Poker News

Pam Brunson to Oversee DoylesRoom Brunson 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obrestad Avoiding Aussie Millions Déjà Vu

Among the chip leaders with 21 people left in the 2009 Aussie Millions, holding ace-ten, she pushed all in for around 350k over Canadian Zach Fellows' raise, expecting him to fold all but premium cards.

However, Fellows made the rather loose call with just pocket fives.

The fives held and an angry Obrestad had a few choice words for Fellows before running nines into jacks to bow out 21^st.

"It was a terrible call," she said. "It was really frustrating."

Thursday, a year later, she finds herself deep-stacked late in the 2010 Aussie Millions again and hoping this won't be a case of déjà vu.

"I hope not," she laughed. "I want to do well in every tournament I play. It doesn't really matter which one it is, but because I got deep here last year and I was so close to final tabling, I want to know what that feeling is like."

The Norwegian-born Betfair Poker pro says there's really no secret to why she's deep in the Aussie Millions main event in back-to-back years.

The tournament just sets up well for her game.

"I think the structure is just really good," she said. "And I've been running good too."

It certainly doesn't hurt that the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe main event champ has cultivated an image as a tremendously loose-aggressive player. Apparently no one ever puts her on a hand.

"They never think I have anything, no matter how I play a hand," she explained. "Even when I have the nuts and that's the only hand I could possibly have, they still don't believe me.

"It's really annoying at times, because I like to play a lot of pots. So getting involved without a hand is not a good idea. But why would I? They never believe me anyway. I don't have to. So I'm trying to tighten up a little and take advantage."

Like most of the new generation of Internet whiz kids taking over the poker world these days, Obrestad was weaned on No-Limit Hold'em.

But drawn in by its alluring action, she recently expanded her repertoire to include Pot-Limit Omaha and actually took down the $1k PLO prelim in Australia just days before the start of the main event.

"I was really excited," she said. "I've been playing a lot online. That's usually what I play if I play online these days, so I feel like I've been really improving my game.

"You can play a lot of pots. You can play really aggressively and you can bluff a lot in that game. There's a lot of action. I like it."

But for now, she's got a little Hold'em and the remainder of the Aussie Millions to contend with.

"I really want to do well here this year," she said. "And put last year in the past."

To follow Obrestad's progress and the rest of the 2010 Aussie Millions main event, tune in to PokerListings' Live Updates through the Jan. 30 final table.

Poker Site Haiti Donations Top $2m

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ESPN Inside Deal Airs First Show of 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Online Poker Community Donates $1.5 Million to Haiti Earthquake Survivors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poker in Twitter: Deauville, Football, Kat von D and Victoria Coren’s duck.

Poker News Daily scours the Twitter feeds of hundreds of poker players to bring you the funniest, most interesting, weirdest Tweets of the last few days. This weekend saw many players tweeting about the tournaments they were in, which included the UBOC, the LAPC and the EPT Deauville. Other popular topics this week were football (the poker world seems to support the Saints almost unanimously) and other sports, as well as new houses, tattoos by Kat von D, and a river card made to measure for Eric Mizrachi.
The online cards were good for some and cruel to others: while Dave “Hollywood_Dave” Stann challenged players to face him at Ultimate Bet: “Rockin UBOC on UB right now...come join so I can felt you, too ”, Liv Boeree was not having such a great day: “finished 42nd in UBOC 8 for $6300. Set of 33s get it all in on turn... he rivers 9 for higher set. Laptop across the room time.” Eric Mizrachi could have shared some of his luck with her, as he boasted a screenshot from a spectacular river card in Poker Stars:  “Deliver the nice river, Ty @pokerstars_com http://twitpic.com/zmlrd”

Tournament manager supreme Matt Savage kept the world informed of the progress of the LAPC, starting with a comment on his famously grueling schedules: “We have completed days 1A/1B or .5 of the 51 events at this years @LAPokerClassic! Not sure what I was thinking when I made this schedule?” Apparently Mr. Savage is superstitious, since he made Dave Stann back off from certain comments that might bring the tournament ill luck: “@Hollywood_Dave please do NOT mention LAPC = Going Well and Obama Presidency = F'ing Up Country in same tweet! You may jinx us here in LA.” No jinx was apparent to Rob Perelman, who tweeted in delight: “Heads up pot. Final board A4444. Check check. Then 2nd guy tries to muck. This is why I love the @LAPokerClassic!” Some of poker’s hottest ladies were in attendance after trotting the globe in The Amazing Race last year; Tiffany Michelle posted a picture of her view from the table: “http://twitpic.com/z4bfu - Playin the 1st LAPC event, nice view - this girl follows me everywhere ”

The poker world followed the NFC very closely last weekend, and the general feeling seemed to favor the Saints, although Doyle Brunson voiced his admiration for the Vikings’ legendary quarterback: “Brett Favre has balls the size of basketballs.” Favre was the man of the day, with praise and heckles piled on him via Twitter. Gene Bromberg tried to be fair: “I gleefully join in on Favrebashing, but that should've been a flag. Low, late hit, gotta call that”, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith blamed it on the team: “@shannonelizab The vikings aren't even giving Favre a chance to win”, and Joe Sebok cheered and booed: “yes, saints! boo favre & vikings. city of new orleans deserves this... ” Shannon Elizabeth, who tweeted throughout the game, was a happy fan when the fat lady sang: “Congrats Saints! GREAT GAME!!”

The EPT Deauville had two excellent commentators in Vicky Coren and Isabelle Mercier, both of whom tweeted frequently with updates on their own performance and those of friends and team members. Coren had never been able to survive Deauville’s Day 1, and was hoping this year would be it: “It's Day 1 of the Deauville EPT. I've played this three times before and never survived Day One. Let's see if I can break my duck” (“Breaking one’s duck” is a British expression, originally from cricket, that means doing something for the first time.) Coren tried hard, and kept updating on her status to add to the suspense: “We started with 30k in chips. I went down to 4k, now up to 20k, tiptoeing between the outdraws. Two more levels and the duck gets it...” The duck, however, remains unbroken, as she got busted out in Day 1 once more. Fellow Brit Matthew Grant commiserated with some historic consolation: “@VictoriaCoren Nevermind, the only victory that matters near Deauville happened in 1944 ” Coren marveled at Mercier’s youthful looks when they sat together: “Ex Team Pro Isabelle Mercier is on my table, looking incredible. She just doesn't age, that woman. Is it a French thing?” It may have been Mercier’s joy at playing in Deauville, which she tweeted happily about: “Deauville Deauville! Always loved this French little piece of paradise... Especially when it's GAME DAY !!!! ... http://bit.ly/5V41EV” Mercier’s joie de vivre did not last very long, however, as she tweeted from her Facebook account: “Busted out few hours ago holding pocket 10's against poker Jacks and pocket Aces!!! Turned blue and slowly getting... http://bit.ly/4sN0Rb”

Celebrity tattoo artist Kat von D, from the TV show LA Ink, has been leaving her mark on the poker world. First she tattooed Tiffany Michelle, who shared a photo of her tattoo: “Pics of my tatt that Kat did on her show are on my website www.tiffanymichelle.com under the 'Film, TV, Shows' Gallery ” and more recently on Pearl Aday, as tweeted by heavy metal poker star Scott Ian: “Kat Von D shooting Pearl right now.” If he does not shape up to his crazy prop bet, Joe Sebok could be next.

