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In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at German MTT-machine Ole Schemion winning Player of the Month, PokerStars opening a live poker room in Spain while the Stratosphere launches an online poker room.
1) Stratosphere Launches Free Online Poker Site
At this point in time it’s getting easier to keep track of the Las Vegas properties that DON’T have a deal with an online poker site.
The iconic Stratosphere, which was conceived by noted poker player Bob Stupak, has attached itself to the Ongame network, which launched a free-to-play poker client acePLAYpoker.com this week.
The site currently doesn’t offer any real-money games but that could change in the near future.
“With the launch of this free to play website, we can now bring the excitement of play found at our properties to anyone with Internet access, no matter their location,” said Alec Driscoll, Director of Gaming Development for ACEP.
“We are also positioning ACEP and acePLAYpoker.com for the potential approval of legalized online gaming.”
The Stratosphere’s parent company, American Casino & Entertainment (ACEP), also announced that one of its other properties, Bally’s, will utilize the Ongame platform.
The real question is when the Gold Coast gets in on the party.
2) Ole Schemion Becomes First GPI Player of the Month
Ole Schemion is starting 2013 the same way he ended 2012: by crushing poker rankings.
Schemion is the first Global Poker Index Player of the Month after an exceptional run in January that included three final tables.
The German finished fourth in the PCA $25k High Roller event, fifth in the PCA $10k 6-Max and finally second in the Aussie Millions $5k NLHE Mix-Max. In total he earned 290 points, more than enough to give him top honors.
Schemion is 18th in the overall GPI rankings but climbing fast. He’s already 7th in this year’s Player of the Year Rankings and first in the German rankings.
Last year Schemion recorded $2 million in tournament winnings but he’s already up to $450k in 2013.
The newly-launched Player of the Month is calculated in a similar manner to GPI’s Player of the Year standings with one notable exception: There is no limit to the number of cashes a player can include.
The February Player of the Month race is already underway with Schemion’s countryman Igor Kurganov in the lead, thanks in to final tabling the $250k Super High Roller, the $100k Super High Roller and winning the $25k High Roller outright.
3) PokerStars Opens First Live Poker Room in Spain
While some long-standing brick and mortar casinos are moving into the online world, PokerStars is doing the opposite.
Last month news broke that PokerStars was going through its plans to purchase the Atlantic Club in NJ and this week the site opened its first live poker room in Madrid, Spain.
The swank-looking facility is located in the Casino Gran Madrid and offers 200 tables of poker action.
One would assume the new poker room will have a great deal of cross-promotion with PokerStars.es.
The new location is the first PokerStars poker room in Europe. It falls under the banner of the site’s new LIVE brand.
PokerStars already operates a poker room in the Grand Waldorf in Macau and has plans to open a PokerStars LIVE room in the Hippodrome Casino in London.
No word on their plans to purchase the state of New Jersey.
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