Tom Dwan, Chau Giang, John Juanda Win Big in Macau Cash Games

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau Festival wrapped up on Monday with 18 year old Zhang Dan Peng winning the Main Event for HKD $1.68 million (US $215,000). But the biggest story surrounding the series was the side action that developed after some of the big-name pros busted out of the tournament and created one of the largest cash games Macau has ever seen.

The nosebleed game at Starworld’s Poker King Club, which has been taking place regularly for more than a year, mostly consists of businessmen from China and Macau who have converted their gambling passion from baccarat to poker. With several pros in town for the APT event, the regulars welcomed the chance to play against some of poker’s top superstars like Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Chau Giang.

APT tournament director Matt Savage was the first to break the news about the game in a thread on TwoPlusTwo: “Despite the light turnout at the Asian Poker Tour Macau, the cash games are some of the biggest in history as Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Chau Giang, and John Juanda are playing HKD $5,000-10,000 with some Chinese businessmen. The game plays much bigger and there was about $40 million on the table last night when I saw the game.”

Savage continued, “Tom Dwan made it through day one in the HKD $5K main event, but only came downstairs to play one hand, 10-4 offsuit, in an attempt to bust and get back to the cash game, but instead he doubled up and asked me to call him as soon as he was under 20 BBs. We are down to 35 players and paying 18.”

Dwan was eliminated from the tournament in 25th place and the cash game paused while the players moved from the Hard Rock Casino to Starworld. Dwan quickly got involved in a big pot with Ivey, as the two Full Tilt Poker pros faced off in a pre-flop raising war that ended with Dwan’s pocket sevens besting Ivey’s ace-ten for a HDK $4 million pot. It is assumed that Dwan and Ivey shared a piece of each other for the game, making the loss more sustainable for Ivey. Dwan also reportedly won a pot worth somewhere between HDK $16-20 million after a three-way all-in in which his ace-king came out a winner against pocket queens and pockets tens.

The biggest pot so far, though, came between Giang and a Chinese businessman. According to the Marketing Director at the Poker King Club, the game was No Limit Hold’em HKD $10,000/$20,000 blinds with a $10,000 ante. With a HKD $40,000 straddle in front of him, the Chinese player raised to $100,000 with ace-jack and Giang re-raised to HKD $500,000 with pocket aces. His opponent called and the two players saw a flop of J-J-10, giving the businessman trip jacks. Giang check-called a bet of HKD $1.2 million and the turn brought an ace, giving both players a full house. Giang checked his aces-full, and the businessman moved all-in for HKD $9 million. Giang called, creating a pot worth more than HKD $20 million. The river was a three and Giang scooped the massive bounty.

APT Chairman Tom Hall, who won close to US $1 million during four sessions in the game and reported some of the happenings shortly after they took place, posted some of the game’s results on TwoPlusTwo: “For (Monday’s) session, Phil is up HKD $15m (almost $2m USD), Tom up HKD $4m, table regulars up HKD $2m, Chau up HKD $300k, Johnny Chan down HKD $800k, John Juanda down HKD $1.5m (but up big for the week overall and has left town for a trip), and two Beijing visitors down HKD $10m each. Currently, the main game is four-handed with Phil, Tom, and two regulars playing HKD $10/20k. Second game features Jeff Lisandro, Ted Forrest, and others playing either HKD $2k/4k or $5k/10k.”

Overall, Ivey is around even for the week (minus sports betting losses, which were substantial). Like Juanda, Dwan and Giang are big winners, while the visitors from Beijing have taken a beating.

Hall also posted a quote from Poker King Room manager Winfred Yu, who has been on the sidelines throughout the week, but shared on Tuesday, “The game was regulars only last night (plus Uncle Chau Giang) and usual Asian visitors with Phil and Durrrr getting some sleep. Visitors dropped HKD $30 million last night, regulars won most of it with Chau picking up a nice win too. Second table played a mix of HKD $100/200 Limit and $200/400 No Limit with Jeff Lisandro, Ted Forrest amongst the players.”

Yu also mentioned that Dwan had accepted a challenge from a Beijing businessman, who was reportedly en route to the casino at the time of writing. The blinds will be HKD$50,000/100,000 – the largest blinds ever played at the Poker King Club. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest updates from Macau.

Peter Eastgate Auctioning Off 2008 WSOP Main Event Bracelet

If you have ever wanted to own a piece of poker history, now is your chance.  This week, 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate put his gold bracelet up for auction on eBay.  But before you wonder if he is “busto,” it should be noted that the sale is an eBay Giving Works charitable listing and the proceeds from the auction will benefit the United States Fund for UNICEF.  Buy it now.

In a translated press release, the young Dane said, “Of course, I still have great pride in my title, but I will never use the bracelet.  I thought they (UNICEF) could better benefit from the bracelet.  Hopefully it will do a lot of people good.”

Swiss luxury watchmaker Corum manufactured Eastgate’s bracelet.  It is made from 168 grams of 18-karat white gold and set with 291 diamonds.  According to pokernyhederne.com, an independent jeweler valued the bracelet at £10,000, or $15,990.  As such, Eastgate set the minimum bid on eBay at $16,000.  As of the time of writing, there has been one bid placed on the collectable for the minimum and the next valid bid must be $16,100 or higher.  The current high bidder appears to be new to eBay, as he or she has no past bid history.  The auction will end at 9:04am ET on November 25th.

While the sale of a WSOP Main Event bracelet may come as a shock to most people, it is not completely out of character for the 2008 champ.  In July, Eastgate announced that he was taking an indefinite leave from live tournament poker.  In a statement, he said in part, “When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent. I achieved that by winning the WSOP Main Event in 2008.”

He continued, “In the 20 months following my WSOP win, I feel that I have lost my motivation for playing high level poker along the way and I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Eastgate had originally planned to compete in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, but changed his mind, opting to attend the World Cup in South Africa instead.  He had already made the decision to not participate in any preliminary events, as he did not care about winning another bracelet.  He felt the only motivation to win more events was if he had side bets with other pros, but he opted against that because he is really only a Hold’em player, something that would put him at a disadvantage in any sort of bracelet competition.

The sale of a WSOP bracelet from any event is rare, but not unprecedented.  In January, T.J. Cloutier pawned his bracelet from the 2005 $5,000 Limit Hold’em event at the Plano Pawn Shop in Texas.  The store turned around and auctioned it off on eBay, with online poker room Cake Poker buying it for just over $4,000.  Cake Poker eventually returned the hardware to Cloutier.

UNICEF, the organization that will receive the proceeds from Eastgate’s auction, was formed in December 1946 by the United Nations to provide aid to children in war-torn China and Europe.  The organization now works to provide basic needs and protect the rights of children in developing countries around the world.  CharityNavigator.org rates it as a four-star charity, which is the highest mark the site offers.  According to the watchdog site, over 91% of UNICEF’s revenue goes to its aid programs.

Martijn Gerrits (Megal0d0n) Discusses Overbet.com Signing

Recently signing with the online poker room Overbet.com was high-stakes pro Martijn Gerrits, who goes by the handle “Megal0d0n.” One of the top heads-up players on the iPoker Network, Gerrits has faced the likes of Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz and Swedish poker phenomenon “Isildur1” during his career. He sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss becoming part of Ovebet.com’s roster of sponsored pros.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Talk about how you came to sign with Overbet.com, which makes its home on the Merge Gaming Network.

Martijn Gerrits: I was never interested in sponsorships because they are mainly about live poker and I don’t have that much respect for live poker pros since most guys are only famous for luckboxing one tournament instead of making money every month by playing thousands of hands online against other good players. When the guys behind Overbet.com contacted me and told me that our team was going to be mainly major online grinders, I was very interested.

PND: What makes Overbet.com a unique online poker room?

Martijn Gerrits: I think Overbet.com has the best software to play on. Also, there are a lot of fish since there are big sportbooks on the network and the site has fish-friendly options like a rabbit cam. Online poker is all about having an edge and generating volume, so Team Overbet consists of big online winners.

PND: You’ve played against Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz and “Isildur1” in your career. Can you tell us a bit about their games?

Martijn Gerrits: I played against them on iPoker, where “Isildur1” started to play 200nl and from there, he was in no time playing $25/$50 and then $100/$200. There was more high-stakes action for a long period of time on iPoker compared to Full Tilt and that was all because of “Isildur1.” He was famous for over-betting all the time in big pots. I can say that his playing style suits our poker room’s name the most.

PND: How did you get started in poker?

Martijn Gerrits: I never made a single deposit, whereas my friends all deposited $50, built it into $1,000, and then went broke. I started with play money games and freerolls and played a high volume of hands in order to learn fast. By selling one million chips on PokerStars for $10, I got my first micro bankroll. Then, I lost it, started to read about bankroll management, and sold more chips for $100. I played with that on iPoker and after that moment, I never went broke.

PND: How do you improve your own game?

Martijn Gerrits: I think nobody’s game is perfect and have seen too many poker players go broke in the last year. So, I keep working on my game by watching videos, playing sessions with other pros, and playing against friends on lower limits to exploit each other’s leaks. This is a very good way to keep up my game with the competition getting better and better.

PND: What words of wisdom would you give to beginners?

Martijn Gerrits: Start playing very low limits with proper bankroll management and try to climb in stakes from there. Don’t try to be the best player, but try to be a big winner in a consistent way. Most people who try to become the best player don’t succeed and go broke, but the ones who try to be big winners in a consistent way have more chances to make some good money. For me, it’s all about the money and not about being the best.

Carbon Poker Bad Beat Jackpot Cracked for $156,000

While many sites may offer Bad Beat Jackpots, they are only memorable when someone walks away with a huge payout. On Thursday at Carbon Poker, the Bad Beat Jackpot was cracked, paying out very memorable money for those involved.

On the $0.50/$1 tables at Carbon Poker on Thursday, “dk2112” entered into a hand with pocket sevens. “dk2112” hid the hand nicely by limping in pre-flop and continued to slow play after the flop came 7-8-2 rainbow. “dk2112” called a bet from “Stingray57” and then faced a raise from “BlackOutBob,” which he called. Another seven on the turn made four of a kind for “dk2112,” yet he just called a $5 bet from “BlackOutBob,” and the duo saw a river eight. At this point, the fireworks went off.