Sebok got some unflattering tweets regarding his stunning new LA home – @DougLeePoker remarked acidly: “@JoeSebok Wow, sick place! and all you had to do was align yourself with a company that has stolen millions from their customers. Well Done!” Sebok’s affiliation with Ultimate Bet is evidently not well accepted by the poker world.

There were many random tweets on off topics that seemed too interesting to pass by, so here is a brief overview of the weird and wonderful tweets of this weekend. There is the cheerful but always cryptic Marcel Luske: “Just an other day,,, more news ,, more twitters , more closely 2 Our goalls & destiny,so enjoin the day & feel great & help others . {;”, a very happy tweet from Eric Mizrachi: “Got some GREAT NEWS today, my friend Myrielle "Meeyu" Pierre survived the earthquake. C U tomm Meeyu! http://twitpic.com/y267b”, some naughtiness from Gavin Griffin: “We just backed into someone's driver's side door and left an 8 square inch dent. Gave em 100 bucks. Win”, and a recognition of friendship from Daniel Negreanu: “I just counted. The number of good friends of mine that are unabashed media whores: zero! All my friends are so normal”, while Doyle Brunson experienced new things: “Got back from a recording session. I'm just a West Texas hillbilly, all that chit amazes me.”

The Tweet of the day is a tie between Jeff Madsen and Howard Lederer. Madsen quipped: “Tiger woods supposedly in Mississippi for sex Rehab. I'll b in Biloxi soon, maybe I need to check myself in?”, while Lederer pointed out: “Went to see Nadal tonight at Aussie Open and saw the best homemade fan sign ever at the match. It read "Go Nad." LOL”
If you are as addicted to Twitter as we are, be sure to follow us @PokerNewsDaily so you can stay up to date on all the breaking news in the poker world and be a part of some PND Twitter exclusives in the coming weeks.

T. J. Cloutier’s Championship Bracelets Up For Sale On eBay

Awards in the poker world can range from plaques to large trophies to even the head of an alligator (the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit’s Bayou Poker Classic trophy is the stuffed head of such an animal). One of the most cherished mementos of victory in poker is, of course, the WSOP bracelet that is awarded to each winner of an event in Las Vegas. For one of the most prized trophies in poker to appear for sale is almost unheard of.

This apparently is occurring at this moment and the former owner of the bracelet is none other than longtime poker veteran T.J. Cloutier. For sale on eBay, the popular online auction site, is a WSOP Bracelet won by Cloutier. The information on the site states that the bracelet is the last one that was won by the Texas road gambler in 2005. Information from the WSOP site shows that Cloutier won the last of his six bracelets in 2005 in the $5000 No Limit Hold’em event, where he defeated a final table that included Todd Brunson, John “World” Hennigan and the late John Bonetti to capture the championship.

On sale by the Plano Pawn Shop (which is approximately ten miles from T.J.’s hometown of Richardson, Texas), the auction on eBay has about two days left in the bidding. Asking for a minimum bid of $2999, the 2005 WSOP bracelet has yet to garner any interest from potential buyers. Perhaps anyone interested in the bracelet is wary of its authenticity (the Plano Pawn Shop has stated that the bracelet will come with a certificate of authenticity to prove it is real), but eBay sales are also notorious for not getting any action until the sale is almost over.

According to other details included in the sale information for the WSOP bracelet, the Plano Pawn Shop also has another championship bracelet from Cloutier. This has been confirmed by Poker News Daily as the bracelet from Cloutier’s last major poker championship, the 2007 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV, and the Plano Pawn Shop’s minimum bid for that bracelet is $2,499. Both of the items are not only for sale on eBay but are also being offered in the Plano Pawn Shop and can be viewed by appointment only.

The actual cash value of a WSOP bracelet is surprisingly easy to determine. From information provided by the Plano Pawn Shop about the Cloutier bracelet, Poker News Daily has determined an approximate value for such an item. With its 96 grams (3.38 ounces) of 14 karat gold (which is 58% gold, with 24K being solid gold) and 0.25 carats in diamonds, the cash value of the 2005 bracelet is roughly $2,350. The inherent value in a WSOP bracelet, of which only about 500 have been awarded, is priceless.

As far as what Cloutier may have received for the WSOP bracelet, an examination of the pawnshop industry would be necessary. When a pawnshop buys a piece of merchandise, it usually will pay anywhere from 30% to 50% of the actual value of an item to ensure that they get a significant return on their investment. With the Plano Pawn Shop putting a price tag of $2,999 on Cloutier’s 2005 WSOP bracelet, it can be logically assumed that the poker pro sold the bracelet for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500.

The sale of the bracelet has the forums burning with questions about the bracelet and Cloutier’s current financial status. On TwoPlusTwo, players are assuming that Cloutier has gone broke and needs the finances to continue playing poker (at this time, Cloutier has no sponsorship deal) or, some posters imply, to take to the craps tables. Many, however, are lamenting that Cloutier would part with one of his six WSOP bracelets. Poster “Dan_Vincent” writes in his post, “That's sad. You know he didn't get anything close to $2K for this.”

Others, perhaps cruelly, are making jokes about the issue. Citing one of the currently popular reality television shows, poster “Tom Bayes” says, “TJ should have gone on 'Pawn Stars.' Then Corey and Chumlee could have drooled on the bracelet, Rick could call up one of his numerous 'buddies' to give an 'expert' appraisal and then lowball the hell out of TJ, and then the 'Old Man' could tell us how 'real' poker was played 'back in the day.'”

For whatever reason, Cloutier felt as though these two bracelets were items that he could live without. With slightly more than 48 hours left in the two auctions, it remains to be seen how many bids Cloutier’s bracelets will get or if they will even be sold through the eBay auctions at all.

No Decision Handed Down in Kentucky Internet Gambling Case

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Andy Bloch Discusses Rush Poker Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PND: What poker goals do you have for 2010?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poker Players Alliance Pushing for February Markup of HR 2267

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cornell University Study Shows Playing More Poker Hands Means Less Profit

The old poker adage “tight is right” may seemingly have gone the way of the Dodo, especially in the current online poker age of constant aggression. A recent study by a sociology student at Cornell University suggest that the adage, however quaint, may actually be correct.

A recent article published on the website Science Daily, and the actual study – published by the Journal of Gambling Studies, – state that players who enter into more hands often lose more money overall than their more conservative fellows. Cornell sociology doctoral student Kyle Siler, a longtime online poker player who performed the experiment, came to the conclusion that when players win more hands, they often end up on the losing side of the balance sheet. Siler determined that when players won, they often made small profits on their hands. When these same players lost, however, the amounts were greater and put them into the red as to their overall earnings.

Siler used PokerTracker to compile 27 million hands, broken down between small, medium, and high-stakes players, and analyzed the entirety of the results. Siler suggests in his study that players overvalue the number of wins versus what the players should actually be looking at, the overall cash won or lost. Siler is quoted in the article saying that his results “coincide with observations in behavioral economics.”

