The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) has made a concerted effort to try to make its tables friendly for casual players this year. The latest move: an experiment in which players will be required to buy-in for the exact same amount at certain cash game tables. In a recent blog post, Microgaming’s Head of Poker Alex… Read more »
Online Poker
Online poker news
PokerStars Launches Christmas Festival
We all know the joke about “Christmas creep” by now: retailers erect their Christmas displays and start their holiday sales earlier and earlier every year. Well, it looks like PokerStars is experiencing some Christmas creep this year, as well, as it has launched its Christmas Festival already, a good two weeks before Thanksgiving (or should… Read more »
Gold Rush Promo Returns to Full Tilt
Full Tilt Poker has brought back its popular Gold Rush promotion, the third time it has run it in the past year. It is a fairly simple promo, rewarding players for playing at Rush Poker tables with a chance to win prizes such as cash, Full Tilt Points, and tournament entries. Starting today and going… Read more »
PokerStars Announces Sweeping Loyalty Program Changes
In an ongoing effort to make its site more attractive to casual players, PokerStars announced Sunday a “comprehensive plan to enhance the PokerStars playing experience,” highlighted by a complete overhaul of its loyalty program. In a post on the PokerStars corporate blog (and, in turn, a page detailing the VIP changes), the company explained that… Read more »
Is Online Poker On A Downswing? SEO Metrics Say Possibly, But Opportunities Are Present
Here in the United States, we are well aware that poker isn’t the “hot thing” that it was a decade ago. The aftereffects of “Black Friday” – now going on five years ago – has put a pretty serious dent in the popularity of the game. But what about on a worldwide level? Is poker… Read more »
PokerStars Celebrates One Year of Spin & Go’s with $1 Million Promo
Lottery Sit & Go tournaments are standard fare at online poker rooms now, but it is strange to realize that they have only been around a short time. PokerStars only introduced its version of the Lottery Sit & Go, the Spin & Go, in September of last year. And now, to celebrate the Spin &… Read more »
WPN Forced to Slash Million Dollar Sunday Guarantee in Half
The Million Dollar Sunday tournaments on the Winning Poker Network (WPN) have never managed to reach that million dollar guarantee, which why they will no longer be Million Dollar Sundays. While there has been no official announcement on its website, WPN has decided to chop the million dollar guarantee in half to $500,000. At the… Read more »
Full Tilt Applies to Steam Gaming Platform
Points for creativity go to Full Tilt Poker. In an effort to expand its player base, Full Tilt is attempting to get its play-money game client, FullTilt.net, listed on the Steam entertainment platform. The poker software is currently in the voting process on Steam Greenlight. Steam is a software distribution platform developed by the Valve… Read more »
Knockout Week Underway at PokerStars
PokerStars has yet another poker tournament series starting today. It’s not a gigantic one like the recently-ended 2015 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), but it certainly looks like fun. During Knockout Week, PokerStars is hosting 35 tournaments, all Knockout, Super Knockout, and Progressive Super Knockout varieties. The tournaments start Monday and run through Sunday,… Read more »
NJ DGE Publishes Amaya Gaming Investigation Report
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) released an 89-page report detailing its investigation of Amaya Gaming’s acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt and the possibility of issuing the company a Transactional Waiver Order – essentially a probationary license – to offer online gaming in New Jersey. As we know, the Order was granted,… Read more »
PokerStars Hosts Largest Online Tournament Field of All Time
The prize pool may not have been anything unusual, but the size of the field of PokerStars’ inaugural Common Cents tournament series certainly was. On Monday, PokerStars broke its own record for the largest online poker tournament of all-time by attracting 253,698 players to the micro-roller tournament series’ kickoff event. PokerStars didn’t get over a… Read more »
More Full Tilt Payments to U.S. Players Coming
The recovery process from the freezing of Full Tilt Poker player funds nearly four and a half years ago continues. Though millions of dollars have been paid out to former U.S. customers of Full Tilt, there are still millions left to go. You thought it was all over, didn’t you? On Friday, the Poker Players… Read more »
partypoker to Implement Software Changes to Curb Third-Party Software Use
We have seen a trend lately of online poker rooms trying to make themselves more recreational-player friendly, not by necessarily weeding out skilled pros (though this is often what happens), but by attempting to protect weaker or simply newer players from those who want to prey on them by means other than simply playing good… Read more »
