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Full Tilt Sale Stalled By Big Name Players

Elizabeth — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:10:00 +0000

Full Tilt Poker, it seems, is bound and determined to stay in the news, one way or another. The ongoing negotiations between Groupe Bernard Tapie and the United States Department of Justice are making news again-- this time because several professional poker players still owe the site a hefty debt that is throwing a wrench into the sale of the company.

Groupe Bernard Tapie's lawyer, Behnam Dayanim, has stated that the debts owed by big-name players (almost all of whom were at one point Full Tilt Pros) are only one among a number of problems that are stalling the company's purchase of the now-defunct poker site from the DOJ, but when certain pro players owe FTP somewhere between 10 and 20 million dollars, it's certainly a big issue, and one of the hardest to address.

Dayanim broke it down like this: “The analogy that I like to use is that if you think of the target as a shiny apple. At the start of the diligence process, you expect that there are going to be some bruises on that apple, but after you finish your diligence, the problem here is that there are more and deeper bruises than we had anticipated. The professionals’ obligations to the company are a larger and deeper bruise than we had hoped, and we have had less success than we had hoped in trying to brush off that bruise.”

It's no wonder that GBT's lawyer uses the apple analogy, as FTP has been less than forthcoming about their finances, and these debts only came to light due to extensive searching by the prospective buyers. Dayanim stated that very few of the players who owe money to FTP have made any effort or expressed any willingness to pay it back. These players include Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, although there's speculation that the debts extend all the way through the lineup of recent Full Tilt Pro players.

Will the Full Tilt Poker sale be completed as hoped, or will negotiations fall through because of this? If the sale is the only way that players can hope to get their money back, what does it mean if the GBT sale doesn't happen? Perhaps most importantly, if the other issues can be resolved but the big-name pros who owe the company money refuse to make good on their debts, can we expect a backlash against these players by the little guy who may never see his money again? Let's face it-- if you leave a drowning company with a few million of the company's money, you've come out ahead, but if the company is holding onto your funds, then you're at a loss. Doesn't it seem like the wins and losses should be the same across the board, rather than the more famous players being blatantly privileged?

The US Department of Justice has issued a resolution deadline of February 29th-- stay tuned as we bring you news of the latest developments in this and other poker news.

WSOP 2012 Schedule Announced, New Surprises Unveiled

Elizabeth — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:56:00 +0000

Fans of the World Series of Poker will be disappointed that the promised end of the November Nine is not a return to the ways of old, but rather a rescheduling due to the 2012 elections. The WSOP 2012 Main Event final table will be moved up a week, making it the “Very late October Nine,” which we suppose just doesn't have the same ring to it. There's still a substantial delay between the final table play and the rest of the tournament, and there's no telling if we'll see a return of the November Nine in years when the United States isn't holding presidential elections. All of this seems a little misleading, especially after the WSOP let their Twitter followers to believe that they could expect a real change with their Tuesday tweet: “A few hints on WSOP schedule coming tomorrow…you won’t find the November Nine returning.”

Fans have been speaking out since continuous play in the WSOP stopped back in 2008, and loud criticism coupled with the added pressure on poker tournaments to maintain the public's interest in the wake of Black Friday was thought to be enough to return the schedule to its previous format, but apparently not. The 2012 WSOP will break for 14 weeks instead of 15, a change that does little to allay the concerns of players and spectators and comes off as more than a little patronizing.

Like the 2011 WSOP, next year's Main Event final table will also be aired on a 15-minute delay. One of the starting days of the Main Event has been dropped from the lineup, along with the scheduled day off. The folks in charge of scheduling the WSOP aren't making any friendds with decisions like these. Many poker pros will have been playing consistently throughout the tournament, and the scheduled break has long been a way for them to get their bearings and catch up on missed sleep so that they can bring their A game. Chances are, many players will be annoyed at the implication that poker should evolve into a stamina-based sport.

Lots of new events have been added to the 2012 World Series of Poker Schedule, including some new bracelet events: $3,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em/PLO Tournament, $5,000 Mix Max No Limit Hold'em Tournament, $2,500 4-Handed No Limit Hold'em Tournament, $1,500 Ante-Only No Limit Hold'em Tournament, and the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop Platinum Bracelet Tournament.

The One Drop Tournament is one of the most significant changes to the WSOP lineup, as it will potentially offer the biggest prize in poker history. There are 48 seats open for this incredibly high-stakes game for charity ($111,111 of each $1,000,000 buy-in will go to raising awareness about lack of drinkable water in large parts of the world). If the seats fill up, the first place winner will be looking at over $17 million in prize money, while second place will walk away with $9 million-- both are amounts larger than Pius Heinz, the 2011 Main Event winner, earned during his victory. It will be interesting to see how this shift in prize money also shifts the attention of the players and viewers-- if it takes too much attention away from the Main Event, that 14 week wait is going to seem even more cumbersome.

Stay tuned as Max Poker Bonus brings you more WSOP updates as they become available.

European Poker Awards Names 2012 Winners

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:09:00 +0000

No small number of fierce competitors were up for the 2012 Player of the Year title at the European Poker Awards-- in fact, the competition has been deadly all around, with names of major players appearing in every category. Even though very few of the players could actually attend the EPAs this year because they were playing in the Aussie Millions (while the Paris location of the EPAs at the Aviation Club de France was convenient for any players hanging out in Europe between European Poker Tour events, it was a bit out of the way for those in Melbourne, playing in the largest tournament happening at the time), awards were still given out, usually to proxies who had been sent to the awards in the stead of their friends and fellow players.

Individual Poker Player Awards

Player of the Year: Sam Trickett

Sam Trickett took the Player of the Year title, snatching it away from fellow nominees Pius Heinz, Eugene Katchalov, Andrey Pateychuk, Jake Cody, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier-- all of whom one could argue are the best players of the last year. Trickett is an English specialist in high-stakes games (which explains why he was in Australia for the tourney there and had to send PokerStrategy blogger Barry Carter to pick up his award there), and his massive wins in last year's Aussie Millions (first place in the 100,000 No Limit Hold'em, which brought a little over $1.5 million, and second in the 250,000 Super High Roller No Limit Hold'em, which added another $1.4 million to his bankroll) and the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event in Cannes (first place again for another $1.36 million) made him this year's winner.

Best Tournament Performance: Pius Heinz

It would be a crime to send Pius Heinz away empty-handed after his WSOP Main Event win (after all, he took home $8.72 million dollars there). This German's performance in the largest poker event of the year earned him the Best Tournament Performance title.

Rookie of the Year: Andrey Pateychuk

Pateychuk may not have taken Player of the Year, but he claimed the well-deserved Rookie of the Year title. With a strong and impressive run in the World Series of Poker Main Event, along with first place wins in the EPT San Remo and WPT Prague events (and a sixth place finish in the EPT Prague re-entry), saying that Pateychuk has had a good year is a massive understatement. It's truly hard to believe that Pateychuk appeared on the poker scene only a year and a half ago, and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

Europe’s Leading Lady: Natalia Nikitina

Russia's Natalia Nikitina beat out fellow nominees Liv Boeree and Victoria Coren of England, Nesrine Kourdourli and Barbara Martinez of France, and Cecilia Pescaglini of Italy. Pescaglini finished second in the World Poker Tour event in Malta in September, while Martinez took the WSOP Europe Ladies' event in Cannes.

Internet Player of the Year: Ilari ‘Ilari FIN’ Sahamies

Ilari Sahamies took the Internet Player of the Year title away from Ireland's Jude Ainsworth, Viktor Blom of Sweden, France's Rui Cao, and England's Chris Moorman.

Lifetime Achievement: Jesse May

American Jesse May was also up for the Poker Personality award, a title that fits him perfectly, because Jesse May has personality and he has it in spades. He's been one of the fundamental voices of poker, appearing on television and tournaments as a commentator as well has having a past poker career. He's frequently called “The Voice of Poker,” and this year, he is honored with the Lifetime Achievement award for his contributions to the game.

Rob Gardner Memorial Award for the Poker Personality of the Year: Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier

France's Grospellier beat out two very vocal poker celebrities-- Jessie May and Tony G-- for the Poker Personality of the Year award. While the category was full of solid nominees, it seems almost like the EPAs were giving Grospellier a consolation prize for his loss in the Lifetime Achievement category, because while Grospellier is a poker icon, he's not really known for his personality-- at least not to the extent of several of the other nominees.

Winners were announced in two other EPA categories this year:

Best European Event of the Year: WSOP Europe Cannes
Poker Staff Person of the Year: Warren Lush (international public relations department at bwin.party)

Poker Pros to Ultimate Bet: \"Sorry Isn\'t Good Enough\"

Elizabeth — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Eight professional poker players have filed a lawsuit against Ultimate Bet for a scam that the company ran three years ago, which allowed the Cereus Network (which owns Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker) to embezzle 20 million dollars from UB players. The players are out to crucify Ultimate Bet for a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a piece of legislation originally created to allow the government to prosecute organized crime.

These are not the first RICO charges that have been brought against the site or its parent network. Ultimate Bet has been in dire straits since Black Friday, which became a turning point for the poker world not because the United States Department of Justice closed down three of the leading online poker sites, but because of the way those various sites reacted. The problem that Ultimate Bet faces now is not unlike the problems facing Full Tilt Poker-- just on a smaller scale. It all boils down to a company taking money from players, knowing full well that what they were doing was not legal, and then refusing to give it back.

The difference in this particular case is that last time, it was the government who was angry, as they didn't get their piece of the pie while UB schemed to get around US government regulations. This time, it's the players who are out for blood for unfair play. While Ultimate Bet previously held the upper hand and could play the victim in a big governmental misunderstanding, putting the blame on the US Department of Justice, this time, there's no one else to blame, and the players are backing away from a site that they believe has done the unforgivable. To scam a government is one thing (come on-- poker has always been a game of rebels), but to scam your clients, your paying customers-- that's another thing entirely.

The eight who have brought this case against UB include well-known Canadian player Brad Booth and notable American players Tom Koral, Daniel Ashman, and Dustin Woolf, along with Greg Lavery, Dave Lizmi, Joseph Sanders, and Daniel Smith. The suit represents players from three different countries in their attempt to recover their lost money as well as an injunction and damages from emotional distress, fraud, negligence, unfair business practices and other charges associated with RICO, and the potential economic damage that the players suffered.

The complaint filed last week refers to a number of unnamed defendants, known as John Doe 1-10. This anonymity is not due to an effort to maintain privacy surrounding the lawsuit, but because the plaintiffs don't actually know who is directly responsible, due to the coverup for which they've cited a RICO violation:

At this time, plaintiffs suspect but do not know the identities of Does 1-10. Evidence, some of which is discussed below, has arisen that some of the founders and management of UltimateBet and Excapsa, including Greg Pierson, Jon Karl, Jack Bates, Russ Hamilton, and others who formerly operated (and may continue to be involved in the operation of) UltimateBet were likely aware of or involved the conspiracy to cheat players. However, because the identities and activities of UltimateBet and those who have profited from its operations has been intentionally shielded though numerous agents, subsidiaries, and foreign corporations, it will be necessary to conduct significant discovery before a complete list of defendants can be identified. After such discovery, plaintiffs will seek to amend the complaint to add additional defendants.

The real question about this lawsuit is this: why have the defendants waited until now to file this lawsuit? Why the three year delay after Ultimate Bet has already admitted fault and made efforts to repay players? The answer to this seems more closely related to Black Friday than it would seem at first glance: “Sorry” simply isn't good enough anymore.

Gabi Campos Steps Down as PokerStars CEO

Elizabeth — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

The last year has been a rough one for PokerStars. First, they were hit with Black Friday, causing them to pull out of the American online poker market and wrestle through negotiations with the United States Department of Justice. In May, Thomas Kremser, the director of the European Poker Tour since 2004 left, stating that the “time is right to explore new adventures”. Now, in the last month, PokerStars has lost not only John Duthie as the CEO for the EPT (and brains behind its conception) and member of Team PokerStars Pro, but now Gabi Campos, the CEO of PokerStars, has decided to leave the company as well.

Campos came to PokerStars after Black Friday when the previous CEO was indicted by the US DOJ in the events surrounding Black Friday. The previously family-controlled business sought out Gabriel “Gabi” Campos Woslovsky, a former member of Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency, who had extensive experience managing computing and IT teams throughout Israel. Campos made a career change and joined up with PokerStars competitor 888 Poker in 2007, becoming the managing director of Dragonfish in 2009. PokerStars does not currently have a replacement lined up for Campos, although they have announced that they will be actively searching while he stays on until February 1st of this year. This is a surprising turn of events, as Campos, while a part of PokerStars since late July, only took over operations in early October.

A lot of speculation is circling regarding Campos' departure. Many are pointing to Campos' history, stating that this sudden departure seems very similar to 15 months ago, when he cut ties 888 Poker to “pursue new challenges”. Even the wording this time around is similar, as PokerStars has released a statement that his departure is due to plans to “pursue other opportunities”-- does this mean that Campos is hopping over to another poker giant?

However, it's hard to look at Campos' departure without taking into consideration that he is not the only PokerStars loss recently. Recent news articles make it seem like a lot of important people are jumping ship from PokerStars, all citing vague reasons such as “other opportunities” and the predicted poker boom that may or may not result from the return of online gambling to the United States. Players Greg Raymer and Joe Hatchem have also ended their relationships with the site in the last year, and Hatchem also fed the media a line about his departure, citing, like the others, that it was “time to pursue different career opportunities.”

PokerStars has received a lot of criticism lately from players due to a proposed rake structure change which was tossed out due to player protests. PokerStars is changing their VIP program and contributed rake method however, and a lot of players are openly unhappy with these changes. Could the changes at PokerStars, both at the tables and in the offices, be an indication of trouble in paradise? Maybe, but maybe not. Only time (or insider information) will tell exactly what's going on over at PokerStars.

Melanie Weisner Is Lock Poker\'s Newest Rising Star

Elizabeth — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:07:00 +0000

Lock Poker has added a new star to their LockPro Elite lineup: Melanie Weisner has become the latest name to join the poker site's team of pros, adding to an already impressive lineup that includes Chris Moorman and Matt Stout, along with many others.

Lock Poker has had a pretty good streak since Black Friday, picking up a lot of the slack after Full Tilt and Absolute Poker collapsed and PokerStars struggled momentarily. While they were forced to pull out of the US market for a few months, Lock Poker opened once more to its American customers on October 13, 2011, and they've held the number one spot in the United States since then. Not only has Lock Poker largely cornered the American market, which holds a large percentage of the world's professional poker players, but they've improved their software design, upped the deals and specials that they offer to frequent visitors, and worked hard to hone their image by adding new professionals to their team-- most recently, Melanie Weisner.

The 25 year old got her start at New York University after watching her brother doing well with poker. Considering that a poker career might be more lucrative than her current musical theatre and vocal performance degree track, Weisman focused on the game, quickly working her way up the ranks of PokerStars' Multi Table Tournaments (MTTs). What's unusual about Weisman, however, is that she's not only an ace at MTTs, but she's an expert at heads-up games as well-- she's been ranked #1 across all the ranked sites for heads-up sit-and-go players. She's had quite the history on both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, but with both sites pulling out of the US market, she's made the switch to Lock Poker. Weisman has accrued over $1.2 million dollars playing poker online. You can expect to see her some more around PokerStars, however-- with her extensive travel schedule and current tournament cruising in Europe, she still has plenty of opportunities to play across sites, despite her American citizenship and new sponsorship.

Since her quick start in poker, she's appeared on both Poker After Dark during “Idol Week,” where she came in 3rd place in a $50k buy-in winner-take-all, and Late Night Poker, where she competed in a sit-and-go with a $10k buy-in. Weisman also managed to score six money finishes in the last two years of the World Series of Poker and four so far in the 2010 and 2011 seasons of the European Poker Tour. She's taken home over $350k from her various live tournament wins in the last year.

Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson had this to say about their new LockPro Elite member: “Melanie is a perfect fit for Lock. Passionate, relentless in her dedication to the game and incredibly intelligent… Players like Melanie give us the true insight into the product and player experience that we need to become the best. Partnering with our players is the true path to greatness.” As one of the fastest rising stars of poker, Weisman is also quickly climbing to the top of the women's poker charts, a fact which is sure to please Larson, an owner/CEO operating in what is still largely a male-dominated industry. Weisman is currently ranked 43rd on the Women's All Time Money List, and she's ranked 83rd on the Global Poker Index.

Lock Poker has also recently added Leo Margets of Spain to the LockPro Elite team. Margets was the WSOP Main Event's last women standing in 2008). Regardless of whether or not this woman-owned company is actively trying to create an environment where young female poker players can thrive and shine, Lock Poker is certainly developing a female roster that could hold its own against any takers.

WPT Ireland Title Goes to David Shallow

Elizabeth — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:25:00 +0000

The first ever World Poker Tour event in Dublin, Ireland, has gone to Brit David “Dubai” Shallow, who fought his way past the 337 other entrants to nab the title and $289,031 first place prize. In addition to the cash and recognition, Shallow also leaves Dublin with a seat at the WPT World Championships worth $25,000. This is by far the biggest win of Shallow's career, and it makes up the vast majority of his $325k career tournament earnings.

