Poker News

PartyPoker Starts New Hit Or Run Promotions

One thing PartyPoker has done extremely well in its history is provide some of the best promotions for its customers. With its popular Cash Machine set to end on January 31st, PartyPoker had to come up with another promotion that would continue to capture the interest of its players. That new promotion, called Hit Or Run, will start on February 1st.

The Hit Or Run promotion gives players an opportunity to earn over $10,000 per day throughout the month of February. Players on PartyPoker already earn PartyPoker points that can be used to enter tournaments, buy items in the PartyPoker Store, and turn the points into cash. The Hit Or Run promotion is offered as another way that players can use their PartyPoker points.

For every 20 PartyPoker points a player earns on their real money tables, PartyPoker will give players $1 that they can take to play Hit Or Run. Once a player enters into the Hit Or Run arena, they are dealt two hole cards to play heads-up against the PartyPoker system. If a player wins the first hand, that $1 is doubled and the player is given the option of playing again, or taking another “Hit.” The game continues until the player is beaten in the game or the player decides to “Run” with what they have won.

Players can earn up to ten entries per day to play the PartyPoker Hit Or Run game. If a player is able to win ten straight heads-up hands, they will take away $1,024. If a player does this ten times per day and wins every hand, that player would walk away with $10,240. Of course, a player can, at any time, opt to take whatever money they have earned by hitting the “Run” button.

The new Hit Or Run promotion is simply the latest offering that PartyPoker has for its players. Currently, PartyPoker is also running satellites for entries into February’s World Poker Tour (WPT) L. A. Poker Classic and Celebrity Invitational. PartyPoker also offers its popular $1 million Guaranteed the first Sunday of each month and has a $300,000 Guaranteed every other Sunday when the Million Guaranteed isn’t running.

PartyPoker continues to reign among one of the leaders in the online poker industry. Up until 2006, it was the largest poker room in the industry, but the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 forced the parent company of PartyPoker, Party Gaming, to pull the plug on players from the United States. Since that time - and catering to players outside of the U. S. only - PartyPoker has slipped behind such sites as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which still continue to accept American action. PartyPoker vies against the iPoker Network for third place in the online poker industry, according to PokerScout.com.

PartyGaming Co-Founder Anurag Dikshit Severs Ties With Stock Sale

Ending a relationship that dates back to the beginning of the online poker industry, Party Gaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit has divested himself of any ownership in the company with the sale of his remaining stock on Tuesday.

According to the London Stock Exchange and the British newspaper The Telegraph, Dikshit owned slightly more than 38.8 million shares of Party Gaming PLC, which is traded in London under the symbol PRTY. Because of his ownership of the stock, Dikshit held voting rights that would have continued to hold a significant influence on the company’s track. With the sale, however, Dikshit has fully divested himself of any connection with the company he helped start back in the late 1990s.

The 38.8 million shares of Party Gaming stock held by Dikshit amount to £114 million and helped to drive the price of Party Gaming PLC up during trading on Tuesday and Wednesday. Opening at 277.10p at the start of trading Wednesday, Party Gaming PLC trended up 14.2p over the course of the day, finishing at 292p.

It is estimated that Dikshit has cashed out stock in the company that eclipses £700m in value. Through his involvement with Party Gaming, Dikshit has also become one of India’s wealthiest citizens. With the sale of his remaining ownership in the company complete, Dikshit is expected to return to the many philanthropic trusts that he oversees, including those that fund medical and educational interests in India.

Since the creation of Party Gaming in the late 1990s, Dikshit had been a formative figure in the company. Along with husband and wife Russ DeLeon and Ruth Parasol as well as Vikrant Bhargava, Dikshit – who was the creator of the Party Gaming software that the company uses – drove the company to reach the pinnacle of the online poker industry with PartyPoker. By 2005, when the foursome took Party Gaming public on the London Stock Exchange, PartyPoker had even become a force in the live poker world with a sponsorship deal at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

2006 proved to be a pivotal point for the company, however. With the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by the American government, Party Gaming was forced to prohibit American players from participating on PartyPoker (as a publicly traded entity, it could not violate the laws of another country and remain on the LSE). Since that time, Party Gaming has been passed in the online poker industry by two rooms that still accept American players, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, and battles for the third spot consistently with another non-U.S. facing entity, the iPoker Network.

Dikshit has been the only founder of Party Gaming to ever face American authorities as far as their gaming actions are concerned. After the passage of the UIGEA, The Telegraph reports that Dikshit was “increasingly worried about the ramifications of the company’s operations being declared illegal in America” and stepped down as the director of Party Gaming. This led to his admission of guilt in December 2008 in a U. S. court to violating laws regarding online gaming. Still facing the possibility of two years in jail for his guilty plea, Dikshit has paid $300 million in fines and, according to Justice Department officials, has been assisting them in their ongoing investigations. Whether Dikshit will face any jail time when the case is reviewed in December 2010 is still unknown.

The sale of Dikshit’s remaining stake in PartyGaming comes at a time when the company is looking at several merger options, according to The Telegraph. The outlet states that PartyGaming is “continuing to hold discussions with a number of companies in the gaming sector regarding potential consolidation opportunities” and speculates that industry competitor bwin is a possible merger partner.

ESPN Inside Deal Airs First Show of 2010

The ESPN poker franchise “Inside Deal” returned on Tuesday with the first episode of 2010. Joining the series, which emanated from a new set, were Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Executive Director John Pappas and 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Joe Cada.

The show began with a discussion of the CardPlayer and Bluff Player of the Year awards for 2009. CardPlayer named UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin as its winner, while Bluff crowned PokerStars’ Jason Mercier. On which publication was more accurate, “Inside Deal” host Bernard Lee explained, “Understand that this is not apples to apples. These are two completely different Player of the Year formulas. If you had to look at it, I think CardPlayer has it a little more open for most players.”

Lee noted that poker pro Amnon Filippi bumped him from the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, while Cada staked co-host Laura Lane into the ladies’ event. Now, Lee and the rest of the poker world have their sights set on the PokerStars-backed North American Poker Tour (NAPT), which resumes on February 20th at the Venetian: “I’ve said from the beginning that being able to qualify online is going to increase registration, prize pools, and interest in any tournaments. So far, over 160 players have qualified for the Venetian event. That’s more than some of the WSOP Circuit Events had all last year.”

Pappas joined “Inside Deal” via phone to catch listeners up on the good word from Capitol Hill. The Executive Director of the one-million member lobbying group explained the biggest challenge of 2010: “There is this continuing cloud of grayness as to what is legal and what is not legal. We have a six-month reprieve to get that Congressional clarification to make sure that it is clear that playing poker over the internet is not an unlawful internet gambling transaction.” The PPA is pushing for a markup of Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267 in February.

Cada, donning a festive array of PokerStars logos, told “Inside Deal” viewers that the pressure for him to perform has ramped up dramatically: “There is definitely more pressure now, especially because of the way I won my final table.” Cada hit the deck hard during the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event and defeated Maryland logger Darvin Moon heads-up.

One of the rumors flying around the poker world during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was that Cada was dating former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole. The rumors ultimately proved false, but Cada is still trying to wrap his head around his celebrity status: “I am still trying to get used to everything. The rumors are not so great. All my friends back home asked me about it and there are so many rumors going on.”

A comprehensive breakdown of a hand between Moon and Cada heads-up aired featuring Lee and ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman dishing out strategy. The crew then asked Cada to reveal his mentality headed into heads-up play in poker tournaments: “I start off slow when I start heads-up because I don’t know how they play. A lot is their frequency of calls pre-flop and stack sizes. If the stack sizes are deeper, then you’re able to raise more from the button.” Cada was an online heads-up specialist prior to his win last November to become the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever.

A new segment called “Snap Calls” featured discussion of Huck Seed’s chances to make it eight cashes in a row in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, the number of new girlfriends Cada will have this year (Cada said under 1.5), the future of online poker legalization, whether Bernard Lee would claim a title in 2010, and whether Cada would win another bracelet in this year’s WSOP.

No Decision Handed Down in Kentucky Internet Gambling Case

The Kentucky Supreme Court failed to hand down a decision on Thursday in the case involving the seizure and potential forfeiture of 141 internet gambling domain names.

The list of sites that could be affected includes PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Officials from the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and others involved in the case had anticipated a Thursday release of the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision. However, none was passed down as the day came and went.

A press release distributed by iMEGA on Thursday added that the next time the case could be addressed is late March. iMEGA Chairman Joe Brennan told Poker News Daily what his reaction was to no decision being rendered by the Commonwealth's highest court: “Everyone was surprised in Kentucky. The rumor mill thought the decision was going to be rendered. That could have been why their attorneys acted so quickly at the end of December, so if they got an adverse decision, they could keep it alive.”

No dates for releases of court opinions are listed in February. The next date shown for verdicts to be handed down on the Kentucky Supreme Court's calendar is March 18th. Others include April 22nd, May 20th, June 17th, August 26th, September 23rd, October 21st, November 18th, and December 16th. Twenty pages' worth of decisions were handed down on Thursday in the Frankfort court.

Back in October, oral arguments were heard by the six of the seven justices that comprise the Kentucky Supreme Court. In December, two months after the proceedings occurred, attorneys for the Commonwealth filed a motion to add names to its original complaint. Its counsel explained the reasoning behind identifying more defendants two months after oral arguments transpired: “In the course of the litigation and the Commonwealth’s continuing investigation, the Commonwealth has learned the identity of certain entities and individuals involved in internet gambling operations, some of whom are U.S. citizens.”

The motion called for a hearing in front of Judge Thomas Wingate on January 20th. However, because the motion was never acted on by the Kentucky Supreme Court, no such hearing took place. Wingate upheld the initial seizure order as part of a decision rendered in October 2008. The last-second move by Commonwealth attorneys to add names to the record, to some in the industry, indicated that the Kentucky Supreme Court was readying to hand down a verdict. However, those inclinations ultimately proved to be false.

