WSOP 2008 comes to a close

11.11.2008 | 9:03 am | Poker

As the dust starts to settle on WSOP 2008 we can now look back at what has been possibly one of the best tournaments in history of the game. We saw a massive 6844 players enter in early July and got down to the last nine on Sunday, then came the head to head and the official unveiling of the new WSOP 2008 champion. But who took the crown?

While many of you will have checked the Internet already those who have not may be surprised to see Peter Eastgate the 22-year-old Danish poker player crowned as the new king of WSOP 2008. At just 22 years old he is the youngest winner of the main table in the history of the event and takes over a record set 19 years ago by the infamous Phil Hellmuth. While Eastgate was one of the favourites leading up to the event and rightly took his place in the head-to-head with Ivan Demidov he was still many many chips behind as the head-to-head began.

Having been literally tens of millions of chips down Eastgate managed to chip away at the Demidov superior chip pile until he has turned the tables with his opponent down to 16,000,000 chips and Eastgate himself in excess of 100 million chips. The new champ then literally squeezed and squeezed until his opponent was taken of the game.

Peter Eastgate now takes home in excess of $9 million for the first prize but his opponent also walks away with a cheque for nearly $6 million and while he may not be as famous as his victor he has also put himself into the record books. Those who want to see the action can watch various TV channels over the next few weeks were recorded footage of the full main table will be played over and over again.

Has the poker industry ever had it so good?

11.10.2008 | 9:05 am | Poker

As we come to the end of be 2008 World Series of Poker competition, on reflection 2008 has been something of a momentous year for the poker industry even if the US ban regarding online poker did take away much of the shine. We have nearly $15 million shared between the first and second place in the World Series of Poker main table, we have seen TV companies falling over themselves to get poker onto the screen and player numbers continue to rise even in the midst of the current worldwide recession.

After the 2007 ban regarding US poker there had been many so-called “experts” who had suggested the industry was dead and could not survive without the US market. While it would be foolish to suggest that the US ban was anything but unhelpful it has focused minds on the rest of the world which had to some extent been ignored in favour of the US market which is/was absolutely enormous. However, there are signs that the US authorities may well be softening their stance and possibly looking towards the lifting of the ban in due course. Now that we have a new president on the way to the White House perhaps now is the time to push for change?

If the US authorities were to reverse the earlier ban this would be the icing on the cake as far as major players in the industry are concerned. The ongoing demise of the US off-line casino industry is of major concern and could actually speed up the lifting of the ban if trading conditions continue to deteriorate. However, online casinos are still performing fairly well bearing in mind the current situation and when you consider the lack of physical buildings and equipment required this leaves much more to plough into the marketing and promotions, trying to ensure further growth in the business.

Has MGM Mirage stepped ahead of the game?

11.4.2008 | 8:33 pm | casinos

News that massive casino and entertainment group MGM Mirage has tapped the money markets for over $700 million of additional finance in the last week has received a mixed response from investors around the world. While many believe that the move was forced upon the group, something which may be reflected in the 15% interest rate they were forced to offer, there are some in the industry who believe this is actually a very clever move which could see the group strengthen its position in the industry.

As the casino sector struggles to make ends meet at the moment, and many of the majors such as MGM Mirage have been reduced to junk status in the debt markets, there is a feeling that the next 12 months could well see the collapse of some large companies in the industry. MGM Mirage, although struggling on the financial front like all others in the industry, has now been refinanced for the short to medium term which could see the group pick up some cheap assets over the next 12 months.

Interestingly the company has not withdrawn each and every high profile and high cost project planned for overseas and appears to be looking beyond the current economic climate to a time when consumers will again visit their venues in great numbers. It is this forward thinking and forward planning which could well see MGM Mirage take top spot in industry for the foreseeable future.

Those casino groups which have decided to fight the ongoing slowdown with existing resources may well be forced back to the market over the next 12 months but whether the finance required will be available remains to be seen. The fact that MGM Mirage has already secured this finance for the future is a very interesting move indeed.

Lewis Hamilton brings home the F1 drivers championship

11.3.2008 | 2:26 pm | gambling

Lewis Hamilton finally brought home the prized possession which is the Formula One drivers championship on Sunday in a thrilling finale to the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Conscious that he had to finish no higher than fifth to guarantee the title, he set off on a very conservative driving strategy. While there were some concerns as the race began in the rain Lewis managed to get into a very comfortable rhythm cementing his fourth place on the grid.

As the race progressed he seemed ever more secure until the final few laps when rain began to pour on to some areas of the Brazilian circuit. After a pitstop to change to wet tyres with just 5 laps to go the tension started to build slowly as his grasp on the title seemed to be slipping away. The tension reached crisis point on the final lap when he was overtaken and pushed back into sixth place which would have seen him finish second in the drivers championship. However this was just the beginning of the fun and games in the final 30 seconds of the race!

Just as the Ferrari team were set to celebrate an unlikely world drivers championship victory Lewis Hamilton took the fifth spot with literally 15 seconds to go and claimed the point which he needed to take the drivers championship, the gamble had paid off. So while the Ferrari team looked on in amazement the McLaren team knew that victory was theirs which made it ever more sweeter. Even if Lewis Hamilton was never to win another Grand Prix again he will be forever remembered for producing the most amazing finish ever seen in the sport.

While there were many who mocked Lewis Hamilton as a bottler and someone who took the easy route to the Formula One pinnacle there can be no braver driver in the sport today. Quite how he managed to hold his nerve when all about him were collapsing is a miracle in itself.