This Shooting Star’s Named Cantu --  Brandon Cantu won the second major title of his young career when he won the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, CA this past week.  Cantu took a dominant chip lead to the final table after being near the top of the leader board throughout the week, and quickly put an end to work after finishing off Steve Sung for the World Poker Tour Championship.  Cantu, a Vancouver native who also won a bracelet at the 2006 WSOP, picked up $1,000,000 for his win.

WSOP Europe Dates Announced --  Harrah’s Entertainment released the official dates for the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Presented by Betfair -- and no, like it or not, we can’t leave off that "Presented by Betfair" part.  The second edition of the WSOPE takes place September 19 – October 1, 2008, and will be held at the same three London casinos used for the inaugural 2007 affair: St. James (Fifty), Leicester Square (The Casino at the Empire) and Marble Arch (Sportsman).  Norway’s Annette Obrestad will be on hand to defend the WSOPE Main Event title she claimed last year, the largest prize to date won by a woman in poker history.

PPA Sponsors March on Boston State House -- A wretched Massachusetts land-based casino plan promoted by Mass. Governor Deval Patrick drew the attention of the Poker Players Alliance, which organized a protest rally against a provision in the bill that planned to make playing online poker a felony, punishable by prison time or a fine of up to $25,000, or both. Fortunately, Patrick’s bill is likely to die for lack of state legislative support.  Interestingly, no one wants to take credit for the inclusion of the online poker ban included in the bill; an effort by Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, co-founder of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, contacted several prominent players connected to the bill, all of whom denied responsibility for the anti-poker clause.  Was the section snuck into the bill by a do-good member of Patrick’s staff or inserted on behalf of the would-be land-based casinos?  Maybe we’ll never know the truth.

Eric “Sheets” Haber Takes WSOP -C Atlantic City Ring --  Another World Series of Poker Circuit series event concluded this week, and it went to a notable online pro.  Eric “Sheets” Haber, known also for his connection to a prominent online poker-instruction site, left his computer long enough to take down the title.  Haber claimed $431,136 for the win and put away Dan Hicks, who led each of the first two days, to seal the win.  Hicks collected $237,124 for his runner-up showing.