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The online gambling group Unibet has expressed its outrage at a decision by the organisers of the Tour de France to ban their team from competing in next month’s competition.

Race coordinator Christian Prudhomme has banned the Unibet team from competing, even if they strip their Green Cycle Team of all gambling logos and are not known as the Unibet team. He claimed he was simply obeying French law, though EU market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has objected to this.

Unibet’s fury has been compounded by the fact that the biggest sponsor of this year’s Tour de France is the country’s horse betting monopoly Pari Mutual Urbain, while the lottery operator La Francaise des Jeux is also sponsoring a team.

“The whole situation is a scandal,” said Unibet spokeswoman Inga Lundberg.

Team director Jacque Hanegraf also expressed his anger, pointing out that the decision would have a serious effect for their riders.

“By denying the riders the chance to compete in the highlight of the cycling calendar the organisers are damaging careers,” said Hanegraf.

He went on to point out the inherent hypocrisy in the decision, saying that there is no way a foreign football team such as Tottenham Hotspur would be banned from playing a crucial European match in France just because they are sponsored by an online gaming firm.

Gary Kaplan, the BetOnSports founder who was arrested in Dominica in March this year has been refused bail by a St Louis Judge and will remain in jail until further notice.

Kaplan, along with former CEO David Carruthers, is being held on charges of racketeering and fraud, to whi8ch he has pled not guilty.

But after hearing evidence from both the prosecution and the defence Judge May Ann Medler denied Kaplan bail, saying there was a real risk that Kaplan would flee if he was bailed. “The defendant and his family have no real ties to anywhere or any community,” said Judge Medler.

The European Poker Tour has just released its schedule for its fourth season, which features increased buy-ins and therefore bigger prizes.

Season 3 of the EPT saw most of its events sold out days before they started, with vast numbers of potential competitors having to be turned away.

As a result the EPT has increased the buy-in for many of this year's events from 5,000 EUROS to 7,700 EUROS, bringing it closer to the $10,000 buy-in of the World Poker Tour.

A number of new events have also been added, including the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which was previously a WPT tournament.

Explaining the changes EPT chief John Duthie said: "The decision was based on the limited number of seats we have to each EPT tournamnet and the fact that our 10,000 EURO buy-in tournaments have proved to be very popular."

Phil Hellmuth, aka “The Poker Brat”, has long stated his ambition to be the greatest poker player in history.

It is of course a silly claim, more for publicity and self-aggrandising than anything else, and few people would ever suggest Hellmuth is the greatest poker player in history, nor will he ever be. But Hellmuth can claim to be one of, if not the, most successful player in the history of the World Series of Poker, for now at least.

By winning the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event on Monday Hellmuth became the first player in WSOP history to notch up eleven bracelets, and one of those represents his win in “the big one” in 1989. It is an incredible achievement, and when he was presented his bracelet by two of the games true ‘greats’ Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, it was a touching moment.

There are many different forms of poker, and many different ways to measure a players skill, so Hellmuth’s prowess in tournaments should not be overplayed. HE has famously won all eleven bracelets in Hold’em events, and while he is a reasonably talented in other games he has not yet managed to prove he can beat the best in those forms.

Hellmuth has also conspicuously failed to succeed while playing in the world’s highest stakes cash games, where cash specialists have often shown that his tournament excellence does not translate across all forms of the game.

Nevertheless, it is perhaps a bit unfair, just two days after one of the greatest days of Phil Hellmuth’s career, to start questioning his ability. His achievement is undeniably extraordinary, and he is clearly one of the greatest Hold’em tournament players we have ever seen. Congratulations Phil!

Meanwhile, with 18 events now played the World Series of Poker has handed out over $40,000,000 in prizes! The last two winners were Sally Boyer, who picked up $262,077 for winning the Ladies $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, and Saro Getzoyan, who collected $333,379 for his victory in the $5,000 Limit Hold’em Championship.