Red Star Poker announced on Monday that it will soon be joining Playtech’s iPoker Network, leaving the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN). MPN will soon have zero skins The move is necessary because Microgaming is shutting down its poker operations sometime next year, in either the second or third quarter. Microgaming announced the surprising decision two… Read more »
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PokerStars to Power Down Power Up
Those of you who are fans of PokerStars’ two-year old novelty game Power Up had better get your fill now, because the game’s days are numbered. According to PokerFuse, PokerStars is preparing to pull the plug on the poker/deck-building love child. No end date has been provided. “PokerStars has made the decision to remove [Power… Read more »
Technical Issues Force Cancellation of partypoker MILLION on Sunday
In the midst of the poker boom last decade, the partypoker MILLION was the most popular weekly poker tournament in the online poker industry. The tournament has been gone for 13 years, coinciding with the UIGEA and partypoker’s exit from the United States market. For the last few weeks, though, partypoker has been hyping up… Read more »
PokerStars Becomes First Online Poker Room to Go Live in Pennsylvania
Poker players, despite the slow pace of the game, are not known to be a patient bunch. They had no choice in Pennsylvania, though, as despite online poker being legalized a full two years ago, it seemed like no sites were ever going to get up and running in state. But finally…FINALLY…PokerStars became the first… Read more »
PokerStars to Launch in Pennsylvania on Monday
Online poker was legalized in Pennsylvania exactly two years ago, but there are still no online poker rooms up and running in the state. Online casinos exist, as do sportsbooks, but no internet poker. Until Monday. According to PlayPennsylvania, PokerStars will be the first online poker room to launch in the Keystone State on Monday.… Read more »
MPN Pushing Out Its Final Poker Client Update
The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) is rolling out the final release of its Prima poker* client. In announcement last week, the network said v43.1 will be distributed by November 7th. Though the Prima poker client was only released last summer, this will be the last update because MPN is shutting down in 2020. Aside from… Read more »
partypoker Reviving Tournament Dollars Next Week
Online poker satellite tournaments can be quite the good time. They are a way for poor saps like me to find a way into an expensive tournament at a lower price point. They can also be a cool way to make a profit, as they typically require a slightly different strategy, since oftentimes multiple spots… Read more »
PokerStars Introduces Spin & Go Flash
If you have been playing on PokerStars the last few years and have enjoyed revving up some Spin & Go tournaments but thought to yourself, “Man, these three-handed, hyper-turbo Sit-and-Go’s are just too damn slow for my on-the-move lifestyle,” then you will be thrilled with the new addition PokerStars introduced on Friday. Now live is… Read more »
partypoker Shut Down 16 More Bot Accounts in September
Partypoker provided its monthly security update on Wednesday, disclosing that it banished just sixteen bot accounts from its tables in September 2019. Thirteen of them were on the global “dot com” site, while the other three were on the ring-fenced “dot eu” version of the online poker room. On the dot com end, $9,338 was… Read more »
Winamax Teams Up with Hasbro for Monopoly Expresso Promo
The original jackpot Sit-and-Go The age-old board game Monopoly is based on the streets of Atlantic City, so seeing it used for a French poker promotion is a little odd.* But there it is, currently co-branded with French poker site Winamax in a special “Expresso x Monopoly” promo. The contest started about a week ago… Read more »
Flutter Entertainment Acquires The Stars Group
In stunning news this morning, The Stars Group, owner of PokerStars, announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Flutter Entertainment plc. Flutter Entertainment is the parent company of PaddyPower, Betfair, FanDuel, Adjarabet, sportsbet, and TVG. A new behemoth is formed It is an all-share deal, with shareholders of The Stars Group receiving .2253… Read more »
PokerStars Hammered by Massive Fine from Dutch Gaming Regulators KSA
Earlier this week, gaming regulators from the Netherlands handed down one of the largest fines in gaming history against one of the biggest operations in the game. The Stars Group, the owners of the monolithic PokerStars juggernaut, were hammered with a massive €400,000 fine for “operating without a license” in the country. The Dutch government… Read more »
GGNetwork Postpones Multi-Tabling Limitations to Late October
