Poker pro in $250,000 World Cup ticket scam
In today's Daily Rewind we report on a poker pro's World Cup ticket scam and look forward to the EPT's 100th event celebrations.
Poker pro in World Cup scam
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| Barataud's big bluff (Image: Sunday Morning Herald) |
In the wake of Paul Phua and Richard Yong being arrested for operating an illegal football betting ring, another poker pro has been charged with a World Cup crime.
According to a report in The Sunday Morning Herald, poker grinder Alain Barataud allegedly scammed a family of football fans out of thousands of dollars during the 2014 World Cup.
Barataud's ruse allegedly involved an Australian family and a set of fake VIP tickets.
After paying for flights to Brazil and waiting in a hotel, the family discovered that the promised tickets didn't exist and the $3,400 they'd paid to Barataud had disappeared.
The report suggests that Barataud pulled off the ruse by posing as a FIFA hospitality agent and counterfeit invoices.
On top of this incident, Barataud is also accused of scamming other football fans during the 2006 and 2010 World Cups for more than $250,000.
EPT gearing up for its Spanish fiesta
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| Party in Barcelona (Image: Neil Stoddart) |
The first stop of EPT11 is just a few weeks away and, ahead of the centenary event in Barcelona, PokerStars is getting ready to host a string of celebratory activities.
To mark the event, PokerStars and the EPT will be giving players a chance to enjoy a range of free experiences, including: Jet Ski and speedboat rides, BiciBike expeditions around Barcelona and a special Team Pro Challenge.
On top of these off-the-felt antics, PokerStars will be giving away Skullcandy headphones, bars of chocolate, iPad Minis and VIP prizes to both players and fans.
EPT Barcelona will host 44 tournaments - including a €5,300 Main Event and €50,000 Super High Roller - and run between August 16 and August 27.
In a bid to make it the largest EPT festival in history, PokerStars is running a slew of online satellites as well as live qualifiers both before and during the event.
A new NoteCaddy
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| Track time |
NoteCaddy has just been given its latest overhaul and contained within the update is a host of new features, including the Caddy Clock.
Currently available for PokerStars and iPoker sites, such as William Hill Poker, Holdem Manager's Caddy Clock will tell you how long a player takes to act as well as how strong or weak their hand was.
Tracking the seconds it takes for someone to make a move and storing them in your database, the tool looks to be a great way to exploit those who regularly stall when bluffing or value betting.
Also contained in beta version 2.5 is a charting feature which allows you to record a player's hand at the point you made a note and an upgraded hand replayer.
Question of the Day
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'AthaCliath' emerged as the latest high stakes hero after banking $262,911. Thanks to a relatively long session during which he grinded through 1,718 hands, the online pro was able to top the table ahead of 'AckmaJin' and Alexander Kostritsyn.
Failing to turn a profit in the last 24 hours was a trio of recognisable high stakes players, including Chun Lei Zhou, Viktor Blom and 'punting-peddler'. Leading the way was Zhou with a $143,094 deficit which was enough to put the Asian amateur ahead of Blom who dropped $78,032.
Daily Signoff
Has Phil Hellmuth ever been star struck? PokerStars found out in this recent video.
Yesterday's Daily Rewind: Who should you bet on to win the Main Event?
 Daniel Smyth has been working in the poker industry for six years as both a player and writer. He currently has a costly penchant for PLO and provides daily content for PokerStrategy.com. You can learn more about Daniel by clicking here.
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