“BlackOutBob” moved the remainder of his stack ($6.50) to the center of the table, which was met with a call from “dk2112.” The river eight made “BlackOutBob” quad eights and trumped “dk2112’s” turned four of a kind in sevens, setting off the Carbon Poker Bad Beat Jackpot.

While “BlackOutBob” took down the $55 pot, “dk2112” earned a massive payday of $156,402.63 for taking the bad beat. “BlackOutBob” picked up an additional $78,201.31 for being the winner of the hand and the five players also seated at the table took down $13,033.55.

“We are excited each time our Bad Beat Jackpot goes off,” Atil Singh, Head of Acquisitions at Carbon Poker, told Poker News Daily. “It has the power to possibly change the players’ lives, depending on the amount. The majority of the time, our Bad Beat Jackpot hits at the lower stakes, which give the players a huge boost. Our largest jackpot was over $1.2 million and we hope we can break this record in the near future.”

Players who sit at special Jackpot tables on the site build the Carbon Poker Bad Beat Jackpot. The bounty is seeded by taking $0.50 from every pot on these special tables and, when a player suffers a bad beat holding four of a kind in sevens or better, the jackpot is distributed.

The person who suffers the bad beat earns 35% of the Bad Beat Jackpot and the winner in the hand takes down 17.5%. Those players who watched the action – and are actively dealt to – share another 17.5%, while Carbon Poker takes a 10% maintenance fee and reseeds the Bad Beat Jackpot with 20% of the money that is available.

After the strike on Thursday, the Carbon Poker Bad Beat Jackpot has been reset, but there is still a sizeable stake out there. As of Saturday, the jackpot has grown to $100,904 and will continue to grow until it is struck again.

Carbon Poker is a part of the Merge Gaming Network, which includes such rooms as PokerHost and Lock Poker. The Merge Gaming Network accepts American players and, according to PokerScout.com, active cash game players will peak at around 1,400, offering ample competition for those on the virtual felt.

Daniel Negreanu Trumps Johnny Whitt on PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

On Sunday flanking NFL coverage on FOX, a new episode of the PokerStars “Million Dollar Challenge” aired. The Chris Rose-hosted show has become one of the industry’s staple television series and last week, Johnny Whitt from Houston, Texas challenged a stable of PokerStars pros and celebrities. On the line was a $100,000 match against Daniel Negreanu and a shot at $1 million.

Whitt faced off against a half-dressed Sara Underwood in the first round. Negreanu sat beside Whitt throughout the match, which saw Underwood take an early lead after Whitt’s open-ended straight draw failed to come through. Underwood opened up a 2:1 chip advantage as a result, but could not hold up. The Victory Poker pro moved all-in with 10-8 on a board reading Q-8-5-6 for a pair of eights. However, Whitt had her dominated with Q-8 for top two pair and Underwood was drawing dead to the river. Whitt received a $5,000 trip to the Bahamas for the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

After getting through the former Playboy Playmate of the Year, Whitt squared off against PokerStars pro Barry Greenstein. This time, Negreanu moved to an isolation booth where he could communicate with Whitt through an earpiece. In turn, Greenstein could suspend all communication between the two by invoking the Dome of Silence twice during the match. Greenstein scooped two pots worth a combined 20,000 in chips early, leaving Whitt treading on thin ice.

Greenstein used his Dome of Silence twice pre-flop; both times he peeked down at 7-2 and gave Whitt a walk. Ultimately, the challenger was all-in pre-flop with 4-3 and up against the pocket sixes of Greenstein, but flopped the nuts when the first three cards came 5-2-A. The pot resulted in a 2:1 chip lead for the amateur and, in the match’s final hand, Whitt’s A-7 held against Greenstein’s Q-5 when the Texan made a flush on the turn. He picked up $25,000 to go along with the trip to the Bahamas.

Rose asked Whitt if he wanted to risk his $25,000 payday to face Negreanu heads-up for $100,000 and a chance at $1 million or take the money and run. Whitt’s family encouraged him to take the plunge and Whitt obliged, setting up a “Star Wars”-esque master versus apprentice showdown on the “Million Dollar Challenge.” After Whitt took the chip lead, Negreanu raised to 4,000 before the flop with A-10 and Whitt 3bet to 8,000 with Q-J. Negreanu called to set up the game-changing pot.

The flop came 4-5-8 with two clubs and Whitt open-shoved all-in. Negreanu, remarking that there were too many chips in the middle to fold, called all-in as a 70% favorite. Another club on the turn gave Whitt a flush draw, but a red nine on the river gave Negreanu a pot of 37,000, or 93% of the chips in play. Whitt, whose stack totaled less than one big blind, then staked his tournament life on 6-5, but could not draw out on Negreanu’s 8-5. “Kid Poker” scooped $10,000 for charity.

The PokerStars-backed “Million Dollar Challenge” will next hit airwaves on November 21st flanking NFL coverage on FOX. Then, on December 12th, one contestant will battle Negreanu for a $1 million top prize. Last season, 9/11 first responder Mike Kosowski earned the seven-figure jackpot after spiking a four-outer on the final hand. You can catch Season 1 of the “Million Dollar Challenge” on GSN.

PokerStars is holding qualifiers for the poker game show online until December 8th. Check out a brand new episode in two weeks on FOX.

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, WSOP Extend Sponsorship Deal

Recently, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and its title sponsor, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, extended their sponsorship deal.

As the title sponsor of the biggest tournament in poker, the event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino will continue to be known as “The World Series of Poker Presented by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky” in 2011 and 2012. The sponsorship provides Jack Link’s Beef Jerky with prominent advertising placed around the Rio, advertisements during broadcasts of the tournament series on ESPN, and other WSOP-themed retail promotions.

“Poker is entertaining, unpretentious, unpredictable, and full of fun and camaraderie among friends,” Jeff LeFever, Director of Marketing for Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, stated during the announcement. “ The same attributes can be used to describe the Jack Link’s brand.”

“Winning a World Series of Poker bracelet is the ultimate accomplishment,” LeFever continued, “and we’re proud to partner with the best in the business to help deliver the biggest, most exciting poker experience in the world.”

Ty Stewart, WSOP Vice President, was enthusiastic over the continuation of the partnership between the tournament series and Jack Link’s. “This remains a great fit between two category-leading brands. We couldn’t ask for a better organization to be our lead sponsor. We love being with a market dominator that shares our sense of fun and irreverence.”

Over the past two years, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky has been the title sponsor of the WSOP and, as such, been a very visible part of the event. The notable “Sasquatch” commercials that the company produces have become iconic in the advertising world and have begun to feature poker-themed productions. In fact, the Jack Link’s “Sasquatch” was one of those who made the “Shuffle up and deal” command at the 2009 opening of the WSOP.

In addition, Jack Link’s has been very aggressive in its promotion during the past two WSOPs. One program in particular, “Stacked Jacks Go Wild,” offered players the opportunity to win prizes for getting quads jacks during the WSOP Main Event. On television broadcasts, Jack Link’s has been featured through the “Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Wild Card Hand,” where ESPN commentator Norman Chad has to deduce the hole cards of a player by interpreting their actions and betting patterns.

Since the purchase of the WSOP by Harrah’s at the midpoint of the decade, Harrah’s has actively courted mainstream advertisers. Prior to being sponsored by Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, the WSOP had a major sponsor in Milwaukee’s Best Light beer, a subsidiary of the Miller Brewing Company. Other major sponsors that have been a part of the WSOP over the past few years include Degree antiperspirant, Pepsi’s SoBe Adrenaline Rush energy drink, the chocolate conglomerate Hershey, and the ED medication Levitra.

The continuation of the sponsorship deal between Jack Link’s Beef Jerky and the WSOP will benefit each company tremendously. As the most prestigious tournament series in the world, the WSOP will provide a high level of visibility for the meat snack company. In turn, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, recognized as the top brand of beef jerky, will continue to provide the type of mainstream advertising sponsorship that the WSOP and poker in general have been courting for years.

Sagström Struck for $112k

Sagström, who was one of the first hugely successful online cash players, has had a volatile history in high-stakes poker to say the least.

He spun his roll all the way up to nearly $2 million in the summer of 2009 before losing it all in the span of a few months and going $591k in the red.

Sagström finally resurfaced this summer and in three months was once again a massive winner with $1.2 million in profit.

Despite his strong play over the last few weeks, that didn’t stop him from donating $112k to Brian “sbrugby” Townsend in 675 hands of $500/$1,000 H.O.R.S.E. last night.

If it’s any consolation for Sagström there’s a good chance Townsend needed it more than he did as the former CardRunners instructor is down over $4 million in the high stakes games this year.

Unknown online player IReadYrSoul was the biggest winner last night, adding $139k to his bankroll. The majority of IReadYrSoul’s profit came against Ashton “ASHMAN103” Griffin, who lost $108k on the evening.

Some of the other winners included davin77 (+$40k), David Benefield (+$39k) and Van Marcus (+$29k).

Meanwhile LokoIsBack (-$60k), trex313 (-$47k) and chipchip (-$21k) were among the loss leaders.

Below are a collection of the best hands from the IReadYrSoul and Ashton Griffin session. For more information check our online poker stats section.

Greg DeBora Hot Tub Interview

PokerStars Team Canada pro Greg DeBora stars in the conclusion of the “Hot Tub Interview” series with site editor Dan Cypra. This interview was shot just after Day 1A of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event from The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. At this PokerStars cocktail party, they hosted many of their team pros and also had announced new additions in Vanessa Selbst and David Williams.

Greg DeBora is a Canadian from Toronto and continues to live in his homeland. In his teenage years he played billiards and even competed in amateur level tournaments in Ontario. A few years later, with the help of friend and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin, he made the switch to poker. DeBora is primarily a cash game specialist and plays in big games at PokerStars as well as live venues such as the famous Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California. He’s stated that he plays live stakes ranging from $50/$100 to $500/$1000 but in recent years started focusing on playing more tournaments.

Some of his career tournament highlights include a 7th place finish at the PCA in 2005 for $91,700 and has also cashed at the World Poker Tour on two occasions. He finished in 10th place in 2005, nearly making the final table, in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Event. He also took part in the LA Poker Classic Chinese Poker tournament and placed well to the tune of a $30,225 payday.

According to sources, when playing online and not at Mixed Games tables, you’ll find him primarily at $10/$20 Limit Hold’em 6-handed tables and at $10/$20 Limit Hold’em Heads Up matches.

