Poker News

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.

Online Poker Community Donates $1.5 Million to Haiti Earthquake Survivors

The online poker community has raised $1.5 million for victims of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this month, according to a press release distributed by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

Full Tilt Poker saw 22,785 donations come in from concerned members of the industry for total donations of $293,211. In a gracious showing, the world’s second largest online poker site doubled contributions from its patrons for a total donation of $586,423, or over one-third of the figure cited by the PPA. Aid for Haiti play and no-play tournaments were held on Full Tilt Poker and a special user account was created to accept incoming transfers benefiting the relief efforts.

As expected, PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato, a former three-term Republican Senator from New York, was elated to see the giving mood of the online poker community. In a press release distributed by the lobbying organization this week, D’Amato commented, “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. I applaud PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution. The generosity online poker players are showing makes me even more proud to be part of this community.”

PPA Executive Director John Pappas echoed D’Amato’s sentiments in an interview with the online poker forum PocketFives.com, calling the massive effort “a tribute to the generosity of the poker community.” Pappas added that the seven-digit donation mark does not include private contributions made by poker pros and other members of the industry to organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF, which hit the ground in Haiti shortly after the epic January 12th tremor.

The PPA revealed that 50,000 online poker players have donated a total of $760,000, an average of about $15 each. With online poker sites matching the funds dollar-for-dollar, the total amount generated surpasses $1.5 million. On PokerStars, donations are being accepted until January 31st at Noon ET. No-play Haiti Earthquake Relief tournaments have buy-ins ranging from $1 to $1,000. Text found on PokerStars’ website succinctly explains, “You will not need to play an actual tournament; instead, all of the 'entry fees' go straight to the fund.”

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, also created a special player account called “Haiti Fund.” Users can transfer funds to the account and PokerStars will match all money raised for the relief effort. The website, which has campaigned for a variety of charitable causes like Ante Up for Africa over the years, reminded its clientele, “PokerStars has been quick to facilitate this after previous disasters, and once again it is giving you an easy way to donate cash.”

Meanwhile, Cake Poker, a USA-friendly site that features Lee Jones as its Poker Room Manager, is taking donations until Midnight ET on January 31st. Five “holding tanks” were created for players to donate to the cause in $5, $25, $100, $200, and $500 increments. Past charity efforts by Cake Poker include involvement in the Aces and Angels Celebrity Poker Tournament and Oregon’s West Side Poker Club.

Other sites, including RedKings, UB.com, Absolute Poker, and DoylesRoom held poker tournaments last week to raise money for the cause. On the CEREUS Network, 717 players turned out for a $5 rebuy benefiting earthquake victims. In addition, customers on the Network’s two sites, UB.com and Absolute Poker, can donate their player points in each room’s store. On DoylesRoom, a special Haiti Bounty saw Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke hit the felts.

A magnitude 5.9 aftershock hit Haiti shortly after and the Red Cross noted that three million people may have been affected. We’d like to salute members of the poker community who donated.

Phil Laak, Cake Poker Network Launch Unabomber Poker

In the online poker world, having a room named after you is perhaps the most notable sign that you have made your mark in the industry. From DoylesRoom, fronted by the legendary Doyle Brunson, to Devilfish Poker, hosted by top English pro David “The Devilfish” Ulliot, many professional poker players have made the move to the online world with their own iconic rooms.

The Cake Poker Network announced today that top pro Phil Laak will join its family of sites with his own room. Called Unabomber Poker, the site will feature Laak in action on the network and through a blog that will be available on the site. Along with the announcement of Unabomber Poker, the Cake Poker Network also announced the addition of seven other new network poker rooms, including 7Win Poker, Redback Poker, Amsterdams Poker, Safari Poker, Dimeline, Rags2Riches Poker, and Burro Poker.

“We knew we wanted to launch the sickest poker site possible,” Laak stated during the announcement of the new venture. “By joining a network that focuses on player rewards and accepts players worldwide, we knew we would be starting out on the right track. I love getting involved from the ground up.” A Cake Network spokesperson added, “The addition of Unabomber Poker to the Cake Network is a cause for great excitement. Phil’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious and brings a great energy to the network.”

With the addition of the eight new rooms, the Cake Poker Network now encompasses a total of 55 online poker sites. Some of the most popular sites offered by the Cake Poker Network include DoylesRoom, PokerHost, Lock Poker, Gutshot.com, and its own eponymous site. The Cake Poker Network is among the Top Ten in the online poker industry by cash game traffic, according to the poker industry tracking site PokerScout.com, averaging 2,100 real money ring game players.

Unabomber Poker offers many of the player amenities that are a fixture of the Cake Poker Network. Through participating in the action on the site, players earn Gold Chips and Gold Cards that can be exchanged for cash, merchandise, or free play in tournaments on the network. Unabomber Poker will also participate in the Cake Poker Network’s premier monthly event, the $250,000 Guaranteed.

Laak is arguably one of the most visible players in the game today through both his play and his exuberant behavior at the table. He exploded on the poker scene in 2004 with a victory in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Invitational at the Commerce Casino and has remained a formidable foe at the tables since then. In 2005, Laak was runner up to Johnny Chan at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event when Chan captured his tenth bracelet. In a brief six-year career, Laak has earned slightly over $1.8 million from the tournament poker circuit.

Laak is famously called “The Unabomber” because his attire at the poker tables – a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses – gives Laak a resemblance to the forensic sketch of notorious convicted mail bomber Theodore Kaczynski. Laak can confound players with antics at the table such as push-ups, talking to the cards, and offering buyouts to players to show their winning hands. Away from the felt, Laak also makes a great deal of noise. He has one of the most high-profile poker relationships with former WSOP Ladies’ Champion Jennifer Tilly and has been a part of television show “I Bet You” with his longtime friend and former roommate Antonio Esfandiari.

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.

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.

Poker Chip Retailers Eye 2010 Rebound

While the top 10 major online poker sites/networks grew around 30% in 2009, the pain of a worldwide economic recession was felt at casinos.  Profits at Las Vegas casinos were down dramatically and major entities like the World Poker Tour (WPT) saw a slide in attendance.  Other companies hurt by the downturn were retailers that sell supplies for private poker tournaments and home games.  While business was booming prior to the downturn, many of the major retailers are encouraged by their 2010 prospects.

“2009 was our most difficult year.  With people worried about jobs and homes, recreation expenses were down across the board.  We were able to hold some ground by expanding our offerings to the international buyer,” said Jim Evering of Nevada Jacks.

