The poker community was shocked to find out last Tuesday that poker player Matt Roth had died by apparent suicide. Matt, who played online under the screen names “notnmyhouse” (Full Tilt Poker) and “mattroth” (PokerStars), was extremely well liked by people who knew him and had made a comfortable living playing poker online prior to… Read more »
Day 3 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Open Main Event started with just 25 players remaining. So, needing just 19 eliminations to reach the six-handed final table, it seemed like Monday would be a fairly short day. It wasn’t. It took about twelve hours to get the field whittled down to final table… Read more »
In a few minutes, a new era of poker will begin in the United States. Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC, will see its Ultimate Poker deal its first hand at 9:00am PST (noon ET), becoming the first legal, regulated online poker room in the United States. Initially, Ultimate Poker will only be… Read more »
In tournament poker, there are chip leaders and then there are chip leaders. At the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Open Main Event, David Diaz was the italicized latter on Sunday. Upon the close of Day 2, he held a monstrous lead on his 24 opponents, holding 1.705 million chips at night’s end. Let’s use… Read more »
The second starting flight of the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Open Main Event concluded Saturday (Sunday morning, to be exact) and, as expected the field was bigger than that of Day 1A. 205 entrants paid the $3,500 to participate, bringing the total field to 351. Prevailing over the 85 survivors from Day 1B was… Read more »
In a shockingly rapid fashion, Daniel-Gai Pidun defeated the start of day chip leader, Robert Haigh, to earn the championship of the European Poker Tour stop in Berlin, Germany, early Sunday morning (U. S. time). At the start of action on Saturday, Haigh and Pidun were the only two players over the five million mark,… Read more »
While much of the attention of the poker community is currently on the drive of several states towards legalization and regulation of online poker, there are fights that are being waged in some states that might affect live poker games. A recent bill in the Oregon legislature is an example of this type of attack.… Read more »
Kicking off their next to last event prior to the WPT Championship next month, the World Poker Tour has settled into Jacksonville, FL, for the bestbet Jacksonville Open, what has become a popular stop on the circuit schedule not only for the players but also for the WPT staff also. The $3500 buy in tournament… Read more »
What was expected to be a quick Day Five that would determine the final table turned out to be a long battle at the European Poker Tour stop in Berlin, Germany, on Friday. The final 17 men came to the felt on Friday with Roman Herold holding a decent lead over the field with his… Read more »
Although it might look as though there will be a long time span before it actually goes live, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City is already looking to be one of the first casinos in New Jersey to open up shop once the online gaming market kicks into effect. According to writer… Read more »
While the battle in Berlin, Germany for the latest European Poker Tour championship rages on through the weekend, two tournament circuits will hit the felt on Friday in the United States that will have the attention of the poker world as well. On the East Coast, the World Poker Tour will once again settle its… Read more »
The final stop for the European Poker Tour before its season ending Grand Final reached its crunch point on Thursday with the final 17 players being determined at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin, Germany. At the start of action on Thursday afternoon, 55 players still held out hopes of taking home one of the bigger… Read more »
The money bubble burst Wednesday at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event as the field was narrowed from 168 to just 55. As the payouts started at 136, most of the day was played with the participants feeling comfortable that the tournament was at least a profitable one. The chip leader going into… Read more »
Online gaming firm 888 Holdings Plc reported its quarterly financials Tuesday, showing improvements from last year across the board. On the whole, the company brought in $103 million in the first quarter of 2013, a new record for 888. That represented an increase of 9 percent over the same quarter last year, when revenues were… Read more »
In 2010, Blair Hinkle won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit – Council Bluffs Main Event to earn the first gold ring of his career. On Monday, he did it again, becoming the first player in WSOP Circuit history to win the same Main Event twice. He triumphed over 367 opponents in the tournament… Read more »
The survivors from both starting flights combined into a single, unified field Tuesday as the 2013 European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event forged ahead. Making a quantum leap on Day 2 was Finland’s Aku Joentausta, who was certainly in good shape to start the day, holding 105,500 chips, but when the night was over,… Read more »
On Monday, Pennsylvania State Representative Tina Davis (D – Levittown) introduced House Bill 1235 which would amend Title 4 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to legalize and regulate internet gaming. HB 1235 has several co-sponsors already, including Representatives Thomas Caltagirone, Rosita Youngblood, Dom Costa, William Kortz, Vanessa Brown, RoseMarie Swanger, Mark Cohen, Ed Neilson, George… Read more »
PartyPoker is not winning many fans these days. The latest in a series of missteps: the cancellation of several tournaments in its Pokerfest III tournament series. Players were excited to get the festivities underway yesterday as six tournament were set to launch in the span of an hour and a half. But just when the… Read more »
During the poker boom in the middle of last decade (was it really that long ago already?), a few poker players become minor crossover celebrities. Poker was hip, so the people who were seen winning on television found a modicum of notoriety in the non-poker world. To be truly recognized in other circles for more… Read more »
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is underway again as the EPT Berlin Main Event kicked off Sunday at the Grand Hyatt Berlin. 347 players paid the €5,000 + €300 to participate in the first of two starting flights and after eight levels, about half – 171 – remained. Leading those players waiting for Tuesday’s Day… Read more »
Like many state governments across the United States, the state of Massachusetts is currently preparing its budget for the upcoming year. As a part of those budget negotiations, the state is looking to potentially open its borders to online poker, but those proposals would prohibit some companies from applying for a license. Back in February,… Read more »
One of the fast rising young poker players in the game today is Germany’s Dominik Nitsche, who achieved his greatest tournament success before earning his high school diploma. Calling Minden, Germany home, Dominik weaned himself on poker through the 21st century equivalent of “fading the white stripe” – online poker. Using the names “JustLuck1337,” “TJCookier”… Read more »
Over two years have passed since “Black Friday” shut down three of the largest online poker operations in the United States. PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network sites Absolute Poker and UB.com (formerly known as UltimateBet) were all affected by the indictments in 2011, but only one of those entities failed to come… Read more »
Following the completion of their first tournament of 2013, the International Federation of Poker has announced that the organization’s only president, noted poker author and general Renaissance man Anthony Holden, has stepped down from his leadership role with the group. A meeting of the board of directors accepted Holden’s resignation and immediately set about electing… Read more »
Nearly two years to the day after torpedoing the online poker industry, the same lawyer who pushed those indictments has announced another round of litigation, this time targeting several poker professionals who are alleged to be a part of a massive scheme. Earlier this week, the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New… Read more »