DeBord states that he likes to rollerblade, water-ski, go canoeing, hike and snowboard as activities he enjoys. He travels extensively and follows the tournament circuit, often playing in the side cash games. His online screen name at PokerStars is ‘G DeBora’.

Jason Mercier, Gary Payton Trump Million Dollar Challenge Contestants

It was another rough week to be a contestant on the PokerStars-sponsored “Million Dollar Challenge.” The poker game show, which airs around NFL coverage on FOX every other Sunday, pits online qualifiers against celebrities and PokerStars pros with a chance at $1 million on the line. Longtime sportscaster Chris Rose serves as its host.

After defeating football legend John Elway in the first round to earn a $5,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package, Lauren Gallant moved on to face PokerStars pro Jason Mercier. At stake this time around was $25,000 in cold, hard cash. “Million Dollar Challenge” front man Daniel Negreanu was moved to an isolation booth, where he could communicate with Gallant via an earpiece. In addition, Mercier could invoke the dreaded “Dome of Silence” twice during the match, cutting off all communication between Negreanu and the challenger.

To say that Gallant struggled would be putting it lightly. After raising pre-flop, Gallant bet out 3,000 with K-5 on a flop of 10-9-A with two spades. The challenger had whiffed completely and Mercier called her continuation bet holding A-5 of spades for top pair and the nut flush draw. The turn was the four of spades, filling Mercier’s flush, and the action went check-check to a deuce on the river. Mercier, holding the nuts, invoked the “Dome of Silence,” moved all-in, and Gallant got out of the way. In the process, she shipped one-quarter of her chips to the bracelet winner.

Then, Gallant got it all-in before the flop with A-6 of hearts. Mercier, however, woke up with A-10 and made the call. The flop of 2-Q-9 didn’t change matters, but Gallant spiked a six on the turn to move ahead with a pair. The river was a dagger, as a 10 hit to give Mercier a higher pair with the re-suck. Just like that, Gallant was eliminated, but still earned a 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure prize package for her run to the second round of the “Million Dollar Challenge.”

The next challenger was Loren Watterworth, an ICU nurse who faced off in the first round against nine-time NBA All-Star Gary Payton. Negreanu sat by Watterworth’s side throughout her abbreviated match, which saw her raise to 5,000 before the flop with A-2, only to see a raise to 8,000 from Payton, who held A-K. Watterworth called for time to discuss the bet with Negreanu, who contended that she had too much money in the pot to fold. Consequently, Watterworth called and the flop came 10-4-7, missing both players. Payton bet 3,000 and Watterworth laid it down, falling to just 5,400 in chips after starting with 20,000.

Watterworth ultimately doubled up to 10,000 after her A-K withstood Payton’s 9-7. Watterworth flopped trips and never looked back, giving the nurse some life. However, the trash talking Payton prevailed after Watterworth errantly moved all-in on a flop of Q-7-Q holding just 6-2 of spades for six-high. Payton, who seemed unwilling to lay any hand down, called with K-2 and, once again, a contestant was drawing to a six. This time, the turn was a four and the river was an ace, sending Watterworth home empty-handed. Payton claimed $5,000 for the Gary Payton foundation, a charity that helps keep kids off the street.

Sunday marked the second straight week in which no challenger advanced to the third round. The next new episode of the PokerStars “Million Dollar Challenge” will air on November 7th on FOX. Check your local listings for more information.

Gaming Revenue Totaled $80.5 Billion in 2009

A new report from consulting firm Richard K. Miller and Associates (RKMA) revealed that gross gaming revenue in the U.S. totaled $80.5 billion in 2009. The company’s “Casinos, Gaming, and Wagering 2010” report provided in-depth analysis regarding the amount of money retained by casinos, racetracks, lotteries, and other gaming hosts.

According to the report, approximately 70% of U.S. adults placed a wager of some type in 2009, with Americans wagering approximately $900 billion at casinos and racetracks, playing lottery games, and on other forms of legal betting like poker. The total did not include the estimated $100 billion to $300 billion wagered annually in the U.S. on sporting events and the more than $100 billion in estimated online bets.

Of the $80.5 billion in revenue, casinos earned the bulk of it, bringing in a total of $57.5 billion – $30.7 billion from land-based/riverboat casinos and “racinos,” and $26.8 billion from tribal casinos. Lotteries generated $17.9 billion, parimutuel wagering (thoroughbred, harness, and greyhound racing, and jai-alai) totaled $3.0 billion, card rooms (poker) were $1.1 billion, charitable bingo was $826 million, and sports books amounted to $136 million. American Gaming Association, National Indian Gaming Commission, International Gaming & Wagering Business, state gaming commissions, and state lotteries provided detailed information.

All but two states – Hawaii and Utah – allowed some form of wagering in 2009. Forty-one states allowed casinos in the U.S., as Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia do not have any operating casinos. Parimutuel wagering is also legal in 41 states. Meanwhile, 42 states, along with the District of Columbia, operated lotteries last year. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia were the only states to allow every form of gaming mentioned.

Each casino operation was broken down by state in the report with data provided by the Casino City’s Gaming Business Directory (Winter 2010 Edition), the American Gaming Association, state gaming commissions, and casino websites. The RKMA report presented a statistical review of the casino sector covering gaming establishments of all types: casino mega-resorts, casino-hotels, tribal casinos, riverboat casinos, “racinos,” card rooms, and bingo parlors. Emerging areas such as mobile wagering, server-based gaming, and skill-based gaming were also covered, as well as the latest trends in table games, slot machines, and sports betting.

The “Casinos, Gaming & Wagering” report has been published since 1997 and is considered to be the most comprehensive reference for current gaming and wagering statistics and historical data available from any source. According to RKMA, virtually all major casinos, racetracks, and lottery agencies use its annual handbook across the U.S., as well as dozens of libraries and regulatory agencies.

More information can be found by clicking here.

Double Hold’em – Basic Tips

When Full Tilt Poker introduced Rush Poker, many people thought, “What will they think of next?” Well, as it turns out, a company called Table Brain had already thought of something, but it wasn’t until September that the new game, Double Hold’em, was launched on Party Poker. I’ve gotten the chance to try the game out, so I thought I’d share a few basic pointers with you.

For those of you who haven’t seen Double Hold’em yet, let me give you a quick rundown of how it works. The betting round work just like regular Hold’em: pre-flop round, post-flop, turn, and river. You still want to make the best five card hand. The differences start with the hole cards. Instead of two, you are dealt three. Before you make your betting decision on the flop, you must select one of those three cards to be the “point” card. That card now joins up with each of the other cards to form two combinations of two hole cards. Whichever set of hole cards results in the best hand at showdown is the one you use.

It may be better understood with an illustration. Pre-flop, you are dealt three hole cards: 7-9-8. If you set the 8 as the point, you will form two combinations: 7-8s and 8-9. At this point, although you are holding both, the 7 and 9 have nothing to do with each other. As the hand progresses from the flop to the turn to the river, you can use either of your hole card combinations to create a five card hand (just like in Hold’em, you can play zero, one, or two of your hole cards), but it is only the combination that forms the best hand in the end that plays. So, if the board reads 7-7-6-10-A, you will have trip 7′s with your 7-8 and a straight with your 8-9, so it is the 8-9 that plays at showdown.

And now, on with the show. The first thing you will notice is that, particularly at micro and low stakes, Double Hold’em tables play looser than Hold’em at virtually every street. I doubt many of you expected otherwise, considering the appeal of the extra card to the fish. The looseness is similar to what you might see at an Omaha table. The river is where you will start to see something approaching normalcy, as at that point, most players finally have an idea of whether or not their hand is any good. Because more people will tend to see the flop in Double Hold’em, good drawing hands will be more attractive, as these play better with more players in the pot.

On average, the winning hand tends to be stronger than in regular Hold’em, but not quite as good as in Omaha, although it’s probably closer to Omaha strength. Top pair/strong kicker, while often a winner in everyday Hold’em, is not going to win too often in Double Hold’em because of the wider range of possible hands with three hole cards. You’re going to see two pair quite often and even the oddest straights make appearances with regularity, especially at the lower stakes, where everyone likes their hole cards (side note: I also think the psychology of feeling more in control of the hand since people get to choose their point card contributes to the looseness of the games).

Therefore, while premium pairs are still playable pre-flop, be much more cautious about them. Even Aces and Kings don’t win unimproved as often as they do in regular Hold’em. Smaller pairs aren’t going to get you much of anywhere. That’s not to say that any pair is useless – you can still set mine with some success – it’s just that an uncoordinated pair is not going to be as strong as that same pair would be in a normal Hold’em game. By uncoordinated, I mean a pair formed with the point card and one of the side cards (I call them side cards because when you select the point, the other two cards are placed on either side of it) when the opposite side card does not coordinate with the point card to at least offer a straight or flush possibility. For example, 8-8-9 rainbow would give you a pair plus connectors, whereas 8-8-3 rainbow is uncoordinated – it gives you a pair and junk. Even 8-8-3 with the 3 suited with the point 8 gives you a flush possibility, which is better than nothing (unless someone else has a better flush, a not unlikely occurrence in Double Hold’em).

This brings me to my last piece of advice, which is also the most important. Choose your point card carefully! In my first example, if you are dealt 7-9-8, make sure you make the 8 your point so you have two sets of connectors. If you select 9 as the point, you will end up with one set of connectors (8-9) and a one-gapper (7-9).

If you are dealt a pair, say 5-5-A, don’t forget to set one of the halves of the pair as the point. In this example, the way I laid it out works fine – pair of 5′s as one hand and A-5 as another. Make the mistake of making the Ace the point and you will end up with A-5…twice. A variation on this hand is one in which the Ace is suited with one of the 5′s. In this case, be sure you make that suited 5 the point card so it is matched with the Ace. Now you have a pair of 5′s and nut flush potential. Part of the skill involved in this new game is understanding that a third hole card does not mean you have a better chance to win. You still have to practice quality hand selection and be able to evaluate which card is the proper one to make the point.

Also, keep in mind that PartyPoker does not let you change your selection once you make it, even if you have time left, so take a few seconds to make sure you are clicking the correct card. Now go have some fun.

Scott Montgomery Rolled, Doyle Brunson Polls and Fall Sports Start From Poker In Twitter

This weekend from poker players on Twitter was a jambalaya of interests, but by far the most concerning one came from Scott Montgomery while at the Bellagio for the last few preliminary events prior to the World Poker Tour‘s (WPT) Festa al Lago event.

