Poker News

The PokerNews Jet Set: Vilamoura

APPT Cebu draws record-breaking numbers

A total of 319 players bought in to PokerStars' third foray into the Philippines. The field created a prize pool of $622,000, of which $158,000 will be awarded to the winner.

This year PokerStars shifted the event from downtown Manila to the five-star Shangri La Resort in the province of Cebu.

Players from 36 countries took part including players from as far as Mongolia, Sweden, Russia, Guam and the Ukraine.

APPT Cebu also drew a number of professional players including Team PokerStars Asia Pros Celina Lin, Tae Jun-Noh, Bryan Huang and Jonathan Lin as well as Team PokerStars Australian Pros Tony Hachem and Eric Assadourian.

Last year at APPT Manila, Australian Van Marcus beat Jun-Noh heads-up to take down a first-place prize of $162,856.

The 2009 edition of APPT Cebu will culminate with a final table this Sunday. The tour's next stop will be the Grand Final in Sydney, which takes place Dec. 1-6, 2009. Qualifiers for the event are currently running on PokerStars.com.

PokerStars hosting bad beat on cancer event

Rowe was the last woman standing in the 2009 Borgata Poker Open ladies event. Unfortunately for her that wasn't enough to win the tournament as Abraham Korotki, a 65-year-old man from New Jersey, was the ultimate victor.

The PokerStars sponsored "Bad Beat Poker Challenge" will take place Thursday, Nov. 12, at 9 p.m. EST. The buy-in will be $10 with $10 rebuys available throughout the first two levels.

There are a large number of prizes up for grabs donated by poker pros Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Vanessa Rousso, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, Phil Gordon, Matt Glantz, Tom McEvoy, the entire cast of 2 Months, 2 Million, and UFC star Tito Ortiz.

First place is a 2 Months, 2 Million scholarship, which includes a lifetime subscription to training site Deucescracked.com. The subscription is valued at $10,000.

Other notable prizes include attending a taping of the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge, a night of drinks with the PokerRoad crew and one-on-one coaching sessions from players like Daniel Negreanu, Tom McEvoy and Jay "Pr1ynnyraid" Rosenkrantz.

All proceeds from the online tournament will go towards the Prevent Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit group which helps educate women on prevention and early detection.

The event can be found in the Private Tournament section on PokerStars.com. You can make a direct donation by clicking here.

PokerStars launches new UK and Ireland tour

The events will have a range of buy-ins from £500+£50 to £1,000+£100 for UK based tournaments and €1,000+€100 and €2,000 for events in Ireland.

"This is an incredibly exciting addition to the range of PokerStars live events," said Team PokerStars PRO Vicky Coren. "The buy-ins are great: big enough to make chunky prize pools, not so big that they're a huge drain on resources."

The first UKIPT event will be held in Galway, Ireland from December 11-14, 2009, in the Radisson Hotel. The event will be held as part of the popular Irish Poker Championships.

The first UK based UKIPT event will be held in Manchester from February 11-14, 2010 at the Grosvenor G-Casino.

Events will also be held in Nottingham, Killarney, Brighton, Scotland and Dublin with the Grand Final taking place as part of the PokerStars.com EPT London event next October.

In addition to the UKIPT title and prize money, all winners will earn a seat in the Grand Final.

The UKIPT will also have its own Points Leader Board featuring prizes for the top players at the end of the season, including PokerStars.com sponsorship in UKIPT events during the second season for the top 3 players and a £10,000 freeroll for the top 100.

Daily satellites are already running on PokerStars for as little as $0.25 or 250 FPPs.

Full details of the PokerStars UKIPT schedule can be found below. For more information and updates please see the tour's website.

Poker News in Brief: Oct. 26-Nov. 1, 2009

This week we'll take a look at yet another PokerStars heads-up style TV show, a former ladies champion suing the WSOP, new features on the CEREUS poker network and more.

PokerStars introduces new ((UK poker)) TV show

UK poker fans will get a crack at Team PokerStars Pros and sporting celebrities as part of a new poker TV show on Sky Sports 2 airing this November.

