Poker rooms archive

The Southern District of New York court has granted an extension to Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker to respond to the civil complaint filed against them by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). According to the complaint, the executive officers of Full Tilt Poker, including players Howard Lederer, Rafe Furst, and Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar, the chief executive officer, cheated Full Tilt Poker’s loyal players of millions of dollars and used these funds for their own lavish lifestyles. A latest amendment to the civil complaint filed against Full Tilt Poker accuses the online poker room of being a global Ponzi scheme. A complaint was initially filed against the three poker rooms in April this year, indicting the trio on multiple counts of money laundering, illegal gambling, and bank fraud.

US attorney Bharara has stated that Full Tilt Poker was running an illegal online poker business in the US. He also stated that Full Tilt Poker’s directors and executive officers filled their own pockets with player funds and that they did not tell their players the entire truth regarding security issues.

The US federal government had filed three separate copies of the complaint against the three online poker rooms on Nov 20 and the companies were expected to file a response before Nov 30, but now the three have been granted an extension till Jan 2, 2012. The reason for the extension was certain legal papers filed by poker players Rafe Furst and Howard Lederer in the US court.

On Nov 28, Rafe Furst and Howard Lederer quoted the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty and Maritime Claims G(5), according to which they claimed funds confiscated by the DoJ. Shortly thereafter, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar also followed suit.

Ferguson has claimed funds in several frozen bank accounts and has mentioned that Vantage Ltd. and Kolyma Corporation AVV have rights to the funds seized by the DoJ. He has made a list of several bank accounts and has claimed a total of $98,276,540 from these accounts.

The Full Tilt Poker website has a copy of the Stipulation and Order of the New York district court, as per which the online poker room is conducting talks with the US federal government and requires an extension to file its response to the civil complaint filed by DoJ against it. Similar documents are also available at PokerStars and Absolute Poker.

CarbonPoker offers players the chance to double their VIP points through wagers made on Mondays and Tuesdays. The promo is called ‘2X VIP Points December’. The promo will be offered between the 1st of December and the 31st (2011). Players who have opted to take part in the promo will be awarded double the number of VIP points that they will earn while playing cash games, SitNGo’s and Multi-Table Tournaments during the promotional period.

Cobar Bowling and Golf Club’s poker Christmas party is scheduled for Saturday with the free game starting at 4.30pm and the cash game at 7.30pm. At Party Poker

There will be unlimited rebuys in the first hour and cost $22 per entry with a $4000 starting stack plus $22 top-up at the break.

The tournament will pay for the top 8 and the turbo table for wild card to final table. First prize will be $1000 and a 20 minute blinds rolled back two levels at final table.

Les Arnold won the Thursday free game from 16 contestants with Shane placing second and Graeme Fridd third.

Twenty-three players were attracted to the cash game with Tony Place taking out first place, Lionel Dell second and Mark Sullivan third.

Greg Clark won the Sunday tournament from Michael Harvey and Simon Dickson while John Harvey won the cash game with Michael Harvey again in second spot and Les Arnold finishing third.

Royal Flush Jackpot now stands at $822 (free game) and $2314 (cash game). Come down on Saturday for a great Christmas party with friends.

10th Anniversary Special


This month marks the 10th anniversary of PokerStars and they will be celebrating in style by hosting a Sunday Million which features an unprecedented $10 million guaranteed prize pool.

The 10th Anniversary Sunday Million is set to take place on Dec. 18 at 1430 EST (1930 GMT) and the eventual winner will take home a $2 million guaranteed first place prize.

To help celebrate this monumental moment in PokerStars’ history, PokerNews is hosting a $2+$0.20 tournament which will award a total of 6 seats into the Sunday Million worth $215 each.

The PokerNews 10th Anniversary Special is scheduled for Dec. 16 at 1400 EST (1400 GM) and the top 5 finishers will each win a seat into the $10 million guaranteed Sunday Million.