While in the facilities at the Bellagio, it appears that Montgomery was robbed. “Got mugged today at Bellagio,” Montgomery Tweeted to his followers on Sunday evening. “Black guy pulled a knife on me in the restroom. I gave him the $2k in my wallet and he left.”

According to Montgomery, the staff at the Bellagio were less than helpful. “I called security, but they took like 15 mins so they didn’t catch him. They are useless twits. Didn’t even ask me to look at camera footage.” Montgomery finished off his Tweet series by saying, “Security pretty much just said oh well, life sucks, have a nice day. I’m pretty annoyed.” His girlfriend, Annette Obrestad, was outraged, Tweeting, “@scotmont got just got robbed at Bellagio restroom… Security didn’t give a s**t… how does this even happen?”

The news over Twitter of Montgomery’s situation was made a bit lighter by a poll that Doyle Brunson set up late last week. “The Godfather of Poker” asked his Twitter followers to respond to him about several categories regarding people in the poker community. These subjects included which poker player would be best to sleep with, which poker player would be the best to hang out with, and which poker player inspired thoughts of homicide. As usual with Doyle, the responses were handed out with a bit of fun.

“OK, enough. Thousands want the results,” Brunson Tweeted. “Poker player you want to have sex with. 1.Shannon Elizabeth 2. Vanessa Rousso 3. Jennifer Tilly.” Brunson even went as far as to indicate who the ladies were most interested in, Tweeting, “The girls voted best I could tell 1. Gus Hanson 2. Patrik Antonius 3. Phil Ivey.” In what may be a bit of a surprise, Brunson said, “Jen Tilly made both lists for the sex!”

As far as the player who earned the votes for hanging out, Brunson chirped, “Poker player you want to hang out with. 1.Phil Laak 2.Gavin Smith 3. Daniel Negreanu.” Brunson then finished off his informal poll by Tweeting, “Poker player you want to kill. 1. Phil Hellmuth 2. Russ Hamilton 3.Tony G. Looks like most of the voters were guys.”

Fall is the prime time for professional sports in the United States, with the NFL season reaching full throttle, the MLB playoffs beginning, and other sports opening up their seasons. Joe Sebok Tweeted the displeasure of Cubs fans when, as he was watching the opening credits of the MLB playoffs, he Tweeted, “Really? Have to put the Mo Alou/Steve Bartman foul drop in the baseball playoffs promo vid? Really?! As if we cubs fans don’t suffer enough.”

A few of poker’s family had teams to cheer for in the MLB playoffs, though. UB.com sponsored player/adult entertainer Samantha Ryan chirped at WPT reporter B.J. Nemeth, “So sorry bout ur Braves, k, not really, go Giants! What a game! So sick! My heart was racing and my hands and throat hurt!” Nemeth talked some Twitter trash back at Ryan, saying, “Maybe the Braves (in the next game) will score a lot of runs early to protect your frail body from the stress of a close game.”

The fifth week of the NFL season was “must see” television for some, with Negreanu settling in to watch on the road. “Watching the game and have to deal with this genius wearing a Vick jersey,” Negreanu Tweeted along with a picture. “I’d like to burn it (the jersey) personally,” Negreanu finished, referencing Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s prior transgressions.

From the action on the field, it appeared as though Lee Childs and David Williams were cheering for opposing sides. “Let’s go Titans, “ Childs Tweeted as the Tennessee squad held on to defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Williams was disillusioned with the performance of “America’s Team” to the point of Tweeting, “Romo is so awful, sucks cause I’m a Cowboys fan.” Eugene Todd was also down about the Cowboys’ performance, although he placed the blame on another source:  “Dallas will never win anything because their  coach is a moron. They make more mistakes than everyone in NFL.”

For the funniest Tweets from the past few days, we have to start with the always entertaining Erik Seidel, who decided to make a stand by Tweeting, “To protest Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo’s incarceration in China, I’m boycotting Panda Express until he’s freed.” Jennifer Harman finally found some limitations in her vast array of talents when she Tweeted, “I wish I could sing. I was singing to my son and he said, “No mommy, please, no mommy.” I guess I can’t be a rock star.” Finally, Joe Reitman pointed out while dining the other night, “At a new store opening on Melrose. They have a naked girl you can eat sushi off. I’m sorry, but something tells me that just isn’t sanitary.”

Qualifiers Blanked on PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge

It was a rough week to be a contestant on the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, which flanks NFL coverage on FOX. On Sunday, both contestants failed to reach the third round of the show, which pits qualifiers against celebrity defenders and PokerStars pros for a chance at $1 million. Chris Rose serves as its host.

Comedian Mark Britten was the episode’s first contestant and faced off against Sara Jean Underwood, a Victory Poker pro, in the first round. Underwood came out donning a PokerStars patch in lieu of advertising her home site and proceeded to make mincemeat of the amateur. Each player began with 20,000 in chips in the turbo format, ensuring fast-paced action.

Underwood kept the pressure on throughout the match, at one point leading out for 2,400 with J-9 of clubs on a flop of Q-Q-A with two hearts. Britten called time to consult with PokerStars pro and show front man Daniel Negreanu, who told him to call with a flush draw. Consequently, Britten came along to an offsuit king on the turn. Underwood immediately shoved all-in despite holding air and Britten released his cards into the muck.

In the final hand of Britten’s match against Underwood, he called all-in before the flop with 7-6 and Underwood tabled Q-J. Britten was drawing dead to the river when the first four cards came A-8-Q-10 and Underwood earned money for charity.

The second challenger of the evening was Joe Sticco, a 26-year-old financial planner who wanted to fund his mother’s breast cancer treatments. Sticco squared off against “Dancing with the Stars” host Brooke Burke in the first round. Burke doubled up after leading out for 4,000 with the nut flush draw on a flop of 5-3-10, all clubs. Sticco, who held the queen of clubs, called time to consult with Negreanu and “Kid Poker” told him to shove all-in.

Sticco did exactly that and Burke called all-in for her Million Dollar Challenge life. The turn was a red 10 and the river brought in Burke’s ace-high flush for the double up. The stacks were about even as a result.

Then, Sticco flopped a wheel with A-5 on a board of 2-3-4. Burke bet 4,000 with K-2 for a pair of deuces and Sticco put in a check-raise to 8,000. Burke called and the turn was a jack. Sticco moved all-in and Burke called drawing dead. Sticco earned a $5,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure prize package after disposing of his celebrity defender.

In the second round, PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso was Sticco’s opponent. This time, Negreanu moved to an isolation booth, where he could see Sticco’s hole cards and communicate with him via an earpiece. To counter, Rousso could shut off all chatter between Sticco and Negreanu by invoking the “Dome of Silence” twice during the match. On the line was $25,000 in cash and a chance to play Negreanu heads-up for $100,000.

In a devastating hand for Sticco, he raised to 4,000 pre-flop with A-9 and Rousso shoved over the top with A-6. Sticco called and was ahead, but a board of Q-K-Q-2 gave Rousso plenty of outs to a chop on the river. Sure enough, an ace hit, giving both players aces-up with a king kicker and the pot was divvied up.

On the final hand of the evening, Rousso peeked down at K-4, asked Sticco if he had already looked at his hand, and invoked the “Dome of Silence.” Sticco called all-in with J-9 suited to hearts and was drawing dead by the time the river was dealt.

The next new episode of the PokerStars-backed Million Dollar Challenge will air on October 24th. The series airs before or after the NFL on FOX, so check your local listings for full details.

Deliverance Poker Voluntarily Dismisses Claims Against Full Tilt

In breaking news from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Deliverance Poker has dismissed its claims against Tiltware LLC, the owners of Full Tilt Poker. The case centers on Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, a member of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine, jumping ship from Deliverance Poker to Full Tilt in the middle of the $10,000 buy-in tournament.

The short filing, which was submitted on Friday, reads in part, “Please take notice that Plaintiff Deliverance Poker… hereby voluntarily dismisses all claims in this action without prejudice as to Defendant Tiltware LLC, only. Defendant Tiltware has neither answered Plaintiff’s complaint nor filed a motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, the Plaintiff’s complaint and causes of action against Tiltware LLC may be dismissed without prejudice and without an order of the Court.”

The claims against Mizrachi, however, were not dismissed. Last month, a motion for a temporary restraining order against Full Tilt and “The Grinder” was denied. After Deliverance Poker submitted the contract signed between the site and Mizrachi, Judge James Nowlin asserted, “Even with the additional support attached to the Plaintiff’s amended pleadings, this Court is still not convinced there is ‘substantial likelihood’ that Plaintiff will prevail on the merits.”

At issue in the restraining order was whether the effective date of the contract had actually passed. According to Mizrachi’s contract, the date was assumed to be “immediately upon the closing of Deliverance of an offering of debt or equity interests in Deliverance which raises no less than one million dollars.” Austin-based Connor and Demond PLLC is serving as counsel for Deliverance Poker and the case is numbered 1:10-CV-00664-JRN.

Mizrachi turned in the run of a lifetime in the 2010 WSOP. After he was reported to be in hot water with the Internal Revenue Service, Mizrachi promptly took down the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship for $1.6 million. He eliminated his brother, Robert Mizrachi, from the Eight Game event in fifth place and outlasted a final table that also included John Juanda and David Oppenheim.

Michael Mizrachi then made the final table of the Seven Card Stud World Championship, bowing out in sixth place for $69,000. After that, it was on to his third final table of the year in the Limit Hold’em World Championship, where “The Grinder” took eighth place for $49,000. He also made a deep run in the Main Event, becoming part of the November Nine. In less than one month, Mizrachi will come armed to the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio with the seventh largest stack at 14.5 million. If he wins, Mizrachi will share WSOP Player of the Year honors with Frank Kassela.

Deliverance Poker alleged that Mizrachi “subsequently entered into a separate contract with Defendant Tiltware. This second contract essentially replaced Plaintiff as Defendant Mizrachi’s official sponsor, thereby resulting in damages to Plaintiff.” Mizrachi is one of seven 2010 WSOP November Nine members to appear on Full Tilt’s website. The others: Filippo Candio, Joseph “subiime” Cheong, John Dolan, Matthew Jarvis, Soi Nguyen, and John “$JMONEY$” Racener.

