Poker News

Poker Leads Way to PartyGaming Profits

“Returning poker to growth has been a key focus for us,” PartyGaming CEO Jim Ryan said in a statement released Friday.

“We are pleased to see that initiatives released throughout the year are now feeding through into both operation and financial performance with increased player numbers and average net daily revenues versus the previous quarter, despite continued competition from illegal US-facing sites and the difficult macroeconomic climate.”

PartyPoker made headlines earlier this year when it acquired the World Poker Tour. The site also released a major software revamp to its poker client that added a variety of new features.

Ryan went on to say changes in licensing and regulation in both Italy and France could potentially lead to a new source of long-term revenue.

Poker wasn’t the only positive development for PartyGaming, which also saw its casino, bingo and sports book put up strong numbers in the last quarter of the year.

PartyGaming, a publicly traded company, was hit hard when the U.S. passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The site pulled out completely from the country and its player base subsequently dropped dramatically.

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Are Team Cardrunners Cheaters or Just Hard Workers?

Brian Hastings had played against Isildur1 only three times before he obliterated him, but he, Cole South and Brian Townsend conglomerated their hand histories, which gave them bigger sample of hands to study how the mystery Swede plays.

In an interview of ESPN.com, Hastings gives most of the credit to Townsend:

“We’ve done quite a bit of studying of his habits,” Hastings reflected. “Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here. I mean, Brian is honestly the hardest worker I know in poker. He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots.

In a way, I feel bad that it wasn’t Brian who got this win instead of me. Obviously I’m happy and I’ll take it, but Brian did a ton of work. The three of us discussed a ton of hands and the reports that Brian made, so I’m very thankful to him and to Cole as well.”

Brian and Brian, cheaters or not?

The problem is that Full Tilt Poker has explicitly forbidden the use of shared hand histories. You can see it from this quote taken from the terms of Full Tilt Poker concerning programs that are prohibited at the site:

“Shared hand history databases and “data mining” software, including subscription services and the exchange of personal databases: The use of shared hand histories provides detailed information on opponents a player has little or no personal experience playing against, and is deemed to be an unfair advantage. Violating this policy is subject to the maximum penalties for prohibited software use.

Players are not permitted to use the hand histories for hands that they have not personally participated in. Software designed to collect hand history information from games that the player did not participate in is prohibited.”

Some might say “that rule concerns only programs that gather information”, but there is also another point at the site terms where using other players hand histories for your own use is prohibited:

Full Tilt Poker defines an unfair advantage as a user accessing or compiling information on other players beyond that which the user has personally observed through his or her own game play.

There might have been only one player playing against Isildur1, but still there was many players figuring out the moves Hastings made against him. Unfair? Maybe. Will Team Cardrunners walk away without punishment? Probably.

Even though Brian Townsend was suspended 6 months from Team Full Tilt last year after violating the rules, I doubt he or other Brian will be punished about this. After all there is a fine line between “having a conversation about other players between friends” and “sharing an information about other players between friends for getting an unfair advantage against other players”.

Still I somehow feel like Isildur1 got robbed by Cardrunners.

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Are Team Cardrunners Cheaters or Just Hard Workers?

Mangas Gaming Acquires Everest Poker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Absolute Poker and UB get eCOGRA certification

AbsolutePoker’s new software and wide selection of games gives it new credit in the poker community; UltimateBet’s rebranding as UB and some sort of progress made on sorting out “the Troubles” seems to have done the same thing.

ECOGRA Certifies CEREUS Poker Network

The CEREUS Network has taken another step towards regaining the trust of its customer base.  The independent certification group eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) recently announced that CEREUS met all of the qualifications for the organization’s seal of approval.

According to an announcement on eCOGRA’s site, CEREUS passed the certification process with “flying colors.”  The eCOGRA staff traveled to CEREUS headquarters to review the software and the company that produced it.  The lengthy review process analyzed the company’s random number generator and its management team.  eCOGRA used its Total Gaming Transaction Review system to assess CEREUS’ gaming transactions in terms of fairness and efficiency.

When all was said and done, eCOGRA was more than impressed with CEREUS’ operation.  Sean Roberts, Compliance Manager for eCOGRA, commented on the group’s findings in its official statement: “The active measures taken, in light of events that impacted players, coupled with an impressive range of additional mitigating controls that have since been implemented, have contributed to the CEREUS online poker network’s software reaching the standards we require for software accreditation.”

The London-based eCOGRA has long been considered to be one of the more prestigious and reputable online gaming certification groups out there.  Sites are certified by the Board of Directors, which consists of Executive Director Andrew Beveridge and Independent Directors Bill Henbrey, Michael Hirst, Bill Galston, and Frank Catania.  The board also includes three non-executive directors.  The four executive directors include an accountant, a former board member of Ladbrokes PLC, a retired inspector from the British Gaming Board, and a founder and president of a consulting group.

Beveridge also serves as the CEO of eCOGRA and has been at his post since 2003.  He possesses more than a decade of knowledge and experience in the world of online business and gaming.  A former executive at International Gaming Networks, Beveridge expressed confidence that CEREUS would uphold the standards expected of sites with eCOGRA certification: “CEREUS management’s complete cooperation and commitment to an in-depth inspection and monitoring process involving the network’s transaction records and its software has been remarkable.  Going forward, we are confident that the network’s adherence to our standards and best business practice requirements will prevent any reoccurrence of the unfortunate incidents of the past.”

