If you happened to be a patriotic Russian looking to support a local player at a big poker tournament, then Moscow yesterday was the place to be. All nine players at the successful PokerStars Russian Poker Tour final table in Moscow were from the home country. And two of them - Ivan Demidov and Alex Kravchenko - were Team PokerStars Pros. Even their experience, both being previous World Series of Poker Main Event final tablists, was not enough to take down this event. Instead, that went to Vitaly Lunkin, a former backgammon player.
His win, good for 14,323,000 rubles - that's about $445,000 - was no fluke: he has a pedigree record of his own having won a WSOP bracelet last summer in the 1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. And he used his undoubted talents to go from second last in chips yesterday to champion of the $7,000 buy-in RPT Moscow.
Vitaly Lunkin
Final table play started tightly, but then the first elimination was PokerStars qualifier Evgeny Onishuk. He raised from middle position with 7♠6♠ and was re-raised by Demidov from the button. Onishuk called and they say a flop of 9-7-4, giving Onishuk middle pair. He check called Demidov's 70,000 bet but the Team Pro had a pair of kings and the 4 turn and 6 river changed nothing.
Eighth place went to Kravchenko who had moved all in against four opponents, trying to collect some easy chips. Three of them folded, but Vitaly Lunkin decided to look him up, perhaps not surprisingly as he had J♣J♥ - enough against the Team Pro's 7♠4♥.
Next out was Dmitry Vitkind, who pushed with A♣7♥ but ran into Lunkin's A♠9♠. The board of [10d]5♦6♦9♦3♣ doing the damage. Demidov went in sixth, first losing a big pot to Alexander Khoustov and then leaving when his A♣7♦ failed to overtake Sergey Artamonov's pocket nines.
Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov
At this stage players took a 30-minute break, and then it took a full two hours before the fifth place was determined when Artamonov was busted by Lunkin when his [10c][10h] failed to hold against A♥J♠. Lunkin was at it again soon after, knocking out Oleg Shamardin, who had held the chip lead earlier in the tournament. Lunkin's Q♦Q♣ was too good for Shamardin's A♣5♣.
It took another hour to lose the third-place finisher, Khaustov, who moved all in with A♠6♠ and was called - not surprisingly - by Lunkin who had 9♣9♦.
Tournament Director Thomas Kremser introduced the final two to the audience, and with blinds at 20,000-40,000 it was always going to be a brief heads-up seeing as Lunkin had 2,790,000 chips to Vyacheslav Goryachev's 310,000. Indeed, just minutes later Goryachev moved all-in with A♦6♣ and was called by Lunkin who once again found a hand at the right time with pocket tens. The board came Q♦8♦6♥4♣8♠ and Vitaly Lunkin became Champion of RPT Moscow.
Final table payouts (in rubles):
1. Vitaly Lunkin, 14,323,000 2. Vyacheslav Goryachev, 7,877,000 3. Alexander Khoustov, 4,028,000 4. Oleg Shamardin, 3,133,000 5. Sergey Artamonov, 2,685,000 6. Ivan Demidov, Team PokerStars Pro 2,238,000 7. Dmitry Vitkind, 1,790,000 8. Alex Kravchenko, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,342,000 9. Evgeny Onishuk, 895,000
After we got down to 12 players, there was a series of double ups, several of them came from the very short Isnardo Gomez.
In one, he doubled up with 9♥9♣ against Rodirgo Maclean's A♠Q♦.
The board ran 4♦5♥6♠9♦5♣ and Gomez hit a set.
"He's doubled up like eight times," said Damian Salas said as he stood up from the table. "Five times he's been behind."
"Can't lose a hand this guy," Pierce Mckellar laughed.
But then he did.
The flurry of eliminations was over and we went from 12 to nine players in less than two minutes.
Gomez was short once again and moved all-in from the small blind. Olga Iermolcheva called from the big blind and had Gomez's K♥9♥ dominated with K♠Q♠.
Gomez's luck was all done as the board ran 7♥3♠T♣8♥8♦ to give Iermolcheva the pot.
12th place finisher, Isnardo Gomez
Gomez won $12,200 for finishing 12th and then Iermolcheva eliminated another player before she finished stacking up Gomez's hips.
