Negreanu Asks Advice, Sports Betting Gets Stung

Negreanu’s Dilemma

As mentioned earlier in the week, Howard Lederer rejoined the ranks of cash game poker players in Las Vegas. He took to Bobby’s Room at Bellagio and Ivey’s Room at Aria to play poker with friends like Doyle Brunson. Lederer hadn’t been seen in public since Black Friday (April 15, 2011 in the U.S.) and missed his high stakes cash games, so he got back into action, even playing the $10K Festa al Lago tournament at the Bellagio this week. Fellow high stakes player Daniel Negreanu has a problem with that.

Negreanu’s blog post started by calling Lederer’s return to the tables “shocking, disgusting, shameful, and totally disrespectful.” He went on to describe his dilemma about playing the same cash games, which are few and far between in Las Vegas. Negreanu could refuse to play to protest Lederer’s participation, or he could sit in on the games and tell Lederer what he really thinks of him. He asks readers to weigh in with their opinions.

Sports Betting Meltdown

Reminiscent of the Black Friday indictments in the online poker world, sports betting experienced its own rash of arrests and federal charges on Wednesday. A total of 25 people were indicted on charges of operating an illegal sports betting ring. That list included several bookmakers who were also poker players, like Paul Sexton and Steve Diano, as well as Michael Colbert, the Vice President of Cantor Gaming and manager of the M Resort race and sports book in Las Vegas. The highest ranking indictments were for the owners of PinnacleSports.com, a sports betting website. The U.S. government issued this crackdown on offshore sports betting companies, issuing charges that the defendants acquired money illegally through unlawful gambling enterprises.

WPT South Africa Sets Final Table

Day 3 of the WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic in Johannesburg got underway with all of the final 27 players in the money, taking home a minimum of $6,626. The very long day finally saw the final table near with eighth players, but former chip leader Ryan Price exited in eighth place. Soon after, William Ross eliminated Sunil Devachander in seventh place for $25,031. The final table of six was then set for Friday with Dominik Nitsche as the chip leader and Andrew Anthony as the short stack.