Poker News

The annual World Series of Poker, which is held at the Rio Hotel & Casino in the American gambling capital of Las Vegas, has announced that it will launch a new All Star game at this year's festival.

The new All Star game is a reworking of the outgoing Tournament of Champions event, which saw specially invited previous WSOP bracelet winners compete for a winner takes all prize. The new tournament, officially called the $1m WSOP Tournament of Champions Freeroll, will feature a fixed field, more fan interaction and, most importantly for the players, more paying positions.

The 27 person field for the new All Star game will be made up of 5 specially invited guests and 22 WSOP bracelet holders that are voted for online by fans. Currently, there are 521 living bracelet holders that are eligible to play, however this list does not necessarily equate to the most popular players of today's game. For example, popular players such as Tom 'durrrr' Dwan would not be eligible for the tournament as they do not have a WSOP bracelet.

The five people who will automatically qualify for the tournament will be the last three winners of the old Tournament of Champions and the outgoing WSOP Champion and WSOP Europe Champion.

The All Star game will start on June 27th with the final table being competed on July 4th. The two dates were chosen as they do not clash with other high profile tournaments.

World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 unusual Shooting Star event came to an end over the weekend and will all eyes on Phil Hellmuth is was McLean Karr who avoided the radar and came through to take the event. In a gruelling eleven hour contest that finally finished at 3.00am Saturday morning Karr took the first place $878,500 prize.

Karr faced off against Andy “BkiCe” Seth seemed to drift away in the early hours as Karr holding pocket eights, three bet Seth who then went all-in holding nothing more than pocket fours. The table didn’t do him any favours either showing K-10-3-A-A and so he ended up having to be happy with second place and $521,200 in prize money.

Karr came out as the surprise package, especially when considering that on day he was bleeding chips and down to his last 30,000. In an interview after the final result he admitted that he had finally learnt to be patience and it seemed a lesson well learnt.

The biggest surprise of the day must surely have been Hellmuth’s exit and in spite of being the chip leader on day two he was the first finalist to leave the table and curl up in a ball for several minutes. Matt Keikoan was next to take the walk followed by Hasan Habib for the fourth slot Dan O’Brian, after a long interval of play was eventually eliminated into a respectable third place and $292,800 to the good.

There has been quite a buzz going around about the identity of the unknown Isildur1, but that is not the only thing keeping people talking about this unknown Swedish player. Isildur1 ran over the online tables like a heat wave, and people quickly began to take notice as he dominated some of the biggest games online. However, that was not meant to last forever.

Brian Hastings had a monster session over Isidur1 taking $4.2 million from him in a single session. After a string of subsequent losses, Isildur1 retreated from the tables for a short time. He has since returned, newly energized from his hiatus, to take control of the tables again. However, he faced a crushing blow earlier this week.

The day began with Isildur1 and Col South going head to head in a $200/$400 PLO match. South proceeded to dump $240,779 to Isildur1 before upping the stakes to $300/$600 PLO. This only proved to exasperate South’s losing streak, as he lost another $401,733 over the course of 566 hands.

Brian Hastings made a move to jump in on the $300/$600 PLO game and started with a $250,000 loss. The stakes got deeper as Hastings sought to recover his losses in the $500/$1,000 game. Hastings dropped another $581,954 before throwing in the towel.

Then Isildur1 brought his fury against Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo in $200/$400 NL Hold’em. Bonomo lost over $100,000 before looking for better options. It seemed as though Isildur1 couldn’t be stopped, but all good things must come to an end.

Isildur1’s upswing took a minor dive. It began when he lost $30k to skjervoy in $100/$200 PLO. Then he lost another $350k back to South, but he was able to retain a major profit for the day. In total, he ended up with over $1.5 million. That’s not bad for a day’s worth of work!

In one of the most surprising turn of events in recent poker history, legendary female poker player Annie Duke has won the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She bested an elite field that consisted of many of the biggest names in the poker community, including Erik Seidel, who she beat in the final round with a 2-1 win. For her victory, Duke scored a cool $500,000 prize purse, with Seidel taking home $250,000 with his runner-up finish.

Most viewers I imagined were surprised to see a female player make it through what is always a heavily male-dominated tournament, but Anne seemed to have the luck of the cards, and the schedule, on her side. Looking back on the opponents she faced, Duke definitely did not have the toughest draw in the tournament. Her toughest opponent was arguably Andy Bloch in round 1, but from there she then went on to play against numerous players that have just recently entered the spotlight due to their WSOP success including Jerry Yang, Darvin Moon and Dennis Phillips. While all of those players have proven they have talent, there’s no way they represented the same challenge that would’ve been provided by players the caliber of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negraneau or Barry Greenstein.

Seidel seemed to have a tougher draw of opponents overall, netting Peter Eastgate, Scotty Nguyen, Huck Seed and David Williams, which is why it was doubly impressive to see him progress all the way to the finals considering that in the previous five years of the NBC Heads-Up Championship he never progressed out of round 1.

