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Ladbrokes made proactive moves in management designed to keep the online casino operator healthy, profitable, and dominant in its industry.

Ladbrokes shook up its management staff this week, replacing the head of online gaming and the director of retail operations, among other moves. Company CEO Richard Glynn told the Wall Street Journal that the operation needed refreshing and updating, with a goal of generating online casino patron loyalty.

Increasing promotions, offers, and incentive programs is a focal point for Ladbrokes, along with supplying state-of-the-art technology. Beyond creating traffic to its Internet gambling sites by drawing new visitors, Ladbrokes is preparing for intensification of competition by targeting ways to retain customers who have previously used the service.

This means offering the most modern adaptations of sports betting, such as live wagering featuring in-game play and constantly shifting odds. It also involves concentration on separating and raising brand awareness above other online gaming operators, and providing responsive customer service.

"We are moving swiftly to address historical operational weaknesses," Glynn told the Journal. "We are changing the DNA of the business."

Glynn asserted the changes were necessary before adaptations by competitors such as the newly formed PartyGaming-Bwin union leave Ladbrokes trailing in a rapidly shifting online casino environment.

Published on August 5, 2010 by TomWeston

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Published on October 31, 2013 by April Gardner

Lawmakers in Florida are again considering the possibility of bringing casino resorts to the Sunshine State, and much like in past years, the resistance is coming from a company known for bringing joy to billions of children.

The Walt Disney Company has fought tooth and nail over the years to keep casino resorts out of Florida. Entrenched in the Bible belt of Florida, Disney World is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, and the parent company wants to ensure that gamblers stay far away from their safe haven.

The biggest question being raised these days as legislators prepare to take up casino resort bills is whether Disney is dealing out of hypocrisy. The company purchased the rights to Marvel Comics back in 2009. Marvel had several gaming deals in place with slot developers to create slot machines based around popular Marvel characters from the Avengers to Spider Man.

Disney asserts that those deals were legally binding and in place before they took over Marvel. The company, through a spokesman, has said that they have not signed a slot deal in the past two years, and they would not be renewing deals once the current agreements run out. It is a big blow to the gaming industry.

"Casual gamblers like to walk into a casino and see familiarity on the slot machines," said analyst Nick Grant. "That familiarity of seeing a character that they know from a comic, movie, or other form of entertainment, draws the gamblers to certain slots. There's no doubt the gaming industry will feel the effects of losing Marvel characters on their machines."

The bigger effect on the gaming industry in Florida has been Disney's tremendous strength in the Legislature. With hundreds of millions of dollars tied up in lobbyists, Disney has long controlled many bills that come before lawmakers, and they plan on using that pull once again to keep casino resorts out.

"We oppose the legalization of so-called destination resort casinos because this major expansion of gambling is inconsistent with Florida's reputation as a family-friendly destination," said Walt Disney World Spokeswoman Andrea M. Finger.

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While Mario Lopez still had the chip lead went play went heads-up, Hilario Quijada had been doing most of the eliminating.

German Christiansen raised to 130,000 from the small blind and Quijada tanked. Quijada grabbed a pile of white, T25,000 chips and counted out 350,000. Then he grabbed his cards and slightly moved them towards the muck before he pulled them back.

Quijada thought a bit more, recounted the bet and then added a pile of blue chips to it.

"Raise," Quijada said. "450."

Christiansen moved all-in and Quijada snap-called.

Christiansen showed 7♣7♠ but Quijada had a better pair with K♦K♣. The board ran A♣3♥J♦9♠A♠ and Quijada eliminated another player.

3rd-place finisher, German Christiansen

Christiansen won $75,760 for the 3rd-place finish while the tournament went heads-up.

Quijada started the match with 2.1 million while Lopez was still in the lead with 3.2 million.

"I wanted to get heads-up with 1 million to your 4 million," Quijada said.

But Quijada would have to settle for double that. Then he took the tournament chip lead for the first time.

