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Today in the 3-Bet we find Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit crushing yet another huge online score, the esteemed Aviation Club de France gets raided by police and rumors circle about the European Poker Tour coming to Malta.
1) Kanit Scoops $392k in WCOOP #23
He's already one of the most impressive young players on the entire global poker scene, live or online. He impressed us so much he easily made our Top 8 nominees for the 2014 Spirit of Poker Most Inspiring Player Award.
And he just keeps on crushing big scores whenever he steps to the tables.
Remember that devastating list of poker pros we mentioned yesterday battling it out in the final 32 of Event 23 of the ongoing World Championship of Online Poker?
Italy's Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit was one of the best of them and showed it, finishing third for $392,375, The elite final 8 and payouts:
1. Vicente "vicenfish" Delgado Zamorano $637,436* 2. Ankush "pistons87" Mandavia $585,313* 3. Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit $392,375 4. Leo "leoc00" Cheng $282,87 5. Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky $191,625 6. Joel "Odonkor1" Nordkvist $136,875 7. Dimitar "KuuL" Danchev $100,375 8. Doug "WCGRider" Polk $82,125
Another very, very impressive result. He may not have won this year's MIP award (that went to Shannon Shorr), but he's already put himself in contention for next year's. More on the playdown of Event 23 to follow on the PokerStars blog.
2) Aviation Club Raided, 12 Arrested
One of the most esteemed poker clubs in the world was raided by police this morning and 12 people were arrested on charges of "clandestine work, breach of trust and money laundering."
According to French media outlet LePoint.fr police carried out the raid at the Aviation Club of France (ACF) on the famed Champs-Elysées by order of Tribunal Judges Claire Thépaut and Serge Tournaire.
One of the most famed table-game spots in the world - and host to some famed poker tournaments including last year's WPT Paris - the primary concern seems to be using "black market" labor and bribing officials.
Both current and former employees were taken into custody, LePoint reports, including President of the ACF, Marcel Francisci (aka "Little Marcel") and Chairman of the ACF Board (and ex-cop) Charles Pellegrini.
Over 200 current employees are reportedly in limbo and the future of the cardroom is uncertain at this point.
Full details (in French of course) here.
3) EPT Malta in Place of San Remo?
As has been mentioned a few times in media reports lately Season 11 of the European Poker Tour still has some notable gaps in its schedule.
Just six stops have been officially committed to - Barcelona, London, Prague, Bahamas, Deauville and Monaco - with EPT100 in Barcelona already completed.
The biggest gap? The space between Deauville at the beginning of February and Monaco for the Grand Final at the end of April.
Traditionally the EPT has hit up stops including Vienna, Berlin and San Remo in between but a lackluster turnout last year apparently has San Remo off the radar and a hot new location - the Portomaso Casino in Malta - right in the middle of it.
PokerStars pros Luca Pagano hinted at it in an interview at EPT Barcelona ("I’m trying to convince PokerStars for ages now to bring something VERY important to Malta…") and, given the massive success of the PokerListings Battle of Malta, Portomaso makes a lot of sense.
The venue is spectacular, the climate perfect, enthusiasm for poker is booming and dozens of gaming companies have offices there - including PokerStars - making Malta a natural and convenient fit.
An announcement concerning the remaing stops on EPT Season 11 should be coming soon - and don't be surprised to see Malta on it.
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