With one site online with its 30-day trial and a host of others waiting in the wings, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval commented to Nevada media that he has already held preliminary talks with other states for compacts to expand the player pool. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Howard Stutz, Sandoval admitted Thursday that he… Read more »
Month: May 2013
2013 WPT Championship Day One: Will Failla Leads Small Opening Field, Late Registration Still In Progress
The finale of the World Poker Tour’s Season XI schedule, the 2013 WPT Championship, is underway at the Bellagio in Las Vegas with a small but strong opening Day One now in the books. The $25,000 buy in event, while it might have lacked in numbers for its start at noon on Saturday, didn’t lack… Read more »
Bill Regarding Closure of Oregon Poker Rooms Under Debate
A bill that would shut down social poker rooms in Oregon had its preliminary debates earlier this week, with both sides of the situation showing up in force to discuss that legislation. The Oregonian’s Harry Esteve, who originally wrote about the proposed legislation in April, states that the sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Julie… Read more »
World Poker Tour Championship Begins Saturday
The eleventh season of the World Poker Tour has come down to its final tournament, the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, which begins on Saturday with a tremendous amount of drama in store. This year’s $25,000 tournament features a few wrinkles thrown in that should make for an intriguing event. Starting with… Read more »
2013-2014 WSOP Circuit Schedule Released
As the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit National Championship draws near, Caesars Entertainment has released the new schedule for the 2013-2014 WSOP Circuit. It has grown to a record 22 events with three new venues added to the tour. The state of Ohio makes its debut on the WSOP Circuit next season with two… Read more »
Minted Poker to Move to Plutos Poker Network
Minted Poker customers who have given up on ever seeing their deposits again may be able to recoup their losses. It’s not a great chance, but it’s a chance. The beleaguered online poker room announced yesterday that it is moving from the Everleaf Gaming Network to the really-never-heard-of-before Plutos Poker Network. The Everleaf saga has… Read more »
Doyle Brunson to Sit Out WSOP Tournaments
The 44th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) starts in just two weeks and it promises to be bigger than ever. In one significant way, though, it will be smaller. Doyle Brunson will not be playing. “The Godfather of Poker” made his announcement Tuesday night via his @TexDolly Twitter account, writing, “Afraid I am finally… Read more »
PokerScout: Online Poker Traffic Up for Second Straight Week
It’s not a meteoric rise in traffic, but it’s something. Online poker monitoring site PokerScout.com reported yesterday that for the second week in a row, online poker cash game traffic increased. Like the previous week, last week’s increase was small – just 0.2 percent – but that’s better than the alternative. Six of the top… Read more »
Nevada Gaming Control Board Investigating Ultimate Poker, iovation Link
According to a report by Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) is looking into the relationship between Ultimate Poker and iovation, the company that provided Ultimate Poker with identity verification services until last Thursday. Ultimate Poker became the first legal and regulated online poker room to go live… Read more »
Crockfords Fires Back at Phil Ivey
Last week, we told you about poker superstar Phil Ivey’s lawsuit against London’s Crockfords for the casino’s failure to pay him the £7.3 million he won over two nights at a high stakes punto banco table in August 2012. The UK’s Daily Mail originally reported the story of Ivey’s big score and Crockfords’ lack of… Read more »
Phil Hellmuth: “I made a horrible read”
One day the UltimateBet cheating scandal will die and, aside from never forgetting what happened, we won’t have to talk about it again. But until then, the tremors continue to rumble. On Friday, UltimateBet insider and Russ Hamilton’s computer expert, Travis Makar, published, among other things, an audio recording of a meeting between Hamilton, UB… Read more »
Ultimate Poker Cuts Ties with Iovation
Ultimate Poker (UP), the first licensed online poker room to launch in Nevada, announced this weekend that as of late Thursday, May 9th, it has “discontinued the use of all services from Iovation.” Iovation was used to verify the identities of new UP customers. The connection to Iovation became publicly known the very first day… Read more »
Steve O’Dwyer Defeats Andrew Pantling To Win EPT Grand Final
After a ten hour final table battle, the top two chip stacks at the start of the day – Steve O’Dwyer and Andrew Pantling – decided the championship of the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, with O’Dwyer emerging as the final champion of the EPT’s Season Nine schedule. O’Dwyer led Pantling by… Read more »
