Daily Rewind: Pro in Murder Trial, EPL Analysis & Mickey Petersen Speaks
In today's Daily Rewind we find out about a poker pro on trial for murder, see why the EPL's demise isn't poker's loss and hear from the latest EPT champion.
Poker Pro Facing Murder Trial
It’s the poker story that hit the headlines back in 2009 and after almost 3 years of waiting the fate of alleged poker murderer Marcus Bebb-Jones is set to be decided next week.
The former UK tournament regular has spent 12 months in a Colorado prison and took part in the first of a series of legal proceedings recently.
Bebb-Jones is accused of murdering his ex-wife Sabrina back in 1997 and disposing of her body in a Colorado Desert. Soon after the incident Marcus fled to Vegas with his 3 year old son and reportedly blew vast amounts on drugs, gambling and prostitutes before attempting to take his own life.
He then returned to the UK and began playing in some high profile TV events and even managed to take down a GUKPT title for £90,000 ($184,370).
Bebb-Jones will learn whether he will face a full murder trial on Thursday. One thing that is already known though is that he won’t face the standard death penalty common in the state of Colorado.
$6 Million Sunday
To celebrate the 6th anniversary of the Sunday Million, PokerStars are jacking up their prizepool today just as they did back in 2006. This time, however, ‘Stars are going a few steps bigger, upping the money on offer to not $1 million, but $6 million.
On that fateful day back in 2006 a total of 5,893 players anted-up the $215 to create a $1,178,600 prizepool. The tournament was eventually topped by “aaaaaaaa” and since then the tournament has gone on to make and break thousands of player’s Sundays.
This time around the winner is guaranteed at least $1 million and with over 6,000 players already registered this one looks like it’s going to be a big one.
To be part of the action, or to watch from the rails make sure you’re logged into PokerStars by 18:30 UTC.
Epic’s Demise Not a Failure for Poker
While some have speculated that the failure of the Epic Poker League could be due, in part, to a waning of interest in poker, the Las Vegas Review-Journal takes a different stance.
In an article published yesterday they draw parallels between the UFL (United Football League) and the EPL. One of the main reasons the articles offers for the failure of the EPL is that, “it tried to grow too quickly and it couldn't attract enough participants”.
On top of this it made the same mistake as the UFL and tried to run alongside other major events. Indeed, while the UFL has faltered because it can’t compete with the NFL, the EPL has hosted events at the same time as other major tournaments in Europe.
As the article states, poker is still popular with the WSOP attracting huge numbers last year, however, the game "wasn't ready for another league or high profile tournament”.
My EPT Win by "Mement_Mori"
He finally fulfilled his promise last month when he took down the EPT Copenhagen title in his home country, so as a gift to all his fans Mickey “Mement_Mori” Petersen has decided to blog about his $444,595 win.
In the first of his walkthroughs he describes his progress throughout days 1, 2 and 3 offering some insight into his thought process during a range of key hands.
The blog is a must for any player wanting to know how a pro deals with a short stack:
“I put it in next hand with T9, get called by the small blind and thankfully the big blind isolates me with KJ,which is pretty much the best outcome I could hope for. I flop a nine to triple up, shove the next hand UTG and get through and get a walk the next hand, right back in it!”
High Stakes Corner
They are set to lock horns later today at the $100/$200 tables for an epic poker showdown. Last time Isaac Haxton managed to best Blom for over $40,000 and this time he plans more of the same.
Speaking ahead of their match, highstakesdb caught up with Haxton to get his views on Blom and the high stakes scene in general.
Amongst other things he says of Blom: “I think I have the edge against him” and that he has, “definitely thought about going [to Macau]” to play in the big game.
Daily Signoff
If you were in any doubt as to why Isaac Haxton is the favourite ahead of today's match we thought we'd refresh your memories with this clip.