Rodrigo Maclean --who had just doubled up Gomez a few minutes earlier-- pushed his short stack in from the hijack and Iermolcheva snap-called from the small blind.
Maclean turned over 2♥2♣ and was way behind Iermolcheva's 8♥8♠.
The board ran T♣4♦J♥7♠K♣ and Maclean was out in 11th, making the payjump to $14,060.
Iermolcheva's table was down to four players so the floor went to bring a player over from the feature table.
Deadly Iermolcheva
That never happened.
Over at the feature table Carlos Leiva was all-in with A♠T♣ against Tullio Bertoli's 7♥7♠.
A 6♠J♦3♠K♠K♣ board hit the table and Bertoli scored the elimination.
Leiva won $14,060 for finishing 10th and players redrew to the unofficial final table.
The final nine Seat 1: Francois Lincourt - 1,174,000 Seat 2: Francisco Rocha - 280,000 Seat 3: Shakeeb Kazemipur - 1,424,000 Seat 4: Derek Ecenarro - 360,000 Seat 5: Colin Lovelock - 267,000 Seat 6: Pierce Mckeller - 817,000 Seat 7: Olga Iermolcheva - 2,449,000 Seat 8: Damian Salas - 548,000 Seat 9: Tullio Bertoli - 1,203,000
A few hands into the final table, Colin Lovelock moved all-in for 232,000 and Francisco Rocha re-shoved from the button. The blinds folded and the small stacks tabled their hands.
Lovelock showed A♥J♥ while Rocha tabled K♠K♥. The board ran 2♦T♣2♠5c]T♦ and Lovelock was left with just 14,000.
Lovelock was automatically all-in from the big blind the next hand and Kazemipur and Ecenarro called.
The flop came 9♦8♥J♣ and Encenarro folded to a Kazemipur bet.
Kazemipur showed Q♣Q♥ and Lovelock tabled Q♠J♦.
An A♥ came on the turn and then a T♣ fell on the river to give players a chopped pot. Lovelock stayed alive and players went on a 15-minute break. ____________________________________________________________________
Tables are set. The penultimate day of this APPT9 Macau Main Event is upon us.
Of the 493 initial entrants only 41 will return today. They've already guaranteed themselves a HK$54,500 (US$7,029) payday and will be chasing the first place prize of HK$2,525,000 (US$325,667) and the APPT Main Event title when the tournaments draws to a close tomorrow.
For now though it's onto Day 3. We saw a big crowd developing late into yesterday and that's predicted to happen again as we get underway for another exciting day of play. We resume the action with blinds at 3,000/6,000 plus a 1,000 ante, and the average stack currently 240,487 in chips.
Among those still in contention is France's Nicolas 'Legadzo' Cardyn. He had an impressive Day 2, running his stack up to 350,000 which he'll start with today. Another recognizable name pulling up a seat is Zhenru Xie. The MPC21 Red Dragon champion starts the day with 519,000.
They'll be chasing the current chip boss Xiaohua Fu from China. He's got 724,000 in chips and has a commanding lead over current second place Fan Zhao with 588,000. Fu only has one previous live score to his name and looks set to add an impressive score to that here in Macau.
Chip leader going into today, Xiaohua Fu
On top of the Main Event, the HK$100,000 High Roller kicks off from 5pm local time. That's expected to draw a solid field and generate a healthy prize pool.
Again you can get involved on Twitter using the hashtag #APPTMacau. Players and fans have been interacting all week on the social media site, so follow the progress of your favourite players or maybe wish them good luck for today.
Players are now taking their seats with only a few minutes until we begin at 2pm. We'll be playing down to only 7 runners today so make sure you stay with us to see who makes the cut, and who of the final 41 fall by the wayside. For all your live reporting needs check out the top of the APPT9 Macau page.
The final round robin heads up matches are over and it's the Netherlands out ahead with just one set of high pressure seeded heads up matches to play. Bar a miraculous turn of events, which is always possible in the World Cup, it will be one of three countries lifting the trophy; the Netherlands (241), Peru (237) or Japan (222).
Germany (219) and Tajikistan (215) stand outside chances of winning but would need to dominate all five of their heads up matches to do so, and hope their rivals fail. Tajikistan have already had one sweep scored and one conceded so it's distinctly possible that takes place.
