Poker News

The iPad and its Potential With Online Poker

Although most online poker players use Windows PCs, there has been a growing swell of players using Apple Mac computers like MacBook Pros and iMacs.  The Mac-centric poker niche is growing, with four major sites having native software clients: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB.com, and Absolute Poker. The popular hand history tracking utility PokerTracker 3 came out recently with a Mac OS X beta edition of its software.  With the release of Apple’s tablet computer, the iPad, there has been plenty of speculation about the machine's future with online poker.

When thinking about the iPad and its potential for being used for online poker, we need to keep the following questions in mind:

• What are the hardware specs of the iPad?
• Is the interface going to be applicable to an online poker software program?
• Will the screen quality and resolution level make online poker practical?
• Does the iPad have enough bandwidth to have a lag-free online poker experience?
• Is the iPad OS something that a poker site can work with to create an App?
• Will the legal environment allow a poker site to release an App?

The iPad is a high-resolution 9.7-inch LED-backlit computer that weighs just 1.5 pounds.  It’s touted as being perfect for web browsing, watching movies, and viewing photos.  The unit works in either portrait or landscape mode, very similarly to an iPod Touch or iPhone.  The multi-touch screen on the iPad is based on the current iPhone technology, but has been totally re-engineered for the larger surface to be more precise and responsive.  The battery life is said to last up to 10 hours by using a special lithium-polymer technology.  The iPad uses an A4 chip that was custom designed by Apple engineers to be extremely powerful, but at the same time very power efficient.  Units will have an option for 16, 32, or 64 GB of internal flash storage.

All iPad units will have built-in WiFi with 802.11n, which is currently the fastest wireless protocol available.  In addition, there will be 3G models with data speeds up to 7.2 MB per second on the AT&T network for coverage anywhere without a WiFi network, but with a 3G signal.  Units are expected to start shipping at the end of March and the base version costs just $499.

The iPad interface is the multi-touch screen that has been made more precise and responsive to help counter the potential problems it would face with a much larger screen.  The resolution of the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen is 1024x768, which is a bit inferior to what most experts predicted it would be.

With all the glitz and glamor of the iPad now out in the open, as poker players, we’re wondering about its capabilities for online poker.  The unit, on the surface, seems like a great little online poker machine.  The touch screen appears to be perfect for interfacing with a poker table.  You could use the bet slider with the flick of a finger, fold or check by tapping the appropriate button, and even muck your cards by flicking them into the middle of the table.  Interface-wise, there’s no question that the touch-screen of the unit will work splendidly.

The next question for whether or not the iPad would be feasible for an online poker player is how a table would look on the screen.  There’s plenty of screen available for a single poker table to load up in the 1024x768 space.  In fact, it’s probably feasible to have four tables load up at the same time.  The graphics capabilities of the unit were rather impressive during Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ presentation with a few video games, so we know it can handle the minimal graphics required by many of the poker rooms.

Another question we have to answer is about the iPad bringing the necessary bandwidth to play one or even four tables at the same time.  Since most poker rooms only require a dial-up connection, which is surpassed in spades by both WiFi and 3G connections, there’s absolutely no concern about the unit not having enough bandwidth to handle the rigors of playing online poker.

The iPad uses a new operating system that works very similar to the iPhone OS, with more capabilities to take advantage of the unit’s more robust power.  Because the development kit is already available to software developers, there wouldn’t be much of a stumbling block to developing a solid iPad version of the software.

With the all of the questions answered fairly positively when asking the question whether or not the iPad will work with online poker, we’re down to our final one: Will the current legal environment allow it?  Since Apple is based in California and controls the App Store, the worldwide distribution of Apps for the iPad will be based on U.S. laws.  The legal environment in the United States is murky at best with online poker, with virtually no chance of Apple approving an App created by a major poker site for real money poker play.  With that being the case, it would seem foolish to expect a poker site to invest money and resources toward a project that would only meet failure.

The potential future of the iPad and real money online poker is bright.  The unit is perfect for those who want to sit on their couch, relax, and play a few hands of poker.  Maybe you’re stuck at the airport or who knows where and you want to log on and play a few hands.  The iPad certainly has the technological power to handle the task.  The only stumbling block is left up to the legal environment.  For now, we’ll probably just enjoy whatever random Texas Hold’em video games Apple approves in the iPad App Store to satisfy our poker craving.

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.

Table Ninja Added to Holdem Manager

Recently, the popular poker tracking and analysis program Holdem Manager announced that it had added a free 30-day trial of Table Ninja to its suite of products. The change took effect on January 20th.

Table Ninja, available for PokerStars, consists of hotkeys that players can use to play more effectively online. Shortcuts for common actions like checking, betting, folding, calling, and raising exist within the program, making multi-tabling on the world’s largest online poker site a breeze. Other functions affect table controls and opening and closing sit and go and cash game tables. The creators of Table Ninja recently released TableNinjaFT for Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second largest online poker site. Playing more tables, of course, means larger profits for solid grinders.

PokerSoftware.com, which lists the price of Table Ninja for PokerStars at $35, called the program “the best efficiency/productivity add-on software that money can buy for PokerStars players.” TableNinjaFT is currently free and the software review site explains, “Although it may not have as many features as its PokerStars counterpart, the fact that it is free is a major selling point.” Members of PokerSoftware.com have rated TableNinjaFT the highest of the 50-plus programs reviewed at 4.73 out of 5.00. Table Ninja for PokerStars is the 11th highest rated program, coming in at 4.07.

In a press release distributed by Holdem Manager officials, PokerStars Supernova Elite member “Actaru5” commented on the importance of using Table Ninja on the virtual felts: "It's the best engineered poker software I have ever seen... I honestly can no longer imagine playing without Table Ninja." Poker staking site Part Time Poker described Table Ninja as follows: Table Ninja makes “the multi-tabling experience a smoother, more enjoyable, and likely more profitable affair."

Table Ninja will be offered in Holdem Manager’s suite of products and a free 30-day trial will become part of the program. In addition, customer support staff for Holdem Manager will provide the same function for Table Ninja. As expected, Holdem Manager officials were elated at the prospects of adopting Table Ninja. The press release explained, “Everyone at Hold'em Manager is excited to add TableNinja to the Holdem Manager platform as a part of our ongoing mission to provide our customers with world class poker analytics software.”

Holdem Manager runs $55 for a Small-Stakes Edition and $80 for the Professional version. It is one of two programs that pace the tracking and analysis market, with PokerTracker being its main competitor. Holdem Manager’s Heads-Up Display (HUD) overlays right on top of a table, allowing players to note key stats about their competition in real-time, like the percent of time opponents voluntarily put money into the pot, make continuation bets, and fold to 3bets. Graphs within Holdem Manager make trending a breeze and a built-in hand replayer shows the HUD’s stats.

Companion programs to Holdem Manager include Omaha Manager, Table Scanner, and Leak Buster. Omaha Manager provides the same tracking and analysis capabilities for Omaha as Hold’em, helping customers excel in the rapidly-growing game. Table Scanner offers stats on those seated at a table to allow lobby surfers to find the juiciest ones or those that suit them best. Finally, Leak Buster does exactly what its name implies; it analyzes your game to find holes. To date, the software suite lacked an AutoHotKey (AHK) component, which now comes in the form of Table Ninja.

Table Ninja was officially introduced into Holdem Manager on January 20th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest poker software news.

