The Ongame Network has been on the auction block for a year, a casualty of bwin’s merger with Party Gaming last March 31st. The network was purchased back in 2005 by bwin for £474 million, but that was pre-UIGEA and pre-Black Friday, two dark days in online poker history that have significantly changed the valuation of Ongame. Now, the deal with Shuffle Master looks to be for a mere £13 million ( million). Prior to the completion of the bwin/Party union, a bwin spokesperson said that the Ongame Network was considered a “surplus asset” and that it was “no longer needed” by the combined company.

The Ongame Network currently ranks as the 6th largest online poker room network/room in terms of cash game players, according to PokerScout.com. With a seven day average of 2,150 players, it falls just behind PokerStars.it (2,250) and just ahead of Winamax.fr (2,100). PartyPoker, which has remained separate from Ongame, ranks 2nd with a seven day average of 4,750 cash game players.

The problem Shuffle Master will face, however, is that the Ongame Network will likely not be as large after the purchase as it is now, although that is probably reflected in the purchase price. The headline room of the network is bwin.com, whose customers will almost certainly stay with bwin.party after the sale. What remains to be seen is what will happen with the other rooms on the network, particularly Betfair, the best known room after bwin.

Shuffle Master is best known for its automated card shufflers, installed in gaming tables, including poker, in casinos all over the world. The company also operates Shuffle Interactive, a division which offers casino games on a variety of platforms, including PC, Mac, Facebook, iOS, and Android. The games can be licensed by online casinos.

Investment bank Roth Capital Partners said in a research note last week, “We view the interactive gaming opportunity as the most under-appreciated aspect of Shuffle’s growth story.”

Though Shuffle Master and other American gaming companies (such as International Gaming Technology, which bought the Entraction Network for 5 million last May) are making moves under the expectation that the online poker market will open up in the United States, it does not appear that that will happen until at least next year. As we reported this weekend, the disappointing news first came from reliable Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Howard Stutz, who tweeted, “One Wall Street analyst opinion: Internet poker legalization not being attached to the payroll tax bill means the issue is dead for 2012.” It is not completely out of the question that something could get passed this year, as there are slight hopes that a poker rider could be attached to the Obama Administration’s jobs package or the upcoming cyber security legislation, but those are not strong possibilities.

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Topping the field after the small Day 1A is Las Vegas’ Steve O’Dwyer with 190,975 chips. As blinds and antes are only set to increase to 300/600/75 next level, his more than 35,000 chip lead over second place contestant Lauri Varonen is quite sizeable. But as we’ve all learned, no chip lead, especially those after the first day, is safe in the game of poker.

O’Dwyer has been playing on the live tournament circuit for several years now, but it wasn’t until last year that he really cemented himself as a player to fear. During the first half of 2011, he had several strong finishes, including an 8th place showing in the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Uncasville stop (,330). It was after the World Series of Poker (WSOP), though, that he started cooking. In July, he won the ,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Bellagio Cup VII for over a quarter million dollars, then won the Pro-Am tournament of the first Epic Poker League event in August. Later that month, O’Dwyer placed 5th in the €10,000 No Limit Hold’em Single Reload event at EPT Barcelona for ,568. He followed that up with a runner-up finish in the EPT London Main Event, winning 6,790 and then placed 6th in the €3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout at WSOP Europe, a ,568 cash. Later in the year, Steve O’Dwyer took down the €1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Re-buy tournament at EPT Loutraki (,439) and placed second in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Venice Main Event (8,063).

It’s not like he was some chump before 2011, either. He had a many five-figure cashes plus a 2,362 score for a 6th place finish in the 2009 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. All told, Steve O’Dwyer has won just over million on the live tournament circuit.

Day 1B of EPT Copenhagen kicks off at noon local time Tuesday. The survivors from the two starting days will combine for Day 2 on Wednesday, where after the tournament will continue through the week until the champion is determined on Saturday.