One major chip retailer is making waves with a line of new products aimed at enticing the true poker aficionado to its store.  Poker Chip Mania recently sent out a news blast introducing 10 new clay poker chips to an already robust selection.  Poker Chip Mania specializes in offering poker chips, cases, cards, tables, and game room décor.  All the chips have denominations on them and are available in 10 different colors.  Bundles start at 50 chips or can be purchased in one big set.  They weigh in at 14 grams.

Poker Chip Mania is located within the KMR Online Shopping Mall.  In addition to the 10 new styles of chips, Poker Chip Mania has located and obtained a limited number of popular Paulson poker chips.  These chips sold very well, but are now discontinued and have become a collector’s item.

Nevada Jacks is another major poker chip supplier that offers unique and custom products.  The site’s online storefront includes items such as custom poker chips, clay poker chips, composite chips, accessories, and tables.  Nevada Jacks offers the ability for customers to design their own chipset and have it manufactured.

“Custom chip sets are the ultimate purchase for the true poker aficionado.  Nothing says ‘high roller’ like having your own design in a set of poker chips,” commented Evering. The custom poker chip page allows you to pick colors and send in your own custom design for full casino grade, 10-gram poker chips.  The turnaround time is stated on the site as being two weeks and chips are available in smooth and textured formats.

“The custom process can be as simple or intricate as the buyer wants.  We offer several templates that allow buyers to easily create a personalized design,” commented Evering.  “On the other hand, if the buyer desires, we will work with them to provide a totally custom set.  Once the customer places their order, the artwork and proofing process begins.  This usually takes about a week.  Once the proof is approved, it takes about one week to produce and ship.”

Organizations that have purchased customized chipsets through Nevada Jacks include the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational, PokerStars, UB.com, Absolute Poker, and many casinos worldwide.  The store has even had features in GQ and Playboy magazines.

For those of you that have a regular home game, here’s a nice checklist that you can use if you plan to invest in it:

- Felted poker table with cushioned border
- KEM or Copag decks of cards
- High-quality 14-gram chipset or custom made 10-gram chipset
- Tournament timer device
- Decorations including a poker light fixture and signs for the wall
- Cash box
- Drink carts

All of these items and more are found on Poker Chip Mania’s and Nevada Jacks’ websites.  As 2010 begins, these two poker supply stores have adapted themselves to offer what customers want amid a severe economic downturn.

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.

Poker2Nite Welcomes Poker Tournament Director Matt Savage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bodog Drops Bonomo

The 24-year-old joined David Williams and Evelyn Ng as a member of the Bodog Pro Team in 2007, but confirmed reports that he was leaving the team Wednesday.

“Bodog and I have officially parted ways after a two-year sponsorship relationship,” said Bonomo. “I want to thank Bodog and its staff for giving me an opportunity to play for them.”

Although he didn’t go into detail regarding his departure, Bonomo stressed that he did not quit the team. Despite the change, Bonomo is already in talks with other poker rooms regarding sponsorship.

“Moving forward, I will be focusing my attention on aligning with a sponsor who will better utilize my play and media presence,” he said.

Just two months ago, Bodog also dropped poker pro Jean-Robert Bellande, which means Ng and Williams are the room’s only remaining pros.

Bonomo learned poker online and won countless tournaments using the screen name ZeeJustin. In 2005, he broke onto the live poker scene by making the final table of PokerStars.com EPT Deauville. At the time he was the youngest player to make a televised final table. Since then he has accumulated $2.3 million in live tournament winnings.

Controversy arose in 2006 when it was learned Bonomo had been multi-accounting, a practice banned on almost all online poker sites. He eventually made a public apology and was subsequently signed by Bodog Poker in 2008.

The young pro recently launched a redesigned website and will be featured on the cover of Bluff Magazine’s January issue.

Chris Moorman (moorman1) Wins PocketFives.com Yearly PLB Title

DoylesRoom sponsored pro Chris "moorman1" Moorman stormed through the competition in 2009, capturing the Yearly PocketFives.com Leaderboard (PLB) title. In addition, he claimed the Monthly PLB for December, his second of 2009.

Moorman’s claim to fame during the year came in August, when the British online poker pro chopped a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) $322 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event for $204,000. His second largest cash to date on the virtual felts came in April, as Moorman made the final table of a PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event for $113,000. In February, Moorman was in the winner’s circle of the PokerStars $100 Rebuy for a cool $88,000.

Moorman was a beacon of consistency throughout 2009. In the first Online Poker Rankings update on PocketFives.com, which occurred on January 7th, Moorman sat at number two worldwide. Three weeks later, the youngster overtook Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis for the Rankings’ top spot, a position that he held until February 25th. On that date, Steve “gboro780” Gross, CardPlayer’s Online Player of the Year winner for 2009, ascended to the top of the PocketFives.com Rankings, pushing Moorman back to second worldwide.

Gross had a stranglehold on the top spot in the Rankings until August 12th, when Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb overtook him. Deeb, of course, announced in mid-November that he was retiring from tournaments due to burnout. On September 23rd, Moorman was back on top in the same month that he officially became a member of the Brunson 10, the group of online poker players handpicked by Doyle Brunson to represent DoylesRoom. Moorman held the top spot in September for a week until the 30th, when Gross once again led the way.

On November 25th, Dan “djk123” Kelly stole the top spot from Gross just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Moorman then ascended to the head of the class on December 30th, with the next Rankings update to be released on Wednesday, January 6th. The Rankings encompass tournaments with at least 100 entrants and prize pools of $1,000 or more. Each event must have a buy-in of at least $1 and only scheduled tournaments are tracked. Only non-satellite tournaments with real money buy-ins are counted across some of the world’s largest online poker sites like Absolute Poker, Betfair, Bodog, Cake Poker, Carbon Poker, Full Tilt, PartyPoker, PokerStars, Titan Poker, and UB.com.

On the PocketFives.com Yearly PLB for 2009, Moorman logged 20,850 points, comfortably edging out Kelly, who netted 18,606. Moorman’s largest score was 716 points, whereas Kelly’s single greatest PLB tally was double that. Gross took third on the Yearly PLB for 2009. Here were the final results:

1. Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 20,850.97
2. Dan “djk123” Kelly – 18,606.93
3. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 18,472.42
4. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb – 18,061.15
5. Tony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi – 17,616.29
6. Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee – 17,514.48
7. David “Doc Sands” Sands – 17,354.60
8. Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick – 17,167.12
9. Felipe “improved” Montenegro – 17,134.04
10. Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky – 16,323.68

Moorman finished fourth on both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year leaderboards for 2009. He joined the Brunson 10 in September, becoming the fourth member of a talented group of players that already included Amit “amak316” Makhija, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Alec “traheho” Torelli. In November during final table play of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, the Brunson 10 welcomed “2 Months, $2 Million” cast member Dani “ansky” Stern to its ranks. Stern was the youngest personality to appear on the G4 online poker reality show.