Shallow entered the final table with a stunning chip lead-- enough so that his eventual victory doesn't come as an overwhelming surprise. He held over 60% of the chips in play when the final table began, holding 5 times as many as Steve Watts, who started with 1,600,000, and around 8 times as many as Ronan Gilligan, who started with the least chips at 775,000. The other two players at the final table were Patrik Vestlin with 1,100,000 and Charles Chattha in fourth place with 835,000. While poker is certainly anyone's game, a spread like that is certainly a challenge for any player to overcome, and Shallow entered the final table confident and collected. While the final table should have had six players, Shallow's elimination of both Steven Moreau and Shaun Conning on the last hand the day before meant a short-handed final table.

Shallow struggled at first during final table play, letting his chip stack dwindle to under 4.5 mil as he doubled up both Gilligan and Vestlin. Gilligan took advantage of his increase in chips and took on Steve Watts. Watts went all in with a pair of tens against Gilligan, who was holding out for an outside straight. The river gave Gilligan Broadway and another 1,130,000 chips and sent Watts to the rail as the first player out of the final table with $51,063. Vestlin would be out next, taking home $68,396, and he was also eliminated by Gilligan, who became the chip leader after eliminating two players during the first hour of final table play.

Gilligan continued the aggressive play that had served him so well early in the match, but when he called Shallow's all-in on a hand that could easily go either way, he found that his luck had run out. Shallow knocked Gilligan out in third and vaulted to 7,280,000 chips as heads-up play began against Chattha, who held 2,860,000.

Just as Gilligan's overconfidence bit him when he went up against Shallow, Shallow's confidence and secure position caused him to make some less than ideal choices during the heads-up play, and at one point, he and Chattha were almost even in chips. Shallow made a few gains, and then the final hand happened: Shallow was sitting on pocket Queens while Chattha had pocket 9s. Shallow raised before the flop, and after raise and a re-raise, Chattha went all-in. Shallow called, and the flop came down K-K-2 with an 8 and 3 on the turn and river. All in all, the final table was over in under three hours, and David Shallow is the newest WPT title holder, and the first winner of a WPT Ireland main event!

The next World Poker Tour event will be in Venice, Italy, in early February.

Viktor Isildur1 Blom Takes PCA High Stakes Game

Elizabeth — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:28:00 +0000

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, known around the poker world for his love of high stakes poker games, has made poker history by beating out the rest of the competition in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller event. This is his first win in a major tournament, and it may herald a new era of action for this Team PokerStars Pro, who has never before been known for his live game.

Blom had to beat out some pretty heavy competition to win this particular title-- sharing the final table with him were Daniel Negreanu, fellow Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, Galen Hall, who won the PCA Main Event in 2010, and 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel, who was back on his feet not a month after the notorious violent attack against him. Brenes was the first player out at the final table, followed by Mike “Timex” McDonald and Scott Seiver in the bubble seat. Negreanu made the first money finish and left with $250,900, while Duhamel followed him to the rail and would go home with $313,600. Hall held on a while longer, finishing in third place with $470,400, and the head to head play was ultimately resolved by Blom's ability to hang in there longer than Dan Shak, who was eventually booted as the runner up. Shak made a hefty $846,700, however, which isn't shabby for a day's work. Blom made an impressive $1,254,400 for his first place win.

Because Blom can best be described as a rather volatile player, whose record is filled with big (online) wins and losses alike, the poker community's big question is whether or not Blom will hold on to any of his winnings for very long. Most assume that he can't, and that his winnings will stay in the poker community and will be cycled into the hands of other players pretty quickly. To date, the record most commonly cited in reference to Blom was his substantial losses at the hands of Patrik Antonius (the $1.4 million pot was the largest online pot at the time) and Brian Hastings, who cleaned his clock for $4.2 million, the largest gain/loss in a day of online poker. Whether or not his old habits stick with him, the 21 year old Swede certainly seems to have a promising live career ahead of him.

Blom has been laying low for the past several months, presumably to build up his bankroll and go through his now almost ceremonial retreat to lick his wounds following a rousing defeat. Now that he's back, fellow players are asking themselves if he is simply up to his old tricks-- catching opponents off guard and putting them in tight spots, being persistently aggressive-- or if something has changed about him. Since his return, Blom hasn't seemed like a new player-- just a slightly better version of the player that he used to be. He's snatched money from some of the biggest names in poker during the last month, and with his most recent win, we can expect to see a lot more of Blom in the live poker scene during the coming year. 2012 will also be the first year that the Swede will be old enough to participate in the World Series of Poker, and it would be a good idea to keep your eye on this player. If there's one thing we know about Viktor Blom, is that anything is possible.

AGCC Washes Hands of Full Tilt, Recommends Police Action

Elizabeth — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:22:00 +0000

The Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC), from whom we've heard a great deal during the course of the Full Tilt scandal, has issued a new statement to British citizens, urging them to take action. While the AGCC doesn't come out and say that British players who are still owed money by Full Tilt Poker (some of the 440 million dollars in player funds that have been held by the company for almost a year now) should press legal charges, they certainly imply it. The most recent press release from the gaming commission informs players that they should contact their local authorities if they feel that they have been the victim of a crime, and also reminds them of the many legal cases currently pending against Full Tilt-- just in case some British citizens are starting to think that they should get in on that action.

It's been a while since the AGCC has released a statement, and countless former Full Tilt players have been waiting for quite some time for news regarding the company's outstanding balance. All in all, there has been little for anyone to report, as Full Tilt Poker still seems to be stalling, despite a change in ownership and an alleged deal between Groupe Bernard Tapie and the US Department of Justice. The DOJ shut down Full Tilt, along with PokerStars and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet back in April of last year, and FTP remains the one company who hasn't at least partially resolved the problem. Groupe Bernard Tapie struck a deal with the US Department of Justice so that they could purchase the struggling company for $80 million in November, but there has been radio silence since the acquisition.

The AGCC explains its silence in their most recent statement: because the group no longer licenses or is attempting to restore the license of Full Tilt, they are unable to mediate or intercede in problems with the former poker giant (except for customers who are registered in Switzerland). Since they can no longer offer any help to their fellow British citizens, the AGCC offered this statement:

Players may have the following alternative options:

Full Tilt has been requested to provide a specific player contact: this is awaited and will be incorporated here upon receipt.
Any player who believes they are a victim of crime, as a result of their dealings with Full Tilt, should in the first instance contact their own local police in their country of residence and report the matter to them. These reports will then be coordinated centrally.
It is understood that a number of civil actions have been initiated by players against Full Tilt, some as class actions representing multiple players by UK, US and Canadian lawyers. Details of the firms concerned can be found through internet search.

The AGCC also mentions that they have been collecting incident reports on behalf of the police, and that customer complaints have been and will continue to be taken and turned over to the authorities. This is perhaps the nature of this “centrally coordinated” police action against Full Tilt-- it seems like the company is soon to have a lot more problems than it had before. If its troubles with the DOJ and the numerous class action lawsuits were insurmountable obstacles before, Full Tilt may end up wishing that they'd cashed in and given up when they had the chance.

Dusty Schmidt Returns to Golf

Elizabeth — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

American poker player Dusty Schmidt has decided to pursue one of his greatest passions and has planned to return to golf, a sport to which he dedicated himself years ago. Schmidt is the most recent in a slew of American players who have taken a step back from the game after the conflicts that arose in 2011.

Since Black Friday, now nine long months ago, American poker players have been at a loss, and matters have only become bleaker since then. When the US Department of Justice cracked down on online poker sites, forcing them all to bar American players so as to avoid the same fate as Absolute Poker, Full Tilt, and PokerStars, the opportunities available for American players dried up almost overnight. American players, who had largely dominated the poker world, were in trouble. Without places online to play poker, many players have tried to find ways to circumvent their troubles and stay in the game. Some of these players now play live games instead, while a great many have left the US for greener poker pastures, such as Canada or Costa Rica. Many have played it by ear, riding out the live poker tournament season with turnouts at the World Series of Poker and the European Poker Tour. As the big ticket tournaments are coming to a close for this year, however, more and more poker players have started asking themselves what they should do now.

For Schmidt, the answer was one that would take him back to his first love-- the game of golf. Schmidt, who played golf in high school and at the university level, has broken a number of Tiger Woods' amateur records, giving him a solid track record as a golfer and suggesting that he just might have a shot at achieving his lifelong goal of a spot on the PGA Tour. It was this dream that Schmidt was following seven years ago, when he had a heart attack which, coupled with a lack of funding, would cut his golf career short. Schmidt has decided to give it another go, as he posted on his blog at dustyschmidt.net:

“I have spent most of this year post black Friday figuring out what I want out of life... I came to the realization that I love golf infinitely more than I love playing poker. With that, I have decided to return to golf and use all of what poker has taught me to try and become the best I can be (whatever that is) at the game of golf.”

Although Schmidt seems to have a golf career ahead of him, don't expect him to bow out of the poker world completely. He'll be working with BlueFire Poker as a poker coach, helping less experienced players and recording videos for the site. You can also expect to see him at 20-25k hands per month on the site, as he plans to keep his poker skills honed. If Schmidt can take his consistency and determination and apply it towards golf, he should be absolutely unstoppable on the green.

EPT San Remo Win Goes to New Kid on Poker Scene

Elizabeth — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:11:00 +0000

Russian Andrey Pateychuk dominated the final table at the San Remo Main Event of the European Poker Tour, beating out several far more experienced contenders in order to become only the second Russian ever to win an EPT event. The San Remo event has historically been one of the biggest events in the EPT, often touting a prize larger than any other in the annual tournament. At the end of play, Andrey Pateychuk took home a €680,000 prize.

This virtual unknown walked into San Remo and, after four days of play, beat out a final table that consisted of Barny Boatman, the great poker legend from the United Kingdom as well as Kevin MacPhee, the American currently sitting in fifth place on the EPT All-Time Leader Board. Other players included Jan Bendik (5th place), Yorane Kerignard (6th place), and Italian player Rocco Palumbo, who finished seventh.

Neilson dominated most of the San Remo event, staying within the top two places for most of the game (he went into the final table as the chip leader, with twice the chips with which Pateychuk started). MacPhee had the short stack, but he also had the most to gain-- winning would make him the first ever two-time winner during the history of the European Poker Tour. MacPhee was the first out, eliminated by Barny Boatman, and he was followed about an hour later by Rocco Palumbo, who was sent to the rail by Slovakia's Jan Bendik. Danchev took out Yorane Kerignard of France, while Pateychuk himself eliminated Boatman, leading to an unexpected final three. By this point, Neilson's stack had been whittled away considerably throughout play by the Russian, and Danchev finished him off.

This year's San Remo had an interesting payout schedule, as second place (which ultimately went to Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev) was awarded €600,000, a mere €80k less than first place, while Australian Daniel Neilson, who came in third, left with only €285,000. That's quite a leap between second and third, and not a great deal of difference between the first and second prizes, and all of the other events at the European Poker Tour this year have been more fairly distributed. Why did this EPT event, which had one of the larger prize pools so far this season, have a smaller take for the first place winner and such an uneven distribution among the winners? The top two players made a deal during the heads-up play, when the game was determined by a bad beat-- instead of winning €800k and €480k, first and second place took home more balanced amounts to reflect the true nature of how this game played out. Pateychuk had gone all in with only a 6-7 in his hand, while Danchev held 9-10. The 9-4-2 flop left Danchev in the lead with a pair, but Pateychuk got lucky when the turn and river produced an 8-5, making this an incredibly bad beat. We imagine that Danchev probably won't mind too much, as he's still walking away with a considerable sum.

Poker fans may recall hearing Pateychuk's name somewhere before, and for good reason. He ran deep in the $10,000 World Championship – No Limit Hold'em Main Event at this year's World Series of Poker, landing a substantial win of $478,174 after being eliminated in 15th place. Before this year, however, no one had ever heard of Pateychuk, so it looks like a star has been born this year. Congratulations, Andrey, and may your runs be deep and your seat be favorable in the future!

Absolute and Ultimate Bet Poker Players May See Funds Released

Elizabeth — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:17:00 +0000

As thought Full Tilt officials haven't had enough to worry about, it now seems that Absolute Poker/ Ultimate Bet is gearing to put the final nail in the former poker giant's coffin. According to a statement from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker will be paying back their former clients as soon as possible. To players who have seen their assets frozen since April, this hardly seems like a timely action, especially since PokerStars returned player funds months ago, but Absolute and UB have only recently resolved their problems with the United States Department of Justice, which means that players may soon see some return on accounts that have been frozen since Black Friday. The solution? To sell off the poker sites and use the revenue to pay back customers.

Blanca Games, the company that owns Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, intends to sell off the two subsidiaries and use the proceeds to pay back customers. This will almost surely mean the death of these sites, but with no presence in the online poker world for over 6 months, their fate was likely already sealed. However, the important question has to do with whether or not selling off AP and UB will generate enough revenue to equal the $54 million that's currently owed to players. After all, Absolute/UB doesn't lead the online poker world in software, and internet businesses aren't like the mom and pop store on the corner-- there's no storefront, no five year lease on an office, no thousands of dollars worth of equipment that can be auctioned off to the highest bidder. While there are assets to liquidate, it seems doubtful that they're going to create enough to pay back all the players in full. The exact wording in the press release from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake is this:

“Over the past several weeks, we were advised of a potential solution prepared by Blanca and its representatives, establishing a process to liquidate Blanca’s assets and distribute proceeds to players. We understand that this process has been presented to SDNY for consideration and approval.

The Commission’s foremost concern in this matter has been, and remains, the reimbursement of both US and non-US players, as quickly and completely as possible.

To avoid further prejudice to affected players, the Commission has demanded that all parties complete their discussions and implement a reimbursement solution without further delay.”

So what does this mean for former Absolute and Ultimate Bet Poker players? First of all, it may mean that while you'll see some of your money returned, you may not see all of it. Ever. Some are theorizing that former players on the Cereus Poker Network may be looking at returns at 50 cents on the dollar-- if that. Secondly, even a partial reimbursement is likely to create even more anger directed at Full Tilt Poker, which has yet to pay back its customers, despite the fact that the company is being bought by an investor, not sold off in pieces. Lastly, it means that Cereus Poker Network will likely be no more.

Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker were bought by Blanca games in August of 2010, after UB had been under fire from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission for a cheating scandal in which they were ordered to return $22 million to clients. Because Blanca also (partially) owns Helix Gaming International and BingoMania.com, there's a good chance that this current deal is their way of playing nice with the KGC so that they can be on the group's good side when it comes time to discuss new legislation for online gambling and the potential move to the US down the line.

Meet the 2011 November Nine: Pius Heinz

Elizabeth — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:52:00 +0000

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table has no shortage of firsts, and Pius Heinz is no exception-- he is the first Main Event final table player to hail from Germany, and, as such, has already achieved a poker first. Should he win the game, however, he'll have yet another reason to go down in poker history.

Heinz came to Vegas in June, and by the time the Main Event rolled around, he says, he was ready to go. He signed up for Day 1A so that he could head back home as soon as possible, in case he didn't move on-- but move on he did, and with flash that left spectators wondering how it was that this student turned online poker player seemed to have no problem with the transition to live play. Not only has he made it to the final table here, but he also snagged a seventh place finish in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event, walking away with a tidy sum of $83,286, an amount currently dwarfed by the $782,115 that he's guaranteed to win from his main event play so far. Since his dazzling entry into the live poker work in Vegas this summer, he's also nabbed first place in a European Poker Tour event. Heinz won €17,450 in the €1,000 No Limit Hold'em Turbo Bounty event in Barcelona at the end of August, demonstrating that his winning streak at the WSOP isn't quite ready to come to an end.

Heinz plays an aggressive game online and off, and this year's World Series of Poker has been a learning experience for the 22 year old German-- one that has doubled his career winnings (he had previously won over $700,000 in online tourneys). His two cashes were the result of over fifteen tournament entries-- he was sent to the rail early in the others, and Heinz spent his time at the cash tables, working on his live game. He says that transitioning to live play was particularly challenging because live play “is boring,” and because so many basic aspects of live play are completely missing from online play, such as chip handling and guarding one's tells. Despite the hurdles that he needed to overcome, Heinz hit his stride on an early hand during Main Event Day 1A. In a hand against a more experienced player, Heinz made a successful read that he states was a defining moment for him. Since then, he contends, he's been confident in his ability to play the live game, and that's made all the difference.

Heinz currently sits seventh in chips with 16,425,000, with a buffer of about three million in each direction between him and Badih Bounahra in sixth place and Anton Makiievskyi in eighth. He'll return to the Penn & Teller Theatre in Las Vegas on November 6th, starting the day in Seat 7. Keep your eyes peeled for this student from Cologne, who may just be the final bracelet winner from the 2011 World Series of Poker.