Obviously excited to hear the good news, Paul Leggett, CEO of CEREUS’ parent company Tokwiro Enterprises, conveyed his feelings about the certification in the official eCOGRA press release: “Doing everything possible to reassure the poker community that our operation and software are completely safe and secure is a priority for us. This is why we decided to work with eCOGRA and apply for the Certified Software accreditation seal,” Leggett explained.  “Their inspection team was extraordinarily thorough, looking at a wide range of elements in our software. We are proud that our product passed the tough requirements to achieve this important accreditation. We have learned a great deal from eCOGRA and we respect and support their ongoing efforts to make the online poker industry more accountable.”

This announcement is not the first time that an outside organization has commended the company for its efforts to improve the safety and fairness of its online poker rooms following the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet cheating scandals.  Earlier this year, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) issued its findings on the scandal and stated that no one at Tokwiro was aware of the impropriety or was involved in the cheating.  Despite not finding Tokwiro liable for any of the theft, the KGC instituted a list of requirements for UB to retain its CEREUS-issued license, including KGC testing, independent testing, internal audits, and KGC approval on new employee hiring.

FBI Issues Online Poker Findings; PPA Responds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Party Gaming Expands in Italy, Introduces Online Poker Changes

It was recently announced that Party Gaming had entered into a three-year agreement with Fueps, one of the leading casual games operators in Italy. This agreement stated that Party Gaming would provide the online poker services for the company. The move makes Fueps, via 4A – The Poker Suite, a part of the Party Gaming conglomerate that now contains PartyPoker and INTRALOT. PartyPoker, per Italian gaming laws, provides its popular online poker outlet as well as an online casino service that block those outside of Italy from playing, while allowing those inside the European country to play legally.

With the addition of Fueps to the Party Gaming portfolio, CEO Jim Ryan seemed to be pleased with the recent acquisition: “Fueps is our fifth business-to-business deal this year. It is an excellent addition to our Italian poker network. This agreement is consistent with our aim to establish a strong presence in the Italian poker market and to be well-placed to take advantage of the further deregulation of online gaming that is already planned to take place in Italy over the next few months.”

In addition to welcoming new players from Italy to the Party Gaming fold, last week saw an update to its popular online poker platform. Probably the most thrilling change for PartyPoker players is the introduction of a table stacking console. This new feature, which is currently in Beta testing by players on the site, allows users to navigate through tables that are stacked on top of each other via a special console. PartyPoker will be garnering feedback from players as to whether to make it a permanent part of its software.

Much like the other top networks in the online poker world, PartyPoker has also introduced the synchronized break system. Tournaments will break for five minutes at 55 minutes past every hour. This will help players who play in multiple tournaments simultaneously by providing that valuable break every hour across all tournaments not only on PartyPoker, but also on other online poker networks.

PartyPoker has reworked its player statistics to make them more comprehensive and provide more information across a wider range of games. Statistics will now be offered in all game types, including High-Low variations, and will also be gathered across multiple client sessions. Finally, some tournaments now have a late registration period that can be as deep as six levels and there is a more visible “un-register time.”

PartyPoker has been keeping its product in prime shape since its departure from the American market in 2006. This departure has caused the once dominant fixture in online poker to slide down to fourth place in the industry behind PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and the iPoker Network, according to PokerScout.com.

CEREUS Receives eCOGRA Certification

The e-Commerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) organization announced that CEREUS passed the requirements for its Certified Software accreditation seal.

Absolute Poker and UB Poker were both mired in cheating scandals that came to light in 2007 and 2008 and initially cost players millions of dollars. The money was eventually returned to the players after a series of investigations.

 “Doing everything possible to reassure the poker community that our operation and software are completely safe and secure is a priority for us,” said Tokwiro CEO Paul Legget. “This is why we decided to work with eCOGRA and apply for the Certified Software accreditation seal.”

eCOGRA was established as a non-profit organization by Microgaming and 888.com and has since become one of the most respected regulatory bodies in the online gaming world, reviewing over 150 sites including industry leaders like PartyPoker and bwin.

According to eCOGRA representatives, the CEREUS Poker Network was very open in the rigorous inspection process.

“CEREUS management’s complete cooperation and commitment to an in-depth inspection and monitoring process involving the network’s transaction records and its software has been remarkable,” said eCOGRA chief executive Andrew Beveridge.

“Going forward, we are confident that the network’s adherence to our standards and best business practice requirements will prevent any reoccurrence of the unfortunate incidents of the past.”

The on-site review encompassed every aspect of CEREUS software development activities was conducted earlier this year by professional eCOGRA auditing and technical staff.

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PokerStars buy leading mobile development firm

The PokerStars software client isn’t currently available on mobile phones but that could change as the site has bought mobile gaming software development firm Cecure Gaming.

Poker News in Brief: Nov. 16-22, 2009

 

The 21-year-old generated some major mainstream press coverage this week by appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman and CNN's American Morning.

There was plenty of news that didn't involve Cada, however, and as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief Feature we're going to break some of it down for you today.

This week we'll look at another man winning a ladies event, the end of Fair Poker, more support for an online poker bill, an upgrade for Cake Poker and more.

Man wins Ladies Championship at Lake Tahoe

Greg Sessler became the latest man to enter and win a female poker tournament last week.

Sessler won the Ladies Championship at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop in Lake Tahoe by outlasting all 95 players that entered the tournament. Of that total, four were men.

Although organizers encourage only women to play, Harrah's cannot exclude any player based on gender. After winning the tournament Sessler defended his decision to play.

"Me playing in this tournament really had nothing to do with trying to take advantage of the ladies or thinking it was a softer field," he said.

"If Jennifer Harman would have come and played in the ladies event, she would have been much tougher competition than me. I came here because I only had one day and I really like the structures and the payout."

Back in September Abraham Korotki entered a ladies event at the 2009 Borgata Poker Open and went on to win it. Former baseball star Jose Canseco also famously entered a women's tournament a few years ago.