DoylesRoom happily accepts customers from the United States as a member of the Cake Poker Network. Other site pros include Todd Brunson, Hoyt Corkins, and “The Mad Genius of Poker” Mike Caro.

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 Divided Over Brian Townsend Suspension

One of the top stories of 2009 was the arrival of the Scandinavian high roller “Isildur1” to the nosebleed stakes of Full Tilt Poker and the attempts of several players to chop his bankroll legs from under him. Caught up in those attempts was CardRunners’ Brian Townsend who, after compiling hand histories that he had obtained against “Isildur1,” gave the information to fellow CardRunners pro Brian Hastings, who dealt the fatal blow. The action set off a chain of events that has divided many in the poker community.

The information gleaned by Townsend, Cole South, and Hastings - and the confession of the use of that information by Hastings against “Isildur1” - led to Townsend’s status as a Full Tilt Poker “Red Pro” being suspended for 30 days on December 21st. At the time, Townsend himself admitted that the compiling of data violated the Terms and Conditions of Full Tilt Poker, but he further stated, “We (Hastings, South, and I) never shared hands where mucked hands were shown besides a few hands I posted on weaktight.org, and in fact all the information I received could be taken from watching the game.”

In a poll on the noted poker forum TwoPlusTwo, responders were divided on the issue. Over 48% of those who responded stated that Townsend’s “Red Pro” suspension from Full Tilt was appropriate. 52% of those responding said that Townsend’s suspension was unwarranted or that they need to see more information before making a decision. Some of the conversations between the members of the forum reflect the diversity of opinions among many of the posters.

“How many more times does he have to be caught breaking the rules before he is considered a cheater in your eyes? Your opinion on the rules or the ethics surrounding his indiscretions are immaterial,” wrote “JabrielP” on the forum. “A cheater is someone who acts dishonestly and/or looks to violate the rules deliberately. That is exactly what Townsend is/did. He is a cheater. There is no fairer description.” Poster “blackf1re” agreed with “JabrielP,” saying, “How can anyone vote no in this case? He has broken the T&C's. Therefore he is a cheater. That's all there is to it. What you personally think of this whole issue is totally irrelevant.”

Others, however, didn’t see anything wrong with Townsend’s actions, comparing the research and study as to what professional athletes do in preparation for big games. Poster “gianakki” said, “To me, this is no different than a pitcher receiving a scouting report on a team lineup. 0-2 facing Jeter, throw him cutters up and away; 3-1 versus ARod, jam him inside.” Fellow poster “aojr03” agreed, stating, “How is he a cheater? Because he went over HH and tendencies with friends? Because he studied the guy and sought out the leaks in his play? If you want to win you find a way to gain an edge. It's poker, not ballroom dancing.”

Finally, there were those who recognize the gray area that Townsend’s actions fall under. “Depends if you think multi-accounting and data mining is cheating. People who do either or both probably don't think he's a cheat, people who don't probably do,” stated “Lister27.”

Others tended to focus on how or why the rules are written the way they are. Poster “otacon” had that subject in mind when he stated, “This poll will no doubt be skewed by people considering what they perceive to be the ethical judgment on his actions, not the fact that the rules as written have been deliberately violated.”

Whichever side of the argument you agree with, it is obvious that the latest online controversy will continue to be debated well into 2010. As of now, Townsend is about ten days into his suspension. It remains to be seen if there will be changes by online poker sites regarding data mining of player information.

2009 Poker News Story of the Year

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

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

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

Isildur1 Ignites High-Stakes Poker Scene
By Brett Collson

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

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

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

WPT Sold to Party Gaming
By Earl Burton

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

UIGEA Compliance Deadline Delayed
By Dan Cypra

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

Pitbull Poker/Eurolinx/BetOnBet Closures
By Tom Jenkins

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

PartyPoker Cash Machine Returns, Features Booster Bonus

In January, PartyPoker, one of the world’s longstanding online poker sites, returns the popular Cash Machine promotion. This time, hardcore grinders will earn additional cash as part of a Booster Bonus.

The Cash Machine promotion last ran during the month of September and shelled out a bevy of added funds to PartyPoker players. The promotion returns on January 4th and will run through the end of the month. All players have to do is earn 10 or more PartyPoints on at least 10 days during the 28-day period. Then, PartyPoker officials will take a look at the PartyPoint totals of the 10 highest-earning days and match the lowest one at the rate of $1 per point.

As an example, if a player’s 10 highest PartyPoint total days were 100, 100, 100, 150, 150, 150, 200, 200, 200, and 200, PartyPoker would award a $100 cash bonus, matching the lowest amount. The minimum payout is $10 and there is no maximum amount that PartyPoker will match. For those players who are unable to meet the $10 minimum, a generous consolation prize exists. Text found on PartyPoker’s website explains, “If you can achieve 10 qualifying days of one PartyPoint or more, but fail to earn the minimum cash reward, we’ll give you a seat in our $25,000 Cash Machine freeroll, which takes place at 15:00 ET on Wednesday, 3rd February.”

The Cash Machine Booster Bonus is available to players who earn at least 1,000 PartyPoints per day on 20 out of the 28 days of the promotion. Players who earn between 1,000 and 1,500 PartyPoints for 20 days will earn a $500 Booster Bonus. Players who rack up between 1,500 and 2,000 PartyPoints for 20 days will get a $1,100 Booster Bonus. Players who amass between 2,000 and 2,500 PartyPoints for 20 days will take home a $2,000 Booster Bonus. Players who earn between 2,500 and 3,000 PartyPoints will receive a $3,000 Booster Bonus and those able to surpass 3,000 PartyPoints for 20 days will nab a colossal $5,000 Booster Bonus.

The Cash Machine is an opt-in promotion and players can register for it at any time prior to its conclusion. Once they opt in, PartyPoker will credit players with all PartyPoints earned during the 28 days, regardless of when they sign up. Each qualifying day runs from 00:00 ET to 23:59 ET and days do not have to be consecutive in order to count. All funds earned will be dropped into players’ accounts within 48 hours of the Cash Machine promotion ending.

One day prior to the Cash Machine promotion kicking off, the PartyPoker Monthly Million will play out. The $640 buy-in tournament takes place on the first Sunday of every month and boasts a Championship blind structure. Players begin with 20,000 chips and blinds start at 25-50. The price of poker increases every 20 minutes and antes kick in at Level 6, when blinds are 250-500.