The case centers on whether domain names, which are housed in the depths of cyberspace, constitute “gambling devices” under Kentucky state law. The two-word phrase traditionally refers to physical objects like roulette wheels and slot machines that you'd find in an underground casino. The domains were allegedly seized without due process back in September 2008. Wingate mandated that the affected sites cease taking customers from Kentucky immediately, else risk losing access to their domain name worldwide.

For now, it appears that the future of domain names like FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com will remain up in the air in the Bluegrass State. Also involved in the case is the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the industry's 1.2-million member strong lobbying force. The PPA filed an amicus brief to the Kentucky Supreme Court charging that poker is a game of skill and therefore not gambling under state law.

Original estimates pinned a decision in the Kentucky Supreme Court between three and six months after oral arguments took place, or sometime between January and April. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on the case.

Poker2Nite Previews WPT Season 8 on Fox Sports Net

On Wednesday’s installment of the Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite,” Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Justin “Boosted J” Smith recapped a hand from the Bellagio Cup V. The tournament will kick off the eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net.

The WPT premieres on Sunday night at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net, with Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and former actor Vince Van Patten once again having the call from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Jaka and Smith finished second and third, respectively, in the event and tangled in a hand where Jaka held A-J and Smith had pocket deuces.

The duo broke down the hand over the course of a five-minute segment, with Jaka noting, “There’s so much information out there. People can figure it out just by studying it, but when you do something new that hasn’t been talked about over and over again, they don’t know what to do.” For example, Jaka led out with the best hand on the flop, electing not to check despite flopping a monster. Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes ultimately took down the Bellagio Cup V Main Event to the tune of $1.2 million.

A new segment called “This Week in Side Action” recapped cross-booking between 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and Team Full Tilt’s Tom “durrrr” Dwan. The “Poker2Nite Dictionary” defined cross-booking as, “When two players bet against each other by offering a percentage of any winnings.” Essentially, one player would have to pay the other half of what they cashed for. In this case, Dwan came up empty-handed after busting on Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, while Ivey cashed for $23,500. Consequently, Dwan paid “The Tiger Woods of Poker” $11,750. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok added that the $23,500 payday did not cover Ivey’s 10-day stay in a suite at Atlantis.

“Poker2Nite” roving reporter and Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones scoped out the brand new 18-table poker room at Aria, which is part of Las Vegas’ CityCenter. Aria Poker Room Manager Adam Altweis, who previously sat down with Poker News Daily in an exclusive interview, told Jones, “Our high-level executives really put forth a big effort. The room was made for the player.” The Aria poker room features direct access to the poker cage and may soon sport Ivey’s Room, a nosebleed-stakes table surrounded by glass similar to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

Sebok had already had a chance to check out the brand new digs at Aria and told his “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff, “I was there on opening night and it’s spectacular.” On the prospect of Ivey’s Room coming to fruition, Sebok speculated, “I don’t even think those talks happened.” Only time will tell. Following the Aria segment was Isaac Haxton discussing a hand against Ryan Daut during the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Daut won $1.5 million for taking down the WPT tournament.

Dana Workman dished out the “Weekly Misdeal” sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which offers a satirical look at the week’s poker headlines. This week, Workman poked fun at the proposed New Jersey intrastate internet gambling bill, the 2010 WSOP rules governing Twitter use and player hygiene, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada playing in the same celebrity basketball game as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen.

Finally, “Poker2Nite” previewed the finale of the Absolute Poker College Challenge, which will see players vie for $10,000 in college tuition. The final table will be streamed live online. Highlights will be shown next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET, when the next new episode of UB.com’s “Poker2Nite” will air on Fox Sports Net.

Poker2Nite Previews WPT Season 8 on Fox Sports Net

On Wednesday’s installment of the Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite,” Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Justin “Boosted J” Smith recapped a hand from the Bellagio Cup V. The tournament will kick off the eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net.

The WPT premieres on Sunday night at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net, with Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and former actor Vince Van Patten once again having the call from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Jaka and Smith finished second and third, respectively, in the event and tangled in a hand where Jaka held A-J and Smith had pocket deuces.

The duo broke down the hand over the course of a five-minute segment, with Jaka noting, “There’s so much information out there. People can figure it out just by studying it, but when you do something new that hasn’t been talked about over and over again, they don’t know what to do.” For example, Jaka led out with the best hand on the flop, electing not to check despite flopping a monster. Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes ultimately took down the Bellagio Cup V Main Event to the tune of $1.2 million.

A new segment called “This Week in Side Action” recapped cross-booking between 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and Team Full Tilt’s Tom “durrrr” Dwan. The “Poker2Nite Dictionary” defined cross-booking as, “When two players bet against each other by offering a percentage of any winnings.” Essentially, one player would have to pay the other half of what they cashed for. In this case, Dwan came up empty-handed after busting on Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, while Ivey cashed for $23,500. Consequently, Dwan paid “The Tiger Woods of Poker” $11,750. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok added that the $23,500 payday did not cover Ivey’s 10-day stay in a suite at Atlantis.

“Poker2Nite” roving reporter and Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones scoped out the brand new 18-table poker room at Aria, which is part of Las Vegas’ CityCenter. Aria Poker Room Manager Adam Altweis, who previously sat down with Poker News Daily in an exclusive interview, told Jones, “Our high-level executives really put forth a big effort. The room was made for the player.” The Aria poker room features direct access to the poker cage and may soon sport Ivey’s Room, a nosebleed-stakes table surrounded by glass similar to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

Sebok had already had a chance to check out the brand new digs at Aria and told his “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff, “I was there on opening night and it’s spectacular.” On the prospect of Ivey’s Room coming to fruition, Sebok speculated, “I don’t even think those talks happened.” Only time will tell. Following the Aria segment was Isaac Haxton discussing a hand against Ryan Daut during the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Daut won $1.5 million for taking down the WPT tournament.

Dana Workman dished out the “Weekly Misdeal” sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which offers a satirical look at the week’s poker headlines. This week, Workman poked fun at the proposed New Jersey intrastate internet gambling bill, the 2010 WSOP rules governing Twitter use and player hygiene, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada playing in the same celebrity basketball game as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen.

Finally, “Poker2Nite” previewed the finale of the Absolute Poker College Challenge, which will see players vie for $10,000 in college tuition. The final table will be streamed live online. Highlights will be shown next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET, when the next new episode of UB.com’s “Poker2Nite” will air on Fox Sports Net.

Poker2Nite Previews WPT Season 8 on Fox Sports Net

On Wednesday’s installment of the Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite,” Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Justin “Boosted J” Smith recapped a hand from the Bellagio Cup V. The tournament will kick off the eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net.

The WPT premieres on Sunday night at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net, with Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and former actor Vince Van Patten once again having the call from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Jaka and Smith finished second and third, respectively, in the event and tangled in a hand where Jaka held A-J and Smith had pocket deuces.

The duo broke down the hand over the course of a five-minute segment, with Jaka noting, “There’s so much information out there. People can figure it out just by studying it, but when you do something new that hasn’t been talked about over and over again, they don’t know what to do.” For example, Jaka led out with the best hand on the flop, electing not to check despite flopping a monster. Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes ultimately took down the Bellagio Cup V Main Event to the tune of $1.2 million.

A new segment called “This Week in Side Action” recapped cross-booking between 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and Team Full Tilt’s Tom “durrrr” Dwan. The “Poker2Nite Dictionary” defined cross-booking as, “When two players bet against each other by offering a percentage of any winnings.” Essentially, one player would have to pay the other half of what they cashed for. In this case, Dwan came up empty-handed after busting on Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, while Ivey cashed for $23,500. Consequently, Dwan paid “The Tiger Woods of Poker” $11,750. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok added that the $23,500 payday did not cover Ivey’s 10-day stay in a suite at Atlantis.

“Poker2Nite” roving reporter and Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones scoped out the brand new 18-table poker room at Aria, which is part of Las Vegas’ CityCenter. Aria Poker Room Manager Adam Altweis, who previously sat down with Poker News Daily in an exclusive interview, told Jones, “Our high-level executives really put forth a big effort. The room was made for the player.” The Aria poker room features direct access to the poker cage and may soon sport Ivey’s Room, a nosebleed-stakes table surrounded by glass similar to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

Sebok had already had a chance to check out the brand new digs at Aria and told his “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff, “I was there on opening night and it’s spectacular.” On the prospect of Ivey’s Room coming to fruition, Sebok speculated, “I don’t even think those talks happened.” Only time will tell. Following the Aria segment was Isaac Haxton discussing a hand against Ryan Daut during the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Daut won $1.5 million for taking down the WPT tournament.

Dana Workman dished out the “Weekly Misdeal” sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which offers a satirical look at the week’s poker headlines. This week, Workman poked fun at the proposed New Jersey intrastate internet gambling bill, the 2010 WSOP rules governing Twitter use and player hygiene, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada playing in the same celebrity basketball game as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen.

Finally, “Poker2Nite” previewed the finale of the Absolute Poker College Challenge, which will see players vie for $10,000 in college tuition. The final table will be streamed live online. Highlights will be shown next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET, when the next new episode of UB.com’s “Poker2Nite” will air on Fox Sports Net.

Poker2Nite Previews WPT Season 8 on Fox Sports Net

On Wednesday’s installment of the Fox Sports Net poker news show “Poker2Nite,” Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Justin “Boosted J” Smith recapped a hand from the Bellagio Cup V. The tournament will kick off the eighth season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) on Fox Sports Net.

The WPT premieres on Sunday night at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net, with Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and former actor Vince Van Patten once again having the call from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Jaka and Smith finished second and third, respectively, in the event and tangled in a hand where Jaka held A-J and Smith had pocket deuces.

