The PokerStars $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million on Sunday December 18th is possibly the most anticipated online poker tournament of the year.
With the potential to break the record for the largest ever online poker prize pool of $12 million set in the World Championship of Online Poker in 2010, and award the most valuable single first prize ever (currently $2,278,097.50), this is the tournament that everybody is aiming to enter. Now YOU can win your seat for the $215.00 buy-in event courtesy of Poker News Report.
Join the PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebrations with Poker News Report
Poker News Report is hosting its very own private satellite tournament on the PokerStars site this coming Sunday November 20th at 14.00 ET (7.00pm GMT/8.00pm CET) with one seat added to the prize pool for the PokerStars $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million. This satellite tournament is exclusive to readers of Poker News Report who use the password PNREPORT to enter and pay the $5.50 buy-in. Cash prizes for the tournament will also be awarded in line with PokerStars regular payout table so, should 50 players enter the tournament, everybody who reaches the final table will cash – with the winner receiving $150.00 PLUS an entry to the $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million.
Fantastic Opportunity to Satellite Your Way to $10 Million Event
Whereas most of PokerStars own low buy-in satellites into the feature tournament are geared via the Mega-Satellite on December 11th, or require that you overcome a field of hundreds in a triple shootout, the “PokerNewsReport 10th Anniv Satellite” is a one-off NL Hold´em Freezeout with a 1,500 chip starting stack and 10 minutes blinds. Breaks in the tournament will be synchronised with other PokerStars tournaments, and the Poker News Report 10th Anniversary Satellite is conveniently timed to slot between other feature Sunday tournaments on the PokerStars site.
Where to Find the Poker News Report $10 Million Satellite
The Poker News Report $10 million satellite will be appearing soon in the “Private” lobby of the PokerStars “Tourney” menu. If the tournaments are not displayed in chronological order, click on the “Date” button and scroll down until you reach Sunday´s “PokerNewsReport 10th Anniv Satellite”. Remember, you also need the password PNREPORT to enter the game and pay the $5.50 buy-in (2.75 VPPs are also awarded to each participant in the tournament).
Join the PokerStars 10th Birthday Party Today
If you do not yet have an account on PokerStars, be sure to click on the link below to download the free software, register your account and take advantage of the PokerStars 100% first deposit match.
We're only midway through Season X of the World Poker Tour and it's apparent that one of the biggest poker tours is only going to get bigger with the expansion of the circuit to include Main Events next year across North American and Europe, all culminating in next May's WPT World Championship in Las Vegas. The WPT's first new event of 2012 will be in Dublin, in January, followed by a return visit to Venice in February. The last of European stops for the 2011-2012 season will be in Vienna, Austria, in March. Last year, the series in Vienna set the record for the largest field of a WPT Main Event in Europe.
Season X is also going to include its annual trip to California for the Los Angeles Poker Classic and the Bay 101 Shooting Star events before traveling to Florida for the second Semino Hard Rock Poker Showdown as well as the debut World Poker Tour event in the brand-new Jacksonville Poker Room.
It's a prop bet that was announced over two years ago and it's finally just a week away: online poker pro Lex Veldhuis and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier are going to take to the ring for five three-minute rounds of MMA action. There will only be a winner declared if there is a knockout or a player quits. Otherwise, the match is a wash. While spinning kicks and punches are permitted, headbutts, elbows, and groin kicks are strictly forbidden. There will be a referee in the ring to ensure that the rules are enforced at all time.
Veldhuis is confident he's going to win, saying that Grospellier's "coordination seems a bit bad and I don't think he is a natural athlete." However, he does admit that his friend is in better shape and that all in all the matchup is pretty even.
"ElkY is in better shape and has been working out more consistently, going on special training camps and putting in a lot of hours."
While most of the poker community awaits with bated breath, Doyle Brunson told Veldhuis on Twitter that it all seemed a bit crazy: "Sounds like an ego fight. U guys are nuts, someone is going to get badly hurt."A couple of street fights?" I must have had 20. No fun."
Veldhuis's response was "kickboxing/mma is a pretty normal sport and accepted sport, esp these days. People rarely get hurt badly. Just a propbet ^_^"
The Texas Dolly got the last word when he said: "Yeah right! When you have broken bones, tell me about it. If you got hurt training, imagine how hard the real deal will be."
Now we want to see footage of Doyle Brunson streetfighting, stat!
A French investment group reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that could pave the way for the group to take control of beleaguered online poker operator Full Tilt Poker, an attorney for the investor group said Thursday.
