Where to begin! There were so many stories over the past week in the world of poker that it will be hard to fit them all in this article. There are updates on the Jonathan Duhamel robbery situation, Thor Hansen’s battle with cancer, the Entraction Network has been renamed, and poker made some inroads as a mind sport in the country of Brazil to name but a few of the happenings around the globe.

Entraction Poker Network rebrands to IGT Poker Network

Last week it was announced that the Entraction Poker Network would be rebranding itself to the IGT Poker Network –named after the Las Vegas-based company that purchased the network last year. The rebranding comes on the heels of IGT announcing it is seeking a Las Vegas license for online poker.

Thor Hansen update

According to fellow Norwegian poker player Andreas Hoivold, Thor Hansen has stage=4 colon cancer that has spread to his abdomen and lungs. While the prognosis is not looking good for the 64 year-old poker pro, Hoivold is hoping that Hansen’s plight will bring awareness to preventative measures like colonoscopies.

Poker recognized as a game of skill in Brazil

The International Federation of Poker was pleased to announce that Brazil has recognized poker as a game of skill. The news comes well in advance of the World Mind Sports Games that are set to take place in Brazil in 2016.

Some money recovered in Jonathan Duhamel case

According to a report by police, about half of the money stolen from Jonathan Duhamel in the brazen home invasion just before Christmas has been recovered. This leaves half of the money along with Duhamel’s coveted 2010 WSOP Championship bracelet still unaccounted for.

Daniel Negreanu HACKED

After returning from his Aussie Millions adventure Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu learned that both his E-Mail and his PokerStars account had been hacked. Fortunately, it seems Negreanu has enough pull at PokerStars that the site refunded the $50,000 that was lost by the hacker playing on Negreanu’s account –no word yet on whether the offender chip-dumped, or was just joyriding.

Ron Paul favors online gaming/Mitt Romney opposes

In Presidential news, after stops in Nevada for this past weekends’ primary, both Ron Paul and Mitt Romney clarified their stances on online poker in interviews with Jon Ralston. Paul, a Libertarian, came out in favor of legalized online gaming, while Romney, a devout Mormon, opposed online gaming legislation on social and moral grounds.

Lock Poker adds Portuguese pro Pedro Maia to roster

Lock Poker added yet another sponsored player to their growing roster, this time in the form of Portuguese superstar Pedro “pls3betme” Maia. Maia has had success both in the online arena, as well as in live tournaments in Portugal.

Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson had this to say about the Maia signing: “Pedro is an excellent addition to our incredible team of players! As we reach across the world with our Pros we continue to get a deeper grasp of what becoming the top online poker room worldwide really means. We are determined to be the number one choice worldwide!”

Tags: Adventure Team, Aussie Millions, Colon Cancer, Daniel Negreanu, E Mail, Home Invasion, Igt, Inroads, International Federation, Mail Account, Mind Sports, Poker Game, Poker Network, Poker Player, PokerStars, Preventative Measures, Stage 4 Colon Cancer, Thor Hansen, World Of Poker, WSOP

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 7:09 am and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.