For the first part of the match, there were a lot of small pots. Players would raise and call preflop and then check down to the river. They were hesitant to show cards at every showdown, Lopez would usually show just one card and Quijada would muck if he was beat.

Then Quijada took a few big pots.

In one, Lopez called from the small blind and Quijada raised to 295,000. Lopez called and the flop came J♥T♥6♦. Players checked and checked again when the 8♠ came on the turn.

Hilario Quijada

The river brought a T♠ and a big bet. Quijada put out a bet worth 405,000 and after some thought and chip shuffling, Lopez called.

Quijada turned over 8♦8♥ for a full house and Lopez mucked.

Soon after that, Quijada called from the small blind and Lopez checked.

The flop came T♥6♦A♠ and Lopez bet 70,000. The turn brought a T♦ and Lopez upped the bet to 80,000. Quijada called and the 9♣ completed the board.

Lopez checked and quickly called after Quijada fired off a bet of 135,000.

Lopez mucked just as quickly when Quijada showed K♥T♠ for trip tens.

The hand put Quijada up to 3.1 million while Lopez dropped to 2.2 million.

The leaded didn't last long for Quijada. With 40,000/80,000 blinds, a number of small pots put Lopez back up to about 2.6 million and players are about even again.

At the conclusion of this level, the final two players will be on a 75-minute dinner break.

Photography from LAPT8 Uruguay by Carlos Monti. You can also follow the action in Spanish and in Portuguese.

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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"This is my first event at the PCA this year," smiles Kristina Lehtimäki, clutching the trophy for which she's been playing for two days, "and unfortunately, my last!"

She looks around the Tournament Room, which is looking a lot emptier now than it was when the Women's Event began over 24 hours ago. There are no more tournaments left on the schedule for her to play. Her 100% PCA record is secure for at least a year.

Lehtimäki, left, and Lampropulos heads-up for the title

Lehtimäki's first tournament win outside her native Finland has bagged her $8,902 and a PCA trophy, and was a hard-fought victory. To win the title, she had to outlast numerous well-known names including Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima de Melo, Team Online's Adrienne 'talonchick' Rowsome and Katerina 'Katerina289' Malasidou, and her countrywoman Sara Chafak.

A familiar face: Vanessa Selbst stops by to watch the Women's Event

"I recognised some of the professionals at the table. I play online mostly, multi-table tournaments. I have some experience playing long tournaments like this, but not as much as some. Yesterday I was very, very tired. I kept checking my watch to see when the day was going to end."

PCA 2015 Women's Event Champion Kristina Lehtimäki

Happily for Lehtimäki, Day 2 of the tourney ended in the best possible way. She found herself heads-up with the UK's Maria Lampropulos, the final table's chip-leader at the start of play today. After almost an hour of back-and-forth, during which Lehtimäki showed plenty of aggression to gain the chip lead, Lampropulos open-shoved from the button for 141,000 holding J♣8♣. Lehtimäki thought for just a few seconds before calling with Q♥[10h].

The board came A♦A♠Q♠9♦K♠, and just like that the Women's Event was all over.

Curtain down. Lights up.

Fin.

Follow all the action from both remaining flagship tournaments on PokerStars Blog. The Main Event is on the Main Event page, and High Roller page. And there are a host of side event reports and results on the Side Events page

---

Adam Hampton is a copywriter for PokerStars

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According to RotoGrinders, Assani Fisher is the seventh best Daily Fantasy Sports player in the world, having made huge scores in contests ranging from MLB, NBA, PGA, NFL and even NCAA football and mixed martial arts. But because of the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s recent decision that DFS contests are considered gambling under state law, Fisher can no longer play in the state that he resides in.

The news couldn’t have come at a worse time, right in the heart of the busy NFL season when there is millions of dollars up for grabs. In order to keep playing, Fisher is being forced to uproot his life, move to a different state which has yet to rule on DFS contests, and hope to establish residency as soon as possible so he can finally log in and set his lineups.