PokerStars Announces Massive Changes to Third Party Software Policy
In a move that could have a seismic effect on how online players take on the game, PokerStars announced earlier this week new changes to their policies on third party software usage. The new changes are in effect now and, if fully pushed by PokerStars officials, will effect players who have come to depend on… Read more »
Amaya Gaming Receives Approval to Operate PokerStars and Full Tilt in New Jersey
After nearly two years of waiting, PokerStars has finally been given the green light from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to begin operating in the Garden State. The DGE approved Amaya Gaming’s application, meaning both PokerStars and Full Tilt can now get back into the United States online poker market for the… Read more »
PalaCasino Launches Mobile App
Real money online casino PalaCasino.com released its mobile app last week, allowing customers in New Jersey to gamble online without being tethered to a computer. Available for both Android and Apple, the app allows players to do essentially everything they can from the desktop software. The PalaCasino app offers access to nearly 30 casino games,… Read more »
WPN Million Dollar Sunday Hit by DDoS Attack Again
Another million dollar guaranteed tournament, another Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on the Winning Poker Network (WPN). On Sunday, September 13th, the network held the first of five fall Million Dollar Sunday tournaments, which guaranteed a million dollar prize pool and at least $200,000 to the winner. But, as has happened when WPN has… Read more »
Merge Drops Skrill as Cashout Option
Players on the Merge Gaming Network lost even more of the little hope they had of seeing their deposited funds late last week when they were told that Skrill is no longer a viable withdrawal method. Though Merge charged players a 5 percent fee on Skrill withdrawals, the e-wallet was seen as a reliable and… Read more »
New York Online Poker Hearing Sparsely Attended, Even By Committee Members
What was trumpeted as the latest and best attempt to persuade a state legislature towards passing online gaming and/or poker regulations took place in Albany, NY, yesterday. The hearing by the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee in the state capitol wasn’t widely attended, however, by neither the constituents nor the legislators that the hearing… Read more »
MPN Alias Change Feature Coming This Month
Back in June, we reported that MPN (Microgaming Poker Network) was going to implement a feature to help its casual players, the ability to change one’s screen name. The feature was supposed to be added in July, but because of some technical issues, it was delayed. It wasn’t forgotten, though, as according to Pokerfuse, alias… Read more »
2015 PokerStars WCOOP Begins with First Three-Day Event
If you live in these United States of America at the present moment, you probably don’t care, but if you live in, say, Canada, Mexico, numerous European nations, or any of a multitude of other locales, you may be interested to know that the 14th annual PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is underway.… Read more »
Delaware, New Jersey Ink Limited Cross-Border Online Gaming Deal
It’s not quite the interstate gaming arrangement we were looking for, but it’s a start. On Thursday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced that it has approved deal in which Scientific Games will operate an online gambling product from Atlantic City, but for Delaware players only. The New Jersey DGE issued the following… Read more »
Full Tilt Introduces Full Tilt Classic Tournament Series
Full Tilt Poker is known for hosting one of the most popular poker tournament series on the internet, the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). Many an online pro has made their mark winning FTOPS events and the rewards have been lucrative. Starting in September, Full Tilt is changing things up a bit, introducing a… Read more »
888 Sweetens Deal for bwin.party, Terms Yet Unknown
The battle for bwin.party, parent company of partypoker, continues. On Tuesday, bwin.party confirmed that it has received another acquisition proposal from 888 Holdings, though it has not revealed any of the proposal’s details. The brief announcement is as follows: Further to its announcement on 27 August regarding a proposal from GVC Holdings PLC (‘GVC’), the… Read more »
PokerStars Launches Spin & Go-Inspired MTT’s in France
Europe’s ring-fenced online poker markets continue to be the test labs for PokerStars. This time, it is PokerStars.fr that gets to be the guinea pig, as PokerStars introduced a new type of multi-table tournament that draws inspiration from Spin & Go’s. Spin & Go’s, as you may well know, are three-handed, hyper-turbo, single-table tournaments in… Read more »