Of particular interest to poker players, and especially those who play at smaller stakes or are inexperienced at the game, could be Siler’s assertion as to the value of particular pocket pairs for hole cards. In his study, Siler found that smaller pairs – deuces through sevens – were actually more valuable than what he called the middle pairs, eights through jacks: “This is because small pairs have a less ambiguous value, and medium pairs are better hands but have more ambiguous values that small-stakes players apparently have trouble understanding.”

The article goes on to break down how the different playing levels (small, medium, and high-stakes) articulate the behaviors of human beings. Poker “speaks to how humans handle risk and uncertainty,” Science Daily quotes Siler. “Riskiness may be profitable, especially in higher-stakes games, but it also increases the variance and uncertainty in payoffs. Living one’s life, calibrating multiple strategies and managing a bankroll, is particularly challenging when enduring wild and erratic swings in short-term luck and results.”

For many who play poker, either recreationally or for a living, the findings of Siler’s study are well known. Many poker books, including Phil Hellmuth’s Play Poker Like A Pro and the seminal offering from Doyle Brunson, Super/System, have espoused the theory of playing only strong starting hands such as high pocket pairs or strong aces. With the advent of online poker and the offbeat playing styles of celebrities such as Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, and Dario Minieri, the play of less than quality starting hands has proliferated. Siler’s study contends that, while it may be a more exciting way to play poker, it is not the most profitable method.

Poker News in Brief: Jan. 11-17, 2010

But there was plenty of poker news that didn’t make the front page of PokerListings.com, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we’ve compiled a list below.

This week we’ll take a look at Gavin Smith crushing Canadian tournaments, the HPT going to Vegas, a dominant online player quitting poker and more:

Two Final Tables for Smith at Fallsview

Canadian Gavin Smith was dominant at the 2010 Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls this week.

Fresh off a plane from the Bahamas, Smith outlasted 275 players to win $188,743 in the $2,500 event and then three days later finished fourth in the $5,000 main event.

Smith has historically done very well at tournaments in Canada. In 2008, he finished second at the Fallsview-hosted WPT North American Poker Championship for $542,129. He also made the final table of the 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championship in Calgary the same year.

Heartland Poker Tour Heads to Vegas

The Heartland Poker Tour kicked off its sixth season at Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas this week.

It was just the second time the lower buy-in poker tour has made a stop in Las Vegas, as it usually sticks to venues in Midwest. In the past, the tour has hosted tournaments in Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Michigan and Iowa.

The $1,100 buy-in event drew poker pros Dennis Phillips, Layne Flack, John Vorhaus and Tiffany Michelle.

The final table of the tournament is scheduled to play out later today.

Jonas "Nebuchad" Danielsson Quits Poker

Online grinder Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson, perhaps most well-known for making a verbal slip at the 2008 Scandinavian Poker Awards, has apparently decided to leave poker for the time being.

Danielsson made the announcement on his blog where he wrote that his passion for poker was gone and he was looking forward to experiencing new things. He did not mention how long his self-imposed retirement would last.

The young Swedish pro started playing poker full time in 2005 and in roughly five years of playing made over $3 million in profit.

Danielsson won Online Player of the Year at the Scandinavian Poker Awards in 2008, but was better remembered for accidentally referring to King Nebuchadnezzar as the first king to “deal with the Jewish problem” when explaining the origin of his screen name to host Daniel Negreanu.

English is not Danielson’s first language and he explained afterwards he was deeply sorry about the miscommunication.

Tennis Star John Isner Plays Poker

Apparently Boris Becker isn’t the only tennis celebrity that enjoys playing a little poker.

The New Zealand Herald reported this week that American John Isner can often be found at the poker table when he’s not playing tennis.

The 6’9 giant was making headlines all week in Auckland at the Heineken Open and even pulled off an upset against top seeded Spanish player Tommy Robredo.

Isner joins the aforementioned Becker as well as former tennis world #1 Yvegeny Kafelnikov as tennis players who are also poker enthusiasts.

Borgata Announces 2010 Winter Poker Open

The Borgata in Atlantic City released a schedule for its fifth annual Borgata Winter Poker Open this week.

The tournament series will take place Jan. 20-Feb. 5 with 16 events in a wide range of poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and more.

The $3,500 buy-in main event is scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 5 and it will offer a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million.

The Borgata Winter Open used to be a part of the World Poker Tour and in the past crowned champions like Michael Mizrachi, Gavin Griffin and John Hennigan.

Visit the Borgata website for the complete schedule.

Poker News in Brief: Jan. 11-17, 2010

But there was plenty of poker news that didn’t make the front page of PokerListings.com, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature, we’ve compiled a list below.

This week we’ll take a look at Gavin Smith crushing Canadian tournaments, the HPT going to Vegas, a dominant online player quitting poker and more:

Two Final Tables for Smith at Fallsview

Canadian Gavin Smith was dominant at the 2010 Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls this week.

Fresh off a plane from the Bahamas, Smith outlasted 275 players to win $188,743 in the $2,500 event and then three days later finished fourth in the $5,000 main event.

Smith has historically done very well at tournaments in Canada. In 2008, he finished second at the Fallsview-hosted WPT North American Poker Championship for $542,129. He also made the final table of the 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championship in Calgary the same year.

Heartland Poker Tour Heads to Vegas

The Heartland Poker Tour kicked off its sixth season at Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas this week.

It was just the second time the lower buy-in poker tour has made a stop in Las Vegas, as it usually sticks to venues in Midwest. In the past, the tour has hosted tournaments in Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Michigan and Iowa.

The $1,100 buy-in event drew poker pros Dennis Phillips, Layne Flack, John Vorhaus and Tiffany Michelle.

The final table of the tournament is scheduled to play out later today.

Jonas "Nebuchad" Danielsson Quits Poker

Online grinder Jonas “Nebuchad” Danielsson, perhaps most well-known for making a verbal slip at the 2008 Scandinavian Poker Awards, has apparently decided to leave poker for the time being.

Danielsson made the announcement on his blog where he wrote that his passion for poker was gone and he was looking forward to experiencing new things. He did not mention how long his self-imposed retirement would last.

The young Swedish pro started playing poker full time in 2005 and in roughly five years of playing made over $3 million in profit.

Danielsson won Online Player of the Year at the Scandinavian Poker Awards in 2008, but was better remembered for accidentally referring to King Nebuchadnezzar as the first king to “deal with the Jewish problem” when explaining the origin of his screen name to host Daniel Negreanu.

English is not Danielson’s first language and he explained afterwards he was deeply sorry about the miscommunication.

Tennis Star John Isner Plays Poker

Apparently Boris Becker isn’t the only tennis celebrity that enjoys playing a little poker.

The New Zealand Herald reported this week that American John Isner can often be found at the poker table when he’s not playing tennis.

The 6’9 giant was making headlines all week in Auckland at the Heineken Open and even pulled off an upset against top seeded Spanish player Tommy Robredo.

Isner joins the aforementioned Becker as well as former tennis world #1 Yvegeny Kafelnikov as tennis players who are also poker enthusiasts.

Borgata Announces 2010 Winter Poker Open

The Borgata in Atlantic City released a schedule for its fifth annual Borgata Winter Poker Open this week.

The tournament series will take place Jan. 20-Feb. 5 with 16 events in a wide range of poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and more.

The $3,500 buy-in main event is scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 5 and it will offer a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million.

