Poker News

Joe Sebok Discusses UB.com Leap of Faith Freeroll

On Wednesday, February 17th at 9:00pm ET, the USA-friendly online poker room UB.com is hosting an extra special freeroll in which the winner gets a once-in-a-lifetime skydiving experience with Joe Sebok. In total, $2,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs, with the winner plummeting to the ground with the PokerRoad personality.

The jump occurs over the Nevada desert and the top prize also includes quality time with one of the newest members of Team UB. The tournament’s password will be released through UB.com’s Twitter feed just before it begins. Poker News Daily sat down with Sebok to get the inside scoop on this buzz-worthy promotion.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Where did the idea for the skydiving freeroll come from?

Joe Sebok: I had always wanted to do something like that. This was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved with UB.com in the first place, so I could do cool things. If you aren’t having fun, then what’s the point? Each UB.com pro will have a unique experience. I had about 50 things that I thought would be cool.

PND: What were some of the other ideas you had?

Joe Sebok: Jumping out of a plane is my style or maybe going down to San Felipe and racing dune buggies. It really comes down to how much stuff UB wants to do. Hopefully, this will be the first of many unique experiences. We got to do the Twitter tournament and now this. I want to get through the negative stuff with UB so we can get to the fun stuff.

PND: What’s your skydiving background?

Joe Sebok: I love it. I have been about four times now. Thomas Wahlroos is an incredible skydiver and I wanted to go with him. I’ve always gone tandem, but for this one, I’d like it to be a solo jump. It’s terrifying to think of. There’s a class and you have to sit down and go through the techniques. You can imagine how scary it is. When you’re on someone’s back, there’s nothing for you to do other than fall. Everything’s different when you’re responsible for pulling the chute.

PND: Tell us about how the process of distributing hand histories relating to the Russ Hamilton-led cheating scandal is going.

Joe Sebok: It’s going well. In my recent blog, I asked people to get in touch with me with any issues. I probably had around 15 to 20 people do so. The bigger hand history orders, which mainly belong pros, are still being compiled. The main thing for people to understand is that UB had to pick a formula. It was all of the money you won versus cheating accounts minus money lost versus cheating accounts and if it was negative, we gave it back. Some people are angry with that formula and some are grateful. You have to pick a way to go and be consistent. Some will be stoked to get a refund and some won’t be.

The main thing I try to get people to understand is that everyone thinks I’m lying to them or won’t help. It’s just not true. Ever since I signed, I’ve spent a ton of time on this. People need to understand that I’m on their side. I’m trying to make things better and make sure we get this information out.

PND: Give us a quick recap of the first season of the UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Fox Sports Net on Wednesdays at 11:00pm ET.

Joe Sebok: The transformation since the first show has been great. In a short amount of time, we’ve improved a lot. We like to think we do that with all of our projects. We just want to continue to improve it heading into Season 2.

Pam Brunson to Oversee DoylesRoom Brunson 10

Like father, like daughter. Doyle Brunson’s daughter, Pam Brunson, will manage the Brunson 10, according to officials from DoylesRoom. The stable of up-and-coming poker pros numbers four, with six men and two women yet to be named.

A press release distributed by DoylesRoom in recent days notes, “As Manager of the Brunson 10, Pam Brunson will be responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling and managing the Brunson 10 internally. As the world's biggest poker legend continues to fill spots on his team of poker professionals, Pam Brunson will be tasked with managing their relationship with one of the fastest growing online poker sites and its players.” The younger Brunson is a regular in the online poker site’s weekly Bounty tournament, which offers a refund of the $27.50 buy-in for first-time players.

Amit “amak316” Makhija, Dani “ansky451” Stern, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and top online poker pro Chris “moorman1” Moorman currently comprise the Brunson 10. Stern is the group’s newest addition, having joined the clan during final table play in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas. A press conference was held at the Wynn for Stern’s introduction, with “2 Months, $2 Million” housemate Jay Rosenkrantz on-hand to witness the festivities.

Meanwhile, former Brunson 10 member Alec “traheho” Torelli departed the online poker site to join Victory Poker, whose roster of pro players includes Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, and Full Tilt Poker defects Paul Wasicka and Lee Markholt. The site is set to debut on February 1st on the merged Everleaf/UPN network, with a launch party to occur after the Trash Talk Championship of the World Straddle Tournament at the Hard Rock on February 6th.

On replacing Torelli, DoylesRoom officials told Poker News Daily that a fifth member of the Brunson 10 will be named no later than mid-March. In addition, the forthcoming announcement may include the introduction of two new faces to the Cake Poker Network site that welcomes action from the United States. The newest additions will fall under Pam Brunson’s wings.

According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide, offering a seven-day running average of 2,100 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening across North America, nearly 3,000 cash game players call the network home. Besides DoylesRoom and Cake Poker, other sites on the network include City Poker, Lock Poker, PlayersOnly, Poker Host, Red Star Poker, Stryyke, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker, which was added to the family this week.

The 2010 calendar year also saw DoylesRoom unveil its very own online store, which offers unique items like a limited edition Doyle Resitol Cowboy Hat. Other goods available in the DoylesRoom Store include DoylesRoom apparel, laptop bags, Brunson autographed merchandise, GPS systems, iPod accessories, digital cameras, Nintendo Wiis, and “the hottest lifestyle enhancing accessories.” Gold Chips are the currency of the DoylesRoom Store, which can be accessed from the online poker room’s website.

The recent World Poker Tour (WPT) Southern Poker Championship featured DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins coming out on top to claim his second WPT title. Corkins earned $739,000 for his efforts and defeated a final table that also included Jonathan Kantor (second place for $366,00), Jerry Vanstrydonck (third place for $197,000), Jared Jaffee (fourth place for $135,000), James Reed (fifth place for $106,000), and Tyler “Tydean” Smith (sixth place for $87,000). The Southern Poker Championship marked Corkins’ sixth WPT final table appearance. The tournament will air as part of Season 8 on Fox Sports Net.

Pam Brunson finished 364th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $34,000. That year, she won a ladies’ event held during the Legends of Poker for the same amount.

Victory Poker Launches February 1st

One day prior to Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, officials from Victory Poker will celebrate the site’s launch at a party at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. The online poker room will open for business on February 1st.

Victory Poker will make its home on the merged Everleaf/UPN network, which has yet to take on an official name. According to PokerScout.com, the newly created network will boast traffic similar to that of Betfair, which has a seven-day running average of 610 real money ring game players. A press release announcing the Trash Talk Championship of the World Straddle Tournament at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas on February 6th revealed that the Victory Poker launch party would occur at 10:00pm following the festivities.

UFC’s Randy Couture will be sporting a Victory Poker logo when he takes to the ring in UFC 109 against Mark Coleman. The bout emanates from the Mandalay Bay Events Center near the Hard Rock and will also feature Nate Marquardt facing off against Chael Sonnen and Matt Serra fighting Frank Trigg. The first brawl takes place at 4:45pm, while televised matches start at 7:00pm. Couture will don a dot-net logo for the new online poker room.

Antonio Esfandiari headlines the Victory Poker stable of pros. A World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Esfandiari has become widely known for his insatiable appetite for prop bets. He even co-starred with his close friend Phil Laak on the MOJO show “I Bet You,” which ran for two seasons on the cable station. Esfandiari has three WPT final tables to his credit and one title, which came in the Season 2 L.A. Poker Classic. At the tender age of 31, Esfandiari is one of the veterans of the game.

Jumping over from DoylesRoom to be a part of Victory Poker is Alec “traheho” Torelli. The Cake Poker Network site and Torelli severed ties two weeks ago. Torelli has made two WPT final tables, finishing fourth in both the Bellagio Cup V and Solvakia events. The former will air its finale at 11:00pm ET on Fox Sports Net this Sunday in a one-hour episode. Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton and actor Vince Van Patten will once again provide commentary for Season 8 of the WPT.

Coming over from Full Tilt Poker are Paul Wasicka and Lee Markholt. The latter was removed in recent days as a Full Tilt Red Pro and finished fourth in the WSOP Circuit Championship in Tunica four years ago for $183,000. In addition, Markholt won the WPT Season 6 World Poker Challenge in Reno for $493,000 and owns $1.3 million in career earnings from the roving tournament series. Wasicka was the runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, earning a colossal $6.1 million.

Also appearing in the Victory Poker pro lineup is Chinese Poker sensation Danny Wong. Owning the moniker “Chinese Poker Wizard,” Wong learned to play the game’s variation at age five. Despite his success in Chinese Poker, he’s also excelled in No Limit Texas Hold’em, making three WPT final tables. Joining Wong will be online poker pro Brian “tsarrast” Rast.