The PokerStars.com Bounty Stars of Poker will see contestants compete against each other for a chance to play a best-of-three heads-up match against a poker pro or a sporting celebrity. Contestants won't know who they are playing until they take their seat.

If a player manages to win their best-of-three match they will win a £5,000 cash prize.

Poker pros taking part include 2008 World Champion Peter Eastgate, EPT London winner Victoria Coren and the illustrious Marcel "Flying Dutchman" Luske.

The sports celebrities include ex-England test cricketer Phil Tufnell, English rugby star Mike Tindall and Welsh football legend Gary Speed.

"This is an excellent opportunity for previously unknown poker players to make a name for themselves and play against some of the best in the business," said Team PokerStars Pro Coren.

PokerStars.com sponsors several TV shows around the globe with Daniel Negreanu's Million Dollar Challenge in the U.S. and Joe Hachem's The Poker Star in Australia.

Study finds U.S. could generate $41 billion from legalizing internet gambling

A new study released by Rep. Jim McDermott this week estimates the U.S. government would generate more than $41 billion over the next decade by taxing online poker.

The study was performed by the Joint Committee on Taxation and McDermott said the revenue could go to critical social and economic recovery programs.

"I suspect that many of my colleagues, especially those on the fence, will take more interest in this issue once they see $41 billion available that they can match up with any number of worthy programs," said Rep. McDermott.

"I suspect it's only a matter of time before Congress appropriately moves to regulate the industry in order to protect consumers and reverse the flow of billions of dollars currently lost offshore as Americans gamble billions online despite attempts to prohibit the activity."

Both Rep. McDermott and Rep. Barney Frank have introduced bills that would legalize online poker. Frank's bill currently has 62 co-signers.

New features on the CEREUS poker network

UltimateBet and Absolute Poker players will benefit from synchronized tournament breaks and a new raising feature thanks to a recent software update.

Both sites run on the CEREUS poker network and the latest update will give multi-table tournament players a synchronized break at the 55th minute of every hour.

That means players involved in multiple tournaments will finally be able to step away from their computers at least once an hour.

In addition, players will be able to utilize a new "RAISE TO" button, which should significantly speed up the betting process on both Absolute and UltimateBet.

Sally Ann Boyer sues WSOP Academy

WSOP bracelet winner Sally Ann Boyer is suing the WSOP Academy for allegedly using her name and image in advertisements without her permission.

Boyer won the 2007 WSOP Ladies event for $262,077 and was subsequently featured in ads by the WSOP Academy that featured a picture of Boyer calling her a graduate of the program and a tagline that read, "The quickest way to a WSOP bracelet."

Boyer is seeking unspecified damages and recovery of the profits earned from using her name.

PokerStars introduces LAPT Season 3 schedule

Easily the biggest poker tour in Latin American, the LAPT has steadily grown since its inception in May of 2008.

Season three of the tour will begin with LAPT Playa Conchal in Costa Rica, which will run Nov. 19-22, 2009.

"In just two seasons, the Latin American Poker Tour has become the biggest poker tour in the region," said Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes. "It attracts the best players from Latin America and all over the world.

"Last season, the prize pool hit a million dollars in Costa Rica and I know we're going to beat that this time! I am very proud to play in Costa Rica - it's my home country and a very special event for me. Tell everyone to come here - the Shark is waiting for them!"

In addition to the main event, Brenes will host "Humberto's 'Shark Hunt' Bounty Charity Tournament" in Costa Rica with half the prize pool donated to the Whitley Fund for Nature. That donation will be matched by Brenes and PokerStars.

Following Costa Rica, the tour will go to Nassau in the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Punta del Este in Uruguay, Vina del Mar in Chile and an unidentified location in Argentina for the finale.

This is the first year the PCA has been included on the LAPT schedule and Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari said it is a welcome addition.

"I'm really happy that the tour will take in the PCA event in The Bahamas - it's one of my favorite tournaments of the year - it's got everything; with over 50 poker events and fun activities in the sun for friends and family!"

The LAPT has awarded millions of dollars in prize money and attracted thousands of players from around the world including Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Boris Becker and Alexandre Gomes.

