Archive for August, 2009

Poker in the Park 2009

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Over two days, poker in the park took over Leicester square for the annual poker spectacle.

Over 15,000 attended the two day event with over 300 people queuing to get inside at the start!

Michael Casselli, the editor and chief of Bluff magazine Europe not to mention the organizer of the entire event spoke of the event and how it has changed from past events and what he expects from the future.

He said that 2009 was the event’s best year so far and that Leicester square was an obvious choice for the location of the event, proclaiming the spot as, ‘centre of the universe!’ He continued that Leicester square was the perfect location to attract city boys that like a flutter as a leisure activity after work, in addition to an accessible location for other people too.

When speaking of past events he said that this year there are six more booths, attendances have overwhelmingly risen, they have given out 3,000 Bluff Europe magazines and most importantly raised over £17,000 for the Jamie Gold foundation.

Casselli hopes to get more online casinos involved next year which shouldn’t be a problem as this event is definitely the place to be and be seen in the poker world!

New owners of the world poker tour announced

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Monday saw the announcement of the new owner of the World Poker Tour. The owners take the form of Cypriot, Gamynia Ltd, an investment company. The announcement puts to bed recent take over rumours of WPT enterprises Inc.

The company will take over for the price of $9.07million, the professional poker tour and the world poker tour brand. Under the new ownership, television, distribution, sponsoring and licensing will continue.

Gamynia is hoping to leverage those brands by partnering with Hardway investments Ltd and entering the online gambling market. Hardway are already experienced in this area as they own Euro Partners, an affiliate site for Playtech licensees.

The interim CEO of WPT Enterprises, Thomas J. Flahie, said of the deal, “There’s not a whole lot of information because it’s a newly established, privately held investment group – very, very large – so I’m not sure if they plan on making any further comment. We don’t plan on putting much more information in the proxy than what’s already been disclosed”

However, WPTE’s share price dropped dramatically following the news. This leaves WPTE hovering slightly above the Nasdaq $1 Price minimum after seeing a drop of 27%.

The sale is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter. After the sale’s completion the WPTE CEO, Steve Lipscomb, who has a 5% share in the gross proceeds of any sale of the business will secure himself a $450,000 payout.