Those who watched the 2009 WSOP Main Event on ESPN will recall the deep run of the “Flying” Bilzerian brothers. Dan Bilzerian, who finished 180th, will become part of the Victory Poker cast. In his final hand of the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament, Bilzerian committed his stack with A-6, but could not best Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo’s pocket tens. His brother, Adam Bilzerian, renounced his U.S. citizenship and is now a passport holder of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Other Victory Poker pros include Andrew "good2cu" Robl, Keith Gipson, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Sander Lylloff., and 2007 Playboy Playmate of the Year Sara Underwood. The site is scheduled to launch on February 1st and will accept players from the United States.

The Trash Talk Championship is a $1,000 buy-in charity poker tournament benefiting the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program and Cedars-Sinai.

Poker Site Haiti Donations Top $2m

Currently PokerStars players have donated $670,000 with five days left to participate while Full Tilt is up to $307,721 and still taking donations.

Both rooms will match the amount their players donate meaning more than $1.9 million from just those two rooms alone will be going toward relief efforts in Haiti.

The smaller rooms are getting in on the cause as well with Absolute Poker and UB Poker hosting a $5 rebuy event that drew 717 players last week.

Cake Poker and RedKings Poker will also be taking donations in their lobbies all this week. Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has committed to matching up to $1 million of the donations made to the cause.

The Poker Players Alliance publicly commended the online rooms' efforts.

“Like the rest of the world, the poker community is eager to do anything it can to aid Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake,” said PPA chairman Alfonse D’Amato.

“I applaud PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution.”

The PPA estimated that over 50,000 players had donated with proceeds going to organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or UNICEF.

Haitians are still dealing with the catastrophic effects of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Jan. 12. More than 150,000 people have been reported dead and millions are homeless.

Players can still make donations with most of the major online poker rooms until Jan. 31.

 

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Poker Fantasy to be Acquired by Merge

Online poker news sources have received word that Poker Fantasy, an online poker room, will be joining the Merge Gaming Network on January 31st. It will take approximately two weeks for the updates to be done and Poker Fantasy will not be open during that time.

Holdem Manager Now Supports Full Tilt Rush Poker

It took the poker software industry all of one week to support Full Tilt Poker’s latest update that featured the introduction of Rush Poker. Now, the popular tracking program Holdem Manager has created a workaround for the new addition.

A video that appears within the Holdem Manager following the program’s latest update explains its developers’ method of supporting Rush Poker: “Because of the nature of the new Full Tilt Rush Poker tables, we couldn’t use the traditional HUD (Heads-Up Display) approach. Instead, what we've done is designed a tool where you can inject your database stats on players directly into the Full Tilt notes feature.” The stats that would normally appear in a player’s HUD can be found by hovering the mouse near an opponent’s name to bring up their notes.

In order to get started, players should head to the “Options” menu and click on “Rush FTP Notes Export.” Then, select the notes file for the player that they want to export them for. Clicking “Go” starts the process and Holdem Manager officials note that this step could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. After each session, players are advised to update their notes.

When you’re seated at a table, just hover your mouse over where the notes normally appear and, instantaneously, any stats logged on a player will be shown. The stats update automatically whenever you change Rush Poker tables, so players don’t have to worry about their HUDs not being able to keep up as they frantically log 300-plus hands per hour on Full Tilt’s Rush Poker tables. Some players had reported that their HUDs could not handle the pace of Rush Poker, while others commented that the stats feature worked flawlessly.

The notes method only applies to Rush Poker tables. If you’re seated at a traditional, snail-paced table on Full Tilt, your HUD will work normally. When you finally decide that you’ve had enough excitement of Rush Poker, hit “Start Auto Import” within Holdem Manager to make sure your stats are up to date. The same Holdem Manager video revealed that integrating auto-rake functionality into the notes was forthcoming, as was the ability to view notes and HUD stats at the same time.

Holdem Manager is one of the leading poker tracking programs in the industry and weighs in at $55 for a Small-Stakes Edition and $80 for a Professional Edition. Software review site PokerSoftware.com called Holdem Manager “one of the best pieces of poker software available.” The website explained, “It's well put together, stable, fully featured, and is constantly being updated with more features. The program imports hand history text files from all of the major online poker rooms and compiles them into a PostgreSQL database. From there, it can provide multi-layered reports based on any situation or scenario thanks to the innumerable number of features packed in.”

Besides Full Tilt Poker, Holdem Manager is compatible with numerous other online poker sites, including Betfair, the CEREUS Network, Everest Poker, PartyPoker. PokerStars, RedKings, and Titan Poker. Its HUD allows players to see vital stats on their opponents like the percent of the time they voluntarily put money into the pot (VPIP), 3bet, continuation bet, raise pre-flop (PFR), and their Aggression Factor (AF). Knowing these statistics makes multi-tabling simple and, therefore, more profitable.

Rush Poker debuted last Tuesday on Full Tilt Poker. The cash game concept has caught on like wildfire, with thousands of players heading to the USA-friendly site, the second largest in the world, to try their hand. Players are instantaneously shuttled to another table as soon as their action in a hand ends and the use of a “Quick Fold” option speeds up the process even more. Consequently, players seeing 300 or more hands per hour has become commonplace.

Holdem Manager Now Supports Full Tilt Rush Poker

It took the poker software industry all of one week to support Full Tilt Poker’s latest update that featured the introduction of Rush Poker. Now, the popular tracking program Holdem Manager has created a workaround for the new addition.

A video that appears within the Holdem Manager following the program’s latest update explains its developers’ method of supporting Rush Poker: “Because of the nature of the new Full Tilt Rush Poker tables, we couldn’t use the traditional HUD (Heads-Up Display) approach. Instead, what we've done is designed a tool where you can inject your database stats on players directly into the Full Tilt notes feature.” The stats that would normally appear in a player’s HUD can be found by hovering the mouse near an opponent’s name to bring up their notes.

In order to get started, players should head to the “Options” menu and click on “Rush FTP Notes Export.” Then, select the notes file for the player they want to export them for. Clicking “Go” starts the process and Holdem Manager officials note that this step could take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. After each session, players are advised to update their notes.

When you’re seated at a table, just hover your mouse over where the notes normally appear and, instantaneously, any stats logged on a player will be shown. The stats update automatically whenever you change Rush Poker tables, so players don’t have to worry about their HUDs not being able to keep up as they frantically log 300-plus hands per hour on Full Tilt’s Rush Poker tables. Some players had reported that their HUDs could not handle the pace of Rush Poker, while others commented that the stats feature worked flawlessly.

The notes method only applies to Rush Poker tables. If you’re seated at a traditional, snail-paced table on Full Tilt, your HUD will work normally. When you finally decide that you’ve had enough excitement of Rush Poker, hit “Start Auto Import” within Holdem Manager to make sure your stats are up to date. The same Holdem Manager video revealed that integrating auto-rake functionality into the notes was forthcoming, as was the ability to view notes and HUD stats at the same time.

Holdem Manager is one of the leading poker tracking programs in the industry and weighs in at $55 for a Small-Stakes Edition and $80 for a Professional Edition. Software review site PokerSoftware.com called Holdem Manager “one of the best pieces of poker software available.” The website explained, “It's well put together, stable, fully featured, and is constantly being updated with more features. The program imports hand history text files from all of the major online poker rooms and compiles them into a PostgreSQL database. From there, it can provide multi-layered reports based on any situation or scenario thanks to the innumerable number of features packed in.”

Besides Full Tilt Poker, Holdem Manager is compatible with numerous other online poker sites, including Betfair, the CEREUS Network, Everest Poker, PartyPoker, PokerStars, RedKings, and Titan Poker. Its HUD allows players to see vital stats on their opponents like the percent of the time they voluntarily put money into the pot (VPIP), 3bet, continuation bet, raise pre-flop (PFR), and their Aggression Factor (AF). Knowing these statistics makes multi-tabling simple and, therefore, more profitable.

Rush Poker debuted last Tuesday on Full Tilt Poker. The cash game concept has caught on like wildfire, with thousands of players heading to the USA-friendly site, the second largest in the world, to try their hand. Players are instantaneously shuttled to another table as soon as their action in a hand ends and the use of a “Quick Fold” option speeds up the process even more. Consequently, players seeing 300 or more hands per hour has become commonplace.

Poker Fantasy Moves to Merge Gaming Network

The online poker room Poker Fantasy will be moving to the Merge Gaming Network on January 31st, according to an e-mail received by Poker News Daily last week. As a result, the site will likely be unavailable for two weeks while it updates its software.

An e-mail sent by Poker Fantasy read in part, “As of January 31, 2010, Poker Fantasy will be moving to a new network, the Merge Gaming LTD, officially licensed and regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. There will be an expected downtime of approximately two weeks. During the downtime customer service support will be available to assist you at 24/7. You may direct all inquiries to custserv@pokerfantasy.com.” A downtime of two weeks would put Poker Fantasy’s estimated re-launch around the 15th of February.

