Poker News: 05/06/09
Check out the latest poker news from the first week of June 2009. Keep up to date on the latest on the possible Dask till Dawn poker club closure (more reason to play online poker with us), and news on the initial bouts of the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Reports Suggest Dusk Till Dawn to Close:
The UK’s only fully licensed ‘poker only’ club hit the headlines yesterday as several Nottingham based newspapers reported that Dusk Till Dawn may close in a matter of weeks.
The club, which employs over 100 staff, has suffered from several financial blows in recent months from being unable to reclaim VAT on a £1 million refurbishment to some huge overlays in their latest guaranteed tournaments.
Rob Yong, club owner, was quoted in a Nottingham newspaper as saying; “It’s very saddening after all the hard work that myself and my staff have put into the club but it’s highly likely we’ll be closing.”
Once news of the quote hit the wires, Yong was quick to come out and reassure players and staff that there will be “no knee-jerk reaction”.
In a statement issued online, Yong said; “DTD has been more successful that we budgeted in terms of revenues, we never expected a 1300 average footfall on a regular week and the monthly/third party events have exceeded all our expectations, this has been partly due to a lot of hard work by the DTD staff, however, I know some of us feel like we are just ‘flogging a dead horse’. Every time we take a step forward - something else goes wrong to take us 2 steps backwards.”
“Following the successful Norwegian Championships, we had just ‘got our noses in front’ profit-wise for 2009 and were looking on target to at least breakeven in only our second year of trading, which would have been a tremendous achievement for a fledgling business.”
“We all like challenges, but the fight to even open the place took a lot out of everyone, including me, and getting hit with more bad news - which is out of our control, is very frustrating. We all feel a bit disheartened, so we need some time out to do some logical thinking, there will be no knee jerks reactions over the coming weeks and there is no chance that we will consider anything that is not 100% legal, it is time to take stock after a whirlwind few years and whatever happens in the future, I am especially proud of everyone that helped us to open the doors in the first place. That alone was a huge achievement against the odds.”
World Series of Poker 2009 – Opening Tournaments Won
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the 2009 WSOP has started and already bracelets have been won. Vitaly Lunkin, from Russia, won the first big event of the series, the $40,000 buy-in NLHE poker tournament, after defeating a field of high-profile star names to walk away $1,800,000 richer.
The victory of Thang Luu in the next event, the $1500 Omaha Hi-Lo tournament, may have been less impressive on the financial side of things but it certainly deserves highlighting. Luu finished second in the same event back in 2005 and went one better in 2008 by winning it. He successfully retained his crown earlier this week to the astonishment of the viewing public and media. Rarely, with the huge fields at the WSOP, does anybody win back to back bracelets in the same event. Luu could now go down in history as the WSOP’s greatest Omaha Hi-Lo player.
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