Online poker news
In June, Hollywood Poker, the long-standing member of the Ongame Network, abruptly closed its doors. No explanation was given at the time, but fortunately customers were not left holding the bag, as their account balances were transferred from the 8-year old site to RedKings.com. It now appears that Hollywood Poker is back, but has gone… Read more »
After a few days of keeping poker fans guessing last week, PokerStars finally announced Thursday that Isaac Haxton has been added to the roster of Team PokerStars Online. The world’s largest online poker room ran a promotion allowing customers to guess the new member’s identity for the opportunity to win $50. On Tuesday, the day… Read more »
Three Las Vegas-based gaming firms – Boyd Gaming, Fertitta Interactive LLC, and Golden Nugget – were granted interactive gaming licenses by the Nevada Gaming Commission last week, allowing them to provide intrastate online poker in Nevada. Boyd Gaming was the first of the three, receiving the thumbs-up on Thursday. The company owns 17 properties in… Read more »
Since the “Black Friday” indictments of last year, there have been several online poker sites that have sprung from the ashes in an attempt to capture those American players who still would like to play poker online but don’t trust the handful of offshore sites that still cater to the United States. These sites, whether… Read more »
In August, South Point Poker LLC became the first company to receive a license to operate an intrastate online poker room and was confident it would have its site up and running to serve Nevada residents this month. As it turns out, that will not happen, but South Point has said that everything is still… Read more »
Full Tilt Poker is certainly ramping up the anticipation as its rise from the dead date draws near. On Monday, the former second largest online poker room in the world announced that it has added two more pros to its roster: Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. Dwan and Blom, who join Gus Hansen… Read more »
With the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker just three weeks away, more details are coming out about what players can expect from their online poker experience at the once-powerful internet poker room. On Friday, Shyam Markus, Full Tilt’s Poker Room Manager, explained on the Two Plus Two poker forum how much of his poker room’s… Read more »
It is all systems go now for Full Tilt Poker’s resurrection. Today, the Rational Group, operator of both Full Tilt and PokerStars, announced that the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has granted Full Tilt Poker an online gaming license. News like this would have been unheard of earlier this year, as Full Tilt Poker… Read more »
A month before its re-launch, Full Tilt Poker has announced that Gus Hansen has been chosen as the first ambassador for the beleaguered online poker room. More “international pros” will be brought on board, but it is Hansen who will be the face of Full Tilt Poker. This will be Gus Hansen’s second tour of… Read more »
Let’s give this another try. Just over three months since bwin.party’s deal to sell its Ongame Network fell through, it is back on the horse and inking another agreement. On Monday, the online gaming giant announced that it is selling Ongame to Amaya Gaming Group Inc for up to €25 million ($32.2 million). According to… Read more »
PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, announced Monday its plans to reimburse all non-U.S. players’ Full Tilt Poker funds. Along with this announcement came confirmation that PokerStars will re-launch Full Tilt in the first week of November. There will be different processes in place to reunite players with their money depending on the country.… Read more »
American players on four online poker rooms of the Revolution Poker Network, including Cake Poker, will soon be playing under a flag of a different color. According to a report by CalvinAyre.com, U.S.-based customers of Cake, Colt Poker, Fugu Poker, and Hilife Poker will all be shuttled over to Juicy Stakes Poker, a sister room… Read more »
According to a number of sources, including PocketFives.com and PokerFuse.com, Merge Gaming Network CEO Anthony Taylor has stepped down from his position at the helm of the company. No reasons have yet been given as to his departure and Merge has yet to issue a press release. Taylor joined Merge Gaming in April 2007 after… Read more »
The largest online poker tournament series in the world, PokerStars’ 2012 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), kicked off Sunday in style with tournaments repeatedly putting their guaranteed prize pools in the rear view mirror. The year’s most anticipated online poker series has a long way to – almost three more weeks – so if… Read more »
As the iPoker Network’s self-imposed network split looms imminent, the makeup of the network continues to change. The latest move: the long-independent Everest Poker has decided to join up with iPoker, a shift that should help both the network and the poker room. Everest Poker is not an irrelevant online poker room, but it is… Read more »
Let the rumors and speculation begin. Viktor Blom, best known in the online poker world as high stakes poker player “Isildur1,” is no longer a PokerStars pro. The news was first reported on Tuesday by our friends over at PokerNews.com, who discovered that Blom was no longer listed on the pro roster on PokerStars.com. Blom… Read more »
If any of you poker players in the United States have been looking for something to do since online poker disappeared (well, it’s not totally gone, but you get the point), you may be in luck. The U.S. government is looking for qualified people to take on the gigantic task of returning millions of dollars… Read more »
PartyPoker has finally joined the fast-fold poker party (pun intended), launching FastForward Poker last week. The new game was initially offered only for play money, but apparently the testing went smoothly and its real money counterpart took off within just a couple days. Anyone who has already played a fast-fold poker variation at a different… Read more »
It started with some brief and surprising e-mails to customers, but on Monday, Bodog Poker officially announced that it was withdrawing its services from 20 countries as of August 30th. It has advised current players in the affected nations to withdraw their funds as soon as possible, though those players who do not do so… Read more »
Yesterday’s announcement of the settlement of the civil case between PokerStars and the United States Department of Justice brought about a wave of celebration that has probably never been seen in the poker community. With the deal, one of the darkest chapters in online poker history has been closed with, it has to be argued,… Read more »
Gaming industry news site eGaming Review (EGR) reported Monday that social gaming firm Zynga has “opened a tender for a real money poker platform” with several online gaming developers. Amongst the possible partners are Playtech and Microgaming. An “open tender” is a process in which qualified bidders compete for business via sealed bidding. Those bids… Read more »
Last week, PartyPoker surprised the online poker community by removing its highest stakes real money cash games. Gone are all No-Limit and Pot-Limit tables at stakes above $5/$10 and all Fixed-Limit tables above $30/$60. Some players received the following short message from PartyPoker via e-mail: We have removed some of our super high stake games,… Read more »
Brent Beckley, co-founder of Absolute Poker, was sentenced to 14 months in prison Monday. Beckley was one of 11 people named in the federal indictments unsealed on April 15, 2011, better known in the poker community as “Black Friday.” In December, Beckley pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud, one of nine… Read more »
According to an interview by eGaming Review with South Point Hotel, Casino, and Spa CEO Michael Gaughan, the first legal intrastate online poker room in Nevada could be up and running by this fall. Gaughan told EGR that it is essentially just a matter of getting the gaming license, that everything is on track for… Read more »
Now that the biggest live poker tournament series in the world is over (well, except for that small detail of the October Nine), it’s time to start getting geared up for the largest online poker tournament series in the world. PokerStars has released the schedule for the 2012 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), the… Read more »
