The poker industry

The Railbird Report

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This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2016 issue of WGM.

The 2016 World Series of Poker kicked off at the Rio in Las Vegas in early June and with it came an early surprise.

Players in town for the early events were stunned to see none other than former Full Tilt Poker directors Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson taking their place at the WSOP tables for the first time since the US Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the site for the misappropriation of player funds. Lederer and Ferguson are said to have profited by around US$40 million each from the so-called Ponzi scheme.

While Lederer’s return didn’t come as a complete shock given that he recently issued a public apology letter for his role in the Full Tilt debacle, Ferguson’s presence raised plenty of eyebrows.

[b]Howard Lederer (top) and Chris Ferguson back in their Full Tilt Poker days[/b]

The 2000 WSOP Main Event champion has remained silent ever since the scandal broke and a number of reputed players were quick to express their anger that he should now return to the tables without making an effort to address the past.

Ironically, it doesn’t seem to have affected the five-time bracelet winner’s performance as he proceeded to register four in-the-money finishes inside the WSOP’s opening fortnight.

Although less than a third of the way through the 2016 WSOP’s scheduled 69 events when WGM went to print, there had already been a number of notable results with Jason Mercier winning his fourth career bracelet in the US$10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship and Robert Mizrachi also claiming bracelet number four in the US$10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship.

Meanwhile, China came within a whisker of winning a bracelet of its own with Rich Zhu finishing second in the US$1,500 Dealer’s Choice 6-handed event.

[b]Iori Yogo[/b]

Closer to home, four-time Asian Poker Tour (APT) Player of the Year Sam Razavi paid the price for skipping APT Experience Manila, with his main rival from 2015 surging ahead in this year’s POY standings.

Razavi had a pretty decent excuse – he was back home in England getting married – but Yogo was showing no compassion with four final table finishes in Manila including victory in the 6-handed event.

It was also a terrific week for Korean players, who won nine of the 19 events on offer at the APT including the Main Event which was taken down by Gyeong Byeong Lee. Lee earned P1,574,000 for his efforts.