The agreement provides that U.S. poker players—who had $150 million credited to their player accounts but never paid to them by Full Tilt Poker—would seek compensation through the Justice Department. However, it doesn't guarantee they will get that money back, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the deal, the investment group, Groupe Bernard Tapie, will buy the company's assets for $80 million, according to an agreement letter signed by Jason Cowley, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Group Bernard Tapie attorney Behnam Dayanim. The investor will try to restart Full Tilt's operations outside of the U.S., Mr. Dayanim said.
The deal allows for some money in bank accounts associated with Full Tilt that were seized by the U.S. government to be given to the investment group, according to the agreement letter. Accounting for that, the amount spent by Groupe Bernard Tapie for the assets would actually be around $40 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Now that the investors have reached an agreement with the Justice Department, Full Tilt and the investors will work out final terms of an agreement with one another "to bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible," Full Tilt said in an emailed statement.
The deal will require Full Tilt's current owners reaching a settlement of a civil lawsuit brought by the Justice Department against the company and forfeiting the company to the government, the agreement states. Groupe Bernard Tapie would then buy the company's assets from the government, and the government could use those funds to pay back players owed money by the company. Full Tilt has denied the civil suit's allegations.
The deal has the support of the company's current chief executive, Raymond Bitar, and is expected to pave the way for U.S. poker players to get paid back at least much of the money credited to them that was never paid by Full Tilt, said Jeff Ifrah, an attorney for Mr. Bitar.
Mr. Ifrah said Mr. Bitar wouldn't profit in the sale or gain a stake in the new version of the company.
In a statement, the company's attorney, Barry Boss, said he is pleased the agreement "provides a mechanism for U.S. players to get repaid."
A spokeswoman at the Justice Department declined to comment.
On April 15, the Justice Department shut down the U.S. business of Full Tilt, once the world's second-most-popular online poker site, along with its bigger competitor, PokerStars, and another company, Absolute Poker. The government also indicted Mr. Bitar and others on criminal charges and filed a $3 billion civil suit against the three companies, seeking $1 billion from Full Tilt.
The government alleges the companies engaged in bank fraud, money laundering and ran illegal gambling operations. The companies have denied the allegations and say the U.S. laws don't specifically outlaw online poker, which they say is a game that involves skill, in contrast to other gambling that is purely chance.
Full Tilt said immediately following the government's charges in April that it "is and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law."
Mr. Bitar, who lives outside the U.S., hasn't been arrested for the charges and hasn't responded to them.
While PokerStars returned money it owed to players in the U.S., Full Tilt at the time of the crackdown was nearly out of cash and unable to pay back the $150 million credited to its U.S. players. In June, regulators shut down the rest of the Dublin-based Full Tilt's operations, leaving thousands of poker players world-wide unable to access the money credited to them.
Full Tilt was licensed in the U.K.'s Channel Islands before its license to operate around the world was revoked.
Under the deal reached between Groupe Bernard Tapie and the Justice Department, the investors will "repay or make whole" poker players outside of the U.S. who are believed to be owed about $150 million, according to the agreement.
The company wouldn't be able to operate in the U.S. unless a new federal law is imposed allowing online poker.
The agreement would allow most of Full Tilt's 23 current shareholders to take a small percentage of the new entity. However, Mr. Bitar and three other company board members named in the Justice Department's civil lawsuit against the company wouldn't be allowed to own a piece of the company going forward, the agreement states.
In September the government accused Full Tilt owners and executives of defrauding players by paying themselves $444 million even as funds owed to users of their site—poker players—dwindled. Government actions to limit the company's ability to process money through banks had made it increasingly impossible to move player money into company-affiliated bank accounts, the government said. A U.S. attorney called the scheme a "Ponzi scheme."
Attorneys for Mr. Bitar and others have denied those allegations constituted a "Ponzi scheme."
A settlement by the company won't prevent the Justice Department from going ahead with its suit against those board members, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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A prominent US-based gaming lawyer and the CEO of a major casino gaming company presented totally different views regarding the future of the online poker industry in the US. Speaking at a 2-day online gaming law conference held in Aria Hotel in Las Vegas, attorney I. Nelson Rose said that he doesn’t expect any online poker bill to be passed in the near future although the demands for such laws from online gaming companies and online poker players are quite strong and in spite of the argument that such laws will increase gaming revenue. Rose, who teaches gaming law at the Whittier Law School in California, is pessimistic in his views because the Congress has shown that it is unable to agree on any specific law.
Rose also stated that New Jersey, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, Florida, and Nevada have shown that they are capable of passing intrastate online poker laws. According to him, states such as Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania are capable of entering the intrastate gambling market because they already have tribal gambling and casino activities. He also says that low population might pose as a challenge for intrastate poker.