Qualifiers for the Monthly Million run constantly on PartyPoker. Popular ways to enter include a daily Monthly Million Qualifier, a $70 buy-in satellite with at least 19 seats on the line. A Mega Friday Satellite also takes place weekly, featuring a $55 buy-in and 20 seats guaranteed. On Saturdays, two qualifiers take place on PartyPoker offering a combined 18 seats. Country-specific freerolls and daily player point qualifiers also send players to the Monthly Million. Mark your calendars for Sunday, January 3rd, the next running of the Monthly Million.

According to the traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, PartyPoker is the fourth largest site worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 4,500 real money ring game players. It is the second largest not to accept players from the United States, trailing only the massive iPoker Network.

PartyPoker claims World Poker Tour Host and new Poker Hall of Fame inductee Mike Sexton as its ambassador and is currently qualifying players for the L.A. Poker Classic.

PokerTracker Releases Omaha, Mac Support

Just days before the beginning of 2010, the popular poker tracking and analysis software PokerTracker turned a new leaf of its own, releasing Omaha and Mac supported versions. The so-called Beta 30 was announced in the PokerTracker forums.

Mac poker software is quickly growing in popularity as more and more online poker players switch to the alternative computing system. Poker aficionados who received new Mac laptops for the holidays can now use PokerTracker with ease, as the programming team released support just in time for the new decade. Auto-import of hand histories for the new PokerTracker release is available for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ongame Network clients.

In addition to the Mac-supported version, another growing area of the marketplace received support from PokerTracker, Omaha. The up-and-coming game’s support on PokerTracker is still somewhat patchwork, as Auto-Rate is not yet functional and only hands from PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker, and the iPoker Network will import to the poker tracking tool. In addition, Table Tracker does not yet support Omaha. Text found in the PokerTracker forums notes, “The Omaha beta is freely available to all owners of the Holdem version and to all trial users. For those of you who do not own PT3, but have an expired trial, Omaha will be getting its own trial separate from the Holdem one soon, so please be patient.”

Beta 30 also received an extreme makeover in the form of a Setup Wizard. In an effort to make configuring PokerTracker as easy as possible, the program’s developers had the foresight to include a setup tool to add sites. A process that sometimes required a player posting on poker forums like PocketFives.com and TwoPlusTwo.com may soon be a breeze thanks to the Setup Wizard. Novice PokerTracker users and customers setting up additional online poker sites to the mix will be able to take advantage of the new feature.

Players transitioning from the Windows-based version of PokerTracker to the Mac utility can employ the software’s new backup and restore feature. Now, layouts, reports, stats, notes, and buddies can all be placed into one central zip file. This essentially creates one point of reference when switching versions or computers.

Because the new version remains in beta, a variety of bugs are expected. In fact, one day after Beta 30 was announced, PokerTracker programmers rolled out Beta 30.1, which addressed issues with the software’s Heads-Up Display (HUD), PartyPoker hand imports, and database names containing characters that sent the program into a tizzy. The site frankly states, “There's a very good probability that there will be bugs. If you aren't willing to deal with bugs and help us locate and fix them, please wait until the stable release is out.”

Bugs fixed in the Beta 30 release included importing hands from the Microgaming Network, tournament import issues on Full Tilt, and rebuy and add-on support for PokerStars. Support for heads-up tables was added for Bodog and tournament bounty support was also added across several sites. Improvements to sanity checks and keyboard shortcuts were also added.

Along with Holdem Manager, PokerTracker represents the industry-leading tracking and analysis software. At the time of writing, PokerTracker and Holdem Manager were the third and fourth highest rated programs by users of PokerSoftware.com, respectively, and both are used by thousands of online poker players. Holdem Manager launched an Omaha client, Omaha Manager, earlier this year. Poker Copilot serves as the staple tracking program for Mac players.

Posters on PocketFives.com have reported a bevy of bugs in PokerTracker’s Mac version. Member “diesel83” remarked, “It seems to be picking up my hands and results fairly well, but the HUD is worthless right now. At least it is here. Going back to fusion to run Windows until next update though.”

The Full Version of PokerTracker runs $89.99, while the Micro-Stakes Edition will set players back $44.99.

Christmas Time with Annie Duke

Poker News Daily: We heard that you’ll be launching a new trail mix company, MyMixedNuts.com, just in time for the holidays. Can you tell us about it?

Duke: It’s a custom mixed nuts and trail mix company that I started with my boyfriend, Joe, and Ryan Sympkins. You have your choice of nuts and all sorts of dry fruits and candies. Ryan had this idea for a long time. Ryan is one of the producers on “The Apprentice” and we became very good friends during the show. Ever since, we’ve wanted to work together. I spend all of my time picking things I don’t want out of my trail mix, so I’ll go and buy individual ingredients from the store.

At MyMixedNuts.com, you add items into your cart. We’ll have personal and corporate gifting. There are also ready-to-go mixes where $1 goes to charity. If you buy my mix, for example, $1 goes to Ante Up for Africa. There’s one that goes to an AIDS hospice and one that goes to a rain forest preservation charity.

PND: That’s quite an undertaking. What kind of marketing are you doing for it?

Duke: Our marketing is through social media to start with. Once we get going and things are going smoothly, then we’ll do placements in health magazines and parenting magazines. It’s ironic that Ryan and I met on a show about fake business and now we’re doing a real business. Trail mixes run 14 ounces each and will be between $8 and $15.

PND: We noticed that you weren't at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Duke: Christmas comes up on me and I have four kids. I literally looked at my schedule and said I can’t do it. Christmas won’t happen if I go to the tournament. This is the kind of decision I have to make a lot. Sometimes I have to choose my kids over poker. I’d rather make sure my family has a good holiday.

PND: What have your kids asked Santa for this year?

Duke: Nelly asked Santa for a computer and I think that’s totally appropriate. All of my kids have laptops except for her and she wants a netbook, which is inexpensive, and some earrings. Lucy asked for a hermit crab. Santa might consider whether he could transport a hermit crab from the North Pole. Lucy’s other big request was a Kindle. Leo, outside of a Kindle, is really interested in anything having to do with the Denver Broncos. Maud is into anime stuff, so maybe some sort of comic book or graphic novel would be good.

PND: What did you ask for?

Duke: I asked for a trip to Mexico for New Years Eve because Annie Duke hates New Years. I have never had a good New Years. How can you possibly have a good time when there’s a huge pressure to have a good time? There’s no spontaneity. My good times are unexpected. I don’t drink, either. The goal on New Years is to get so plastered that you vacate your body and that’s not fun. For someone who is not drinking to speak to someone who is really drunk is not fun. If we go to Mexico, there’s no pressure. The odds of that coming through are good since Santa was asking me for places to stay.

PND: Give us your thoughts on the UB.com-sponsored poker news show “Poker2Nite,” which airs on Fox Sports Net every Wednesday night.

