Poker News

First Impressions of the 2010 WSOP by Lee Jones

I think the WSOP may actually be shedding some excess and concentrating on poker, as it should. It’s no secret that the Las Vegas economy has been one of the hardest hit in the American (and global) downturn; the WSOP is reflecting its host city’s hardships.

Now, I don’t consider this a bad thing. The World Series of Poker is supposed to be about (!) poker. For a while, poker was so faddish that “they” (the media, anybody who had a dollar to make from it) attempted to make it all things to all people. For instance, in recent years there was a “Poker Lifestyle” show at the WSOP. “Poker Lifestyle” – surely you’re kidding, right? I mean, poker is a game, not a lifestyle.

But there it was, although last year it began looking frayed around the edges. There were fewer booths and you’d be hard-pressed to find a relationship to poker at many of them. Perhaps with a bit of foreshadowing, one of the larger booths was that of Sports Legends Challenge. They proposed bringing retired sports heroes and poker players together at a tropical resort. They sold (or awarded in satellites) dozens of prize packages and then the whole thing collapsed in a cloud of scandal and lies.

Maybe this was yet another sign that there are limits to what poker should try to be. Whatever – the lifestyle show is gone. The room that used to hold it is now the main tournament area, full of poker players.

Gone this year are the energy drinks (although the beef jerky is still everywhere). The side halls don’t have the ancillary vendors that have been there in recent years. There’s less pomp and glitz and for that reason you can see the poker better. Player fields are down a bit, but have no fear, there’s more poker – at the Rio and elsewhere – than you can shake a stick at.

Tournament of Champions

I had the opportunity to participate in the ESPN webcast of the first two days of the Tournament of Champions. As you’re probably aware, this was a 27-player tournament (a three-table sit-and-go if you will) consisting of many of the top players in the world. Twenty of them were chosen by a poll of the fans. By and large, I think the fans did exceptionally well at picking (although I was disappointed that Chris Moneymaker didn’t make the cut).

The match has an extremely generous structure and this, combined with the solid play of the participants, produced the departure of only nine players after two days of play. As I pointed out during the webcast, these pros didn’t suffer from the over-eagerness that often affects players more used to shorter-stack online events. As an example, Greg Raymer ran into a set-under-set situation and a couple of other nasty second-best hand scenarios, yet managed to survive quite a while beyond them.

Having watched this event closely for two days, I’m 100% sold on the idea of bringing together a relatively small group of top players to battle it out. If nothing else, the stories they tell and the poker lessons they give by example are well worth it.

One parting comment on the TOC: Phil Hellmuth showed up over two hours late on the first day – a day in which they were only going to play four levels (four hours). I know that a fashionably late appearance is his standard M.O., but I (and others) consider his tardiness for this event unconscionable. Being voted into the TOC by the poker community was, or should have been, an honor for anybody selected. Showing up late indicates a lack of respect for the other players in the tournament, the game, and the community at large. That last sentence is largely a paraphrase of what Mike Matusow said right to Phil’s face; good for Mike.

Note to the poker community: When you get ready to vote for TOC participants next year, don’t forget that slight.

Poker is Everywhere

As I said before, there’s poker everywhere. I played in a donkament at the Venetian last night; the poker “room” has spread out into the casino like kudzu on steroids. There were tournaments, sit and gos, and satellites. There were cash games, including $8-16 Limit Hold’em, $1-2 PLO, and dozens of No Limit Hold’em games. Away from the media and the beef jerky, it’s just pure uncut poker and it was beautiful to be part of it.

Resort Fees

Who thought this abomination up? Hotels all over Las Vegas are now adding a “resort fee” to the cost of the room. They don’t advertise it as part of the room price, but you have no more choice in paying it than you do the state room tax. It’s supposed to cover things like the weight room, swimming pool, and internet. But a lot of things that it’s supposed to cover used to be part of the room cost anyway.

I understand the Las Vegas economy is hurting and the hotels are trying to make an extra buck. But this approach of tacking on a nearly hidden charge (many resellers don’t mention the fee in their ads) is cynical and disingenuous.

Note: If you’re shopping for Las Vegas hotels, be sure to ask about “resort fees.”

The People

As always, the real joy of attending the WSOP is encountering friends I see once a year or so. Players, bloggers, media people, former colleagues, WSOP staff, all of them. Las Vegas can be a cold impersonal town, but when you’re having a post-cash-session dinner with old friends from across “The Pond,” it feels warm and intimate.

Note: Don’t come out here by yourself, unless you know people here. Meet friends from home, make contacts over the forums, do whatever is necessary. As lonely as it can be here by yourself, it’s one of the best places in the world to hang with friends.

Lee Jones is the Card Room manager of Cake Poker and has been in the online poker business for over six years. He is also the author of “Winning Low Limit Hold’em,” which has been in publication for over 15 years.

Phil Laak’s Poker Endurance Record May Have Been Broken

Slightly over two weeks ago, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak stepped away from the felt at a $10/$20 cash game at the Bellagio after 115 consecutive hours of playing poker, setting a new Guinness World Record. Now, reports are emerging from Europe that a group of players has eclipsed Laak’s record by a substantial margin.

According to the Cake Poker Blog, an Austrian website, and a thread on TwoPlusTwo, a group of players in Kufstein, Austria set out last weekend to break Laak’s record. Using a special setup in a hotel room in Kufstein, the seven players started play “not for money, but for honor,” according to a quote from one of the players on the website. The game was broadcast over the internet with a specially equipped RFID table in play so internet viewers could see the players’ hole cards.

Those involved in the game – called “The Glorious Seven” according to the Cake Poker Blog – included German film director and actor Max Krückl, Julia Doetsch, Erich Grünwald, Thomas Wagermeier, Rudolf Teichmann, Stephan Reischl, Nuran Karasu, and Jens Tölle. Several players dropped out at different points during the action, but Reischl, Karasu, and Tölle continued to play throughout the week. The effort of the three stopped yesterday when they broke the 135-hour mark.

One question remains however: was Laak’s endurance record actually broken? According to its website, Guinness has an extensive procedure to attempt to break any records. A record attempt has to be first cleared by Guinness officials and, after a four to six-week review process, can only proceed if the person(s) attempting the record go through an extensive confirmation process, more than likely including videotape evidence, legal affidavits from witnesses, and other paperwork. After the proper materials have been returned to Guinness, it would take six to eight weeks for the organization to confirm the record.

In the TwoPlusTwo thread, many posters state that the record was not broken because an official from Guinness wasn’t in attendance. According to the Guinness rules, it is not necessary for an attempt at a world record to be viewed by what they call a “Record Adjudicator.” The “Record Adjudicator” is an offer from Guinness to help build publicity for an event and is not necessary for the process of breaking the record.

Other posters commented on the huge difference between what the Austrian team did and what Laak did in his record breaking attempt. When Laak set the world record earlier this month, he was in the middle of one of the busiest poker rooms in Las Vegas at the Bellagio, making his task more difficult by playing in public. He also was playing at a healthy stake ($10/$20 No Limit Hold’em) for many players and was able to make a profit out of his 115 hours of play. Finally, he was limited to five-minute breaks each hour, which Laak banked to use at different times for exercise, showering, and the occasional nap.

The Austrian group seems to have laid out a perfect setup, limiting any interaction with the public. The hotel room was donated (as well as the RFID table) and no other players ever entered the game once the original seven players began. Neither on their website nor in any announcements have the stakes of the game been revealed, leading many to think that it was not a “true” poker game, but just people sitting around with nothing on the line. Finally, the website that broadcast the event had many technical difficulties and was offline during some action, leaving some to wonder what actually happened.

WSOP Tournament of Champions: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu Lead Voting

After over 350,000 votes submitted by fans of the game, the field for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions is set. Voting closed on Tuesday at Midnight ET and the tournament kicks off in 11 days from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino with 27 players.

Phil Ivey, considered by many to be the game’s top all-around player, sat atop the leaderboard when all was said and done with 16,267 votes cast. He edged out four-time bracelet winner and PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu by a scant 28 votes. Negreanu recorded 16,239 votes out of the 355,000 cast by players, fans, and members of the poker media, or about 4.5%.

Voters could select up to 20 names and only bracelet winners were eligible. Negreanu and Ivey have combined for 11 bracelets and over $8 million in career WSOP earnings. The two were about 2,500 votes ahead of 10-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, the Godfather of Poker. “Texas Dolly,” the namesake of the popular Cake Poker Network site DoylesRoom, received 13,796 votes and won back-to-back Main Events in 1976 and 1977.

UB.com pro and poker bad boy Phil Hellmuth finished in fourth in the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions voting at 12,673. Hellmuth owns the record for number of bracelets won at 11 and became the youngest Main Event winner ever in 1989 at age 24. His record stood for 19 years until Peter Eastgate shattered it by two years. Then, Joe Cada won poker’s biggest tournament at age 21 to become the current record holder.

A pair of Full Tilt Poker pros landed in fifth and sixth place. Chris Ferguson garnered 11,585 Tournament of Champions votes, just ahead of Allen Cunningham, who received 10,486. Ferguson and Cunningham each own five WSOP bracelets, although the former has logged 20 more in the money finishes, 61 to 41. Ferguson won the 2000 Main Event, while Cunningham finished fourth in 2006 for $3.6 million and was egged on by ESPN commentator Norman Chad’s cries of, “It’s Allen Cunningham!”

Former Main Event champion Johnny Chan took seventh in the voting with 10,434, the final player to eclipse the 10,000 mark. Chan is a 10-time bracelet winner, tied with Brunson for the second most overall, and won back-to-back Main Events in 1987 and 1988 before finishing as the runner-up to Hellmuth in 1989. The married father of six formerly served as the face of his own online poker site, Chan Poker, which vanished in 2008.