Meet the 2011 November Nine: Anton Makiievskyi

Elizabeth — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:27:00 +0000

Anton Makiievskyi is in a precarious position. With the second-lowest stack against some very fierce players going into the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, he has his work cut out for him. If he can manage to pull it off, however, he'll become the youngest person ever to win a WSOP Main Event title. This native of Dnipropetrovsk, the third-largest city in the Ukraine and a metropolitan area with an extensive history, was awed when he took his first trip to the United States (and the World Series of Poker) and found that it was one that is truly life-changing. At only 21 years of age, Makiievskyi is the youngest player at the table, and he's stated that he finds his standing at the WSOP to be surreal.

Because the Ukraine has relaxed regulations concerning online poker (especially compared to places like the US, which is currently struggling to keep its players within the country), Makiievskyi is one of many players from the Eastern European country who have turned up at this year's WSOP. If he can manage to bring his stack up and win the event, he will not only be the fifth Ukranian player to win a bracelet at this year's WSOP, but also the first ever Ukrainian to win the main event. One thing is certain-- if Makiievskyi wins, it's a day that will go down in poker history.

Although he's been playing professional poker for a couple years now, Makiievskyi's takeaway from the WSOP Main Event is by far the largest win of his live poker career (not a big surprise given that the majority of his previous experience has been in Eastern Europe, where the buy-ins have been considerably smaller). Even if he's the first man out come November, Makiievskyi is still guaranteed to walk away with $782,115, an amount that eclipses even the largest of his past wins by a factor of more than 40. Don't confuse this player's lack of large paydays for a lack of experience, however; he managed to come in second in two separate events at the Yalta Summer Poker Festival in 2009, taking home $18,787 in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event and $15,100 for the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em. Six months later, Makiievskyi was swimming with the big fish of poker at the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure during the North American Poker Tour. He came away in 170th place-- hardly a stellar finish, but good enough to net him a $17,500 win.

Makiievskyi headed back home after his big-league poker experience and quickly won a satellite to the Russian Poker Tour Main Event, followed two months later by a ninth place finish at the RPT Yalta $500 No Limit Hold'em Six Max event. By the end of 2010, he was drawing attention to himself again, this time with a money finish with $5k at the RPS Main Event in Kiev.

This Ukranian supernova went radio silent for the early part of 2011, but when he sat down to play in the WSOP Main Event, he would be one young man who quickly made a name for himself among the Americans and Europeans who dominated the tournament. While he sits in eighth place with 13,825,000 in chips going into the main event, only 1.5 million ahead of Brit Sam Holden, who is currently bringing up the rear, and almost 30 million behind Martin Staszko, who has the lead, Makiievskyi is definitely a player to watch.

Another Class Action Lawsuit Barrels Towards Full Tilt

Elizabeth — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Once again, Full Tilt Poker is facing some legal trouble-- this time at the hands of a team of lawyers who are leveling yet another class action lawsuit against the company. Unlike previous lawsuits, however, this one is aimed not just at owners and heavy hitters for the company, which has been defunct since Black Friday last April, but also against Full Tilt's legal counsel, the law firm Cozen O'Connor.

This particular suit is worth a hefty 900 million dollars, and it relies heavily on the United States' RICO legislation, which is set up to protect individuals against racketeering and organized crime. According to the lawsuit, Cozen O'Connor has received over two million dollars in exchange for services directly related to covering up FTP's illegal business practices. These accusations may draw the attention of the US Department of Justice, which is already investigating Full Tilt for the money laundering that their lawyers allegedly helped to conceal.

Legal precedents indicate that this means that the lawyers (as well as FTP themselves) should be returning all of those ill-gotten gains to the people from whom those funds were taken. Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotoy, who filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, have left room in their lawsuit for a total of 200,000 plaintiffs, all of whom have the right to seek both the return of their money and damages from the company. In similar cases, all those who have benefited from an organization's shady dealings have been forced to return the money they gained.

According to the lawsuit that Kennedy and Omotoy have filed, the problem with Full Tilt Poker seems to be largely that they're operating like the large, corrupt corporations against which American citizens are currently rebelling-- FTP, according to the lawsuit, failed to “create financial reserves for amounts held on behalf of players,” and instead took player money and spent it elsewhere, including handouts to key defendants and pushing forward a money laundering scheme.

If there's one thing that the Occupy Wall Street has demonstrated in the past month, it's that the vast majority of Americans are tired of seeing large corporations steal their money, break laws, and then get bailed out by larger corporations (or the government). What's a poor corporation to do when they've made a few mistakes here and there, and now the angry mob steadily approaches? To start with: apologize.

There's a saying that an apology consists of three parts: admitting that what you've done is wrong, acknowledging the damage caused and vowing not to repeat past mistakes, and making reparations to those who have been harmed. PokerStars, which was in the same boat as FTP on Black Friday, managed to make nice with their clients and the US Department of Justice because they managed to apologize-- as such, their business has not suffered and has even grown. Perhaps Full Tilt could learn something from this model, if only to say, “Sorry we messed up... now let's talk about how we can get your money back to you.”

Hellmuth Hunts for 12th Bracelet, First Day of Second Event

Elizabeth — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:53:00 +0000

At the end of the first day of WSOPE play, Phil Hellmuth was just another name mentioned in passing among the list of players who were still in the running after the day closed with only 80 players left. He wasn't a chip leader and wasn't starting the day in a particularly good position, but, nonetheless, the poker star warranted a nod, as his position in this event could mean not only that he could pass Ben Lamb for the Player of the Year title, but also that he still had a chance at nabbing his 12th bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

Hellmuth ended the day in second place on the leaderboards with over 400k in chips. As one of only 12 players remaining, he's guaranteed at least €13,228, which moves him into first place on the PoY boards, overtaking Ben Lamb, who has held the number one spot since the WSOP events were paused (although Lamb's performance in the Main Event could turn the tables once more, as could Hellmuth's performance through the rest of the events in Europe). The Poker Brat didn't seem to be effected by the change of venue from the Hotel Majestic Barriere to the Le Croisette Casino Barriere-- at this point, though, it seems like nothing will come between Hellmuth and the bracelet that he's come close (but not close enough) to winning three times already this year in Las Vegas. With so much on the line, it's no wonder that this second day of the 2011 WSOPE events were dominated by Hellmuth-- players, spectators and media alike were all focused on the action surrounding him, which you have to imagine is a little intimidating (and potentially distracting) to the other players.

Switzerland's Guillaume Humbert, who sent Day 1 leader Flavien Guenan to the rail, is the current chip leader with 541,000 chips. Among the other 10 players who remain are David Benyamine, with 253,000; Anton Wigg, who has 201,000; and Casey Kastle, who started Day 2 as the chip leader among the Americans and now holds 119,000 chips.

In other WSOPE news, the €1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event began its first day, with three of this year's November Niners making an appearance. Eoghan O'Dea is still in the running for the event, while Matt Giannetti and Phil Collins have been eliminated. Only 54 of the original 381 players have made it to Day 2, where they'll join up with the players who entered on the second Day 1 of this event. Nine levels were played on Day 1A, and Australian Andrew Hinrichsen closed out the day in first place with 63,900 chips.

Coming back for another day of play are Nicholas Chouity, McLean Karr, Erik Cajelais, Randy Dorfman, and Roby Lewis, while several great names in poker won't be returning: Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel, Jean-Robert Bellande, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Justin Bonomo, Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov, and Chris Moorman were all send to the rail before the close of the action.

French Investment Group Plans to Take Over Full Tilt

Elizabeth — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:32:00 +0000

French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie has been busy this autumn, making plans to take over Full Tilt Poker and engaging in all the business that entails while also planning a poker tournament and trying to ease the minds of legislators and players alike.

Groupe Bernard Tapie has a list of conditions that will need to be met before they're willing to take over Full Tilt Poker. While hesitance from any company to take over what is widely regarded as a sinking ship is certainly understandable, the French company seems to have something up their sleeves. This isn't just because Bernard Tapie, the company's namesake and the father of current CEO Laurent Tapie, has a controversial history as a businessman, although his jail time and criminal history for match-fixing, tax evasion, tax fraud, and doctoring the books certainly doesn't serve to make this deal look any more legit. After all, FTP has also been engaging in some seedy practices as far as the players are concerned, so Tapie, while a successful businessman, may not have the moral standing to give heart to players that have already been burned once.

Among these conditions are the hopes that the US Department of Justice will pay off the players who have seen their accounts frozen since April from the assets seized on not only Black Friday, but during the course of the last four years, as well as a full audit of FTP's finances and approval from a licensing authority, allowing Full Tilt to begin operations again. Despite the fact that none of these conditions have been met yet (and some are very up in the air, as such cooperation from the DoJ seems unlikely, given the aggressive stance that the governmental agency has towards online poker violations, and Full Tilt's financial practices are still in question), Tapie has released a statement that former FTP players will be offered equity in the site, and the current owners will be allowed to invest in the revived company. If Groupe Bernard Tapie isn't paying the customers back, and former players and current owners are given a nudge towards helping to finance the company, what exactly is GBT paying for? Perhaps players are still too jaded to think clearly about Full Tilt, but the idea that there are back room deals going on with a company that is attempting to do anything other than man up and push FTP to take responsibility for the slight against the poker community leaves many people feeling completely uncomforted by this potential regime shift.

Groupe Bernard Tapie recently announced their plans to host the International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT), a blend of live and online play that aims to determine who the best players in poker really are. Since the event isn't scheduled to take place until 2012, the company will have plenty of time to resurrect the Full Tilt reputation and win players back by promising a guaranteed $30 million prize-pool ($10 million of which is the first-place prize). The online element of this tournament is particularly interesting, as players will be competing (at least as the tournament is currently designed, but everything is subject to change) via electronic pads in dedicated online tournament rooms. If GBT is planning on taking over Full Tilt, this would be the perfect way to get players back into the FTP rooms that so many people have sworn that they're done with. After all, who can resist a chance at ten million dollars?

Only time will tell if Groupe Bernard Tapie can successfully pull this off, but it certainly seems like they're carefully lining up the pieces that they'll need to make a successful play. If they're not careful, however, they may just fall short of the 20,000 to 30,000 players that they're expecting for the ISPT, as players may not be so forgiving after all.

2011 WSOP Europe Kicks Off with Flavian Guenan in Lead

Elizabeth — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:35:00 +0000

Day 1 of the €2,500 Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em tournament kicked off the 2011 season of the World Series of Poker Europe, where 360 players arrived in Cannes, France to try to get a slice of the action. This event is the first of seven this year, and the turnout suggests that this will be the biggest year of the WSOPE yet, giving some credence to pundits who had theorized that the shutdown of American poker would lead to more live play and greater turnouts in tournaments, at least for the next year.

Friday saw eight levels of hour-long play, and, at the end, France's Flavian Guenan held the chip lead, with 108,800. The only other player with more than 100k chips was Benjamin Pollack, who had been the chip leader until Guenan made a steal at the end of the day's action that pushed him into first place. It seemed to everyone watching that the day was over after Pollack sent Nicolas Levi to the rail taking his chips and vaulting to first place. Levi opened the action pre-flop with a raise and Pollack, who held QsJs, called. The flop brought two more spades, and the river brought another, giving Pollack an Ace-high flush, enough to eliminate Levi, who had followed Pollack's lead and gone all-in.

Only two players were left after Pollack closed out the action at his table-- Flavien Guenan and Alessandro Speranza. The board showed Jc4d2s, and Speranza bet, prompting the Frenchman to check, which he did once more when the 9s arrived with the turn. Speranza bet again, and Guenan called. The Ks came with the river, and when Guenan checked for a third time, Speranza decided to bid one last time and went all-in. Guenan called and took the pot with a pair of Jacks, making him the day's new chip leader.

While few people were around to see the action that changed the lead at the end of Day 1, players, spectators and media alike have all been commenting on the scenery in Cannes, where the Hotel Majestic Barriere has been dazzling everyone with its class and connection to the Cannes Film Festival. The 80 players that moved on to the second day of this tournament (including Phil Hellmuth, who is looking for not only his 12th WSOP bracelet but also a chance to snag the Player of the Year title away from Ben Lamb, who is currently in the lead, Vanessa Selbst, John Racener, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Daniel Negreanu) will have another day to take in the beauty of this gorgeous locale. It's still anyone's bet who will take home the €215,999 first place prize, but there's no shortage of great players left in the game, so the competition will be fierce as we go into Day 2.

At the end of Day 1, the chip counts for the leaders are:

Flavien Guenan – 108,800
Benjamin Pollack – 106,425
Antonio Venneri – 99,575
Casey Kastle – 86,100
Peter Jetten – 71,275
Anton Wigg – 67,075
Bruno Benveniste – 64,475
Alessandro Speranza – 52,900
Luca Falaschi – 52,000
Tapio Vihakas – 51,000

Meet the 2011 November Nine: Eoghan O\'Dea

Elizabeth — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:19:00 +0000

Eoghan O'Dea (pronounced like “Owen”) has one of the more famous fathers in poker-- he's the son of Donnacha O'Dea, a former Olympic swimmer-turned-poker-pro who not only holds a World Series of Poker bracelet and two other final table appearances, but a grand total of 23 money finishes there. The elder O'Dea has appeared on Late Night Poker and won the Poker Million tournament in 2004, and his father was a big poker player as well, so it's no wonder that Eoghan O'Dea entered into the world of poker.

The younger O'Dea has had a history of strong, aggressive poker playing which has helped to cement his status as a serious player. He came in second in the Poker Million in 2008 and won the iPoker European Championship of Online Poker III main event the same week. O'Dea has also come in second in the 2009 World Poker Tour Marrakech main event and achieved four money finishes in the 2011 WSOP outside of his position as one of the November Nine. O'Dea had a strong showing throughout the main event, starting (and finishing) the final day with the second-highest number of chips-- he sits with 33,925,000, while Martin Staszko has only around 40 million in first place. The players will return in November in the same seats in which they left, and O'Dea notes that his seat isn't the best and that the competition at the final table is quite fierce, but he says that he can't complain, having gotten this far.

O'Dea has had his fair share of wins and earnings, and he currently sits at number 18 on the list of all-time Irish earners. He's gained over $700,000 in live poker winnings, and his largest gains have been at the 2008 Ladbrokes Poker Million, which brought him $260,000, and at WPT Marrakech, where he gained another $388,532. He also pulled in $315,000 from the iPoker European Championship, so it's no wonder that many people consider O'Dea one of the strongest contenders at the final table this year. At only 26 years, he's already made a name for himself, and he remains one of the best-known players in this year's November Nine.

This fine player stayed out of the spotlight for the majority of the WSOP 2011 Main Event, playing at a lot of tables full of amateurs and staying out of the camera's glare. O'Dea had very few all-ins during the course of the tournament so far, but his gains have been steady, nonetheless. He hasn't faced too many really big pots, and this usually aggressive player has been playing it closer to the chest this year at the WSOP.

With a famous father, O'Dea has surely received his share of pointers and fatherly advice when it comes to poker, but, as he says, where the WSOP Main Event was concerned, his father's only advice to him was: “Make sure you change your flights on time.” It looks like Eoghan is on his own on this one, but it seems like he's been getting along just fine.

Stay tuned to Max Poker Bonus for more November Nine introductions and updates.

Matt Waxman Becomes First American to Win WPT Paris

Elizabeth — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Since the World Poker Tour first went to Paris during its inaugural year, an American has never won the title there-- until this year, when US-born Matt Waxman made WPT history by snagging the title and the €518,750 prize for first place. Waxman managed to get a healthy chip lead and eliminate his competition, including Martin Jacobson, who was the most experienced poker player at the final table but busted early after coming into the game extremely short-stacked.

Jacobson was the first player eliminated from the six-handed final table when, feeling the pressure as his short stack was eaten away by blinds, went all-in on AJ against Mikko Sundell, who held pocket Jacks. The cards didn't hold anything to help Jacobson out, and he went home with €88,900. Despite the gain in chips, Sundell lost most of them shortly thereafter to Waxman, who left Kaverman to finish up the job. Sundell went all-in with K6 against Kaverman's AJ with 5d5c8h showing on the board. A J on the turn and a 2 on the river meant that Sundell was the fifth place finisher with €133,330. Kaverman would be the next to go, this time at the hands of Fred Magen, who called Kaverman's all-in bet and managed to pull a straight out of his hat. Kaverman went home with €155,550.

Spectators and players were beginning to notice a trend. Sundell had eliminated Jacobson. Kaverman then eliminated Sundell. Next, Magen eliminated Kaverman. One has to imagine that Magen, even if he's not a superstitious kind of guy, had to feel a little nervous as the play went on, down to three players-- if the trend continued, he would surely be the next one out. Magen, Lemaire, and Waxman played for quite some time before Magan tried to steal the pot by bidding too much, and Waxman went all in. He would take the pot with Ace high, and Magan would leave in third place with €211,100.