Players who opt to withdraw funds from Poker Fantasy prior to the move to the Merge Gaming Network can do so any time prior to January 31st. After that date, customer funds will automatically migrate to Poker Fantasy’s new home on the USA-friendly family of online poker sites. According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, the Merge Gaming Network is the 19th largest worldwide, sporting a seven-day running average of 255 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, around 400 cash game players can be found battling it out on the Merge Gaming Network’s virtual tables.

The new network’s flagship site is Carbon Poker. Other sites on the Merge Gaming Network include Aced, which briefly employed 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner Jamie Gold as a sponsored pro, and Iron Duke, which attracted online poker sensation Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh to its ranks. Other well-known sites on the Merge Gaming Network include Poker MVP, Poker Nordica, Reefer Poker, and Spin32 Poker. According to PokerScout.com, the Merge Gaming Network is headquartered down under in Australia and has game servers located on the Kahnawake Indian reservation in Canada.

Poker Fantasy’s move marks one of the first site migrations of 2010. In November, the iPoker Network site Noble Poker absorbed Fair Poker. The former site is based in Gibraltar and has been in existence since 2004. Shortly thereafter, Third Bullet Poker merged its player base with that of Cake Poker. Third Bullet representatives commented in an e-mail sent to players, “What will change is that you will have access to an increased technical and marketing support team that will make your play experience even better. We have full confidence that you will find continued play on Cake Poker to meet or exceed the level of professionalism and customer service you have come to know at Third Bullet.”

Last week, the USA-friendly Everleaf Network merged with the Universal Poker Network (UPN), whose pre-merger fleet of online poker sites included Poker Druum, 5Poker5, My Name Poker, AB Digital Poker, Poker King Bet, Brasilian Poker, Full Kings Poker, Warriors Poker, Win PKR, and Poker Panther. Major rooms on the Everleaf Network included Minted Poker and Poker4Ever. In February, a rumored online poker site faced by Antonio Esfandiari, Alec “traheho” Torelli, and Andrew “good2cu” Robl, among others, may join the merged Everleaf/UPN network.

The Merge Gaming Network is one of only several sites that accept customers from the United States and is the 19th largest worldwide in terms of cash game traffic. Others include PokerStars (#1 worldwide), Full Tilt Poker (#2), the CEREUS Network (#6), the Cake Poker Network (#10), and Bodog (#15). The Merge Gaming Network recently saw its ties with PIC Club severed after alleged non-payment issues, although both sides claimed to have broken ties with the other.

Everleaf Online Poker Network Merges with UPN

The Everleaf Gaming Network and Universal Poker Network (UPN) have combined forces to form a larger network that will attempt to attract more players. The new network, yet to be named, was officially formed on January 19th and will also be adding Victory Poker to the system on February 1st, according to Victory Poker officials.

The new network is expected to attract cash game traffic similar to Betfair, which averages around 600 real money ring game players at any given time. PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, started tracking UPN in October. It began with 60 to 70 cash game players and, just before the merger with Everleaf, the number grew to around 300. PokerScout reported that Everleaf had around 100 cash game players in October, but that number dipped to 70 to 80 before the networks combined.

Prior to the merger, UPN was a Europe-only network with the Euro as its currency. Everleaf Gaming allowed U.S. players and had the U.S. dollar as its currency. The new combined network will accept players from the U.S. and promises a multi-currency system as well as a new cashier with more deposit methods. Players can have their bankroll in Euros or U.S. Dollars and they can request a one-time change in base currency by e-mailing support with their user name.

The networks did not provide players with an e-mail about the merger, which created some confusion among customers who were unaware. "No emails were sent out regarding this as the date for the merge could have and was delayed," said a spokesperson for Everleaf. "We did have a pop up notice on our poker room for the last seven days to ensure everyone was made aware of this merger."

The unification will bring together more than two dozen rooms in the new network. UPN had eight rooms going into the merger: PokerDruum.com, 5Poker5.com, MyNamePoker.com, ABDigitalPoker.com, PokerKingBet.com, BrasilianPoker.com, FullKingsPoker.com, WarriorsPoker.com, WinPKR.com, and ThePokerPanther.com.

Everleaf Rooms had 21 rooms, including Poker4Ever, Raider Poker, and Minted Poker. According to a release from Minted Poker on January 21st, the new network has developed improvements to its software to ensure a better playing experience. The enhancements include table filters, an auto re-load option at cash tables, new avatar uploads, and a $1,000 freeroll to celebrate the new merger, which will take place on Saturday, January 23rd. The entry is 50 Player Points.

"We work hard at Mintedpoker to improve your playing experience," read a statement from the online poker site. "With these additional features Mintedpoker really is one of the best sites to play poker on the internet."

The new network is currently working out some minor software kinks, but is online and running games as scheduled.

GUKPT Bolton Main Event starts today

First and foremost is a new sponsor. The Tour will now be run in association with GCasino.com, which will be opening its online poker room next month. Former sponsor BlueSqpoker.com will remain involved though and will continue to offer online satellites.

Baldwin Lights Up University with Donation

Baldwin, who graduated in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, is donating $200,000 to the school to outfit Prucha Field with new lights.

The upgrade will allow UW-Whitewater to host the upcoming 2010 Midwest regional competition of the Division III baseball national championship tournament.

The donation is particularly fitting considering the last time UW-Whitewater hosted the Division III baseball national championship Baldwin was the school’s starting right-fielder and team captain.

“It feels awesome to be in a position to help UW-Whitewater host the regional again,” Baldwin said.

“UW-Whitewater has an amazing baseball program and hopefully the team will be playing in this year’s regional in front of a hometown crowd.”

After graduating from UW-Whitewater, Baldwin relocated to Las Vegas in 2008 and quickly established himself as one of the poker world’s up and coming stars.

In 2009 Baldwin won his first WSOP bracelet in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event for $521,991 and then placed third in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event for $259,534.

In total Baldwin won more than $1.5 million for the year including online events, which was enough to secure him Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year honors.

At the end of the year Baldwin also scored a sponsorship deal with online poker room UB.com.

UW-Whitewater Athletics Director Paul Plinske was proud of Baldwin’s success over the years.

“Eric was instrumental in leading UW-Whitewater to its first national title in baseball,” he said. “His recent gift will ensure more great things on the horizon for the Warhawks. He has definitely left his mark on our campus and we are very grateful to him for leaving us his legacy.”

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Additional Haiti Earthquake Relief Online Poker Tournaments Announced

This week, members of the online poker community wishing to donate to victims of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti last week can take advantage of several tournaments being held across cyberspace.

Today, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Haiti, the strongest aftershock to date according to the Associated Press. Roughly 200,000 people may have died due to the original quake last week and 1.5 million people, or nearly 20% of the country’s population, are now homeless. The Associated Press reported that 40 aftershocks have rumbled through the island nation. On the magnitude 6.1 tremor that hit on Wednesday, a geophysicist told the American news service, "Aftershocks sometimes die out very quickly. In other cases they can go on for weeks, or if we're really unlucky it could go on for months."

On Wednesday, UB.com, which makes its home on the CEREUS Network, will host a $5 rebuy online poker tournament to raise funds for the victims. The event gets underway at 20:30 ET and the field is capped at 750 players. In a generous gesture, UB.com officials will match the entirety of the prize pool and then donate the sum to the Red Cross Haiti Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, $10,000 in prizes will be on the line, consisting of entries to Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) tournaments and satellites. The charity poker tournament is dubbed “Play for Haiti” and can be found in the UB.com lobby. The site happily accepts players from the United States.

Also hosting a charity event on Wednesday night is DoylesRoom, which resides on the USA-facing Cake Poker Network. DoylesRoom is running the “Haiti Relief Celebrity Bounty,” taking the place of its regularly scheduled Bounty tournament. Those in the field will include site namesake Doyle Brunson, “The Wrestler” actor Mickey Rourke, Brunson 10 member Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro. The tournament kicks off at 9:30pm ET and DoylesRoom is matching all bounty money won and donating the total to relief efforts. In addition, DoylesRoom will ship any first-time player’s $27.50 buy-in to charity.

Ongame Network site Betsafe is offering a $5 tournament called “Help Haiti” on Wednesday at 20:45 CET. Unlimited rebuys will be permitted during the first hour and Betsafe will donate the funds to charity. A press release distributed by the site explains, “Betsafe will match the fee generated and we guarantee to give a minimum of $1,000. There is no maximum of the amount that we will match, so make sure to register for the tournament and help the victims of Haiti!” To sweeten the pot, Betsafe officials have added three $200 Grand Series of Poker (GSOP) event tickets to the prize pool, or $600 total. Other online poker rooms on the mammoth Ongame Network include Hollywood Poker, PokerLoco, and RedKings.