Only three members of the group will be able to don the traditional Full Tilt Poker patch according to WSOP guidelines. Mizrachi is likely to be one of those three; however, the world’s second largest online poker site has not yet revealed its plans. The Main Event resumes on November 6th in Las Vegas, when the final nine will play down to two. Heads-up play will take place on November 8th after a one-day respite and the tournament’s conclusion can be seen on November 9th.

Stay tuned to Poker News daily for the latest litigation headlines.

Sportingbet Releases Fiscal Year 2010 Results

Sportingbet PLC has reported to the London Stock Exchange and its shareholders a solid end-of-year report, showing increases across the board and settling legal issues with the U.S. government over the company’s business activities prior to 2006.

Sportingbet, which owns Paradise Poker, ended its 2010 fiscal year at the end of June. On October 6th, the company reported the results to its shareholders. Andrew McIver, the Group Chief Executive, commented, “This has been a year of significant progress on a number of fronts.”

When compared to the previous year’s results, Sportingbet has to be pleased with the numbers. The company took in £1.971 billion in wagers over the course of fiscal year 2010 compared to £1.577 billion over the same 2009 fiscal year span. This is a 25% increase year-to-year, with similar numbers reported in other areas.

Soccer’s 2010 World Cup was a watershed event for Sportingbet’s wagering customers. During the span of the month-long tournament in June in South Africa, Sportingbet pulled in over £50 million in wagers, helping the company to its financial success. Sportingbet’s net gaming revenues for the 2010 fiscal year eclipsed £207.5 million, a 26.8% increase over 2009’s £163.6 million.

Of critical importance to shareholders of Sportingbet was the company’s recent settlement of legal issues with the U.S. government. After the conclusion of the 2010 fiscal year, Sportingbet entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on September 19th, much like a competitor, Party Gaming, did earlier in the year.

The settlement designated that the company would pay $33 million over the next 18 months to settle any issues that the U.S. government had with Sportingbet’s activities in the United States prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. The settlement could allow for Sportingbet to re-enter the U.S. market once regulation of the industry is passed in Congress.

“Regulation continues to be a significant issue for the industry, both as a risk and an opportunity,” McIver said during the announcement. “(The settlement) is an important milestone for the Group, as the agreement removes any uncertainty caused by its previous activities in the United States.”

To this point in the 2011 fiscal year, Sportingbet has continued its excellent performance. McIver reported. “While the economic outlook remains challenging, our spread of activities across the different economic cycles of Europe, Australia, and South America gives us confidence for a year of further success.”

Although the company does not accept U.S. players, Sportingbet continues to be at the forefront of the European online gaming scene. Through its variety of gaming options – including sports betting, casinos, and online poker – Sportingbet has been able to garner a gross margin of approximately 10.3%, which is tops in the industry. It also has a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the English Premier League’s Wolverhampton Wanderers, with the Sportingbet logo prominently placed on the team’s jerseys.

Whitey03 Wins Bodog Poker Open V

Forty-five players pocketed their share of $200,000 as Bodog hosted the $470 + $30 Main Event of the Bodog Poker Open V (BPO) on Sunday. With just 360 registered players, there was a $30,000 overlay, as a $200,000 prize pool was guaranteed by Bodog. Taking the top spot at the $50,000 first prize was Evansville, Indiana’s “Whitey03,” who will also receive an engraved Corum Romulus Chronograph watch, which retails for $5,900.

Sunday’s triumph was by far Whitey03′s biggest cash at Bodog, with his previous best coming on July 6th, 2008 , when he placed fifth for $5,700 in the $100,000 Guaranteed tournament. His last tournament cash on Bodog before this weekend was way back on July 11th, when he won the $4,000 Guaranteed Double Stack, taking home $1,236.

Fellow Hoosier Joe “hebs” Hebda placed second and received $32,000 for his runner-up finish, while “how8life” came in third and won $20,200. Rounding out the final table were “Bravehart,” “EstyzBalln,” “fishy23,” “t2g,” “kingb51,” and “aimtj.”

Despite coming in under the number of players needed to meet the guarantee, the turnout for this weekend’s Bodog Poker Open was greater than last year’s BPO, which saw the smallest field in the event’s five year history at just 257 players. The Main Event of the first BPO was the largest, with 596 players taking part, creating a $305,120 prize pool (Bodog added $25,000).

“Whitey03″ will now also be of inducted into the Bodog Poker Open Hall of Fame, joining past winners “phatcat” (BPO I), “zubs1aa” (BPO II), “biffsworld” (BPO III), and “MrElPaso” (BPO IV).

In addition to the Main Event, which was part of what Bodog called the Championship Series, Bodog held a lower buy-in Contender Series finale, which cost just $46 + $4 to enter. With 376 players, the Contender Main Event met its $15,000 guarantee. Player “palcemvglaz” was the winner, nabbing $4,324. “I M A King” was almost king, finishing second ($2,767.36), while “bornwinner86” didn’t quite live up to his name, as he placed third ($1,746.89).

All Contender Series Main Event winners are also immortalized in the Bodog Poker Open Hall of Fame. This was only the second year that Bodog held Contender Series tournaments. The first two years of the BPO, there was only one buy-in level, the Championship Series. Bodog actually split BPO III into three different levels: Championship, Mid, and Mini. The Championship Main Event was $470 + $30, the Mid-Main Event ran $150 + $13, and the Mini-Main Event cost $46 + $4.

Bodog’s traffic has declined significantly in recent years, as the once popular poker room now ranks just 25th in in terms cash game players, according to PokerScout.com. Its 670-player seven-day average puts it just 10 behind 3-D poker room PKR and more than 200 players ahead of Full Tilt Poker‘s French-only offering. The decline seems to be the result of a lack of deposit options, as the only choices are credit card – which is not reliable method for United States residents – eWalletXpress, Click2Pay, and MyPaylinQ.

Complete final standings for both the Championship Series and Contender Series Main Events are below.

Bodog Poker Open V Championship Series Main Event Final Table Results

1. Whitey03 – $50,000
2. hebs – $32,000
3. how8life – $20,200
4. Bravehart – $16,000
5. EstyzBalln – $11,200
6. fishy23 – $9,000
7. t2g – $7,000
8. kingb51 – $4,400
9. aimtj – $3,400

Bodog Poker Open V Contender Series Main Event Final Table Results

1. palcemvglaz – $4,324.00
2. I M A King – $2,767.36
3. bornwinner86 – $1,746.89
4. Nope 1124 – $1,383.68
5. johnpavlon – $968.57
6. Evil_E – $778.32
7. armstrizal21 – $605.36
8. B Pars – $380.51
9. Dimeboy – $294.03

Viktor Blom Leads WSOP Europe Main Event After Day 2

“Isildur1” winning the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event would likely re-ignite the high-stakes game scene around the Web. It’s shaping up to happen, as Sweden’s Viktor Blom, the man many consider to be behind the “Isildur1” handle online, leads the way at the £10,000 buy-in tournament, which is taking place at the Casino at the Empire in London.

Blom has a stack of 443,200 after two days of play, just edging out Serbia’s Bojan Gledovic, who sits at 442,300. Sixty-six players remain in the hunt for the £830,000 top prize and the group that will assemble on Sunday to play down to 27 represents some of the top names in the game. Blom’s table, for example, will include WSOP bracelet winners Freddy Deeb and Quinn Do.

November Niner John Dolan made waves late during play on Saturday, doubling up with K-8 against Greg “FBT” Mueller’s pocket tens after getting his chips in on a flop of 7-6-3. Needing help, Dolan watched as a running 4-5 gave him a straight and a critical double up. All Mueller could respond with was, “That’s how November Niners run.” Dolan will hold the 55th largest stack in London when play resumes at 73,200.

Phil Laak was ousted on Saturday, but trailing the other way on the leaderboard was PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu, who you can catch on the PokerStars “Million Dollar Challenge” before or after NFL coverage on Fox this Sunday. Negreanu is in 33rd entering Day 3 at 142,800 and eyeing his third straight WSOP Europe Main Event final table. Negreanu, a four-time bracelet winner, took second to Barry Shulman last year and placed fifth in 2008. Will 2010 finally be Negreanu’s year? Stay tuned to find out.

Speaking of Shulman, he hit the rails on Saturday after committing his chips before the flop with A-5 of diamonds. Guy Gorelik looked him up with pocket eights and, despite picking up flush and straight draws on the turn, Shulman whiffed on the river. Also eliminated from contention over the course of the first two starting days in the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event were Full Tilt pros Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad and John Juanda, who won the event in 2007 and 2008, respectively. What we know for sure is that no repeat champion will be crowned in a few days’ time.

Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey remains in the hunt for his ninth WSOP bracelet in London. A win would put him at nine overall, tied for the fourth most all-time with Johnny Moss. Ivey has the sixth largest stack entering Sunday’s action at 289,300. He has a rather tough table draw, however, as joining him will be recent World Poker Tour Legends of Poker champ Andy Frankenberger, Lock Poker’s Matt “All In At 420” Stout, online poker pro Bryn Kenney, the Hendon Mob’s Barny Boatman, and Nick Schulman.

Here are the top ten chip stacks remaining in the WSOP Europe Main Event:

1. Viktor Blom – 443,200
2. Bojan Gledovic – 442,300
3. Darren Woods – 372,500
4. Andrew Pantling – 344,000
5. David Peters – 309,300
6. Phil Ivey – 289,300
7. Arnaud Mattern – 280,900
8. Nicolas Levi – 272,300
9. Dan Fleyshman – 269,000
10. Brian Powell – 266,100

Blom’s identity as “Isildur1” has not been publicly confirmed, although “Isildur1” has been addressed as “Viktor” in Full Tilt Poker table chats without correcting others. In a recent blog, Negreanu described Blom’s battles against Tom “durrrr” Dwan on the high-stakes poker felts, seemingly describing “Isildur1:” “Blom took on the world’s best… all of them, at the same time! The way he manhandled Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan in their heads-up matches made the poker world take notice and whatever this kid does, people will watch.”

Day 3 of the WSOP Europe Main Event will begin at Noon London Time on Sunday.

Dinnertime! Viktor Blom leads at the end of level ten.

Sportingbet Settles with U.S. Department of Justice

London-based Sportingbet PLC has agreed to pay $33 million to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to keep the online gambling operator out of court in the States. Sportingbet was under investigation for illegal internet gambling operations between 1998 and 2006.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said that Sportingbet offered internet gaming to players in the U.S., including real money online poker, as well as wagering on sports and casino games. Under the settlement, authorities will not prosecute Sportingbet, giving the company a clean slate in the States.