Finally, the game had come to heads up competition. Neither Matt Waxman or Hugo Lemaire had a record of substantial wins before, and it may well have been anyone's game, had Waxman not had a substantial chip lead. The American held 7,863,000 chips, while the Frenchman had a mere 1,550,000, and Waxman would use this to his advantage to bait Lemaire and force his hand. When Lemaire was forced into a call on the third hand of heads up play, Waxman made the flush draw that he needed and sent Lemaire home with €311,100 and an entry to WPT Amneville (€3,500 value). Meanwhile, Waxman collected a new title, a moment in poker history, €518,750, and a seat in the WPT World Championship Event for 2012.

Past winners of the World Poker Tour Paris events have been Christer Johansson of Sweden (Season 1), Frenchman David Benyamine (Season 2), Brits Surinder Sunar and Roland de Wolfe (Seasons 3 and 4, respectively), Christian Grundtvig of Denmark (Season 5), and Theo Jorgensen of Norway (Season 9—the WPT bowed out of Paris in Seasons 6-8). Not only has no American won before Maxman, but the final table in this event has never been dominated by Americans, as often happens in so many other locales in this and other poker tours. The vast majority of the final table seats since the beginning of the tournament have gone to the French, the British, and the Scandinavians, with very few exceptions (noteworthy Americans who have made final tables at the WPT Paris in the past include Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, and Alan Goehring). In last year's WPT Paris, the final table saw representation from only three countries-- Denmark (1 players), Sweden (2 players), and France (5 players), making Waxman's victory this year just that much more remarkable.

Annie Duke Talks on Craig Ferguson, Calls Online Poker Illegal

Elizabeth — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:48:00 +0000

Annie Duke has been getting a lot of attention over a comment that she made during her appearance on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” where she went to promote her new book and the Epic Poker League. Critics have nothing negative to say about 99% of her spot on the American show, but they take issue with three words that Duke uttered in response to a comment from Ferguson, who said, “Now, isn't poker illegal?” Duke responded, “No, that's only online.”

Since her appearance, Duke has been absolutely lambasted for stating that online poker is illegal. Some critics have accused her of knowing nothing about poker (although it's perfectly obvious from her history that such statements aren't true) while others have stated that she's “campaigning against online poker” or that she “doesn't care about online poker because she has the Epic Poker League.” They've accused Duke of being hypocritical, as she used to play for Ultimate Bet, and her brother, Howard Lederer, is a known owner of Full Tilt. How did they play online poker in the US if it was illegal? Is she admitting to engaging in illegal activity and incriminating her brother in the process? What's the real scoop behind Duke's statement?

The criticisms of Duke's statement (which lasted approximately one second) seem to break down into the following arguments:

1. Online Poker Isn't Illegal

Okay, technically, online poker isn't illegal. You can hop onto Facebook and play Texas Hold'em with the amateurs any time you want to, and no one is going to try to stop you (save for your boss or significant other). When people say “online poker,” however, they're almost always referring to money games, which are inaccessible, while not illegal. What IS illegal is the banks, transferring money to poker sites that operate within the US and/or have US players. Transferring the money is the act to which the government objects, which is why they've been going after large online poker companies and financial institutions, not individual online poker players. To summarize: playing poker, not illegal. Funding poker to make it possible to play, illegal-- therefore, the truthfulness of Duke's statement is really just a matter of semantics.

2. Annie Duke is admitting to illegal activity.

Again, no. Because online poker isn't illegal for the individual playing, but rather for the banks who fund transactions, Duke isn't admitting to any kind of wrong-doing. Secondly, there's a greater philosophical issue about whether or not Duke (like every other poker player in America) thinks that online poker should be illegal.

3. Annie Duke is scaring people away from the world of poker.

Nonsense. What's scaring people away from the world of online poker is the fact that the US government has made doing so pretty much impossible. Duke stating that it's illegal to play online isn't going to affect the portion of the population that is already playing poker (as by now, they know the rules) or the part of the population that doesn't really want to play (as they don't care about the rules). All the people who are on-the-fence about playing are probably only on the fence because of the difficulty in playing while in the US, and while it's possible that their hesitation comes from some other source (lack of income, addictive personality), whether or not Annie Duke, in the beginning of a talk about her new book about playing better poker and discussion of the Epic Poker League and how it's going, makes a passing comment to move the conversation along is not going to sway them.

4. Duke should stick with the rest of the players and say that online poker is legal.

Duke was trying to move the conversation along. She only had a short amount of time on the show to promote her book (and to a lesser degree, the EPL), and if she had gone into a long spiel about the nature of the legality of online poker in the United States, it would have taken the time and focus that she needed to complete her purpose on the show. Ferguson wasn't looking for a philosophical debate about poker's legality, and if Duke had started down that road, there's no way that the discussion would have gotten the lengthy airtime that it would need to be resolved conversationally. Again, it's just an issue of semantics; it wasn't a political statement.

5. Duke has the EPL now, so she doesn't care about the fate of online poker.

Ridiculous. Of course Duke cares about online poker. It's a safe bet that all professional poker players care about the fate of online poker. Yes, Duke has the Epic Poker League. She also has a new book out. Her focus, however, remains on poker. If anything, Duke is doing the poker industry a service by keeping Americans focused on poker at a time when their frustration is growing and their interest is waning. With most of the poker-related shows and tournaments no longer airing on American television, Epic Poker League is a fresh face that is drawing in a lot of viewers. If there's one thing Annie Duke knows how to do, it's stay alive in a game where it seems like the cards are stacked against her, and that's just what she's doing now-- staying alive when American poker is struggling.

US DOJ Releases First PokerStars Account

Elizabeth — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:46:00 +0000

At long last, there's a little bit of good news for PokerStars, which has seen the vast majority of its assets frozen since Black Friday last April. The United States Department of Justice, which was responsible for freezing the assets of not only PokerStars but also Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, has released one account belonging to Sphene International, one of the payment processors for PokerStars.

PokerStars has been fully complying with the US Justice Department since the site was booted from doing business in America, unlike Full Tilt Poker, which has made news time and again for delays in legal proceedings, multiple class action lawsuits, and money trapped in customer accounts that has now been there for almost six months. PokerStars has released the money that their American players had in their accounts as soon as possible and has been forthright about the circumstances facing the company and how this translates for their current and former customers.

The DOJ account release of one of the accounts that PokerStars has, located in Bank Hapoalim (Suisse) SA in Luxembourg, does come with a stipulation: the company must keep a minimum balance of at least 5.5 million dollars in the account at all times. The exact wording used by the US government was: “WHEREAS, the Government and PokerStars have reached an agreement pursuant to which PokerStars consents to the restraint of $5.5 million in the Account for the pendency of the above captioned case, and the Government agrees that it does not object to PokerStars’ use of the remaining funds in that account”. In short, PokerStars has to keep money put aside equal to the amount that they reportedly made off of their US customers.

Because this 5.5 million was gained illegally, as online gambling has serious restrictions in the United States (to the point where Annie Duke recently made a public comment about the legality of poker but illegality of online poker in the US), the US Government may be planning to seize these assets once the rest of the legal action against the site has been resolved. At any rate, the money will stay there until the federal government figures out what it wants to do.

Although many players thought that Black Friday could negatively affect PokerStars as a company, it remains the leader in online poker. With so many other online poker sites pulling out of the US market (either by force or as a preemptive measure to avoid possible trouble in the future), the loss of the Americans from the player pool seems to be affecting everyone. With Full Tilt floundering, however, PokerStars has still seen steady growth since Black Friday, despite being targeted by the US government.

While PokerStars still has plenty of other accounts that haven't been unfrozen yet, this new development has a lot of people wondering whether this is a sign that the damage caused by Black Friday is starting to be resolved. It's too early to determine whether other accounts with PokerStars or other sites will be unfrozen, but PokerStars' constant cooperation with the US government and general hands-up, mea culpa stance can only be helping them at this point in time.

Full Tilt Poker Makes More Vague Statements

Elizabeth — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Players who have money tied up in Full Tilt Poker will be interested to know that the site released an “exclusive news update” to pokernews.com today, regarding their status with the undisclosed investors. Full Tilt, in the past, has been less than forthcoming with information regarding what, exactly, is going on with the site, which was previously one of the largest online poker sites in the world, and now they've released a short private statement, which seems to be code for “we don't have any good news to report, or we'd be sending this out to every news source, social networking medium, and former customer.”

The long and short of the press release is this: Full Tilt has “concluded the exclusivity period of negotiations with their current potential investor”, and now the site is looking for “additional potential investors to conclude the sale/partnership of the Full Tilt Poker brand and its assets”. English translation? They've got nothing. No investor, about whom we've been hearing for months now-- and so much of the hope that former FTP customers had about getting their funds back in a timely manner hinged on this alleged investor (don't put it past Full Tilt to invent investors to keep the wolves at bay, if that's what it takes to buy some time). Past news reports stated that this investor was working with the US Department of Justice to deal with the class action lawsuit and get American players their money back, but without this investor, players shouldn't hold their breath for timely repayments.

If the class action lawsuit from the States weren't enough, Full Tilt Poker has just been hit with another-- this time from Canada. The lawsuit is against Pocket Kings ltd (the owners of Full Tilt) and several of their subsidiaries, although it names many of the big name players for the site as defendants, including Ray Bitar, Howard Lederer, and Nelson Burtnick. Apparently, American players aren't the only ones getting a little miffed that Full Tilt hasn't paid back even a cent of the money owed their players (save, of course, for their alleged payments to certain FTP Pros).

Full Tilt also lost their Chief Marketing Officer, Lothar Rentschler, this week. His farewell email, sent out to many media outlets, was essentially an apology and expressed disappointment in the way that Full Tilt Poker is going. When you have nothing left to market because you've been shut down, there's apparently no need for a Chief Marketing Officer anymore.

Full Tilt Poker has their hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission scheduled for September 15th. Jeff Ifrah, one of FTP's attorneys, issues a statement that “nobody wants to come to September 15th and not have a deal which is either finalised or close to finalisation to the point that it can be shared with Alderney and result in extension of that date.” It seems that FTP will be looking to file another extension, which is likely to further anger already outraged players.

The site has carefully worded their press release to imply that giving out too many details of their situation may be dangerous in terms of finding new investors (that doesn't bode well), and, as they go on to explain, their first priority is finding a buyer so that they can use the capital to repay the players. So, wait... if no one buys Full Tilt, what happens to everyone's money?

Chino Rheem is First EPL Winner... and Probation

Elizabeth — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:43:00 +0000

Chino Rheem, who recently made headlines when he won the inaugural Main Event of the newly-formed Epic Poker League, taking home a $1,000,000 prize, has been suspended by the EPL due to a massive amount of outstanding debts. The EPL states that Rheem is in violation of their Code of Conduct not just because he owes a lot of people a lot of money, but because he's allegedly gone to unusual lengths to avoid paying any of it back.

Rheem's name has become a bit of a joke in the poker community (if having someone promise to pay you back and then actively refuse to do so is funny to anyone), where being ripped off by a player one has staked is often referred to as “getting Chino'ed”. So far, Ben Lamb, Erik Cajelais, Tom Dwan, Will Molson, and Joseph Cheong have all come forward and announced that Rheem owes them money.

Rheem has a history of cashflow problems, and his Epic Poker League win was no exception-- of his million dollar win, Rheem saw a maximum of $200,000 of it, largely because he was backed 70% by Cirque de Soleil's creator, Guy Laliberte, who took an extra 10% out for charity. With debts piled up across the internet (and many players making their complaints known, as it seems like Epic Poker League, unlike many other such groups, actually has their back on this one), Rheem has quite a challenge ahead of him: the EPL has stated that all of his winnings henceforth have to go to repaying his debts, and any further violations will mean that this former November-niner will be booted from the league.

So far, his EPL winnings have gone to paying off Ben Lamb and Erik Cajelais in entirety, although many of the other outstanding debts were paid in smaller amounts (on average, a 10% payment). Time will tell if more debts begin to come out of the woodwork as word spreads, but one thing is for sure-- the EPL is committed to helping maintain their good name.

Stephen Martin, the chair of the Epic Poker League Standards and Conduct Committee issued the following statement regarding the parameters of Rheem's probation:

“Mr. Rheem’s probation will remain in effect until Mr. Rheem has satisfied his pre-league formation financial obligations.
“Mr. Rheem must continue to proactively repay his outstanding debts by, from this point forward, using any and all proceeds Mr. Rheem personally receives from personal poker winnings worldwide to satisfy all of his remaining financial obligations in an orderly fashion.
“Any new violation of the Epic Poker League rules (including the Players’ Code of Conduct) or the law by Mr. Rheem — now that the Epic Poker League play has been initiated — will result in an immediate suspension of Mr. Rheem’s League card and eligibility to participate in Epic Poker League events.
“In reaching its decision, the Committee recognized that Mr. Rheem used best efforts and all of the proceeds he personally received from winning the Inaugural Epic Poker league Main Event to partially satisfy outstanding financial obligations. Mr. Rheem must continue to demonstrate this commitment to honoring all of his financial obligations.”

Even though Rheem took home a first place prize, he reports that he's “still broke”. While the EPL may not bring him great fortune, perhaps it can help this player begin to recover his reputation.

PocketFives Lends Helping Hand to Lost Poker Players

Elizabeth — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:23:00 +0000

When everything looks darkest for American poker players, who have suffered disaster after disaster since Black Friday four months ago, one website is going above and beyond to come to the rescue-- PocketFives. The website, which offers an assortment of training and coaching opportunities so that players can hone their skills, is now offering a new service by helping American players relocate to other countries so that they can continue to play the game that they love.

PocketFives has a new “poker refugees” page available for Americans looking for an alternative to playing live poker in sites like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and casinos on Native American reservations. Currently, the site specializes in helping American players relocate to either Costa Rica, Panama, or Canada, and for $1000, they'll help you with all your paperwork and relocation, but if you want to move your family or roommate, it's going to cost you ($1500 for a family, $750 for a single person). This cost includes an interview, the right kind of visa, airport pickup, tips for setting up a bank account/utilities (including the most reliable internet possible), getting online poker sites to recognize your new location, and information on English-speaking professionals and how to get around in your country of choice. A thousand dollars will get American poker players some peace of mind, likely the first that they've had in quite some time.

If you're looking to relocate somewhere else, PocketFives can help you on a case-by-case basis, but their specialty is the three countries they name. Why Costa Rica, Panama, and Canada? First of all, all the countries have an extensive tourist visa (90 days in Costa Rica and Canada, 180 days in Panama), but the clencher is the renewal-- many people live for years on renewed tourist visas in these countries, because all one needs to do when the time expires is leave the country for 72 hours (3 days) and then come back. All three of these countries also allow Americans to open bank accounts within their borders, something which not all countries will permit. With the proximity of these countries to the US, renewing a visa can be as simple as taking a trip back to the States to visit friends and family. Panama and Costa Rica offer a cost of living that is substantially lower than that of the United States, while Canada offers the convenience of a shared language and lightning-fast internet speeds. For those players holding out for other locales, keep in mind that PocketFives is currently working on forging partnerships in Argentina, Australia (although Australians may be the next to suffer a Black Friday-esque fate), Bali, Columbia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

PocketFives has enlisted the help of Kristin Wilson, a real estate specialist currently living in Costa Rica, to help pave the way for American poker players who are looking to relocate. Wilson is the creator and head of this PocketFives service, and as a member of the Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors who has already relocated many American poker players looking to return to their beloved game, she may be just the person to usher in this next era of poker change.

Latest American Poker Player Emigration

Elizabeth — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Cates and Qureshi Set Eyes on Portugal

When Canada won't have you, pick another country. That's what we're learning from Daniel “jungleman12” Cates and his posse as they plan to relocate-- this time to Portugal, after Cates found out the hard way that telling immigration officers that he wants to enter a foreign country to make money by playing poker online (i.e., to work) would require a work visa. Has Cates found a loophole in Portuguese law that will allow him into the EU without a work visa, or does he plan to make his widely-publicized transition under the radar?

Since Black Friday, more and more Americans have been looking for new ways to play the game that they love. With the ejection of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker, there haven't been many options left for American players. Add to that the fact that other online poker powerhouses (like Bodog Poker) are voluntarily withdrawing themselves from the US market, and it's no wonder that some US citizens are tired of waiting for changes in gambling law (to be honest, the US government has bigger legislative fish to fry right now, and gambling law isn't even showing up on the radar) and are taking matters into their own hands.

Cates said in an interview with PokerStrategy.com that he plans on staying in Portugal “a few months” and then either going somewhere else, or, if he likes it, staying longer. Since there's no way that Cates has had the time to summon a EU visa, he has a 90 day limit in the Schengen countries (which Portugal is part of) and up to a total of 6 months in the EU (in a non-Schengen country, such as the UK or Ireland) before he'll have to head, if not back home, somewhere else. Unfortunately, Cates isn't really known for his knowledge of other cultures and their rules and regulations (hence the Canada debacle)-- he posted on his Twitter, “I'm taking a flight from Los Angeles to Madrid, Spain... didn't know such flights existed.” Jungleman has already declared his intention to play in the World Series of Poker Europe and European Poker Tour's Barcelona stop, but states that his long-term plan is in the works and will depend on how the next few months play out.

