Poker
What are some of the hottest headlines in the world of poker? Here you will find all the latest juicy stories along with other important news and tournament results. A must read for the poker enthusiast with articles published throughout the day.
91,000 Online Gambling Accounts Set Up in New Jersey After One Month
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Associated Press) -- New Jersey casinos added 20,000 Internet gambling accounts last week.
The state's Gaming Enforcement Division said Monday that 91,531 accounts had been created as of Sunday. The number of individual gamblers who have played so far has yet to be determined, though, as some users have created accounts with multiple gambling websites in New Jersey.
PokerStars to Start High-Stakes Zoom Poker Trial
ONCHAN, Isle of Man – PokerStars today announced that on January 1st, 2014, all $50/$100 NLHE & PLO Ring Game tables and Table Starters will be removed and replaced with Zoom Pools. This change will occur during off-peak hours, and will strictly be a trial to evaluate player reception.
No decision has yet been made as to whether this change will be permanent or temporary.
After the change has been implemented, PokerStars will look at how it affects the games and make further decisions regarding either rolling back or expanding the change at that time.
Colorado Latest State to Consider Legalizing Online Gambling
The state of Colorado is the first in the Mountain Zone to consider legalizing online gambling.
Already three states in the US have legalized Web gambling within their respective borders: Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.
PayPal Admits to Sharing Customer Info With Company Tied to UB Poker Scandal
According to PayPal's Privacy Policy, the popular payment company contracts Iovation to "retrieve risk information regarding the IP and device from which you are accessing PayPal [and] research and testing as to appropriateness of new products and services."
Ludovic Lacay Leads for Day 4 of EPT Prague 2014
EPT Sanremo champion Ludovic Lacay is chip leader as the EPT Prague Main Event goes in to Day 4. The French pro has a massive 1.7 million in chips, more than 500,000 clear of his nearest rival, German player Julian Track. There are now just 61 players left from the record-breaking starting field of 1,007. Other big names still in contention for the €889,000 first prize are Jonathan Little, Ole Schemion, Ana Marquez, Eureka Main Event winner Dimitri Holdeew and Stephen Chidwick.
Texas Block’Em Removes Element of Chance in Online Poker: Site to Open in US
Gambling911.com contributor Thomas Somach has interviewed an 80-year-old man who has developed a new form of online poker that eliminates the element of chance: Texas Block ‘Em. And, yes, it will operate from the US to those living in the US.
Arthur M. Pfeiffer, owner and founder of Palo Alto software company Thwart Poker Inc., told The San Francisco Examiner that his venture will be a website called Texas Block ’Em that is expected to debut some time next year.
Sergei Popov wins Eureka Season 3 Leaderboard
Eureka Prague is now finished, all the events are already over. Tour's season 3 has come to an end since the Czech capital was the last stop this year (preceded by Rozvadov, Bulgaria and Croatia).
Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Promises Largest Prize Pool for $3500 Buy-In
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, today, announced its major series tournament schedule for 2014 with events in March/April, August and November. Up first, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown returns March 27 – April 16.
Win a Heads-Up Match Against Gus Hansen or Isildur1 and Play for Up to $50k
ONCHAN, Isle of Man – Full Tilt Poker’s Bust a Pro is giving players the opportunity to challenge Gus Hansen or Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom in heads-up matches for up to $50,000.
Players can battle for a heads-up spot by choosing between Gus Hansen or Isildur1 Bust a Pro Freerolls. There are four freerolls in total, each featuring a $10K prize pool.
Georgescu Leads at End of EPT Prague Day 1A
Romanian player Georgescu Tiberi-Florian is leading the 210 players who have made it through Day 1a of the EPT 10 Prague Main Event. Also among the chip leaders are Ronny Voth, Joao Simao, Sebastian Saffari and Simon Mattsson. The tourney started at noon with 389 players.
The EPT Prague Main Event runs until December 18 - with a live stream every day on EPTLive, starting at 3pm on Day 1b. Prague is the third stop of EPT Season 10 and yet again has joined the regional Eureka Poker Tour to create a spectacular 11-day festival of poker at the Hilton Prague featuring 47 events.
Dmitri Holdeew Takes Down Eureka Prague Main Event
The record-breaking tournament is finally over after Dmitri Holdeew from Germany became the Eureka 3 Prague champion for a €226,400 first prize. He is mainly a cash game player but was still capable of beating online tournament professionals Ami "UhhMee" Barer and Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick at the final table.
World Tennis Number One Rafa Nadal Wins EPT Charity Challenge in Prague
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – World tennis number one Rafa Nadal emerged as winner of the EPT Charity Challenge today, beating Brazilian football legend Ronaldo and world number one poker player Daniel Negreanu.
Skrill to Stop Online Gambling Transactions in Canada
The popular payment processing firm Skrill has decided to halt transactions for online gambling activity for the foreseeable future.
The change is anticipated as of January 2 of this coming year (2014). Transactions from merchants will end effective January 31.
2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open and LA Poker Classic Schedules Released
Schedules for both the 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open and the LA Poker Classic have been unveiled. These are two of the most prestigious poker tournaments on the circuit today.
The 23-event 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open will take place at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J. from Jan. 14-31 of next year.
Eureka Prague: Final Table Profiles
Seat 1: Jaroslav Peter, 50, Ostrava, Czech Republic - 3,995,000 Jaroslav Peter is one of two Czech players left in the field (out of 70 who started the event). The 50-year-old only plays live tournaments and earned the 'Czech Poker Tour Player of the Year Award' last year after he managed to win the leaderboard and also the season's finale. Jaroslav already has experience of running deep in a huge field after finishing fifth out of 1,416 players in August's FullTiltPoker.net Pardubice Poker Festival Main Event.