The 33-year-old from Gaithersburg, Maryland came up in the poker world and racked up more than $600,000 in online poker tournaments, along with another $70,000 in live tournaments, but DFS has been much less of a grind for Fisher in the past year with a reported $800,000 in winnings.

Card Player caught up with Fisher after the news broke that Nevada residents would no longer be allowed to play on DFS sites.

Julio Rodriguez: Where were you when you heard that Nevada was requiring gaming licenses for DFS sites?

Assani Fisher: I was on vacation, having a great time. FanDuel hooked me up with a box suite for Monday Night Football in San Diego for the Steelers vs. Chargers game. They take care of their top players and this was part of their VIP user experience. I came home to Las Vegas that Wednesday night and I heard the news that there was going to be an issue in Nevada.

JR: How did you take the news?

AF: The thing is, I need to be playing DFS right now, as soon as possible. The money is too good right now to just sit back and see what happens. I’ve emailed both sites (DraftKings and FanDuel) and now I’m just waiting to hear what the official rules are going to be. If need be, I’ll be moving sometime this week to California or something so I can start playing right away, but no one is really sure right now what will be required to prove your location or establish residency.

JR: Can you talk a little bit about how you got into DFS?

AF: I started playing DFS at the beginning of last football season, so I guess it was September of 2014. I had heard about it from my friend Aaron Jones, another poker player, and he had been trying to get me into it. I dismissed it for awhile, but then Scott Seiver mentioned it to me and I decided to give it a shot. I made a deposit of $600 to get the maximum bonus and turned a small profit initially. In December, Aaron and I got really into the NBA and I was able to run it up to somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000, but I lost it all back in late December, early January.

In late January, I went back to poker and started grinding $2-$5 cash games at the Wynn. Then in February, I started taking DFS more seriously and things started clicking. Ever since then, it’s been nothing but DFS outside of the World Series of Poker.

JR: So you aren’t playing much poker right now?

AF: These days, I’m playing almost entirely DFS. I played about 10 WSOP events, but after playing professionally for over ten years, I was ready to focus on something else. When I travel to Toronto to visit friends, I’ll play a little bit of poker online, but it’s not my priority anymore. My income is from DFS.

I spend a lot of my day on DFS. If it’s during the NBA or NFL season, then I’m working over eight hours a day. During the summer, it’s a little easier because I’m mostly just working on golf or MMA events.

JR: You are ranked in the top 10 of DFS players in the world. What does an average weekend look like for you, in terms of buy-ins?

AF: The first few weeks of the NFL season, I was getting between $100,000 and $150,000 down every weekend. The biggest weekend was probably around $275,000. But this is very new to me. Like I said, I was playing $2-$5 no-limit earlier this year. This is really my first experience with this big of a bankroll and that much money in action. But of course, just to clarify, my rosters are diversified so it would take a complete disaster to lose all of that money in one week. I might have one player I really like in something like two-thirds of my teams, so if he manages to get hurt on the first play of the game, then I might be in a lot of trouble, but I don’t put more than $75,000 on any one particular team. I know that’s still a ton of money, but it’s not as crazy as it might look to an outsider.

JR: Given all of the regulation issues currently facing the DFS sites, what do you think will happen with the industry?

AF: I’m not overly optimistic when it comes to the future of DFS, to be honest. We’ve seen this happen before with sports betting and poker. The public debate is on the definition of what constitutes gambling, but in reality, it’s just the politics distracting us while the corporate interests find a way to get their cut of the profits. It seems like a clear money grab to me, and because of what we saw with online poker, I don’t see things getting any easier for the DFS industry. We’re not going to be able to sit down and have a reasonable debate about the morality of DFS, protecting children and problem gamblers or how to regulate it. Instead, we are going to get caught up in the endless cycle of what is, and what isn’t gambling, and that’s a shame.