Cates will be staying with Jose “Girah” Macedo (whose name he wasn't sure how to pronounce in the same interview) and Haseeb Qureshi in Lisbon, who is following Cates out of the country-- Macedo is already in Portugal. As Qureshi said in his blog at Cardrunners, “Now our plans have reverted back to going to Portugal after all - most likely Lisbon. Jungle and I will be living with Jose 'Girah' Macedo and will be flying out there sometime in the coming week. I have no doubt that it's going to be an interesting excursion.”

Here's to interesting excursions-- and to United States legislation that pushes more players out of their comfort zones and into the open arms of live poker tournaments around the world. As predicted earlier this year, the lack of online poker in the US seems to be feeding the live tournaments around the world.

French Court Rules that Poker is a Game of Skill

Elizabeth — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:23:00 +0000

France may be looking at some serious changes when it comes to poker legislation, all because of a case against the manager of St. Tropez and Les Coulisses, Jean-Pierre Gleizes, who was charged with organizing unlicensed poker games among a private group of players. Gleizes was able to convince the court that poker is not a game of chance, but is in fact a game of skill, as many poker players have been saying for decades, and the judge dismissed the charges against Gleizes, as the laws against gambling no longer apply to his activities if poker is no longer considered gambling. Although the prosecution immediately appealed the decision and few experts believe that the judge's ruling will be upheld through the appeal, the ruling has a lot of people talking.

The defense wasn't shy about bringing people forward to state their case. During the hearing, the judge heard from a professional poker player, a mathematician who plays poker recreationally, and chess and bridge champions, all of whom said one thing: poker is clearly a game of skill. There is a precedent for this kind of argument, as backgammon was considered a game of chance in the US until 1981, when tournament director Ted Barr was arrested for promoting gambling and took the court to task over their definition of backgammon as a game of chance. While some people consider poker a game of chance, due to the fact that cards are dealt randomly, pros like Annette Obrestad have demonstrated that one doesn't even need to look at the cards in one's hand to win a tournament! In 1981, the argument was much the same-- because backgammon involved dice, legislators believed that it had to be a game of chance, although the witnesses called to the stand demonstrated that there is no randomness to winning-- experienced players consistently beat new players-- and there were countless options available to the player after the dice had landed.

If the Supreme Court upholds the judge's ruling there will be several major changes resulting from the decision (and likely more legislation to correct the loopholes):

Professional poker players will be taxed on their poker-related income, as poker playing would now be considered a skillful profession. While players are already taxed on gambling winnings, the taxation rate for income is much higher, meaning that the players have less loot to take home.
Online poker casinos will no longer be taxed, as the French gaming and taxation bill passed in 2009 only addresses taxation for games of chance, and not games of skill. If the ruling is upheld, expect a quick legislative push to add poker and other skill-based games to the gambling/taxation law.

This ruling follows two months after a strange ruling in Sweden's Supreme Court, where they ruled that poker tournaments are games of skill, while cash games are games of chance. Despite the clear confusion surrounding the nature of this ruling, it was lauded as a step in the right direction for poker, which gains a little more clout with every official acknowledgment that it is, in fact, a game that requires the utmost skill. Only time will tell if France will be able to come to the same conclusion.

Americans Fleeing to Canada... and Coming Back Again

Elizabeth — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:21:00 +0000

America and Canada have always had an amicable relationship based on Canada's perception that Americans are too intense and America's firm belief that Canada's chief function is as America's hat. Travel between the two has always been easy, and citizens generally regard one another as long-lost friends, albeit friends who talk a little funny. With the chaos in the poker world in the US, however, more and more American poker players are heading to the Great White North in an attempt to reactivate their online poker accounts and get back into the game.

Canada isn't without its share of legal troubles where poker is concerned. Recently, the Quebec Poker Tournament League (LTPQ) saw all of its activities put on hold while attempting to resolve some issues between themselves and Loto-Quebec, which is run by the state. What started as alleged missed payments has devolved into a full-on cat fight. The LTPQ says that Loto-Quebec owes them money, and, not to be outdone, the latter filed charges against LTPQ for damage to reputation from LTPQ and its owner.

This of course pales in comparison to American poker troubles that began in April on Black Friday, when Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker were forced out of the US market and hit with charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. While PokerStars and Absolute Poker have been helping Americans get their money out of their accounts (albeit slowly), Full Tilt has not released any funds and has not given any indication of when or if it will happen. While the majority of American players wanted to take their now-crippled bankrolls and play somewhere else, more and more online poker sites (most recently Bodog Poker) have been pulling out of the US market entirely (likely out of fear of what the US Department of Justice is willing to do to make a point).

Several American players have switched to live games for the time being, an act facilitated by the recent World Series of Poker events taking place in Las Vegas. Many of these players will be hitting Europe soon for the European Poker Tour and WSOP Europe events. Some players, however, don't consider this concession (however long it has to last) to be acceptable, and several professional poker players, including Phil Galfond, founder of bluefirepoker.com and WSOP bracelet holder (with almost a million dollars worth of winnings at the WSOP) and Mikey Stoltz, who has cashed three times at the WSOP. Daniel Cates, known as “jungleman12,” attempted to follow in their footsteps and make Vancouver his new home, but he was stopped at the border and denied entry.

Cates won over $5 million online in 2010, making him one of the biggest winners of the year, but the Canadian Border Police (border mounties?) were not interested. They simply saw an American trying to come to Canada to work without a work visa, and they gave him the boot. This is an interesting twist, as there's no way for Cates to obtain a work visa while in Canada, seeing as he's technically self-employed. According to his twitter, he plans on talking to an immigration attorney, but he's doubtful that he'll make it into Canada and will likely relocate to a different country instead.

While Cates is the first really notable player to be turned away from the safety of Vancouver, he surely won't be the last. Where are American poker players to go, if Canada doesn't want them?

Full Tilt Records Show Ivey and Benyamine Received Substantial Loans

Elizabeth — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:19:00 +0000

According to sources at Subjectpoker.com, both Phil Ivey and David Benyamine have, over the course of the past two to three years, borrowed large amounts of money from Full Tilt Poker.

Benyamine's accounts are the seemingly less harmful of the two-- while he still owes money to FTP, the remarkable thing is that he was overheard talking on the phone while in Vegas, asking about money for his WSOP buy-ins (Full Tilt was sponsoring him before they went belly-up), and that in early May, he was able to withdraw money (over 5,000 dollars) from his FTP account for travel expenses. If Full Tilt was in a bind and could not transfer money through the site by the time the WSOP rolled around, how was Benyamine getting his money? It seems that a lot of what happens at Full Tilt is going on behind the scenes, away from the prying eyes of customers (and accountants).

According to Ivey's account records, he has borrowed $11 million from Full Tilt Poker and has yet to repay about $6 million of it. How many players accounts could be settled with that returned money? What did Ivey hope to gain by suing Full Tilt about the frozen accounts? Consider Full Tilt Poker's statement after Phil Ivey filed his lawsuit against FTP (and hastily withdrew-- and no wonder!):

“In an effort to further enrich himself at the expense of others, Mr. Ivey appears to have timed his lawsuit to thwart pending deals with several parties that would put money back in players’ pockets. In fact, Mr. Ivey has been invited — and has declined — to take actions that could assist the company in these efforts, including paying back a large sum of money he owes the site.”

Is it possible that Full Tilt is tired of being on the hook for their economic disaster, and they're leaking information about Ivey and Benyamine to give the public someone else to hate? Well, that's entirely possible (and not unlikely, actually). The public, however, doesn't seem to be taken aback so much by the fact that the players were loaned extraordinary amounts of money, but that Full Tilt let them. Likewise, Benyamine isn't being blamed for withdrawing money from his account-- instead, FTP customers are wondering why he can take money out of his US-based account when no one else can.

What's really worrisome about this (apart from the fact that Full Tilt has no problem throwing around millions of dollars to its select players but can't seem to manage paying back its customers, whose accounts are still frozen) is that this may be an indication of how Full Tilt does business on a greater scale. How many players in the rest of Team Full Tilt (there are thirteen players besides Ivey) or among the Full Tilt Pros (Benyamine is one of the 159) are getting the same kinds of deals that these two are? One irate former Full Tilt player, upon learning of these developments, has expressed frustration that Full Tilt has been “an ATM that certain pros were able to access at will.” More and more, it seems as thought Full Tilt is not in a position where they can't pay people back, but one where they won't pay people back.

The class action lawsuit against Full Tilt names Phil Ivey and other members of Team Full Tilt and Full Tilt Pros as partial owners of Full Tilt, and claims that they are in part responsible for the actions of the company. Regardless of whether or not this is true, Ivey and other pros played fast and loose with Full Tilt Poker, and while these transfers and loans may well not be illegal, to a poker-loving public that doesn't have millions of dollars to throw around and is still waiting to see their money, these actions certainly seem a little dicey. To access all the details from subjectpoker's investigation, visit the following URL:

www.subjectpoker.com/2011/07/ivey-benyamine/

Televised Poker Faces Uncertain Future

Elizabeth — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:08:00 +0000

For the last three months, poker fans have expressed concern about the future of Poker TV, given the events that transpired on Black Friday. With a full season of poker playing between that time and now, we have a clearer picture of what will become of Poker TV. Full Tilt is currently down and no longer offering advertising (and likely won't be advertizing in the US anymore, even if they do recover) and PokerStars has been forced out of the American market, to be followed by the voluntary withdrawal of other sites, such as Bodog Poker, who have simply decided that operating in the US is more trouble than it's worth.

As we all know, the World Series of Poker continues to be aired on ESPN, and the station is currently showing highlight reels that they plan to air through November, when the final table returns to finish out the 2011 WSOP and crown a champion. ESPN doesn't seem to have any intention of letting go of this cash cow, as plenty of people have tuned in to both the live play and the highlights. The World Poker Tour, which airs on Fox Sports Net will likely also stay on the air, due to high viewer volume (and no sponsorships from companies that are currently at odds with the US). The European Poker Tour and North American Poker Tour, however, have both been pulled from television. They were allegedly timebuy deals, and almost all the timebuys have been removed from network television.

Timebuys, also known as brokered television, are when a company buys a time slot outright, rather than trying to earn income either through the network or through advertising. These types of shows often don't make enough money through ads to be worth trying to air the traditional way, so when the company paying to air the show no longer has any reason to air it, the show is taken off the air. When PokerStars was shut out of the US market, it no longer had any motivation for paying millions of dollars to keep televising the EPT and NAPT, as Americans now had no way of accessing the site, therefore removing the shows' efficacy as an advertising tool. PokerStars therefore pulled the plug.

Several other shows that are still being aired, such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark are also running on timebuys, which means that they're in serious jeopardy of being taken off the air after the current season, as the sponsor has no reason to keep funneling money into them (and in the case of Poker After Dark, the main sponsor was Full Tilt, which will probably not be sponsoring anything for a while). It's anyone's guess which shows will still be around a year-- or even six months-- from now.

Not all is lost, however. This fall, Epic Poker League will be coming to CBS and Velocity, a new network that was previously Discovery's High-def Theater Network. Between the two networks, the latter of which won't go live until early October of this year, 20 hours of programming will be aired. Because many of the other poker shows have gone under, Epic Poker League, led by poker legends Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack, stands to draw the professional players who will no longer be playing for other Poker TV shows. With a monopoly on the televised poker talent, Epic Poker League may well be what the foundering Poker TV has been looking for.

PokerStars Promises a $30 Million Prize Pool at 2011 WCOOP

Elizabeth — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:06:00 +0000

The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) returns for a tenth year to PokerStars this September. This year's championship will certainly live up to its excellent reputation as one of the biggest annual poker events and the highlight of many online players' years. With 62 events and $30 million in prizes guaranteed, players have plenty of reason to forget the trouble that PokerStars has seen previously this year and focus instead on the positive. The main event is standard No-Limit Hold'em, and it will have a $5 million prize pool, with $1 million going to the lucky first place winner. In addition to this hefty sum, the first place winner will also get packages for the EPT Grand Final and 2012 PCA and a 2012 SCOOP seat, among other things.

While there has been a great deal of talk about the decline of online poker, especially with the majority of Americans out of play and the fields becoming noticeably softer, PokerStars is doing everything that it can to make sure that online poker remains alive and well. Many commentators believe that the turn-out at the 2011 WCOOP will be quite a bit smaller than it has been in the past years, but poker trends since Black Friday and last month's closing of Full Tilt have shown a certain resilience so far. Americans who want to play are flocking to Canada, and more and more European players who didn't bother entering tournaments before are playing in satellites or buying in, as a softer field means that a greater range of players stand a chance at winning.

To accommodate the additional players from all over the world, PokerStars has implemented six different starting times: 6:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 17:00 (all times are listed in EST), so no one will have to start a game in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. The full schedule is as follows:

Bet24 Waits 19 Months to Inform Customers of Security Breach

Elizabeth — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:45:00 +0000

Bet24, the online sportsbooking and poker site, has announced Monday that they were the target of a security breach. The company sent out an email to its current and past customers letting them know that some of their personal information may have been compromised. While this is becoming more and more common of late, especially with the Sony scandal a few months ago, what's particularly unique about the case with Bet24 is that they were hacked in December 2009... and they're just now telling customers about it, some 19 months later.

When police recovered unauthorized data, including personal and account information belonging to different sites, including Bet24, the Malta-based company came forward and issued a statement something like, “Oh, yeah, by the way, some of your data was lost in a security breach almost two years ago, and since the authorities have already recovered it, we may as well come clean and admit that it happened before someone else tell you.” Really, Bet24's hesitation to come forward with this information until they absolutely had to begs two questions: first, would they have ever told their customers if the stolen information hadn't been recovered? Second, how many other online poker sites have had likewise assaults and aren't reporting them?

The stolen data included customer names and contact information, user account IDs, passwords, and numbers for the card(s) used for payment. Some players have reported fraudulent use of their information both on and off the Bet24 site, and surely they would have liked to have known about the breach a little bit sooner. Bet24's security notice states, “A small number of customers have alerted us to unauthorised activity on their Bet24 accounts, and we have fully reimbursed them for any financial loss incurred on their accounts.” That's really the least that they can do, all things considered, but seeing as the poker world is currently filled with players irate because they haven't been given their money back, Bet24's attempts to watch their backs by keeping player alarm at a minimum seem to be satisfactory.

What isn't satisfactory, however, is the unspoken failure attached. As Bet24's security notice also says, “The stolen information is so far known to have been used to access a limited number of customers' Bet24 accounts, third-party accounts and personal email accounts.” Now, security breaches happen, and surely Bet24 can't be held entirely responsible for any information that escaped their site; truthfully, Bet24's culpability is a more complicated subject that would require analysis of the quality of their security at the time. Waiting 19 months to inform customers of the breach, however, does make them culpable for the damages that resulted. If players had been informed of the types of information taken by the hacker(s), they could have taken the necessary precautions-- changing passwords, watching bank statements and other activity more closely, etc. But the fact of the matter is this: Bet24 just sat on the information. They claim that they made efforts to counteract the damage done, but all of these measures-- beefing up security, resetting passwords for some customers, etc-- don't take into consideration that the security breach caused a ripple of damage that extended beyond the site.

When asked why Bet24 didn't report the breach to their customers sooner, a customer service representative (who we can be sure was just providing the script given to all customer service representatives) responded, “We were not aware until very recently that this customer data had been stolen. At the time of the security breach in December 2009 we were advised by our database managers that no data had been copied. We are working closely with the police authorities to establish how the information was stolen, how it has been used, and which customers are affected.”

It seems, Bet24, that discovering these crucial details now is too little, too late.

Full Tilt Not Willing to Stop Tomfoolery for the Sake of Players

Elizaberth — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:50:00 +0000

In a move that seems to have removed all doubt that Full Tilt has no interest in their players, the company filed to adjourn their hearing with the Alderney Gaming Control Commission until September. What's more is that they made this official request in private, shutting out a courtroom full of journalists and players anxious to hear news from a site that they feel has abandoned them.

The AGCC had created this open hearing so that they could air Full Tilt's dirty laundry in public, stating that the players and the rest of the public had a right to the information behind the license suspension for the popular online poker site. Andre Wilsenach, the Executive Director of the AGCC, stated that they wanted a public hearing because it “demonstrates [their] willingness to act transparently.” Not transparently enough, it seems, to allay the concerns of a public that is now crying foul.

Full Tilt lawyer Martin Heslop began today's hearing by requesting a private hearing to determine whether the AGCC would adjourn the proceedings until later. Although he claims that this was not due to Full Tilt's attempts to hide anything from their players, but rather to respect the delicacy of the situation with the mysterious, unnamed buyer/investor, especially given the media frenzy surrounding this case, a lot of people are skeptical. After Heslop's request, professional poker player Harry Demetriou stood up and shouted, “What about the interests of the players? Why are you protecting this corrupt company?” He was removed from the courtroom, but not before many other people in the audience could mirror their support of his statement.