Duke: It’s really good. I think that Joe Sebok is going to grow into it. Scott Huff is incredibly talented. The set is great and I was pleasantly surprised. I like it better than “ESPN Inside Deal.” Joe just needs to get off the prompter. He’s very good just going with the flow.

PND: How tough is it to balance providing a credible news show with accepting guests from other online poker sites besides UB.com?

Duke: You have to do it. It’s one of the things that Full Tilt was ahead of the market on. They’ve done this back to the “Learn from the Pros” days on Fox Sports Net. They didn’t let you wear a logo, but they gave you a shout out. What Full Tilt understood was that it’s their show, but it’s going to be more credible if it has pros from other brands. It’ll be a higher quality show if you open it up to the world. They’ve done it with “Poker After Dark” and that was a mistake they made with “Face the Ace.”

“Poker2Nite” is supposed to have quality coverage of the poker industry. If its guests are from PokerStars, that’s fine. If they’re from Full Tilt, that’s fine. If they’re from UB, that’s fine too.

PND: We understand you just had an interesting experience with eBay.

Duke: At UB, one person can’t make multiple accounts. As a policy across the industry, it’s one player to an account and there are strong reasons why you have to do that, which have to do with fraud.

On eBay, my ex-husband used to have an account associated with my e-mail. I went onto eBay to check on some things for Christmas and wrote in to get the User ID. I called up my ex-husband and he gave me some passwords that could have been right and couldn’t remember the security questions, so I got onto Live Chat and asked for help. They said that he was the owner of the account and asked that he get in touch with them.

Finally, they said, “What you need to do is create a new e-mail address and open a new account with it.” So, I could open up a new account even though they knew I had an account? I asked them if I could do that 20 times and they said yes. At that point, I started screaming into the chat. The policy of allowing someone to have more than one account is mind-boggling. This is one huge site that the Federal Government seems to be okay with, but they are concerned with online poker.

Applying Online Poker Skills to One-Week Fantasy Football Leagues

We’re in the midst of the fantasy football playoffs in many leagues and, with some managers not a part of the post-season, the popularity of one-week contests has ballooned. Online poker players, in particular, should be quite successful in these games.

Fantazzle.com has partnered with Poker News Daily to help our readers enter the world of one-week fantasy games and put their online poker skills to the test. Most weekly fantasy sites, in fact, have online draft lobbies that look nearly identical to the ones you’d find on your favorite poker room, showing the maximum capacity and number of players already registered. Familiar buy-ins like $5, $10, and $20 parallel sit and gos nicely, especially as it relates to understanding payouts and rake.

At Fantazzle.com, two different types of one-week fantasy sports leagues exist. The first is a salary cap format whereby each manager receives a set number of dollars with which to buy players. How does this relate to poker, you ask? In poker, you have to be able to spot value and weakness in opponents. In fantasy football, it’s the same way. If Jamaal Charles (RB - Kansas City Chiefs) is going for only $30,000 and plays the Cleveland Browns in Week 15, he might be a better one-time play than DeAngelo Williams (RB – Carolina Panthers), who might have a price three times larger and also has a tougher match-up in the Minnesota Vikings, one of the league’s top run defenses.

In poker, it’s all about spotting value. Knowing when you can profitably make a play at a pot is key, as is mathematically understanding whether a play is in line with expected value. Being able to spot value in tournament registrations, such as overlays, is also extremely important. If a tournament like the Bodog $100,000 Guaranteed has a perennial overlay, knowing this information and then registering for it increases your value in an event. In fantasy drafts, understanding value in the middle and late rounds is especially vital to your success.

Fantasy football is really all about exploiting match-ups. Who plays who typically pre-destines success or failure in a given week. If your fantasy players face off against the likes of Detroit, Oakland, and Seattle, then chances are you’ll be flying high. However, if your quarterbacks are locked down against teams like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or the New York Giants, then look out. In one-week drafts like those you’ll find on Fantazzle.com, understanding the match-ups and compiling your team accordingly is what determines your relative success. In poker, some of the top players in the world are heads-up specialists, capitalizing on their skill relative to others in order to make a living.

Fantazzle.com has been in business since 2008 and its owner, Ryan Parr, told Poker News Daily, “You will be assigned to a group of people. You don’t have to wait around for others to come.” Unlike a poker sit and go, you won’t have to stand by until a table fills up to play. As soon as it’s game time each week, you’re off to the races. While many fantasy football managers are currently shut out of the playoffs, at Fantazzle.com, everyone is able to participate. Metaphorically, all you need is a chip and a chair.

Online poker sites are all about building credibility. Using names like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu to sell a site’s viability results in players swarming the online poker room left and right. At Fantazzle.com, the New York Giants’ Steve Smith foots the bill, as the wide receiver is lending his autograph to tournament winners each week. Smith leads the Giants in receiving yards and receptions by a large margin and has found the end zone five times in 2009, tied for the second most on the team.

Visit Fantazzle.com today and put your online poker skills to good use!

CNBC Investigates Illegal Gambling, Online Poker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre Featured in National Post

On Saturday, the National Post ran an article entitled “Calvin Ayre online gaming tycoon,” a profile of the founder of the popular online poker room, casino, and sports book Bodog. Ayre donned a Bodog Fight shirt for the interview’s image.

Diane Francis was tasked with interviewing Ayre in Antigua and the news outlet described the internet mogul as “semi-retired.” The article begins with Francis asking Ayre about the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), approved by better than a 3:1 edge in the House of Representatives before being attached to the SAFE Port Act at the urging of then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). When asked if Canadian authorities had pursued Ayre in any capacity related to the 2006 law, he told the Post, "No. I haven't lived in Canada for ten years or been in the Canadian tax system. The legal system did not allow me to do this in Canada. Now I like living in the tropics.”

Ayre revealed that he owns the rights to the domain name Bodog.com and licenses the rights to the network to affiliates located around the globe. In the United States, for example, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, a Canadian outfit, owns the rights to market the brand. After recently releasing “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, Bodog’s stable of poker pros currently stands at three: Evelyn Ng, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and David Williams.

The Post then inquired about Bodog’s revenue figures. Ayre explained, "My current deals aren't revenue based and are all different structures which I don't talk about. Forbes audited our books and based the number on the same multiple that the British public companies were trading at, or more than $1.5 billion. In 2006, Bodog made US $320 million in revenues and 25% profit." After the UIGEA was passed into law, online poker sites with publicly traded parent companies like PartyPoker and Pacific Poker exited the market, leaving sites like Bodog, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker to pick up the slack.

