David Williams Wins WPT World Championship
April 28, 2010
Posted by Staff Writer in : General , 4comments
Most of us will recall David Williams bursting on the scene in 2004 with his 2nd place win at the 35th World Series of Poker Event. He beat the likes of Josh Arieh, Dan Harrington and Marcel Luske but fell one short of eventual champion Greg Raymer.
Eventually David Williams won his first WSOP bracelet in 2006. In the WPT arena his resume is just as good with two fourth place finishes and a second. That’s is until recently when this Bodog sponsored poker pro won the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas.
In winning what some consider the most prestigious WPT event, Williams had to manage a final table full of heavy hitters including, David Benyamine, Eric Baldwin, Billy Baxter (7 time WSOP bracelet winner) and Shawn Buchanan.
Confidence however was not an issue as Williams told WPT.com after the tournament ended, “I told everybody to come down… I said I’m going to win today and I want everyone to be here with me and to experience it.”
The final hand was between Eric Baldwin and Williams. Baldwin with Ah5h was all in preflop and Williams made the call with a pair of twos. Baldwin took the lead on the flop when and Ace fell but the turn was the nail in the coffin when a 2 came up to make Williams a set. Williams won $1,530,537 for his effort.
Congratulations to David on his first WPT win!
Everest Poker To Sue Harrah’s Entertainment
April 5, 2010
Posted by NewsBug in : General , 2comments
On April 1, Ultra Internet Media S.A. (UIM) filed a lawsuit against Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, in Las Vegas federal court. Harrah’s is the owner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The suit claims that UIM subsidiary Everest Poker and WSOP entered into a three year deal in 2008 making Everest Poker the on-felt sponsor for the WSOP tournament. UIM claims in the suit that the WSOP breached that contract. It further states that Everest Poker will be withdrawing its sponsorship for the 2010 WSOP tournament. The deal called for Everest Poker to be the exclusive on-felt sponsor at every table and to have their logo displayed on the inner track of the final and feature tables.
The suit contends that the contract was breached when ESPN French affiliate RTL9 featured the logo of Full Tilt Poker instead of Everest Poker’s on the tables. Full Tilt Poker is a major competitor of Everest Poker.
The suit further states that the two sides met in 2009 to talk over the dispute. They then agreed that RTL9 would be required to stop using the Full Tilt Poker logos on their broadcasts of WSOP events. UIM contends in the suit that as late as Feb. 2010, RTL9 was still using Full Tilt Poker logos in their broadcasts. The lawsuit states: “Every material breach of the agreement represents lost potential future profits, erosion of goodwill and compromise of UIM’s international business reputation,” says the lawsuit”.
The suit is asking the court to ruled that the contract has been breached by Harrah’s. that ruling would allow UIM to not pay WSOP their $8 million for the third year of their contract. With only two months before the WSOP starts, Harrah’s won’t have much time to find new sponsors.
