The WPT stop in London has been good to Jake Cody. The young Brit rode the wave of hometown support to take his first WPT title, which he will add to his mantle next to his EPT title. Cody bested big names like Justin Smith, Tony G,
Bruno Fitousso and Freddy Deeb. He faced Nichlas Mattsson heads-up, and used his massive chip lead to torpedo Mattson and claim the £273,783 grand prize. For his efforts, Mattson walked away with £176,979.

The next stop for the WPT is the Borgata Poker Open, which takes place September 18 – 23 at the Borgata Casino in
Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Congressman Barney Frank, (D-MA), appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday, and the topic of the recent success of HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, which is currently in Committee. Leno engaged Frank in a spirited debate which highlighted the division the Act has caused.

Of the Legislation, which seeks to legalize and regulate the internet gambling industry in the United States, Frank said, “If you have some guy who wants to play poker on the internet, we say it’s illegal. We could make billions of dollars a year by making it legal and taxing it.” The estimated number is actually $42 billion over a 10-year period.
Leno shot back, “Vegas works because you have to go to the desert to get there. You lose your money and you come home. You can’t go to the desert again until you get more money. If you’re sitting at home and you’re up late at night and you’ve got your little credit card, next thing you know, it’s like a mini bar.” Frank argued arguing, “If you want to hit somebody or you want to burn somebody’s house or steal somebody’s car, then I want to stop you because you’re doing it to somebody else. If you want to be foolish with your own money, if you want to gamble, if you want to drink, if you want to smoke, I will tell you it’s a bad idea, but I think it’s a mistake for the government to try to stop you.”

Congress returns from Summer break September 13, and the target date for adressing HR 2267 is October 8.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Harrah’s officials unveiled the top 10 vote getters for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 after a two-month long public voting period. The Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council will now review the list of nominees and whitle down the list based on their criteria for eligibility.

The Council considers four elements of eligibility: “A player must have played poker against acknowledged top competition; played for high stakes; played consistently well, gaining the respect of peers; stood the test of time; or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results.”

The top two vote getters as determined by the Council will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in November, contingent on the fact that each of the two finalists receive at least 50% of the vote. Last year, Mike Sexton was the lone inductee, as the Council’s the threshold for enshrinement in 2009 was 75%.

The Top Ten Nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame are:

Chris Ferguson
Barry Greenstein
Jennifer Harman
Dan Harrington
Phil Ivey
Linda Johnson
Tom McEvoy
Daniel Negreanu
Scotty Nguyen
Erik Seidel

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Brit Toby Lewis has won the EPT Vilamoura Main Event, besting an international field in which those from the U.K. seemed determined to win. Lewis was joined at the final table by fellow Brits Sam Trickett and Teddy Sheringham, and the trio started the final table owning nearly three quarters of the chips in play. Lewis takes the title and the accompanying €467,835 grand prize.

Lewis bested his fellow Brits and Jason Lee, Sergio Coutinho, Rob Hollink, Martin Jacobson and Frederik Jensen. Lewis faced Jacobsen heads-up, starting at a 2-1 chip deficit, but gaining the lead after some deft play over several hands.

The EPT now moves to London, which takes place September 29 – October 04, 2010.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

The 2010/2011 NFL season is upon us, and you can hit the gridiron with GR88.COM.

GR88.COM’s $15,000 Touchdown Contest, running from Wednesday September 1st until Thursday September 31st, will reward you for each First Down you complete as you “drive the ball” to the “endzone.” Complete 10 First Downs and you will score a Touchdown and receive over $15,000 in cash right to your player account!

To make a First Down, just click the “Join the Game” button in your GR88 player admin, and head to the tables. GR88.COM will track your total number of VIP Points earned during the month, and when you earn the required points for a First Down you will receive the corresponding cash prize, issued straight to your account balance. But you only have until the end of the month so GET MOVING!

For more information and contest, click here.

On Monday afternoon, the action in the second Durrr Challenge between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Dan “JungleMan12” Cates continued, and Cates continued the virtual beat down on Durrr. Once again, Cates dominated and this time vaulted out to a $692,000 lead over Dwan. A total of 6,820 hands have been played, which is nearly 15% of the way through the 50,000 hands set to play.

Cates has posted a win rate of 25.33 BB/100 and has taken down 61.4% of hands. People following the action online commented on the slaughter, saying, “Durrrr just completely sat out without any chat” and “What are the chances durrrr buys out of this after 1 or 2 more sesh’s like this one? I doubt he’d buy out no matter how bad he runs/gets owned, but this challenge could kick his ass pretty hard.”

I bet Dwan is wishing he could just finish the first Durrr Challenge with Patrik Antonius, in which he owns a sizeable lead.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Day 2 of the European Poker Tour Vilamoura Main Event belonged to American Brandon Cantu, a relative newcomer to the EPT circuit. Cantu is chashing history, trying to become only the third player in history to win the elusive “Triple Crown” alongside Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin, as Cantu has won two WSOP bracelets and one WPT title.