One of the new bits of information that we learned from this hearing (apart from the fact that everyone seems to be tired of Full Tilt and their antics by this point) is that the company owes the Alderney Gaming Control Commission ₤250,000, which they have no intention of paying back if their license isn't reinstated. What does that say about the way that Full Tilt does business? If they don't get their way, they're not planning on paying off their debts? Is it just me, or does that not bode well for the countless players who are owed, in sum, hundreds of millions of dollars, rather than just a quarter million to a gaming agency that currently has Full Tilt over a barrel?

As it turns out, the AGCC decided to postpone the hearing until September 15, and the internet erupted into a cacophony of lambasting and criticism as soon as the decision went public. Players, at this point, seem to believe that Full Tilt isn't on their side any more (if ever they were), but they thought that they could at least trust a regulatory agency that was supposed to protect them. More and more players are criticizing the AGCC, stating that the company is interested only in its own monetary returns, and not that of the countless Full Tilt players who have yet to see a cent of their money returned.

We will have to wait and see what is in store with the upcoming hearing and the “investors” that Full Tilt sources say will be game changers (unless you live in the US, as the “investors” only want the Europe market, leaving US players without any kind of recourse-- except for that class action lawsuit). Keep tuned to MaxPokerBonus.co.uk for more breaking poker news!

Lock Poker Recruits Chris Moorman and Nicky Evans

Elizabeth — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 23:36:00 +0000

Lock Poker has managed to further solidify their status since the Full Tilt meltdown last month by recruiting two new professional poker players: Chris Moorman and Nicky Evans. Jennifer Larson, the chief executive officer for Lock Poker, states that the two players are stars, and that she is “very excited” to welcome them to the Lock Poker family. Both of the new Lock recruits are excellent players; there's no denying that.

It's hard to see Chris Moorman as anything but a sort of Wunderkind. The more you know about Moorman, the more impressive he is (unless what really impresses you is completing university with the highest marks, as Moorman let his studies suffer in order to play poker). He spent his university years learning economics, but not through the works of Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes-- Moorman was educated by poker guides and tutorials, through hours starting at .25 or .50 games so that he could slowly make a little money. By the time he was out of university, he had made enough money to pay off his student loans and still have a decent amount left over, and he presented his argument to his father: he should be able to play poker full-time.

In addition to his remarkable rise to fame, Chris Moorman has some other special talents under his belt. At this year's World Series of Poker, he's currently in fourth place in the Player of the Year race-- not close enough to challenge Ben Lamb or Phil Hellmuth, who are leading the pack, for the title, but well enough to make a good showing and keep his name circulating among poker players and aficionados. It's not just name recognition that Moorman managed to take home from the 2011 WSOP, however; he also left with over a million dollars in prize money (which may seem insignificant when compared to the over 7.5 million that he's garnered through online play).

Moorman obviously learned something of economics from his time in school, as he finally followed his father's advice and decided to do something with his winnings. Moorman's investment of choice? Other players. Moorman currently sponsors 20 professional poker players, usually beginners who could use the financial backing or some pointers; from Moorman, they get both, as this astute businessman knows that helping his investments better their game means a better chance at return for him. In 2010, he estimated that he was fronting about 250,000 a month in stakes for other players with whom he would split the winnings if they cashed, a deal that proved lucrative when Moorman sponsored Tyler Reiman, who came in second at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, netting Moorman half of the $1.75 million score.

Moorman's a pro at MTT (Multi-table tournaments), which can be taxing for a lot of players. Moorman doesn't seem to mind, because he's turned a game that he loves into a career (with three days a week off to enjoy life as a 26-year-old should). He's such a strong player, in fact, that he not only holds the record for the most PokerFives triple crowns (currently 11), but he was hand-picked by Doyle Brunson to be a member of the Brunson 10.

Nicky Evans isn't quite the success story that Moorman is, but he still plays a solid game: solid enough to earn him over a million dollars since he went pro a couple of years ago. Like his fellow Lock Poker recruit, Evans started playing poker in university, but Evans' game was a purely live one, playing first with fellow students and then at the small tables at the casino close to his school. After university, he headed to Canada, where he played at a casino in Niagra Falls when he wasn't working. He would soon meet a sponsor, and the rest, as they say, is history. Under the tutelage of James Dempsey, Evans would begin to win every live tournament he encountered, but things changed when he made the transition to an online game. It would take some time (and a new backer) before Evans was successful online.

Who was the new backer who changed Evans' game once more? None other than Chris Moorman.

The two players will join other Lock Poker pros (called LockPro ELITE members) such as Jose “Girah” Macedo, Matt Stout, Stevie Devlin, and Eric Lynch.

RICO Class Action Suit Drops Gordon, Still Targets the Rest

Elizabeth — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:46:00 +0000

Newest developments

Professional poker player Phil Gordon was one of many defendants named in the class action lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker, and for him, at least, there's some good news. Gordon has been voluntarily dismissed from the charges that were filed against him and several others associated with Full Tilt Poker. This means that he has, to the satisfaction of the court, proven that he has never been a part of FTP decision making and never lived within the jurisdiction of the suit, and this opens the door for others to find their way out of the lawsuit.

An order has been issued to all of the defendants to demonstrate their lack of involvement in the suit, but only Phil Gordon has responded so far. The deadlines for the rest of the defendants fall in the beginning of August, with Phil Ivey required to reply by the 8th and John Juanda's response due on the first of the month.

About RICO

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was originally developed as a means of taking down organized crime syndicates, especially the Mafia. In the past, many members of organized crime groups were exempt from prosecution because there was no evidence connecting them to a crime in a way that would make them culpable for it. Telling someone to commit a crime isn't the same as committing it, after all, and many leaders in the world of organized crime hid behind this loophole until the RICO Act was created in 1970 as part of the Organized Crime Control Act.

Does Full Tilt Fall Under RICO?

Whether or not Full Tilt's actions fall under the umbrella of racketeering depends, largely, on the case that the United States Justice Department filed against the corporation on Black Friday. The US government gave Full Tilt the boot in April on charges of illegal gambling, bank fraud, and money laundering, and if these charges hold up in court, Full Tilt most assuredly falls under the purview of racketeering.

The US government and civil case aren't stopping there, though-- they accuse Full Tilt of having a pattern of racketeering activity. If the Department of Justice wins their case, in which they seek a civil forfeiture, all the Full Tilt funds become the property of the DoJ, and Full Tilt is asset-less.

How does this affect the mysterious investors?

The alleged investors are apparently planning to make an appearance at the Full Tilt hearing with the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) to help some sort of agreement be reached, but people all over the world are wondering: Why would anyone want to buy Full Tilt now?

Well, the European investors are apparently only interested in purchasing the company's European assets, which means that the company would gain a lot of money from a partial sale (although how much is still to be determined, but they're probably not getting the best deal, as the investors and the US government currently have them over a barrel) and can potentially take those assets and deal with the Department of Justice. There's a decent chance that both the government and the class action plaintiffs can be appeased if American players get their money back.

Poker in the Park Returns to London

Elizabeth — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:23:00 +0000

If you're looking for a way to pass the time in Europe before the World Series of Poker Europe events begin, look no further. Poker in the Park, Europe's largest poker festival, will be held September 2nd and 3rd at Hanover Square in London. This new location is near the Oxford Circus Station, and this year's event is absolutely free to anyone over the age of 18, so why not come out and play some poker and learn from the pros? Last year's event drew 20,000 poker fans from all over the UK and elsewhere, with all the extras being added to this year's lineup, the 2011 Poker in the Park will be the biggest yet!

Everything at the 2011 Poker in the Park is free (well, except for food and drinks), and the events that are planned for 2011 are definitely worth checking out. Unlike previous years, where players stood in long lines trying to get into the Poker Dome, a large tented area with sit-n-go action and space enough for 80 players, this year's Poker in the Park has an extra two domes so that everyone can have a chance (or several) to play. The event is sponsored by PKR, Bluff, and Bodog Poker and has reached out to pubs across the UK to nab their best players, so expect to experience some real competition when you're playing here.

If you're wondering what kind of games you can play at Poker in the Park, we have your answer: in addition to the free tournaments that are running constantly in Poker Domes 1 and 2 during the event-- there are a total of 10 on Friday and 18 on Saturday, starting every hour), you can take part in the Heads-up Marquee, where you compete on electronic poker tables in knockout tournaments for the title of Poker in the Park Heads-up Champion.

If you're new to poker or you're uneasy about taking your game against big names in poker just yet, fear not-- Poker in the Park is more than equipped to help you learn the game or improve your playing. Swing by the Poker Pros' Lecture Marquee for lectures (five on each day of the event) from famous poker players, or sit down with the pros at the Live Tuition Marquee and let them analyse your game and tell you what you're doing wrong (or right!). Some of last year's celebrity poker players included Annette Obrestad, Jamie Gold, Liv Boeree, and Peter Eastgate, and while the 2011 lineup isn't announced yet, one thing is for certain-- this experience could improve your poker game forever!

Also new in 2011 is the Poker in the Park Main Stage, which will house stand-up comics and live music, making this event something that the entire family can enjoy-- even the non-poker players! If poker isn't your thing and you instead fancy another type of game, the Mixed Game Marquee may be for you. This area will house a wide variety of games other than poker, including backgammon, rummy, and chess.

The WSOP 2011 November 9 are Determined, Martin Staszko on a Solid Lead

Elizabeth — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:17:00 +0000

We're now down to the November Nine here at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. This is the moment that everyone has been waiting for-- the final table is set, and there will be, in four long months, a new WSOP champion. Because the action of the day has been so intense and every elimination counts as we moved from 22 remaining players to just nine, we're going to give you a play-by-play of eliminations.

Lars Bonding was the first man out today, as the pocket aces he was holding met with the trip fours (two in the pocket and one on the flop) from Konstantinos Mamaliadis. He'll go home with $302,005. Chris Moore, who started Day 8 short-stacked, was the next to hit the rail. He held pocket kings on his final hand against Makievskyi, but the flop gave the Russian a pair of aces, and the turn and river didn't help Moore out any, sending him home with $302,005.

Mamaliadis made his second elimination of the day off Gionni Demers, who seemed simply to be tired of playing after losing some big pots early in the day. Demers went all-in on Ac5d against the South African's pocket kings, and the 10c10h8d flop, 6s turn, and 7h river were of no use to him at all, sending him packing with $302,005. Meanwhile, one table over, another elimination was about to take place. Only two minutes after Demers fell, Aleksandr Mozhnyakov gave all his remaining chips to Sam Barnhart, who captured the pot with Ace high. Mozhnyakov, like the three players before him, went home with $302,005.

John Hewitt was responsible for the next man out-- Kenny Shih failed to make a hand better than Hewitt's once Hewitt made his flush draw, and Shih became the first person to hit the rail and take home the second prize level of $378,796. Sam Barnhart, who had already had a dazzling WSOP year as the winner of the WSOP circuit national championship as well as the Harrah's Tunica Main Event, added another $378,796 to his wins this year as he exited the table in 17th place. Two minutes later, Ryan Lenaghan would head home with the same amount after Samuel Holden drew a flush that blew Lenaghan's two pair out of the water.

Play began to slow after the break, with only the elimination of Andrey Pateychuk happening before ESPN called another break. With Pateychuk out, only 14 players remained, and Pius Heinz helped him on his way out with $478,174 when the German's Jacks bested Pateychuk's pocket AcQs when nothing useful came up on the board for either of them.

A little over an hour after the players returned, Scott Schwalich took a hit when Bryan Devonshire doubled off him (on a flop that came down as trip fours, no less), and it would cost him when he went head-to-head with chip leader O'Dea, whose Ace kicker took the pot (and the rest of Schwalich's chips) when both players only came up with a pair of 10s. Schwalich goes home with $478,174.

O'Dea would go on to show the reason for his healthy chip lead again about an hour later, when he went up against Konstantinos Mamaliadis, who went all in with about 4 million chips with just an 8h2c in his hand. O'Dea held a pair of 7s, and when the board came up 5hJc9d6c8c, O'Dea got the straight that Mamaliadis wanted, sending the South African player home with $478,174 in 13th place. O'Dea was on a roll, though, and next, he sent Bryan Devonshire out in 12th place with $607,882, bringing his total chips up to over 39 million.

Forty minutes later, Khoa Nguyen would be the next player to hit the rail, as Martin Staszko was clearly tired of O'Dea monopolizing the eliminations. Staszko held pocket Kings while Nguyen held pocket 10s, and when the board came down with nothing to help either of them, Staszko went up to 30 million and Nguyen went home with $607,882.

It would be another five hours before the final table was determined, and it was once again O'Dea who was the determining factor at the table. John Hewitt had lost most of his chips to Badih Bounahra, and the Costa Rican, desperate to double up, went all in against O'Dea with just a pair of pocket threes. O'Dea managed to pull Broadway out of his hat, and with that, Hewitt was eliminated and went home with $607,882 and the final table was set.

The official chip counts for the November Nine are as follows:

Martin Staszko - 40,175,000
Eoghan O'Dea - 33,925,000
Matt Giannetti - 24,750,000
Phil Collins - 23,875,000
Ben Lamb - 20,875,000
Badih Bounahra - 19,700,000
Pius Heinz - 16,425,000
Anton Makievskyi - 13,825,000
Samuel Holden - 12,375,000

Stay tuned to Max Poker Bonus for more November Nine information!

Day 7 WSOP Main Event - How the Tables Turned (Again)

Elizabeth — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Many of the professional players left in this year's WSOP were eliminated on Day 7, but the remaining competitors are not short on talent. Hitting the felt on Day 7 were Sebastian Ruthenberg, JP Kelly, Erick Lindgren, Andrew Brokos, Tony Hachem, last-woman-standing Erika Moutinho, and Steve Brecher.

Eoghan O'Dea has quite a legacy to uphold-- he's the son of professional Irish poker player, 1998 bracelet winner, and former Olympic swimmer Donnacha O'Dea and grandson of actors Denis O'Dea and Siobhán McKenna-- and he's currently doing a good job of making quite a name for himself, as he sits in second place in chips with 19,050,000 after steadily climbing over the past few days of play. He made over 8 million of his chips in a single hand against Andrew Hinrichsen. The board ran out in all hearts and O'Dea held the Kh in his hand, while Hinrichsen's AdKc was rendered useless, giving O'Dea the king-high flush and a big gain right in time for bagging.

Only one player is ahead of him-- Anton Makievskyi holds the lead with 21,045,000 chips, many of which were gained in a single pot worth 20 million. He went head-to-head with Christopher Moore, who held trips, raising until all of Makievskyi's money was in the middle; Makievskyi held a full house and took a large chunk of Moore's money. Although Moore is still in the running for the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet, he'll be starting Day 8 with only 3.04 million, the smallest stack remaining in the game. With Moore at the bottom of the list with stacks under 5 million are Sam Barnhart, winner of the WSOP circuit National Championship (4,935,000); Samuel Holden, the only Brit left in the tournament (4,740,000); Gionni Demers (4,655,000); Kenny Shih (4,530,000); Lars Bonding, who is on his fifth money finish at the WSOP this year and, until today, managed to stay near the lead (4,140,000); and Bounahra Badih (3,385,000).

Rounding out the top ten are Khoa Nguyen, Canada's last hope for a WSOP Main Event bracelet this year, with 16.435 million chips; Russian Andrey Pateychuk, sitting strong with 16,245,000; Ben Lamb, who is currently in the lead for the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year race, having ousted Phil Hellmuth just two days earlier, with 14.69 million; Phil Collins, who is tired of being referred to as “not the guy from Genesis,” with 13,805,000; John Hewitt of Costa Rica, with 13.265 million chips; Day 6 leader Ryan Lenaghan, who has lost a couple million chips since yesterday and now rests with 10.415 million; Matt Giannetti, at 8.92 million; and Konstantinos Mamaliadis of South Africa, with 8.195 million.

Matt Giannetti was the topic of some talk early in Day 7 as he made considerable gains that would leave him in position 9 at the end of the day. Giannetti managed to take the chip lead at one point, thanks to Hilton Laborda, who allowed him a double up once, followed by a bust which gave Giannetti the rest of his chips. This isn't the remarkable part, however. On both hands, Laborda held a decent hand-- a flush. Both times, he was beaten by Giannetti, who managed to have a flush. Two hands that played out exactly the same way cost Laborda his spot and gave Giannetti some much-needed chips.

Once again, the chip leaders have changed drastically since the day previous. With only 22 players left in the running for the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet, the tables can't turn too much more-- but tune in tomorrow to see how the drama unfolds in Las Vegas.

Day 6 of 2011 WSOP Main Event Takes No Prisoners

Elizabeth — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:23:00 +0000

Day 6 of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event has been a nail-biter, offering up more excitement than any of the previous days during this event. We went from 142 players to 57 on this most recent day of action, and with these eliminations came several levels of increases in payouts-- while the players who went home today may be disappointed that they didn't nab the bracelet, most will be poud that they managed to make a substantial money finish in the world's largest poker competition.