Full Tilt Poker Introduces Rush Poker

At most online sites, the hands in a ring game are dealt at nearly twice the speed of what would occur during a live session. This isn’t quick enough for some players, who prefer playing at multiple tables to earn more money for their bankroll and satisfy their desire for action. A new innovation at Full Tilt Poker has responded to the call for faster play on the virtual felt.

Called Rush Poker, Full Tilt Poker has come up with a game that could draw a great deal of attention from those with the need for speed. If a player at a table is dealt a hand – for example, J-2 offsuit – and doesn’t want to play the hand, the player can click the "Fold" button (once in action, there is a “Quick Fold” button that can be used at any time instead of waiting for your turn). Instead of sticking around to watch the remaining players at the table battle it out, the player is immediately jetted off to another table, with a completely new batch of players, and a new hand is dealt. The only time a player stays at the table is when they are actually in action with a hand; once a player folds, the player is gone to another table with a new group of players. This leads to a monumental number of hands during any given session.

Team Full Tilt is firmly behind the Rush Poker variation and they will step in to the fray along with their regular players. Howard Lederer commented on his Twitter account, “Had fun giving Rush poker a try on FTP. 300 hands per hour at one table. Cool.” Fellow Team Full Tilt member Andy Bloch was equally impressed when he stated on Twitter, “Playing new Rush Poker on Full Tilt Poker. Online poker may never be the same!”

Be prepared for a tremendous amount of action if you approach the Rush Poker tables, however. Poker News Daily examined the lobby at the Rush Poker tables for this article and, at the time, only No Limit Hold’em had action, with three Six-Handed tables ($0.25/$0.50, $0.10/$0.25 and $0.05/$0.10) and three nine-handed ring games (same levels). Among the six groups that were in action, the low count for players was around 420 players and the high was approximately 1,550 players.

The average number of hands dealt during an hour of play fluctuated between 277 to 318, negating the need for multi-tabling. Average pot sizes were quite similar to what happens at the regular speed tables. It did seem, however, that players played a bit tighter on the Rush Poker tables, with the “players seeing the flop” percentages ranging from 19% to 25%.

At the tables, the action runs very smoothly. Whether you wait until your action to fold or use the “Quick Fold” option, as soon as you make your decision, an entirely different table of players loads up for action. When you move, you can land in any position at the table. In the span of less than ten minutes, this author played 50 hands, making for a rough average of 300 hands per hour.

There is a downside to the quick action, however. Players who prefer to learn their opponents’ tendencies will not have that luxury, as each different hand is played with a different group of opponents. Checking the previous hand history is useless as you are no longer playing the same opponents with the table change. Using any type of poker software is nearly impossible; with the quick table changes, the software cannot keep up. If a player receives a few bad beats, the quick action can also rapidly burn through the stakes a player brings to the table.

Whether Full Tilt Poker’s new Rush Poker will catch on is up to the players to decide. At the time of writing, the Rush Poker tables accounted for only about 10% of the total action on the site. Full Tilt Poker has also applied for a patent on this variation of online poker, making it highly unlikely that other sites will pick up on this new phenomenon.

Microgaming Network Attempts to Curb Online Poker Datamining

On Thursday, one of the top online poker networks in the industry, Microgaming, announced its intentions to eliminate datamining on its family of sites.

The Microgaming Network, which includes sites such as 32RedPoker, CrazyPoker, PurpleLounge.com, and Unibet, is one of the top ten poker networks in the industry, according to PokerScout.com. Averaging approximately 1,600 players in its cash games and offering a variety of tournament action, the Microgaming Network draws a tremendous amount of action from Europe. However, this hasn’t prevented Microgaming from taking what is a groundbreaking step in the online poker world.

Effective immediately, Microgaming announced the following changes to its hand history policy: "With immediate effect, hand histories on observed tables will no longer be stored on players’ computers and the practice of downloading and storing hand histories in bulk will be stopped." At most sites, all hands at a player’s table are transferred to a special file on the player’s computer hard drive. This allows a player to go back at a later time and review these histories - and opponents’ tendencies on the virtual felt – and use software like PokerTracker and Holdem Manager to analyze it.

Microgaming feels that such software has tilted the playing field between those who utilize such information and those who do not. Instead of using poker software to analyze play, Microgaming believes that it has become an “exploitative tool” that players use to pick up an unfair advantage.

In the announcement, Andrew Clucas, Head of Poker at Microgaming Software Systems, which operates the Microgaming Poker Network, stated, “Concern has been rising over the long-term effect of third party software upon the poker industry as a whole, and in particular the negative effect it has on the recreational player demographic. The decision to put a stop to the practice of datamining on the poker network is part of Microgaming’s overarching network strategy to support operators in attracting and retaining recreational players. It further demonstrates commitment in providing a secure and fair playing environment.”

While some in the poker playing community may view Microgaming’s move as an assault against those who use the varieties of software available, Clucas emphasizes that the company is simply ensuring a balanced playing field for its customers. “Microgaming is not seeking to alienate its winning players,” Clucas said. “There has been a move in the industry towards penalizing winners; we believe that is the wrong approach. There will always be winners and losers in poker. What we are trying to achieve is a more level playing field for all the players.”

Some in the poker world see the move by Microgaming as just the first domino in a chain about to fall. Steve Ruddock, a writer for the National Online Poker Examiner and a frequent participant in the battles on Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and the Cake Poker Network, believes that the move by Microgaming should be the standard for the online poker industry.

“I think datamining creates an unequal playing field because it puts the emphasis on data collection instead of hard-work, focus, and skill,” Ruddock noted. “Players are no longer rewarded for their hard-work: instead, players are rewarded for spending $50 to $100 and receiving data in return. Tracking software has turned breakeven or slight losers into winners by negating the advantage that decent winning players held over them: Work ethic and focus. Poker is equal parts strategy, psychology, and hard work; datamining eliminates the need for the third part.”

As to Microgaming’s decision, Ruddock sees that it could be a point of sale for players. “I think Microgaming’s decision will have widespread effects,” he opines. “At some point, ‘Do they allow datamining?’ will be just as important as ‘Do they offer rakeback?’ in the minds of potential customers. I hope more sites follow Microgaming’s lead. It would leave a handful of sites with a player base of dataminers and, once they see that the table is full of tight grinders, they’ll start looking for greener pastures.”

Top poker professional Kenna James, who is sponsored by PokerHost on the Cake Poker Network, took a philosophical approach to looking at the issue. “Datamining is an interesting platform for looking at us, as humans, as a microcosm of what is going on in the advancement of the high-tech world and its applications to us altogether,” James stated. “The issue I see with datamining is that it can reduce people to sets of numbers and I personally find this very impersonal; people are more then just a set of numbers.”

“The complexities of poker go beyond that in a live setting where you have to interact with real people, but maybe not so much online where you can hide behind the anonymity of an avatar,” Kenna explained. “Things get more complicated when you bring in emotion, compassion, and reason, among other things. These human qualities and characteristics can slowly be eroded when you begin to see people as just a number.”

James finished our discussion with an interesting thought: “Hours or days or years of using tools like this and becoming dependent on them for making their decisions may lead to some serious personal issues we have not yet discovered in life off the virtual felt.”

Whether other poker networks will follow Microgaming’s lead in the banishment of datamining and poker software remains to be seen. It also is a question as to how players will respond to not being able to use poker software on the Microgaming Network.

Brian Townsend’s Full Tilt Poker Status Suspended for Isildur1 Controversy

In the wake of the arrival of Swedish high-stakes online poker player Isildur1, Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, a CardRunners instructor, has had his Full Tilt Poker Red Pro status suspended for one month.

