888 Holdings See Profits Crash

888 Holdings, the company behind 888 / Pacific Poker, have announced a huge drop in profits for the first half of this year. Profits crashed by 43% prompting their share price to be slashed by 8% in trading yesterday.

While 888’s new sports betting venture showed good growth and their bingo business reportedly continued to progress, it was 888 Casino that took the brunt of the drop with a 20% tumble in profits.

CEO of 888.com, Gigi Levy, said; “Consumer behaviour has gone back to normal, and we think the third quarter is going to be okay, with the fourth quarter showing nice growth.”

Prahlad Friedman Takes Down WPT Legends of Poker

The WPT Legends of Poker tournament has been won by Prahlad Friedman. Friedman took on November Nine finalist Kevin Schaffel in the heads up stages of the event at the Bell Gardens Bicycle Casino in California.

Both players managed to get their chips all-in before the flop in the final hand of the tournament. Friedman’s A-Q held up on a raggy looking board against Schaffel’s K-J. Schaffel collected $471,670 for his efforts and heads towards the WSOP final in great form.

Poker News Headlines Launch Poker Videos

It’s been a long time in the making but we’re finally ready to launch our new Poker Videos area. The videos area features a brand new “carousel” scroller. The carousel allows viewers to quickly look through our videos before selecting one to view on the same page.

The poker videos area will be updated on a regular basis with new video clips. From the latest poker TV shows to classic poker action and funny poker moments, we’ll have them all. Watch Poker Videos on Poker News Headlines today.

Andy Beal’s IRS Bad Beat

Andy Beal, perhaps the highest of high stakes poker players, has suffered a bad beat away from the poker tables in the US Federal courts. Beal was the subject of an IRS crackdown on ‘exotic tax shelters’ recently.

Beal claimed the loss from an investment into destressed Chinese businesses was $1 billion. The IRS disagreed and stated the loss was only $10 million. Beal accepted the IRS claims and paid his taxes but he was also hit with a 40% penalty assessed by the IRS.

PartyGaming to Buy WPT for $12.3 Million

We broke the story that Gamynia LTD were to buy the WPT earlier this month for the purchase price of $9.07 million. Now, it seems, Gamynia have been left out in the cold as WPT Enterprises Inc. have announced they have accepted an improved offer for the business from Party Poker owners PartyGaming PLC.

PartyGaming announced to the London Stock Exchange earlier today that they will be buying the WPT for $12.3 million in cash. PartyGaming said it would also pay a minimum of $3 million over the next three years to World Poker Tour’s vendors.

Pitbull Poker Issue Statement on Cheating Allegations

Following our exclusive story, here on Poker News Headlines yesterday, Pitbull Poker have sent a company statement to us in regards to the cheating allegations made by various poker players on forums around the Internet.

That statement is published in full below:

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Pitbull Poker Cheating Scandal Allegations Continue

Controversy continues to surround the Flash Poker Network site Pitbull Poker. Following accusations made on the popular poker forum 2+2, Pitbull Poker are now left facing a series of unanswered questions regarding their business practices.

Dave Brenes, the Pitbull Poker Affiliate & Media Relations Manager, briefly gave the 2+2 thread his attention yet he managed to skip around several questions put to him by 2+2 regulars and Pitbull Poker players. Instead Brenes focused on allegations that he used two 2+2 forum accounts and then stated he won’t be answering any further posts on a public forum.

Maxim Lykov Wins EPT Kiev

Maxim “Decay” Lykov became the first Russian to win a European Poker Tour event yesterday. At the tender age of just 21, Lykov showed the composure and stamina usually associated with seasoned poker pro’s to take down the first ever EPT held in the Ukraine.

Almost 300 players took their seats in at the Kyiv Sports Palace in the Ukraine capital, including 80 qualifying players from PokerStars. The field was dominated by local players and Russians so it was little surprise to see one of those talented players take the honours.