Ryan Lenaghan is now the chip leader (where did he come from?) with 12,865,000 chips, a healthy lead over the rest of the competition, although he wasn't the first player to break 10 million during this event-- that distinction goes to Phil Collins (again, not the frontman for Genesis), who dominated the action today and sent multiple players to the rail. His first victim was Giuseppe Pastura, who didn't make his flush draw and gave Collins another 2.1 million. After defeating Matthew Mantman, Collins had almost 7 million and was ready to take down Joseph Cheong, who vaulted Collins to 8.5 million. Thirty minutes later (you would think that players would keep away from Collins at this point, but apparently not), Collins bested Lance Steinberg with a straight and hit the 10 million chip mark. At the end of the day, Collins settled into fifth place with 7,240,000 chips and a good chance to be one of the eight players who cashes at over a million dollars today.

Behind Lenaghan in the race for first is Ben Lamb with 9,980,000. Ben Lamb has captured first place in another race today-- he's officially overtaken Phil Hellmuth's lead for the 2011 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race. The Poker Brat will have to head to WSOP Europe for the seven events held there later this year if he wants a shot at PoY this year-- but no doubt Ben Lamb will be there, too, fighting just as hard. After Lamb are Matt Giannetti (7,940,000), Andrey Pateychuk (7,255,000), Phil Collins, who is surely tired of every media source commenting on his name for the last two days, Hilton Laborda (7,160,000), Nelson Robinson (6,420,000), Tri Hunyh (6,295,000), and Aleksandr Mozhnyakov, who once held a chip lead and is still holding out to round off the top nine with 6,070,000. If you've been following the WSOP action, you know that there have been a lot of changes to the chip leaders from day to day-- only three of the players currently in the top ten were there yesterday.

After the dinner break, both Erick Lindgren and Ben Lamb came back to find that WSOP and ESPN had moved them to the featured table-- when they counted their chips, both players believed that they were short. WSOP officials report watching the video to make sure that all the chips transferred correctly, but Lindgren was less than happy about the situation and tweeted that they shouldn't move someone's chips without the individual present.

Some impressive players hit the rail today, including two of the three remaining female players: Amanda Musumeci left with $130,997, and Claudia Crawford took home $76,146. Erika Moutinho is the one remaining female player with around 2.1 million chips, and she will head off against her boyfriend, David Sands, who holds 2.7 million chips at the end of Day 6. Other notables no longer in play are Jean-Robert Bellande and Allen Cunningham, who both left with $108,412, Sorel Mizzi ($64,531), and Eli Elezra, with $54,851.

2011 WSOP Main Event Moving Right Along

Elizabeth — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:02:00 +0000

Day 5 of the 2011 World Series of Poker was the first day that all of the players are guaranteed a cash finish, and the action on Day 46 of the WSOP was vicious, with only 142 players still standing at the end of the day. 378 players had started out the day, and the chips switched hands over and over again until the leaders list saw some rearranging. There are now five players above the four million mark, with another seven right behind with over three million. Many familiar names top the list of those still standing, but on Day 5, we've had to say goodbye to yet more of our favourite players.

Max Heinzelmann, who started the day in tenth place after taking Shaun Deeb's chips on a bad beat in Day 3, made yet another noteworthy hand on Saturday, although this time, he was on the wrong end of it. Heinzelmann held pocket aces (AsAh) against David Bach's pocket kings (KsKd). Heinzelmann went all in pre-flop, but the flop didn't help him with the Q, 7, 4 all in diamonds. The turn showed a 6h, not helping either player, but the river's 3d gave Bach an unlikely flush and knocked Heinzelmann out of the game in 151st place, helping to vault Bach into the lead position, where he would sit at the end of the day with 4,706,000 chips.

Other well-known players who hit the rail today (and their final positions in this year's main event) include Freddy Deeb (358), John Cernuto (345), Jon “Pearljammer Turner (344), Carter King (247), Peter Jetten (244), Kevin Saul (216), Daniel Negreanu (211), Matt Stout (186), Joe Tehan (185), Mark Newhouse (182), and Garry Gates (173). Robert Iler of The Sopranos fame was the last celebrity playing in the event after The Simpsons creator Sam Simon left the field yesterday. Iler walked away with $40,654 and finished in position 275.

Behind Bach in the fight for first place are Pius Heinz (4,699,000), Kyle Johnson (4,654,000), Phil Collins (not the drummer/vocalist from Genesis) at 4,109,000, and Ben Lamb (4,032,000), who is only about 30 spots away from taking Phil Hellmuth's position in the lead of the Player of the Year race. It looks like this year's PoY will come down to the seven events in WSOP Europe later this year. Also in the running for this year's bracelet (in truth, everyone is still in the running, regardless of the size of their stacks) are Aleksandr Mozhnyakov, who held the chip lead earlier in the tournament and has managed to stay pretty high in the list throughout; Sebastian Ruthenberg, everyone's favourite unflappable German who is keeping his healthy position with 3,354,000 chips; Lars Bonding (3,352,000); and Bryan Devonshire (3,292,000).

One familiar name from the list of chip leaders that you won't be seeing anymore this year is Manoj Viswanathan, who held an impressive amount of chips going into Day 5 and lost them all, mostly to David Barter, who ended up busting Viswanathan after whittling down his stacks. Viswanathan's dethroning reminds players and spectators alike that having a lead doesn't always mean having a win-- the chips can change hands in a second, and only one person can walk away with the bracelet and $8.7 million prize.

WSOP Day 45 Breaks the Bubble

Elizabeth — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:35:00 +0000

Finally, the point that everyone has been waiting for in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is here-- the bubble has burst, and all of the remaining players have now entered the realm of the money finish. Since game play started on Friday, not only were the 853 players who made it this far whittled down, with 159 of them leaving without having anything to show for their time and effort, but the players with cash finishes moved quickly through five levels of pay amounts before the day was over.

The bubble boy distinction this year went to Reza Kashani of Irvine, CA-- he was the last person to hit the rail without taking home money. According to World Series of Poker tradition, he will have free entry into the main event next year, something for which he's probably very grateful (or he will be when the sting of this year wears off), given that he bought his way in to the WSOP this year. Also in the unfortunate minority of the day who leave empty-handed are Phil Hellmuth and Berry Johnston. 378 players remain, one of them Ben Lamb in 21st place with 1,268,000, who will take the lead spot in the Player of the Year race away from Phil Hellmuth if he manages to finish in the top 138. After the Main Event finishes, only the seven WSOP Europe events remain to determine the Player of the Year. Hellmuth, who was determined to capture a twelfth bracelet this year but failed, doesn't seem worried about Lamb's position right on his tail-- he spent the rest of the day getting full spa treatment at the Aria Hotels Spa, then went to dinner and a movie with Mike Matusow.

Manoj Viswanathan captured the most chips at the end of Day 4, becoming the only player so far in the Main Event to amass over two million chips. He sits comfortable with 2,115,000, while Sam Barnhart is not far behind him with 1,925,000. Rounding out the rest of the top nine are Pius Heinz (1,887,000), Stephane Albertini (1,867,000), Daryl Jace (1,849,000), Lars Bonding (1,813,000), Kyle Johnson (1,761,000), Matthew Kay (1,756,000), and Mazin Khoury (1,707,000). Resting in tenth place is German Max Heinzelmann, who made news the day before by taking Shaun Deeb's chips on a bad beat.

Other noteworthy players still in the running are Bryan Devonshire, JP Kelly, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Peter Feldman, Mark Newhouse, and Amanda Musumeci, all with over a million chips each. Joe Tehan, Joseph Cheong, Eli Elezra, Kevin Saul, Sorel Mizzi, Allen Cunningham, and Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro have over 500k chips, as does Daniel Negreanu, who turned the 35k in chips he had at one point into over 600k by the close of Day 4.

The Main event of the 2011 World Series of Poker is slowly drawing to a close. One of the 378 players who remain will be the next champion, but it's still anyone's guess who that winner will be. There's a lot of great talent still in the game and more still yet to be discovered-- tune in tomorrow for the next installment in the WSOP 2011 saga.

WSOP 2011 Day 44 - Stacks Rearrange, Old Friends Leave

Elizabeth — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:57:00 +0000

As predicted, the rail was humming today with all the eliminations as the starting field of 1,864 players was cut down to 852. 693 of the players remaining will make the money as the action picks up again on Friday, but the money bubble comes at a high price-- the added pressure often causes players to choke and play a sloppier game than they have before, as the WSOP bracelet now feels so close that the players can almost taste it.

Leading the pack at the end of Day 3 are Patrick Poirier (don't worry-- no one else has heard of him either) with 1,328,000, Darryl Jace, with 1,282,500, Chris Kwon (944,500), David Barter (917,500), Scott Smith (896,500), and Sebastian Ruthenberg, who is sitting at 889,000 and looking for a second WSOP bracelet. Day 2a leader Aleksandr Mozhnyakov sits in tenth place with 813,000.

Former champions Phil Hellmuth and Robert Varkonyi, the 1989 and 2001 Main Event winners, respectively, are still in the running, although both are a bit short-stacked; Hellmuth is holding on to 71,000 chips while Varkonyi has 168,000. Both players are considerably behind the players leading in chips, the top two of whom have over a million chips. Also still in the game are Isabelle Mercier (79,000), Ted Forrest (73,500), Rafe Furst (69,500), Lee Childs (67,000), Humberto Brenes (65,000), and Randal “RandALLin” Flowers (43,000).

Plenty of other familiar faces didn't even make it far enough to end the day below average: tv stars Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett both hit the rail today, along with former Main Event champions Tom McEvoy, Huck Seed, and Joe Cada. Norwegian Wunderkind Annette Obrestad, who garnered a lot of attention years ago when she won a tournament without looking at her cards (save for once, on an all-in), tweeted that the bad cards she was being dealt were responsible for her small stack going into Day 3. Obrestad was eliminated shortly after the dinner break today. Jason Mercier, Greg Mueller, Matt Matros, Dan Shak, Noah Boeken, Galen Hall, Justin Bonomo, Carlos Mortensen, Sam Stein, Patrik Antonius, Matt Savage, and Ryan D'Angelo all hit the rail today, clearing out some significant talent in one day of play.

One of the most notable moments of Day 3 came when Las Vegas pro Shaun Deeb began his last hand of the 2011 World Series of Poker. Deeb was sitting on pocket Aces and was playing with two other players-- one of them German Max Heinzelmann, with whom Deeb had played extensively online. He read the German and placed a five bet to bait his opponent into a six bet (the original raiser folded after four). Deeb raised again, and Heinzelmann went all in. Deeb called. The German was holding A6. The flop came down 10-6-K, and the turn brought the Q, making Deebs two pair look good. The river brought another 6, though, and Heinzelmann's trip 6s took the pot. As though Deeb's day wasn't bad enough after losing a 430k pot on a bad beat, he returned to his hotel and found his laptop stolen. Some days you win, and, as Shaun Deeb has shown us, some days you lose... a lot.

Former Full Tilt Poker Players Jump Ship

Elizabeth — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:21:00 +0000

If the world of online poker were an ocean, Full Tilt Poker would be comparable to the Titanic, and no matter how many mysterious European investors come along, tossing out life preservers, the former Full Tilt customers seem to see only two options: jump ship and head for land, or go down with the ship (which is still holding all of their money).

More than half of the Full Tilt Poker players have left the site for calmer seas, which means that the other poker sites are seeing a surge in business. We've yet to see whether all of the sites picking up these drifters will be able to carry them all in terms of bandwidth, support, and funding, but only time will tell. In truth, many of the smaller sites, especially those in the US market, have been preparing for the day that Full Tilt ran head-on into an iceberg. After the Alderney Gaming Control Commission revoked Full Tilt's license, followed just over a week later by French gaming overseers ARJEL pulling FTP's ability to operate in France, it seemed that the site was gaining water far too quickly to survive. The class-action lawsuits against Full Tilt didn't help matters any-- the Poker Players Alliance recently released a legal guide that helps players determine whether they should proceed with legal action against a site with frozen accounts. They don't call Full Tilt by name, but we all know who they mean.

Everest Poker has seen a 46% increase in clientele since the FTP debacle, likely due to the fact that former Full Tilt players are probably a little short on funds now, what with all their accounts frozen, and Everest offers a bonus that's hard to beat when you're low on funds. Unlike most sites, which offer a matching bonus on up to a certain amount, Everest Poker will give you $500 regardless of how much money you deposit. It's a very appealing prospect for non-US players who are looking to build up their bankroll. Everest had 315 new customers, giving it a substantial increase in size, but it's still small in terms of new clients when compared to bigger sites, which brought in more people.

PokerStars, despite being affected by Black Friday like FTP and Absolute Poker (which is down 96%), has managed to gain 3382 new players, while Party Poker, the iPoker Network, and 888 Poker have all taken advantage of this opportunity and gained more clients and popularity. 888 Poker was one of the first online poker sites to come up with new and improved bonuses immediately following the FTP license revocation, while PokerStars is living off their reputation as the number one site by bolstering it with advertisements pointing out all the differences between PokerStars and Full Tilt (PokerStars has returned a good portion of players' money, for instance).

Surprisingly enough, Everleaf Gaming Network has also taken a small hit, likely due to the novelty of their two largest sites, PokerView and No Bad Beats Poker, wearing off.

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WSOP 2011 Main Event Sixth Day Over

Elizabeth — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 08:19:00 +0000

Poker players and fans around the world have been waiting to see what would come of the Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker, and so far, the action hasn't been disappointing. With about 1,875 players set to return on Thursday after a one-day recess (there is no poker action at the WSOP on Wednesday, July 13), the rest of the tournament should be just as impressive as it has been so far.

Ben Lamb vaulted into the chip lead today with over a half-million chips, making him the first player this year to hit the 500k mark. He is followed by Kevin Saul, who rests at 542,200-- Day 2a chip leader Aleksander Mozhnyakov has been pushed into third place. Lamb knocked out two of his opponents and added to his considerable stack in what was a remarkable hand that's indicative of Lamb's luck so far this tournament. Lamb held 8s5s, while his opponents had Kd4d and Ad5s. The flop (on which the small and big blind both went all-in), was 5d6d8d, giving the small blind a king-high flush and the big blind a pair of fives and a chance for an ace-high flush draw. Lamb needed some luck on his side in order to make his hand work, and when the 5c hit the turn, things looked much better for him. His full house remained the highest hand at the table after a Kc came on the river, bringing his total chips over 400k.

Day 2b saw no shortage of poker stars moving on to Day 3-- Ryan D'Angelo closed the day with 462,300 chips, while Patrik Antonius made an impressive show with 361,000. Sam Simon, best known for creating The Simpsons, is still alive with a healthy 317,900, while Tony Hachem and Jeff Madsen ended Day 2b with 245,100 and 231,500 chips, respectively. Perhaps the most impressive comeback today belonged to Erick Lindgren, who started the day with less than 4,000 chips and ended it with just over 170k. Andy Frankenberger, Paul Wasicka, Matt Jarvis, J.C. Tran and David “The Devilfish” Ulliott were not so lucky; they were all sent to the rail during Day 2b and will not be seeing any more action at this year's Main Event.

Historically speaking, a player's standing at the end of Day 2 has little bearing on whether or not they eventually win; that's a factor of how the cards fall and how each player handles the action. Last year's champion, Jonathan Duhamel, started Day 3 in 889th place, while previous winners have made similar comebacks-- 2009 winner Joe Cada was in position 99 going into Day 3, while 2008 winner Peter Eastgate was at position 484. None of the 2006-2010 chip leaders at the end of Day 2 have managed to finish above 40th place, interestingly enough, though we will have to wait to see whether Ben Lamb and Aleksander Mozhnyakov will be able to break that trend. There are still a lot of big names and incredible players left in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, so it's still anyone's game.

Next Few Months of 2011 Promise Plenty More Tournaments

Elizabeth — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:41:00 +0000

Even though the 2011 World Series of Poker is quickly drawing to a close, the large live tournaments of the season are far from over. Some of the best events of the year are yet to come, and we can expect to see a lot of different players shine throughout the rest of the summer and early fall of this year.

Italian Poker Tour

IPT San Remo – 28 July-1 August, 2011

The Italian Poker Tour continues with a stop in San Remo, Italy, where last year's winner, Marcello Caponnetto, walked away with €170,000. Players can buy-in at Casino Sanremo starting two hours before the event begins, or you can try your luck now with one of the many online qualifiers at PokerStars.

IPT Nova Gorica – 1-5 September, 2011

This event, held in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, is very similar to the San Remo event, but with a more relaxed dress code. Last year's winner took home 200,000 euro, and the 2011 event promises a greater turnout, not only for the Main Event, but for the live qualifiers that lead up to it.

European Poker Tour

EPT Tallinn – 2-7 August, 2011

Season 8 of the European Poker Tour kicks off in Tallinn, Estonia this year. Unlike many poker events, in which players must be 18 to play, the inaugural event of the newest season of the EPT has a minimum age of 21, due to Estonian laws. Last year, the EPT Tallinn title went to Kevin Stani of Norway, who won the €400,000 first place prize. Like many other players, Stani won his entry in a qualifying satellite.