According to PokerTableRatings.com, which has seen its traffic explode as a result of Isildur1 playing nosebleed stakes against the likes of Tom “durrrr” Dwan, 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, and Patrik Antonius, Townsend took nearly $1.6 million off Isildur1 over 17,725 tracked hands. He ranks as Isildur1’s fourth “Worst Enemy” behind fellow CardRunners instructor Brian Hastings, Ivey, and Antonius.

The allegations of possible collusion against Isildur1 stemmed from an interview with Hastings posted by Gary Wise on ESPN.com. On his $3 million day against Isilaur1 that took place earlier this month, Hastings told Wise, “Obviously I'm happy and I'll take it, but Brian [Townsend] did a ton of work. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I'm very thankful to him and to Cole as well." Hastings’ comments, as benign as they may seem, ignited a firestorm of controversy around the industry as players cried foul on behalf of Isildur1.

Full Tilt Poker’s Terms of Service states, “Players are not permitted to use the hand histories for hands that they have not personally participated in.” Accordingly, poker software such as Poker-Edge, Poker Crusher, and IdleMiner are strictly prohibited because they give players an unfair leg up in the game. Examples of shunned practices in the Terms and Services also include “exchanging hand histories with a friend.”

In a blog posted on CardRunners.com, Townsend admitted to acquiring a total of 30,000 hands on Isildur1 to supplement his own chest of 20,000. The poker training instructor noted, “This is against the T&C of Full Tilt Poker and because of this violation I am going to have my red pro status suspended for one month.” CardRunners instructors are sponsored pros of the site as part of an agreement forged in March of 2008. The group also includes Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, Andrew “muddywater” Wiggins, and 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion Ryan “Daut44” Daut.

Townsend defended his actions, saying, “[Hastings, Cole 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.” Isildur1 has been notably quiet on the virtual felts after storming the high-stakes online poker scene last month. According to PokerTableRatings.com, of the eight largest pots in the history of online poker, Isildur1 has been involved in every single one, winning half of them. Antonius scooped the largest pot ever seen in the industry, which registered at $1.3 million.

This isn’t Townsend’s first run-in with Full Tilt Poker authorities. In September of 2008, his Red Pro status was revoked for six months after the pro engaged in multi-accounting. Townsend played under two monikers on the world’s second largest online poker site, “Stellarnebula” and “Brian Townsend,” resulting in the disciplinary action. Townsend donated $25,000 to charity to help make up for his transgressions, commenting at the time, “This is by no means me making my actions correct, but I hope that it shows some good faith towards those that I work closely with.”

In his most recent admission of violating Full Tilt’s Terms of Service, Townsend noted that he has never played on South’s or Hastings’ online poker accounts. He commented, “I analyzed the database I put together, and the three of us chatted about my analysis, and optimal strategy against Isildur.”

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest high-stakes headlines.

Mangas Gaming Acquires Everest Poker

Mangas Gaming, which also owns BetClic, Expekt and Bet-at-Home, will hold 60% of Everest Gaming stock with the remaining 40% held by current shareholder GigaMedia.

 “We are very proud that Everest is joining our group,” said Isabelle Parize, CEO of Mangas Gaming.

“It is a great company; it is a brand with an outstanding awareness in the world of poker, well known for its know how, its platform reliability and its strict policies. Mangas Gaming is reinforcing its position as a major European player in both online poker and sports betting.”

Established over 10 years ago, Everest Poker has a strong presence in Europe and Asia and is consistently one of the biggest online poker rooms in the world.

Everest Poker is also one of the few rooms that runs its own proprietary poker software and is the exclusive poker table sponsor for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

“We were looking for a reference partner with complementary activities to ours,” said Arthur Wang, CEO of GigaMedia. “Our strategy is to participate in the growth of this innovative and dynamic industry in Europe. We are glad to do it alongside the French leading sports betting and online gaming group.”

Mangas Gaming has a presence in more than 25 countries and over four million customers. Earlier this year the Mangas-owned BetClic announced it had signed famous poker pro Isabelle Mercier as a consultant and sponsored player.

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New features added to iPoker software… finally

Just as we thought PokerStars and Full Tilt were running away with all the online poker players, Playtech, the company behind the iPoker network, has unveiled a host of new player friendly features for their sites that should keep some of the fish away from the dangers of the open ocean... for now anyway.

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Full Tilt Poker Software Partners Win Two Cases

Full Tilt Poker and its software providers have had their share of legal battles over the last year, but the online site and its partners continue to remain unscathed after two lawsuits against the site's software providers recently came to a close...

A Heads-Up Controversy

The world of internet poker is never lacking for controversy. The latest involves arguably the most respected online poker room in the industry, PokerStars.

Recently, the site held its annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $215 Heads-Up Pot-Limit Omaha “second chance” tournament. When the tournament was down to 16 players, “Anti-Matter”, along with his opponent, “arbianight”, agreed to sit out for a while so that they could both watch a big boxing match on television. According to Anti-Matter, after about 20 minutes, he was declared the loser and arbianight advanced to the quarterfinals.

Upon chatting with PokerStars support, Anti-Matter, arbianight, and any railbirds in attendance found out that if two opponents in a heads-up multi-table tournament sit out for 250 consecutive hands, it would be automatically declared completed. In this case, since both players were sitting out and one player had to move on in the tournament, arbianight got lucky because he had slightly more chips than Anti-Matter as a result of the order in which their blinds had been passed back and forth. Despite both Anti-Matter´s and arbianight´s pleas, PokerStars would not allow them to play on. Anti-Matter requested he at least be paid what he calculated to be his equity in the tournament, but at that point, PokerStars was unable to do anything besides give him his payout for making the round of 16.

As frequently happens when an online poker player feels slighted by a poker room, Anti-Matter took his case to the community at the TwoPlusTwo forums. And, as frequently happens next, a mess ensued, with opinions flying from all angles.  Here are my thoughts on what each party did wrong in this situation:

Anti-Matter

He sat out during an important part of a lucrative tournament in order to watch a boxing match. Television programming took precedent over being one of the final 16 players in a heads-up tournament. Plus, both he and his opponent agreed to do this, making it look even worse. They did not have any intention of delaying the tournament or harming the players in any way, but they looked pretty bad for doing what they did.

Granted, PokerStars does have a rule on its website that states, “There is no rule against choosing to sit out; a player doing so will continue to have blinds and antes posted and cards dealt”, but in reality, the two players broke the spirit of the rule. This statement was made for cases where someone needs to take a bathroom break or answer the door, not so that two opponents in a heads-up tournament can watch a sporting event that could take an hour to complete. Put simply, it´s just not cool.

While the extremely deep stacks, slowly escalating blinds, and quality of players remaining made it likely that all of the matches would take a long time to complete, the fact of the matter is that Anti-Matter and arbianight might have held up the other players. Who´s to say that the other contests would not have ended relatively quickly? The two boxing fans might have caused the other advancing players to wait for more time than necessary.

Additionally, Anti-Matter accused PokerStars of “ripping him off” in the subject line of his forum post, saying that the site refused to pay him the approximately $900 he felt he was owed to make up the difference between his equity in the tournament and the amount he actually won. While his correspondence with PokerStars was fairly civilized, the way he made the issue public was not the correct approach.

PokerStars

It´s simple. PokerStars failed to make it known anywhere, be it on its website or in the poker software, that if the two opponents in a heads-up tournament match sit out for 250 hands, it will end automatically. In fact, as I mentioned above, Stars´ site explicitly states that players may sit out. Making this known, even if it was in the fine print on the website, would have made the whole debate unnecessary.