On the other hand, Gary Loveman, the CEO of Caesars Entertainment, is much more optimistic about the future of online poker in the US. Addressing investors at a meeting, Loveman stated that regulated online poker will become a reality in the US within 12 – 14 months.
He stated in an article published in August on Poker News Daily: “I do believe there’s a will in Congress to correct this. There’s a sense of inevitability that this ought to be something people should do and that we ought to clean up the regulatory and policing environment for it and that’s what we’re seeking.” He also stated that the online poker industry in the US could generate as much as $5 billion annually.
According to Loveman, Caesars is ready to enter the US online poker industry as soon as the Congress passes the bill and has already signed a deal to facilitate its smooth movement into the industry. In March, Caesars Entertainment signed a deal with 888 Holding Plc to establish a WSOP brand to provide online poker services to non US players. Besides, Caesars Entertainment has already achieved a lot in the online gaming industry and is already well ahead of its competitors.
The final of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which was held last week at the Rio, witnessed several old and young professional poker players. Unfortunately, the game has been driven to the back seat in the US because of its unfriendly online poker gaming laws. US players are finding it increasingly difficult to gain access to legal online poker services, especially after the recent federal crackdown on top online poker giants Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker. While PokerStars was quick to refund US poker players, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker are yet to issue refunds.
American online poker players, therefore, are forced to play at unregulated online poker sites or at land casinos with poker rooms or play at Yahoo and Facebook. Fortunately, the Internet is a great place for learning poker. Four of the seven players who won the Main Event of the WSOP are non US players who learned how to play poker online. They are Joe Hachem of Australia, Peter Eastgate of Denmark, Jonathan Duhamel of Canada, and Heinz of Germany.
Doyle Brunson, who is 78 years old, was received warmly when he participated in the induction ceremony to the Poker Hall to Fame. When the celebrations came to an end, the three Main Event final players took their seats with Pius Heiz, a 22-year-old college student from Germany, as one of them.
Brunson learned how to play the game in Texas and ended up at the high stakes tables of Las Vegas. Heinz learned the game online from his house in Cologne in Germany. One of the sponsored players at PokerStars, Heinz spends most of this leisure playing poker tournaments online. While Brunson always wears his cowboy hat, Heinz wears a hoodie.
Bruson won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets in 1976, having cashed at 34 tournaments and earning over $2.9 million in the course of a poker career of over 35 years. Heinz won over $5.715 million in the WSOP Main Event. The second of Brunson’s two Main Event titles came 12 years before the birth of Heinz in 1977.
Currently, efforts are being made to legalize and regulate the online gambling poker industry in the US. WSOP owners Caesars Entertainment Corp. are the leading advocates of the legalization and regulation of the online poker industry. The company has the support of leading gaming providers such as Boyd Gaming Corp, MGM Resorts International, and Fertitta Interactive
A followup on the Full Tilt sale to Groupe Bernard Tapie, committee hearings on U.S. online poker regulation, and a possible new bill in Congress. It’s all in today’s edition of the PTP Hit and Run.
Full Tilt deal followup: So the deal for Groupe Bernard Tapie to purchase Full Tilt Poker is done, except for the shareholders approving the sale, it appears. Here’s some stuff from around the interwebz on the sale:
–A statement from Full Tilt Poker, to Subject: Poker.
–Podcast from Wicked Chops Poker.
–Is anyone going to play at Full Tilt if and when it reopens?
Congress on online poker: Over the past couple of days, there have been a pair of committee hearings in the United States Congress. Here’s a look at what went down:
–The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade held a hearing today, with most of the witnesses in favor of regulation. However, there was no talk about what might happen next with a House bill that is being considered. More on that hearing here. If you want to read the testimony yourself, you can read that here.
–In the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Thursday, they also talked about regulation. You can get a recap of that hearing here, in which tribal interests made it clear that they weren’t very happy with the current bill in front of the House. You can watch a webcast of that hearing here, if you have two hours to spare.
–The New York Post is reporting that things are looking up for regulation. In fact, Sen. Jon Kyl, who used to be one of the biggest opponents, may co-sponsor a new bill.
EPT: The European Poker Tour event in Greece has a big name in the lead. Literally. Charalampos Kapernopoylos is leading in his home country. More here. Day 2 leader and PokerStars pro Toni Judet is still alive, as well.
And PokerStars caught up with Vanessa Rousso at the tourney:
Your mind may still be reeling after the story broke that the Department of Justice and Group Bernard Tapie allegedly brokered an $80 million sale of Full Tilt Poker, but that was not the only big political news on the horizon this week. Earlier Thursday afternoon, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs met to discuss the tribes’ role in possible regulated online gambling. This week also brought news on the next House Subcommittee hearing on online poker and the potential for intrastate online poker in Nevada come 2012. We’ve got the scoop on all of those in this edition of The Fight:
Senate Hearing on Tribal Gaming Features D’Amato, Pappas
Thursday the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs met to discuss what role Native American tribes would play in regulated and legalized online poker in the United States. The hearing featured three panels comprised of nine different witnesses, including Poker Players Alliance Chairman and former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, PPA Executive Director John Pappas, and representatives from tribes such as the Tulalip and the Mohegan.