The Asia-centric GGNetwork has moved back the implementation of new cash game table limitations, according to its Trello public roadmap. The new table cap was originally scheduled for October 1st but was moved earlier this week to October 28th. In continuing with both the trend in the industry and its own focus on catering to… Read more »
Partypoker Shuts Down 48 More Bot Accounts in August
Online poker room partypoker recently provided another monthly update on its efforts to fight bots. In August 2019, the poker room shut down another 48 known bot accounts. That brings the total since December 2018 to 649. Few bots, much dough The 48 bot accounts is a fairly small number, the second smallest since partypoker… Read more »
Report: PokerStars Expects Layoffs at Isle of Man Offices
Isle of Man Today, the online presence of a trio of newspapers on the island between the Great Britain and Ireland, is reporting that PokerStars has informed its staff that layoffs are coming. PokerStars has two offices on the Isle of Man, including its headquarters, where it employs about 450 people. At least they got… Read more »
Microgaming Poker Network to Shut Down in 2020
In a surprising statement to the online poker community, the Microgaming Poker Network, according to their managing director, will be shutting down. The closure of the longtime online poker venture will occur at some point in 2020, probably in the mid- to late stages of the year. MPN Looks to Stave off a Run on… Read more »
New Jersey Enjoys Another Record-Breaking Month for Online Gaming; Poker? Well…
It seems as though there is nothing that will stop the steamroller that is the New Jersey online gaming industry. After smashing records in July with their “take” – revenues from the games – the Garden State’s online gaming industry came back in August and crushed their newly set record. There remains one issue, however…the… Read more »
Universal Championship of Poker Set to Begin at MPN
When it comes to online poker tournament series, the focus is always on PokerStars with its Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and the currently-running World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Full Tilt Poker’s FTOPS was also very popular, but Full Tilt no longer exists except as a skin of PokerStars. But poker players who… Read more »
The Stars Group Opens Doors to FOX Bet in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
PokerStars’ parent company, The Stars Group, has been a major driver in the poker world for more than a decade now. But they’re not happy with staying in that industry, instead looking to branch out into other areas of the gaming world. This has been shown by the opening of their latest product, FOX Bet,… Read more »
Phil Galfond Announces He is Now Playing Poker on His Own Site, Run It Once
It had been a while since we heard from Phil Galfond about his new online poker site, Run It Once. The site finally went live in February and he gave an update in April, but for the most part, it has been radio silence since. Nothing wrong with that – it’s just how it is.… Read more »
GGPoker to Introduce “Smart Betting” Software Feature
If you are reading this from the United States, there is a good chance that you have never heard of the online poker network GGPoker. Hell, I read about poker for a living and I barely know anything about it. Europeans might not know much about it, either. GGPoker, while open to most countries across… Read more »
Online Legend Phil Galfond Responds to PokerStars Table Cap Move
The move by The Stars Group, the owners of the #1 online poker site in the industry (PokerStars), to limit the number of cash game tables that players can play simultaneously has brought an avalanche of reactions. The reactions have been about 50/50, surprisingly, with some admitting that the new move will improve their game… Read more »
PokerStars Cuts Cash Game Multi-Table Cap to Four
PokerStars stunned the poker world on Tuesday when it announced that it is capping the number of simultaneous cash game tables at which one can play at just four. This number, down from 24, applies to “regular” cash game tables. Zoom Poker games and tournaments are unaffected. PokerStars liked what it saw in tests The… Read more »
PokerStars Publishes 2019 WCOOP Schedule
Fall is one of the best times of year for online poker. The weather begins to cool so people have more of a desire to stay inside (unless you are me, can’t stand hot weather, and prefer to venture outdoors when it cools off). The kids go back to school so we grown-ups have more… Read more »
Pennsylvania, West Virginia Slow-Walking Online Poker Rollout
Back in 2013, after three states – Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware – passed online gaming and poker regulations, it was thought that there would be a “gold rush” for other states to get their intra-state industries established. In the more than six years since then, there have been relatively few states who have entered… Read more »