Negreanuâs Knockback, Baazovâs Blip, Backing Bullets and Baccarat Bets
7 years ago24 Nov
A quiet week in the world of poker came to life with a couple of stories hitting the headlines, the first involving âKidPokerâ and his failed attempts to spend $50,000, next up the one-time big man of PokerStars, David Baazov, plus a dubious-sounding tale which seemingly sees one of Aaaron Baroneâs âhorsesâ taking a bullet to the leg. Add to this the rather troubling sight of $8million plus Main Event winner Qui Nguyen at a baccarat table and we have a worrying week in the poker world!
Letâs begin by looking at what happens when youâre the biggest tournament poker winner in the history of the game with $30million+ in the piggy bank and you fancy indulging in a little $50K buy-in turbo eventâŚ
Negreanuâs Knockback
Negreanu was in fine spirits, the thought of playing the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open when he tweetedâŚ
Making the executive decision to go to shrpo tonight and get a good rest for the $50k Turbo.
â Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 22, 2016
...but his mood changed quickly when he got there!
No 50k tourney for me I guess. Sent my wire to @shrpo, they received it, but won't release the money to me. Too steamed to borrow, buh bye.
â Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 22, 2016
No âdo you know who I even am?â naturally, Negreanu being the polite man of poker, if not politics, but he was not a happy man at being turned away, tweeting firstâŚ
My first trip ever to @shrpo and you'd be smart to bet a lot of money it was also my last. Off to Norway tomorrow night.
â Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 22, 2016
âŚand then following it up with the sarcasticâŚ
Common sense is often lost within large corporations.Did they think I was going to rob some random wire for $100k and steal from the casino?
â Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 22, 2016
As Ben âBen86â Tollerene went on to win the $459,228 top prize against 20 other high-stakes hopefuls, Negreanu was thrown a crumb of comfort by Dan Shak who tweetedâŚ
@RealKidPoker@SavagePoker I have had the same trouble each time I've gone there. They have to fix it I won't go back till they do.
â Daniel Shak (@daniel_shak) November 22, 2016
So, not particularly good publicity for the SHR events, but Daniel will no doubt recover from the unintentional snub!
Negreanu, of course, is the poker face of the Amaya-owned PokerStars site, so letâs what naughtiness his former colleague David Baazov has been up to since he stood down as Amaya CEO back in August of this yearâŚ
Baazovâs Biggest Blip?
Being charged by Quebec securities regulator the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) with âinsider tradingâ and related offences which carry possible jail sentences of up to five years and financial penalties of $5million seemingly hasnât halted the ambitious Baazov.
But yesterdayâs news that one of the banks behind his new bid for the owners of PokerStars had never heard of him or the deal has thrown even more serious possible charges into the mix.
When KBC Aldini Capital Ltd, one of four financial backers Baazov had named in his $6.7billion SEC bid announcement, told Canadaâs Globe and Mail newspaper today that it had âno involvement whatsoeverâ in the deal, it opened Baazov up to allegations of âpotential securities fraud or manipulation claimsâ.
KBC have already lodged a complaint with the SEC, Amayaâ stock has plunged on the news, and law firm Block & Leviton âis eager to speak to anyone who purchased Amaya stock after November 14, 2016, the date Baazov filed his bid, and will be helping investors bring claims to recover their losses under federal securities laws,â according to Cardschat.comâs Philip Conneller.
In a late update, Baazov claimed that:
"An equity commitment letter he received purporting to be from KBC Aldini Capital Ltd. was delivered without KBC's knowledge or consent.â
He admitted that the Dubai-based KBC âhas not committed to provide financing for the deal. He says he intends to obtain replacement financing and sticks by his $6.7 billion US proposal to purchase Montreal-based Amaya, which would include its debt,â according to cbcnews in Canada.
My opinion, for what itâs worth, is that Baazov will soon be completely out of the poker world, and weâll be all the better for it!
They Shoot Horses Donât They?
A somewhat bizarre âstoryâ made its way onto 2+2 forum, and Iâll be honest with you when I say I have no idea if itâs a troll, a real event, or just random BS! But Iâll let you make up your own mindâŚ
âScarmakerâ, a poster from âEastern Europeâ, started a thread entitled âStaking in Russia? A Horse Gets Shotâ, explaining:
" Poker social media is buzzing after a famous sit & go nit Aaron "abarone68" Barone posted a proof of stakees being shot at in the good ol' post-soviet Russia."
Well, as I stated, I canât get any confirmation of any such thing happening in far-off Russia, but âScarmakerâ continued:
"Abarone the Staker first refused to provide any further details on the unholy incident, only an unrepairable damage caused to the stakee's favorite legwear was mentioned. Thus, the main motivation for the bullet in the leg remains a mystery."
The post went on:
"Later on, Abarone was quoted as saying 'I didn't shoot him and have never shot any of my horses. Yet!' denying any involvement in this or any of the previous gunslings."
Hereâs the photoâŚ.
âŚdoes anyone recognise the horseâs leg?
And finallyâŚ
Nguyenâs Winnings set to take a hit?
Qui Nguyenâs $8,005,310 scoop of the WSOP Main Event final table should really last him a lifetime if heâ careful, but heâs a professional baccarat player with a bankroll now â and he only really made $4,682,153 after the taxman took his share so for many it was a bit worrying to see him opening the LuckyDragon Casino in Las Vegas this week.
RT kelseycoop173: World Series Poker Winner @nguyenpoker is about to place the 1st baccarat bet at @luckydragonlv! pic.twitter.com/92FETtgVPj
â Kristi Smith (@AlaskaGal1) November 20, 2016
One poster on 2+2 described the newly-opened gambling house, saying
"I like the casino quite a bit, but it's damn small. No poker, no sports book, table games are 90% baccarat and pai gow."
Nguyenâs move to Las Vegas some 13 years ago was designed to allow him to become a poker professional, but he soon turned to baccarat as his main game.
His presence was no doubt a good publicity stunt for the Lucky Dragon, but for Nguyen himself? Hopefully he wonât go the way of some other Main Event winners, spewing their millions on the gaming tables, sportsbetting and elsewhere.
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