 

 

More support for Frank's pro-online poker bill

The U.S. bill that would both legalize and regulate online poker has another co-sponsor.

Rep. Anthony D. Weiner of New York's 9th district signed on board this week as the 63rd co-sponsor of the legislation.

Rep. Barney Frank originally introduced the bill last spring but it has yet to be heard before committee.

Frank's bill would essentially repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was passed in 2006 and put a regulatory system in place for the online gambling industry.

Unfair outcome for Fair Poker

Lesser-known online poker room Fair Poker disappeared this week, but its players found a new home at Noble Poker.

Both sites were members of the iPoker network and were merged into one site earlier in the week. Fair Poker players had their account balances and the iPoints they had earned transferred to Noble Poker.

iPoker remains one of the busiest online poker networks in the world with Titan Poker, ChiliPoker, Bet365, CD Poker, William Hill, Mansion Poker and numerous others all under the iPoker banner.

 

 

HeadsUp Entertainment to televise BC Poker Championships

HeadsUp Entertainment, operators of the Canadian Poker Tour and Canadian Poker Player Magazine, will help televise coverage of the 2009 BC Poker Championships in Vancouver.

"We are very pleased to be part of Canada's premier poker tournament," said HeadsUp President Kelly B. Kellner. "We consider it a privilege to be able to cover the event through both our magazine and on television."

HeadsUp Entertainment made a deal with The Score Television Network, which is the exclusive broadcast partner of the Canadian Poker Tour, to show highlights from the tournament.

The 2009 BC Poker Championships began this week with 606 runners. The event received the attention of some big name poker players including Tiffany Michelle, Liz Lieu, Maria Ho, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Gavin Smith and Brad Booth.

Last year Canadian poker super-star Daniel Negreanu outlasted 689 players to win the 2008 BCPC for $300,708.

Cake Poker adds players, synchronized breaks

Cake Poker had a busy week adding synchronized breaks to its software and taking players from Third Bullet Poker.

Third Bullet was already a member of the Cake Network and the company's executives made the decision to merge the player base onto Cake Poker for better technical support and customer service.

Meanwhile, Cake's synchronized breaks will let multi-table tournament players take a break no matter how many tables they are running. The breaks will occur at 55 minutes past the hour, every hour.

The breaks do not affect Sit 'n' Go tournaments with less than 30 players.

The feature is quickly becoming an industry standard as Absolute Poker and UltimateBet recently added synchronized breaks as well.

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Doyles Room adds syncronized breaks!

DoylesRoom.com Players Get Time Out with Synchronized Breaks in Latest Software Update

UltimateBet relaunches as UB.com

The poker room will henceforth be known as UB, a nickname originally coined by players on the site.

Company directors said the UB label better represented the site's current focus on the next generation of poker players.

"The launch of UB.com represents a turning point for our company," said Paul Legget, Tokwiro's Chief Operating Officer.

"We have assembled a great group of professionals who are passionate about poker to build the UB brand. Our goal is to create products and services that poker players really want."

The new site features a streamlined interface, a user-friendly lobby, improved game filters and new UB branding.

In addition, the tournament schedule has been revamped and there are over 30 new tournaments a month, which offer over $1 million in guarantees.

"In the 10 years since I have been involved with the UB brand, I have never been prouder to represent the company as much as I am right now," said UB Pro Phil Hellmuth.

"We have great people captaining the ship, we have a great vibe and some serious swagger. I look forward to the day when we are the largest poker site on the planet."

Earlier this year the CEREUS poker network, to which UB belongs, also released a Mac poker client and a software upgrade that featured synchronized tournament breaks.

UB also enhanced their team of poker pros by adding PokerRoad president Joe Sebok and resigning reality TV star Tiffany Michelle.

Although UB now offers the UB.com domain, users will still be able to access the site through the older UltimateBet.com.

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bwin releases tournament clock for iPhone

The bwin Poker Clock offers a simple interface for organizing private tournaments without the need for a computer or the Internet.

The software features a "Quick Mode", which allows users to run a tournament right away, or the more advanced "Expert Mode" where users can refine their experience by manually tweaking the blind structure, payouts and number of rebuys permitted.

"Setting up poker tournaments should be easy and fun, just like the iPhone," said Carl Klingberg, managing director of bwin Games AB. "We will continue to keep our sights set on bringing the most user-friendly applications to the mobile world for whatever platform people are using."

It's not the first time that bwin has moved into the mobile poker industry. The gaming company was the first to offer real money poker against live opponents on cell phones.

The bwin Poker Clock is already available for download in the European iTunes Store. The app was not available in the U.S. at the time this article was published.

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UB.com Launches, Rebranding of Ultimate Bet Complete

Tuesday signified a landmark day in the online poker industry, as Ultimate Bet, a USA-facing site on the CEREUS Poker Network, rebranded itself UB.com. The two-letter acronym has been the site’s nickname since its launch 10 years ago.

“Raise, Stack, Own” becomes the new mantra of UB.com, which retains the gold color theme of the old Ultimate Bet, but adds a baby blue hue as well. “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, and PokerRoad CEO Joe Sebok become the front men of the new site, which can be accessed by visiting UB.com or UltimateBet.com. A software update went live this morning and players’ user names and passwords will remain the same as they were prior to the UB.com transition.

UB and its sister site, Absolute Poker, are both owned by Tokwiro, whose CEO, Paul Leggett, commented in a press release, “The launch of UB.com represents a turning point for our company. We have assembled a great group of professionals who are passionate about poker to build the UB brand. Our goal is to create products and services that poker players really want. We are trying to listen very carefully to both our players and the poker community to help us achieve this goal.”