The Borgata Winter Open used to be a part of the World Poker Tour and in the past crowned champions like Michael Mizrachi, Gavin Griffin and John Hennigan.

Visit the Borgata website for the complete schedule.

David Carruthers Gets 33 Months Jail Time in BetOnSports Case

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poker Draws A-Listers to PCA

The game of poker did.

“I’m not going to quit my day job, but I really love poker and I think I’m getting better at it,” said guitar legend Slash, who joined a host of big name celebrities, sports stars and Team PokerStars Pros playing in the amfAR and PokerStars charity event at the PCA this week.

“It’s just such an amazing game. So many different things can happen. With all the different people involved and all the different possibilities with the cards, it’s just a fantastic game.”

R&B star Kelly Rowland just picked up poker, but spent the entire day before her performance at an exclusive PokerStars party held at Atlantis Saturday night playing the game.

“I’m getting more and more used to it,” she said. “And I’ll tell you one thing, after playing last night, I definitely want to have a girls’ night when I get back home.

“I’m going to watch these pros like hawks so I can go back to Houston and take my friends' money.”

Model and actress Joanna Krupa appeared on the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge this season and was named the TV hostess for the new PokerStars North American Poker Tour this week.

She also anted up for AIDS research and is apparently really taking to the game.

“It’s so funny because it’s so unexpected, you never know what’s going to happen,” she said. “You might have the most amazing cards and still lose the hand or you might have crappy cards and still win. It’s definitely interesting, challenging and fun.

“I’m waiting for the time I’m actually going to play in a tournament with Joe (Cada) and Daniel (Negreanu). It’ll be fun and maybe I’ll learn their tricks of the trade and become a pro one day.”

'I’m going to watch these pros like hawks so I can go back to Houston and take my friends' money.'

 

2008 Playboy Playmate of the Year Jayde Nicole played in the main event at the PCA, sharing the felt with 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada on Day 1.

She said she started playing about four months ago and found the competition in the Bahamas a little daunting.

“It was very nerve racking at the beginning,” she said. “But I love poker. It’s fun, especially for me because there aren’t a lot of girls in poker and there aren’t a lot of Playboy models in poker, so I get a funny reaction from people. The truth is I really like meeting all the boys.”

Both Nicole and Krupa said the poker pros they’ve met this week have been quick to offer a few tips, but Slash’s experience has been quite different.

“They don’t talk to me,” he laughed. “But it’s OK. We have a couple of home games that are mostly rock people and I’ve cleaned up there a couple of times already.”

However, the men aren’t being ignored completely as Carlos Bernard, from TV’s 24, said he was lucky enough to have the opportunity to pick a few PokerStars pros brains this week.

“I’m not hustling anybody right now,” he said. “So it’s been good to play with the pros and learn a few tricks.”

PokerStars amfAR Charity Poker Tournament Attracts Star-Studded Lineup

On Friday night during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), a charity poker tournament benefiting amfAR, a foundation for AIDS research, will play out. The field is capped at 39 entrants.

Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $290 million and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. Now, poker players will have a chance to give to the cause as part of a star-studded $5,250 buy-in charity tournament that will be filmed for television and beamed across cyberspace via EPTlive. The PCA is in the midst of Day 3 of its $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which attracted a starting field of 1,529 players, a new European Poker Tour (EPT) record.

Unlike a traditional poker tournament, the amfAR benefit takes on a shootout format. A total of 39 players will assemble across four tables. The last two standing at each table will move onto the final round. At the first table, each player is awarded 50,000 starting chips and the price of poker goes up every 20 minutes. At the final table, combatants will receive the same 50,000 chips, but blind levels will instead last a half-hour. Fifty percent of the prize pool will go straight to amfAR and all players are encouraged to donate 1% of their winnings to the charity. One television table and three outer tables can be found at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas tonight.

On Saturday night, former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland will be performing at a PokerStars-sponsored party at the resort. Tonight, Rowland will put her poker skills to the test in the amfAR charity event. Other celebrity poker players who will take to the felts this evening include Entourage actor Adrian "Vince" Grenier, former Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, “24” star Carlos Bernard, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year and “PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge” personality Jayde Nicole. New PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) television hostess Joanna Krupa can also be found among the personalities in attendance in the charity poker event.

Professionals taking to the felts include reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Joe Cada, a card-carrying member of Team PokerStars Pro. Cada is fresh off mainstream media appearances on programs like the “Late Show with David Letterman” and “ESPN SportsCenter” and he recently toured Capitol Hill on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Also, look for tennis stud Boris Becker, former hockey star Mats Sundin, and former soccer player Teddy Sheringham. All are members of Team PokerStars SportsStars and will be in attendance raising money for amfAR.

Several PokerStars-sponsored pros besides Cada and the world’s sports heroes will make their way to the tournament area tonight, including Costa Rican sensation Humberto Brenes, Brazil’s Alexandre Gomes and Andre Akkari, Swedish pro William Thorson, and the Netherlands’ Pieter de Korver. Also taking part are five online qualifiers, who will almost certainly be overwhelmed by the amount of celebrity and poker firepower in attendance.

Members of the media were advised to show up no later than 5:45pm local time in order to snap pictures of players as they arrived. No interviews were available, as PokerStars will hold a formal red carpet outside of the Aura Nightclub at 7:00pm on Saturday prior to Rowland’s performance.

At the time of writing, Bryce Yockey from the United States paced the field in the 2010 PCA Main Event with a chip stack of one million. Others in the top ten included 2009 WSOP Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, UB.com pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham, and two-time bracelet winner Eric “EFro” Froehlich. A total of 190 players remain and blinds are 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest news, notes, and nuggets from the 2010 PCA.

South Carolina Attorney General Appeals Poker Skill Game Ruling

The fight for five poker players in South Carolina is far from over. According to the Associated Press, the state’s Attorney General will appeal the October ruling that Texas Hold’em, the world’s premier poker genre, is a skill game.

It’s a familiar debate as the poker industry enters 2010. Is Texas Hold’em a game of skill or is it ultimately determined by chance? South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster filed an appeal with the state’s Supreme Court, the Associated Press explained on Thursday: “McMaster's appeal says he doesn't think whether there is skill or just chance involved has anything to do with lawmakers' attempt to ban gambling. The attorney general skipped the Court of Appeals and filed with the state Supreme Court, saying the question deals with the constitution's wording on gambling.”

Five poker players were charged in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina back in 2006. According to the favorable ruling by Judge Markley Dennis in October, the buy-ins for a weekly home game in the South Carolina town varied between $5 and $20. The small blind was $0.25 and the big blind was $0.50, with pots ranging between $5 and $10. Fifty cents was taken from several pots in order to provide food and drink for players, but the “house” did not profit from the game.

The game got ugly on April 12th, 2006, when police officers raided it and began arresting participants on the grounds that they were playing in a “house used as a place of gambling.” The defendants, under the guidance of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), argued that poker is a game of skill, not chance, and therefore did not constitute illegal gambling. The trial court heard the case in February, which featured World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton recap hands played on the roving tournament series to demonstrate poker’s skill component.

Dr. Robert Hannum was also brought in to testify last February. The October ruling explains, “Dr. Hannum also testified that a statistical analysis of professional poker players demonstrated that past performance was a reliable indicator of future success, establishing that the skill of the player was the predominant factor in determining wins and losses.” The lower court ruled that poker was a game of skill. However, because South Carolina’s laws were vague on whether that mattered, the five defendants were found guilty.