As always, PokerStars.com will offer numerous satellites for the LAPT, some of which are already running on the site.

See below for the complete LAPT schedule:

PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Warsaw Day 5: Christophe Benzimra Takes the Title

PokerStars European Poker Tour Warsaw Day 4: Luca Pagano Highlights Sunday’s Final Table

PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Warsaw Day 3: A Pair of Canadians in Command

PokerStars European Poker Tour Warsaw Day 2: Clayton Mozdzen Claims Lead Heading into Day 3

PokerStars European Poker Tour Warsaw Day 1b: Antony Lellouche Hero Calls His Way to the Chip Lead

PokerStars European Poker Tour London Main Event: Aaron Gustavson Wins!

PokerStars European Poker Tour London Day 3: Freeroll Qualifier Michael Berry Surges

PokerStars European Poker Tour London Main Event: Nikolai Senniger and Jeffrey Lisandro Lead the Way

PokerStars sponsoring Irish Poker Championship

The five-day festival will take place in Galway, Ireland at the Radisson Hotel from Dec. 10-14 with the main event carrying a €2,000 buy-in.

"The Irish Poker Championship has become one of the biggest events on the Irish Poker Calendar and we are delighted to be sponsoring it," said PokerStars business development manager for European events Kirsty Thompson.

"Poker players appreciate good hospitality and a good party atmosphere and there is no better city than Galway to provide it."

The main event will take place Dec. 11-14, but there will also be three No Limit Hold'em side events with buy-ins of €550, €350 and €250.

Already confirmed for the main event are Andy Black, Surindar Sunar, Padraig Parkinson, Jon Kalmer, Julian Gardner, Neil Channing, Marty Smyth and Dutch Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske.

Dublin's Roy Rees bested 254 players in last year's Irish Poker Championship to secure a first-place prize of €160,000.

The event is capped at 400 players and organizers are predicting first will be worth €250,000 this year.

Satellites start on PokerStars Oct. 15 and players can buy seats in advance online.

There will also be numerous opportunities to qualify in live play at the Eglinton Casino and PokerStars is providing assistance to facilities that wish to run their own satellites.

For more information check out the Irish Poker Championship website here.

PokerStars releases 2010 PCA schedule

The action begins on Jan. 4, 2010 at Atlantis Hotel and Casino in the Bahamas and some players are already looking forward to the event.

"The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is definitely one of my favorite tournaments of the year," said Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. "This is where I had my first and biggest win to date, in the 2008 PCA Main Event. Last year, I had another memorable success, when I won the High Roller event.

"I love going to the Bahamas for the PCA. The location and the organization are great, and I believe the competition is probably the toughest you can find in any live tournament, with all the internet pros and the best live players. I am really looking forward to playing the 2010 PCA."

This year the schedule features No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Hold'em, 8-Game, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, 2-7 Triple Draw and Badugi events with buy-ins ranging from $200 to $25,00.

As usual, PokerStars will also be hosting its signature Battleship Poker and World Cup of Poker events.

The centerpiece of the PCA is the $10,000+$300 main event, which has the potential to be one of the largest tournaments of the year.

Last year 1,347 players bought into the PCA main event to generate a massive prize pool of more than $12.6 million. In the end, Canadian Poorya Nazari outlasted all his competitors and took down a first place prize of $3 million, one of the largest payouts in poker history.

The 2010 PCA main event will run Jan. 5-11. Satelites are already running on PokerStars.

For a complete look at the schedule visit the official PokerStars website here.

EPT London Ladies Game Freerolls at PokerStars.com

Urgent call to all female poker players in UK and Ireland – win a five star package to play poker in London, for FREE!

PokerStars are offering their UK and Irish female players the opportunity to win a £500 prize package which includes entry into the EPT London Ladies Tournament, a night at the Hilton Metropole (5*) Hotel plus £100 for expenses. All good stuff but what money can’t buy is the excitement and thrill of top live poker, and you’ll certainly experience that!

Do you want in? Of course you do!

