Lee Davy catches up with the Unibet Poker Ambassador, Daiva Byrne, at the Malta Poker Festival to talk about her involvement in growing female participation in poker, why the work is important and much more.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel.

It took her 14 hours and 34 minutes.

She wore motorcycle goggles sealed with paraffin and smeared her entire body with grease.

The Caribbean Poker Party organized by partypoker has, for the most part, been an overwhelming success. However, a couple of key events didn’t reach their intended draw, leaving to several overlays that have had organizers breaking out their wallets to make up the differences.

The 10-day festival got underway on November 9, offering millions in guaranteed cash. The $25,500 High Roller was the first event to not reach its goal, falling well short of the required number of players to cover the $10-million guarantee. In total, only 394 entries were recorded – well under the number necessary to avoid an overlay.

The $5,300 Main Event has also fallen short of expectations. Between the first three Day 1 registrations and Day 2a from yesterday, there have been 1193 entries. It’s nowhere near enough to cover the $10-million prize pool.

John Duthie, who became the CEO for partypoker LIVE in February of last year, had high hopes for the Caribbean Poker Party. Duthie, who founded the EPT, said at the time, “I believe there is a gap in the market for an operator whose primary focus is poker and who will listen to, and work with, the poker community as this was something that was absolutely key to the growth and success of the EPT.” It might possibly be that Duthie bit off more than he could chew with partypoker.

A poker tournament held on Veterans Day in the U.S. – this past Sunday – in Gardena, California produced an unexpected champ. It also produced an unexpected donation to a very worthy cause, first responders.

Rob Reid is the 52-year-old General Manager of two casinos in Gardena, Lucky Lady and Hustler. He admittedly spends more time behind the poker scene than in front, but decided to take a break from the rigors of the job to participate in the friendly tournament. He did so never expecting to win.

The tournament had $10,000 up for grabs and, after eight hours, Reid was awarded the victory. After playing out a field that contained 111 entries, he and the other three finalists agreed to chop the pot. With Reid as the decisive chip leader, he was given the lion’s share, with the remainder of the pot split among the other three.

Instead of taking his $2,000 and riding off into the California sun, Reid decided to put it to good use. He immediately donated it to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for first responders in Southern California. Among those first responders are the many firefighters that have been tirelessly battling out of control wildfires in the state.

According to a report by the Macau Statistics and Census Service (DSEC, for its initials in Portuguese), Typhoon Mangkhut caused more losses than previously announced. Shortly after the typhoon hit the area in September, it was announced that Macau’s gaming revenue for the month had been spared. It has now been revealed that the city incurred losses of $192.1 million, of which $119.02 million belong to the casinos through “indirect” losses.

Beginning late in the day on September 15 and continuing through the morning of September 17, all casinos in the city were forced to close while the typhoon tore a path through the region. It was the first time since 2002 that casinos had been forced to close by city officials.

According to the organization, “DSEC collected data from various sources for analysis and estimation, including relevant information provided by different government departments, historical data on business performance of different economic activities derived from the DSEC database, assessment of damages on buildings through on-site inspection by DSEC enumerators, and estimation of losses gathered from some affected enterprises.”

DSEC indicated that the estimate it provided on the economic losses was calculated on the losses suffered by businesses, homes, vehicles, certain public services and municipal facilities. It further stated that Macau had been well prepared for the storm, which helped to minimize the damage to the local economy.

Success Universe already owned 75% of Jade Travel, but it decided to go after the whole company. According to an announcement by the Macau gaming investor, it is in the process of completing a purchase for the remaining 25% in a deal that is reportedly worth $1.04 million.

The company operates the integrated resort Ponte 16 under a license from SJM. However, it is looking to expand into the travel industry and has made arrangements with 1034635 BC Ltd., who owns the last quarter of Jade, to buy it out.

The company indicated, “As mentioned in the interim report of the company for the six months ended 30 June 2018, Jade Travel Ltd. had achieved an encouraging performance with a revenue increase of approximately 76% for the first half of 2018, driven by the substantial growth of the wholesale segment and the stable revenue contributed by the retail segment.

“Jade Travel Ltd also continued to work closely with leading regional and international online travel portals, including the most well-known and widely-used portals in the PRC, for the penetration of its broad range of travel products.

Tsogo Sun, a casino operator based out of South Africa, had plans to offload seven of its casino and hotel properties to the Hospitality Property Fund. However, the deal has now gone south, with the company not receiving the support from shareholders that it had anticipated.

In a company statement from the past Monday, Tsogo announced, “The sale of shares and subscription agreement has been terminated by agreement between Tsogo, Hospitality and the remaining parties to that agreement.” Tsogo had expected to receive around $1.72 billion for the acquisitions.

This past September, a general meeting held been held to pass special resolutions related to the sale. The meeting was adjourned without conclusion, with the chairman of Tsogo’s board setting a new meeting for this past Monday. At that meeting, Tsogo told shareholders that the deal would be scrapped because it was obvious the sale was not supported by the shareholders.

Tsogo had suggested that it sell 100% of the issued share capital in Listed and Cassava – which own the Casino Precinct Properties – to Hospitality. It would also subscribe over one billion Hospitality shares through the deal, which would make Tsogo the 87% owner of Hospitality.

Lee Davy sits down with the former 888Poker employee, Eyal Bensimhon, to talk about his first 18-months as a semi-professional poker player, and why he would be a good ambassador for an online poker room looking to try something different.

Image credit fabfotos

As I look at the windscreen trying to find a chip that some newbie would later pin on me. Phil, from Enterprise Club Car, is talking about the ability of Mark Hughes as a Premier League manager. Phil is a Southampton fan, and, well, Southampton is about as much use as a glass of water in the hands of a deep sea diver.

“I wish they would try something different,” said Phil before handing me the keys.

China’s government is attempting to downplay social media rumors that lottery administrators have embezzled nearly $20b from lottery proceeds.

On Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported on the frantic efforts by Beijing authorities to refute social media chatter that around RMB136b (US$19.5b) had been embezzled by corrupt lottery administrators. A popular meme blames this corruption for the inability of the average citizen to win a sizable lottery prize.

The meme has its origins in a video recently broadcast on state television in which four former high-ranking welfare lottery officials confessed to “systematic corruption in the lottery field.” The officials included Wang Suying (pictured), former director of the China Welfare Lottery Issuance Management Center, who was accused of “serious violations of Party discipline” in September.

Online outrage over the corruption quickly grew, with netizens convinced that the rot isn’t limited to a few top officials. This view was echoed by a Ministry of Civil Affairs official, who wryly commented that “if only several fish die in a river, it’s probably the fish’s problem, but if all the fish die in this river, it must be caused by the water.”