Duke has now racked up a total of $2,247.824 in career winnings and can now add this marquee victory to her already impressive resume that includes a WSOP bracelet win in 2004 and first place honors at the inaugural WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Here are the final results from the event:

Final Results:
1: Annie Duke — $500,000
2: Erik Seidel — $250,000
3: Scotty Nguyen — $125,000
3: Dennis Phillips — $125,000
5: Jerry Yang — $75,000
5: Doyle Brunson — $75,000
5: Jason Mercier — $75,000
5: Peter Eastgate — $75,000
9: Paul Wasicka — $25,000
9: Eli Elezra — $25,000
9: Annette Obrestad — $25,000
9: Barry Greenstein — $25,000
9: Gabe Kaplan — $25,000
9: Phil Laak — $25,000
9: Chris Moneymaker — $25,000
9: Jamie Gold — $25,000

Armed Gunmen Rob European Poker Tour Berlin Event

You don’t often hear about too many dangerous things going on at poker tournaments these days, but a scary situation unfolded on day 4 at the European Poker Tour Belin €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event when four armed men burst into the tournament registration area of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The tournament room was immediately evacuated until security deemed the situation safe enough to allow the players back in, only to find that tables, chairs and chips had been thrown all over the place.

The staff of the EPT, under the direction of Director Thomas Kremser, worked quickly to restore order to the tournament and eventually got the event back up and running with 20 players remaining in the tournament. The €1,000 no-limit hold’em event, which was also disturbed by the incident, was eventually canceled as a result. Cameras from EPT Live captured some of the commotion, but quickly went offline went they learned what was happening.

“An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin,” said EPT spokesperson Kristy Thompson. “Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to re-start all events at 4pm local time. A police investigation is under way. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.

The tournament resumed after a few hours and a police investigation is now under way. The tournament is taking place on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz and is being held by SPIELBANK Berlin Casino.

The police are working closely with the EPT and SPIELBANK Berlin. Police are asking anyone who has information, video footage or photographs that might aid the investigation to contact them.”

The highly anticipated poker reality show that debuted on the G4 network has decided to cancel the show for a second season. The show debuted on August 16, 2009 and ran for ten episodes. The concept was intriguing and had the poker community talking about the four young poker stars.

Jay “Krantz” Rosenkrantz, Dani Stern, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts were the four young online players who were chosen for the series. The concept was simple. They had two months to make $2 million collectively. Each week the one who made the least amount of money would have to do some embarrassing task.

Anticipation for the series was high among the poker community, but ratings fizzled. The first two weeks of the challenge was positive as the group made $200,000 towards their goal. However, week 3 marked the inevitable downswing that ultimately kept the group from reaching their $2 million dollar mark. In the end they only ended up making $676,000.

Aside from the fact that the group missed their mark by a mile, the group failed to be dynamic enough to keep viewers intrigued. Interest came from watching how young online poker players cope with winning and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, it was difficult for the audience to connect with any members of the group and some of the non-poker sequences felt forced and cheesy.

Rosenkrantz said about his experience, “I learned a lot doing 2 Months, $2 Million…not the least of which was what people really liked about it and what didn’t work. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to let that experience work for us.”

In November 2009 Patrick Antonius won the biggest pot in online poker history against the unnamed Isidur1. In a $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha game both players were sitting over $400,000 deep. Preflop action was fairly standard, but the turn brought fireworks.

When the ace of diamonds hit the turn both players raised and re-raised until they were all in. The total in the pot was an impressive $878,959. Antonius and Isildur1 both had aces up with a river draw. Antonius had a flush draw and gutshot straight draw, and Isildur1 had a gutshot and a chance at a higher two pair.

As it happened, the 8d came on the riving which gave Antonius his gutshot and a massive pot. The session continued with Antonius having a $2.5 million lead on Isildur1. Surely this will not be the last news worthy hand played between the two competitors.

Previous to this hand, the record breaking online pot was between Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Di “Urindanger” Dang. In October 2008 the two hot shots played an exploding eight hour session. It was a six handed game with “La Key U”, Di “Urindanger” Dang, Guy “elmariachimacho” Laliberte, Gus Hansen, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and John Juanda.

Dang had opened for $3,000 with “La Key U” folding in front. Laliberte flat called, and Dwan raised to $16,300 in the cutoff. Juanda and Hansen folded leaving Dang to re-raise to $45,000. Laliberte folded and Dang called. On a 5c 9h 4h board the action exploded leaving Dang all in for his last $367,671. Dwan called with Kc Kd and Dang showed Ac Ad. The turn and river bricked for Dwan and Dang scooped a monster for a total of $723, 938.

For the last month or so, the topic of intrastate online poker regulation has become a real hot subject in the poker industry, with numerous states expressing interest in taking matters into their own hands and trying to legalize poker for their residents, instead of waiting for a country-wide federal decision to be made. Now, it has been confirmed that Florida introduced its own intrastate online poker bill, having filed it on Tuesday.

The bill, titled HB 1441, The Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010, is designed to “create a framework for the state to regulate Internet poker sites that can ensure consumer protections and additional revenue to the state by authorizing, implementing, and creating a licensing and regulatory structure and system of Internet poker.”