The field of 20 voted in by the general poker playing public represents the “Old Guard of Poker,” lacking any internet players or players from Europe. Here are the top 20 vote getters along with the number each received:

1. Phil Ivey – 16,267
2. Daniel Negreanu – 16,239
3. Doyle Brunson – 13,796
4. Phil Hellmuth – 12,673
5. Chris Ferguson – 11,585
6. Allen Cunningham – 10,486
7. Johnny Chan – 10,434
8. Scotty Nguyen – 9,834
9. Barry Greenstein – 9,806
10. John Juanda – 8,835
11. Erik Seidel – 8,802
12. Jennifer Harman – 8,206
13. Huck Seed – 8,180
14. Dan Harrington – 7,342
15. T.J. Cloutier – 6,281
16. Sammy Farha – 6,085
17. Howard Lederer – 5,596
18. Greg Raymer – 5,404
19. Joe Hachem – 5,272
20. Antonio Esfandiari – 5,129

Five players received automatic invites by virtue of winning past editions of the Tournament of Champions: UB.com pro Annie Duke, World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton, and Mike Matusow. Also claiming automatic bids were Cada and Barry Shulman, the reigning champs of the WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events, respectively. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier took down a sit and go qualifier put on by the WSOP Academy, while U.K. player Andrew Barton won his way in through the WSOP’s for-profit online poker site.

A total of $1 million will be up for grabs, with the Tournament of Champions’ winner banking $500,000.

Four Online Poker Players Compete for Seventh DoylesRoom Brunson 10 Spot

There’s more than just money and bracelets on the line this year at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Four online poker players will be competing over the next six weeks for a spot in the prestigious DoylesRoom Brunson 10, a group of pros handpicked by 10-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson.

Each of the four players will earn points every time they finish in the money in a WSOP tournament and the player with the highest total wins a DoylesRoom contract. Michael “martine23” Martin rose to fame in 2007, when he finished as the runner-up to Trond Eidsvig in the €5,000 Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam. Martin walked away with $531,000, seed money he’d use to enter the 2008 European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final; he took fifth for $666,000 in the storied Monaco casino. In October 2008, Martin took down the EPT London Main Event for another $1.8 million.

Also vying for the seventh spot in the Brunson 10 is Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka. You can catch Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the exclusive tour of his Chicago condo he gave to Poker News Daily. Jaka was the only player to make the High-Roller Bounty Shootout final tables at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian and Mohegan Sun stops. Jaka is also the reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year on the strength of three top 20 finishes and two final tables.

Jaka has more than $4 million in live and online poker earnings to his name. He won the Absolute Poker $1K in April for $39,000 and, back in 2007, took down the Full Tilt $1K Monday for $84,000. Last August, the Illinois native blasted through the field to win the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance for $50,000.

The third competitor to be the newest Brunson 10 member is Dan “djk123” Kelly. A noted poker backer, Kelly is a top 10 ranked player on PocketFives.com, where he’s also a Triple Crown winner. He final tabled the Main Event of the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $643,000. His performance in the $5,200 buy-in tournament followed a WCOOP title in a $10,300 HORSE event for $252,000. In March, Kelly finished second in the Sunday Warm-Up, adding another $109,000 to his already blossoming bankroll.

The fourth and final player looking for a spot in the Brunson 10 is David “Doc Sands” Sands. The 21st player in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, Sands’ largest cash came in May 2009, when he won a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event for $259,000. Last September, Sands took down the site’s $1K Monday to the tune of $89,000. He’s formerly a top-ranked player on PocketFives.com and has already final tabled a 2010 WSOP tournament. Sands finished eighth in Event #5, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em contest, for $67,000, his largest cash to date.

The Brunson 10 consists of six of the top up-and-coming players in the game: Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Chris “moorman1” Moorman, Dani “ansky” Stern, Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis, and Steve “gboro780” Gross. The latter was the most recent player added to the DoylesRoom team, joining the site back in March. Gross is the top-ranked player on PocketFives.com.

By virtue of his final table appearance in Event #5, Sands currently paces the Become a Legend Leaderboard with 731.56 points. Jaka has 325.17 points and Kelly and Martin have been shut out of the 2010 WSOP so far.

DoylesRoom happily accepts players from the United States and is a proud member of the Cake Poker Network. Besides the Brunson 10, other site pros include Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro.

Local Wins Cal State Championship

It was just the second tournament victory for the 28-year-old pro from Los Angeles.

"I've been playing poker with my family since I was seven years old," said Karschamroon after winning. "I love what I do. For me poker is the greatest job in the world."

Karschamroon outlasted 175 players to win the $3,085 main event of the 2010 California State Championship. He took home $162,970 for his efforts.

Griffin, who was the first player to win a WPT, EPT and WSOP title, held the chip lead for much of the final table and appeared destined to add another victory to his results. Instead Griffin fell out of contention in third for $56,020.

Long-time poker veteran Cernuto came in fourth place for $40,740.

"Miami John and Gavin are formidable opponents, and the final nine also included several stellar Internet poker players," said tournament director Matt Savage.

"Congratulations to Patrick Karschamroon on claiming the title of Cal State Champion in convincing style at one of the Commerce Casino's showcase events."

The tournament marked the end of the three-week long series at the Commerce, which awarded over $1 million prize money.

May 24th – Daily Deal

On today’s Daily Deal, the Cake Poker Network strikes a strategic partnership, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour crowns a new Macau champion, World Team Poker prepares another clash of nations, and Facebook users will continue to get their poker fix for some time to come.

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

The Cake Poker Network has partnered with European-based online casino software provider CTXM. CTXM offers online casinos a broad range of table and card games, video poker, and more as part of its XCasino brand. The partnership with the Cake Network means that the companies will now share the online poker sites PowerPoker.com, AdamEvePoker.com, and the soon-to-be-launched Comeon.com. The Cake Poker Network also announced an updated poker software called Cake two point oh, with improved visuals and new features including a calendar and tournament notifications.

Macau is truly one of the hottest new poker destinations, and the APPT Macau was proof of this. The Main Event of the PokerStars-sponsored tournament attracted three hundred and forty-two players from forty countries. Victory belonged to a relative local: Victorino Torres from the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory. Torres took home a hefty prize of three point two million Hong Kong dollars, or four hundred and sixteen thousand American dollars.

World Team Poker is set on world domination. After the success of its first event in Las Vegas, won by Team China, World Team Poker is now plotting a 32-country World Championship Event, which will likely take place within the next 90 days. WTP Vice President Charity Perry told Poker News Daily, “We’re not entirely sure where it will be, but we’re keeping the tour within the U.S. in the first year. After the first year, we plan on going abroad, probably somewhere in Europe.” Fox Sports Net will air the kickoff tournament over thirteen weeks beginning in July.

Facebook and the Zynga Game Network came to a five-year agreement this week to keep Zynga’s games on the popular social networking site. Zynga is the game developer responsible for the incredibly annoying Farmville and Mafia Wars. The company also produces Texas Hold’em Poker, which has over twenty eight million users. Rumor has it that Zynga and Facebook were on the verge of splitting up due to extremely high commission charges, but they have found a way to patch their differences. This means you can continue to felt your old college roommate and steal the blinds from that classmate you never really liked in high school.

That does it for today’s Daily Deal, thanks for joining me.Be sure to visit PokerNewsDaily.com all day long for the latest in poker news and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily. This is Sean Gibson, wishing you the best of luck at the tables this week!

Cake Poker Network Partners with CTXM

The Cake Poker Network partnered with European-based online casino software provider CTXM last week in a plan to market their services jointly to gaming sites worldwide. The Cake Poker Network and CTXM and will now share online poker sites PowerPoker.com, the newly launched AdamEvePoker.com, and the soon-to-be-launched Comeon.com.

Said CTXM CEO Udy Yosha, “Since Cake and CTXM operate non-competitive businesses within the online gaming space and have a similar model, joining forces seemed like the perfect evolution of the relationship. Our partnership with Cake perfectly fits with our strategy of providing one-stop-shop solutions to our partners.”

CTXM provides end-to-end solutions for online casinos including a broad range of table games, card games, video slots, video poker, soft games, mini-games, and full back-office tools in its XCasino brand. The casino operator has extensive operational, marketing, and promotional tools that are fully integrated into the casino lobby and games.

“Cake is extremely pleased to partner with CTXM due to their long history in online gaming, their top shelf partners, and their high levels of innovation,” added Cake Poker’s director of marketing Andrew Turner. “We are also excited to be launching two new partners to the Cake Network in Comeon.com and AdamEvePoker.com, both of which bring strong brands and unique marketing approaches. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

The Cake Poker Network recently announced that it is introducing several new features in its updated poker software, Cake 2.0. Among the improvements are a new lobby setup and features such as a calendar, tournament notifications, and a theme editor to change the appearance of the game window. The changes are expected to improve the visual appeal of the site and enhance the gaming experience.

That news came shortly after one of the oldest rooms in the industry, Intertops, made the move to the Cake Poker Network. Formerly of the Microgaming Network, Intertops started as a gambling firm in 1983 and opened its poker room in 2003. With the addition, the Cake Network hopes to bring in some much needed traffic after watching its numbers fall in recent months.

According to PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 11th largest worldwide in online poker traffic, averaging 1,200 ring game players over the past week. The network, which is headquartered in the Dutch Antilles, consists of 55 different rooms, including such popular sites as DoylesRoom and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, and happily accepts players from the United States.

