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.
Full Tilt Poker Acquisition Right Now Just a Prelude Stresses Attorney
An attorney for the embattled online poker company Full Tilt Poker stressed to the New York Times Friday afternoon that a potential sale of the company was still in the initial stages.
It was “merely a prelude to a formal acquisition, pending resolution of the civil suit”. Players waiting since April 15 to see their funds will likely still have to endure a long wait and there are no guarantees this deal will not ultimately fall through.
Still, affected customers have more to grasp onto than they did yesterday.
French Business Tycoon Bernard Tapie Agrees to Buy Full Tilt Poker on Condition
French business tycoon Bernard Tapie has agreed to buy Full Tilt Poker on condition that it settles legal concerns in the US. Executives of what was once the world’s second largest online poker room were indicted on April 15, charged with money laundering and bank fraud.
Full Tilt has also said there is a plan in place to repay deposits of players worldwide, which suggests that any winnings will not be paid.
Eugene Katchalov Takes Over Top Spot of Bluff Poker Player Power Rankings (Video)
Eugene Katchalov now ranks number one atop the Bluff Magazine Poker Rankings after capturing the number 3 finish at this year’s EPT Barcelona. The new power rankings were available as of October 1, 2011.
Katchalov replaces Jason Mercier, for whom Bluff says some of his older results are no longer relevant.
The Ukraine-born, Brooklyn-raised 30-year-old Katchalov has cashed out at 11 live poker events thus far in 2011 alone and has nearly $7 million in lifetime winnings.
DOJ Says Return of Funds to Full Tilt Poker Victims Possible
After the amended complaint in United States v. Pokerstars et al., 11 Civ. 2564 (LBS), was filed on September 22, 2011, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York received a number of new inquiries from individuals regarding the recovery of their funds from Full Tilt Poker.
Chili Poker Moves Into US Market
Chili Poker is the latest European-based online poker site to delve into the US market.
No, they won’t be offering real cash poker. Chili will be opening a free to play social networking online poker venture.
Players will be able to utilize a virtual currency system.
Obviously, Chili Poker is positioning itself to gain a solid foothold in the US market should the activity become legal at the federal level as it applies to real cash play.
Alderney Revokes Full Tilt Poker License
The Alderney Gambling Control Commission as expected as revoked the license for Full Tilt Poker.
The AGCC had yanked the license on June 29 after Full Tilt Poker failed to pay its US customers following indictments against two executives by the US Justice Department. They were charged with money laundering and bank fraud.
Since that time Full Tilt Poker has failed to pay players across the world including Europe.
Online Poker Promotions for October 2011 Now Available
Cake Poker has released its online poker promotions for the month of October 2011 including satellites to one of the biggest and richest poker tournaments in the world, the Aussie Millions.
Jesus Attorney Soliciting Questions Regarding Full Tilt Poker Via Facebook
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s attorney has made himself available via his Facebook page, but as some poker players have quickly discovered, many of their questions are not staying up for long.
“Why are so many questions getting deleted?” asked Tim Cobia.
Dion Renno wrote: “My comment was deleted as well, I asked why FTP lied and said our funds were safe when there were no funds at all.”
Online Poker White House Petition Meets Goal in Less Than One Week
The Obama Administration asked those with ideas to boost the US economy to take part in a petition drive. Any petition with 5000 signatures would automatically be reviewed by the White House for inclusion in an upcoming jobs bill.
Well, in under a week (3 days to be exact), those 5000 signatures were gathered.
San Francisco Chronicle: Full Tilt Poker a Game Changer…We Say Not Really
The San Francisco Chronicle featured an interesting piece on the current crisis surrounding Full Tilt Poker and its impact on the Internet gambling sector as a whole.
Last week, US Feds accused Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafael Furst of defrauding thousands of poker players out of more than $300 million.
888Poker Launches Home Games With Webcams
The popular online poker room 888Poker.com has announced it is currently testing out a new feature that will allow players to create their own private home poker games. These will be by invite only and dubbed “lounges”.
