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WSOP 2012 will have a new event with an unprecedented $1 million buy-in. Titled “The Big One for One Drop”, this event is the creation of One Drop Chair and Cirque du Soleil Founder Guy Laliberte. Laliberte had worked on this concept with Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber. The idea was to combine poker players’ charitable nature with WSOP’s global reach to create an unparalleled poker event for raising the awareness to the acute shortage of water in many parts of the world.

The Big One for One Drop will take place from July 1 to July 3, 2012. Already 22 poker professionals have committed their participation. 22 is the minimum requirement for a WSOP official bracelet event. From each $1 million buy-in, $111,111 will be donated to One Drop towards raising funds for a legacy project of providing clean water access in a needy country. The balance amount will go to the prize pool. With 22 participants the expected prize pool will be nearly $20 million. The event will be capped at 48 players. The expected first place prize would very likely be $10 million or more and the winner will also receive a specially-designed WSOP platinum bracelet. A record 20% of the field will be in the cash. The event will be played as No-Limit Hold’em. WSOP is planning for ESPN to televise this event.

The players who have confirmed and have allowed their names to be made public are Guy Laliberte, Bobby Baldwin – four times bracelet winner and CEO of MGM-Mirage Resorts, Phil Ruffin – owner of Treasure Island Resort of Las Vegas, Andy Beal, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, Tony Guoga, Jonathan Duhamel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Daniel Shak. Some others players have confirmed their participation but wish to remain anonymous for the present. Seats will also be offered through the following satellite events: The Montreal Group seat, Loto-Quebec seat, Caesars seat and European satellite seat.

Duhamel (in picture), who is a spokesperson for One Drop said that he was thrilled to participate in the biggest poker event ever organized. One million dollars is a lot of money but the cause is a great one. “Life starts with water and because of its uneven distribution a person dies every 20 seconds.” He further committed to give 5% of his winnings from this tournament to One Drop.

Full Tilt Poker has been a beleaguered entity since Black Friday. Its operations have stopped, its license has been revoked by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission and no one has been willing to touch it even with a barge pole. But now there have been reports that a settlement has been brokered. And this has not been done by Phil Ivey, or by the bigwigs at Full Tilt Poker, but by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

In the first step Full Tilt Poker will have to forfeit all its assets to the DoJ. The current owners will have to reach a settlement in the civil lawsuit filed by the DoJ. There will be no action taken by the DoJ against current Full Tilt owners who have not yet been named in the indictments. However the cases against those named will be pursued. The DoJ will then sell the assets of Full Tilt Poker to Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), a French firm, for $80 million. GBT will have the responsibility for paying back the Full Tilt players outside the U.S., while the DoJ will have the responsibility of paying back the American players.

The American players, who reportedly have claims of $150 million, will have to apply to the DOJ for compensation. The legalese involved in the draft agreement uses the term “make whole”, which in simple terms means that if the balances of the players includes any winnings then those would be deducted while making the settlement. GBT has indicated that it would pay back customers outside the United States by giving them a stake in the reincarnated company.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York refused to comment on the report. However, attorney for Full Tilt Poker Jeff Ifrah did speak to a poker news service. He said that at present the agreement exists between the DoJ and GBT and specifies the terms for the sale of the Full Tilt assets. But the DoJ does not have the assets yet, so will need to obtain them. It is not clear what has to happen for the DoJ to obtain those assets. As matters currently stand Full Tilt Poker has denied the civil suit’s allegations. So the wait for the Full Tilt players is far from over.

Earlier this month the short list based on public voting was announced. Now the jury has done its job. It is official that Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson will become the 41st and 42nd individuals to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Neither has a flamboyant media profile, but both are deserving inductees. Annie Duke has missed out. Daniel Negreanu will be more pleased than Annie will be disappointed.

Linda Johnson (in picture) said, “I am extremely proud and humbled to be voted into the Poker Hall of Fame. I feel lucky to have been involved in many facets of poker over the past 35 years.” Linda is known as the First Lady of Poker and is the second female inductee in the Hall of Fame after Barbara Enright. Linda teaches at WPT Boot Camp and is a partner in Card Player Cruises, which conducts poker cruises. In 1993, Linda purchased Card Player magazine and turned it into the best journal of its genre. Her other projects include the World Poker Industry Conference, the World Poker Players Conference, and the Tournament Directors Association. Linda is currently on the Board of Directors for the PPA and the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS). She is a co-founder of Poker Gives. Linda was inducted into the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame in 2008.