The duo broke down the hand over the course of a five-minute segment, with Jaka noting, “There’s so much information out there. People can figure it out just by studying it, but when you do something new that hasn’t been talked about over and over again, they don’t know what to do.” For example, Jaka led out with the best hand on the flop, electing not to check despite flopping a monster. Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes ultimately took down the Bellagio Cup V Main Event to the tune of $1.2 million.

A new segment called “This Week in Side Action” recapped cross-booking between 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey and Team Full Tilt’s Tom “durrrr” Dwan. The “Poker2Nite Dictionary” defined cross-booking as, “When two players bet against each other by offering a percentage of any winnings.” Essentially, one player would have to pay the other half of what they cashed for. In this case, Dwan came up empty-handed after busting on Day 2 of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, while Ivey cashed for $23,500. Consequently, Dwan paid “The Tiger Woods of Poker” $11,750. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok added that the $23,500 payday did not cover Ivey’s 10-day stay in a suite at Atlantis.

“Poker2Nite” roving reporter and Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones scoped out the brand new 18-table poker room at Aria, which is part of Las Vegas’ CityCenter. Aria Poker Room Manager Adam Altweis, who previously sat down with Poker News Daily in an exclusive interview, told Jones, “Our high-level executives really put forth a big effort. The room was made for the player.” The Aria poker room features direct access to the poker cage and may soon sport Ivey’s Room, a nosebleed-stakes table surrounded by glass similar to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.

Sebok had already had a chance to check out the brand new digs at Aria and told his “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff, “I was there on opening night and it’s spectacular.” On the prospect of Ivey’s Room coming to fruition, Sebok speculated, “I don’t even think those talks happened.” Only time will tell. Following the Aria segment was Isaac Haxton discussing a hand against Ryan Daut during the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Daut won $1.5 million for taking down the WPT tournament.

Dana Workman dished out the “Weekly Misdeal” sponsored by Bluff Magazine, which offers a satirical look at the week’s poker headlines. This week, Workman poked fun at the proposed New Jersey intrastate internet gambling bill, the 2010 WSOP rules governing Twitter use and player hygiene, and 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada playing in the same celebrity basketball game as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen.

Finally, “Poker2Nite” previewed the finale of the Absolute Poker College Challenge, which will see players vie for $10,000 in college tuition. The final table will be streamed live online. Highlights will be shown next Wednesday at 11:00pm ET, when the next new episode of UB.com’s “Poker2Nite” will air on Fox Sports Net.

Andy Bloch Discusses Rush Poker Strategy

Recently, Rush Poker made its debut on Full Tilt Poker. The fast-paced style of cash game allows players to move from one table to another as soon as their action in a hand is finished. As such, players have been able to see upwards of 300 hands per hour. Poker News Daily sat down with Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch to get his take on the new addition to the site’s already impressive lineup, his goals for 2010, and his thoughts on the online poker phenomenon known as Isildur1.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. What were your first impressions of Rush Poker?

Andy Bloch: I think it’s great and it’s had a great reception so far. Sure, there were people who found fault with it at first, but once you get used to it, it’s great. I tried it out a couple of months ago and thought it was amazing. Back when I first started playing, I remember training software that was like this. When you folded, a new hand started right away, so you’re always making decisions. This is how poker really should be.

PND: Some players we’ve talked to critiqued that Rush Poker creates ABC poker players. Is there a different overarching strategy to it?

Andy Bloch: To some degree, it’ll train people more to play ABC poker. You’ll have less of a reason to play speculative hands because you can fold and get a new hand right away, but that creates more opportunities. There will be a lot of people taking advantage of the tight play and playing a lot more hands pre-flop. There’s no need to worry about getting a reckless image.

You can raise every hand on the button, for example, whereas at a regular cash game table, you wouldn’t do that because people would pick up on it. You could also just raise pre-flop in Rush Poker every time the action folds to you. In Rush Poker, therefore, taking notes becomes really important. If you see any unusual play, you’ll want to make a note and tag a player. It might come in handy later on.

PND: How have you fared so far and what stakes did you play?

Andy Bloch: It seems like my opponents have been hitting sets on me after we get the money in, but I don’t know if I’m up or down. I’ve played all of the stakes they offer, including play money. It seems like people play better at the Rush Poker play money tables than at the normal play money tables. They are less likely to play every hand because they know they can just fold, so they’re marginally more selective.

PND: Would you like to see Rush Poker added for MTTs and sit and gos?

Andy Bloch: I’d love to see Rush Poker added for heads-up play, tournaments, sit and gos, and different forms of poker like Stud. You have to pay attention to the up-cards in Stud, so it’s hard to multi-table.

PND: What poker goals do you have for 2010?

Andy Bloch: I’m going to the L.A. Poker Classic and hopefully playing some of the earlier events. They have a HORSE tournament and a Chinese Poker tournament. They also have a heads-up event and an Ironman no-break tournament.  I’ll probably play about the same number of tournaments as last year, but I want to play more online. I had a bad year last year. Whenever I have a bad year, I just try to work on my game and go over my strategy. My goal is to win a bracelet on June 1st. That is the end of the $50,000 Player’s Championship and the final day of the first three open events at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

PND: Are you still planning to be involved with organizations like the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) this year?

Andy Bloch: Absolutely. This year coming up is an important year. It looks like we can finally get a law passed, get rid of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and get online poker regulated. If we can get that done, it’d be great for everyone in the poker world, from the grinder to the recreational player to someone who has dreams of being sponsored by a site.

PND: Talk about the rise and fall of Isildur1 on Full Tilt’s nosebleed cash game tables.

Andy Bloch: That story is crazy in a lot of ways. It happens from time to time in poker and in other games too. Unless Isildur1 follows it up with another run, you can chalk it up to luck. He’s a good player, but he jumped into the high-stakes games too quickly, not realizing the type of talent that’s out there. He made himself a target and wasn’t willing to back down. It’s a great story and I hope he comes back and shows people that it wasn’t a fluke.

PND: Was there any possibility of Andy Bloch facing off against Isildur1?

Andy Bloch: I don’t have much experience in Pot Limit Omaha. I need to work on that too and that’s another one of my goals for 2010. I need to get into a position where I can feel comfortable sitting down in any limit game.

Poker Players Alliance Pushing for February Markup of HR 2267

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the industry’s one-million member strong lobbying organization, is ramping up for what could be a monumental 2010 legislative year. At stake is the future of online poker in the United States.

As the industry treks into the new decade, Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, is up to 65 co-sponsors. In the first two weeks of January, the measure saw two new lawmakers lend their names in support, Congressmen Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Charlie Melancon (D-LA). HR 2267 was introduced in May and, in the beginning of December, was discussed in the House Financial Services Committee.

No markup of HR 2267 occurred during the December 3rd hearing, which took place one week following officials from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve delaying mandatory compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) by six months to June 1st, 2010. However, according to PPA Executive Director John Pappas, a markup may be in the offing: “The big next step for us is the markup. We’ve built out who our targets are for that committee and are pursuing them. We think it might happen in February, but there are no guarantees.”

According to Pappas, Frank expressed his desire to hold a markup hearing next month, which could lead to discussion of HR 2267 on the floor of the House of Representatives later this year. From there, Frank and the PPA could elect to attach the measure to another piece of legislation, similar to how the UIGEA became a part of an unrelated port security bill in 2006. Pappas noted, “One of our biggest challenges will be to make the vote in the committee bipartisan. That’s going to be our challenge and I think we can do it. Winning big in the Financial Services Committee will help us advance the bill in any other capacity.”

In the next month, the PPA also expects information to be released concerning the amount of money that could be raised should Senator Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) S 1597 be approved. The bill, dubbed the Internet Poker and Game of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, regulates online skill games. S 1597 was introduced in August, but has yet to garner any co-sponsors.

On the difficult road that lies ahead in the U.S. Senate, Pappas commented, “The Senate has been a tougher ground for us to plow so far, so we’re trying to do what we can there. It’s not because the topic isn’t of interest or important, but rather because they operate differently. The House operates quickly, whereas the Senate is more deliberate.”

The UIGEA was not discussed in the Senate four years ago; instead, it was approved by unanimous consent. Then, the PPA was in its infancy, boasting around 50,000 members during the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Now, it has grown into the seven-figures and seen players like UB.com pro Annie Duke and 2004 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer champion its cause. In 2010, the PPA expects to work with a variety of organizations in the industry for membership drives, following the blueprint of its recent promotion with Card Player Cruises that awarded one player a trip for two to the Caribbean.

Finally, Pappas gave his take on the proposed intrastate internet gambling bill introduced in New Jersey by State Senator Raymond Lesniak. On the model for other states to follow to legalize online wagering, Pappas told Poker News Daily, “For poker players in New Jersey, it presents an interesting opportunity to play on a licensed site. The issue is what sites they’ll be able to play on. Will it be on the brands they know? Having Atlantic City casinos undertake building their own software and player bases will take quite a long time.” According to PokerScout.com, PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the industry, boasts a seven-day running average of 33,200 real money ring game players.

Stay tuned for the latest news from the PPA right here on Poker News Daily.

Sen. John Kyl Makes Power Play

New Jersey Gaming Revenues Fall 13.2% in 2009

According to figures released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, gaming revenues in Atlantic City dipped 13.2% during the 2009 calendar year compared to 2008. All told, area casinos raked in $3.9 billion.

Revenue derived from slot machines and table games were both hit hard. Funds pulled from the one-armed bandits dropped 13.1% in 2009 to $2.72 billion, while table game revenue fell 13.5% to $1.22 billion. Casino Control Commission Chair Linda Kassekert commented in a press release, “Casinos continued to suffer in 2009. The weak national economy, growing competition across our borders, and the partial ban on smoking in casinos combined to depress gaming revenues.” Officials in New Jersey are eyeing gambling expansion in Pennsylvania and Delaware as additional competitive pressures. In response, New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak recently introduced a bill to allow intrastate internet gambling.