Finally, the Microgaming Network, which has recently tried to curb datamining by not allowing observed hand histories to be stored on a player’s computer, is holding a €10 + €10 buy-in tournament on Friday, January 22nd. The €10 juice will be donated to the Haitian Health Foundation and players can sign up for the event by visiting any Microgaming Network site like Betway, GNUF, Ladbrokes, Nordic Bet, PokerTime, and Unibet. The event issues its virtual “Shuffle up and deal” command at 6:30pm GMT. A press release distributed by Microgaming notes, “Over 92 percent of funds collected by Haitian Health Foundation go directly towards services for the poor, so players can be assured that donations generated from the tournament will be used to maximum benefit.” Neither the Microgaming nor Ongame Networks accept players from the United States.

These tournaments have complimented efforts at other major online poker sites like Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Cake Poker, each of which has reached into its database of players to give to the cause. Play in the Haiti relief tournaments taking place this week across some of the world’s largest sites.

PocketFives Members Win for Haiti

Last Thursday, David "Doc Sands" Sands, currently the number one ranked player on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, put a call out to his fellow tournament players on the PocketFives forum to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake.  He encouraged everybody to donate a percentage of their Sunday winnings to relief efforts in the impoverished nation.  Leading the charge, Sands pledged 10% of his profits up to $10,000, with a minimum of $250.

Approximately 80 PocketFivers posted their pledges on the message board, with the total minimum donations adding up to more than $8,000.  Once the results of Sunday’s big tourneys were in, forum members returned to announce their results.

The biggest donator was "JLizard," who placed second in the $1,000 Heartland Poker Tour event at the Red Rock in Las Vegas.  Winning $62,000 and having pledged 10 percent of his profits, he gave $6,100 to the cause, splitting his donations evenly between PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Both sites, in turn, matched JLizard's donation.

Kevin "kice32" Iacofano, promised to give 5% of his profits to Haitian relief efforts. After winning $54,000 in the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed tournament, his donation amounted to $2,650.  Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers pledged 10% of his profits and ended up donating $2,300.  Steve "gboro780" Gross, who is fourth in the PocketFives.com Rankings, profited enough to donate $800.

Ironically, Sands, the organizer of the movement and the top man in the rankings, failed to profit on Sunday.  He did, however, increase his minimum pledge to $500.

All told, only counting the donations made by those who reported back to the message board, members of PocketFives.com donated just over $13,000 of their Sunday profits to Haitian aid charities.  With about another $8,000 pledged from players even if they did not make any money, that brings the total to $21,000.  But it doesn't stop there.  Factoring in that most of the donations were likely made through Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, or Cake Poker, all of which matched all donations, players on PocketFives.com accounted for approximately $40,000 in contributions to Haitian relief, and that's just what players reported publicly.

For those who would still like to help, several online poker rooms are still providing vehicles for donations.  Cake Poker has five "holding tank" tournaments for which players can register.  No tournaments will actually take place, but Cake will match every donation dollar for dollar and will accept funds through the end of the month.  Full Tilt players can still transfer funds to the account "Aid for Haiti," and PokerStars players can transfer to "Haiti Fund."  PokerStars has "holding tank" tournaments set up as well.  UB.com and Absolute Poker, both members of the CEREUS Network, will host a $10 re-buy tournament on January 20th in which the poker rooms will match 100% of the prize pool and donate that matching portion to charity.

Of course, those who wish to donate can also make contributions to charities directly.

Earn a share in Tell Gaming by simply playing on the site

Viktor Kiam famously liked Remington shavers so much that he bought the company. Now an online poker room is offering a similar opportunity to poker players.

Poker News in Brief: Jan. 4-10, 2010

The 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure drew a record 1,529 players to generate a $14.8 million prize pool – the seventh biggest in poker history.

Plus, there was some poker news that happened outside of the Bahamas and we’re breaking it down for you below in our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

This week we’ll look at a new poker film coming to DVD, Pennsylvania legalizing live poker and table games, Belgium moving to nationalize online poker and Bodog making a big brag.

Legal Poker for Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania legalized poker, blackjack and other table games at Casinos this week in an attempt to generate extra revenue for the State.

Previously, casinos in Pennsylvania had been restricted to slot machines only.

It will be six months before games start being dealt in Pennsylvania, but the State stands to make millions in licensing fees.

Several neighboring states are taking notice and Indiana is considering allowing riverboat gambling in Lake Michigan and the Ohio River. Back in November, Ohio voters passed a law that will see four casinos constructed in four cities.

The Pennsylvania law change could have a potentially negative effect on neighboring Atlantic City if Pennsylvania residents opt to gamble closer to home.

Poker Film “Shark City” to See DVD Release

Indie poker flick Shark City is scheduled to be released on DVD on Feb. 16 though Morningstar Entertainment and Stardust Pictures.

The film stars Vivica A. Fox, Carlo Rota, Jefferson Brown and David J. Phillips and it centers around around the story of two friends who get mixed up with the daughter of a gangster. The two attempt to con a group of gangsters through a poker game and the plan goes awry.

High stakes poker, both live and online, is central to the theme of the film.

Shark City won the John Muir award at the Yosemite Film Festival.

To learn more go to the film’s website.

Belgium Attempts to “Nationalize” Online Poker

Belgium appears to be the latest country that is trying to restrict its citizens to only playing on local online poker rooms.

A recent story in Belgian newspaper Da Standaard claims the government has plans to demand Internet Service Providers block any foreign online poker sites.

This could potentially have huge ramifications for sites like PokerStars, Full Tilt or PartyPoker as they would have to set up regional offices in the country to continue operations.

The changes are scheduled to become law before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the European Commission is reportedly not pleased with Belgium’s decision claiming it goes against the free trade agreement made by members of the European Union.

Despite the European Commission’s objections, Italy currently restricts its online poker market to rooms that have a presence in the country.

Study Shows Bodog Best Brand

Bodog may not have the most players, but according to a recent independent study it carries the strongest brand recognition.

The report was conducted by gaming consultant Josh Apiafi using Google to understand the brand strength of the top 10 online poker websites including PokerStars, William Hill, 888.com, Bet365, Betfair, bwin, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, PartyPoker and Bodog.

“We had a hunch since I first rolled out the Bodog brand and business model that we are considered interesting,” said Bodog founder Calvin Ayre. “But that’s only part of the story – we also stand for having fun and that’s what all people want, especially ones that like to gamble."

The survey was conducted by looking at the number of Google alerts generated daily during December. Apiafi recorded every time a document was published that contained a mention of the brands listed above.

In the end, Bodog narrowly edged PokerStars by a score of 510 to 493.

Huge Growth for HeadsUp Entertainment

HeadsUp Entertainment, a poker media company out of Canada, posted its most recent quarterly statement this week and the company showed massive expansion in 2009.

The company sanctioned 362 events under its Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) brand this year, up from the 71 since it acquired the tour in 2008. HeadsUp Entertainment is aiming to host more than 560 events in 2010.

Also in 2009, HeadsUp Entertainment helped produce the CPT Finals in the Dominican Republic and Canadian Open Poker Championships in Calgary for television.  The Canadian Open Poker Championship drew big-name poker players like Gavin Smith, Jennifer Tilly and Huck Seed.

HeadsUp Entertainment also currently runs www.canadianpokertour.tv and Canadian Poker Magazine.

Visit PokerListings.com

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.

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo Responds To Bodog Dismissal

While the news of his dismissal as a sponsored professional continue to make noise around the poker community, poker professional Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo has issued his response to his departure as a sponsored player on the online poker room Bodog.

Back on January 3rd, Poker News Daily reported that Bodog issued a press release which stated that Bonomo was no longer a member of Team Bodog, the group of professionals who represent the online room at live events and at tournaments and cash games on the site. Bonomo’s departure followed on the heels of the November axing of fellow former Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande. No reason for either of the dismissals was given by Bodog, leaving many wondering how if there was any acrimonious feeling between the site and “ZeeJustin.”

In his latest blog posting just prior to playing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) at Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Bonomo put to rest any rumors of problems between himself and Bodog. “First and foremost, I would like to stress the fact that I did not ever at any point quit the Bodog Pro Team. I had imagined myself a member of Team Bodog for the duration of my poker career”, “ZeeJustin” contends in the blog post. “I want to thank Bodog and its staff for giving me an opportunity to play for them. I have greatly enjoyed playing alongside my good friends, Evelyn (Ng) and David (Williams, both of whom still represent the U. S. facing site), and will miss being a part of that team.”

Bonomo continues on to state in his blog that there are already sponsorship opportunities coming his way since severing ties with Bodog. “I have already been involved in conversations regarding new sponsorship opportunities”, Justin writes in his blog. “Moving forward, I will be focusing my attention on aligning with a sponsor who will better utilize my play and media presence. I am looking forward to evaluating a potential new home, although any decision regarding new sponsorship will not be rushed.”

“ZeeJustin” finishes off his blog post by stating he is dedicated to having an excellent 2010, starting with the PCA, and has some off-the-felt activities with “Poker2Nite” and Bluff Magazine coming for fans in the short-term. “Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me in the last week and also those who were interested in my sponsorship situation. I appreciate all of your support.”

