Daily Rewind - WPT Foundation, Glantz on FTP, Everleaf Speak & Yang the Movie
In today's Daily Rewind we learn of WPT's latest charity endeavours, see what Matt Glantz has to say about Full Tilt and finally hear from the Everleaf Network. All that plus Jerry Yang's potential movie and another high stakes round-up.
WPT Goes Benevolent
It’s created a huge number of poker millionaires over the past 10 years and now the World Poker Tour is looking to do the same for charity.
Poker and good causes have long had a fruitful relationship, which is why the WPT have taken the association one step further with the creation of the WPT Foundation.
The organisation has been set-up to provide financial support to a range of non-profit programmes concerned with providing assistance to various environmental, human rights and poverty charities.
The WPT Foundation will run a special series of “philanthropic poker events” aptly titled: WPT Playing for a Better World, and in addition to a portion of the event proceeds going to one of the charities, the WPT will also be donating an additional $100,000.
The events will be a mixture of training sessions, round-robin style poker events and exclusive auctions.
A host of celebrities and poker stars have already pledged their support for the foundation, including: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst.
Glantz’ Blog of Whispers
With little official information being presented by those still operating within the confines of Full Tilt, it’s been left to those with a vested interested in the community to shed some light on the situation. One such purveyor of data is professional poker player Matt Glantz.
In his latest blog he’s put forward his thoughts on the pending Tapie deal and discussed how many of the shareholders he’s talked to are afraid to speak out, “not because they are worried about the deal falling apart” but “because they are worried that if they say anything they will eventually be blamed for the deal falling apart.”
While the blog entry is nothing more than personal opinion – as Glantz emphatically states – his observations are based on talks with inside people and formed through a keen observation of the developments.
Indeed, the picture Glantz paints is a rather bleak one as he suggests that the Tapie deal will ultimately fall through due to the company’s consistent stalling.
Everleaf Breaks Silence
After unexpectedly blocking out US and French players at the start of February, the Everleaf Gaming Network has finally broken their silence on the issue.
In a post on 2+2 by “MintedNeil” - a skin representative - the community was informed that funds had been seized in transit to US players.
However, Everleaf has moved to reassure those affected by offering an apology for their silence and guaranteeing that all funds will be returned.
It seems the seizure only affected American players and not those from France, however, it’s uncertain when or how the funds will be returned.
Following the announcement, Poker UTD’s CEO, Ashley Revell, has pledged to personally reimburse US players who’ve had their funds frozen by Everleaf on his skin. He is also pushing for other operators to do the same.
Yang the Movie
He became one of the WSOP Main Event’s most unlikely winner’s but it seems Jerry Yang’s story might be headed for the big screen.
Despite keeping a low profile on the poker scene since his 2007 win, Yang has written a book about his exploits – All In: From Refugee Camp to Poker Champ - and is now in preliminary talks with a film producer.
It’s uncertain whether the flick would be a comedy, tragedy or documentary but, if it ever happens, it will certainly be a sight worth seeing.
For the lowdown check out Short Stack Radio’s interview with Yang (discussion starts at 2 hour mark).
High Stakes Corner
He suffered a huge bankroll dent recently ($458,000) at the hands of “RaiseOnce” – who many think is Phil Ivey – Vladimir “GVOZDIKA55” Schemelev finally made a slight recovery yesterday.
Thanks to his nemesis, “GVOZDIKA55” recouped $146,000 with the bulk of his winnings coming at the HORSE tables.
Just behind Schemelev in the profit stakes yesterday was UK pro, Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery, who netted $124,000 after grinding the $100/$200 NLHE tables.
In contrast, “0Human0” lost the most money, dropping $135,000 after enduring a tough ride at the $50/$100 and $100/$200 PLO tables.
Daily Signoff
We couldn’t end today’s Daily Rewind without revisiting a classic moment from one of our subject’s finest moments. When you’re running like god, you’re running like god.