Hurry up and get playing ‘cos these extra special freerolls must end on the 26th September and that’s just this week! So here’s the info you need:-

• The EPT London Ladies Freerolls are running every day until September 26th at 8.00pm UK (3.00pm New York), find them through the PokerStars Lobby / Tourney / Regional
• Finish in the top 9 and you’ve made it through to…
• The Freerolls Final which will take place on September 27th at 8.00pm UK (3.00pm New York)
• The top 10 finishers are awarded with a £500 EPT London Ladies Game prize package!

You can enter the daily freerolls as many times as you like and, don’t forget, unlike many live game satellites, the fields will be relatively small due to regional and gender restrictions so, have a go!

Well, if this Event is your type of thing and you haven’t yet got a PokerStars account then get a wiggle on and set up your PokerStars account now and play in the free to enter EPT London Ladies freeroll tonight at 8pm UK. Use the PokerStars Marketing Code DIRPOKER and the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 to score yourself the best PokerStars bonus, ever, of 100% up to $600.

Useful Reading
PokerStars Review – unbiased and topical
PokerStars EPT London Freerolls – UK/Irish players only

Bookmark to:

Win seat at EPT London courtesy of talkSport

World Cup of Poker VI from PokerStars.com

The World Cup of Poker (WCP) from PokerStars is back to bring 54 nations into a mega poker tournament, there’s a fantastic prize pool of $290,000 up for grabs with one national team winning the crown and $100,000 first prize money. This promises to be Top Poker, so make sure you are there representing your Country at the live grand final next January 4th to 14th in The Bahamas! (more…)

Bookmark to:

PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona Day 1A: Diego Arias Rodriguez Holds the Lead

2009 WCOOP starts tomorrow on PokerStars

"I don't think any other online tournament even compares," said last year's WCOOP main event winner Carter "ckingusc" King. "It's definitely the biggest online series of the year. It's like our World Series of Poker and we get pretty excited about it."

Last year Carter outlasted over 2,000 players and then beat a final table that included AKJHoosier1 to take down a first place prize of $1.3 million. The total prize pool contained $10,925,000, which easily eclipses most live tournaments.

This year PokerStars is introducing several new features to the popular series. For the first time ever there will be events in 5-card draw and Badugi.

PokerStars will also offer a new low buy-in "Stimulus" event, which is styled after the WSOP event with the same name. Players will have a shot at WCOOP glory for only $109, complete with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

"The Stimulus is a great event," commented King. "I wish they would do more of them. The $1 million guarantee is huge. I remember when my bankroll was still relatively small and wanting to play WCOOP events. This is perfect."

Conversely PokerStars will also be offering three high roller events this year with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 for the No-Limit Hold'em event to $25,000 for the No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up event.

With increased competition from series like Full Tilt's Online Poker Series (FTOPS) and even PokerStars' own Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) organizers have gone out of their way to make WCOOP the premier online series of the year.

PokerStars management opted not to include the multiple buy-in events that were predominate in this year's SCOOP. Essentially every event in the 2009 SCOOP had a low, medium and high buy-in version.

This decision seems to be sitting well with players.

"I would keep the WCOOP as it is," said King. "It's really something special and the schedule is good. They don't need to do anything crazy with it."

As always there will be multiple ways to qualify for every event in this year's WCOOP and satellite buy-ins start at just $1. Even King, who presumably has enough money to buy-in directly, mentioned he plays satellites occasionally.

"I'll probably play some of the extreme satellites," he said. "They are just too good of a value. There's no reason to pass up a seat in the WCOOP main event."

The 2009 WCOOP begins tomorrow with the first event kicking off at 14:30 ET. The series will then run all the way until Sept. 20 when the $10 million guaranteed main event kicks off.

You can check out the complete schedule here.

PokerStars European Poker Tour Kyiv Day 4: Lykov Still In Front For Final Table

PokerStars EPT Kyiv Day 2: Lykov Leads, 68 Remain

Demidenko Leads Way as PokerStars EPT Kyiv Main Event Begins

EPT London: Bigger than ever before

Plus, PokerStars will include the first-ever £2k European 8-Game Championship, a £500 8-Game event, a £1k Pot Limit Omaha High-Low event, a £1k No Limit Hold'em Six-Max event, and a £2k Pot Limit Omaha event in a series of various preliminary tournaments.