One reason that Bodog could have used for Bonomo’s dismissal, performance, is completely discredited by a look at his career since he started playing as a Bodog pro. Since he became a Bodog sponsored pro in 2007, “ZeeJustin” has garnered $1.975 million in tournament earnings. When you compare that to the earnings of his teammates at Bodog during the same span – David Williams has earned $919,000, Jean-Robert Bellande has earned $280,000 and Evelyn Ng has earned $56,000, according to The Hendon Mob database – it is obvious that Bonomo was one of the most visible players on the roster, driving deep in tournaments and earning face time at final tables. Bonomo reached the ESPN televised table in the $40,000 40th Anniversary No Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

North American Poker Tour announced

A new poker tour, sponsored by PokerStars, the online poker room, will be coming to America. The North American Poker Tour, a series of region-specific tours, has been made official.

Bonomo leaving Bodog

After two years with Bodog, Justin Bonomo and the online poker room are parting ways. The 24 year old poker pro joined the Bodog Pro Team in 2007.

Another Poker New Year’s Resolution

For 2010, I order you to honor the following resolution: have fun playing poker. I know, I know, it sounds odd. There is no quantifiable goal here. It’s like saying, “I’m going to lose 20 pounds”, and then rewarding yourself with a fudge brownie when you see the scale’s needle fall to 170 after it was 190 on January 1st. Plus, we all play poker because it is fun, don’t we? It is a game. Games are fun.

But you see, that’s the thing. I have been getting the feeling more and more that we – the poker community as a whole – have not been enjoying the simple pleasure of playing the game of poker enough. To some, it is an endless, day-after-day grind, a way to make a living. To others, it is a game full of stress. Others just find anything and everything to complain about. We need to change in 2010.

How about the people who complained about the changes to the PokerStars VIP system? Over the last few years, online poker rooms have made it harder to earn bonuses and have developed loyalty systems that even a holder of multiple advanced degrees would need to review a few times to figure out. Now, PokerStars has changed its system in order to reward more players more quickly, making it easier to understand, and people are complaining by saying that six-handed grinders need to be rewarded more. Just play poker and have fun.

The people wanting to burn iPoker to the ground are hilarious, too. For those who haven’t heard, VC Poker has informed some winning players that they are no longer welcome at their cash game tables because the network is cracking down on its member rooms that are bringing in too many tight “sharks” who take money off the site and not enough loose “fish” who must frequently re-deposit.

iPoker’s banning and restricting of certain winning cash game players is unfortunate and those who have had nice rakeback deals there and now need to find somewhere else to play do have a legitimate gripe. However, there are those who are talking about suing the poker rooms and hoping they go out of business without even stepping back to think about why this unfortunate situation might be happening. Rather than make empty threats on internet message boards, how about taking a deep breath and moving your bankroll to another poker room?

A year ago, I said that you should all resolve to stop caring so much about your opponents. To quote myself, “Stop acting as if everything that you don’t agree with in a poker game is a personal affront.” Don’t hate life so much that you feel the need to call people “donks” and “idiots” whenever they suck out on you. That person you are berating could be sitting on his couch just goofing around, playing crap cards because he feels like doing something a little silly. He could legitimately be a bad player who likes to play poker and doesn’t know or doesn’t care that he’s bad. When it comes down to it, he’s having fun and you’re not. Remember, you’re supposed to be the good player. Something doesn’t quite jive there. How about this: take a deep breath and realize that that guy’s poor play will eventually allow you to take his money. Let him have fun doing what he’s doing while you have fun doing what you’re doing.

Finally, if poker is becoming less like a game and more like a chore, mix it up! Play a game that you don’t normally play. Are you sick of No-Limit Hold’em? You should try some Fixed Limit Stud High-Low. Are cash games wearing you down? You should play in a tournament. There is even some decent Badugi action going on at PokerStars right now. Play short-handed, heads-up, full ring, or whatever – just do something different. Better yet, take a break from serious poker and get a home game going with your friends. Make it dealer’s choice and be sure you play lots of games with wild cards.

The bottom line is this. It’s time to make poker fun again. Stop worrying about rakeback, VIP points, your HUD, or whether or not someone is busto. Play poker because you love it. It’s a game.

Belgium to Enact Laws Nationalizing Online Poker

Defying an order from the European Union (EU), Belgium has enacted laws that could have it become the next nation to nationalize online poker operations. It follows a similar stance towards online poker in Italy.

A recent article in De Standaard, one of Belgium’s newspapers, stated that the coming year would bring laws regarding the country’s stance towards online poker. The new regulations would purportedly nationalize the operations of online poker rooms by preventing outside companies, such as PartyPoker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, from being able to court Belgians. Online poker rooms would have to set up a separate operation that would be licensed by the Belgian government and located inside of the country, much like what Italy has done with its online poker operations.

This defies an order from the EU that was issued in June 2009. After receiving details on Belgium’s plans for online poker regulation from its government in March of last year, the EU decided that the plan violated several areas of the free trade treaty that all 27 member nations had signed. Some of the violations included requiring the operators of online gaming and poker sites to be based in Belgium, limitation of available licenses, criminal prosecution of customers who play on non-sanctioned sites, and restriction of services from outside nations. At the time, Belgium was also looking to use ISP blocking software to prohibit its citizens from playing on other licensed EU sites.

The EU has shown an inconsistency when it comes to nationalization plans. It allowed Italy to nationalize its online gaming operations, presumably for taxation and gaming regulatory purposes, but has disallowed other countries like Belgium and France. It also has been unable to come to an accord on the online gaming question among its own Member Nations, leading many countries to attempt to nationalize online poker for tax revenues in lean fiscal times. The government of Belgium also states that many of the online poker sites in existence have “ties to organized crime” and, as such, the need for the nationalization is necessary.

The online community is responding to this issue in many of the popular online forums. On TwoPlusTwo, a ten-page thread has developed with players are debating the issue. Part of the reason for its popularity is that one of the top online players in the game today, “Chiren80,” hails from Belgium and the proposed legislation would, in effect, remove him from international action with the threat of possible arrest.

Some of the discussion on TwoPlusTwo inaccurately says that the nationalized sites would still be part of the global network, much like different skins of poker rooms operate. This is not true; the nationalization of sites requires the online poker room to dedicate servers and operations to that nation alone, as PokerStars has done with its PokerStars.it site. With that operation, only Italians can play on the site and there are stringent rules that govern play.

The nationalization trend is, in some players’ minds, becoming a worrisome trend. “Nationalization of gambling environments and…the separation of player pools are real dangers for professional poker players in small European countries,” comments “Droschopf.” Another poster, “Sjors,” states, “I'm fine with regulating but don't cut off the world. Playing against people on the other side of the globe and having traffic around the clock is what makes online poker great.”

With the Belgian laws signed into effect, there is a great deal of pressure on the EU to formalize an agreement on online gaming and poker for the continent. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.

Poker Community Reacts to Justin Bonomo Leaving Bodog

On Saturday, the USA-facing online poker room Bodog officially parted ways with sponsored pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo by removing him from its website. Now, the poker community, Bonomo’s agent, and Bodog have had a chance to react.

Bonomo’s agent, Matt Palmer, President and CEO of 11Management, told Poker News Daily, “It is true that Justin and Bodog have parted ways. While Justin will miss playing alongside his fellow Bodog teammates and good friends Evelyn Ng and David Williams, he's ready to move on to bigger and better opportunities. We've begun conversations regarding new sponsorship opportunities and we're excited to work with a poker brand that is better able to leverage Justin's poker success and personality.” Palmer is also the agent for Joe Sebok, who recently signed on to be a member of Team UB.com.

Palmer gave us his take on Bonomo’s 2009 calendar year at the felts: ‘Justin's coming off another excellent year at the tables, including a final table appearance at the World Series of Poker's (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in 40th Anniversary event and a win at the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars. I fully expect Justin to continue his winning ways in 2010.” Bonomo’s fifth place finish in the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the Series’ 40th running was worth $413,000. In April, he won the Caesars Palace WSOP Circuit Championship, a $5,150 buy-in contest, for $227,000.

Ed Pownall, Global Public Relations Director for BodogBrand.com, explained why the online poker room parted ways with one of its three remaining sponsored pros: “Bodog and Justin Bonomo have agreed that, with the transition of the Bodog-branded poker rooms to the Bodog Network in 2010, now was a natural time to re-evaluate the relationship and have agreed to part ways.” Jean-Robert Bellande, of “Survivor: China” fame, also left Bodog in recent months after his sponsorship agreement was not renewed at the end of October.

Posters on the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo.com gave their take on what room might be a good fit for Bonomo. TwoPlusTwo member “molinn9” weighed in, “Time for him to move on to pokerstars. would be good pro for them.” Bonomo was traveling to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas at the time of writing and was unavailable for comment. The $10,300 buy-in Main Event kicks off on Tuesday from the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island with the first of two starting days. The tournament will crown a champion on January 11th.