You can learn more about Assani Fisher from his vlog on RotogGrinders or follow him on Twitter @AssaniFisher.

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Daniel Negreanu stood form his seat and leaned forward. His face sowed he was not happy, or at the best he was resigned. His tournament life looked poised on a knife edge.

Play up to this point had gone without much incident for the Team Pro, save the gradual decline in the size of his stack. He'd gone quiet, and so too had the crowd. They'd come to watch him do what he does best, but so far there had not been much to cheer.

Then the announcer said he was all-in.

Negreanu turned over ace-king while Omri Moga showed pocket sevens. He stood and so did the audience, now on the brink of an early dinner. Somebody somewhere whistled.

The ace-high flop seemed to solve Negreanu's immediate problems, but the three clubs were a snag given that one of Moga's sevens was also a club. Negreanu had a sweat. The crowd called for all sorts of cards to help the Canadian, except for one voice that demanded a seven. But the seven, or the club missed the turn and the river.

Negreanu sat back down, the smile having returned to his face. He was also talking again. Even more so when the two black aces he found on the next hand moved him up even more. Negreanu looks like he'll be sticking around a little longer.

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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Congratulations Sammy Huang - ANZPT Canberra Main Event champion!

It's great to see a local shine through as Sammy Huang has survived the interstate invasion and steamrolled his way through the final table to claim a memorable victory.

Huang qualified for this event through one of the online $22+R 3xTurbo satellites on PokerStars for the investment of just $42. He's now turned that into an incredible $73,700 in prize money! Congratulations to Sammy on a wonderful achievement which has created a real buzz throughout the Casino Canberra.

That wraps up our live coverage from the tournament floor, but we'll have a complete wrap of the day's action for you very shortly.

ANZPT Canberra champion Sammy Huang

7:25pm: James Broom eliminated in 2nd place; Sammy Huang wins!

The players were deep-stacked but you had a feeling that fireworks could explode at any moment with these two competitive, aggressive players. And so it happened.

James Broom started with a raise to 40,000 the small blind and Sammy Huang flat-called in the big blind (button). The flop landed [jh][9d][qh] and Broom checked it over to Huang who bet 100,000. Broom made the call.

The turn was the [7d] and Broom checked again to Huang who overbet the pot by moving all in! Broom had about 900,000 behind and Huang had him well covered as Broom spent some time in the tank contemplating his decision.

Broom quietly uttered "call" and tabled [qd][5d] for top pair with a flush draw, but incredibly Huang once again held [as][ah].

Broom was left needing a queen, five or diamond to stay alive but the river bricked the [7s]. The courageous run of James Broom ends in 2nd place for $46,900 as our Sammy Huang is crowned the ANZPT Canberra champion!

James Broom eliminated in 2nd place

7:20pm: First blood to Broom

James Broom raised to 40,000 from the small blind before Sammy Huang re-raised to 140,000 in the big blind (button). Broom declared himself all in for around 900,000 and Huang made a reluctant fold.

7:15pm: We're a little backwards in Canberra

James Broom has just made us aware of a unique rule here in Canberra, and he's not too thrilled about it. In Canberra, when heads up, the button is the big blind - basically the reverse of the way heads-up poker is played almost everywhere else in the world.

It means that the button has a huge advantage, and it would be correct for the small blind to play more tight that usual. The small blind acts first preflop, but is then out of position for the rest of the hand.

7:10pm: We're heads up for the title!

This is it! The trophy and $73,700 is on the line as our two players have taken their seats and are ready to go for glory. Here are the chip counts as heads-up play gets underway.

Sammy Huang - 1,745,000
James Broom - 940,000

The cards are back in the air!

7:00pm: Tony Kambouroglou eliminated in 3rd place

James Broom opened with a raise to 40,000 on the button and Sammy Huang called in the small blind. Action was with Tony Kambouroglou in the big blind and he moved all in. Broom instantly called as Huang got out of the way.