The leader board as it stands 1. Netherlands, 241 points 2. Peru, 237 points 3. Japan, 222 points 4. Germany, 219 points 5. Tajikistan, 215 points 6. Costa Rica, 189 points 7. France, 187 points 8. Rest of the World, 174 points
It's been a wild ride for Team Tajikistan as it's been the first time all five have played live beyond home games and they've acquitted themselves well. We caught up with their captain Angel Davidov during round six.
"The event means a great deal for all of us and Tajikistan. Like in any other post-Soviet country card games are considered gambling but we're trying to prove that it's a sport. For a country with only 50 poker players it was a big victory just to get here ahead of countries like Ukraine and Russia," said Davidov, a hulking tower of a man.
"When we walked in here yesterday we said, 'We are not going to finish in ninth place, we're shouldn't be the first to leave if we want to achieve our goal of promoting poker. Our goal today was to finish in the top four... but first or second would be great for us and Tajikistan. Ten people have asked me where it is. It was in Europe according to some, others thought Latin America!" said Davidov.
One round left to play.
Angel Davidov (the tall one)
The payouts 1st. $90,000 ($22,500 per person) 2nd. $65,000 ($16,250 per person) 3rd. $45,000 ($11,250 per person) 4th. $30,000 ($7,500 per person) 5th. $20,000 ($5,000 per person) 6th. $15,000 ($3,750 per person) 7th. $10,000 ($2,500 per person) 8th. $7,500 ($1,875 per person) 9th: Italy, $5,000 ($1,250 per person)
Shannon Shorr, one of the GPI’s Players of the Decade, joins Remko to talk about his personal growth, traveling, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and much more.
Responding to ever-increasing demand for its services, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) has doubled the size of its operation in San Cugat, Barcelona, Spain.
The lab, GLI España, opened in 2012, and since that time the company has secured a continuously increasing number of clients. The demand required GLI to devote more space, resources and manpower to accommodate its clients and maintain its fast turnaround times.
Martin Britton, managing director of GLI España BV said, “We have a great team working in the Barcelona office, headed by David Jimenez Gracia, who are known throughout Spain and across Europe for delivering excellent customer service. Now this expansion was necessary to ensure we are able to maintain and improve service levels to our customers.”
“We recently recruited Brais Pena Sanchez as Development Manager to handle client liaison activities. In addition we have recruited additional engineering resources and are actively seeking additional staff, which is a positive sign for the future,” Britton added.
The 2013 World Series of Poker is rapidly winding down, but there are still a few events remaining for Team PokerStars Pros to make their mark. Chad Brown and Nacho Barbero are two players who've talked about their Vegas experiences with the PokerStars Blog, and now Jonathan Duhamel, the 2010 WSOP Main Event champ and a member of Team PokerStars Canada, has decided to share as well.
The 2013 WSOP is becoming known as the "Year of the Canadians" as ten bracelets have been awarded to citizens of that country. Duhamel, who has cashed three times at the 2013 WSOP for $36,595 (including a tenth-place finish in Event #25 $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better), is hoping to become the 11th Canadian to capture a bracelet, which would be his second piece of gold.
In this edition of This or That, which takes a look at both the serious and unserious sides of various Team PokerStars Pros, we caught up with Duhamel, who was playing the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, to talk about life in Vegas, Canada's recent success and much more.
Duhamel earlier in the series
PokerStars Blog: How is the 2013 WSOP going for you thus far?
Jonathan Duhamel: Well, good and bad. Could be worse, could be better. I have a few cashes, but I don't have any final tables yet. My best score is a tenth place, so I'm looking forward to trying to do better than that.
PSBlog: You're currently the chip leader in the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship.* How does that feel?
JD: It feels amazing, but it's just the start. It's the start of Day 2, so hopefully I'm still going to be the chip leader at the end of the day. It's a fun tournament. All the superstars are here. Definitely feel good so far.
*Duhamel finished Day 2 second in chips behind David Benyamine with 78 players remaining.
PSBlog: What are some things, other than poker, that you like to do while in Las Vegas?
JD: Well, obviously I like to party like all the other kids in Vegas. I just want to chill. I like to play golf, go-karting, stuff like that. Just anything that's going to keep your head off poker for a while.
PSBlog: You went to the Electric Daisy Carnival for the first time this year with fellow Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree. How was that experience?