Despite the rapidly increasing competition and shrinking sources of revenue, Kassekert remained optimistic that Atlantic City’s uniqueness would continue to attract visitors to its casinos: “Atlantic City has a lot to offer visitors in addition to gambling. When the economy improves and people have more money to spend on entertainment, Atlantic City will draw more and more people interested in visiting our shops, enjoying a concert, dining in our fine restaurants, and relaxing on our beach.”

During the 2009-2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit schedule, Atlantic City plays host to a pair of events. In December, Harrah’s Atlantic City held a slate of 17 poker tournaments. Its $5,150 buy-in Main Event saw Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki best a field of 195 players to earn $215,000. Heads-up, Klodnicki defeated fellow online poker player Kyle kwob20 Bowker, who pocketed $128,000. The WSOP Circuit returns to the New Jersey city in March for the Caesars Atlantic City festivities. The casino is fresh off awarding a record-setting $553,000 Bad Beat Jackpot to Delaware native Steven Gedney.

New Jersey casinos’ taxable gross revenue in 2009 was $3.7 billion, which meant that gaming establishments paid $295.3 million to the State. The funds, which represent 8% of taxable gross revenue, go directly to the Casino Revenue Fund, which benefits senior citizens and New Jersey residents with disabilities. Casinos also coughed up $49.3 million in reinvestment costs. On that cash outlay, the Commission explained, “They are required to reinvest 1.25 percent of taxable gross revenues in projects approved by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.”

In December, casino revenue slid 9.8% year over year to $272.1 million. Hit hardest during the final month of the decade was Trump Marina, whose revenues plummeted by 25.2% to $10.1 million. The second largest decline was seen at Trump Plaza, where revenues skidded 18.9% year over year to $13.0 million. At the Atlantic City Hilton, the news on casino “win” was equally poor, as revenues dipped 17.3% in December 2009 compared to December 2008 to $11.7 million. Caesars Atlantic City, contrastingly, saw a 4.4% rise in revenue in December.

For the 2009 calendar year, every single casino in Atlantic City posted lower revenue than in 2008. Three locales – Atlantic City Hilton, Trump Marina, and Trump Plaza – saw win dive by 20% or more year over year. Virtually untouched amid the sagging economy was the Borgata, whose revenues of $695.3 million in 2009 trailed its 2008 figures by just 5.9%. Only one other casino’s revenue fell by single-digits year over year, the Trump Taj Mahal. Beginning on Wednesday at the Borgata is its annual Winter Poker Open, which runs through February 5th. The Main Event, which has a $2 million guaranteed prize pool, begins on January 31st.

In Las Vegas, casino gambling revenue rose in November year over year, posting the first monthly gain in nearly two years. In Atlantic City during the same month, revenues slid 13.4% compared to November 2008.

Internet Gambling Bill Introduced in New Jersey

Legalized internet gambling and online poker may be coming to New Jersey. State Senator Raymond Lesniak introduced S 3167, which specifically legalizes the internet version of popular brick and mortar games like poker, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, craps, the big six wheel, slot machines, mini baccarat, red dog, pai gow, and sic bo.

Servers and monitoring offices for internet gaming companies created under the bill must be located in Atlantic County, New Jersey. The State is charged with protecting consumers under the bill, which explains that a government division would develop “technical standards for approval of software, computers and other gaming equipment used to conduct internet wagering, including mechanical, electrical or program reliability, security against tampering, the comprehensibility of wagering, and noise and light levels, as it may deem necessary to protect the player from fraud or deception and to insure the integrity of gaming.” Online accounts would only be open to players age 21 or older, mirroring the standards of the brick and mortar casino world.

Online poker is mentioned by name several times, mitigating any doubt that the game may not be legal if Lesniak’s bill were enacted into law. Internet gambling outfits would be subject to a 20% tax paid to the state’s casino revenue fund. An additional tax will see a portion of its proceeds go to the New Jersey Racing Commission “to be used for the benefit of the horse racing, including but not limited to the augmentation of purses.”

The act would take effect immediately upon future Governor Chris Christie signing it into law, setting up a model for intrastate online gaming that other jurisdictions could soon mimic. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission would establish a Division of Internet Wagering to oversee operations and licensing. Permit holders would be required to pay an up-front licensing fee of $200,000, with renewals running $100,000. In addition, operators would be required to fork over a $100,000 non-refundable deposit and $100,000 annual fee that would go towards treating compulsive gambling.

The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) has been one of the leading forces pushing for legislation in New Jersey. Its Chairman, Joe Brennan, commented in a press release distributed by the trade organization, “We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands. New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the U.S., but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry.”

Legal online wagering on horse racing is available to New Jersey residents on 4NJBets.com. Those placing wagers must be 18 years of age and have completed a form W9 for tax purposes. An automated phone betting system supplements the website, allowing multiple avenues for New Jersey residents to place wagers on their favorite ponies. Popular New Jersey tracks include Monmouth, Meadowlands, and Freehold.

On a national level, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has introduced S 1597, the Internet Poker and Game of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. As its name implies, the measure legalizes skill games like online poker in a similar fashion to Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267 in the House. S 1597 was introduced in August, but has not yet picked up any co-sponsors. Menendez’s bill defines “skill game” simply as “an Internet-based game in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players, including poker, chess, bridge, mah-jong, and backgammon.”

In the meantime, iMEGA anxiously awaits a decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court on the future of 141 internet gambling domain names, including those belonging to PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, that face potential forfeiture. A decision may be handed down as soon as January 21st.

David Carruthers Gets 33 Months Jail Time in BetOnSports Case

In April, former BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers pled guilty to racketeering charges stemming from his operation of the popular online sports book. He faced up to 33 months in prison and a maximum sentence was handed down on Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Carol E. Jackson sentenced Carruthers on Friday after he was indicted by a grand jury four years ago, according to an article that appeared in Business Week authored by Bloomberg. In court late last week, Carruthers expressed remorse for his actions: “I understand now that the business was operating outside the laws of the United States. I realize I made the biggest mistake of my life. I am sorry for the actions of BetOnSports and the trouble it caused.” The company purportedly raked in over $1 billion in 2004 alone, with Bloomberg noting that a whopping 98% of wagers came from customers in the United States.

Carruthers had been under house arrest in St. Louis since 2006, but found time to get out and stretch his legs as part of the St. Louis Marathon. BetOnSports had been traded in London on the city’s stock exchange and Bloomberg added that Judge Jackson fined BetOnSports $28.2 million. However, the firm owes creditors in the United Kingdom and would likely not be able to make good on the $28.2 million penalty. Attorney Jeffrey Demerath told the financial news outlet, “We won’t be able to pay the $28 million. We have an obligation under the laws of the United Kingdom to pay the creditors first.”

A bevy of guilty pleas were entered in the BetOnSports case. In August, the company’s founder, Gary Kaplan, pled guilty to violating RICO in a Missouri courtroom. Kaplan received more than four years behind bars for his role in the company as well as a $43 million fine, according to the AFP news service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Holtshouser commented in a press release distributed by the U.S. Department of Justice, “The prosecution and conviction of Carruthers is significant to the government's efforts at enforcement of U.S. laws against offshore Internet and telephone sports wagering businesses, because Carruthers was both a foreign national and a top executive of BetOnSports.” Kaplan was arrested in 2007.

In June, Neil Scott Kaplan, Lori Kaplan-Multz, and Penelope Tucker all entered guilty pleas in front of Judge Jackson in the BetOnSports case. Each agreed to hand over money in Swiss bank accounts, but would not face any jail time. Scott Kaplan and Kaplan-Multz also received time in a halfway house. An article that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explained why the trio received significantly lighter sentences than Kaplan and Carruthers: “Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Holtshouser said the sentences reflect the minimal roles that Neil Kaplan and Kaplan-Multz played, their lack of decision-making power there, and their willingness to surrender their BetOnSports money.”

The USA-facing online poker site Bodog, founded by Calvin Ayre, continues to accept wagers on sporting events. The site is in the midst of the National Football League (NFL) playoffs, which kicked off over the weekend. Carruthers assumed the head role at BetOnSports in 2004 after joining the company in 2000. Both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) participated in the investigation of the former CEO. Besides Holtshouser, Steven Muchnick and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Birmingham led the case on behalf of the United States Government.

On Capitol Hill, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is carrying the flag for explicitly legal online poker in the United States. Financial services industry compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was delayed six months to June 1st. The delay came after a November decision by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) is championing the cause on the Hill with HR 2267, which establishes a full licensing and regulatory framework for internet gambling outfits to solicit U.S. customers. The measure is up to 63 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, but would not permit online sports betting.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the BetOnSports case.

Kentucky’s Domain Name Seizure Ruling Soon

Online Poker Funding Methods for the U.S. Player

It is the year 2010. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) has been on the books in the United States since late 2006. While the deadline for implementing its regulations has been pushed back to the middle of this year, many financial institutions have already begun clamping down on transactions to online poker rooms. Options for American players have become limited. In this article, I will present several funding methods that are still available to U.S. online poker players. Even though they aren’t all inexpensive, foolproof, or even widely available, there should be suitable options for everyone.

Credit/Debit Cards

Most online poker rooms accept VISA and MasterCard credit cards nowadays, as well as debit cards with the VISA or MasterCard logo. These are hit or miss, though, as many card issuers block online gambling transactions. Before the UIGEA passed, credit and debit cards were actually oddities as deposit methods for Americans, as there were plenty of reliable e-wallets to use. Many card companies didn’t allow gambling transactions on their cards back then, not because of any laws, but because they didn’t want to expose themselves to increased chargeback risks. Post-UIGEA, as other funding methods began to dry up, online poker rooms began looking for ways to get credit and debit card transactions to go through.

e-Checks

Personally, I have found e-Checks to be the easiest and most reliable online poker funding method at those poker rooms that use it. The two largest online poker rooms, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, readily accept e-Checks, which is likely one contributing factor to their market dominance.

e-Checks are just what they sound like, electronic checks. You just enter the information found on your check, including the bank account number and routing number, and the funds hit your poker account instantly.

e-Wallets

Back in the day, before that nasty UIGEA, most online poker players used e-Wallets to fund their poker accounts. For those unfamiliar with the concept, an e-Wallet is an online account from which you can transfer money to and from poker rooms and your bank. It really is just like a wallet; you take money from your bank account, put it in your wallet, and then take that money and use it at a store. With online poker, you transfer money from your bank to your e-Wallet and then move some or all of it to a poker room. E-Wallets are great for keeping track of your online poker funds, as you can stash your bankroll all in one place and quickly move it in and out of poker rooms.