An appeal was filed, setting up October’s ruling. Judge Dennis candidly explained, “This Court agrees with Appellants that the South Carolina Supreme Court, if faced with the question, would adopt the dominant factor test for the purpose of defining gambling.” He added, “It should also be noted that the South Carolina Attorney General has consistently applied the dominant factor test when providing opinions about whether certain activities are legal.”

Judge Dennis harped on the overwhelmingly broad nature of South Carolina’s gambling statute, which could be construed to mean that nearly any game played with cards or dice is illegal. Judge Dennis specifically called out Bunco, Go Fish, and Solitaire as possible infractions of state law, saying, “Simply put, [the law], as written, has the potential to make criminals of virtually every man, woman, and child in the state of South Carolina.” Twenty of the original defendants pled guilty to gambling charges, while five fought against the state.

According to the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper, the filing by the Attorney General was 57 pages long and McMaster is a Republican candidate for Governor. The Courier revealed, “No timetable has been set on when the case will be heard, and more rounds of legal filings are expected. The legislature is expected to take up a bill legalizing social card games next year.”

Full Tilt Poker Crashes on Sunday

It was an unusual Sunday for online poker players all over the world, as Full Tilt Poker, the world's second largest online poker site, had its server crash during the heart of its heavy-traffic period. The site’s stoppage affected everyone playing on the site, including those still alive in Full Tilt's flagship Sunday tournament, the $216 buy-in $750,000 Guaranteed.

The crash occurred at 7:45pm ET and players were booted from the site and unable to log back in. When attempting to open the Full Tilt client, players received a message saying, "Unable to connect to server." This went on for hours and the poker community erupted.

Full Tilt posted the following message on its site shortly after the crash occurred: "Unscheduled Maintenance In Progress: We recently experienced a network outage. We expect to be operational shortly." After failing to get the site back up in a timely manner, Full Tilt Poker cancelled all running tournaments at 9:41pm ET. Then, at approximately 11:15pm, ET, the site's support staff sent the following e-mail to players who were still playing in tournaments:

When a tournament is cancelled before it reaches the money, according to tournament rule 31.2 (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/tourRules.php):

-In addition, the remaining prize pool will be divided and distributed according to chip count - (Remaining Prize Pool)*(Your Chip Count)/(Total Chips in Play) = Your Share of Remaining Prize Pool.

The reimbursement policy for rebuy tournaments is slightly different and several players expressed their confusion regarding Full Tilt's procedure. PocketFives.com forum member "MattElsarelli" posted the following concerning a tournament he was playing: "Does anyone know their policy on refunding for rebuys? I'm like 15 buy in deeps in the $20 rebuy, do I get refunded all of them?"

He got his answer from a fellow poster who laid out Full Tilt's Tournament Rules: "In a Rebuy tournament - the number of rebuys or add-ons a player has made does not affect the payout if a tournament is cancelled. If a tournament has not reached the money, all players will have their initial tournament buy-in and fee returned, as described in bullet 31.2. In addition, any other money in the prize and Cashout pools where applicable (excluding guarantees and money added by Full Tilt Poker), will be divided and distributed to the remaining players, based on their respective chip counts."

For tournaments that awarded a non-monetary prize, such as a live tournament package (like a World Poker Tour event), Full Tilt Poker assigns a monetary value to the prize and distributes it in cash to the remaining players based on their chip counts. In ring games, the hand being played at the time of the stoppage was considered dead and all bets were returned at the point of the crash.

As of Monday morning, Full Tilt Poker was operating as normal.

PokerTableRatings Announces Player of the Year Race

Many in poker work hard to attain various Player of the Year awards from several publications and associations, ranging from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to PocketFives.com.  Although there are a myriad awards set aside for the year’s best tournament poker players, none have existed for those who play in cash games. This year, PokerTableRatings is giving the opportunity to all poker enthusiasts to vote for the 2009 Player of the Year for both Hold’em and Omaha cash games.

The intention of the Player of the Year race at PokerTableRatings was to finally reward grinders making money at the cash tables with some much-deserved recognition.  Instead of simply awarding titles to those who just made the most money or put the vote to an elitist group of individuals, the site has decided that the public will determine the vote.

There are ten awards that will be given out for both Hold’em and Omaha games.  The stake levels are:

Nosebleeds: $100-$200 and up
High Stakes: $10-$20 through $50-$100
Mid Stakes: $2-$4 through $5-$10
Low Stakes: $0.5-$1 through $1-$2
Micro Stakes: $0.25-$0.50 and below

Players who have played a minimum of 10,000 hands at each level qualify to receive votes.  If a player has played more than the minimum required across several stakes, they are eligible to receive votes at all qualified levels.

Each registered user of PokerTableRatings will receive ten Player of the Year votes.  Registration to the site is completely free and without obligation.  To vote for someone, users visit the profile page of a given player and select the radio boxes for the award they want to vote for and hit the “Submit” button.  Each checked box counts for one vote and players can vote multiple times for any given player.  Once a vote is cast, however, it cannot be changed and the site has gone on record saying it will not grant additional votes.  The voting is currently underway and will conclude on December 31st.

Once the votes are counted, the players with the most in each category will be declared the PokerTableRatings Player of the Year for that level.  Each player winning an award will receive a special badge for his or her profile page.

The current results page is updated every 20 minutes and displays the current vote totals for all categories.  Since voting is open to all registered voters, some have voted for their favorites, friends, themselves, and those who they feel best exemplify the title of Player of the Year.

Currently, “Isildur1” leads the vote totals for both the Hold’em and Omaha categories despite losing $2.65 million this year in Nosebleed stakes games.  He holds a slight edge over Tom “durrrr” Dwan in both categories, with the winner still yet to be determined.

In the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Hold’em categories, one player holds the leading votes for both categories in “nanonoko.”  In both stakes, the margin is extremely wide and, with over $1 million in profits this year, he looks like a lock to take the award down.  The same phenomenon is happening for the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Omaha awards, as “Skjervøy” leads both categories in voting.  Although his margin is not as great as the one that “nanonoko” enjoys, “Skjervøy” remains the odds-on favorite to win both categories.

In the Low Stakes Hold’em category, “water boat” holds a huge margin over the rest of the competition thanks to some apparent self-promotion.  One of the odds-on favorites to win the award before voting began was “jrockhaf” from PokerStars, who currently sits in seventh place with 160 votes after taking own more than $90,000 in just low-stakes action.  On the Omaha side, “TheOrangeman” leads by a nice margin over players such as “kazor” and “GaussPoker” from Full Tilt Poker.

The Micro Stakes has losing players currently in the lead for both Hold’em and Omaha categories.  Current leader “MartinK1979” from PokerStars leads despite his -$875 showing for the year over second place “GalloFX” from Full Tilt Poker, who has lost $3,560 in 2009.  Obviously, these votes might be more sentimental in nature more than anything, but it will be interesting to see who wins out in this category.  Finally, in the Micro Stakes Omaha category, “MRobot” from PokerStars leads despite his -$534 result in 2009.