JD: It was pretty amazing. It was my first time going over there. I'd heard so many good things about it, so definitely it was a lot of fun. I only went on a Friday night and we had a blast, we had a lot of fun.
Duhamel and Boeree at the Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas
PSBlog: Canadians are doing very well at the WSOP this summer. As a Canadian yourself, how do you feel about that?
JD: It feels pretty good. I mean it's fun to see that. It's not that much of a surprise because there are a lot of amazing poker players in Canada, so it's really good to see them doing well and for sure it's going to continue I think.
PSBlog: Do you hang out with any other Team Pros when you're in Vegas?
JD: We try to but we all play all the time so it's kind of tough. We had some go-karting last week that was organized, so for those of us that were available we went. Besides that we have drinks here and there when we have time, but usually we're so busy playing all the time that it's tough.
PSBlog: What's your favorite club in Vegas?
JD: That's a good one. Probably XS [at the Wynn] even though Hakkasan [at MGM] is pretty sick. I think XS it number one.
PSBlog: What are your plans for after the series?
JD: Just going home to relax. It's a big, big grind of six weeks in Vegas. I'm just looking forward to relaxing. It's kind of my vacation going home for a month, five weeks maybe. Just going to play some golf, see my buddies and family and just relax.
PSBlog: Will we see you at the EPT Barcelona?
JD: Absolutely.
Chad Holloway is a freelance contributor. WSOP photo courtesy of PokerPhotoArchive.
Las Vegas casinos seemed to be on the upswing for investors, but now may be in more of a holding pattern.
After plummeting for over a year, casino stock prices seemed to have bottomed out and begun recovering in the last couple months, but are now once again fluttering. Gaming industry analysts are saying that there are certainly bumps ahead on the path for gambling companies, and optimism should be guarded, if allowed at all.
The Las Vegas Journal-Review is reporting that Applied Analysis of Las Vegas found that is monthly computation of composite gaming stock value had declined in June, after two positive months. Industry operators had hoped the good returns in April and May would mean an escalating rate of recovery, but that has now been dashed.
"The V-shaped recovery is off the table," Rich Moriarty of Union Gaming Group told the Review-Journal. "The worst is over, but we're certainly not out of the woods yet."
Applied Analysis employs it monthly gaming index to measure overall market movement. The index figures in the prices of the major Las Vegas gaming operators' stock.
The index has been as high as 667.09 in October of 2007, and fell as low as 189.50 in March. June's index was 233.03, 7 points down from May.
Interestingly, the index found manufacturers' stock to be rising, as new gambling areas are legalized, creating new demands for product.
Bill Frist, the man who snuck the online casino payment processing ban through Congress now wants everyone to know he supports the health care bill, when it benefits special interests, but not really because that offends his radical right base.
The former Senate Majority Leader who snuck the UIGEA online casino payment ban into a port security act in 2006 has reappeared after supposedly retiring from politics that same year. Bill Frist is creating controversy again by first telling a reporter for Time magazine that he'd vote for the health care package as currently composed in the Senate, then days later denying he meant any such thing.
Frist helped push through the Internet casino prohibition by attaching it to an urgent homeland security issue that came up for vote at midnight on the day Congress adjourned for the year, avoiding scrutiny while assurring passage by linking it to such an important bill. Capitol Hill rumors attributed political aspirations for a Presidential run behind Frist's support of the religious right's anti-gambling agenda.
Now Frist has been caught trying to play both sides. He told Time's Karen Tumulty of the health care bill, "I would end up voting for it."
"As leader, I would take heat for it," Frist said. "That's what leadership is all about."
Frist noted one of his favorite parts of the bill is the requirement that people without insurance be required to buy it, a notable break from Republican ideals but certainly in line with insurance companies, which would love the forced business.
Frist then changed his mind when questioned by ABC News Radio, saying, "People try to put words in my mouth. I don’t support the Baucus bill as written today."
Apparently Frist was once again covering his bases for potential future political appeal, just as he tried to do with the Internet gambling bill. This time, he made sure to say what Big Insurance wanted to hear, then attacked the Democrats to undo damage done to his conservative core.
If the US ever wants a sneaky, underhanded politician with a record of legislating against due process (the Military Commissions Act), flip-flopping on both health care and stem cell research to appease both sides, breaking medical ethics (in the Terri Schiavo case), and supporting torture, Bill Frist will be ready to answer the call.