In addition to having two representatives on the panel, the PPA also live Tweeted the hearing via @PPAPoker. Included in the their Tweets is a link to a written copy of D’Amato’s testimony. As he did in last month’s House hearing, D’Amato again pointed out that Americans can still play on offshore sites, stating, “Even today an American with a checking account and ahigh-speed Internet connection can deposit money on an offshore account and play poker,gamble on casino games, bet on sports and wager on horse races. What Americans cannot do is play Internet poker on a site that is licensed and regulated in the US, that creates jobs forAmerican workers, or that provides revenue for federal, state and of course tribal governments. It is well-past time for Congress to change that, and there are efforts underway, particularly inthe U. S. House of Representatives, to do so.”
In terms of tribal participation, D’Amato and the PPA strongly endorsed that native tribes play a major part in any regulated online gambling market. Should a tribe not want to participate in such an endeavor, D’Amato proposes the ability for tribes and other states to opt out of the endeavor. While D’Amato and the PPA did not offer an explicit plan for how to go about taxing tribes fairly, he did express optimism that a fair compromise could be reached. By contrast, the National Indian Gaming Association, which was represented Chairman Ernie Stevens and Senior Advisor Mark Van Norman on the panel, believe that tribal profits on online gaming should not be subject to taxation, according to their 201 Resolution on Internet Gaming.
The Associated Press offers a recap of the major points of Thursday’s meeting.
Hearings Continue in the House on Friday
Online poker’s time in Congress continues on Friday with a second meeting of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade regarding regulated online gambling. The list of participants includes US Representatives John Campbell (R-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), and John Wolff (R-VA). Campbell and Frank will be speaking in support of HR 1174, a piece of legislation they co-authored also known as the Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act. Wolf, an ardent supporter of 2006′s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will be speaking ot against regulated online poker.
Others scheduled to appear include Frank Fahrenkoph of the American Gaming Association, Mark Lipparelli of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and Charles McIntyre of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. The Committee’s website includes a list of witnesses along with written copies of their expected testimony, as well as a rundown of the major issues that will be discussed during the hearing.
The last Subcommittee meeting focused on Rep Joe Barton’s (R-TX) online poker bill, HR2366, bu it appears Frank and Campbell’s bill will get some time n the spotlight on Friday. The NY Post is reporting there is potentially another online gaming bill in the works too, but the sponsor might surprise you. According to the publication, the once ardently anti-online gambling Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) is rumored to be co-sponsoring a bill legalizing online gambling that is set to be introduced before the year ends. Kyl’s office declined to comment on the story.
The hearing is scheduled to take place at 9am ET on Friday.
Nevada Gaming Will Begin Application Process for Online Poker Licenses in February
Part of the reason the House continues to meet regarding the potential regulation of online poker is because many state governments, such as Nevada, are taking the issue of online gambling into their own hands via intrastate online gambling initiatives. Just this week, VegasInc reported that Nevada Gaming Control Board’s own Lipparelli told attendees at the US Online Gaming Law conference that the group would start accepting applications from companies seeking an online poker license starting in February. These licensees would be able to offer online poker to resident’s within Nevada’s borders only.
Within his testimony for Friday’s hearing though, Lipparelli does concede there will be some legal questions that will likely need to be answered before these intrastate sites begin operations. Within that testimony, Lipparelli also endorses a federal framework as opposed to state-by-state regulation.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated that all aspects of the deal for the sale of Full Tilt Poker to Groupe Bernard Tapie had been finalized, including an agreement between Full Tilt Poker and the U.S. Department of Justice. A final announcement is still pending.
The French investment firm Groupe Bernard Tapie has signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to buy Full Tilt Poker, an attorney for the investment group said, though a key hurdle remains.
The online gambling site was shut down in April by the Justice Department for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme.
GBT will pay $80 million for Full Tilt, according to Behnam Dayanim, the attorney for GBT.
The deal is pending a settlement with Full Tilt and the Justice Department.
As a prerequisite to the deal, Full Tilt Poker would agree to forfeit its assets to the U.S. government, which would then sell the assets to GBT.
That agreement is not yet final. However, Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar's attorney, Jeff Ifrah, is confident that it will ultimately go through: "I think it's very safe to assume that the U.S. and GBT would not have gone through the process of arriving at a signed agreement without very strong comfort that the company would facilitate the deal by voluntarily forfeiting its assets."