The bill was filed by Florida Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, with reports claming that approx. 900,000 Florida residents gamble online and that intrastate regulation could bring $200 million a year to Florida. Currently the state is facing a $3.2 billion deficit and plans on charging each online poker site a $500,000 fee plus 20% of its monthly gross receipts if the bill is passed. The bill states that all online players under this bill would have to be 21-years-old and physically inside Florida’s borders in order to play.

The bill states that “Internet poker hub operator must register players and establish player accounts prior to play” and that accounts “may be established in person, by mail or telephone, or by any electronic means.”

If approved, the bill would go into effect on July 1st, 2010. The poker community is still waiting for one state to be successful with its intrastate bill, as it would make it much easier for other states to feed off that success and get their own regulations pushed through. The question still remains, however, if poker players are going to be happened with the greatly diminished number of players that will be available for them to play against, since intrastate laws require that online players be forced to play against only others from within the same state.

Poker has just passed another milestone in proving that it is not just a gambling game. The International Mind Sports Association has just announced that they intend to accept the International Federation of Poker as a member at their next meeting. This is huge for poker because if the IOC accepts poker then the International Olympic Committee with automatically accepts poker on this list of skill games. Other games that have already been accepted are chess, bridge, checkers, and go.

This is an amazing accomplishment in the fight to bring some legitimacy to poker. Chess has long had the notoriety of being a skillful game that has gained the respect of many all over the world. While poker has risen substantially over the last several years in popularity, the game continues to face legal and social persecution. With poker being hailed on the game level as other skill games there is a chance that the face of poker will change in the near future.

"Poker is not like other casino games. It's a social game where people are playing against each other, not the house, and a game where skill plays a bigger role than luck. There are 120 to 150 million poker players in the world and we deserve this recognition," says IFP president Anthony Holden.

Although poker will probably never be seen at the Olympic Games, the decision has other implications. As many courts are evaluating poker as a gambling or skill based game, the IOC’s recognition might be used to further prove the case that poker is widely accepted as a skill based game.

A German man, named Michael Olaf Schuett has recently been arrested for allegedly transferring over $70 million in online poker winnings to 23,000 people. Schuett started processing these online transactions to over 23,000 people from his own home.

Authorities were alerted when large checks started coming in from an unknown company. MCM Capital Management, owned by Schuett, was the company issuing the checks. As checks continued to surface, banks began to question the origin.

FedEx employees also began to question Schuett as a high number of packages were being delivered from his home. According to a federal complaint, “Federal Express employees became suspicious of Schuett’s activity when Schuett began mailing over 150 parcels per week. FedEx employees opened several of the parcels and determined that each contained a check.”

It has been determined that Schuett had over 40 bank accounts that he was using to send and accept wire transfers for the purpose of facilitating his money transfer business. Some of the banks that he used were Bank of America, Wachovia, and Shamrock.

Schuett had multiple businesses which he used as fronts to carry out his money transferring operations. Some of the business names he used was MCM Capital Management Corp., MI Global Inc., South Naples Escrow Co., and Payment Services Group Inc. When asked what he did for a living, Schuett would say he was a real estate investor.

Schuett is now being held at Lee County jail without bond for money laundering, failing to register as a money transfer business, and other violations. Agents are executing search warrants to seize his computers, documents, and assets acquired through illegal online gambling activities.

Ever since online poker started getting hit with strict rules and policies in the United States, the Poker Players Alliance has been leading the charge to make these online card rooms legal again for US players. The PPA has always wanted to regulate poker across the entire country, but instead now finds that more than likely the process will happen one state at a time, with California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Iowa all considering separate intrastate poker regulations.

“The idea is not something that the PPA opposes,” PPA Executive Director John Pappas said. “However, we are very concerned what intrastate poker means for the online poker player and the online poker market today.”

The major concern the PPA has with intrastate poker regulation is the fear that these new laws will force players within these states to play on online sites that only allow competition from that one particular state, removing the freedom to play against players from all over the world. A number of gaming corporations in California for example have already announced their intentions to form their own online card rooms in the instance that intrastate poker is approved.

Pappas believes that each individual state would make more money by allowing for an open market when it comes to regulation, allowing customers to play against players from other areas. If restricted purely to those that live within the state, Pappas fears that these new card rooms will not be able to reach critical mass, severely limiting the amount of gaming options presented to the card players and limiting the potential revenue for the state.

“Let me be clear: We support licensing and regulation. We think it’s achievable,” said Pappas in a February hearing in Florida. “Our preference is to do it at the federal level, but if we are going to go down to the state level like you guys are contemplating here (in Florida), and like they’re contemplating in California, competition has to be key.”

The online poker forums have been buzzing with rumors of just who is going to be invited to this year’s NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, an event that has become one of the more prestigious in poker. There are some names that every year you know will be included, such as Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Hellmuth, but NBC does have a tendency to mix things up and throw in a few players you wouldn’t expect to see. Finally, the company has released the official list for this year’s Heads-Up Championship, which as in 2009 is made up of 64 players.

Twenty two of the names on the list were automatically qualified and given an invite to the game due to accomplishments they racked up last season, including WSOP Champion Joe Cada. Two players who qualified but will not be playing are Jeffrey Lisandro (who was the WSOP Player of the Year) and Barry Shulman (who won the WSOP Europe main event).