In the meantime, Bodog will center its efforts on growing the newly forged Bodog Network, which has taken a unique approach to rakeback. Pownall discussed the methodology: “The new offering has already caused much debate with its re-working of the rakeback issue and will reward operators bringing depositing players to the table rather than the traditional method of rewarding the winning players. The system unveiled at the EiG in Budapest in September has already seen other networks, including Microgaming and iPoker, publicly follow in a similar vein.” The idea, in turn, is to reward winning players indirectly by feeding them net depositing opponents.

Yesterday, the weekly Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed played out. The site’s hallmark event, which comes with a $162 price tag, drew 509 players, meaning that Bodog kicked in $23,000 after the tournament fell short of its prize pool. In the end, reigning UB.com Aruba Poker Classic Main Event winner Brandon “AreTheseUtz” Hall took down the top prize of $25,000 after defeating Brian “AKbigfish” James heads-up. James pocketed a $15,000 consolation prize and “paulyman” took third for $9,500. The top 63 players finished in the money and the top five earned more than $5,000.

The Bodog Network is expected to take on non-Bodog sites this year.

Justin Bonomo (ZeeJustin) No Longer a Bodog Poker Pro

Two months after Jean-Robert Bellande lost his status as a sponsored pro of the online poker room Bodog, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo also appears to be out. Bonomo is no longer listed as a member of Team Bodog on the poker room’s website.

David Williams and Evelyn Ng are the lone survivors of Team Bodog, whose numbers have been cut in half since mid-November. Bonomo owns more than $1.2 million in career earnings from World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Circuit Events and brought Bodog a considerable amount of exposure after final tabling the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP in 2008. Bonomo claimed fifth place for $413,000 in the event, which aired on ESPN. One month prior, he captured his first Circuit gold ring by winning the Caesars Palace Championship tournament for $227,000, defeating Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi heads-up.

Bonomo appeared on the UB.com-sposored poker news show “Poker2Nite” last week, breaking down a hand from a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP. In the segment, dubbed “In the Tank,” Bonomo wore no Bodog logo and, as taped rolled from the event two years ago, the Bodog logo on Bonomo’s white shirt was blurred out. In the end, Bonomo finished as the runner-up to Full Tilt Poker pro Erick Lindgren and banked $230,000.

Bonomo is still listed on Bodog’s website in a Heads-Up TLB Records console. In addition, Bonomo’s Twitter page continues to boast a Bodog logo. Now, Williams and Ng will serve as the face of the USA-friendly online poker room, sports book, and casino. According to the traffic ranking outlet PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 840 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, nearly 1,500 cash game enthusiasts call the site home. Bodog is the fifth largest site to accept players from the United States, trailing PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, the CEREUS Network, and the Cake Poker Network.

During November’s running of the Bodog Poker Open, three sponsored online pros took to the field in the Main Event. They included Smith “nevertilt22” Collins, Jonathan UFPokerStar Westra, and Ari Engel, who ultimately took third in the 257-player tournament for $16,000. A total of 2,646 players showed up for the 11 events that comprised the Bodog Poker Open’s Championship and Contender series, creating a total prize pool of $368,000. The online poker site added another $65,000 to the kitty.

Bonomo’s image was removed from Bodog’s website during the day on Saturday. Williams appeared during a high-stakes home game as part of the G4 online poker reality show “2 Months, $2 Million,” which starred Dani Stern, Jay Rosenkrantz, Emil Patel, and Brian Roberts. Williams lost $50,000 during the game, which took place at the Las Vegas home of the “2 Months, $2 Million” cast and also featured Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and David “Viffer” Peat.

In November, Bellande lost his status as a Bodog pro. Last February, Bellande renewed his sponsorship agreement with the online poker room. However, it was not picked up once it expired, as a Bodog Poker Room Manager told Poker News Daily in November, "Jean-Robert Bellande’s deal with Bodog Poker expired at the end of October and the decision was made not to renew the deal. It has been an absolute pleasure having Jean-Robert as one of Bodog.com’s Poker pros and we wish him all the best."

Ads running on Bodog’s poker website promote betting on the Fiesta Bowl, which pits Texas Christian University (TCU) against Boise State. At the time of writing, TCU sits as an eight point favorite. Wagering is also open on the Orange Bowl, GMAC Bowl, and Thursday’s BCS Championship game.

Kelly Rowland to Appear at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

When players who have attended the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in past years cite their favorite moments from the tournament series, at least one story tends to involve the opening night party hosted by the site.  This year, PokerStars is aiming to outdo itself by hosting not one, but two seaside shindigs.

As tradition dictates, the first fiesta will take place on Monday, January 4th, the night before the $10,000 buy-in Main Event gets underway.  The party will take place on the Royal Tower of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island at 7:00pm.  It is scheduled to last until 9:00pm and will feature free hors d’oeuvres and an open bar.  All players taking part in the Main Event are invited to attend and can bring one guest.  In past years, the party has included greetings from Team PokerStars Pro members as well as local entertainment.  Last year, party guests watched as a small parade of local dancers performed along with a band.

In addition to the open-invite party on the 4th, PokerStars will be hosting a second party on the 9th.  This invitation-only event will take place from 9:00pm to Midnight at Paradise Harbour.  Those in attendance will see R&B singer Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, perform.  It will be one of Rowland’s only musical appearances in January, as her official website indicates her next performance date is not until the 23rd, when she will perform as part of the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, France.

This is not the first time that PokerStars has teamed up with a musical star from the world of hip-hop and R&B.  At the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), rap star and poker enthusiast Nelly performed at the Las Vegas PokerStars party.  In addition to being the musical guest for the site’s WSOP party, Nelly was also a mainstay at the Rio during the six-week tournament series, playing in a number of events and frequently taking part in the Amazon Room cash games.  He also took part in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final.

Nelly is one of a number of celebrities expected to make an appearance at PCA.  As part of the tournament series, PokerStars is teaming up with amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, to host a charity poker tournament as part of the PCA.  The event will feature a $5,250 buy-in and half of the prize pool will be given to amfAR to benefit global AIDS research.  Team PokerStars Sports pros Boris Becker, Mats Sundin, and Sebastian Chabal are all also expected to attend, according to a press release from PokerStars.

Rowland and Nelly are not the only musical acts with ties to PokerStars.  Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu and the PokerStars logo were featured in Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In Vegas” video.  NBA star LeBron James also made an appearance in Drake’s “Forever” video and is prominently seen playing heads-up at the PokerStars virtual tables at the beginning of it.  Even R&B songstress Rihanna has ties with the online poker room, as she plays poker with PokerStars-branded chips in her new video for “Hard,” featuring Young Jeezy.

Rowland’s appearance at PCA is just the latest incident of a musical star taking up with PokerStars, but considering the recent influx of PokerStars appearances in music videos, it certainly does not appear to be the last.

Erica Schoenberg Interview with Poker News Daily

Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker?

Schoenberg: I came off of playing blackjack with a team. Our team disbanded and we were getting a lot of heat from the casinos. I was asked to do a poker show on GSN with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and David Williams and I played terribly. From there on, I decided I was determined to get better at poker.

PND: Talk about the blackjack team. Did any part of your involvement with it help groom you for the game of poker?

Schoenberg: I met the original members of the MIT Blackjack Team and they referred me to someone in Los Angeles. Aside from the ability to process a lot of information at once, which you have to do in card counting, the time I spent loitering in casinos and the late nights helped me. Poker can end up in long hours for tournaments and late nights. Blackjack helped me get used to that.

PND: Why was poker appealing to you?

Schoenberg: I couldn't imagine sitting in an office or a cubicle for the rest of my life. It's crazy that poker can be a career. It's living the dream if you have a little bit of gamble in you.

PND: Talk about having David Benyamine in your life, who also excels at poker. Does having him help you fine-tune your game?

Schoenberg: Sometimes I get tired of poker because it feels like that's all we talk about and do. For the most part, it's 90% helpful and 10% annoying. Being able to watching him play online and hearing him talk through hands is huge for me.

PND: What makes Benyamine's game above and beyond the rest?

Schoenberg: The way he thinks about the game is on a higher level from anyone I've ever watched. I really believe that and I'm not just saying it. I've met a lot of brilliant people in my life. He has this ridiculous gift for card games and is good at rummy, gin rummy, and backgammon. He has a mind for it.

PND: You're a member of Team Full Tilt. Talk about what makes Full Tilt Poker a premier online poker room.

Schoenberg: I think their software is the best. Getting hand histories is much easier. It's helpful when you're playing to go back over hands. Full Tilt makes that simple and is the premier online poker site.

PND: Talk about being associated with members of Team Full Tilt like Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Allen Cunningham.

Schoenberg: It's such an honor to be associated with them. It's great to have your name in the company of some of the world's best poker players.

PND: In your eyes, what is your greatest poker accomplishment to date?