2010 World Series of Poker Predictions

The 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is almost upon us. Players from around the world will head to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for 57 bracelet events and a host of side tournaments and cash games. Last year, the annual extravaganza topped the $1 billion mark in prize money during its 40-year existence. What will this year’s WSOP hold? Poker News Daily asked several of our writers and Guest Columnists for a few predictions.

We asked several members of our team – staff writer Dan Cypra, poker strategy guru Dan Katz, reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke, Cake Poker Card Room Manager Lee Jones, and tournament director extraordinaire Linda Johnson, Daily Deal host Sean Gibson, Canadian poker whiz J.D. McNamara, WSOP live reporter Brett Collson, and PND Editor Maria del Mar – to weigh in on the hot topics headed into the 2010 WSOP. Here’s what they had to say.

Prediction: The 2010 WSOP Main Event will have ___ entrants.

Dan Cypra: 6,202
Lee Jones: 7,000
Linda Johnson: 7,192
Annie Duke: 5,860
Dan Katz: 6,913
Sean Gibson: 6,454
Maria del Mar: 6,800
J.D. McNamara: 7,200
Brett Collson: 6,435

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: The nine of us are all over the map on this one. I’ve heard rumblings that attendance at the 2010 WSOP Main Event could be as low as 5,000 given fewer online qualifiers heading to Las Vegas, but Harrah’s officials have touted the large number of pre-registrations so far. Katz’s prediction is about what the Main Event’s attendance would have been last year if 500 players weren’t shut out on Day 1D.

Prediction: ___ women will win bracelets in open events this year.

Dan Cypra: 1
Lee Jones: 1
Linda Johnson: 1
Annie Duke: 1
Dan Katz: 0
Sean Gibson: 1
Maria del Mar: 2
J.D. McNamara: 0
Brett Collson: 1

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: It looks like Mike Matusow won’t be streaking down the Strip after all, which he threatened to do if three women won bracelets during the 2010 WSOP, including the Ladies’ Event. Unless del Mar is right…

Prediction: How will Full Tilt Poker pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad fare in her first WSOP? ___ bracelets, ___ cashes.

Dan Cypra: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes
Lee Jones: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes
Linda Johnson: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes
Annie Duke: 0 bracelets, 4 cashes
Dan Katz: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes
Sean Gibson: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes
Maria del Mar: 1 bracelets, 3 cashes
J.D. McNamara: 0 bracelets, 4 cashes
Brett Collson: 0 bracelets, 3 cashes

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: Only one of us picked Obrestad to win a bracelet, which is surprising. She is the darling of this year’s tournament series and will have media hype aplenty surrounding her. Obrestad recently made a splash by departing Betfair for Full Tilt Poker.

Prediction: Who will win this year’s scooter race, Doyle Brunson or Amarillo Slim?

Dan Cypra: Brunson
Linda Johnson: Slim
Annie Duke: Slim
Dan Katz: Brunson
Sean Gibson: Brunson
Maria del Mar: Brunson
J.D. McNamara: Brunson
Brett Collson: Brunson

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: This seemed like an obvious vote for Brunson, but maybe the two poker pros on the panel know something the rest of us don’t. Is Slim’s scooter turbo-charged this year?

Prediction: The player with most number of cashes will be ___ with ___ cashes.

Dan Cypra: Erik Seidel with 7 cashes
Linda Johnson: Phil Hellmuth with 7 cashes
Annie Duke: Phil Ivey with 9 cashes
Dan Katz: Daniel Negreanu with 7
Sean Gibson: Brandon Cantu with 7
Maria del Mar: Phil Laak with 8
J.D. McNamara: Jason Mercier with 7
Brett Collson: Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar with 8

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: Once again, quite a bit of variety with our answers, but five of us agree that the person with the most number of cashes will have seven. Last year, Seidel had five cashes (including Ante Up for Africa), Hellmuth had six, Ivey had six, Negreanu had eight on U.S. soil, Cantu had three, Laak had none, Aguiar had three, and Mercier had four in Las Vegas.

Prediction: ___ will win the WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Dan Cypra: Annie Duke
Linda Johnson: Mike Sexton
Annie Duke: Obviously me, but if Huck Seed gets voted in, then him
Dan Katz: Jason Mercier
Sean Gibson: Joe Hachem
Maria del Mar: Phil Ivey
J.D. McNamara: Phil Ivey
Brett Collson: Allen Cunningham

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: A total of 27 players will compete in the WSOP Tournament of Champions. Duke and Sexton are former winners of the event.

Prediction: Will the Main Event winner be a known pro or an unknown player?

Dan Cypra: Unknown Player
Lee Jones: Unknown Player
Linda Johnson: Known Pro
Annie Duke: Unknown Player
Dan Katz: Unknown Player
Sean Gibson: Unknown Player
Maria del Mar: Known Pro
J.D. McNamara: Unknown Player
Brett Collson: Unknown Player

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: If recent history tells us anything, it’s that an unknown player will take down the Main Event. However, Ivey and Jeff Shulman gave known pros everywhere a glimmer of hope last year.

Prediction: ___ will win two bracelets.

Dan Cypra: Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, and Faraz Jaka
Linda Johnson: Daniel Negreanu
Annie Duke: Chris Ferguson
Dan Katz: Daniel Negreanu
Sean Gibson: Daniel Negreanu
Maria del Mar: Phil Hellmuth
J.D. McNamara: Jason Mercier
Brett Collson: Erik Seidel

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: The panel continues to express its love for Negreanu and Mercier. Negreanu has won one bracelet since 2004.

Prediction: There will be ___ women at the Main Event final table.

Dan Cypra: 0
Lee Jones: 0
Linda Johnson: 0
Annie Duke: 0
Dan Katz: 0
Sean Gibson: 0
Maria del Mar: 1
J.D. McNamara: 0
Brett Collson: 0

Dan Cypra’s Thoughts: Duke finished 10th in the 2000 Main Event. Barbara Enright is the only woman ever to make the final table of the Main Event, doing so in 1995.

Prediction: What would you love to happen at this WSOP, but aren’t holding your breath for?

Dan Cypra: PND staking me into the Main Event.
Lee Jones: What I root for every year: a 40 year-old soccer mom from Des Moines taking down the whole thing. It’s Moneymaker, the redux, and women pour into the sport.
Linda Johnson: More tournaments that aren’t No Limit.
Annie Duke: A woman to make the final table of the Main Event.
Dan Katz: A non-poker celebrity making the final table of the Main Event.
Sean Gibson: I’d love to miraculously find the bankroll and time to play in my first ever WSOP event. If that doesn’t happen, I would love for a former WSOP Main Event champion to make the November Nine.
Maria del Mar: A random female online qualifier wins a bracelet and a ton of cash, does all of the talk shows, and gets more women playing.
J.D. McNamara: Me winning a bracelet.
Brett Collson: On May 31st, Barney Frank stands in front of thousands of poker players at the Rio and announces that the UIGEA has been overturned. After the announcement, Frank breakdances while Prahlad Friedman raps “In the Main Event.”

Dominating Online Poker through Rakeback

If you’re playing online poker for real money, then you should be taking advantage of rakeback. Our family of Play Poker Network sites, which includes ThisIsTheNuts.com and PocketFives.com, offers 33% rakeback on Cake Poker. In April, one player made mincemeat of the site’s competition, Prescott “Ingenol” Murphy. The Pennsylvania poker player piled up a five-figure rakeback payout in April and took down an exclusive $60,000 rake race that’s only open to members of the Play Poker Network group. Check out his interview with PocketFives.com.

Murphy is a member of PocketFives.com and banked $5,000 for taking down the exclusive $60,000 rake race in April. In May, the promotion returns and, not surprisingly, Murphy sits in fifth place on the leaderboard at the time of writing. If that standing holds, he’d be in line for a $1,300 payout come the end of the month. The top 300 racers on the leaderboard, which is ordered by MGR, will take home cash and the top eight will earn four-figure paydays.

When Murphy’s poker journey began, he was a chemistry graduate student. He told Poker News Daily, “I was studying organic chemistry and didn’t like it, so I needed something to do. I had never played poker at all and decided to learn it. I was always good at games, which is probably why I’m good at multi-tabling. I bought a book and a hand ranking chart and went from there.”

Chris Moneymaker’s win in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event over Sammy Farha piqued Murphy’s interest, like many of today’s live and online poker superstars. He explained, “I remember watching it when Moneymaker won, but I didn’t start playing online until 2005 to 2006 on PartyPoker and PokerStars. If I had a time machine, I would have started the very first day you could.” Most sites on the Cake Poker Network accept players from the United States. Lee Jones serves as the Card Room Manager of its flagship site.

Murphy told PocketFives.com that he was running well below expectations in all-in situations, but rakeback and other incentives from the Cake Poker Network helped boost his bankroll anyway. Cake Poker ran a $150,000 points race in April that featured four weekly races along with a $50,000 monthly leaderboard. Murphy finished in first place for the first three weeks of April and took third during the fourth and final period. He also won the monthly race for $3,500. Murphy is now setting sail for the Bahamas on a cruise ship, although the trip was planned well in advance of his wildly successful month.

Rake races have become a phenomenon across the world’s largest online poker sites in recent years due in part to the growing popularity of rakeback. Murphy explained their appeal to PocketFives.com: “Rake races encourage people to play more and are good for the site. Some people say it encourages mass multi-tabling and people nitting it up, but No Limit Hold’em is a pretty nitty game these days.”

Being a successful rake racer requires playing on a bustling online poker network. The Cake Poker Network is the 11th largest worldwide according to PokerScout.com, boasting a seven-day running average of 1,260 real money ring game players. The family of sites includes Cake Poker, DoylesRoom, Intertops, Power Poker, Red Star Poker, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker.

