Say your goodbyes to your favorite tablemates while you still can, for online poker room PokerHost will be shutting down for good on July 31st. Not shutting down only on its current network as it has done so many times before, but closing once and for all. The announcement was originally made by the poker… Read more »
Online Poker
Online poker news
MicroMillions Returning to PokerStars
PokerStars has announced the return of its popular low stakes tournament series, MicroMillions, not that it was ever in doubt. MicroMillions 14 will be held July 16th through July 29th on PokerStars.com and will feature 121 events with buy-ins ranging from $0.11 (yes, eleven cents) to $22. Even I can afford that. Hell, if I… Read more »
Winamax to Shed French-Only Description, Add Spanish Players
It’s time to see if three really is a crowd. Winamax, the long-time French-only online poker room, has announced that it will open up its tables to Spanish players this month. The exact date was not specified; it is unclear if this is immediate or if the merged player pools are yet to come. The… Read more »
PokerStars Launches Moneymaker PSPC Tour
PokerStars announced on Tuesday the launch of a new live poker tour, but unlike most live tours, this one will be affordable for just about everybody. And I’m not talking “affordable” as in “poker affordable” like $565 buy-ins. No, the newly created Moneymaker PSPC Tour will feature headlining tournaments with buy-ins of just $86. The… Read more »
Pennsylvania Online Gaming Licensing Off to Slow Start
When Pennsylvania became the fourth state to pass online gaming and poker regulation, it was expected that there would be a flood of activity fighting for those licenses. Instead, it appears that there has been a bit of a slow start to the licensing procedures, perhaps jeopardizing the opening of the Pennsylvania industry later this… Read more »
Spin & Goal Promo Underway at PokerStars
Soccer (er…football) fans around the world are jacked for the start of the FIFA World Cup tomorrow and as online poker players might have expected, PokerStars is running a special Spin & Goal promotion to celebrate. And it’s called – obviously – Spin & Goal. As is the case with every Spin & Go…spin-off…Spin &… Read more »
partypoker.eu Launches for Players in France, Spain
Last week, partypoker became the second online poker site to join the player pools of France and Spain, as it launched partypoker.eu. PokerStars was the first site to do so back in January. “I am extremely enthusiastic about joining partypoker to actively support their efforts to bring back the ‘Poker First’ mentality, live and online,”… Read more »
PokerStars Launches Showtime Hold’em
Last week, we talked about PokerStars getting rid of the goofy Split Hold’em, a game in which two different sets of community cards were dealt and how Poker Industry PRO discovered table graphics which indicated some new games were coming. And sure enough, PokerStars announced on Wednesday that one of those games has arrived: Showtime… Read more »
Portugal Joins Spain, France in Online Poker Player Pool Sharing
On Wednesday, PokerStars announced that Portugal has merged its online poker player pool with those of Spain and France. PokerStars is currently the only site on which players from all three countries can compete against each other. The three countries were formerly ring-fenced from the rest of the world, meaning that poker players could only… Read more »
PokerStars Dumps Split Hold’em, More New Games Teased
PokerStars removed the new cash game Split Hold’em from its lobby this week, but according to Poker Industry PRO (pay wall), it will soon be replaced with another new game type. Split Hold’em was well received by players, but it must not have generated the rake that PokerStars wanted, or else it would still be… Read more »
PokerStars Responds to Gordon Vayo Lawsuit
Last week’s big news in poker circles was the lawsuit filed by professional poker player Gordon Vayo against PokerStars in U.S. District Court. We covered it, every poker media outlet covered it (mainstream news site, Forbes, covered it before everyone), and the poker internet message forums are talking about it. On Monday morning, The Stars… Read more »
Run It Once Will Not Permit HUDs
In April, Phil Galfond – after a lengthy silence about his upcoming online poker room – finally provided the poker public with updates as to the progress of Run It Once, promising to be more forthcoming with further updates as the launch date drew nearer. Last week, he provided another, lengthy post detailing a major… Read more »
New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware Shared Player Pools Begins Via WSOP.com, 888
Though it is disappointing that it has taken this long, New Jersey has finally begun sharing its online poker player liquidity with Nevada and Delaware. On May 1st (technically April 30th, as things got started a few hours earlier than expected), WSOP.com became an interstate poker site, no longer limiting Nevadans and New Jerseyites to… Read more »