The satellite tournament costs only $2+0.20 to enter and to take part in the event players simply need the password PN10SPECIAL. In addition to the 5 seats on offer to the winners, PokerNews can announce that an exciting opportunity will see one additional seat awarded.

Bounty on Team PokerStars

If you ever dreamed of sending a professional poker player to the rail then now is your chance as Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin will be playing in the PokerNews 10th Anniversary Special.

The best part about Pezzin taking part in this event is that he will have a bounty on his head. The player who eliminates Pezzin will be awarded a $215 seat into the 10th Anniversary Sunday Million.

This bounty seat is in addition to the 5 seats which are on offer to the top 5 finishers and gives even more incentive for player to take part in this great initiative.

PokerNews 10th Anniversary Special

Date: Dec. 16
Time: 1400 EST (19:00 GMT)
Buy-in: $2+$0.20
Password: PN10SPECIAL
Guaranteed Prize Pool: 5 Sunday Million Seats
Bonus Prize: Additional Seat awarded for the elimination of Pat Pezzin

American poker enthusiasts just had to sit back and watch on the sidelines as PokerStars broke records on Sunday with a Sunday Million tournament that generated an astonishing $12,423,200 in prize money. That bests the previous record set by the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event in 2010, which had a prize pool of $12,215,000.

The super-sized Sunday Million capped off several weeks of celebration in honor of the site’s tenth anniversary. Thanks to a $10 million guarantee with a promise of a $2 million payday for first place, the tournament drew 62,116 players, 7,682 of which made the money.

Once play got down to the final six players, they agreed to a six-way chop that gave each of the players at least a half a million dollars. The winner of the event, Kyle “First-Eagle” Weir, took home a seven-figure payday of $1,146,574.65. Weir is a 24 year old Canadian who no longer has to worry about his unemployed status. Weir’s biggest score prior to Sunday was worth just around $04,000. Now he is a millionaire after just over 15 hours of work.

The Sunday Million was not the only event with a seven-figure prize pool running on PokerStars on Sunday. The site also hosted a 10th anniversary High Roller Event as well, which drew 187 players and generated a $1.87 million prize pool. The event paid the top 27 places and some of the players who made the money included William “Altrum Altus” Reynolds (27th), Mike “Timex” McDonald (23rd), Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel (15th), Russell Carson (13th), and Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong, who bubbled the final table in tenth place.

Joey “jcl87″ Lawrence played his way to an outright win worth $402,050 after defeating Grayson “gray31″ Ramage heads-up. Ramage earned $289,850 for second place, while WSOP bracelet winner Keven Stammen rounded out the top three with a $219,725 finish. Other notables at the final table included 2011 PCA runner-up Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver (5th) and Dan “djk123″ Kelly (8th).

Here are the results of the 10th Anniversary Sunday Million and the 10th Anniversary High Roller Event:

10th Anniversary Sunday Million
Prize Pool: $12,423,200
Entrants: 62,116

1st: Kyle “First-Eagle” Weir – $1,146,574.65*
2nd: Unstoffable – $580,724.34*
3rd: BLAABAR – $709,896.78*
4th: tunafish919 – $627,317.26*
5th: Dimedroll – $995,996.85*
6th: SkunDen – $758,986.42*
7th: fireballdio – $182,406.00
8th: kaalen – $119,866.80
9th: yokouno1980 – $86,512.56

PokerStars 10th Anniversary High Roller Event
Prize Pool: $1,870,000
Entrants: 187

1st: Joey “jcl87″ Lawrence – $402,050.00
2nd: Grayson “gray31″ Ramage – $289,850.00
3rd: Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen – $219,725.00
4th: Ashley “DYBYDX” Mason – $163,625.00
5th: Chaaai – $112,200.00
6th: Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver – $93,500.00
7th: montecarlo13 – $74,800.00
8th: Dan “djk123″ Kelly – $56,100.00
9th: Greenstone25 – $37,400.00

It's amazing to watch in the position list how fast players get knocked out when there are that many people in the tournament. :eek:

When PokerStars announced changes to its rake structure and VIP program last week, it knew there would be some push back from customers, but it never expected the volcano of emotion that erupted from high volume players. Immediately after the announcement was made, players on the Two Plus Two forums, the largest poker message board on the internet, scolded PokerStars for a “money grab” and staged a revolt.