Poker News in Brief: May 10-16, 2010

With just two weeks until the world's biggest poker tournament series kicks off, many professional poker players have vacated the scene to prepare.

There was still a lot of poker news, however, and there are always a few stories that don't make the front page of PokerListings.com.

As a part of our Poker News in Brief feature, we've compiled a list of them below.

This week we'll take a look at getting a Main Event seat for life, a new Full Tilt pro, a Cake shop and more.

PartyPoker Launches WSOP for Life

Only a select group of poker players can afford to play the WSOP Main Event every year but PartyPoker is giving anyone that chance in a new promotion.

The PartyPoker WSOP for Life will set at least two lucky players up with their $10,000 Main Event buy-in for life, which for the sake of the promo, is a term of 20 years.

"I think the WSOP for Life is a really great idea - I have been playing the Main Event for most of life!" said PartyPoker ambassador Mike Sexton. "I just wish I had the opportunity to qualify for this but, unfortunately I am exempt."

One of the packages can be won through a leaderboard challenge, while the second will be awarded in a $320 tournament on June 20. Both events will have a number of regular 2010 WSOP packages as consolation prizes.

For more information check the PartyPoker review.

UB, Absolute Poker Start "Craziest Last Longer Bet"

Absolute Poker and UB are putting a VIP WSOP package up for grabs to any poker player who can come up with the "Craziest" last longer prop bet.

The two online poker sites, which are a part of the CEREUS poker network, are asking their players to film their ideas for the "Craziest Last Longer Bet" and post them on Youtube.com.

UB and Absolute will pick the best video and allow the two entrants to actually play out their last longer bet in the $1,000 buy-in Event 54 of the 2010 WSOP, which begins on July 1.

The package also includes airfare to Las Vegas, accommodations and the chance to meet Team UB and Absolute Poker pros.

To learn more check out our UB review or our Absolute Poker review.

LuckyChewy Joins Full Tilt

Young online player Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger is the latest player to get his name inked in Full Tilt red.

Known mostly as an online cash game player, Lichtenberger has made a successful transition to live tournaments in the last year.

The Leggo Poker instructor had memorable WSOP in 2009, finishing 18th in the Main Event for $500,557, second in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout for $215,402.

Lichtenberger most recently won the WSOPC Caesars Las Vegas event for $190,137.

Lichtenberger is the second well-known online player to be signed as a Full Tilt pro in the last two weeks as Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad joined the team on May 3.

Cake Poker Opens New Online Shop

Cake Poker launched a new online shop this week with Cake merchandise, tournament tickets and even a Ducati Sport Bike available for purchase.

The currency in the store is Cake Poker's gold Gold Chips, which are essentially frequent player points, and can be accumulated in both cash games and tournaments on the site.

Some of the Cake Poker-branded merchandise includes cards, hats, shirts, bags, chip sets, jackets and boxers as well as electronics like MacBooks, PSPs, Xbox 360s and LCD TVs.

The Cake Shop also features actual baked cakes from the world-famous Junior's Restaurant in Brooklyn. Players can purchase Junior's trademark cheesecake, carrot cake and triple chocolate cake.

The online store is available at http://cakeshop.cakepoker.com or in the Rewards tab while logged into the Cake Poker client.

Tax Troubles for Michael Mizrachi

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi owes nearly $340,000 in federal taxes and is facing foreclosure, according to a South Florida newspaper.

Apparently a condo he owned with his brother Robert in Hollywood, Florida, was foreclosed on and sold via an online auction on Wednesday while his Miramar home was foreclosed on March and is up for sale this week.

Mizrachi has over $7.1 million in lifetime live tournament winnings and was the CardPlayer of the Year in 2006.

Cake Poker Launches Rewards Store

In the all-new Cake Shop, introduced in recent days on Cake Poker, players can redeem their hard-earned Gold Chips for Cake Poker gear, tournament tokens, bonus cash, the newest electronics, a Ducati Super Bike, and even… cake! Long recognized for its industry-leading VIP program, Cake Poker rewards players of all levels. The site’s loyalty program, which features Gold Stacks, Gold Chips, and Gold Cards, gives players a piece of over $500,000 in monthly instant cash, free tournament plays, and a variety of other prizes.

Players can reach the Cake Shop directly from their web browsers or from their accounts when logged into the Cake Poker client. Once in the lobby, a player’s Gold Chip balance will be clearly displayed and from there, they can start perusing the Cake Shop’s options, including tournament tickets to the weekly $100,000 Guaranteed and monthly $200,000 Guaranteed.

For your apparel needs, the Cake Store features items like flex hats, boxers, tank tops, and rhinestone tops for the ladies and t-shirts, golf shirts, and BBQ aprons for the guys. Other items include decks of cards, bags, jackets, chipsets, toasters with a Cake Poker logo on them, and seasonal merchandise that has yet to be released.

Staying true to its name, Cake Poker now offers its customers a slice of the real deal. The selection is from the renowned Junior’s Restaurant in Brooklyn and features Junior’s Fudge Cake, Junior’s Cheesecake Sampler, Junior’s Carrot Cake, Junior’s Triple Chocolate, and the best rated cheesecake in New York Magazine, Junior’s Devils Food Cheesecake. Fans can also order a special cake with a Cake Poker logo.

The Cake Shop also has a host of other interesting products available, including electronics like a Sirius/XM Radio Package, an Apple MacBook Pro, a Sharp Aquos 60” TV, a PSP console, an Xbox 360 Elite system, and a Wii Wheel. For the adventurous types, sporting goods like a Transparent Canoe Kayak are readily available. Homeowners can outfit their house in the Cake Shop with household products like a KitchenAid Artisan Series 5 Quart Mixer, a Delonghi Pump Espresso Maker, and an OGIO Freezer Cooler Pack backpack cooler.

The loss of a steady stream of soft players from Sportsbook.com and Players Only diminishes the Cake Poker Network’s short-term appeal. However, with the addition of Intertops Poker, some of those soft spots should be returning to the tables in the near future. Intertops brings with it more than 300 instant play and downloadable games such as slots, multi-hand video poker, and traditional casino games. Since players can use their Intertops accounts in the casino, poker room, and sports betting parlor, you can be sure that there will be players crossing over to try their hand at poker.

Give yourself an early Christmas present today, only at the all-new Cake Shop.

Poker News in Brief: May 3-9, 2010

Add in some high-stakes action online, a WPT event in Paris and a few other smaller events kicking off in California and Nevada and it turned out to be a pretty busy week.

It might have been easy to miss a few of the less popular stories coming across the poker wires, but fortunately we've broken them down today in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we take a look at the WSOP Circuit heading to South Africa, UB offering players a chance to join its team, Pokerpalooza heading to Freemont Street and a whole lot more.

Join Team UB

UB is offering players who qualify for the 2010 World Series of Poker on the site a chance to become part of Team UB.

Along with a seat in the Main Event UB is offering qualifiers a taste of the pro poker lifestyle giving them at least $1,000 in cash just for showing up in Las Vegas.

The Show Up, Get Paid promotion simply asks qualifiers to turn up, take their seat at the WSOP Main Event and wear the UB logo to claim a share of a progressive prize pool growing each time another player qualifies up to a maximum of $5k.

Make the November Nine and there's also a $750,000 sponsorship up for grabs.

Step tournaments start on UB as low as 10 cents and there are twice weekly $500+$30 Super Satellites.

For more information, check out our UB room review.

Pokerpalooza Hits Freemont

The popular "Pokerpalooza" gaming trade show held annually at the World Series of Poker has moved to Freemont Street.

From Jun. 24-27 downtown Las Vegas will play host to the Fremont Street Gaming Expo.

Hundreds of exhibitors are expected to descend upon the five-block entertainment complex representing poker, gaming related and lifestyle brands.

Bodog Crowns New King

Bodog Poker crowned its inaugural King of the Felt this week, handing Ddsromero the title.

Ddsromero beat Brutus31 heads up to win a $1,000 prize and ultimate bragging rights as Bodog.com Poker's first ever King of the Felt.

This Thursday, the reigning King of the Felt will once again have to rise to the challenge and defend his crown against a newcomer. Every week a new challenger will be drawn, at random, and will have the chance to topple the reigning King in heads-up online poker action.

Defending the crown for 5-weeks straight pays $2,500, and an incredible 10-week streak will earn the reigning King a shot at a 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event prize package worth an estimated $12,000.

For more details head to our Bodog Poker room review.

WSOPC Africa

The first World Series of Poker Circuit Event on the continent of Africa is set to take place at the Emerald Resort and Casino in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa Oct. 27-31, 2010.

"This is the biggest news in Poker," said Emerald Resort and Casino CEO Martin Rice. "Rugby, soccer and cricket each have a World Cup, poker has the WSOP.

"Poker has, over the past half-decade, accelerated in popularity. Our Emerald Poker Series, and its growing fields, is testament to the unlimited success of the sport. It was only natural to follow-on its popularity with the greatest tournament on the planet."

WSOPC Africa will include two events, an $1,100 3-day Pot Limit Omaha tournament with $300 rebuys and a $5,000 4-day No-Limit Hold'em Freeze Out main event.

Cake Eats Intertops

Intertops Poker has moved to the Cake Poker Network.

In celebration, the site will host free rolls and special tournaments all throughout the month of May.

CPT Signs Hotel Deal

The operators of the Canadian Poker Tour announced a national sponsorship agreement with Sandman Hotels this week.

The deal will allow CPT members to qualify for preferred room rates and incentives across the country.

The CPT will host and sanction over 560 events in 2010 including the upcoming 2010 Canadian Open Poker Championships in Calgary this August.

