EiG 2012 to take residence at its spiritual home

Clarion Events has confirmed that 11^th annual EiG, the definitive conference and exhibition for the European iGaming sector, will be moving back to its spiritual home at Fira Barcelona, Spain and will be held over the 16th, 17th and 18th October 2012. The news, which has been released in the week prior to ICE Totally Gaming, follows discussions with a cross section of EiG stakeholders who were unanimous in their desire for EiG to ‘move back home.’

Kate Chambers, Portfolio Director responsible for EiG believes the decision to relocate will provide a platform for EiG to take the next step forward in its development. She explained: “EiG is a feature-packed, value-laden learning and networking event which has been successfully serving the needs of the European iGaming community for over a decade. All of the people who have been associated with EiG from day one, speak about Fira Barcelona in exalted tones and there’s a real affinity with the venue and of course the host city.

“EiG is their event and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to deliver on their wishes. EiG is where the elite of the industry meet and do business: where better to do that than in Barcelona, one of Europe’s most sophisticated cities? We are all looking forward to the move and the team has been exploring a range of initiatives to enhance further the opportunities EiG provides for networking, learning and improving business. The move to Fira Barcelona also sits comfortably with the legislative timetable which will see the opening of the Spanish iGaming market pushed back to June/July 2012, just months prior to EiG 2012.”

DoJ agrees to $80m Full Tilt Poker deal

Groupe Bernard Tapie has struck a deal with the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Department of Justice), which will allow the French company to buy Full Tilt Poker for $80m.

Austrian player Manfred Spahn wins the DeepStack Open Vienna 2011!

After three days of intense poker, Austrian player Manfred Spahn won the Deepstack Open Vienna 2011 after successfully beating runner-up Thomas Panek. Spahn proudly walked out of Montesino with a whopping €51,840!

For its second edition at the Montesino in Vienna, the DSO broke last year’s attendance record with a total of 507 players from all over Europe taking part in the Main Event. Over the four days of tournament between the 3^rd and the 6^th of November, the Austrian capital became home to a large number of German, Austrian, Hungarian, French, Swiss, Italian, Romanian and Polish poker players all striving to win the 5^th leg of the DSO 2011. The field of players also included pros such as Croatian Dragan Galic and international Tournament Director Thomas Kremser.

With a starting stack of 50,000 chips and a €550 buy-in, players waited eagerly until 8pm Saturday night to finally witness 76 of them finishing in the money.

The tournament finally came to an end just after 1am on Monday morning after a final one hour head’s up.

Thanks to the special promotions that reward their players, three DSO VIP players who finished just before the money (77^th, 85^th and 95^th) still took €680 home. Six more DSO VIP players also won laptops, iPad and Bose headsets. All the details about the DSO VIP promotions are available online.

On Sunday, German player Karsten Philipp and Serbian player Zoran Mariukovil won the €300 and €200 side events. All players were also able to enjoy a large number of cash game tables starting from €1/€1.

The next and last stage of the DeepStack Open 2011 will be held in Marrakech from the 16^th -18^th December at the Casino de Marrakech.



Final results of the DSO Vienna 2011, Main event, €550 buy-in:

1. Manfred Spahn, Austria – €51,840
2. Thomas Panek, Austria –€32,520
3. Michael Leng, Germany – €21,300
4. Siegfried Rath, Austria – €14,800
5. Istvan Csabai, Austria - €10,760
6. Peter Szinek, Slovakia - €8,180
7. Jakub Gluszkiewicz, Poland – €6,820
8. Marc Cahenzli, Swiss– €5,660
9. Lars Brandenburg, Germany – €4,820