All online poker players are highly encouraged to visit PokerTableRatings and cast their ten free votes to have a voice in the Player of the Year race.  Winners will be announced shortly after voting concludes on New Year’s Eve.

On the Rail at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

There was certainly a lot of excitement at Saturday’s fast-paced final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but there were plenty of interesting stories taking place on the rail as well.  The stacked table of six had their respective cheering sections in attendance and big-name pros including Daniel Negreanu, Full Tilt Pro Greg “FBT” Mueller, Bodog’s Justin Bonomo, and the tournament’s namesake, Doyle Brunson, were all in attendance.

Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer may not have been the most recognizable face to the casual poker fan, but the longtime online pro had one of the largest cheering sections with Darryll “df1986” Fish, Isaac Haxton, Bonomo, UB.com’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, and Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar all rooting him on.  This was O’Dwyer’s first career televised final table, so his peers came out in full force to cheer him on.

“Even those he’s had trouble with these big tournaments for the past year, he’s been sticking with it and it’s finally paying off for him.  He’s very driven to do well,” Fish explained to Poker News Daily.  O’Dwyer informed us that this was only his second World Poker Tour (WPT) cash, with the first one coming in the Bahamas in 2007.

Levy delayed his return home to Los Angeles to stick around and cheer on O’Dwyer.  While Levy liked O’Dwyer’s chances, especially if he could get down to shorter-handed play, he predicted early in the final table that Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and Daniel Alaei would pose the most trouble to everyone else. “Faraz is obviously good.  Alaei is good too.  Shawn Buchanan doesn’t have a huge stack, but he’s still in the mix.”

Jaka also had several friends in attendance who showed their support for their notoriously stylish friend by each donning one of his signature hats.  For those who may not be familiar with the online poker pro known as “The-Toliet,” Jaka has worn everything from a fedora to a toboggan at the poker table and, last night, sported a dapper vest and newsboy hat combo.  One player cheering Jaka on was Brent “Astrolux85” Roberts, who was also in attendance when Jaka made his first WPT final table appearance at the Bellagio Cup back in July.

Poker News Daily asked Roberts if he thought this final table would be more or less interesting than the Bellagio Cup’s.  “That last final table was so long,” he said.  “There were a lot of exciting components, but hopefully this one will be more interesting; there are a lot of good players at the table.”  Roberts also had nothing but kind words about his friend: “[He’s] one of the friendliest people I’ve met in the poker world.  He’s a sicko.”

Nguyen was one of the fan favorites at the table and the room cleared out quite a bit after his elimination in fifth place.  Buchanan’s rail, which included longtime friend and fellow Canadian Mueller, also made their exit following Buchanan’s elimination.  Negreanu arrived to the final table a little later in the action, as did Haralabos Voulgaris and Jeff Madsen.  They stuck around for the heads-up match between Alaei and Josh Arieh, as did Alaei’s father, Eddie.

The elder Alaei stuck around for the duration of the final table watching his son in action, but stepped out for a minute during heads-up play.  While he was away, Arieh and Alaei got it all-in with the title on the line and he almost missed his son’s moment in the sun.  Thankfully, Negreanu apparently tipped him off that a big hand was brewing and Eddie ran back just in time to catch the last of the action.

As Alaei was posing for photos with the winning hand and prize money, Eddie repeatedly thanked Negreanu and told the pro he owed him one.  Then, in one of the more heartwarming moments of the evening, father and son posed together for photos and headed out of the ballroom to celebrate Alaei’s first WPT victory.

Aria Casino Las Vegas Opens New Poker Room

The much-anticipated City Center project is finally open in Las Vegas and the poker world has been turning out in droves to check out the 24-table poker room in the new Aria Casino.  Aria is one of the six major buildings within the City Center complex and the only one to house a casino.  The multi-billion dollar complex also includes Vdara, a 57-story hotel and condominium complex, Mandarin Oriental, a smaller hotel and condo complex, and Crystals, a 50,000 square foot shopping and entertainment center.

City Center officially opened its doors to the public on December 16th and, within minutes of setting up shop, players were lining up for the poker games inside.  The main poker area consists of 18 tables that spread games like $1/$3 and $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em and $3/$6 Limit Hold’em.  The early nights in the poker room also saw $4/$8 Omaha High-Low and other mixed games being played.

The remaining six tables are divided between a high-limit gaming area in the back of the poker room and a one-table VIP lounge that is housed in its own room.  The high-limit area is located in a raised area with curtains used to drown out the sound of the casino machines and passers-by.  In the early goings, the high-limit area has been used for $5/$10 No Limit Hold’em and other bigger limit games.

Fans of Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio will be happy to hear there is an equivalent in the Aria poker room and it has already been put to use.  Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, David Benyamine, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Patrik Antonius were all spotted playing in the secluded VIP lounge on Thursday evening, the day after the casino opened.  While the room is semi-private, ogling railbirds can get a peek at their favorite high-stakes players through the glass front door.  According to one of the employees at Aria, Phil Ivey is currently in talks to loan his name to the room in the same fashion that Bobby Baldwin did at the Bellagio, so news of big games being played in “Phil’s Room” could be on the horizon.

A number of poker pros have taken time to check out the new poker room, including Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke and UB.com sponsored pro Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire.  Both had generally positive remarks about the new room and they took the time to relay their sentiments to Poker News Daily.

“I was impressed,” Devonshire admitted.  “I felt like I was in a cozy, futuristic lodge.”  Devonshire is referring to the somewhat space-age design of the Aria Casino.  The casino was built with the intention of being as green as possible and, unlike other properties on the Strip, Aria utilizes available natural light during daytime hours to cut down on energy consumption.

Fricke also had positive things to say, noting, “The poker room is pretty good.”  He did have one small complaint: “The one big problem I have is that the cell service is terrible.”  Others voiced similar frustrations with reception in the room, but the problem appears to be specific to certain carriers.

Another frustration voiced by players is the noise level at the tables in the main area of the poker room.  While the poker area is set off from the rest of the casino with a low fence-like wall and large columns decorated with gold playing cards, the foot traffic and noise from the slot machines made it slightly difficult to hear the action.  The poker room staff is aware of the situation and is already taking steps to mitigate the volume.

When Poker News Daily paid a visit to the new room, the emphasis on service was apparent.  There was a short wait for $1/ $3 No Limit Hold’em, but everyone was being seated in a relatively short amount of time and the use of chip runners helped to speed up the process even further.  Beverage service is currently available and food service is said to be coming in the near future.

Poker2Nite Welcomes Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton

The UB.net sponsored poker news program “Poker2Nite,” which makes its home on Fox Sports Net, welcomed Mike Sexton this week. The World Poker Tour (WPT) host is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame after being inducted one month ago.

“Poker2Nite” began with Absolute Poker pro Lacey Jones interviewing players at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas. Among those to appear on-camera was dual World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jeff Madsen, who told Jones, “What it comes down to is the skill level of the players, the structure is good, and the Bellagio atmosphere is good to players in general.” Jones also spoke with Robert Mizrachi and 2009 WSOP November Nine member Kevin Schaffel. The $15,000 buy-in tournament crowns a champion on Saturday.