2013 EPT Grand Final Day 5: Steve O’Dwyer Leads Powerful Final Table Lineup
The final table is set for the European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo after a short day knocked the contenders in the field down from 16 to eight. Andrew Pantling was the only player over the two million chip mark (2.248 million, to be exact) as the cards hit the air this afternoon… Read more »
Damaging Audio Recordings Of Ultimate Bet Superuser Scandal Released
Although it happened over half a decade ago, the “superuser” scandal at Ultimate Bet still has the attention of the online poker community. Recently released audiotapes of discussion of that sordid part of online poker’s past have now surfaced, which will reignite the controversy all over again. Today, John Mehaffey published those audiotapes that were… Read more »
Amir Babakhani Dominates Final Table En Route To WPT Canadian Spring Championship Victory
In an excellent display of power poker, chip leader Amir Babakhani dominated the final table to take down the victory at the World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Quebec, last night. Babakhani came into the final table with over 6.6 million chips, amassing that stack by being the… Read more »
Chris Moorman, Paul Volpe Out As Lock Poker Pros
The beleaguered Lock Poker has had quite a bit of trouble over the past few months as it continues to offer online poker to U. S. residents. Now it has to bid adieu to two of its more prominent professional players from its Lock Poker Pros team. According to the PokerNews UK’s Matthew Pitt, online… Read more »
2013 EPT Grand Final Day Three: Johnny Lodden Leads, Only Player Over Million Chip Mark
The final event of the European Poker Tour’s Season Nine schedule is heating up as the money bubble burst on Thursday at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. After two Day Ones and a Day Two that came up short (in some ways), the final 105 players from the 531 player field came back… Read more »
WPT Canadian Spring Championship Day Four: Amir Babakhani Holds Large Lead At Final Table
It’s down to the penultimate day of the 2013 World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, with the final six players set to square off this afternoon to determine the last title on the WPT circuit before they head to the WPT Championship next week. 2013 World Series of… Read more »
PokerStars Previews 100 Billionth Hand Celebration
We all knew it was coming. And now it’s almost here. At the European Poker Tour Grand Final, PokerStars Head of Poker Communications Lee Jones announced that the world’s largest online poker room will soon be launching its Road to 100 Billion celebration. That’s one hundred billion cash game hands over the history of PokerStars.… Read more »
2013 EPT Grand Final Day 1: Victor Sbrissa Leads Both Starting Flights
The European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 9 Grand Final is underway in Monaco and the two Day 1 flights have been completed. Victor Sbrissa leads the crown jewel event of the tour at the crown jewel venue with 224,800 chips, one of just two players to go into Day 2 with over 200,000. Noah Schwartz… Read more »
2013 WPT Canadian Spring Championship Day 3: Piccioli, Babakhani Looking Down at Field
Things are getting serious at the 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Canadian Spring Championship. Day 3, contrary to our prediction, was a fairly short one for a major tournament, lasting only seven hours before the requisite 26 players were culled to narrow the field to two tables. At the end of the day, two names… Read more »
PokerScout: Online Poker Traffic Increases for First Time in Two Months
Online poker cash game traffic monitoring website PokerScout.com released its Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update Monday, revealing the first weekly increase in the number of players sitting down to ring games in two months. Before everyone starts jumping for joy, it was only a half a percent increase, but still, that is better than the… Read more »
Phil Ivey Suing Crockfords Casino for Unpaid Winnings
Phil Ivey wants his money and he wants it now. In a follow-up to a situation dating back to August 2012, the man who most consider the greatest poker player in the world is suing London’s Crockfords casino for winnings he is owed. The UK’s Daily Mail broke the original story in October, reporting that… Read more »
2013 WPT Canadian Spring Championship Day 2: Paul Klamm Looking for Second WPT Title
The survivors from the three starting flights got together for the unified Day 2 Monday at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Canadian Spring Championship. The field was culled significantly, as just 44 players remain out of the 294 that started the day. That also means the money bubble burst; Tyler Reiman was knocked out in… Read more »