On the current legality of online poker in the United States, Ayre told the Post, “Poker is not illegal to bet online in the U.S. because it's considered a skilled game. It's a gray area, but there are lots of American companies with poker sites.” This year, Bodog forged its own poker network and will purportedly begin accepting non-Bodog domains into its ranks next year. Jonas Odman, Vice President of the Bodog Network, told Poker News Daily that a “unique solution” to rakeback will help differentiate the family of sites from others in the industry.

In September, Ayre served as the keynote speaker at the Budapest Affiliate Conference. He told event organizers at the time, “I’m very flattered to have been asked to be this year’s keynote speaker in Budapest. The iGaming space is the birthplace of the Bodog brand, and it remains one of the must dynamic and fascinating sectors in the entertainment space.” In addition to Morris Mohawk, Bodog’s licensees include Bodog Europe and Bodog Asia. The former recently opened its doors to Canadian online poker players.

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, Bodog is the 15th largest site or network worldwide with a seven-day running average of 860 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, around 1,500 cash game players call the site home. Its traffic is comparable with that found on PKR and every Sunday, the site hosts its $100,000 Guaranteed, a $162 buy-in event that kicks off at 4:00pm ET. The tournament regularly sees a $20,000 to $30,000 overlay, with $29,000 kicked in by the site last week.

Read the entire Calvin Ayre interview with the National Post.

FBI Issues Online Poker Findings; PPA Responds

Online poker players tuned into last week’s House Financial Services Committee on internet gambling can recall a letter cited by Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) that claimed online poker games could be compromised.

The memo, dated November 13th and written by FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry, addresses six questions put forth by Bachus regarding the current state of affairs in the online poker world. The report states, “The technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team.” Henry’s analysis speculates as to whether online poker sites would spend the time and money needed to combat these tag team maneuvers: “It really comes down to a cost analysis for the vendor. How much money will I make or lose by detecting cheating and implementing safeguards?”

The letter from Henry then addresses money laundering possibilities in private online poker tournaments before Bachus asked if “qualified personnel” existed to regulate the game should it be legalized. Henry responded, “FBI investigative resources are focused on our highest priorities, that being counterterrirosm, counterintelligence, and cyber threats to critical infrastructure.” No mention of online poker or internet gambling is given in Henry’s response to this question.

Henry questions the age and location verification mechanisms that online poker sites currently have in place. Henry responds, “For age verification, the possession of a credit card is usually the only validation these sites require. Credit card numbers are easily compromised and can be bought by the hundreds on several ‘underground’ websites.” On the question of location verification, Henry asserts, “While geolocation can be accurate when used to determine the physical country of residence, it becomes exponentially less accurate when determining the city or zip code.”

Also discussed in the letter from the FBI Cyber Division official are bots, programs against the Terms of Service of most major sites. In addition, Bachus asks whether U.S. law enforcement officials have had any conversations with their counterparts overseas where internet gambling is regulated about “potential vulnerabilities.” Henry emphatically claims, “The FBI has not engaged in this discussion with our foreign partners.” On casino bot programs manipulating online games, Henry admits, “While casino software could very easily be employed to manipulate games, the FBI has no data in this area.”

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was quick to point out the pitfalls of Henry’s letter. Its Executive Director, John Pappas, charged, “Every concern the letter raises is better addressed by licensing and regulation than by prohibition. The letter misconstrues much about the current state of online poker, but it does so in a way that clearly makes the case for why federal oversight is necessary. Licensing and regulation is the most protective measure we can take to ensure the online community can be properly monitored while maintaining our internet freedom.”

The PPA added that Congressman Peter King (R-NY), the current Ranking Member and former Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, conveyed that money laundering and terrorism financing were not taking place through internet gambling. The PPA explains that online poker sites use credit databases to address age and location and that the Department of Justice has never found evidence that organized crime benefited from internet gambling. In total, the lobbying group notes, “In defense of Mr. Henry’s letter, it is intended to address the status quo, not the internet poker landscape under HR 2267.”

Age verification was one of the many issues discussed at last week’s hearing, which focused on HR 2267. The bill, proposed by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) crafts a complete licensing and regulatory framework for the internet gambling industry in the United States.

UIGEA hearing scheduled Dec. 3

According to the House Financial Services Committee website, a full committee hearing on two bills designed to regulate and tax online gambling in the US and delay UIGEA enforcement will be held Dec. 3.

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, a longtime proponent of legalized online poker, unveiled both bills this past May.

HR 2266 is designed to delay UIGEA compliance until December 2010 while HR 2267 seeks to render the act moot by establishing a federal regulatory and enforcement framework to license Internet gambling operators, including online poker sites, in the United States.

The hearing will be held Dec. 3 at 10 a.m. ET in the Committee's Rayburn House Office Building and interested members of the public can watch a live webcast through the Committee's website.

In the meantime, UIGEA regulations come into effect next Tuesday Dec. 1 forcing financial institutions in the U.S. to stop processing any transactions related to online gambling.

Full Tilt Poker Million Dollar Challenge: Tom Dwan Takes Sammy George for $750,000

The finale of the Full Tilt Poker Million Dollar Challenge in London featured sponsored pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan taking Sammy “Any Two” George for a colossal $750,000. Dwan entered the contest up over $40,000 after facing Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

The battle between Dwan and George featured a 7-2 bonus, similar to a promotion you’d find at some of the world’s largest online poker sites. If either Dwan or George scooped a pot with the worst starting hand in poker, they’d claim a $10,000 reward. Dwan, as expected, went all-out to claim it, including pushing for $400,000 on a board of J-A-6-3-3 with three hearts with just 7-2. George tanked for over five minutes before finally releasing A-6 for two pair. Dwan flipped over his bluff, raking the pot and the $10,000 bonus.

George commented after his nearly $1 million thumping, “The turning point was the bluff with the 7-2 when I had the two-pair, but I cannot call there for three times the pot. The game was in his favor, he was hitting cards and rivering cards, but I respect Tom a lot and always will. He’s one of the best in the world and I think he’s up there with Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius. I think when people see the show, they will have a different opinion of me from what they had before.” George was originally slated to appear on the sixth season of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” joining Dwan, Ivey, and Antonius, but was a no-show when taping commenced in Las Vegas.

Dwan and George bought in for $500,000 each and blinds began at $500/$1,000. Marigliano bested Dwan to the tune of $22,500, while Sahamies dropped $68,000 to his young opponent over 500 hands of Pot Limit Omaha. The action unfolded at the Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair and featured pros such as Roland de Wolfe and European Poker Tour founder John Duthie turning out to catch a glimpse of the action.