Schoenberg: Winning a $2,500 World Poker Tour preliminary event at Mandalay Bay in 2007. It was an open event, not a women's only event, but I got heads-up with Anna Wroblewski. I have total respect for her game and she's a great poker pro in general. My third place in a $1,500 Hold'em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker was a bit of a sick burn.

PND: What advice do you have for women looking to get into poker?

Schoenberg: Play as much as you can online before stepping foot in a casino. The minute you get into a poker room with all males, it's going to throw off your game. Get as firm of a grasp on all of the rules and be comfortable with the game before you sit down. I think for a beginning female poker player, being in a roomful of males could be really disconcerting. You don't want to be spastic because you're surrounded by men.

PND: Tell us about what you do away from the game.

Schoenberg: David and I golf a ton. We love it. I'm also a huge animal lover and I do things with my dogs. I like to go at the beach and spend time outside for a healthy and clean living. I have a Golden Retriever and a Jack Russell Terrier.

2009 Online Poker Year in Review

In 2009, the online poker world continued to provide excitement, drama, and controversy for the denizens that participated in the game. 2009 saw a great deal of changes in the number of rooms offered as the competition for customers became fierce. In addition, cash games - a long neglected area of online poker - became the featured event for online poker, outdistancing the industry’s multi-table tournaments.

At the beginning of 2009, online wunderkind Tom “durrrr” Dwan issued the Million Dollar Challenge to the online world. Dwan stated that he would take on anyone in a heads-up battle that would last 50,000 hands. Playing a minimum of four tables at $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha or No Limit Texas Hold’em, the challenge was for Dwan’s opponent to come out on top after the required number of hands. If Dwan were ahead by $1 or more, his opponent must fork over $500,000. If Dwan's opponent were ahead by $1 or more, “durrrr” would cough up $1.5 million.

While the only player excluded from the Durrrr Challenge was Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, there were plenty of players willing to take on Dwan. Phil Ivey and David Benyamine threw their hats into the ring, but it was another poker superstar, Patrik Antonius, who drew the honor of being the first to step up. Taking place on the virtual tables at Full Tilt Poker, the Durrrr Challenge set off early in 2009.

The play in the online event has been hit-and-miss throughout the calendar year, but each session has been crowded with railbirds watching the battle and online sites like DurrrrChallenge.com have been offering commentary on the proceedings. Due to their hectic live play schedules and the mid-year World Series of Poker (WSOP), there have only been 29,764 hands played between Antonius and Dwan as 2009 comes to a close. After Antonius started out with a lead, Dwan mounted a huge comeback. As the year comes to a close, “durrrr” has been able to amass a nearly $1 million lead over Antonius.

The other online poker headline that has captured the community’s attention is the phenomenon that is “Isildur1.” The Scandinavian came from nowhere to take on the biggest guns in the game at nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt Poker. Demonstrating great skill at the tables, the most confounding thing for online poker aficionados was the identity of the mystery Swede. While there has been conjecture by many, “Isildur1” has been able to keep his identity secret.

At the tables, “Isildur1” has played some of the biggest names in the game. He was able to take a few million dollars out of Dwan’s pockets before running into Antonius at the table. Antonius was able to take back much of what was lost by Dwan and, as the year closed, poker professional Brian Hastings depleted the remainder of “Isildur1’s” bankroll.

The defeat at the hands of Hastings has caused a tidal wave of debate in the online world, however. Hastings admitted to using datamined hands from other players to study “Isildur1’s” tendencies, resulting in a 30-day Red Pro suspension for fellow CardRunners instructor Brian Townsend. “Isildur1” is considering filing a complaint to regain the money lost in the session against Hastings. Even if the complaint is turned down, “Isildur1” has said that he will be back and 2010 should be a very interesting year in high-stakes cash games if he does.

Many may have thought that the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which had been slated to begin in December, would have caused people to leave the game. Online poker, however, refused to fall prey and continued on stronger than ever. With the delay of enforcement of the UIGEA until mid-2010 and the possibility of other legislation that would amend it, online poker continues to draw new blood into its ranks. According to PokerScout.com, the industry is growing at an annual rate of 30%.

Finally, the closure and consolidation of non-U.S. facing online poker rooms was a major story throughout 2009. Sites like Eurolinx and BetOnBet closed under mysterious circumstances that are still being investigated by police and Pitbull Poker closed its doors after an alleged superuser scandal. DoylesRoom, headed by the legendary Doyle Brunson, joined the Cake Poker Network, as did Third Bullet Poker.

This type of consolidation should continue through 2010 as the online poker world streamlines itself to maximize its earnings and create stronger competition against such online behemoths as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

GigaMedia Announces Quarterly Reports, Details on Everest Poker Sale

Fresh off the announcement of its partial sale of Everest Poker earlier this month, GigaMedia announced its second and third quarter 2009 financial results. In addition, the company provided insight into the sale.

During a recent investors’ conference call, many of the major players in GigaMedia were present to offer information on the company's second and third quarter financial results. Most of the thoughts of those gathered were focused on the sale of 60% of Everest Poker, the popular online poker room that is currently the on-felt sponsor of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Arthur Wang, Chief Executive Officer of GigaMedia, stated he was there to present the overview of “where the company is and where it is going,” but first stepped up to offer reasons for the sale of Everest Poker.

“About one year ago, we began a strategic review of this business unit, an evaluation of where the market was moving and where we were positioned in relation to such movements,” Wang stated. “We determined that, despite our rapid growth and position as the fourth largest poker site in the world, a strategic move was necessary.”

Wang then ticked off a list of reasons for the divesture of a majority ownership of Everest Poker to Mangas Gaming. He cited current trends in the regulation of online gaming in Europe, where individual nations are setting up their own regulatory rules, which Wang stated is “limiting player pools to single country players and requiring heavy in-country investments in infrastructure and personnel.” This type of regulation, Wang noted, challenges the ability of a company such as GigaMedia to run an operation that encompasses the entirety of Europe.

Wang next said that the necessity to have an all-purpose operation - to not just offer online poker, but also the full range of products such as a casino, sports book, and other gaming outlets - was another reason behind the sale. Mangas Gaming, through its majority ownership, will be able to provide those operations. Finally, Wang stated that the continued presence of “poker competitors operating illegally in the United States” and the hundreds of millions they earn continued to hamper those companies that operate exclusively in Europe.

With the discussion of the partial sale of Everest Poker to Mangas Gaming complete, the presentation of the second and third quarter 2009 fiscal reports was made. Quincy Tang, Chief Financial Officer of GigaMedia Limited, presented a report that showed a drop in performance over the second and third quarters of 2009.

The consolidated results of both quarters was “worse than expected,” according to Tang. “Second and third quarter revenues were $37.7 million and $37.2 million, respectively; second quarter net income of $128 thousand and third quarter net loss of $2.4 million,” he said. Some of the reasons for the decline were attributed to the continued global economic downturn and its effects on player spending and the competitive nature of the industry, including the challenges faced from those companies that accept American action.

The partial sale of Everest Poker to Mangas Gaming will give GigaMedia an influx of $100 million early in 2010. After the deal was announced, GigaMedia stock rose to $4.24 on the NASDAQ exchange, where it can be found under the acronym “GIGM.” At the close of business for the Christmas holiday, GigaMediastock was trading at just $3.18, near the bottom of its 52-week range.

TwoPlusTwo Sues Dutch Boyd

World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Russell “Dutch” Boyd may be best known for his career as a professional poker player, but he has also supplemented his income over the years by cyber-speculating, registering a number of poker-related domain names and making money off the traffic that goes to those sites.  Boyd’s side job appears to have gotten him in hot water, as the owners and operators of TwoPlusTwo Publishing have filed a suit over his ownership of the domain name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com.

The Las Vegas Sun broke news of the suit earlier this month.  The Sun story said TwoPlusTwo Publishing accused Boyd of cyber-squatting on the domain and considered it to be an instance of trademark infringement.  Within the article, Boyd commented on the legal action, noting, “It is never fun to be sued, especially by someone you look up to and respect professionally.''  Boyd had choice words for TwoPlusTwo owner Mason Malmouth in particular, whom he accused of bullying.  Boyd was not the only alleged cyber-squatter sued by the publishing company.  A lawsuit was filed against Anthony Scocozza, who purchased a similar domain name at the beginning of the year.  Boyd originally purchased his URL in July of 2004, but has since transferred ownership of the site over to the publishing group.

The article in the Sun proved to just be the beginning of the story though and the drama continued, appropriately enough, on the TwoPlusTwo Poker Forums.  Boyd responded to a thread linked to the article and offered his side of the story, stating that he regretted registering the domain name in the first place, but confirmed that the ownership of the domain name was transferred over to Greenberg Traurig, the law firm representing the interests of TwoPlusTwo.

