Shulmans Flush With Final Table Success

What are the odds that a father, wife, and son could make final tables at the World Series of Poker within a week of each other? Pretty astronomical we think given the tournaments attracted 2,032, 4,128, and 166 players respectively.

But that’s exactly what Card Player owner Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn, and son Jeff achieved in the second and third weeks of this year’s Series.

Two-time bracelet winner Barry finished eighth in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event and two-time main event finalist Jeff finished third in the $5,000 limit hold’em event. But it was Allen Jaffrey Shulman who stole the spotlight in this remarkable trifecta with victory in the $1,000 seniors event, for over $600,000.

Evidence indeed, if any where needed, that your favourite poker media company is run by poker players for poker players and not some Johnny-come-lately who knows or cares little about the game except for how much money they can eek out of their poorly designed, badly written poker magazines and websites.

Congratulations to Allyn, the first woman to win a bracelet since 2008 and a fine role model for female poker players everywhere, and continued success to Barry and Jeff — there’s now a new kid on the Shulman block!

Can The International Stadiums Poker Tour Save Poker?

Poker is being pulled in many directions at the moment; into the gutter by Full Tilt Poker and shooting for the stars with the $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop charity tournament at this year’s World Series of Poker, out of grey markets and into legal regulated ones, and out of the cardrooms both virtual and live and into football stadiums.

Wait a minute! Could it be that a major international poker tournament will take place in a football stadium? Well, not just any stadium but the iconic Wembley in London.

Thirty thousand players? A €20 million prize pool? Players playing online poker in the stands of the stadium?

The International Stadiums Poker Tour is nothing if not ambitious. But can it work?
Laurent Tapie and Prosper Masquelier believe so. Tapie, the man behind the recent thwarted Full Tilt takeover move, has said the event will take place in the first weekend of June 2013, Wembley has been booked, and the buy-in set at €600.

Tapie said, “We hope that this event will be fondly remembered by the participants and that it breaks all records in the matter. We had to consider an exceptional set up, a location that can host 30,000 people. Wembley seemed like the perfect option.”
Many questions remain: where will they find 30,000 players? Will players travel to Wembley and incur expenses for the online element when they could just play at home? How will they market the event?

Nevertheless the scope of the project is to be applauded and if it comes off it could just be one of the greatest things ever to happen to poker. If. ♠