Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Mangas Gaming acquires Everest Poker

Online poker room Everest Poker has been the table felt sponsor of the World Series of Poker for two years, and it got big-time exposure earlier this year when Frenchman Antoine Saout made his deep run at the WSOP Main Event final table while wearing an Everest logo. Now the room is poised to become the centerpiece in leading French online gambling operator Mangas Gaming’s poker network, thanks to Mangas’ acquisition of 60% of Everest parent company GigaMedia for $100 million.

The $100 million figure is actually the minimum the deal will be worth to GigaMedia; if the fair market value of the 60% stake is worth more in early 2012, Mangas will pay the difference. Mangas also has an option to buy the other 40% of GigaMedia in 2015, while GigaMedia will have the option of selling all or part of the remaining percentage beginning in 2013.

The Mangas move comes as multiple players in the European online gambling market are beginning to talk consolidation; as shown by the rampant speculation last weekend of an imminent merger between PartyGaming and Bwin, there’s a lot riding on the kinds of deals that are made right now. That could make the acquisition of GigaMedia and Everest pretty significant in the near future. For now, it’s good news for GigaMedia stockholders, who saw the value of their shares rise more than nine percent on the news.

(Mangas Gaming Acquires Majority Stake in GigaMedia, Everest Poker - FOX Business)

Top flight pros shear their locks to lend support to Thuy Doan

There’s been plenty of poker to keep players busy at Bellagio this month thanks to its annual year-ending festival, the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. But as the Main Event began yesterday a group of the game’s elite came together not to battle over a prize pool, but to shave their heads in a show of solidarity with 23-year-old poker pro Thuy Doan, who is currently fighting cancer.

It should come as no surprise that the event was organized by Barry Greenstein, who invited Doan out to Vegas so he and a few friends could show their support for Doan and her struggle. Greenstein also recruited Phil Ivey to host the shearing at his estate, which the November Niner was happy to do. In all 17 players took part, including Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Andrew Feldman’s ESPN column today is all about Doan and her Vegas trip. Doan also has her own blog post up documenting her unique experience, and Poker2Nite will air its filmed coverage of the event on its next episode on FOX Sports.

(The poker world comes together for Thuy Doan - ESPN)

Hometown hero wins first UKIPT stop

The finish of the Galway stop of the new PokerStars-sponsored United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour couldn’t have turned out any better if it had been scripted.

Padraig Parkinson, a fixture on the European tournament poker scene since even before he made the 1999 WSOP Main Event final table, was born just down the road from the tournament venue in Galway, Ireland. He came into this first-ever UKIPT final table in the middle of the pack but managed to make his experience work for him, waiting until the middle stages to ramp up the aggression and claiming the €125,000 top prize as reward for a tournament well-played. Incoming chip leader Paul Marrow had to settle for second-place money worth €82,000, not a bad take on a €2,000 entry.

With his win, Parkinson solidifies his third-place position on the all-time Irish tournament winnings leaderboard with $1,601,673. He’ll need another $2 million or so to match second-place man Marty Smyth, but with a UKIPT stop in Galway planned every year for the foreseeable future it should take just a few more hometown wins to put him in striking distance.

(UKIPT Galway: Irish eyes are smiling! - PokerStars blog)

How Pennsylvania’s state House learned to stop worrying and love the table games bill

The Pennsylvania state House passed its table games legislation yesterday, making the prospect of live poker rooms in the state’s slot machine casinos one step closer to reality. In today’s Philadelphia City Paper, reporter Isaiah Thompson’s two-part feature “The Fix Is In” tells the story of how a bill full of sticking points that kept it from ever coming to a vote managed to pass the House overnight despite stifled debate and the introduction of a slew of amendments that should have called for more time to study the bill, not less.

The feature is only tangentially related to poker, since poker is just one of the games legalized by the bill, but if you’ve been following the legislation’s progress in this space for the last few months it’s worth checking out. Part One of “The Fix Is In” is here, while Part Two is here.

Related posts:

1. WSOP: Everest Poker Files Lawsuit Against Harrah’s Entertainment Everest Poker’s parent company, Ultra Internet Media S. A. (UIM),...
2. Everest Poker Announce Big Online Tournament Everest Poker have announced the $1 million guaranteed prize pool...
3. Hometown Hero Jan Skampa Wins European Poker Tour Prague Jan Skampa with his EPT Prague Trophy (photo courtesy...
4. DAILY BUZZ: LA Poker Classic, WPT Sale Confirmed, USPC Back on TV Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the...
5. DAILY BUZZ: Bracelets For Sale, Bloch on Siler, Annette Down Under Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the...