“This settlement enables Sportingbet to draw a line under events of the past,” Sportingbet CEO Andrew McIver said. “It is in the best interests of our shareholders and we can now look to the future with increased confidence.”

When the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was drawn up in 2006, all online gambling sites listed on the London Stock Exchange stopped taking customers from the United States. But Sportingbet had troubles in the country before the UIGEA was passed. The company acknowledged in the settlement that it misrepresented “the nature of its customers’ gambling transactions to U.S. credit card issuers that disallowed the use of their cards for internet gambling” and took steps to mask payments of winnings to U.S. customers.

In 2006, Sportingbet chairman Peter Dicks was arrested at New York’s JFK airport and imprisoned briefly before returning back to the United Kingdom. Soon after, the company’s U.S. poker room, Paradise Poker, stopped accepting U.S. customers and Sportingbet’s other U.S.-facing gambling businesses were sold off.

The $33 million settlement with the DOJ represents the proceeds from U.S. customers from 1998 to October 2006. Sportingbet will be forced to pay out installments of $15 million this year, $12 million in 2011, and $6 million in 2012. Despite the settlement, however, the market shifted favorably toward Sportingbet. Company shares rose 14% in London trading after news of the agreement with U.S. authorities was released.

Said McIver, “The resolution of any risk associated with Sportingbet’s former U.S.-facing business, combined with the considerable actions taken by the Group over the past three years, ensure that the Group is well placed to capitalize on the many opportunities available in the global online gaming industry.”

Sportingbet isn’t the first online gaming company to settle with the United States DOJ. PartyPoker parent company Party Gaming agreed to pay $105 million to enter into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in April 2009 after an investigation involving the offering of internet gambling services to customers residing in the U.S. prior to the passage of the UIGEA.

Party Gaming agreed to stop providing internet gambling services to customers in the United States, much like the agreement Sportingbet made this month. However, their penalty was much stiffer than Sportingbet’s because Party Gaming operated the most popular online poker site (PartyPoker) in the world at the time.

Gus Hansen trying to catch a WSOPE victory - Cash games are going great as well

Gus Hansen has faced some criticism lately, mainly because of his huge losses in the cash games - which were almost 10 million dollars online.

Now the “Great Dane” has played some profitable sessions online and he has made to the final four of WSOPE Event #4 £10,350 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads Up Tournament.

The victory would bring Hansen his first WSOP bracelet and some positive publicity - for once.

WSOPE Event #4 £10,350 No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads Up finalists:

Gus Hansen vs. Andrew Feldman
Jim Collopy vs. Ram Vaswani

Hansen has already made £96,212 and the victory would profit him £288,409. You can follow the final tables from Pokernews.

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

Gus Hansen trying to catch a WSOPE victory - Cash games are going great as well

The Sunday Scoop: Marchese Nearly King

The NAPT Venetian winner outlasted 1,336 players before finally falling short to Wolf_holdem in heads-up play.

Fortunately for Marchese the pair decided to chop and Wolf_holdem only took down $52,264 for the outright win while Marchese still earned $44,000.

Marchese was the most notable player to go deep in a Full Tilt tournament on Sunday but the real highlight was the amount of cash that was awarded.

The Full Tilt $750k Guaranteed was upped to $1 million this week and 2,082 players bought into the contest. Eventually justgoforbroke walked away with first place and $150,130 although there was a four-way chop in place.

The Sunday Brawl drew 2,637 players to create a prizepool of $527,400. dmon188 finished first and took the biggest chunk of the prizepool worth $99,963.

Meanwhile all of PokerStars regular Sunday tournaments were replaced by World Championship of Online Poker events.

Three WCOOP winners were crowned on Sunday including most notably online player RaiseOnce who outlasted 31 players in the prestigious Event 39 $25,000 buy-in high roller heads-up event.

RaiseOnce made it further than established stars such as Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Sorel Mizzi to eventually take down a first place prize of $348,750. Not bad for winning a few heads-up matches.

Australian Money_1985 won Event 41 $215 No-Limit Hold’em for a haul of $282,798. Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis notably came in 19th place just missing out on the final table.

Event 38, a smaller two-day $530 No-Limit Hold’em heads-up contest, also wrapped up yesterday with SixthSenSe19 the ultimate survivor for $100,000. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements came in seventh place for $18,600.

Finally on UB Poker a total of 924 players bought into the $200k Guaranteed to create a small overlay. LVZARDOS won first place for $40,000 while Adam “ROOTHLUS” Levy came in 13th place, narrowly missing out on the final table fun.

Players Before Profits Petition Nears 10,000 Signatures

In late August, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the main lobbying voice for poker players in the United States, struck back at the Commerce Casino and other gambling establishments in California by launching PlayersBeforeProfits.com. The online petition was designed to encourage support of HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Now, the vehicle is nearing 10,000 signatures.

At the time of writing, the petition at PlayersBeforeProfits.com has garnered 9,018 signatures, having passed 9,000 during the day on Friday. In addition to a wealth of “Average Joes” signing it, a plethora of pros have joined in the fray. Players like Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Huck Seed, and Erik Seidel have all lent their name to the PPA’s cause.

Tom Malkasian, who introduced himself in a July House Financial Services Committee hearing as an “owner, board member, and the Director of Strategic Planning for the Commerce Casino,” came out in strong opposition to HR 2267. Malkasian called the bill, introduced by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) “fundamentally flawed and unsound.”

Malkasian added that HR 2267 and its revenue counterpart, HR 4976, are “based on false revenue assumptions that would require the removal of the right of any state or tribe to opt out of the bill in order to achieve the advertised tax revenues of $42 billion over 10 years.” HR 4976, introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), has yet to be marked up in the House Ways and Means Committee. Contrastingly, the House Financial Services Committee approved HR 2267 six weeks ago and the bill boasts 70 co-sponsors.

PPA Executive Director John Pappas told the PocketFives.com Podcast this week that the California casinos are merely seeking a monopoly by opposing HR 2267: “When you peel back the onion, you realize that they’re not opposed to internet gaming; they just want a monopoly on it. From a consumer perspective, we all know that monopolies don’t work and they don’t provide the best player experience. What Commerce is looking for is a poker-only bill that will only serve the California marketplace.”

PlayersBeforeProfits.com also provides avenues for concerned Americans to Tweet, call, and e-mail the Commerce with one click. Its petition reminds casino officials, “It is important to note that with the rise of online poker, many individuals hone their skills online before they enter establishments such as the Commerce Casino – increasing traffic to poker rooms nationwide.” The Commerce has gone so far as to invite poker home games to play within its walls.

The Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens, and Hollywood Park have all come out in support of the Commerce Casino’s position. The coalition’s Waltona Manion told Poker News Daily in an interview on September 1st that, among other aspects of the bill, the group believes that the opt-out provision will not hold water if faced with a World Trade Organization challenge. In addition, Manion claimed that HR 2267 and HR 4976 would impose lower taxes on offshore internet casinos compared to what land-based casinos pay.

Congress has a target adjournment of October 8th, one month ahead of general elections in the United States. Then, following elections, a so-called “lame duck” session will likely occur. With the nation’s highest legislative body needing to pass critical appropriations bills, the possibility exists that HR 2267 could be attached to an unrelated piece of legislation, as was the case with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act four years ago.

Although members of the poker community have called for a formal boycott of the Commerce Casino and its partners, the PPA has not yet taken that route. The Commerce Casino bills itself as the “largest card casino on Earth” with nearly 250 tables. Across town at the Bicycle Casino, Andrew Frankenberger was crowned the champion of the recently completed World Poker Tour Legends of Poker, whose lowered $5,000 buy-in resulted in a field of 462 players.

Michael Mizrachi, Full Tilt Poker Sued By Deliverance Poker

The online poker site Deliverance Poker has filed a complaint alleging breach of contract against 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Niner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his alleged new sponsor, Full Tilt Poker.

The complaint, filed on September 7th in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, is for Mizrachi’s alleged breach of contract with Deliverance Poker. The company is listed in the complaint as being “organized” in the state of Texas, although no physical address is given. Full Tilt is also named as a defendant in the suit through its parent company, Tiltware LLC, for its “tortious interference” in signing Mizrachi after he ran deep in the WSOP Main Event.

Poker News Daily has obtained a copy of the complaint in which Deliverance Poker provides background to its allegations. According to court documents, Deliverance Poker “and Defendant Mizrachi executed a written contract on or about July 12th, 2009.” Deliverance Poker states the terms of the agreement: “Plaintiff (Deliverance Poker) would 1) pay Defendant Mizrachi $150,000, 2) Provide a membership interest (part ownership of the site) of 1.75% in Plaintiff’s corporation, and 3) Advance expenses related to poker tournaments in which Defendant Mizrachi would participate.” Deliverance Poker also states that, as a part of the agreement, Mizrachi would “compete in tournaments, make personal appearances to promote Plaintiff’s website, exclusively wear memorabilia promoting Plaintiff’s website, and give interviews.”

Deliverance Poker says in its complaint that Mizrachi abided by the terms of the contract until July, participating “in over 20 tournaments” on behalf of the site. One of the tournaments that Deliverance Poker is citing could very well be Mizrachi’s win in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, where he captured the title while wearing a Deliverance Poker patch. What is in question, however, is what occurred during his run to the final table of the Main Event.

Court documents from Deliverance Poker’s attorney, William Pieratt Demond of the law firm Connor and Demond in Austin, Texas, allege that Mizrachi “subsequently entered into a separate contract with Defendant Tiltware. This second contract essentially replaced Plaintiff as Defendant Mizrachi’s official sponsor, thereby resulting in damages to Plaintiff.” The complaint then details out what relief Deliverance Poker is looking for.

In its two-count complaint, the company alleges that, by Mizrachi’s pickup of Full Tilt Poker and Full Tilt’s usage of his likeness on their website, damages have been incurred by Deliverance Poker. Tiltware, the company alleges, knew of the contract and willingly violated it by signing Mizrachi, which is “tortious interference,” the second complaint in the court documents. “Tortious interference” is a legal term that implies one party convinced another party to violate a previously signed contract.

The Deliverance Poker complaint does not name a dollar amount that they are seeking, but the company is looking to the court to reimburse it for lost earnings, profits, and earning capacity. Deliverance is also seeking prejudgment and post-judgment on the complaint and appropriate attorney fees. With these pronouncements, it is possible that Deliverance Poker is looking for a high six-figure judgment.

