ROY BRINDLEY

Weblog: Straight talking from Roy The Boy

Rookie of the Year
advice is on the mark

CONGRATULATIONS to those who took the advice and ploughed into the 6-4 and even money about Antoine Saout to win the Rookie of the Year award at last weekend's European Poker Awards.

There were few surprises at the awards, with the Dortmund European Poker Tour leg winner Leo Margets winning the Leading Lady award; Jeff Lisandro the Outstanding Tournament Performance award; Patrik Antonius the official Internet Player of the Year; Vitaly Lunkin was Player of the Year, while Austria's Edgar Stuchly won the Poker Staff Person of the Year accolade.

Other, non-playing, honours went to Bruno Fitoussi, who earned the Lifetime Achievement Award, and promoter Barry Hearns' son, Eddie, was given the Rob
Gardner Award for Innovation.

Gardner was the man who brought poker, with its ground-breaking undertable cameras, to Channel 4's television screens in the late 1990's. Tragically, he succumbed to cancer while still in his mid-30s.

Some could argue that Matchroom Sport's poker programs have done little to change Gardner's original format. If anything, with blinds increasing faster and fewer players per-game, it has made poker look, to a television audience, all the more like a game of luck.

Harrah's buy new casino
AN OUTFIT who seem intent on dominating their field is casino operator Harrah's, who have been given the green light from the Nevada Gaming Control Board to acquire the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

The move will boost the number of Harrah's Las Vegas Strip area properties to nine. In addition to its flagship casino, the group already owns Caesars Palace, Paris, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Bally's, Bill's Gambling Hall and the Rio, home of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Thew joins PokerStars
GOOD NEWS for Nottingham's Julian Thew, one of the most popular and successful players in the UK. Winner of an EPT leg in Baden and a domestic GUKPT event, Thew has been signed up by industry leaders PokerStars.com to join their roster of sponsored pros.