The Daily Rewind: Jeff Ifrah, EPT Greece, Grundy's Graph, Bwin.Party, Entraction

Today Jeff Ifrah steps down in the FTP class action case and we hear about the EPT's latest venue. PLO expert Ben Grundy issues a bet to prove his winnings, and there's more from Bwin.Party concerning a US partner. There's Entraction news and another LAPT hot shot...

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:

Ifrah asks to step down

Today's big news is that Full Tilt Poker Attorney Jeff Ifrah (of Ifrah Law in Washington, D.C.) has asked the court for permission to step down in the FTP class action case, citing "an unreasonable financial burden on the law firm", according to Subject:Poker.

The name Jeff Ifrah will be familiar to many as he had been attempting to answer player questions over on 2+2 about FTP's problems.

Ifrah had been acting as an attorney for the defence in FTP's class action suit amongst others, but he claims that this particular case, filed by four American Full Tilt Poker players, would have given him "unreasonable difficulty to carry out his employment effectively".

 
EPT coming to Greece

While PokerStrategy.com Black Member Martin Schleich was busy winning this season's EPT Barcelona, the European Poker Tour just announced that they will be adding a new stop on the tour this year.

From Nov. 15th -20th, the EPT will be hosted at Club Hotel Casino Loutraki in Greece, making it the first ever Greek destination for an EPT tournament.

Greece has held Greek Poker Cup tournaments before, and it’s down to their success that PokerStars has decided to add a Greek venue to the roster on season 8 of the tour. 

Casino Loutraki plays host to Greece's 1st EPT

Bwin.Party latest

Following yesterday’s news that Bwin.Party is closing in on US partners as the US braces itself for e-gaming regulation, more noises have been coming from the Bwin.Party headquarters this morning.

It’s believed that Bwin.Party will announce a strategic joint venture partnership by the end of the year. Co-CEO Jim Ryan addressed the issue with EGR, saying "The structure of the deals we are likely to do will be joint venture partnerships. We will be exploiting our brands, and our JV partner will be exploiting their brands".

Ryan intimates just how powerful a poker network could be "that would have Party, WPT, Poker Room, and then the brands of our partners".

Grundy says put up or shut up

High stakes PLO expert Ben "Milkybarkid" Grundy is renowned as one of the biggest online PLO winners of all time, having famously posted a shot of his lifetime winnings which showed him to be in profit to the tune of over $8 million. 

However a recent thread on 2+2 called his graph into question, and several members of the high stakes community (including Daniel "jungleman12" Cates and Andrew Robl) cast doubt on the legitimacy of Grundy's reports. 

Today Grundy has spoken out on his blog, and issued a bet that he can prove his winnings. He states, "If I can't prove beyond doubt that I've won at least $5,000,000 I'll pay out $60,000". 

He even speaks of motivating himself to get closer to proving the entire $8 million, saying that he'd "like a bonus of $20,000 for each addition million proved". 

Are you having a laugh?	That's my graph

Entraction issues new list of blocked countries

News has been filtering from the Entraction Network today that players from Canada, Israel, Norway, Russia and Turkey will be blocked from playing on the network from after the 29th September.

There has been no reason for the block stated yet but licensing issues surrounding re-entry into the US market will be fresh in the minds of IGT who recently took over the Entraction Network.

Hot shot of the day

Today's hot shot features another South American firecracker. Today we meet Ana Luiza Castro, host of the LAPT. With Ana as host, the LAPT is expecting a sudden surge in signups for this year's tour. Aye Caramba…

Ana Luiza Castro - fond of rocks