Now that Santa Claus has dropped down chimneys around the world, the Hanukkah menorahs have been put away and the Festivus pole’s “Airing of Grievances” have been heard, we now enjoy a bit of relaxation before a New Year comes. Over the past 12 months, the poker world has provided several exciting moments amidst what would also be several aggravating ones also. With this in mind, let’s look back at what (honestly, in my opinion) were the biggest poker stories of 2014.
#5 – Ultimate Gaming, 2013-2014
The first regulated online poker room in the United States hit the ground in April 2013. Ultimate Gaming’s Ultimate Poker would make its mark, first in the online poker-only regulated market of Nevada and then in the fully regulated online casino gaming industry in New Jersey. They seemed to be making their mark as the early part of 2014 rolled along, but storms clouds apparently were brewing
By the time we hit the last quarter of 2014, the wheels were coming off the Ultimate Gaming machine. In September, Ultimate Gaming exited the New Jersey market, citing “multiple contract breaches” by their partners in the Trump Plaza and the Trump Taj Mahal (the failures of five of the 12 casinos in New Jersey almost reached this list, but that situation was more casino gaming oriented than poker oriented) as the reasoning. While this decision was a bit stunning, the next one by Ultimate Gaming would prove to be fatal.
In November, Ultimate Gaming shut down Ultimate Poker in Nevada and ceased operations totally, citing the lack of revenues in the Nevada online poker market and the costs of operation as the reasons. At the time, Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling gave the epitaph for the company in saying, “Moreover, the state-by-state approach to online gaming has created an extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging operating environment. These factors have combined to make the path to profitability very difficult and uncertain.” With that, the doors to Ultimate Gaming shut on what was once a solid, if overly ambitious, operation.
In 2015, perhaps we might see Ultimate make a return, depending on whether other states get in the online poker/casino game or not. For now, however, all we can do is ‘pour a 40’ out for Ultimate Gaming and wonder what might have been.
#4 – Victoria Coren-Mitchell Becomes First-Ever Two Time EPT Champion
It had been a long ten years. After almost 100 tournaments, there had never been a two-time Main Event champion crowned on the European Poker Tour schedule (in comparison, the World Poker Tour had 2 two-time champions in its inaugural year alone, Gus Hansen and Howard Lederer). That was before the EPT San Remo in April, the final stop before the Season Ten EPT Grand Final.
Victoria Coren-Mitchell, who won the 2006 EPT London on her home grounds at the Victoria Casino (and also became the first-ever female champion of the EPT), was constantly amongst the leaders in what would be a 556-player field. As she reached the final table, however, Coren-Mitchell was the only player who didn’t have a seven-figure stack of the eight-player field. She began a slow ascent up the leaderboard at that final table and stunningly would enter heads-up play with a 3:1 lead over Giacomo Fundaro. In the end, Coren-Mitchell (holding a Q-J) cracked Fundaro’s pocket Aces on a J-7-Q-10-4 board, sealing the historic victory.
With over 100 champions now (Coren-Mitchell’s victory at San Remo was in the 98th tournament in EPT history), it probably won’t be another ten years before the EPT crowns their second two-time champion. But everyone will remember the first as Victoria Coren-Mitchell once again etched her name into the EPT’s record books.
#3 – International Online Poker Sites Attacked By Hackers
Over the second half of 2014, many of the unregulated online poker sites that are still frequented by U. S. players began to suffer from malicious attacks. These attacks, known as direct denial of service (DDOS) attacks, caused online poker rooms to suffer shutdowns during some of their biggest events. As the calendar year comes to a close, online poker rooms are attempting to take action against these attacks but, as of yet, there has been little success.
The attacks, which ranged from the #1 online poker site in the industry PokerStars on down the roster of poker rooms in the industry, were allegedly orchestrated by Danish hackers. In this particular situation, the perpetrator involved would make a massive move with their money (or chips) and spark the DDOS attack, which floods the targeted network with multiple and various requests. The resulting flood of requests would cause the servers for the online poker room to either lag or shut down entirely and, with the last action in the hand, the perpetrator would then scoop a huge pot without having to go to (a potentially losing) showdown. This was done on many other networks but perhaps none bigger than this month.
