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.
Billionaires Bet on Internet Gambling: Say it Will be a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Forbes.com featured a piece Monday on how billionaires are looking to back the likelihood of Internet gambling getting regulated in the United States.
The likes of Steven Roth, chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, and shopping mall magnate Herbert Simon, the owner of the Indiana Pacers, have invested in a firm that provides software and advertising services to potential online gambling licensees in the US, including the Vegas casinos.
Zynga Poker Takes Over Advertising Sports for PokerStars, Full Tilt on ESPN
The fine folks from WickedChopsPoker.com were among the first to discover that Zynga Poker, the free online poker room with over 29 million monthly users (8 million daily), has just begun advertising on ESPN.com.
What is the significance of this?
Two things.
Professional Poker Player Who Killed Parents Profiled in Dateline NBC
As first broke by Gambling911.com, Dateline NBC produced a segment on professional poker player Ernie Scherer III who was sentenced for the double homicide of his parents, Ernest Scherer Jr., 60, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, in their Castlewood Country Club, California home. The showed aired this past Friday.
The couple was found brutally beaten and stabbed to death in their Pleasanton home in March 2008. Scherer III had attempted to make the crime scene appear as if it were a home invasion.
Cereus, Absolute Poker, UB.com Plan to Liquidate Assets to Pay Back Players
Blanca Games, the company that owns the Cereus Poker Network and its brands, Absolute Poker and UB.com, have submitted a plan to the US Justice Department that would result in the repayment of players. Part of that plan would include the liquidation of assets.
Germany Liberalises Sports Betting Market: Still Banning Online Poker Games
15 Prime Ministers in Germany overwhelmingly approved a measure that will liberalise the gaming market in that nation. Most advantageous to betting shop businesses will be the concession fee reduced from 17 to 5 percent.
Still, Germany will not concede when it comes to restricting licensed operators to 20 while continuing to ban online poker and casino games.
JAXX SE, a financial holding company with holdings in international companies in the gaming industry, believes the German restrictions will not fly with the European Commission.
Halloween Horrors at America’s Card Room: Freerolls, Double Points, More
160K Bad Beat Jackpot Hit at BetDSI.com
Congratulations on one lucky player who happened to be at the right table at the right time with the right cards. See to the left the hand that won a brand new BetDSI poker player $48,000 for playing out a small straight flush only to be beaten by a guy who had the high end of it covered:
Online Poker Tournament Structures Revamped at AMC
New online poker tournament structures have been announced at America’s Card Room.
Poker Pro Al Krux Arrested for Criminal Drug Possession
68-year-old professional poker player Al Krux was arrested this week and charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana outside his Syracuse, New York home. His son Adam was also charged.
Krux’ lifetime earnings playing live poker are just over $1.3 million. He has made the World Series of Poker Main Event final table on three occasions. His biggest earnings came just at the start of the poker boom online when the WSOP prize pool increase resulted in a $600,000 cashout in 6th place.
Online Poker Promotions – November 2011
Cake Poker has released its latest online poker promotions for November 2011. You can take advantage of all the latest promotions, rakeback and cash bonuses here.
Merge Poker Traffic Soars 21 Percent
After opening back up to the US market, Merge Gaming has seen its traffic shoot up 21 percent over the past two weeks. Merge is home to such big name online poker brands as Lock Poker, Carbon Poker and Sportsbook.com’s Internet poker arm.
Following an eight week absence from the top 10 trafficked global online poker rooms, Merge returned and sits in the number 10 spot this week.
Overall Web poker traffic declined 1.2 percent over the past week.
Fertitta Interactive Positioning Itself for Legalized Internet Poker
Fertitta Interactive, owned by brothers Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta, announced the purchase of California online gambling company CyberArts Licensing LLC Wednesday.
The brothers, who also own Stations Casinos and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), are hoping to get a jump start should the US legalize online gambling, specifically Internet poker.
Poker Pro Tony G Knocks Alderney Gambling Control Over Full Tilt Poker
The BBC featured an interview Wednesday with noted poker pro Antanas Guoga, who is better known as Tony G.
Throughout the painstaking process of trying to squeeze out whatever limited information was available from the Full Tilt Poker camp, Guoga routinely found himself providing misleading news to the public. Not that he can necessarily be blamed as FTP had a habit of supplying whomever was there to listen with “mistruths”.
Rick Perry Hates Gambling But Bets World Series
Texas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry, who has repeatedly said he is against all forms of gambling, has been telling what's known in Texas as a tall tale.
A tall tale--a polite way to say a lie--about gambling, no less.
Gambling911.com, as part of its continuing series on how the Presidential candidates stand on gambling issues, last month reported how Perry, during his tenure as governor of Texas, has opposed the expansion of gambling at every turn in the Lone Star State.
PokerStars Approaching 70 Billionth Hand
The world’s largest online poker room is fast approaching its 70 billionth hand over the next 10 days with more than $750,000 in cash prizes to be awarded to those taking part in ring games held on October 29.
PokerStars.com is building up to the 100 billionth hand.
Alfonse D’Amato Distances Himself From Full Tilt Poker
It’s no secret to those who have covered the online poker industry for the past couple of years that Full Tilt Poker was a major contributor to the Poker Players Alliance, a grass roots organization chaired by former New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato.