European Poker Tour Copenhagen – End of Day 1A Chip Leaders

1.    Steve O’Dwyer – 190,975
2.    Lauri Varonen – 165,150
3.    Roberto Romanello – 115,475
4.    Ilkin Amirov – 105,000
5.    Niels van Alphen – 96,325
6.    Danny Neess – 95,875
7.    Albert Iversen – 94,175
8.    Dmitri Tchernykh – 90,525
9.    Melanie Weisner – 78,900
10.    Anthony Hnatow – 70,500

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It took just four hours for Nestola to collect all the chips at the table, dispatching four of his seven opponents himself. In the end, it came down to him and Venezuela’s Gasperino Nicolas for the first prize of 4,600. Instead, though, the two made a deal, agreeing to each take R0,000 and battle it out for the title and the remaining R,300. It was an interesting deal, considering Nestola had a significant chip lead, 4.405 million to 2.78 million, at the time.

As is frequently the case when a chop is agreed upon, even with some extra money set aside for the winner, the heads-up match lasted only a few hands. In the final hand, the two players saw the flop for the minimum price, and after the dealer laid out 9c-6d-4c, Daniele Nestola led out with a bet of 150,000, which was called by Gasperino Nicolas. On the turn of 3s, Nicolas bet 425,000, Gasperino shoved, and Nicolas instantly called with 7h-5c for the seven-high straight. Nicolas had just 9h-2h, good for top pair and the honor of drawing dead. The river was an inconsequential Ah and Nestola could celebrate.

Daniele Nestola has a number of cashes on his live tournament resume, but the LAPT Grand Final victory is by far his biggest. Prior to this, his largest haul came in February 2010 at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Deep Stack Extravaganza at the Venetian in Las Vegas, where he placed 19th for ,089. He has one non-satellite victory and numerous final tables, but they are all in very low buy-in events. Up until now, his total winnings on the live tournament circuit amounted to USD 2,125. The LAPT Grand Final title – the equivalent of USD 8,256 – more than doubles that. It was likely a much needed and welcomed win for Nestola, who had not made the money in a live event since June of 2011, when he placed 2nd in the 0 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship at the 2011 Mega Stack Series at Caesars Palace.

That closes the book on Season 4 of the Latin American Poker Tour. Poker News Daily will be sure to keep you up to date on the LAPT’s Season 5 schedule when it is announced.

2012 Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final – Final Table Standings

1.    Daniele Nestola – R9,300 (adjusted for heads-up deal)
2.    Gasperino Nicolas – R0,000    (adjusted for heads-up deal)
3.    Carlos Ibarra – R8,840
4.    Felipe Morbiducci – R,570
5.    Jonathan Markovits – R,540
6.    Daniel Negreanu – R,730
7.    Vitor Torres – R,560
8.    Juan Gonzalez – R,340

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It was a day of big hands for Daniele Nestola, who started the day with 443,000 chips, good enough to lead his table and place him amongst the overall chip leaders. He had played steadily for the first couple hours, growing his stack to over 600,000, when he used pocket Aces to knock out Hugo Mora and his A-Q in 18th place. That hand almost doubled-up Nestola, increasing his chip stack to 1.18 million.

Within an hour, he had fallen back under 900,000 and then took another tumble against Ioannis Beris. Beris raised pre-flop to 27,000, Nestola three-bet to 68,000 on the button, and Beris four-bet all-in for 376,000. Nestola made the call with A-K, accepting a coin flip against Beris’ pocket Jacks. The flop of 2-5-7 was good for Beris, but the 4 on the turn made him a little nervous, as it gave Nestola a gut-shot straight possibility to go along with his two over cards. The river blanked, though, and Beris doubled-up while Nestola dropped all the way to 470,000, close to where he started Day 3.

It didn’t take Nestola long to get it back, though. Only about 20 minutes later, he raised pre-flop to 26,000 and Daniel Negreanu followed with a three-bet to 66,000. Nestola made the call and the two saw a flop of 3d-Qc-Td. Nestola checked from under the gun and Negreanu bet 72,000 from the button. That was just what Nestola was looking for, as he then moved all-in for 395,000 total. Negreanu called and the two revealed their cards: Nestola had pocket Tens for a set, while Negreanu held Ad-Qd for top pair and the nut flush draw. The turn produced the As, giving Negreanu a chance for a boat if he could find another Ace or Queen, but the river was only the 4h, giving Nestola the almost half million chip pot. That took Nestola up to 956,000 and sent Negreanu down to 707,000. Still a good stack for “Kid Poker,” but nearly what it could have been.