The Winning Poker Network, looking to hold the first $1 million guaranteed tournament available for U. S. players to participate in since the “Black Friday” occurrence of three years ago, suffered tremendously from DDOS attacks during the operation of the tournament. After almost five hours of disruptions to play, Winning officials decided to cancel the event and refunded players their buy-ins and entry fees.
While players may not think about it, these DDOS attacks are having an effect on the landscape of international online poker. Unless countermeasures are taken in the coming year, the numbers of online players might continue sliding into precarious levels (especially for smaller rooms).
#2 – Martin Jacobson Wins 2014 WSOP World Championship
In what was probably the finest final table in the history of the “November Nine,” Martin Jacobson emerged as the victor at the 2014 World Series of Poker Championship Event.
Before the final table even began, it was historic. Mark Newhouse would make his second consecutive “November Nine,” a first in this era and the first time someone had made back-to-back WSOP Championship Event final tables since the legendary former World Champion Dan Harrington did it in 2003-2004. Unfortunately, Newhouse would also make a more dubious historical mark in going out in ninth place in the tournament (after coming to the start in third place), the same place he finished in 2013.
The final table was excellently played throughout the night (and that’s counting Newhouse as well; he just got caught in a bluff) as the cameras of ESPN broadcast it “almost live” to the world. Down to three players, start of table chip leader Jorryt van Hoof was still at the helm while Felix Stephensen and Jacobson looked to chase him down. Jacobson seemed as if he were prepared for every scenario he faced at the final table and it showed. By meticulously grinding his way up through the field and defeating Stephensen heads-up, he earned the 2014 WSOP Championship Event bracelet and the honor of being called poker’s latest World Champion.
#1 – Poker & Politics
If there was a recurring theme throughout the entirety of the 2014 calendar year, it was poker – in particular online poker – that reared its head in statehouses across the United States and even became a battle point in the halls of Congress.
It truly began in January of 2014 when Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson opened his checkbook and created the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG). Vowing that he would spend “whatever it takes” to ensure that there would be a ban on federally regulated online gaming and poker, CSIG played to several prominent Republican politicians in looking to make it happen. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz were the “foot soldiers” for Adelson’s efforts, pushing a bill that finally died during the “lame duck” session of Congress following the 2014 midterm elections.
Adelson wasn’t satisfied with these efforts, however. Everywhere there was a hearing regarding an individual state looking to regulate online gaming and/or poker, Adelson henchman Andy Abboud was seen waving his cellphone around and crying about the dangers of online gaming. Not to be outdone, the CSIG lackeys – in particular Blanche Lincoln – appeared on favorable “news” programming and in prominent newspaper editorials continually pushing for bans regarding online gaming rather than the common sense approach of regulation.
Then there was the end-of-year admission from outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Despite years of attempting to pass some sort of online poker regulation, the Nevada Democrat came out in December stating that he saw imminent passage of laws that would outlaw online gaming and that he would support them, but that he would work after online gaming was banned to find a carve-out for online poker. It was this type of hypocrisy that was rampant on both sides of the political spectrum that angered many in the poker community.
Credit has to be given to the Poker Players Alliance for leading the fight against the Adelson minions. Mounting a grassroots social media campaign that raged throughout the year (especially after the spineless withdrawal of the American Gaming Association from the fight and the lack of action from a counter-group put together by the casinos wanting regulation called the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection), the PPA kept its membership informed and vigilant, which was critical in making sure that the Graham-Chaffetz efforts at tacking their anti-online gaming bill on a critical piece of legislation as a “rider” during the “lame duck” session didn’t come to pass.
While efforts on both sides failed to some degree – there wasn’t any federal legislation banning online gaming and poker, but no more states passed online gaming or poker legislation during 2014 – it shapes up that this same fight may continue on past the New Year.
Was there something we missed? What was YOUR top story of the 2014 poker year?
UPDATE: Some have asked why I didn’t include Amaya Gaming’s purchase of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker on this list. There’s a simple reason: as of yet, we haven’t seen a real impact on the poker industry. PokerStars is still cruising as the #1 site in the online poker world and, in the United States, they still are having issues with licensing and, thusly, not a player in the U. S. game. Once we see significant change in Amaya’s ownership of PokerStars/Full Tilt Poker, then maybe we can assess the situation.
