3-Bet: PokerStars Removes Micro-Stakes Games For Romania, Poker Pro Dave Colclough Passes Away & WPT National Remo Won By Christophe Bouzaine

We begin this edition of our PokerGuru 3-Bet with news from PokerStars, which has again removed micro-stakes games, this time for Romania. Our second story is about Dave ‘El Blondie’ Colclough, a UK pro who passed away on October 18. The third is a tournament report from the World Poker Tour (WPT) National Remo, won by French player Christophe Bouziane.

Romanians to Miss Micro-stakes Games at PokerStars

Starting early October, PokerStars has removed micro-stakes game products from its Romanian client. Players in the country share an international liquidity pool at the site’s dot-ro client, which is a separate domain, allowing PokerStars to change offerings at each one.

The first to go were the $0.01/$0.02 zoom poker games, followed by all $/€/£0.01/$/€/£0.02 pot-limit and no-limit ring-games.

Hereon, micro-stakes players will be forced to play at the higher $/€/£0.02/$/€/£0.05 stakes and will also be liable to pay higher rake. The earlier micro-stakes games had a rake of 3.3% to 3.5%. But the higher stakes games will carry a rake of 3.9% and 4.15% for the $1/€0.75/£0.60 stakes, if there are a minimum of five players at the table.

In June, PokerStars had done much the same thing in Belgium, removing the micro-stakes games for the country-specific client. In response to a player query, the company had stated that it was being done on a trial basis.

Looking forward it would not be surprising to find PokerStars removing micro-stakes games at all its other global sites, completely eliminating the offering. It s expected that the site would next target the markets of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium and Estonia.

Dave ‘El Blondie’ Colclough Succumbs to Cancer at 52

Poker players came out on social media to mourn the loss of Dave ‘El Blondie’ Colclough, who passed away on October 18. The 52-year old Colclough had been a native of Carmarthen, Wales and was suffering from cancer recently.

A distinguished player, much liked by one and all, Colclough was originally a computer programmer, before he turned a poker pro. He was a regular part of the UK show, ‘Late Night Poker’ where he played against pros, such as the lateDave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Barny, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman, Simon Trumper and Surinder Sunar.

Players paid tribute to the pro and Neil Channing posted, “A sad day. In poker, Dave was someone I always looked up to and was keen to play well against. It never seemed to happen. Never had a cross word with him, always very easy to deal with and decent. Glad to have known him.”

John Conroy posted, “Dreadful news about Dave Colclough – a great poker player and more importantly a lovely guy #RIPBlondie.”

“One of the nicest men I ever met at the poker table or anywhere else. One of the best on the circuit. Taken way too soon RIP,” Barry Neville wrote.

Colclough had a great poker portfolio, with his first recorded cash on February 1995 when he finished made an eighth place in a £100 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament in London for £350. At last count he had accumulated $2,639,641 in live tournament earnings and was at second place on the all-time Wales money list.

Some of his poker achievements include –

• 1st place in the £1,500 European Poker Classic for £80,302
• 1st place in the €2,000 Omaha Cup at the 2003 Summer Tournament, Paris for €66,000
• 1st place in the £1,025 No Limit Hold’em event at the 2003 Midland Masters for £54,000
• 1st place in the €3,000 European Omaha Championships in 2004 for €71,000
• 1st place in the £2,000 European Poker Championships in 2004 for £100,000
• 1st place in the 2007 GUKPT Manchester Main Event for £88,300
• 2nd place in the $2,070 Pot-Limit Hold’em event at the 2000 WSOP for $89,300

Christophe Bouziane Ships WPT National Sanremo Main Event

The Gioco Digitale WPT® National Sanremo €1,000 Main Event was taken down by Christophe Bouziane for €78,000 (approx ₹57 Lakhs), which is also his largest live tournament career cash. This was the Frenchman’s third WPT cash, with the earlier two being a 13^th place and a 42^nd place in the tour.

The event drew 444 runners, generating a prize pool of €387,612, crushing the original guarantee of €300,000.

Heads up saw Bouziane defeat Italian player Paolo Bonfanti for the title. Bonfanti settled for a second place collecting €54,542.

Final Table Results

1. Christophe Bouziane – €78,000
2. Paolo Bonfanti – €54,542
3. Jean-Loup Didier – €35,100
4. Daniel Duthon – €25,900
5. Roy Rineh – €19,500
6. Ye Yichuan – €15,600