07 Feb 12

Daily Rewind: Blom's PCA Report, RIP Nikolay Evdakov, EPT Monte Carlo Returns

Today's Rewind reports on the sad death of Russian poker player Nikolay Evdakov. Viktor Blom recaps his maiden tournament win at the PCA and we hear that the EPT Grand Final will be returning to Monte Carlo this year.

The Daily Rewind is your one-stop-shop for a sharp review of the day in poker. Join us here for a mix of the latest news and a more irreverent insight into the poker world. Today we discovered the following topics for you:

RIP Nikolay Evdakov

Sad news reaches us today concerning the death of Russian poker player Nikolay Evdakov at the young age of 47.

Evdakov was a prominent figure in the Russian poker world, having founded the CGM.ru forums. He made headlines at the 2008 WSOP where he set the record for most cashes in one series having cashed 10 times.

His widow Nataliya posted the news of his passing on the CGM forums, announcing that his funeral will be held tomorrow in Moscow. RIP Nikolay.

Nikolay Evdakov dies at age 47

EPT Final returns to Monte Carlo

PokerStars announced this week that the 2012 EPT Grand Final will be returning to its spiritual home Monte Carlo after a one year hiatus in Madrid.

The Grand Final will be held between the 23rd April - 1st May 2012.

In addition to the €10,000 Main Event, there will also be a €100,000 Super High Roller event on the 23rd April which should attract most of poker's elite to Europe's most expensive playground.

Vik-torious at the PCA

This week Swedish Team PokerStars Pro and high stakes afficionado Viktor Blom posted a rare blog over at PokerStars reminiscing over his maiden tournament victory at the PCA.

Blom took down the PCA Super High Roller in January, securing a $1.25m payday while simulataneously proving the critics wrong.

Many had labelled Blom as dead money in poker tournaments due to an overly aggressive nature and lack of patience, but boy did he prove them wrong as he romped to victory in one of the toughest tournament fields you could ever assemble.

Whether "Isildur1" will be a regular winner in the tournament circle is yet to be seen, but it's clear that when Blom plays, regardless of the stakes or game, people watch.

Viktor wins numerous buy-ins at the PCA

High stakes corner

Yesterday's online action saw a return to the online felt for Viktor Blom; a winning day quickly turned into a losing one after Blom squared up with "Berndsen12" in an intense $100/$200 PLO battle.

"Berndsen12" was comfortably the day's biggest winner, banking a chunky $314,718 for the past 24 hours while "Isildur1" ended up stuck for just over $80,000 according to HighStakesDB.

It was a black mark on an otherwise excellent month for PokerStrategy Black Member

mTw-DaviN who was the day's biggest loser, dropping $167,420.

Meanwhile, over in Macau, the Gus Hansen rollercoaster continues. Gus blogs today that he managed to drag "in a 13.5Mill pot (USD$ 1.74m)at the end of the session" after calling a $4.2m bet on a paired flushing board (without a flush or boat one can assume).

Daily Signoff

Today we report on some fairly expensive card-playing artwork.

It's not often that the words 'poker' and 'Post-Impressionist masterpiece' are uttered in the same sentence, but Vanity Fair this week announced that Paul Cezanne's painting, The Card Players has shattered records after being purchased by the nation of Qatar for over $250 million.

In doing so, The Card Players has fetched the "highest price ever paid for a work of art." Not bad for a picture of two blokes playing poker...