It may not be the most lucrative score someone will have at the Rio in Las Vegas this summer. It may not be the most prestigious event. But it’s the first gold bracelet awarded at the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the $70,859 that Chiab “Chip” Saechao won along with it in the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em event will spend just fine.
All across the United States, legislatures are working to legalize online poker and other forms of online gambling. It seems as though new pieces of legislation are popping up in a new state almost every week and most of the new measures reach some type of opposition, whether it be from other government officials or residents of the state. The state of California is one state that has been busy trying to offer this option and a recent poll shows that their residents are split on the subject.
Read More: California Poll Shows Voters Split on Online Poker Legislation
Nevada may be out in front in the online poker race, but California stands as the Holy Grail for the industry.
Phil Hellmuth, arguably poker’s biggest brand name, looks to be involved with future U.S. online poker. When asked if he’s looking forward to Nevada possibly going online by the end of the year, the 11-time bracelet winner said he’s excited for Internet poker in California.
“It’s going to be huge,” Hellmuth said Monday during an event at the 2012 World Series of Poker. “They say California alone will generate as much [online poker] revenue as the country of Italy.”
However, Internet card playing in the Golden State faces an uphill battle.
Read More: Phil Hellmuth Excited About California Online Poker
Australian gambling service providers have welcomed the recommendations of a review into the Interactive Gambling Act which could usher in online poker tournaments and online in-the-run betting.
Josh Blanksby, director, legal and corporate affairs at Betfair, told Computerworld Australia that promoting online poker tournaments in Australia is a step in the right direction. He said overseas operators already offer these services to Australian consumers and operate in an unregulated environment.
“There’s clearly a demand for it and we’re of the view that if possible they should be betting with Australian operators where it’s much safer and controlled,” Blanksby said.
Read More: Australian online poker gets boost from report - interactive gambling act 2001, ARN Review - CIO
You follow players on Twitter, through Live Reporting, at live events, and online, but how did they get their start? What were they doing before they discovered poker? We're here to answer those questions and more for you.
In the first part of this two-part series, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst talks about growing up in New York, and how she discovered poker.
Read more: Seat Open with Vanessa Selbst Part One | PokerNews
If you didn’t hear, Bovada has been hosting a series of online qualifiers and satellites for the 2012 WSOP Main Event and so far, 30 players haven earned their seats in Vegas this July. Here’s the great thing, however: you can still join them for $1.
There are still plenty of qualifiers and satellites happening and Bovada’s aggressive schedule means that you can start playing your way to the Main Event immediately. Players can choose from regular, turbo or Sit and Go qualifiers all week long to earn a seat in the weekly satellite or go for the gusto with Last Chance qualifiers that start as low as $25 + 2.50 on Satellite Sunday! On top of everything else, Bovada’s hosting daily cheap seat events that let you start your journey for a buck.
Here’s a list of winning players that you could be joining in Vegas sooner than you think:
April 9: Pete M; Steve S; Nandit M; Michael H
April 15: John I; Michael T; John F; Doug S; Craig S
April 22: Steven K; Bryan O; Joseph J; Erik G
April 29: Erik S; Brian H; Michal S; Thomas C
May 6: Jesse O; Doug L; Travis K; Stewart K
May 14: Thomas P; Randen H; David B
May 20: Alec A; Kyle G; Thomas F
May 28: Santosh V; Joshua G; Randall J
Winners from the weekly satellite get more than just a seat in the Main Event. They'll live large with Bovada thanks to a $12,000 prize package that includes the $10,000 main event buy-in, along with money for airfare, accommodations and a healthy dose of their famous hospitality.
Visit Bovada's WSOP Main Event online qualifiers and satellite page and see just how easy it can be to find yourself in Las Vegas for the big show.
Online poker traffic is worryingly displaying a distinct downward trend after tracking website PokerScout revealed there has been a third successive weekly drop.
This latest weekly report showed an overall fall of 2.9% to mark the third week of declining visitor numbers to poker rooms – although there were some notable exceptions, with the Merge Gaming Network showing a 0.4% increase.
Amazingly, that tiny gain moved Merge, which includes PokerView and Carbon Poker – as well as, until yesterday, Lock Poker – among their clients, into seventh spot for their highest ever ranking.