New lobby filters made their debut on Tuesday as part of the software update to UB.com. Omaha tables can now be filtered, making finding a game even simpler. In addition, the new update added color-coded icons to the tournament and ring game lobbies. In the former, special designations are given for Turbo, Ultra Turbo, Rebuy, Deep Stack, Bounty, Six-Max, Four-Max, and Heads-Up formats. In cash games, color-coded icons exist for Turbo, Jackpot, 7-2, Deep Stack, 50 Minimum Big Blind, and Ante tables on the virtual felts of UB.com. At the bottom of the lobby, a horizontal legend reminds users of what the new icons signify.

The lobby takes on a sleek yellow feel and the total update when we ran Ultimate Bet’s Mac version was 8,600 KB, which took about two minutes to download. The upper left corner of the lobby features the sleek UB.com black and yellow logo with the player and table counts given right underneath it written in white block lettering. The Mac version, which was rolled out in September along with an Instant Play option, is still limited to a maximum of four open tables. The Instant Play version requires the latest version of Java to be installed on the Mac or Windows device.

The new cash game filters include the maximum number of players, stack sizes, and table type. In addition, you can specify the number of players per flop and the number of players per table to ensure that only desired tables come up in the search. A total of 30 new tournaments featuring $1 million in guaranteed prize money have been introduced as part of a gradual overhaul, quickly establishing the USA-friendly CEREUS Network as one of the top around.

Hellmuth, who has long served as the face of the popular online poker site, talked about the movement from Ultimate Bet to UB.com: “In the ten years since I have been involved with the UB brand, I have never been prouder to represent the company as much as I am right now. We have great people captaining the ship, we have a great vibe, and some serious swagger. I look forward to the day when we are the largest poker site on the planet.”

According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room traffic, the CEREUS Network is the sixth largest worldwide with a seven-day running average of 2,750 real money ring game players, about one-tenth of the traffic of PokerStars, the largest site in the industry. UB.com made waves in late October by changing its raise logic and launching synchronized breaks in its larger tournaments at 55 minutes past each hour, in line with the precedents set by PokerStars and Full Tilt.

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Poker News in Brief: Nov. 2-8, 2009

If you're looking for spoilers just check out our Live Coverage, but this is about the stories that didn't make the front page this week.

As part of our Poker News in Brief feature we've compiled a list of those lesser-known stories below.

This week we're going to look at a new poker tour in Europe, the passing of a celebrated poker player, Brandon Cantu winning yet another online tournament and more.

ParadisePoker launches new European tour

ParadisePoker is the latest online poker room to enter the live tournament scene and will offer a series of tournaments throughout Europe in 2009/2010.

The first season of the ParadisePoker Tour will include stops in London, Prague, Madrid and Bulgaria.

The ParadisePoker Tour will begin with a £550 tournament at the Empire Casino in Leister Square, London on Dec. 12 with a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000.

It's possible to qualify for the event on ParadisePoker for as little as €1.10. Click here for more information.

Poker world loses Hans "Tuna" Lund

Hans "Tuna" Lund, perhaps best known his epic heads-up battle against Mansour Matloubi at the 1990 WSOP Main Event, succumbed to cancer early Friday morning.

Lund began playing tournament poker way back in 1977 and since then he accumulated nearly $3 million in tournament winnings, two WSOP bracelets and two Main Event final table appearances.

Despite retiring from the game in 1997 to spend more time with his children Jimmy and Lilly, Lund still played the occasional tournament.

His most recent cash at the WSOP came in the 2007 Main Event where he finished 319th for $39,445.

A resident of Sparks, Nevada, Lund was 59 years old.

Playtech releases new iPoker update

Poker sites like Titan, William Hill, CD Poker, Bet365 and ChiliPoker will benefit from some new features thanks to a software update to the iPoker network.

Playtech released the new iPoker client on Wednesday and users now have access to tools like auto top-up, buddies functionality and a sharp new interface.

Other innovations include a multi-currency option, five-step seat finding feature, hand-for-hand mode in tournaments and a new tournament time-bank that offers player a predefined allotment of extra time throughout the tournament.

Brandon Cantu dominating UltimateBet games

Las Vegas Team UB pro Brandon Cantu is having one hell of a year.

Just this past Sunday, Cantu won the signature UltimateBet $100,000 guaranteed tournament for $34,580. In August he won the same tournament for nearly $37,000.

Cantu also won the weekly heads-up tournament leaderboard match on UltimateBet.

Each week the tournament leaderboard winner faces off against a Team UB pro for $1,000. Team UB pros have won the event for three straight weeks meaning the prize pool is up to $4,000 for next Saturday.

Cantu's success in 2009 hasn't just been online either. This summer Cantu won his second WSOP bracelet by taking down the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $228,867.

The aggressive poker pro is up to over $3 million in lifetime tournament earnings as well as several hundred thousand earned online.

Sites offering Belgium Poker Championships qualifiers

Satellites for the Belgium Poker Championships began this week on PokerStars.com, Everest Poker and bwin Poker.

On PokerStars, the satellites start at just $5.50, which are the first step in qualifying for the $215 monthly final.

Meanwhile, on Everest Poker, players can attempt to climb the Sit 'N' Go steps which start at just $2 and go all the way up to $360.

Finally, bwin will hold a freeroll later this year with first place winning a seat in the Belgium Poker Championship.

Last year Sijbrand Maal won €315,875 for outlasting 842 players in the 2008 Belgium Poker Championships.

The 2009 Belgium Poker Championships will take place this Nov. 21-29 at Casino de Namur.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospeliler, Ludovic Lacay, Davidi Kitai, Lex Veldhuis and Marcel Luske are all confirmed to play with several other big-name poker players expected to sign up.

