The day ended with a local player in the lead, Mads Wissing, who managed to accumulate 127,575 chips. A few familiar poker players who also made it through Day 1b: Johnny Lodden, Anton Wigg, Luca Pagano, Juha Helppi, Arnaud Mattern and home town here Theo Jorgensen.

Day 2 of the tournament begins at noon today and 188 players will return to the tables and continue the battle. Chip leader is still Steve O’Dwyer from USA who accumulated 190,975 chips during Day 1a, and is second place is Lauri Varonon with 165,150. Mads Wissing’s stack of 127,575 chips leaves him in third place.

Prize pool:
The 299 entrants have created quite a nice prize pool and 48 players will get a piece of it. The winner will take home DKK 2,515,000 (€338,223), the runner-up gets DKK 1,600,000 and the 3rd place finisher DKK 1,000,000.

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012222/mads-wissing-from-denmark-wins-day-1b/rss

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012222/peter-eastgate-joins-betfair/rss

SALT LAKE CITY — The House approved a bill Tuesday intended to make it clear that online gambling is illegal in Utah — even if Congress changes the law.

“I think it’s critical that we keep Utah free of any gambling. This is the time to act,” the sponsor of HB108, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom , R-Orem, said.

The Utah Constitution already prohibits gambling but Sandstrom said the state could be affected if Congress decides to legalize online gambling.

His bill requires the governor to notify Washington that, should a new federal law pass allowing states to permit online gaming, Utah isn’t interested.

“This is a states rights bill,” Sandstrom said.

— Lisa Riley Roche

Senate gives preliminary OK to stricter tanning salon rules

Utah parents would be required to accompany minors and give their written consent at each session at a tanning salon under a bill given preliminary approval Tuesday by the Utah Senate.

SB41, sponsored by Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Salt Lake, would establish similar requirements to minors obtaining body piercing or tattoos. “If we do it for tattoos, if we can do it for body piercing, why wouldn’t we do that for tanning, which is much more dangerous?” Jones said.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, a melanoma survivor, said he worries about Utah becoming a “nanny state.”

While he did not support Jones’ bill, and said he will introduce a substitute. A parental consent form should have a Utah Department of Health logo. Stephenson said he would also like the state to provide photographs of melanomas so the public can identify them early and seek medical care.

Stephenson said he looks forward to the day that the pale, skin tone of actress Nicole Kidman is the “desirable object instead of everybody wanting to be tan.”

— Marjorie Cortez

House passes bill reinforcing right to carry gun

Utah House members have approved a bill making it clear that a person cannot be charged with disorderly conduct simply for carrying a gun.

Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield says Tuesday that HB49 would clarify for police that openly carrying an unloaded gun is allowed in Utah as long as the person isn’t doing anything else threatening. Police can still question a person openly carrying a gun.

Ray says the bill reinforces the constitutional rights of Utah residents. It passed the House 49-21 and now moves to the Senate.

Democratic Rep. Carol Spackman Moss of Holladay says constitutional rights come with responsibilities, and a person carrying a gun can be disruptive in places such as malls or restaurants.

— Associated Press

Article source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865550582/Briefly-at-the-Utah-Legislature.html?s_cid=rss-30

But most certainly he won’t get to keep the chip lead for long as Day 1b kicks off in a few hours and the organizers are expecting double the Day 1a field. Apart from that, the second starting day will be much more interesting to follow as action-loving players such as Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom will take part.

TOP 5 players at the end of Day 1a:

Steve O’Dwyer 190,975
Lauri Varonen 165,150
Roberto Romanello 115,475
Ilkin Amirov 105,000
Niels van Alphen 96,325

We will be back with a new EPT Copenhagen update tomorrow morning! 

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012221/american-leads-ept-copenhagen-main-event/rss

The winner of the tournament ended up being Daniele Nestola after sending Gasperino Nicolas to the rail. For the win the German poker pro received $289,300 and the biggest cash of his poker career. A well deserved win for Nestola who came to the final table with the largest stack.

Final Table Results:
1 Daniele Nestola 289,300
2 Gasperino Nicolas 250,000
3 Carlos Ibarra 148,840
4 Felipe Morbiducci 89,570
5 Jonathan Markovits 64,540
6 Daniel Negreanu 48,730
7 Vitor Torres 35,560
8 Juan Gonzalez 26,340

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012221/lapt-grand-final-sau-paulo-daniele-nestola-wins-negreanu-finished-6th/rss

Forget having to leave your house to try and hit it big.  Both Iowa and Illinois are looking into legalizing online gambling.

That easy access to hitting the jackpot has addicts and counselors on pins and needles.

On Monday, a Senate panel approved a bill to legalize internet poker in Iowa, and across the river, Illinois lottery officials hope to start selling tickets online next month.  Supporters of online gaming see it as a way to bring more money into the cash strapped states, but those who struggle with addiction say the move could be dangerous.

