April Fools’ News: Nadal, Hellmuth, Schwarzenegger + More

Happy April Fools’ Day!

NADAL UNDER INVESTIGATION

Sports Illustrated has revealed how tennis superstarRafael Nadal is under fire for having won a poker tournament late in 2013. You’ll recall that Nadal took down a charity event during the EPT Prague Festival in December.

Unfortunately for Nadal, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – tennis’ governing body – precludes its members from participating in any other sport without prior written consent.

According to SI, Nadal has yet to be suspended for violating the rule as the ATP is still determining whether or not poker should be considered as “gambling”.

GPI ANNOUNCE FORMULA CHANGES

The Global Poker Index announced that it is making changes to its signature points-scoring formula. Effective immediately, the GPI will add a E.G.O. Factor™ to their rankings, choosing to celebrate player egos and reward those that have the biggest with addition GPI Points.

Not surprisingly, the addition of the groundbreaking E.G.O. Factor™ sees Phil Hellmuth rise to the top of the rankings. Hellmuth makes his debut at #1 on the GPI300, replacingDaniel Negreanu, who had spent the previous 7 weeks at #1.

DREYFUS NEW #1 ON BLUFF POWER 20

Following the release of the GPI’s E.G.O. Factor™, Bluff Magazine announced that it would also be adding it to their formula in determining its Power 20.

2014 votes were re-processed using the additional E.G.O. factor and GPI and THM Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Dreyfus has been revealed as the NEW #1 on the Bluff Power 20 list for 2014.

ARNOLD’S SON SUES ZYNGA

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 16-year-old son, Christopher, is suing social game services provider Zynga for 50M USD, what he believes is owed to him after he found out that the money he won on the site wasn’t real money.

When reached for comment, Schwarzenegger revealed that he is “out of several thousands of dollars” that he spent on the site using his famous father’s credit card. He contends that “nowhere on the site does it say that we are playing for fake money, plus, they have the nerve to take our money without any hesitation, it’s criminal!”

Buzz around the poker world is that Dan Bilzerian’s millions and millions in winnings may have also been from Zynga cash games. Bilzerian was unavailable for comment at press time.

WSOP POKER KITCHEN TO GO VEGAN-ONLY THIS SUMMER

Vice President of Corporate Communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment Seth Palansky announced that the famous “Poker Kitchen” located inside the halls of the Rio – where the World Series of Poker is presented – will only serve vegan food to its customers throughout the summer.

Citing that many players are “into the healthy lifestyle craze”, Palansky chimed that the WSOP team wanted to anything they could to help their patrons stay fit during the gruelling two-month long marathon that is the World Series of Poker.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a source inside Caesars declared thatDaniel Negreanu was pushing for the move to a vegan kitchen. The source mentioned that “Kid Poker loves himself some poker kitchen, but, he’s into vegetables and not meat, so he wanted the change and we listened”.

VENETIAN POKER ROOM FORCED TO CLOSE

The Venetian Poker Room in Las Vegas has been forced to close temporarily after the poker team walked out due to several demands from Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chairman Sheldon Adelson.

According to numerous dealers, Adelson was to create a “poker revolution” by turning half of the tables located inside the poker room into “All in or Fold” only tables and the other half into “Heads-Up Blackjack” tables, sending shockwaves amongst the hard working Venetian poker staff.

With this news, the poker team has decided to band together and walk out on the powerful Adelson and his Venetian poker room is currently closed until the two sides find a resolution.