To be fair, there is a reason for the unwritten rule. In the past, PokerStars had found that there were often tables where both players didn´t show up, usually in play money tournaments. As a result, the matches would go on and on and on with no end in sight until other players noticed and got in touch with the tournament staff. What happened with Anti-Matter – two players sitting out for a long time deep in a high buy-in tournament – was unprecedented.

But if PokerStars is going to program the poker software to have such a dramatic effect on the tournament, that information should be posted somewhere. Better yet, post the rule and pop-up a big warning message should the players start getting close to the 250 hand mark.

Aftermath

It took a few days for PokerStars to come to a decision, but the poker room did pay Anti-Matter the extra $900 he requested. It has also added the rule to its website, although the part that reads “Two or more players may not make any agreement to sit out simultaneously whether at the same table or different tables”, brings into question whether or not an agreement to sit out for a very short period of time, say, if someone has to use the facilities, would really be a violation of the rules. I suppose it would be, according to the letter of the law, but it is doubtful that something like that would be enforced.

For his part, Anti-Matter apologized for the accusatory thread title and requested that a moderator change it.

Pitbull Poker Posts Cashout Instructions, Affiliate Links for PokerStars, Cake Poker

In a curious twist, players logging into the Pitbull Poker client on Wednesday were met with news that the site was officially closed. However, five affiliate banners for other online poker sites also appeared.

On Tuesday, players were able to log into the PitBull Poker software. However, no games were available, nor were any messages announcing that the Flash Poker Network site had officially closed. That all changed on Wednesday, when players who made their way to Pitbull Poker were met with the following announcement: “It is with great sadness that we have closed Pitbull Poker.” The terse statement then addressed the concerns of players questioning the future of their funds held on the small online poker site: “To cash out your balance, please e-mail support@pitbullpoker.com.”

The two-sentence text appears in white on a black background at the top of the screen. Below that are five banners for other online poker rooms. The text above the graphics, written in red, reads, “Pitbull Poker Recommends the following Gaming Websites.” Each banner ad contains an affiliate code, presumably for Pitbull Poker. At the top of the page at the time of writing was an ad for Cake Poker, a USA friendly site and flagship room of its own network. Below Cake Poker was Rushmore Casino, whose banner proudly notes, “All USA Players are Welcome” in capital letters. Rushmore Casino’s banner also touts an $888 bonus.

The third banner given belongs to PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. PokerStars boasts former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champions Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, and Chris Moneymaker among its elite team of pros. Pitbull Poker is also hawking Bookmaker and Aladdin’s Gold to internet gamblers looking for a new home. The Bookmaker ad contains an image of a football.

Affiliate banners, when clicked, tie a player to a referral source. If a person signs up and makes a deposit, the source, in many cases, reaps a one-time finder’s fee or receives a percentage of their action in the future. For Pitbull Poker, which will now receive a tidal wave of player cashout requests, being an affiliate of Cake Poker, Rushmore Casino, PokerStars, Bookmaker, and Aladdin’s Gold can mean an influx of much-needed revenue.

Michael Scott, Operations Manager of PokerSource.com, one of the largest online poker affiliate sites in the industry, told Poker News Daily, “Becoming an affiliate of a poker room is not a difficult thing to do; however, I believe it is the affiliate’s responsibility to disclose to the customer that they are in fact operating as an affiliate. If Pitbull is doing this to try to raise revenue so they can pay out their customers, then that is a win-win situation for the customer, but if they are doing this to line their own pockets even more, that is inexcusable. I would hope that it is the former and not the latter. I guess time will tell as to what they are really trying to do.”

In other Pitbull Poker news, PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on traffic across the major online poker sites, noted that the room’s departure from the Flash Poker Network left the USA-friendly family of sites in shambles. An article posted by PokerScout.com on Sunday read in part, “The move left the Flash Poker Network practically deserted. The network also stopped providing accurate traffic data to PokerScout and was therefore removed from the Online Poker Traffic Report.” PokerScout.com listed the network’s headquarters as being in Costa Rica, with its servers housed in Panama City, Panama.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on the Pitbull Poker closure.

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PokerStars and Full Tilt Update Clients, Affect Third Party Software

The top two online poker sites in the world, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, have recently released software updates.  In addition to performance updates, there are a few site upgrades that add to a player’s experience.  These additions have a ripple effect in the poker software industry, as every time there’s an update for a site, third party software developers must update their programs in order for them to continue to work.

On September 19th, Full Tilt Poker released a patch that fixed numerous problems for its PC and Mac clients.  The first major fixed involved a crashing issue for Mac users during the login process.  For PC users, there was a major lag issue when logging in that has now been fixed.  However, if players are using a proxy to connect to Full Tilt Poker, parts of the site will become inaccessible.  These sections include the FTP Store, the deposit screen, and the withdrawal screen.

Other issues cleared up by the recent Full Tilt Poker patch, which downloads automatically when players start up the site, include bug fixes for face down cards.  Some players have reported that they were dealt a card or two face down during a hand, while others had their software client become unresponsive while in a hand.   Finally, another glitch that was fixed featured tables not popping up to the front if they required an action, causing many to time out unknowingly.  A representative for Full Tilt Poker, FTPDoug, responded on the PocketFives.com forum saying, “We’ve made a couple of changes to the table coming to the front code.”

PokerStars has had a few minor updates since its major overhaul released in August.  The new update shored up some lag issues of its own and also introduced partial FPPs and synchronized breaks.  The new Mixed Hold’em/Omaha games continue to gain steam with players and extended registration times allow for larger tournament fields.

The updates, mainly on Full Tilt Poker, have sent some third party software developers scrambling to get up to speed.  Player tracking website PlayerGPS.com continues to say that reporting for Full Tilt Poker is not working and also has yet to release its Titan Poker update.  Representatives from PlayerGPS.com told Poker News Daily weeks ago that a Full Tilt update was coming, but that has failed to come to fruition.

Hand history tracking programs Hold’em Manager and PokerTracker 3 continue to roll out updates to their software.  In the last two weeks, Hold’em Manager has released three beta updates to its 1.09 edition.  Some of the updates include fixing importing issues for Full Tilt and PokerStars hyper-turbo payouts.  PokerTracker 3 released build 5.2 in August, which ensures the proper scanning and importing of hands from all the sites that it supports.

Shortcut programs continue to work on PokerStars, specifically Table Ninja.  Players who update to the most recent version of the program, 1.1.44.0, will see that there are important bug fixes and features implemented for PokerStars users.  Both TableNinjaFT (version 1.0.7.0) and Poker Shortcuts (4.0032) are reportedly operational with Full Tilt Poker and offer up plenty of shortcuts for players to use.  Other software, such as Hold’em Genius, released an update last week to version 1.5.40, which fixes an important issue and now works with all PokerStars tables.

Whenever a site issues a software update, it’s very important for players to download and install it.  These updates provide critical fixes to glitches in the program for a better poker experience in addition to dealing with potential lag issues.  Once a poker site has been updated, be on the lookout for updates to third party software programs that you use, which are usually just hours behind.  Staying up-to-date ensures a productive and more stable poker playing experience.

Poker News in Brief: Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2009

Not only did the 2009 WCOOP, the biggest online tournament series in the world, kick off on Thursday, but the always popular Barcelona stop on the PokerStars EPT began on Friday.

There's always a list of stories that don't make the front page, however, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature we've compiled a list of those stories below.