The changes made by the world’s largest online poker room revolved around two things: a switch from the “dealt” method to “weighted contributed” method of calculating VIP Player Points (VPPs) and a simplification in rake calculation, including lower percentages and new rake caps. It is the VPP calculation change that has people up arms.

Prior to the change, PokerStars used the “dealt” method of VPP calculation, which meant that every player who was dealt cards in a ring game hand would receive an equal share of the VPPs that were awarded to the table. In the new, “weighted contributed” method, players are awarded VPPs relative to how much they contribute to the pot (overall VPP calculation for the table remains the same). Thus, players who fold pre-flop receive nothing, while those who battle it out for the pot receive the bulk of the rewards.

To most, the basic idea behind the change should make sense: reward the players who build pots. The uproar stems from the impact that people believe this will have on PokerStars regulars, the loyal, highest volume players. These players, the ones who make a living playing poker or are very serious amateurs, rely not just on their skill to make a profit, but also on the cash rewards earned through PokerStars’ loyalty program. These players also tend to be very tight players, a style of play which makes it easier to massively multi-table and even out some of the peaks and valleys that inevitably haunt daily grinders. Because they are tight, they do a lot of folding pre-flop and thus, with the new “weighted contributed” method, will not, on average, receive as many VPPs as they did before. On top of that, the higher a player climbs on the VIP status ladder, the more Frequent Player Points (FPPs) he receives per VPP; these FPPs are what can eventually be redeemed for cash (in addition to the Milestone Cash Credits for hitting certain VPP numbers). Thus, the highest level players are expected to take a healthy FPP hit.

The players who will benefit from the changes will tend to be looser, lower level, recreational players. They will not receive as many FPPs per VPP and therefore will not have the breadth and quality of rewards from which to choose compared to the high VIP status players.

As Two Plus Two poster “MSauce” wrote, “This means that almost all the high volume regulars will lose money, the recreational players will gain very little, and stars will gain all the rest.”

One player estimated that a player who would have earned 1 million VPPs in the old system and reached Supernova Elite status would receive $41,200 less in total rewards because of the combined loss of Milestone Cash Credits, FPPs which would be redeemed for cash, and free tournament entries. He went on to estimate that the rewards redistribution would result in a maximum of $7,200 going to lower level players, meaning that PokerStars keeps the remaining $34,000. Again, these are just estimates given by one player, but his point is that the regular, high volume players will be seriously hurt by the new policies, while PokerStars will profit.

Company rep “PokerStars Steve” readily admits that the VPP change will benefit the online poker room, saying, “It’s difficult to predict accurately how much savings will this change generate, but our preliminary assessment, if play remains the same, is in the range of 1.5% to 2% of gross rake for the ring games.” He added, “We planned to use this money to reduce the rake and invest in marketing and other initiatives that bring recreational players to the site.”

As he said, PokerStars did reduce the rake in an effort to make up for any potential lost rewards. Players were still upset about the rake caps at some tables, but those complaints were minor compared to the change to the “weighted contributed” method. The change was made, for all intents and purposes, to make the games more attractive recreational players, who, as stated earlier, tend to play looser than regular grinders. Casual players typically get bored playing against ultra-tight players and because casual players re-deposit more frequently than regulars, PokerStars wants to do what it takes to keep them having fun and on the site. Additionally, regulars make their profits off of the casual players, so the more “fish” on the site, the better it is for the “sharks.”

