Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for June 8, 2018
By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Jun 8, 2018
Partypoker To Benefit From European Shared Poker Player Pool
Network operator PMU set to join French-Spanish-Portuguese shared liquidity pool next Monday
The French gambling group Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) which operates on the PartyPoker network, has announced that it will launch into the joint liquidity pool of France, Spain and Portugal next Monday.
“Starting Monday, June 4th, the table sharing with Spain will be effective on PMU Poker. As good news never comes alone, we take the opportunity to announce our new MTT schedule with more than Euro 5 million guaranteed in a month” the French online poker operator revealed in a Twitter post.
InfoPowa readers will recall that in April this year the French regulator ARJEL approved PMU and B.E.S. SAS for online poker liquidity operations with the three other European Union member states that have agreed to share their regulated market’s online poker players.
B.E.S. SAS is the local subsidiary of Bwin, the sports betting brand of GVC Holdings, which also controls the PartyPoker online poker brand.
PartyPoker now joins pioneer PokerStars in the shared plyer pool. ARJEL has also approved Kindred Group and Betclic Everest Group on the iPoker network for shared liquidity operations, and back in February this year France’s leading online poker operator Winamax received approval.
The fourth nation in the shared player pool project – Italy – has yet to join Spain, France and Portugal due to regulatory and political delays.
PMU Joins Shared Liquidity Network
But will only accept play between French and Spanish players?
French operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) joined shared European poker tables Monday on PMU.fr enabling its poker customers to play with those from Spain.
“PMU’s goal is to take a strong position on European poker tables in Europe. This launch is just the beginning of an offensive strategy with new announcements to come.”
In an interesting development, PMU Poker business manager, Brewenn Cariou, said in light of a joint decision it had made with partner GVC, PMU will not accept player accounts outside France and Spain on .EU tables in order to preserve the ecosystem.
Satellite Winner Takes Down The 888live Barcelona Main Event
Romania’s Adrian Constantin wins Euro 114,025 and the trophy after heads up chop
Romanian player Adrian Constantin, who qualified for the 888Live Barcelona Main Event via an online satellite for Euro 110, has won the event to claim Euro 114,025 following a heads up chop with final opponent Joel Isla of Spain.
The six-figure cash represents Constantin’s largest live tournament career cash, doubling his previous career earnings.
709 entrants registered for the event, creating a Euro 709,000 prize pool that easily exceeded the Euro 500,000 guarantee.
On the final day Isla was firmly in command in terms of chips and dominated much of the action until with just five players left Constantin began a run that saw him take the chip lead, only to see Isla regain supremacy through to the heads up stage, where the Spaniard held a 3 to 1 advantage.
The two players went into a huddle but could not agree on a split and play continued for a further two hours with the lead see-sawing between the two before they again held a discussion and agreed to an equal chop of Euro 114.025 each, with the winner taking the trophy.
At that point Constantin held the 4 to 1 lead and managed to maintain it in eliminating Isla just 15 minutes after the chop, sending the plucky Spaniard home with agreed Euro 114,025.
Other final table pay-outs were:
3. Manuel Navarro Perez – Euro 55,800
4. Cosmin Rusu – Euro 38,200
5. Corrado Martinelli – Euro 27,200
6. Oscar Casado Diaz – Euro 22,150
7. Luigi Andrea Shehadeh – Euro 16,350
8. Sergiu Sirbu – Euro 12,250
9. Tomasz Aleksandr Chimel – Euro 9,350
Evenbet Supplies Poker To We Are Casino
Developer integrates its flagship poker offering with turnkey supplier
Online gambling software developer EvenBet Gaming has announced a new agreement to integrate its poker product into We Are Casino’s progressive platform.
EvenBet says that integrating a sophisticated poker product into any casino or sportsbook delivers proven benefits across any number of KPIs – particularly as reliable cross-selling techniques and user-engagement have become ever more elusive in an increasingly regulated space.
Dmitry Starostenkov, EvenBet Gaming CEO, said: “In a highly competitive sector, the challenge is to bring a fresh and creative angle to the world of casino, and our game-changing poker product is reimagining this arena.
“Our poker product can be easily integrated into existing casinos and sportsbooks, giving players greater choice, while boosting engagement and retention for operators”.
Christian Maglia, chief commercial officer of WAC, added: “We are delighted to be able to offer our partners EvenBet’s full range of poker games, thereby enhancing all WAC’s operators’ offerings. We feel sure it will prove a successful long-term relationship”.
EvenBet recently launched its new poker platform, Poker Clubs, in Macau, with a view to opening up poker across Asian markets. Players can now create their own clubs and invite others to join them with the developer’s RNG-certified game logic, lifetime updates, precise rake and a broad range of variants, all supported by a games-management system.