This week we'll take a look at a sweet ride that can be won via a popular poker site, a reason for lumberjacks and hockey players to rejoice and some good news for a poker software company.

Play at ((UltimateBet)), Win a Mercedes

UltimateBet continues to celebrate their 10th anniversary by giving its players a chance to win a brand new Mercedes ML-350 at this year's Aruba Poker Classic.

The Mercedes Giveaway is an exclusive one-table 10-player tournament for UltimateBet players with the winner driving away in a fine piece of German engineering.

There are two ways to participate. Players who haven't already qualified for the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic can pay the $200+$15 buy-in for the Mercedes Satellite on Sept. 27 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The top five finishers in this No-Limit Hold'em event will win $2,000 towards travel, plus their seat at the Mercedes Giveaway in Aruba on Oct. 8.

Meanwhile players who have already qualified for the Aruba Poker Classic will have the opportunity to play a dedicated $500+$30 satellite at 5:30 ET on Sept. 27. This online qualifier will award the top four players with entry into the Mercedes Giveaway in Aruba. Each seat is valued at $6,200.

Of course that only accounts for eight seats. One UltimateBet player feels so confident about the Mercedes Giveaway that he has already purchased his seat with 1.5 million UltimatePoints.

((Bodog)) coming to Canada, eh!

For years Canadian citizens had to be content with the fact that Bodog was essentially the only online poker room they weren't allowed to play.

That all changed this week.

Bodog officially launched the Canadian version of its site, www.bodog.ca, and it appears that everything is virtually identical to the dot-com.

Canadians can deposit using credit cards and UseMyBank.

Bodog remains one of the only rooms where you can deposit as little as $20.

Good first half for Playtech

According to a story by Reuters, online casino and poker software firm Playtech posted a 33 percent rise in first-half earnings.

Perhaps the biggest boost comes from a joint venture with online poker room William Hill that is starting to gain momentum.

In the past, Playtech has helped develop poker software for rooms like Betfair Poker, Titan Poker, CD Poker and the rest of the iPoker network.

Shares in Playtech have gained 15 percent since reaching an 18-month low in July.

WCOOP breaks records

It's safe to say the 2009 WCOOP has had a fantastic start on PokerStars.

Event 6 $109 No-Limit Hold'em on Saturday garnered the attention of 15,674 players and, in doing so, became the most attended WCOOP of all-time.

The gigantic field of runners created a prize pool of just over $1.5 million and eventual first-place winner vakAAttack took down $183,334.

In other WCOOP news, well-known online player Daniel "djk123" Kelly took down his first WCOOP bracelet in Event 2 $215 Razz on Thursday.

Kelly already had an FTOPS title he claimed in 2008. so this just helps cement his reputation as an elite MTT player.

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Online Poker Tells

Ok, ok, ok. I know the topic of tells in online poker has probably been done already on a gazillion poker websites, but after an involuntary hiatus from online poker (having a second kid will do that to a person), I have played a bit lately and sort of re-noticed things that I had taken for granted when I used to play more often. Thus, I feel like penning a quick article to detail the most common tells I have seen while playing poker across the series of tubes. Like any tell, live or online, remember that these are not 100% foolproof – players may purposely give off a fake tell or it may just be a coincidence that the perceived tell exists during a given hand.

Advance Action Buttons

We have all checked those little boxes to tell the poker software what to do when our turn comes and you know what? There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes there is just no point in waiting until the action is on us to fold our deuce-seven. But if you see someone using the advance action buttons on a regular basis, as indicated by acting instantly, you may be able pick up some tells. Typically, those who use the check boxes to call have a decent starting hand, but one that will likely need some help on the flop, like a small pocket pair or two high cards (the former is more common). Players in the big blind who insta-check in an unraised pot usually have garbage and sometimes have a marginal hand.

Obviously, if someone insta-folds, they don’t have a hand they like. That’s not a tell. But you may be able to take advantage of someone sitting to your left whom you can tell checks the “fold” box ahead of time. Doing this means that he only uses the strength of his hole cards to determine his action; he is not a creative player. If he is in a blind, you may be able to frequently steal his chips by raising if everyone folds to you. If he has a weak hand, he will have already decided to fold and will not consider re-stealing. If he has something good, he’ll call or raise and you’ll already have a decent idea of where you stand.

Bet Timing

The “Timing Tell” is one of the oldest online tells in the book, and while most players know about it, it still exists in one form or another. For those new to the game, this tell takes into consideration how long it takes for a player to act in order to pick up a clue on the strength of his hand. From my experience the most reliable Timing Tell is the insta-call (pre-river without an all-in) when a reasonable draw is on the board. This usually means the player is on a draw. Why? Because he knows before he acts that he definitely wants to try to hit his card, but at the same time doesn’t feel strong enough to raise. Thus, it’s an easy decision to call, a decision that can be made quickly.

The other common tell I have seen is when someone takes a long time to “think” and then checks or calls a small bet. This player usually has a very strong hand and wants to make it look like he was thinking hard about whether or not he should fold.

Of course, taking a long time to act doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It could mean he has a slow connection, it could mean he had to step away from the computer, or it could mean he is distracted. If you see someone using most of the clock almost every time, it very likely means he is multi-tabling or distracted in some other way. As such, he a) isn’t going to be paying much attention to what’s going on, and b) will likely be playing A-B-C poker. This is the type of player you can make plays on, as he’s too busy to notice.

Table Captain

A Table Captain is someone who routinely criticizes other players for how they play. He thinks he plays perfect poker and as such, should never lose. A down session is never his fault – it is the fault of the fish who played poorly and got lucky. This type of player is normally quite bad, as he needs to put down other players to make himself feel good. One big exception: Phil Hellmuth.

I actually played in a Sit & Go against one of these guys last night. He went on a big run early, cracking A-A with 6-9. Of course, he was criticizing someone’s play during the hand and then criticized his victim’s play (as well as the three other players in the hand) after the hand. The guy with Aces did play the hand horribly, but that’s not the point. The Table Captain felt he was above reproach and that it was his job to let everyone know how it was. Of course, once he stopped doing well, he shut his mouth and was eventually eliminated out of the money.

Bizarre Bets

Most people tend to make bets that look “normal.” Three, four times the big blind, nice round numbers, that sort of thing. Then there are the players who make strange bets such as “messy” bets or overbets. By messy bets, I mean the kind of bets that require lots of different denomination chips, bets that are not nice, round numbers. For example, a normal bet in a given hand may be 75, but someone decides to make it 98. So, instead of three $25 chips, there are three $25 chips, two $10 chips, and three $1 chips. It creates an unnecessary pile of chips. This is usually a tell that means the player is weak and he is just trying to make his bet look bigger than it really is.

Then, of course, there are the massive overbets, like when someone goes all-in for $1,400 when the pot is only $100. This tell has actually gone through a metamorphosis over the years. It used to clearly mean that the player was weak and just wanted to force everybody out of the pot, but now it has gone to the next level. Now it more often means that the player is strong and wants to look like he is just trying to push everyone off their hands. Tricky, huh? Unless I have a great hand, I just stay away when these bozos try to pull off this move.

There are more online poker tells out there, but these are the few that I have been seeing the most often now that I have been playing more frequently. As I said earlier, these are not etched in stone – what you think is a tell could be nothing or it could be someone trying to trick you into thinking it’s a tell. But more often than not, these tells hold true.

If you see an opponent do one of these things, observe him for a while. See if he keeps doing it and see if you can fit the action with what I told you it means. If you can (or if you can reliably match it with a completely different underlying meaning), then take advantage next time you get the chance.