Leonid Bilokur was the overall chip leader in the surviving field of 221 to start the day, but he found himself under attack all day from some big names, including Arnaud Mattern, Paul “badpab2″ Foltyn, Toby “810ofclubs” Lewis, Brandon Cantu and Sorel Mizzi. When the dust settled on Day 2, Bilokur was sent to the rail and Cantu occupied the top spot with $557,400 in chips, which is a strong lead over his nearest chip rival Andre Coimbra. The field of just 69 return to play today.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

181 different individuals have received nominations for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010, and the process now will be put in the hands of fans a voting committee. Fans can vote on the WSOP website, entering their first name, last name, address, country, date of birth, e-mail, the name of the nominee, and any comments to support their choice, up to 250 words in length.

Voting will be closed August 31st and on September 1st, Harrah’s will release the names of the top 10 nominees. The list will then be sent to a Hall of Fame nominating committee to review.

The induction ceremony will take place during the November Nine weekend at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Mike Sexton was enshrined in the Hall of Fame last year.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Some rather heated words from Daniel Negreanu in a recent interview aimed towards Annie Duke have created quite a few waves in the poker world and drawn a line in the sand between the two sides. In what Negreanu thought was off the record, during an interview by writer Mark Stuart for the article “The Evolution of Daniel Negreanu,” he responded to a question about the recent WSOP Ladies Event with some venom for Duke. Duke has never supported ladies events because she is a believer of sexual equality on the felt. Of Duke Negreanu said, “What irked me is that this woman has the audacity on her website to call herself ‘the best female poker player in the world.’ So I’m like ‘how offensive are you, you f***ing c***? You want to say you’re speaking for women, yet you claim superiority over all of them.’” So I’m guessing someone is getting a Christmas card from Kid Poker.

The article spread like wildfire on the net, quickly becoming a divisive force between supporters of Negreanu and Duke. Duke, rather than fanning the flames of the conflict, took the high road and did not comment. No, just kidding, she fanned the flames. On her twitter, Duke said, “Thank you for the support. I was certainly shocked at the language myself. I welcome criticism, but not abuse.” She also attacked PokerStars inaction, saying, “I am not offended by Daniel’s opinion. He has a right to disagree with me and dislike me. And I, just like PokerStars, would encourage him to express his views and opinions. This is not about his views. It is about a particular word he chose to express those views. The word “c**t” is not an opinion, it is an abusive epithet, and PokerStars is completely ignoring the use of that term in their response.But more distressing is the use of the word ‘encouraged’ here. So, PokerStars, you are encouraging Daniel to continue to express views in this manner, to conduct these public attacks using offensive slurs and inappropriate language? I am more than dismayed that PokerStars is making a statement here that they encourage this kind of behavior, this kind of language use. According to PokerStars, this kind of behavior enriches our community.”

Cooler heads prevailed however, and the conflict did not spread further online. Just kidding again. Howard Lederer, defended his sister online, saying, “Hey Daniel, nice job representing poker and reinforcing that our attitude towards women is still Neanderthal,” Lederer said. “I understand some agree w DN on the ladies poker event issue. Many do. But abusing those you disagree with is never cool.”

When a cooler head did emerge in all of this it was Tony G. When Tony G is the coolest head in the room, you know you have a problem. G said of the spat, “Let’s smooth over this situation, let’s try and forget that it ever happened. I know this fantastic place in Utah where you can get away from the world and I will pay for you to both go there and relax and chill out. You are both important ambassadors for the game we love – please let’s resolve this in a diplomatic manner otherwise someone is going to get really hurt.”

Negreanu has yet to apologize, so someone else isn’t getting a Christmas Card. In other news, poker was played by some mature people, somewhere I’m sure.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

Tom “Durrr” Dwan started a mass flocking to the net as he tweeted regarding the start of his second Durrr Challenge against Dan “JungleMan12” Cates: “Gonna start playing @junglemandan (daniel cates) in the next few minutes. This’ll be the 2nd challenge. Check my blog for specifics.”

Dwan got off to a good start, opening up a quick $130,000 lead over Dan “JungleMan12” Cates after 1,651 hands, but that momentum would not last. After 12 hours of play, Cates logged off with a $518,191 profit after 5,829 hands. Perhaps Dwan took his opponent too easy, as at the same time as clashing with Cates, he was also involved in $200/$400 six-handed pot-limit Omaha games against David Benefield, Chau Giang, Hac Dang, “cadillac1944,” “DrugsOrMe,” and “gamblegambel.” He had also just completed a 35 hour online session the day before.

After the day, Dwan’s twitter was quiet, but there’s no doubt the challenge will bring out Dwan’s fiery competitive spirit.

Ryan Smith is a contributing blog writer for GR88.com

As we reported a few weeks ago, 20-year-old University of Maryland economics major Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, officially accepted the “durrrr” Challenge, putting $500,000 in escrow and signing on as Dwan’s second opponent. The two agreed to play $200/$400 no-limit hold’em across a minimum of four tables with the option of kicking it up to six tables should they feel extra-frisky. The “run it twice” option will be used throughout the 50,000 hands and if either player’s stack fall below 75 big blinds, he must reload to a full starting stack.