Afghanistan’s top poker tournament player and WSOPE bracelet winner, Shekhan Farnood, has died in a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. He had earned a total of $627,647 in live-tournament cashes in a career that began in 2002 and saw him win a WSOPE bracelet in 2008 when he took first place at a HORSE tournament for $140,039. That win came as he overcame a final table that was represented with the likes of Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer and Jeff Lisandro.

Farnood moved from poker to finances, running the largest private money company in Afghanistan, Kabul Bank, as well as a business based in Moscow that facilitated Sharia-compliant financial transactions. He was also the chairman of Pamir Airways until it went belly up following his arrest in 2011.

Farnood, who was either 55 or 57 at the time of his death, was arrested in 2011 for running a Ponzi scheme that reportedly embezzled almost $800 million from money destined to rebuild the war-torn country. He reportedly used his bank to siphon money that was ultimately used for Dubai land deals and golf villas, relying on connections within the government of the country’s former president, Hamid Karzai, to facilitate the scheme.

Farnood knew that his actions were wrong, but assumed he was immune from prosecution. Prior to his arrest, he was recorded as saying, “What I’m doing is not proper, not exactly what I should do. But this is Afghanistan.” Due to his fraud, the US suspended $3.9 billion in aid to the country in 2011.

Rumors have floated around for some time now that the WSOP could relocate from the Rio Casino to the Las Vegas Strip. Each time they have surfaced, WSOP officials have been quick to shoot them down and they died. Now, they’re making their way through communications channels once again, but there is more evidence to support them than before.

According to a blog post this past Monday in VitalVegas, a blog that reports on all things Vegas, an “insider” has said that Caesars is considering selling the Rio Casino. The blog post reads, in part, “Previously shared Rio sale rumor looks like the real deal. Caesars highly motivated to cut her loose, insider confirms three viable entities circling. Aftermath of sale will include move of WSOP to Caesars Forum convention center, despite denials.”

If the Rio is sold, the most obviously alternative spot for poker’s hottest tournament series would be Caesars Forum, expected to be complete in 2020. The center will offer two 108,000-square-foot and two 40,000-square-foot ballrooms for a total of almost 300,000 square feet of gaming space in the center’s total of 550,000 square feet building. By way of comparison, the Rio Convention Center offers just 160,000 square feet of meeting space.

This past summer, the WSOP saw 123,865 entries in the 78 bracelet events offered. This was a record for the series, and the 7,874 players that participated in the Main Event was the second most ever seen. Moving the WSOP to a space that is accessible by foot along The Strip could result in even larger fields – it’s a mile walk from The Strip to the Rio, which is no fun in the hot summer sun of Las Vegas.

Another interview from the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, and this time the microphone spends time soaking in spit from the PokerStars Team Pro, Andre Akkari, talking about his network of friends, destiny, and the importance of energy.

I once spent the day emptying sacks of cement into a mixer.

During the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) strike in 2008, I destanchioned an entire 28-wagon slab train, alone.

I used to install washing machines for a living.

888Poker welcome World Series of Poker stars Scott Blumstein, Joe Cada and Tony Miles to the 888Poker LIVE London event scheduled to take place in November.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining its arse off. And my wife says, “I wonder what the weather report is like for, today?”

What a stupid thing to say.

Four hours later and it’s pissing down.

A Taiwanese gambler is out hundreds of thousands of dollars after failing to report his foreign casino winnings to local customs officials.

On Wednesday, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported on the truly sad story of a gambler identified only by the surname Huang who reportedly went on a roll in one or more South Korean casinos but fell afoul of Taiwan’s strict rules on declaring cash on one’s person when returning from abroad.

Huang dutifully informed customs officials about the US$15,400 he was carrying but neglected to tell them of the KRW408.8m ($368,500) and the THB473k ($14,500) he was lugging around in his suitcase. Customs agents inspecting his luggage discovered the undeclared cash, which reportedly took two hours to count.

Huang claimed that his understanding of Taiwan’s Money Laundering Control Act meant that foreign currencies such as the Korean won and the Thai baht were exempt from the declaration process. The report failed to mention how loud Huang’s cries became after he was informed to the contrary.

Sports betting needs federal regulation or “uncertainty and confusion” will bedevil the United States, according to the Democrats’ top man in the Senate.

On Wednesday, ESPN broke the news that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had announced his support for federal oversight of sports betting regulations, echoing a similar call on the Senate floor by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) last week.

Schumer’s statement ticked off the now-standard alleged pitfalls of widespread legal betting, including questions of game integrity, consumer protection and keeping addicted gamblers and young ‘uns under the age of 21 away from this tempting but poisoned chalice being offered to the US public. (That said, any 18-year-olds interested in shooting people outside US borders, see your local recruiting office today!)

While Schumer (he’s Leo to Hatch’s Kate in that pic) made no mention of the dreaded ‘integrity fees’ that the leagues have so far failed to incorporate into any state-level betting legislation, he supports the mandatory use of league-supplied game data to govern betting markets, which could represent a not-insignificant sum going the leagues’ way. Schumer also believes leagues should be able to dictate what type of bets can be offered on their sports.

Another round-up from the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona covering Benjamin Pollak’s victory in the €50,000 Single-Day High Roller, earning close to a million euros. 

With blinds at 40,000/80,000 with an equally gruesome Big Blind Ante, Timothy Adams is first to act and raises to 160,000. Matthias Eibinger, who has been flicking people around like flies on sweaty biceps, three-bets to 460,000. Benjamin Pollak looks at his cards. He wants a piece. The Frenchman four bets to 860,000, Adams folds, and Eibinger asks for a count before calling.

Pollak shows AdJc, and he’s ahead with his Austrian opponent holding 8c6c. But then the flop falls onto the felt like a flame in Pollak’s eye.

Flop: Ks8d5h

British Columbia’s scandal-plagued casino industry took another blow to the nads Wednesday via reports of River Rock Casino staff shredding documents related to VIP gambling transactions.

Global News reported obtaining an April 2017 email in which Robert Kroeker, VP of corporate security for the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), summoned execs from Great Canadian Gaming Corporation (GCG), which manages operations at River Rock, to discuss “large cash transaction compliance.”

According to Global, Kroeker subsequently informed GCG execs of BCLC investigators’ allegations that River Rock staff were shredding paper records of financial transactions that were just under the C$10k reporting threshold of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center (FINTRAC).

BCLC apparently suspected that the shredding took place following a customer deposit of just under C$10k, after which the customer would make another deposit of a similar amount, thereby skirting FINTRAC’s requirement to report cumulative transactions by any single customer that exceeded the C$10k threshold.