The outrage was so strong that a mass sit-out, an “Occupy Pokerstars” of sorts, was organized on the Two Plus Two forums, led by the aforementioned “MSauce.” The plan was to get as many people as possible to open as many tables as possible at noon EST on January 1st, take a seat and simply not play. The goal was to sufficiently disrupt the games so as to get the attention of PokerStars and work towards a resolution of the problem.

Of course, since this was organized on a public forum, PokerStars learned of it and began to take action. The online poker room suspended the changes to the rake structure (including rake caps) so that they could be evaluated further, though it still moved forward with the switch to the “weighted contributed” method of VPP calculation. Additionally, PokerStars offered to host a meeting with a handful of players at its offices in the Isle of Man to discuss the issues. These moves were well received, for the most part, by the poker community, but the weighted contributed controversy still remained, so the protest proceeded as planned.

PokerStars was ready for the sit-out, too. Protesters who attempted to open up table after table (up to as ma

This could be a dream come true. I am not sure if it will last. I just hope that other casino-related sites will follow.






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Oh so good!!

What about 888Poker? Also, Titan Poker. I like playing there. Carbon has become the best for others due that they now accepts US players which would be a big market for such business.





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Oh so good!!

I still can't believe this. I got the chance to play Poker online on Carbon poker. Does Lock Poker will also open for US market?




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Oh so good!!

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), former licenser of Full Tilt Poker, released a statement to former Full Tilt Poker players that they no longer provide a license for Full Tilt and furthermore has no authority to arbitrate or intermediate regarding Full Tilt players and issues they have with the online poker site. The statement also confirmed that all complaints will continued to be forwarded to the police and advises any players who are still owed money to also contact the police.

If they so believe that they have been the victim of a crime, the AGCC has advised these players to contact law enforcement officials to take further action.

While the statement from the AGCC did not mention anything regarding the buyout of Full Tilt Poker by French investment group Groupe Bernard Tapie, it is still believed that GBT will acquire the online poker brand and assets from the US Department of Justice in exchange for one $80 million payment. Upon transfer, the US DOJ will drop all charges and civil complaints against the Full Tilt name. It is still unknown whether or not players will ever be reimbursed for their confiscated accounts, though many are still hopeful that once the takeover is finalized, the new owners will make their best effort to pay back some or all that is owed to the disgruntled US players.

When PokerStars announced changes to their rake structure and VIP schemes, many players on poker forums suggested that some sort of protest was in order. Eventuallly, players settled on a combination of simply protesting by not playing at PokerStars, and staging "sit ins" where players would log into tables, but sitting out from playing in games.

While some suggested that the effects of these protests would be minimal, they do appear to be having some impact on the world's largest poker site. PokerStars.com has seen a slight increase in cash game traffic week over week, but that increase was smaller than most other major poker sitse. While PokerStars enjoyed a 5% week-over-week increase, that paled in comparison to PartyPoker, which saw a 29% rise, and iPoker, which has a 12% increase.

More dramatic was the impact seen at PokerStars.fr, the version of the site accessible exclusively in the French poker market. That site actually saw a 10% decrease in cash game traffic, which was enough to knock the site out of the top position in terms of French poker sites. According to PokerScout, Winamax.fr is now the largest room in the French poker market.

The drop in French traffic might be especially harmful to PokerStars' bottom line. A PokerStars.fr protest was organized at ClubPoker.net, and reportedly includes over 100 high volume players on the site, including several Supernova Elite players -- the highest volume players in the PokerStars VIP program.

The controversy that led to these protests stems primarily from changes to the VIP Player Points (VPP) system used by PokerStars to reward players for their play on the site. Until 2012, PokerStars used a method of points that rewarded players each time they were dealt into a hand. If a hand was raked, it became eligible for VPPs, and all players dealt into the hand shared equally in the VPP rewards. Under the new system for 2012, players now recieve points based on their contribution to the rake -- a so-called "weighted contribution" system.

