Featured Articles Archive - Page 689

Down to the First Final Table at the WSOP

Three World Series of Poker events (WSOP) will run simultaneously today, a sign that the momentum is building here at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino as players gear towards the Main Event and poker immortality. The final table for Event # 2, the 3-day $1,500 No Limit Hold'Em tournament that began on Tuesday, will be the main draw for the rail birds...read more

Riviera Investors to Vote

LAS VEGAS -- Riviera Holdings Corp. announced Wednesday that it will ask shareholders to approve its $426.5 million buyout by an investment group on Aug. 8. The deal, announced in April, calls for Riv Acquisition Holdings to pay $17 a share for the company's two casinos, the Riviera and its 26-acre site on the north Strip and the Riviera Black Hawk, a 1,000-slot machine casino about 40 miles west of Denver. Riv Acquisition Holdings -- which includes former Starwood Capital Group executive Barry Sternlicht; Scott Butera, who once worked for Donald Trump's casino interests; billionaire Neil Bluhm; and Las Vegas developer Brett Torino -- will also assume $215 million in Riviera Holdings debt. Holders of at least 60 percent of Riviera Holdings outstanding shares must approve the buyout...read more

Olympia Gaming Taps Exec

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas-based Olympia Gaming, which is planning to build a $1 billion casino-resort in Southern Highlands, has hired a former president of Caesars Palace to lead the privately held company's proposed developments. Dean Harrold joined Olympia Gaming this week as vice chairman...read more

Bill to Prohibit Exchange Betting Enters Western Australian Parliament

On June 21 Western Australia's Minister of Racing and Gaming, Mark McGowan, introduced to the state's parliament Bill No. 146-- Betting and Racing Legislation Amendment Bill 2006-- which if passed into law would prohibit the operation of betting exchanges in Western Australia...read more

Mortensen Leads WSOP Event #2 After Day One

The 2006 World Series of Poker's (WSOP) record-breaking field of 2,776 players in Event #2 was whittled down to 122 on Tuesday night at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. Juan Carlos Mortensen is in the lead with $127,000 chips after Day One...read more

No Longer Your Average Joe

As soon as Joseph Hachem busted out on the first day of Event #2 at the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, it was time for the defending WSOP Main Event Champion to go to work. After exiting in the fourth level of Tuesday's event, Hachem signed autographs, posed for pictures, shook hands and acknowledged random guys yelling "Hachem!" It took the Aussie 20 minutes to actually get to the rail...read more

Record Crowds Gather for 37th Annual WSOP

The line to the cashier's booth was 100 deep at 1:10 a.m. Tuesday morning at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino as players scrambled to snatch up the last seats to the first open event of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Those who braved the lines were disappointed to find that Event #2, a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament, was sold out just after midnight...read more

Proliferation Of Poker: Really Big Deal

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Soon after Joseph Hachem capped the 2005 World Series of Poker last summer by winning a nearly 14-hour marathon at the final table, officials from Harrah's Entertainment began looking at ways to capitalize on the event's popularity. With other national poker tournaments seeking avenues to steal away some of the World Series of Poker's prestige -- earned during an era when it was the only poker tournament of any monetary consequence -- Harrah's sought to turn the event into a package akin to a professional sports league. Lucrative sponsorships with ESPN television, Miller Brewing Co., wireless phone provider Glu Mobile, Internet giant America Online and videogame producer Activision, all signed in the past 12 months, help to give the event a year-round presence. "Poker is an authentic piece of Americana as much as baseball," said Jeffrey Pollack, Harrah's vice president of sports and entertainment marketing...read more

2006 Event Should Top Last Year's Poker Series

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The 2005 World Series of Poker was the event's most successful run in its history -- almost 30,000 players participated in 45 events, competing for a record prize pool of more than $103 million. In the $10,000 buy-in World Championship No-limit Texas Hold'em event, a record 5,619 players entered with all nine players at the final table winning at least $1 million. The 2006 series stands to be even bigger. Harrah's Entertainment executives are projecting that some 41,000 participants will enter this year's 45-event competition...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - June 23, 2006

I hope you enjoyed my wild tales from Costa Rica last week, but now it's time to get back down to business. Speaking of Costa Rica, before we get into my recommendations for the week, I'd like to touch upon a subject that has been of great interest and debate in the online gaming industry and amongst gaming enthusiasts...read more