At this time, both rooms are using Mizrachi’s likeness to promote their sites. While he is not listed as either a “Full Tilt Pro” or a “Friend of Full Tilt,” Mizrachi is mentioned as one of the site’s “WSOP 2010 Finalists” and it’s noted that Mizrachi “plays online at Full Tilt Poker.” Over at the Deliverance Poker website, the entire Mizrachi clan – Michael and brothers Eric, Robert, and Donny – are prominently featured on the front page.

While the legal wrangling goes on, Mizrachi has remained relatively silent, save for one Tweet he made regarding the situation. On Thursday afternoon, he chirped, “In light of this week’s news, remember there are two sides to every story. I look forward telling my side and the truth coming out.” Attempts by Poker News Daily to contact Tiltware and Demond went unanswered as of press time.

Ziigmund Strikes South for $700k

South and Sahamies faced off in a series of heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO matches over two tables. Unlike many of the PLO games that have been going on recently, they decided to play the non-Cap version of the game.

After a couple hours Ziigmund started to pull away from South and near the end of the session it turned into an all-out bloodbath.

Ziigmund raked numerous pots that were worth over $150,000 and at one point had $1.2 million spread across both tables.

After 791 hands South had apparently reached his breaking point and offered the obligatory “gg” before leaving. Ziigmund finished up $709k, which is his biggest score in months, while South ended up down $638k.

The always swingy Ziigmund improved from being almost even in 2010 to nearly $1 million earned while South, who had a terrific start to 2010 with nearly $2 million won, falls down to about $900k profit for the year.

Several big name players were busy last night as skervoy won $247,157, Dan “jungleman12” Cates took $161k and Phil Ivey added $137k to his online bankroll.

Meanwhile durrrr was a big loser, dropping $247k and Di “Urindanger” Dang also didn’t fare well losing $218k.

Here are a few of the biggest hands from the session earlier today. Be sure to check out our online poker stats section for more information.

Hevad Khan, Gavin Griffin Out as PokerStars Sponsored Pros?

Given that the online poker community’s collective attention is focused on the ongoing PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), it comes as no surprise that the subject of players missing from the roster of Team PokerStars Pro surfaced on the forums. Among those pros reported as MIA were Hevad Khan, Gavin Griffin, and Peter Eastgate.

Griffin appears on the PokerStars.net website in a thumbnail for Team PokerStars USA. However, when the Team PokerStars USA roster is displayed, he is nowhere to be found. Griffin became poker’s first Triple Crown winner after taking down events on the World Poker Tour (WPT) and European Poker Tour (EPT) to go along with a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.

His WSOP hardware came in 2004, when Griffin won a $3,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event for $270,000, besting a final table that included Gabriel Thaler and UB.com front man Phil Hellmuth. Three years later, Griffin was off to the races again, this time after winning the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for $2.4 million. He defeated Canadian Marc Karam heads-up in a final eight that also featured Søren Kongsgaard, bracelet winner Steve Jelinek, and Irishman Andy Black.

Griffin rounded out the high-stakes live poker Triple Crown by taking down the WPT Borgata Winter Open in 2008 for $1.4 million. Griffin turned heads after the rare feat and posters on TwoPlusTwo questioned the logic of PokerStars apparently not coming to terms with the 29 year-old: “Not resigning Gavin was a mistake, imho. Triple Crown winner not good enough?” Another TwoPlusTwo member added, “The dude’s still got plenty of credentials. I’d imagine his contract came up and they couldn’t agree to a new one, rather than him just getting the boot.”

Khan, meanwhile, burst onto the scene following his lively antics during the 2007 WSOP Main Event. His actions prompted a player celebration rule dubbed the “Hevad Khan Rule” due to his ape-like victory dances throughout the tournament. Khan wound up finishing sixth in the 2007 Main Event for nearly $1 million.

In late 2008, Khan followed up his performance by winning the Caesars Palace Classic Championship Event for an even $1 million, besting a pro-heavy final table that included Michael Kamran, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Adam “A_Junglen” Junglen, and two-time bracelet winner John “World” Hennigan. The following January, Khan won a $1,850 preliminary event during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $200,000.

According to the HendonMob database, Khan has not cashed in a major live poker event since June 2009. Griffin, meanwhile, has just two live cashes to his credit this year, including a final table in the California State Poker Championship in Los Angeles.

The lack of results led some to believe that Khan and Griffin were simply burnt out from the poker grind. To that end, one TwoPlusTwo poster charged, “Am I the only one who got the impression that they just weren’t ever that big into poker? Or at least didn’t seem like they wanted to be doing it professionally for ten or so years? I can’t really explain why, but just kinda how they came across to me.”

During the 2010 WSOP, PokerStars brought onboard David Williams and Vanessa Selbst. Williams, a former Bodog pro, was fresh off winning the WPT Championship at the Bellagio, while Selbst took down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun Main Event. The site boasts a high-powered group of former Main Event champions including Tom McEvoy (1983), Chris Moneymaker (2003), Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), and Joe Cada (2009).

Eastgate, who won the Main Event in 2008, may also be on the outs with PokerStars after announcing that he’s taking a break from poker. Eastgate is not on the Team PokerStars Pro roster, although, like Griffin, his image still appears in a thumbnail. An e-mail placed to PokerStars to clarify the pro situation was not returned as of press time.

PokerStars has increasingly diversified away from the United States, running live tournaments in Asia, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and Latin America.

Bruno Fitoussi – Poker Player Profile

Frenchman Bruno “King” Fitoussi, born September 21, 1958 in Paris, can often be found playing in the biggest poker games in the world. But Fitoussi isn’t your regular high-stakes card shark. An architect by trade, Fitoussi was also a music producer before founding the consulting firm VIP Gaming, where he still holds a position as President. He also created the poker magazine 52, which can be found in casinos all over Europe.

The entrepreneur has said in interviews that he isn’t a professional poker player, but that is certainly debatable based on his results. Fitoussi first made his mark in the poker world by defeating legendary pro Amarillo Slim at the 2001 World Heads-Up Championship in Vienna, Austria. He earned $101,727 for his first title on the circuit, amplifying his love for the game that has continued into the next decade.

In 2004, Fitoussi was voted into the European Poker Hall of Fame, joining superstars like David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Carlos Mortensen, Marcel Luske, and Surinder Sunar. The honor not only rewarded his talent at the tables, but also his contributions to the emergence of Texas Hold’em in France, especially through the Aviation Club. Fitoussi helped bring in some of Europe’s top players to the famous poker club, including David Benyamine, Tony G, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, and the Boatman brothers.

In 2005, Fitoussi made his first final table at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing second in a $1,500 Seven Card Razz event for $70,275. He made another final table at the 2006 WSOP, taking fifth in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $54,486.

Fitoussi’s biggest achievement came at the $50,000 HORSE World Championship at the 2007 WSOP, where he faced off against 147 of the best poker players in the game. After five days of play and a 14-hour final table, he came within a few hands of winning his first bracelet, finishing as the runner-up to Freddy Deeb for a cool $1,278,720. The tournament was aired by ESPN and put Fitoussi on the poker map, helping lead to his appearance on more television shows in the future.

Since then, Fitoussi has found a lot of success on the World Poker Tour (WPT). He took second place in a $5,000 event at the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, collecting $205,385. He then took 10th at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2009 for $98,050, an event ultimately won by internet phenom Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. In total, Fitoussi has more than $2.4 million in live tournament earnings.

Despite his success, Fitoussi still isn’t one of the more recognizable faces in the world of high-stakes poker. He isn’t flamboyant like Daniel Negreanu, obnoxious like Mike Matusow, or temperamental like Phil Hellmuth. His quiet, polite behavior on the felts hasn’t helped land him any sponsorship deals with major online sites, but the cool-headed “pro” seems to be just fine with that.

Poker News in Brief: Aug. 30- Sep. 5, 2010

A few stories slipped through the cracks, but we caught them all and neatly organized them into our regular Poker News in Brief feature below.

This week we’ll take a look at the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame nominees, a new WPT TV deal, WSOPE qualifiers on UB, WCOOP kicking off and more.

Hall of Fame nominees announced

Ten nominees have been named for the 2010 class of the Poker Hall of Fame after a two-month voting process on WSOP.com.

The ten players under consideration include Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Erik Seidel.

These names will be vetted by the Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council, who will then select the final list of candidates.

The 16 living Hall of Fame members and a 17-person media panel will then determine who will enter the Hall at an induction ceremony held as part of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table festivities in November.

The Poker Hall of Fame, established in 1979, traditionally elects one or two members annually.

High Heels Heads South

The High Heels Poker Tour, the first all women’s poker tour on the U.S. East Coast, is planning a big Fall all over Florida.

The HHPT 2010 Fall schedule will stops at Mardi Gras in Hallandale, Ebro Greyhound Park in Ebro, Orange Park Kennel Club in Jacksonville, The Isle in Pompano, and The Silks Poker Room in Tampa.

For additional information, including dates, times and buy-ins go to www.highheelspokertour.com. 

WPT Inks TV Deal

The World Poker Tour and Fox Sports Net announced a multi-season broadcast and promotional agreement for the distribution of WPT Seasons 9, 10, and 11 this week.

The new agreement features prime time national premiere airtimes on Sunday nights, as well as repeat airings throughout the week. Plus, the two have agreed to extensive promotional advertising that will keep viewers up-to-date on new airings.

WPT’s Season 9 will premiere with its 179th episode in January 2011.

"This season promises to be unlike any previous incarnations of the WPT," said Steve Heller, CEO of WPT.

"The shows will be faster-paced and edgier, featuring the biggest names in poker mixing it up with more up-and-coming stars, pre-final table action and, as always, poker’s greatest and most recognizable play-by-play commentary team of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten."

Have Your Cake

Cake Poker is running a number of promotions this September, including the debut of a Monday Night Football tournament series.

Debuting Sep. 13 and running for four weeks, Cake Poker will offer Money Night Football tournaments during the NFL broadcasts.

Plus, players who change their screen name to reference their favorite NFL team and cash in one of the tournaments will be entered into a weekly $500 Kamikaze tournament.

WSOPE Qualifiers on UB.com

The World Series of Poker Europe main event is returning to London’s Casino at The Empire Sep. 23-28 and UB wants to send you there. From Sep. 1-12 UB is offering players the chance to earn a seat for as little as $10.