Unfortunately, most of the good e-wallets, namely Neteller and ePassporte, have left the U.S. market since the UIGEA. The ones that do accept U.S. customers are now few and far between (eWalletXpress is one that several poker rooms still use). The big problem is that they all are typically fee-heavy; there are fees to move funds from your bank to the e-Wallet and fees to transfer funds out. There are no fees, however, to transfer to and from online poker rooms. To minimize the impact of fees, I recommend making the largest deposit you are comfortable making when you are being assessed a flat fee.  Also, some deposit fees are lower or even eliminated if you are willing to wait for your transfer to clear rather than having the funds appear in your account instantly.  If you can be patient, you can save a little bit of money.

Western Union/MoneyGram

If you don’t want to give your bank account information to an online poker room or e-Wallet and don’t want to try a credit card, then sending money via Western Union or MoneyGram can work very well. I won’t go into the whole procedure here, but in a nutshell the poker room will give you their recipient information, which you then take with your cash to a Western Union or MoneyGram location. When that’s done, you log into your poker account with some additional information from the retail location and you’re all set. As with e-Wallets, there are fees involved, but you can usually deposit $1,500 or more per day, so if you max it out, the fees aren’t too bad. You actually have to leave the house to do it, however, which can be a drawback for some players.

The four deposit options I just detailed aren’t the only ones out there, but they are the most common and usually the quickest. In today’s online poker environment, sometimes we just have to take what we can get.

Poker2Nite Welcomes Poker Tournament Director Matt Savage

This week, the UB.com-sponsored poker news franchise “Poker2Nite” welcomed acclaimed tournament director Matt Savage. The creator of the Iron Man tournament and former director of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Savage assessed the industry entering 2010.

First up on “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Wednesday at 11:00pm ET, was an evaluation of several of the high-stakes world’s top names. On Isildur1, who has been largely absent from the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker following a run-in with CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings, “Poker2Nite” co-host Scott Huff noted, “He’s won huge amounts for sure, but he’s lost a lot of it back and that, to me, just means it’s on the level.” According to PokerTableRatings.com, Isildur1 is out $2.6 million since November after being up as much as $5 million.

Then, “Phil’s Best Blowups” took center stage. The segment recaps some of the top escapades of UB.com poker pro Phil Hellmuth. This week’s was “an oldie, but a goodie,” as it panned out at the World Poker Tour (WPT) stop at Foxwoods in 2005. Hellmuth explained, in G-rated terms, “This lucky son of a gun hit running sevens on me after starting completely dead and then raised me on the flop with nothing.”

Hellmuth held J-9 against Hoyt Corkins’ J-7 and the flop came nine-high, giving the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner top pair. Hellmuth bet 25,000, Corkins raised it to 70,000 with air, and Hellmuth called. The turn brought a seven, giving Corkins second pair, and the action went check-check. The river was another seven, improving the DoylesRoom pro to trips, and Hellmuth led out for 80,000. Corkins min-raised to 160,000, Hellmuth called, and jumped out of his chair when he saw the bad news. WPT commentator Vince Van Patten observed, “It looks like his pants are on fire.” The odds of Corkins hitting running sevens were 314:1.

Savage succinctly explained the role of a tournament director to Huff and show co-host Joe Sebok: “My job is to keep order in tournaments.” One of his recent creations is the Iron Man format, a no-break tournament with three meals served at the table and a $10,000 seat added to the prize pool. Its first running clocked in at 19 hours and 20 minutes. Savage recalled, “The camaraderie at the table was great. I stayed up for the whole event and will again in February.” Next month, a $2,100 buy-in Iron Man tournament will play out during the annual L.A. Poker Classic.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), passed in the final moments of the 2006 Congressional session, led to several of the world’s top online poker sites fleeing the U.S. market. Accordingly, Savage revealed where he’d like to see the game headed as we enter 2010: “We’d like to see the UIGEA overturned and that’d be a big difference for us. We’ve [leveled] a little bit in the U.S., but it’s growing globally.”

A feature on Credit Card Roulette aired featuring former Bodog pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Isaac Haxton, Stephen “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer, UB.com’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy, and Scott Seiver, with a $1,500 bill up for grabs. If you’ve never played the game, everyone seated tosses their credit cards into a hat and, one by one, the strips of plastic are drawn. The last person to have their credit card selected foots the bill for the entire meal. This time, Haxton was the poor, unfortunate soul and told “Poker2Nite” cameras, “Defeat is always painful.”

“Poker2Nite” closed with Absolute Poker pro and show correspondent Lacey Jones interviewing Shaun Deeb about his future in poker. Deeb commented, “I expect to take six months to a year, if not longer, to stay away from playing tournaments in general. I decided that, looking at what I was doing, I was spending too much time playing poker [tournaments]. So, I decided to quit them and play cash games with more flexible hours so I can do a lot more things with my time.” Deeb is a former number one player on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings.

Catch “Poker2Nite” every Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net.

Poker2Nite Welcomes Gavin Smith

The final UB.com sponsored “Poker2Nite” of 2009 aired on Wednesday night and featured Gavin Smith along with a recap of the outgoing calendar year. In addition, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo broke down a hand from the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on the Fox Sports Net poker news franchise.

“Poker2Nite” hosts Joe Sebok and Scott Huff ticked off their top three poker stories of 2009. For Sebok, the WSOP Main Event final table came in at number three, as he told viewers, “It had more suckouts than a Blow Pop factory.” Huff added, “It finally proved that the November Nine format can work.” Number two on Sebok’s best of 2009 list was the arrival of Isildur1, who stormed onto the high-stakes online poker scene late in the year. Sebok noted, “For somebody to come out of the mystery and take over is pretty unbelievable.” Sebok’s top story of 2009 was Phil Ivey, who won two WSOP bracelets and reached the final table of the Main Event. He also appeared on the cover of “ESPN: The Magazine.”

Huff then shared his top three poker news stories of the year. First up for the “Poker2Nite” host was Lada Gaga introducing her hit song “Poker Face” to the world. Huff explained, “You have the biggest pop star in the world making a song about her poker face.” Number two was the WSOP Main Event Day 1D lockout, which saw 500 players shut out of poker’s most prestigious tournament when it reached capacity. Huff questioned, “How do you shut people out of the Main Event of the WSOP?” Number one for Huff was the compliance delay of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). As it stands, the financial services industry in the United States has until June 1st to comply with the 2006 law.

“Poker2Nite” correspondent Lacey Jones interviewed players at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic asking what their New Year’s resolutions are for 2010. Shawn Buchanan stated that he wanted to win a WSOP bracelet, while Shaun Deeb explained that he’d rent a house in Europe. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar vowed to study the game more, while Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer desired to be more organized. Finally, UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy told Jones that he would lose weight in 2010.

Smith, a Full Tilt Poker pro, then joined the show. He described 2009 as, “Awful. Atrocious. Terrible. It’s my very first ever losing year in tournament poker.” He added, “I don’t think I ever tried to win.” Smith took home $120,000 from an episode of NBC’s “Poker After Dark” and earned $30,000 at the 2009 WSOP. A man known for prop betting, Smith explained the origin of a tattoo featuring the initials “J.S.” on his shoulder: “At the L.A. Poker Classic a few years ago, [Sebok and I] had a last longer bet and the loser was supposed to get the other man’s initials on his butt.” Smith, upon hearing how painful a tattoo on his rear would be, instead immortalized Sebok’s initials on his shoulder.

Bonomo appeared in a segment entitled “In the Tank,” breaking down a hand from the 2008 WSOP against David “Chino” Rheem and Roland de Wolfe. The Bodog pro described his thought process on every street, although Bonomo ultimately dropped the pot to de Wolfe, who picked off Bonomo’s bluff. Bonomo bet after the river brought three clubs to the board, explaining, “Roland has to be afraid of that card,” but de Wolfe called with an underpair to the board.

Dana Workman doled out the “Weekly Misdeal,” a satirical look at recent poker headlines. Workman chose to recap the top offbeat stories of 2009, including Ivey’s numerous side bets involving bracelet wins at the 2009 WSOP, the Poker Hall of Fame nomination of Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and UB.com pro Annie Duke’s feud with comedian Joan Rivers.

“Poker2Nite” airs on Wednesdays at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net. Check your local listings for more information, as the show is often pre-empted due to local sports programming.

2009 Poker News Story of the Year

What is the poker news story of the year for 2009? Is it Swedish online poker pro Isildur1 igniting the high-stakes cash game world? Is it the World Poker Tour (WPT) being sold to Party Gaming? Is it something else? Poker News Daily’s staff evaluates the nominees.

In a poll posted on Poker News Daily asking readers to choose which of five news stories was the most important of 2009, an overwhelming majority picked the high-stakes cash game action featuring Isildur1. Others selected Joe Cada becoming the youngest winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, while many readers picked the delay of mandatory compliance with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Also receiving votes were Party Gaming’s purchase of the WPT and the sudden closure of several high-profile poker rooms.

We asked each of our writers to select one option and argue why it is the top poker news story of 2009. Here’s what they had to say. Don’t forget to voice your choice in the poll to the right of this article.

