Casinos

Harrah’s Might Make Move in Macau

Harrah’s Entertainment continues expanding, but apparently, taking over the entire Free World just isn’t enough for them. It now looks likely that Harrah’s will take on China (i.e. Macau) as well.

The company has its eye on Melco Crown Entertainment, a company that owns the Macau’s City of Dreams and the Altira Macau. Harrah’s is “acutely interested” in buying a 32.5% stake, which Australian billionaire James Packer’s gaming company, Crown Ltd., has put on the market.

Melco Crown Entertainment’s co-chairman and co-chief executive officer is Lawrence Ho, son of Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho.

Up until this point, Harrah’s has been shut out of Macau gaming world, whereas MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. have already set up shop. In 2007, Harrah’s paid over $577 million for the 175-acre Macau Orient Golf Course. The gold course was later rebranded Caesars Golf Macau after its $26 million redevelopment in 2008. In terms of getting into the Macau casino biz, purchasing the Melco Crown stake might be an effective backdoor for Harrah’s.

Published 6 days, 19 hours ago

Party Poker Qualifiers Dominate Aussie Millions

Coming in first and and second, two Party Poker online qualifiers dominated the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event which took place at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

Tyron Krost, 23, from Bondi, Australia, took home the first prize of AUD$2,000,000, while Frederik Jensen, 27, hailing from Copenhagen scooped up a 2nd place prize of AUD$1,100,100. Other poker pros that were beat out at the final table included Annette Obrestad and Sorel Mizzi.

With Krost’s win comes bragging rights that the Aussie Millions Main Event title remains in the Australia and PartyPoker.com camp for the second year in a row. Last year’s champion was fellow Aussie and Team Party player, Stewart Scott.

Here’s the way the cookie crumbled for all of the players at the final table:

1st: Tyron Krost – $2,000,000
2nd: Frederik Jensen – $1,100,000
3rd: Sorel Mizzi – $715,000
4th: Kosta Varoxis – $450,000
5th: Peter Jetten – $350,000
6th: Steve Friedlander – $250,000
7th: Annette Obrestad – $175,000
8th: Stephen Shelly – $125,000

Published 1 week ago

Phil Ivey Steals Top Money Spot

Based on his tournament winnings in live events, Phil Ivey, a member of the Full Tilt Poker Team, has secured top rank on poker’s All-Time Money List.

At the 2010 Aussie Millions $100K USD Challenge Tournament, Ivey won $600,000K for his second-place finish, making his career tournament earnings $12,802,783 USD. He’s now ahead of Daniel Negreanu, the previous leader of the pack, by $400K approximately.

Ivey first hit big time with a WSOP first-place finish in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2000. In 2002, he won three WSOP bracelets, making the record books of tying for the most WSOP wins in one year. Most recently, he won another two WSOP bracelets, leading him to the WSOP Main Event’s final table. There, Ivey won a little over $1.4 million.

All in all, Ivey has won seven World Series of Poker, and is officially the youngest player ever to do so. He has made it to seven WPT Final Tables and has earned one WPT title.

Published 1 week, 4 days ago

PartyPoker / Premier League IV Sends Last Special Invite To….

…none other than poker living legend, Doyle Brunson.

PartyPoker’s Premier League IV’s Main Event will run from February 12th to February 18th, 2010 and will take place (and be televised) in Las Vegas. This year’s event has a total prize pool of $1.5 million and is organized by Matchroom Sport. Presenting will by Team Party member Kara Scott.

Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Brunson joins an eclectic lineup consisting of power poker pros and new hotshots, including David Benyamine (French superstar just announced last week), Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, JC Tran, Vanessa Rousso, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Luke Schwartz, Roland de Wolfe Team Party’s newest member, Tony G.

Two spots for the Premier League IV’s final table still need to be filled: one will belong to an online qualifier, and the other will go the the last man/woman standing Poker tourney play-off between members of Team Party.

Published 1 week, 5 days ago

PartyPoker Says Oui To Benyamine

PartyPoker and Matchroom Sport have announced that French high-staker David Benyamine has joined the PartyPoker.com Premier League IV roster. Premier League IV, boasting a total prize pool of over $1.5 million, will take place in Las Vegas with the main event running from February 12th to the 18th. Benyamine joins Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, JC Tran (Premier League III’s winner) , Roland de Wolfe, Vanessa Rousso, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Luke Schwartz and PartyPoker’s lastet recruit, Tony G.

There is only one remaining invite into the prestigious event, and the announcement of who that special invited player will be is to be made in the next few days, according to Managing Director of Matchroom Sport, Eddie Hearn.

Two more seats into the prestigious event will be made available: one will go to the winner of a Team Party play-off, which will consist of 16 players who will play in a series of sit n’ gos, with the winner receiving the $100,000 buy-in into Premier League IV. As well, of the 16, a player will be chosen by PartyPoker to receive a $100,000 Team Party contract as a sponsored player. The final seat at the main event’s table will go to an online qualifier.

Published 2 weeks ago