Another high-profile dropout came from poker godfather Doyle Brunson, who was reserved a spot but decided not to participate. He spoke on the matter in one of his online blogs stated: “I’ve got an invitation to play in a big TV tournament and immediately afterwards is the NBC Heads Up Championship. I’ll have to bow out of all these tournaments because there is no use playing unless you are at your best. The competition has gotten so good you need to feel good physically as well as mentally to have a chance to win.”

Poker has been on the tips of everyone’s tongues these days, and the success of Lady Gaga’s biggest hit has inspired other to use poker as a new theme in their music. Lady Gaga’s song Poker Face was an international hit and sold over 8 million albums. Now, Marcel Luske and Jason Mershon are jumping on the bandwagon.

Marcel Luske has release an album of songs centered around poker. Apparently Luske is quite talented and exhibited his new songs during the Doyal Bruson Five Diamond event in December. A few well known poker professionals attended the concert and later twittered about Luskse’s talent.

Jason Mershon has recently released a song called Playing for a Livin. To promote his song Mershon is offering 50% of any final table winnings at this years WSOP to the first 15,000 people who download and buy his song. He is planning on playing the Main Event, so this might be a pretty fantastic investment for his listeners if he actually makes it.

Although it might be a pretty good return on investment, Mershon doesn’t have the most impressive tournament stats around. According to PokerPages player database Mershon only has four tournament cashes since 2004 and every one of them are under $900. But who knows, he could be the next Darvin Moon.

“I wrote the song to humorously tell what it's really like being a professional poker player; the sarcastic attitudes of many professional poker players; and the monotony of actually playing poker for a living and grinding out the long hours in a casino card room,” stated Mershon.

For more information on where to purchase the song visit www.playinpokerforalivin.com.

Last week, the California state director for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) attended a informational hearing in the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee, and left the meeting confident that the state’s legislature will quickly move towards legalizing intrastate poker in the near future.

"I think it's clear after the hearing that, if not for the financial mess the state is in, these hearings wouldn't even be held," Steve Miller said. "It's such a mess, and they are trying so hard to close the budget gap, that it seems like something is going to happen for certain."

California’s financial woes have been well publicized over the last year, with state officials looking into every possible resource as a potential way of driving in revenue, with online poker being one of the more lucrative options. The meeting lasted more than eight hours, with Miller and PPA executive director John Pappas on hand to testified on the behalf of the poker rights for the 127,255 PPA members that hail from California.

"The PPA respects the due diligence of the committee to investigate 'if' online poker can be regulated, and we stand here to tell you that it unquestionably can be regulated and, in fact, already is being regulated, very effectively, across the globe in well-respected jurisdictions," Pappas said in his testimony.

One of the biggest roadblocks towards the regulation for California comes from the California Tribal Business Alliance, which overseas Indian-related gaming in the state. One of the alliance’s members, Leslie Lohse, says that regulating online poker in California would violate tribal gaming compacts and result in the stopping of payments from the tribes to the state’s general fund, amounts which total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship is heading back to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for its sixth season. The Championship will run March 4-7 and be presented by GoDaddy.com. This event is pretty impressive because 64 of the world’s greatest poker players will battle head to head in a game of wit and skill.

Some of the famous figures that will be there include Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu. Husck Seed, who is last years defending champion, will also be there to defend his title. Vanessa Rousso, a GoDaddy girl and last year’s runner up, will try her luck again at beating out the boys. Joe Cada will be one of the new fixtures at this year’s event.

"We're excited to bring this annual tradition back to Caesars Palace," said Jon Miller, executive vice president of NBC Sports. "The National Heads-Up Poker Championship's compelling poker action has become a must-see for the casual and hardcore poker fan alike."

The tournament is a single elimination tournament. The winner of each round progresses to the next bracket until they reach the final two for the championship round. The total prize pool will be 1.5 million with a first place prize of $500,000.

Players will be matched up with each other randomly for the first round. Selections will be made during the tournament’s Draw Party at Caesars’ PURE Nightclub on Thursday, March 4. Matches will begin the next day at 12 pm. Don’t worry if you are not able to make it to Las Vegas to watch the matches in person because the tournament will be broadcast on NBC on Sundays in April and May.

For the past couple of years the poker community has been following the lawsuit between Clonie Gowen and Full Tilt. The lawsuit was originally filed on November 14, 2008. Gowen filed the suit seeking $40 million claiming, among other things, breach of contract. Those named in the suit included Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware, Tiltware CEO Raymond Bitar, as well as a group of Team Full Tilt players.

One of Gowen’s main contentions with the lawsuit was that in 2004 she was offered a 1% stake in the Full Tilt site in exchange for her services as a celebrity poker endorser. However, she states that she was not given the 1% compensation.

Since hearing the case U.S district Court Judge Robert Jones determined that there was a fundamental flaw in the allegations put forth by Gowen. She was never held responsible for the site’s losses prior to become a profitable business, so it seemed unlikely that she had any legal partnership.

“Nowhere in the allegations does Plaintiff allege, consistent with a general partnership, that the agreement made her liable for 1% of Full Tilt Poker’s losses before it became profitable. Therefore, it is not plausible that a partnership, limited or general was offered,” states the decision.

