EU, Canada, Japan Reach Agreement with U.S. in WTO Disputes --  Late-breaking news on the WTO front has many in the online poker world wondering what comes next.  One thing’s for sure, however; major UK online-gambling firms felt abandoned when the European Union accepted a deal with the U.S. on Monday that awards alternative forms of compensation to the European Union and its member countries, in other trade areas.  Stock prices of firms such as PartyGaming, Ladbrokes and 888 Holdings dipped sharply on the news as well.  It is believed that the agreement reached will be worth far less in reality than the up to $100 billion in compensation that the EU may have been eligible to receive, and Canada and Japan were also announced by U.S. Trade Representative Gretchen Hamel to have reached similar settlements.  Other cases remain outstanding, such as the smaller but thornier dispute with Antigua & Barbuda, which is still waiting for a ruling on its own $3.4 billion claim, and which was instead offered $500,000 by the U.S. in a pathetic display of scorn toward smaller countries with legitimate trade disputes.  Another issue is the damage to the WTO trade-agreement fabric that this case has caused, all willfully engineered by the U.S. after it lost the judgment in the Antiguan complaint.

Schoolteacher Levy Takes Down APPT Grand Final --  There were plenty of big names on hand for the Grand Final of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour, being held in Sydney, but it was an anonymous local player who topped them all and walked away with an AU $1,000,000 prize.  Grant Levy, who only recently had enjoyed a breakout showing at the PokerNews Cup in Melbourne, triumphed here after a lengthy heads-up duel against American Jeremiah Vinsant.  Vinsant collected AU $621,540 for his runner-up finish.

2008 WSOP Schedule Released --  The World Series of Poker will serve up a 55-event schedule for the second straight year.  Harrah’s released the event listings for the 2008 WSOP.  The first event starts on May 30, 2008, and the Main Event (with four consecutive starting days listed), runs from July 3-16.  The complete schedule of events is available at worldseriesofpoker.com.

Pham Clinches POY Title --  David "The Dragon" Pham was assured his bragging rights as Card Player’s 2007 Player of the Year this week after the last remaining player who could have caught him, Scott Clements, was eliminated in the early rounds of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic, the last event of the year with results that counted toward CardPlayer’s Player Of The Year(POY) chase. Clements’ dismissal from the proceedings at the Bellagio in Vegas guaranteed Pham his second POY crown, allowing him to join Men Nguyen and TJ Cloutier as multiple CPPOY winners.

Backgammon Wiz Takes EPT Prague --  If you’re tired of hearing about Magic: The Gathering and StarCraft gamers going on to fame and riches in poker, here’s a tale of a different flavor of gamer who made it big on the felt.  French backgammon master Arnaud Mattern claimed the trophy and winner’s purse of €708,400 at the PokerStars.net-sponsored European Poker Tour stop in Prague, Czech Republic.  Mattern bested a final table of mostly unknown players, as the majority of the big names here crashed out in the early going.  Gino Alacqua finished second and Kristian Kjondal, with perhaps the deepest record among players in the final, took third.