While the online home game technology is not new (PokerStars offers this feature), the 888Poker.com home games will allow players to utilize webcams.
888Poker.com currently ranks as the world’s 4th largest online poker room.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
Nevada Moves Forward With Online Poker
Lawyers, consultants and gaming industry representatives packed a room in Carson City, Nevada on Monday to discuss that state’s move forward to legalize online poker.
Regulations were released just over a month ago and this group was looking to make a few changes that will allow Nevada to become the hub of Internet poker in the US once federal legislation is passed.
"I think we have a solid foundation for regulations," board Chairman Mark Lipparelli said.
Betclic Poker Joins The Everest Poker Network
The Boss Media/IPN Poker Network has yet another defection as Betclic Poker announced it has moved to the Everest Poker Network.
Tarquin Henderson ,head of poker and casino at the group said, “We are thrilled that BetClic Poker joins the Everest Poker network. The growing Everest Poker Network is a popular and trusted place to learn and experience the fun of playing poker online.
“BetClic Poker will bring poker knowledge, passion and liquidity to our network and this will ensure the best experience for all players involved.”
PokerStars.com Festival of Poker Getting Underway
The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London ‘Festival of Poker’ gets under way, with the third stop of EPT Season 8 scheduled to take place from September 29 to October 6 at the Hilton London Metropole on Edgware Road.
Full Tilt Poker French Investors Look to be Out $800M Should They Go All In
News that mysterious (or not so mysterious) “French investors” are looking to acquire Full Tilt Poker had the folks from WickedChopsPoker.com doing the math, mostly subtraction…and folks, it doesn’t look good by any stretch of the imagination, even using Mickey Mouse calculations.
• As of March 31st, Tilt owed players around the world approximately $390M…but only had approximately $60M in bank accounts, leaving a short-fall of about $330M.
Today’s Full Tilt Poker BS or Not: We Weren’t Running a Ponzi Scheme
Even though the US Attorney’s Office out of the Southern District of New York has declared Full Tilt Poker a “ponzi scheme”, the powers-that-be at the now shuttered online poker company say otherwise, going as far as to issue a press release condemning the US Attorney’s accusations.
In today’s installment of Full Tilt Poker BS or Not, Gambling911.com reviews their latest statement. As Anderson Cooper of CNN would say, “We’re keeping them honest”.
Bodog Claims PokerScout Tried Extorting Company Out of One Million Dollars
The CalvinAyre.com website on Tuesday reported that PokerScout.com founder Dan Stewart attempted to blackmail Bodog Poker. Pay $1 million or remain on the PokerScout.com website, the CalvinAyre.com website alleges.
The news portal making the allegations is owned by Calvin Ayre, who just happens to be the founder of Bodog.
Gambling911.com to Visit BetOnline, Lock Poker
Gambling911.com has announced its October 2011 schedule, which includes visits to Panama City, Panama (home of BetOnline.com) and a meeting with Lock Poker executives and poker pros in London next week.
“We are very excited to be visiting with two of the industry’s fastest growing brands,” noted Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.
PokerStars Tough Time Gaining Ground
The world’s largest online poker room is still the world’s largest online poker room but a substantial margin, but the company has lost a significant amount of its customer base since exiting the US market on April 15 even after a slight summer surge.
Two Stars executives were indicted in mid-April for alleged money laundering and bank fraud.
PartyPoker Takes Over Number Two Spot
PartyPoker has recaptured the number two spot for the world’s largest online poker rooms after iPoker’s reign for the past few weeks.
Both networks have been engaging in a tug-of-war for that coveted ranking since Full Tilt Poker went offline the end of June.
The reality is that both sites have essentially the same average number of real cash players over the past week with Party trending upwards only slightly more than iPoker.
Chris Christie Confirms He Won’t Be Running
Despite the GOP’s pressure to get New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to join the race to run for US President, Christie confirmed once again he will not be running.
Fox News broke the story Tuesday afternoon.
The GOP has expressed concerns over the current pool of candidates, in particular Texas Governor Rick Perry, who was widely panned for his performance at last week’s Republican debate.