Isildur1 Ignites High-Stakes Poker Scene
By Brett Collson

With the Durrrr Challenge moving at a crawl and the rest of the nosebleed games on Full Tilt Poker lacking in attendance, it appeared that the online high-stakes action was deteriorating in the fall of 2009. That all changed when an unknown Scandinavian with a seemingly bottomless bankroll appeared out of nowhere to take on anyone up to the challenge. Isildur1 shocked the world when he exploded onto the scene in November, recording multi-million dollar wins over Tom "durrrr" Dwan, the man we all perceived to be unbeatable. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and many others took notice and sat down with the Swede, resulting in swings that the online poker world had never witnessed before. At one point, Isildur1 had a profit of around $5 million, but after a number of losing sessions and a record-setting match against Brian Hastings, he was stuck nearly $3 million in a matter of weeks. While his masked emergence may have been brief, the mysterious Isildur1 changed the dynamic of high-stakes poker on the internet.

Joe Cada Becomes Youngest WSOP Main Event Champ Ever
By Jessica Welman

While Isildur1’s online run was impressive and the UIGEA delay was important, ask the casual poker fan what happened this year and they’ll likely cite the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table. This year’s November Nine had everything - big names, great stories, broken records, and a lot of suckouts. Fans were surely sad to see Phil Ivey bust in seventh place, but young Joe Cada has proven to be a more than adequate ambassador, as he brought poker to the mainstream media with appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” CNN, “WWE Monday Night Raw,” “ESPN SportsCenter,” and Time Magazine. “The Kid” and his fellow November Niners captured the attention of people who typically didn’t give poker a second thought and took huge strides towards taking the game out of the backrooms, out of cyberspace, and into the spotlight, which no other poker headline was able to achieve in 2009.

WPT Sold to Party Gaming
By Earl Burton

There are several reasons why the sale of the WPT to Party Gaming is the top story of 2009 in poker. The most important reason is that, for the first time in its illustrious history, the WPT is now on a firm financial footing with an organization that can promote it to the fullest. In the future, with Party Gaming’s financial backing, there shouldn’t be problems securing tournament venues or television contracts. With the ability of Party Gaming, through its online poker site PartyPoker, to provide satellites for players to earn their way into events, tournament fields will probably grow in the coming year, potentially even returning to the “glory days” of a few years ago before the UIGEA. These and many other reasons should continue to keep the WPT in the same stratosphere as the WSOP and makes the sale of the WPT to Party Gaming the top story of 2009.

UIGEA Compliance Deadline Delayed
By Dan Cypra

I wonder whether I would even be here right now if the UIGEA regulation compliance date of December 1st had stood. The online poker industry in the United States, which feeds live tournaments around the world, could have potentially come to a screeching halt. Although nobody knows for sure what the real-world implications of the delay will be, the actions by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke essentially preserved the status quo for another six months until June 1st, 2010. The delay marked the most important legislative development since the UIGEA was passed in 2006 and should be the most important poker news story of the year.

Pitbull Poker/Eurolinx/BetOnBet Closures
By Tom Jenkins

The closures of a handful of notable online poker sites represented a dark chapter of 2009. Pitbull Poker, Eurolinx, and BetOnBet all shut their doors to the general public, with thousands of poker players potentially out money as a result. Given the circumstances surrounding their closures, one can easily see why the very foundation of the online poker world could be disrupted going forward. Players must be able to trust that their money is safe when they deposit online given that very little punishment exists for wrongdoing by poker rooms. The wave of closures may ultimately lead to industry consolidation in 2010 and beyond, making this one of the top news headlines of the 2009 calendar year.

Top Ten Poker Stories of the 2009: #10, Online Poker Legislation Making Progress

2009 Online Poker Industry Trends

With the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) looming overhead and watchdog groups trying their best to curb internet gaming, many felt that the online poker industry would do nothing but regress in 2009. However, the opposite proved to be true.

Those same pundits used the weak global economy as the proverbial “nail in the coffin” and all but predicted that the online poker industry would collapse by the end of the year.  Now that we’ve reached the conclusion of 2009, we can clearly see that these so-called experts were completely wrong in their assessments.  Poker News Daily sat down with Dan Stewart, manager of PokerScout.com, to discuss the online poker industry trends of 2009.  PokerScout.com is a traffic reporting website that has kept records for all of the major sites.

Poker News Daily: Who was the big winner in terms of gaining market share in 2009? Has the market grown or shrunk during the year?

Dan Stewart: The big winner for the year was Full Tilt Poker, doubling in size and increasing its market share from 15% to 23%.  The market has grown 35% in 2009.  A large part of that growth came in the second half of the year since summer is traditionally a slow time for online poker.

PND:  We've noticed solid growth from Full Tilt Poker. Has the site’s increase in traffic closed the gap between Full Tilt and PokerStars?

Dan Stewart: Full Tilt Poker has gone from 40% of the size of PokerStars at the beginning of the year to 65% now.

PND:  It seems like there's a decent-sized gap between the 12 major online poker networks and #13 (Svenska Spel).  Is there any site or network on PokerScout.com ranked 13th or lower that is on its way up and might become a major player in 2010?

Dan Stewart: Of the sites ranked below 12th, only “win2day” has managed to grow at a rate equal to the overall market.  All of the other sites are either shrinking or growing slower than the market.

PND: What can you make of the rumors about a potential bwin - Party Gaming merger? If they did merge, where would that put their network in terms of traffic worldwide?

Dan Stewart: It’s hard to say exactly how a potential merger would play out and how much overlap there is between customer bases.  However, if you just add the two player pools together, the combined entity would easily move into third place ahead of iPoker.

PND: Can you talk a little bit about industry consolidation?

Dan Stewart: There is definitely a critical mass effect at work.  The sites that have the most players attract the most players because they offer more action around the clock.  Already, the top two sites (Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars) have about 60% market share.  However, the effect is slow to work and there are still at least 15 sites and networks with enough players to remain healthy.  Unless there is a wave of consolidation, players outside the U.S. will likely have a large number of viable options for years to come.

PND: We've talked about winners in 2009. Who are the big losers of the year?

Dan Stewart: In a growing market, “loser” is a relative term.  Many of the non-U.S. sites have had a hard time keeping up with the growth of the market overall.  In terms of actual player loss, the biggest loser has been Svenska Spel, down 9% for the year.  Svenska Spel is run by the Swedish government and they may have been handicapped by some internal disagreement as to how aggressively the government should be promoting online poker.

PND: What's in the future for PokerScout in 2010?

Dan Stewart: There are some exciting new features coming in January.  The traffic report will be expanding and we’ll be partnering with one or more rakeback providers to offer great rakeback deals to our visitors.

We would like to thank Dan Stewart and PokerScout.com for their very insightful information and data.  If you wish to read more detailed reports about online poker traffic, be sure to visit PokerScout.com.

New Defendants in Kentucky Internet Gambling Case Remain Unknown

Following a chain of e-mails sent last week by attorneys for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the names of additional defendants in the state’s legal action against the owners of 141 internet gambling domain names remain a mystery.

In October, the Kentucky Supreme Court heard the case, which pits industry organizations like the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) against the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, led by Secretary J. Michael Brown. Despite a ruling by the state’s highest judicial body potentially being handed down any day now, Kentucky attorneys filed a motion to add parties to its complaint last week. How the latest filing will affect the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision, if at all, remains unknown. The additional parties in question were U.S. citizens and companies engaged in internet gambling.

When lawyers for iMEGA tried to obtain a list of the additional names, counsel for the Commonwealth turned them down. iMEGA Chairman Joe Brennan told Poker News Daily, “They've basically said that they don't recognize our standing. They're just ignoring what happened in the Court of Appeals, which confirmed our standing.” In a chain of e-mails between opposing attorneys available on iMEGA’s website, William Hurt of Kentucky counsel Hurt, Crosbie, and May states, “I do not believe anyone has standing to file a response or motion to strike.”

Brennan lashed out at the State’s attorneys, who are purportedly working on a contingency basis, as part of a press release sent on Monday: “They were counting on a big payday from our members in the form of settlements to get their own property back, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Since they don’t get one nickel from the state to pursue this, it’s clear that the drive for big money has taken over and any sense of fair play or due process has gone out the window.”

The 141 internet gambling domain names in question include those belonging to online poker giants like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. If the Commonwealth of Kentucky were successful, these domains would be inaccessible not just in the southern state, but also around the world. The domains were seized back in September of 2008 on the grounds that they constituted “gambling devices,” a term that traditionally refers to tangible objects like slot machines and roulette wheels that you’d find in an underground casino.

In January, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled by a two-to-one margin that the Commonwealth did not have jurisdiction to act, setting up an appeal by the State to its Supreme Court. iMEGA attorney Jon Fleischaker noted in an e-mail, “The Court of Appeals ruled that we had standing in this case, and by implication, a right to intervene. I believe the Supreme Court is likely to rule the same thing.” Hurt retorted that the State would “object to anything that you file, but will nonetheless continue to send you notice.”

Brennan told Poker News Daily that Circuit Court judge Thomas Wingate did not act on the motion to add names filed by Kentucky’s attorneys last week and the next day that it can be considered is January 21st. The motion calls for a hearing on January 20th in front of Judge Wingate, although its future appears to be in doubt. Judge Wingate upheld the State’s actions as part of an October 2008 decision.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has given no indication as to when it will hand down a ruling. As it currently stands, the Kentucky Supreme Court does not have any oral arguments scheduled on its calendar until January 13th. However, Brennan expected a decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court to be issued in January.

Top Ten Poker Events of the Decade: Part 2

We’ve reviewed half of the top ten poker events of the soon-to-be-completed decade. Now, let’s take a look at the top five events that have shaped the game as we know it during the past ten years.

5. Taking America’s Game to the World

As the middle of the decade approached, poker, and more particularly tournament poker, was still primarily an American pastime. With the introduction of the European Poker Tour (EPT) in 2004, the rest of the world increased its awareness of the game. Like its predecessors in the United States in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT), the EPT brought the game to a new audience and further heightened the “poker boom.”