We've had a lot of enquiries and there's lots of speculation on the forums, so I wanted to address the PokerStars chatter. As you know, PokerStars is in settlement discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice. As such settlement discussions are always confidential, we are unable to comment on rumors. As soon as we have information to share publicly we will do so.
* * * *
Eric Hollreiser is Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars
Another Sunday means another big round of tourneys on PokerStars, highlighted as always by the Sunday Million, online poker's most popular weekly tournament. There were 7,972 hopefuls gathered for today's Sunday Million, all putting up $215 with ideas of multiplying that investment by 1,000 or more. And after 11 hours and 45 minutes one of those 7,972 did just that as martyyy of Norway came away with the victory and a gigantic $239,164.05 first prize after no final table deal was made.
It took around five hours for the money bubble to burst, and shortly after it was PaDiLhA SP, Steve "BetrThanPhil" Tripp, and el diegote10 leading the counts as the only players with more than 300,000 chips.
There were a few members of Team PokerStars still in the counts then, with one -- Chris "chrisdm" de Meulder -- hitting the rail soon after in 1,056th to cash for $334.82.
As play continued a few of de Meulder's teammates fell as Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso went out in 822nd ($382.65), Chris's brother Matthias "mattidm" de Meulder was sent railward in 736th ($414.54), and recent Poker Hall of Fame candidate Humberto "Humberto B." Brenes was stopped in 587th ($462.37).
That left just Team Challenger Stavros "IDOLLS" Kalfas to sport the red spade as the field was trimmed under 500 players. Kalfas would still be there as the tournament crossed the eight-hour mark, at which point 100 players remained and Grizzlypower and WaGe N Warz were in the top positions, both hovering around 2.1 million chips.
Kalfas hung on more than a half-hour longer, then a hand arose that saw simren make a 3x opening raise from the cutoff to 150,000, then IDOLLS reraise all in for 940,192 from the button. The blinds folded and simren called, turning over [6h][6d] to Kalfas's [Ah][Qc]. The board then came ten-high, failing to improve Kalfas's hand and ending his Sunday Million run in 65th place for a $2,232.16 cash.
About an hour-and-a-half after that they'd reached the 10-hour mark and just 18 remained, with Bruno "bubbleboybr" Severino out in front with about 12.7 million and martyyy and DwnByDaBrdge not far behind.
It would take about 40 minutes more for the next nine to fall. jessy784 (18th), BetrThanPhil (17th), and Neyko348 (16th) each earned $4,225.16 for their finishes; x_x_AAA_x_x (15th), Francis "The Lag rat" Anderson (14th), and simren (13th) took away $6,377.60 apiece; and Sergey "SerAlGog" Gogolev (12th), wieselsen (11th), and KLUM_smoking (10th) picked up $8,530.04 cashes.
With martyyy having by then pushed out in front with more than 16 million, the final table was under way.
It took less than an orbit for the first final table elimination to occur.
With the blinds 150,000/300,000, Velni@Z opened for 601,900 from under the gun, then smily1208 reraised all in for 2,317,825 from the cutoff seat. It folded back to Velni@Z who called and turned over [Ks][Qs] to the [8c][8h] of smily1208. The flop and turn were okay for smily1208, coming [4c][Td][2c], then [3s]. But the river was the [Qc], giving Velni@Z queens and sending smily1208 railward in ninth.
Just three hands after that, leader martyyy made a minimum-raise to 600,000 from early position, then a short-stacked przem77 shoved for 902,981 from a couple of seats over. All folded back to martyyy who called. przem77 had [Ks][9h] and needed help against martyyy's [Ah][Js], but the board came [Qd][5c][6d][4h][Qc], and przem77 was out in eighth.
The remaining seven played a couple of orbits more with the blinds climbing to 200,000/400,000. Then a hand arose in which Velni@Z raised to 801,900 from the button, then DwnByDaBrdge reraise-pushed for 6,342,457 from the small blind. Bruno "bubbleboybr" Severino folded the big blind, but Velni@Z called.
DwnByDaBrdge: [Kh][8h] Velni@Z: [Ad][9s]
The community cards failed to connect with either player -- coming [Jh][Qs][7s][3d][4d] -- and Velni@Z's ace-high bested DwnByDaBrdge's king-high to reduce the field to six.
