We at LIB are not always impressed by a card game, but the latest poker news is just that cool. Why? It involves the world’s most popular card game.
The European Poker Tour stopped off on its 100th destination, Barcelona, chock full of a stellar cast comprised of the world’s best professional poker players. The number of contenders at this year’s EPT Barcelona Super Roller had also grown exponentially, with more poker pros featuring than ever before. Among the list of attendees was ex-soccer player Sam Trickett, who has more than $20 million of career winnings so far as a poker pro as
reported by Poker News.
2014 Big One for One Drop winner Daniel Colman was also in attendance, coming from a tournament that won this star player a staggering $15 million in one shot. Needless to say, the two aforementioned players were favorites to win at the Barcelona event. However, that was not to be the case. New York City-born poker player Oliver Busquet has a reported $5 million career winnings thus far during his fledgling career, wiping the floor with his competition and eventually claiming the €896,434 prize. This was the second live tournament win of his career, beating his good friend Colman in a frantically contested heads-up to close the event.
Despite his current success, it has not always been the smoothest of sailing for Busquet. during his career. The player laments that the Internet poker landscape in the U.S. fails to give American players the same chances as players from other parts of the world. This is mainly due online poker being legal only in a handful of U.S. states; an ideal strictly enforced after the U.S. government seized a host of online poker domains and passed a law against wagering back in 2011. The day was dubbed ‘Black Friday’ by the poker community and also had a huge affect on the country’s economy.
Players like Busquet see the outlaw as a missed opportunity for the next generation of American-born poker players who are unable to hone their craft online. Other countries across the world haven’t experienced such problems since the first online poker portal Intercasino launched back in 1996 amidst the “world poker boom.” Today, most young adults have to venture out to gambling venues in order to play live card games and practice poker in the US — which is why many pros, like Busquet, are opposed to the online poker ban.
However, all is said and done. Busquet is obviously riding off the back of a confidence-boosting win here in Barcelona, preparing to look at finishing the season strongly and move himself up the World Poker Rankings. Best of luck!