May 4th – Daily Deal

On today’s Daily Deal, Intertops joins the Cake Poker Network, Mike Matusow profits on High Stakes Poker, we get a live comment from Joe Cada and Annette Obrestad about the WSOP and Bodog signs a new pro.

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

Intertops left the Microgaming Network for the Cake Poker Network this week. This is a welcome addition to the Cake Poker Network, which had lost several rooms in April. Cake will benefit from Intertops’ traffic and industry experience, while Intertops will gain access to the American market. To celebrate the move, Intertops will be holding daily hundred dollar freerolls as well as one thousand dollar Guaranteed tournaments on Sundays. In addition, this Saturday, May eighth, a twenty-five hundred dollar freeroll will be held at Intertops to commemorate the move.

On Sunday’s episode of “High Stakes Poker,” Mike Matusow folded K-Q suited in the small blind to a three thousand dollar pre-flop raise from Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Matusow had already invested four hundred dollars in the pot, which prompted host Gabe Kaplan to caution, “Now in Texas, you can go to jail for that.” The episode was a culmination of a rocky appearance on “High Stakes Poker” for Matusow, whose notoriously tight play led to taking $400,000 off Daniel Negreanu.

Next, PND gets intimate with Bodog’s newest pro and we hear from both Joe Cada and Annette Obrestad about the World Series of Poker.

Earlier this morning, Poker News Daily’s Dan Cypra was joined on a conference call with Joe Cada and Annette Obrestad. The Daily Deal caught the conversation which we’ll now play for you…

On Sunday, Amanda Musumeci became the newest member of Team Bodog, replacing WPT Champion David Williams. Amanda was signed after Bodog ran a promotion searching for a new female player and she could previously be found playing as “manderbutt” on the site.

PND asked Amanda about her WSOP plans now that she is a sponsored pro, and she told us:

“[I’ll play] All of the $1,000 and $1,500 events, some of the $2,000 events, some of the $5,000 events, and the Main Event. I’ll probably play in around 10 events total.” She went on to comment about Bodog:

“My dream would be to see it become a site with all of those great tournaments and features like synchronized breaks… In the next year or two, I’d like to see Bodog take on a better reputation with the public and get an influx of new players.”

Currently, Evelyn Ng is Bodog’s only other sponsored pro.

That does it for today’s Daily Deal by Poker News Daily, brought to you by PokerSource.com. Make sure you keep our site bookmarked and add us to your twitter feed at twitter.com/pokernewsdaily for the latest poker news.

Intertops Joins Cake Poker Network

Longstanding gambling outlet Intertops jumped from the Microgaming Network to the Cake Poker Network this week, according to a press release sent by the site on Monday. Intertops will fill the void of several rooms that departed the Cake Poker Network in April.

The Cake Poker Network accepts players from the United States, while the Microgaming Network does not. Late last year, Intertops Casino began using RTG Games instead of those offered by the Microgaming Network, whose family of sites includes Betway, Cool Hand Poker, Gnuf, Nordic Bet, PokerTime, and Unibet. Intertops brings with it a considerable amount of industry experience, having opened for business in 1983 and accepting the world’s first online bet 13 years later.

Intertops’ online poker site launched in 2003 and its casino debuted last year. To celebrate the move to the Cake Poker Network, Intertops will be holding daily $100 freerolls as well as $1,000 Guaranteed tournaments on Sundays that come with a $22 buy-in. There are two freeroll qualifiers per day to the latter tournaments. In addition, this Saturday, May 8th, a $2,500 freebie will be held on the virtual felts of Intertops to commemorate the site’s move.

Intertops’ press release details why the site may have joined the Cake Poker Network: “Several major poker sites have joined the Cake Network recently and now, as Intertops players join them, it is one of the most popular poker networks in the world. Created by a small group of poker players with a mission to design a better poker site, its gold loyalty rewards programs and its well-sculpted 3D human avatars and other aesthetic features have helped it become one of the fastest-growing poker communities online.” Besides the network’s flagship room, other Cake Poker Network sites include DoylesRoom and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker.

In recent weeks, Players Only and Sportsbook.com made the move from the Cake Poker Network to the Merge Gaming Network, the latter of which promptly doubled in size. Displaced Players Only and Sportsbook.com players who wish to remain on the Cake Poker Network can have their hard-earned Gold Chips, Gold Cards, and Gold Stacks transferred over to Intertops. Other Cake Poker Network sites have also welcomed Players Only and Sportsbook.com customers, even offering new rakeback accounts.

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Cake Poker Network has shed about 30% of its cash game traffic since the April 15th move of Players Only and Sportsbook.com, while the Merge Gaming Network has swelled 166%. Year over year, the Merge Gaming Network has grown 85%, while the Cake Poker Network has shrunk by 17%. How the migration of Intertops will affect traffic on the Cake Poker Network is not yet known. One month ago, it added JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and Kakuy Poker.

Intertops customers will now have the chance to participate in the Cake Poker Network’s $150,000 May Points Race. Similar to the competition held in April, the Cake Poker Network’s May Points Race features multipliers in weeks two, three, and four, meaning that players who begin late still have a fighting chance of winning. The top 300 players will cash in the Cake Poker Network’s $50,000 Monthly Points Race. One Frequent Player Point (FPP) is equivalent to one Race Point.

Also taking place on the Cake Poker Network in May are Door Crasher Tournaments, which run until 15th. Tournaments will randomly pop up in the lobby and players have 10 minutes to register. The buy-ins for the Door Buster Tournaments range from one Gold Chip to $30 and limited seating is available. Look for these special events daily between 12:00pm and 2:00pm ET and again from 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET.

Freerolls galore as Intertops Poker moves to Cake

Freerolls galore at Intertops Poker

Poker News in Brief: April 26-May 2, 2010

With winners at the WPT Championship, EPT Grand Final and even WSOPC Caesars there were millions of dollars awarded to poker players in the last week.

It was the last glut of tournaments before the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker and the poker news was flying.

With so much news it was easy to miss the lesser-known stories, but fortunately we're breaking them down today in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we'll take a look at PartyPoker giving away an Aston Martin, Cake Poker releases a new beta version, Shaun Deeb collecting a Bodog bounty and more.

Drive the Dream Roars onto PartyPoker

PartyPoker introduced a new promotion this week that will see one lucky poker player drive away in a brand new Aston Martin DB9 Coupe.

"It is simple to get involved, just join the daily freerolls, qualifying through to the monthly satellites where you can win your seat to the live final in London!" said a PartyPoker spokesman. "This is well and truly the opportunity of a lifetime - the possibility of winning an Aston Martin DB9 Coupe for free!"

The freerolls, which are open to PokerListings players, will run every Tuesday from April 27 to Sept. 12. Every player that wins will qualify for the monthly main satellite, which takes place every second Sunday.

There will be prizes for every player at the final table in London including racing packages and cash.

For information take a look at our PartyPoker review.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Actor Joins Ladbrokes

English actor Nick Moran has signed on board with Ladbrokes Poker as their new poker school host.

Moran notably played skilled rounder Eddy in the Guy Ritchie action flick Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but in real life he's a poker novice and that's why Ladbrokes wanted him.

Over the last few weeks Moran has been filming a series of training videos with Ladbrokes pro Jon Kalmar where they explore the fundamentals of the game. The videos are now available on the Ladbrokes website.

To learn more check out our Ladbrokes review.

Shaun Deeb Collects Bodog Bounty

Consummate poker tournament grinder Shaun Deeb collected the €1,000 bounty on Bodog Network CEO Patrik Selin at the EPT Grand Final this week.

It took a significant cooler as Selin turned a straight but Deeb turned a full house to bust the CEO.

"It was always going to be a tough day sat next to Shaun and to be honest if anybody on the table was going to kick me out I wanted it to be him," conceded Selin after the hand.

Selin announced the knockout bounty in early April, arguing that more online poker room CEOs should play live tournaments to better understand their players.

UB, Absolute Poker Offering World Cup Prize Package

CEREUS network sites UB and Absolute Poker are giving new players $50,000 in freerolls and one VIP prize package to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The promotion, which is called the $50k Soccer Freeroll Frenzy on UB and the South African Soccer Spectacular on Absolute Poker, is open to anyone who deposits for the first time on either site between April 25 and May 30.

The $50k in prize money will be spread throughout 33 separate new depositor freerolls in the month of May.

Every player who participates in the new depositor freerolls will be entered into the Grand Prize $20k Freeroll on June 5 with top place receiving a $14,000 package to the 2010 World Cup.

To learn more check out our UB Poker review or Absolute Poker review.

Cake Poker Introduces Software Beta

Cake Poker began rolling out a private beta version of its poker client this week with new lobby features, filters and customizable themes.

"We are excited to launch the private beta for our new Cake Poker client and to get some further feedback on our efforts," said Lee Jones, a leading driver of the new interface and the Cake Poker card room manager.

"We are delighted at the how the client is currently operating and looking forward to being able to offer an improved online poker experience to all our players."

Although Cake is currently testing the software with a select group of cash and tournament players there are plans to introduce a public beta of the new software shortly.

Cake Poker Launches Door Crasher Tournaments

From May 1st to 15th on the virtual felts of Cake Poker, look for special Door Crasher tournaments. These low buy-in events won’t be announced until just a few minutes before they begin, meaning that players will literally be crashing down the door to register.

Buy-ins will range from one Gold Chip to $30 in cold hard cash. The tournaments will take place between 12:00pm and 2:00pm ET and again between 9:00pm and 11:00pm ET daily during the 15-day period. No indication has been given as to whether one Door Crasher tournament will play out during each time period or if multiple ones will take place. What is certain, however, is that players will have just 10 minutes’ notice to register.