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Mike Sexton Inducted into Poker Hall of Fame

Doyle Brunson kicked off the Poker Hall of Fame induction ceremony dinner at the Brasilia Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. The festivities honoring Mike Sexton occurred during the dinner break of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table at 7:00pm PT.

The guest list read like a “who’s who” of the poker community, including Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Jack Binion, Ali Nejad, David Singer, and Dewey Tomko. Also in the house was World Poker Tour (WPT) Co-Host Vince Van Patten, who told Poker News Daily, “I couldn’t miss this. Mike is such a great champion and a great friend of mine. What we share together on the WPT is one of the most important parts of my life. So many laughs and Mike is such a great guy. He is the real thing.”

The WPT is currently filming its eighth season. In fact, The Foxwoods World Poker Finals, the November WPT stop, is currently playing out at the Connecticut casino. On Van Patten and Sexton’s chemistry after eight seasons, the Poker Hall of Fame nominee’s co-host told us, “We could go for 25 years. We don’t get bored with it, we love it, and we’re not faking it. We’d probably do it for no money. We love it that much and we enjoy each other’s company. He’s one of a kind, a great family man, and the real thing in poker.”

Those on stage were Brunson, Jack Binion, Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009 candidate Tom McEvoy, and T.J. Cloutier. The latter told the assembled crowd of about 175, “We both went broke plenty of times… This man would bet on anything… Mike always thought he was the best split pot player of them all. He could always play those eight or better games.” In fact, Sexton’s lone WSOP bracelet came in 1989 in a Seven Card Stud High-Low Split tournament.

McEvoy then took to the podium and admitted, “This man holds a grudge,” referencing a story from the first WSOP Pot Limit tournament ever held. Binion, a Poker Hall of Fame member who helped popularize the WSOP, commented, “Mike was the one who got PartyPoker started, the one who got the software started. He’s the one who really made poker.” Sexton currently serves as the ambassador for PartyPoker, whose parent company, Party Gaming, recently completed the purchase of the WPT for $12.3 million plus a percent of future gaming revenues.

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack formally presented Sexton’s trophy and his speech was preceded by an emotional speech from Tom Sexton. The new Poker Hall of Fame member’s brother stated, “Mike has the gift of vision, where he can see things that others can’t in the poker world.” Sexton’s brother also referenced the WPT host testifying in a poker court case in South Carolina and serving as the spokesperson for approximately 500 players shut out of Day 1D of the 2009 WSOP Main Event when the contest reached capacity.

One of Tom Sexton’s most memorable quotes came when referencing the “Daddy Hall of Fame,” which he revealed, “If there were a Daddy Hall of Fame, Mike would be in it.” Young Ty Sexton, whose nursery has overrun the Sexton home’s dance floor, is just 15 months; Mike is 62 years-old.

Sexton received a 30 second standing ovation upon being introduced and recognized each of the other eight candidates for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, McEvoy, Dan Harrington, Scotty Nguyen, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and Barry Greenstein. Ivey, who was one of seven players remaining in the WSOP Main Event at the time, even stopped by, flanked at the door to the Brasilia Room by Layne Flack, Lacey Jones, and Nejad.

Sexton took the time to recognize a bevy of individuals, including Linda Johnson, Steve Lipscomb, and Brunson. He also recalled a phone call received over Christmas in 2000 from Ruth Parisol, co-founder of Party Gaming, who asked him to fly to India to launch the then-nascent online poker site. After eight months, PartyPoker was born, quickly challenging Paradise Poker for tops in the industry.

JAQK Cellars presented the two-hour affair, which wrapped up at 9:00pm PT. The living Hall of Fame members then took to the stage of the Penn and Teller Theater to resume play in the WSOP Main Event final table, with Sexton issuing the evening session’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” command.

DoylesRoom Redesigns Online Casino

Ten-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson continues to prove to the poker world that age is not slowing him down at all.  In addition to offering his thoughts on this year’s November Nine to major media outlets like the Associated Press, Brunson is finding time to log hours in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio, share blonde jokes on Twitter, and launch a revamped version of the online gaming destination DoylesCasino.com.

A press release from DoylesCasino announced the launch of the newly-redesigned website on November 3rd and outlined some of its major changes over the past few months.  Earlier this year, the online casino switched software providers, adopting the Realtime Gaming platform, which DoylesCasino believes will “offer players a faster, more realistic casino experience.”

The revamped casino lobby features large icons touting the key promotions of the day and tickers logging the more than $5 million in progressive jackpot prizes up for grabs.  The site offers a range of casino games, including roulette, craps, video poker, and slot machines.  DoylesCasino, like its partner site DoylesRoom, currently accepts USA customers.

In addition to staying busy with his DoylesCasino venture, Brunson is also logging several hours on the felts.  Brunson, Mike Caro, and the latest addition to the Brunson 10, Chris “moorman1″ Moorman, have all been spending time at the DoylesRoom cash game tables searching for the next member of the Brunson 10.  Moorman, Alec “traheho” Torelli, Amit “amak316″ Makhija, and Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark are the first four members of the select group, but Brunson is still searching for six more guys and two ladies to join his squad of young online superstars.

According to his personal blog, Brunson and several other high-stakes pros have also been keeping the action going at Bobby’s Room in the Bellagio.  With the vast majority of poker’s high rollers congregating in Las Vegas to watch the November Nine festivities and tape the latest season of “High Stakes Poker,” it seems likely that there will be more big Bellagio action in the coming weeks.