UltimateBet releases new Mac software client

Macs (computers not raincoats) have always looked great and boasted many fantastic features. Unfortunately, poker sites have lagged behind somewhat in catering to Apple users. Now Ultimate Bet has joined Full Tilt and Poker Stars in offering specific poker software aimed directly at Mac users.

TableNinjaFT Beta Released

It’s no secret that third-party software solutions for online poker are revolutionizing the way that people approach the game.  The development team that had previously released a set of shortcut and hotkey tools for PokerStars applied the same theory for a solution aimed at users on Full Tilt Poker.  The result was the beta release of TableNinjaFT, which is currently available for free.

Shortcut and hotkey programs started years ago in the form of AutoHotKey scripts (AHK) that would assist players who needed to make up for some of the shortcomings of online poker software.  Some of the more popular scripts highlighted the table that needed action, calculated bets on particular streets, and automatically clicked the time bank button.

These scripts sometimes were sold individually or, in the case of the original TableNinja, a group of scripts worked together under one banner.  Usually, individual AHK scripts are free (but unstable), while the packaged software runs about $30 to $40 and features updates to ensure that the program works as poker sites updated their software.

TableNinjaFT includes a useful feature set that will be expanded during the free beta lifespan.  Some of the key features of the program include:

- Provides tools and shortcuts that make playing on Full Tilt Poker easier
- Works with cash games, tournaments, and sit and gos
- Compatible with PokerTracker 3 and Holdem Manager
- Works with overlapping, tiled, or stacked tables
- Programmable hotkeys for betting, calling, folding, bet percentages, and all-in
- Automatic time-bank and pot-betting
- Table highlighting

These shortcuts are very useful for players who multi-table.  For many ring game and sit and go players, the ability to add more tables means increasing the bottom line win-rate.  If a player could play their A-game without using the tools, using these shortcuts would allow them to continue playing with more tables.  Thus, the ability to add more tables to a player’s sessions is extremely important.

TableNinjaFT is currently available free of charge.  The download is a 475 KB zip file that will install to any Windows XP/Vista/7 computer.  To install, simply double click on the TableNinjaFTSetup.exe file and go through the standard installation procedure.  After a few seconds of installing the files, the program will be ready to run and configure for first use.

Once installed, users will be able to quickly configure TableNinjaFT in a matter of minutes.  Simply go to the Setup screen and follow the directions.  Once that’s done, the program is 100% operational.  The setup and installation process couldn’t have been easier and is rather foolproof.

The early buzz from Full Tilt Poker players is that TableNinjaFT is a surefire winner.  With older AHK scripts and other shortcut programs no longer working on Full Tilt Poker due to the software overhaul the online poker site underwent weeks ago, TableNinjaFT is an oasis for multi-tabling fanatics.  Given the fact that it’s free, there’s no harm in trying it out even if you are a recreational player.

Full Tilt Poker Third Party Software Issues Update

Full Tilt Poker, the second largest online poker site, recently released some well-documented upgrades to its software client. The upgrade included significant adjustments to both the table and lobby in order to produce a more stable environment and more efficient lobby experience. Full Tilt Poker provided these renovated features for both its Windows PC and Mac OS X software clients.

One of the unexpected roadblocks with the new Full Tilt Poker software was that many of the third party software solutions were suddenly rendered useless. From AutoHotKey (AHK) scripts to buddy lists, none of the software that helped make online poker more efficient would interface with the new software. This left many scrambling to find out when their favorite programs would be updated to tackle the new software upgrade from Full Tilt Poker.

PokerTracker 3 and Holdem Manager, the two most popular hand history tracking programs, have updated their software through beta patches that are free to download at their respective websites. In the case of Holdem Manager, a few of the functions of the new built-in Table Scanner were not working. With the release of “Beta 25″ for Holdem Manager, the program’s Table Scanner will now be able to not only open a table from inside the scanner, but also join one. This works for both the classic and new “standard” Full Tilt Poker lobby.

Users of Full Tilt Shortcuts were quickly assured that developers behind the program had a software solution coming to allow players to enjoy shortcuts. Windy Hill Technology released a new software program called Poker Shortcuts that works across both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. The company is releasing regular updates to a beta version that is available for paid customers of Full Tilt Shortcuts. We have word from Windy Hill that a major announcement is coming next week about Poker Shortcuts.

Another shortcuts program, TableNinjaFT, had been in a private beta. Similar to Poker Shortcuts, TableNinjaFT is a collection of shortcuts that range from table highlighting to automatic time bank checking. The program also allows users to enter specific percentage bets for streets, which assists in multi-tabling efforts. On Thursday, the development team behind the program announced that a public beta is available for download and will remain free until the program is out of the beta testing phase.

Data mining sites appear to be completely operational after a few weeks of being down. HHSmithey1, HandHQ, and Poker Table Ratings all report  that they are once again tracking hand histories at tables. Each has its own pricing and delivery system for bundled hand history files from Full Tilt Poker games.

Popular online poker buddy list PlayerGPS has been operational for PokerStars games, but has not been working for Full Tilt since the software update. The site manager for PlayerGPS told us that their tech team will have Full Tilt Poker tracking working within the next two weeks. Shortly after that functionality is back, they are going to release tracking abilities for Titan Poker.

The good news for online poker players that use these productivity software programs is that the wait is almost over for everything to be back to normal. Many of the software programs already have addressed the issues with a working update, while others are only a week or two away from having solutions available to the public.

Pitbull Poker Issues Statement on Cheating Allegations

Over the last few weeks, users on the TwoPlusTwo forums have been buzzing about allegations against the small flash-based poker room Pitbull Poker.  Users from TwoPlusTwo accuse Pitbull Poker of “stack shaving,” superusers, and security holes.  The online poker room’s manager, Dave Brenes, has been under fire in the forums for not providing hand histories against specific players believed to be superusers. Check out a recap of the alleged Pitbull Poker cheating.

On Thursday night, Poker News Daily received a response to an interview request with Brenes in the form of a statement issued by “Management” from Pitbull Poker.  The statement read:

We were accused by 1 player with the screen name FluffyChester on the 2+2 forums that he suspected we had a super user account, even though FluffyChester never disputed 1 hand he felt cheated on.

He requested a downloadable format of his hand history, although he could view his previous hand histories by hand number or date range through the website.  Our poker system was developed in flash and we did not have a download feature for hand histories.

On Monday August 3rd, 2009, we provided FluffyChester with the last 1,000 hands that he played on Pitbull Poker in text format and are awaiting his analysis.

We have since developed a feature that will allow for hand histories to be downloaded in text format and it will be available next week to every player.

Superuser Accounts have never existed and we are awaiting FluffyChesters’ analysis to clear the rumors.

The player in question, FluffyChester, goes by chesterboy on the TwoPlusTwo forums and started one of the threads about the current controversy.  Poker News Daily asked chesterboy for comment to confirm the receipt of the 1,000 hands and his findings: His reply is as follows:

Yes, they sent me 1,000 hands, but they are the last 1,000 I played. I had already realized that I was facing cheaters at this point and was avoiding them while I waited for them to process my cashout. I told Dave those hands were useless, but he told me they already started working on them and it is too late to change. A good chunk of them are in Pot Limit Omaha, which I don’t believe to have ever had any cheaters in.

I posted them in the superuser thread and some people are working on a converter so that they can be plugged in to PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager even though I don’t think they will be of any use.

On the forums, Pitbull Poker is receiving scrutiny for not providing the hands that were originally requested during a specific timeframe.  The hands in question would have been played during a period that chesterboy and others in the thread felt that they were facing superusers.