The fallout from Black Friday on April 15 last year handed Merge a huge boost, but things have leveled out since then with the network showing a decrease of 2% in traffic, although that decline is actually relatively good in comparison to most of their competitors.
Read More: Online Poker Traffic Continues to Show Worrying Drops
Australian poker players moved one step closer to being able to play online legally yesterday when communications minister Stephen Conroy released an interim report into the outmoded Interactive Gambling Act.
The report suggested that online poker tournaments should be made legal and online poker providers licenced.
This is in direct opposition to the government’s previous stance of outlawing online poker, despite a Productivity Commission report recommending it be regulated.
However Minister Conroy stressed that the report was not yet government policy and a final decision on updating the Interactive Gambling Act has yet to be made.
The Los Angeles Times recently ran a survey asking its readers whether they supported the introduction of online poker in California. The readers were advised that online poker had the potential to generate revenues for the cash-strapped state, and 47% said that they supported the idea as long as lawmakers could keep their word that online poker would bring in $200 million each year for education, public safety and other public uses.
Around half the respondents said that they opposed the spread of internet gambling as they feared that young people could become addicted.
Read More: LA Times Shows State of Support for California Online Poker
WSOP, the renowned and highly-regarded Poker tournament all over the world, will about to crown a new champion. Poker enthusiasts are now mulling over who is going to be the next poker champion of WSOP. Recently, these poker enthusiasts are communicating through a reliable chat widget known as Chatwing. This chat application is also known for its adaptability in many websites and online communities.
In Chatwing, Poker enthusiasts are talking about the hustlers who will make WSOP more exciting for everyone. Adding to that, they are also discussing important Poker tips that can improve someone's gameplay. According to some of these enthusiasts, they prefer the Chatwing shoutbox because it is more straightforward compared to other applications. Chatwing also has social media integration option. Through this, people can now log in with their Facebook or Twitter accounts, expanding their social networks to a certain degree.
Read more: Report: Poker Enthusiasts Recently Communicating through Chatwing Chat Box Regarding Upcoming WSOP 2012 Event
After being down to about one big blind earlier this week, Brent Hanks has won the first open bracelet event of the 2012 World Series of Poker.
Hanks defeated a star-studded final table to earn his first gold bracelet, a massive first-place prize of more than $400,000, after chopping, and 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. He’s moved into 52nd position in the overall standings.
The $1,500 no-limit hold’em event attracted a grand total of 2,101 players, building a total prize pool of $2.8 million.
The final day of play began with 15 players, with Hanks joined by WSOP bracelet winners JP Kelly, Vanessa Selbst and Andrew Badecker. Kelly was the first of these notable pros to hit the rail at the final table.
Read More: Brent Hanks Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event At 2012 World Series of Poker
Brent Hanks was teaching fifth grade in Western New York state when he first discovered online poker. He eventually quit teaching for his new job as a professional poker player, and it has proved to be a good decision. Hanks already held $2,780,925 in online winnings to his credit before Wednesday night’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table at the 2012 World Series of Poker, and now he has $1,115,914 in live earnings as well. The St. Bonaventure graduate put on quite a show on the way to his first WSOP gold bracelet victory and the top prize of $517,725.
As of June 1, popular online poker site, Cake Poker is increasing the size and frequency of its Guaranteed Poker Tournaments within an entirely new tournament line-up. To mark this occasion, Cake Poker is featuring two special tournaments on Sunday, June 3rd – a $100,000 Guarantee and a $75,000 Guaranteed Super Stack. Additionally in June, Cake Poker has increased their first-deposit bonus and is launching a $30,000 Gold Champs 2012 Tournament Series which mirrors the Euro 2012 football events.
This Sunday players will have the opportunity to play in a $100,000 GTD at 20:00 GMT (13:00 PT) and a $75,000 GTD Super Stack starting an hour later at 21:00 GMT (14:00 PT). Buy-ins will be $100+$9 and $500+$30 respectively. Following that, future Sundays will see prize pools of $75,000 and $50,000, with the second tournament remaining a Super Stack. Buy-ins will remain the same.
At the end of April, UK online gaming company Purple Lounge suddenly went offline after the business failed to generate any dividends or cash payments for its owner Media Corp (MDC).