While most of the poker community is rooting for Phil Ivey to take down this year’s Main Event, Brunson opted to put money on chip leader and professed amateur Darvin Moon.  Brunson explained in his blog that Daniel Negreanu offered him a must-win bet in which Negreanu would take Ivey and Brunson could have Moon.  Brunson explained that the decision to bet against Ivey was nothing personal in his latest blog entry: “I had to take Moon who has 5 times the chips of Ivey. It is a must-win bet so probably we won’t have action. Sorry Phil, I won’t be rooting for you now. Business is business.”  What Brunson means by a must-win bet is that in order for him to win, Moon must take down the coveted Main Event bracelet and vice versa for Negreanu and Ivey.

Brunson will be one of the several spectators on hand for the final table of the Main Event, which resumes play on Saturday, November 7th.  The poker legend will even take part in the event, announcing the “Shuffle Up and Deal” command to kick off the festivities.

If you hadn’t noticed, that is quite a busy schedule for a 76-year old.  Brunson does not appear to be slowing down any time soon and will be spending the coming weeks promoting his official biography, “The Godfather of Poker,” which comes out on November 11th.

New features added to iPoker software… finally

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

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

Of course not every piece of poker news makes it to the front page of PokerListings.com, which is why we've compiled a list of lesser-known stories below as part of our ongoing Poker News in Brief feature.

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

PokerStars introduces new ((UK poker)) TV show

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New features on the CEREUS poker network

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

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

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

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

Sally Ann Boyer sues WSOP Academy

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

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

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

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Limit Hold’em……a solved game?

Many people have been discussing the relative merits of Limit Hold’em recently with regards to it being a “solved game”. There is no other form of poker that relies so heavily on statistics and mathematics than Limit Hold’em. But while it is a game that can in theory be “solved,” we are certainly a long way from the day when vast numbers of players are going to take the time to do so.

The use of tracking software has also taken us a gigantic step closer to achieving perfection and in Limit Hold’em, there are computer programs that are available now that can play a very powerful game indeed. This has been proven by the latest man vs. machine encounters over the past couple of years or so.

So just how do you go about playing a very strong game of limit? Well first and foremost you need to do an awful lot of work and study, and taking advantage of a good training site with top class Limit players as the tutors will be a gigantic start.

In Limit Hold’em it is possible to construct generic ranges from all positions, which can be accurately moulded around the actions of every single opponent. For instance if you are in the big blind and the cut-off open raises, depending on the rate at which this player makes this action from this position in this situation then you can start to compile a range to play with against your opponent’s range. Once you have enough reliable data on your opponent (I use Poker Office as my software of choice) then you can begin the process of compiling your default range against them.

Software like Poker Stove can be of immense help here, as it can assist us in calculating the equity of every hand that we hold against the likely range of our opponent. So if for instance the player in the cut-off is a solid player, we can look at typical ranges for players in that position who are solid and see with what percentage of their range they are open-raising.

There will be minor differences among players, but solid players tend not to be too dissimilar from each other. Once we know their basic range, calculating our own range to play effectively against theirs is a lot simpler. Note: it actually gets far more involved than this, as a player’s own individual post-flop skill and tendencies impact on your range substantially.

But once you have your default range in place then you can begin to fit the rest of your game around that and make any necessary adjustments that need to be made. This in principle is the same as basic strategy in the game of blackjack. Most of the time you are following this basic strategy but there will come a time where it is correct to deviate and to do something else – these are referred to as “strategy deviations”.

Of course, solid players will have different ranges than loose-aggressive players or tight players for example, but a player’s VPIP (Voluntarily Put Into Pot) and PFA (Post-Flop Aggression) will dictate what type of player they are anyway with reasonable accuracy.

If you begin to understand the likely ranges of your opponents and what range you need in place to combat that, and then couple this with a sound post-flop game, you will see why certain people think that Limit Hold’em is close to being solved.

I also think that as you move up through the levels in Limit Hold’em, game selection becomes crucial probably more than in any other poker variation. The value in Limit games above $20-$40 is becoming less and less, and many players at the higher limits are multi-tabling at lower levels in an effort to increase it.

There will always be weaker players with money dropping into these games: maybe they won big in some large online tournament and have a large amount in their account, maybe the site is attached to a sportsbook and has the facility to allow large sports bettors to drift across with substantial money who are itching to play at a serious level.

But these players are well in the minority and you may have to sit at an empty heads-up table all afternoon before the player that you were hoping to see actually shows up. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will stick around for long. If you start to push them around and take their money they could just leave the table, or to make matters worse, if they are the hit and run type then they could do the same and leave with your money.

I am aware of a few high stakes limit players who actually don’t make much more than $100k-$200k a year now simply because the games have become substantially tougher and they cannot see enough action. I don’t know about Limit Hold’em being solved but there are answers further down the limits for those that care to look and don’t have an ego.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at www.cakepoker.com/thedean and on his blog at www.pokersharkpool.com

Bodog Cancels Sunday Tournaments, $100,000 Guaranteed

Players logging into the popular online poker room Bodog on Sunday to play in the weekly $100,000 Guaranteed flagship tournament found the site down due to technical difficulties.

On the PocketFives.com online poker forum, the trouble for many users began shortly before 5:00pm ET when one frustrated person posted, “Anyone else having problems logging into bodog?” The site’s $100,000 Guaranteed begins at 4:00pm ET each Sunday and comes with a $162 buy-in. On October 18th, a total of 469 players entered, creating an overlay of nearly $30,000. Overlays of over $20,000 are common in the event, which has become a haven for the world’s top online poker pros looking to claim their share of the dead money in the prize pool.