Gambling911.com Debuts New Subsection: Full Tilt Poker BS
Mysterious European investors, bizarre posting forum identity theft, and denials that any ponzi scheme ever took place at Full Tilt Poker, Gambling911.com frankly is getting a little tired of all these other media outlets getting hoodwinked by what was once the world’s second largest online poker room.
We’ve decided to devote an entire section here at Gambling911.com to Full Tilt Poker and we are aptly calling it “Full Tilt Poker BS”.
PokerScout Says it is Unaffected by Bodog Poker Software Update
Last week Gambling911.com broke the news that Bodog Poker had implemented new software that is supposed to prevent data mining. The public objective was to protect recreational players.
“Currently there is a wealth (quite literally) of data available on individual players and websites that only benefit professional players to the detriment of recreational player and, equally therefore, to the detriment of the poker industry itself,” a statement from the company read on Wednesday.
2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Results
The 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) results have been posted.
WCOOP-52: $300 + $20 No Limit Hold’em Prize Pool: $531,300 Entrants: 1,771
1st: Demokritos09 – $85,008.65 2nd: Telefonkiosk – $62,756.00 3rd: d0r1t0s – $47,817.00 4th: HerrLauti – $34,932.97 5th: F3nix35 – $25,236.75 6th: toddytheboy – $19,658 7th: B_Lindberg – $14,345.10 8th: Pro1612 – $9,297.75 9th: redmaex1989 – $5,313.00
WCOOP-53: $500 + $30 No Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys Prize Pool: $958,500 Entrants: 652
Phil Hellmuth Rides Giant Hotdog in Water
Big name poker pro and record World Series of Poker bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth was recently photographed riding a giant hotdog upon the open seas.
The photo was first revealed on the pages of TwoPlusTwo.com here.
It is unclear exactly what Mr. Hellmuth was doing riding the giant wiener.
One poster commented:
Some Poker Players Benefit from Full Tilt Poker Ponzi Scheme
A handful of folks claim to have benefited from the Full Tilt Poker ponzi scheme that was revealed by the US Attorney in the Southern District of New York last week. Adam Levy, a 26-year-old from New York is one of them.
He told the Wall Street Journal this weekend that, upon trying to transfer funds to what was once the world’s second largest Internet poker room, he quickly turned $150 into $9000 before the money was even verified in his account. Turns out, that money was never verified in his account.
America’s Card Room Provides New Online Poker Site for US Players
Marvin Rettenmaier Moves Into Top 5 2011 Poker Player of Year Rankings
With no change at the top of the Bluff Magazine Poker Player of the Year Rankings in recent days, Card Player has seen Marvin Rettenmaier move into their top 5. As of Sunday September 25, Rettenmaier was ranked number 3 at Card Player and number 4 at Bluff.
As a result of this move into the top 5, Chris Moorman has fallen out of the Card Player top 5. Gambling911.com will be meeting with Moorman in the coming week.
Rettenmaier comes to us from Germany and has won just under $600,000 with 27 cashes to date.
Matt Giannetti of the 2011 November Nine Wins WPT Malta
Las Vegas poker pro Matt Giannetti, who is among the 2011 World Series of Poker November Nine, has won the WPT Malta.
Leading up to both events, Giannetti has won just over $361,000. He has had two 4th place finishes and a 5th place finish with 14 cashes.
240 players took part in the 2011 WPT Malta.
This is his biggest pay day to date with the $273,200 win. He is guaranteed to walk off with much more at Novembers WSOP Final.
1. Matt Giannetti – $273,200*
2. Cecilia Mescaline – $159,412
Customers Will Sadly Get Little in Any Full Tilt Poker Deal
Whether an acquisition or a U.S. Government deal, Full Tilt Poker customers stand a very slight chance at this point of receiving their entire funds from the beleaguered online poker company, assuming history is a parameter.
While it is true that customers of the online gambling payment firm Neteller ultimately received all their monies months after its owners were arrested in 2007, the same did not hold true for customers of BetOnSports.