When its U.S. operations were shut down, Full Tilt owed as much as $390 million to players worldwide, with $150 million to U.S. players.
As part of the deal, the GBT would take responsibility for payments to non-U.S. players, and the Justice Department would facilitate paybacks to the American gamblers, according to Ifrah. American players would apply to the Department of Justice for compensation.
It is unclear whether American players will be fully reimbursed as a result of the agreement. "I think that's an open-ended question if they'll get fully reimbursed," Ifrah said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged Full Tilt executives with defrauding players by misrepresenting that their funds were "safe, secure and available for withdrawal" when board members were actually withdrawing from those accounts for themselves.
Germany has taken on the poker world in style this year. First Pius Heinz is crowned this year’s World Series of Poker champion, and now the International Federation of Poker has announced that Germany is the winner of the first Nations Cup.
The team was led by Stephan Kalhammer and included the likes of Sebastian Ruthenberg, Moritz Kranich, Hans Martin Vogl,Sandra Naujoks, and Tobias Reinkemeier.
The Nations Cup was held in London as part of the London Mind Sports Festival and featured a twist on the usual no-limit hold’em tournament style with opponents dealt exactly the same cards in exactly the same position on neighboring tables. Germany proved they played the cards the best by accumulating 24 points to win the event. There was no cash prize up for grabs in this event but a whole heap of national pride was on the line.
France and Brazil were tied on 22 points but Brazil’s higher chip count ensured a runner-up finish, with France in third and the Zynga poker team in fourth. Holland followed in fifth and Spain in sixth.
Today sees the beginning of The Table, a $500,000 freeroll to be played by regular no-limit Texas hold’em rules with an invite-only field of 130 including celebrities and poker’s top professionals. Stay tuned as tomorrow the first official world champion will be crowned.
A French investment group reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that could pave the way for the group to take control of beleaguered online poker operator Full Tilt Poker, an attorney for the investor group said Thursday.
The agreement provides that U.S. poker players—who had $150 million credited to their player accounts but never paid to them by Full Tilt Poker—would seek compensation through the Justice Department. However, it doesn't guarantee they will get that money back, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the deal, the investment group, Groupe Bernard Tapie, will buy the company's assets for $80 million, according to an agreement letter signed by Jason Cowley, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Group Bernard Tapie attorney Behnam Dayanim. The investor will try to restart Full Tilt's operations outside of the U.S., Mr. Dayanim said.
The deal allows for some money in bank accounts associated with Full Tilt that were seized by the U.S. government to be given to the investment group, according to the agreement letter. Accounting for that, the amount spent by Groupe Bernard Tapie for the assets would actually be around $40 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Now that the investors have reached an agreement with the Justice Department, Full Tilt and the investors will work out final terms of an agreement with one another "to bring this matter to a complete resolution as soon as possible," Full Tilt said in an emailed statement.
The deal will require Full Tilt's current owners reaching a settlement of a civil lawsuit brought by the Justice Department against the company and forfeiting the company to the government, the agreement states. Groupe Bernard Tapie would then buy the company's assets from the government, and the government could use those funds to pay back players owed money by the company. Full Tilt has denied the civil suit's allegations.
The deal has the support of the company's current chief executive, Raymond Bitar, and is expected to pave the way for U.S. poker players to get paid back at least much of the money credited to them that was never paid by Full Tilt, said Jeff Ifrah, an attorney for Mr. Bitar.
Mr. Ifrah said Mr. Bitar wouldn't profit in the sale or gain a stake in the new version of the company.
In a statement, the company's attorney, Barry Boss, said he is pleased the agreement "provides a mechanism for U.S. players to get repaid."
A spokeswoman at the Justice Department declined to comment.
On April 15, the Justice Department shut down the U.S. business of Full Tilt, once the world's second-most-popular online poker site, along with its bigger competitor, PokerStars, and another company, Absolute Poker. The government also indicted Mr. Bitar and others on criminal charges and filed a $3 billion civil suit against the three companies, seeking $1 billion from Full Tilt.
The government alleges the companies engaged in bank fraud, money laundering and ran illegal gambling operations. The companies have denied the allegations and say the U.S. laws don't specifically outlaw online poker, which they say is a game that involves skill, in contrast to other gambling that is purely chance.
Full Tilt said immediately following the government's charges in April that it "is and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law."
Mr. Bitar, who lives outside the U.S., hasn't been arrested for the charges and hasn't responded to them.