Leading up to the incident, Media Corp had seen its share value plummet by 75% over a 12 month period and decided to suspend their Purple Lounge operation after loaning the subsidiary £1 million with no returns. As a Media Corp statement said at the time:
“As a result of the recent losses, and resulting impact on the Company’s cash position having continually funded the losses, the directors are in the process of considering a number of options for Purple Lounge as a means to control the losses..”
Read More: Online Poker Room Purple Lounge Enters Liquidation
Online poker in Nevada will be one step closer to reality this upcoming week.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released an agenda for its June 6 and 7 meetings, and Bally Technologies, Inc. and International Game Technology will have their respective licensure applications for online gaming considered. If approved, they would go to the Gaming Commission.
Read More: Online Poker Licenses Hit Nevada Regulatory Agenda
For the month of June, PartyPoker is giving new players a $/£/€500 sign up bonus with any first time deposit. To claim this bonus, just use PartyPoker Bonus Code 500PS when you create your new account and make your deposit. Once you begin playing online poker for real money at PartyPoker cash games or tournaments, you’ll earn PartyPoitns. For every dollar you bet at a cash table, you’ll earn one point; for every dollar you pay in tournament fees, you’ll earn one point. Your bonus will be deposited automatically into your account in 10 equal installments as you earn the required amount of points. For $US, you’ll need to earn six times your bonus; for Euros, you’ll need to earn eight times your bonus; and for Sterling, you’ll need nine times your bonus in PartyPoints. This bonus will expire 60 days after you claim it, which is ample time to clear the bonus in full.
The World Series of Poker may be dominating poker headlines, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been plenty of online action in the last week. In fact, a number of high-stakes regulars combined with some Online Railbird Report newbies to create a week of surprises.
Perhaps the most notable was “EireAbu’s” performance. He finished as the week’s biggest winner with $542,432 in profit in 17,640 hands spread across 167 sessions. That put him back atop the PokerStars yearly leaderboard.
Other winners on the week included David “Deldar182” Eldar (+$285,772 in 108 sessions/7,692 hands), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$267,803 in 83 sessions/5,458 hands) and Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby (+$221,805 in 49 sessions/2,961 hands).
At the other end of the spectrum, it was a rough week for “mikki696,” who lost $283,118 in 5,119 hands spread across 98 sessions. He was joined in the loser’s column by Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (-$217,825 in 52 sessions/4,232 hands), “glosik” (-$171,974 in 163 sessions/14,634 hands) and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$168,938 in 110 sessions/5,224 hands).
Read more: The Online Railbird Report: "EireAbu" Wins $542,000 to Climb Back Atop Yearly Leaderboard | PokerNews
Nick Jivkov topped a very tough final table featuring Daniel Negreanu and Tommy Vedes on the way to winning his first WSOP gold bracelet in a $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event. Jivkov spoke to Card Player TV just after hi bracelet ceremony.
Video: Nick Jivkov Wins WSOP $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em - Poker News Video
Apart from poker players regularly tweeting World Series of Poker comments and well wishes, and the very many gushing over the WSOP party recently, poker pro Sam Trickett took to Twitter for other reasons this week.
The UK poker pro wrote on May 31:
“I had money stolen from me by a well known poker pro,that i thought was my friend! If he dont call me soon,Igoing to expose him 4 what he is [sic]”
Read More: Sam Trickett Tweets Poker Nightmare - European Poker News
The debate over gambling, it seems, bears a close resemblance to that over drugs in its polarised nature and resistance to evidence and logic. This is not a debate where nuance and subtlety get much of a look-in.
Last week the Department of Broadband released an interim review of the Interactive Gambling Act. While identifying the extent to which the IGA had entirely failed to regulate or prohibit gambling, it actually proposed to increase the level of regulation on those forms of internet gambling that are legal and proposed some marginal changes in what it acknowledged was the useless effort to regulate the internet. The one faintly liberalising recommendation was that online poker be trialled in Australia, subject to heavy caveats and protections.
Read More: Call for online poker trial in Australia: gambling act review | Crikey
Read More: Chiab ?Chip? Saechao Wins 2012 WSOP Event #1: Casino Employees No-Limit Hold?em