Kambouroglou: [5d][4c]
Broom: [ad][8d]

Great read and call by Broom as he knew that Toothpick was on the squeeze and he was rewarded as the board ran out [9d][td][ks][jh][tc]. Toothpick is eliminated in 3rd place and he'll take home $27,470 in prize money.

There will now be a brief pause as we set up the final table for heads-up play.

"Toothpick" Tony Kambouroglou eliminated in 3rd place

6:40pm: Khiem Nguyen eliminated in 4th place

The blinds had kicked up and something had to give to break the stalemate. It was Khiem Nguyen who was the unfortunate soul to be removed from this quartet as Sammy Huang continues on his merry way.

James Broom opened to 45,000 before Nguyen moved all in for 217,000 from the button. After asking for a count, Huang called from the small blind as the other players stepped aside.

Nguyen: [4s][4d]
Huang: [as][ac]

Once again Huang had found the rockets and there were no surprises on the board of [7h][9c][ts][6s][6c]. Nguyen departs in 4th place after a fantastic tournament, collecting $22,780 in prize money. Meanwhile Huang now has well over half the chips in play with over 1.7 million chips.

Khiem Nguyen eliminated in 4th place

6:35pm: Level up, blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2,000

6:30pm: Success with a bluff

James Broom opened to 35,000 from the cutoff and Toothpick Tony made the call in the big blind. The flop landed [3s][8h][2s] and Toothpick check-called for 45,000 as the [4c] hit the turn. Toothpick checked it over to Broom who released a second barrel worth 75,000.

Toothpick when into the tank for a very long time - a good three or four minutes - before finally folding. It was the wrong decision as Broom showed [9d][td] for the air ball! Broom is back to 450,000.

6:25pm: Broom gets busy

The action has ground to a halt, with a few shoves by the short stack going uncalled as they battle valiantly to survive.

James Broom's rollercoaster ride continues after losing a pot to chip leader Sammy Huang. Broom has been pretty active but it's one step forwards, two steps back at the moment.

Broom opened to 35,000 and Huang called in the big blind to see a [ah][6s][4d] flop. Huang decided to lead out for 54,000 and Bloom floated a call but was forced to fold when Huang open-shoved on the [th] turn.

6:05pm: Toothpick wins with ace-high

It's been slow going recently with Toothpick Tony just collecting the only notable pot. James Broom had opened to 35,000 and Toothpick called in the big blind to see a [7c][9s][6s] flop.

Both players checked and a repeat [6d] hit the turn. Toothpick checked and Broom took a stab of 50,000. Toothpick looked him up before both players checked the [3c] river. Toothpick opened [ah][4d] for just ace-high but it was enough to take it down. Toothpick is back to 550,000 with Broom at 430,000.

5:45pm: Double double!

James Broom has done it again! Another double up and once again he had to come from behind. Broom open-shoved for 228,000 from the cutoff and Khiem Nguyen made the call on the button.

Broom opened [kh][qd] for live cards against Nguyen's [ac][9c]. However Broom just doesn't seem to miss in these all-in clashes and once again he connected with the board of [3h][qh][jd][6s][ts]. Broom is now back to 460,000 with Nguyen back down to 400,000.

James Broom is back in business!

5:40pm: Broom doubles in the dark

First hand back from the break, and James Broom open-shoved for 107,000 from the button. Once Sammy Huang made the call in the big blind, Broom admitted he hadn't looked at his cards!

Broom opened [qh][5s] and found himself with one overcard to Huang's [jc][js]. But that's all he needed, as the board was spread [as][8h][qc][8c][tc]. Broom doubles to 225,000 with Huang back to 1.25 million.

5:35pm: Play resumes

The four remaining players are back to battle it out. Here are the approximate chip counts at the break:

Sammy Huang - 1,360,000
Khiem Nguyen - 650,000
Tony Kambouroglou - 560,000
James Broom - 110,000

The cards are once again back in the air!