While PokerStars returned money it owed to players in the U.S., Full Tilt at the time of the crackdown was nearly out of cash and unable to pay back the $150 million credited to its U.S. players. In June, regulators shut down the rest of the Dublin-based Full Tilt's operations, leaving thousands of poker players world-wide unable to access the money credited to them.
Full Tilt was licensed in the U.K.'s Channel Islands before its license to operate around the world was revoked.
Under the deal reached between Groupe Bernard Tapie and the Justice Department, the investors will "repay or make whole" poker players outside of the U.S. who are believed to be owed about $150 million, according to the agreement.
The company wouldn't be able to operate in the U.S. unless a new federal law is imposed allowing online poker.
The agreement would allow most of Full Tilt's 23 current shareholders to take a small percentage of the new entity. However, Mr. Bitar and three other company board members named in the Justice Department's civil lawsuit against the company wouldn't be allowed to own a piece of the company going forward, the agreement states.
In September the government accused Full Tilt owners and executives of defrauding players by paying themselves $444 million even as funds owed to users of their site—poker players—dwindled. Government actions to limit the company's ability to process money through banks had made it increasingly impossible to move player money into company-affiliated bank accounts, the government said. A U.S. attorney called the scheme a "Ponzi scheme."
Attorneys for Mr. Bitar and others have denied those allegations constituted a "Ponzi scheme."
A settlement by the company won't prevent the Justice Department from going ahead with its suit against those board members, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A total of 393 players have turned out for a successful running of the World Poker Tour Jacksonville, creating a prize pool of $1,277,250 for the $3,500 buy-in event.
Some of the game’s top pros entered — such as Jonathan Little, Nick Schulman, Dwyte Pilgrim, Lee Markholt, Victor Ramdin, Jason Mercier, Will Failla, Tommy Vedes and Matthew Jarvis.
The tournament finished day 1b on Saturday and concludes on Nov. 22. Card Player will provide a recap of the event.
While playing poker might be illegal in most parts of the country, youngsters in the city have taken recourse to playing it online and many are actually making quite a bit of money from it. Online poker is the new rage and many have even given up their jobs for it. There are many sites like Poker Strategy, Poker guru and Fudoo Poker that not only facilitate poker games between players but also give online tutorials to novices. Clawin D’Souza, who is an engineer, left his job two months back to pursue his passion full time. He says he makes Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh just by playing poker online.
“It all started when I was in college two years back and I wanted to make some quick bucks online and came across poker. I gambled with $50 and got $1,000 in the first game. Since then, there has been no turning back. There are about six lakh people around the world living on poker. It is a game of luck and talent and I have been improving myself and earning more. When I started earning more, I decided to quit my job and spend more time playing poker,” he says.
Another poker player in the city, Nikhil, feels that mostly it is Facebook users who turn to serious poker players. “Youngsters get addicted to the online poker game on Facebook. They later on become serious poker players after they turned 18 which is the legal age to play. This is how poker is introduced to youngsters in India. However on Facebook, you play with chips and not with real money,” says Nikhil.
Another engineer, Anil Yadav, also quit his job 10 months ago for poker. “I am still in my initial stages and I earn $500 per month. Poker is always connected to luck but this is not true. It is your skill that helps you win a game and you improve with time. However, one should be aware that it is not for everyone. There are many youngsters who give up studies and jobs just to play poker. I would suggest that people do that only if they succeed in earning about $1,000 to $2,000 dollars every month,” he says.
Bellator 115 lb. women’s fighter Jessica Aguilar has been transformed.
The 29-year-old contender meets Lisa Ward this Saturday night at Bellator 58 in a rematch of their 2006 bout, which saw Ward earn a submission victory. The loss came in Aguilar’s first bout as a professional mixed martial artist, and she gone 11-3 since the loss.
But, come this weekend, Ward will be introduced again to Jessica Aguilar, only this time, she should can simply refer to her by her nickname, “Jag.”
“That was five and a half years ago,” Aguilar told HeavyMMA-com, referring to her loss to Ward. “Five and a half years ago, that was Jessica Aguilar. Now, this is “Jag” the fighter. I have evolved tremendously and now have a lot of experience. I’m a fighter now, before I wasn’t, so it’s going to be a totally different person going in there. I’m just excited about this fight. Were both very skilled. I have a lot of respect for Lisa. It’s going to be an exciting fight.”
Aguilar’s transformation was not a slow progression like most mixed martial artists, who take years to climb the ranks of their respective divisions, all an effort to feel the weight of a championship belt.
No, “Jag” can remember exactly when the transformation took place; the fight that helped her make the decision to dedicate herself to the sport in a way she had never done so before.
“I would say when I joined the Bodog platform,” Aguilar said. “When Bodog invited me over to fight for them. I think that was the switch from Jessica Aguilar to “Jag,” just because of the level of competition. It was a different level of competition and I started training much more. I kind of started understanding the sport.”