Next up was UB.net pro Phil Hellmuth presenting Phil’s Best Blow-Ups. There are a multitude of meltdowns to choose from, but Hellmuth recapped his explosion against Cristian Dragomir during the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Dragomir called Hellmuth’s raise pre-flop with 10-4, only to flop top pair. Hellmuth explained, “Of course, this joker gets rewarded for his donkey play and that just did not sit well with me.” His tirade against Dragomir featured lines such as “He’s the worst player in history and they’re cheering” and “To you, it’s poker. To me, this is my life.”

After recapping Sexton’s Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which took place during the dinner break of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, the bracelet winner joined the “Poker2Nite” crew. On being elected to the Poker Hall of Fame, Sexton told “Poker2Nite” hosts Joe Sebok and Scott Huff, “To me, it’s the ultimate career achievement award. To reach this level, it’s a pretty big honor.” Sexton was the only member of the Class of 2009 and, in order to be elected, had to receive 75% of the vote of a panel of media members and current Hall of Famers.

So-called “Sextonisms” have become a staple of modern poker lingo, but the WPT host noted that one of his favorites is, “You can only slide so far on barbed wire.” This author would have preferred “Bingo, bango, bongo,” but laughed nonetheless. Sexton also discussed PokerGives.org, which he founded along with Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and Lisa Tenner. Sexton commented, “It’ll be a way the poker world can give back to worthwhile charities.”

A new segment called Coin Flipping aired, pitting Sebok and Huff against each other to see what option had a slight mathematical edge. First up was who was the better No Limit Hold’em cash game player, Phil Ivey or Patrik Antonius. Sebok remarked, “I’m going with Phil because he looks scarier.” Also discussed was whether winning the $50,000 HORSE Championship or WSOP Main Event was more prestigious, as was whether Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin or Cornel Andrew Cimpan should be the Player of the Year. On the latter, Sebok gave his two cents: “I don’t think this one is really that close” and chose Baldwin, who effectively has already taken down the CardPlayer Player of the Year title for 2009.

Dana Workman dished out the Bluff Magazine sponsored Weekly Misdeal segment, poking fun at WSOP Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon’s conspiracy theory about ESPN crews sharing information, champion Joe Cada taking to Capitol Hill in support of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), Montel Williams facing a lawsuit from the International Team Poker League, and Marcel Luske’s new album.

“Poker2Nite” airs on Wednesdays at 11:00pm in each market on Fox Sports Net. However, the show is often pre-empted for local sporting events, so viewers are advised to check their local listings for airtime and channel information.

CNBC Investigates Illegal Gambling, Online Poker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kentucky Attorneys File Motion to Amend Internet Gambling Complaint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CNBC Illegal Gambling Feature to Air on Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annie Duke on the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Phil Ivey’s Table Presence

Fresh off watching the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table pan out, Ultimate Bet pro Annie Duke discusses the wild action that unfolded from the Rio in Las Vegas and aired on ESPN.

Poker News Daily: Now that you’ve had a chance to check out the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table, give us your thoughts on what occurred.

Duke: The Main Event was really interesting. On the one hand, I don’t think there’s any question that it was the most skilled final table we’ve seen in a long time. Some of the play was brilliant, but at the same time, it also had some of the worst play we’ve seen. There were some very ill-advised plays at the final table.

The thing I worry about is that I’m involved with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and spend a lot of time arguing that poker is a game of skill. I understand that when someone gets their money in with deuces against jacks, they’re going to hit it 18% of the time. I have a concern that on a national stage, we came out on the weird end of variance. People are going to look at that and conclude that poker is a game of luck.

Darvin Moon did some crazy things and everyone could see that. Joe Cada got his money in with deuces and threes and hit both times. We can have arguments that he overplayed his hands, which proves that poker is a skill game. Because we can argue about it, it’s a skill game. The fact is he hit both of him and to the viewing public, it’s just luck. I actually think in that sense, it was unfortunate.

PND: Can you comment on a few of the other players at the 2009 WSOP Main Event final table?

Duke: Phil Ivey aside, who never got anything going, and Kevin Schaffel aside, it looked like Antoine Saout was playing amazingly well. I was impressed with him. I was also impressed with Eric Buchman and I think Steven Begleiter benefited from the coaching he received. You saw someone change the way they play because of the coaching in between. If you have four months and you’re a player who needs a lot of help, coaching is a good thing for you. If you’re already a really good player, coaching will hurt you. After four months, you’re trying to feel your way around the changes and trying to see where things apply. It’s not a good idea.

PND: What about Buchman impressed you? What were your thoughts on Cada?

Duke: When Ivey was there, people weren’t playing poker. Ivey is a huge presence and no one wanted to be the person to double him up. The other players didn’t want to get their chips in play because they were afraid of giving them to Ivey. Cada and Buchman were the only two playing during this period. They took advantage of that situation and did a good job of taking down the blinds and antes. That shows Cada has something going on. He recognized the situation and played accordingly.

PND: Did Ivey play too tight?

Duke: Ivey folding jacks is the big question. Everything else he did made sense. My guess is that Ivey was sitting there with Moon to his right and felt that he didn’t want to put his chips at risk. If he could double up, he had all of these chips sitting to his right. He was raising in early position in relation to Saout, who wasn’t playing aggressively and pushed in. Saout hadn’t been out there skating and Ivey probably would have called Cada or Buchman. Would I have called? Probably, but I’m speaking in retrospect and I don’t think I’m as good of a player as Ivey is.

PND: What makes Ivey so talented?

Duke: Ivey is the top-winning player in the history of online poker. He’s amazing in cash games. It doesn’t matter if it’s Mixed Games, Stud, or Pot Limit Omaha; pick a game and he’s good at it. His weakest game is probably Limit Hold’em and he’s still really good at that. He’s worked really hard and he puts in the time and hours. He’s good at the math and he’s also good at the feel. He has ridiculous heart and he has the follow-through.

PND: Does Ivey have the same intimidating table presence that your Ultimate Bet colleague, Phil Hellmuth, does?

Duke: Hellmuth’s advantage comes from somewhere else. Ivey terrifies people. No one wants to give him chips. Hellmuth has a different presence. People are so emotionally wrapped up in him that they cease to be able to think. People will throw chips at Hellmuth because they’re so pissed off at him. They want to beat him so badly. You try to avoid him because you’re afraid of getting yelled at or you want to show him up.

PND: What have other players you’ve talked to said about Jeffrey Pollack leaving his post as the WSOP Commissioner?

Duke: The community agrees that it may be bad for the players. What that speaks to, whether it’s true or not, was that he was a big friend to the players and that’s his legacy. What an amazing legacy for someone to have.

PND: What are your Thanksgiving plans?

Duke: I’m celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday as opposed to Thursday. My brother and everyone are converging on my house. I’m doing a small thing on Thursday as well. I love the cooking: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, and all sorts of desserts.

Joe Cada: ‘It’s Been a Whirlwind So Far’

And apparently it’s been quite a ride.

“It’s been a whirlwind so far,” Cada told PokerListings on a break from play at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas Monday, his first major tournament since booking the $8,546,435 win in November.

“I’m still trying to get used to things. It’s just a lot of media requests and stuff.”

With mainstream media appearances on CNN American Morning and The Late Show with David Letterman in the month since the Main Event table played out, Cada has certainly been busy.

But the Shelby Township, Michigan native doesn’t appear to mind.