Robert Chow Wins $393,548 at World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond, Indiana
51-year-old Robert Chow has won $393,548 at the World Series of Poker Circuit in Hammond, Indiana, which is about a 40 minute drive from Chicago. 1,615 entries were recorded for the main event.
"I've been the bridesmaid a couple times," Chow told ESPN.com. "This is the first time I've actually cracked through and made first place. I'm ecstatic. I thought I had a deep run this year at the WSOP Seniors event when I came in 66th."
Though eliminated on Day 1A, he re-entered on Day 1B after winning a satellite.
Bipartisanship in the Congress It’s Happening With Online Poker Debate
For those of you looking for bipartisanship in Congress, look no further than the debate over legalization of online poker in the US.
Tuesday morning featured a hearing in the .S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade to discuss the issue and listen to witness testimony. Legalized Internet poker is expected to bring billions of dollars to a troubled US economy and members from both sides of the aisle tend to agree.
Age Verification, Bots and Native American Sovereignty Discussed at Online Poker Hearing
Much of the discussion during a highly anticipated House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on legalized Internet poker in the United States focused on underage gamble and how to prevent cheating online.
Parry Aftab, Board of Advisors Chairman for FairPlayUSA, and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) noted that tools were in place to help curb underage gambling though many on the panel admitted nothing is fool proof.
William Hill Shares Up: Claims Business Back to Normal
William Hill claimed operations were “back to normal” on Tuesday following a highly publicized walkout of its entire online staff based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, last week.
Following a drastic drop in the company’s share price and one analyst even issuing an advisory, Will Hill saw a slight increase of 0.26 percent at GBP2.285 valuing the company at GBP1.6 billion.
Its staff in Tel Aviv and two satellite offices in Manila and Bulgaria walked out following reports they would be relocated to the company’s Gibraltar headquarters.
Subcommittee Hearing for Legalized Internet Poker Live
As promised the live stream for Tuesday morning’s Subcommittee hearing to legalize Internet poker in the US is available here.
Among those testifying, former Republican New York Senator and Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato and Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton, who has presented the bill to regulate and license online poker in the States.
Tel A-Heave Ho: Fish Feeder, Rabbi, Hairdresser on Books at William Hill Tel Aviv Office
The turmoil continues at William Hill following a mass exodus of employees in its Affiliates United Tel Aviv-based online support centre last week. The company revealed on Monday that it had canned three of its managers based out of Israel.
The support centre is 79 percent owned by Hill and 21 percent owned by its software provider, Playtech.
Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil Wins $401K
In the world of high stakes poker, Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil made waves over the weekend with a big online win.
The $200/$400 NLHE ring games have been brewing for some time but as of yesterday there were no truly big scores to come out of them. That all changed in the early hours of this morning when Phil “takechip”" D'Auteuil went on a rush and took $410k one tabling $200/$400 NLHE.
Live Streaming Video Expected for Internet Poker Hearing
For those Gambling911.com readers looking to watch the Tuesday October 25, 2011 subcommittee hearing on Internet poker legalization, the House Energy and Commerce Committee website was expected to have a live video streaming link up top at the start of the hearing 10:30 am EST.
Kahnawake: Positive Outcome Coming Regarding Absolute Poker?
The Kahnawake Gambling Commission, which licenses troubled online poker firm UB.com and its sister site Absolute Poker, has been in correspondence with affected players recently, suggesting a positive outcome is coming soon.
While Absolute Poker and UB.com have continued to pay players outside the US in small increments, those living in the States have been waiting for payment since April. That is when two executives of the company were indicted. Charges included money laundering and bank fraud. Absolute Poker/UB.com were forced to flee the US market as a result.
Full Tilt Poker Lays Off Remaining Staff
Disgraced online poker firm Full Tilt Poker has laid off its remaining staff of 180 employees in Dublin, Ireland. The company had its license officially revoked last month following a series of US indictments.
A handful of poker pros/shareholders in the company, including Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, are accused by the US Government of perpetrating an elaborate ponzi scheme.
US Customers of Full Tilt Poker have yet to be paid since April 15 while those worldwide have not received payouts since late June.
Mormon Church Hates Gambling: Mormon Politics Does Not
Two of the contenders for the Republican nomination for President of the United States are members of the Mormon religion: former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman.
Other top American politicians are also Mormons, including Harry Reid, a Democrat who is a U.S. senator from Nevada and the Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate.
With Mormons in such positions of political power, Gambling911.com readers might be wondering just what is the Mormon position on gambling?
The short answer: they're against it.
PPA Head Alfonse D’Amato to Testify Before House Subcommittee Tuesday re: Online Poker
Former New York Senator and Poker Players Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato is scheduled to testify on Tuesday (October 25, 2011) before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade on the need to establish federal licensing and regulation of online poker. The hearing was announced last week and kicks off at 10:30 am EDT.
Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton’s Online Poker Act of 2011 will be discussed during this hearing and witnesses will be brought forward.
Nevada Will Have Real Cash Online Poker Come January
Intrastate online poker for real money is anticipated this coming January in the state of Nevada. Should legislation pass at the federal level, Nevada would then permit those across state lines to play. They, the licensed casinos in Nevada, would become the hub for interstate online poker at that point.
A source close to the situation noted that there is some confusion related to Nevada’s passage of a measure that permits real cash online poker and that Gambling911.com is not exactly helping in this regard.