Seating in each tournament is limited, adding to the drama. Poker News Daily Guest Columnist and Cake Poker Card Room Manager Lee Jones was looking forward to seeing the Door Crasher tournaments run on the USA-friendly site: “We’re tossing these tournaments up and only announcing them 10 minutes before they start. It is literally first come, first served. It may be a 10-seat sit and go with a Gold Chip as a prize or the tournament may have a significant cash prize. You have to be there when they happen to find out.”

Like other online poker sites, Cake Poker is in the midst of sending its players to the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Text found on Cake Poker’s website boasts, “This year, we’ve made our WSOP prize packages more flexible than ever. Stay where you want, play in what you want, and even – wear what you want. Our WSOP prize packages come with no strings attached – whatsoever.” Cash is placed in Cake Poker players’ accounts to be used however winners would like.

The online poker site is doling out $2,500 and $12,500 WSOP packages. The latter can be used to enter the $10,000 Main Event, for example, or a pair of $5,000 buy-in tournaments. Cake Poker gives away $12,500 WSOP packages in $374 buy-in tournaments held on Sundays at 4:00pm ET. Satellites to the $374 event start at $3.30 and run daily.

A five-step system is in place to qualify players for the $2,500 package. The first step comes with a $1.10 price tag. The final step is a $507 buy-in tournament that awards a $2,500 WSOP prize package to first place and $440 in cash to second.

Last year, Cake Poker hosted a posh party at the Palms featuring generous portions of the site’s namesake dessert and an open bar. Plus, Jones was on-hand to greet Cake Poker players and a bevy of media turned out. This author even lost his cell phone in a cab on the way there. Players are purportedly not obligated to don Cake Poker gear even if they won their way into the WSOP through the popular site.

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide and sports a seven-day running average of 1,320 real money ring game players. On April 15th, the player bases of Players Only and Sportsbook.com jettisoned the family of sites in favor of the Merge Gaming Network. Consequently, the Cake Poker Network’s cash game traffic has dipped by about 10% since that date.

Over the course of the last 30 days, however, its cash game traffic has dropped by 28%. In addition to Cake Poker, the network features DoylesRoom, Power Poker, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, which was launched in January.

Visit Cake Poker for more information on the Door Crasher tournaments.

April 29th – Daily Deal

On today’s Daily Deal, The Ivey Room is launched in the Aria, Cake Poker starts testing a beta client, Jonathan Little talks to PND about signing with Victory Poker, and there’s new evidence in Absolute Poker’s super-user scandal.

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

On May twenty-first and twenty-second, the Aria Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will debut The Ivey Room, a private high-stakes poker room named after Phil Ivey. Festivities will include a cocktail reception and a $1 million dollar invitational freeroll. The winner of the freeroll will get to play Ivey heads-up for $250,000 … Good luck!

The Cake Poker Network is currently conducting a private beta test of a new poker client, the first major upgrade for the network since its inception in two thousand and six. The Cake Poker Client two point oh will feature an expanded lobby screen with advanced filters, smaller tables for better multi-table play, and many options to customize. After the private beta testing is finished, there will be a public beta test run to solicit player feedback.

Next on the Daily Deal, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little tells us why he likes Victory Poker, and an old scandal revives with fresh evidence.

In an exclusive interview with Poker News Daily, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little said he signed with Victory Poker because “It’s a site where the poker players are actually influencing what goes on. Most of the sites are run by poker players who don’t play poker anymore. On Victory, the guys are making the decisions and playing poker. It’s a site run by the people.” Little also weighed in on WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka and EPT Champion Jason Mercier: “Jason is a lot like a younger version of me. We get along well and I think he plays really well. Faraz is kind of a maniac. Jason is more controlled and doesn’t do anything ridiculous.”

Respected poker blogger Haley Hintze has stirred up the poker world with some new evidence related to the “Potripper” scandal that rocked the poker world back in 2007. Hintze was able to acquire screen shots of the cheaters’ accounts from Absolute Poker’s and Ultimate Bet’s administrative systems, and she claims these screenshots identify Absolute Poker co-founder Scott Tom as the man responsible for the fraud.

Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal by Poker News Daily, brought to you by PokerSource.com. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news.

Cake Poker Network Tests Beta Poker Client, Full Release Imminent

The Cake Poker Network is currently conducting a private beta testing of a new poker client, the first major upgrade for the network since its inception in 2006. Players who are not a part of the private testing will not see changes at this time, but the rollout of the new system could be imminent. The new changes have been in part developed by Cake Poker Card Room Manager and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Lee Jones.

“We are excited to launch the private beta for our new Cake Poker client and to get some further feedback on our efforts,” said Jones. “We are delighted at the how the client is currently operating and looking forward to being able to offer an improved online poker experience to all our players.” After the private beta testing is finished, there will be a public beta test run alongside the current Cake Poker Network offering and player feedback will be incorporated through the process.

The current interface used by the rooms in the Cake Poker Network has essentially been used since the site entered the online poker industry. Players have often complained that it is difficult to navigate and that the setup has no ability to search for particular cash games or tournaments. The forthcoming changes should streamline the Cake Poker Network’s offerings and give players many state of the art features.

The Cake Poker Network is calling the new offering the “Cake Poker Client 2.0” (currently the most recent update is Cake Poker Client 1.145.0) and should be a quantum leap over its present setup. An expanded lobby screen is the first noticeable difference, with the screen expanded both vertically and horizontally. It will act more like an Excel spreadsheet and include advanced filters for game or tournament choices. For tournament players, the new client will have a feature that allows for direct registration from the general lobby, rather than heading for the individual tournament lobby, and will also show what satellites are available for the desired tournament.

Other features of the beta version of the Cake Poker client include the ability for players to mark upcoming tournaments on a calendar and be reminded of the event. For those who dislike the constant stream of upcoming tournament announcements, there will be the option to block them. Finally, players will be able to customize their experience through options like changing card backs, table felt, and background.

The Cake Poker Network is headquartered in the Dutch Antilles and has built a network of rooms that is among the best in the  online poker industry. Consisting of 55 different rooms – including such popular sites as DoylesRoom and Phil Laak’s UnabomberPoker – the Cake Poker Network is entrenched in the top ten poker networks in the industry, according to PokerScout.com. The most recent statistics from PokerScout.com rank the Cake Poker Network as the tenth largest worldwide according to cash game numbers, with a seven-day average of 1,360 players in cash games.

Carbon Poker Tournament Traffic Doubles with Merge Gaming Network Growth

Last week, the Merge Gaming Network received a shot in the arm, as Players Only and Sportsbook.com moved over from the Cake Poker Network. As a result, the tournament player volume on Carbon Poker doubled.

Network-wide, cash game traffic on Merge nearly tripled overnight on April 14th. On that date, the Merge Gaming Network sported a 24-hour peak of 381 real money ring game players. On April 15th, that number had jumped to 996. Although the volume slid slightly by April 20th to 813 cash game players, it still represents a 213% increase in just five days. Poker News Daily sat down with Carbon Poker’s Marketing Director, Ian Williams, to discuss the site’s growth.

Poker News Daily: Tell us how Carbon Poker’s customer traffic has trended since the move of Players Only and Sportsbook.com to the Merge Gaming Network.

Ian Williams: It has blown us away. I was conservatively predicting a rise of around 20%. In fact, we are seeing increases of over 100% in daily ring rake and almost 200% in tournament traffic. We have made some significant changes to our guaranteed schedule that have provided stimulus to the growth there, so we are seeing some big overlays, but these are starting to recede as players get used to the new schedule.

PND: Do you believe the traffic increase to be a temporary spike or is it sustainable over time?

Ian Williams: I believe we will continue to grow at a healthy rate. Obviously, we won’t see the spike that we have seen in the last week; however, we have great promotions and good retention of players. In the next week, we will be announcing details of a huge rake chase that I believe will have players pretty excited. I think we could grow another 100% over the next few months.

The more action we have, the easier it is to retain players on the site. One of the biggest challenges about operating a poker brand is having liquidity to excite and keep players. No one wants to play against the same guys every day, so now that we have managed to overcome that obstacle, our players are very happy.

PND: What has been the response from Carbon Poker members?

Ian Williams: Our existing customers seem to be very pleased with the new traffic and love the new tournament schedule. Our base is very loyal and has been with us for a number of years. I am glad they have the traffic that the quality of the software deserves. A lot of players use us a second or third room. However, I am seeing more and more players moving their balance over to us. We are running a promotion in April in which we are exchanging Cake Poker Network VIP Points for Carbon VIP Points. This seems to be a hit with some players along with us upping the rakeback by 5%.

PND: Do you foresee other online poker rooms migrating to the Merge Gaming Network?

Ian Williams: I certainly hope so. I think a few people are waiting in the wings to see how the network handled the Sportsbook.com migration. It has been a huge success and the guys over there tell me they are very impressed with the Merge team. I understand there are a couple of new brands going live in the next week or so such as Lock Poker, which will give the network traffic a further boost. Poker Host also moved from Cake a couple of weeks ago.

Poker’s Most Snake Bitten Player

"I'm very comfortable in my skin playing poker this way," he told PokerListings on a break in play at the 2010 WPT Championship.

"Once in a while I'll make a mistake because I'll try to use my image and a guy will have a monster when he's raised every hand for the past five.

"But for the most part I can usually keep myself in chips this way"

Part way through Day 3 in Las Vegas, Cousineau turned the nut flush with four diamonds on board heads-up with Cliff Josephy. On the river he pushed out a small value bet, smiled across the table at Josephy and said, "It's me."

The way Cousineau sees it; you have to take your thinking to another level sometimes. You play perfectly to type in the hope your opponent will outhink himself, smell something fishy and look you up.