“It’s been pretty good,” he said. “I don’t get as much sleep as I used to, but it’s not so bad. I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of famous people, so that’s cool.”

The one thing the college dropout turned Team PokerStars Pro hasn’t had much time to do, is ply his trade.

“I’ve played online here and there, but I really haven’t had that much time to play,” he said.

He also hasn’t had much time to spend his winnings.

“I haven’t really done anything with the money,” he explained. “I gave my family some money, but that’s about it.”

A WSOP Main Event title seems to bring more than fame and riches to those who win it, as a seemingly inevitable debate over the newly crowned champion’s skills ensues.

Cada made a miraculous comeback from a severe short stack seven-handed to win the Main Event, getting lucky in several spots.

And although detractors have criticized his win as pure luck, Cada seems to take it all in stride.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” he said. “I did get lucky at the final table, but I’m not really mad about the way I played the hands. Sometimes that’s just what happens.”

Rather than focus on the negative, Cada is simply taking the time to further his personal goals and those of the game he loves.

“It’s been pretty cool so far,” he said. “I’ve just been doing my best to help poker grow and be the best ambassador that I can.”

The WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic continues through Dec. 19. For comprehensive coverage click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates.

PartyGaming to merger with Bwin?

The purchase of WPT was just the beginning for PartyGaming in a quest of becoming the biggest poker site in the world, again. The next step apparently is adding sports book to their supply, as the company has started merger talks with Austrian gambling company Bwin.

PartyGaming is set to welcome Bwin.

The merger would create a huge gambling company worth of £2 billion. Talks about the merger have been held on and off since the summer. If the two sides can agree a tie-up, the deal would be a merger of equals, as the value of both companies are about the same.

PartyGaming is currently offering poker and casino games. The merger, that is expected to be clarified early this week, of PartyGaming and Bwin would be logical, because PartyGaming is looking for new revenues from sports betting, something that Bwin is good at.

PartyGaming has been looking for expanding their business recently under CEO Jim Ryan. Before the UIGEA was set PartyGaming was estimated being worth of £5 billion, nearly 90% of its revenues coming from America. Closing their American operations lost them huge share of poker markets.

Everything is pointing to a fact that PartyGaming is preparing a return to US market. Mike Sexton, the WPT announcer and PartyPoker spokesperson told cardplayer.com that people at PartyPoker are sure UIGEA will be reversed and it will start a poker boom like six years ago, When Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP main event.

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PartyGaming to merger with Bwin?

Joey Ingram (JoeIngram1) Recaps 50,000 Online Poker Hands Prop Bet

The online poker world was fixated at the micro-stakes games last week, as Joey "JoeIngram1" Ingram won a lucrative prop bet that involved setting the world record for number of hands played.  The prop bet wasn't all about simple volume, but also required Ingram to show a profit over the 50,000 hands played within a 24-hour period at the 25nl ($0.10-$0.25) games.  Once he accomplished the feat, Ingram took in over $30,000 in side money.  Poker News Daily met with Ingram to discuss his place in poker history and what the future holds for this massive multi-tabler.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on setting the world record for number of hands played in a day.  When you were younger, did you ever imagine you’d set a world record for anything?

Ingram: No, definitely not. I should point out that I also have the world record for hands played in a month at 604,000, so having both records is a huge deal for me.  It’s something I’m really proud of.

PND: Can you talk about the development of your prop bet and how you managed to get so much action on it?

Ingram: I managed to get all of this action because I played a 25,000 hand session, I was down, and people saw that on Poker Table Ratings.  My profile also showed that I had lost 20+ buy-ins in a session in the past.  Since I had that history, people were just lining up to give me action.  I was just trying to get in hands to see if I could accomplish the goal of 50,000 while just playing a C-level game.

PND: What were your emotions in the hours leading up to the start of your challenge?  Did you do anything special to prepare for it?

Ingram: I was super excited to just try it and see if I could make money during this challenge.  I was hoping I wouldn’t fail because I would have lost a lot of money if I didn't come through on the bet.  It’s not like when I played sports earlier in life; this time, money was involved and I would have lost something like $12,000.

PND: Did you think after you accomplished the feat that you would get such widespread notoriety and publicity?

Ingram: Oh no, definitely not.  I never expected there to be articles around the internet and hearing about it on newscasts like PokerRoad.  There are sites in every language that have a story about my accomplishment.  I never thought this story would be so popular.

PND: With the prop bet done, what’s in the works for 2010 and is there another challenge for you in the future?

Ingram: I am probably thinking of doing a prop bet playing six-max and showing a profit while putting in one million hands in a month.  I am looking to get about $100,000 in prop bet action on that, but right now I am experimenting to see if I can actually pull it off.  It’ll have a requirement to play at minimum of 25nl, but it’ll also most likely encompass 50nl and 100nl tables.

PND: How likely do you think that someone will be breaking your record in the next six months?  How will you feel should your record be broken?

Ingram: Technically, Chiren already played 58,000 hands, but he didn’t make any money, so a lot of people aren’t considering that to be the record.  If someone broke my record, no one is going to get the action I got, so they will just be walking away with what they win, like $100.  For me, I made a ton of money, so I’ll be laughing the whole time I watch it happen.  The reason people are talking about me is because of the prop bet.

PND: You’ve put in massive amounts of hands and been a little over breakeven. Will you continue to work along that path or focus on playing fewer tables at a higher win-rate?

Ingram: On Poker Table Ratings, I’m 2.2BB/100 24-tabling six-max and I’m going to focus on that mainly in the future.  It makes so much more sense for me to play six-max since my game is better suited there, so I’ll be shifting over to that game since I’m showing such a bigger profit.  A lot of people have been telling me to shift to that game for a while.

PND: In terms of accomplishments in poker history, where does yours stand?

Ingram: I don’t know but I don’t think it’s really all that high up there.  It’s definitely not up to snuff with the Moneymaker effect; it’s just an achievement for multi-tabling and I made a bunch of money doing it.

PND Apparently, you have fans now.  Do you have anything to say to them?

I still get plenty of PMs on TwoPlusTwo and some that follow my blog.  I'm known for quite a few things these days, so I get people contacting me all of the time.  Most are quite positive and leave encouraging messages and I really appreciate their support.  I really am honored that people throw my name out there when people talk about the best 24-tabler.  It's all very cool.

Jennifer Tilly hosting charity tournament

Jennifer Tilly will host the 2nd Annual All In for CP Celebrity No-Limit Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament next Saturday, Dec. 12.

“All in for CP” was organized first time last year and the event raised $44.000 for the cause. This year they aim to get even more money for One Step Closer Foundation. 50% of the funds they raise will go directly to the Foundation.

“All in for CP” will gather up people from TV and Movie business, but also some poker professionals and other celebrities.

Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Todd Brunson, Phil Laak, Clonie Gowen and Men “The Master” Nguyen have already confirmed their attendance.

Other celebrities playing in the tournament are the last year’s winner and The Simpsons creator Sam Simon, actor Ken Davitian, Shannon Elizabeth, Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Shawn “Napster” Fanning and some Playboy playmates.

The tournament is held in Las Vegas, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Buy-in will be $500 and re-buy $200. There’s going to be a celebrity afterparty as well, which will be sponsored by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

Source: Pokerlistings, AllInforCP

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Jennifer Tilly hosting charity tournament