And that's a wrap.  The first ever World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) came to a close after midnight local time on Tuesday, April 16th.  The Crown Casino in Melbourne held the inaugural expansion of the WSOP to the land down under with five bracelet events, one high roller non-bracelet event, and, at its conclusion, the end of a nearly five-year bracelet drought for one of poker's most famous faces.

In order to make quality decisions in poker and in life, you need to understand the word “important.” And I’m not talking about its definition.

 You already know that. Exactly what am I talking about, then? Well, that’s the topic of today’s selfinterview.

Question 1: So, what is it about the word “important” that you think I don’t understand?

 Let me answer by throwing a couple of questions right back at you. Let’s say I told you to walk to the end of a hallway. Then you must turn either left and enter a room or right and exit to the patio. Waiting for you – in the room and on the patio – will be a poker hand. If you choose the higher-ranking hand, you win a billion dollars. If you choose the lower ranking one, you win nothing.

 So, your questions are: If I give you 10 hours to make a decision, how much time will you spend deciding; and how important is this decision?

Question 2: Clearly you’re giving me an extreme example of decision making. Let’s see. Well, I’d probably take the whole 10 hours. And, obviously, the decision would be incredibly important – the most important one of my life. So, how did I do?

By Shari Geller
 
Phil Ivey added to his WSOP bracelet collection with a ninth win at the inaugural World Series of Poker - Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) this week in Melbourne, Australia.  But he was not the only US player who found gold on the other side of the globe.  Following on the heels of the WSOP's successful expansion into Europe, the WSOP APAC is awarding bracelets in five different events held at the Crown Casino Melbourne. 
 
The first bracelet event, a No Limit Hold'em $1,000 buy-in, five-day event, was won by American Bryan Piccioli, who defeated Aussie Jonathan Karamalikis for the $211,575 top prize.  It was a tough final table, boasting 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel and 2012 5th place finisher Jeremy Ausmus, who finished 4th and 5th respectively.
 

The Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) qualifying tournament at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has concluded. The top winner from the main event – Michael McNeil of Wheeling, West Virginia, will be heading to Las Vegas and the M Resort to compete in the $500,000 guaranteed HPO Championship on June 28-30. McNeil won $62,857, including the $2,500 seat at the HPO championship. He beat 143 competitors in the $1,620 buy-in event which was held March 29-31.

The 23rd Annual Winnin’ o’ the Green Tournament Series Main Event began on April 30th, 2013, with three Day 1 re-entry days. Participants were able to register and/or re-enter (same day or any subsequent Day 1) for the first 6 levels beetween March 30th through April 1st, for a chance to win the $150K Guaranteed prize pool. Each player received 30,000 in tournament chips for the price of $345.00.

 The deepstack No Limit Hold’em main event attracted 1,722 entries, catapulting the guaranteed $150k prize pool to, $371,607. On Tuesday, April 3rd at 6:00 p.m., 151 semi-finalists returned to the Event Center, in the money, to play down to a winner. All had hopes of laying claim to the $70,097 first place prize.