While Aguilar may have changed her identity as a fighter since her debut under the Bodog banner years ago, the goal for her in this sport has always been the same; she wants to fight the best to become the best.
Currently riding a two-fight winning streak, with her only loss since 2009 coming to Zoila Gurgel, Aguilar is putting together the pieces and making a run at the championship belt. But she is not looking past anyone, realizing that defeating Ward is the next step towards her achieving her ultimate goal, a challenge that she is confident will end up in her favor.
“My focus right now is for Saturday, for Lisa Ward, and that’s what I’m focused on today,” Aguilar said. “My fight is going to be airing on MTV2, so it’s going to be an exciting fight. My predictions, well, I know it’s going to sound vague, but my goal is to be number one, but my focus is Lisa right now. But to become number one, I have to beat Lisa. So my prediction is I’m going to get the ‘W.’”
A win would certainly be a big factor in driving Aguilar further up the ladder towards her aspiration of becoming the top female fighter in the world.
But the championship belt is not exactly why she wants to hold the rank of number one. Rather, she wants to pave the way for other females who want to break into the sport that is predominantly dominated by male competitors. And this Saturday night, she is thrilled to display her skillset in front of the many watching live and on MTV2, as she sees her fight as just another step forward in the progression of women’s mixed martial arts and another chance to send out her message to women athletes thinking about giving the sport a chance.
“I’m just so happy that we get to showcase our skills so that everyone can see that us females fight the same as the guys,” Aguilar said. “We train as hard as the guys, but just to have the opportunity to be showcased on live TV, it’s just an honor.”
“I think (women’s MMA) is only growing. Look at it now. This weekend we have females on two main cards on TV, which is great. We’re going to continue growing. We can only go up from here… My advice to women, all the girls that want to pursue this sport, go for it. Keep training, find a gym, and let’s keep it growing. Five years from now it’s going to be like the WNBA or female tennis. So it’s growing. The sky is the limit.”
Follow Jessica Aguilar on Twitter: @jagatt and like her on Facebook (Jessica Jag Aguilar | Facebook)
The poker tables were full again Sunday afternoon in Orange Park. But there was more going on than usual games. This time, there was more than $1 million at stake.
The World Poker Tour is in town for a five-day tournament. A total of 393 players paid $3,500 to enter the tournament, putting the total prize pool at $1.27 million, with the winner getting $300,000 sometime Tuesday.
They came from all over the country, even Canada. Fewer than half came from Florida.
Jason Mercier, ranked No. 1 by ESPN, came to town to play in the tournament. But he’d already been knocked out. Andy Frankenberger, the WPT’s current player of the year, flew in straight from a London tournament, and then flew back out again after he lost all his chips.
Early Sunday afternoon, there were 150 players left and it was dropping steadily.
But Eli Gomez was one of those still in the running. The Orange Park resident started the day in third place with 181,000 chips. Within an hour, he was down to 130,000 and off the leaderboard.
“I took two big hits from the same guy,” Gomez said as he moved into poker-speak: “I had a flush, but he got a bigger one on the river. But he was a short stack so he’d probably bet the ace, anyway.”
That means the other guy didn’t have many chips left, so he was likely to go for broke with any kind of decent hand. And, as luck would have it, he made his flush on the final card and won the hand.
Gomez is 52 and tried his hand at real estate when he retired from the Navy. But the market fell out. Now he plays poker once or twice a week, a game he only took up years ago when the poker room opened in the former dog track in St. Johns County.
Now the poker room at the Orange Park Kennel Club is closer. A third poker room, almost as big as the other two put together, is scheduled to open early next year on Monument Road next to Regency Square mall.
While the tournament filled many of the tables, there were still regular players, playing the usual Sunday afternoon games with real money. Each dollar they threw onto the table was their own.
The biggest difference in playing a tournament, Gomez said, is that when you’re out, you’re out.
“In a cash game,” he said, “you can rebuy or stock up your chips. Of course, in a tournament, you can only lose so much. You can only lose your entry fee.”
A regional WPT tournament was at Orange Park in August, but the current event is the first time this poker room has been part of the official tour.
In addition to the $300,000, the winner gets a $25,000 seat in the WPT world championship.
But the last 40 players in the tournament will all walk away with money, from $187,000 for second place to $7,500 for 31st-40th places.
By the end of play today, they’ll be down to six players, said Deborah Giardina, WPT’s executive director of poker operations. When the game starts again Tuesday at noon, it’ll be streamed online with a 30-minute delay. (You don’t want anyone feeding live info to the players.)
Another WPT tournament will be held at the poker room in April.