Players battling in the $100,000 Guaranteed at the time attempted to diagnose the problem, with PocketFives.com member “dirtydonzo” taking it upon himself to call Bodog’s customer support. The response: “Just called them. No real information. Lady said they are having technical difficulties and they are working to fix the problem. She didn’t have any specific details and didn’t know when the site might be back up.” The post was time stamped at 4:53pm ET, less than one hour into the $100,000 Guaranteed.

Meanwhile, PocketFives.com member “MarkFSU1” relayed his story, which was echoed by several other players: “I got a message saying the 100k was canceled because [there were] not enough players.” Customer support purportedly told some concerned Bodog members that the $100,000 Guaranteed would be rescheduled.

One player who attempted to log in while the melee was unfolding received an error message notifying him of maintenance: “Bodog is down for regularly scheduled maintenance and/or software upgrades. We expect to be back up shortly.” At 7:09pm ET, about two-and-a-half hours after issues were first reported, Bodog representative Rebecca “BodogBecky” Liggero appeared and claimed, “Tonight, Sunday, October 25th, Bodog Poker had to cancel all tournaments because many players were experiencing disconnection problems. Players will be compensated according to Bodog Poker rules, i.e. players will be paid a percentage of the prize pool based on their stack size when the tournament was canceled.”

According to Bodog’s Terms of Service, when a guaranteed prize pool tournament is canceled prior to hitting the money bubble, “the payout will be based on the prize pool composed of buy-ins only,” meaning that the guarantee is not factored in. Half of the purse is distributed evenly among all players remaining in the tournament, while the other half is dished out based on chip counts. Liggero instructed concerned online poker players to contact the individual Bodog licensees.

Liggero told Poker News Daily that the site is looking to right the ship this weekend. She relayed a statement from the Bodog Network claiming, “Bodog has more customers than ever and yesterday this caused some problems with our database. To repair the problems, we were forced to cancel all ongoing tournaments, including our flagship $100,000 tournament. All players have been compensated in accordance with our tournament cancellation policy. On top of that, we will invite all affected players to a $10,000 freeroll on Sunday. They will all receive an email with the details.”

A similar occurrence took place during the $100,000 Guaranteed five weeks ago. On September 20th, about 90% of players in the event were disconnected and blinded off. In a post made two days later, Liggero explained, “At 8:09pm EST on Sunday we had to restart our servers, and after that many players, but not all, were blinded out of the 100K tournament. At the time of the restart, 43 players were left in the 100K tournament, and all were already in the money. Since the tournament was not stopped, the result will stand and everyone will keep their prize money.” The statement added that Bodog officials should have halted the tournament at 8:09pm ET and so an additional 35 players would be compensated accordingly.

Players logging into the site on Monday were met with a small software update and the $100,000 Guaranteed is scheduled for Sunday, November 1st, the same day as the start of the fourth Bodog Poker Open. Bodog accepts players from the United States and features a stable of pros that includes Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande, Evelyn Ng, and David Williams.

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Bounty tournaments come to PartyPoker

Bounty tournaments allow players to get paid for knocking others out. A part of the buy-in is put aside and reserved to pay out the bounties, which are credited to a player's account immediately.

"We are always listening to customers and consistently striving to improve our product," a PartyPoker spokesperson said. "The introduction of new bounty tournaments add an exciting and fun dimension to play."

The software update also includes the introduction of a 'remember table layout' feature and enhanced players notes.

The 'remember table layout' feature allows players to enable a feature that will remember the layout of tables when closed and open new tables of the same size and in the same position on the screen.

The new enhanced player notes feature allows players to double-click on another player's image to open the 'Notes' section with their name already entered in the 'Select Player' field.

"These changes come on top of the introduction of the hand history replayer and super speed games last month," added the spokesperson. "Coming up in the future is the introduction of RSA tokens and synchronized breaks."

For more information on PartyPoker's latest update, click here.

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Full Tilt Poker Victorious in Clonie Gowen and Domain Name Cases

The phrases “Full Tilt Poker” and “lawsuit” seem to go hand in hand these days, but the online poker room’s latest legal news is wholly positive for the site.  Two recent court decisions, one out of England and the other out of Nevada, both ruled in Full Tilt’s favor and, though the site received no monetary compensation, it brought some of its ongoing legal matters to a conclusion.

The suit brought against Full Tilt by former sponsored pro Clonie Gowen was dismissed for a second time last week.  The decision issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert C Jones said that Gowen’s claim of unjust enrichment was an “indistinct cause of action” and denied Gowen’s motion to reconsider the order.  Jones granted Gowen’s motion to amend her claim a third and final time and submit it to the court within the next 15 days.

Gowen filed suit against Full Tilt almost a year ago alleging that the company failed to compensate her adequately for her work promoting the site at live and televised events since 2004.  According to Gowen, Full Tilt bigwigs told her that she would receive a 1% stake in the company, which her attorneys estimated to be worth $40 million.  The suit was brought against numerous companies affiliated with the site, including Tiltware Inc. and Pocket Kings Ltd., and also named each of the members of Team Full Tilt.

The suit was originally dismissed in May, but Gowen was allowed to re-file her claim against Raymond Bitar, Howard Lederer, and Tiltware.  This week’s dismissal was a response to that re-filing and, although Gowen is allowed to argue her case one more time, it seems unlikely that the suit will go her way.

Full Tilt received a ruling in another piece of pending litigation as well.  Pocket Kings, a software company that works closely with Full Tilt, filed a motion in a British court against the Commonwealth of Kentucky following the State’s attempt to seize a number of domain names connected with online gambling companies.  Pocket Kings filed the claim because the company that controls its domain name, SafeNames, was instructed by the Commonwealth to relinquish control of the URL fulltiltpoker.com, which would violate its contractual agreement with Pocket Kings.