The EPT, developed by the online poker giant PokerStars, started small in 2004 with only seven events on its schedule. By the time it was in its fourth year, the EPT had grown to 11 tournaments with buy-ins that rivaled its brethren in the U.S. and had proved that a poker tournament schedule outside of the United States could be tremendously successful. It also led to the creation of many of the international tournament schedules that exist today, including the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), and Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour (GUKPT).

4. Poker Faces its Strongest Challenge, the UIGEA

The steamroller that online poker had become would, in 2006, face its strongest challenge ever. Passed through the halls of Congress in the United States as a rider to a key port security bill, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) threatened to kill the growth of online poker just as it was reaching its pinnacle. Since that time, the poker world has, at the minimum, reached a plateau.

While many inaccurately suggest that the UIGEA makes online poker illegal in the United States, the bill successfully scared many people who would either enter into the game or who had played it. It also had a significant effect on many poker tournaments in the United States; the WSOP Main Event has never returned to its peak numbers of 2006 and other poker tours have either seen a drop in the number of entrants or no growth.

3. Lights, Camera, Action… Poker Comes to Television

Turning on the television at the start of the decade to watch poker was literally impossible. The 2000 and 2001 WSOP Main Events were filmed as documentary-style broadcasts instead of an actual sporting event and appeared on the Discovery Channel. There were no other poker television broadcasts that could be found.

Perhaps sensing the coming wave, ESPN bought the rights to the television broadcasts of the WSOP and, in 2002, presented a more sports-friendly coverage of the tournament series. In 2003, ESPN expanded even further, covering preliminary events and dedicating extensive coverage to the Main Event. After the “Moneymaker Effect” of that year and the ensuing “poker boom,” ESPN has stuck with the WSOP and, in 2009, signed an extension of its broadcast contract with Harrah’s that ensures the WSOP will be on ESPN airwaves well into the next decade.

Add into the mix the wealth of celebrity poker shows, the debut of “High Stakes Poker” on GSN, and network television’s continued dalliance with the game and there is now poker on the “idiot box” at all hours of the day.

2. World Poker Tour Comes into Existence

In 2002, the entrepreneurial minds of Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman convinced the Travel Channel to sign on to an innovative idea of a worldwide poker tour, much like what professional golf has. Their creation, the WPT, took viewers to exotic locales that people might never have a chance to experience. In coordination with these picturesque areas, the broadcast of high-stakes poker tournaments captivated audiences. When it hit the airwaves, the WPT forever changed what had once been the exclusive world of high-stakes gambling.

In the eight years since it first was broadcast, the WPT has not only made poker players household names, but also created the first exposure to poker that many people had experienced. The WPT has also created many new millionaires from previously unknown poker players and pointedly exposed the strategy of the game through the innovative “hole card” camera. Without the creation of the camera, it is entirely likely that the WPT would have never seen the light of day.

1. The Birth of Online Poker

In 2000, there were literally only a handful of poker rooms in existence and, with a few exceptions, none of them made an impact on the world of poker. As more poker rooms opened, more people became accepting of a virtual “poker world.” As internet connections became more reliable, the online poker world was the major impetus for many to enter into any involvement with the sport.

As of 2009, there are hundreds of online poker rooms with tentacles that reach every corner of the globe. Poker enthusiasts can now hook into the internet and play with millions of like-minded people at any time, day or night. Add into the online poker room explosion the wealth of poker training sites, forums, and news outlets and it is easy to see that, without the internet and online poker, we may never have seen the renaissance in the first decade of the 21st century.

Party Gaming 2009 Revenue in Line with Management Expectations

In a trading update released to the London Stock Exchange on Friday, Party Gaming, the parent company of PartyPoker, announced that its revenue was in line with Board expectations, while Clean EBITDA would likely surpass estimates.

Party Gaming is now anxiously awaiting legislative developments in three key markets: France, Italy, and the United States. On the latter country, which has been effectively shut off for the publicly traded company since 2006, the statement released by Party Gaming concludes, “Combining the strength of the PartyPoker brand with the trade and assets of the World Poker Tour that we acquired in November 2009, we believe we are well-positioned should the U.S. government elect to regulate online poker.”

As it stands now in the United States, the primary hope for legalization and regulation of the game is Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, HR 2267. The measure outlines a framework whereby licensed online gaming companies can solicit real money action from U.S. customers. A companion bill introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), HR 2268, taxes companies 2% of deposits and could raise as much as $40 billion in revenue over a ten-year period. HR 2267 boasts 63 co-sponsors, while HR 2268 has four.

Party Gaming’s attention seems to be focused squarely on poker given its recent acquisition of the World Poker Tour (WPT), a longtime industry staple. Party Gaming CEO Jim Ryan commented, "Returning poker to growth has been a key focus for us. We are pleased to see that the initiatives introduced throughout the year are now feeding through into both operational and financial performance with increased player numbers and average net daily revenues versus the previous quarter, despite continued competition from illegal U.S.-facing sites and the difficult macroeconomic climate.”

PartyPoker introduced its Monthly Million poker tournament earlier this year, a $640 buy-in event held on the first Sunday of every month. In December, PartyPoker member “ireadursoul” took down the Monthly Million to the tune of $200,000.

Also announced in Friday’s trading update was that Party Gaming had taken out a £35 million three-year loan to be applied towards mergers and acquisitions. Discussion of a possible merger between Party Gaming and bwin has dominated poker news headlines this week, although the company has not confirmed that any deal is imminent. bwin is also a publicly traded company and can be found on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Shares of Party Gaming closed the week trading at 254 pence in London, down 4.6 pence on the day, or 1.8%. In the beginning of November, shares of Party Gaming’s stock (PRTY) had sunk as low as 214 pence before rebounding. In January, amid the worldwide economic doom and gloom, Party Gaming was fetching a lowly 157 pence a share.

Also helping to keep revenues afloat in recent months has been Party Gaming’s Bingo and Casino arms. PartyBingo’s business was boosted by the acquisition of Cashcade back in July, while a $5 million jackpot payout in the casino earlier this month drew a considerable amount of attention.

Ryan remained optimistic that a strong 2010 would be in store for the company’s investors: "Despite the challenges presented by the prevailing macroeconomic environment, we have not been distracted from the execution of our strategic plan. With the prospect of a number of new and large regulated markets in front of us, an expanding portfolio of B2B customers, and a return to growth in our core business, we remain confident about the Group's prospects."

Read the entire Party Gaming Trading Statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Poker Leads Way to PartyGaming Profits

“Returning poker to growth has been a key focus for us,” PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan said in a statement released Friday.

“We are pleased to see that initiatives released throughout the year are now feeding through into both operation and financial performance with increased player numbers and average net daily revenues versus the previous quarter, despite continued competition from illegal US-facing sites and the difficult macroeconomic climate.”

PartyPoker made headlines earlier this year when it acquired the World Poker Tour. The site also released a major software revamp to its poker client that added a variety of new features.

Ryan went on to say changes in licensing and regulation in both Italy and France could potentially lead to a new source of long-term revenue.

Poker wasn’t the only positive development for PartyGaming, which also saw its casino, bingo and sports book put up strong numbers in the last quarter of the year.

PartyGaming, a publicly traded company, was hit hard when the U.S. passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The site pulled out completely from the country and its player base subsequently dropped dramatically.

The Nightly Turbo: World Series of Poker 2010 Schedule, Brad Booth Talks Full Tilt Poker, and More

CNBC Investigates Illegal Gambling, Online Poker

A one-hour CNBC program entitled “The Big Business of Illegal Gambling” aired on Wednesday night, featuring discussion of “illegal” land- and internet-based operations. “The Call” anchor Melissa Francis hosted.

The show began with Francis telling viewers, “The same computer used to connect with work or friends can be used to wager outside the law.” In 2005, when the Chicago White Sox won baseball’s World Series, a man simply named “Vegas Runner” bet $4,000 on 50:1 odds that the team would take down the sport’s most coveted title. He told CNBC cameras, “It’s a gray line. Sports betting is the one topic no one wants to talk about, but everybody does it.”

R.J. Bell, founder of PreGame.com, told CNBC that just 1% of wagering on sports comes from Las Vegas, meaning that the other 99% is purportedly illegal. Meanwhile, a man known solely as “Paul,” whose face was not shown on camera, runs his own online sports betting website in Nevada as part of a conglomerate based in Costa Rica. He revealed that he makes between $80,000 and $100,000 per year and that collecting on bets is the most difficult part of the job.

CNBC’s attention then turned to the Chicago Mob, including Nick Sarillo, whose van was blown up because of illegal gambling, but he survived. Francis narrated, “Illegal gambling is the Mob’s number one moneymaker, the grease that keeps the wheels turning.” Meanwhile, Scott Damiani, the Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation, relayed his tale of excessive gambling, eventually losing his house and business. Upon owing members of a football league $50,000 at the end of 1994, Damiani attempted to drive his car off of a bridge, but hit a guardrail and was unsuccessful.

Attention then turned to Jay Cohen, the first American prosecuted for running an online bookmaking operation under the Wire Act of 1961. From his home in Antigua, Cohen told CNBC cameras, “We didn’t feel we were doing anything illegal. We were not hiding from anyone. We were using our real names and operating in plain daylight.” The site in question, World Sports Exchange, booked more than $200 million in wagers at its peak and received favorable press in publications like the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

In 1998, the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted Cohen, who faced up to five years in prison. Cohen voluntarily traveled to the United States to fight his case, claiming that the Wire Act did not apply to the internet. However, a jury disagreed and he found himself behind bars for 21 months.

Upon passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, Antigua lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) alleging unfair gaming practices by the United States. The tiny island nation was successful, but the U.S. ignored the decision. Cohen remarked, “The last administration was so intellectually dishonest about all of this that even when Antigua won, they put out press releases claiming victory.”