WSOP.com Opens Account Pre-Registration for Upcoming Interstate Network
WSOP.com and 888 Poker are quite confident that the approval process for their new software will go off without a hitch and as such, WSOP.com has sent out e-mails to players and published a press release announcing the opening of registration for new accounts. The WSOP.com software is being reviewed by the regulatory bodies of… Read more »
The Stars Group Buys Sky Betting & Gaming for $4.7 Billion
The Stars Group announced over the weekend that it has acquired Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) for $4.7 billion in combination cash and stock deal. According to The Stars Group in a press release, the addition of Sky will make the company the largest publicly traded online gambling company. The Stars Group is clearly best… Read more »
New Jersey Online Gaming Industry Breaks Record with Biggest Month in History
Signaling the vibrancy of its online gaming industry, New Jersey was able to bank its biggest online “win” rate in its history in the month of March 2018. Over the 31 days of March, New Jersey’s citizens seemed to flock to the offerings from the casino operations in the state. For the month, the five… Read more »
Phil Galfond Announces Run It Once Online Poker Room Launch Coming This Summer
In September 2016, poker pro Phil Galfond announced that he was going to start his own online poker room named after his poker training site, Run It Once. His idea was to build something that would cater to players of all types, that would focus on fairness, and that would be transparent. Since then, we… Read more »
New Jersey to Share Online Poker Liquidity with Delaware, Nevada
A new day is about to dawn for online poker. Okay, am I severely overselling it with that introductory sentence. But still, that WSOP.com and 888 Poker will be facilitating the merger of player pools of New Jersey with those of Delaware and Nevada in about two weeks is a pretty big deal. There are… Read more »
PokerStars Announces 2018 SCOOP Schedule
Not content in topping its rivals, PokerStars keeps wanting to top itself. Case in point: the 2018 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). This year’s edition of the exceedingly popular online poker series will feature $65 million in guaranteed prize pools, $10 million more than the guarantees from last year. Running May 6th through May… Read more »
PokerStars Rolls out Early Payout Tournaments
PokerStars continues to tweak its offerings, popping the cork on a new tournament feature. And when I say tweak, I mean just a little tweak. The new feature is the “Early Payout Tournament,” which is exactly what it appears to be from the name. In an Early Payout Tournament, every player remaining in the contest… Read more »
PokerStars Introduces Split Hold’em
PokerStars, not known for being shy about introducing new games, has given players yet another novel offering. So if you sit down at a Split Hold’em cash game table, don’t freak out thinking there is a glitch. What you are seeing is completely normal. Split Hold’em plays just like regular Texas Hold’em except for one… Read more »
Poker Players Alliance Fails in Fundraising Drive, Future in Doubt
After making a plea to its membership base for donations to continue their efforts, the future of the Poker Players Alliance is in doubt as those pleas apparently went unheard. In what has been a tumultuous few months for the Poker Players Alliance, the organization issued the call for donations as its leadership changed. In… Read more »
PokerStars to Introduce India-Specific Poker Site on April 17
There are few markets that the poker monolith PokerStars hasn’t entered. The name is synonymous with the #1 online poker site in many countries that have set up “ring fenced” operations, including Italy, Portugal and many countries in the European Union and continues to be the “top dog” internationally. Now PokerStars is ready to enter… Read more »
Connecticut Indian Tribes Join Forces, Advocate for Online Poker
In the state of Connecticut, the two Indian tribes that also run the two casinos in the state – the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and the Mohegan tribe – would be going at it tooth and nail for customers to their own properties. If there is one thing that can bridge competition, however, is a new… Read more »
Strategy: Who Said Poker Was Supposed to Be Fun?
There are several things that make poker enjoyable. Sitting down with friends for a home game or even heading to your local casino to take on other players you know emphasizes the camaraderie of the game. The strategies and mindsets employed in playing the game help to keep your mental wits about you. Finally, there’s… Read more »