"The PokerStars.com EPT London Poker Festival will have a rich mix of games and buy-ins to cater to the most players possible in a compelling schedule - by poker players, for poker players," said EPT founder John Duthie.

"This continues on the fundamental programming shift made for last season's EPT Grand Final where we tried to create the best opportunity for all our players, not just higher-rollers, to play a wide mix of poker games and formats at a variety of accessible buy-ins."

Held in the past at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, this year EPT London is moving 300 metres up the street to the London Hilton Metropole Hotel to accommodate the increasing amount of players expected.

Last year almost 600 players played the main event, won by American Michael Martin.

The Hilton will allow for 200 more players and PokerStars estimates the prize pool will swell to as much as £4 million.

Cash games will be held at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino and the Hilton Metropole will play host to single-table satellites throughout the festival.

PokerStars is running online satellites now.

Below is a schedule of starting days for the 16 events:

PokerStars Deposit Bonus Now $600

In an e-mail distributed by the world’s largest online poker room, PokerStars, on Tuesday, it was revealed that a special 100% up to $600 first-time deposit bonus is now available. Players can also take advantage of a new 50% up to $300 reload bonus.

The e-mail claimed, “We are now offering a 100% up to $600 first deposit bonus for PokerStars.com players. Participants may make up to three deposits in total to claim the full bonus amount, but they must be made within 60 days of the first deposit.” Visit our PokerStars review to get started and claim the largest first-time deposit bonus that the online poker site has ever offered. PokerStars happily accepts players from the United States.

Once players sign up for PokerStars, they’ll have six months to earn the bonus. It releases in $10 increments and has a clearance rate of 17 Frequent Player Points (FPPs) per $1 of bonus money. The deposit code to enter when registering in order to be eligible is STARS600. Players can make up to three deposits to fill the promotion, but they must use the code STARS600 every time. The 17 FPPs per $1 rate is considerably better than the standard rate of 20 FPPs per $1. In addition, the bonus does not release all at once, making it even more attractive to patrons of the world’s busiest online poker room.

PokerStars also rolled out its largest reload bonus ever, 50% up to $300. The promotion for existing PokerStars players also allows up to three deposits to fill, each of which must be made within 90 days of the first reload. Players have a lengthy six months to clear the bonus, which can be redeemed by using the code WCOOP when reloading. The bonus code refers to the upcoming World Championship of Online Poker, which kicks off in September and will cause a throng of PokerStars players to deposit on the site in order to cover the tournament series’ pricey buy-ins.

The WCOOP enters its eighth year after debuting in 2002. The series boasts $40 million in guaranteed prize money, capped off by a $5,200 buy-in Main Event that will have at least $10 million up for grabs. A total of 45 events appear on the docket, including contests in Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Badugi, Mixed Hold’em/Omaha, Single Draw, Five Card Draw, Razz, and an Eight Game Mix. The September 3rd kickoff events are a $215 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament with a $1.25 million guarantee and a $215 buy-in Razz tournament with a $200,000 guarantee. Three Two-Day events will also play out during the 2009 WCOOP.

A PokerStars software update on Tuesday coincided with the news of richer first-time deposit and reload bonuses. One of the new features is synchronized breaks, which will follow the standard set by Full Tilt Poker and occur at 55 minutes past every hour. An e-mail sent to Poker News Daily from PokerStars Support noted that no time table has been set for the rollout of synchronized breaks to all multi-table tournaments on the site: “Right now, we are testing the system in some play money games to see how it goes and as the tests are going well, we will be slowly implementing it.”

Players can also use their lucrative first-time and reload bonuses on PokerStars to participate in WCOOP Extreme Satellites. These begin today and run through August 16th, featuring over $1 million in added WCOOP seats. At 14:00 ET today, a $7.50 buy-in satellite features 100 $109 seats added to the prize pool. At 21:00 ET, a $27 buy-in tournament includes 100 $215 seats. Each Extreme Satellite includes at least 50 added seats ranging in value from $109 to $1,050.