A week later, Malmouth posted a thorough explanation of why the company filed suit, including scans of two cease and desist letters sent to Boyd by Greenberg Traurig on behalf of the company.  Malmouth also offered an explanation as to why TwoPlusTwo did not drop the suit since they now have control over the domain name in question: “Due to the length of time the registration was owned by Mr. Boyd, and his blatant infringement, we informed Boyd that the expiration of the TwoPlusTwoPoker.com would not resolve the dispute. At the very least, we needed to know exactly how much revenue the domain name and website had generated and how much traffic the site received.”

Malmouth went on to report that their representation repeatedly tried to settle out of court with Boyd, but the two parties were unable to come anywhere close to an agreement.  According to Malmouth, a final e-mail from his attorneys to Boyd letting him know they were left with no choice but to file suit was met with a terse response of “F*** Off.”

Under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), registrants cannot register any domain names that infringe upon the rights of a third party.   More specifically, the URL cannot be identical or similar to a pre-existing trademark and the registrant cannot use that domain name in bad faith.  Boyd responded in the thread, posting an excerpt of trademark law that suggests because TwoPlusTwo did not meet the notice requirement necessary in order to obtain profits or damages.  Moreover, Boyd asserted that the site earned no more than $200 in profits during the five years it was under his ownership.

This is not the first time Boyd’s purchase of domain names has landed him in the spotlight.  In October of 2008, Boyd went to arbitration with online poker room PokerHost over his use of the website, PokerHost.net.  Boyd registered that URL in 2004 and PokerHost alleged his usage of the site was in violation of UDRP since the company obtained the URL PokerHost.com two years prior.  However, because the online site did not launch its gaming services until after Boyd registered the domain name, the judge arbitrating the case ruled in favor of Boyd, saying the term was a generic domain name at time of registration and not a pre-existing trademark.

Rakeback Basics for Online Poker Novices

Much ado has been made in the online poker industry in recent months about rakeback. I’m not writing about that controversy in this article, but suffice it to say that many, if not most, poker rooms and networks are not fond if it. What I am going to do in this piece is educate those of you who are new to online poker rakeback, namely discuss what it is, how to go about getting it, and what to look for in your rakeback arrangement.

Let’s start with a quick explanation of rakeback. It really is just want it sounds like – it’s a payment made to you, the player, in which you get back a portion of the rake you have paid to a poker room. The term “rake rebate” used to be common as well, but rakeback is what you will hear the most nowadays. It is basically a way to play poker for a discount. Almost all high volume players play at a site where they get rakeback, as it serves as a supplemental income stream. It can make winning months even better, can turn break-even months into winning ones, and can ease the pain of losing months.

The logical question that follows is how do you get rakeback? The most common way is to go through a rakeback “affiliate”, which is a website that partners with different poker rooms to bring them customers. These affiliates receive a portion of the rake you pay to the poker room as compensation for their services and, in turn, will pass some of that along to you. Additionally, some online poker rooms offer up rakeback to players directly and several, like PokerStars, don’t offer rakeback at all. Now, let’s take a look at what to look for when evaluating your rakeback deal.

Affiliate Reputation

Seeing as you will be dealing with money that is to be paid to you, you want to be sure that the rakeback affiliate with whom you will be signing up is trustworthy. You don’t want someone promising you the keys to castle only to find the castle goes into foreclosure in a couple of months. There are plenty of reputable affiliates out there – ask around some poker message boards for suggestions. Two good ones you may want to check out are ThisIsTheNuts.com and PokerSource.com. Both have been in business for several years.

Percentage

This is the easiest and most obvious aspect of rakeback. How much are you actually going to get paid? Will 30% of your rake be returned to you? 40%? 50%? Does it vary based on how much you play? I think it’s obvious that the higher the percentage, the better.

Method of Payment

With some poker rooms, rakeback payments are deposited directly into your online poker account. With others, the affiliate with whom you signed up will hold your payments until you decide to cash out. The affiliate may give you the option to receive a cash payment (possibly through PayPal or another online wallet) or a gift card or poker merchandise. Whatever the case may be, it’s all a matter personal preference. As a casual player, I personally like using my rakeback to buy goodies, as I consider my rakeback a bonus with which I can have some fun. I don’t want it to be part of my poker bankroll that I might lose in one hand. That’s just me – most players probably love having their rakeback put right into their poker accounts.

Frequency of Payment

Rakeback payments can be made into your poker account or affiliate account daily, weekly, or monthly. It all depends on the poker room’s policy. I wouldn’t use this to determine which poker room to go with, but it’s not a bad tiebreaker if you do have a frequency preference, but are torn between two rooms.

Rakeback Calculation

There are two methods of rakeback calculation, dealt and contributed. Poker rooms that use the dealt method will credit you with rakeback whenever you are dealt cards in a hand that is raked or meets some pre-established rake minimum. The total rake for a hand is divided by the number of players who were dealt cards and that result is multiplied by your rakeback percentage to determine how much you are paid. For example, if you are getting 30% rakeback and are one of 10 players dealt cards in a hand that is raked $1, you will receive $0.03 in rakeback for that hand.

In the other method, the contributed method, you only receive rakeback in hands where you actually put money into the pot (blinds almost always count) and the hand is raked. Using a similar example to the one above, if you have 30% rakeback and are one of five players who contributed money to the pot in a hand with $1 taken in rake, you would get $0.06 back.

Most players prefer the dealt method, as there is no pressure to contribute to the pot. They can feel free to play as tight or loose as they want. The contributed method can be very good for loose players, though, who get involved in many pots, as their slice of the pie will be higher per hand.

What Games Count

Cash games will always count for rakeback, but the rules vary for tournaments. Some poker rooms will give you rakeback for your tournament fees, but some will not. If you are primarily a tournament player, be sure to check to see if tournaments count.

Subtractions from Rakeback

Many sites will discount your rakeback for any expenses they incur because of your play. For example, if you earned a deposit bonus, the value of that bonus may be subtracted from the total rake you contributed in a given time period and then your rakeback is calculated off that new, smaller number. Other things that may be subtracted are loyalty store purchases or deposit fees paid for by the poker room. These things are often unavoidable, but be sure to understand the rules so you aren’t blindsided by them when your rakeback payment is smaller than you expected.

PokerStars Introduces Changes to VIP Program in 2010

As 2009 comes to a close, many online poker rooms are looking to ramp up their promotions in 2010. The top online poker room in the business, PokerStars, is not only looking to create bigger and greater promotions, but is also making it easier for players to qualify for higher levels in its industry-leading VIP Program.

The VIP Program, which has been a staple of PokerStars since its inception, is something that all players become a part of once they join the site. Once a player plays their first hand on PokerStars, they enter into the Bronze Star level and, through continued play, can move up into higher monthly statuses, called Silver, Gold, and Platinum Star. The number of VIP Player Points (VPP) and Frequent Player Points (FPP) a person earns determine their level. In addition to these monthly goals, players can also earn yearly statuses by becoming Supernova and Supernova Elite members of PokerStars.

Starting on January 1st, most multi-table tournaments, sit and go tournaments, and cash games will award more points and enable players to reach their goals much more quickly. In tournaments, players will earn points based on the entry fee. Players will receive VPPs at the rate of 5.5 for each $1 in entry fees paid. The increase is greater for European players, as they receive 8 VPPs for each €1.00 in entry fees paid. In cash games, the number of points awarded will be based on the rake taken and the number of players on the table.

Players will be able to upgrade from Bronze Star to Silver Star status much more quickly under the new VIP Program. Whereas in the past a player had to accumulate 1,200 VPPs to reach the Silver Star status, in 2010 a player will only have to earn 750. Once a player reaches Silver Star status, multipliers take over and give players more VPPs and FPPs for playing.

PokerStars also offers special tournaments for players who have entered the upper echelons of its VIP Program. In the past, PokerStars held a weekly $75,000 freeroll exclusively for the VIP Program, with Supernovas eligible for free entry and Gold Stars and Platinum Stars eligible to get in through FPP satellites. In 2010, PokerStars will shift these tournaments to a quarterly schedule with $1 million on the line. In addition to this massive change, PokerStars is offering those VIP Program members who are Silver Star and above the chance to play against Team PokerStars Pros in sit and go action.

Finally, PokerStars will be offering a new reward program that all players will be able to participate in. Called the Stellar Rewards program, a series of 19 cash incentives are up for grabs and acquired by earning VPPs over the entire calendar year. The milestones, and their respective cash payouts upon reaching them, are broken down as such:

$10 available at 750, 1,500, 2,250, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 Yearly VPPs
$50 available at 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 35,000, 40,000 and 45,000 Yearly VPPs
$100 available at 50,000, 60,000, 70,000, 80,000 and 90,000 Yearly VPPs

If a player is able to reach all 19 milestones, the resulting cash benefit will be $1,000. The changes to the VIP Program and the introduction of the Stellar Rewards program are set up to allow more players to move up to the higher reaches of PokerStars VIP Club and reward loyal players. All of the changes should be seen on PokerStars by the end of January.