A little later that level it was Bruno "bubbleboybr" Severino raising to 800,875 from the button, then Loysh was the one pushing from the small blind, this time for 5,874.657. It folded back to Severino who called with [Ac][Jh] while Loysh had [9d][9s]. The flop brought a jack for bubbleboybr, coming [7c][Jd][8h], and after the [5s] turn and [Kh] river, Loysh was knocked out in sixth.
They were nearing the 11-and-a-half-hour mark of the tournament when the blinds increased to 250,000/500,000, then Velni@Z open-raised all in for 6,107,168 from the cutoff. It folded to dimjyri who had but 4,992,728 left and made the call, showing [7s][7c] while Velni@Z had [Ac][Th]. The board brought an ace, coming [8h][4s][Ad][8c][9d], giving Velni@Z the hand and ending dimjyri's run in fifth.
Shortly after that the remaining four paused the tournament to talk about a possible deal, with martyyy way in from with 41,953,741, Bruno "bubbleboybr" Severino next with 14,635,115, el diegote10 third with 11,881,248, and Velni@Z fourth with 11,249,896.
First "ICM" figures were produced, and then another set of proposed payouts according to the "chip chop" formula. Given martyyy's big lead, the difference between the two sets of numbers was quite significant (each leaving $20,000 aside for which to play):
"ICM" martyyy $186,980.30 bubbleboybr $142,620.94 el diegote10 $133,592.45 Velni@Z $131,292.12
"I agree to the chip chop," typed martyyy. "I agree to the icm" replied bubbleboybr. Not long after that, all were typing "let's play" and cards were back in the air with no deal made.
A couple of minutes later el diegote10 min-raised to 1.2 million from the cutoff/UTG, Velni@Z reraised all in for 7,789,896 from the button, the blinds folded, and el diegote10 called. Velni@Z had [Ad][6d] and was behind el diegote10's [Ac][Kd]. The board came [8d][Th][2s], then [Qd], then [4h], and Velni@Z was done in fourth.
About 10 minutes after that the blinds were 400,000/800,000 when martyyy raised to 1.6 million from the small blind, el diegote10 shoved from the big blind for 19,836,852, and martyyy called.
martyyy had [9h][9s] and el diegote10 [As][Jd], and when the flop came [Ah][4d][4h], el diegote10 was quickly in front with two pair. The turn was the [3s] and el diegote10 looked in good shape to climb back into contention versus martyyy, but the [9d] spiked on the river, giving martyyy a full house and eliminating el diegote10 in third.
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With that knockout martyyy enjoyed a commanding lead to start heads-up play with 71,882,115 to Bruno "bubbleboybr" Severino's 7,837,845. On the first hand between them, martyyy shoved all in from the button and Severino folded. But when bubbleboybr did the same on the following hand, martyyy called and the pair showed their cards:
martyyy: [Ks][Qd] bubbleboybr: [Qs][7c]
martyyy had the big edge before the flop, and five cards later -- [Tc][9d][Kd][2h][6c] -- martyyy's hand was still best to secure the win.
RSS readers click through to view replay
Congratulations to martyyy for topping another huge Sunday Million field and earning a $239,164.05 return on a $215 investment!
11/3/13 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Players: 7,972 Total prize pool: $1,594,400.00 Places paid: 1,170
If you happened to be a patriotic Russian looking to support a local player at a big poker tournament, then Moscow yesterday was the place to be. All nine players at the successful PokerStars Russian Poker Tour final table in Moscow were from the home country. And two of them - Ivan Demidov and Alex Kravchenko - were Team PokerStars Pros. Even their experience, both being previous World Series of Poker Main Event final tablists, was not enough to take down this event. Instead, that went to Vitaly Lunkin, a former backgammon player.
Responding to ever-increasing demand for its services, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) has doubled the size of its operation in San Cugat, Barcelona, Spain.
The former Senate Majority Leader who snuck the UIGEA online casino payment ban into a port security act in 2006 has reappeared after supposedly retiring from politics that same year. Bill Frist is creating controversy again by first telling a reporter for Time magazine that he'd vote for the health care package as currently composed in the Senate, then days later denying he meant any such thing.