Barry Greenstein said, “I’m happy to be inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside my friend Linda Johnson …” Greenstein has amassed more than $7.5 million in worldwide poker tournament winnings and possesses three World Series of Poker bracelets and two WPT titles. Greenstein is the author of the widely-acclaimed poker book Ace on the River. He has a practice of autographing a copy of the book for players in tournaments that eliminate him. Greenstein has donated more than $3 million from his poker winnings, earning him his nickname “The Robin Hood of Poker”.

Greenstein and Johnson will be officially inducted on Tuesday, November 8 in the Penn & Teller Theater of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas just prior to the start of the final table of the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

The formal announcement from WSOP released last week read, “After a public nomination process on WSOP.com and a vetting of all nominations by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, the finalists list eligible for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2011 has been determined.” The names in alphabetical order are Annie Duke, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Linda Johnson, John Juanda, Marcel Luske, Jack McClelland, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen and Huckleberry Seed.

There is only one woman who has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. She is poker babe Barbara Enright, who was inducted in 2007. Barbara is the only woman to have advanced to the final table of the WSOP Main Event and was the first woman to win an open event at WSOP.

Now three poker babes are hoping that one or more of them will join Barbara in this elite company by the year end. Jennifer Harman-Traniello and Linda Johnson were short listed in 2010 as well but did not receive the final nod. Jennifer obviously has the qualifications required but of late has been more in the news for things other than her poker. Last year she campaigned for votes to enter the Tournament of Champions on You Tube using a video that graciously displayed her décolletage (see picture). Then there was the story of Jennifer, Todd Brunson and their dogs.

Linda Johnson is more likely to get the honors than Jennifer. Linda is known as “The First Lady of Poker” and has been on the circuit for more than 30 years. Apart from her poker game she has worked to improve the atmosphere in card rooms and casinos and fought against player harassment and abuse at the card table. Linda started the CardPlayer Magazine, set up the Tournament Directors Association and founded PokerGives, a nonprofit organization that makes it easier for poker players to donate to charity.

Of the three poker babes in the running, Annie Duke has the most realistic chance of being inducted and that is because she is the most visible face. She was the brand ambassador for Absolute Poker and left just before the fiasco with the Department of Justice. She is presently in the limelight as a prime mover of the Federated Sports and Gaming, which is in the news for its Epic Poker League and for enforcing a code of conduct on poker players.

Early in September Caesars, formerly Harrah’s, announced the revival of the Caesars Cup challenge between the Americas and Europe. Phil Hellmuth was made the captain of Team America and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier was the leader of Team Europe. Both captains have now announced the names of the other four members in their teams. The Caesars Cup will be held on October 19 in Cannes.

Elky is from France and he has given his team a pan European look. While announcing his team Elky said, “We will show the Americas that 2009 was not an upset!” Jake Cody from the United Kingdom is a Triple Crown winner in just one year and is the reigning Heads Up champion from the WSOP 2011 $25K event. Gus Hansen from Denmark played in the first Caesars Cup and has lots of experience playing the leading American players. Dario Minieri from Italy was also in the victorious European team in 2009 and, according to Elky, his “unique style is very hard to adapt to”. Maxim Lykov from Russia is the final member in Team Europe.

Phil Hellmuth was at his brattish best while announcing his team. He said, “These idiot Northern Europeans think they know everything about the game of poker. Well, we plan to show them that decades of experience are much more valuable than clicking a mouse while sitting in your pajamas.” Doyle Brunson was picked for his iconic value, though Hellmuth did add that Dolly has been crushing kids for 50 years. Johnny Chan is the other veteran in Team America. Daniel Negreanu from Canada is the only player in Team America from outside the United States. He is among the top players in the all time money winning list. Hellmuth said, “Daniel has worked hard to learn the math in heads-up matches, and his enthusiasm is prized by a Captain like me.” The final Team America member is Huck Seed, who is a Heads Up specialist having won the NBC Heads Up last year.

The Caesars Cup line up has also become a contest between age and experience of Team America and youth and aggressiveness of Team Europe. The average age of Team America is 51 years and they have 39 WSOP bracelets altogether. Hellmuth has won 11 and Brunson and Chan have 10 each. The average age of Team Europe is only 27 years.