Check out our PokerStars review and take advantage of these brand new sign-up and reload bonuses today.

Poker News in Brief: July 27-Aug. 2, 2009

As part of an ongoing feature we recount some of the top poker stories that didn't make the front page during the week but still deserve a mention.

This week we look at Phil Ivey having the chance to take down even more money, ESPN airing even more poker, Italians getting moved from PokerStars.com and several other stories.

Here we go:

More money for Ivey

Wicked Chops has a story about Andy Bloch betting Phil Ivey $10,000 to win the Main Event at 200-1 odds with 2,500 players remaining. That equals $2 million if you're keeping track at home.

Supposedly Ivey also stands to make an extra $10 million from FTP if he wins, in addition to the $8.5 million for first place.

It's getting to the point where if Ivey wins he will suddenly represent approximately 50% of the poker economy.

Poker returns to ESPN

The first episode of the 2009 WSOP aired on ESPN this week with Russian Vitaly Lunkin triumphing over Isaac Haxton in the $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

No word on the ratings but considering the always popular Greg Raymer went deep it wasn't a bad way to kick off the season. Next up is the special Champions Invitational event won by Tom McEvoy. The episode airs on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Italian poker players bumped from PokerStars main site

Numerous poker sites are reporting that Italian players have been bounced from PokerStars' international site. Apparently the Italian government has enacted a new law where online poker rooms must have their servers located in the country.

It's not a total loss for Italian players as they were simply re-routed to the Italian-only version of PokerStars. There's a good chance, however, they will be missed by the rest of the poker world.

Deep stack mistake?

Tournament director Matt Savage has a great piece over on 2+2 detailing some of the issues regarding deep stack tournaments.

According to Savage deep stacks offer a lot of play in the early stages of play but can be a crap shoot in the later stages.

Definitely worth a read.

World Poker Tour releases positive Q2 numbers

For the first time in a long while, the World Poker Tour actually had some good news regarding their latest financial statement.

Income from continuing operations tipped the scales at $370,000, which is a massive improvement from the $3.3 million the WPT lost in the same quarter last year. The company also reported Q2 earnings per share of $.02, which was better than the forecasted $.01.

The WPT's next big event is Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in L.A. It kicks off on Aug. 22.

PokerStars offering "Extreme" satellites for 2009 WCOOP

The WCOOP is the biggest online poker series of the year and PokerStars announced this week they are offering some "Extreme" ways to get a virtual seat in one of the events. The "Extreme Satellites" will sometimes offer more than 100 seats into various WCOOP events with players qualifying for as little as $7.50.

The 2009 WCOOP kicks off on Sept. 3 and will run all the way until the two-day main event on Sept. 30. You can check out the complete schedule for Extreme Satellites here.

ESPN to launch a new Poker show

ESPN will be offering more poker coverage than just the $40.000 No-Limit Hold’em, Ante up for Africa and the Main Event this year as they will broadcast totally new web-only poker show called the ESPN Inside Deal. The show is presented by PokerStars and will have its debut on August 4 on espn.com.

-Moneymaker on the move

Chris Moneymaker will be the first guest on the show which will give the poker fans a behind the scenes look at poker lifestyle and the whole poker scene. Other confirmed guests will include Daniel Negreanu and Joe Hachem.

The show is hosted by ESPN The Magazine’s Laura Lane, professional player and ESPN.com columnist Bernard Lee and ESPN.com poker editor Andrew Feldman.

During the three months of the series, fans will be able to see the completion of the WSOP Main Event final table. There will be interviews and analyzes of each member of the November Nine as well. Fans will have the opportunity to participate in the show by submitting questions to their favorite pro players. Fans will also have an exclusive chance to participate in a sweepstakes where one winner will experience the November Nine in a unique way.

You just read Poker News from HighStakesNews.com

ESPN to launch a new Poker show

Italian Poker Players Shuttled From Regular PokerStars To Italian Version

After changes in their country’s online gaming laws went into effect on Monday, Italian poker players woke up to find that they could not play on the international version of PokerStars, leaving many in a state of confusion as to what forced this change.