It was the fast paced thrill from gambling and the thought of striking it rich that Chad Williams said he couldn’t resist.

“You win a little bit in the beginning so you play, then you lose, then you win, then you lose, then you try to get caught up and you never do,” Williams explained.

It wasn’t only money that Williams lost.

“I lost a marriage, a really good job that I had for 19 years, that really hurt,” Williams said.

Now 7 years clean from both his gambling and drug addictions, Williams helps men with similar problems turn their lives around at The 180 Zone in Rock Island.  He fears having gambling at your fingertips is a slippery slope for those with addictive behaviors.

“I think it’s dangerous,” Williams warned, “they are just making it too easy.”

180 Zone Director, Rusty Boruff, who helps treat those with addictions, said online gaming won’t give addicts a break.

“It’s like you are living in a casino,” Boruff said, “the reason why alcoholism is so common is because alcohol is at your fingertips.”

Boruff said society’s “get rich quick” mentality fuels gambling problems, issues he said affect people from all walks of life.  Now, Boruff fears, it will be so much harder for gamblers to walk away.

“It’s hard to get clean when you are in a puddle of mud.  You have to get out first,” Boruff said, “an addict has to get out of the environment and it’s hard to get out of your living room.”

Counselors said it’s like a two edge sword, just as gambling is going online, more and more cuts are being made to centers which help deal with addicts.

If you or anyone you know has a gambling problem, call The 180 Zone 309–762–4166.

Article source: http://www.whbf.com/story/16977938/fears-about-online-gambling

Good News for Spanish Online Gambling

This announcement comes as good news for potential license holders, as it corrects an earlier postponement. Spain’s new online gambling regulations were initially supposed to come into effect January 1, but this was later delayed until June because of concerns over how long it would take to review applications.

Gambling operators who win a license will obtain an important foothold in one of Europe’s largest economies. However, their flexibility will still be limited, and they will be subject to 25 percent gross profits tax, one of the highest to be imposed on betting companies in all of the European Union.

Long Time Coming

Spain’s new gambling laws were originally approved by the country’s parliament in May 2011, following months of fierce debate. The legislation allows online and mobile gambling in the country for the first time, and establishes a strictly controlled regulatory environment in which they can operate.

Spain’s online gambling market was estimated to be worth some 465 million euros in 2010, and these figures are expected to grow to more than 680 million euros by the year 2015, as betting and poker gradually enter the market this year and grow in popularity.

or more on online gambling in Spain, visit Online Casino Reports Spain.

Article source: http://www.onlinecasinoreports.com/news/theheadlines/2012/2/21/spain-online-gambling-licenses-coming-soon.php

Day 1a of the Main Event kicks off in a few hours and the buy-in is 35,000 Danish Crowns (about €4.7k euro) – same buy-in as last year when the Main Event saw a field of 423 players and Michael Tureniec from Sweden defeated fellow countryman Per Linde heads-up.

EPT Copenhagen will hopefully see an even greater felt of players this year. And hopefully even more notables will show up for the Main Event and the High Roller than last year. We will keep you updated on these 2 events, so don’t forget to check our news every day.

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012220/ept-copenhagen-about-start/rss

The biggest name on the final table is no one else than the Canadian Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Daniel, who’s in Brazil for the first time, will bring 702,000 to the final table today and is defiantly the player that the big stacks will try to avoid playing against.

The winner of the tournament will take home $324,600 USD, and the second place finisher gets $214,700. All of the remaining players below are guaranteed to get away with at least $26,340 each.

Seat Player Chips
1 Felipe Morbiducci 347,000
2 Daniel Negreanu 702,000
3 Jonathan Markovits 991,000
4 Carlos Ibarra 1,297,000
5 Daniele Nestola 1,892,000
6 Juan Gonzalez 548,000
7 Gasperino Nicolas 1,190,000
8 Vitor Torres 273,000

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012220/lapt-grand-final-negreanu-final-table/rss

In December last year the 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel was attacked in his home in Boucherville, Quebec by two masked men who got away with his  2010 WSOP Bracelet, a Rolex watch and some cash. It didn’t take long before Duhamel’s Ex girlfriend Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, 20, and 3 men were arrested by the police for involvement in the home invasion.

Shortly after the Rolex watch was found and returned to Duhamel, however, the bracelet, which is estimated to be be worth around $40,000, wasn’t found and Duhamel even offered a reward of up to $10,000 to the one who could give information on where the bracelet was kept. 

Last Wednesday, over 2 months after the home invasion, a street sweeper in Montreal was cleaning the Ville-Marie Tunnel and found the bracelet in a trash receptacle. The bracelet was in bad condition but at least some of the jewels were still on it. According to a French poker site, Duhamel is very happy to finally have gotten his WSOP Bracelet back. The WSOP crew has now promised him a replacement of the damaged bracelet. 

Article source: http://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2012220/street-sweeper-found-duhamel-s-wsop-bracelet/rss