DAILY BUZZ: Dikshit Quits It, Negreanu Waffles, All in the Family

Search BLUFF News

DAILY BUZZ: Dikshit Quits It, Negreanu Waffles, All in the Family

Jason Kirk | January 26, 2010

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.

PartyPoker founder cuts ties, sells remaining shares in company

In many ways, the worldwide online poker boom can be traced back a single source: PartyPoker. Now one of its founders has made the last moves to sever his ties with the company that made him one of the richest men in India.

Anurag Dikshit, whose name we swear to you is pronounced “dix-it,” programmed the early software that powered PartyGaming’s poker and casino software. After Party pulled out of the U.S. market in the post-UIGEA days, he cut a 2008 deal with the U.S. Department of Justice that saw him agree to plead guilty to breaking United States gambling laws and pay a $300 million fine.

Dikshit began the process of selling off his shares in PartyGaming last year, and with yesterday’s sale of his remaining 38.8 million shares he no longer owns any interest in the company. He will most likely continue the charity work that he began after amassing his fortune, and he could still face a two-year prison sentence in December of this year in relation to his 2008 deal with the DOJ. Shares of PartyGaming were up slightly after yesterday’s news yesterday but dropped 5% today.

(PartyGaming founder Anurag Dikshit severs ties with company after £114m share sale - Telegraph.co.uk)

Daniel Negreanu: not the first guy you'd expect to see eating in a Waffle House.

Kid Poker at Waffle House

Daniel Negreanu may be a vegan, but that didn’t stop him from taking a trip to regional greasy-spoon favorite Waffle House with a group of poker players in Mississippi last night. World Poker Tour tournament reporter BJ Nemeth, well known for his love of WH, was there along with the group and tweeted their entire stay at the restaurant.

The only other patron in the joint just happened to be a fan of the second-winningest tournament poker player of all-time, but by the end of the night all the staff were as well - Negreanu apparently paid out more than $200 in “goofy freeroll prop bets” with them. He also won one of his bets when he offered $5,000 to one of the other players to eat 10 saltine cracker in one minute. Folks who’ve seen this one before - it’s a common prop bet, and at least one source says Negreanu learned it from John Juanda at last year’s LA Poker Classic - won’t be surprised to know that Nemeth says the cracker-eater didn’t get anywhere close to winning the five large.

Nemeth has video of the cracker bet, but he said he won’t be posting it publicly.

Who else is betting on crackers in Mississippi? Find out on our Poker Tweets page.

Pam Brunson Hired to Manage DoylesRoom.com’s Brunson 10

Doyle Brunson has decided to keep management of his hand-picked “future of poker” crew, the Brunson 10, in the family by naming his daughter Pam Brunson to handle the group.

The younger Brunson, who has been known to play a tournament or two herself, will be responsible for managing the group’s schedules and PR. The announcement comes on the heels of DoylesRoom.com hiring new top-level executives earlier this month along with others in the business intelligence and product management departments.

“Mark my words, 2010 will be the year of The Brunson 10,” Doyle said in a press release announcing the move. “I’ll be spending the next 11 months filling the remaining six spots with online poker players who’ve proven themselves. Thanks to the smartest people in the industry now on board at DoylesRoom.com to help, that task should be a really easy one.”

Around the Table

Phil Laak is now the proud owner of his own online poker room on the Cake Poker Network, Unabomber Poker; apparently “Laak Poker” was already taken … Watch the 2008 WSOP’s last woman standing, Tiffany Michelle, have a bizarre and ill-advised talk with FOX Business comparing the president’s national health care plans to poker strategy here … ESPN’s poker news web show, Inside Deal, returned for a second season today with world champ Joe Cada and the Poker Player Alliance’s John Pappas … Two minor online poker networks, Everleaf Gaming and the Universal Poker Network, announced a merger into a new network that will supposedly soon expand to include former Brunson 10 member Alec “traheho” Torelli’s new poker room … American pro soccer player Charlie Davies had a car accident last October that required doctors to peel off his face to repair facial fractures, but now he’s all healed up and playing $5/$10 NLHE at the Bellagio.