With the upcoming upgrade of the Pitbull Poker software that will allow hand histories to be downloaded, the industry will be able to analyze hands for any irregularities moving forward.  The past, however, might remain a mystery if the present situation leads to no irregularities. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on Pitbull Poker.

Full Tilt Poker Presents New Software Promotion.

Full Tilt Poker are renowned for the high quality of their poker software - designed by poker players for poker players, the client is full of neat features and handy shortcuts to make your playing experience sweeter.

New Full Tilt Poker Software Allows For Deal-Making

Full Tilt Poker recently unveiled their latest software update and the new features that came …

Full Tilt unveils new software, big bonus

The site unleashed its latest interactive poker software Thursday, promising more cutting-edge features and a more personalized poker experience.

The new look features two new lobby views.

Full Tilt says players can locate games quickly and easily with the interactive six-step Basic View and find their favorite games faster than ever using Favorites and Advanced Filters in the Standard View.

The redesign also includes a series of Full Tilt Poker Lobby Widgets aimed at improving player visibility on important statistics and promotions.

A new Tournament Deals feature allows players to cut deals with their opponents at the final table of any multi-table tournament or sit & go.

Coinciding with the launch of the new software Full Tilt is also giving players a rather sizeable bonus.

Dubbed the "Biggest Bonus Ever," Full Tilt is offering all players who have earned a Full Tilt Point before July 28, 2009 at least $100 in bonus money with no deposit required.

Players have until August 16 to accept the bonus.

Full Tilt Poker is represented by over 150 of the world's best professional poker players including Team Full Tilt's Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch and Phil Ivey.

For more information about the site or to sign up and be eligible for PokerListings.com's exclusive weekly $3k cash freerolls, check out the review here.

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Full Tilt Poker Introduces Hand Replayer

Fans of the world’s second largest online poker site can rejoice in the introduction of a Hand Replayer and Mixed Limit games on Full Tilt Poker. Both made their debut as part of a recent software upgrade.

The Hand Replayer is accessible from the top left corner of a Full Tilt Poker table. Its link, entitled “Last Hand,” is listed below the icon to acquire additional chips and above the option to “Stand Up” from the table. Once clicked, the Hand Replayer will open in a new window and show the last pot completed at the table. Buttons to fast forward, rewind, and pause play are all given, allowing users to move at their own pace when recapping hands. In addition, icons to skip to the beginning or end of a hand are available. In the top right corner of a table, Full Tilt users can flip back and forth between pots they’ve played with ease.

The Hand Replayer also features a link to text hand histories. Clicking on any hand number will open a new window with the transcript of the hand in it. The lower left corner of the Hand Replayer includes a link to view observer chat from previous hands. The console can be expanded to display every hand played during a session in a list and users can double click on any hand to replay it. Hand numbers shaded in green in the list were won by the user. Hands where the user did not see all of the action are shaded in red and observed hands are highlighted in blue.

Also as part of the most recent update, Full Tilt Poker unveiled Mixed Limit games, which are quickly becoming a favorite of longtime poker players. A special Seven Game Mix is now available and consists of Limit Hold’em, Limit Stud High-Low, Limit Razz, Limit Omaha High-Low, Limit Stud High, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha. The Eight Game Mix event found on sites like PokerStars also features Triple Draw, which is absent from Full Tilt’s new version.

Mixed Hold’em tables can now be found in the online poker site’s lobby and feature Limit and No Limit Hold’em, while Mixed Omaha High-Low tables include Limit Omaha High-Low and Pot Limit Omaha High-Low. The former is available in the Hold’em lobby within the Full Tilt Poker software, while the latter can appropriately be found in the Omaha lobby. The 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) slate of events featured three Mixed tournaments.

The backend of the Full Tilt Poker software was also revamped in order to lessen its demands on computer processing. Text found on the Full Tilt website notes, “Combined with our continued network communication improvements, which ensure that the game and your computer communicate more efficiently, the Full Tilt Poker game software is now sharper and faster than ever before.”

In April, the world’s second largest online poker site rolled out ante games. Its developers also labeled cash tables in the lobby with icons for ante, capped, deep-stack, educational, and speed games. Perhaps the most noticeable change was the implementation of synchronized breaks, which occur at five minutes until every hour. Synchronized breaks allow tournament grinders a chance to walk away from the computer for a few minutes. However, the move has not yet been adopted on sites like PokerStars or Ultimate Bet. Synchronized breaks do not occur in tournaments with fewer than 30 entrants, events with open registration, contests in the first blind level, and turbo tournaments in the first two blind levels.

Next week, Full Tilt continues its FIVE promotion celebrating its fifth birthday. A special 24 hour Happy Hour, $5,000 guaranteed freerolls, bigger bust-out bounties, and more than $700,000 added to its Sunday majors on July 19th comprise the festivities.

iPhone 3G S Brings High-Powered Poker Applications

With the release of the new iPhone 3G S, poker players are more excited than ever about the robust hardware and internet features of this amazing device.  There are many poker resources available with the iPhone, including podcasts, training videos, and other applications.

Accessing the iTunes Store will reveal a ton of programs that mainly focus on playing poker against the computer or other players in a play money format.  For many, this is a fun way of satisfying their poker craving on the road or at home, as the application is available for those on the 3G network or connected to the internet via Wifi.  Zynga’s Live Poker 40k is one of the most popular iPhone applications and, at $2.99, the price is easy to swallow.  In terms of games like this that allow you to play live opponents or a friend in the same room, there are literally too many to mention.

For those of you who like to play at home, a fun application might be Poker Tournament Manager, which will turn your iPhone into a command center for your home game. It organizes buy-ins, blind levels, and even monitors performances from tournament to tournament.  This handy application is only $4.99.  You can also find a familiar-sounding application called Poker Tracker (not related to the online tracking tool) that allows you to enter in your progress in live games and save it to your phone.

Also, check out three applications from PokerCruncher: Hold’em Odds Quizzer ($1.99), PokerCruncher ($4.99), and Poker Odds Teacher ($0.99).  The first application is a slick quiz program that helps test players judge equity ranges in a wide variety of Hold’em situations, both pre- and post-flop.  PokerCruncher is basically PokerStove for the iPhone and the Poker Odds Teacher is a great refresher (or introductory) program for learning poker odds.

Podcasts have been all the rage the last few years in getting quality content out to users in a cheap and easy method.  Simply record your podcast (either video or audio), submit it free to iTunes, and people will be able to hear your message.  Full Tilt Poker offers podcasts that center on tips from the pros.  ESPN might have the best podcast around with Phil Gordon and acclaimed columnist Andrew Feldman.  The show constantly has A-list guests for insightful and interesting discussion.  Sites like PocketFives.com also offer up podcasts related to online poker every week.  Since podcasts are almost universally free, they are highly accessible for users.

Many poker training sites including Stox Poker and Deuces Cracked now offer iPhone editions of their popular training videos.  Instead of watching the best training money can buy while at your computer, you can load up the video onto your iPhone and watch it on your lunch break at work.

Given that podcasts, training videos, and applications are available, the technology suggests that the iPhone is ready for poker rooms.  Any site is free to develop an iPhone application.  Cake Poker already has a platform available for the Windows Mobile operating system that lets players play for real money.  Since the iPhone 3G (now $99) and the new iPhone 3G S ($199 and $299) both access the speedy 3G internet network for low-end DSL speeds, there’s no doubt that the hardware and internet capabilities can handle an application to allow people to play poker.