The case had been previously dismissed in April 2009 to be heard again at a later date when changes were made to the complaint. Then in October 2009, Judge Jones denied Gowen’s appeal and dismissed the amended complaint. The judge asked for Gowen to change the complaint a third time to only include Tiltware as the sole defendant. However, the third time was not a charm as the case has been dismissed for the third and final time.

In case you missed it, High Stakes Poker aired its first new espisode of 2010 on Sunday, February 14th at 8pm EST on the Game Show Network. HSP has long been one of the favorite poker shows on TV, featuring well-known professional players competing at nose-bleed stakes using their own money. This will be the sixth season of High Stakes Poker, and while the show hasn’t changed its formula much since Season 1, this year they are looking to change things up a little bit more, namely by dumping AJ Benza in favor of poker babe Kara Scott.

True, the attempts at humorous interaction between Benza and co-host Gabe Kaplan did have their charming moments, much of the commentary fell flat in comparison to the high energy/informative dialogue that could be heard on other shows like the World Poker Tour. That’s what happens when you put two analysts together without a color commentary, a diasterous move especially when only one of the analysts knows anything about poker.

Kara Scott should be able to breath some new life into the party, as the former host of the European Poker Tour has plenty of time in front of the camera, plus she’s also proven herself a formidable poker player, having cashed in the WSOP main event both in 2009 and 2008. Their back and forth in the first episode was underwhelming, but that’s understandable considering that it takes time for any on-screen duo to find their chemistry.

The buy-in for this season of High Stakes Poker is set at a minimum of $200,000, with blinds at $300-$600 with a $100 ante. The entirety of season six will be filmed at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. Many veterans of the show will return this year including Patrik Antonious, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari, along with a few new faces like Lex Veldhuis and Dennis Phillips.

When a city is selected to host the Olympic Games, it guarantees a rush of tourism in the area from the time of the opening ceremonies to the end of the closing ceremonies. Local businesses often reap huge benefits from this vast infusion of potential customers, and one casino in Vancouver underwent a dramatic poker room overhaul in order to be ready in time for the Winter Olympics, giving the crowds a place to play some poker.

The Edgewater Casino, which is located near BC Place in downtown Vancouver, the site of the opening ceremonies, finished a 15-table poker room in time to accommodate the influx of tourists that may be looking for get in some Hold’em while in the area. The add-on was officially announced on February 9th, where they’ve been open for business ever since.

“We’re committed to giving our guests what they want, and that’s exactly what we have unveiled for our poker players,” said Lorea Ytterberg, poker manager of Edgewater Casino. “Our new space is a natural fit for a poker room that gives our players a private retreat from the casino floor, a convenient bar and lounge, and a Las Vegas-style gaming experience.”

Just some of the features offered by the card room includes broadcasts of Pay-Per-View and other major sporting events, complimentary poker lessons, advance call-in wait list, and short wait times. The new room is already catching the attention of Canadian pros like Brad Booth, who has been found at the tables regularly since it opened.

“They have a $5-$5 PLO game that goes regularly and there is no cap on the buy-in, so it’s a good little game. It’s a good game while I’m home here in town,” said Booth. “The staff is great, Lorea does a great job. It’s a great place to play.”

Earlier this week, the Quebec government approved the province’s lottery commission to create and establish online poker and sports betting sites in 2010. The poker site will be ran by gaming company Loto-Quebec, in conjunction with the BC and Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Only residents within the province’s borders will have access to the site, though those same players will be allowed to play against users from other participating jurisdictions.

“I believe this to be an efficient way of fighting the underground economy,” said Quebec’s finance minister, Raymond Bachand. “Our citizens are not (currently) protected, and the money goes to illegal channels.”

According to Loto-Quebec, the poker site will use age-verification methods to keep underage players from playing, as well as including deposit limits and self-exclusion limits aimed at deterring problem gamblers.

“(Many) online gambling sites obviously do not offer an assistance program for vulnerable players,” said Loto-Quebec president and CEO Alain Cousineau. “(This) leaves the state to pick up the costs of problem online gambling without reaping any benefits.”

The Quebec government hopes to pull in at least $50 million in the next three years through the new venture, stating that regulating online poker was more practical than attempting to ban all existing gaming sites. And as usual, anti-gambling advocates are already speaking out against the new site, claiming that it will generate a large amount of problem gamblers.

“Any new type of gambling always attracts new people, especially now when it’s a hidden one that you can do in the den in your pajamas while your spouse is fast asleep,” a local anti-gambling advocate, Sol Boxenbaum, told CTV Montreal, a Quebec television station.

A little while back I talked about how eBay had an auction going for what many figured had to be a hoax; an official WSOP bracelet owned by the legendary T.J. Cloutier. The item was put up for sale by a pawn shop that claimed it had acquired the bracelet directly from T.J., a statement that has recently been confirmed by the poker pro himself. Well, that auction has ended and Cake Poker has scooped up the bracelet for a total of $4,006.