This change has been extremely controversial. High volume players tend to be winning players, but they're also tighter players than average. This means that they contribute less to pots on average. The change in the VPP system will means substantially lower rewards for these players. On the other side of this argument, more casual players are likely to see an increase in their VPP haul, as they tend to contribute more to the rake on each hand. However, since high volume players who have large numbers of player points get much better returns on their rewards, taking VPPs away from high-volume players and moving them to casual players will likely benefit PokerStars more than any group of players.

PokerStars has announced plans to speak to player representatives in an attempt to find a solution to this issue that works for all sides.

Since PokerStars made the decision to edit its VIP program and rake structure, the online poker community has not been understanding. Poker players are now protesting the new adjustments in two ways. First of all, they are boycotting the online poker site and choosing not to log into their accounts; secondly, they are logging into active cash games and then not playing.

PokerStars traffic has also been low in comparison to other big online poker sites. For instance, while PokerStars has had a 5% increase in traffic over the past couple weeks, PartyPoker has had a 25% increase and iPoker a 12% rise in online poker traffic.

Other effects of the boycott can be seen in the PokerStars.fr traffic results. Whereas PokerStars was the top online poker site in France, and it saw a 10% rise in traffic, Winamax.fr is now getting more player traffic by French poker players. In addition, more than 100 high-stakes players, many of which were Supernova Elite players (the highest level of VIP), have organized a protest of PokerStars.fr via ClubPoker.net. This protest is based on the alterations of the VIP Player Points (VPP) system. The new terms reward players on a weighted contribution basis, where they receive rewards based on how much they contribute to rake. Before the changes, anyone dealt into the hand would receive equal parts rewards based on the size of the pot.

Tighter players, who don’t contribute as much to the pot as loose players, are now earning less rewards than players who contribute more money to the pot. Online poker analysts say that in the long run, this change will not be beneficial to PokerStars. Whether or not PokerStars will amend their decision to change things will be seen. After all, in any business model, if the customers (the players) aren’t happy, then the business will suffer.

Darn. I missed this one. I have played and won a lot from this. Wish me luck next time instead.

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Oh so good!!

Darn. I missed this one. I have played and won a lot from this. Wish me luck next time instead.

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Oh so good!!



I wish you a very good time `next time` :dirol:dirol:dirol

Same here. Just new to Carbon and hope all my luck will change here.

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Oh so good!!

Thanks for sharing. Good to know that Carbon Poker is really expanding.

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Oh so good!!

Merge sites are available to US players, but not in all state. I guess Washington is the one of those state that doesn't allow US players to play.

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Oh so good!!

I hope they will realize that rakeback is important for most players in their network. They shouldn't have ended it that way.

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Oh so good!!

Leading online poker room Titan Poker has upgraded its poker software to improve loading and performance capabilities. As part of ongoing efforts to enhance its gaming environment, Titan Poker's software lobby was completely redesigned with a clean look and feel.

The new lobby, re-sized at an easy-on-the-eyes 1000x700 pixels, provides online poker players with an intuitively easy navigation menu, allowing them to quickly find the cash tables and tournaments that they would want to join. The menu includes easy access to a graphical listing of the player's favorite games, tables, and tournaments, as well as a "quick seat" function that makes it possible for a player to choose an appropriate table within seconds.

In the redesigned lobby, poker players are able to easily follow the progress statistics of their player point accumulation, hands played, and bonus redemption status.

Players nostalgic for the older version of Titan Poker's lobby design can switch back to that earlier viewing mode with the click of a button.

The redesign of the Titan Poker lobby is the latest step of the online poker room's ongoing efforts to improve the gaming experience it offers players. In the coming weeks, Titan Poker will introduce new and exciting types of tournaments, alongside an ever-changing schedule of innovative promotions and gaming activities that will interest novice and veteran poker players alike.

Online poker players alike are invited to try out the free poker software download at Titan Poker and experience the redesigned lobby and enhanced features of Europe's most exciting online poker room.