"Truth be told, I was actually trying to get him to call," he said. "I was trying to make it look so obvious that I was playing on my image that he would call."

At the core, Cousineau may be a relatively tight player, but he understands you have to play against type sometimes as well.

"You have to," he said. "You definitely can't just play that way all the time."

But while his style of play has earned him hundreds of cashes on the way to more than $2 million in career earnings over the past ten years, in the biggest moments of his poker career, Cousineau has developed a habit of getting it in good and finding a way to lose.

In fact, he holds the distinction as the player with the most cashes at the World Series of Poker without a win and is the only player in the top 50 list of most tournaments played on the World Poker Tour without a WPT final table on his resume.

"I'm probably the most snake bitten player in poker," he said.

Cousineau's 41 cashes at the WSOP include six final tables and two final table bubbles without a win.

Add in the WPT TV final table bubble in Tunica last year when he lost a coin flip for a chip lead pot, his 13th place finish at the WSOP Europe main event when James Akenhead went runner-runner against him, and a fourth-place finish at the Caesars $10k in 2007 where he got it in with kings versus Kido Pham's queens for the chip lead and lost and he may be right about being snake bitten.

But Cousineau doesn't let the bad luck get him down or make him change his game.

"I don't lament the bad luck, because I've been very lucky in other facets of my life," he said. "I'm going to keep playing my style and plugging away because I've been there in these massive prize tournaments. I've been that close.

"There are little things you can do here and there to your game to enhance it, but there's nothing radical I'm going to do.

"Styles are different. That's what makes poker kind of beautiful."

Although short stacked and barely hanging on, Cousineau is still in with a shot at the 2010 WPT World Championship and says he'll keep playing his game.

The event continues through April 25 at Bellagio. For comprehensive coverage tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates and News.

WSOP 2010 with Cake Poker

This year Cake Poker have made their WSOP 2010 prize packages more flexible than ever! Win a Cake Poker WSOP 2010 prize package and you can stay where you want, wear what you like and choose which events you will play in, how cool is that!! You pick which events you fancy spending your winnings on. What happens in Vegas is up to you!

There are two packages up for grabs as follows:- (more…)

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Cake Poker loses some skins despite growth

Full Tilt Poker Traffic Grows 7% for Take 2 Promotion

PokerScout.com released its Weekly Online Poker Traffic Update on April 11th, reporting a slight 0.01% increase in traffic over the 35 different poker rooms from the previous week. The site, which monitors real money cash games and ranks the sites and networks according to seven-day averages, reported that seven of the top 10 recorded traffic losses for the week.

The top four sites kept their positions for the 14th consecutive week. PokerStars continued its stranglehold over the competition with an average of 29,400 cash game players on the site during the week. Full Tilt Poker stayed at #2, averaging 16,800 players, while Party Poker (4,700) and the iPoker Network (4,250) came in third and fourth, respectively. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are the only two among the top four that allow U.S. players.

Full Tilt Poker logged a 7% gain in cash game traffic last week despite making multiple negative headlines in the United States. The world’s second largest online poker site is reportedly under investigation by a federal grand jury in New York over charges that include illegal gambling and money laundering. The site’s Irish-based management company, Pocket Kings, was also in the news, as it was hit with a lawsuit from the Commonwealth of Kentucky demanding the return of its residents’ gambling losses.

One can assume that the increase in Full Tilt Poker’s traffic was largely due to its Take 2 promotion, which rewarded players for opening at least two cash tables simultaneously or one Rush Poker table. The promotion ran from April 3rd to April 11th and gave players an opportunity to earn double Full Tilt Points and up to $25 in cash. With the popular promotion now over, it will be interesting to see how Full Tilt’s legal troubles affect the site’s traffic over the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the rankings, the Ongame Network held strong at #5 last week, while the International Poker Network (IPN) climbed one spot to #6, pushing CEREUS Network down to seventh place in the traffic rankings. Rounding out the top 10 were Everest Poker, Microgaming, and Cake Poker, which will lose PlayersOnly from its network on April 15th. PlayersOnly will join the Merge Gaming Network, which came in at #20 in the PokerScout weekly rankings.

Everest Poker joined Full Tilt Poker in the news this month as its parent company, Ultra Internet Media, filed suit against Harrah’s alleging breach of contract. The suit centers on French television station RTL9, which violated rules of their contract by displaying logos of Full Tilt Poker during World Series of Poker (WSOP) broadcasts instead of Everest Poker. Everest is trying to pull out of a three-year sponsorship deal with the WSOP as a result. The site continues to grow in popularity in Europe, however, and was recently involved in a four-year sponsorship deal with Metropole 6 Group (M6), France’s second most watched television network.

Online poker traffic is increasing at an annual rate of 12% across the world according to PokerScout’s ACES indicator. The big gainers over the past year were Full Tilt Poker (42%), Betfair (35%), and PokerStars (27%). Those on the biggest decline were the iPoker Network (33%), Party Poker (22%), and the Microgaming Network (10%).

UIGEA Hearing Planned for Friday

The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services is holding a hearing to discuss the expected challenges from enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) this Friday.

Amid concerns the UIGEA is ambiguous, burdensome for banks and financial institutions and unlikely to achieve its main objective of stopping Americans from gambling online, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board delayed the date for implementing regulations from the act by six months, from Dec. 1, 2009 to June 1, 2010.

Two pending bills introduced by House Committee on Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act and Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2009, sought to delay implementation of UIGEA for one year or replace it with a regulatory and enforcement framework for licensed gambling operators to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S.

Both bills and the UIGEA are expected to be discussed at Friday's hearing, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

"This hearing will provide further evidence that UIGEA is a poorly-crafted law that simply does not work," said Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.

"A more common sense approach to protect Americans is required. We expect this hearing to provide further impetus for the House Financial Services Committee and Congress to address this issue and move forward Chairman Frank's regulatory bill."

A revised companion to Chairman Frank's bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2010, introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott is projected to generate $42 billion in new federal government revenues and $30 billion in new state government revenues over ten years.

The primary source of the revenue would come from ensuring applicable taxes and license fees on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected.

This act is also expected to be discussed at the hearing.

Merge Gaming Network Maximum Rakeback Increases to 35%

Beginning on April 15th, the maximum rakeback offered on the USA-friendly Merge Gaming Network will rise to 35%. Around the same time, members of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com will migrate to the network, perhaps boosting its traffic five-fold.

The Merge Gaming Network is currently the 20th largest worldwide according to PokerScout.com and boasts a seven-day running average of 225 real money ring game players. Carbon Poker is the network’s flagship room and flanks sites like ACED, IronDuke, PokerHost, PokerMVP, Poker Nordica, Reefer Poker, and RPM Poker. The Merge Gaming Network rakeback percentage offered on most sites right now is 30%. However, the industry landscape is about to receive an extreme makeover.

Next week, the migrations of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com customers from the Cake Poker Network to the Merge Gaming Network will significantly boost traffic on their new home. Jazette Enterprises owns both sites and announced its intentions to move the rooms to the Merge Gaming Network in February.

Keenly watching the transfer of players are rakeback affiliate sites like ThisIsTheNuts.com. A representative of the rakeback giant told Poker News Daily, “The Merge Network is going to more than double in size with these new additions. PlayersOnly brings with them a lot of fish and very stellar deposit and withdrawal options. Overall, this is going to be a great move for the Merge Gaming Network and players should take advantage of it.”

An added bonus is the swarm of weak players that the Jazette Enterprises sites will bring. So-called “fish” are primarily interested in sports betting and view online poker as simply a diversion. The same ThisIsTheNuts.com representative explained, “They're getting an opportunity to play on the highly-acclaimed Merge Gaming software against the weakest competition U.S. players can find.”

Already residing on the Merge Gaming Network is RPM Poker, whose stable of pros includes Mark “dipthrong” Herm, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal, Dan “djk123” Kelly, Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski, Jeff “jpapola” Papola, and Stephen “Stevie444” Chidwick. Online poker forum staple “RPM Seth” told Poker News Daily that his site is looking forward to the forthcoming influx of players: "Since we at RPM are poker players ourselves, we are incredibly excited to see the network grow. More games, more players, and more action mean that it's a great time to be on Merge. We know our players are excited and we look forward to continuing to provide the excellent service and value that we are known for." RPM Poker and other Merge Gaming Network sites happily accept customers from the United States.

PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com are currently members of the Cake Poker Network, which announced deals with three sites on Thursday: JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and KakuyPoker. Affiliate sites like ThisIsTheNuts.com are referring PlayersOnly customers to other rooms on the Cake Poker Network, which offers 33% rakeback: “We're recommending DoylesRoom and we can help players move all of their Gold Chips, Gold Cards, and Gold Stacks to their new chosen site. Plus, they can get a brand new rakeback account on the Cake Poker Network.” Poker legend Doyle Brunson serves as the face behind DoylesRoom, while industry veteran Lee Jones is the Cake Poker Card Room Manager.

According to PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 1,880 cash game players and a 24-hour peak of 2,487. The network is well known for its Gold Chips, Gold Cards, and newly revamped Gold Stacks rewards programs. Its two major sites are Cake Poker and DoylesRoom; other network sites include Lock Poker, Power Poker, Red Star Poker, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker.

The effect on the Cake Poker Network is not yet known. Industry insiders have heard rumblings of other sites departing the network, but no announcements have been made supporting the rumors.

Cake Poker Network Adds JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and Kakuy Poker

Since its launch in 2006, Cake Poker has been one of the fastest growing companies in the industry. The former standalone poker room has added a multitude of skins that not only offer their customers a variety of poker options around the clock, but also have stepped into the casino and sports betting arenas. Earlier this week, the Cake Poker Network made an announcement that it had added three new sites.

JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and Kakuy Poker each touch on the spectrum of offerings of the Cake Poker Network. JuicyStakes is an online casino that, previous to the partnership with Cake, did not offer poker. BeteXpress is one of the top online bookmakers in Europe, offering betting opportunities for soccer, horse racing, tennis, basketball, and hockey. Kakuy Poker is a South American poker operation that expands Cake’s reach into that continent.

“We are excited to announce these three new Cake Network partners,” said Cake Poker Network Director of Marketing Andrew Turner. “With JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and Kakuy, we are adding both numbers and diversity to our player base, making the Cake Network experience one of the best in poker.”

Each of the outlets was excited about being part of the Cake Poker Network. “We are very excited to be launching our poker product with the Cake Network,” a spokesman for JuicyStakes stated during the announcement. “We are looking forward to being able to reward our players with the Gold Stacks loyalty program as well as many of the other player rewards programs the network offers.”

Kakuy Poker looks to bring something special to both the Cake Poker Network and its current customers. “We are very pleased to belong to the Cake Poker Network since they have the best promotions and benefits for our poker players,” noted Elvio Salvatierra, Kakuy's Chief Operating Officer. “The key to Kakuy Poker’s success is our knowledge of the Latin American poker market and our player’s needs. We don’t trespass any cultural barriers since we share the same culture with our players.”

The Cake Poker Network has grown astronomically since the start of the site in 2006. With such popular rooms as Doyle Brunson’s namesake outlet DoylesRoom, PokerHost, Lock Poker, Only Poker, professional player Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, and its own eponymous site, the network is American player friendly, but also draws action from around the world. According to PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the tenth largest online poker network in the industry, with an average of 1,880 real money ring game players over a seven-day period. With the addition of JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and Kakuy Poker, the Cake Poker Network now encompasses over 68 poker, casino, and sports betting sites.

The Cake Poker Network recently revamped its rewards programs, giving players more rewards for their play at the tables. Most recently, the Cake Poker Network started its Gold Stacks rewards program, which gives players cash instantly for building Gold Stacks over 50 levels. The network's long-running Gold Chips and Gold Cards programs offer the opportunity to access over $500,000 in instant cash, bonuses, and free tournament play.

Loyalty Done Right

One of the biggest challenges an online poker room faces is how to retain customers. It is easy enough to attract customers – offering a sweet deposit bonus or nice rakeback deal can work – but other sites can just as easily steal those customers away. In fact, rakeback has been the subject of much debate lately, as most online poker operators hate it. They believe that rakeback is a cheap way to lure customers away from other sites, often rooms on the same network. That destroys margins and creates no customer loyalty.

So what should online poker rooms do to keep their customers in the fold? Well, aside from the obvious, such as provide quality software, security, and full tables, operators need to concentrate on developing loyalty programs that actually create loyalty. They all have them. PokerStars has its different VIP levels, Full Tilt Poker has its Iron Man Challenge, CEREUS has RAI$E, and so on. Each has its supporters and detractors and all are effective to some extent. One online poker network, however, caught my eye recently, as it rolled out changes to its loyalty program that I believe will help it immensely.

That network to which I must give kudos is the Cake Poker Network. On December 9th, it launched its new Gold Stacks program, an offshoot of the pre-existing Gold Chips system. Before I get into why I like it, let me explain how it works.  It's all based on Gold Chips earned during real money play. As you play at any of the Cake Poker Network sites, you earn Frequent Player Points (FPPs) at the rate of one for every $1 raked from a cash game pot and seven for every $1 in tournament fees. Accumulate 120 FPPs and you get your first Gold Coin for the month. After another 115 FPPs, you get a second Gold Coin. The FPP requirements keep decreasing until the fifth, when it levels off at 70.

With the new program, those Gold Chips build up to create Gold Stacks. With each Gold Stack, the online poker room gives you a guaranteed reward. You don't have to do anything special to claim the reward; it is automatically given to you. Furthermore, the poker room will sweeten the deal by giving a larger Turbo reward for building a stack within six days and an even larger Super Turbo reward for building one within three days. There are 50 levels of Gold Stacks in all, each of which requires an increasingly greater number of Gold Stacks to be built before moving up a level. For the first nine levels, the rewards are simply more Gold Chips. Starting at Level 10, they are cash prizes, which can get as high $682.50 for the Level 50 Super Turbo reward.

Players below Level 10 will never move down a level, even if they take a year's hiatus from poker. Players above that are only required to earn three Gold Chips over back-to-back months to maintain their status and, even if they don't accomplish the minor feat, they will only go down to Level 10.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here is why Gold Stacks impresses me. First, it's very easy to follow. Earn FPPs, accumulate Gold Chips, and create Gold Stacks. All of it is tracked textually and graphically in the poker software. There are no point multipliers, no fancy names for different VIP levels, no added benefits (besides the actual rewards) to higher levels, and FPPs are earned at the same rate no matter what game or stakes you play.

Second, the rewards are automatic and guaranteed. You don't have to take your Gold Chips to a store to buy a cash bonus and you don't have to decide whether to spend points now or try to save up for a better bonus.

The main reason I like the Gold Stacks program is that it has something for everyone. Everyone can feel included. For the high-volume, high-stakes grinders, there are very healthy cash bonuses as you advance up the Gold Stacks ladder. It may take a while to hit the higher levels, but it takes a while to achieve elite VIP levels at other poker rooms, too.

For low-stakes players, there is almost immediate gratification, as stacks are easy to build early on. Sure, the rewards are only Gold Chips below Level 10, but those Gold Chips can still be spent in the Cake Shop for gear, electronics, and other unique items. Even though it's not cash, it gives the casual player a sense of accomplishment to win something.

Plus, unlike other poker rooms where you have to keep playing a lot to avoid losing your VIP status, the rooms on the Cake Poker Network will not punish low-level players for playing low volume. You won't move up quickly if you don't play a lot, but you won't move down, either. It's a consideration like this that makes casual players, in particular, feel wanted and appreciated. They don't feel that the "good stuff" is only reserved for high rollers.

With hardcore poker players having the ability to earn ever-increasing cash rewards and low-stakes players feeling the satisfaction of actually being rewarded for playing, the Cake Poker Network may have found an effective way to develop customer loyalty.

Kentucky Sues Full Tilt Poker, Other Sites to Recoup Losses by State Residents

For Full Tilt Poker, when it rains, it pours. One day after word leaked that the industry’s second largest online poker site was the subject of a grand jury investigation for money laundering, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has filed suit against its owners in the Franklin Circuit Court.

Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown, who represents the state in the ongoing squabble over the rights to 141 internet gambling domain names, serves as the plaintiff in the new case. A 14-page complaint filed on March 25th calls for the defendant, Pocket Kings (owners and operators of Full Tilt Poker), to refund the State “the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky.” In addition, the Commonwealth is seeking pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, and “such further relief as the Court deems just and proper.” No dollar amount is given and the case is numbered 10-CI-505.

Other internet gambling sites are targeted in the newest Kentucky case, which also names “unknown individuals and entities [that] have acted in concert in joint ventures to facilitate, host, operate, and profit from online gambling businesses.” A variety of domain names are spelled out, including those belonging to Absolute Poker, Bugsy’s Club, Cake Poker, Crazy Poker, DoylesRoom, Golden Palace, Microgaming, MySportsbook, Pitbull Poker, PlayersOnly, PokerHost, PokerStars, PokerTime, Red Star Poker, Reefer Poker, Sportsbook.com, True Poker, and WSEX. UltimateBet.com, not UB.com, is listed. Also misidentified is BodogLife.com, which appears instead of Bodog.com. Several USA-friendly sites including Carbon Poker, Power Poker, and Poker Nordica are not listed.

The complaint charges that Full Tilt Poker conducted business inside of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, solicited action from residents, maintained accounts belonging to individuals in Kentucky, collected rake, and had its software installed on computers inside its borders: “The Full Tilt Defendants have done, or have caused to be done, tortuous acts in the Commonwealth for which the Commonwealth has a substantial and compelling interest in exercising personal jurisdiction.”

Commonwealth attorneys charge that during oral arguments in front of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) revealed that 13,000 Kentucky residents play online poker. The same language charging Full Tilt Poker and Pocket Kings is repeated for the aforementioned Unknown Defendants. Unlike the rumored grand jury investigation involving Full Tilt, no members of its pro team are identified by name in the Kentucky filing. According to the Financial Times, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson are two of the subjects of the grand jury investigation.

Regarding the Financial Times story that appeared on Monday, a representative from Full Tilt Poker’s legal team told Poker News Daily, "We are not aware of any grand jury investigation of Tiltware or any related individual or entity and the company's position is that it has done nothing wrong. We are not going to comment about a speculative grand jury investigation that we are not aware of and we have no idea what, if anything, they are investigating."

The Kentucky statute invoked is 454.210, which covers personal jurisdiction of courts over nonresidents. The statute calls for a court’s ability to “exercise personal jurisdiction over a person or by an agent” in the case of tortuous injury, business transactions, warranty breaches, real property claims, telephone solicitations, and sexual intercourse, among other criteria.

Kentucky attorneys note that Pocket Kings has a registered office located at the “Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.” Tiltware, Full Tilt’s software provider, was not mentioned. The court documents dub Pocket Kings and the Unknown Full Tilt Defendants “a series of shell companies.”

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Court of Appeals rubber-stamped the return of the case involving the seizure of 141 internet gambling domain names to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which has yet to take it up once again. Full Tilt’s domain name is in jeopardy of forfeiture, although the site has purportedly sought legal protection in a U.K. courtroom.