Attention then turned to the cheating scandals at the online poker sites Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles, who appeared on the CBS news program “60 Minutes” in November of 2008, discussed his encounter with “Graycat” on Absolute Poker: “This was someone who seemed that he had no clue what he was doing. He was playing all the wrong strategy to be able to win.” Then, David Paredes battled “NioNio” on the virtual felts of Ultimate Bet, telling CNBC, “This player was playing a wide variety of hands. It’s so hard to play profitably playing so many hands.”

CNBC claimed that UB.com was “operating in violation of U.S. law” and then the COO of the site’s parent company, Paul Leggett, explained who Russ Hamilton was. Hamilton declined to talk to CNBC despite being fingered as the main person responsible for the multi-million dollar cheating scandal on Ultimate Bet. The now-infamous RawVegas.tv footage of Hamilton leaving a Las Vegas golf course also aired. To date, no one has been prosecuted in either cheating incident.

Finally, two Congressmen took to the airwaves, Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). McDermott candidly explained, “Usually, when we talk about putting a tax on people, we get all kinds of [pushback]. They’re saying, ‘Legalize it, please, and tax it.’” Goodlatte, one of the brains behind the UIGEA, evaluated the law: “It certainly hasn’t eliminated all internet gambling by any means, but surveys that I’ve seen indicate that fewer than half as many online gambling operators are offering their services in the U.S. than before this law was passed.”

Recognized in the credits were a variety of industry veterans, including World Series of Poker Media Director Nolan Dalla, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas, Sue Schneider, and iGamingNews.com.

Kentucky Attorneys File Motion to Amend Internet Gambling Complaint

In a rather bizarre twist in the Kentucky internet gambling case, Commonwealth attorneys filed a motion on Wednesday to add parties to its case and amend its original complaint. In late October, the Kentucky Supreme Court heard the case.

Now, a hearing is scheduled for January 20th in Frankfort, Kentucky in front of Judge Thomas Wingate, the Circuit Court magistrate who heard the matter originally in late 2008. The case was brought last year against the owners of 141 internet gambling domain names on the grounds that the URLs constituted “gambling devices,” a term typically reserved for tangible items like slot machines, roulette wheels, and dice that you’d find in an underground casino. The Kentucky Supreme Court has not yet issued a ruling in the case.

After reiterating its complaint against the domain name owners, Kentucky’s attorneys explained, “In the course of the litigation and the Commonwealth’s continuing investigation, the Commonwealth has learned the identity of certain entities and individuals involved in internet gambling operations, some of whom are U.S. citizens.” Who this refers to is not yet known, as the Commonwealth has not yet released the names of companies or people to the general public or to counsel for the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA). Also unknown is whether the new targets are Kentucky residents.

The motion also hinted that further litigation could develop down the road: “The Commonwealth contemplates that further amendments will be sought as its investigation and discovery in this litigation continue.” Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown heads the case against the domain names in question, which were seized in September of 2008 allegedly without due process. Wingate ruled in favor of the Commonwealth’s actions, prompting iMEGA and several other parties to seek the intervention of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

In January, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled by a two to one margin that the domain names did not constitute gambling devices and, therefore, the Commonwealth did not have jurisdiction to act. The lone dissenting judge noted that domain names were part of a larger gambling device. It remains to be seen what will occur during the January 20th hearing, which is slated for 9:00am ET. Eric Lycan of Hurt, Crosbie, and May in Lexington, Kentucky sign Wednesday’s letter.

Others involved with the fight for internet gambling in Kentucky besides iMEGA include the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), Poker Players Alliance (PPA), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Commerce Association, eBay, and Network Solutions. Original estimates pinned a Kentucky Supreme Court decision within three to six months of the October hearing, although the latest motion filed by Commonwealth attorneys may affect that timeline.

In November, Churchill Downs Incorporated, the parent company of the racetrack of the same name in Louisville, Kentucky, purchased the online horse racing wagering site YouBet.com. A market analyst told Reuters at the time, "Given the combination of Youbet's ADW platform with Churchill Downs-owned TwinSpires, which has been the fastest growing ADW this year, they will have 50 percent of the U.S. market and the best brand in horse racing.” Churchill Downs Incorporated owns TwinSpires.com; the site was not among the 141 internet gambling domain names targeted by Commonwealth attorneys.

YouBet.com is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol “UBET,” while Churchill Downs Incorporated can be found on the same exchange under the symbol “CHDN.”

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest developments in the Kentucky internet gambling case.

CNBC Illegal Gambling Feature to Air on Wednesday

On Wednesday night at 9:00pm ET, CNBC will air a one-hour exposé entitled, “The Big Business of Illegal Gambling.” The report from CNBC’s Melissa Francis will put the multi-billion dollar industry into focus and include a segment on internet gambling.

Wednesday’s show marks one of the most high-profile television programs about internet gambling since “60 Minutes” aired a feature on the cheating scandals at the online poker rooms Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker one year ago. According to a preview found on CNBC’s website, the show will “take viewers inside this high-stakes business that brings some people immense wealth, while others pay the ultimate price.” Francis is co-anchor of the CNBC show “The Call,” which airs for one hour beginning at 11:00am ET during the week.

The CNBC description begins, “The one-hour program delivers an in-depth look at just how mainstream illegal gambling has become.” Francis will speak with a bevy of industry representatives, including a bookmaker simply named “Paul” and a professional gambler named "Vegas Runner." Among those CNBC will speak to with a first and last name is Nick Sarillo, whom the show describes as “a restaurant owner who freelances as a bookie [and] crosses the Mob and pays a heavy price.” These three will likely be offline gamblers.

Then, Francis and company will explore the world of internet gambling. The preview of the CNBC special explains, “Technology has made illegal gambling much more accessible and the same computer used for work or to connect with family and friends can also be used to wager outside the law.” Among those to be interviewed is Jay Cohen, the co-founder of the World Sports Exchange who was found guilty of violating the Wire Act of 1961. He was sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined $5,000; World Sports Exchange boasted revenues of $200 million and he was freed in 2004.

Also featured is Scott Damiani, the Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation. The show’s website explains, “Illegal gambling costs Scott Damiani is home, business family... and almost cost him his life. After hitting rock bottom, he picked his life back up and now devotes his time to helping other gambling addicts as the Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation.”

Poker News Daily has also learned that Tokwiro Chief Operating Officer Paul Leggett filmed an interview for the CNBC program. The two Tokwiro-owned online poker rooms, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, were at the heart of a ten-minute feature by the CBS news program “60 Minutes” over Thanksgiving weekend in 2008. The report questioned why no one had been prosecuted in the case and ended with segment reporter Steve Kroft calling Russ Hamilton’s home in Las Vegas. Hamilton, who won the 1994 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, was fingered as the main man responsible in the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal. To date, no one has been convicted.

Finally, Francis will dive into a high-spirited internet gambling debate featuring Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). Online poker players can thank the latter for helping to bring the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) to life back in 2006. McDermott, meanwhile, has authored legislation seeking to extract 2% of deposits from licensed internet gambling companies in the United States under legislation proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). Curiously, Frank’s name does not appear on the preview for the CNBC program despite being legalized internet gambling’s number one proponent on Capitol Hill. Also absent is the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the industry’s main lobbying group.

Poker News Daily will have a recap of the show after it airs on Wednesday night. Video clips, slideshows, and even an illegal gambling quiz can be found on CNBC’s website.

Bwin Downplays Party Gaming Merger Talks

Party Gaming and Austria-based gambling group Bwin are allegedly involved in merger discussions, according to stories published in The Times and Sunday Times over the weekend. The move would potentially create a £2 billion online poker, casino, and sports betting company.

Shares of Party Gaming and Bwin jumped 2.5% and 4.1%, respectively, on Monday morning after the reports broke. Both companies have similar market value; Party Gaming is worth £1.1 billion, while Bwin is valued at about €1.3 billion.

Party Gaming and Bwin have refused to confirm the story, according eGaming Review. Bwin, Europe's biggest sports betting provider, said it wanted to take part in sector consolidation, but added that it is in talks with everyone in the industry on an ongoing basis and was not in advanced talks with Party Gaming. The Austrian group also told Reuters that it is not in advanced merger talks with anyone.

Party Gaming, meanwhile, has been looking for a major sports betting platform for years despite acquiring Gamebookers in 2006 for £102 million. The company has openly stated its determination to hunt for a bigger target in order to become a leading sports book operator and complement its online poker, casino and bingo platforms.

James Hollins at brokerage Daniel Stewart said a Bwin-Party Gaming merger would be “exceptionally strategically compelling," adding, "the combined groups' poker operations would drive clear scale economies and liquidity to compete squarely against the U.S.-facing giants of PokerStars and Full Tilt.”

Analyst Nick Batram at KBC Hunt is confident that a large deal is in the near future: "There was lots of press comment over the weekend suggesting that Bwin and Party Gaming have held informal merger talks. This doesn't come as a surprise, as online groups frequently talk informally. However, we believe that the recent sector consolidation will gain momentum through 2010 and it is only a matter of time before we see further sizable deals."

Party Gaming has been busy in deal making talks as several countries are in the process of regulating online gambling, most importantly the United States. In November, Party Gaming purchased the World Poker Tour (WPT), with many believing the company was attempting to set itself up for a return to the U.S market. Party Gaming’s Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Welch, later verified that idea: “This is the first step toward us returning to the United States."

WPT announcer and PartyPoker spokesperson Mike Sexton agreed, saying, “We all think [the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is going to be reversed] at some point. It’s just a matter of when. I’m convinced we’re going to see another poker explosion like we saw six years ago. It’ll be second to none.”

Party Gaming was reportedly involved in buyout talks with GigaMedia Limited earlier this year, but nothing developed. GigaMedia is the company behind the online poker site Everest Poker. Party Gaming purchased Cashcade, owner of the Foxy Bingo website, in July to enhance its own online bingo site, PartyBingo.