Italian online gaming regulations have constantly been changing since the middle of this decade. Back in 2006, the government enacted laws that ordered Italian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block all access by its citizens from gaming outlets located outside of the country. The Italian government determined that approximately 600 outlets fell into that category and, for some time, the only action that Italians could participate in was through the state-run companies. After the European Union threatened sizeable fines and sanctions, the Italian government backed off the regulation and dropped the partial ban, allowing for open competition from all of the world‘s online poker rooms, casinos and sports books.

Over the last couple of years, Italy has been in discussions with the EU as to what their online gaming laws could and couldn’t do. In the meantime, PokerStars continued to operate in Italy, started a dedicated site for Italian players and even created the Italian Poker Tour, which kicked off its inaugural tournament in June of this year but has yet to announce a second date. After a critical decision made by the EU in February, which passed under the radar of most in the online gaming industry, the recent changes for Italian poker players were put into effect.

Back on February 20th, the European Union agreed to changes to Italy’s online gaming regulations that effectively altered where and how Italians can play poker online. The changes that were requested by Italy’s State Monopolies Autonomous Administration (AAMS), the governmental agency that regulates the Italian online gaming industry, were quite odd but were eventually accepted by the EU. These changes included such idiosyncrasies as only tournament play being permitted; sites operating in Italy can only accept Italian taxpayers as players; the operating site’s servers must be located in Italy; and every single tournament must be pre-approved in real-time by the AAMS.

In addition to these regulations, there are also “time of play” qualifiers, which monitor how long a player has been on the site and will restrict players from participating if they have been playing too long, and no cash games on the Italian-facing sites. These as well as the other regulations were implemented on July 27th.

PokerStars has attempted to explain the changeover to the affected players, stating that they are trying to protect themselves from prosecution in Italy. In an e-mail message from the site, a spokesman told Poker News Daily, “We have no choice in this matter. The law that was passed recently by the Italian Parliament has made it very clear that offering real money online poker games to Italian residents can only be done by the sites that hold an AAMS license, like our PokerStars.it site, and the operators that breach this provision are committing a criminal offense. Note that this new law has been submitted for approval to the European Union, and the approval was granted.”

“Furthermore”, the spokesman continued, “the Italian Government has directly requested PokerStars to stop providing services to Italian customers on its “.com” site after the new law comes into effect on the 29th of July 2009, and we have agreed to comply with this request as required by law.”

“Starting from the 27th of July 2009, Italian players will not be able to play at PokerStars.com tables any longer, but they will be able to either transfer the assets to PokerStars.it or convert their PokerStars.com account into a PokerStars.it account if they do not have one already”, he concluded.

It is possible that the European Union allowed the changes to Italy’s online gaming laws to promote the autonomy that Member Nations have as a part of the EU. It is also possible that the EU’s own inability to enact EU-wide regulation of the online gaming industry had an impact on the February decision. Regardless of why the new gaming laws are in place in Italy, PokerStars is attempting to be a responsible company in complying with the new regulations.

The change will have an effect across many different aspects of the online world. Several popular Italian professionals such as Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano and others will not be able to participate in the international online scene unless they are outside of their home nation. After the changes in the Russian poker community, the adjustments to the Italian online scene and the continued battle in the United States, poker is in a state of flux around the globe.

Americas Cup of Poker kicks off

Players from outside these countries can also help their country get involved through wildcard tournaments.

The countries have been split into groups, with each facing a new challenger each week.

Players score points for their country by making the top 100 in the daily freerolls, and $0.20 and $5.50 tournaments beginning today.

The country with the most points wins each match. When all the group matches are complete the two countries with the most wins in each group move on to a live final in Argentina.

The teams headed to the live event to represent their country will be made up of the five players earning the most points during the group stage and a Team PokerStars Pro.

The live tournament will be held at a Bariloche ski resort in the Andes with a $100,000 first-place prize up for grabs.

Check out PokerStars for more information. The groupings and schedule is also available on the PokerStars Americas Cup of Poker page right here.