As the day went on, Nestola racked up the eliminations. He knocked out Paulo Grendene in 15th place, Caio Pimenta in 12th place, and then Ioannis Beris in 10th place, gaining about one million chips total in the process.  Those last two eliminations essentially accounted for the chip difference between Nestola and the current second place runner, Carlos Ibarra.

For his part, Daniel Negreanu had a roller coaster day, moving up and down the leader board seemingly every other hand. Negreanu did make a bit of poker history Sunday, becoming the first player ever to make a final table on the Latin American Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, and Asia Pacific Poker Tour.

Play will resume at noon Sao Paulo time on Monday.

2012 Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final – End of Day 3 Standings

Daniele Nestola (Germany) – 1,892,000
Carlos Ibarra (Chile) – 1,297,000
Gasperino Nicolas (Venezuela) – 1,190,000
Jonathan Markovits (Ecuador) – 991,000
Daniel Negreanu (Canada) – 702,000
Juan Gonzalez (Argentina) – 548,000
Felipe Morbiducci (Chile) – 347,000
Vitor Torres (Brazil) – 273,000

2012 Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final – Final Table Payouts (USD)

1.    4,600
2.    4,700
3.    8,840
4.    ,570
5.    ,540
6.    ,730
7.    ,560
8.    ,340

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On his Twitter account Friday afternoon, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Howard Stutz chirped to his readers, “One Wall Street analyst opinion: Internet poker legalization not being attached to the payroll tax bill means the issue is dead for 2012.” Stutz was discussing the recent legislation in Congress regarding the Payroll Tax Extension bill, which many had rumored could potentially feature online poker regulations as a “rider” in much the same manner as the original Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in 2006. However, expectations of that rider were tamped down earlier in the week.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who has been an advocate of online poker legislation, put the issue to rest earlier in the week while negotiations were ongoing for the payroll tax extension. Reasons given by the spokesman included current opposition to online poker by Indian tribes and state lotteries and that putting the online poker legislation on as a rider “didn’t figure” into the pending passage of the payroll legislation.

Stutz elaborated on his Friday Tweet in the Review-Journal late Friday in an interview with Chad Beynon, a gaming analyst with Macquarie Securities. Without the passage of federal legislation, Beynon believes, the onus now falls on individual states to enact legislation, something that the state of Nevada has already started to move forward with.

“We think the standards were written in a way that will allow for small adjustments as the process moves forward,” Beynon is quoted by Stutz as saying following Nevada’s moves to set minimum control standards for their intrastate online gaming operation. “At this point, no firm date has been set, but thirteen companies have now submitted for an operating license.” Beynon also looks at New Jersey, Iowa and California as other areas that may have online gaming legislation over the remainder of 2012.

With the decision not to tack online poker legislation on to the payroll extension bill (the bill is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama at any time), online poker advocates are looking to find another potential, however unlikely, way to push the legislation forward. Segments of the Obama Administration’s jobs package has been talked about as a potential vehicle as well as important cyber security legislation that was proposed earlier this week in the Senate. As a final option, the session following the November elections – the infamous “lame duck” period – could be a spot where the online poker legislation gets a push, much like Sen. Reid attempted in 2010.

The forum at Two Plus Two has been active regarding this news, albeit with some commenters still holding out hope that federal online poker legislation is still alive sometime over the coming year. Poster ‘NutRush’ stated, “I had an inkling of hope earlier this year (for passage in 2012), but quickly realized federal legislation isn’t happening anytime soon. Just hoping the states get moving sooner rather than later.”

Another poster, ‘ShizzMoney,’ opined, “Poker bill federally won’t even have a chance until 2014, in my opinion. I am so skeptical of my government and the religious nutjobs in it (that it) will take until 2016 to get anything done, maybe even later.” ‘ShizzMoney’ does see a silver lining, however, ending by writing, “State legislation, on the other hand, could be in the works very soon.”

Although this latest attempt to pass online poker legislation has seemingly come and gone, there are still several advocates pushing for federal legislation. The Poker Players Alliance has a daily Action Plan on the 2+2 forum, where individuals can push their elected officials regarding the issue, while FairPlay USA, a lobbying organization backed by several Nevada casinos, also is attempting to exert its influence.

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