In another key hand during Dwan’s match against George, the challenger was down 10:1 in chips, $900,000 to $90,000. George shoved all-in with 9-4 for bottom pair after the flop came 7-6-4, but ran into Dwan’s A-7. The hand boosted Dwan’s stack to nearly $1 million and ensured that George would be funding the youngster’s online bankroll for some time to come.

Early on, George ran A-K into Dwan’s pocket aces. George put in a raise pre-flop, Dwan bumped the action to $30,000, George re-raised to $113,000, Dwan shoved, and George made the call. The flop came 5-6-7, no help to George, but an eight on the turn left the possibility of a chopped pot if a four or a nine came off on the river. However, the final card was a 10 and George lost his initial $250,000 buy-in. Coverage on Matchroom Sport candidly noted, “[George] grabs the $250k behind him and off we go.” Neither player was allowed to leave the table until one was broke or 500 hands were completed.

In another pot, George held pocket kings and led out for $26,000 on a flop of 3-2-9 with two clubs. Dwan made the call with J-5 of clubs and the five of hearts fell on the turn. The action went check-check to the nine of clubs on the river, filling Dwan’s flush and also pairing the board. George bet $50,000 and Dwan moved all-in over the top. George debated for several minutes before folding. That hand gave Dwan a $357,000 lead; he’d more than double that by the time the 500 hands were up.

All told, Dwan won nearly $800,000 over the course of the Full Tilt Poker Million Dollar Challenge, which will hit television airwaves next year.

VP of Bodog Poker Network Discusses Expansion

Recently, officials from Bodog announced the formation of the Bodog Network, a family of poker sites encompassing the various Bodog brands around the world with expansion to non-Bodog domains expected in 2010. Poker News Daily sat down with Jonas Odman, Vice President of the Network, to review the company’s plans to take on new sites.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Can you give us an update on the Bodog Network? When can we expect more sites to be added?

Odman: We’re talking to potential partners now and will hopefully get someone on board. We have a target list, but we’re looking for someone who is technologically savvy to be the first partner. Ideally, we would like to find someone with a big European base of players.

PND: Are American-facing sites more attractive than those that do not accept U.S. players?

Odman: It’s possible that we would not want or require the customer database of our partners. So, if our partners take American players, it’s fine. They can take players from anywhere they want. It’s a big project. We will have to develop things on the business-to-business side. It’s new to us and will be a big project. We want to move up in player liquidity.

PND: Explain the importance of seeking out European-focused online poker sites to join the Bodog Network.

Odman: We want to cover all limits at all hours so you always have a game when you log in. If you’re a high-limit player and log on during European hours, you might have trouble right now. Also, we will be able to offer better tournaments.

PND: What will happen to Bodog.com’s team of sponsored pros, which includes Evelyn Ng, David Williams, and Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo after the departure of Jean-Robert Bellande?

Odman: Team Bodog will represent Bodog.com and continue to do that. Our operators on the network will have their own teams of players.

PND: Are you planning to offer payment services and other ancillary features as well or only focus on online poker?

Odman: Initially, it will just be poker. The sites will have to do payments themselves. Our target partners are bigger and they won’t need to have those types of services provided to them anyway.

PND: What are the benefits of potential partners moving to the Bodog Network?

Odman: There are some unhappy operators on other networks. On Bodog, the operators can keep their customer databases. That will differentiate us from some networks. We also have a unique solution to rakeback where operators that bring in net depositing players will earn more money than they would on other networks.

The players that the network wants are net depositing players, but with the way the rake is split now, the winning players get too large of a proportion of revenue. We don’t think that’s fair. We want to reward operators who bring in net depositing players.

We will take the players’ deposits as a factor before we split the rake between the operators. The typical rakeback player will be worth much less. The winning players will come anyway because we will have good players for them to play against. By focusing on net depositing players, it will benefit the whole ecosystem.

PND: What is the long-term focus of the Bodog Network?

Odman: Our long-term goal is to be in the top three and it depends on which partners we get. We have a good liquidity now, but we want to move up the ladder.

The Weekly Turbo: New Signees for Online Poker Sites, World Series of Poker, and More

Aussie Millions with Full Tilt Poker

Another of our Top 5 poker sites, Full Tilt Poker, have announced their prize packages for the greatest poker event in the Southern Hemisphere – The Aussie Millions 2010!

You can be on your way to play poker in the Aussie Millions Main Event, Crown Casino, Melbourne, Australia this coming January with a generous $14,500 prize package from Full Tilt which includes;

• Main Event seat worth $10,500 AUD
• 11 nights at the Crown Casino Hotel
• $1,200 in your Player Account towards your expenses
• Exclusive entry into $50,000 tournament
• Coaching and interaction with Team Full Tilt – Priceless!

The satellites are running now until approx January 10th with the buy ins starting from as little as $0.50 or 50 FTPs. The $14,500 prize packages will be awarded weekly where, if you haven’t won a seat through a satellite, you can buy in direct at this stage for $535.

There will be territory restricted freerolls exclusively for residents of New Zealand and Australia.

If you want to learn more about this huge event see our Aussie Millions 2010 page where, as well as telling you which poker sites have announced their packages so far, and listing their satellites, we have the full Aussie Millions 2010 Schedule. We have also written a brief history of this historic event with the winners and runners up over the years.

Full Tilt is one of our favourite online poker sites, see our unbiased Full Tilt Review to see what an amazing poker site it is. Sign up using the Full Tilt Referral Code FTPGOLD to entitle you to a sign up bonus of 100% up to $600 and entry into exclusive freerolls.

Good Luck down under!

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WSOP Final Table Logos: Inside Perspective

As you probably know, WSOP Final Table logos are big business. Players routinely secure six and seven figure multi year deals from the big online poker sites. The 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine were no exception. Except for the nine players, agents and poker sites, very few people ever get to look inside how logo deals happen. Poker News Daily sat down with Paul Leggett of Ultimate Bet. Leggett is the COO at Tokwiro, the owner of Ultimate Bet, and is ultimately the one responsible for making logo deals on behalf of the site. While Ultimate Bet did not have a player wearing a logo at the 2009 WSOP Final Table, the site did have significant ESPN exposure in the coverage during the run up to the final table. In addition, Leggett and UB were heavily involved in multi-month attempts to sign players at the final table.

Who were you targeting as good candidates for Ultimate Bet logos in this year’s WSOP?

Leggett: Coming down the stretch I really wanted Joe Sebok, Antonio Esfandiari and Prahlad Friedman. To determine who to go after, we usually look at televised tables, chip counts, etc. We also focused in on Billy Kopp and Joe Cada because they fit with our pro team and they had good chip stacks. Once they got the final 27 we liked their experience from online poker and we went after both of them. Unfortunately Billy busted out a bit short of the final table and Joe ended up signing with PokerStars but we felt good about who we were going after.