Michael Furness, Deputy Judge of the High Court who heard the case, ruled in Pocket Kings’ favor, saying that Kentucky could not act as its own sovereign state and, as such, the seizure was unenforceable on British soil. According to Furness’ written decision on the case, Kentucky has made no attempt to seize Full Tilt’s domain name other than issuing SafeNames its initial seizure order.

The aforementioned domain name seizures were debated on the floor of the Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday and the panel of seven judges is expected to issue a decision within four months.  The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) fought Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s attempt to seize the domain names and argued on behalf of online gaming companies.

The Commonwealth failed to send anyone to represent their interest in the case, but a series of e-mails between the law firm Hurt Crosbie and May and Pocket Kings discussing the possible adjournment of the hearings confirmed that the State was aware of the proceedings, but chose not to attend.

In the end, Furness ruled in favor of Pocket Kings and declared that the Kentucky seizure was unenforceable.  In turn, SafeNames agreed to refrain from enforcing the order and Full Tilt will retain its domain name for the foreseeable future.

Full Tilt Poker Software Partners Win Two Cases

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

PIC Club CEO Chuck Kidd Discusses Company’s Growth, Legality

Making poker news headlines this week was word that Players Investment Company, more commonly known as PIC Club, had severed its relationship with the Merge Gaming Network. PIC Club CEO Chuck Kidd sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the company’s formation and its compliance with U.S. law.

Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. For those unfamiliar with PIC Club, can you tell us what it is and how the company was formed?

Kidd: A group of players and I were customers of Hollywood Poker. I usually had a second screen up and running during my job and poker was entertainment for me. I wasn’t a movie watcher or a television watcher. Instead, poker was my form of entertainment. In October of 2006, when they came out with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), I took offense to that. I felt like they had stepped into my business. A week after the UIGEA passed, we got thrown out of Hollywood Poker.

My friends and I who played on a social basis had nowhere to go. I’m an old software geek and so I built a forum and a chat room. It was during that time that I contacted a Congressman and asked him to send me a copy of the UIGEA. I sat down and read through it with a couple of pretty smart business guys and realized that they hadn’t outlawed gambling, just the transfer of funds. It was also up to the banks to enforce it. On the very first page of the UIGEA, in its list of exclusions, there is a reference to trading companies. That put an interesting thought into my mind: what if we had a company that traded in poker? I found an international trading company called Ledvil for sale and we went and bought it. We’re licensed to trade everything from precious medals to durable goods.

PND: How does PIC Club avoid violating the UIGEA?

Kidd: We never violate the UIGEA. When you deposit money into a PIC Club account, you have an “available shares account,” which is money you can use to purchase shares in the pooled commodities we are currently trading in. We sell at the rate of $1/share. When you say you want to send money to DoylesRoom, for example, the player is actually buying shares of the pooled commodity that we will sell to DoylesRoom on your behalf and then DoylesRoom places money in an account for you to play in. At no point does a U.S.-based financial institution ever do business with an online poker site.

PND: Has the Federal Government ever approached you?

Kidd: They gave me the permits to operate and we just filed our taxes. We’re not doing anything against the law. To quote one of my sources, the Department of Justice is scratching their heads as to what to do with us and just ignores us for the time being. Last year, we paid out 10.5% interest to people who used PIC Club through their available shares account. The year before, we did 14.25%.

PND: Explain how the transfer of funds to an online poker site works.

Kidd: It’s all an electronic transaction. We are required by law to keep a copy of the certificates for shares. At the end of the day, we are transferring money for the poker industry, but we do it in such a way that we don’t violate UIGEA because we’re not transmitting money from a player to a site. We’re not like Neteller.

PND: How does PIC Club make money?

Kidd: We make money off poker rooms, not players. The processing costs are charged to the player, so when the money goes into PIC Club, it’s breakeven. When money goes to an online poker room, they pay me a percentage of every dollar. It’s pretty much the same fee for every site and I haven’t had to do much negotiating there.

PND: How can PIC Club help you manage your bankroll?

Kidd: You can see every dollar you have online at PIC Club rooms. You just push a button and your balance will be fed back to you. You can then choose to move money around as you see fit.

PND: What does the future hold for PIC Club?

Kidd: PIC Club will keep growing like it is. I’ve let it grow at a very nice pace. I’ve refused to compromise on my customer support. I was angered as anyone when I would call poker room support and be put on hold. I decided that would never happen at PIC Club. One of the things I’m proud of is that we’ve had online support since 2007 and our support has never been down for more than six hours. Personally, I am launching PokerProsNetwork.net. We’re putting a whole new spin on the idea of playing with pro players.

Full Tilt players can now run it twice

Fans of popular TV programs like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker are likely to have seen their favorite cash game legends "run it twice" on more than one occasion.

Essentially, running it twice allows heads-up opponents in a cash game pot, with one or both all in, to agree to have the remaining community cards dealt twice.

The winner of each outcome takes half of the pot. With Full Tilt's new software update, cash game players will now have that option online.

In addition, the software update includes a new Cashout Tournament format, giving players the option of cashing out some or all of their chips before the tournament has ended.

The tournaments follow the same rules as standard tournaments, except that each buy-in is split between a regular tournament prize pool and a Cashout pool.

Players compete for a share of the tournament prize pool as they would in a standard tournament, but also have the option of cashing out some or all of their chips.

For more information on all of Full Tilt's new features click here.

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Full Tilt Releases New Software Features

Full Tilt Poker have released a new software update that has two never-before-seen online poker features – the ability to “run it twice” and cashout tournaments.

A Heads-Up Controversy

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

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

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

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

Anti-Matter

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

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

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

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

PokerStars

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

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

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

Aftermath

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

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