The bracelet was awarded to T.J. for winning the WSOP $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship, a feat that also netted himself $657,100. It is made of 14 karat gold and is diamond-encrusted, just one of the reasons why many players would never be able to part with it if they managed to win one. Cloutier hasn’t released an official reason why he pawned the bracelet in the first place, although it has been reported that he talked about it briefly with the producer of the Hardcore Poker Show.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Yeah, it’s mine. I was short. I pawned it. I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.”

Those following the journey of the bracelet wondered what exactly Cake Poker would do with the coveted prize, though the online site has already confirmed that they will be returning the bracelet to Cloutier after working it into some promotions.

“Since winning the bid and celebrating wildly, we have taken some time to reflect on our glorious new prize. As much as we would love to have a WSOP bracelet, or even award it to one of our cherished poker players, we can’t, in good conscience keep it from the man who rightfully won it, which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier…just as soon as we have some fun with it.”

When it comes to players willing to give back to the global community, poker has always played host to some of the most generous professional in the world of sports. Some poker pros donate money outright, while others like Jamie Gold host a number of charity-driven tournaments/events. Jennifer Harman has always been one of the frontrunners when it comes to giving back, even more so now that she has agreed to donate 1% of her future poker earnings to the NephCure foundation, an organization that researches cures for kidney diseases.

“Kidney disease is extremely difficult,” said Harman, who has undergone two kidney transplants herself. “It is invisible, and it affects kids and adults alike. NephCure is trying to find an answer, and I’m here to help by joining ‘All-in for a Cure.’”

The charity program ‘All-in for Cure’ has been in existence for some time now, having been founded by Poker Players International. The foundation asks poker players to donate 1% of their winnings to NephCure, with dozens of other pros including Lee Childs, Matt Glantz and Frank Vizza also a part of the cause.

“It is great to have someone with the pedigree and reputation of Jennifer joining PPI’s pledge program,” said PPI’s market head Eric Siegel, who has a son with kidney disease. “Having her involved in this program is a tremendous benefit to everyone, and I expect it to lead to more players coming on board. She understands the responsibility to give back. By doing so, hopefully we can find a cure for this horrible disease that affects thousands of people.”

In addition to her new commitment with NephCure, Harman will continue to host a special charity tournament that benefits the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Model and poker player, Lacy Jones, has just become the new fact of the CPT. She will be featured prominently on the tour’s new online video network Canadian Poker Player Television.

In recent years the CPT has seen a decline in female participation, and they are hoping that their new host will help bring women back to the felt.

Jones seems to be very excited about her new career with the CPT. “I truly love Canadians and am so happy to be a part of the Canadian Poker Tour,” said Jones.

To cement Jones’ place as host of the CPT, she will be featured on an upcoming issues of Canadian Poker Player Magazine, and will be the fact of the upcoming Winter Freeze out to be held at Cash Casino from Feb. 24-28.

“Here is a girl that loves hockey, loves Canadian beer and is an amazing poker player to top it off,” said CPT President Kelly Kellner.

Lacy Jones was originally hired by a poker company to do modeling work. She then moved on to hosting for the WSOP and doing various poker spokes modeling. Over the years she has proven that she is not just a pretty face in the poker room, but can be a contender on the tables as well. She has had multiple cashes in the Borgata Open and has a WSOP cash as well. She even picked up a sponsorship deal from Bodog.

Known as one of the most aggressive and controversial players on the circuit today, Tony G can now add being a part of major online poker site to his resume. The Australian has recently inked a deal with Party Poker to become a representative for the card room as well as hand over his assets for TonyGpoker.com, which includes a considerable database of players.

"I cannot wait to start playing for Team Party on the circuit. I’ve always loved Party and what better way to kick off than at the Aussie Millions. I am also really excited about the Premier League in February -- it is the best event in poker in my eyes. After finishing runner-up and third in the last two years the title has to be mine! I just hope my rivals have the heart and commitment to the game to stop me!”

The main points of the deal include Party Poker picking up the entry-fee tab for Tony at numerous live tournaments around the world, plus he’ll join other famous pros including Mike Sexton and Kara Scott at the online tables under the screen name “TonyG.” All existing players at TonyGPoker.com will have their accounts transferred over to NoblePoker.com, a subsidiary of PartyGaming.

“It’s business as usual for TonyGPoker.com. The exciting acquisition of its assets by the PartyGaming will create a larger more flexible and productive playing environment,” said Tony.

Wow, either times are even tougher than we think or one collector has just managed to get his hands on some premium poker collectables. I heard that some official WSOP bracelets had found their way to the auction site recently, but I figured they had to be replicas, because who in their right mind is going to sell the most sought-after item in all of poker if they have one? Well, looks like the rumor is true as there is not one but two different bracelets (though only one from the WSOP) available at the moment, both of which were won by legendary pro T.J. Cloutier.

The first bracelet up for sale is for the WSOP $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship that Cloutier won back in 2005. The current owner of the bracelet, a pawn shop, claims that the item is 100% authentic and is 14 karat gold complete with diamonds, supposedly obtained directly from T.J. himself. The starting bid for the bracelet is $2,999 with free shipping to the US, and the auction ends on Jan. 24th.

The second bracelet appears to be Cloutier’s from back in 2007 when he won the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV Championship. This item is listed with a starting price of $2,499 and ends on the same day as the WSOP bracelet.