When it got down to the final table the only person I really wanted was Joe Cada because he represented the young online poker player really well. We went after Joe Cada and Stars went after Darvin Moon. Cada and his agent were holding us off and delaying so I put an expiration date on the offer.

After Cada signed with Stars, I realized that Stars was going after Moon while we were going after Cada and that was one reason Cada was holding off on making a decision. Stars was insisting on a long-term pro deal with Moon but he wouldn’t budge on doing anything beyond a one-day deal because he didn’t want to have any commitments after the series. Stars wouldn’t do a one-day logo deal with Moon so they came in and signed Cada. I don’t blame Cada for holding out for a big deal. Our deals work on a sliding scale and Stars offers much larger flat multi-year deals.

So after not getting Joe Cada in September did you pursue anyone else?

Leggett: We went after Moon. He made it obvious to us that he only wanted a single-day logo deal which is worth a lot less to us. There’s still value in the logo but if he did well we obviously want him to become a part of our team. We want someone to be an ambassador and represent our site at other tournaments. So we saw a lot less value in it but we were still in back and forth discussions with his agent until the day before the final table. We made a lot of different sorts of significant six-figure offers for the one day logo deal but in the end we weren’t able to reach an agreement.

(Editors Note: Leggett declined to provide specific figures during our interview but a number of industry sources have stated that Moon was looking for $350k for a one-day logo deal at the final table. We can obviously presume that Ultimate Bet did not offer that much or else Moon would have taken it.)

How hard is it to do this when you’re competing with the Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars’ of the world?

Leggett: It’s very hard because negotiating and making these deals is a unique skill set and you have to learn from scratch and get experience. One reason it’s so difficult to make these deals is because it’s hard to put an estimate on what these deals are worth. They can backfire on you badly. There are a number of WSOP champions who we don’t want to have representing us. On the other hand, guys like Joe Cada are perfect for us.

But it’s really us just trying to put ourselves in a position to find the next Moneymaker dream winner and reap the rewards from that. We learned a lot this year and I pretty much guarantee we’ll have a logo at the final table next year.

How do Ultimate Bet’s deals generally work?

Leggett: Before the final table, it depends on whether the player is at a primary televised table or a secondary table. Based on that, they get a flat amount. In addition, they get paid for TV incentives after it airs usually based on TV exposure of full and partial logos. There are a few requirements for what qualifies as a logo exposure. In addition, should they make the final table, we offer a scaling final table deal which is relatively small for 9th and quite large for 1st. The deal for 1st is a multi-year Ultimate Bet pro deal.

What do you think about diminishing returns on logos? How important is the first logo for a site versus the second and the third?

Leggett: I care a great deal about the first especially if it’s a great player and a great story. I thought Cada and Moon had great stories and I really wanted to get at least one of them. Both of them appeal to a certain demographic. We’re selective about who we’ll spend a lot to put a logo on. We definitely want to have a logo at final tables but we’re also shooting for first or second place players to be our long-term representative. A lot of people don’t remember who finished 3rd, 4th, etc after a few years so we really want someone who has a great story and can get to heads up. That’s our goal in this process.

Do you think the 3 logo rule is a good one?

Leggett: I really do think it’s a good one. It makes sense for the WSOP because the brand is the WSOP and it isn’t the PokerStars series. It can look overwhelming and silly.

What do you think their reasoning was for that?

Leggett: Probably to combat a single site dominating.

Do you want to talk about your strategy for next year?

Leggett: We can’t do that, it’s too important. But we did learn a lot this year and we will be able to get a logo next year. We did get a ton of coverage on ESPN this year and we’re really happy with the TV exposure that we got. Our coverage was probably better than Stars even in the period leading up to the final table. We’re very happy with our exposure even though we didn’t sign Cada and we’re looking forward to getting a logo on the final table next year.

Merge Gaming Network Fires Back at PIC Club

In a statement released in recent days by the Merge Gaming Network, the family of online poker sites fired back at Players Investment Company, or PIC Club, a major online poker payment processor that uses its status as a trading organization to operate legally in the United States.

A terse e-mail, authored by Merge Gaming CEO Anthony Taylor, read, “It has been brought to my attention, via comments in a public forum, that there is some confusion regarding a relationship we have with a payments provider. To be clear, it was Merge Gaming, who served notice on our agreement with Pic Club.” An e-mail sent by PIC Club members to players on October 15th noted that the two sides “mutually agreed to end their business relationship.” October 18th, three days after the e-mail was sent to players, marked the final day of transactions between the two entities.

Speculation on the motivation for either side ending its agreement with the other has run rampant throughout the major online poker forums, leading to Taylor’s statement. He attempted to shed some light on the point of contention by remarking, “The reasoning behind this is a matter of private record. Merge Gaming attempted to resolve the issue brought on by PIC Club, one of its principals, and one of its members, and without resolution, felt it was in the best interest of our customers to end this relationship immediately.”

The Merge Gaming CEO crisply ended his e-mail by claiming, “It is regrettable that I have to respond to the statements of the past week, but our hand has been forced. We’ve cancelled our agreement to protect our players, our network partners, and our reputation going forward.”

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the Merge Gaming Network is the 17th largest worldwide with a seven-day running average of 420 real money ring game players. During its peak hours, up to 700 cash game players can be found seated at its virtual felts. Its family of online poker sites includes ACED, Carbon Poker, IronDuke, Poker Nordica, Reefer Poker, and Spin32. PokerScout.com notes that the Merge Gaming Network’s headquarters is in Australia, while its servers are hosted on the Kahnawake reservation in Canada.

Chuck Kidd, the CEO of the trading company, authored the e-mail to PIC Club members ten days ago. In it, he lamented, “We regret the dissolution of this business relationship, however we believe it is in the best interest of PIC Club and our valued members.” Players who withdrew money from Merge Gaming Network sites through PIC Club would see their funds placed in a “pending status,” which meant they would only be released when funds were received from the Network. After cashouts had been processed, PIC Club officials planned to solicit relationships with individual Merge Gaming Network sites. Big Bet Poker and rooms on the IGS System were not affected by the agreement’s cessation.

Kidd recently sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the origins and operations of PIC Club, but told us that he was unable to answer questions about the Merge Gaming Network squabble until at least Monday, October 27th. An interview will be held this week with Kidd to discuss the situation, which unfolded publicly on online forums, news sites, and other media last week.

PIC Club skirts the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and other overarching laws in the United States by “buying shares of [a] pooled commodity” and selling it to an online poker site, according to Kidd. Player’s available shares accounts received dividends of 10.5% in 2008 and 14.25% in 2007.

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