News Update: March 14th, 2012

March 14, 2012, Posted by Daniel.Smyth

In today’s news update we enjoy some Hellmuth needling from Tony G, hear another Daniel Negreanu rant and see who triumphed in the latest PokerStars Superstar Showdown.

Hellmuth Not Premier League

This year’s Party Poker Premier League will be a quieter place due to the absence of Phil Hellmuth. Over the past few seasons the “Poker Brat” has had his share of entertaining confrontations with Party’s Tony G, however this time around only G will be present.

Not one to miss an opportunity to needle Phil, Tony set about proposing ideas as to why Phil won’t be in attendance.

“He hasn’t got a sponsor and he doesn’t have the bankroll or the heart” Tony quipped.

Mr. G also takes a swipe at Andrew Robl and the online generation, saying: “what if the poker world was full of Andrew Robls? Head down, Beats headphones on – all maths, no heart, extended time on the clock.”

Despite Hellmuth’s absence the Premier League promises to be another hit when the action kicks off next month in Vienna.  

Blom Beaten

$90,000 in the hole and a dodgy internet connection characterised the initial meeting between Isaac Haxton and Viktor Blom. A severe storm brought the Superstar Showdown to an unscheduled stop, but the match began in earnest again yesterday.

At the start of the match Haxton quickly reclaimed $20,000 from Blom. However, a fortunate river card earned Blom a $43,894 pot just a few minutes later.

The momentum appeared to be flowing Blom’s way but that dynamic soon changed after Haxton sprung a series of traps on the Swede.

A $125,000 deficit soon turned into an $80,000 profit as Haxton put on a master class in heads-up poker and with just 350 hands left to play it looked as though Blom was heading for a crushing defeat.

A final spurt from the Swede clawed back $75,000; however, it was too little, too late as the Haxton eventually walked away with a winning profit of $5,093.

The next Superstar Showdown takes place this Sunday and features UK pro, Alexander “Kanu7” Millar.

Negreanu Speaks

His Vlogs are becoming the most anticipated releases in the poker world and this week Daniel Negreanu has outdone himself.

In a 20 minute spectacular, the Canadian pro offers his views on everything from Ray Bitar’s recent “apology”, Jeffrey Pollock and loaning players money.

It's not all negative though as Daniel does show us some lighter moments from his life, including a drinking contest between Vanessa Selbst and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

This is certainly one to watch so sit back and enjoy:

Mega Million UKIPT

This year’s UKIPT Nottingham event is set to blow any previous incarnations out of the water as it’s just been announced that they will be offering a guaranteed £1 million prizepool.

The £700 +£70 event is to be held at Dusk Till Dawn between April 12th and 16th and is expected to draw a bumper field from across the UK and Europe.

Last year over 1,000 players turned up at the Nottingham based card room and with 3 starting days this time around it’s expected that number will increase.

Side Action

We couldn’t talk about Tony G and not relive one of his classic moments. In this clip the G Man loses his cool with Andrew Robl.