Now I can understand why someone might not want to hold on to a bracelet from a non-WSOP event (though I would have to be REALLY hard up for cash to want to get rid of it), but was T.J. in deep with loan sharks when he gave his WSOP bracelet to the pawn shop? You have to figure that the shop wouldn’t pay more than say $2,000 for the bracelet, an amount that should be very small in comparison of what you would think the bankroll of Cloutier would be.

I’ll post the results of the auction later next week after it’s over.

Wow, either times are even tougher than we think or one collector has just managed to get his hands on some premium poker collectables. I heard that some official WSOP bracelets had found their way to the auction site recently, but I figured they had to be replicas, because who in their right mind is going to sell the most sought-after item in all of poker if they have one? Well, looks like the rumor is true as there is not one but two different bracelets (though only one from the WSOP) available at the moment, both of which were won by legendary pro T.J. Cloutier.

The first bracelet up for sale is for the WSOP $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship that Cloutier won back in 2005. The current owner of the bracelet, a pawn shop, claims that the item is 100% authentic and is 14 karat gold complete with diamonds, supposedly obtained directly from T.J. himself. The starting bid for the bracelet is $2,999 with free shipping to the US, and the auction ends on Jan. 24th.

The second bracelet appears to be Cloutier’s from back in 2007 when he won the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV Championship. This item is listed with a starting price of $2,499 and ends on the same day as the WSOP bracelet.

Now I can understand why someone might not want to hold on to a bracelet from a non-WSOP event (though I would have to be REALLY hard up for cash to want to get rid of it), but was T.J. in deep with loan sharks when he gave his WSOP bracelet to the pawn shop? You have to figure that the shop wouldn’t pay more than say $2,000 for the bracelet, an amount that should be very small in comparison of what you would think the bankroll of Cloutier would be.

I’ll post the results of the auction later next week after it’s over.

It is raining cats and dogs here in Los Angeles, but that hasn’t dissuaded players from heading over to the Commerce Casino to play the first event of the Los Angeles Poker Tour. The tour kicks off with a $1 million guarantee for $335 buy in. The event is expected to be very successful with four starting days and no cap on the amount of players to enter each starting day.
I arrived at the Commerce Casino with three other Vegas pros at 6:30 am of Day 1A. There were already over 600 players registered, and alternates started after 800 players. We decided to buy our seats before getting a few hours of rest before the tournament. It was a good thing we did because the line was out the door when we woke up. The venue was filled, and after the alternate cutoff was over there were 1,282 players that entered Day 1A.

Play at my first table was pretty slow at start out. The first level was 25/25, and the players seemed determined to feel each other out. I started raising more to take down some pots which proved to be successful. Another guy started playing aggressively as well, and I knew that he was going to put pressure on me if he got a chance. He raised in mid position to 150 and I re-raised in the big blind with AhKh to 450. He re-poped for 1,400. I put him on a medium pocket pair and made the call. The flop came K63 rainbow. He twitched when the flop came down, so I knew I was good. I checked, and he pushed me all in. I immediately made the call and he turned over 99. The turn and river blanked giving me the double up.

In the next two rounds I lost half my chips when I flopped middle pair and a flush draw against another lady on the table. I bet out and she called. She turned two pair which left me drowning when I bet and she raised. I called but wasn’t able to make my flush. A similar hand played out leaving me back at the starting stack.

I was relieved when I was moved to another table that had some big stacks. Surprisingly, they were letting me bet them off small pots which allowed me to maintain my stack. However, I was crippled at the 75/150 level when I called a short stack’s all in on the turn. I had second pair and he had ace high. Unfortunately, he hit his ace on the river taking 1/3 of my stack. The final blow came when an aggressive player raised to 500, and I shoved 2,500 with pocket jacks. He had about 8,000 behind, so I thought there was a good chance he would lay down a marginal hand. He called with Ad7d and hit the ace on the river to knock me out.

The tournament turn out for this event has been impressive and it is only Day 1A. Tomorrow is another day and a new start, so I will be sending more updates from the felt.

A new video has been posted on the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) website featuring executive director John Pappas’ thoughts on the upcoming poker bill that may be close to receiving a confirmed vote date.

“We expect within a few short weeks, most likely in the month of February, there will be a committee vote on this legislation,” said Pappas. “This is a very critical and important for vote for the Poker Players Alliance, as well as the poker community, and we need everyone to step up and make sure that their voices are heard.”

Pappas also encourage all poker members to get in touch with their respective Congress members and show their support behind the bill, which is being spearheaded by Rep. Barney Frank. The bill, if passed, would legalize and regulate online poker for the entirety of the United States.

“This will be the first time — ever — that there will be a vote on licensing and regulation of Internet poker and Internet gaming in general,” said Pappas. “We need bi-partisan support, and we need your help in achieving that. Over the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing more from us about things you can to do to alert your members of Congress about this important committee vote and why they should vote in support of HR 2267, so get ready to advocate for poker.”

Many US players have found ways to play poker online, but returning to full legalization would likely result in another poker boom thanks to the marketing tornado that would follow, not to mention the easy deposit methods that will once again be available. Why would the Congress approve such a bill? Well, it appears that the U.S. Treasury could make receive as much as $42 billion in poker-related taxes over the next 10 years if regulation is approved.