That one will cost $5,000 to enter. Giardina said she expects a prize pool of close to $2 million for that event.
News broke late last week of the British poker superstar that is Jake Cody signing for the 3D online poker site, PKR, as part of their impressive roster of sponsored pros. This is Cody's first official sponsorship deal and is a major coup for PKR.
Like many Cody, originally from Rochdale but now residing in Leeds, cut his teeth playing online poker and was a major winner in the virtual world before he hit the big time in the live arena. His first two cashes in live tournaments were nothing to write home about but his third most certainly was. You see his third live result saw him win the PokerStars EPT Deauville Main Event for a cool €857,000 in January 2010.
Amazingly, just eight months later Cody went on to win the London leg of the World Poker Tour and just nine months after that fantastic result he won the $25,000 No Limit Hold'em Heads Up Championship at the World Series of Poker to complete the coveted Triple Crown of live titles, becoming the youngest-ever player to achieve this remarkable feat. He also nearly added a WSOPE bracelet to his name but he ultimately finished in seventh place in the WSOPE Main Event in Cannes this October.
To date the 23-year old has more than $2,800,000 in live tournament winnings and it is easy to see why he is one of the most respected and feared poker players in the world.
Upon signing for PKR, Cody said, “I’m very excited about joining Team PKR Pro. I’ve been patient with sponsorship, waiting for the right deal to come along. When I spoke to PKR I was really impressed with the whole setup and the ideas that they have going forward, and I knew straight away I wanted to be part of it! It’s a great site to be involved with right now and I think I can help take it to the next level.”
Cody becomes the seventh member of Team PKR Pro, the other being James “james666” Sudworth, Sofia “welllbet” Lovgren, Marc “Waswini” Bariller, Sascha “locodice” Walter, WSOPE bracelet winner Scott “PKR_Scott” Shelley and EPT Snowfest Champion Vladimir “Beyne” Geshkenbein.
AmericasCardroom has acquired fellow Yatahay Network skin DoylesRoom. Existing players will be transitioned to AmericasCardroom and will retain their usernames, login info, and balances. In the deal they have acquired the player and affiliate databases, the player liabilities, and the support staff.
AmericasCardroom re-opened in August 2011 (on Yatahay), after closing in 2007 when OnGame blocked US players. Since re-opening, AmericasCardroom has marketed heavily including commercials on ESPN and GSN, openly welcoming players from the United States. DoylesRoom had only moved to Yatahay at the end of January after leaving Cake. It was believed at the time DoylesRoom had been purchased by the backers of the Yatahay Network.
With the potential to break the record for the largest ever online poker prize pool of $12 million set in the World Championship of Online Poker in 2010, and award the most valuable single first prize ever (currently $2,278,097.50), this is the tournament that everybody is aiming to enter. Now YOU can win your seat for the $215.00 buy-in event courtesy of Poker News Report.
Join the PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebrations with Poker News Report
Poker News Report is hosting its very own private satellite tournament on the PokerStars site this coming Sunday November 20th at 14.00 ET (7.00pm GMT/8.00pm CET) with one seat added to the prize pool for the PokerStars $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million. This satellite tournament is exclusive to readers of Poker News Report who use the password PNREPORT to enter and pay the $5.50 buy-in. Cash prizes for the tournament will also be awarded in line with PokerStars regular payout table so, should 50 players enter the tournament, everybody who reaches the final table will cash – with the winner receiving $150.00 PLUS an entry to the $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million.
Fantastic Opportunity to Satellite Your Way to $10 Million Event
Whereas most of PokerStars own low buy-in satellites into the feature tournament are geared via the Mega-Satellite on December 11th, or require that you overcome a field of hundreds in a triple shootout, the “PokerNewsReport 10th Anniv Satellite” is a one-off NL Hold´em Freezeout with a 1,500 chip starting stack and 10 minutes blinds. Breaks in the tournament will be synchronised with other PokerStars tournaments, and the Poker News Report 10th Anniversary Satellite is conveniently timed to slot between other feature Sunday tournaments on the PokerStars site.
Where to Find the Poker News Report $10 Million Satellite
The Poker News Report $10 million satellite will be appearing soon in the “Private” lobby of the PokerStars “Tourney” menu. If the tournaments are not displayed in chronological order, click on the “Date” button and scroll down until you reach Sunday´s “PokerNewsReport 10th Anniv Satellite”. Remember, you also need the password PNREPORT to enter the game and pay the $5.50 buy-in (2.75 VPPs are also awarded to each participant in the tournament).
Join the PokerStars 10th Birthday Party Today
If you do not yet have an account on PokerStars, be sure to click on the link below to download the free software, register your account and take advantage of the PokerStars 100% first deposit match.