Somach World Exclusive: 80-Year Old to Open Online Poker Room in San Francisco
Tom Somach reports in this coming Sunday's San Francisco Examiner, December 15, 2013, about a new and supposedly legal U.S.-based online poker room set to debut in 2014.
FullFlushPoker.com Launches New Affiliate Program: Flush Affiliates
San Jose, Costa Rica – FullFlushPoker.com (“FFP”) is excited to announce the launch today of their new affiliate program, “Flush Affiliates”.
Breaking News: New Jersey Suspends Review of PokerStars
In a major blow to the world’s largest online poker firm, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has suspended the review of PokerStars application for an online gambling license for two years.
Rep. Joe Barton: ‘God Wants Us to Have Right to Play Online Poker’
Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton suggested during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Tuesday that God must want his online poker bill to pass as he safely made it from Texas to D.C. Tuesday morning, braving icy storms along the way.
Stephen Chidwick Leads Eureka Prague After Day 2
Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick is chip leader going in to Day 3 of the Eureka Prague Main Event with 43 players left. He has 1,479,000 followed by fellow Brit Mark Dalimore (1,379k). Chidwick, who first came to fame in 2008 when he won 100 seats to the WSOP online on PokerStars, is in Prague partly to collect his trophy at the awards ceremony on Wednesday night being held for WCOOP champions. He won the 320 dollar WCOOP Pot Limit Badugi tournament for $16,321.
HPT Wraps Up Record Year in Chicagoland: Ochana Wins $152k
Gary, Indiana – Heartland Poker Tour completed 2013 with their 20th stop of Season IX, making it a record year for the televised poker tour. The recent stop in Gary, Indiana also pushed HPT past the $50 million mark in prize money awarded to date. Over $152k of it went to the latest champ, Edward Ochana of Elgin, Illinois.
The Hill: Sheldon Adelson’s Futile War on Internet Gambling
TheHill.com released a compelling op-ed piece this week on Nevada gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson’s attempt to quash legalized Internet gambling in the US, calling it “futile”. Michael Minton of TheHill.com writes:MORE THAN €1,275,000 TO BE AWARDED IN EUREKA 3 PRAGUE POKER TOUR
The massive Main Event of Eureka Prague has created a huge 7-figure prize pool with €1,275,550 to be divided between 191 players. The new champion will take home an impressive €226,410 - the biggest prize ever awarded in Eureka Poker Tour history. The first prize actually exceeds nearly all the total prize pools awarded in Eureka season 1. All players are guaranteed at least €1,750.
FTOPS XXIV DELIVERS OVER $9 MILLION IN PRIZE POOLS
Full Tilt Poker’s FTOPS XXIV came to a close last weekend with more than $3.3 million in prize pools won across the final three days.
Two weeks of exciting tournament action culminated with over $1,600,000 awarded in the Main Event, which saw “poksu pete” outlast a field of 2,755 to turn his $635 buy-in into $207,016. Second-place finisher “Illini213” took the lion’s share of the Main Event prize pool however with $261,339, due to a deal made three handed.
Eureka Prague 2013 Hits 1,315 Runners
An incredible 949 players entered Day 1b of the €1,100 Eureka Prague Main Event today . With such a huge second flight, the total number of players climbed to 1,315 from 58 countries. It is by far the biggest Eureka event and, even more - the biggest Prague has ever seen.
Today's field included 12 EPT champions. Steve O'Dwyer, Kent Lundmark, Dimitar Danchev and PokerStars Team Online Mickey Petersen have joined the group of eight who were mentioned here.
Eureka Prague 2013 – End of Day 1A Chip Counts
Tonight, no one will sleep better than Jean-Yves Mallat from the United Arab Emirates. He has bagged the most chips out of 113 players who made it through a hectic 10 levels of play in the Eureka Prague Main Event today. Mallat will start day 2 of the €1,100 event on Tuesday with 246,500 chips and is currently the only player who has managed to get over the 200K mark. A total of 366 players started today and hundreds more are expected for Day 1b, making it the biggest Eureka event ever held.
Eureka Prague Hits 366 for Day 1A
The EPT & Eureka Prague Poker Festival has kicked off with the first flight of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event. After four levels, registration closed with a final day 1a field of 366. The first Team PokerStars Pro to enter the tournament was Eugene Katchalov. The Ukranian started very well and early seized a spot to come close to the overall chip lead. We are already through 6 levels, which means the players are now on a 75-minute dinner break.
PokerStars.IT IPT Saint Vincent Grand Final Season 5 – Payouts
An Italian player, Domenico Drammis, beat a field of 914 entries here in the Valle D’Aosta region, where the Italian Poker Tour generated a €558,546 prize pool. Drammis took home a €130,000 first prize as no deal was made at the final table.
LSOP Millions Revolutionizes Land-Based Poker Tournaments
San Jose, Costa Rica –Say goodbye to the horrible feeling you get when you bust out of a land-based tournament on Day 1, upset that you wasted all your money traveling to a foreign country with nothing to show for it but tense shoulder muscles from sitting down all day long. The LSOP Millions, a $1 million guaranteed tournament happening in Panama this March, is revolutionizing how poker tournaments work by spreading the Day 1 tables across multiple land-based casinos all over Latin America.
New App Bravo Poker Live Shows Casino Waiting Times
An ingenious new app lets gamblers know the various casino waiting times. The free iOS and Android app is called Bravo Poker Live and has all the makings of a huge hit.