The holdup, as evidenced by feedback from Cake Poker software developers on their feedback forums, are the restrictions that Apple places on applications submitted to their store.  At this point in time, poker rooms believe that Apple would not approve such an application and, therefore, it isn’t worth the time and resources to build.  Once the legal climate is cleared up in the United States, there’s little doubt that all of the major poker rooms would immediately begin production on free iPhone applications to let players battle for real money.  In the meantime, we have plenty of wonderful goodies in the iTunes App Store along with videos and podcasts to satisfy our poker bug.

Chris Wallace (Fox) Interview with Poker News Daily

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

Wallace: I needed a distraction in my life. I needed something to focus on. When I learn things, I get very into them. I was working with exotic hardwoods and developed an allergy to them that was going to kill me if I didn’t stop, so my career was over. My marriage was over and I needed something to distract me. Poker was a good thing. I had a friend, Adam Stemple, who goes by the name “Hatfield.” He had been playing semi-pro for 20 years and I had been playing blackjack for 10 years. He said I should try poker and sold me on the idea. He loaned me a couple of books and, a week later, I had 20 books and five notebooks trying to learn the game.

PND: You’re an instructor at PokerXFactor. What separates it from other poker training sites like it in the industry?

Wallace: It’s a tough industry. It’s like the “Cola Wars” for poker training sites right now. Everybody is starting a poker training site. The tournament roster at PokerXFactor is incredible. The technology that they have available is incredible. When I ran my own site, we were a little two man operation and didn’t really put a lot of money into it. While we were good teachers, we didn’t have a lot of technology. Now, I use the PokerXFactor Replayer with all of my students. I load their hand histories into the Replayer before we start a lesson. Then, we can look through them and talk about hands.

The constant adding of technology is also big. You can watch a hand in the Replayer, stop it, and then add an audio comment. When someone replays the hand, they can hear your comments. Having Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy commenting on your hand histories – it doesn’t get any better than that.

PND: Explain how you become involved with PokerXFactor.

Wallace: I ran my own site. I think we were one of the first poker training sites ever. We were tired of being webmasters and wanted to be poker players. We wanted to teach people poker, but we didn’t want to run a website. It got to be a real pain. We got tired of trying to deal with the technical problems and all of that hassle. We knew that it was going to be the year when everyone was going to start a poker training site. There have to be 100 of them now, at least. We didn’t want to be just another site and we didn’t want to spend a lot of money to compete with the big dogs.

We were looking around trying to decide what to do. I met Scott “Mindwise” Pendergrast from PokerXFactor. He wanted to expand his cash game roster and cash games were what we did. He brought us in and bought our site. We have both primarily done cash game videos. I’m really happy about the way it worked out.

PND: There is a big debate in the poker software industry as to whether PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager is the better program. Which do you prefer and why?

Wallace: I probably hear that question once per day. I even made a video comparing the two on PokerXFactor. They’re remarkably similar. They both took a lot of cues from a lot of modern programming. PokerTracker 3 and Hold’em Manager are a quantum leap from what we’ve had in the past. They’re remarkably better. The two are so similar that it’s tough to pick one.

What I tell everyone is that they both have a free trial where you can run some hands and see how it works on your computer. They were designed on different systems, so some people have bug problems with the Heads-Up Display in PokerTracker 3. People also have problems importing hands. Some people have problems with Hold’em Manager, which doesn’t run on their computer. I tell everyone to download them both because one of them is going to be the most important piece of software that runs on your computer. See which one works better and which one makes the most sense to you.

PND: What advice do you have for newcomers in the game?

Wallace: Study. There are so many resources available to you now. Originally, there were a couple of books. “Super System” was the big one. You could talk to your friends and try to learn the game, which was tough. If you didn’t have any natural talent, you weren’t going to make it. When I got started around 2002, there were a lot of books and I bought them all. I have a huge shelf full of poker books. I studied really hard and, right from the beginning, I was a winning player. The first time I deposited, I was winning. I’ve never had to re-deposit on a site. I’ve only deposited when I try out a new site.

Now, we have an incredible amount of information. Join a training site and become active. Be active in the TwoPlusTwo forums. Be active on PocketFives. Be active on FlopTurnRiver. Become a member of a poker training site and a part of that site’s community. There’s a chat room on PokerXFactor where you can drop by at 3:00am and there may be no one else except for me in there. That means you’re getting a free one-hour lesson with me. If you want to study, there’s so much information out there and the training sites give you such an advantage. I don’t know how people survive without being a member of these training sites.

PKR Launches New Software Upgrade

Imaginative poker site PKR has launched an array of new features and games to its award-winning software.

The online poker room, which features real-time 3D graphics and a videogame experience, added Omaha Hi/Lo to its most recent upgrade, as well as several other features and items in the PKR Shop. The popular Omaha Hi/Lo Pot Limit and Limit options will now be available across cash games, Sit & Gos and Multi-table Tournaments.

PKR has also added Mini Roulette to its online casino, joining Blackjack and Casino Hold’em on the site’s table game roster. Mini Roulette is just like American or European Roulette only with fewer numbers. PKR also offers Craps, Sic Bo and Wild Viking among its wide variety of casino games.

A new “time bank” feature has been added to the poker software to give players additional time if needed to make a critical decision. In cash games, the more hands you are dealt means more time added to your bank -- up to the table maximum -- while in tournament play the additional time allotted to each player is fixed. In addition, PKR has added a “Break Skip” option so that players can opt out of regular breaks at the final table of a Multi-table Tournament. If all players decide to skip their break then the action will continue right away.

PKR’s Shop has also taken a step up. Players will be able to spend their PKR points on a wide range of high-end electronics as well as new poker books, accessories and subscriptions to PKR.com’s partner training site Bluefire Poker, hosted by high-stakes legend and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Galfond. In tournaments, players receive 100 PKR points for every $1 spent in entry fees. At cash tables, points are awarded based on raked hands and calculated against the amount that a player has put into the pot divided between the other players at the table.

“Our community is highly valued and as we grow we like to make sure we provide our players with exactly what they need”, said PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger. “Many of the features in our updates are in response to popular demand and we are constantly working on improvements for the future.”

New Version of the PKR Poker Software Released

PKR.com is the most well known poker room that is offering a 3-D software. Last weekend they made an update to their software and they have now added Omaha Hi/Lo and a time bank amongst other things.

PKR Poker is offering a different kind of software to the one that the conventional online poker rooms have. When playing at PKR Poker you will be using a poker software that is in 100% 3-D and where every player at the table can be custom designed and make chip tricks and express emotions at the tables.

The PKR Poker client is frequently being updated and last weekend it was time for a new update where a couple of new features were added to make the game more enjoyable. You will now be able to play Omaha Hi/Lo since that game was added with this update, the game is available in both pot limit and fixed limit. This game was added to both cash games and Sit and Go tournaments and according to PKR.com they are also going to add a couple of Multi table Tournaments for this game.

The other poker games at PKR Poker have been updated with a couple of new functions. At all the tables you will now be able to use a time bank where you can request extra time at the tables if you are facing a difficult decision.

Another function that will make all you tournament players happy is that it will now be possible to skip the breaks when playing tournaments if all players agree to it. This means that if all players are ready to skip the break before a final table it will star immediately.

PKR.com also added that they have expanded their VIP Shop where you can use your PKR Points to buy items. You can now buy subscriptions to poker magazines and pay for a membership at the poker training site BlueFirePoker that PKR work together with.

Source: OnlinePokerNews.org