The Newsmakers: May 26, 2014

We take a weekly look at the Newsmakers on the live tournament circuit…

TONY G ELECTED TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Lithuania’s colorful Antanas (Tony G) Guoga was one of two people elected from his Liberal party to be elected to European Parliament on Sunday. Guoga, who founded PokerNews, thanked the hard working people who helped him get elected:  ““I want to thank my whole team of volunteers.” said Guoga to 15min.It. “They have been fantastic!”

It's definitely a historic moment for both Europe and Lithuania! Huge thanks to everyone who voted for me and to all those who supported!

— Tony G (@TonyGuoga) May 26, 2014

NITSCHE NOTCHES SECOND BRACELET

German poker pros just keep on collecting the hardware. In a final table that included three of the best young guns in the game, Dominik Nitsche was able to add a second WSOP bracelet just a few days before calling Las Vegas his home for the summer.

Nitsche survived the charge from fellow bracelet winners Athanasios Polycrhonopoulos and Matthew Ashton to capture that second bracelet at the WSOP National Championship in Atlantic City.

i won (okay we chopped 3 way) but I'll take it. off to nyc now to party #yaaay

— Dominik Nitsche (@DominikNitsche) May 24, 2014

ANOTHER WIN FOR KITAI

Looks like Belgian pro – and Triple Crown winner – Davidi Kitai will be in fine form heading into the 45th World Series of Poker later this week in Las Vegas. Kitai, who added a second WSOP bracelet in 2013, won Winamax SISMIX, a poker/party event presented in Marrakech over the weekend.

Kitai added 635,000 MAD (about 77K USD) to his bankroll … fellow Winamax teammate Ludovic Lacay final tabled the event.

Weeee j'ai ship!!! #SISMIX @winamax

— Kitai Davidi (@KitBul) May 26, 2014

LIU AND LUI WIN BIG AT APPT MACAU

Jiajun Liu is the Main Event winner at APPT Macau. Liu beat out 493 other player to win $2,776,000 HKD. Frenchman Cyril André was second in the event while popular Aussie pro Billy “The Croc” Argyros finished third.

In the High Roller event, live tournament circuit veteran Joanne “JJ” Liu was the big winner. The colorful Miss Liu took home $1,420,000 HKD in the $100,000 buy-in event. Swedish pro Magnus Karlsson final tabled the event.

2M ON THE LINE IN MONTREAL

2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel is just one of the players still in contention at the PokerStars Canada Cup, presented in Montreal. Over 360K CAD awaits the winner as Day 3 play continues at the Playground Poker Club.

Antonio Esfandiari, Carter Swidler, Jonathan Driscoll, Marc-André Ladouceur, Michael Watson, Pascal Lefrançois, Steven Silverman and Will Molson are just a few other big names still alive and well in Montreal.

Eerlier in the series, Samuel Chartier won over 120K CAD in the High Roller event, defeating fellow local pro Ami Alibay heads-up for the title.

PLAY RESUMES AT WPTDEEPSTACKS LA

Los Angeles is playing host to the WPTDeepStacks tour this week as 88 players return for Day 2 play later today. Edward Frish leads the way after the completion of Day 1 play at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA.

Phung Turbo Nguyen and Joshua Fields hold Top 10 stacks heading into Day 2.

45TH WSOP SET TO KICKOFF ON TUESDAY

The 45th edition of the World Series of Poker begins on Tuesday at Noon PT with the Casino Employees Event, won by PokerNews’ Chad Holloway last season.

Later in the day, the big name pros will make their debut at the WSOP in the 25K buy-in Mixed Max event. The four-day event will begin with participants playing 9-handed on Day 1, 6-handed on Day 2, 4-handed on Day 3 and Heads-Up on the fourth and final day of play – where a winner will be declared and a gold bracelet will be awarded!