It's been a long day for ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke

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November Nine chip leader Joe McKeehen joins Remko to discuss how he amassed his chip lead, how he is preparing for the final table, and more. 

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One often hears players around a poker tournament discussing hands. Actually, you hear them all the time: hotel breakfast buffets, on breaks, at the urinals and anywhere where there's a spare few minutes to be had. To some it's tiresome, to others it's a vital way of getting feedback while the hand is still fresh in the memory.

A player will, more often than not, try to discuss a hand with some intricacies where there could be one, or a number, of key decisions to make. If two big hands matched up then what's the point in discussing it? The hand plays itself, right? Correct, but what about the mental approach to the period after a big hand goes down? Be it on the winning side or the losing side, how does one approach the aftermath?

Cachia doesn't like kings anymore

If you get unlucky to bust should you vent and get angry at the poker gods for the injustice you've suffered? Jackie "Poker Mama" Cachia suffered a bad beat with pocket kings earlier and was ousted from the tournament. She went looking for girlfriend Lina Teuma who was still in the tournament but couldn't wait until she got near enough to have a normal conversation. Instead she started cursing about her bad luck from two tables away. Teuma quietened her down and listened to the details before she was left to concentrate on her own game. Maybe this was the best way for Cachia to get it out of her system. Her exit didn't come down to a lack of skill and she had no control over her destiny but that didn't seem to enter her mind at the time.

Just before the dinner break, Team PokerStars Pro Mattias De Meulder also put his tournament life on the line with pocket kings. He got his 13,300 in the middle and, after a preflop raising war, found a customer in Cameron Couch who held the dominated pocket queens. The board ran out 8♣6♥5♠3♣8♥ to hand the Belgian a full double up. He was bouncing in his chair and had a big smile upon his face. The poker gods had looked kindly upon him but it didn't take much skill compared the most of the decisions he has to make daily.

De Meulder loves pocket kings

After raking in the chips, he looked at his Aussie neighbour and said, "Sick!" while beaming with happiness. Were his emotions natural joy or was he trying to use the situation to gain an advantage over his opponent moving forward? In the cold light of day, De Meulder would look at the situation in a very different way with little emotion compared to the emotion he obviously felt at the time. Couch, as laid back as his name, didn't respond or react in the slightest seemingly very in control of his emotions.

Do we allow ourselves to have irrational emotions in rational situations when it's to our advantage? Now flip that on it's head. Can we stop those irrational emotions if we come out on the wrong side of the same situation? Controlling tilt and winners tilt (as they are sometime known) can be one of the hardest things to add to one's game .

Main Event News

The IPT Main Event is winding down to the end of the day and around 65 players remain. The 45-minute Day 1 levels, which the majority of players are in favour of for the smaller buy in Main Events, means that the tournament has gotten further along in the structure.

The thinking is that players prefer to know earlier in these tournaments whether or not a deep run is likely. If it is then great, if not, then better to know earlier and to be able to hop in another of the numerous tournaments on offer that day before registration closes.

Allesio Peciarolo

Italian Allesio Peciarolo has soared into the chip lead with 240,000. The end of day chip lead is no guarantee at this stage though as he has Henry Broens, (210,000) and Franceso Lombardo (195,000) chasing hm hard. Luca Pagano (120,000), Leonid Lerner (112,000), Matthias De Meulder (70,000), Matas Cimbolas (70,000) and Dara O'Kearney (60,000) are all well positioned to make Day 2.

Those who busted in the last couple of hours include: Kenny Haelert, Balasz Botond, Joao Riberiro, Morten Mortensen, Jason Wheeler, Benny Glaser, Kitty Kuo and Griffin Benger.

Jason wheeled out

Keep a look out for the end of day wrap to see who's makes it through.

For full details of the festival, click here.

Not got a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now!

Updates provided by Marc Convey, with photos coming from René Velli and
Tomáš Stacha.

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