Players can qualify through $10 Ultra Turbo Rebuy and $55 Freezeout feeders, or buy-in directly to the $500+$30 3-Seat Guaranteed WSOPE Super Satellite scheduled for Sep. 12 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

PKR Offers New Poker Fest

PKR and The Fox Poker Club are teaming up to present a new breed of poker festival with dealer dealt tournaments at affordable buy-ins in London this fall. Running for a full 28 days between Oct. 11 and Nov. 7, the PKR.com 'London Calling' festival will consist of 57 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from £20 to £300.

The festival will conclude with a £300 buy-in main event.

“With regular buy-ins ranging from £20 'London Calling' is for the huge number of people who'd love to play a high-quality, dealer-dealt tournament but find most poker tours and festivals are too high for their bankroll," said PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger.

Further details can be found at www.pkr.com/londoncalling.

William Hill Revamps Software

William Hill Poker has made a few improvements aimed at making the player experience more enjoyable.

The poker tables on the site now have a new look. Players can adjust table-sizing to tile and cascade multiple tables and now have the ability to play on more than one monitor at a time. The site has also introduced flashing avatars to indicate when a player is on the clock, new backgrounds, borders and shading.

The player's chat functionality has been improved and incorporated in a side toolbar to access the chat commentary, player's notes, relevant statistics, hand history and settings. Check out PokerListings’ William Hill Poker review for more.

WCOOP Kicks Off

PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker begins today.

The richest online poker series in the world, WCOOP will consist of 62 events over 23 days, with tournaments in every poker discipline and $50 million in guaranteed cash.

Last year, 43,973 players from 140 countries took part in WCOOP with Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko winning the main event and more than $1.7 million.

PokerStars is offering a 20% WCOOP Reload Bonus to help bankroll your run at a WCOOP title.

Make a deposit before 11:59 p.m. ET on Sep. 11 using the code WCOOP to take advantage.

For more details, go to the WCOOP website.

Blair Hinkle Wins Council Bluffs WSOP Circuit Championship

World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Blair Hinkle came out on top of the pack in the Circuit Championship at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The $1,600 buy-in poker tournament attracted a field of 251 players.

Hinkle’s reward for winning the Circuit Championship was $88,000 in cash, a diamond and gold ring, $10,000 to buy into the 2011 WSOP Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas, and a seat in the Circuit National Championship in Sin City, the brand new $1 million tournament. The latter event is capped at 100 players and awards a WSOP bracelet to its winner. The price tags of the Main Events at each Circuit stop have been lowered to $1,600 and four Regional Championship sites feature $10,000 finales.

Hinkle’s bracelet came in 2008, when he took down a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event to the tune of $507,000. He became one-half of the first set of brothers ever to win bracelets in the same year after his sibling Grant landed in the winner’s circle of Event #2, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Grant faced some stiff competition at the final table of his bracelet event, including former November Niner James Akenhead, Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson, Theo Tran, and 2009 WSOP HORSE champ David Bach.

In the defining hand of heads-up play, Shiva Dudani bet 400,000 with the board reading 10-9-5-9. Hinkle called and the river was a benign deuce. Both players checked and Hinkle tabled A-8 of spades for ace-high, enough to take down the pot against Dudani’s king-high. Then, Dudani committed his chips on a board of 9-6-7-4-K with J-8 for a busted straight draw, while Hinkle made the call with K-6 for kings-up. The pot earned him $88,000 in cash and his first WSOP Circuit title.

The final table bubble boy at Council Bluffs was Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee, who moved all-in pre-flop with A-K. Dudani looked him up with a wired pair of kings and the better pre-flop hand held. Lee, a sponsored pro of Foxwoods, walked away from the Midwestern casino with $6,500 for his 10th place finish.

Thirty-three events played out at Council Bluffs with a total attendance of 4,056 players, a 12% growth year over year. The last time the WSOP Circuit came to the Iowa casino was in February, when the $5,150 buy-in Main Event drew a crowd of just 46 players for a total prize pool of $212,100. This year, attendance increased five-fold, with the prize pool mushrooming by 70%.

Also making an appearance at Council Bluffs was Doug “Rico” Carli, who has a ridiculous 42 Circuit cashes, the most of any player. Carli recorded five in the money finishes on the big stage during the WSOP in Las Vegas this year, including a $42,000 haul for taking 259th in the Main Event. He has nearly $900,000 in WSOP and Circuit Event earnings spread across 64 cashes, an average of $13,000 each, and is a two-time gold ring winner.

Here were the final results from the WSOP Circuit Championship at Horseshoe Council Bluffs:

1. Blair Hinkle – $88,555
2. Shiva Dudani – $54,715
3. Dwyte Pilgrim – $39,531
4. Matthew Lawrence – $29,092
5. Charles Moore – $21,795
6. Jack Do – $16,608
7. John Wakeen – $12,867
8. Daniel Biddle – $10,131
9. Kevin Calenzo – $8,103

Next up for the WSOP Circuit is a trip to Horseshoe Southern Indiana, located on the Ohio River just downstream from Louisville, Kentucky. The festivities get underway on October 2nd, with the Circuit Championship kicking off on October 10th and crowning a champ two days later. The buy-in for the Main Event is once again $1,600.

September 1st – Daily Deal

On today’s edition of the Daily Deal, Barney Frank may step down as Financial Services Committee Chairman; the World Poker Tour and Fox Sports Net extend a partnership; and Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen gets taken to the cleaners by Phil Ivey and Cole South.

Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.

In November, the United States will hold its general elections. On Capitol Hill, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be determined. If after the elections Republicans gain control of the House, then Congressman Barney Frank’s time as the Financial Services Committee Chairman may come to an end, and in the worst case scenario he would be replaced by notoriously anti-gaming Congressman Spencer Bachus.

Frank has been one of the strongest supporters of the legalization of online poker and he is currently promoting HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The bill was marked up in the Financial Services Committee in late July and has received the support of seventy co-sponsors. Frank has been in the House since 1980 and served as the Financial Services Committee Chairman since 2007.

The World Poker Tour and Fox Sports Net announced this week that they will continue their broadcast and promotional relationship, settling on an agreement that will stretch until 2013. The World Poker Tour’s ninth Season will begin airing in January two thousand eleven, starting with the Bellagio Cup.

The broadcast will have several improvements, including new anchor Kimberly Lansing and the introduction of the beautiful Royal Flush Girls. Season nine will also debut a yet-to-be-named new analyst who will host a recurring segment called “The Raw Deal.”

New World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller said: “This season promises to be unlike any previous incarnations of the WPT … The shows will be faster-paced and edgier, featuring the biggest names in poker mixing it up with more up-and-coming stars, pre-final table action, and, as always, poker’s greatest and most recognizable play-by-play commentary team of Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten.”

HighStakesDB.com has reported that hyper-aggressive pro Gus Hansen lost over one million dollars last Sunday… to just two opponents.

Cole South of CardRunners fame and eight-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Ivey took Hansen for more than one point one million dollars, almost half of the “Great Dane’s” net losses on the year. HighStakesDB – which tracks the action at high-stakes online poker tables – reported that Hansen’s losses Sunday came primarily in two and four thousand Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. He lost nearly $400,000 to Ivey in that game along with $99,000 to South, and an additional three hundred and thirty five thousand in Omaha Eight or Better when it was part of a Seven Game rotation.

All told, Hansen is down $2.3 million dollars for this year, while Ivey has cashed $3.5 million on online play. South is up eighty thousand due to a recent downswing.

Guess we should be asking for holiday gifts from Ivey, South and Jungleman this year!

Thanks for watching The Daily Deal once again, and as always be sure to bookmark Poker News Daily for the latest in poker news. Be sure to add us to your twitter feed at http://twitter.com/pokernewsdaily. I’m Sean Gibson and may the flop be with you!

California Horse Racing Wagering Bill Through To Senate

A bill, which is backed by one of the largest players in the online gaming industry, is up for a vote in the California General Assembly that would open up online betting on horse racing for the state’s residents.

The proposed bill, named SB 1072 in the California legislature, would up the cut for the state regarding its percentage of the take of wagers on horse racing. More importantly, perhaps, is the provision in the bill that would allow for “exchange betting,” otherwise known as internet wagering. The bill was on the fast track to being enacted before opposition to the legislation delayed its passage.

The bill has been amended by California Senator Ron Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello serving Senate District 30, to alleviate the concerns of much of the opposition, which included California horse trainers, among others. Under Calderon’s amendments and his sponsorship, implementation of the law (if passed through the Senate and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) would be studied by the state legislature and the California Horse Racing Board for approximately 20 months to set the rules for implementation. This means that the law would not take effect until 2012 at the earliest.

European gaming conglomerate Betfair was critical in getting Calderon’s amended bill voted through, along with Magna International Developments. Betfair, who is also the sponsor of the World Series of Poker Europe, is the owner of the United States’ largest horse racing wagering site, TVG.com. The company sponsors races at New York’s Saratoga racetrack and, through TVG, offers internet wagering to millions of customers.

Intrastate gaming is a subject that the state of California, currently facing billions of dollars in budget shortfalls, is examining as a means of alleviating the situation. Along with the current bill that would open up wagering on horse racing, there is an ongoing drive to push for intrastate online poker, although a bill introduced earlier this year by Senator Rod Wright fell short over the California General Assembly’s summer session.

Wright’s bill, SB 1485, would have opened up the California online gaming market, in particular poker, to control by the state. The now dead bill would have authorized three “hub operators” to provide legal internet gambling outlets to California residents for a period of five years. The state would have taken 20% of the revenues monthly, which would have been paid to a specially created internet gambling fund. California residents also would have faced stiff penalties for playing on unauthorized sites.

The intrastate gaming debate has come forward as of late because of furor over the Commerce Casino’s stance against federal legislation that would fully legalize internet gaming. In testimony in July in front of the House Financial Services Committee regarding Congressman Barney Frank‘s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (HR 2267), Commerce chairman Tom Malkasian came out against the proposed bill for several reasons.

Among the points cited by Malkasian was that the revenue generated by the new legislation would not stay in the United States, online companies would not face the same regulation that land-based casinos face, and jobs would be lost rather than created. His stance, which other top California card rooms such as Hollywood Park, the Bicycle Casino, and Hawaiian Gardens have stated they agree with, has angered many in the poker community.