EPT Barcelona/Estrellas Poker Tour Final – 27 August – 1 September, 2011

Season 8 of the European Poker Tour's stop in Barcelona promises to be big-- last year, the event saw over 750 entrants, creating a prize pool of almost €4 million. The increased field has made last year's event the biggest poker tournament that Spain has ever seen, and poker players looking for this kind of intensity will not be disappointed in Season 8.

EPT London – 30 September – 6 October, 2011

This classic event on the European Poker Tour ends just in time for players to hop on a plane to France to become part of the action at WSOP Europe, a well-timed maneuver if ever there was one. The EPT and WSOPE events are arranged perfectly to keep all the big names in poker in Europe for a month. Players need to be registered with the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in order to participate, and PokerStars has a series of satellite tournaments for those who want an alternative to forking out the ₤5,000 buy-in.

EPT San Remo – 21-27 October, 2011

Since its first year as a part of the European Poker Tour, the San Remo event has quickly become one of the biggest pots in not only the EPT but live competitive poker today. Past EPT San Remo winners include Jason Mercier and Liv Boeree; Mercier won over €800k, while Boeree won around €1.25 million. As with all EPT events, qualifiers are through PokerStars.

Latin American Poker Tour

LAPT Punta del Este – 3-7 August, 2011

The Latin American Poker Tour heads to Punta del Este, Uruguay in early August and kicks off this leg of the tournament in style with a welcome party at the Mantra Casino on the 3rd, then follows it up with another party at Nogaro Casino on the 6th. This event has low buy-ins, compared to the other poker tournaments currently out there, although players can also qualify online.

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 4: Luton – 14-21 August, 2011

The side events for this leg of the GUKPT involve a series of freezeouts with low buy-ins (all are ₤500 or under), while the main event is standard No-Limit Hold'em.

GUKPT Goliath at the Ricoh Arena – 24-28 August, 2011

If you have time for only one European event this year, you might want to consider this mammoth event from the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour for two reasons: the event has a buy-in of only ₤100 as part of their drive to break European records for tournament attendance, and 25% of all buy-ins goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care, which provides nurses and hospice workers to the terminally ill.

Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Leg 5: Coventry – 9-16 October, 2011

The GUKPT officials have curious timing, as they scheduled this event to coincide with WSOP Europe, but there will likely be very little overlap between the two tournaments. Grosvenor is the small pond in this scenario where many of the big fish will be leaving to pursue bigger pots and stronger competition.

Asian Poker Tour

APT Asian Series – 17-23 August, 2011

The Asian Poker Tour Asian Series is in the Phillipines this year, and the Main Event has a buy-in of 50,000 Phillipine pesos (a little over $1,000). There are also a large number of qualifiers for the APT events; you can learn more about the tournament at theasianpokertour.com.

World Series of Poker Europe

WSOP Europe – 7-20 October, 2011

This two week event will be counted in the Player of the Year race, so expect to see more faces from the United States than ever before, especially from the leaders in the PoY race, as missing this tournament could cost them the title. Unlike the regular WSOP, which offers a large number of poker types, the WSOPE is really just focused on Hold'em and Omaha, with no other forms of poker making an appearance this year.

There are eight events in this year's WSOPE, including the unnumbered Ladies Event, which once again does not offer a bracelet. The other events are: €2,860 Six-Handed No Limit Hold'em, €1,090 No Limit Hold'em, €5.3k Pot Limit Omaha, €3.2k No Limit Hold'em Shootout, €10.4K No Limit Hold'em (Split Format), €1,620 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha, and the €10.4K Main Event Championship.

WSOP 2011 Day 2a - A Tense Day for All

Elizabeth — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:42:00 +0000

During Day 2a of the 2011 World Series of Poker, we all learned an important lesson about friendship, perseverance, and making sure you double-check your schedule.

The Poker Brat finished Day 1C with a small stack, but a stack of almost 12k nonetheless-- given the way that Phil Hellmuth plays and how badly he wants another bracelet (especially another Main Event), we all know that as long as he has some chips left, he has a shot. All eyes were on Hellmuth, who is currently leading the WSOP 2011 Player of the Year race, waiting to see how he would play on Day 2a... and then he didn't show.

Other players sat by and watched as Hellmuth's $11,800 was eaten away by blinds, but Mike Matusow had his friend's back. First, he tried calling Hellmuth's cell phone. It was turned off. He tried ringing the room, but the hotel had a “do not disturb.” The Mouth managed to get them to ring the room anyway, but there was no answer. Finally, while tweeting “@phil_hellmuth is such an idiot hes getting blinded off has 5k left” and “how can anyone be this dumb,” Matusow somehow convinced hotel security to break into Phil Hellmuth's room. Hellmuth's response was this: “Security broke into my room, I'm like, 'What's going on?!?' Sguard says, 'You're playing in the World Series of Poker today.'” After racing to the event (reportedly going 75 on side roads to get there), Hellmuth further tweeted that he thought that he played on Day 2b on Tuesday, and that it had never occurred to him that he might play on Monday. This is a lesson to all you future players: make sure you know which day you play.

There is a greater lesson to be learned from this, one about good sportsmanship and friendship. Matusow himself said it best: “@phil_hellmuth yea I had them break in you idiot least you know who your friends are.”

Hellmuth went on to play some excellent poker today, taking his under 7k stack and turning it into 64,900 by the end of the day. While the chip leaders of Day 2a-- Aleksandr Mozhnyakov (478,600), Tuan Vo (434,500), Guillaume Darcourt (410,500), and Stephane Albertini (400,100)-- are clearly so far ahead of Hellmuth that they likely aren't too worried about him, Hellmuth has shown the dedication and resolve to make this work for him. At this point, a certain amount of Hellmuth's success will come down to luck.

A lot of big names were sent packing today, including Ram Vaswani, Dan Harrington (so his M-Theory didn't work out this time), Marcel Luske, Phil Gordon, Victoria Coren, and Johnny Chan, who has already snagged multiple bracelets off the main event in the past. Other players managed to strengthen their position, and some of the players moving up in the ranks include Sebastian Ruthenberg (currently at 16 with 289,400), Jason Alexander (at 70 with 167k), Eli Elezra, who bagged an extra 40k to end the day at 160k, Americans Shane Abbott (resting at 239,000 in position 29), and Brendan Taylor (in position 10 with 313.5k) and Italian Biagio Morciano, who gained over 100k to close the day in position 12 with around 307k.

Day 1a leader Fred Berger had managed to hold on to his stack of about 200k, but didn't move much during Day 2a, closing out today's action with 205k. Likewise, Daniel Negreanu has gained less than 10k and is keeping steady at around 114k. Norwegian Wunderkind Annette Obrestad finished out the day with a substantial loss of around 220k, leaving her short-stacked at 90,500 going into the third day on Thursday.

New Developments in Full Tilt Woes Point to New Management, Legal Reform

Elizabeth — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:59:00 +0000

For the last two weeks, the poker world has been on edge, especially the American players, who have suffered greatly from the complete shutdown of Full Tilt Poker due to the legal proceedings by the United States government against the site. Since the Alderney Gaming Control Commission revoked the Full Tilt license, only to be followed shortly by French licensing group Arjel doing the same, things have looked bad for the site, which was formerly one of the top three online poker sites. Due to a mysterious group of still as of yet unnamed European investors, however, things may have turned a corner for Full Tilt.

According to Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer for Full Tilt Poker, the investors have already entered into discussion with both the AGCC and Arjel and are likely to reach a settlement with the United States Department of Justice as well.

The deal with the European investors, he says, is centered around the idea of paying back the players who have had money frozen in their Full Tilt Poker accounts, which means that Full Tilt is hoping to get the class action lawsuit that has been filed against them by disgruntled US players dropped. He further goes on to assert that the interested parties are not one of Full Tilt's competitors, sweeping in to save the day and get a larger margin of the market, but a team of individuals from the financial sector who are new to e-gaming but see it as a lucrative investment.

Rumours abound about the potential purchase of Full Tilt Poker, and it's hard for the public to sort out what is and isn't true. One news source reported that Ray Bitar had been removed from his position as CEO of Full Tilt, a rumour which ruined his day when he came in to work and read the (untrue) news. The FTP lawyer denied this rumour outright.

Because of Black Friday, which severely impacted two businesses that not only do a lot of business world-wide but are also located within the purview of UK legislation, we can expect some changes to UK online gambling legislation to come out of all of this chaos. Online poker is particularly hard to legislate, due to its ability to cross borders and the tendency of many operators to try to find loopholes in the payment/access methods, such as e-wallets and proxy servers. The United Kingdom's legislative and regulatory bodies are reconsidering their previous stance of letting overseas companies run rampant, as the tactic of trusting local authorities to successfully regulate the companies within their jurisdiction has severely backfired.

Since Black Friday caused the majority of American poker players to lose their online places and therefore sponsorships, the majority of players from the United States who are taking part in this year's World Series of Poker have come without patches demonstrating their loyalties and backers; Full Tilt patches, which in previous years were omnipresent, are nowhere to be seen now. Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey is sitting out this year's WSOP in protest, due to the event's associations with Full Tilt.

Last Day 1 of WSOP 2011 Main Event Closes Large

Elizabeth — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:43:00 +0000

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event has drawn 6,865 entrants, far more than estimates were at the start of the event. The top 693 players will have a money finish, but the real question on everyone's mind doesn't seem to be the almost nine million dollars at stake for first place, but rather who will nab Player of the Year (the real question on the spectators' minds, at any rate-- the players are certainly gunning for the bracelet).

Day 1D drew not only a large number of entrants, making the 2011 WSOP Main Event the third-largest of all time, but it also drew some well-known names, including Nelly (the rap artist of “Hot in Herre” fame), Jennifer Tilly, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Tom Marchese, John Juanda, Tom “durrr” Dwan, Frank Kassela, Will Reynolds, and Antonio Esfandiari, all of whom hit the rail and won't be returning for Day 2B, when the chip leaders from Days 1B and 1D go against one another for further elimination.

Mory Little is the chip leader for Day 1D with 179,450 chips, and he is followed by Ben Mintz, with 176,875, Roj Vohra, with 167,450, Anthony Miller (166,000), Dax Mellon (161,325), and Antony Lellouche (155,200). Kevin Song, who was the cheap leader at the end of Day 1C, has now moved from fifth place in chips among the remaining entrants to ninth place, as the top four players today all had a higher total at the end of play. Other notable poker players still in the running after the final first day of the World Series of Poker 2011 Main Event include Lyle Berman (127,575), who is looking for the fourth bracelet of his career, Alexandre Gomes (100,650), who is in pursuit of his second, Todd Brunson (48,625), one-time bracelet winner and son of poker legend Doyle Brunson, Phil Laak (45,700), also pursuing his second bracelet, Huck Seed (42,600), chasing after his fifth WSOP victory, and Vanessa Rousso (65,375) and Noah Boeken (78,675), both looking to change their WSOP records of a series of money finishes by winning the coveted Main Event gold bracelet.

As far as the Player of the Year race is concerned, no real developments have taken place here on the last Day 1 of play. Players get a minimum of 25 points for participation in the event (25 for finishing in the bottom 50%, 50 points for being in the top 21-49%, 75 for being in the top 20, and then between 100 and 500 points for being in the top 9. Since Phil Hellmuth has a 51 point lead over Ben Lamb, who's following him in the Player of the Year rankings, Lamb could move into first place if Hellmuth is eliminated in the bottom 50% of players and Lamb makes the top 9-- poker player or not, you have to admit that those don't seem like terribly good odds. The Player of the Year race will ultimately depend not only on how the individual players in the running perform in the remaining days of the Main Event, but also on how and when their opponents drop out of the running. Hellmuth seems to have the title in a lock, but it will all come down to whether he can make his short stack (around 11,000 of chips) work for him tomorrow.

Someone Else Thinks the Barton Bill is Inherently Flawed

Elizabeth — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:30:00 +0000

The American Gaming Association has said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to the Barton bill, a piece of legislature currently striving to be passed into law sometime before the end of the year, saying that instead, they're working on their own bill. The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011, or Barton bill, as it's more commonly called, aims to restore online poker in the United States through creation of more government and handing over more power to Big Brother, and the AGA seems to think that they can do better.

The Barton bill has gotten a great deal of attention since it was first introduced before the House of Representatives by Texas Republican (let's be honest-- he's a Tea Partier) Joe Barton in late June. The bill has been lauded as the great salvation of online poker by Americans desperate to play and online poker sites desperate for the customers in the United States, but some people are taking a second look and realizing that there's something a little bit off about the bill (and not just that it was introduced by Joe Barton, which is enough to make most sensible people wary).

The truth is, it's refreshing that the AGA has come forward to state that they're going to hold out for something more sensible. While the AGA statement has said that they “are pleased that Rep. Barton wants to protect American consumers and understands the need for regulating online poker in our country,” the AGA's president and chief executive officer, Frank Fahrenkopf, has stated that the AGA will be introducing their own bill, once the kinks are worked out.

One of the fundamental differences between the two positions seems to be whether or not states are automatically opted-in to the new online gambling policies. While this may seem insignificant, it's actually an incredibly important issue in the United States, which has waged wars over the argument of states' rights vs. federalism. Allowing-- nay, forcing-- each state to decide in the beginning where they stand on the issue of online poker means that Barton's suggested federal agency that oversees online poker becomes not only unnecessary, but borderline unconstitutional. Since some states will most likely opt out (such as Utah), and others will assuredly opt in (including those with high Native American populations, where casinos generate a large amount of income for the tribes, moreso if they can eventually go online), regulating online poker becomes the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.

The bill supported by the AGA also allows for federal regulation where taxation is concerned (and state government as well, in states that have a state income tax), as online poker winnings will be subject to taxation. Barton's bill, however, suggests instead that the federal government will receive funding not only through taxation, but through the application of fees and fines for users (without setting limits for what those fines or fees can be). The Barton bill is filled with holes and loopholes that consistently take away authority from both individuals and states and slowly give it to the federal government; the American Gambling Association has had the foresight to not only recognize this, but actively oppose it.

More federal regulations around online poker are not what the United States needs; a worthwhile bill will involve effective regulations that protect players without blocking international commerce where poker playing is concerned.

WSOP Day 40 - Hellmuth Still in Running for PoY

Elizabeth — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Now that the hum of the rest of the 2011 World Series of Poker has come to a halt, as all but the Main Event are completed, we can focus on what's going on in the No-Limit Hold'em Championship on this, Day 1C of the action.

The third of the four starting days of this event saw a bigger turnout than the first two days combined; while Day 1A had 897 entrants and Day 1b had 985, today's turnout was a whopping 2,181, making all the naysayers who previously spoke of the drastic decrease in play this year rethink their theories. The turnout on Day 1D has always been the largest of all, and over 2,000 players are already registered for the final first day of the Main Event. Most previous estimates said that this year's WSOP would have more than 5,000 but less than 6,000 entrants, but with 6,000 guaranteed, we're now looking towards the elusive 7,000 mark.

All eyes were on Phil Hellmuth tonight, even though the day was full of other players who have won a Main Event bracelet before (Chris Moneymaker, Bobby Baldwin, Scotty Nguyen, Dan Harrington, Joe Cada, and Jonathan Duhamel were all in attendance; Moneymaker was the only one sent to the rail today). Hellmuth's entrances to the Main Event have been legendary in past years, when he's appeared dressed as Julius Caesar and surrounded by a harem, a NASCAR driver, General Patton, and a mixed martial arts outfit, complete with fighter's robe. This year, however, he merely wore a suit and had an ESPN microphone, as he's been filming some pieces for the network.

Hellmuth gets attention not only because of his flashy entrances, or because he won his first WSOP Main Event bracelet over 20 years ago. Hellmuth is also in the running for Player of the Year, despite constant disappointment that he hasn't been able to nab another bracelet this year (he already has 11, more than any other player, but he's been looking for a twelfth). He leads the race, but the Main Event could turn everything around, depending on how he plays. Hellmuth had a frustrating day as his chip stack dropped to around 5,000; he was able to regain a little ground and get back up to 11k, but he'll still be struggling to catch up to the other players on Day 2.

Jonathan Duhamel, last year's Main Event winner, ended the day with around 41k chips, which still puts him considerably behind today's leaders, Kevin Song (163,325), and Christopher McClung (162,375). Both of the Day 1C chips leaders are behind Day 1A leaders Fred Berger (209,500) and Shane Sigsbee (182,600) in chips. On Day 2A, the remaining players from Days 1A and 1C will combine (for a considerable field, as 1,471 players survived Day 1C).

Other noteworthy players today included Boston Celtics basketballer Paul Pierce, the comedic pairings of Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, Audley Harrison, a former Olympic boxer, Shane Warne, who is a legend in Australia for his cricket playing, and Hungarian model Krisztina Polgar. Perhaps the most interesting entry, however, came from the 91 year old grandmother of Shaun Deeb, one Mrs. Ellen Deeb, who was a crowd favourite as soon as she sat down.