We’ve been seeing some fairly positive strides forward in terms of poker expansion across the US the past six months, with the latest moves coming out of Pennsylvania. The state has just passed a law that legalizes poker, blackjack and a handful of other table games at slots casinos, allowing the businesses to offer a much more complete gambling environment for their customers.

Residents within the state lines shouldn’t expect to be able to play Texas Hold ‘Em this weekend however, as the process to incorporate card rooms and tables in existing establishments could take up to half a year to implement. However, the Pennsylvanian treasury will be able to reap the benefits immediately since millions of dollars in license fees are expected to start rolling in right away.

The larger casinos in Pennsylvania will qualify for up to 250 tables, while the two smaller resorts casinos in the state will be limited to 50. A third resort can be added to the list of qualified casinos in 2017.

Other states have already been pushing poker expansion through other means, including Indiana where representatives are currently considering allowing riverboat casinos on the Ohio River and Lake Michigan. In Ohio, voters have passed a ballot to put casinos in four cities, while Kentucky’s governor is trying to put slots and table games at racetracks across the state.

“I see it as a border war more than a national picture,” said University of Nevada-Las Vegas professor Bill Thompson, an expert on the gambling industry. “It is the gambling war of today — three years from now it might be something else.”

While most other poker shows will happily grab whatever well-known professional players that are available at the moment to appear on the program, Poker After Dark (PAD) has tried to make a habit of coming up with themed events in order to give viewers more of a reason to tune in. In the past, PAD has used gimmicks like a table of all poker commentators or all former WSOP bracelet winners to draw attention, and this week is no different, as the cast of six is comprised of players with famous nicknames.

All of this week’s poker pros have made numerous PAD appearances with the exception of Annette Obrestad, who needed to turn 21 before she could come on the show. Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, Phil Laak and Phil Hellmuth take up the remaining spots. The program will continue to run all week long and airs on NBC starting at 2:05am.

PAD was also kind enough to send out some fact sheets about each player so that fans could get better acquainted with the participants.

Annette Obrestad: (Seat 1)

- Nicknamed “The Huntress,” she is a 21-year-old professional poker player who resides in Sandnes, Norway
- Known as Annette_15 online, she began playing poker when she was 15 years old and amassed in excess of $1.75 million in online tournament winnings before winning the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe.
- In July 2007, defeated 179 players in an online tournament while only looking at her holecards once, which she says she did to show the importance of focusing on the other players on the table and playing position.

Mike Matusow: (Seat 2)
- Known as “The Mouth”. One of poker’s most recognizable players, named “The Mouth” for trash talking at the tables.
- Winner of three WSOP bracelets.
- Lifetime live tournament winnings in excess of $7.29 million.
- Released his autobiography entitled Check-Raising the Devil in May 2009.

Antonio Esfandiari: (Seat 3)
- Nicknamed “The Magician” for having been a professional magician before becoming a poker player
- Winner of one WSOP bracelet and one WPT event
- Career live tournament winnings in excess of $3.56 million

Erick Lindgren: (Seat 4)
- Nicknamed “E-Dog” and a very popular player among fans
- Won his first WSOP bracelet in 2008, and also made two other final tables
- Lifetime live tournament winnings in excess of $7.39 million.
- Author of the book Making the Final Table

Phil Laak: (Seat 5)
- Nicknamed “The Unabomber” for the trademark hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses he usually wears
- Holder of one WPT invitational title, and won the PartyPoker.com World Open V in London in October 2009.
- Career live tournament winnings in excess of $1.68 million
- Known for his humorous antics and mannerisms at the table

Phil Hellmuth: (Seat 6)
- Known as the “Poker Brat,” and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in July 2007
- Won his 11th WSOP bracelet in 2007, making him the only person in history to own so many
- Career live tournament winnings in excess of $10.99 million.
- Has made more WSOP final tables (41) than any other player in history

After some initial disbelief, it has now been confirmed that famed Los Angeles/Las Vegas poker pro Amir Vahedi has passed away due to complications with diabetes. Vahedi died in Las Vegas on January 8th, with first news of his death having been delivered through the personal blog of friend Mark Seif.

"Have spoken to two more of Amir’s close friends who have been in contact with Amir’s family. Sadly, they each confirmed the terrible news. Amir was a gentle and kind man who always made me laugh. I will miss him terribly."

Following the release of Vahedi’s passing, numerous poker pros posted their condolences on their Twitter pages.

"Amir Vahedi was one of the good guys. I'm very sad. RIP," Howard Lederer wrote.

"Rest In Peace my old friend...Amir was one of the nicest, gentlest guys on tour, and everyone loved him," Phil Hellmuth said.

"Wow. This is real? Few people showed me as many smiles and as much love as Amir Vahedi, in my poker infancy. Truly heartbroken," offered Joe Sebok.

Vahedi rose to poker fame when he made the final table at the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, the same tournament where Chris Moneymaker helped launch all of poker into international celebrity. Amir also won his first and only WSOP bracelet that year, winning the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event. He was also known as one of the best poker coaches around, having a stable of students that included Ben Affleck.